Posts

Europe Trip Highlights Part 1

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Hello everyone! This post has been a while coming- about a month ago, I got back from the most amazing trip ever- probably the best of my life! To back up a bit, Dan and I wanted to take a trip this spring (we usually like to travel during shoulder season and end up going somewhere at the end of April). Dan is very passionate about planning and loves his spreadsheets, so he decided it would be fun to plan an entire trip and have it be a complete surprise to me! In fact, I found out where we were going when we were at the airport of our layover. And our destination? Ljubljana, Slovenia!! This is definitely a place I would never think to visit (and when he told me we were going to Ljubljana, embarrassingly enough I had to ask him where that was). When I think of Slovenia I think of the famous lake with the church on an island in the middle, lots of green fields, and mountains. Based on that alone, I was excited! I have to break up these posts just because we did so much in the 15 days we

Triangle Tri Mini Sprint

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Over the weekend I finished my first triathlon of the year! I decided on the Triangle Triathlon because it's really close to my house and is in a beautiful park that I was excited to get to race in. As another plus, they have a sprint and mini sprint, which was perfect for my first race of the year. The mini sprint was made up of a 400 meter lake swim, 8.5 mile bike, and 1.5 mile run. As I was racing I was so happy that I signed up for the mini (which was about half the distance of the sprint) because it was harder than I expected and I was TIRED!! Here's how it went. Swim: 12:51 The swim was in Harris Lake and went around two buoys in the water. I liked how we stayed close to the shore so it felt very comfortable for someone like me who's not a very confident open water swimmer. As soon as we started, I tried to find a spot to start swimming and get some open water. There was so much chaos at the start (which is the only thing I don't like about triathlons) so I just k

May highlights and goals

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May was a very weird transitional month for me. We started the month in Austria at the end of our vacation, then hosted some family for a week, and ended it with trying to train for our first triathlon of the year. It definitely had some ups and downs that come from getting back from vacation and entering real life, but I'm excited for all that's to come in June! Let's start with a look at my annual goals- Annual Goals Korean Vegan Cookbook Unfortunately I didn't make anything from the cookbook this month! I blame travel but I'm going to get back on track this month and try some fun stuff. I'm excited because we're getting to the main dishes section of the book! Temperature blanket I just finished month 5 of the temperature blanket and it's starting to get large! It was tough to get caught up after being away for a few weeks but it's been a nice way to relax at the end of the day. Here are some stats for May- - I used a total of 3 colors  - The highe

Recent Reads and Reviews

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I missed last month of sharing my books with being on vacation (I promise- posts are coming soon!) but I'm back today to share my recent reads and reviews! To be honest, most of these were duds for me but there were a few gems. I'm hoping June will be a better month with lots of good pool reads!  The Villa by Rachel Hawkins This was a fun thriller- I liked the setting a lot and kept wondering what was going on with the female friendship in the book. The flashbacks were kind of a fun addition too, but sometimes felt like they were taking up too much of the book and didn't really add that much.  My rating - 3/5 The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks I was so disappointed in this- Greer Hendricks is one of those authors (or two authors) that I rush to read and enjoy so much, but this one was such a snooze! It dragged on and never seemed to have a good direction of where the book wanted to go. There were so many loose ends by the time I finished and I regretted wasting time readi

A Good Week

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This felt like one of the first weeks where everything kind of clicked into place. I felt like I was in a groove, I was working hard and enjoying it, and finally registered for my first race of the year! I'm so excited to be feeling this way and can't wait to see what this summer holds for me. Here's how the week went- Monday Rest day! Tuesday 1 mile run 1500 yard swim It was a little rainy and stormy in the morning, so I skipped out on running with my friends and went with Dan instead. We just stuck in our neighborhood and did a quick run before work, doing a bit of run/walk intervals. At lunchtime, I wanted to get a swim in and was planning on doing 4x250 yard intervals. After I finished my third one, I felt pretty good so I decided to do 500 yards for the next interval, and finished up with a 250 yard cooldown. This was a great confidence boost because I feel like I haven’t been getting better at swimming, but I think now that I’m going more consistently it’s clicking

Back in the Groove

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 Hi everyone! It's been a while since I've posted on the blog and for good reason- I just got back from an amazing vacation. I'll be sure to share all about it but it was probably the best trip of my life! But- it's back to reality now and I had a decent week back of training. My first race is around the corner (EEK!) so here's how the week went: Monday Rest Day! We got home on Sunday, so today was all about getting back to work and readjusting to the time change. I really didn't do much of anything active! Tuesday 1.5 mile run First run in a while, and it was rough! I walked Selma in the morning and did my run at lunchtime, and it was already pretty warm out there. Definitely need to get back in the habit of running early now that it's feeling like summer. Wednesday 1 hour Boot Camp I was really happy to wake up this morning and feel back to my normal self! I always get a little sick at the end of trips, but today I woke up feeling great again. I made it ou

Sunshine and Sweat

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Another week of training is in the books, and this one was much more well-rounded. I got in a few bike rides, some runs, and a swim, as well as cross training. I'm hoping to start following an actual schedule soon, but for now I'm just doing what feels good! Here's how the week went- Monday 60 min yoga + hike It was a really beautiful day out, so I had to join Erica for her outdoor yoga class after work. I also had a phone call to catch up with my friend, so I went on a hike around the park before class started. Perfect start to a Monday! Tuesday Rest day! Easy day just resting up, but I did get in a long walk with Selma to enjoy the weather. We both really enjoyed it. Wednesday 2 mile run It's starting to get warm out, and I was sweating on this run! I went for a fun little run with Dan at a nearby park and we were both so tired afterwards. Time to get ready for summer running I guess... Thursday 1000 yard swim Made it to the pool this morning for a nice early swim. I