Hello Friends!
I have not forgotten you! In fact, I started this post over a week ago and life has been so crazy that I never had the time to finish it and share it. Today looked like it was going to be another day of madness. Mondays are usually a tough day for me to get to work but even worse after a busy weekend. I worked Saturday morning and taught two kids yoga classes. This group is so sweet and so much fun!
Then we immediately jetted into the city to celebrate my younger brother’s 30th birthday. We spent Saturday watching Illinois take a football victory and then drinking tons of prosecco into the night. On Sunday, we met my family for brunch and pizza.
Needless to say I was wiped when I got home and confused and depressed when my alarm went off early this morning. But since I didn’t want to work Friday, I decided to work today. It looked like it was going to be a rough start when I got stopped by not one, but TWO trains on my way to work. But some icy snow and parent teacher conferences led to a bunch of last minute cancels, allowing me to be home by 6:30pm to eat dinner and watch Indiana Basketball with the BOY.
So what have I been up to these past few weeks???
Lots of working and working out. And in between? Sleeping, reading, letting the BOY make dinner, and obviously not blogging : )
Homemade pizza night (from Chef BOY)
When you live in a city like Chicago, your workouts change with the weather. For the past few years, I’ve fallen into a cycle of spending the summers outdoors as a cardio queen, biking and running, and trying to get to a weekly hot yoga class. Once the weather turns colder and the sun rises later, my outdoor morning runs turn into spin or strength classes at the gym. My weekends consist of shorter (due to the cold weather) runs as able and strenuous hot yoga classes. My motivation wanes a bit and it takes some extra incentive to get me out of the house and into the cold.
Which is where friends come into the picture! I met a friend last weekend at a forest preserve path in between our houses for a run through the snowy woods. An hour of catching up on life is always a HUGE motivator for me. In the mornings, I am back to speed workouts at the indoor track.
Most recently, I gave this workout a go and was a big fan…
10 minute warm up
30 second sprint/90 second recovery x8
10 minute cool down
On top of running, I have been attending a weekly hot yoga class and a weekly strength class. It’s early in the morning but I really like the people and every workout is unique and challenging. Some morning I come home and some mornings its breakfast and a shower at the gym.
The early morning wake ups (think pre 6am) are always an adjustment to all of us. Even Cooper gets a bit out of whack.
But despite the exhaustion, lack of sunshine, sore legs, and limited free time for fun stuff (like reading and writing blogs), I always feel really good when I am more active and building strength. This week ahead is an exciting one, so I will hopefully have some new Thanksgiving recipes, fun family stories, and of course Cooper shenanigans to share when I return. It won’t be so long this time, I promise!
Do your workouts change for winter? What are you doing for Thanksgiving?
