Finding Balance

Monday and Tuesday of this week was my college's Fall Break. That means that students were off, and since students were off and most of our systems were down for a big data center move, I decided to take those two days off as well.

For a lot of the working world, taking a couple vacation days probably isn't that big of a deal. You have them, so you might as well use them, right? In fact, a lot of companies force employees to use all of their allotted days each year. The thing is, no matter how many times I tell myself those two statements, I haven't learned the trick of not feeling major guilt when I take vacation. Maybe it's a teacher thing, maybe I have issues....but I find it really hard to turn my brain off. It always seems like there is something MORE I should be doing, and I feel like I'm being a bad employee if I actually take any vacation days.

I was thinking about this over the weekend and on Monday while I was off. I spent Monday hanging out with my newly retired mom, and I can't tell you how many times I checked my email or checked in on work things while we were out and about (the blessing and curse of smartphones, I guess).

And then Tuesday came, and I was faced with the reality that the day was going to be spent attending one funeral while other family members were attending a second funeral that was being held at the same time. Suddenly, as I was riding to the funeral with my parents, I realized that there has to be balance. It is so cliche, but we really aren't promised tomorrow. And it just made me think that the most important thing is to actually be present.  While I definitely wish the occasion hadn't been what it was, I was so thankful all day for the mid-week time I got to spend with my parents and grandparents. I heard stories from my dad I'd never heard before, explored out in the country a little bit, and had lunch with my grandparents. And during the whole day, I think I only used my phone to find a place to eat and get directions.

Not exactly where or what I had in mind for today, but figuring out how to find the bright spots every day. Today's bright spot includes hearing stories from when my dad was growing up and having extra time with family.

A photo posted by Leslie Noggle (@onegirlandtwodogs) on Oct 6, 2015 at 8:46am PDT

So what does being present mean? When I'm at work, focus on work. Be there, be productive, and do my best. It's not realistic to think that I'm never going to have work to do at home and that it won't ever bleed over. But- it's okay to take time off. At the end of the day, as important as my career is, it's work, a career, but it's not what my life is. Although I like my job, I don't live to work. I live to enjoy time with my family, pursue interests, and all of those things. While the paycheck that comes with work enables me to do those things, I don't live to work. So this is just me reminding myself that it's okay to take time off every once in a while, and in fact, I'll probably be a better employee for it! And then when I'm at home or with friends and family, be present. Soak it up. Realize that it's okay to take a drive, linger over dinner or a drink, or even take a night to be lazy with a book that's I'm just reading for fun.

Here's to finding balance.

Week in Training: July 20-26

Week 3 of Wine and Dine Half training is complete! So far, each run has been completed, still along with my regular MFP workouts. We'll see how this next week goes, as I'll be out of town for work but so far, so good!

Monday (7/20): 

• 60 minute MFP class
• 1.5 mile walk 

Tuesday (7/21): 

• 60 minute MFP class
• 3 mile run
• This one was on the treadmill again. I'm making myself do my weekend runs (so far) outside, but I'm okay with the shorter runs being on the treadmill during the week for now. I figure I'm still getting some outside training in with all the hill sprints we're doing in class!
• 1.5 mile walk

Wednesday (7/22):

• 60 minute MFP class
• 1 lap warm up
• 10 minutes hill sprints
• Alternating sets (deadlifts, calf raises, good mornings, glute bridges, etc...) with cardio intervals
• 1.5 mile walk

Thursday (7/23):

• Unintentional rest from MFP class thanks to a work meeting
• 3 mile run
• On the treadmill again! And it was rough!
• 1.5 mile walk

Friday (7/24):

• REST
• 1.5 mile walk

Saturday (7/25):

• 5 mile run
• 1.5 mile walk

Sunday (7/26):

• REST
• This was a day of travel, starting with being at the airport at 5am for a cross country flight. After 8 hours of travel, I still got in 12,600 steps before the night ended, so I'm good with that!

Taco Stuffed Mini Bell Peppers

Last week, I made this recipe and shared with my parents. It was so good that my mom requested I make it again the next night! Not only is it pretty simple, but is also reheats really well, so it's a recipe that I'm sure I'll be making more once school starts back! It would be a pretty appetizer (just ignore my horrible photograph), but we loved it for dinner as an entree. As written, this makes about 4 servings. I can take or leave regular bell peppers, but LOVE the sweet ones! This recipe is based on this one from  The Girl Who Ate Everything.

What You'll Need:

• 1 lb bag of sweet mini bell peppers
• 1 lb ground meat (I used ground sirloin, but any ground meat would work)
• Homemade Seasoning (adjust to meet your taste preferences)
• 1 Tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1.5 teaspoons salt
• 1.5 teaspoons ground pepper
• 1 cup shredded cheese
• 3/4 cup water
• A handful of fresh cilantro
• 1/2 cup Greek Yogurt 
• 2 Tablespoons lime juice

What to Do:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Brown ground beef (or other meat). Once fully cooked, drain beef.
3. While your beef is browning, cut peppers in half length-wise and deseed. Basically, you're making little pepper boats. Line a baking sheet or dish with pepper boats.
4. Sacrifice enough of your pepper halves to create about 3/4 cup of diced pepper.
5. Once meat is browned and drained, add in diced pepper, seasoning mix, and water. Stir and simmer for about 5-10 minutes, or until water is soaked up and peppers are soft.
6. Fill pepper boats with ground beef mixture and bake for about 15 minutes. During the last 5 or so minutes, sprinkle on cheese and allow it to melt. (I like a little crispiness, so I turned the oven to broil for the last few minutes.)
7. In a food processor or blender, process your cilantro, greek yogurt, and lime juice to create a sauce to drizzle over finished peppers. You can adjust your sauce ingredients to your taste preferences. (Don't skip this....it is SO delicious!)
8. Serve peppers with cilantro yogurt sauce for drizzling or dipping!

Week in Training: 7/13 - 7/19

I forgot to post this on Monday, but another week of work-outs was completed and tracked! This was officially Week 2 of Wine & Dine Half Training, and I'm still trying to balance that with going to my MFP classes at About Face Boot Camp. The MFP classes are actually 5 days a week, but I'm going to skip most Saturday classes to get in my long runs. The 1.5 walks that are listed are my nightly walks with my parents. My dad has decided he's going to walk 3 miles every day...1.5 before work and 1.5 at night, so I'm going to his house to join him most evenings. My mom is joining us too at night....even with a knee injury! I'm so proud....but not quite dedicated enough to be at his house before 6am to join for his morning walks too :) .

Monday (7/13): 

• 60 minute MFP class
• Warmup: 3 laps, 10 minutes of hill sprints
• Workout: 5 sets of 3 exercises, timed for 6 minutes each block, build up to 5 reps of each
• 1.5 mile walk 

Tuesday (7/14): 

• 60 minute MFP class
• LEG DAY 
• 3 mile run
• I was hating myself for waiting until leg day to do this run, but then the best thing happened! On my way home from the gym and grocery store, it actually started raining! We've had pretty much NO rain and over a month of 90+ degree days, so I was so happy for the chance to go for a run in cloudy, breezy, drizzly (totally made that word up) conditions! I've definitely had my share of "why in the world did I sign up for another fall race that means summer training runs" runs lately with it being so hot and humid, so it was nice to have a run that I really enjoyed! This run made me remember why I love running so much!
• 1.5 mile walk

Wednesday (7/15):

• 60 minute MFP class
• Hill sprints then weights (upper body)
• 1.5 mile walk

Thursday (7/16):

• 60 minute MFP class
• 3 mile run
• Treadmill run because WHOA it was too hot after my class at the gym.
• 3mile walk
• My dad didn't get his morning walk in, so we walked 3 in the evening. I took him on my normal 3 mile running route around the neighborhood in between where I live and my parents live. I think my favorite comment was about a mile in when he said, "You better NEVER bring your mother on this route." He made the comment because my mom has a torn ACL (she's a rockstar who is still walking 1.5 with us every night in her brace) and the route is way too hilly for her knee to handle. For some reason, walking it made me realize just how hilly it is, whereas I don't think about it all that much when running it.

Friday (7/17):

• REST
• 1.5 mile walk

Saturday (7/18):

• 4 mile run
• I hated this run. I didn't feel like the running itself was hard....but it was SO hot! I'm trying really hard to ignore my paces on runs right now, because after seeing months of improvements, June and July have been SLOW. With temps and humidity so high, I'm just telling myself that as long as I get the distance in, the paces will start improving again once it cools down.
• 3 mile walk

Sunday (7/19):

• REST
• 3 mile walk

Week in Training: July 6-12

One day I'll be happy I'm starting to keep up with this, right? So this was officially week 1 of Wine and Dine Half Marathon training. I'm following Jeff Galloway's plan for that since I've found that I love his run-walk-run method of running. His half plan calls for two 45 minute runs during the week, plus a long run on the weekend. This has worked great for my last half and the last two Tower of Terror 10 Milers. Since I'm still doing 4-5 days of my gym's Mission Fit Possible boot camp program, I'm trying to figure out how to train smart. The MFP program is a mix of cardio, some running, and a lot of strength/weight training. I love it....but I know that once the semester starts back and I'm back to teaching full time it will be hard to fit everything in (and I'm not sure how much my knee will take). I think Week 1 was a success though!

Monday (7/6): 60 minute MFP class. This was the first day of a new 8 week cycle, so today was fit test day! (3 miles, pushups, sit ups, squats, and burpees)

Tuesday (7/7): 60 minute MFP class

Wednesday (7/8): 60 minute MFP class

Thursday (7/9): 60 minute MFP class, 3 mile run

Friday (7/10): REST (but did walk 3 miles)

Saturday (7/11): REST (but did walk 3 miles)

Sunday (7/12): 3 mile "long" run, 3 mile walk