I'm moving.

Hello to anyone who might be following this blog.

I exported this blog over to wordpress. So far it's more userfriendly, except that I can't figure out how to change the font.

Anyway, find me here please: http://freak4fitness.wordpress.com/

Thanks for supporting me!

No aims; no expectations.

Yesterday was my long run day. It wasn't sunny like the past couple Saturdays, but I've got a goal to meet. So I threw on my winter layers and went for the long run in falling, flaky snow.

It's amazing how I've developed a new love for running in the winter. In past years I took my running indoors from November to April. I think since I've started blogging and tweeting about health/fitness/running it's lit a go-get-em-girl spark in me.

Since last week I ran 8.9 miles due to a malfunction in the imapmyrun gps app on the iphone, I mapped out a 8 mile route, and a 9 mile route ahead of time. The plan was to do at least 8, but go for 9. I also tested out a different gps app called runkeeper. This app was heaps more accurate, but did still manage to rob me some mileage. When I finished it said 9.3, which I was happy with. It's the furthest I have ever run in my life. How could I not be ecstatic about that?

I get home, I log my 9.3 run into dailymile.com, which also updates the facebook & twitter. Am I too connected? A couple hours later I analyze the route on the map and notice that on the last bend, the app got lazy and mapped me running through the woods, meaning I was robbed approximately a half mile. So in reality, I ran closer to 9.5, maybe a little more.

All in all, I think this was my best long run. My speed also improved from last Saturday. I managed 9.5 in an hour and 42 minutes. That's less than it took me to do 8 last week! I couldn't be happier with myself.

Next Saturday; 10 miles!

This is bananas.

This is bananas:

86 calories in a medium banana
1 gram of protein
3 grams of dietary fiber
26.9 g carbohydrates
23.9 g sugar
467 mg Potassium
43 mg Magnesium
27 mg Phosphorus
7 mg Calcium
1.3 mcg Selenium
.4 mg Iron
Also trace amounts of zinc, manganese and copper
95 IU Vitamin A
11 mg Vitamin C
22.5 mcg Folate (important during pregnancy)
.7mcg Vitamin B6
.6 mg Niacin
.31 mg Pantothenic Acid
.67 IU Vitamin E

Having braces and being a health conscious person is BANANAS!! It's challenging enough in life to be health conscious, but try adding braces to the equation.

The problem is that I can not eat most foods. I'm on a strict mush food diet. The pain in my teeth will not allow me to even bite into a turkey sandwich. I miss turkey sandwiches. I also miss broccoli, apples, GRANOLA, etc, etc. Mostly I live on oatmeal, eggs, soup, cottage cheese, yogurt, and barley. I can do soft fruits like an orange, a banana, or strawberry, as long as I dice them up into small toddler sized bites. You know how you go the extra miles to eat healthy in the first place? I feel like I go an extra 3 miles to eat healthy with my braces obstacle.

Anyhow. With that rant, I thought I'd do a blog on bananas. They're a pretty interesting fruit! I found the following information from: http://www.finetuneyou.com/Bananas.html.

• 3 medium size bananas weigh approximately 1 pound.
• A cluster of bananas is called a hand and consists of 10 to 20 bananas, which are known as fingers.
• As bananas ripen, the starch in the fruit turns to sugar. Therefore, the riper the banana the sweeter it will taste.
• Bananas are available all year-round. They are harvested every day of the year.
• Bananas are great for athletic and fitness activity because they replenish necessary carbohydrates, glycogen and body fluids burned during exercise.
• In 2001, there were more than 300 banana-related accidents in Britain, most involving people slipping on skins.
• Over 96% of American households purchase bananas at least once each month.
• The average American consumes over 28 pounds of bananas each year.
• There is no such thing as a banana tree. Bananas grow on plants.

Why bananas are good for you

Containing three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber, a banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy. Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes.

Depression: According to a recent survey amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.

PMS: Forget the pills - eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.

Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it the perfect way to beat high blood pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.

Constipation: High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.

Hangovers: One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.

Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.

Morning Sickness: Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.

Mosquito bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.

Stress: Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body's water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.

Warts: Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with the yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or surgical tape!

When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around. So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, "A banana a day keeps the doctor away!"

Technology is neat, but not dependable.

'The life that runs through everything in the universe is me"

Nothing gets me out of bed better than a beautiful sunny morning. Sure, it may be only 25 degrees out, but the sun just sings to me. With that inspiration, I got out of bed for my Saturday morning long run.

Prior to the run I downloaded the imapmyrun app for the iphone. Its features are to use GPS technologies to track your distance, time and pace. Neato, huh?

While on my run, I didn't look at it until I got to a point of where I was curious what distance I had covered. At this point it only said a measly 1.93 miles. Hmmmm....I should have been doubtful of it at this point. Because I have mapped out this run before with the website, and the website says that this point is 3 miles. I didn't dwell on it, just kept running.

And kept running.
and running...
and checked the GPS
and felt disappointed with the low mileage
but kept running...
and running....

One thing about this whole scenario that boggled me is the time it said that I took to run the low miles. It said that it took me over an hour to do 5 miles. My average 5 mile pace is 50 minutes, maybe a few minutes longer for a longer distance like 8, but definitely not over an hour. At this point I thought, "Well, maybe it's not accurate, I'll map it when I get home".

But the Jillian Michaels voice in me was saying, "Nuh-uh, you're running until that gadget says you've done 8 miles! Are you really going to do a half-marathon? Then you better finish these 8!"

So I ran for an hour and 47 minutes until the iphone claimed that I did 8 miles. When I stopped running, I looked at the route on my iphone, and I clearly saw the robbery it had on my miles. When running around a long bend, instead of running around the bend, the iphone thinks I run straight through the woods to the other side of the bend:



Darn technology, making me work harder! The good news is, is that I ran almost 9 miles. The bad news, GPS technology isn't quite there yet. It's pretty cool to think I only had 4 more miles to run to complete a half marathon.

Traveling isn't easy

Traveling is not easy. Period.

Especially for the health/fitness nut. Especially when you're a passenger in a co-worker's car and have no escape into the world to find HEALTHY food. At the moment I'm considering calling a taxi to take me to a grocery store & handing my employer the receipt--they did say everything would be reimbursed!!

When we first arrived this morning, the so-called continental breakfast was a granola bar. That's it. What happened to breakfast is the most important meal of the day? A granola bar is not going to get me anywhere.

Disclaimer to this rant; I was smart & brought a bag of dry foods, some oranges, strawberries, a jar of peanut butter, cans of soup, and some jello cups. So I do sort of have back-up, but it's not quite convenient.

So anyway, back to the crap food that this hotel serves...I'm here for a two day IRA seminar by the way. (I'm a bank-teller by day). For lunch they served some pasta salad (PASS), salad with lettuce only. No spinach, no tomatoes, no cucumbers, just green lettuce. Gee thanks, oh and double thanks for the one choice of fatty dressing. They also served pizza and soup.

So I took some plain green lettuce, a slice of pizza and took the cheese off the top, just ate the bread part, and two cups of the SALTY-ASS-SOUP. Holy moly I've had my sodium intake for the month!

Mean while, I'm observing everyone else in the room. Wow, is the fact that soda has empty calories and an unnecessary amount of sugar not common knowledge? I'm amazed at how many people can suck down 3,4,5 cans of soda. It actually grosses me out. If those people quit soda, they'd probably lose 10 pounds in one year. Maybe more.

Besides the soda, they all took dessert. I'm not being the dessert police, but when you're at an IRA seminar and sitting for 4 hours at a time, I'd advise to pass on the cookie. That's just my opinion though, of course I don't know anything about their regular diets, how much they workout, etc, etc.

So after the seminar I headed down to their fitness center. There was one guy in there, we were both chatting while on the treadmill. For some reason I thought that if I changed the channel on my treadmill it would change all of the channels, so I suffered through the sports channel YUCK!!! Because of this, I ran faster because I wanted to get it over with, thus making it only 3 miles. What are the odds that he left after I finished 3 miles?

But I suppose it was a good thing, because I am long overdue on my strength training. I did some core exercises that made me go "OoouUUuucccCCchhh!!", but in a good way of course.

And now I'm blogging about it. I have another day of obstacles tomorrow. I can manage though, I'm strong willed & don't give in to CRAP!!

It was better than a rum & coke

Today was my long-run day, 7 miles were planned. It was 22 degrees out, light snow flurries, and wind. And it felt AMAZING to be running outside again.

Running outside is what makes this love for running even exist. If I only ran on a treadmill I think I would hate it. Stride for stride today, I did not want to stop. And at mile 7 I didn't.

I ran 8 miles today! That's the longest distance that I have ever run! It was an hour and a half of pure bliss. And if you read my blog from last night I can safely say that this run was more satisfying than the rum and coke drink that I was longing for.

On the run, it was fun to wave & say hi to other runners. I got passed a few time, all by men of course. How are they so much faster, and how do they make it look so effortless? What made the run the most enjoyable was the fact that the sun was out. For those of you who have never been to Wisconsin, let me explain. The sun is very sparse during the winter. Gray skies, day after day. So to see the sun, even in the frigid cold is an inspiration alone. Oh, and Christina Aguilera made me pick up the pace at about mile 4.

All in all, I'm relieved this run was a success. This was going to be my deciding factor on whether or not to register for the half-marathon. Consider me registered.


*photo taken with my cell phone and edited with Flickr's Picnik

I don't know what to do with myself.

This is sort of embarrassing to admit, but this is the first Friday of 2010 that I didn't rush home from work to begin a night of mixing cocktails.

Instead, I'm tweeting. And blogging. And thinking of how to spend the rest of my evening. Really lame, yes?

Well, I'm determined to run 7 miles tomorrow morning. I've got my route all mapped out thanks to www.mapmyrun.com. The weather isn't being cooperative, but I think I'll still be able to manage. It's supposed to start snowing tonight, but so far the word is flurries, no more than an inch. That's do-able.

Oh! Today I started reading The Runner's Diet by Madelyn H. Fernstrom. It was given to me by my friend's husband who ran a half-marathon last fall. I thought it would be a good book to read to keep me motivated & determined to run my own half-marathon. So far not so much.

So far it really focuses on weight loss. Currently I'm at a healthy 144 lbs. and don't intend on losing weight, though I won't mind if I do lose a couple more pounds during my half-marathon training. I will keep reading, hopefully it will get better. One thing that sparked my interest was this statement:

It takes only 100 extra calories a day to gain 10 pounds in a year

Whoa!! That's a scary little fact, huh? Definitely one to write down and hang on the refrigerator. Or even slap it on the debit card so I see it before making a poor decision. The one neat thing is if you reverse the statement:

It takes only 100 LESS calories a day to lose 10 pounds in a year.

Now that's more inspiring!

With that, wish me luck on my run tomorrow!!

Like a wild woman

Wednesdays are usually my strength training day, I don't know what kind of bug bit me, but when I got to the gym and saw a row of empty treadmills I decided to run instead. Or start with a run and then do strength training. Honestly, I didn't have a specific plan (obviously).

Again, I was running at a faster pace than normal to start. Since I didn't have a plan that was okay, why not work on my speed? What is a "normal" speed by the way? I'm comfortable at a 10:40 pace, I'm workin it at a 10:00, and I'm huffing&puffing at a 9:00 or below. I'd like to know other runner's paces and comfort zones.

Back on topic; at mile 3 I figured I might as well go for 5 miles so that I won't have to get up at 4:00 tomorrow morning. At this point I decided to alternate sprints and a regular pace every few minutes. I'm running, sprinting, running, huffing, puffing, running, girl on the treadmill next to me is annoying me, huffing, puffing, , , you get the picture, , ,

Amidst my huffing and puffing my arms were flailing back and forth like a wild woman being chased by a tiger. This is when I accidentally hit the emergency stop button! GAH!!!

Annoying girl next to me watched the whole thing happen, why isn't annoying girl watching her own TV connected to her treadmill? There was GOOD TV on! (Say Yes to the Dress IS GOOD TV!).

As I learned on Sunday, when the treadmill stops you restart it. I restarted it. But I just couldn't get back into the zone again. The zone where your mind has control over the exhaustion happening in the body. The zone where you feel like you can run for days and nothing will stop you. Nope. Couldn't get there.

Total miles ran today: 4.8. GAH!!!! I feel so lame not finishing that .20 miles to do a complete 5. Ah well. Another lesson has been learned. Tame yourself on the treadmill woman! There are safety features on there for good reason!

With that, I still plan on attempting (tackling) 7 miles this Saturday.

Inspired, struggled & lessons learned.

The thought of registering for a half-marathon is still lingering in my mind. After my 6 mile run on Sunday I'm feeling pretty inspired to go for it....

Then this morning I woke up at 4AM to head to the gym for my Tuesday run. It was a struggle to get through 4 miles. Blah. In analyzing the whole scene:

1. I didn't warm up
2. I started faster quicker.

I didn't warm up because I felt like I was in a time crunch because I got there 15 minutes later than normal. When I woke up at 4:10 I hesitated, rolled over, but then realized I couldn't sleep so I might as well just get up and go. And I started faster quicker because of the time crunch that I was feeling. I wanted to get in at least 4 miles before I had to get home, shower, blow dry, style, breakfast, get dressed, & drive to work in the snow.

So lesson learned, don't hesitate, just get up & go. As of now, I'm planning on doing a long run on Saturday, hopefully at least 7 miles. Seven miles is not a reasonable goal for training. Technically 6.6 miles should be my goal. But getting to 7 is only going to take me approximately 5 minutes longer to run, so why not? Well, we shall see on Saturday I suppose.

My treadmill stopped me.

After my last blog post about me considering a half-marathon I had this grand idea to get on the treadmill and run. Run until I couldn't run anymore. I was just going to set it at a 10:40 pace, which is my comfortable pace, and see how long I could do that for without stopping.

Well....

My home treadmill stopped me. At 60 minutes it beeped and the words, "the end" scrolled on the screen. This left me a .20 mile shy of 6 miles total (math geeks, I ended up adjusting my pace throughout). So I gulped some water, and ran the remaining .20 mile to at least say I ran 6 miles.

This unkind act from the treadmill surprised me, and irritated me, so I did not think quick enough to just hit restart. I sort of have this mentality that once I stop it doesn't count anymore, if that makes any sense. Well, it probably shouldn't. If I have to stop due to technical difficulties and hit restart, it counts. Even if I have to stop to potty, or god forbid WALK for a minute, it still counts. And this is something I need to enforce with myself.

On a more positive note, I ran 6 miles!! Yay! That's a longer distance for me. So this is good! Training programs suggest to increase your mileage by 10% each week, meaning next Sunday I should go for 6.6 miles. If I do this at the gym, I know the treadmill there will go for 90 minutes. If I end up doing it at home again I'll be more prepared to hit that restart button.

If I keep this up, I just might be on my way to a half-marathon!

Goals. Hmph.

So I was reading a blog by a gal named Mish, (http://eatingjourney.com/2010/01/28/fitness-goals-need-advice/) and it reminded me that I currently have no goals.

The last time I set a goal for myself was in March of 2009. I was spectating the St. Patrick's day race, which had a 5k and a 10k. I was happily snapping pics (which by the way is my other hobby; photography), and I couldn't help but notice how much fun everyone was having. I thought out loud to my husband, "How can they be laughing after running 5 miles?". He just gave me that husband shrug that acknowledges that I just talked, but he has no input. I sat on the curb and thought, "I could do this".

And my goal blossomed. I wanted to run in my first race. Once I got home I Googled local races. Most of the results were for 5k races. Well, at this point in time running 3 miles was my regular workout. It really wasn't a challenge for me. So I kept searching, and searching...and trying to glaze over the Crazy Legs Classic which is an 8k (5mile) run.

Again I went to my husband for input, "Could I run 5 miles?" He said, "Well yeah". Gee thanks husband. Way to cheer me on. I argued with myself all night, and finally registered myself online for the race.


a photo I took to root myself on :)

I trained for 2 months, ran in cold, hard rain, and finished in 48 minutes. Not bad for a first race, eh?

Since then I've just been maintaining my ability to run that distance. Sometimes I get the bright idea that I should increase my speed. Another time I thought I could train for a half marathon. Unfortunately, I made my own training program which went like this:
week 1: 5 miles
week 2: 6 miles
week 3: 7 miles
week 4: I quit. (By the way, this happened in the heat of the summer, so forgive me).
That was a dumb training program. I really should have Googled a half marathon training program and did it properly.

Ho-hum...is it a sign? Should I Google that now? Could it be? A goal to run a half marathon? We shall see.

(If you haven't noticed yet, I don't commit easily).

The scales can lie: hidden fat -- Wall Street Journal article

Today, like every other day at work, I was sorting the mail. One piece of mail that comes everyday is the Wall Street Journal, which goes to my boss. On the front page I noticed a snippet of an article titled The Scales Can Lie: Hidden Fat. Of course it sparked my interest and I took that section with me on my lunch break.

The article has some interesting and alarming ideas about ideal body weight & body fat. In fact, I think it convinced me that I need to get a body fat test ASAP.

Can you be a "normal" weight and be fat at the same time? According to researchers at the Mayo Clinic; yes. They have named this concept 'normal weight obesity'. Yikes!! Considering that over one third of Americans are already obese, imagine going to the doc and being labeled normal weight obese. Unfortunately, Mayo Clinic Researchers estimate that 30 million Americans fall under this category. Yuck.

Researchers from the Mayo Clinic describe normal weight obesity as a person whose body behaves like one that's obese, but is not obese. The measurement is done by BMI.

Let's take a look at a BMI chart:


BMI in my opinion is not a good measure of "normal" weight because it's an estimate of your body fat. It's calculated by dividing your weight in kilograms by your height in meters. In some cases, a BMI test will not accurately describe a person's fitness level and body fat. There are lots of people who exercise regularly, are considered fit, yet have a BMI over 25. Researchers of Mayo clinic have acknowledged this in their research.

So what do the researchers recommend? They advise people who may fall under the normal weight obesity category to include weight training as a part of your regular workout routine. This will help increase the percentage of lean muscle mass at the expense of body fat. Also the obvious is advised; a healthy diet

Though this information is alarming, the researchers stated that they don't recommend everybody running out to get a body fat test. The article is meant to be a wake-up call.

Well, I certainly have been woken from my sweet dreams!
What do you think?




you can read the full article here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704762904575025313433081780.html

Hi-lo-chop

A common piece of advice that is given when talking about working out is to do something that you will enjoy. If you despise running, try the elliptical. If you get bored on the elliptical take a kickboxing class. If you hate crunches, there are zillions of yoga/pilates moves to choose from. I could go on, but you get the point.

Doing something you enjoy will leave you feeling pumped, and less likely to skip that next workout. Who knows, you could even be looking forward to your next calorie blasting session.

I think that when it comes to strength training, many people tend to get stuck on the same moves. I'm constantly seeking new strength training moves. Anything that makes my muscles go WEEEEEEEeeeeeeEEeeee!!! I'd like to share a move with you that makes my muscles scream (a joyous scream of course).

............................drum roll please!



It's called the hi-lo-chop. You start from a squat position with a medicine ball held on your right side. Slowly raise your body to a standing position along with your arms overhead to your left side. What makes this move my favorite is that it targets your butt, abs, and arms, all in one move!

I have many other favorites that I want to share with you as well. This just so happens to be the only photo I've taken for the blog. But this is something I'd like to continue to do on the blog, share my favorite moves. And I hope that you share yours with me!

MUSH!

In my last blog i briefly mentioned that I had oral surgery on Thursday. The surgery was getting two regular bottom teeth taken out, reason being is that I just don't have enough room in my mouth for all my teeth and I am currently sporting braces. Go me.

Oral surgery can really mess up a person's diet and healthy eating. I've been living on soup, pudding, jell-o, ice cream, and french fries. The french fries are the closest thing to solids I've had since Wednesday. I'm antsy for the sockets to heal so I can get back to regular healthy foods, I actually MISS broccoli!!

While I haven't been able to eat well, I do feel like I've been doing great workout wise. The day after the surgery I did 5 miles on the treadmill. Saturday I spent 45 minutes on the elliptical and 30 minutes of core strength training. And this morning I did 30 minutes on the stair stepper, 30 minutes of strength training, squats that I'm sure to remember tomorrow, and 30 minutes on the exercise bike. I'm feeling good and strong, but hungry too.

While I've been on this downtime from the surgery, I took the opportunity to create a YouTube account and favorite some good workout videos. And I would love to share some of my favorites with you!

Medicine ball workouts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bUlp8ECPV8

Bosu ball workout: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE06ddxbilc


I'm a huge fan of medicine ball and bosu ball workouts. I would strongly urge anyone out there that's tired of crunches to try some of those moves. Go ahead and try one, and I'd like to hear from you how it went!

My new love is on the rocks.

Just as I really started a new love for cross country skiing, we get a weird warm-front with rain for weather. Thanks Mother Nature. The skii trails will likely not be safe (though I'm yet to verify this assumption this weekend).

As I hinted in my last blog, I attempted some speed training this week. On Wednesday night I did 3 miles in intervals. I did a comfy 10 minute mile pace for a few minutes, then did a tough 8 minute mile pace for a few minutes, and switched back and forth between those two paces. I reached 3 miles in 29 minutes.

Then to test my speed training, this morning I hit the dreadmill at the gym for a 5 mile run. The first 3.5 miles of it I did a 10:20 minute mile pace, and the rest I altered between 10:00 minute mile pace to 8 minute mile pace. All in all, I ended the 5 miles at 50:20. Not terrible. But like I said, it would feel great to get that down to 45 minutes!

Oh, and I should mention, that on Thursday I had oral surgery and have not been able to enjoy a proper (and healthy) meal. So when I analyze what I've done with running this week, I really can't be too hard on myself, I had oral surgery for crying out loud! Two teeth less, and I'm still running, I'll go ahead and pat myself on the back.

A new love

Ever since I scored some cross country skis at a consignment shop, it's all I want to do, XC ski! Over this last weekend I was lucky enough to enjoy a three day weekend, and I skied all three days. On Monday I skied until my legs wouldn't ski anymore. This new love has made me begin researching XC skiing, and I'm hoping to get a nicer pair of skis by next season. It's only January, so I should probably start a penny jar now.

Since I've been doing this every weekend, I don't get so sore from it anymore. The first weekend that I skied I was so sore that it hurt to put on pants. Putting on pants is an essential part of life, and this activity shouldn't be so painful. I'm glad I'm past that-- until next season after a summer off from skiing.

The one wee bit negative side of my new love, is that it's interfering with my other love; running. Last Tuesday I did a 5 mile run on the dreadmill, it was harder to get through and my pace was slower. My finish time was a lousy 53 minutes!

For this, I'm thinking I may have to try a speed training program. I don't need to be an 8 minute mile champion, but I would love to feel comfortable at a 9 minute mile. Ah, such high hopes....

For now, I'm going to continue on with my love for skiing. Let's face it, I live in Wisconsin. Running just isn't as great in the winter (in my opinion, I do see a lot of troopers running outside in the cold). The treadmill is a good alternative, but it doesn't feel as invigorating as it does outside. I'll ski on for the time being.

Week 1 of 2010.

Not a bad start to the year. I ran 12 miles the first week. I like that.

Today I went for another round of cross country skiing with my husband. It's ridiculous how sore I already am! But what a great workout it was. And there's no better way to spend a Sunday on a cold Wisconsin Sunday... Well, I suppose some might argue that spending the afternoon in a bar drinking beer and watching the Packers would be more enjoyable (not me though!).

Though I did great with the exercise, I wasn't as good about what I consumed over the weekend. I had some cocktails, of course. And last night was my company's holiday dinner. Those are the type of situations where it's very hard to stick to healthy consumption. It's a challenge, but it is possible.

Tomorrow I will start the week off right, first by stretching right away in the morning. I know I'm going to need it after the skiing.

I came into this year very very sore.

So many people come into the new year with hopes, goals, resolutions to get in better shape. I'm not going to lie, I'm one of them.

I thought that going cross country skiing on New Years day would be a great first workout for the year. Well, it was a great first workout, but I'm still sore four days later! My legs are very unhappy with me.

I'm planning on doing a run on the treadmill tomorrow, and hoping to do at least four miles. But if my body says "no", I'll have to listen.

It's so hard to be motivated but too sore to do anything about it. Especially during this time of the year. Plus I think I get anxious if I don't workout. But every time I stand from sitting on a chair, my body reminds me that my muscles need a serious break.

Hello 2010!! (and hello blogger!)

I created this account about a month ago, and couldn't think of a specific goal to blog about. So I put it off. I let the holidays glide by.

Now it's January 3rd, 2010.

With no specific goal (yet), I decided I better start my blog sans goal. If I don't start it, 2010 will be over, and I will be in the same rut next year.

Some potential goals I've toyed with:
- Run my first half marathon
- Actually start some sort of training program and get RIPPED...haha
- Up my weekly/monthly mileage of running
- Quit drinking so I can lose that jiggle in my belly

Or maybe something completely different will come to me. Either way, I'm starting a blog today!


So now might be a good time to introduce myself. I'm a regular 28 year old working girl that enjoys being active and soaks up everything health/fitness related. At one point I wanted to go to college to become a personal trainer or nutritionist, but then I realized I'm terrible at math and science. So now I'm a gym rat.

I work out as often as possible. Running outside is my favorite, but I do live in Wisconsin where it gets dark at 5PM, cold, and icy. During the winter I spend a lot of time at the gym, running on the treadmill, climbing the elliptical or stair stepper, using the bike, lifting weights, doing squats, lots of ab work, etc, etc...

With as much as I work out you'd think I was ripped like Jillian Michaels. But...I am a social being. I eat Hors D'Oeuvres and drink cocktails. I am happily living a healthy social life at a healthy weight. I do not need to lose more than 10 pounds, and do not plan to attempt to.

What I could do for myself is tone up. Though I do a lot of cardio, I do slack a bit on the strength training. Ever do 3 sets of squats? And then feel it for the next three days? I think if I were better in shape, the following 3 days wouldn't feel so painful. It would be nice to feel stronger.

This is why I'd like to call myself fit.