Yesterday was kind of a crazy day for me. Between my 9-5 job and teaching at night and needing to drop my car for an oil change (and a very unexpected brake repair), I knew my chances of fitting in a run of any sort of substance were pretty nonexistent.

Luckily, I was at least working from home yesterday, so I was able to throw on my running clothes and knock out some of my errands on foot.

I drove my car up to the garage, threw my license and credit card in my sports bra, and after dropping the car off with the mechanic, ran the several blocks back home.

It was nothing more than a 10 minute run at the max, but it was something.

And I did the trip in reverse when I had to go pick the car up. Running back to the garage was all uphill, so even though the workout was super short, I managed to squeeze in some unintentional hill work.

I was able to get up, get the blood flowing and take care of all the other stuff I needed to get done.

It wasn't much, and I certainly wouldn't call it a full-blown workout, but it was better than nothing and on some days that's all we can manage.

I know I said the other day, I wasn't really going to blog much about teaching, and yet, here I am, blogging about teaching.

After just a few days of being an adjunct professor at Maryland, I have an insane amount of respect and new-found appreciation for teachers every where.

Teaching is hard work!

And I'm not saying that in a woe is me kind of way. It's more like I never had any idea what kind of work teachers put in behind the scenes. I pretty much just assumed they did a little lesson planning, showed up to teach and then did some grading.

But I'm slowly learning there's so, so much more to it than that.

The class I teach at Maryland meets twice a week for two hours at a time. For four classroom hours this week, I put in 20 hours of prep time Sunday and Monday.

Now maybe that's just me because I'm an overly neurotic Type-A planner who likes to have everything under control, but it probably has a lot do to with adapting to the course material and the format of the class.

I literally have no idea how full-time teachers plan enough course material to last eight hours per day, five days per week.

How do you come up with that much stuff?

There are times I worry I'm not going to be able to fill a full two-hour block of time.

But then I find that time in the classroom moves the opposite of how you want it to. On days when you think you have enough planned and you want time to  hurry up, it drags. And on days when you could desperately use an extra five minutes to wrap up a concept, time flies.

Despite all the hard work, I'm loving it though.  I'm lucky to have a really great group of students that seem interested and engaged, and they make it fun.

To my teacher readers, if you have some sage teaching wisdom to share with me, I'd love to hear it.

For everyone else, what's the best thing a teacher has ever taught you?

Despite the fact that I have been running super slow lately, I can see little bits of my fitness starting to return. Longer runs -- right now we're talking around five miles -- don't gas me quite as much as they used to a few weeks ago.


Yesterday's slow and steady five miler

Hills, which were torture at the beginning of the month, are slowly becoming just another routine part of running.

My legs are adapting and my muscles aren't overly fatigued after a long run anymore.

And my lungs seem to have adapted as well. I don't find myself sucking wind at the end of a routine run like I did a few weeks ago.

I'm still a long way from where I was just a few months ago, when running a 20 miler was no big deal, but for now, I'm happy that five milers aren't that hard to finish anymore.


Back when long distances were easy

In fact, yesterday, I didn't have to take a single walk break during my five mile run. I was so excited that enough of my endurance had returned that I could run the whole thing.

It wasn't at a very fast pace, but it was continuous running, for a decent distance, and it proves that I'm well on my way to bouncing back from my foot injury.

For now, my plan is to focus on endurance first, speed later. Get my distance back and then we'll start worrying about picking up the pace.

Those were the words of wisdom our coach was shouting last night at CrossFit as we loaded up our bars with more and more weight for sumo deadlifts.

Sumo deadlifts are very similar to regular deadlifts, your feet are just in a much wider stance. They still majorly target your butt, hamstrings, etc.


One of the guys at my gym showing off the stance

The movement is a little bit uncomfortable, until you get used to it, and because we had a pretty small group last night, my coach was able to work with me closely to make sure I had good form.

The first few sets were shaky, but by the end I was kind of rocking it.

I think I'm slowly, slowly started to create some solid muscle memory for good deadlift form.

Oh and I PR'd my deadlift last night --lifting 103 lbs. It's not a ton, but it's a definite step up from where I had been when I first started. So hey, go me!

The WOD last night was brutal.

• 1 min row for calories


• 1 min rest


• 1 min ball slams


• 1 min rest

Don't be fooled by the minute of rest. That was pretty much just enough time to jot down your numbers from the previous round and then run over and set up on the rower before it was time to get started.

After the second round, I didn't think I'd physically be able to do one more round of everything. My legs were exhausted, my arms were trembling from lifting the weighted ball over my head and slamming it into the ground.

I don't know how, but I managed to get through the last round, and my numbers stayed fairly consistent each round, something our coach really wanted us to focus on for this workout.



Round 1: 34 ball slams / 14 calories
Round 2: 33 ball slams / 15 calories
Round 3: 34 ball slams / 15 calories

My total: 101 ball slams / 44 calories

Between all the deadlifts and the squats during the ball slams, I had some major jelly legs going on as I hobbled out of the gym and back to my car.

And boy can I feel my butt this morning -- no flat butts over here.

1. Yesterday was the first day of classes for the spring semester at UMD, which meant it was my first night teaching my Intro to Reporting class.

The class I teach is a writing lab class, where we cover the most basic aspects of reporting -- things like how to put together a lede and a nutgraph and AP Style. Then we move on to writing obituaries, accident and crime stories.

I have a pretty big class this semester -- 18 kids, the max for the class. They seem like a good group, and I'm looking forward to working with them during the semester. I don't plan to blog much about teaching, but who knows, it might come up from time to time.

2. Last week, I said I needed to get better at running more consistently during the week, and I've done a pretty great job of that this week.


I've run three times since last week, including that bitter cold run I did on Tuesday night where I couldn't feel my chin after a few minutes of running.

That's definitely an improvement over last week, and I'm thinking three times a week of running is what I'm going to shoot for the next several weeks. That gives me a couple days of good running with my CrossFit classes twice a week. I'm hoping that if I stick to that routine for the next several weeks, my fitness base will start to improve and maybe even be close to where it was pre-injury.

I have the Nike Women's Half on the horizon (it's at the end of April) and I want a solid fitness base before I attempt half marathon distances.

3. It snowed in DC last night.


I woke up this morning to a blanket of the white stuff outside my window. I'm super grateful my office approved telework for today so I didn't have to worry about commuting in the snow. Driving or metro-ing around here when there is snow can be super dicey. It's like everyone becomes dumb and forgets how to act like a sane person while commuting. Accidents everywhere!

Depending how the day goes, I may slip out for a lunchtime run in the snow (if it sticks around for that long and doesn't melt.)

Last night I ran three miles in the frigid weather we're having in DC. It was 20 degrees when I started with RealFeel Temp of 13. Thank god for Under Armour cold gear. It's the first time I didn't have to stop and take a walk break during recovery!

As much as I want to quite literally hit the ground running, my runs as of late have been nothing short of slow and kind of miserable.



My quads have ached with every run and my lungs burn after less than a mile.

I am completely out of running shape.

I guess six weeks in an air cast will do that to you.



But still, it's hard to think that just a few months ago, I was banging out 20 milers without a problem and now I struggle through three.

The first few weeks I was cleared to run, I only ran once per week. Slow and steady, nothing longer than three miles. I wanted to ease myself back in.

This past weekend, I did two things I haven't done in a while. I ran two times in three days, and I did a "long" run of five miles.



And I'm so happy to say, I felt no foot pain on either run. Sure my quads and calves were tired and sore, and the five miler was full of walk breaks, but nothing hurt!

I could do a happy dance. (Actually I might have done one in my kitchen Sunday afternoon when I got back from the run...)

I know I still have a long way to go until I'm back to where I was, but I'm so encouraged that I can at least slowly start to increase my distance.

It's humbling to go slowly and sucking wind so badly, but it's steps in the right direction!

1. Last night I met my friends in College Park to watch the Maryland vs. NC State basketball game.


Me and Meg rocking our red and black work/game-day dresses

And what a game it was. We started with a big lead, then went completely cold and didn't score forever. Then in the second half we battled back and forth with NC State for the lead.

With 12 seconds left we were down one.

And with less than a second left, we made a basket to put us up one. NC State had a chance to win in the remaining time, but lucky for us their last minute shot didn't work out and the game ended 51-50.

2. I did CrossFit two days in a row this week, which is not something I normally do.

On Tuesday, I actually had plans to run with a friend but it's been raining in DC all week and I swear we haven't seen the sun in like eight days, so we decided to reschedule. I headed to CrossFit instead.

We did a pretty killer WOD:

3 Rounds:

• 20 dumbbell snatches


• 10 burpees


• 2 minutes rest between rounds.

I finished second out of our little group, but damn, burpees are such a bitch.

3. My running motivation has been fairly nonexistent lately. I think part of it is definitely the weather. Running in the rain is just not my thing. And part of it is that I'm still worried about my foot not being healed all the way.

I've done exactly two runs since I've been cleared two weeks ago: a 1.5 miler the day I got my air cast off and a 3.5 miler last week with my friend.

I think I'm going to put together a "getting back to regular running" training plan for myself. Schedule some sort workouts, so I'm forcing myself to get out there and slowly ease back into running.

I know a lot of my running fitness is already gone and the thought of working back up from nothing is frustrating, but I guess I've gotta start somewhere. So, slow and steady it is.

I was so excited when I checked the CrossFit blog yesterday to see what our WOD would be and saw that it was going to be my first girl workout!

In CrossFit workouts named after girls are bench-marking workouts that are especially ass-kicking. I was so looking forward to trying to my first one.



Thanks to Ericka for sharing this picture. I looove it!

According to the blog, we were doing Helen:

• 400 meter run


• 21 kettlebell swings


• 12 pull ups

I won't lie I was super nervous about how I was going to accomplish all those pull ups. My T. Rex arms aren't known for being the strongest.

Before getting to the WOD, we tackled front squats again as our skill work. I'm happy to report, I did so much better this week than last week. My form had improved, and I was actually able to put some weight on the bar this time around without bruising my collarbone. Go me!

When we got to the WOD, I was feeling good and mentally ready to tackle the workout. Physically though, our coach didn't think I was ready to jump into a full girl workout, in part because I'm still healing from my injury and just in part because I'm new and he didn't want to risk any other injuries.

So he had a few of us do a modified version of Helen:

• 300 meter run


• 15 kettlebell swings


• 9 pull ups

I was bummed at first to not be able to do the full workout, but our coach promised I'd thank him later.

And he was right. By the time I finished the modified version (in 9:18) I was gassed. My arms were trembling from the pull ups, and I got a rude reminder of just how much running fitness I lost after six weeks in an air cast.

As much as my competitive side wanted to tackle the full workout and really push myself, the modified workout was the right choice. I'm glad my coaches are there to reign my competitive side in and make sure I'm doing workouts that push me enough, but not to the point of getting hurt.

One of these days I'll do a full girl workout and I'm sure I'll collapse on the ground gasping for air afterward. And it will be awesome.

One of the things I love to do in the winter months when the weather is crappy is try out new classes at some of the fitness studios in the city. It gives me a chance to mix up my routine, plus sometimes it's way more fun than running in cold and miserable weather.

On Friday, I had plans to try the "No Shower Happy Hour" spin class at Off Road DC, a spin studio on U Street.



Now I'm not one who normally works out after work on Friday evenings. I usually like to spend my Fridays relaxing or at happy hour unwinding with friends, but after a crazy week, a spin class sounded like the perfect way to blow off some steam.

So I headed downtown to check out the class.

I figured I wouldn't know anyone, but then I saw on Twitter that Emily was going to be there celebrating Jess' birthday! Yay for fitness friends!

We grabbed bikes in the second row and started warming up.

When the music started, I was enjoying rocking out to some of the pop songs. I love spinning to music I can sing along with in my head.

But then the instructor said there wouldn't be anymore pop on the playlist for the rest of the class.

Ugh, bummer. I hate spinning to just music with a beat. It makes it harder for me to get into a groove in the class.



Other than the music, the class was a solid workout. We did sprints on a flat road, we climbed long hills and did shorter speedier climbs. We were in the saddle and out of the saddle, so there was definitely a good amount of variety in the class.

Oh and the bikes were really nice and came equipped with computers that told you your RPM and your watts and lots of other info. That was the first time I'd done a spin class on bikes with computers, and it was pretty cool.



I finished the class drenched in sweat and on a nice endorphin high -- pretty much everything I want out of good workout.

I'm looking forward to trying lots of other classes at other fitness studios this winter.

If you've been reading for a while, you know needles make me pass out. I don't know why, it's just some weird thing I have. Even if I don't look at them, I pretty much go to an unconscious happy place immediately after whatever blood work or shot has wrapped up.

So it may come as no surprise that I never get a flu shot. Ever.

I prefer to not go through the passing out thing on a yearly basis.

But this year, my mom nagged the crap out of me so bad about it (seriously, I was getting daily calls, texts or emails linking me to news stories about how a whole bunch of healthy people died this year from the flu), that I finally caved.

So yesterday morning, I secretly ducked into the health clinic at my office, sheepishly told the nurse my issue with needles and figured I'd knock this flu shot thing out as quickly and with the least amount of embarrassment as possible.

Then she mentioned that while I was there she could also do some baseline blood work to test for cholesterol, sugar levels, etc.

It'd been a while since I had everything tested, and I figured I may as well get it all over with it one visit. Plus those are just good numbers to know for overall health.

The shot was painless. The finger prick for the blood work was not, but, I didn't completely pass out. Sure things definitely got a little blurry in the vision department, and the nurse started sounding reallllllly far away, but I'm fairly certain I remained conscious the whole time. We'll call that a win!

At one point the nurse even brought out those nasty smelling things that help wake people up from passing out, I took a whiff, felt my head clear for a second, then went right back to almost-passing out land.

Luckily she had some cookies on hand, which definitely started to make me feel better and bring my blood sugar levels back up.

By the time we got my almost passing out under control, the results from the blood test had processed.

Despite 6 weeks of inactivity because of my injury, my blood work numbers were freakin' fantastic:

• Total cholesterol - 134 (healthy level is <200)


• HDL "good cholesterol" - 70 (healthy level is >60)


• LDL "bad cholesterol" - so low the test couldn't even measure it! Booo-yah! (healthy level <100)


• Triglycerides - <45 also so low the test couldn't get an exact number (healthy level is <150)


• Glucose - 85 (healthy level for fasting test 70-99)


• Blood pressure: 96/50

Sooo, apparently I have really super healthy blood! Go me! And also, all those eggs I'm eating every day are not having an sort of negative impact on my cholesterol levels. Whoop!

Being the data nerd that I am, I actually really love having these kinds of numbers. If I didn't pass out every time a needle came within a foot of me, I'd get these tests down more often to monitor things. I actually wish this test would have been a little more in depth and given me some idea on iron levels, vitamin levels, etc.

Guess I'd have to go to the real doctor and actually have multiple vials of blood drawn for that. We'll save that for another day I guess. ::shudders::

Do you get your blood work done regularly?

There is no better view on a run than the monuments lit up at night with the faint twinkling of light bouncing off the Reflecting Pool.



I'm lucky and grateful for every day I can be out running in this city.

Sure I have plenty of complaints about DC (like the nonstop traffic, the tourists in the summertime and the people who don't understand "stand right, walk left" on the metro escalators).

But there's something kind of magical about running the monuments at night.

I met up with a friend the other night (pictures in this post from his phone, since I didn't take mine) for a slow and easy run around the Mall. Our running time was about 35 minutes, but we were probably out there for closer to an hour, between the traffic lights, our stretch break and pausing to snap some pictures and admire the view.



To me, it's a view that will never get old.

What's your favorite part about running in your city?

I have a really love-hate relationship with cooking and spending time in the kitchen in general. And for the past 1.5 years, I would say that relationship was feeling a lot of hate.



I was burned out on trying to be creative in the kitchen after my 2010 cooking challenge. So I cruised through 2011, cooking here or there, but not really making a big deal out of it. Sometimes Matt and I would cook together and that was fun and all, but after the break up, you couldn't pay me to get back into the kitchen.

It just seemed like so much extra effort to dirty all sorts of pots and pans and dishes to cook for just me.



I didn't have anyone to impress or please, so I was perfectly happy enjoying summer's fresh veggies at the salad bar or noshing on a bowl of cereal or a PBJ for dinner.

Quick, easy, fairly delicious and zero time spent on cleaning. Perfect for my single girl life because it meant more time being outside, hanging out with friends, hitting happy hour or whatever it is I would rather do other than clean up after making dinner.


Like perhaps tailgating


Or indulging in some happy hour margaritas

I got into a nice pattern of quick and easy dinners that carried on through last year. Sure, every once in a while I would get a stroke of inspiration and dig out my crock pot or whip up some of my delicious butternut squash soup. But largely, any desire to spend any time in the kitchen seemed boring and way more trouble than it was worth.

I figured there were plenty of ways for me to eat healthy food that didn't involve slaving in the kitchen. I became the queen of Subway for nights when I was in a rush. No joke the people at the Subway down the street from my house know my order by heart. I had a long standing relationship with the salad bar at the grocery store across the street. Fresh veggies, piled high in one of those plastic containers made for perfect quick and easy dinners.

But at some point in the last month or two, I've really started to miss and crave good, home-cooked meals. But my schedule is still as packed as it ever was. For the foreseeable future, I have something on my calendar for every single night after work.



I'm not complaining; I love my busy schedule. It just doesn't leave me with any time, energy or motivation to whip up fancy kitchen creations during the work week.

So for the last week or two, I've been experimenting with a new approach. The "do all my cooking on Sunday so I'm prepped for the week" approach. And I have to say, it's working really, really well.

I'm excited to cook again since I don't feel rushed on the weekend, and if I knock all the cooking out in one day, I only have to do massive clean up one day each week. That's something I can tolerate.



Plus, I am loving coming home and having something healthy and home cooked that I can just pull out of the fridge or the freezer. Dinner is so much more satisfying to eat when it's something delicious that I've made myself.

In the last two weeks, I've certainly expanded my cooking horizons.

I made sage pork with apples and onions one week. I whipped up a delicious batch of sweet potato fries (my newest obsession). And this week I made a sweet potato and carrot soup as well as some really delicious chicken fajitas (which pretty much just involved cooking the peppers, onions and chicken so it's all ready to assemble during the week.)

I can't say how long I will be on this new found cooking kick, but I'm hoping it lasts for a little while. I'm having fun and maybe if I get really inspired, I'll even share a recipe or two.

My power decided to go out at a really inopportune time last night...half way through the second quarter of the National Championship game.

Yes, the game was a blow-out. The Irish just couldn't stop 'Bama and by half time, I wasn't sure it was worth draining my phone battery to watch the game on the Watch ESPN app.

My friends let me know I wasn't missing much...

@jessmilcetich Probably better your not watching this happen...

— Brian Klenk (@BDKlenk) January 8, 2013

The game obviously didn't go as I would have liked, but it was fun watching the Irish play this season. (Especially when you compare their performance to the Terps...ugh...)

Anyway, before I settled in to watch the football game, I got my butt thoroughly handed to me at CrossFit.

The lift portion was heavily focused on front squats, something I majorly struggle with. I just can't for the life of me figure out a way that's comfortable to hold the bar. Nor can I keep my elbows up in the super awkward position they have to be in.

[caption id="attachment_2548" align="alignnone" width="500"] One of the guys at my gym with proper front squat form[/caption]

I worked with one of the coaches on nailing the proper form just with the 45 lb. bar and no other weight. By my fifth set of five, I was sort of getting the hang of it, but I still have a long way to go.

The bar also left some bruising and redness along my collarbone, so it looks like I have a nice big hickey. Lovely...always keeping it classy around these parts.

Our WOD for the day was a killer.



Translated, that's:
7 thrusters
7 knees to elbows
One lap of bear crawl
As many reps as possible in three minutes.
Rest two minutes and repeat two more times.

I managed two rounds in each set, and think I used 35 lbs. for the thrusters.

It was definitely a very arm/shoulder intensive workout, and when I got home I couldn't even lift my arms over my head to shampoo my hair. I'm still sore this morning, in a hurts-so-good kind of way. I missed this feeling!

I also started developing some pretty big calluses on my right hand. (But none really on my left...anyone know why that might be?)

I couldn't have asked for a better CrossFit class to go back to last night.



By some small miracle, yesterday's WOD didn't include a single thing involving jumping, which meant I could do the whole workout without any modifications.

Happy day!!!

My CrossFit gym posts the WOD every day on its blog, so that way I can scope it out in advance and see if it's something I'll be able to manage as I'm rehabbing my foot. Just one of the many, many things I love about my gym.

Yesterday's workout was full of lots of squats and kettlebell swings in the lifting portion of the class and then rowing, push presses, air squats and sit ups as the WOD -- not one bit of high impact!

It was a tough workout, and I was sucking wind by the time I got off the rowing machine.

But for my first workout back, I didn't do too poorly.



I managed to row 894 meters in 4 minutes, after doing three rounds of the weights circuit, plus an extra five push presses.

By the time I got home, my legs felt like jello. OH hey hamstrings, remember when I used to workout on a regular basis before I was hurt...welcome back to that.

It feels so, so good to be able to work out again. Slowly, but surely making my comeback!

I'm finally cleared by the doctor to run!!!

I got home from his office and did a happy dance in my bedroom.

But if you think immediately after that I threw on my running clothes to go out for my first run, you'd be wrong.

I delayed....a lot.

I had wanted to go to my CrossFit class at night, but since yesterday's WOD was full of burpees, I opted out. I'm still not cleared to do all high impact plyo stuff yet. So things that involve a lot of jumping like box jumps, jumping rope and burpees aren't in the cards yet.

Since CrossFit was out, I figured I'd try a short run....at some point.

I was off yesterday so I had all day to get my run in.

First, I waited until the weather warmed up a bit. I wasn't trying to do my first run back in 19 degree weather.

Then I got caught up in lesson planning for the class I'm teaching at Maryland this semester. Spent a few hours working on that, then ate lunch, then read blogs, then checked the weather.

See a pattern here?

Yep, I was procrastinating my run because I was nervous my foot wasn't really ready.

I mean I looked at the X-rays with the doc. They looked nice and crisp and clean. No hints of a break anywhere.

But I'm nervous about going out too fast and re-injuring myself. I was so, so sick of not being able to run, that the last thing I want to do is wind up in the same boat again.

Eventually, I put on my big girl pants and forced myself out the door. I knew if I didn't tackle a run yesterday, it would be too easy to let more and more days slip by because I was worried.

The doctor told me to ease back into it, so I did 1.5 miles. Very slowly.

I paid way, way too much attention to my right foot every time it hit the ground, trying to feel if there was any inkling of pain. I felt a few twinges here and there in both feet, probably from not running in so long, but nothing painful.

My lungs burned like crazy. They weren't used to the cold air. And I felt really, really out of shape.

But I did my first post-injury run. And every run from here on out will get a little bit easier.

I just have to take it slow and steady and not push it until my foot gets some of its strength back.

Happy 2013!

I hope by now you're all recovered from your celebrations!

I had a pretty low key but awesome time at a party at my friend's house. We had a potluck style dinner, some pretty amazing dessert and watched New Years' Rockin' Eve -- it was weird without Dick Clark.


Me, Meghan and Emily

As we watched the ball drop, I spent some time reflecting on what I want out of 2013.

I have so many things in mind -- some big, some small -- none of them "resolutions" per-say. But I think they can all be summed up pretty well in one word: New.

I want 2013 to be the year of new things in my life -- new experiences, new friends (not that I don't love my current friends), new races, new food, new places to live (yes, I'm finally going to move this year, at last!).

I want to branch out, do some things I never thought I'd do before.

I want to tackle new fitness challenges.

I want to take on new work projects.

I want to grow and evolve as a person.

I know that's all very vague and general, and doesn't much sound like my normal type-A, over-planning self, but I'm taking a different approach this year. Don't worry, I will still set plenty of mini-goals throughout the year, especially when it comes to fitness. But I'm not making any sort of sweeping, all-encompassing resolution this year. Instead, each opportunity that I'm given to do something new, I want to take it.

I got stuck in a little bit of a rut at the end of 2012, and I'm ready to bust out of it.

2013 is going to hands down be the best year yet.