Weekly Recap: Back in the Habit

If you understand what I'm referencing in the title of this post, just know that I'm sitting here singing, "Oh Happy Day!" whilst catching up on all of my DVR recordings of How to Get Away With Murder. Life is really about balance, ya know?

Alright, so what was up with me this week? Well, I started out the week in a mountain of covers, armed with Dayquil, tissues, and cough drops. While I took off work on Monday, I forced myself back into a routine on Tuesday - at half speed, nonetheless - because I could not spend another day in bed with this cold! The doc says that the cold could last 1-2 weeks, and I was over it the moment he said it.

Here's what I got into this week, despite the prognosis:

What to Wear on a Winter Hike

Last weekend, I went to Shenandoah National Park, which is located along Skyline Drive in Virginia. It is absolutely beautiful, with breathtaking views, wildlife, and at times the feeling of being wild and free. Shenandoah National Park isn't exactly nearby, which makes it a nice little mini getaway for folks in the DC Area.

The original plan was to get a group of friends together for an all-day hike, but that plan fell through. Everyone changed their plans or didn't feel up to being outdoors in the cool weather. It was all good, though. It made for a quick little adventure date for my boyfriend and me.

I hadn't gone hiking in cold weather in a long time, or maybe ever?, so I wasn't quite sure what to wear. After a quick Google search, I decided, yep! Still didn't know what to wear. I eventually pieced together a few different pointers from different websites and decided I would share what I learned with all of you lovely people. :-)

5 Tips for Moving When You Have No Time to Move

This post is sponsored by TriState Moving and Storage; nonetheless, this post is only filled with my honest thoughts! 

First things first: I am not moving this month. In fact, our goal is to move in the summer. This brings me to the very point of this post: When you’re a super busy, active person, you have to get a jump start on moving so that you can chop away at it a little bit at a time! The longer you wait to tackle the challenge of moving, the harder it gets, and the more negative your experience. Moving is stressful enough without adding self-inflicted stress on top of it!

Moving is one of those things that is always miserable for me, which is why my goal is to hire professional movers to make an already complicated process quicker, easier, and less complicated than it absolutely has to be (and less painful on all of my muscles! Moving without professional help is so physically demanding!). Through a lot of trial and error, I’ve come to the conclusion that this is the best way to do it if you can afford to do it!

Weekly Run Down: Staying Active During a Short Work Week

Overview: I did a bit of swimming, strength training, and actually played volleyball this week! The Sweat Pink #HolidaySweat Challenge started this week, and so far I have checked off my 10 minutes of exercise each day.

5 Cold-Weather Running Quick Tips

"Oh, the weather outside is frightful..." Fortunately, we're not there yet in the DC Metro Area (or the DMV as we call it to confuse everyone else), but I believe it's coming soon! We mostly skipped over fall this year, with just a few fall days sprinkled into this early winter. So, with colder temperatures comes colder outdoor activities, and that includes running.

I'm a big baby when it comes to running in the cold, but I've gotten better (I think?). My first half marathon, the temps started below freezing when I got to the start line, and you better believe I was absolutely miserable. I didn't really know how to prepare for that, and I wish I had done some research on how to dress for running in the cold. Here I am today, older, wiser (maybe?), sharing some quick tips about how to run in cold weather.

Weekly Run Down: Getting Ready for Turkey Day

It's that time of the week again! I'm linking up with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Run Down.

Monday
I'm actually starting to enjoy these little swim sessions I've been fitting in! Just 30 minutes is plenty of time in the pool for me. As I continue with my classes, these 30 minutes will look a lot more disciplined and will result in a lot less time hanging out on the wall in between laps. 😆

Tuesday

• Taught my 45-minute SPARK class. We had a good time! One of the best moments was when we did jumps to "Roxanne" by The Police. Every time they heard "Roxanne," they switched between the standing and seated positions. We added a fair amount of resistance so that we could transition smoothly. Everyone knew the song, so people were singing along, and it looked really cool from the front of the room having everyone in unison. Good times!
• Afterward, I had another training session with Laila. It was a challenging workout, and I can already feel myself getting stronger week over week. 

Wednesday
Went for another swim. I'm getting more comfortable in the water, but my freestyle is still pretty terrible. I'm working on it, though!

Thursday
My 7 am, 45-minute class started off this loooooong day. After this, I came home, showered, did my hair, and got dressed for a big work event. With all of the work that goes into putting on an 800-person event, I was worn out by the time I went to bed (at 2:30 am!).

Friday
A true rest day. I came home around 4:30, ate my first and only meal of the day, and took a 5-hour nap! Once I woke up, I watched a little tv, scrolled through some IG memes, and then fell back asleep.

Saturday

• I started out my time at the gym with a quick InBody scan. It's not as detailed as the CompID scan I did a few months ago, but it is way more detailed than just standing on the scale! I like that it stores my info in the system so that I can come back and track it over time.  
• My 60-minute cycle class is starting to fill back up now that it's getting cooler outside. Last winter, this class was regularly full, but because so many of my students are outdoor cyclists (and the class is held at kind of a weird time for most people), it really emptied out as it got warmer out. I'm glad it's starting to fill up again, though!
• I walked around the farmer's market and picked up some empanadas, microgreens, and some coffee. I also talked to the folks from the Rockville Bike Hub, which is a really cool community bike shop. I'm hoping to buy a road bike from them during their As-Is Yard Sale in a few weeks. 
• After the farmer's market, I went home and did a full-body strength training workout. I grabbed some more equipment from Amazon to build up my at-home workout stash, so I was able to lift a little heavier at home this time. 

Sunday

This day was all about running errands! I attended my swim class and learned that my arms are barely doing anything when I'm swimming, which is... well, not how swimming works! I'll be focusing on my "front crawl" this week. We won't have class next week, so I really want to make sure I'm looking good for the next one!

The Week Ahead

This week, I'm going to be hiking, spinning, swimming, and hopefully getting in some miles on my feet! I'm teaching a 60-minute Turkey Burn spin class on Thanksgiving morning, and I'm going to be picking up some items from the store today and tomorrow to jazz up the classroom.

My Weekly Recap: Off And Running with Triathlon Training

Today, I'm recapping my last week! I've been trying to join the Weekly Run Down linkup regularly, but this week is a bit hectic with my organization's last major event of the calendar year taking place this week. Even though I missed the linkup cutoff time, I still wanted to share this info with all of you!

So here goes: My last week in workouts, abridged.