It’s Been Four Weeks

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 7 Comments

If this were any other year, this would be a post about my wonderful September running update. I would talk about the fall season (best running season!), getting in some good races (Akron?) and total mileage. Alas, I had zero miles of running in September. The last time I had a zero mile month was after giving birth and I was forced to take 4 weeks off, but then immediately got back out there.

Was I inactive all month? Nope – hardly. I kept up every morning going on my bike, the rower, and lifting weights. In fact, this week marks a milestone – four weeks since I broke my toe! Well, I guess it’s a little longer since I broke it, but four weeks since I have been wearing my boot and have not been running.

That also means that I’m in week 4 of my weightlifting regime! I’m getting into the habit of it, and while it definitely doesn’t provide the endorphins of running, on these dark and wet fall mornings, getting in a basement weight training workout isn’t that bad. I’m starting to wonder if/how I can incorporate this into my routine when I get back to running, without waking up much earlier than I earlier do!

Here’s what this week entailed:

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Just Keep Lifting

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 6 Comments

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

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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

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 13 Comments

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

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 14 Comments

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

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 12 Comments

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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It’s Always Something

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 7 Comments

This week wrapped up our first full week of school! Is it safe to say that we’re almost in the swing of things? Thankfully, not all of our after-school activities have started (they save some of those for after Labor Day), so we have been able to get into the swing of the school routine slowly.

Last week I was sick with covid (boo) and this week, just as I was starting to feel good, I injured my toe and foot and was unable to run! I took off more than one day, which is more than I’ve taken off since I tapered before my half marathon in May. I HATE not running, but I really didn’t want to make my foot worse. Ugh, hopefully it gets better soon and is just a bad bruise!

Here’s what the week looked like –  it started out great! And then went downhill.

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A mixed-up, meh week

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 7 Comments

Well, this was a mixed-up and meh week! Not only was I sick (yay for covid), but we had a few other things going out that made it a different-from-usual week. With school starting halfway through the week, I was out of routine. With getting COVID, I was tired, under the weather and out of breath. With the return of fall schedules and fall sports, I was nearly out of time. And with some personal things going on in our lives, we were all out of sorts.

Thankfully, I was still able to get out and run. I didn’t get in any long runs or anything out of the ordinary, but I’m glad I was able to get some movement in. And most days, the running made me feel better, if not physically, then at least emotionally.

Here’s what the week looked like:

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Jet Lag Is Real

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 7 Comments

I’m back from my girls’ trip! I mentioned last week, but I was lucky enough to spend last weekend in Santa Barbara with my best friends from high school. We always talk about doing a yearly trip away, but our last weekend away was before the pandemic. It was overdue and I’m so glad we were able to make it happen! I had brought some running clothes with the hope that I would maybe be able to get in a run, but I was so lucky to go for a short run every day and two of those runs were with my friends! And on the beach. Another day included a 3+ mile hilly hike. We had so much fun, and it was great to get in both fun and activity.

This week’s post is sponsored by JET LAG. Okay, JET LAG isn’t a real sponsor, it’s just that this week’s runs were made possible, or harder, by jet lag. In Cali, I woke up early every morning thanks to jet lag. On the way back, I could barely wake up, thanks to jet lag. It works both ways!

Anyway, here’s how the week looked – complete with a few days in Cali and then back to CLE:

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Oh wait, another trip

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 8 Comments

Well, when I wrote last week’s post, I shared that after 2 different long weekends out of town, I was back and getting back into our routine of summer at least. Well, this week it happened again – another break in the routine! But for a good reason — I was out of town for a girls weekend with my best friends from high school! The last time we were all on a trip together was before the pandemic, so this was truly a reason to celebrate.

Here’s how the week went: 

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