Road Warrior Kitchen: Chopped Veggies in Dressing

Here is the thing. We already know we should eat more vegetables and that it's good for us both as regular people with bodies and as runners. But if you are like me, you don't necessarily default to vegetables. That means that when we are extra tired or busy or annoyed with the world or we forgot to buy groceries this week, vegetables are probably the first to go.

Over the years, though, I've found some strategies for getting back on the veggie bandwagon when I don't necessarily feel like just crunching on raw celery sticks; today The Road Warrior Kitchen is bringing you one of them.

Consider the watermelon radish

You may be thinking, "But Angela, chopping vegetables is not a recipe. Everyone already knows about chopping vegetables and some people even do it regularly."

True enough, friend. Everyone knows about chopping vegetables; not everyone knows how to make chopped vegetables delicious and attractive and if you have not yet mastered that voodoo I am here to help.

(Repost:) Please Stop with the Fitness Tips for the Holidays

(It is that time of year again, so reposting this seemed appropriate. Enjoy. :) )

* * *

It looks like a smile, but it's really a scream for help. PUT THE FREE WEIGHTS DOWN, CINDY.

Seriously. You are making the rest of us so, so sad for you.

I don't know how to tell you this, but every time you start listing practical tips for staying fit & healthy during the holidays, everyone is laughing at you and definitely not taking notes.

Here is a list of real-ass "helpful holiday fitness tips" I have actually heard or read over the past week or so that have made me throw up a bit in my mouth with embarrassment for those doling them out:

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

In addition to maintaining your normal exercise schedule, squeeze in an extra workout or two whenever you can. You know, in all that extra free time you have around the holidays. Bring your free weights to office meetings. Do laps around the cell phone lot as you wait for loved ones at the airport. The possibilities are endless. (I prefer wine aerobics and cookie yoga, myself.)

After a midday holiday meal, convince your friends & family to go for a fun, festive post meal jog or walk. GODDDDD please don't be this person. Please. You want to go for a fun, festive calorie-burning walk/run? By all means go for it. But please don't attempt to browbeat the rest of us who kind of just want to sit on our asses and shoot the shit with a glass of whiskey with people we only ever get to see once a year. Don't be that guy/gal.

Before you go to a party, decide ahead of time to limit yourself to three bites, three cookies, your three favorite foods, etc. and stick to it. Yes, limit yourself. To three bites, or three cookies, your three favorite foods, three foods of each color, three plates of food, three foods that remind you of each person at the party, three vats of artificially colored cookie frosting, etc. Again, the possibilities are endless. You do you.

Buy a low-fat, low-sugar eggnog and skip the alcohol to save calories per cup. Or, you could skip directly to stabbing yourself in the throat. :D

Enlist a fitness-minded friend or family member to be your holiday exercise buddy! Look. Those of us who want any kind of exercise buddy probably already have one. Those of us who don't want you to stop talking about this because you're making it weird for everyone.

Instead of baking cookies or playing board games, pass the time with an active pursuit like snowshoeing, hiking, or building snowmen or igloos. Recent studies show that holiday board games are definitely, DEFINITELY a leading cause of the Obesifying Of America^TM. Probably also terrorism. GET OUT THOSE SNOWSHOES, PEOPLE.

Instead of mulled red wine, make mulled cider. You save the calories not only from the alcohol in the wine, but also from the added sugar, since cider is naturally sweet. You know what makes cider 'naturally sweet'? FUCKING SUGAR. See also: Stabbing oneself in the throat.

Instead of dark meat slathered in gravy, choose lower-fat white meat without the skin and enjoy it with just a drizzle of gravy made with defatted pan juices, dry white wine, and low-sodium chicken broth. If you come to my holiday dinner and start talking about 'defatted pan juices,' we are so over. SO. OVER.

Bring your own healthy snacks to the holiday party. Yes, please totally be that sad person sitting in the corner eating celery sticks and homemade GMO-free hummus out of your sad little tupperware while you gaze longingly at your Three Favorite Foods. It won't be weird or awkward for ANYONE, TRUST ME.

Skip the baking; you probably eat more cookies while baking. Fuck that noise. You wanna bake? Fucking bake. YOU BAKE THE SHIT OUT OF THOSE FESTIVE HOLIDAY COOKIES AND EAT AS MANY AS YOU WANT. You baddass motherfucker, you.

Invite holiday vacation visitors to join you at the gym or a favorite exercise class. No. NO. NOOOOOO. Trust me; they do not not NOT want you to do this. HOLIDAY. VACATION. Look it up.

Do some yard work. What?

Lace up your sneakers and powerwalk between holiday errands at the mall. This is definitely not the saddest, most depressing thing related to exercise I've ever heard. Definitely, definitely not. (See also: stabbing in the throat.)

When traveling for the holidays, bring along a favorite fitness DVD and yoga mat. ARE. YOU. JOKING.

Eat and chew slowly. Take a second to savor each bite of baked brie or scoop of spiced nuts! Oh, so it's not enough that I'm packing my own fitness DVD and drinking sad teetotaler eggnog and powerwalking the mall between murdering children errands, now I have to monitor my chew-rate? IS THERE SOME KIND OF APP FOR THAT???!?!?

Turn away from temptation by facing away from the dessert spread. Don't worry, your chew-monitoring app probably also comes with DessertCompass^TM.

Choose a tall, skinny glass instead of a short, squat one; you'll drink less. Ha. Hahaha. Hahahahahaha wanna bet? (Or, maybe your chew-monitoring app also comes with CupChooser^TM.)

Sneak puréed veggies into baked goods in place of butter or oil. Bitch, I will straight-up cut you.

When baking [IF YOU MUST], try subbing half the flour with whole-wheat flour to increase the fiber, which fills you up faster & makes you feel fuller longer. You guys, sorry to be the killer of dreams, but I have spent way too much time sitting in a sports nutritionist's office and the whole wheat flour thing is 90% bullshit.

Stand up to "food pushers" -- Just say no, over and over and over again! Is this, like, the grown-up equivalent of the war on drugs? You would actually think it's that serious, based what WebMD has to say about the matter: "Despite your best laid plans, your holiday food goals can still go awry thanks to 'food pushers' – friends, family members, and co-workers who refuse to take 'no' for an answer when they're offering fattening treats. These are the people who, for whatever reason, seem to believe that their holiday celebration just isn't complete until they get you to give in to their food weaknesses.' YOU GUYS, DON'T GIVE IN TO THEIR FOOD WEAKNESSES, NOOOOOOO! J/K, you eat WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU WANT, you baddass motherfucker.

(RealTalk: OK, sure, I agree that this is SUPER weird behavior that some people definitely engage in, but it's not limited to the holidays, and part of being a grown-ass adult is learning how to politely say 'No thank you' with a lovely smile plastered on your face when a thing is not your jam. So, like, stop making it weird, WebMD. This is not about Teh Holidayzzz or getting fat.)

Instead of trying to squeeze exercise into your schedule, take other things out. Like parties. And alcohol. And baking. And free-form chewing. Basically, anything that might bring you joy for half a second.

Skip the savory finger foods, creamy dips, and fried canapés, help yourself to a small handful of nuts, reduced-fat cheese and fresh fruit, or chilled shrimp. I have an idea, what if you helped yourself to whatever the fuck you felt like eating and didn't make a big deal out of it?

Honestly, you want my tips for staying fit & healthy during the holiday (AND I THINK YOU DO)?

• Eat like a normal person most of the time & have a tasty holiday treat or two when you goddamn feel like it.
• Do your normal exercise when you can but do not feel bad & flagellate yourself if you are sometimes too busy kissing under the mistletoe or slapping under the slappy spider or just feel like today you're more interested in wine/pie/polishing off that whiskey advent calendar.
• Stop talking about it like it's a thing. Everyone is laughing at you.

It is once again time to make fun of Pinterest.

Before we get to the main event today, I thought I would just mention that yes, I am still love love LOVING running right now & basically want to do it all the time. I ran 183 miles in July and could have run even more if I weren't restraining myself for the sake of not getting hurt before my CIM training even starts. I have run more than that in a consecutive 30 day period a few times in the last couple of years, but I have been logging miles in RunningAhead since 2011 & the closest I've ever come to running that much in one calendar month was October 2011 at 178 miles. Here's hoping that my enthusiasm & free time continues to cooperate between now and December 4.

But enough about that. Friends, the time has once again come to paste some dumb fitspo / runspo into a blog post and examine the wisdom therein.

Round 1

Round 2

I will skip the part where Jillian Michaels tells you how to lose 5-8 POUNDS THIS WEEK!!! by drinking nothing but kale juice and despair and jump directly to the hilarity.

(You're welcome.)

Pithy Quote:

Real Talk: False. If you're in the middle of a tough training cycle and think you might feel a niggling injury coming on, for example, this is EXACTLY the question you should be asking. If you are signed up for a marathon this weekend and come down with the flu on Friday, this is EXACTLY the thought that should be running through your head (for about two seconds before you remember you're not a complete moron). There are times when you probably shouldn't be running, even if you want to or are "supposed" to, and doing it anyway doesn't make you "hardcore" or "baddass" or whatever; it just makes you kind of an idiot who can't think beyond the short-term.

Pithy Quote:

Real Talk: Why would you even say this? This is not a thing people are worried about. Like, I could see a hat that was all, "No lady ever got so ripped she looked like a man from lifting weights two hours a week," because that is a thing that, although equally impossible, some people are actually worried about. But drowning in sweat? No. No one is worried about that.

(Also, gross. Why would you even bring up that image?)

Pithy Quote:

Real Talk: Look. A, you don't have to "suck it in." And B, if the implication here is that having to "suck it in" means you're not skinny, I've got some news for you. Plenty of hardcore, baddass people in this world "suck it up" early & often & are not skinny. And finally C, if all your chosen form of physical activity is for you is something you have to "suck up," then maybe it's not the right form of exercise for you & you should look for something different that you actually, like, enjoy.

Pithy Quote:

Real Talk: I've said it before and I will say it again: Quitting the right things at the right times is a life skill that all adults should seek to master. It's not a character flaw. (I also just kind of have beef with the phrase 'character flaw.' If you tend to quit at the wrong times or refuse to quit at the right times, maybe it's something you should reflect & work on in your life, but 'character flaw' has an unfortunate note of finality about it.)

Pithy Quote:

Real Talk: If something hurts every morning you are doing it wrong. Seek professional help plzthnx.

Pithy Quote:

Real Talk: It's...I just....what?

Pithy Quote:

Real Talk: What does this even mean? How do you forget your are running? Is that actually a thing? Does this happen to people?

And speaking of beginnings...

Pithy Quote:

Real Talk: I understand the sentiment, here, but let me just say, I have done some damn fine living nestled right inside my comfort zone. Mostly involving brunch and/or wine.

(Seriously, though, so much love for whoever straight up pinned this recipe for banana split bites right up in the 'Health & Fitness' feed. Sir or Madame, you are my spirit animal.)

Pithy Quote:

Real Talk: FALSE. I tried this once and it turns out that if you throw all your bills in the trash you actually end up losing some stuff you might want like electricity and running water and your car and your house.

Pithy Quote:

Real Talk: What the actual f***? Are you a runner or a terrible high school poet? LESS TALKING MORE DOING.

(Also, running until you cry and/or collapse = doing it wrong. Like. Really wrong.)

Pithy Quote:

Real Talk: Stop when I'm tired? *When*?? Bitch, I can't REMEMBER the last time I wasn't tired. How does tired even enter into it? If I stopped when I was tired I'd spend the afternoon passed out on the couch every damn day. Shit.

Any other awful Pinterest memes/fitspo you'd like me to mock? I'm here all week.

Tips for training while traveling....

I was on the road last week for work, which is always a bit of a challenge when I'm in the midst of some kind of training jiggery-pokery. I think I did a pretty decent job this time, so I thought since I don't have much else to post about right now I'd write about it. I'm sure there are a billion posts like this out there on the internet, but as the Marines say, "There are many like it; this one is mine." As always, your mileage may vary (hahahaha), but maybe someone out there in blog-land might find it helpful one day.

1) I plan ahead. This is non-negotiable for me. If I go on a trip without an actual plan for getting the miles in, almost guaranteed it's not going to happen (or at least not to the extent that it should). This week of travel has been on my calendar for a year and I knew more or less what the schedule would be, so I was able to do some strategizing ahead of time. This meant I didn't have to figure out when, where, & how much I would run on the fly.

For this trip, I knew that I would have a reliable chunk of time each day between 4:00 and 6:30. Monday was my post-long run rest day and Friday I'd be on a plane, so I planned an afternoon run for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Inland SoCal in July tends to be triple digits for a lot of the day, so I planned for treadmill runs. (Thankfully I was staying in the same familiar hotel at always, so I knew the 'mill situation was reliable.)

This was not the hottest day.

2) I set reasonable expectations. Yes, there are trips where it's possible for me to get in exactly what I would have done at home, but they're rare. Over the years I've learned that instead of vowing that I will get up early, research nearby trails, find a public track to drive to, and/or somehow carve out 3-4 free hours for a long run & then beating myself up for not making it happen, I focus on being realistic with my expectations--what I can I absolutely, definitely do without too much extra effort? What can I probably do with a little extra effort?

This past week, I knew my 4-6:30 window was good for a nice chunk of running, but also that it would be following what tend to be intense, draining days, and that I'd also need to have the energy for 6:30-8:00ish dinner meetings afterward. Since I'd just had three 40+ weeks in a row, the timing was right for a cut-back week anyway, so I decided that I could easily run 5 miles in that window, with plenty of time leftover for decompressing/catching up on email before and showering/getting ready for dinner afterwards. With a 6/14 weekend scheduled for when I got home, three 5-mile runs on the road was a) perfect, mileage-wise and b) completely doable.

3) I put on running clothes at the first opportunity. This week I've been getting back to my hotel around 3:45 each day & immediately changing into running clothes before I sit down for 30-45 minutes of catching up on email/other work/general internet decompressing. Then when I'm done, all I have to do is walk out the door. It's an easy thing that makes a big difference at a time of day when I'm not always feeling super high energy.

We meet again, old friend.

4) I tell people ahead of time. I mean. I don't tell them apropos of nothing; just, if people are discussing plans, when we'll be available for various things, etc., I'll just put it out there that "Hey, I'm planning to do my run between ___ and ___, so I can definitely do/check on/deal with [x] before or after if that works." This means that I'm not tempted to interrupt my run or cut it short because I'm stressing about getting back to my computer to check email/do work thing because someone might be waiting for me to do something.

(Note: When I was younger/newer in my career, this kind of boundary-setting was SUPER uncomfortable and scary, but as I've gotten older, more experienced, and just better at boundary-setting in general, it's no big deal. Though jobs are different and I get not everyone will have this luxury. It's also a great tactic for social trips as well, though)

And, I think maybe that's it? Almost always that's enough for a successful travel/training adventure for me. Other tricks I've occasionally employed when necessary include:

• Getting up early (uuuugggghhhh).
• Staying up late (UUUUUGGGGHHHH).
• Sleeping in running clothes when I know I need to get up for a repulsively early run. (Yes, I've done it. Don't judge me.)
• Shoe-horning in short doubles when the schedule doesn't permit much else (ie, 3-4 miles in the a.m. & 3-4 more in the evening). Not ideal, but better than nothing.
• Bailing on social-type work events that are not strictly required (again there's "required" and required and jobs work differently so YMMV).
• Doing an easy run of equal mileage if the treadmill/road/trail situation makes a speed/tempo workout kind of sketchy.
• In the event of a weekend trip, moving my long run to another day (ie, Friday), and/or running a bunch of days in a row so that I can take said weekend as two back-to-back rest days.
• Trying to run big weeks before & after & just accept the fact that it's going to be a rest/massive cut-back week & it's not the end of the world.

People have also suggested to me finding a short local race nearby to motivate you on at least one day, or contacting a local running group to see if they have any group runs you could join, but I've never successfully done either of these because a) it seems like a lot of extra work/travel when I'm probably already pressed for time and b) I don't really like people. (Kidding. Sort of. #introvert.)

Have you tried any of these? Any other travel/running tips out there? I am always looking to build my repertoire!

What's In My Race Bag: Local Edition

If you've ever read blogs written by ladies with nice-looking toenails (lololol), there was a "What's In My Purse?" blog post meme going around a while back. In celebration of the fact that by the time you read this I'll probably (hopefully??) have my first race of 2016 under my belt, I'm playing the distance runner version: What's In My Race Day Bag?

Today's race is a 10K ~45 minutes or so away, so this is the local edition. (I think we can all agree that things get a bit more complex if you're overnighting in exoticccc landzzz.) Keep an eye out for a separate post as we get closer to Eugene!

• Road ID. I finally broke down & got one of these a few years ago when I won a gift certificate in a local race. Honestly I've read/heard enough upsetting stories about unfortunate events related to running alone that I really should have done it a long time ago. WHAT'S STOPPING YOU? Seriously, go buy a Road ID or similar right now. They're actually super cheap & will give everyone in your life a little extra peace of mind.

• Garmin. Like, duh. Except not, actually, given that I drove halfway to a 10-mile race last summer before I realized I'd forgotten a Garmin.
  

• Albuterol inhaler. I have exercise-induced asthma, but these days as long as I use my inhaler before running, I almost never have problems. Every now and then, though, I have an attack while or after running, and that's definitely a situation where I absolutely do NOT want to get caught without the inhaler.

• Body Glide. Also probably not surprising.

• Sunscreen. No one likes skin cancer.
  
  Currently loving ThinkSport. SPF 50+, nice consistency, smells good, & free of all the nasty ingredients you often find in the bigger brands.

• Toilet paper. TRUST NO PORT-A-POTTY! Last summer at that same 10-mile race, my spare roll of TP saved at least a dozen runners from certain disaster.

• Sunglasses. I'd always rather have them and not need them than vice versa.

• Cap. I usually throw a cap on if it's hot, sunny, or raining. Again--rather have and not need than vice versa.
  
  Fav.

• Hair bands & clips. Never hurts to have extras!

• Safety pins. Races nearly always have these available and I don't think I've ever actually needed to break into my stash, but it makes me feel better somehow to bring them.

• Post-race clothes. At a local race, I usually don't really change after--just throw on a dry T-shirt if it's hot, or a warm-up jacket and maybe pants if it's cold. But, every now and then I've finished a race really desperate to get into fresh dry clothes (especially if it's not a quick drive home), so I'd definitely rather have them & not need them than vice versa. (If it's more than an hour home, I usually prefer to do future passengers in my car a solid & change instead of marinating in my stink while it seeps into the upholstery.)
  

• Plastic bags. Like I said, sometimes wet, nasty things need to get off your body like NOW.

• Hand towels. I like to be able to towel myself off after & one never knows what will be available for this purpose at the finish.

• Flip flops. I like to have them handy in case I just cannot even with shoes post-race. Sorry not sorry. (Though actually, I almost never put them on.)
  

• Lacrosse balls. Sometimes my legs get really angry post-race and I just know that getting in my car & sitting for a while isn't going to end well.

• Kinesio Tape. Just in case!
  

• Water bottle. Most races have water available in some form at the start, but not always, so I don't count on it.

• Chemical ice packs. I started bringing ice packs to races after my first marathon when I finished desperate to ice my hip and there was like a 45 minute wait for ice packs in the med tent. I've never used one but I've also never worried about it.
  

• Tylenol. Sometimes this is nice to have post-race. (Anti-inflammatories make tendons and ligaments weaker & stops muscles from getting stronger so things like Ibuprofen are maybe not the best choice for post-race or workout. Or, like, ever, if you're trying to get faster & stronger.)

• Post-race snack. If I finish at, say, 10:00am and wait around say half an hour for the result and then drive say an hour back home, odds are good I might actually kill the first person I encounter in SF in a fit of hanger, so again, this is really all for the benefit of mankind in general. (Some races have post-race snacks which I definitely appreciate, but sometimes you don't know for sure or you don't know how you're going to feel about what they have.)
  
  Current favorite. I love these things & buy them by the crate!

What's in your bag when you're racing relatively close to home?

I go to PT, again.

I was super happy that UCSF was able to book me with the therapist I was seeing back when I had all my hip problems in 2013. He's the head of the department so sees fewer patients & is harder to schedule, but he also happens to be the guy that knows about running, so my doctor wanted me to see him specifically.

We started out as usual with all the basic mobility assessments where he watched me walk, run, squat, balance/hop on one leg, etc., then did some strength testing where he pushed and pulled on my legs in various ways while I tried to resist. The good news is that he said overall my strength is good and my movement/mobility is improved from 2013.

The bad news is that basically my entire left side is clearly significantly weaker than the right--hamstrings, hips, glutes, and wrapping around to my right lats. (Apparently it's kind of like how the left side of your brain controls the right eye & vice versa--the upper body muscles that help stabilize the pelvis/upper leg are on the opposite side. Like if you push off & back with your left leg, it's your right lats/upper core that resists the rotation & helps you balance.) Sometimes those imbalance things are a little tricky to tease out and determine, but this was just so immediately obvious in every strength test he did, even to me.

Before we started I told him about my theory regarding my left foot & how striking wrong & not engaging my arch might be causing all sorts of other problems up and down the line, and the article from AT, and how taping my left foot seemed to work magic, which he acknowledged was not entire ridiculous. (I call that a victory.) After doing all the strength testing & determining my left leg was clearly weaker, he explained how it it could be that weakness further up that's making it hard for me to use my left foot properly. So step 1 is definitely to do some targeted strength work on that left side for a couple of months & see if that helps.

In a way, this is the kind of bad news that's actually good news, in a way--He found a clear, unambiguous problem that *could* realistically be connected to the injuries I've had in my lower left and upper right legs over the last couple of years. It's when I see a medical professional and they just kind of look at me and shrug and say I'm perfectly normal as far as they can tell that it gets frustrating.

As it tends to go with PT, the exercises he gave me for my left hamstring and hip muscles are pretty simple but also incredibly difficult (which is a good sign I need to do them). He also recommended that I go back to doing some single-leg eccentric glute stuff, which I've been neglecting lately. Finally, he suggested that because my left heel and arch are definitely visibly collapsing a bit, even just when I walk, I should stick a Superfeet insert in my left shoe as a short-term solution while we work on strengthening the muscles. So hopefully that will give me some immediate relief.

On the plus side, he did not do this to me again:

I found this picture the other day and it was so cringe-inducing that I felt like it was worth sharing again. You're welcome. :)

THE FRO YO RUN, Y'ALL.

I almost never write solicited posts because 99% of the time the thing being shilled is boring and lame (and potentially not even relevant to this blog). BUT, I recently received an email from the folks at The Fro Yo Run about a 5K/10K going down in San Francisco on Sunday, September 6, 2015. And the answer is YES, "fro yo" as in "frozen yogurt," as in they will give you frozen yogurt at the end.

This post was almost sponsored because they did offer me a free entry, and I might have accepted it except that I will be gallivanting around the Willamette Valley that weekend. (Sorry, wine trumps fro yo.) BUT, what means is that you yes YOU could win that free entry for yourself.

I will now enumerate the many virtues of The FroYo 5K/10K.

• Professionally chip timed
• Flat, paved out-and-back course along the Embarcadero/around AT&T Park
  
• No one shooting colored crap at you
• Occurs during daylight hours
• Did I mention the frozen yogurt at the end?
  
• It's San Francisco at 8:30am so it won't actually be hot.
• No one throwing fro yo at you during the race, in case you were worried
• Sweet goody bag [disclaimer: I have not personally evaluated said goody bag, I just assume no moral, upstanding person would ever lie about such a thing. Also I hear stylish sunglasses, a premium mesh running hat, & a snazzy gear bag *may* be involved.]
• Fro Yo-themed medal (SERIOUSLY HOW CAN YOU PASS THIS UP????)
  
• Something called "The Fro Zone" ["75 ft revitalizing misting tunnel in the finish chute. Complete with music and cheering fans, it’s guaranteed to kick-start your motivation & fuel your finishing sprint."*
  
  This *may* or *may not* be The FroZone????
  LOOK HOW HAPPY THEY ARE
  *Note Fro Yo Zone optional]
• There is a $5 coupon.
• 4 pack discount available ($35 per person vs. $55. It was $42 until 8/19 but I didn't get this email until 8/18, soooo....). You don't even have to know who the 4 people are! MAKE A FRIEND!
• Entrees are transferable (works like an event ticket)
• 15% goes to the American Lung Association
• DID I MENTION THE FRO YO???

UPDATE I double checked and this is TOTALLY THE FRO ZONE

If you yes YOU believe you may be equal to the epic challenge that is the The Fro Yo Run and would like a free entry, leave a comment by next Sunday (8/23). You could tell me your favorite kind of fro yo or, I dunno, just be like, "HEY I WANT A FREE ENTRY". I'll randomly choose a winner & announce it on Monday or Tuesday.

MAY THE ODDS (and fro yo) BE EVER IN YOUR FAVOR.

[That one women's activewear brand] is Planning My Yoga Getaway to Rio

Man, it is just like me to write a post about how great I feel and how easy my training has been, up to & including 21 warm-ish miles, & then basically crash for a week. Part of this is due to work, which is really stressful right now & taking up a lot of my time & causing me to not get enough sleep. Basically this week I've done nothing but work, sleep, & run, & not really in a super-structured way; more just juggling them all around & fitting them in when & where I can.

In the mean time I wanted to tell you about this one fairly well-known women's active wear brand, whom I will not call out by name because I'm not a completely horrible person. Although I have to say that I do like a lot of their clothes & have bought several things from them. Their catalogs tend to be a little ridiculous, though, and I feel like the most recent one was more ridiculous than most. From what I gather, they are planning me a yoga/fitness retreat in Rio (but not paying for it, mind you. TYPICAL).

This is, I feel, the only logical conclusion I can draw based on pages like this one:

Thank GOD, this has been keeping me up at night.

But it isn't all cute outfits & boutique yoga in Rio. Sometimes, apparently, it is cute outfits and making the world your gym.

Because doing push-ups on a tire is *totally* on my Rio to-do list.

Once you get tired of doing push-ups on a tire, you can relax with some weighted lunges:

Good thing I get this catalog. How else would I know how to UP THE ANTE
on my resistance training????? #ante #uppingit #sandbags

I hope I have rescued you from a BORING Rio getaway where you end up doing nothing but sitting on a bunch of BORING beaches or hiking BORING scenery or exploring BORING STUPID historical landmarks. Now you know to go straight for the tires!

You are welcome.