Zooma Holiday Challenge, Week 4

Week four is in the books! Let's jump right into the recap, shall we?

Is anyone curious what my magnets say?

Movement 1: To start this week, I completed a Peloton arm workout and Coach Marcia's ab workout for runners. The arm workout stayed with me the rest of the week, and the ab workout reminded me that I have been neglecting my core. 

I was pleased to build in some strength workouts this week because I tend to skip them in favor of running.

Movement 2: Despite feeling less than excited about it, I did an easy three miles around Greenlake. Of course, once I was done I felt great. That's always how it goes. It was chillier this week, so getting myself out of sweatpants and into running clothes was a feat in and of itself.

The cold weather and flat route made for a speedy run! I am definitely seeing my paces improve, even on hills.

Movement 3: I took a field trip to use the Peloton and completed a 30 minute ride with way more climbs than I was ready for! I ordered myself a gently-used pair of cycling shoes and they should get here in a few days; I'm looking forward to being able to come out of the saddle correctly.

Movement 4: I planned to run four hilly miles, but Matt was planning to hang out at a new-to-me park, so I joined him. It was by far the coldest run I've done here (41°) but not the coldest I've ever done (39° in Cleveland). I felt pretty good physically but spent the entire run worried I'd lost the path and uncertain about how I'd find my way back to my car.

I got to wear my new hat a friend made me. It's designed so I can pull my ponytail through the back!

The views were gorgeous, winding down through tree-filled valleys and up to beachside cliffs that overlook the Sound, and I'm looking forward to trying this one again when I'm in a better mindset. The trail was definitely hilly and steep in places, so I felt like I got a good workout in.

Movement 5: I finished the week much how I began it, with arms and abs. This time I kept it simple and just completed two Peloton workouts.

Self-Care 1: As usual, I'm doing my nails weekly to give myself 30 minutes of focused quiet time. I actually did them twice this week.

Self-Care 2: On Friday night, Matt and I went to Scott and Robby's to make a latke dinner. I really loved being able to share my traditions with them and feeding people is definitely my love-language, so I was beyond happy.

We've been home to light the candles for Chanukah every night this week. This year I've been trying to get back to my roots a bit, and observing this holiday that celebrates resilience and chutzpah feels a lot like self-care. 

Surprisingly, instead of feeling burnt out at the end of week four, I feel weirdly balanced. I don't feel stressed about getting my "movement" done and I like choosing which days I'll move and what exactly I'll do. I feel like I've gotten into a good, sustainable rhythm; I'm looking forward to continuing!

ABK

Zooma Holiday Challenge, Week 3

As I was tracking my movement and self-care this past week, I realized my tracking sheet and blog recaps weren't matching up. I mentioned before that a cool thing about this challenge is that it's not about days, but rather about instances. The tracking sheet isn't a calendar. Some days you might do nothing, and some days you might double up.

So from now on, I won't necessarily include the dates; instead, I'll simply detail the instances. 

Movement 1: I started week three with three easy afternoon miles. The leaves have mostly fallen from the trees now, but they haven't turned into mush underfoot yet. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop, but so far winter in Seattle is gorgeous!

It'll be nice to eventually have some local race shirts to add to my collection of Florida shirts.

Movement 2: I planned a slightly longer run but got out the door late, so did another three miles and called it good. 

Matt came with to study in his hammock and got this shot of me post-run.

Movement 3: I popped over to the BILs' place to do my first official ride on their Peloton. (The first ride I did was under Robby's account, but I have my own now. You can follow me! My username is abkruns.) I did a 30 minute '90s ride and enjoyed it a lot!

They've said I can come over to use the bike whenever; I'm planning to try for once or twice a week. I also ordered myself a pair of gently-used cycling shoes because it's hard to stand up on the Peloton in my unsecured sneakers.

Movement 4: I planned to run, but just didn't feel like going through the hassle of leaving the house. Usually that means I'd just do nothing and feel a little guilty about it, but this challenge has gotten into my brain! I didn't want to miss a day, so I found a bodyweight workout on the Peloton app and did that.

It was pretty good - no easier or harder than Blogilates or other videos I've done - and I was definitely feeling it the next day. I like that doing a workout through the app automatically loads into my Strava. 

Movement 5: I decided to conquer some hills! I ran at the UW Arboretum and did my usual route backwards. This proved successful; it's still plenty hilly but the hills are more gradual and dispersed, so I wasn't gasping for breath a mere quarter mile in.

I ran four miles and felt great!

Self-Care 1: I repainted my nails. I go through stages of enjoying painting my nails; it's calming and distracting from other stuff. I enjoy the twenty minutes of quiet, focused time. It's like meditation! 

Self-Care 2: This has become a weekly tradition - Shabbat. When we moved to Seattle I told Matt I wanted to start lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday night, even if we don't turn off electronics and truly observe the holiday to its fullest. It's been a really nice tradition to incorporate into my week.

Bonus Self-Care: Sunday night we broke out Munchkin for the first time in years and played with Scott and Robby. We ordered dinner in and just had a relaxing night together. 

Also, I won!

I'm continuing to enjoy this challenge, and surprisingly feel motivated by it. Usually I get bored by this kind of thing, but this week was my strongest yet. I guess ask me how I feel when week seven rolls around!

ABK

Easy Peanut Butter Breakfast Biscuits

Can I be one of those frustrating recipe bloggers for a second and ramble on about how I "created" this recipe? Otherwise, how will you ever know the story behind how these cookies eventually became my running-day breakfast staple?

I am still doing intermittent fasting, which means I'm eating breakfast around noon. Because the sun sets at 4:30 these days, I've been running in the mid-afternoon; one of the biggest challenges that's come up has been my digestion. If I eat a full meal at noon, I'm still much too full to run by two or even 3pm. Even a small bowl of oatmeal seems to keep me full too long.

A couple weeks ago, when I attempted to stave off some boredom (yes, I'm still in the I'm-bored-let's-bake stage of lockdown) by baking peanut butter cookies, I didn't have this problem in mind, but the cookies became the solution. I originally followed a recipe I'd found online, and they came out as sweet as you'd imagine a peanut butter cookie would be. That batch resulted in huge, super sweet, and incredibly filling cookies.

I'm a child with a ferocious sweet tooth, so I ate these cookies for breakfast and soon discovered they were exactly the thing I'd been needing to solve my too-full-to-run conundrum.

Still, I wasn't happy with how sugary that batch was. It called for a whole cup of white sugar (I split it 50-50 brown and white) and produced a not-exactly-balanced breakfast food, so I adjusted the recipe. By cutting the sugar in half, these "cookies" definitely took on a more biscuit-like flavor.

I hate to call these cookies because they're not exactly sweet, and their texture is denser and a bit drier than a typical soft cookie. It's all semantics, really. My recipe is below.

*Edit: After publishing this post, I tried subbing PB powder for the flour in this recipe and it was a huge improvement in texture and taste. If you have powdered peanut butter in your pantry, try this!

Instructions:

‣Pre-heat your oven to 350°F degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

‣Beat the egg and sugar together until fully combined. Add half the peanut butter and stir to combine, then add the other half. If you're using vanilla and salt, add it in and stir. 

Ignore that sprinkling of white sugar in the mix. It's not necessary.

‣At this time, your batter will be shiny and sticky; really, it will look like thick peanut butter. 

‣Sprinkle in a little flour and mix; you want the dough to be a little less sticky but still stretchy. I recommend adding a little to start and then more if necessary. You really only need a small amount of flour. 

‣Plop your dough onto a baking tray. These biscuits don't spread much, so pat them down a bit into the desired shape/size. I think mine were about 2 tablespoons of dough about two inches apart on the tray and got eight cookies.

‣Bake for 10-13 mins depending on size and desired texture. You'll know they're ready when they begin to slightly brown at the bottom. A toothpick will come out mostly clean. Overbaking these cookies results in a dry texture, but they still taste great with tea or coffee.

They'll feel dry to the touch but still soft. Let them cool for a few minutes before carefully transferring them to a wire rack. They'll harden as they continue to cool.

These bad boys are super filling but surprisingly not extremely dense. They come in at around 250 calories/9g of protein per cookie and sustain me for an easy run (or a couple hours hiking).

I like to nuke them in the microwave for about 8 seconds before eating. If you try them, let me know what you think!

ABK