In which I dug my car out of the snow. Twice.

Running this week was very frustrating.  After the snow we got last Saturday, the roads never got completely cleared.  It was just too cold for the snow to melt away.  Between the frigid temps (-9 for my Friday morning run to school to turn on the heat!), and the snow covered roads, my runs were mostly short.  My legs got so restless from such short runs, I ended up going for a run on Friday night because I just needed to MOVE!  We only had school on Wednesday and Friday so there was a lot of sitting around at home.

The up-side to all that snow?  I finally started working-out again.  Long overdue.  Doing my first workout in a very long time the day before I had to unearth my car from a snow pile might not have been one of my more brilliant plans, but I survived.  At least that first snow was really easy to shovel.  The cold air helped keep the snow really light so it was easy to scoop up and throw onto a pile.  It only took me an hour to clear my car and all around it; the sidewalk next to it, 6 feet behind it, and 3 feet in front of it.

A snowpocalypse rolled in early Saturday morning and dumped snow on us All. Day. Long. And at least half of the night.  There was almost 8 inches of snow on the sidewalk leading out of my building when I shoveled around 12:00.  By the time I had shoveled all the way to the road, I turned around and the whole sidewalk was covered again.  It took me a good two hours of shoveling this morning to unearth my car and clear around it, and then I spent some more time after my run clearing some more icy slush and moving my car back and forth to get as much out from under it as I could.  It went up to 40 degrees today, so the roads were very clear for my run, but there's still some icy slush glued to the pavement under my car, which is going to freeze solid tonight.

Thanks to an awesome friend with 4wd, I got to go check on Pony yesterday evening.  She was super stir crazy and really wanted to get outside, but then she wasn't really sure what to do with all the snow.  She attempted unsuccessfully to dig through it for grass.  I ran her up and down the driveway a little bit to stretch her legs, and then put her back inside.  

Today pre-shoveling

Today post-shoveling round 1

Today's run on clear roads, in 40 degree sunshine was amazing. It felt so luxurious after the previous runs.  I wish I could have run longer, but I hadn't eaten enough for lunch to get me through much more than I did.  I am very glad I got to enjoy a longer run before the temperature drops back down for the foreseeable future!

This week:

M: workout : 10 exercises*, 5 rounds 30/10

T : 4.3 miles, 1 hr snow shoveling

W : 5.1 miles

R : 3.2 miles, repeat Monday's workout

F : 4.6 miles (AM), 5.9 miles (PM)

Sa : workout 60-50-40-30-20-10**

Su : 9.1 miles, 2+ hrs snow shoveling

total miles : 32.1

*30 sec on, 10 sec rest, 30 sec between rounds : squats, push-ups, plank, leg raises, side plank right, side plank left, burpees, shoulder bridge, lunge hold (switch 1/2way), jumping jacks

**60 jumping jacks, 50 sit-ups, 40 lunges, 30 squats, 20 push-ups, 10 burpees, no breaks.  9:29

The push-ups were the hardest, I couldn't crank them all out without pausing a few times.  I'm going to try to do that workout at least once a week and see how my finish time varies as I (hopefully) get stronger. 

And...because this post isn't already long enough... 

here are some pictures of food I made this week.  

quesadilla filled with broccoli, turnips, and mushrooms, topped with fried eggs and avocado

Sandwich with rosemary pork tenderloin, fried egg, avocado, and a bit of mozzarella

(my new favorite sandwich)

Shrimp-Brussels Sprout Lo Mein