My main focuses are exercising and eating right (oh, and vacationing at the beach of course). I am a vegetarian, but I do not try to push my beliefs off on others. I do try to educate, however. I firmly believe that if I can be healthy without eating meat, then that is the path I will choose. For me being healthy also means exercising. I took ballet for over 20 years. As I got older, it became more difficult to find classes that were advanced enough but not also filled with teenagers competing against one another, or classes that fit into a full-time professional work schedule.
Hence, I found myself walking the lonely treadmill at the gym. I was never a runner and still do not consider myself one. I have asthma and running was always difficult. However, walking on the treadmill was so incredibly boring and time-consuming that I started to add in brief sprints just to break up the monotony. Before I knew it, I was running up to three miles without stopping. I now run outside with my husband and have made it up to five plus miles, and have run five 5Ks with m fastest time of 24:18 this past May.
However, I am also a DVD junkie. It all started with my dislike for the treadmill (aka dreadmill). My sister was doing the Firm DVDs, so I latched on to those and found that I enjoyed lifting weights as well as cardio. I moved on to Jari Love next, upping the ante a bit. My next step was DVD maven Cathe Friedrich. I purchased a step and started doing some of her step aerobic DVDs as well as her weight workouts. Holy cow is all I can say. She is definitely not for the feint of heart. When she was using 15 lb I was struggling with 8 lb.
I did not give up! The more muscle definition I gained, the more I wanted to keep going. For all the women afraid to lift heavy for fear of bulking up, I say pshaw! I actually slimmed down, especially in my legs. As a dancer, I had very bulky legs and calves, especially for someone only 5’2”. So that is how I stumbled into weight lifting and running. Now working out has become my passion. Lifting weights makes me feel strong and empowered. Running makes me feel accomplished.
In addition to exercise, I really love to eat. I enjoy being in the kitchen and coming up with new dishes to enjoy. Dishes that are not only healthy but that are also tasty and enjoyable, oh, and meatless.
The last thing about me you might want to know is that I LOVE the beach. The beach is the first vacation destination each year. There is nothing more relaxing than feeling the sand between my toes, feeling the warmth of the sun, and hearing sound of the waves.
So the purpose of this blog is simply to share my passion for exercise, vegetarian eating, and beach vacations. It’s not rocket science and it won’t save the world…it’s just my life.
As her sister, I share the same passions, Exercise, and the love of the beach. As kids we vacationed to the beach anually. I as well, as my sister, eat somewhat healtfully and exercise on a regular basis. I know and realize the benefits of regular exercise. We grew up exercising and eating healthfully. We vacationed to the beach every year. That is our annual getaway and retreat. I am not a vegetarian as my sister is, but I realize the benefits and respect the logic.
Today is National Running Day . Guess what I did this morning? Cycling? Nope. Lifting? Nope. I bet you thought kickboxing right? Nope. Running? But of course! I actually sort of planned my running days this week just so I could participate this year. I didn't get to run last year and didn't even know about it the year before. But running has become such an integral part of my life and who I am, that I couldn't miss this year. Basically, I run to feel alive . It calms me, it helps me work through life, it's often a reason to get out of bed. No matter how tough a run is, it makes you feel ... period. My plan was to get in 5 miles (got in 5.5 actually). It was about 10 degrees warmer this morning and definitely more humid. That always makes for a tougher run. We decided to take a different route today. Well, it was really only a few streets over different, but still. The point is we took a different street. Sometimes that's good, sometimes not. I did realize th...
In honor of Valentine's Day - Love in Photos Husband Family and Furbabies Friends Even if you're not a fan of Valentine's Day - I hope you have a wonderful day and remember the loves in your life.
Weights & Step As much as I wanted to run today, I knew there was no getting up early enough to do so. Monday's are hard enough without getting up at 5 am to run. Yawn ... So, today I did my weights at lunch then cardio after work. Weights were pull muscles (biceps and back). I did 3 sets of 8 reps of the following: Biceps : Alternating curls Cross-body curls Zottoman curls Back: Single-arm horizontal row Underhand DB rows Double arm rows It was a pretty good workout. I felt pretty strong today for some reason. Love it when that happens. My legs were pretty sore from yesterday's workout, so I opted for a lower intensity cardio: Cathe's Low Impact Circuit - Cardio Only Premix plus abs. It was a great workout and helped to loosen up my legs. KIND Review I have been very remiss with my review of the KIND bars that I won from Jill @ My So Called Health LIfe . I won the Nut Delight. I don't know why, but I expected it to be a tad softer...
As her sister, I share the same passions, Exercise, and the love of the beach. As kids we vacationed to the beach anually. I as well, as my sister, eat somewhat healtfully and exercise on a regular basis. I know and realize the benefits of regular exercise. We grew up exercising and eating healthfully. We vacationed to the beach every year. That is our annual getaway and retreat. I am not a vegetarian as my sister is, but I realize the benefits and respect the logic.
ReplyDeleteYay! I love Cathe too!
ReplyDeleteApril @ The Weigh I Am Thanks so much for stopping by. It's so great to meet another Cathe fan! Really glad I found your blog by the way.
ReplyDelete