Friday Randomness

Happy Friday from our nation’s capital! The sunsets here have been really pretty lately thanks to lots of storm clouds around – check out this gorgeous view I saw when I emerged from happy hour in Dupont Circle earlier this week!

I have all sorts of other randomness to share with you guys today too. Here we go!

1) This is the final week of the inaugural 6 week Joyful Eating, Nourished Life virtual intuitive and mindful eating program that I created with fellow dietitians Rachael and Alex! We had a live Facebook group for the program and really enjoyed seeing the revelations and hard questions that many of the program participants asked themselves throughout these 6 weeks. I’m proud of our group for really being introspective and working towards change that is not always comfortable or easy! We are hosting the program again in October and are planning to survey the original participants to make the program even better. If you’re interested, sign up here to join us in October!

2) One of my old favorite super simple recipes, Lemony Spinach Quinoa Bean Salad, got a photo makeover this week. Check it out! It’s a great packed lunch, or you can enjoy it as a side dish. Either way, it’s easy and yummy!

3) Speaking of yummy food, Matt and I had a delicious dinner last night – our friends Kathleen and Zach invited us over to their place. Kathleen made this amazing gazpacho – so summery – and a really good unpictured chicken salad with lots of veggies. It was topped with a yummy dressing made from plain Greek yogurt, vinegar, and herbs – so good! I’m going to have to ask her for the recipe so I can mix it up from my standard vinaigrette!

4) This is your last day to get $30 off your first month of ClassPass using my ClassPass affiliate link, so if you’ve been wanting to sign up, get the deal while it’s here!

5) Have you guys ever seen one of these before?

I’m not sure of the exact name but it’s a sport-specific body buffer (here’s a similar one on Amazon) – you use it to deliver a deep tissue massage for your muscles. It’s great for warming up muscles – my trainer Paul from Capital Energy Training brought it to our session today and used it to loosen up my fascia (connective tissue) in my legs, hips, IT band, etc. to improve range of motion for some stretches. It worked – we did some stretches after and I definitely had better range of motion! It felt really good, too. I was sore from yesterday’s speedwork so I was glad today’s session was low key! Felt really good to stretch it out.

6) The extreme heat we had all week kind of finally broke last night with some thunderstorms! It’s still crazy humid today but less hot. I celebrated by taking a conference call I had this morning while out walking. Hizzah!

7) Speaking of the weather, following up on yesterday’s conversation about running in the heat and humidity, my friend John sent me this interesting article on the surprising benefits of training in the heat. It focuses specifically on training in heat vs. training at altitude, and according to the article “heat training not only does a better job at increasing V02 max than altitude, but it also makes athletes better at withstanding a wider range of temperatures.” Sweet! One of the coaches quoted in the article says that he actually has his athletes train in normal temperatures, but spend some time in a dry sauna immediately after the workout. Um – that sounds way better than running in the heat, doesn’t it?!

Bottom line: hang in there running in the heat, my friends! All of this WILL pay off. I just wonder how long that extra benefit lasts once the heat goes away…? Any thoughts?

8) The quinoa salad at True Food Kitchen is perfection, especially when topped with steelhead (super similar to salmon). I’m back to loving fish again after a short hiatus after the beach (we ate SO much fish at the beach I needed a break)!

Time to wrap up work and start the weekend in a bit! Tomorrow is Matt’s birthday – hoping the weather holds because we’re planning to go on a bike ride and then out on a friend’s boat! I’ll also be tackling a 14 miler on Sunday – fingers crossed for cooler weather.

I’ll leave you with a few links from around the web. Have a great weekend!

• Eat: Easy Peanut Butter Protein Balls // Strawberry Shortcake Energy Bites // Tilapia Tacos with Zucchini Tortillas // 10 Ways to Eat Beans for Breakfast
• Think: Getting rid of clothes I hated helped me love my body // Are You Your Own Bully? On Practicing Self Compassion