Hey friends! It has been a busy, quick week over here – I can’t believe it’s already Friday! I’m wrapping up the week at my co-working space downtown and then looking forward to the weekend. I’ll be back on Monday with a weekend recap, but if you aren’t checking back in until Wednesday, here are my favorite healthy 4th of July recipes for my American readers to try out for the holiday on Tuesday! This 4th of July Cookie Cake is a fun one to give a shot. 🙂
But for now, let’s do a fitness + food week in review, starting with fitness! This was a fun, active week fitness-wise – I felt energized and had a nice mix of social and solo and higher and lower intensity workouts. I think I have finally hit the pregnancy sweet spot – 19 weeks yesterday – I’m feeling the most like my normal self that I’ve felt since getting pregnant! Better enjoy it while I can 🙂
- Monday: Solo lunchtime yoga class at Epic Yoga in Dupont in DC via ClassPass (<- affiliate link for $40 off). I LOVE this studio but hadn’t been like 7 months because since January I was tutoring or teaching ESL over lunchtime on most days I was working downtown. It was so nice to be back! Also – I don’t know if it was just this outfit or what, but I felt like that day it was actually starting to look like there’s a baby in there! 🙂
- Tuesday: Yay, Chelsea is back from her honeymoon!! I really missed my workout buddy. 🙂 We hit up Definitions in DC for an early morning boot camp, also via ClassPass. We basically chatted nonstop the entire time catching up. Workout buddies = the best.
- Wednesday: Early morning run date with my girl Sokphal! This was awesome because it was SO NICE out – when we met up at 6:30 it was 57 degrees and not humid… that’s insane for DC summer. What a treat!
We did a jog/walk approach and made it about 4 miles – so thankful to have a friend who is up for doing this lower key situation with me right now! <3 Felt great to be out there enjoying the fresh air and movement while chatting away.
I tried out my new pregnancy belly support band thing on the run for the first time and it definitely helped with the uncomfortable bouncing, which was nice, although it kept riding up on me so not perfect. Maybe it will stay put better when my belly is bigger? We’ll see!
- Thursday: Low key solo lunchtime swim. I am OBSESSED with swimming right now – it’s so calming and meditative and it feels amazing to be in the cool water! I just do nice and slow and steady laps (alternating strokes so I don’t get bored – I did mostly backstroke and breaststroke this time) for about 30 minutes or until I feel like leaving. This felt like such a treat – I’m sure swimming is going to feel better and better as I get bigger.
- Friday: Early morning boot camp class at Urban Athletic Club via ClassPass with Kathleen and Chelsea! Yay – the 3 workout musketeers are back together again!
This was an awesome workout – it was fun to catch up with the girls and it flew by because it was really fast-paced and varied. The handstand walk ups pictured above were fun – they were part of one of the circuits! You start in a pike with your feet on the wall and then walk your hands closer to the wall as your feet walk higher up it. I wasn’t sure how this would feel with the pregnancy situation but it ended up feeling really good, so I went with it!
Below is a picture of the whole workout – the only thing I modified (besides overall intensity/speed) was the burpees (push up instead of dropping all the way to the ground on my stomach) and the broad jumps (that quick up/forward and then back down forceful jumping motion does NOT feel good on my stomach or bladder at this point, so I did walking lunges instead).
The ladder workout at the bottom is a fun one to give a try yourself – no equipment is required! Start with 40 lunges, then do 30 sit ups, 20 squats, 10 burpees, a 1 minute plank, 10 burpees, 20 squats, 30 situps, 40 lunges. Whew! Tough!
Despite eating some snacks while showering after the workout (I had a banana and some almonds to tide me over until breakfast), I was still STARVING by the time I was walking to my co-working space and a quick on the go breakfast was not going to cut it – bagel egg tomato spinach cheese sandwich to the rescue! Plus a whole milk half decaf iced latte. 🙂
It was from a place on P street near Dupont Circle called Soho Tea and Coffee. Their egg sandwiches are awesome, as you can see – real eggs and made to order! If you’re in the area, do it. I also like their lattes!
I had a similar breakfast earlier this week at home – apparently I’ve been into the toast/eggs/cheese/spinach combo lately! (There was a piece of toast hiding under everything else!)
While eating that breakfast I was reading Runner’s World Magazine and I was surprised and excited to see there was a write up about the Brooks Altitude Training Camp in New Mexico that I went to back in March! There were even photos of some of my blogger buddies in action during our track workout and warm up. How cool! That was such an awesome trip.
I also like that the author wrote about how the runners have a 30 minute no screen time rule right after their workouts so they can really reflect and be mindful of how their workout went before diving right back into social media/email/whatever. I do that myself in the morning – no phone until I’m actually starting the workday. Checking emails right when I wake up is something I used to do and it feels so much better to start the morning in a calming, mindful way.
Other food highlights this week:
- A shrimp, brown rice, and veggie night with Matt – nice weather meant eating on the deck!
- Dinner out last night at Matchbox with good friends – I had the kale caesar salad to start (yummmm) plus the burger and fries. 🙂
- Re-discovering Well Dressed Burrito (on 19th St NW just north of M St NW, in the alley) – I had forgotten how good this place was and hit it up for lunch earlier this week. Delicious! I had a burrito with chicken, grilled peppers and onions, black beans, cheese, guac, salsa, and spinach.
So there you have it! I will leave you with a picture of Ashe, who says: “Have a nice weekend!!”, and Zara, who says: “I’m still here and very cute, too!” (She was randomly licking my ear in this picture, which is why it’s blurry and I’m cracking up!) 🙂
