Just Keep Lifting

Another week down and another week with a broken toe and no running. Especially now that FALL is here (the best running season), it’s been a struggle for me mentally. I realize how much I rely on running to keep me sane, but I’m grateful to have other ways of getting in some activity.

While weight lifting doesn’t offer me the same boost mentally, or using my indoor bike or rower, it does provide me some fitness and something new for me to do. I’m in week 4 of my weight training and definitely noticing the workouts getting easier. Since I haven’t yet invested in any weights, for the workouts that are easier, I’m instead doing some more reps or trying to do them slower. It’s fun to feel like I’m getting stronger, at least in my weight-lifting!

Here’s what the week looked like:

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Apple Crumb Muffins

We eat a lot of muffins in our house. They make the perfect snack for my kids to bring to school, and they’re easily portable enough to bring to sporting events. We recently went apple picking, so I was looking for a way to use up some of our apples — and boom! These apple muffins were the perfect solution. They’re like my banana crumb muffins, but made a little healthier with white whole wheat flour, honey, and a flax egg for some added fiber.

And a bonus – all three of my kids like them! That hardly ever happens. Hopefully you (and your kiddos) will enjoy them too.

apple crumb 2

Apple Crumb Muffins

Here’s what you need:

For the muffins

  • 2 cups white whole wheat flour  
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
  • 2 TBS flaxseed for flax eggs* (see below for direction on how to make them)  
  • 2/3 cup honey
  • 1/2 cup avocado oil
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt or buttermilk 
  • 2 cup diced or grated apple – I used about 2 1/2 apples

For the topping:

  • 2/3 cup white whole wheat flour  
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar 
  • 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 Tablespoons cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt

Here’s what you do:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a muffin tin for baking. I use silicone reusable baking cups and spray them with non-stick cooking spray.  
  2. Mix the topping ingredients in a small bowl until well combined. 
  3. Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. Line a muffin tin with muffin liners. My recipe typically makes 19-22 muffins depending on how full the muffin cups are.
  4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour through salt).
  5. In another bowl, mix the wet ingredients (flax egg* through yogurt).
  6. Add the flour mix to the wet mix. It just needs to be combined, so be careful not to overmix.
  7. Fold in the apples. 
  8. Pour muffins into prepared muffin tins.
  9. Evenly pour topping onto each muffin – you’ll have about a Tablespoon of topping for each muffin and it should cover most of the muffin.  
  10. Bake for about 15 – 17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 
  11. Enjoy when cool! We have eaten these the same day, but they are truly great the next day. They’re also great frozen!  I simply take one out of the freezer and defrost overnight OR in the microwave. 

Got a surplus of bananas instead? Give these a try instead!

Here’s how to make your flax eggs: Mix 2 TB flaxseed with 5 TB water in a small bowl. Put in the fridge for around 5 minutes (or up to 5 days) until it’s mixed together/practically congealed.

Some questions for you:

  • When was the last time you went apple picking?
  • What’s your go-to apple recipe?

Two Broken Bones In Our House

So let me start off by saying – no, I didn’t break another bone. My toe is the only thing broken on me.

Instead, this week started off with my 6-year-old breaking her wrist! My poor girl was on the monkey bars, fell and landed poorly. She was crying and in a lot of pain – which is uncharacteristic for her. So we took her to the ER and they confirmed she had broken her wrist.

That doesn’t really have to do with my weekly workouts. But it’s just another thing going on in our lives that impacts my daily life, and makes me long for getting in a stress-reducing run.

On a positive note, I’ve been in this walking boot for 2.5 weeks now so hopefully halfway done with it! They told me 4-6 weeks, but it’s still hurting so I’m going to keep it on until it’s feeling better. And, my weights started to feel a little easier this week too – my Monday tricep workout felt much easier than it did a week ago! So I am definitely getting at least a little stronger in some areas.

workoutboot

Here’s what the full week looked like:

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Workin On My Weights

Another week with no running. Another week in the boot. The good news is that (I think?) my toe is starting to hurt a little less, so I’ve been doing more and more walking with the boot on each day. I am hoping that this is okay for my recovery, but I’ve been told that as long as it’s not hurting while I do it (or shortly thereafter), I’m okay to keep on moving. This meant still no running of course (boohoo!) but some walking, indoor cycling and continued weightlifting this week.

I am so new to weights. I have had gym memberships in the past where I would do circuits or use the machines, but this is the first time that I can remember where I had a plan fo reach week and used my workout time in the morning to stick to the plan, focusing on the weightlifting, and cardio as a second priority.

Here’s what another week of the broken toe and the dreaded boot/shoe looked like:

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Broken Toe

The headline of the blog post gives the prognosis of my toe injury away, huh?

That’s right, I found out this week that my toe is indeed broken. I’m to not run at all, and also have to wear a special shoe to protect my toe. All of this from stupidly walking (well practically running) into a door!

Knowing this, I still tried to keep active, just in a different way this week. I even got in one run before I confirmed that it was broken (whoops!). My sister-in-law started a weight-lifting regime several months ago, and she graciously shared her workout spreadsheet with me in the middle of the week. So, knowing I couldn’t run, I decided to start weight lifting instead. Who knows, maybe this not running thing won’t ruin my fitness completely?

Here’s what the week looked like – my workouts with a broken toe:

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