SNOWPOCALYPSE! (Snow Day Fitness)

Last week, Seattle and the greater Eastside withstood snow, ice, power outages, zombies, and other terrors during one of the most signficant area storms in decades.

New England and Mid-West folks mock the way our cities shut down for a few inches of snow.  Yes, we are probably wimps.

But boy was it gorgeous!

The view from our porch

  

Sunday morning the 14th, we started getting the first flakes...we were serving on the parking team at church as usual.  I was doing my happy snow dance and putting my tongue out to eat snow like the tiny kids around me.  (I'm pretty short, so I think I blended in alright.)  Our team lead said he felt like saying, "Merry Christmas!" to the folks driving in and out.

Jared and I made our weekly trip to the grocery store right after we were done at church...I like to put things off, and he likes to get things done ASAP.  Good thing we followed his lead this time, because after we got home with our food, the snow started really coming down.  Usually we take Sundays as a rest day from working out (and from life in general), so it was just an extra-beautiful rest day.  Although I was doing my Calvin & Hobbes dance every few minutes, shouting, "Snow! Snow! Snow! Stick! Stick! Stick!" and praying we'd be snowed in so I wouldn't have to go to work on Monday.  Hopefully Jared found my antics cute instead of annoying?

Well, I got my wish.  Our apartment is at the bottom of a very steep hill, and Monday morning Jared watched a few cars trying to be Dorothy Hamill before deciding we should stay put.  Between Sunday and Monday, we did a ton of chores, and Jared made a ton of food.  (We try to get some cooking and prepwork done at the beginning of the week since things get VERY busy from Monday through Friday.)  Most notably, we went through the "plastic bin of crap" as I fondly call it - which had been sitting in a closet waiting to be organized for almost 11 months. Go team!

Jared made dark chocolate
raisin oatmeal cookies.

Monday evening we made it out for a few hours.  I stopped by work to gather up some things I could do from home, and Jared ran a few errands.  We parked at the top of our hill in hopes of making it to work alive the next day.

Tuesday morning, we walked up to our car in thoroughly safe conditions...it honestly felt like it had simply rained or something.  Roads bare and wet, etc.  But by Tuesday afternoon, the storm was heading in for round two.  They closed Jared's gym and my team at the office started to run for the hills.

We toodled back home and I tried to get motivated to work out. 

Usually, this is not a problem for me...I sort of live for my workouts.  I have plans and spreadsheets and class schedules and racquetball dates and training plans.  Working out keeps my stress and anxiety way down and my happy appetite way up.

But after two rest days in a row that included eating of food, watching of Scrubs, and enjoying of cozy fire...I was not feeling it.  What I recommend to fight the "Gee I'd rather sit on my butt and eat cookies and read"?  A good kick in the pants from a great friend.

Yay for motivational texts!

My friend Meghan is a natural at kicks-in-the-pants, since her workout of choice is karate.  We keep each other posted on workout fails and successes.  Although we rarely get to workout together, I think of her as my workout buddy and accountability partner for getting a good sweat. 

The only sad thing about this is I have realized we have no good photos of the two Meghans.  And by "good photos" I mean existing photos.  Lame.

So, I put on my new workout clothes, dug out my binder of workouts, and turned on a musical-theatre heavy playlist.

10 minutes of physical therapy (band), 5 minute warm-up (jumprope - not mine...I hate mine, so I assume this one must be better), 20 minutes of core work (kettlebell), 35 minutes of WOD-style strength and conditioning (mat - if I bought a new one, this would be it), and 10 minutes of yoga/stretching.

We keep workout magazines on our table.  Just in case.

Tank - lululemon,
sports bra - Victoria's Secret,
running tights - lululemon

I was honestly surprised at how much the no-equipment workout kicked my butt.  It probably helped that I treated it like a WOD.  There were 3 circuits with 3 moves apiece.  So my workout went like this:

Circuit 1: 16-14-12-10-8
Circuit 2: 16-14-12-10-8
Circuit 3: 16-14...and I think I pooped out at this point after 35 minutes.  It's amazing how much harder and faster I work if I just set my little phone timer.  If you are short on time, skip cardio and treat your strength workout like an AMRAP WOD: if you have 20 minutes at the gym, race yourself (safely with good form!!!) to see how many rounds of your workout you can get done in 20 minutes.  And then go shower and feel proud!

After working out, I refueled with clean cookie dough protein bites and black cherry juice mixed with water.  YUM.

No, I didn't eat ALL of this cookie dough.

Wednesday we were totally snowed in.  I made the most of the day by waking up early (morning person...what can I say?) and tackling some chores, having tea, and reading.  Jared and I got some Real Marriage homework done, had a snowball fight, and went for a walk in the snow.

Finally wiped down my hot yoga mat...about time.

This tea is AMAZING!!!

We couldn't make it to Crossfit, even if we could've driven over safely, because the J was still closed.

No barbell snatching in THIS storm!

So with another magazine workout in hand and snowboots on my feet, I walked with Jared up to our complex's "cabana."  We call it the clubhouse since cabana sounds uber-sketchy.  We are blessed to have a mini workout facility with real showers available to residents.

There is also a pool, but for some reason we didn't feel like swimming.

10 minutes of PT, 10 minutes of core work, a 15 minute kettle bell "WOD" (I made it through 4 rounds, plus 2 reps on each side for the 3rd move), and 10 minutes of yoga/stretching. 

Jared did the assigned "snow day" WOD - that man is a beast. 



 This is one of my favorite workout hairstyles.  I call it the German pony.  Technically I know it's sort of a French braid...but my blood is significantly German.  Plus headband style braids make me think of German beer girls...er, milkmaids.  I like it because it's cute, keeps the hair out of your face, and does a great job of hiding the fact that you just worked out and didn't have time to wash your hair afterwards.  Shh, don't tell!

Plus I grew up with only brothers...so I know how to french-braid my own hair.  Fast.

Tank - lululemon, sports bra - Victoria's Secret,
capris - lululemon, socks & shoes - Nike

Refuel?  My favorite "chocolate milk."  Seriously, this stuff is udderly amazing. 

Thursday we made a brief foray into the world with our chains on to beat the ice and snow.  The gym (and Crossfit) were still closed, so back we went that evening to the clubhouse.  10 minutes of PT exercises, and 10 minutes of the shoulder stability work I do once or twice a week...then WOD time!

Jared made up a WOD for us to do with the equipment we had available at the gym.  We had to switch it up after the first round, since he realized we were doing a ton of pushing and not a lot of pulling:

3 rounds for time...5 pike pushups, 10 plyo pushups, 15 rows, 20 lat pull downs (originally overhead press machine), 30 walking lunges holding a weight plate or with raised arms. Jared finished in about 13 minutes...it took me around 21.

After the WOD, I am thrilled to say I ran my first pain-free mile after 3 weeks of no running and a lot of physical therapy!!!  I went very slow and focused on form.  Woohoo!!!

I'm back!!!

Jared was going a little stir crazy from not being able to play basketball, but thanks to the big screen at the clubhouse, he got close.

All in all, even though a lot of folks found the it stressful and inconvenient, I'm really thankful for the snowstorm.  It gave us extra vacation time together, helped us get through a lot of projects at the apartment, and forced me to stay dedicated when my usual routine and resources went out the window.



That being said...I'm also glad it's over.


You tell me:  Did you have snow last week?  Lose power?  Find creative ways to work out?  Did you win or lose your snowball fights?