Hello!
Well, my day off yesterday did not go as planned! We ran some errands in the afternoon and I was struck with really bad lower back pain– I think it is hormone related because I get it at certain times of the month on occasion. I spent most of the night on the couch with a heating pad (felt so good!), so we unfortunately didn’t get to go to Raw Aura or to a movie.
However, we did do a lot of Florida Road Trip planning!!!
It looks like our first destination after visiting my mom and stepdad, will be Miami and then Key West. We spent all of last night just looking at Key West and we aren’t even close to figuring out what we want to do yet! If anyone has been there and can offer some help with planning, we would greatly appreciate it. We are going to spend a night in Miami and 2 nights in Key West. We also booked a rental car- Eric found an awesome deal with Budget for 50% off. Score!
This morning I was happy to find that my back pain was 100% gone!
I got up early and baked some orders and then I had a delicious Green Monster:
Ingredients:
- 1 cup hemp milk
- 1 scoop Manitoba Harvest protein powder (Hemp Pro 70%)
- 1 T chia seeds
- 1 tablespoon cashew butter (whoooooooa yea)
- 3 steamed kale leaves
- 1 frozen banana
- 1 t maca powder
- ice ice baby
SO GOOD!!!!!
Then I hit the treadmill for a great interval run!
The workout:
- 3 min walking warm up
- 5 min running at 6 mph (10 min mile pace) at incline 5%
- 3 min running at 6 mph incline 1%
- repeat, repeat repeat for total of 2.5 miles run
- 5 min walking cool down
It felt great! As you may know, I took a very long break from running after my second half marathon (about 2.5 months!). Given my injury prone body I think it is important for me to take long running breaks to give my body a rest.
I have recently been easing myself back into it over the past couple weeks. I was surprised to find that my endurance with running has not really gone down as much as I thought it would. I think that is due to keeping up with really high intensity cardio workouts (treadmill hill workouts, mainly). I will be talking more about my goals for the next 2-3 months on the blog Monday!
Post workout and shower I downed two delicious Carrot Chia Spelt Muffins from yesterday:
mmmmmmm.
Then it was rush rush rush as we have not one, but two family get togethers today!
I brought along a vegan chickpea dish:
VERY easy. Chickpeas, chopped peppers and carrots with EVOO and red wine vinegar. Plus seasonings.
Two boxes of Glo Bars:
And gifts! Lots of birthdays in Jan/Feb in our family.
Thank goodness Eric is on call this weekend because I am blogging in the car right now!!
Oh a funny story- we were driving in the car and I reached to get my sunglasses out of my purse when I saw a HUGE, thick, super speedy spider in my purse!!!!!!!!! I freaked out. I made Eric take the next exit and pull over at a gas station so he could remove my purse from the car and then remove the spider. I have a HUGE fear of spiders and my anxiety was through the roof being trapped in the car with one by my feet! Thankfully Eric came to the rescue (after lots of laughing at me) and we were able to carry on with our trip! :mrgreen:
Onto family visit #1, then #2 shortly thereafter!
Enjoy your SUN-day!
Oh MY GOSH! I can’t believe I looked!! I was scared to click on the twitter link expecting a huge photo of a big hairy spider!!
I totally understand – I have a HUGE fear of spiders myself. Like, sometimes I feel they are crawling on me. I hate going into our garage or basement for fear of them being on everything I pick up!
EWWWW… I would have flipped too, and I’m not even afraid of spiders! Down this way, we get huge flying roaches, no matter how clean you keep your house or how often you fumigate–I once opened my cabinet to see one just chilling on the inside of the cabinet door. Wildlife definitely belongs OUTSIDE!
Have a great Sunday with the family!
I my house, we call them “pideys” LOL
BIG PIDEY!!!!!!!
Oh I would have FREAKED out, too. Ugh that’s such a horrible situation! Eeek!
So sorry your day off didn’t go as planned. Sounds like you got in some much needed relaxation, though :)
The road trip sounds so exciting!
Have fun today!
Your Florida trip sounds so exciting!!
Also, your chickpea dish looks delicious! So bright and colorful! I went to the store yesterday and REALLY wanted a red pepper but 1 red pepper was $2!!! I couldn’t justify it! I’ll just oogle yours!
I hate the fact that peppers whole as SO expensive. Even the green ones!
Where I live, organic red bell peppers were $2.49 USD last time I checked. But I still buy them on occasion because I like them and because I would easily spend that much on something else (e.g. a bag of chips or cookies).
We don’t buy organic peppers because they are so expensive :( I hate that about produce!
Oh. My. GOD. I would freak out if that happened to me!!! Eek!
That dish that you brought to the partay looks amazing– such beautiful colors and vibrance!!
Glad to hear that your back is feeling better….also, I can’t wait to hear more of your goals on Monday!
Yikes, spider in your purse!!! I would’ve freaked out too and probably end up throwing my purse out the window. yuck!!!!!
Glad you are feeling better and I also look forward to hearing your goals!!
You’re Florida trip is going to be exciting! Have fun!
Woah, a spider IN your purse?! Eeeeek!
Hearing about your Florida trip planning makes me anxious to plan our vacation for this summer!
Your chickpea dish looks awesome – I may have to duplicate it for our next family get together! Glad you had a great day off:)
I also took a 2 month break from running in November. I was supposed to run my first half but did something weird to my ankle and was advised by my (awesome,super smart) trainer not to run. I lost $60, but probably gained an important health and fitness lesson (and I am VERY stubborn when it comes to this sort of thing). Started back a few weeks ago, just doing a couple of t-mill sessions a week and am now running 3 and feeling great. I was also surprised by the fitness level I sustained even though I was off a regular training schedule. Cross training is great and especially with it being tough to get outdoors, it’s a good time to take advantage of other options so we’re ready for the warmer season! :)
Hmm that’s scary. I don’t know how you’d go from extreme back pain to no back pain! Please be careful! Maybe take a week off from exercise? You don’t want to further injure yourself. Pain can sometimes come and go, but it may be serious!! Be careful!
I am not scared of much but spiders seriously freak me out! And if one came out of my purse I might have had a heart attack!!
My bf is terrified of spiders. One day there was a huge piece of lint in our bed and I went to flick it off and he screamed, “What if it’s a SPIDER!!!!” It was soo funny. But in your purse??? How random. For some reason your chick pea soup reminded me of candy corn. Mmmm.
We rented a car with Budget when we drove down to Orlando earlier this month. We had 4 people and luggage and the car they gave us for mid-size was kinda small. Since it’s only you and Eric I don’t think sizing will be an issue but we had to upgrade to an SUV when we picked it up.
We got a great deal online though and then to upgrade was only $10/day so it all worked out.
Just to warn ya :)
I am also injury prone and it’s hard sitting it out, but good to know that it’s better for my body in the long run!
I can’t wait to hear about your goals- you are such an inspirational goal setter and getter!
I’m so jealous of you FL vacation planning. I’ve been wanting to visit Key West. Can’t wait to hear about it. Glad you had a great interval run!
I love your wrapping paper–so pretty! (I’m a sucker for a pretty wrapping job)
I love how your Things to Do & See list is largely restaurant/food based. The first thing I google when I plan a trip the US is the closest Whole Foods. Love US grocery shopping and having a chance to sample all the fab foods featured in all the blogs.