Wellness Wednesday...Ep. 13

Happy Wednesday!  I'm so glad that this week has hit the half way mark!  Tomorrow is my last day for the week, so I'm looking forward to some me time in the sewing room.  Anyways...on to a recap of the past week's fitness plan.  Here goes:

• Wednesday: 2-3 mile run rest
• Thursday: yoga 2.75 mile run plus 1 hour yoga class
• Friday: 3 mile run rest
• Saturday: bike or rest rest
• Sunday: 3-4 mile run 3.7 mile run
• Monday: rest rest
• Tuesday: yoga (and maybe a run) 3.2 mile run (treadmill) and 1 hour yoga class

Fairly happy with how the week went, made adjustments as needed as I went along.  I changed up the running plan a bit, but it worked out for the best, because after my run on Sunday I was already looking forward to the next one!  I've had to move my weekday runs to the treadmill, mainly because the weather is starting to turn to the warm here, and I'm really not conditioned for that right now.  I plan on keeping the weekend run outdoors, but during the week to aim for the treadmill (unless we have a cool front come through).  Additionally after much thought, I'm just sticking to my previous training plan, with some modifications of course!  I use this app on my phone to help me plan out my runs, but I've not been so good with following through on the cross training days.  Also the app has on the schedule 2 running days in a row, and I just can't do that.  My body does not like running back to back.  All of this is ok, and makes me glad that I feel comfortable enough to adjust the training plan to suit my needs.  With the addition of yoga to my weekly plans, I really feel that I am getting some cross training benefit from it plus I'm getting in some good stretching!  I still would prefer to add the bike at least once a week, but this all happens one day at a time!  And now on to this week's plan:

• Wednesday: rest
• Thursday: 3 mile run and yoga
• Friday: bike
• Saturday: 4 mile run
• Sunday: rest
• Monday: yoga
• Tuesday: 3 mile run and yoga

For the month of May my yoga studio is adding in a new Yoga Barre class on Monday's, and I'm really excited to try it out!  I'll talk more about the yoga classes I've been taking next week.  Until then, hope you have a great week!

keeping busy...sort of

Just dropping in to share a few pics and update the status of some projects!  (ok..one project...but we'll get to that).

Up first...I FINALLY got my X and Plus quilt quilted!

and now it's waiting for me to add binding to it...because as soon as I finished quilting it...I had to stop what I was doing and make this:

a new Supertote for my baby girl.  and now a view of the inside:

She went out of town last week (got home Sunday) and well...she needed a new bag for the bus...so who was I to disagree???  So I got her on the road traveling a bit handmade:

and not pictured is the laundry bag I made her over a year ago that was packed in the duffle I made her last Spring. 

and now project status...as in my ALYoF April goal...yeah...haven't touched it!  And considering there is only 1 more day left in the month, I'm going to have to say that it's just not happening for me this month!  I may carry this one over to May, or I might figure something else out!

Wellness Wednesday...Ep. 12

WOW!  So last week I was applauding myself for staying close to target, well it all went to pieces after that!  But it was Spring Break, so no major issue there!  Here is how it all worked out (plan in black, what I did in red):

• Wednesday: Rest Rest
• Thursday: something (I may run or I may cross train, I may take another yoga class) I hiked all over an amusement park for 5 hours and then went up about 4 flights of stairs about 20 times at an indoor waterpark...aka...cross training
• Friday: 3 mile run more cross training of the stair type
• Saturday: 30 min bike rest after all the cross training
• Sunday: 4 mile run rest
• Monday: Rest rest
• Tuesday: 3 mile run 1 hour yoga class

I'm still working out how I plan to proceed with my running plan.  Right now I'm just looking a week at a time.  The more I read about running and the training process, the more I am leaning towards developing my own plan as a hybrid of others.  Big thing...I'm keeping on the yoga!  I want to take yoga class twice a week, but it hasn't worked out that way the past few weeks, so I want to improve that area.  The class schedule will be changing a bit next month, so we'll see how it all works out. 

One area that I've been trying to really work on is my eating habits, I've been really not pleased with how I've been eating the past few months, so I'm trying to really clean that up.  So I'm trying to strike a balance on eating well and working out regularly.  When I concentrate on one more than the other...well it gets all out of whack!

Here is this week's plan:

• Wednesday: 2-3 mile run
• Thursday: yoga
• Friday: 3 mile run
• Saturday: bike or rest
• Sunday: 3-4 mile run
• Monday: rest
• Tuesday: yoga (and maybe a run)

So that's that!  I've actually done some sewing lately, just haven't got around to blogging it yet! 

Wellness Wednesday...Ep. 11

Happy Wednesday!  We (and by we I mean the kiddo) are on Spring Break this week, so I've actually only been working half-days to kind of hang out with her in the afternoons.  Which I would have thought to be a bit of a challenge to getting my workouts in...but so far so good!

Here is how the past week has gone (plan vs. what I actually did in Red):

• Wednesday: Rest (I did yard work) rest/yardwork
• Thursday: Yoga Yoga - 1 hour class
• Friday: 3 mile run 2.69 miles...it was terrible!
• Saturday: 30 min bike rest
• Sunday: 3-4 mile run 4.3 mile run!
• Monday: Rest rest
• Tuesday: Yoga 3.35 mile run followed by a 1 hour yoga class!  (OH YEAH!!)

What a crazy week!  That run on Friday was absolutely miserable!  Nothing felt good (except the last like 1/2 mile, but I wasn't willing to go any further to test how it felt, so called it early), I was just plain unhappy.  This followed a not so great time at yoga class on Thursday, I didn't do a good job of releasing all of my tension, so I left the class feeling a bit unsettled.  Because of how rotten I was feeling, I didn't do anything on Saturday (well a little more yardwork, but nothing major).  Thankfully everything turned around for me by Sunday.  Sunday's run and yesterday's run went great.  And then to follow up yesterday's run with a great yoga class...BONUS!  I was having a few issues with my hip cramping a bit, so the teacher gave me a couple of stretches to do instead of the pose the rest of the class was working on and those stretches helped tremendously.  I am so glad that I am able to take yoga classes a short distance from my house and that the teachers are just the best! 

Anywho...I talked about coming up with a new training plan for this fall's half marathon last week.  And I'm still working on that.  I plan on doing some more reading and research, but I'm really thinking I'm just going to develop my own...which is going to be pretty similar to the one I used before my last half...but with a few changes.  I'll fill you in on that more next week!  And now for this week's plan:

• Wednesday: Rest
• Thursday: something (I may run or I may cross train, I may take another yoga class)
• Friday: 3 mile run
• Saturday: 30 min bike
• Sunday: 4 mile run
• Monday: Rest
• Tuesday: 3 mile run

I am going to go ahead and say that this plan may change in the next few hours or days...it is Spring Break after all!

not a quilt...

I had such a stack of things to choose from to sew on over the weekend...and I ignored the whole stack and only spent about 1 hour actually sewing anything...and that was this Boxy Pouch:

I followed this fantastic tutorial at Kelby Sews.  It was so easy to follow!  I think it took more time to pick out the fabrics, get them cut and add interfacing than it did to sew this pouch together.  I trimmed down a 18" zipper to use and I added one layer of Pellon SF101 to the exterior fabric.  On the interior, I added Pellon Vinyl Fuse to make the inside easier to clean in case of spills.  I can definitely see myself making many more!

where to start...

Walked into my sewing room with zero plans other than to sew...and here is what greeted me:

and now I have no idea where to start first..time to dig in!

Wellness Wednesday...Ep.10

Happy Wednesday!  The weather has been gorgeous here and we have spent all day doing yard work!  So let's do a quick check in on last week:

• Wednesday: Rest rest
• Thursday: Yoga yoga (1 hr class)
• Friday: 20-30 min bike Rest
• Saturday: 2-3 mile run 3 mile run (woohoo!)
• Sunday: Rest rest
• Monday: 20-30 min bike rest
• Tuesday: 3 mile run and Yoga 3 mile run

Not too shabby!  It felt great to get back to some running.  I'm really just taking it easy for a few weeks, build the endurance back up slowly so I don't overdo the foot.  So far no real issues with the previous overuse injury, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to increase the mileage after another week.  Yoga has been great, I'm sad I didn't get to go to class yesterday, but I'll be going tomorrow.  Tuesday and Thursday will be yoga days for me for as long as they offer classes in the afternoon/evening on those days.

I've also started doing research on what training plan I would like to use for my next half-marathon (scheduled in November).  I'm doing some reading and I'll make a decision by next week.  No rush though...got some time before I really have to get back into the training mode.  

Here's this week's plan:

• Wednesday: Rest (I did yard work)
• Thursday: Yoga
• Friday: 3 mile run
• Saturday: 30 min bike
• Sunday: 3-4 mile run
• Monday: Rest
• Tuesday: Yoga

Catch y'all later!

Wellness Wednesday...Ep.9

Happy Wednesday!  So...yeah...well...let's get straight to it, here was the plan:

• Wednesday: Rest rest
• Thursday: 30 mins bike rest
• Friday: 20 min walk rest
• Saturday: 30 mins bike rest
• Sunday: 2-3 mile run rest
• Monday: Rest rest
• Tuesday: 2-3 mile run YOGA!!

Big fail (in a way)...but I'm calling it all good...because yesterday was AMAZING!  I took my very first Yoga class...EVER!  And it was FANTASTIC!  I'm so excited to go back and take more classes!  A studio has recently opened (like opened yesterday) that is only a few minutes from my house and I went to take a class yesterday just to try it out...and now I'm going back tomorrow!

On the injury front...my left foot is still not 100%, but is much better, so I'm going to hopefully start running again in the next few days.  Zombie toe is about 90% better, so all is going well on that front.

So here is this week's plan:

• Wednesday: Rest
• Thursday: Yoga
• Friday: 20-30 min bike
• Saturday: 2-3 mile run
• Sunday: Rest
• Monday: 20-30 min bike
• Tuesday: 3 mile run and Yoga

Catch ya later!

ALYoF - April Goal

I had to think a bit on what to set as my goal for April for A Lovely Year of Finishes.  I've got quite a stack of quilt tops that would love to be quilted and finished, I have a couple of quilts in pieces waiting for me to pick them back up and turn them into a quilt top, I've got about a bazillion future quilts in my head...in the end I decided that I want to FINALLY get a quilt on my own bed!  So my April goal is to finish this quilt:

I originally started it back in June 2011, intending for it to be a Summer quilt for my bed, but only succeeded in making the blocks. I've picked it up here and there and added a row, or pieced a few blocks together, but it wasn't until December of last year that I really got to work on it.  And now, it needs a few borders added (already have the fabric for them), I need to figure out what I'm going to back it in (no clue on this one), and then it's time to get it quilted (It will be the largest quilt I've ever quilted) and on my bed!