July 4-17 training recap, and some truths

It's been a rough stretch for me, folks, hence my recent blogosphere disappearance. I'll talk more about that in a moment. First, I'm linking up with HoHo and Tricia for the Weekly Wrap.

Since I'm behind a week in recapping my workouts, here is a summary of my last two weeks:

Week of July 4 - 10
MONDAY - Run 1 mile on treadmill, 30 minutes of strength training
TUESDAY - Run 3 miles on treadmill
WEDNESDAY - Cardio kickboxing class
THURSDAY - Yoga class
FRIDAY - 10 minutes stationary bicycling, 30 minutes of strength training
SATURDAY - Rest
SUNDAY - Rest

Week of July 11 - 17

MONDAY - 10 minutes stationary bicycling, 40 minutes of strength training

TUESDAY - Yoga video
WEDNESDAY - Zumba class
THURSDAY - Run 3 miles on treadmill, 20 minutes of strength training
FRIDAY - Yoga class
SATURDAY - Rock N Roll Chicago 5K
SUNDAY - Rock N Roll Chicago Half Marathon

Full recap of the two Rock N Roll Chicago races to come. In the meantime, here is the weekend's haul:

The Rock N Roll race series continues to provide terrific medals.

Now, onto everything else!

In general, I always try to stay positive, both on the blog and in person. At the same time, I want to keep things real. I was inspired by Marcia's post from awhile back where she shared some heartfelt truths. Here is my spin.

The truth is... I've been under the weather for the last five days. It's rare for me to get sick, and the times when I'm not 100% I usually bounce back fairly quickly. This time the bug has been stubborn. On top of a stuffy, runny nose and hacking cough, I've had a near-constant headache which migrates to different parts of my skull depending on the day. My head hurts even more when I blow my nose or cough, and I have a rash under my nose from so much Kleenex usage. I'm trying not to let the symptoms mar my days, but it hasn't been easy. Wah, wah, wah.

The truth is... I've been going through a challenging transition in the office. The learning curve has been steep and I've worked some very heavy hours. When stress is high (which is often), I'm frequently trying to remind myself to take a deep breath. Thankfully, I work with a terrific team and we're all in it together. However, the combination of stress while fighting a bug has been a lot to deal with. Because the timing of life is always perfect in that way, yes?

The truth is... I'm growing increasingly frustrated with my diet. I mentioned how I started using MyFitnessPal.com several weeks ago to track my food intake, and how rude of an awakening it was. I've worked to reduce my sugar consumption, increase my vegetable intake, and become much more conscious of portion sizes and unnecessary snacking. Unfortunately, the scale refuses to budge. In fact, despite all my efforts, it's still even showing trends of upward mobility. It's really discouraging.

The truth is... I was shaken up to learn about the shooting incident in St. Joseph, Michigan last week. Adam and I got married just a few blocks away from where the shooting occurred. Southwest Michigan is one of the most peaceful places I've ever been, so this incident was very tough to swallow. I don't know why I even bother watching the news anymore these days.

The truth is... I've been feeling extremely ambivalent about running yet again. I have no motivation to train and zero desire to set or work towards any goals. It's to the point where I've contemplated hanging up my running shoes altogether. At the very least, I'd like to take a real break from running - at minimum, two or three months. Simultaneously, I don't want to lose my conditioning entirely - especially since I still have a couple more races on the calendar to prepare for this year. But man, oh, man, I was so incredibly happy to finish yesterday's half marathon. Not because of the accomplishment, but because now I can take at least a little bit of time off from running.

I'm more fun than a barrel of monkeys today, aren't I? How about three barrels?

In any event - I hope everyone had a terrific weekend and is getting a good start to the workweek. I hope to catch up with all of your blogs soon. Tell me what's new with you at the moment?

Three Things Thursday - Travel edition

4-day workweeks are awesome. I vote that we all start a progressive movement towards having 3-day weekends every weekend. Who's in?

In the meantime, it's already time to link up with Amanda's Thinking Out Loud Thursdays!

I am going through an extremely busy stretch at work, so we're going to keep things very short today.

1. My travel bug - especially my international travel bug - has gone from biting me to downright devouring me alive. Every time I turn around, I see or hear about another friend traveling to some amazing vacation destination. I seriously can't remember any stretch of time in the past where it seemed more like the whole world was on vacation except me. Sigh.

2. I'm interviewing for Global Entry next Friday. Maybe this will help the travel bug or maybe it'll make it even worse? My money is on the latter (both literally and figuratively). In the meantime, I need to research how to "prepare" for my Global Entry interview. Any suggestions from folks who have been through it before?

3. International destinations aside, I am counting down the hours until I can depart for Saugatuck tomorrow. Additionally, I had mentioned both here and here how I've been wanting to go to Memphis. Yesterday, I finally snagged decent airfare for decent flight times - so Adam and I will be heading there for a weekend next month. I am super excited. Look out Graceland and Beale Street, here I come!

Training week recap: June 27 - July 3, 2016

Happy July 4th to all of my American comrades!

Popping in for a quick hello and recap of my training week.

MONDAY - 10 minutes stationary biking, 30 minutes upper-body lifting
TUESDAY - Yoga class, run 3 miles
WEDNESDAY - Zumba class
THURSDAY - Run 3 miles on treadmill, 15 minutes lower-body lifting
FRIDAY - Rest
SATURDAY - Run 12 miles
SUNDAY - Rest

It was a pretty uneventful training week. The only item of note was my long run on Saturday morning. I mentioned here that I ran part of the Chicago Marathon course, which took me past a crowd of elderly Chinese folks doing tai chi in the U.S. Cellular Field parking lots. But let's talk a bit about other factors of the run.

In short, I just wanted to get the run over with so I could relax and enjoy the rest of the long weekend. Normally I'm not big on getting up before sunrise on weekends. However, the motivations change when the alternative is to slug through a long run in blistering heat and humidity. That morning, I set my alarm for 5:30 AM and got myself out the door as fast as I could.

Thankfully, weather was not a factor this day. The skies were overcast and the temperatures stayed in the mid-60s throughout the entire run. It felt quite nice!

The much, much, much bigger factor was fueling. As I mentioned here, I've been trying to be better about my eating habits, most notably my portion sizes. However, I am learning it's a very, very fine line between fueling properly to do a double-digit run versus eating too much or not enough.

Before departing, I ate a sandwich thin with peanut butter, plus a banana. Normally, this plus a mid-run GU is sufficient to get me through a long run. Unfortunately, I didn't realize until mid-run that my dinner the night before wasn't going to hold me over.

I started feeling hunger pains around Mile 7. Based on my intended 12-mile distance, at that point on the route I was almost 5 miles away from home. In the interest of hauling around as little gear with me as possible, I wasn't carrying any money, extra gels, food, or my phone. Definitely not my smartest decision, especially considering I've made this mistake before.

DERP!!!

I had little choice but to push through the remaining 5 miles to get home. As you might expect, those 5 miles were tough. Really tough. Thankfully my legs and the rest of my body felt comparatively fine, but it was hard to ignore my growling stomach. It was so loud that I was probably turning the heads of anyone I was passing on the sidewalk.

Of course I kept running by all kinds of street vendors, businesses, and restaurants emitting delicious aromas. Tacos, grilled meats, bakeries, you name it - everything smelled amazing and I wanted to devour it all. I felt like one of those cartoon characters that floats in the air towards the smell of food, e.g.:

When I finally got home, there has never been a time in my life when food tasted so good. I was so ravenous that you could have given me a plate of gruel with a big cup of sludge to drink, and I would have downed it all in a New York minute!

Note to self (again and again) that as cumbersome as it is to run feeling like a pack mule, it's better to be prepared than to run on empty. Either that, or I do need to stick with the smaller, more boring loop routes where I can stop back at home if anything arises.

Now that we've got that story of craziness out of the way - once again, happy July 4th! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and enjoys all of the fabulous outdoor festivities! I'm on my way out the door now. =)

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Linking up with HoHo and Tricia for the Weekly Wrap.

Coffee Talk - July edition

Happy July 4th weekend! I am linking up with Coco, Deborah, and Lynda for the July edition of Coffee Talk.

This link-up asks: "If we were having [insert choice of beverage here] together, I would tell you..."

I'm not traveling this weekend, but next weekend Adam and I are going to Saugatuck, Michigan. Saugatuck is a beautiful beach town with local wineries, fruit orchards, and art galleries, among many other great attractions. We've visited a couple of times in the past, but haven't explored a lot. Would you believe we've never even been to the beach there? That needs to change immediately!

Aerial view of Saugatuck
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Adam and I have an old coworker who lives there and volunteers for Saugatuck's visitor/tourism bureau. How cool is that? We are hoping to reconnect with her while in town.

Incidentally, the timing of next weekend's getaway is perfect because the Rock N Roll Chicago Half Marathon is the following weekend. Translation: a stepback in training next week, so I don't have to worry about doing a long run in Saugatuck. Woo hoo!

It's fun to see locals in action. This morning, I was up at the crack of dawn to knock out a 12-mile run. While wandering through various neighborhoods, I decided to follow part of the Chicago Marathon course. I ran through Chinatown, then continued on through the Bridgeport neighborhood. This led me past U.S. Cellular Field (home of the Chicago White Sox).

The Cell is within walking distance of Chinatown. Wouldn't you know it - there were a bunch of elderly Chinese folks doing tai chi at the Cell's parking lots. I didn't have my phone with me to take a picture, but it looked somewhat like this:

It was a very cool scene, and definitely an unexpected little discovery. Way for people to utilize open spaces, eh?

I am trying to develop a green thumb. A few weeks ago, my mom gave me a gift that keeps on giving - a basil plant. I've tried growing basil in the past without much luck. This time, I read up on the proper way to prune a basil plant - and it has already made a big difference.

It's a good thing the basil has been growing quickly because I have high demand for it in my cooking. I've already made a big caprese salad and have lots of pesto dreams on the brain. Grow, basil, grow!

One good thing leads to another. Xaarlin heard about my basil and mentioned she's growing a pineapple mint on her deck. Earlier this week, she generously gave me a few cuttings to nurture. Look at how adorable they are!

I need to get a pot and some gardening soil so I can plant these little babies ASAP. I'm already brainstorming culinary ideas for them, too. Chiffonades over fruit salad, anyone?

Finally - when I was in DC in March, I went to a create-your-own-succulent-garden workshop with Vanitha and Dina. I've now got this cute mini-garden in my living room:

The dream is to someday be able to grow my own fruits and vegetables - so it's fun taking baby steps to build up my horticulture experience.

I've got a low-key July 4th weekend planned. I've got work to do for quarter-end close. Our friend Lindsay is in town from Pittsburgh, so we'll be meeting up with her at some point. Tomorrow, my mom is coming up and wants to go see the fireworks downtown. Other than that, I'll quote the Fresh Prince in that it'll just be a lot of chillin' out, maxin' relaxin' all cool. (I won't be shooting any b-ball outside of the school, though.) =D

Tell me what you're up to over the holiday weekend!

Disney restaurants - favorites and wish-listers

Through Lesley, I discovered that Deb has restarted her Disney-themed Wordless Wednesdays link-up! I'm jumping back into the fun today after a long hiatus.

  

This week's theme is Food Favorites.

I haven't been to any of the Disney parks for a few years (and am hoping to change that!) During my most recent visits, I didn't take any food pictures. Therefore, I am going to share a few restaurant favorites, plus several on my wish list.

Unfortunately, none of these pictures are my own - so obviously I have denoted my sources.

First, here are three of my favorites:

Tusker House at the Animal Kingdom

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Restaurant Marrakesh at Epcot

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Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater at Hollywood Studios

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Now, moving on to my wish-list Disney restaurants. There are so many I want to try that I could write an entire thesis! But for the sake of brevity, here are five:

Ohana at Disney's Polynesian Resort

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Blue Bayou at Disneyland

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Sanaa at Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas

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California Grill at Disney's Contemporary Resort

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Le Cellier at Epcot

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Disney dining aficionados - now it's your turn. I am always looking for thoughts, suggestions, and recommendations. Please tell me about your Disney food/restaurant favorites, as well as your wish-list items!

Spinning out and June 20-26 training recap

I am going to echo the sentiments of so many folks who can't believe it's the end of June already, and that July 4th is next Monday. Where does the time go???

Here are my workouts from the week:
MONDAY - 10 minutes stationary biking, 30 minutes strength work on biceps, triceps, abs, lower back, and hamstrings
TUESDAY -  3 miles of interval training on treadmill (10 minute warm-up, 2:1 tempo/walk ratio done at 7.5/3.5MPH), yoga class
WEDNESDAY - 45-minute circuit workout (Luna Rise and Shine event), Zumba class
THURSDAY - Rest
FRIDAY - 40 minutes lifting, full-body
SATURDAY - Run 10 miles
SUNDAY - Spin class at CycleBar

I'm still fighting boredom with my workout routine, so Wednesday's circuit workout and last night's spin class helped.

Let's talk in more detail about spinning. To me, it's an exceptionally challenging workout. The first time I took a spin class, it hurt to walk for three days afterwards! For this reason, I've only taken a handful of classes over my lifetime.

Last night, Erin invited me to attend a grand opening event at CycleBar in Burr Ridge. Thanks, Erin! I put on a pair of biking-type shorts and braced myself for the inevitable burn.

Upon arrival, the studio had a photo station set up with cute props:

L: Erin
R: me

Erin and I ran into Susie and Tiffany. This was my first time meeting Tiffany in person, which was a very nice surprise.

From L to R: me, Susie, Erin, and Tiffany

The studio felt like a nightclub - it was dark with differently-colored spotlights and pulsating music.

Sorry for the blurry photo, it was hard to take pictures while pedaling!

The studio provided spinning shoes to all participants. It was my first time clipping in to a bike, and it took some getting used to. I'm accustomed to focusing only on the downward pedaling motion so I need to learn how to "pull up."

As expected, the spin class was killer. In addition to the usual cadences, sprints, and climbs, the instructor led us through a series of on-bike strength work. For example, we did miniature "push-ups" on the handles; pedaled while standing up and leaning our butts back as far as possible (reminiscent of barre exercises); and pumped a small bodybar. It was quite a workout! This is what my legs felt like afterwards:

How the heck do people take spin classes on a regular basis? Those folks must legitimately be built with quads of steel. Good lord.

Shifting gears (literally) - here are some random notes from the week:

• Adam and I have a car that's 13 years old with only about 80,000 miles on it. We only use it to visit suburban friends/family on weekends, and to run errands when public transit isn't convenient. For us city-dwellers, owning a car is a luxury. Unfortunately, we've had a rising number of issues with repair and maintenance, so we've been thinking for awhile about getting rid of it. This is tough for me because the car is my baby and I love it. However, over the weekend, another repair issue came up - so we are again debating whether the car is worth maintaining. Sigh.

• I started food journaling on MyFitnessPal last Tuesday. The experience has been quite the rude awakening for me. I usually eat fresh fruits liberally, but MyFitnessPal tells me they've got lots of sugar and carbs. My first day, I was already over my daily quota for both by mid-afternoon. It's definitely a learning process that takes time. I'm making adjustments little by little. 
• Last Saturday night, Adam and I went to our first outdoor concert of the season at Millennium Park. The city was decked out in honor of yesterday's Pride Parade so the backdrop was especially stunning:

• My 10-miler on Saturday morning went well for about the first 6 miles. I hadn't been looking forward to the long run, so it was an enormous relief to feel normal. Then the temperatures, sun, and humidity started rising, and things quickly went downhill. Clearly I still have work to do in adapting to the warmer season. In the meantime, I am contemplating the much easier, simpler, faster, and more effective path of simply never running summertime races again. It's all about efficiency, right? =D

As HoHo would say, "That's a wrap!"

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Linking up with HoHo and Tricia for the Weekly Wrap. I'm also inaugurally linking up with Angela and Ilka for the Sunday Fitness & Food Linkup (even though I'm a day late!)

Viva las summer

First off, thank you to everyone for your support in my accountability post. I really do appreciate all of your understanding and words of wisdom! Now, back to the more jovial content. =)

Summer in Chicago is wonderful with the endless array of activities and events. I wish I could take a sabbatical between Memorial Day and Labor Day every year! This week, I attended three fun events and wanted to share more about them.

A Red Line Runs Through It
Earlier, I'd mentioned here that Adam and I went to Second City for a comedy show last Sunday night. This is what we saw:

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Description: "A Red Line Runs Through It rides the rails of Chicago in order to answer life’s tough questions." Very intriguing!

I thought the script would focus on Chicago life, using public transit as the base. While there were indeed some scenes aboard the train, the show was an extremely diverse and hilarious collection of skits about life in general. Scenes were both scripted and improvised.

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The show was so cleverly designed, so fast, so energetic, so progressive. The acts were loaded with hysterical jokes and staggering references to local Chicago life that literally slammed home. This included nailing an enormous host of current affairs and politics, including an uproarious jingle about Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The Mayor's picture was even part of the stage backdrop:

I was lucky to get this picture of the set when I did. Shortly afterwards,
the cast vandalized the picture in a way that I shouldn't repost!

I think Chicago locals would all have an especially strong and heartfelt appreciation for this show. I loved it!

Flavor Your Life
On Monday night, Adam and I went to Quartino for a Flavor Your Life master class on tasting and blending extra virgin olive oil. The class was taught by Giovanni Zucchi, who is an olive oil producer and expert from Italy.

Giovanni Zucchi sharing his olive oil wisdom, adorned by his team.

I learned a lot about the production and intricacies of olive oil. Different regions of the Mediterranean produce different varieties, which can be specially blended to suit the tastes of various consumers. We were taught how to properly smell and taste olive oil, and encouraged to evaluate how it impacted our senses.

We each received four types of olive oil to test. Afterwards, we each got to create a personalized olive oil blend based on our individual preferences. We were told the blending process takes a lot of time, trial, and effort; and indeed it did!

Left: Our EVOO testing/blending tools
Middle: Adam immersed in his blending process
Right: My own custom-blended bottle of extra virgin olive oil!

The four types of olive oil came from Greece, Spain, and two different regions in Italy. In this instance, the Spanish olive oil was my favorite for its comparative balance of freshness and sweetness.

After class, the attendees enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Quartino:

Based on what I learned, olive oil reminds me a lot of wine since both have so many subtleties. My perspective on olive oil has now changed a lot.

All in all, it was a very educational night filled with delicious eats!

Rise and Shine
Yesterday morning, I attended an early morning workout event called Rise and Shine, which was hosted by LunaBar and A Sweat Life.

The festivities took place on the roof of the Wit Hotel. We were treated to beautiful city views:

The workout was led by Nike master trainer Betina Gozo, who is an amazingly strong and inspirational woman. Here is the class in action:

Betina rocking us out

Afterwards, we received some post-workout refreshments, and got to hang out and chat with our fellow attendees.

Here's a snapshot of Maggie, Erica, and me, along with some shots of me attempting to do a couple of yoga-themed shots (as inspired by Wendy):

Left: Fearless Maggie, Original Erica, and Bold me. =)
Upper right: "Daring" dancer's pose
Bottom right: "Fearless" tree pose

The workout was a great way to start off the morning!

In conclusion...

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Linking up with Amanda for Thinking Out Loud Thursdays.