March in Review

Unlike January and February, March really seemed to FLY BY!! Seriously, it seems like I was just writing my February review post. Work continues to be a bit crazy and filled with lots of changes, but somehow this month it really seemed to make the time go so very fast!

Here are a few highlights from the month.

I managed to successfully run 100 miles.
Jeff and I became friends with some of our neighbors.
We watched 3 seasons of Downton Abbey.
I met some friends who were visiting Vegas for brunch and fun on the Strip.
I hit the trails a few times with George.
I tried out a few fitness studios through Yelp's Fit Club.

I feel like I'm forgetting something...

So, let's just check in with my 2014 goals.

Individual Goals

Fitnesss goals - Run Faster and Train Harder
I'm very pleased with my training this month! Like I already mentioned, I ran 100 miles and tried out some fun fitness classes. Unfortunately, I didn't really do much yoga or strength training, but it's really hard to find the time with all the running! 3 weeks until the Mustang Half Marathon and 4 weeks until Ragnar Zion! Maybe after these two races, I'll be able to scale back my running a bit to include more variety of exercise, but right now those are my main focuses.

Blogging goals
Definitely could have done better with this one in March. With running and work and spending time with Jeff, something had to give. And that something turned out to be blogging. :( Hopefully, I'll be a little more consistent in April. I need to take a moment to make a plan before April is over and I've only written handful of posts. :)

Goals with Jeff

Run a Triathlon. We still haven't chosen a tri to do yet, but Jeff did start running in March. We even ran together a couple of times.

Read 3 books together. Well, we got Amazon Prime, so we watched a little too much TV in March. *ahem* Downton Abbey *ahem*

New in 2014 and Enriching Activities. Well, it's the last day of the month, and it's our last chance to get something new in for March, so we'll be hitting up a new restaurant tonight after work to check of our New thing for March as well as one of 3 new restaurants for 2014.
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What's for Dinner? Week of 3/30

How is it possible that tomorrow is the last day of March?! This month really flew by! I hope to write a Monthly Recap post tomorrow to share some of the things that made March a pretty great month. :)

In the meantime, let's check in with last week's workout and what I'm cooking up this week.

What's for Dinner? Week of 3/24

My weekends days are really getting away from me! Here is it Tuesday morning already, and I'm just now getting around to writing my weekly workout review and menu post. Argh!

Sometimes, there just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day! Work has been so crazy that I'm kind of having a rough time keeping up with blogging and social media. Not that I used to do this much during work, but work + training for a half/Ragnar are really making it difficult for me to stay caught up with blogging and social media. Hopefully, I'll get my groove back soon-ish.

After such a stellar week of workouts the previous week, this one was a bit lackluster.

What's for Dinner? Week of 3/16

I'm so happy I did my long run yesterday morning, because the rest of the weekend was kind of a bust. It was fun, for sure, but not exactly what you would consider productive. Sometimes, those weekends happen, am I right? :)

And, maybe it was kind of a reward for a pretty stellar week of training.

5 for Friday: Running Edition

Happy Friday! Who's ready for the weekend? I know I am!!

I've been running like crazy lately. :) Well, crazy for me. Crazy good, of course. I've got a few running things on my mind, so I thought I'd share them all with you in one quick little post.

1. Running partners. You all know how I sometimes run with my little dog Sallie. She always excited to join me and wants to go out every time I lace up my shoes, but this past week, I had a new favorite partner to join me - JEFF! He started running a bit with our neighbor and joined me for 2 miles once this week. I'm excited to start logging more miles with him.

I also joined a Twitter friend for a trail run last weekend (and maybe tomorrow). We'd never run together, and it was fun to meet up with George for a loop at Red Rock.

2. Running Story. One morning last week, I was out for my morning run. As I passed by the Convention Center, a little old security guard got my attention to say, "If he wants you to look good, he should be out here with you." That totally made me laugh. And when I told Jeff about it a few days later, he thought it was the funniest thing. Definitely blog worthy. Ha!

3. Running Shoes. I'm starting to feel like a real runner. Check out this pile of shoes. And this is just what I've left in the living room. :)

4. Running Goal. You might recall that one of my goals for 2014 is to run a sub-25 min 5k. I've got a lot of work to do! My plan at the beginning of the year was to incorporate speed work into my training. I've decided to define that a little bit more. I'm hoping to do a tempo run at least 2x each month, starting in March. Each month, I'll increase my minimum tempo pace by 15 secs, so by Dec, my tempo pace will be 8'00". For March, my goal tempo pace is 10'15". Yesterday was my first tempo run of the month, and I blew this goal out of the water with an average pace of 9'22". If I can keep this up, I'll be looking good for this 2014 goal. :)

5. Running Link. Before my tempo run yesterday, I tested out this quick pre-run yoga routine over at Oiselle. I think it really helped to loosen me up for a great run. Try it out!

I'm linking up with Jill today for Fitness Fridays. Go check out how everyone else is celebrating fitness today.

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Tuesday's Tip #8

My goodness! Tuesday's have really been sneaking up me lately! I was so good at the beginning of the year about planning out my Tuesday's Tip post over the weekend, but the past several weeks now, suddenly it's Tuesday morning. Yipes!

I didn't want to miss another week, so I'm going to share two very simple tips to being a bit more green at home.

But first, I'm being spotlighted over at Racing Bananas today! You can check it out here and then come back for my tips on being green.

What's for Dinner? Week of 3/9

Wow! Where did this week go? I can't believe I didn't write a single post since Monday. :( I guess it was a busy week.

Probably from all my awesome workouts. LOL. Seriously though, I'm pretty happy with how my week turned out - even though it was a bit of a slow start after last weekend's intense workouts. I seriously was walking SO slowly on Monday it was ridiculous.

What's for Dinner? Week of 3/2

Happy Monday! Happy March!! After my run yesterday, I got so busy with food prep and cleaning that I didn't have a chance to plan my menu for this week - let alone write up a post. :) So, it's a little late, but it feels good to have a plan.

But first, here's a look at my week of workouts. Much, much better than the previous week. Yay!

March will be EPIC!

Ok. Maybe not epic, but it's definitely off to a STRONG start! I woke up early this morning to pick up some produce and bread from Bountiful Baskets and head straight to a fitness class at Unleashed Body & Mind.

The class was a freebie as part of #YelpsFitClub going on in Vegas in March. The class may have been free, but it was definitely a killer.

You know it's a good workout when your legs feel like jello at the end. (@ Unleashed Body & Mind) on #Yelp http://t.co/VlAaIsV5rw
— Clarinda (@EnjoytheCourse) March 1, 2014

With jello legs, I headed straight home, soaked in the hot tub, watched a movie, and took a nap. Yeah. I totally skipped my run, but I'll just go tomorrow instead. :)

Here are a couple of photos from after the class.

All sweaty after class

A general idea of what we did in class

And a short peek at the studio. It looks pretty well equipped for any kind of class or to work out on your own.



You can read my full review of Unleashed over on Yelp, but I really enjoyed the class, the instructor, and the studio in general. I'd definitely recommend it and hope to go again sometime.

This morning, I did have a friend from work join me, which probably made the class even better! It was loads of fun to have her at the class, and next Saturday, we'll be doing a class at SurfSet, which seems fun but INTENSE as well. Can't wait!

How did you kick off March?
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