Where's the Beach?

Today was another unusually warm day here. No complaints from this girl though. Today was our weekly long run. I had 10 miles on my training plan. I really enjoy the idea of finishing out the last day of the year with a run. In fact, I looked back at my 12/31/11 post and realized I did the same. Oddly, it was a very warm day last year as well, only stormy and my run was about half the distance. I feel like so much has changed for me in terms of running over the course of a year. I truly feel like a runner. I itch to get out and run now. I feel very empowered by my running now rather than nervous, fearful or even cautious. I've learned to embrace the fact that some days it's going to be tough. And that's ok. It's not failure, it's just like life really. While everyone is making lists and resolutions today, I am going to do the same that I said I'd do last year - live fuller. I want to embrace each day more, get over fears, take more chances....live. I feel th...

Rest Day Today is a rest day for me - and much needed I will admit. Without spin this week, I realized that I ran three days in a row. I know that's not a big deal to some, but for me and injury prevention...it is. And I'm feeling it just a bit now. If you have any advice on how to run several days in a row, please please share the secret with me. I took advantage of the extra hour by hitting the grocery store at lunch. Not only did we need to stock up our own fridge, but I'm helping make some food for a friend's New Year's Eve party. Rather than waiting until tomorrow and trying to fit in grocery trip, long run, and food prep, I decided to do myself a big favor and get the food today so I can prep some tonight. In case you are curious as to what I'll be making, it's pretty simple. She wants it to be semi-fancy. I realized a long time ago that you can still do a really nice spread but very simple. I will be making a hummus, tomato basil "meat"...

Perfect Day for a Run Today was another gorgeous, sunny day here with temperatures hitting 60 degrees. Now that's my kind of December! The gym has been unstaffed all week - meaning no spin class. So, thankfully it was another great day for an outdoor run. I had wavered a bit on going solo for 6 miles or running with Jason around the neighborhood. He was wanting to do an easier 3-miler. I will say, as much as I hate it, running in the neighborhood is what I need to get in some long incline hills - the same hills I'll be running in March for the Little Rock Half Marathon. So, I opted to run with Jason. We did end up hitting 4 miles. I kind of had a feeling he'd want to go just a little bit farther. Though, we probably went faster than we had meant to run originally. Like I said, perfect temperatures out. Even got to wear shorts today. The only problem was the annoyingly gusty wind. Cursing wind is absolutely normal right? Right? Even if it's not, I sure do...out lo...

Intervals & Weights  Today was another sunny, mild day here. It was not easy making myself go to the gym rather than run outside. But, I really needed/wanted to get the rest of my weight workouts done today as I had originally planned. I also wanted to do some intervals. Intervals are easier to do on the treadmill, or for me anyway. When I'm outside, it's harder to focus on speed rather than just enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. Though, with my handy dandy new Garmin, I can actually keep track of pace finally. So maybe I can do my speedwork more correctly rather than going balls to the wall with the first interval then not being able to finish out the rest. Anyway, I wasn't planning on killing myself with intervals then doing weights. Just wanted to get in the speedwork. I started with 1 mile at a 9:22 min mile at 1% incline as my warmup before doing the following intervals: #1 - 1 x 3 min intervals of 8:20 min mile with 9:31 min mile recovery #2 - 2 x 2 min...

Running & Chest Today it was back to work for me. And it was a rocky start to the day/week. New computer while I was out equals major problems when I get back. Let's just say that the first 5 hours of the morning were spent pretty much without a computer. In the end, back to old computer for now. The one salvation to the day was that it was sunny and fairly warm - mid-50's. It was, however, super windy. I had originally thought I'd just do some intervals on the treadmill then weights. But Jason asked if I wanted to go run around our neighborhood during lunch. He knew I was having a rather stressful morning, and thought it'd be good for both of us to be outside in the fresh air (aka gusting winds). Plus, he's sort of playing with the new Garmin he bought me by running with me. Having me push buttons, check speed, distance, etc. We set out with 4 miles in mind, but ended up over 5 (5.5 after walk around block to cool down). I always forget how sneaky steady...

Christmas Dinner As I mentioned yesterday, our Christmas Dinner was similar to our Thanksgiving dinner. We enjoyed the meal so much, why not make it again, or most of it anyway. Plus, I really want to try to perfect the Wild Mushroom Green Bean Casserole .       So, it was the casserole along with Curried Pumpkin Risotto and Quorn Turk'y Roast topped with Chipotle Cranberry Relish . Some dishes are certainly worthy repeating in my book. It was a nice, low-key Christmas for us topped off with a fabulous dinner, just the two of us (besides Maddie & Heath waiting under the table for food droppage of course). Gym Day Today was back to gray skies and lots of rain. Definitely the kind of day that makes you want to just stay inside in your PJs, even more so since we were both off work. We did manage to get out of our PJs into our workout clothes for the gym though. I started with 15 minutes on the elliptical then did trisets of 3x8 (unless noted) for shoulders, bi...

Family Day Recap Today was the first day since I've been off work (since Wednesday) that wasn't jam packed. In other words, I was able to sleep in guilt free. We had no place to be. The only thing that we actually had planned was to get in a run if the weather was decent. The forecast kept changing, so the last we saw said rain. It was a pleasant surprise to see sunshine and blue skies rather than the dreary, gray skies we had yesterday. Oh, yesterday...that family-filled day. We left home at 10:45 in the morning and didn't get home until after 9 pm. Needless to say, the dogs were very unhappy and we were very worn out. The day started at my sister's for lunch of a brunch menu that consisted of 2 types of frittatas, fruit salad, bagels, sausage (for the meat eaters), and my mom made a gluten-free coffee cake as well.     It was so fun watching the kids open up their gifts. It was definitely a cooking type of Christmas for them. I had found these super cute Curious...

Friends & Laughter I must start off saying that I feel so behind right now on blog reading. The past few days have been filled to the brim, but in a good way. I have been enjoying so much time with family and friends. Yesterday afternoon we ended up meeting up with our BFF couple and another friend before my friend, Lindsey, made it into town. We left the first place, a pizza place aptly named Damgoode Pie, then headed to our favorite local hangout. I've mentioned it before, it's an Irish Pub called Dugan's. We scored seats by the fireplace, my fave spot in the place of course ;-) I had so much fun visiting and catching up with Lindsey. I just hate that friends have to move away to different cities as we grow up. It definitely makes you appreciate the time you do have together that much more. Plus, I suppose I do have very valid reasons to visit Atlanta. Maybe a spring trip? Family Day Anyway, it was an incredible day and night filled with enough laughter to make...

Brrrr Chilly Run This morning I got up and hit up Whole Food a little before 9. It was fairly empty, maybe the quietest I'd ever seen it. No complaints here! I got back home and worked on cleaning the house. I was trying to wait for the sun to come out and the temps to warm up a little before I ran. No such luck. I finally gave up and went out for my run around 10:45. The sun was not going to come out today, that became obvious. And the temps weren't going to budge much either. It was just under 40 degrees, but at least not gusting winds. My legs just didn't feel like they were cooperating though. My perceived rate of exertion was way out of whack. My lungs were on fire, I kept thinking I must be pushing it, but I'd check my heart rate and it was barely hovering at 160. I don't know if the air was just damp, but it actually felt a lot harder than my last half, which was a few degrees cooler than today. Of course, it should have been a rest day, but I won'...

Gym Day Today was a cold, rainy one here. Not very motivating. Thus, I didn't make it to the gym until 10. I really should have gotten out the door soon as I had errands to run. And the longer I waited, I knew the worse traffic would be. I started with 15 minutes on the elliptical then went with supersets of 3x8 for back and triceps. SS#1 Underhand barbell row Double-arm overhead triceps extension SS#2 Assisted wide-grip chinups Lying triceps extensions SS#3 Pullovers Weighted dips I did some ab work after the weights. I also added in some low back extensions on the stability ball - 2 x 12. Overall, it was a pretty good workout. I feel pretty weak with my back weights, but I know that adding in the chinups will help if I just keep decreasing the assisted weight. Errands & Chores The next several hours were spent fighting traffic so that I could make it to stores like Target, Kroger, and a few secret places I can't mention since a certain someone reads my...

Run & Legs I was off work today, actually off work until next Tuesday, so that meant I was able to sleep in a bit. But I did need to get my workout done earlier rather than later. So I hit the gym by 8:30. It was pretty much dead other than one other person on the treadmill. Love it when it's quiet and I don't have to fight for a fan or "my" treadmill. I wasn't exactly keen on a treadmill run, but sometimes you just have to get yourself going. I started with 1 mile warm up at a 9:22 min mile then 4 sets of intervals at 1 min with 1.5 min recovery (I guess that's really 1 min and 30 seconds) at an 8 min mile and 9:31 min mile then finished out the remainder to round out to 3 miles. I decided to go ahead and work full legs today rather than split them up. I went with supersets of 3x8 unless noted. Barbell squats - warmup set of 10 SS#1 Barbell squats Stiff-legged deadlifts SS#2 Step ups (with dumbbells) Plie squat with low end pulse - using ...

Sad Day, But Spin Helped This morning I felt like I had been run over. I didn't sleep well at all last night. It didn't help that just after midnight lightening hit so hard that I bolted upright then the thunder that immediately followed literally rattled the house. I seriously thought there had been a terrible accident outside and someone hit the house. The electricity went out briefly and it took a while to calm back down and fall back asleep. Then I was up at 2, 5, and 6. Yawn. At least the storms did stop and it wasn't raining on my walk into the office - just incredibly foggy. It was sort of a down day for me. Fifteen years ago a dear friend's life was cut short. She was an incredible person, so full of life and love. I won't go into details, you can search her name or see this newscast from today if you really want to know. Juli Busken was a dancer at OU and had just graduated. She was abducted and eventually killed in the early morning hours of December...

6-Mile Run Today I was actually able to get in a run outside rather than spin. The skies were slightly overcast, so not a super gorgeous day. However, the temperatures were in the upper 50's. We've got rain in the forecast for tomorrow, so I took advantage of the weather today. I debated briefly about which direction to start my run. I started into the headwinds, which kept picking up and made it feel a lot cooler than 57 degrees. If the sun had been out, I know it would have been warmer. While I hate headwinds, I'd rather run the first half of my run into them rather than the last half when I'm already tired. As soon as I made my turn around at mile 3, it felt like the wind completely stopped. I don't know why, but this always surprises me still. You can feel the wind so strongly one way, then not even a hint of a breeze in the other direction. Of course, I immediately got hot and regretted my capri tight option. However, at the end of the run, closer to the r...

Holiday Party Recap Last night we went to a party with some friends. It was a law firm party at a nice hotel downtown. It seemed a little awkward to me, but our friends assured us we were more than welcome to join the party, that not everyone was going to be a lawyers.     We only knew a few other people through our friends. And I am still certain we were the only non-law related people there. It was fun getting dressed up and getting out of the house. We don't often go to fancy parties. But, I am not a very out-going person. Since I didn't really know anyone, the music wasn't exactly inspiring me to dance, and the free drinks weren't anything I cared for (the wine was horrid and they ran out of champagne right away)...I was ready to call it a night by 9pm. I will admit that I felt really kind of bad about wanting to leave so quickly. I feel like I'm always the party pooper in the bunch. It's not that I don't want to have fun or know how to have fun, bu...

This morning started off really chilly, as in 32 degrees chilly. But, finally some sunshine. Oh how I've missed sunshine. Luckily, I didn't have anything pressing this morning, so that meant we could be lazy and wait for the temps to warm up a bit before going out for a run. When we started our run at 11:15, it was about 45 degrees, clear skies, and seemingly no wind (don't forget this seemingly no wind statement please). We started off just chit chatting. Laughing and talking about random things. I was probably doing most of the talking, but we can pretend that Jason was chatty too ;-) The first half really seemed to fly by for me. I was soaking up the sunshine and enjoying Jason's company. We made our turn around...and were smacked in the face by the wind. Oh yes, the wind I didn't think existed? It did exist. I was really getting hot until that turn around then it was a sudden cool down. I was really glad I had left my gloves on at that point. Jason might h...

Finally - Friday has arrived! Even better, it's my rest day. Though, I will say I got in some unexpected cardio today: Walking 3 blocks to and from parking lot (4 times total) Walking 4 blocks to and from our company holiday meeting (2 8 blocks) Walking up 10 flights of stairs to avoid stopping on every single floor on the elevator ride after meeting So, active rest day ;-) Today I almost told you all about the exercises I hate the most - you know, burpees. mountain climbers, pushups on the spin bike. But, that sounds kind of negative doesn't it? I then read a post by my friend Averie @ Loves Veggies and Yoga . Seeing the pictures, and hearing about something good that happened for her today made me rethink my negative post. I also saw this quote today that helped change my focus "Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh For Fun Facts Friday , I want to share the things that ...

Intervals & Legs Today was sort of a weird one. Tomorrow we have a huge annual holiday meeting. My division typically helps put together a funny skit for the meeting. This morning I was asked to help out with something and ended up having to go to the first rehearsal where they were going to just block it out. So that took up an hour and a half. Next we had our division potluck. Then right after that I had a meeting. So much back-to-back, definitely no time to take a break and hit the pavement or gym like I'm used to doing midday. But, the day went super quickly at least. The skies were, again, threatening rain. I kept checking the radar hoping it might hold off long enough for a run outside. It of course didn't rain the whole time I was at work. The minute I walked out the door? Yep, rain. Good thing I had gone ahead and decided on the gym after checking the radar one last time. I went with 4 miles on the treadmill then legs (focusing on quads). I started with 2 miles...

Holiday Balance As a FitFluential Ambassador , I am finding myself inspired by some amazing people. I also see "fitfluential" as an adjective. I want to be more fitfluential for others and inspire others. Recently, ambassadors were given a writing prompt to talk about our five tips for maintaining balance throughout the holidays based on four key aspects of balance: Eat, Sleep, Move, and Enjoy . You guys know how my posts normally work. I just blab about my day - typically either raving or ranting about my workout and then a recipe. But, sometimes it can be fun, inspiring to have a goal for a post, a theme or topic to discuss. Especially when it's something you are passionate about - like being fitfluential. While I love the holiday seasons, they can be stressful. On top of your normal day-to-day affairs, you have invites to holiday parties, cookie exchanges, family events, then there's the decorating, shopping, baking, cooking. It also doesn't help that t...

Interval Running & Weights Well rather than just moan and complain about today (it's been "that" kind of day from the start), I'll just get right down to my workout. I had wanted to run outside. It was supposed to be partly sunny and close to 60 degrees. Instead, it was insanely foggy (like heavy mist) and in the mid-40's. Gotta love an accurate forecast right? Thankfully, I'm a planner. I was prepared with clothes for the gym. I guess I should clarify what that means. I had my capri running pants and top for outside running, but for the gym, I need minimal clothing. I can't stand to be over-heated and my gym is hot as hell. So, I made sure I also had shorts and a tank also packed. I tried to get myself psyched up for intervals on the treadmill. I mean, it was "just" 4 miles. No biggy right? Ugh. Tough 4 miles. My mind was just absolutely not in the game today. Very little sleep, tough morning, depressing weather, not really wanting to t...