Life Lately and Weekly Workouts (January 12)

Hello, everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Even though last week went by so fast, it was nice to have a break!

Of course, this weekend had to include chocolate chip oatmeal pancakes.

Over this past week we have been obsessing over job possibilities, finding dream jobs, where to move, and so on. Seattle, Portland, or Saint Louis seem to be likely areas for our careers (product design engineering for Ryan, marketing/writing/editing for me), and we’ve heard from a few places, but nothing is anywhere certain yet. 

Meanwhile, winter weather hit Valpo and reminded me in part why we’re looking to move. This was our weather this week:

Needless to say, I made best friends with our treadmill this week. I beat the repetitive nature of five treadmill runs in one week by blasting Taylor Swift and pretending that I was running on a trail in Seattle. Anytime the wind chill is below zero I am not running outside! Not to mention the fact that everything was covered in several inches of snow. As I write this, even more snow is coming down. 

This little thing came in the mail this week:

I did Pilates again for the first time in a while this week. Pilates is so much harder than yoga or even traditional core work, in my opinion. I was sore after this! 

Charlie loves to do yoga and Pilates with me.

After spending two weeks using my parents’ kitchen, we became obsessed with all the ceramic pots and pans my mom has. We bought a ceramic pot this week and I’ve already used it at least 15 times. It makes the best oatmeal and is easy to clean. I’m such a cookware geek and this is hands-down one of my favorite pieces now (although my KitchenAid mixer will always, always be my all-time favorite).

This week was the first week since half marathon training that I ran over 30 miles. It felt so good to amp up my mileage a bit! I’m hoping to build up to 40 miles a week by the end of winter, even if most of it ends up being on the treadmill or in the snow.

This week’s workouts:
Monday: 7 miles easy on the treadmill, 8:34/mile pace and I added in some small rolling hills with a 0.5-2.5% incline. Afterwards I did 15 minutes of yoga and Pilates. 
Tuesday: 7 miles fartlek on the treadmill, with 10 x 1 min hard (7:00/mile) and 2 min easy. I averaged a 8:14/mile pace and then did some yoga and foam-rolling.
Wednesday: 5 miles easy on the treadmill with some hills (up to 3.5% incline), 8:57/mile pace, plus 15 minutes of strength training.
Thursday: 20 minutes of yoga and 25 minutes of Pilates.
Friday: 8 miles on the treadmill, 1-2.5% incline, 8:39/mile average pace, followed by some yoga, squats, and planks.
Saturday: 4 miles on the treadmill, steady state progression (from 8:34/mile to 7:56/mile), 8:10/mile average pace.
Weekly total: 31 miles

Question of the Day:
How was your week?
Do you run on the treadmill more in winter?