Fit After Little Bits

The last couple of weeks have been all things holiday and family related. Wrapping up classes and turning in grades before Christmas was fantastic. Decorating, celebrating and eating. Lots of eating 😉
Have been MIA on here, but really enjoyed spending time relaxing with everyone. That doesn’t mean I took a break from workouts though-but thankfully, they were some chill recovery weeks and I wasn’t mad about it.

The weather this last week has been a little wacky-ranging from -17 degrees F to hammering snow to 37 degrees and rain?! Weather whiplash!

Before things got nutty, the snow was pretty great for some skiing. During Brooke’s Nordic course, I love that Ken and I get to fill that time with workouts of our own.

A little classic skiing, some skate skiing…all depends on what the snow looks like!

Definitely a winter wonderland out there-and I am here for it!

Compared to Steamboat, there are a lot more cloudy days here. Something about the Pacific Northwest 😉 But those sunny days feel really special.

Did some family skiing at Brundage. Took full advantage of that sunshine!

And started exploring the Little Ski Hill that is right next to our house. Brooke is a little obsessed with it. There is only a T-bar, so it is a lot less intimidating than the resort skiing. It tends to be pretty quiet and the size of the runs is right up her alley. Plus, we can ski home after.

Some friends invited us to meet up to skin up Brundage on Saturday. Ken and I joined them at 7 to start the climb. Fun fact: it is dark here until about 8:00, so the way up was dark and headlamps were needed. But once we made it to the top, the ski down was just beautiful.

The beauty of it will make you forget that 5:45 am alarm. Mostly.

A fun group and a great workout 🙂

My sister, her husband and their pup came to stay with us for Christmas and it was such a blast. At about 7 months pregnant, she did a great job dealing with the higher altitude and our snowy conditions. We took walks everyday and it was good to get this girl out, too!

On Sunday, I turned 40. Wow, that is strange to actually type out. Something about turning 40 just hits different 😉

We spent the morning at the tubing hill. My sister and I watched as Brooke and the boys did laps. They had a great time. Also, I know I am biased, but she is pretty cute.

After a quick treadmill workout (because you dont get out of workouts on birthdays-ha!) we went to dinner at a restaurant called Cutwater at Shore Lodge. The food was great-but the highlight might have been the giant fish tank!

And that about wraps up the happenings! Our company has gone home, so it is back to our quiet house.
Time to start thinking about all the exciting things coming in 2023!

Last week’s workouts:
M: 6 miles, treadmill
T: 6.2 miles skate ski
W: 5 miles, treadmill
H: 8 miles, treadmill
F: Rest
S: Morning skin up the resort (2.5 miles total), afternoon 5 miles treadmill
S: 5.4 miles skate ski

Last, last week’s workouts:
M: Rest
T: Rest
W: 6.2 mile classic ski
H: 5.7 mile run, snow
F: Bike trainer 60 minutes
S: 10 miles easy, treadmill
S: 5 miles easy, treadmill

Hi there and happy weekend! I hope that you are having a great start to November. We have gotten a pretty good amount of snow in the last couple of weeks making it feel far more like winter than fall.

Over that last couple of weeks, we have been doing all the normal things: work, homeschool, play dates, working out…the good stuff. Halloween snuck in there and we were delighted to head to a lovely pot luck and trick or treating with some friends! Brooke has been loving all of her time spend with new friends!

On the workout side of things, I have upped my running game substantially. Part of that has to do with the fact that you cant really ride bikes outside anymore 😉 And part of that has to do with some goals that I have for next year. (More below) We have not really completed our “home gym” in the garage yet, so all of my miles have been outside. While I am not one to escape often to the treadmill, there were definitely a couple of runs in the last week that I could have used it. Better get on figuring that out 😉

Last Saturday, I did a 10 mile run and while there were a few areas of ice, the roads were mostly just wet.

And then it really snowed! Haha. Let me tell you how fun it was to do a hill workout on this. Thankful for spikes, but was still slipping around in places. It was also cold. And shaded. Woof. But, 9 miles later and I was very happy that I had finished the workout!

Brooke is doing the Nordic Team/Lessons this year and I am really hoping she can then teach me how to skate ski properly. Yesterday, I swapped out a 5 mile easy run for 50 minutes of skate ski time. It was pretty soft and I could definitely use some pointers. Maybe I can swap my road hill workouts for skiing uphill?

Okay, so why the increase in miles?

In 2019 I ran my one and only 50 mile race (and fell in love with it), I have wanted to do a 100 mile run race ever since. Then all things Covid, injury and life kind of got in the way. BUT my desire to complete one of these ultra events did not go away. Fast-forward to the end of 2022 and the itch has gotten so crazy that I have started the beginning stages of training!

There is an event in Oregon in August of 2023 and I am planning to sign up for it when it opens. (Excitement and terror all in one!). It looks gorgeous and I have read that it is a pretty good “first 100”. More details on that when I bite the bullet and actually sign up. But for now, I have started running. I definitely need to get back to some weight lifting because just running a bunch of miles isn’t going to cut it at (almost) 40 years old 😉

More to come on the plan I am working off of (and adapting) and what training will look like, but for now…snow running it is! And some treadmill time coming my way. Now that it is in writing, it feels a lot more real!

Cheers to big dreams-however crazy they make us feel!