Peloton – East Coast Appetite

Rebuilding (not Base Building) Update

March 23, 2021March 23, 2021Posted in Cooking, Food, Running, SnacksTagged Peloton, physical therapy, Running, Snacks, strength trainingLeave a comment

Hello again from my current mileage of roughly 0. I have a physical therapy appointment for an evaluation in April but have seen progress from doing many of my 2019-injury exercises at home and in our building’s gym. I ran Friday the 5th when the temperatures reached into the 60’s and felt amazing. The breeze in my hair! Tank top! So hopefully I get this weak left hip under control and can in fact eye a 5K or 10K this spring/summer then maybe something longer in the fall. I also want to hike more and do more trail running; all the things I listed in my 2021 goals post. I ran again on the 20th as part of an Asian anti-violence solidarity run with some teammates in the city and hit 4 miles. Seems promising?

What else am I doing, if not running? Still on my weekly RowHouse class as well as Sunday morning Zoom Yoga for Runners most weeks. Our gym got two new spin bikes; they’re sadly Echelon Connect and not Peloton, but they’ll do.

My main hobby (other than reading and attempting to watch Oscar and Golden Globe nominated new films) is of course cooking and baking. I have a catch-all Google Sheet for meal planning, but have over the last year added additional sheets to list out my cookbook collection (currently hovering around 65, half digital), pantry/fridge/freezer inventory (which was indispensable at the height of spring 2020 quarantine), new recipes I’ve tried the past year, and my current cookbook project. I’m trying to cook my way through A Common Table, the book from blogger Cynthia of Two Red Bowls. I bought it in 2019 and had already tried about 6 of the recipes but am turning it into a project this year. I’m up to two dozen recipes and use the spreadsheet to better plan it all out.

Made a bunch of potstickers for Lunar New Year

I’m also in a Cookbook Club (as well as two regular book clubs) and while we can no longer meet in person safely, we’re having Zoom meetings. I sadly missed the meeting for Jubilee, which I’ve had for over a year but still haven’t cooked anything from. Up next is Plenty by Yottam Ottolenghi. He’s famous for super long ingredient lists but incredibly well executed food. I checked out his book Simple from the library (but didn’t make anything) then bought his newest, Flavor, late last year. Still haven’t made anything from that. So some of my purposeful organizing is to get myself to cook from my growing collection. The area where I am weakest about all this is actually taking photos of my food. This used to be a thing I would do more regularly (remember all my beautiful food-centric posts from 2019?), but the light situation in our apartment (and the last one) is lacking. And I don’t quite have the commitment to do this with enough regularity to actually get a handheld light for this.

Eating at Ottolenghi’s London restaurant NOPI in 2014

I also signed up for SnackCrate, which ships a box of international snacks to your door from a different country each month. I got the Germany box first, which is mostly chocolate-based. Also doing a snack exchange with folks in other countries (Netherlands first) plus always trying new stuff from Target and H Mart.

Target has so many special/limited edition Oreo flavors

Base Building 2021, Weeks 8 and 9 and 10

March 9, 2021March 17, 2021Posted in Food, Running, Snacks, TrainingTagged Injury Update, Peloton, RowHouse, Running, Training2 Comments

A few down weeks due to bad weather, building gym being closed, and my right hamstring still acting up. I suspected weak hips again (same thing 2 years ago) and saw my physiatrist March 2nd who mostly agreed. So I’m back to my PT exercises and virtual PT and monitoring the situation. Banded side-walks, single leg step-ups/glute bridges/deadlifts, and more. What I could really use is a Multi-Hip machine which my PT gym had but no regular gyms seem to have one. And a wobble board.

During this time, I took a RowHouse class each week, a short run 2/24, several Peloton spin classes, yoga, and one Peloton Strength for Runners class. Plus lots of sprint-stop-walks and hikes with the pup.

I recently read both Win at All Costs by Matt Hart, all about the Nike Oregon Project and doping accusations, as well as Alexi Pappas’ memoir Bravey. I found the latter really inspiring and it was a much more emotional book than I would have thought. I heard her speak back in October 2015 at the Nike Womens Half and since that time, she’s released two movies, ran in the 2016 Olympics 10K, and been through a whole lot.

We have pretty bad lighting in my apartment for food photography, so I sadly have no pictures of our home cooking to share. Just got some sisig from a food truck (it has been a year since I had Filipino food so this was a delight), lots of cold brews, and a brief foray back into junk food and candy to mark the anniversary of my friend Joyce’s passing.

Sisig and garlic fried rice from a Filipino food truck

Snack medley of Flamin’ Hots and gummis for a friend’s online memorial

Hopefully more running or other fitness updates to come as I do my PT exercises and the weather warms up again. I’ve been dreaming of temps in the 50’s and 60’s for months now! Trying to pencil in a late May 5K but we’ll see how the recovery and training goes. The apartment building gym has new treadmills and spin bikes and I’m very excited to get down there and try them out along with my weighted single leg step-ups.

Base Building 2021, Week 7

February 16, 2021February 15, 2021Posted in Running, TrainingTagged 5K, Peloton, RowHouse, RunningLeave a comment

How are we 7 weeks into the year? And yet also, how is winter so never-ending? I think it’s because we got a ton of snow back in December, then kept getting more in January and February. So I keep telling myself the weather (and the sidewalks/roads/trails) will get better in March, but we all know it might take a few weeks into March to get and keep the weather in the 40’s and above again.

Monday 2/8: 40 minutes of spin with Peloton Britney Spears and Lady Gaga classes.

Tuesday 2/9: RowHouse Power class for 45 minutes. I hadn’t taken one of these in a while and you get off the rower 5 times instead of the usual 3 for a Signature class. The plank rows with weights crushed me and my splits were pretty slow, but I put in effort.

Wednesday 2/10: Workout Wednesday! I did 20 1-minute intervals with a 1 mile warmup and 1 mile cool down on the treadmill. My intervals were at an 8:30 pace which used to be my 10K pace (ha!) and they felt difficult but satisfying to hit. 4 miles total.

Thursday 2/11: 3 easy treadmill recovery miles. I finally did the Hamilton run from Peloton, which took me back to the period 2017-2019 when I listened to the soundtrack all the time and memorized all the lyrics.

Friday 2/12: 2 easy treadmill miles. More would have been nice but I’m happy just to be consistent. 3 miles used to be my minimum for a run but 2 is fine for getting back into it.

Saturday 2/13: 3 miles outside with some strides thrown in the middle. It was right around 30 degrees and I dressed exactly right if not a little too warm: Tracksmith long-sleeve Harrier, Athleta Rainier tights, buff, wool beanie, Nathan mitten/gloves, and Lululemon Down For It All Jacket. Makes me feel better knowing I could wear this for colder temperatures.

Sunday 2/14: 1 hour of Zoom yoga. I felt pretty good during the vinyasa portion (chaturunga still a struggle) and was much improved at the balancing/tree pose.

Total: 12 miles running, 1 rowing class, and 1 yoga class. My apartment building’s gym is closed Monday – Friday this week, so there will be no treadmill miles, plus we’re getting hit with another round of ice and one of snow. So running may be a bit limited as well. Signups opened for the early April 5K but I’m still undecided. I kind of want more than 6 weeks to train for it since my volume still isn’t consistent. I’ve added two upcoming 5K time trials to my plan so might see how those go first.

Base Building 2021, Week 6

February 9, 2021February 8, 2021Posted in Running, TrainingTagged 5K, distance running, Peloton, Running, Stryd, TrainingLeave a comment

I love it when a new month starts on a Monday and thanks to February being 28 days, we get it twice! The base building continues (IRL 5K race early April still TBD), but back on track this week after feeling off the prior week. I would like to get comfortably back into the 20something miles per week until I’m really training for something, preferably by extending my ‘daily’ runs to 5 miles and not really worrying about carving out time for a long long run (anything 8 miles or higher is pretty long to me since at my pace I have to spend over 1.5 hours for that). Seems doable, right? My other fitness goals include at least 1 dedicated strength workout per week, 1 45-minute spin or rowing class per week, more stretching and drills pre and post run, and improving my tennis level March-November (our outdoor courts are technically open but so cold).

All of the World Major Marathons got pushed to this fall, so it’ll be interesting to see which go on (if any) and what kind of precautions will happen. I’ll probably volunteer for NYCM in some capacity if it happens, but would run Richmond or Philadelphia given the option. Or maybe nothing will go on as scheduled, in which case I’ll stick to the virtual 5K/10K/maaaybe 10 mile options.

Monday 2/1: 5 treadmill miles at an easy pace. I listened to 3 different Peloton outdoor runs during this. (20, 20, and 10) The snow was really coming down all day, so I am thankful for the access to tread. I haven’t busted my Yaktraks out in a while because it gets so slushy here/in the city within a few hours.

Tuesday 2/2: 3 easy treadmill miles. I watched another runner outside do big loops of the better-cleared blocks plus run in the bike lane and was pretty happy to be outside. Then I headed to midtown and braved all the slush puddles to get my second vaccine shot. Afterward, I got some empanadas, then Magnolia Bakery banana pudding and a cold brew from Cafe Grumpy. The snow continued but at least the trains were running. My only side effects were a sore arm, but I think the ‘fighting off a cold’ thing I had the previous week was enough.

Wednesday 2/3: 5 minute pre-run warmup, 18 minutes spin (Peloton – Robin’s 30 minute 90’s playlist) then 3 miles on the treadmill once one opened up (half the treads are closed because of Covid). I felt warmed up already, so the Stryd workout was 15 minutes at a push pace (currently 11 minute mile for me though that’s my outside long run pace), 3 minutes recovery, then 5 minutes at more of a tempo (10 minute mile; how was it only a year ago I could run these in the 8’s), then cool down.

Thursday 2/4: 30 minute Nicki Minaj spin bike ride. This ride was so fun!

Friday 2/5: Easy 37 minute (was supposed to be 40 but that’s ok) outdoor run with strides. I did a terrible job keeping it easy but at least the strides were fun. I was trying to pick the puppy up from doggy daycare in time and ran way too fast for the last half mile, too.

Saturday 2/6: Easy 30 minutes on the treadmill; finally doing the Peloton Wicked run then a 10 minute cooldown run.

Sunday 2/7: Snowy run, about 3.4 total so that I could hit 20 miles for the week. Listened to some Peloton outdoor stuff so I finished a 7-day streak of activity on the app. Then I did an hour of Runners Yoga and my hip flexors screamed a little before making Buffalo dip and wings for the Super Bowl (then being bored by it).

This was my highest mileage week since Octobee 26- November 1, which was my highest mileage since March/April of last year.

Base Building 2021, Week 5

February 3, 2021February 3, 2021Posted in Running, TrainingTagged Peloton, RowHouse, RunningLeave a comment

Another meh week in terms of training because I still felt like I was fighting off a cold since Sunday the 24th (when I skipped my long run).

Monday 1/25: Rest day

Tuesday 1/26: Short run (17 minutes moving time plus a couple minutes waiting at lights) in the snow. I wore my new Lululemon Down for it All Jacket with tights, gloves, Tracksmith Harrier long sleeve, and a Lulu Baller cap to keep the precipitation off my glasses. I should have gone longer but left my Stryd in my apartment and had to go back up then was picking up Herbie from doggy daycare.

Wednesday 1/27: Spin for 45 minutes, focusing on rhythm.

Thursday 1/28: Unplanned rest day but I still wasn’t feeling much better and took two naps.

Friday 1/29: RowHouse and feeling mostly better.

Saturday 1/30: Easy 30 minute treadmill run (so cold outside); 2.3 miles to Becs’ British Pop ‘outdoor’ run.

Sunday 1/31: Skipped run and took a 9am nap instead. Now that I’m getting up early so regularly, my coffee/sleep/workout/work schedule is a little off. Logged 5 miles walking to the train station and around the city though. Better workouts next week!

Herbie and her other Corgi friends from daycare

Base Building 2021, Week 1

January 6, 2021January 12, 2021Posted in Running, TrainingTagged Peloton, RowHouse, Running, Training, Yoga2 Comments

New year, new me! No, I’m just kidding. But there is something about the calendar changing and getting a new planner that inspires me to revisit the past calendar year, reflect on my goals and accomplishments (such an Enneagram 3), and set new goals. I also like to kick off every New Year’s Day with a workout to help set the tone. Last year was hot yoga, this year (like most) was a run. I also like to spend at least an hour doing the whole intentional reflecting thing.

After taking off most of December with an abnormally tight and painful right hamstring, I’ve been working to do a lot more strength training and more routine yoga, plus regular stretching and using my Theragun daily. I’d love to actually post in here more, both for accountability and because it should scratch the itch for some kind of running/fitness log since my workout history is split among Strava, Stryd, Apple workouts, and Peloton. I give myself little stickers in my planner calendar as well, but enjoy the idea of streamlining and actually posting here weekly. So let’s give it a try. I have no race to train for but am still toying with the idea of a virtual 5K or 10K in the spring.

Week of December 28, 2020 – January 3, 2021:

12/28: Peloton Glutes and Legs Strength class.

12/29: Peloton bodyweight strength.

12/30: RowHouse Signature for 45 minutes. I ‘leveled up’ to using the 5 pound weights for arm exercises instead of the 3 pounds.

12/31: Peloton Bodyweight strength.

1/1: 2.8 mile treadmill run using a Peloton ‘marathon training’ class. Then 2 mile hike with the pup in the afternoon.

1/2: Peloton Strength for Runners workout. I added heavier weights since I’ve been doing dedicated strength work the last few weeks.

1/3: Zoom yoga for runners for 50 minutes. Herbie (our Corgi puppy) loves to chew on my yoga towel and peed on it the previous week, so we tried to keep her entertained.