Back To Blogging (And New Running Shoes)!

I spent last week packing up my entire apartment and moving back home with the folks for awhile. Yes, it took ALL week to pack move and kinda unpack. I got to Durham on Thursday and just today have unpacked the car! It’s been a long process that’s still going but I’m determined to have my room ready to unpack stuff by Friday.

As far as running and working out, I kinda took some time off to pack and move. Now I’m back on the horse and have been doing something active everyday since being home! Feels great to get moving again! Afew days ago I went with my parents to take our four dogs on a walk, yesterday I swam laps for half an hour with my mom, and today I took the dogs for a walk again. I’m still in search for a decent (and cheap) gym that’s close to my home I can start going to. It’s hard for me to start paying for a gym membership when I had a free gym at my apartment complex to go to whenever I wanted. I have a few in mind though that’s I’m scoping out.

I depise running in cold whether, have I mentioned that before? haha, so I haven’t gone running too much lately… more walking, swimming, and even some core workouts. Now that I have NEW running shoes I will be more determined to use them and maybe even go running in this silly chilly whether. I hate spending so much money on running shoes BUT I suppose it’s worth the money for the extra support and to have a good pair of running shoes instead of wearing my old torn up ones.

YAY... new shoes!

Yesterday when my mom & I were done at the pool and walked out to the car we were amazed to see SNOW on the ground! Sure it snows in North Carolina, but how often can you say that one day you wore a short sleeve shirt outside in warm weather and the next you’re bundled in layers as it snows outside?? Weird, right?

Our first sighting of snow in 2012!

Front window of the car!

It snows a bit more last night as I fell asleep on the couch next to a warm fire we had going in the fireplace but by the time I woke up this morning it was all nearly melted. Maybe it will snow again, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t get anymore.

I also have high hopes of clearing away our stationary bike so I can take it on a ride in the next few days. So here’s to unpacking, running (even if it is bloody cold out), and biking in the next few days!

Goodbye Wilmington…

I just moved from the beach to about three hours inland and I must say, after walking up and down two flights of staires a great number of times, rearranging all my stuff in my car to make it fit, and driving the three hours in the POURING rain and only being able to see out of two mirrors…. I’m exhausted!! Now to unpacked everything and organize it… somehow. All this packing and unpacking counts as working out, right?

Triple T (Three Things Thursday)

1. AmeriCorps

  
I’ve had major thoughts lately about joining the AmeriCorps Program recently since I’ve graduated from college now and currently don’t have a full time job (this relates to running, I promise! Just keep reading.) I don’t know too terribly much about the program (i.e. the difference between the NCCC & VISTA, how long the different programs last, the specifics in each of the areas you can choose to work with, etc.). I have a friend who lives in Durham who finished the AmeriCorps in the past year I think, so I’m hoping to catch up with her, grab some coffee, and ask my list of questions to see if this is what I really want to do.

   I’ve also heard alot people say they wish they had done something like this before getting into their current job, which makes me feel like if I decide to do it I should do it NOW. Plus there’s the little fact that the max age for alot of the programs I’ve found is 24 and I turn 24 in August, so I’m literally on a deadline here.

On the main AmeriCorps website I’ve been trying to look at varies programs/locations/projects to do and I find the only one that is coming up that hasn’t already started in 2012 starts in October (either that or I’m not looking in the right spots, who knows…). As I said above I’m not really sure WHAT to apply for, HOW to apply, or WHEN to apply so I very well could be very late for the opportunity.

::Here’s where the running part comes in::

IF I’m not too late to apply for the AmeriCorps and I do get accepted that would mean I would most likely leave in the fall and therefore couldn’t run half marathons until I returned home from the program, probably 10 months. That’s a long time to not be doing any long distance races! I suppose at this moment I just need to focus on weather this program is for me or not and apply. After I apply, I guess I can figure out where to go from there.

2. Running Confessions

Oh boy. Here we go. So the thing is… I was so set on running the Rock ‘n’ Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon over Labor Day weekend acouple of weeks ago. I persuaded myself that would be the first half I’d sign up for for 2012 and I wanted to put my name down before the end of January in order to avoid higher prices. WELL… the day before the prices were suppose to raise I checked online and apparenetly the price had already shot up 10 or 15 dollars. Unfortunetly I decided not to sign up for that race this time around (which is a HUGE bummer since I love that route).

If I don’t get accepted, or decide not to join, the AmeriCorps in the fall than I’m looking at doing the Amica Half Marathon in Rhode Island on October 14th (suggested by Lisa @ runacrosstheus ). The price is still really low for that race and doesn’t rise again until April or May, so that should give me plenty of time to figure out my potential volunteer plans with AmeriCorps.

I also want to get a race done before summer time, preferably in late April or May (and if time allows me to plan accordily, in a state I haven’t done yet as well). I found afew in New Mexico that are closeISH to a friend that lives out there so we’ll see about those.

3. This Song Just Isn’t The Same Anymore…

Afew days ago while I was stretching before a workout I was listening to slower music (I keep the loud, upbeat stuff for during my workout) and Adele’s Set Fire to the Rain song came on. This is probably one of my favorite songs by her so you would think I would get excited every time it came on the radio or my ipod, eh? Well, I do but I also laugh a little bit inside. The very first time I heard this song was at a dragshow downtown! So now when this song comes on I think of dragqueens singing and dancing to Adele’s song. Too funny, right?

Is it bad that I'm jealous of how toned some drag queens are?

Can anyone give me advice about the AmeriCorps Program?

Tags: americorps program

Let’s Talk Water!

It has no flavor, no color, no *POW* the second you drink it, so in my book it’s no fun. I hate drinking water. It’s one of my biggest downfalls and worst habits, but lately I must say I’ve been trying really hard to be better about it. Let’s be straight forward here…

<— This is how much water you SHOULD drink daily.

 

 

 

 

 

This is how much water I drink in one day. —>

 

 

 

 

 

Problem? I think so. When I was younger I was that kid who drank milk, lemonade, gatorade, hot cocca… everything but no water. I would go weeks without drinking water. I guess it wasn’t until I grew up alittle when I realized how healthy water is for you. Even after all these years, it still takes alot for me to guzzle down the tasteless liquid.

So what do experts say about this topic? “Experts recommend water as the primary beverage for a healthy life. They suggest consuming around 8 cups of water each day – and no more than 300 calories from other beverages.” That’s alot of water…

I was listening to a podcast by Jillian Michaels afew days ago and she was talking about how she hates to drink water but what helps her is thinking about drinking one cup of water every hour. When I heard this I thought, “wow, that doesn’t sound like alot… one cup of water every hour… I can do that!” Than I tried it. Harder than I thought but I definetly got alot of water in me just by trying this. Told a friend of mine about drinking one cup of water an hour and she said that makes it sound like a lot more to her. Granted, she drinks water like it’s going out of buisness! Rarely see her without a cup of water near by.

Something else that has been helping me lately is the fact that as a graduation gift from a co-worker I got a 24 oz. cup with my college logo on it. Despite the fact that it says UNCW on it, this is probably the biggest cup that I own which is great for my new found goal of drinking more water!

   Let us not forget the fact that drinking heaps of water makes you pee ALOT! Who really likes to take the time out of their day to use the restroom?!?!? Especially when you’re in the middle of a race… a long race… a timed race; there is no desire to stop and pee while you are being timed to cross that finish line!

   What are other ways I can trick myself into drinking more water? Do you drink other drinks before/after a workout that you would reccomend?

Being an Athlete

I’ll get back to blogging tomorrow… it’s been a long weekend!

I hate being sick.

I had this whole running plan this week and I was so determined to run every day….. than I got sick. blahhhhhh. I hate being sick. Alot of the time I push through it and keep going but I decided that since I’m in the middle of moving apartments I shouldn’t try and push my luck and instead rest and get better. I ran on Monday than did an excersise video on my Wii on Tuesday and just some some core excersises today. Honestly, today was such a blur to me. I was out most of the day and didn’t get to work out or pack! I think it was alright to sleep most of the day yesterday though since I feel better today. I’m hoping by Monday I’m 100% better so I can get back into running again.

Since I haven’t really done much the past couple of days I don’t really have much to update on unfortunetly. This weekend my Dad & brother are coming into town to help me pack up the big things in my apartment (couch, table, bed, movie shelfs, tv, etc.). Probably won’t have much time to excersise this weekend but I imagine lugging big furniture up and down two flights of staires is good enough for a few days, eh?

Do you have any exciting plans for the weekend?

Cartoon Thursday

so.true.

Does anyone know of any other working out cartoons or posters that make you smile when you aren’t in the mood to excersise?

Active 2 for the Wii

It’s the first of February which means afew things…

1. Christmas decorations should be long gone by now,

2. I move out of my apartment in 14 days and still have alot of stuff to do, and

3. I officially have 11 months to run 381 miles.

One of my favorite reality shows to watch is The Biggest Loser; can’t say it’s my favorite… I’m such a sucker for reality shows. I don’t know what it is about watching people work out and eat healthy but it always seems to push me and motivate me to workout more. Most of the time on Tuesdays I don’t work out until after The Biggest Loser but this week I found a break in the day and decided to do my work out than. It was a nice change this week to sit and watch the show while thinking, “I’ve already worked out today and now I can relax,” instead of, “uggggggg do I really have to walk to the gym in the dark and work out at 10 o’clock at night?!?!”

   Yesterday I was scheduled to run two miles but my ankle had been bothering me all day so instead I decided to try this ‘Active 2′ workout disc I got for free when I got my Wii last year. I haven’t really touched it since I got it because I thought I needed to have the Wii balance bored to use it…. yeah, I don’t. Which means I’ve had this work-out program for the Wii for the past 12 months and haven’t opened it!! Crazy, right? I wish someone had TOLD ME I didn’t need a balance bored! haha

So I booted up my Wii, got the program running, created my work-out avatar, and found a 21-day workout to start out with. If I remember correctly it said that this 21-day program is a good ‘starting out’ workout to do so that’s why I chose it. When starting out I thought it wasn’t going to be a huge workout… maybe some jumping jacks, possibly squats or push-ups. I was wrong! This program worked me hard! I was sweating at the end of my 28 minute core work-out, that’s something I did not expect at all!

I felt really official wearing a heart rate monitar on my arm too!

   All in all I really did enjoy this program. My favorite parts of my workout were probably the step aerobics and the soccer challenges. The one downfall I’ve seen so far with this program is that the resistance band wasn’t working properly for afew of the workouts (I’m not sure I attatched it to the handels correctly either though). I’ve also read afew reviews how people have played basketball or boxing or done mountain biking on Active 2 and I can’t figure out how to even get to those workouts. I’m sure I’ll figure it out one day (hopefully sooner than later) but it’s still pretty cool that I got this $30 work-out game for FREE when I bought my Wii on sale… talk about a bargain!

Does anyone own Active 2 and know how to get to the sports like basketball and mountain biking?

What are your favorite workout games or videos to excersise with?

 

New Headbands!

I was at Target with my mom and my sister while I was home and as I was looking in the $1 bin I found athletic headbands that were two for a dollar so I picked afew up. I got a bright blue one and a brown one that are thicker than ones that I’ve had in the past so I was hoping they would work better with my thick, curly hair. Tried my blue one tonight during my three mile run and IT WORKS GREAT!!

   I even learned a trick from a friend of mine for keeping it from slidding off my hair. Use hair clips to clip it on near your ears and than in the back… worked like a charm!

   I think I’m going back to Target to get more since they are only a dollar, what a bargain, right?!?! They had a package that had a black headband and a pink one that I decided against because I already have quite a bit of pink running clothes but if I go back I want to try and find those to buy.

Do you have tricks of the trade for anything when it comes to running?

Freeze Your Thorns Off Virtual 5k Race Recap

Yesterday I went on a four mile walk/jog with my parents where my mom and I took 3.1 miles of that to count towards the FYTO5K (Freeze Your Thorns Off Virtual 5k). My time wasn’t great, it took longer than I expected, but I suppose that’s what I get for not running for six months. My time for the 5k was 43 minutes; all together for the four miles my time was 1:02:00… that’s roughly a 15 minute pace. I’ve done better in the past week on the treadmill; running outside in the cold messes with my breathing so I tend to avoid it as much as possible.

I used dailymile.com to find our 3.1 mile route near our house and decided the tobacco trail that runs through our city would be best since it was really flat (per my mom’s request) and lots of other people would be on that same trail. As I said before it was chilly outside so I kind of wasn’t looking forward to the run at all (have I mentioned I hate running in the cold?) but I worked through it and did what I could.

The first bit was probably the hardest. For the first half mile or so we had to run along the road to get to the actual trail. There’s one big hill that I dread every time I head towards the Tobacco Trail (should have gotten a photo of it). Once I was past that hill though I felt pretty good about the run, and I tell you it didn’t take long for my long sleeve shirt to come off! Glad I decided to wear another running top on under! Getting on the trail gave me a good push to run for awhile, unfortunetly the cold got a hold of me and I had to slow down for a bit. I ran with my mom for a good part of the run and than when she told me to go ahead of her I took off for the finish of the 3.1 miles which I could see just ahead of me. As I crossed the 3.1 mile marker I waited for my parents, who weren’t far behind me, and we walked/lightly jogged the next mile home. It was a good run but I so hope to get better at that specific trail in the next couple of months.

Week Workout Plan

Monday: 3 miles

Tuesday: 2 miles

Wednesday: 1 mile

Thursday: 2 miles

Friday: REST

Saturday: 3.1 miles (February Facebook virtual 5k)