Pittsburgh Places

Things I didn’t get to do in Pittsburgh

- Mel

It is interesting when I reflect upon my time in Pittsburgh and think about the various things that I didn’t get the chance to do while we lived there for six years. Comparatively, I scan my “Iowa Bucket List” for the short-term as we are nearing the three-year mark of being Midwest transplants.

Here are the surprises that came up for me about Pittsburgh:

I never went to the zoo. I worked at the National Aviary (essentially, a bird zoo, for those not in the know) for three years, and yet I never traveled to the east end of town to visit the city’s zoo. I had plans definitely once and canceled because of weather. Maybe twice because I used to flake out on people a lot. Spending time at the zoo is a frequent destination for us when we are traveling. I LOVE the Henry Doorly zoo in Omaha. And I have a membership to Blank Park Zoo here in Des Moines. It’s still weird to think about that I never visited the zoo in Pittsburgh.

Art museum. Same as with the zoo, I never went to the art museum in Pittsburgh. Now, I spent a lot of time at the Mattress Factory and the Warhol Museum – but never the Carnegie Museum of Art. Though I parked in front of it once! Again, we travel and frequently go to art museums in other cities. AND I’ve been to the art center here in Des Moines several times casually and for a few events. I also missed the Degas exhibit at CMA before I moved and that still makes me sad.

Yoga on a pod on Mount Washington. I’ve been on the pods when entertaining out-of-town visitors, and I ran up the hill to Mount Washington the weekend before I moved away – but the yoga on the Mount looked like such an amazing experience. If I ever go back to Pittsburgh during the warmer months, I’ll have to connect with that instructor to ensure I have a mat space. I’ve been to a few fun outdoor yoga events here in Iowa, and I look forward to upcoming opportunities to practice in interesting places.

Go to the overlook in the west end. A friend once told me that the West End overlook was the best view in town. I would have to agree solely on my many travels over the West End Bridge. But I never did quite figure out how to get to the overlook (and I very likely didn’t try hard enough). What do you think is the best viewpoint of Des Moines?

The observatory on the north side. I literally lived within walking distance. This makes me greatly sad. I’ve signed up to be reminded of the sky parties here in Des Moines. And I put a telescope on my Christmas list again. 😀

Big butler county fair and school bus smash derby. Man, demolition derby is SO much fun. And taking that up a notch to smashing school buses just sounds like the best thing ever. I imagine that there is demo derby here in Iowa, but I haven’t actively sought it out. I still haven’t even been to the State Fair yet… and I’m really interested in catching some of those cart races.

IMT Des Moines Half Marathon: Training Week #4

- Mel

Any of the cumulative fatigue that I felt lingering last week (if that is even possible after three weeks of half marathon training) felt like it lifted this week. I was hitting some faster paces, managing to get outside for a couple runs AND waking my tired ass up for TWO early runs over the weekend. I was traveling Thursday through Sunday, and I didn’t miss a single workout!

Look at me, eating hills (thanks, Pittsburgh!) AND goals for breakfast.

Week at a glance:

  • Five states, four flights, a two-hour road trip and an 8-mile run! LOL
  • Four total runs – two easy, one long, one speed workout
  • One core workout
  • One strength training day

I didn’t foam roll as much as I do when I’m at home (since I was traveling), but I did pack my RAD roller in my suitcase to get in a little bit of trigger point therapy and continue some work on my calves.

MONDAY
Rest Day is the Best Day!

TUESDAY
Strength workout

WEDNESDAY
I talked to my coach about flipping my Wednesday and Thursday workouts, only because after traveling, I KNEW I would be setting myself up for failure if I had to do speed work. So, Wednesday was another fun pick-ups workout (I seriously love doing these!). I did 4 sets of 2-minute alternating fast pace and my moderate pace, then another 3 sets of 1-minute alternating sprinting pace and a slower pace.

I guess that I was supposed to do my core workout too, but I totally missed it on my spreadsheet. WHOOPS! (I ended up doing it after my Thursday easy run at the hotel).

4.4 miles

THURSDAY
It’s weird that my mid-week easy runs are up to 4 miles now. I never really paid attention to the importance of doing these extra easy runs in my previous training plans (or, I paid attention and thought that I didn’t need them). But I honestly kind of find them mentally refreshing.

We stayed at the new Hilton downtown, which has a really impressive workout space — with a great view of Lake Erie and downtown!

downtown cleveland hilton treadmill view blogger
Treadmill with a view!

4.0 miles

FRIDAY
REST! We were in Cleveland, so we ate gloriously and had a little fun date night out.

SATURDAY
If 9am is wrong… well, yeah, it’s wrong. It was humid AF. Cleveland promised me a cool 70-degree morning, and I got another 85 degree humid run. I had a few total newbie runner fails on this run (despite “being” a runner for almost two years): I didn’t have auto-pause turned on on my new Garmin watch (what?!) and I wanted to take a few touristy pictures, since I WAS in my hometown, I intentionally paused my runs at several points. Welp, sure enough, I forgot to UNpause my watch and this was a timed run. Darn it. It also happened on that big climb from the lakefront into downtown. So, I didn’t get to capture that spectacular awfulness.

Cleveland running blogger free runs
But I captured this awesome selfie!

Because I had my watch set to my workout to do Strides at the end, I ended up running closer to 40 minutes instead of 30. Yeah, and then I had to do those strides. It’s amazing how 20 seconds can seem like an eternity when your legs feel like lead. Definitely didn’t feel the greatness as I did during my mid-week runs, but I was having fun (believe it or not). I didn’t use my headphones on this run either!

Cleveland running blogger free runs
Sightseeing while running – one of my favorite things to do when traveling!

2.9 miles (that felt like 5, holy crap). DONE.

SUNDAY
Oh, hey — I woke up in a different city! 😉

Oh. This place looks familiar! ?? #lovepgh #roadtrip #timeformargaritas

A photo posted by Mel! (@melliesmel) on

Sundays are my long run days, so I pre-planned to have a couple friends meet me in downtown Pittsburgh to do my EARLY 8 miles at a slower pace. We started in kinda humid temperatures, anticipating a storm — which sprinkled on us a few times during the run. But it felt amazing! By the end of the run, the temperature cooled and it was breezy, and I almost felt like myself again (though, really really tired and hungry… oh wait, yeah. That’s me!) I had to be REALLY intentional about slowing down because I kept falling behind and have the tendency to “catch up” to the group. I loved being back in the city where I spent the last six years of my life and running through my old stomping grounds. I cried more during this visit than I expected to.

Pittsburgh blogger runner chocolate milk
No crying over Chocolate Milk though! Fueled by Turner’s, when in Pittsburgh.

8.01 miles / 11:20 avg pace

WEEKLY RUNS: 4
WEEKLY MILES: 19.3 miles
TOTAL TRAINING MILES: 58.35 miles

Weekly Therapy: So long. Farewell. Auf Wiedersehn. Goodbye, Pittsburgh.

- Mel 1 Comment

the week:
Lots of “lasts” in Pittsburgh this week — last spin class at the Y with my girl Kylee, last run//yoga//run//club at Urban Elements with my tribe, last drink at the Pub (and my favorite salad in this city), last run through the Point (but definitely not the last cry), last massage (I’ve been seeing the same massotherapist for over 3 years!), last walk into downtown. People keep asking if I’m nervous (I’m not); I’m positively excited and anxious to get to my new home. That doesn’t take away at all from my amazing experience living in Pittsburgh for the last 5.5 years — I’ll miss the hell out of this place. And the reality of moving away from some wonderful friends struck me kinda hard this week.

Also, if you need to know the best (read: my favorite) place to cry in Pittsburgh, it’s at the Point, near the fountain at the top of the stairs… looking back out at the city. I don’t know how or why I always end up there when I’m feeling really freaking sad, but it’s become a special place for me.

30something_point state park Pittsburgh
Bye, ‘Burgh!

weekend:
Tonight is the last night in our Pittsburgh house, and we leave first thing in the morning. *waves*

By Sunday Lately, I’ll be publishing from Iowa!

seven things, seven days:
1. I’m a huge fan of overnight fridge oats, and this week I made a couple with the flavor packs that I received from Devotion Nutrition — swapping out my usual maple syrup for coconut biscotti and banana fosters Flex Flavors. SO GOOD.
2. I continue to get regular massages because my left IT band is almost always tight – and my shoulders and my glutes. But at this week’s appointment, my hip flexors are really messed up. Read: need to find a way to stretch my psoas? WHOOF.
3. Um, I intentionally and willingly ate gluten for the first time in over two years. (And the carrot cake cupcake was DELICIOUS.) So… I’ll be watching for any symptoms for a few days. I definitely got a headache that night, but it didn’t linger.
4. Speaking of all things gluten and not: I found a gluten-free bakery (donuts!!!) within walking (running?) distance of my new house.
5. I’m on the job hunt, so this article was incredibly eye-opening!: A top recruiter on what anyone can see after 30 seconds with your resume {via Quartz}
6. “Here’s the awesome thing about making choices and decisions – we get to make them. we get to decide and then change our mind when circumstance change. ” YES YES YES, ALL OF THIS, YES! Procreation Choices {via The New Wifestyle}
7. Good reference for any age group: 30-somethings should be doing a mix of interval training and lifting heavy weights — The best exercise for your age {via Huffington Post}

Pittsburgh Marathon: Training Week #2

- Mel

This felt like a GREAT training week! The week off for recovery really helped mentally. I’ve also been doing daily hip and glute strengthening workouts – it’s a set of four movements that takes less than five minutes (and I do while I’m brushing my teeth because I am the consummate multi-tasker). And I couldn’t have believed that something so simple would make me sore! But while I finally committed and followed-through on a 3-run training week, my mileage fell short of my training plans.

MONDAY: [walked to work] Hour spin class at the Y. I love this weekly class as much as I value my run-yoga group. I definitely intend to keep up this habit after moving.

TUESDAY: I joined SCRR for their group run on Tuesday night. I intended to run 5 miles, but it ended up being a Track Tuesday-focused workout. I definitely don’t do enough (read: any) speedwork this training cycle, so it was a fun break from just slogging through another base mileage run. Of course this would be a night when I would forget my watch, so I have only an estimate from MapMyRun about my 400 splits. I definitely appreciated the coaching in regards to speed and breathing.

Started with a slow mile warm-up, followed by 4×400 sprints. We totaled 3.70 miles. Splits: 10:43/6:23 (???!!!)/7:46/10:57. So, yeah… that’s madness!

And I think that I found a new way to get past some of the training burnout that I’ve been feeling (despite not really having a successful training mesocycle before Gasparilla).

WEDNESDAY: run//yoga//run//club — I’m going to miss this group so much when I move! And for REAL, I’m going to see if I can start a similar meet-up in Des Moines. I like the mid-week habit, and it was the first time that I felt like I found my “tribe” in the running community. *tear*

We changed course tonight (as did the weather), running into downtown, through/around the Point and back over the pedestrian bridge into the north shore. We finished around 3 miles (nobody tracked until the last mile, so I based off previous runs and maps) and at the end we were running a a sub 9-minute pace. So, WOOOOO!

Followed up the run with 75 minutes of yoga. It felt good. Really, really good.

THURSDAY: Rest Day – and dinner with friends!

FRIDAY: Rest Day – last day of work and going away party

SATURDAY: Another Rest Day – tbh, I’ve felt like I’ve been in a hangover fog for two days and really needed another rest day to sit around in my pajamas and purge my house of 8000 magazines. But I haven’t yet skipped my daily hip and glute workouts!

SUNDAY: One thing that I hadn’t yet accomplished in Pittsburgh that I always wanted to do, was the run up McArdle Parkway to Mount Washington. So… I did it Sunday afternoon. Starting and ending in my neighborhood in the North Side, I completed 8.01 miles at average 10:13 pace.

Splits: 9:38 (1) / 10:37 (2) / 10:15 (3) *going up* / 10:30 (4) / 9:52 (5) / 9:24 (6) / 11:06 (7) / 10:28 (8)

My paces for going uphill impressed me! And yes, the views from the top were amazing. Unfortunately, that familiar knee trouble came with me downhill and started getting really intense during mile 7 (hence, my pace), which is why I didn’t do the 10-12 that I intended to do.

Pittsburgh running McArdle Mt Washington

Gonna miss that view though!

TOTAL CROSS-TRAINING WORKOUTS: 2 (1 hour of spinning; 1 hot yoga session)
TOTAL RUNS: 3
LONGEST RUN: 8.01 miles
TOTAL WEEKLY MILES: 14.71 miles
TOTAL TRAINING MILES: 125.75 miles

Weekly Therapy: That I am extremely hungover on my last day of work somehow explains everything.

- Mel

the week:
My last week at my job… at least, on-site. We’ve worked out an agreement so that I can stay on as a contractor until one of us: finds a job (me) or finds a replacement (them). The universe has also blessed me this week, to randomly (and separately) run into people who I haven’t seen in a while. These things have warmed my heart (and will keep my bank account warm as well).

weekend:
Tonight is our going away party, and then I’ll spend my last weekend in Pittsburgh (since we leave next Saturday morning). Yep, I thought two weeks would be SO long to wait out, but it’s positively flown by. I do need to get my shit together this weekend and ship some things out to the new house though, especially now that the movers have confirmed they will not pack/move any opened toiletry item. 😐

seven things, seven days:
1. Uber drivers who let you plug in your phone and pick your playlist are the best Uber drivers! I had our guy dancing in his seat. We had a good time.
2. Furniture shopping is a pain-in-the ass, you guys. And whomever actively promotes a 2-6 week delivery window can burn in a fire.
3. One last visit with friends to one of my favorite restaurants in the ‘Burgh: CURE. *sniff* (And we finally remembered to use our gift certificate from two Christmases ago.)
4. Speaking of tears, I had my first ugly cry about moving this week. 🙁
5. An economics trick that might help you with your motivation {via Quartz}
6. Being a thin person for 97% of my life, this research from the Cornell Food Lab is fascinating! {via The Atlantic}
7. This article had perfect timing for me (and will for any of you who watched the Olympic Trials and/or love to run and/or take same advice for running and life): What Does it Take to Win? {via Forbes}

Weekly Therapy: This is why I’ve been procrastinating on making resolutions.

- Mel

the week:
The big news of the week was our announcement of our move to Iowa! Yes, Iowa! Today, we close on our new house in the Des Moines area (which, I unfortunately couldn’t travel back for, and we had to rush to get a power of attorney for the signing). And we also already accepted an offer on our Pittsburgh house (inspection happened this morning!). Things are moving super fast, you guys. More gushing about my new city to come!

iowa t-shirt

weekend:
Using my remaining weekends to meet up and celebrate with local friends, since I only have a couple weeks left in Pittsburgh. Tonight, a dessert crawl to celebrate a friend’s birthday; tomorrow, Mexican for brunch; Sunday, hanging out at our new neighborhood coffee shop (and eating all the gluten-free goat baked goods!) with some neighbor-friends.

seven things, seven days:
1. Found a gluten-free bakery down in Sarasota, and they made OMG incredible cranberry walnut muffins. Wish I could have brought back 18 of them.
2. I am sincerely smoothie inept. Every recipe that I try tastes nothing like a smoothie. Any tips?
3. Because we were showing the house, we’ve, err… stored some things in unusual places to tidy up quickly. Tonight, I found a dead cat grass plant in the kitchen linen basket underneath the sink. Can’t. Stop. Laughing.
4. Did I mention that I don’t have to pack for this move? There is a God!
5. I do, however, need to drive 12 hours with 3 cats in the car, so the universe is in balance.
6. These tips are good to save a few thousand a year (with some healthy side effects). But I wish it was stuff I wasn’t already doing, so that I could find a way to squeeze more savings from my already-stretched (and soon-to-be gone) income. {via Prevention}
7. This list, on the other hand… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ {via Huffington Post}

Weekly Therapy: Jetting forward and lagging behind

- Mel

the week:
Well, I am positively exhausted. And I missed out on both Sunday Lately posts with my Blogger Tribe and am holding off on my Accountability Monday post until next week because… well, because last week’s training blog didn’t deserve its own post.

I’m catching up but now saddled with some extra, stressful shit on the homefront. SIGH. Also, I think I still have jet lag pretty bad or residual physiological exhaustion from my travel anxiety.

weekend:
This Sunday is the 5th Annual Yoga Expo at Pittsburgh Opera in the Strip District. I honestly don’t remember how I found out about this event (or remember even paying for it), but I did! My participation depends on the weather/driving conditions and if I can get a long run in on Saturday instead.

We’re also visiting A BABY – and dropping off some homemade food to friends (parents of said newborn). Pending the seriousness of this incoming storm, we’ll likely enjoy some beverages with some neighbor friends.

seven things, seven days:
1. Not a lot about myself this week, but the rest of the Internet made up for it!
2. That said, I’m having lunch at Smallman Galley today and OH LOOK AT ALL THOSE GF OPTIONS! What an awesome project this is, btw.
3. Well, here’s a different perspective on procrastination. {via NYT}
4. Oooooh “hunger [as] a motivated state of mind”. What say you? {via Aeon}
5. Research on boredom – I want to read more about its effect on performance. Boredom as related to performance psychology (and its counterparts, apathy and burnout) are particularly interesting to me, and what I hope to study when I go back to pursue my graduate degree. {via Nature}
6. Got stress? You should be paying attention to your body. Includes interesting research, too, about resilience. {via NYT}
7. Have you ever ghosted your therapist? {via Psychology Today}

Weekly Therapy: Black and Yellow, Black and Yellow

- Mel

the week:
Well, the BIG news of the week is that I MADE TRAVEL TEAM! I’ll be playing for our A/varsity team, The Steel Hurtin’. So excited, you guys!

steel hurtin pittsburgh 2016
My Team!

weekend:
If you’re in Pittsburgh, this weekend the orchid and tropical bonsai show opens at Phipps’ Conservatory. Visitors can experience this tropical escape starting Saturday through February 28. (Hours 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. daily and until 10 p.m. on Fridays.) More details can be found at phipps.conservatory.org.

Also, you can cheer for the Steelers again… if that’s your thing.

seven things, seven days:
1. Unfortunately dropped off the Dry January wagon, when we were invited to a neighbor’s Steelers party last weekend (back on as of Monday — dry weekdays instead for this month, maybe). Eh.
2. I’m (finally) through season 2 of The Leftovers, and all I can comment is WTF?!
3. Got my first Wantable Fitness Edit this week and I have… conflicted feelings about it. Is this something you guys would like to see reviewed?
4. Celebrated our department’s post-holiday holiday party this week, complete with a “regift” exchange. Good fun to break up the work week.
5. Therapy Wars: The revenge of Freud (long read, but really interesting look at CBT) {via The Guardian}
6. The top 5 fitness trends for 2016 looks a lot like last year (and the year before that). {via Runtastic}
7. You can’t trust what you read about nutrition. This is a fun one about correlations. {via FiveThirtyEight Science}

Weekly Therapy: It feels nothing like Christmastime.

- Mel

the week:
FRI-YAY! We made it! And I successfully made it through another work week of waking up with my first alarm. This morning, I actually woke up at 5:45 and got a three-mile run in before work.

weekend:
You guys, it’s going to be 70 degrees in Pittsburgh this weekend. So, I don’t know about you, but I’ll be spending some time outside (and definitely running every day).

52 books in 52 weeks:
Crunch time! I’ve got 5 more books to finish in three weeks — and one of my intended readings is a whopper 800+ pager. I’m looking forward to those admin days at the end of the month!

#47 Dataclysm by Christian Rudder (cofounder of OKCupid) — really interesting insight about stats in the online dating world and how those identities we portray online are the same (or not) on how we live in real world. Don’t feel like the scientific data will be over your head! Rudder does a great job of breaking down social research terms and explaining the biases and desires that exist in our personal data. Good stuff! I received this book from Blogging for Books for review.

seven things, seven days:
1. First time having brunch at The Porch at Schenley — so excellent!!!
2. At our annual holiday season Girls Night, we also do a fun gift exchange. This year, I ended up with all the fixings for boozy hot chocolate. AND AN ENTIRE BAG OF MINI MARSHMALLOWS!
3. UPS almost ruined Christmas though! Geesh.
4. Um… I broke my big toenail at practice this week in a very precarious location. And now it’s basically wrapped in medical tape until it grows out a little further (and to keep it from ripping off). o_O
5. My amazing friend brought me back a “Built With Chocolate Milk” towel from her race expo last weekend. YAY! #teamchocolatemilk
6. Does it matter if women soldiers can’t do pull-ups? {via Pacific Standard}
7. This NY Times opinion piece is pivotal to the “can you be addicted to distraction” conversation: Addicted to Distraction.

Gasparilla Challenge: Training Week #1

- Mel

The training for my Gasparilla races started this week! I signed up for the Michelob Ultra Challenge, which consists of 30+ miles over two days in Tampa, Florida in February — a 15K and 5K on Saturday of race weekend and then on Sunday, a Half Marathon and 8K. I’ve obviously never trained for a race quite like this, and the swag is supposed to be ridiculous. My focus is on the half marathon, for which I’m adapting the Novice 2 Hal Higdon training schedule. An aside: I strongly dislike the Higdon app and keep a paper with my dates tacked to the wall like total old school. Anyone else feel the same way?

Because I do plenty of cardio and cross-training (and that will increase exponentially with derby practices), I’m cutting out the extraneous mid-week 3 mile run. I’m focusing on three runs per week — with one long run, a weekly regular 3-mile run and one additional mid-week run that spans from 2-3 miles throughout the 12-week program, and at least two cross-training sessions.

Week #1 of this plan calls for three 3-mile runs and one 4-mile run, with one day of cross and two rest days. I personally like two-a-days with another rest day, which is another way that I’ve adapted my training schedule. It worked well for my previous half and full marathon training plans. I haven’t decided yet if I intend to PR this race or not… but I still have a little bit of time to figure that out.

MONDAY: An hour of spinning at the Y. (Walked to work)

TUESDAY: REST DAY (Walked to/from work)

WEDNESDAY: 3 miles with run//yoga//run club (just less than 10-minute pace), followed by a hard, sweaty 75 minutes of hot flow yoga. While I didn’t have any abnormally-long coughing fits, I found myself struggling to move with my breath. We did a bunch of hip openers and core work which felt amazing. My legs, though, felt super sloggy during the run. Meh. (I also walked to work today.)

THURSDAY: REST DAY (Walked to/from work)

FRIDAY: REST DAY (Walked home from work)

Long winter shadows.
Long winter shadows.

SATURDAY: 4.02 miles – holy moly, my legs felt so fast today. I had my first sub-8 mile! I followed my run up with 3 sets of 60-second planks (and a very long, steamy shower).

SUNDAY: Stairs workout at The Cathedral of Learning, my first off-skates workout with my NEW TEAM, The Allegheny Avengers! I should say my new old team, as I was one of the home team’s inaugural members two seasons ago — but I got drafted back on this week now that I’m officially-official back playing roller derby. We did 10 minutes of interval climbs and then a 10-minute body weight circuit (crunches, planks, lunges, squats and push-ups). I hoped to run a couple miles after this workout, but my legs were toast!

This upcoming training week will be tough to schedule around all these holiday parties during the week, but my goal is for two runs and two other workouts.

TOTAL RUNS: 2
TOTAL MILES: 7.02