Weekly Review February 14-20

Time to finish off another Weekly Recap! Taking a look back at February 14-20. 

Cows on a hilltop against a dusky horizon.

Fitness
After a super fun weekend of skiing and shenanigans in Bozeman, I was looking forward to getting in some good runs. My mileage for the week wasn't super high, but I feel good about sticking with it. The #RunLoveChallenge is over, but I hinted last week at a few running-specific goals I have on my mind. So, here they are:

I'm getting a lot of use out of my trail shoes and my Oiselle KC Tights lately!

Goal #1-- Run a sub 25:00 5K sometime in 2016. I don't exactly have a race picked out for this, but I will be running a Virtual 5K through Shape Up Montana in about a month. I plan to race it hard and use it as a check-in to where I'm at. I feel good about at least getting a 5K PR already. I plan to continue incorporating some speedwork and hill training to try to reach my aggressive time goal. Right now my PR is 26:10, so we're looking at a drop of over a minute in the 5K.

Goal #2-- PR at 10K distance in 2016. I don't have a specific time goal for this PR as I do in the 5K, but I would like to try to continue to get better at this distance. I think with all the training I plan to do for the 5K, time drop in 10K should come naturally. I'm also planning to continue lengthening my long runs to get up to 7, 8, or 9 miles in effort to help with 10K training. Considering I've never run more than 6.7 miles at once, this seems a little daunting, but I'm confident I can do it.

Goal #3-- Continue exploring trails on the farm. I've really been enjoying trail running through the pastures and fields on the farm and I want to continue to build routes to do that. I feel SO LUCKY to have access to all this wonderful landscape right outside my door! I mean, seriously-- cows, creek crossings, cliffs, teepee rings... what's not to love?

Stepping stones across Sage Creek through our pasture. 

If you look really carefully, you can sort of see the rock outline of a teepee ring.
We have one pasture that has over 100 teepee rings in it. They're subtle, but they're there.

What are your fitness goals for the coming months/year? Never too late to start one!

Another view of Sage Creek from a hike Jeff and I took.

Here are the weekly stats for February 14-20:
Sunday- Complete rest day. Driving home from Bozeman.
Monday- 4 mile interval run on treadmill.
Tuesday- 30 minutes yoga.
Wednesday- 3.7 mile pasture run.
Thursday- 25 minutes core work, 20 min yoga
Friday- 15 minute HIIT, 3 mile treadmill run, 2.6 mile hike with Jeff.
Saturday- 1.2 mile walk.

And here's YTD through February 20:
2016 Year to Date, through 2/20/16
Running: 79.85 miles
Walking/Hiking: 19.5 miles
Yoga: 335 min 
CC-Ski: 500 min / 14.1 miles (since I started tracking mileage on 1/17) 
Alpine Ski: 3 days

Can you see Harvey? :)

Farm
If you missed my recap of the Montana Farmers Union Women's Conference, you can read it HERE. On the farm, we continue to make preparations for calving and expect the first calves to drop any day. Our official Due Date is March 1, but there are always some that come early. I'm excited- calving is my favorite season on the farm! This year, we'll have between 95 and 100 calves born. If you like photos of baby animals, then definitely stay tuned to the blog and to my Instagram (@katie.r.bangs) because soon both channels will be inundated!

The cow on the left looks especially pregnant---very round belly!

A little dark, but this is my current favorite cow. 

Life
Again, thanks for noticing my awesome blog re-design! (Thanks, Joellyn!) I plan to re-launch the blog very soon with a new URL. The new site will be www.prairiesunlife.blogspot.com. Still using the free Blogger domain. I'm not making any money off my blog, so no need to ditch the free platform. I'll be announcing the new launch on Facebook and Instagram, so be sure you're friends with me and/or following so you don't miss it!

Also, this week in the Pulse Pledge challenge, Jeff and I made one of our very favorite recipes- Moroccan Steak Salad! It's a beautiful, delicious salad with steak strips, arugula, chickpeas, couscous, apricots, and a homemade dressing. SO GOOD! I've been trying to coordinate my Pulse Pledge meals with eating beef, and this recipe always hits it out of the park! If you're interested in the recipe, let me know and I'll share.

See the chickpeas in there? Moroccan Steak Salad! A favorite recipe in our house!

So, that's the week of February 14-20 in Fitness, Farm, and Life! How was your week? What's coming up this week that you're excited for?

Harvey is ALWAYS excited to go for a run!