Category Archives: Work

{Early Mornings} My Morning Routine

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In the past few weeks I’ve received a few questions about how in the world I manage to get my booty out of bed at 5 AM every morning to work out. Well obviously I’m no expert on early morning rising but I figured I’d let you guys know what works for me just in case it might help anyone who is looking to move a PM workout to the AM. To any of you who actually like evening workouts feel free to glaze over this post while thinking about how crazy I am for forfeiting almost 2 hours of sleep every morning.

See, I’m not always thrilled to wake up at 5 am

First, I’ve found that it’s easiest for me to keep the same morning routine regardless of the length of morning workout scheduled. This means that I wake up at 5 am if I’m running 10+ miles before work and I wake up at 5 am if I’m cross-training or going on a shorter recovery run. I know I lose out on sleep this way but I think the consistency of always doing the same thing really helps with routine and mindlessly making my way through the morning. Basically, I turn into a robot and don’t have to think.

Second, I always have an idea of at least two things that I might want to have for breakfast (or I suppose if I was going to pack a breakfast I’d make sure to pack it the night before). When I’m done with my workout and shower, I decide between the two options and make whatever I’ve picked. If I didn’t think about things beforehand, I’d most likely mindlessly stare into the fridge/cupboards and not know what to make.

Third, I always prep things ahead of time. I’m finding it’s so much easier if I can cook a big pot of chili, soup, or grain dish on Sunday night and then eat it during the week for lunches. I also know that I like to have some sort of fruit with my lunches so I buy things that are easy to transport like apples and grapes and I can easily through a serving into my lunch bag. I also try to go to bed early on weeknights. I’m usually okay if I can get into bed and be asleep by 10:30 but everyone is different and I know of people going to sleep at 9 in order to be up at 5.

So this is what a typical morning looks like for me:

{5:00 – 5:05 am} Alarm goes off. I grab my phone and hop back in bed for 2-5 minutes. I try not to fall asleep while waiting for the Weather.com app to load. Once I see what the weather is like, I plan my running outfit accordingly.

{5:05 – 5:15 am} Put in contact lenses, go to the bathroom, get dressed, and put on shoes all while trying not to wake up Ian or step on Sonic in the dark. This part is really fun.

{5:15 – 5:25 am} Grab key card and apartment key, put on Garmin and headphones, and eat snack/drink water if the run is 6+ miles or if I’m feeling hungry. Leave apartment by 5:25.

{5:25 - 5:30 am} Get outside and wait for Garmin signal to load, try to be running by 5:30 am.

{5:30 – 6:55 am} Run [this is how long it would take me to run 10 miles including starting and stopping at crosswalks in the city]. If my run doesn’t take this entire time I’ll spend the extra checking e-mails, playing with Sonic, and making breakfast.

{6:55 – 7:00 am} Enter apartment building and check mail if I forgot to do it the night before. Get to apartment, take off shoes, Garmin, and iPod. Drink water. Make coffee if necessary (and by necessary I mean I don’t have iced coffee left over from the day before not that I don’t need it).

{7:00 – 7:10 am} Shower and change.

{7:10 – 7:45 am} Make and eat breakfast. Write/edit blog post and “publish”. Check various e-mail accounts and read the news. If time allows read a few blogs.

{7:45 – 8:00 am} Pack lunch. This is extremely easy if I have leftovers in the fridge. Pour coffee into tumbler and pack bags for work. Fill Sonic’s food and water bowls and scoop litter if necessary.

{8:00 – 8:15 am} Blow-dry hair, brush teeth, do make-up (if wearing some that day), give Sonic a treat, and walk out the door.

{9:00 am} Arrive at work. Chug coffee.

I want to be sure to say that waking up early didn’t happen overnight. It was definitely a gradual process with “early” changing from 7 am to 6 am and then only this past summer to 5 am. I think some of the reason I made a gradual change had to do with being in school and being tired from staying up late studying but I also don’t think I had a good morning routine nailed down until a few months ago. Life has become so much easier since then!

Also, my routine could still be streamlined in order to get more sleep. I could eat breakfast at work (I don’t want to). I could also do some of the Sonic stuff at night (again I don’t want to). This schedule works for me because I like to have very little responsibility at night. Personally, I’d much rather do a few more things in the AM and enjoy free nights.

AM or PM workouts?
Do you have a morning routine?

Transitions

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Even though I turned 18 almost six and a half years ago, I haven’t considered myself an “adult” until recently.

My journey to adulthood has been a slow and gradual one. When I turned 16 I got my license and a car, when I was 18 I moved away to college, on my 21st birthday I had my first drink (;)), after college I moved away to Chicago, and then recently I finished a masters degree and started to apply for a more permanent job (there is more school in the works for me…eventually). With each step came an increasing amount of responsibility. First there was buying gas for my car and then I had to remember to pay my rent on time. Next, I had to get a job (undergrad) and budget money and then I had to learn how to navigate a new city. All of these things were difficult at first but over time became second nature.

However, when I graduated with my MPH I knew things were about to really change. Finding a job was no longer only about “getting experience”, I had to consider salary and benefits. Also, bills that my parents paid when I was in school started to fall on my shoulders (I was so lucky to have some help while in school). I had to make a decision about which health insurance plan and transit card I wanted to have, knowing that their costs would be taken out of my paycheck each month. Along with all of this, work became more demanding (as it should with more experience), student loans started staring me down, and my general responsibilities grew and grew.

Now, I’m not complaining at all! I’m actually very thankful that I have a full-time job that offers me benefits and that I have parents who have helped me along the way– I am eternally grateful. But, I’m not going to lie and say that I’m not a little crazed right now. Every week I start out with a to-do list and work my way through it during the week. Lunch breaks are spent making calls or running errands so that my free time at night can be spent relaxing. I never thought that being an adult was going to be easy but the transition from graduate student (who worked half-time) to full-time employee has not been simple.

Maybe I’m just in an adjustment period? Maybe things are my life is just busy right now and will calm down soon? Who knows, but for now I’m just going to keep spending time with friends, running, eating (duh!), and picking away at the seemingly never ending to-do list.

Eats haven’t been too exciting over here. I’ve had lots of oatmeal and soy (testing it this week) and have been trying to squeeze in a few veggies here and there (still turned off after the veggie-licious Saturday feast).

My runs have been good too. Yesterday I ran a recovery 4 miles at a slower pace. My legs were definitely feeling a little sore after my last few runs and it felt nice to stretch them out. I must say that I love my long/hard run days but I also look forward to my shorter ones. It’s nice to have a quick workout sometimes!

Besides that life is good. I have a busy but exciting weekend ahead of me including book club and a Lady Foot Locker sponsored event. Exciting!

What keeps you sane?

Update Time

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Is anyone else excited that there are only two more days until the weekend? I am! I have my second and last sprint triathlon of the season on Sunday and I can’t wait, should be a good time :) .

So the last few days have been busy. I can’t believe I felt so detached after not blogging for two days. How would I feel if I took the week off? I missed you guys.

Anyway, even though I haven’t been blogging, I have been doing other things like exercising, going to work, and of course eating. I figured I’d update you guys on all of the important stuff.

Exercise
After the Big 10k and a brick on Sunday, I took Monday off to recoup. Monday also happened to be the first day of my new job so it worked out well. I slept in a little and had plenty of time to get ready and get to work on time.

Tuesday I wanted to run but woke up to thunderstorms. I packed up my swim bag and walked over to the gym. The rain stopped right before I left and it ended up being a beautiful morning to run (grrr..). I waited 30 minutes for a pool lane and only had enough time to swim a quick 1,650 meters before heading home.

Wednesday I finally got in my first run of the week. I completed an easy 7 miles at a little bit under an 8 min/mile pace. I was pretty proud of this considering I did not sleep well Tuesday night. This morning I ran 6 miles in 48:21 (8:03 min/mile) and will run the Terrapin 5k with Ian tonight. Speaking of that race, I totally thought it was next week until I double checked an e-mail yesterday. Whoops!

Eating
Oddly enough I haven’t been all that hungry this week. I’m not sure if it’s stress/change or my metabolism catching up with last week’s less intense workouts but I haven’t had much of an appetite.

Breakfasts have been whatever I can grab and eat quickly before heading out the door. Monday and Tuesday were both cereal days.

puffed millet, puffed rice, sunflower seeds, roasted & salted pecans, banana, blueberries, blackberries, almond butter

maple buckwheat flakes (gf), pepitas, 1/2 banana, blueberries, blackberries, cashews, almond butter

Wednesday I had a little more time and threw together cherry oatmeal using 1/2 cup oats, 1 1/2 cups water, 1 tsp chia seeds, 1/2 whipped banana, cherries, and maple sugar.

Topped with cashew butter (mine is so hard!) and homemade granola. It tasted better than it looked!

I have been incredibly grateful that I had the foresight to make pasta salad Sunday night and it (along with fruit) has been my lunch every day of the week except for yesterday when my research team ordered in thai food. I’ve also had it for dinner a few times too. I love the convenience factor.

Dinner’s have either been leftovers or quick throw together meals. I haven’t wanted to spend much time in the kitchen.

pasta salad (inspired by this recipe), BBQ cheezy kale

carrots, snap peas, zucchini, and mushrooms in a spicy peanut sauce made using PB & Co’s The Heat is On

I also got to avoid cooking dinner one night because we went out to celebrate Ian’s birthday :) .

The J-O-B
I obviously can’t see too much for privacy reasons and because I just started and am not entirely sure what the day-to-day will be like but I’m really enjoying my new job. I’m working for a different university on a different study and love the change of scenery. My office also has a great mix of young people and senior people with lots of experience and everyone has been really wonderful and nice so far. Right now my main task is to learn as much as possible about the study (I work in health research) and the health condition and I’m finding everything really interesting. So far so good!

The Blog
I moved over to a self-host (not sure if you need to update google readers) but you shouldn’t see anything too new yet. I’m hoping to start working with someone soon to redesign everything and make my site easier to use. I’ll keep you updated though!

Now it’s your turn, catch me up on what you’ve been doing! 

Race Photos

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Good morning and happy Wednesday!

Guess what? The ALS 5k race photos became available earlier this week. The race was on the smaller side so the photographer only shot pictures at the start and finish but don’t you worry, yours truly was still captured in some awesome photographs.

The following three photos (shot right after one another) are my favorite. You can clearly see my shirt riding up as I cross the finish line and then for who knows what reason, I decided to arch my back showing even more skin.

Obviously the shirt was out of my control but seriously, why am I arching my back? The goal is to go forward not backward right?

I can’t say that I’ve ever loved a race photo of myself, I always look glazed over or completely out of it. Oh and some part of my body is always misbehaving/doing something awkward. What can I say, my running skills are not photogenic :P

Have you ever taken a good race photo?

In a brief update, workouts have been going full-steam this week. Yesterday, I ran 4 miles in about 31 minutes and then swam a 2,000 m interval workout and then today I ran 7 miles in 46:30. I was expecting a cool down last night but we never really got it. It was 77 degrees at 5 am this morning and the sun wasn’t out. It looks like we’ll see cooler weather later this week though. My fingers are crossed!

In terms of eats, I have been enjoying many of my usuals. Yesterday I tried OhSheGlows Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Vegan Overnight Oats.

It was so good that I made a slightly different version for this morning.

I mixed 1/3 cup oats, 1 T chia seeds, 2 T blueberries, 1 chopped fig, 1/2 banana, shake of cinnamon, 2 tsp sunflower seeds, and 1 cup of almond milk. This morning, I removed it from the fridge and added a sprinkle of KIND granola and a little maple syrup. I also enjoyed an almond butter spoon. It was delicious!

I have been all about the one-pot meals lately too. Dinner last night was an easy millet bowl. I cooked enough millet for two and then sautéed kale, chopped carrot, basil, and figs (need to use them) in a little vegetable broth. I stirred the veggies into the millet along with a balsamic mustard dressing (balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey).

Yum!

In terms of work, my last day at my old day is this Friday. I can’t believe it is coming so fast! My new job starts next Friday so I’m taking some time to myself to relax and to take care of some much neglected errands. Also, thanks to everyone who congratulated me when I posted about taking the new job last week. I do plan to write more about the transition soon but I have to wait a few days, I hope you all understand!

Have a wonderful day!

Week in Review + Funny Video Friday

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It’s finally Friday and I can’t say I’ve ever been more glad. The past few days have comprised quite the busy (but VERY fun) week. Let’s recap a bit….

I PR-ed at a 5k

I got to meet lots of other Chicago bloggers at the Chobani Boka dinner

And yesterday, I accepted my first real job (but more on the later).

It’s been a whirlwind of a week with lots of highs, a few lows, and a touch of anxiety. It all culminated in me plopping my butt on the couch last night while watching Dawson’s Creek on Netflix and eating lots of chocolate. Oh yeah, I painted my toenails too ;) .

It may not have been my healthiest night but it felt damn good.

I also put together an extremely easy and tasty dinner. I steamed a head of baby bok choy and layered roasted sweet potato and black beans on top. I finished it with a dollop of vegenaise (don’t judge its delicious) mixed with curry powder.

I could eat this every night and be content.

So now I’m going to leave you with this awesome throwback video. Happy Friday!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ3oHpup-pk&w=420&h=315]

What are your plans this weekend? Pacey or Dawson fan?