25 Miles

Yesterday, I biked my distance PR during a family biking outing. My youngest brother is in boy scouts, and for one of his requirements, he had to bike 25 miles. My family quickly turned it into a big event (yay bonding!) and planned to bike from Playa del Ray to the end of the strand. For those who don't remember my posts from last summer, the strand is a bike path right on the beach. 

My mom started off the day by making blueberry muffins that were amazing and pretty healthy. They had half whole wheat flour and less oil than normal muffins, but they still included a little oat streusel on top. I may or may not have had three of them (they were pretty small). I think I may try to recreate these later this week since they were so delicious, so get prepared for a possible recipe.

After breakfast, we packed up and drove the car to Playa del Rey to start our bike ride.

Our plan was originally to leave at 10:30, bike for an hour and a half, and then a have a picnic lunch on the beach in Venice. However, in my family's typical fashion, we were running really late and didn't leave until 12:30. By the time we started our bike ride, we were already on the look out for a place to eat, and chasing my dad--who had all the food strapped to his bike.

Biking with baguettes

We ended up biking to Santa Monica (about 6 or 7 miles) before stopping for lunch. Our picnic included baguettes with turkey for sandwiches, string cheese, bananas, peaches, and cookies including homemade oatmeal with white chocolate chips. 

Using a pocket knife to cute the bread haha

Besides a little period where we got lost in the streets of Venice, the whole bike ride went really smoothly. The strand is pretty much as flat as a course gets and we were going at a comfortable pace, so I didn't expect the bike ride to be that hard. Besides the sore butt (why are bike seats made so uncomfortable?), the ride wasn't bad until the 20 mile mark. At that point, my quads definitely started burning which surprised me. Luckily, the last 5 miles went by quickly. 

The best part about the ride was not only looking at the great ocean views, but also looking at all the really modern condos that are right on the edge of the beach. Around Venice beach especially, the condos have spiral staircases, bright colors, and really odd architecture. Sadly I wasn't coordinated enough to get pictures of a few of the most unusual buildings, but I did snap a few photos of the view even though they don't do the ride justice. 

Biking along the Pacific Coast Highway

Police in Venice

Not the best ones of the day, but I wouldn't say no to that house

The Strand

I spent the rest of the night alternating between laying in bed watching Friends and trying to remember if my hand have ever been sunburned before (apparently when biking this is a spot I will have to remember to apply sunscreen). Oh, and I had a small(ish) cheeseburger for dinner in between my laying around. :) 

My little brother actually has to do one more 25 mile bike ride for his badge, so I might go for another bike ride again soon! I'm already thinking of which one of my friends I can coerce into coming :)

Summer Plans

I've officially had two weeks of summer, but I'm finally starting/trying to figure out my plans for this summer.

I'm actually working as a Marketing Intern for a small company this summer. I usually get assigned to complete tasks from home, but today I got to go to a marketing conference in Santa Monica. So instead of working in lazy clothes, I actually got to dress up in business casual. And if I haven't said it before, I weirdly love business casual.

The conference was actually in the Museum of Flying which turned out to be a really cool set up.

I even got a sunflower from one of the marketing groups advertising campaigns which was very happy.

Almost as happy as having my camera working and being able to take pictures of my outfit and sunflower. Now without school to worry about and my newly working camera, I'm really excited to be able to start blogging again. But for now (this summer start up post is all over the place), I'll just jump right in to some of my summer goals since this blog is supposed to be a source of motivation for me. 

Work Goals: 

- Create a clear and efficient schedule for my internship so that I can focus when I work from home

- Possibly try to get a small job on the side to keep me busy and make a little extra money to save up for studying abroad

Workout Goals:

- I want to start training for a 10k! I haven't actually picked out a race, but I'm on the look out for one. 

Other Goals:

- Apply to study abroad for spring semester

- Keep up with Russian by practicing writing it at least twice a week

- Learn how to cook better (especially try new healthy recipes)

One of my goals is also to start working out in the mornings and stop going to bed so late (this post proves how I need to improve). Writing a post this late leads to a bit of randomness, but I have all summer to work on that! :) Hopefully this summer will be as great as last year's!

New Outfit and Week Workout

Hey everyone!
Whee! Workout for the week!
Monday- HIIT on the treadmill. 8 seconds sprinting 12 seconds recovering for 15 minutes. With an additional walking warm up/cool down for 3 minutes before and after. This ended up feeling more like a workout for my fingers (constantly pushing the faster/slower buttons was exhausting) than for my legs.
Tuesday- HIIT on the treadmill. 90 seconds sprinting and 3 minutes recovering. Repeat 6 times.
Wednesday- 2.5 miles around the school with my friend (we ended up walking a little bit).
Thursday- HIIT on the elliptical. 8 seconds sprinting and 12 seconds recovering. Elliptical is so much better for this workout.
Friday- Took the day off. How is it that the day I'm most free is the one that I don't squeeze in a workout?

I've been trying to incorporate more high intensity interval training in my workouts, but I don't think I've been pushing myself as hard as I could in them. I usually realize by the end that I've been restraining myself, and that I have a lot of energy left at each workout.  I'm going to have to work on going more full out this weekend/next weekend. Either way, 4 workouts in a row isn't too bad, and I'm happy I was able to fit them in with a busy week (of course on Friday when I had nothing going on except for 4 hours at my internship, finding time to work out was impossible).

PS. Since I spoke about wanting to document memories on my blog in my last post, I thought just for funsies, I'd post my latest favorite outfit. PPS for the few people who do read this don't judge me: I promise my pictures will evolve the second my camera works again :). Sadly, until I get my new camera charger from Amazon, you'll have to deal with my photobooth pictures.
It's crazy how even after a hard workout, nothing makes you feel cuter than wearing that outfit you've been planning for the last week.

Open back

high waisted deep green skirt

My great grandma's necklace

After a crazy couple days, I plan on sleeping in tomorrow, and getting some work done before I go visit Scott. After finally making a to do list for this weekend, I realized I've been in denial that this school year is almost over and my work is building up.
Have a great weekend!

The Ups and Downs of Having a Meal Plan

Today was actually pretty productive. On Tuesday and Thursdays I have class from 10 to 11 and then have a 7 hour break until my class from 6 to 8. Usually, this means that I lounge around and do nothing for several hours and then at 8:00 panic and realize how much work I have.

Not today! I managed to get in nap (counts as productive), got my Russian homework done, finished almost all my readings, and worked out with Ali.
Sadly all the treadmills in the gym were taken (which is a tad ridiculous since there are a billion), so I just spent 30 minutes on the elliptical. It wasn't too bad because I ended up watching the end of the movie Avatar while working out. Embarrassing story: I cry at almost any movie I watch. I had to work hard to hold back the teary feeling because I was in the middle of a public gym. I do not want to be the girl crying while working out again haha.
Afterwards I headed back to the house, and decided to continue my workout by running a little bit on the treadmill. I ran a mile in 9:40 (yay!) and then decided to walk for another quarter mile to cool down. I finally decided just to spend the next 7 minutes walking on a slight incline with 5 pound weights so I could complete a full 20 minutes on the treadmill.

I also attempted to take pictures of my meals today because its been awhile since I last busted out my camera. Although the food we are served is usually really delicious, I'm really missing my kitchen back home.
Today I had my usual breakfast of scrambled egg whites, a piece of turkey bacon, and oatmeal. I've even gotten used to eating unsweetened oatmeal! The trick is I put a billion things in it like chocolate chips, brown sugar, raisains, and fruit.

For lunch, we are usually given a meal or two and then left to assemble it how we want (for example everything you need to make a wrap). Today was Greek themed, so we had all the items to make a pita pocket!

While I originally went for tofu with Tatiki, I made another one using one my falafels and hummus and it was thousand times better. Lunch at the house is almost always a winner:)

It was good lunch was so delicious because dinner was not. I was not a fan of the porkchops and potatoes, but I didn't have time to be picky (lame night classes) so I didn't try to get creative with alternatives.

When I got back from class, the cereal was calling my name and made up for the lame dinner.

I could eat literally over 3 bowls of cereal in a heartbeat, so I've learned ways to stay satisfied on one: mix a bunch of different cereals together. When I mix granola, Captain Crunch (not healthy haha), and Shredded Spoonfuls, I'm always convinced I can't replicate it and am even happier with the bowl. Win win!

Off to bed! I've realized I really need to get to bed earlier when I have morning classes so that I won't depend on my "productive naps" so much.