Homemade long-run fuel alternative and other malarkey

Workout wrap-up

Monday: 45-minute spin class, yoga class that ended up making my back hurt again -- ugh!
Tuesday: 8 miles, easy pace
Wednesday: rest day to let my back re-heal
Thursday: speedwork, on treadmill because the track run got cancelled because of snow, 2-mile warm-up, 1600 @ 7:03 (1:30 RI), 800 @ 6:43 (2:00 RI), 1600 @ 7:03 (1:30 RI), 2-mile cool down. PT appointment.
Friday: 1 easy mile and a lot of walking
Saturday: 22.10 in 3:16, longest training run I've ever completed!
Sunday: rest day

As you can see, my back was giving me grief again after yoga on Monday. One of the forward-bending moves with wide legs is what pushed my back over the edge. I thought yoga would be great for my back, but it looks like I need to get stronger before I go back to yoga. Or just not do that move next time I'm in class.

Source

Luckily the back outage wasn't as intense or long-lasting as last time. To keep my back strong, I'm doing planks like a maniac, basically anytime I can. Also, I'm incorporating lots of hip and leg exercises that I can do at home or anywhere, like squats, lunges, leg lifts -- all really simple moves that I always need to be doing more of anyway.

Here are some of the highlights from this week in pictures.

The mother load from the thrift store. They had a bunch of new Target cast-offs for $3 each. Those yoga pants are about to become my new uniform. The gray pair of capris are actually for running, and the black pair is for lounging or yoga (aka also for running). Plus I found a pair of 7 jeans for $5 (my first pair ever because I'm super cheap) and a bunch of matching jackets, sweaters and shirts for the twins.

Because I needed a new phone case (mine broke and I keep dropping that darn slick phone), I checked out the thrift store's supply and narrowed it down to these two. The question here is: should I go funny or practical? 

And I went with ...

If something makes you laugh every time you look at it, it can't be bad. 

I also picked up this shoe pocket for another running pocket. With distance running, I feel like you cannot have too many little stash options. 

You never know when you're going to have to throw some homemade protein power bars in your available pocket. Then where does your key go? Shoe pocket!

Go here for protein power bar recipe. 

I ate this protein mix during my long run on Saturday. The fuel was awesome, filling and long lasting with a great flavor. The consistency, of peanut butter, not so awesome. This would probably work well for an ultra, where there will be moments of walking/hiking that will be perfect for choking some of this mix down.

Here are some food highlights from this week. This quinoa, chicken, and olive soup was a win.

Best roasted brussel sprouts I've ever made. Toss the halved sprouts in tamari sauce, salt, pepper, olive oil. Set the oven to 400 degrees and bake for 35-40 minutes. So easy, and my kids will eat them. 

But the biggest news from Alabama is that we are finally got our own little drizzle of snow. 

Not everyone was as happy as I was about it. Where are this kid's parents? They should probably get him some gloves.

The only unhappy part for me was the traffic. I think I found the reason why so many people were wrecking even though the roads were just slushy, not icy. People were forgetting to brush the snow off their back windshield and side mirrors. Kind of important. I bet you thought I was going to say that the wrecks were because of people taking cell phone pictures while driving. Pinky swear we were all stopped for a long time when I took this.

Outside of annoying traffic, we had fun with our five minutes of snow. It took pretty much all the snow in the yard to build these snow monsters with alien babies erupting from their abdomens.

My niece, who is staying with us for a couple of weeks, was the mastermind of the freaky snow monsters. Did I already mention that every time I see her I want to call her Katniss? Do you see it?

How much snow have you had where you live? This was it for us for this winter so far.

What extra pockets have you found for running? The classic back-up pocket for me is always the sports bra. Guys, what do you do for emergency pocketing?

Do you splurge on expensive jeans? My biggest jeans splurge is when Old Navy has a sale. We get crazay. Honestly, I don't even know where they sell pricey jeans. The mall?