Interviews + don’t do what I do + YUM

I have some exciting news that I totally forgot to share with you guys! I am SUPER excited to announce that I am an ambassador for Ames Adventure Outfitters, which is an outdoor manufacturers’ representative agency for all kinds of incredible stuff! We rep Rab, Mystery Ranch, Altra, Skratch Labs, Meridian Line, Julbo, Nikwax, and Snowline. Check them out!! This company is how Jake and I fell in love with Altra. I also just heard on Monday that I was chosen as part of Team Nuun, which I’m also super excited about. I LOVE their electrolyte and vitamin drinks. They’re a staple in my diet. You can click on the pictures to go to each site. 

Trying to slowly stretch my quads. I have been attempting to stretch/foam every day. Now that my hamstring is WORSE (I’ll share more later) there are no more excuses. It’s going to happen.

Foam rolling…hurts so good. I need to be doing this EVERY night. ​

Lu brought her toy over and sat right next to me. She’s been doing this a lot more lately. She has to be touching me. Don’t get me wrong, I love puppy cuddles, but it makes foam rolling/stretching/working out a little difficult.

While I stretched and foam rolled, Jake worked on a race course for an upcoming race here in town. Spoiler alert – it’s going to be awesome!!!

Breakfast burritos! So delicious. We have been putting sweet potato hash browns, mushrooms, jalapeños, onion, chicken breakfast sausage, and eggs in them this week. These might just be my favorite burrito we have ever made.

First, let me preface these next few pictures with the following: Yes, I am dumb. No, I am not patient. Yes, I know I shouldn’t have done this. Yes, you can yell at me. All that being said, my hamstring is worse. Because of me. Ugh, I know. I’m pretty frustrated, but I also didn’t do anything to help my situation the past few days, so I can only be mad at myself, then move on to more healing. I ran AND rode my bike twice on Sunday, after taking two weeks off. That alone should’ve been just about all I did this week. But no. I then proceeded to go on another bike ride Monday afternoon. I wanted to to do 10 miles (dumb), but my hamstring was hurting, so I stopped at 5. I already said I was dumb! But it gets worse. Yesterday, I did the worst possible thing for an injured hammy. Squats and deadlifts. Now, before you start to wonder if I’ve hit my head recently, those movements didn’t hurt WHILE I was doing them, so I thought they’d be okay. And maybe they would’ve been, if I hadn’t already fatigued my stupid hamstring. So, I’ve gone from having my hamstring fire a sharp pain occasionally while I run, to having it shoot every 30-60 seconds, no matter what I’m doing. So, you are my witnesses, I will not do ANYTHING with my legs for at least one week. No matter what. Did I mention I was dumb?

Anyway, enough venting. Here’s an accidental picture I took. I love these Altras. Jake doesn’t like to workout in them as much as I do, but they’re just SO comfortable. Kind of like wearing a sock.

Here’s the workout I did. It was a good one, I just shouldn’t have done it yesterday…or this week probably. The burpees did start my bother my hamstring, so I did something else for them.

Dumb. Shouldn’t have done squats. Did I mention I upped my weight? Yeah, I know. Not smart.

One of my favorite ab moves are suitcases. Anyone else like these? I can tell when I’m getting stronger because I can balance better and don’t shake as badly.

Then it was time for a snack! That beetology drink was delicious. I need to go pick up some more since I was supposed to share this with Jake…whoops!

After my snack, I had another interview for my dissertation. I am interviewing pre-service teachers and it has been really fun so far! I am hoping to have 12-15 participants and I will interview each one 3 times. I am enjoying getting to know people in this way and hearing about their experiences. It’s hard to keep my interviews within a certain timeframe because I am enjoying our conversations so much!

After the interview, I started on lunch. I’m having fish this week, so I used my Primal Palate seasoning. I LOVE this stuff. They make seasoning for all kinds of stuff. They are all-natural and taste amazing.

Mmmm. I added lemon juice to these, as well.

Here’s the quinoa mixture I found at Target the other day. It was super good!!

Lunch was delicious!

Right after lunch, I had a phone meeting with the chair of my dissertation committee. It went really well! After that phone call, my hamstring was really bothering me and Jake told me to take an Epsom Salt bath. I was feeling pretty sorry for myself. This is by far my favorite Epsom Salt. It smells SO good. I also sipped on some tea while I soaked.

Oh, and totally watched The Office.

After the Epson Salt bath, I had one more interview, then I got started on transcribing the first one from earlier. I found an awesome program that lets me speak into my headset as I listen to the interview and it transcribes the entire thing. I wish it would listen to the interview on its own, but I didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on a service like that. As long as I can keep up with the transcriptions and not fall behind, I think this way will work just fine!

When your Mom is mean and won’t feed you early when you’re OBVIOUSLY starving. Lu will lay in our kitchen and pout until one of us feeds her. I guess she gets that from me…I’m the worst hangry person ever.

We headed to Jake’s parents’ house for dinner to celebrate his Grandma’s birthday! Everything was DELICIOUS. I didn’t follow my no dairy/no sugar rule, obviously. But that’s okay! I enjoyed dinner and don’t ever want to not allow myself to have something. (I don’t have food allergies, those two things just bother my stomach and make my acid reflux worse – if it were food allergies, I’d be much stricter). If I have them in small portions, it’s not as bad!

Hahahah! This guy and his moustache. I just can’t. With those glasses on, he looks like one of the guys from Arrested Development.

I’ve got lots of computer work on the schedule for today! I might go to the library, just to get out of the house for a little bit. I need to finish transcribing interviews, too, but I can’t do that anywhere but home. Jake and I are going out for dinner tonight and then to a movie, so I’m excited for that! This will actually be our first movie together…we have never been to the movie theater as a couple! I usually can’t sit that long…I get antsy. We are both looking forward to relaxing tonight!

Happy Wednesday!