Life

By kilax, April 3, 2018 6:23 am

THE ONE* THING!!!

My snister text me and Mom these pics on Saturday, which say that Starbucks is getting rid of the “You Are Here” mug collection to introduce the new “Been There” series.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Ha. I kind of collect the “You Are Here” Starbucks mugs. I like to buy one when I travel to a new city/state. The new mugs are the same size, so they’d “fit” with the ones I have, but the designs are a completely different style! Of course, change is hard, and I like the old ones better.

But… do I need any more mugs? No. Not. At. All. I had to clear mugs out from in front of my Starbucks ones to take the picture above, and I have lots of mugs in storage in the basement, AND a few “You Are Here” mugs that are still in the box, because they are from cities/states I haven’t visited yet (I don’t use them until I’ve been there). Then there’s the fact that I don’t drink coffee, and only use mugs for hot drinks in the cold season, which is ending soon…

So, this is a good thing.

But I am trying to decide if now is the time to buy the Illinois, Chicago, and Wisconsin “You Are Here” mugs before they are gone…

NO! NO MORE MUGS!!! Hee hee.

*Not counting the Star Wars Hallmark ornaments I used to collect much more seriously.
*Also not counting race bibs or medals.

Life, Recipes + Food, Running + Training

By kilax, April 2, 2018 6:23 am

Thanks for reading these long arse weekend recaps! I enjoy writing them and appreciate you reading them!

There was no reason for last week to feel as long as it did. I was glad when it was finally Friday night!

FRIDAY!

We kicked the weekend off by going out for MOD Pizza. MOD’s a build-your-own-pizza place (think Subway or Chipotle style) with unlimited toppings! And they have vegan cheese!

MOD’s one of the very few places I like to get pizza out. I prefer Steven’s homemade pizza, or no pizza at all – I’m actually not a much of a pizza fan! But MOD… drool.

We ran an errand after dinner and picked up Pitch Perfect 3 to watch. It was silly, but entertained us a lot more than other movies we’ve rented lately!

SATURDAY!

On Saturday I got my run in before the wicked winds hit (25 mph winds with 40 mph gusts, no thanks), did an indoor bike ride, then taught a fitness boxing class. The class had an egg hunt theme – I put the workouts on little slips of paper in the eggs, and the students “hunted” for them to find out what workout we’d do!

It was fun for me since I had no idea what order the workout would be in. It ended up being a high intensity class, and the students liked it, yay!

I handed out goodie bags too. I had goodie bags for twelve, but I had two cancellations an hour before class, and three no-shows. I typically have a cancellation (and sometimes a no show) for every single class I teach, but when it’s a big number like that, it makes me a bit frustrated/disappointed. Oh well. That meant I had leftover goodie bags for my boss’s kids!

I ran errands after teaching – Aldi and Walmart pickup. This pickup did not go as well as the last one. It  took a long time, and the employee seemed overworked and was rude to me (about being there “early,” when I had received a notification my order was ready…?!). Hopefully the next time I try it, it goes better. I did have a good reality check NOT to be too upset about this FREE service while I was there, when I saw another customer who’d been waiting since before I arrived, leave, in her car, without her pickup, with her window down, screaming at the employee. Eek.

After food prep for the week, and lunch, we ran MOAR errands – Target and Kohl. Why so many errands on Saturday? Because I’ve been burned before, leaving shopping for Sunday, only to have everything closed because it’s Easter.

I wonder if everyone else had the same idea, or it was just normal Saturday shopping, but GAH there were too many people out and it made me anxious and stabby. Sigh. I needed more of this on Saturday:

and less people.

Happily, Saturday night was quiet. We made tacos, watched The Beguiled, and I read a bit before bed.

SUNDAY!

When we saw on Holey Moley Doughnuts’s social media page that they were going to be open on Easter, we knew it was a sign we had to go. Three months after making it a goal to get there, we finally did!

It was overwhelming when I got there, and saw they had THIRTEEN (not an April Fool’s joke!!!) different vegan donuts I could try. AHHH!!!!!

We got seven flavors (including one we’d had before and knew we like). Clockwise from top left: chocolate cake with vanilla glaze, cinnamon sugar (have had before), banana bread, s’mores, raspberry, samoa, and apple fritter (under chocolate cake with vanilla glaze).

We didn’t try: blood orange, chai, maple pecan, passionfruit coconut, peanut butter, or grasshopper.

These are all cake donuts, and the flavors are phenomenal. We both liked samoa the best, and couldn’t get over how the banana bread donut tasted just like banana bread. Yum.

I like these a lot, but they sit a bit heavy (um, could that be because I ate about three of them…?! nah), which just reminds me yeast donuts are my favorite! Which is why they only have 3.5 drooling faces below.

State	Date	Name	Flavor(s)	Rating (0-4)	Photo
Kansas	1/15/18	Mud Pie	Cake Chocolate Frosted
Illinois	2/7/18	Do-Rite	Chai Maple
Illinois	2/17/18	Holcomb Hollow	Lemon Vanilla
Ohio	3/23/18	Holey Toledough	Blackberry Hibiscus & Cinnamon Roll
Wisconsin	4/1/18	Holey Moley Coffee + Doughnuts	Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Glaze, Cinnamon Sugar, Banana Bread, S’mores, Raspberry, Samoa, and Apple Fritter

The rest of my Sunday was just as amazing as the morning. I took a nap when we got home (less than six hours of sleep both weekend nights had me yawning and rubbing my eyes all morning), we ate lunch and played with the cats with the toy the Easter Bunny left them,

Ha, I had to include this one first cause it makes us laugh so hard!

Data played a little, but mostly watched

then I did my donut fueled long run, and we made our Easter dinner!

Now, to recover from the weekend…

(I usually don’t mention what Steven is up to during the weekends when I am exercising and doing errands without him. This weekend he was working and installing a security camera at the house. He’s usually working a bit, and doing some sort of project!)

Running + Training

By kilax, April 1, 2018 4:52 pm

Highlight of the Week: Tuesday’s awesome run/my students enjoying the fitness boxing workout!

Monday | March 26, 2018: 15 m ride + 6 m run (incl. 8 hill repeats) + teaching strength class
Indoor Ride Time: 58:21, Pace: 15.4 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: hood, Temp: 42°/43°, Time: 55:04, Pace: 9:11 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great
Strength: body bars & resistance bands, Felt: good
Tuesday | March 27, 2018: 12 m run
Loc: Lake Andrea/Outlet Mall Loop, Temp: 46°/46°, Time: 1:48:22, Pace: 9:02 avg, Difficulty: mostly easy, Felt: really great
Wednesday | March 28, 2018: rest
Thursday | March 29, 2018: 7 m run (incl. 4×800, 4×400)
Loc: Lake Andrea, Temp: 41°/40°, Time: 1:04:07, Pace: 9:09 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: angry
Friday | March 30, 2018: teaching strength class + 1,218 yd swim + 10 m run
Strength: box, kettlebells, & boxing, Felt: good
Loc: FitNation, Time: 26:05, Pace: 2:09 min/100 yd, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: to VP Woods and back, Temp: 41°/37°, Time: 1:38:06, Pace: 9:48, Difficulty: medium, Felt: decent, but tired legs
Saturday | March 31, 2018: 4 m run + 10 m ride + teaching fitness boxing
Loc: hood, Temp: 40°/40°, Time: 38:05, Pace: 9:31 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Indoor Ride Time: 39:12, Pace: 15.3 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Strength: whole body moves, boxing with gloves, Felt: great!
Sunday | April 1, 2018: 11 m run
Loc: ML/VP Woods Loop, Temp: 32°/33°, Time: 1:48:08, Pace: 9:50 avg, Difficulty: mostly easy, Felt: good

Notes:

• Whoa, Tuesday’s run. I don’t have my pace showing on my watch for most runs, just the split per mile. So I was surprised to notice my pace kept dropping with each mile, and I decided to go for negative splits! I started with a 9:44 pace for my first mile, and ended with a 7:56 pace, each mile being the same or faster than the one before. Wheeeee!!! My stomach felt that ALL night. Worth it though – it was fun.
• Thursday’s workout, on the other hand, was a bit of a disaster. It was my last “big” speed workout before my race and I thought it would go well. No. I got a bloody nose during my first interval (that lasted a few miles) and the wind really screwed up a few of my splits and made me angry. Sigh. Oh well.
• I’m glad my weather app let me know we were going to have crazy winds on Saturday, so I did a longer run on Friday instead of Saturday, to avoid being too miserable outside. I don’t want hot weather to get here any faster… but I am a bit sick of all the layers and of course… THE WIND!
• I did a fun Easter themed workout in fitness boxing on Saturday. It’s cheesy, but I love that crap.
• Sunday’s run was in the late afternoon, after sampling seven vegan donuts in the morning. I didn’t feel the donuts until the last three miles of the run – success! Ha!
• This is my last 50 mile week (the last five weeks have been 50.5, 52.4, 54.5, 51.2, and 50). Time for a short taper before the 5K on Saturday!
• Monthly recap time! In March I ran 230.6 miles (my highest mileage month since January 2016) (27 runs), cycled 145 miles (10 indoor rides) and swam 5,544 yards (5 swims). My coldest run was 17°F and my warmest was 51°F. I did 4 hill workouts, 4 speed workouts, and 4 tempo workouts. I taught 8 strength classes and 3 fitness boxing classes. I did 1 strength workout at home.

Link to Training Week 440

Life

By kilax, March 31, 2018 12:49 pm

Who else is having a hard time processing that April begins tomorrow? And who is planning on playing an April Fool’s joke?! (not me!)

Here’s my list of what I am looking forward to in April!

• Cooking a fun (read: indulgent) meal with Steven on Easter
• Getting a pre-race massage
• Running the Fools 5K!
• Seeing my family!
• Taking Bobbi out for her birthday!
• ALL the April birthday celebrations (there’s a lot of them!)
• A trip to Texas to see Gina & fam, and maybe eating a vegan donut there?!
• Anne running the half marathon she’s been training for!
• My monthly run date with Rachel
• Finishing one last month of “focused” training (now, for the half marathon)
• Maybe riding my bike outside?
• Starting to see leaves, flowers, plants, and baby animals outside!

What’s on your list?

Health + Fitness

By kilax, March 30, 2018 7:27 am

Ha, the title is mostly a joke!

When I started swimming consistently a couple of years ago, I used techniques I remembered from learning to swim as a child. I started with breaststroke, and worked my way to freestyle.

For a long time, I had to focus so much on what I was doing, especially with breathing, that I didn’t think of anything else while swimming. I was zoned in 100% on my stroke and not inhaling water. It was a lovely meditation, and break from my own thoughts.

Now, the motions have become ingrained. It feels natural. It feels easy. My mind wanders. It’s no longer my meditation.

I miss that! Damn it, for getting more comfortable in the water. Ha!

Really though, those swimming moments are the ONLY time I can think of where my mind completely shut off and focused on the task at hand. The ONLY time. All my other workouts? My mind is all over the place!

I wonder if I worked harder at learning bilateral breathing, if that would let me meditate in the pool again, until I got better. Or if I talked to an actual swim coach and got some pointers on what my body should be doing, if focusing on THAT would get me back to the meditation. Because I’d like to find my way back to that feeling!

Books, Life, Work + Design

By kilax, March 29, 2018 6:25 am

• It came to my attention yesterday when chatting with some coworkers, that my experience of searching for a hidden Easter basket, left by the Easter Bunny, may be a bit of an anomaly. Most people I talked to said their basket was left out in plain sight! The Easter Bunny always hid ours. How about you (if you got one)? Poll below!

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Last year’s basket

• I finished Hanna Who Fell from the Sky. Man, the whole second half of the book, I was just dying to know whether or not she was going to leave that horrible town! It definitely kept my interest! There was an interesting story at the end, from the author, about writing the book. He got the idea for it back in 2004 and wrote out a draft. Many years later, he got a concussion and couldn’t speak or read for almost a year. When he finally could again, he would work on the book, for an hour or so each day, as much as his head could handle, until he finished it (it was published in late 2017). The author is fully recovered now. And he was so inspired by Hanna’s character, he named his daughter Hanna – well before the book was published!
• Now I’m reading The French Girl. Yep, definitely addicted to going to the library. I love having something to read. It feels like such an indulgent treat!

• Cape Horn Illustrations made us some note cards and envelope labels with our house illustration on them! I love stuff like this and can’t wait to use them!

• I feel like I’ve just been going through the motions at work for some time, and subsequently, that feeling is leaking over to the rest of life. Blah. My silly 5K training is giving me something to focus on and work toward outside of work, but I need more than that. I’m working on it!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 172

Health + Fitness

By kilax, March 28, 2018 6:17 am

When we were at the movies last night, I thought about this time I was being über healthy and instead of having popcorn at the movies, I brought a bag of grapes to have. Like, wtf, Kim. Ha.

I always get popcorn now, YOLO

It was my junior year of college (fall of 2004). That previous summer, Steven and I put ourselves on “Operation Tub Tub” (OTT, for short). We ate between 1200-1500 calories a day, and both lost a lot of weight that summer (we needed to)! I wanted to see how long I could keep the weight off, hence the grapes. Hint: not long. School was hella stressful, and I ate my emotions then, something I still work on NOT doing now.

OTT wasn’t bad – we ate a variety of healthy foods, and felt good. (I didn’t exercise then, like I do now – that wouldn’t work on that low calorie count.) But it left little room for error, and no room for flexibility! It required counting calories and so much planning. And it definitely required (for me) the support of doing it with another person.

Gawd, what is the point of this long intro? To tell you that having food “rules”* (“eat this amount of calories or less a day!”) has NEVER worked for me, and never will. Not in the long run.

But these food rules are NEVER going to go away! Gah, I see these headlines/articles all the time now (that’s what inspired this post). “I’ve lost weight and kept it off because”:

• I limit myself to two full fat treats a week!
• I never have any added sugar!
• I don’t eat after 8:00 pm!
• I only eat between the hours of noon and 6:00 pm!
• I eat these exact macros!
• I don’t enjoy food! (ha)

Props if it works for someone to be that diligent and controlled, day after day. Really! I’m impressed. But I do NOT have it in me. I want to eat things I enjoy, in moderation. I want to have a bit of chocolate each day. I want to go out to eat a few times a month. I want to have popcorn at the movies!

And yes, I want to eat a mostly healthy diet, but the minute I start giving myself food rules, is the minute it becomes unsustainable for me.

View this post on Instagram

Sneak peek of the newest meal plan on the #JillianMichaelsApp 😂 go.jillianmichaels.com/app

A post shared by Jillian Michaels (@jillianmichaels) on Jul 7, 2017 at 7:52am PDT

I highly recommend following Jillian Michaels on Instagram!

*Yeah, I don’t count my vegan lifestyle as food rules. That’s just my lifestyle. 

Life

By kilax, March 27, 2018 6:27 am

Ughhhhhh, I was up at 3:00 am today with a bad headache. Again. This happened to me Friday night, and a few other times in the past month.

My first thought was, “NO! I have tickets to Pacific Rim Uprising tonight! This headache HAS to go away!” Ha. Priorities.

I took medicine and laid in bed with my ice pack, and it got worse. I did some soothing self talk to get through the pain (I know, I’m being so dramatic!): “you feel fine, Kim,” “it’s going to go away,” “you’ll get to workout today, and go to the movies!” Ha. Ha ha.

I finally fell asleep and woke up feeling better. But today is definitely going to be a day of avoiding headache irritants: scents (hence the title*), bright lights, noise (uh, minus the movie?), sugar, and too much screen time (not sure how that one works with working…).

When I was talking to Steven about it this morning, he said he bet my headache was from a pressure change, and that he had one too, before going to bed. He pulled up a pressure map from our weather station and asked what dates I had headaches on, to see if they corresponded to pressure changes.

Headaches on February 26, March 6, March 23, and March 27

Gosh, it sure looks like they do to me! The headache on February 26th was after a pressure increase (and a drink the night before), the one on March 6th was after a pressure drop (and hormonal), and then today’s was after a drop. The March 23rd one seems more random.

I don’t know why it feels so satisfactory to have this confirmed on a chart, when I’ve been aware of this pressure/headache correlation for some time. But maybe now that it is, I will GET BETTER about paying attention to upcoming weather changes and make sure to hydrate super well the day before and take medicine when I go to bed that evening. I knew it was going to be warmer and rainy today – I should have thought about this! Duh!

(However better I get about the weather portion of this, I am going to keep tracking my headaches, to watch their patterns and figure out other ways to avoid them.)

*I have a candle going 99% of the time when I work from home! I’ll burn one scent for a few hours, then blow that one out and burn another, then go back and forth like that all day!

Blogging, Fashion + Beauty, Life, Raves, Recipes + Food

By kilax, March 26, 2018 6:16 am

Well, my weekend started out AMAZING, because SEE TITLE ^^^

I was already stoked Anne was in town (for a Sunday race in the city) and we’d get to hang out Friday night, but then she shows up at our house with these beauties?!?!

OMG YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

They’re vegan donuts from Holey Toledough, in Toledo, OH. Anne stopped on her drive in to get them for me! Isn’t that sweet? (pun not intended, ha)

The flavors were cinnamon roll and blackberry hibiscus. Hands down, these are best donuts I’ve had this year. They’re yeast donuts (my preference over cake), and they got everything right – they were light and airy/fluffy, with great flavor, and the perfect amount of icing. I’ll be thinking about these donuts for some time to come. Yum.

State	Date	Name	Flavor	Rating (0-4)	Photo
Kansas	1/15/18	Mud Pie	Cake Chocolate Frosted
Illinois	2/7/18	Do-Rite	Chai Maple
Illinois	2/17/18	Holcomb Hollow	Lemon Vanilla
Ohio	3/23/18	Holey Toledough	Blackberry Hibiscus & Cinnamon Roll

And that was my entire weekend! Ha ha ha, I kid.

Before we indulged in donuts, Anne and I did her weekly long run together, yay! I stupidly dressed too cold, and the wind made me feel even worse. I don’t know what I was thinking. But I loved having all of that time to chat!!! <— duh, broken record, any time I get to run with a friend.

After our run (and donuts!), we made enchiladas for dinner,

then tried to watch Downsized. We almost made it to the end! What a neat idea for a movie. Too bad it never went anywhere.

Anne is one of Data’s favorite people to sit on

The weekend could only go downhill after that awesome Friday, right?

Ha, it kind of did. I woke up a little before 3:00 on Saturday with a headache, and could NOT fall back asleep. So I got up.

I worked on blog posts, rode my bike, read a little, tried to nap… then hung out with Anne when she got up, and left to teach fitness boxing (and go to Aldi) shortly thereafter.

When I returned home, I had to take a nap since I got less than four hours of sleep. I LOVE naps but I wanted to work on something for Steven and was not happy I was too exhausted to do so. Sigh.

While Anne was here, she told me about the Walmart Grocery app and I decided to give it a try for Sunday pickup, when I’d be near a Walmart. Imagine my surprise when I got a text during my run that my order was ready. On Saturday. Doh, I had requested the wrong date! I sped up and hurried home so I could go get the order during the window I asked for. I’m not sure if that matters or not, but I didn’t want to find out the hard way!

Pickup was hella easy, and I was impressed by the service (it’s free!). I will definitely use it again. I don’t like to shop, and really don’t like wandering around in (ANY) big box stores.

And they gave me a goodie bag with samples! Thanks to my lovely assistant for modeling it on the dining room table. Eyeroll. (He’s not supposed to be on the table, or counters, for that matter.)

Steven asked me why I hadn’t used it before – if I didn’t know about it. I did! I saw someone talking about it online, but all that person does is promote stuff, which makes me not see them as a valid source for reviews (seems insincere when every post is “this product/service is THE BEST EVER!”). I had to hear it from Anne. Sorry, internet marketing – I still use legit word of mouth.

Saturday night was chill! We watched a show and a movie and made dinner (pasta with sauce and meat-a-balls-a! <— have to say it that way).

I took NyQuil so that I would be able to fall back asleep whenever I woke up during the night, Saturday, and it worked! Hurrah!!!!

On Sunday I did my long run and was able to work on the thing I wanted to help Steven with. Yay!

I also got my manicure. Thank you to everyone who voted on the color. I did stick with blue, since it matches my singlet, but went a bit lighter, with “Gelato On My Mind.”

We felt like going out Sunday night (who are we?!) so we met Jen, Troy, and the kids for bowling. I was surprised at how busy the lanes were for a Sunday night. It was hectic! I felt like I couldn’t focus and my bowling was all over the place, but I still had fun.

Picture in which it does not look busy at all, ha

And we were still home and in bed by 9:20 pm! Win win! Ha.

I’ve been reading at night to help me fall asleep, and right now, I am reading Hanna Who Fell from the Sky, a novel about a young woman who lives in a polygamous town that she’s never left, and is about to turn eighteen and be married (to a man who has several wives and many children). Before her wedding, she meets a stranger who makes her think more seriously about things she’s been subconsciously questioning about the way of life in her community. I am curious to see how it ends! And I have just over a week before it’s due back at the library to do so! Ha.

Running + Training

By kilax, March 25, 2018 11:40 am

Highlight of the Week: Running with Anne!

Monday | March 19, 2018: 7 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: VP Woods Loop, Temp: 39°/40°, Time: 1:04:29, Pace: 9:12 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great!
Strength: body bars and resistance bands, Felt: great; loved that the students were having fun!
Tuesday | March 20, 2018: 11.2 m run (incl. 10 hill repeats)
Loc: Walmart Loop, Temp: 33°/32°, Time: 1:45:48, Pace: 9:27 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good until the end (wind got to me)
Wednesday | March 21, 2018: rest
Thursday | March 22, 2018: 15 m ride + 11 m run (incl. 2×2 tempo)
Indoor Ride Time: 58:28, Pace: 15.4 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great
Loc: VP Woods reverse loop, Temp: 40°/38°, Time: 1:40:46, Pace: 9:09 avg, Difficulty: mostly easy, Felt: really good!
Friday | March 23, 2018: teaching strength class + 1,218 yd swim + 7 m run (w/Anne)
Strength: body bars and resistance bands, Felt: good
Loc: FitNation, Time: 25:59, Pace: 2:08 min/100 yd, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: VP Woods, Temp: 36°/33, Time: 1:28:38, Pace: 12:39, Difficulty: easy, Felt: too cold
Saturday | March 24, 2018: 16 m ride + teaching fitness boxing + 3 m run
Indoor Ride Time: 1:02:15, Pace: 15.4 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Strength: ankle/hand resistance bands & gloves, Felt: good
Loc: hood, Temp: 37°/38°, Time: 25:33, Pace: 8:30 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Sunday | March 25, 2018: 12 m run
Loc: DPRT/Kilbourne Loop, Temp: 29°/31°, Time: 2:01:04, Pace: 10:05 avg, Difficulty: easy enough, Felt: fine

Notes:

• The theme of this week was WIND! All of my runs were windy. The wind irritated me during all of them. I know this is typical weather here, I’m just sick of hearing the wind in my ears, and feeling it pushing me around. Maybe I’ll get a break soon.
• Now that I have a new phone, I can start using Glympse again with Steven so he knows where the hell I am when I’m running (we don’t use find my friends or whatever that creepy app is called). I wasn’t using it before because it would drain my phone too much, but that is no longer an issue. Yay, safety!
• I got to run with Anne on Friday, yay! I/m so glad she came in early for her race and we got to hang out. And have a cold and windy run together, aww.
• I skipped intervals this week. See here and bullet #1 above. Ha.

Link to Training Week 439