Treadmill Thursday - 5 miles

Last night, my body just didn't want to cooperate on my run. I had an interval workout planned, to do on the treadmill. I was planning on doing a 1 mile warmup at 5.8mph, 8 sets of 2:00 at 7.2mph and 2:00 at 5.6mph, then ~3/4 mile at 6.0mph. As soon as I started running, everything hurt. Sometimes that happens at the beginning of a run, and things loosen up 5-10 minutes in. Well nothing loosened up this time. My entire right leg was really hurting, from my hip, down to my knee, and even in my shin/calf. I did the mile warmup at 5.7mph, then did the intervals at 7.1 and 5.5. I was really starting to fade, a few intervals in, so I decided to stop to walk after 4 sets. After walking for 5 minutes, I decided I was ready to go again, so I did the remaining 4 sets of intervals, at the same pace, and then walked another 5 minutes. I still ended up doing 5 miles, but this included walking 2/3 mile. In the end, I'm proud of myself for pushing through, when I could have just given up. I just hope that my body cooperates for my run on Saturday, and heals during my day off today.

Baked Pumpkin French Toast

You know that delicious challah we Joey made? We didn't just eat it as is (although we did manage to polish off most of the plain loaf with dinner). We turned a lot of it into overnight french toast! Joey came across this recipe, immediately sent it my way, and it made the list of recipes to be made that weekend. It was incredibly simple to make, and I'm sure most breads would work well for it. We had pumpkin butter, so we used that, and it made it really flavorful. I think even more pumpkin butter could be used. It reheats really well (Joey liked it even more the second day), and is good on its own or drizzled with syrup. I topped some of mine with more pumpkin butter.

Note - we didn't really measure how much challah we used. We cut it into rough 1-inch cubes, and then just made sure the entire 9x13 pan was covered. We chose to use the rum raisin challah, and the raisins worked really well in this dish.


Recipe: Pumpkin Baked French Toast
From Minimalist Baker
Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients:
5 1/2 - 7 1/2 1-inch bread cubes (will depend on type of bread)
7 large eggs
2 cups milk (any kind - we used almond milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/3 cup pumpkin butter (can use more if desired, can also use pumpkin puree instead, but you will have to add sugar and spices)

Directions:
Cut any kind of bread into 1-inch cubes. A slightly crusty bread is best - anything too soft will fall apart. Put the bread cubes in a lightly greased 9x13 pan. You want to make sure the bottom of the pan is completely covered.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice and pumpkin butter until combined. Pour over the bread and push the pieces of bread down with a spoon until they are all soaked and covered with the milk mixture. Cover the pan with saran wrap or a lid, and put in the refrigerator overnight.

The next morning, uncover the pan and preheat the oven to 350 F. If you want, top with some extra spices or brown sugar. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until golden brown, and set.

Serve with maple syrup, pancake syrup, or extra pumpkin butter. Leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

3 mile run + Sparty workout

I'm physically exhausted. I'm coming to realize that strength training + 4 days/week of running is a tough combination. I'm looking forward to my day off tomorrow - I just have to get through today's run first. 

Yesterday, I combined Tuesday's run with a sparty-style workout, so I could have Tuesday off. I was originally planning on running outside, but it was raining off and on, and I didn't want to risk getting caught in the rain with my phone. I ran the 3 miles on the indoor track instead. I started off a bit too fast, so I did 1.5 miles, took a 5 minute break, and then finished up with another 1.5 miles, going nice and slow. I did the first 1.5 miles in 13:57, an average pace of 9:18/mile. I did the last 1.5 miles in 15:34, an average pace of 10:23/mile. The very last lap, I went all out, at just under a 7 minute/mile pace. 

Even though I was pretty tired at this point, I got everything set up for sparty. Only one person was going to be joining me this time, so I set it up so we could do everything together, instead of staggered. I also just re-used a previous sparty workout. I have so many written up, there's no reason why I need a new one every time. I picked one that looked hard without being crazy (why I thought it applied to this one, I don't know - since it had both inbred cousins AND burpees), and did a good job of alternating exercises. Sometimes I go to do a workout I've written, and realize that I've put 3 things in a row that all target quads. And then my quads die. 

I barely made it through two sets. In the second set, I had to swap out full burpees and did only half burpees. I know, it's pathetic. I had a pretty hard time with a few of the exercises, since my back was still acting up from Monday night. Inbred cousins, v-ups and back flies were particularly difficult, and to be honest, hurt quite a bit. I put a heated pain patch on my back last night after I got home and showered, and I think that helped a lot. I am in much less pain today. 

I didn't wear the heart rate monitor, mostly because while I was getting ready, I couldn't find the watch. This morning, I decided to look again, since it would be really bad if I lost it. Of course I found it in less than a minute. Oh well, it just means I don't have workout results from last night. 

This is my last strength workout for the week. I'm running today (Thursday) and Saturday, and taking Friday off. I'll see if I have time for a run on Sunday. I also don't know what time I'll be back on Monday (going away for the weekend), and if I'll be back in time for a workout. I might be having another screwy workout schedule.