Where's the Beach?

As a FitFluential Ambassador , I was lucky enough to have an opportunity to receive a sample of ProCakes to review. I'm not always a big pancake eater. However, lately, I have been making more protein pancakes on the weekends, especially after a long run. So, I was very eager to try out ProCakes , even more eager when I realized how easy they were to throw together and how simple the ingredients list is. Here's just a bit of background information from their site : ProCakes was founded in 2014 by Caren Magill, a fitness enthusiast, bikini competitor and soon-to-be fitness trainer. She left a corporate career in social change marketing to pursue her love of healthy comfort food with zero compromise on taste and enjoyment. ProCakes is a high protein pancake mix, designed to satisfy cravings for comfort food while providing a healthy dose of protein to help maintain a lean and strong body. It’s one part nutritional supplement, one part awesome baking mix. Made wit...

Happy Friday Eve! I feel like my days have been mixed up all week. Don't you just hate it when that happens? It's been a good week so far, but I am definitely ready for the weekend. I've gotten in some good runs (even managed to knock out my 10-miler this morning), done with my weight workouts for the week, now to focus on some extra stretching and enjoy a rest day tomorrow. Time to celebrate right? To celebrate Thursday, I thought I'd share 3 things that have made me smile this week. 1. ProCakes Protein Pancakes As a FitFluential Ambassador , I was lucky enough to have an opportunity to receive a sample of ProCakes to review. I will have a full review next week, but had to share as one of my 3 Things. These are gluten-free, high protein, and insanely easy to throw together. Even better - they actually taste good! 2. ThinkThin Bars I won this awesome stash of goodness from Amanda at  ThereAreTwoSides . I love ThinkThin Bars and am excited to try some of ...

My #PROOF I haven't really mentioned my affiliation with FitFluential recently. And I really should because it's an amazing group of highly motivated individuals. Recently, they introduced a fantastic new idea based on "Proof," on showing what you did to kick some workout booty, to live healthier, or to motivate others. They ask the question:   What's your #PROOF ? My proof is usually a puddle of sweat, shaky muscles, or an ear-to-ear grin after a wonderful run. It's not the calories burned displaying on my Garmin, though sometimes it's the mileage (I won't lie, that's pride). My proof is usually logged in my blog daily, but I often just take that for granted since it's just what I do (if that makes sense). But today, I wanted to draw more attention to it. Feel my proof and see my proof. Today was another nice day, though warm for sure. When Jason and I set out for our 3-mile neighborhood run at 11:30, it was already 80 degrees. Thankfull...

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...

Gym Day Yesterday's run was so great that I really had crazy notions of going out for another one today. But, I knew that I didn't need to push it. So, I ended up going to the gym instead. I thought I was going to run a mile for my warmup. Thought is the key word. Not even 2 minutes in I had to stop because of my sciatica/piriformis pain. Obviously the gym was a smarter plan that trying to go for another outdoor run. So, warm up ended up being 15 minutes on the elliptical instead. It did give me a chance to read some of the latest Oxygen magazine at least. Then it was time to hit the weights: chest, shoulders, hamstrings. I went with the typical 3x8 pattern. SS#1 Chest flye into press Pushups with toes on bench SS#2 Overhead shoulder press Bulgarian deadlift SS#3 Lateral raise Step ups - 6 reps SS#4 Upright rows Hamstring roll-ins on stability ball I finished up with some ab work using weights and the ball. Ok, for all you lifters, what am I doing wrong wi...

Rest Day Today is a rest day for me. I kind of wish I had planned it out better so that I could run today. The temperatures are supposed to be about 50 with sunshine. Sounds like outdoor running weather to me. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny, but only 45, which probably means more like 40. It's ok, you guys in the north can totally chuckle at me for being such a weenie about the weather ( Jess did you catch the word choice). Since I didn't have any workout plans, I had extra time on my hands. During lunch we hit up Whole Foods finally. Been avoiding that one for a while because of major road construction in that direction. After work, the goal was to get a couple of Christmas gifts purchased, finally. I've been really putting this off because of driving in insane traffic. So far, I've only ordered gifts for my niece and nephew from Amazon. All shopping should be so easy I believe. Easy Chef Baking Set - Source My nephew has found this insane passion for cook...

Since I sort of touched on the idea of encouraging women to lift weights this week , I thought I might take a minute to talk about myself as a FitFluential Ambassador (if you haven't noticed the badge on the page). I was very honored to be invited to be an ambassador among some amazing fitness and health and wellness bloggers. I feel like I've always been active in some way, shape, or form. But to realize that I might potentially inspire others is still rather new to me to be honest. To be FitFluential is an honor. So I would like to encourage others to become fit, to become healthier as well. It is something I'm passionate about, even if I am typically just posting my daily life doings (that happen to include workouts of course). So, enough rambling. For Fun Facts Friday , I thought I'd share 7 weight lifting tips for women (or sort of how to not be intimidated by weights). Maybe I can persuade some of you to hit the weights either in the gym or at home. 1.  Stu...