July Workouts So Far

It seems that somehow I managed to not do any workout recap last week.  So now I'm two weeks into July with no workouts logged ...  Well, not to worry.  I was still working out.  And in fact logging it.  Just never turning those logs into a post.  So here's two weeks of workouts jammed into one long post ...
 
Monday - 2 mile walk to library

Tuesday - off

Wednesday - 2 mile walk to library; 7 pull-ups with blue band

Thursday - off; 4 pull-ups with blue band

Friday - 4 mile jog/walk along Sligo Creek; 10 pull-ups with blue band

Saturday - 2 mile walk; 30 minutes on the elliptical at manual level 5; 3 sets of 10 with two 10-lb weights: bicep curls, shoulder press, bent rows; and 70 pull-ups with green band - I was a real winner that day

Sunday - 30 minutes on the exercise bike at manual level 7

Monday - 45 minutes on the exercise bike at manual level 6; 10 pull-ups with the blue band

 

Tuesday - 40 minutes on the exercise bike at manual level 6

 

Wednesday - 2 mi walk to library

 

Thursday - 40 minutes on the exercise bike at manual level 7 (Noticing a theme here?  The theme is that I wanted to finish that book, which was quite good.)

Friday - 30 minutes on the elliptical at manual level 6; 15 pull-ups with the blue band

 

Saturday - 5 mile hike at Sugarloaf Mountain.  Along the way I snacked on some homemade trail mix - sliced almonds, craisins, and chocolate chunks - yum!

 

Sunday  - 2 mile walk to library - I needed a new book!



Last Week's Workouts

Last week I was all about hiking in Rock Creek Park.  It's got a lot going for it ... close to my house, good elevation mix (not straight up hill for long periods), and not too crowded - but just crowded enough that you feel safe.  There's one looped trail in particular that I like to hike.  I generally prefer loops so you don't have to backtrack over what you've already done, and a short-ish loop like this one makes it easy to extend your hike by just going around the loop again.  It gives you a nice stop by your car if you want to grab water or a snack, but doesn't force you to bring everything with you.  Unfortunately, I don't know exactly how long my trail is, only that it consistently takes me 50 minutes to go once around the loop - so maybe 2.5 miles? 

 

Last week's workouts:

 

Monday - 1 hour and 40 minute hike in Rock Creek Park (two times around the loop)

 

Tuesday  - off

 

Wednesday - 45 minutes on the exercise bike at level 6 manual

 

Thursday  - off

 

Friday - 30 minutes on the elliptical at level 5 manual plus 30 minutes on the exercise bike at level 6 manual

 

Saturday - 50 minute hike at Rock Creek Park (once around the loop) plus 2 mile walk to library

 

Sunday - 50 min hike at Rock Creek Park (once around the loop)

 

I love hiking as opposed to hitting the gym for a lot of reasons.  For one, I get a little sunshine (hello, vitamin D!).  I also genuinely love experiencing a bit of nature - smelling flowers, watching birds and squirrels run around (some days I even spot a chipmunk or a deer), and feeling like I'm breathing fresh air (even if that's just an illusion and I'm still breathing smoggy DC air).  A lot of times I hike by myself and don't listen to music or a book and just take it all in.  But if I do listen to anything, I prefer to listen to audiobooks rather than music.  Hiking alone with basically no one around and few distractions, you can really get into an audiobook and sort of melt into that world.  Last week I took "Frankenstein" on all of my hikes, which was a particularly good book to lose oneself in while out in nature.  It might be too creepy to take on a night hike, but for broad daylight it was just perfect. 

 

Do you ever listen to audiobooks?  What book would you recommend listening to on a hike?

Chia Weekend

When I was a kid my mom never bought the fun foods that all my friends seemed to enjoy all the time.  That's not to say we didn't eat our fair share of junk, it was just the adult versions of junk.  One of her favorite treats to have around was chocolate covered almonds and I was obsessed with eating risotto as a kid (made from a box mix).  Yeah, I was that complete weirdo ...  But every once in a while I'd get to have a fun treat at a friend's house, and one of my favorites was hamburger helper. 

 

I don't even know why I liked it so much.  The whole idea is really pretty silly because without the contents of the box it's still incredibly easy to make a hamburger-helper-like meal.  And that's just what I've been doing all the time lately.  Just make up elbow macaroni, then mix in vegetarian beef crumbles, pasta sauce, and any additions you like.  I've added basil, broccoli, mushrooms ... but the possibilites are endless.  I even ate my version of hamburger helper for breakfast Sunday morning!

I also went full-tilt into chia seed mode this weekend.  First, I revisited one of my new favorite recipes, Almond Joy Chia Pudding.  I was out of almond milk, so I mixed up the recipe using plain soy milk which worked just as well.  But the real innovation came when I dropped the container of soy milk, spilling milk all over the kitchen floor.  Distracted by the mess, I never managed to add maple syrup to the mix.  And you know what?  I didn't miss the sweetness at all.  In fact, I never would have noticed anything except I was surprised by how much thicker the pudding seemed and thought it looked a lot whiter than normal.  At first I thought it was the difference between soy and almond milk, but then I realized it was the syrup.  I liked the non-syrup version so much I'll definitely never go back to adding the unnecessary calories. 

 

My second chia endeavor of the weekend was based on another recipe I saw on the blog Carrots 'n Cake, this time for Blueberry Chia Seed Jelly.  I thought that since I was loving chia pudding so much, chia jelly would also be great.  Unfortunately, I didn't feel like this was any great innovation.  I'll admit, I might have messed this up a bit myself by using frozen wild blueberries as opposed to "regular" blueberries - the wild blueberries tend to be smaller and firmer.  Regular blueberries might have been better at mushing into an actual jelly consistency, rather than rolling around on my bread like all I did was defrost blueberries and set them on top.  The chia seeds certainly didn't seem to do anything to create a jelly texture either ...

Oh well ... chia jelly fail.  Maybe I'll try it again sometime with regular blueberries.  Hmmm ... or raspberries!?  I guess I haven't sworn of chia jelly just yet ...

 

The Hike From Hell

I'm so proud of myself - I was so good about fitting in a workout every single day last week!  Last week was also a great example about how you can always do something even if you really don't feel like working out.  A couple days I read on the exercise bike in my building's gym and one day I just walked on an errand.  But making sure you get up and move every day is so important for not just your physical health but your mental health too.  This time of year it's great to get some fresh air, see a little sunshine (I have no windows in my office at work), and just stretch those muscles - even if you're not pushing them to their limit. 

 

Monday  - 45 minutes on the elliptical

Tuesday - 40 minutes on the exercise bike
 

Wednesday - short walk to library (about 2 miles).  You may have noticed I walk to the library quite a lot.  I have a long commute to work, during which I like to listen to audiobooks - usually CD books - plus I like to listen to playaway books when I workout and I also sometimes like to sit down with an old fashioned paper book and lose myself for a bit.  All this means I find myself going to the library pretty often.  And since it's relatively close to my house, it's a great excuse to combine an errand with a bit of exercise. 

Thursday - 30 minutes on the exercise bike plus 10 minutes of free weight exercise

 

Friday - 3 mile run from my place to Takoma Park (soooo uphill on the way home that I walked several times) plus a 4 minute plank tabata (20 seconds on, 10 seconds off - 8 rounds)

 

Saturday - 3 mile run along Sligo Creek

 

Sunday - 7 mile hike at Sugarloaf Mountain.  This time I hit the yellow trail, also known as the Saddleback Horse Trail.  Unfortunately, figuring out the hike was a bit tricky because this trail doesn't actually follow a precise loop, and it doesn't start or finish at any of the parking areas - not helpful!  I went backward-to-forward on the trail, connecting to it from the white trail, then hitting marker Y14 to start and looping around towards Y1.  Then I had to follow along the road to get back to my parking spot, which was pretty scary with no sidewalk and with cars flying around blind curves. 

 

I put together my own trail mix to bring for a snack, which turned out to be pretty critical along the way.  The seven miles ended up taking me almost three hours and I was starving only a little more than half way through.  I mixed together sliced almonds, walnuts, craisins, and mini chocolate chips for a satisfying snack. 

So, seven miles on a pleasant day with a tasty trail mix snack ... what's not to love, right?  The reason the hike ended up taking me so long was that I spent literally almost the entire time trudging through mud, water running like a river down the trail, or trying to figure out how to get around huge ponds that had formed in the path.  It may not be obvious from the picture at left, but that's the path.  And those little brown dots?  Hundreds of tadpoles. 

At one point I came up on a river with no obvious means to cross.  The water looked pretty clear, so figured I would just suck it up and bound across, letting my shoes dry over the next few miles.  Unfortunately, though the water was clear enough, the bottom was still a squishy mess.  I ended up with mud streaked all over my legs.  Needless to say, by the end of my hike, my shoes and socks were completely soaked and caked in mud.  At least I didn't slip and fall on my butt in the middle of the muck.  That would have been a fun drive home ...

Very Belated Workout Recap

So another casualty of my failure to blog before I left for my trip last week is that I never got a chance to post my workout recap from the week before I went to California.  And what a week it was!  I managed to do something almost every day of the week, only caving into my laziness on Wednesday. 

 

Monday - 3 mile hike in Rock Creek Park

 

Tuesday - 30 min interval workout on the treadmill

 

Wednesday - off (it's good to rest sometimes, right?)

Thursday - living room arm workout:

5-lb weights

Bicep curls

Shoulder press

Wide bicep curl

Tricep extension

Deltoid fly

3 sets of 20 for each

Friday - 30 minutes on the elliptical machine

Saturday - short walk to library (about two miles)

 

Sunday - 5 mile hike at Sugarloaf Mountain.  I followed the Northern Peaks Trail, shown on this trail map.  Don't you just love it when there's a trail map online?! - In fact, this trail map was available for free at the trail head too!   Hiking Sugarloaf was a friend's suggestion, and it turned out to be a great one! It was pretty easy to get there (not too far from Silver Spring), but it still felt remote and natural. 

I even saw real, genuine wildlife!  See my deer pic?  If you didn't take a picture, you didn't see it ... :)  It was pretty crowded, but the park is big so I didn't see too many people along the way.  The trails were blazed clearly and the elevation change on my particular trail was enough to make it a hike and not just a walk, but not so difficult that I felt like I wouldn't make it all the way around.  I'll definitely be heading back to Sugarloaf a lot more now that I've been reminded of it!