That's how I feel this week and with a calendar like this can you blame me?



And this is just my 9-5 work calendar...

Is it the weekend yet?

I think we can all agree that being ripped from a deep sleep by a blaring alarm clock is one of the most miserable feelings in the world.



Unfortunately it's a feeling I'm all too familiar with. Since I get into the office at 7 a.m. most days, I'm used to the alarm clock blaring at miserably early hours.

Some mornings I wake up feeling super refreshed. Other mornings I wake up feeling like I've been hit by a Mack track.


I'm known for passing out at friend's houses at random times...

After reading about the iPhone app Sleep Cycle for what seemed like the millionth time this weekend, I decided I'd download it and see if it helped my sleep at all.

Sleep Cycle uses your phone's accelerometer to track your movements as you sleep to determine when you are moving in out and of the different stages of the sleep cycle. It then uses a 30-minute window (based on an alarm time that you set) and gently wakes you up at when you're not in the deepest phase of sleep.



Monday morning I knew I needed to be awake by 5:45 to get to the gym for my workout, so I set the Sleep Cycle alarm for 5:45 knowing the phone would wake me up sometime between 5:15 and 5:45 when it sensed I was starting to come out of a sleep cycle naturally. I think the alarm went off around 5:35.

This morning I needed to be awake by 6 to get ready for work. The alarm went off at 5:42.

(Because I am paranoid about oversleeping, I set a back-up alarm for five minutes after the Sleep Cycle alarm was set to go off. I've never had to rely on it though, the Sleep Cycle app does the thing.)

Aside from trying to wake you more naturally, the app also collects really interesting data on your sleep and spits it out for you in nice charts.

Here's a comparison of my sleep Sunday night to my sleep last night.



I got fewer hours on Sunday night, but it was a much more high quality sleep than last night.

I've only been using the app for a few days, but I haven't had that Mack truck feeling lately. Sure some days I'm tired (like this morning because my sleep was apparently crap last night), but I haven't had that "where the heck am I?" feeling when you get jerked back to reality from a really deep sleep.

If you're curious about your sleep, I highly recommend giving Sleep Cycle a try. It's only 99 cents in the App Store.

Have you ever tried Sleep Cycle or used any other method of tracking your sleep?

Sleep Cycle didn't pay me anything or give me any sort of discount to write this post. I bought the app on my own and just wanted to share because I really enjoy it.

Have you guys been watching the March Madness tournament? I can't get enough of it with all the upsets this year. My bracket has gone to complete shit, but I don't even care.

I rocked my Temple U shirt yesterday in hopes that TU would pull of an upset and knock off Indiana. They came close but couldn't quite pull it out.


(Fun fact: I bought this shirt about ten years ago, when I was sure I was going to go to Temple for college.)

In other news, I woke up to this sight this morning:



Global warming, my foot.

It's March 25th and there were a solid 1.5 inches of snow on the ground this morning.

Three+ hours later and it's still coming down.

I'm glad I had an interval workout on the schedule for today and was already planning on being inside on the treadmill anyway. Otherwise the slippery snow would have really messed up plans.

It's heavy, wet snow and it's certainly making the sidewalks slick. I felt like I was skating my way down to the fitness center this morning.

I made it without any major falls though. Go me!


Don't mind my pasty white legs -- they haven't seen sun in months

I had the fitness center mostly to myself this morning, so I hopped on the newest treadmill that has the nice interval setting built in. Basically before the workout starts, it lets you program in your run speed and your recovery speed and then all you have to do is push one button and the machine toggles between the speeds.

Saves you from jamming the speed up and speed down arrows a million times when you want to switch speeds.

This morning's workout was 1 minute hard run, two minutes recovery. Repeat 10 times.

I set my hard run speed at 8.0 mph. (In hindsight, probably could have kicked it up to 8.5).

My recovery was 4.0 mph walking at an increasing incline. I started at 3 percent incline and worked my way up to 5 percent incline by the end of the workout.

It ended up being a great workout and a perfect way to start my week.

I slip-slided my way back home from the fitness center (again managing to avoid a major wipe out) and now I'm curled up under the covers working from my bed. I might be keeping my fingers crossed the Maryland closes early today. Teachers love snow days as much as students.

 

It's been months and months since I've had the motivation or drive to do any sort of morning workout. I honestly can't remember the last time I set an alarm to drag myself out of bed to run early.

But lately with my schedule being so out of control between my job and teaching and the rest of life, early morning seems like the only time I have for me.

So yesterday, I took advantage of that and got in an intense interval workout before work.



My running has been a little stale lately, so I thought intervals would be a good way to spice it up.

I found a fun-sounding interval workout from Self Magazine and decided to give it a try.

Here's what the workout looked like:

• 5-minute warm up


• 3-minute sprint at 7-9 mph


• 3-minute hill walk (I did 4.2 mph with a 5 percent incline)


• Repeat 5 more times


• Cool down for four minutes

In total, the workout was 45 minutes, and I was dripping in sweat at the end. Seriously, it was such a good butt kicking and a really, really good way to mix up my otherwise ho-hum running routine.

Plus getting the workout out of the way first thing in the morning made me feel insanely productive the entire rest of the day.

It was a nice reminder how much I love morning workouts. Yes, dragging yourself out of bed early sucks, but the feeling afterward totally makes up for it.

Some days how much weight I lift surprises the heck out of me.

I dragged my butt into CrossFit last night in a really terrible mood. I felt tired and run down physically, and I'd just been handed some rather big and sad news at work, so mentally and emotionally, I wasn't really there.

I figured I'd just lift a little easier, push it enough, but not to the point where I'm dropping weight on my head or toes or something.



We got through our warm up, and I did what I needed to get it done and nothing more.

We moved on to lifting. My program had called for deadlifts, presses and carries last night. The presses and the carries were nothing to write home about. I upped my weight on the carries, but stayed the same on the presses. Fine by me.

The deadlift plan was two sets of five. My previous PR was 133 pounds, and I had no intention of lifting more than that last night.


My former deadlift PR

I went through a few warm-up sets to solidify my form, and then started loading up the bar with weight.

103 felt easy. 123 felt easy.



133 was tough, but not as tough as normal.

So I threw 10 more pounds on the bar. Figured what the heck, I'd give it a go.

Banged out five reps and felt really good about it.

No clue where that came from, but just like that I've got a new deadlift PR.

And it happened on a day when I dragged myself into the gym feeling like crap, when a big tub of ice cream, my bed and PJs sounded so much more appealing.

I guess it just goes to show that even on days you feel drained, exhausted and utterly crap-tastic, you can still make gains -- and surprise the heck out of yourself -- in the gym.

After having several days in a row of seriously beautiful spring weather, Mother Nature decided to go back into winter mode this week giving us a bunch of bleak and dreary days.

I don't think I've seen the sun once since Saturday afternoon.


Sunshine I miss you!!!

It certainly didn't peek out on my eight miler on Sunday.

Before going to bed Saturday night, I set out my planned running outfit: Under Armour capris and a Champion long sleeve top.

But when I got home from church Sunday morning, I knew I'd need to go back to winter running gear: gloves, ear warmers, tights and a running jacket.



The temperature had dropped at least 10 degrees and the wind had kicked up.

But despite the lack of sunshine, the run didn't totally suck. In fact, it was pretty awesome. I ran an old route I hadn't visited in a while, and it reminded me how much I love using running to explore fun neighborhoods in DC.

The run also served to remind me how much I love running long, and how much I miss it now that my schedule doesn't really allow for it.

I know I'm not going to be perfectly trained for the Nike Women's Half in April, but Sunday's run was a good reminder that I can at least have the endurance to get myself across the finish line.

It won't be fast, and I'm sure at parts it won't be pretty, but my endurance is coming back and for now, I'll be happy crossing the finish line with a smile on my face and enjoying the heck out of every minute of that race.

And until Mother Nature decides to bring us spring for real, I'm painting my finger nails all sorts of summery colors to remind me that warmer weather isn't toooo far off.

Guess who's coming to visit this weekend?

This girl!!!



That would be Susan -- my fellow Terp and runner friend!

She's in town to run the Rock N Roll Half Marathon this weekend and she'll be crashing at my place while she's here.

I'm pretty freakishly excited to see her because we missed our annual homecoming get together this past football season, so it's been a loooog time.

Susan and I actually met on the Interwebz through our blogs. Yes we both went to Maryland, but we didn't know each other while we were there, which is sad because I'm sure we would have had all sorts of fun together.

Coincidentally, the Terps play Duke tonight in the second round of the ACC tournament, and the local game watch is at a place that serves pizza. So tonight Susan and I will be carb-loading (or well Susan will be carb-loading, I'll have no excuse for eating pizza) and cheering on our Terps together.

Go Terps! Beat Duke!

Getting sick is the worst, but I guess with everything I had going on was bound to catch up with me eventually.


Despite my best efforts to Zicam it away, it didn't seem to work

I woke up yesterday morning with my left tonsil on fire. Yes not my whole throat, just my left tonsil. It continued to hurt the entire day, making it extremely painful to talk and nearly impossible to focus on work.

So I ended up taking half a sick day, crawling into bed and napping for several hours.

I woke up just in time to watch the announcement about the new pope -- he took the same name that my dad has, which I thought was kind of cool.

But I was pretty much just a waste of space the rest of the day. I even ended up canceling my class because I couldn't talk without extreme pain. Somehow a two-hour class seemed like a very bad idea.

So my kids got an early start to their spring break.

I'm feeling slightly better this morning, but I think that's because I popped some Aleve last night to ease the pain in my tonsil so I could fall sleep. After tossing and turning for a few hours, I opted for the drugs.

I packed an entire pharmacy in my purse this morning so I can go on the offensive today. I've got too much on my plate to lose two days of work in a row.

I'm most annoyed by the fact that I missed a day of running in absolutely gorgeous weather yesterday and I'm thinking I'm probably going to have to skip CrossFit tonight. Grrr. But I guess it's smarter to rest up and get better than to push it and get worse.

When I made my training plan for the Nike Women's Half coming up in April, I knew I needed to leave a lot of flexibility because my schedule right now is a little of control. Between work and class and paper grading, I need to be able to shuffle things around.


Running happy in Baltimore

So I planned distances for my long runs on the weekends that I knew I could commit to, and left my weekdays fairly flexible with the goal of hitting about three runs per week total.

I've been doing a good job sticking with my long runs. This Sunday I had a seven miler on the training plan, and I was so excited to get outside and run in the gorgeous spring weather we were having.

Of course, first warmish run of the season and I majorly overdressed. I wore Under Armour capris and a short sleeve top with my arm warmers.


This was the outfit I wore (same that I ran Baltimore in this fall)

About a mile in, I was already rolling down the arm warmers. Oops, probably could have done without them.

It felt great to be running outside with the sun shining and a light breeze blowing. It was truly the perfect day for a run.

My legs felt very, very heavy after all the sled pushing I did in CrossFit on Saturday, so my pace was definitely slow.



But I managed to run the whole time except for when I got stuck at traffic lights.

I averaged right around 10 minute miles, slower than before my injury, but ehh well, still not a bad time.

Weekday runs have been trickier for me to manage, but I'm doing the best I can fitting them in when possible.

I'm not planning on breaking any speed records at the Nike Women's Half. I will just be happy to have my distance back.

Waking up the Monday after we "spring forward" is always brutal. When my alarm went off this morning, I was super disoriented and had no clue where I was.

It's day like this when I wish I liked coffee.

But I can handle a little bit of exhaustion because with the changing clocks, DC is also seeing some almost-springlike weather, and I'm so beyond pumped!

We took advantage of the nice weather in CrossFit on Saturday and did our WOD outside.



The workout was four rounds of sled pushes and kettlebell swings.



We worked with partners, so while the first person pushed the sled, the second person did kettlebell swings and then we swapped places.





My partner and I pushed a sled with no added weight. During the first round, I was thinking we probably could have had a little bit of weight on there, but man by the last round, I was very, very glad we didn't.



I also know my form on the kettlebell swings went to shit by round three.

My legs just didn't have it in them to keep popping out of the hinge and swinging the bell, and I was using a fairly light weight.

This workout was hard, and I definitely enjoyed laying on the ground and catching my breath once we finished.

I'm sure I'll regret saying this in a few months when it's a million degrees and humid out, but for now I'm really looking forward to doing more of our WODs outside. It adds a nice bit of variety to things.

You may have seen all the pv.body apparel reviews floating around the fitness blog world several months ago. The idea was similar to StichFix in that you filled out a style profile, based on your workout clothing style, and they sent you a few pieces that you might like based on what you said.

Not so long ago, the company moved away from distributing other companies' apparel and launched a line of their own called Ellie.

They reached out to me to see if I'd be interested in trying a few pieces from their February line. When I got the February look book, I had a really hard time deciding which pieces to try. They were all super cute.

I eventually decided on the Catch Me If You Can Longsleeve (because helllllo thumbholes!)



And then Kiss Me Capri (because ever since I started doing CrossFit I never seem to have any clean capris)



When my outfit eventually came, I fell in love with the shirt right away. I couldn't believe how soft it was. So perfect for just lounging around my house on the weekends. The capris were cute too, and they seemed to fit pretty well.

(I find sizing with bottoms to be super iffy and not consistent at all between brands, so I never ever know what size to order in hopes that something will fit.)

Beyond looking cute, I wanted to see how the gear would hold up during an actual workout.



Luckily we got a warm day or two a few weeks ago and I was able to run outside in the capris and top.

As soon as I started moving the capris started sliding down a little bit and I found myself hiking them up the entire run. They were slightly too big or the elastic wasn't quite tight enough to keep them in place. (I've tried the mediums and they were slightly too tight. Hate being in between sizes!)

But the shirt performed remarkably well. I wasn't sure how a shirt so soft and lounge-wear-looking would hold up during an intense workout, but it definitely held it's own and did a good job wicking sweat.

I've actually worn the capris to CrossFit several times as well and the slip factor isn't quite as noticeable (mainly only when I'm jumping rope). Otherwise they hold up well through rounds of deadlifts and squats.

It looks like the new March line is out now and I'll definitely be checking it out to see if there are any cute pieces. If you want you can use this discount code to try Ellie out for yourself.

Have you tried Ellie (or pv.body?)

Turns out my CrossFit gym is giving all of us a taste of some of the Winter Throwdown workouts even if we didn't compete over the weekend.

Tuesday morning when I checked the blog I saw we'd get the distinct pleasure of doing the snatch/burpee combo.



After seeing just how gassed that left everyone during the throwdown, I knew I was going to be hurting during that workout.


Names redacted because not everyone likes to have their life broadcast on the Internet

Yes sometimes I sass my CrossFit coaches on Facebook.

But I sucked it up, dragged my butt to the gym and get my ass handed to me. Burpees are just the devil.

Still managed to finish in a fairly decent time.


Please note, Wedds and Paul did a completely different workout since they actually participated in the throwdown.

Tonight, we're going to be doing another one of the workouts from the throwdown:

• Four minutes of rowing (for meters)


• 15 seconds rest (basically to get off the rower)


• 1 minute max goblet squats

I'll look forward to not being able to walk on Friday morning.

I haven't hoped for a snow day this badly in a long time...probably since I was a student and snow days actually meant I got off school.



Now snow days mostly just mean I get to work from home instead of going into the office (which is 100% awesome, but not quite the same as spending the day curled up on the sofa watching bad TV in your PJs.)

But now that I'm a teacher too, when school closes, I get the evening off, which is what happened today.


Though after running outside in my barefeet to take this picture, I think we're having more of an ice day than a snow day, which probably means no snow run on my lunch break.

So today, I only have to work one job! And I can do it from my house in my PJs!

YAY Snow!

(Ok, but my true feelings are that the snow did its job and now it can and should stop immediately haha. I don't actually really like snow!)

This weekend I did my first "long" run in ages.



Granted, it was only six miles, and fairly slow, but that's definitely the farthest I've run since I've been out of the air cast.

It was slow going, but I managed to run the whole time, except for the few times I got stuck at traffic lights.

I even took a little detour off my normal six mile loop, so I could scope out one of the condo buildings I'm considering moving in to when my lease is up this summer. I've been stalking condos in a few of the buildings near me on Zillow for weeks, but couldn't quite place in my mind the location of this building.

I was I got the chance to scope it out as part of my run.

I was also surprised by just how sore I was after the run and even yesterday. I remember when six miles was something I could have done in my sleep. I know the rebuilding process is slow, but at least I'm making progress!

And it felt really good to be out running slightly longer distances again. I'm realizing that I missed it a little bit, and I'm looking forward to the weather getting nicer so I can get back into it on a more regular basis.

This weekend my CrossFit gym held its biannual Throwdown event.



What's a Throwdown you ask?

Well it's a five-event lifting competition that the gym holds twice a year. It's a chance for people to measure their progress, hit PRs and bring out a bit of friendly competition.

There are also prizes for the men's and women's winners...in the form of WWE championship belts.



I didn't sign up to compete this year because I wasn't going to be around Saturday morning, but plans changed last minute, so I decided to go over and watch/help judge the competition.



These are the events people competed in:

• Handstands - for time


• 20 dumbbell snatches, 10 burpees - 3 rounds, no rest


• Deadlifts - 3 rep max


• Pushups - total number possible in three minutes


• Row - as many meters as possible in four minutes; then Goblet squats - AMRAP in one minute

The competition lasted from 10 a.m. until a little after 2 p.m. and it looked like so much fun.

Well, except for the part where people would collapse on the floor after an event and lay there for a while so they could recover.



Being there definitely made me wish I were competing instead of just watching and judging. It's kind of like spectating a race. You go to watch and cheer, and the minute you get home you're signing up for the next event you can find.

As long as I'm not on vacation, I'll definitely be signing up for the summer throwdown. There's absolutely no chance that I win, but again, just like racing, the competition is more with myself than with anyone else.

Congrats to everyone who competed on Saturday! You're all awesome!

I didn't read nearly as much in February as I did in January (unless you count paper grading!), but the books I did finish this month were more quality reads than several of last month's books.



The Replacement Wife by Eileen Goudge
I loved this book and couldn't put it down. It's a bit of a strange story, but the writing was so captivating and intriguing. The main character in the book is a professional matcher maker. She's set up dozens of successful couples that led to happy marriages, so when she finds out her terminal cancer has returned and is spreading, she sets out finding a replacement wife for her husband for after her death. The underlying story is obviously very sad, but it's such a great read.

This was the only book I read on my Kindle this month. The other books I read were in hard copy from the library.

Night Watch by Linda Fairstein
I discovered Linda Fairstein's books when I was in college, and tore through them all in a matter of weeks. They're basically like Law and Order: SVU stories, but in book form instead of TV show. The main character in all her books is Alexandra Cooper, a Manhatten District Attorney in the sex crimes unit. In the most recent story, Alex and her colleagues Mike and Mercer unravel a series of murders surrounding the opening of a new restaurant in the city. The most recent book was good, and I read it pretty quickly, but I didn't think it was quite as great as some of her earlier books.

The Last Man - Vince Flynn
Matt introduced me to the Vince Flynn books a few years ago, and since then I've loved following the missions of CIA operative Mitch Rapp as he fights bad guys across the globe. In this book, Rapp is on a mission to find another CIA operative who has gone missing. Rapp must find him before he spills American secrets. I thought the latest book in the Rapp series was excellent. I love DC suspense/thriller type books and this one didn't disappoint.

Have you read any good books this month? Do you like authors that have continuing characters?