Healthy Tipping Point

Training Buddy Brandi and I are doing more and more of our swims outside.  It’s so nice!  But I really need to think of a sun protection solution – my sunscreen comes right off, and I end up with all sorts of crazy tan lines.  Maybe I need a rash guard shirt like Henry and Claire wear?

Brandi is super organized and always keeps a few workouts in her gym bag.  Once we pick our swim, we put it in a Ziploc bag at the edge of the pool so we can easily follow along.

We ended up tackling this awesome 2000 meter workout.  But I confess – I stopped after 1400 meters or so.  I was super sleepy and the lounge chairs looked mighty appealing.  Hah.

To translate the swim speak:

4 X 100 @ 2:15 with 15 second rest means you swim 100 yards 4 times and try to do it in 2:15 minutes.  After each 100 yards, you take a 15 second break before starting again. Make sense?

Here’s one thing that I’m super good at – bringing fuel to our workouts!  I share, of course!  That day, I brought La Croix (which resulted in a lot of burps mid-swim…), an iced coffee, some Vega Sport Protein (pretty good!), and CVS Gold Emblem Abound Cranberry Orange Almond Crunch.  <— Ridiculously good and tasty.  I’ve tried a lot of yummy things from the CVS Gold Emblem line as part of my partnership, but that is by far the tastiest!

Do you keep food in your gym bag?  What do you pack?

I’m proud to partner with CVS/pharmacy as one of the “Gold Emblem Abound Trail Makers” this year! I am being sponsored by CVS/pharmacy for my Trail Makers posts and activities, but all opinions expressed are my own, and all product claims or program details shared should be verified at CVS.com or with the appropriate manufacturers.

Tuesday started off really great.  I woke up ready to go and managed to find the time to run outside!

I can’t even tell you the last time I ran ALONE outside – no stroller, no buddy, just me.  It was pretty nice, actually.  I pounded out those miles, too.  Running really is my first athletic love, but it’s just harder than ever to coordinate solo time on the sidewalk… This was a nice reminder that it’s worth it.

Got home and felt sweatier than ever!

Two things about the photo above:  I always feel weird just running in a sports bra (like I’m running nekkid!) but one of the reasons that I love the Enell bra (<—review) is that covers so much on the front AND the back.  It feels more like running in a crop top than a bra.  It was SO hot out that the idea of running in a shirt made me want to gag, so this was perfect. 

Number 2:  See that SpiBelt that I’m rocking?  Well, the winner of the SpiBelt giveaway is… Emily!  She’s been emailed.  Thanks to all who entered.  <3

What else?  Oh, I survived a trip to Ikea with two children.  Go me.  But really – I barely survived.

And Henry had his first ice cream cone!  He thought it was the coolest thing ever and wanted to sing Happy Birthday while he ate it. 

Other gluten-freers: These cones are really delicious!  Also, they are kind of tiny, which is nice for 1) children and 2) adult portion control.

And last, but not least, on Tuesday night, I got hit by terrible stomach pains!  Not sure what it was – maybe some sort of food poisoning?  Doesn’t feel like a virus… Thank goodness.  I would hate to pass this onto the kids.  So I’m trying to take it easy, but that’s always easier said than done.

Happy Thursday!

We kind of have a weird thing going on with our bedroom situation.  Our real master is downstairs; once Henry was moved to his Big Boy Room, we moved into the guest room upstairs.  Then, when I got really pregnant, I started to snore all night long, so the Husband moved back downstairs while I stayed upstairs.  When Claire was little, we continued sleeping in different rooms just to maximize everyone’s sleep (he’d get up early with Henry; I’d handle all of the baby’s wakeups).   So for over a year, I’ve been sleeping in a “master” filled with mismatched hand-me-down furniture. 

Not exactly the master retreat one dreams about!

But about two months ago, Claire moved out and the Husband moved back upstairs.  So we’ve been talking about doing up the upstairs master to make it into more of a “retreat.”  Our goal was to make it look like a hotel room!

Here’s what we’re envisioning…

A gray upholstered KING-SIZED (!!!) wingback tufted bed

Gray walls with one darker gray accent wall

Pretty blue side tables

A chandelier <—I’m thinking of doing this IKEA hack to save money

Colorful artwork (from Home Goods)

A white frame collage wall of family pictures

Mercury glass lamps, perhaps like these beauties

Big, fluffy ALL WHITE bed linens <—for that maximum hotel feel

So far, we have the bed, linens, and paintings.  We’ve painted the room, and the bed and tables are being delivered soon.  I can’t wait to see it all come together!

Speaking of shopping…

As part of my White Plum partnership, I’m excited to tell you guys about this contest!  Enter to win a FREE SUMMER WARDROBE (valued at $1200) from White Plum.  Giveaway runs from May 27 – June 8, and to enter, simply click the image above or this link and follow the instructions.  Good luck!

What is the best part of your bedroom?

Rise and shine!

My goal for the next few weeks – get into the habit of going to bed early!  The Husband and I have made pinky swear promises to be in bed by 9:30.  I have realized that it takes me a good 30 minutes to get into bed once I decide to go to bed… So part of this promise is closing my book/shutting off the TV at 9:00.  It’s challenging – even though I’m always exhausted by bedtime, I *want* to hang out and get my adult time, you know?

We had a fun day outside yesterday.

On the days that Kristien starts work late, we usually go on a big family walk after breakfast, which is so nice.  We try to do a 2.2 mile loop.  The kids either each go into a stroller and we walk/run it OR I wear Claire in the Boba and Henry goes into a backpack on the Husband’s back and we walk.  That’s what we did yesterday – it was hard.  The kids are getting heavy!

Afterwards, we hung out with friends and played until we were sweaty and tired.  Then we ran through sprinklers to cool off!

And made clover jewelry for everyone.  A perfect way to kick off summer, if you ask me.

And last, but not least, I did this workout but made it 30 minutes instead of 25.  I also did 10 minutes on the rower.

Here are my Pinterest boards of Swim Workouts and Track Workouts, Elliptical Workouts, and Stairclimber Workouts if you are looking for some other workout ideas.

You know how I took last week off triathlon workouts?  I think I’m going to do the same thing this week. I just need another week to reenergize myself mentally and physically. I also need to figure out my training plan – and how to coordinate training for such a long race (it’s a 1500 meter swim, 28 mile bike, and 10K run) with the kiddos’ schedules!