After my run yesterday, I sat down at the counter to get to work. This little furball immediately wanted to join me. She loves to sit on my lap as I work, but sometimes she just wants me to pet her and she will nudge my arms with her head until I give in. This is why I’ve started pulling a chair up for her or Aspen to sit in. Yes, they’re SUPER spoiled. Aspen prefers another chair in our living room, but Lu wants to sit right next to me while I work.

These are SO good. I got the gluten free ones on accident the first time we had these, and while I like them, I think the regular ones are way better. They’re the perfect snack.

I worked on my dissertation from 7 am until 3 pm…I took little 10-15 minute breaks, but it was a LONG day of staring at my computer screen. I appreciate your kind words and those that asked if I was really working, haha! You kept me honest! ; ) I shared this picture on Instagram fairly early in the morning…I was already tired of reading research papers.

Before I knew it, it was lunch time! Time really flew by yesterday. I told Jake that at one point, I looked at the clock and it said 9 am, and then next time I looked, which only felt like maybe 20 minutes, it was after 10. It was crazy! I had leftover salmon and then threw together and sautéed some beets, onion, mushrooms, and spinach in coconut vinegar. It was SO good.

I drank WAY too much coffee yesterday…but it’s just so good. I’ve been drinking a lot of milk lately, so this cold brew and milk really hit the spot! Jake wasn’t a huge fan of this brand of cold brew, but I like it! (I also can’t taste the difference…he’s classier than I am I guess)

Another snack = plantain chips. Mmmm. Thanks, Dathan, for reminding me how much I love these!!

I needed to be ready for Jake to pick me up when he got home about 4 – he said he had a surprise, but that’s all I knew! Around 2, I still had quite a bit of work I wanted it do, but I also wanted to get my arm workout in. I tweaked one of the moves and brought my dumbbells into the kitchen. In-between rounds, I would work a little. It worked just fine! A little after 3, I hopped in the shower and got ready!

So, Jake’s birthday is in August, but since we will be in Colorado and he will be racing, I gave him his birthday present SUPER early – like, in May. I also got a present out of the deal, but that had absolutely no influence in giving him his present early! ; ) I did this so we could USE his present all summer – I got us paddleboards! Well, we have yet to use them because we didn’t have paddles…kind of a necessity! Jake surprised me yesterday with going to get our paddles, so now we are ready to take our boards out!! I can’t wait!

After we picked up our paddles, we met Jake’s cousin and his girlfriend for dinner – we had a blast!

Jake and I shared this veggie burger and sweet potato fries and a salad. I’ve been starving this week, so I think I ate most of the fries…whoops!

That ranch. Mmmmmm. Yes!

We stayed up later than we had planned – when we got home from dinner, we discovered that our girls had gotten into something gross, so they both got baths at 9:30 pm. Not fun! I also think we had one drink too many because it was REALLY hard to get out of bed this morning. I had a tempo run this morning, so I knew I needed to get going. I drank some coffee and my BCAAs, popped a Tylenol, and we hit the road. We did our warm-up together, then I started my tempo. This song came on and it definitely made me run faster!

Total, I did a 2 mile warm-up, a 30 minute tempo (which was 3.94 miles), and a little over a half mile cool-down. I was shooting to keep my tempo between 7:50 and 8:00, so I managed to do that. That last half mile HURT, overall, this run felt really good! I also PR’d on my 5k!

I was STARVING when I got back home, so I threw together some beets, onion, spinach, turkey, and 3 eggs. I topped it all with pineapple salsa and Sriracha and chowed down! It was awesome.

Here’s my little partner in crime in her spot! I’m icing a little and getting ready to FINISH chapter 1 of my dissertation proposal. I think I have maybe 2 hours of work left on it. Fingers crossed!

I’m spending the day finishing this dang thing. No matter what. I’m annoyed I didn’t get it finished yesterday. I ended up needing more research than I had, so searching for articles took up a big chunk of time. Oh well! I had originally given myself until Sunday to finish it, so WHEN I finish today, I’ll still be ahead of schedule. It’s happening.
Hey, it’s Friday Eve!! Enjoy your Thursday!
I love being an aunt so I will ALWAYS put my name as “Aunt” Michelle LOL, I’m a dork, I know!! Question for you, what are BCAA’s and how do they help training?
Hahaha!! Well, Aunt Michelle, I love it, so don’t stop! 🙂
BCAAs stand for branched-chain amino acids. I take them because they give me energy and drinking a lot of coffee before a run gives me heartburn. A lot of bodybuilders take them to build muscle-mass, but I don’t lift heavy enough for that. That’s pretty much all I know about them!