Hello my lovely friends! It’s SO nice out here in DC today – I’m loving this whole “August weather is really like September” thing we’ve had going lately! Hoping it’s here to stay. 😉
I started my day today with a fun adventure with my buddy Chelsea: we signed up on ClassPass to check out the new-to-us classes at CrossFit Balance Georgetown.
We had trouble finding the gym, so as an FYI to any of you that go, here’s how to find it! The gym is in the back of the Georgetown Reebok store (which is awesome if you haven’t checked it out – love their shoes for cross-training/boot camps/CrossFit), and if the store is open (11 a.m. through… 9 p.m. I think?), you can walk right through into the gym space in the back. BUT… if you come for an early morning class, like we did, the store is closed, so you have to walk around the block, turn onto 31st street, and then turn into the alley off 31st to enter the gym via their main door. Super confusing, but we eventually figured it out thanks to our friend Google. 🙂
We both arrived early but it took us ages to find the entrance so we were a little late by the time we walked in. Oops!
The gym was pretty typical for CrossFit – a big open space with barbells, kettlebells, rowing machines (upstairs), pull up bars, etc.
As for the workout, we didn’t love it quite as much as our beloved Urban Athletic Club – Chelsea and I felt like there was a lot of downtime/milling around – but it was still a decent workout and it’s always nice to mix it up! We did a warm up of 500m rowing, then did some weighted lunges as our strength focus. The WOD (workout of the day) was a 15 minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) of: 5 pull ups (I used a band) + 10 burpees + 15 box jumps. 15 minutes doesn’t sound like long, but it is when you’re doing pull ups, burpees, and box jumps. 😉 We were definitely winded after all that! The class ran a bit late but we stayed for the final bonus/optional workout, which was 5 rounds of 5 bicep curls + 5 triceps kickbacks.
Chelsea had the day off work today for her summer flex Friday, so we decided to grab coffee at Baked and Wired after class and take a quick stroll down by the water to catch up before saying goodbye. It was lovely – perfect morning for it! 🙂
As for yesterday’s workout, it was all about HILLS! I met up with my 6:30 a.m. track group and we did a 15 minute warm up on the track (4 minutes building speed followed by 1 minute slower pace, then repeating) before heading to our hill to do hill repeats. Oof! Hill repeats are SO HARD – but so necessary, especially since I’ll be tackling a LOT of them in San Francisco in October. 🙂
For my runner readers, one tip from my coaches that has really helped me on hills is to focus on shortening your stride, leaning forward, and lowering your arms a bit so you are pumping forward/back versus up and down. Try it! 🙂 I did 6 hill repeats (the hill is 0.15 miles up, and they have us run down it as fast as we can, too, so 0.3 miles total of work, and then we take 1 minute rest before doing it again). I was really proud of myself for really pushing it hard on pace! I enjoyed a rest day on Wednesday so I had lots of energy yesterday.
As for food this week, Matt and I had two more Blue Apron meals to eat up! I kind of feel bad doing Blue Apron every week because I know it’s probably not as interesting/helpful for you guys to read about my dinners if you can’t easily recreate them yourselves, but we just really love it! I figure for the Blue Apron meals I write about I’ll just try to pick out a useful tip for each of them that you can utilize at home, too. 🙂
Last night, we made a really good chicken stir fry with lots of veggies (we added some extra pepper we had on hand, too).
My take-home tip for you guys from this meal is to try making your rice with coconut milk instead of water next time you do a stir fry! It was so much more delicious than regular rice. Also, adding some lemon or lime zest into the rice as it cooks is delicious, too! I wish Blue Apron would send brown rice vs. white rice (they sometimes do, but not always), but whatever – you guys know I preach that healthy living does not = perfection. 🙂
Earlier this week, we made some really good meatballs paired with a zucchini salad. I never would have thought to put these things together, but it was really good! The meatballs had a homemade tomato sauce (basically tomato paste + water + some seasoning) and the zucchini salad had lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil, and some chopped olives. Simple and really tasty – next time you have meatballs, instead of doing the usual pasta, try a zucchini salad instead! Surprisingly good combo. Served with garlic toast for dipping in the sauce on the side, and topped with some fresh parmesan cheese. 🙂
I hope you guys have a wonderful weekend ahead! This weekend for us is all about celebrating Matt and his completion of grad school! 🙂 His parents are arriving tonight and we’re going out for a fancy dinner with my parents to toast him. Tomorrow, I’m meeting Sokphal for a long run, and then Matt, his parents, and I are driving down to Charlottesville (he got his masters through UVA) to go to his department’s graduation reception. I’m so proud of him for getting a masters degree while still working full time – a big accomplishment! And I’m also so happy for both of us that it’s now over. 🙂
Have a great weekend, everyone! What are you guys up to this weekend? Any fun foodie or fitness plans?
