Life Lately (December 1)

Hi, everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Ryan, Charlie and I had a very relaxing Thanksgiving break. In all honesty, I enjoy Thanksgiving leftovers just as much as the Thanksgiving meal, or maybe even more since leftovers mean not having to meal plan and cook for several days! We still have so much turkey and stuffing left and I’m super excited to make stock from the turkey for soup later this week.

By Friday all the snow was melted! We took Charlie on another run and then left him at home as we finished three miles. This week has been absolutely spoiling for Charlie because he’s gotten to run three days this week! 

On Saturday we went window-shopping around downtown Valparaiso for Small Business Saturday. It seems like it was just yesterday that we were looking at engagement rings at Engstroms, a local jeweler, but that was Small Business Saturday last year! I’m ready for time to slow down a bit, since 2014 just flew by! 

This year the only place we bought anything was the local running store, Extra Mile Fitness. They had all running accessories on sale and we finally found a pair of running gloves that fit Ryan’s hands! Brooks Running makes great gloves that come in a wide range of sizes—and at a reasonable price as well. 

Meanwhile, I got a shirt similar to the one I received from the Valpo Half Marathon (recycled photo from my Instagram below). The shirt runs long and baggy on me, but makes for a great layer on top of one of my GapFit hoodies and beneath my running jacket for the really cold days (most of the days from now until March). 

This week it has been so cold that I wore two pairs of my GapFit running tights for running! Finally on Saturday it actually got above freezing, which felt absolutely glorious (and then was followed by way too humid and unseasonably warm weather on Sunday). My entire Christmas list is pretty much running clothes made for running outside in temperatures below freezing. I saw this Brooks jacket at our local running store which had amazing insulation but panels to allow areas where to sweat to breathe more. I’m getting more and more obsessed with their clothing because they make a lot of items for cold weather running with both insulation and increased reflectivity for extra visibility. 

I’m also obsessed with these new microfleece tights made for winter sports at Victoria’s Secret. I’ve had good luck with their tights because they have a long enough inseam to not leave my ankles bare and freezing (tall girl problems).

Even though it was cold for most of this week, I still got in a bunch of great runs this week! I’ve been trying to add more hills into my running to build leg strength and speed without burning myself out during the off-season.
Monday: 4 miles of mixed intervals on the treadmill (33:35, average pace 8:23/mile) plus 20 minutes of core and lower body strength training
Tuesday: 5 miles on the treadmill with 20 minutes at tempo pace (7:53/mile)
Wednesday: 5 miles on rolling hills (42:10, average pace 8:26/mile) plus one untimed mile with Charlie
Thursday: 2 easy miles with Ryan and Charlie before our Thanksgiving meal
Friday: 3 miles on rolling hills with Ryan (33:22, 11:06/mile average pace)
Saturday: 8 miles with some gentle hills (1:10:40, 8:50/mile average pace)
Total of 28 miles

Question of the Day:
How was your weekend? Did you go shopping on Black Friday or Small Business Saturday?
What’s on your running Christmas list?