Hello Again!

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving weekend! I am back in Ohio, back at work and back on my computer. I made a last minute choice as we packed the car last Wednesday to leave my Dell at home and take a few days away from the machine while I spent time with my family in Maryland and Pennsylvania! I had a great time reconnecting with family and friends, eating holiday treats and yes…exercising!

The morning of Turkey Day I set out for my own Turkey Trot with our dog, Mina, and completed somewhere around a 6 mile run. The weather was chilly but it was nice being outside since I knew I’d be inside the rest of the day…eating :) I made brunch in the morning then we shuffled over to spend the evening with more family for Thanksgiving dinner.

Friday was spend shopping while Kevin played in a gold tournament. That evening we went out for dinner and saw the 3-D version of The Christmas Carol. It was a great movie that I’d recommend everyone go see!

Saturday I knew we’d be driving all over MD to hang with friends so Mina and I started the morning with a 3 mile run.

Yesterday we drove back home to Ohio. The traffic and traffic related accidents were so bad that we opted to take a back road most of the way but it was fun. Kevin and I love road trips! Needless to say, yesterday was a rest day.

I’m contemplating an Exercise TV workout because I can get my sweat on in 20 minutes which leaves time for grocery shopping and putting up some holiday decor this evening!

Cheers to being back in the saddle again :)

Sweat Trumps Turkeys

Happy Day Before Thanksgiving! I am pumped to get out of town and head east for a long weekend with my family and friends! Ohio is not my original home town but I’m sure I’ll miss it a bit. We are packing the car and bringing the dog and I can’t wait! I know a bunch of folks are getting up early for a Turkey Trot so GOOD LUCK to you all!

This week has rushed by and I’m itching to get outside and run! Yesterday C picked me up at 5:25 so we could be at the gym when the doors opened. I biked for 3 miles then did some interval training for speed on the treadmill. I ended the morning with some intense stretching which I could tell my body REALLY needed. Today is more of a rest day because I’ve got tons to do and a bunch of loose ends at work to tie up before we hit the road. I’ve planned some easy dishes for Brunch tomorrow morning but the great thing is; I can make them tonight when I get in town so I don’t need to fuss with them in the morning. That frees me up to do my own Turkey Trot and I am definitely looking forward to it.

This will be the first year where I’m making fitness a greater priority than stuffing my face with food. Let’s face it, getting in a good sweaty workout really does trump sitting around all day and stuffing your face without a workout. I am looking forward to enjoying REALLY good food and time with my family. I will enjoy it with the pleasure of knowing I made my body stronger each morning and burned some Turkey Day calories before some people even got out of bed!

Cheers to all the WrenLife readers out there. I’m thankful for you each day as I feel accountable to friends, family and fellow bloggers for being a better steward of my body! Happy Thanksgiving….maybe you will choose to let sweat trump your turkey too :)

Fall Hiking Spree 2009 Complete!

Today’s hike was the finale of my first Fall Hiking Spree. Rest assured, it will NOT be my last! Here are some pictures from the Deer Run Trail at the O’Neill Metro Park in Bath, Ohio.

This tree, at the opening to the trail, had at least 5 different colors of leaves on it!

This was the flattest part of the trail! This last hike was rated a 3 on a 1-3 difficulty scale.

   

C and her husband A

The views through the trees were amazing! I am putting this in my list when I get my snowshoes this winter!

C and her hubby at the most perfect lookout spot! This bench at the top of a hill looks out for miles.

 

 

 

    

M and A’s fur-son Oscar!

    

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Slacker-Potamus

That’s what I’ve been the last three days and I don’t like it :)

I enjoyed my run/walk with my hubby on Tuesday but the workout train has been heading off the tracks since then. Wednesday I had the best intentions of going for a run. By ‘best intentions’, I mean I changed and listened to the dog beg before grabbing her leash and heading out the door.

The plan changed when Mina saw her friend Jacques down the road and decided she’d rather play than run. She won and me and T talked while our dogs wore themselves our for about an hour. Chasing them around was the only workout I got that day.

Yesterday consisted of a late morning start and a long work day, followed by a wonderful visit to see my friend, Mary’s new daughter, Olivia! She was delivered just a few days ago and she is wonderful. We didn’t get back until later in the evening and I was exhausted!

I’m committed to putting the train back on the tracks today! My workload for is pretty good for a Friday but we have plans in the evening so I know I must fit something in before that or it will be another day lost. I do, however, want to complete my planned long run tomorrow so I’m going to try and just focus on some light cardio and strength today.

We’ll see what happens! Happy Friday to everyone!

Are You Rested Up Yet?

That’s what I asked myself every time I pressed snooze this morning, well past the time I needed to leave for 6am Boot Camp. I have plans this evening so it looks like I may be doing some Exercise TV again.

I did have a dream come true yesterday! Even though it completely ruined my plan to run 5 miles…it was worth it. Kevin took my invitation to run with me when he came home from work! We really enjoyed ourselves, but didn’t go very far because he’s just easing into it. He has a job that’s very demanding on his body, especially his body’s alignment. I was so proud of him for coming out with me and I enjoyed every minute of our jog down Chestnut Rd. He already said he wants to go again today so I hope we can make time for it!

I have a feeling today is still going to be very productive, despite how my morning went. I tried this Fiber One bar this morning since I bought a GAZILLION of them from Sam’s Club. While I don’t like to have bars for breakfast, it was delicious :)

 

I’m planning to fill and empty this at least a few times today!

While I work away on my side of the couch…this is what Mina spends her time doing. She switches between the couches and the floor until I take her out for a run or walk.

What’s This Eating Clean All About?

So I got this question the other day:

I have been looking for a way to fix my diet. I feel so unhealthy and I think it is from the junk in my diet. I am interested in the "eat clean diet" that was on your blog. Do you recommend any of those books (there is like 7 on the website)?

First, let me just put out a disclaimer. I’m not a dietician, doctor, personal trainer, or any other type of certified professional who should be giving out diet/exercise advice. I’m just a girl who tries to eat clean and stay in shape. My opinions are basically birthed from a few years of experience and a lot of reading. Bottom line…don’t take me seriously.

Ok..on to my answer. I’m going to give some background for any readers who don’t know what I mean when I talk about Eating Clean:

Whenever I refer to Eating Clean, I am referring specifically to a lifestyle made famous by a woman named Tosca Reno. Tosca, along side many female figure models, body builders, Oxygen Magazine and Clean Eating Magazine contributors and a whole slew of good looking people with hot bodies, has been educating readers for years on what she did to lose weight and build a great physique.

I’m not going to re-write all that she teaches in her book series, but here  are the take-aways I try my best to live by every day…except my cheat day that is :)

• Drink lots of water…about the same amount a camel in the desert drinks.
• Eat 5-6 meals a day or every 2-3 hours. Those meals should combine lean protein, healthy fats and complex carbs.
• Never skip breakfast
• Embrace natural sugars but steer clear of all the man-made sweet stuff…trust me..your metabolism, energy level, sex drive and lastly, your ass…will thank you.
• Exercise! Combine fat burning cardio with muscle building strength training and you will never go back to the ‘softer’ version of you again.
• Set goals and reward yourself when you achieve them.

Ok so on to the books! Tosca has written a bunch of books and they are ALL good. However, I started slow and wanted to learn a lot before buying a whole bunch of books. I suggest going to the library and checking out The Eat Clean Diet. Once you’ve given it a good read through, then you can decide to buy it, which I pretty sure you’ll do :) That book definitely has the kind of information that you’ll want to refer to time and time again. Therefore, it warrants spending the money to buy it. I also bought her book, The Eat Clean Diet Workout. This book taught me about building muscle and understanding my body. These two books are a force to be reckoned with.

My next step, and what I consider one of my most important steps, was to subscribe to Oxygen Magazine. This magazine is unlike any other women’s fitness publication out there. I don’t plan to become a body builder, but I also don’t want fitness information combined with budget vacations and celebrity interviews. This magazine meets my fitness needs and always has some great recipes. I don’t subscribe to Clean Eating Magazine, only because I have a picky eater for a husband, but it’s another great publication also.

I’ll end with some links to some great resources:

1. Sign up for the Eat Clean Diet Newsletter RIGHT AWAY!

2. Learn more and get your questions answered HERE

3. Read Tosca’s story HERE

As always, I’m here if you need me. Feel free to email me (awk@WrenLife.com) if you have any questions about what I’ve written or about WrenLife.

Another Quick Weekend

That pretty much sums up my weekend. I’m proud to say I successfully completed this week’s workout goals. I completely took advantage of Friday’s scheduled rest day and enjoyed a night out with some girlfriends.

Saturday I slept in a bit before downing my Water/Coffee/Peanut Butter on Toast pre-run combo and got ready to venture outside. I’m getting intimidated by the cold, but on this particular morning I underestimated the sun. I did, however, learn how to run and strip at the same time :) I left the house wearing shorts, a long sleeve wicking shirt, tank top over that, loose t-shirt over that, i-pod and phone, lastly gloves. Around 2.5 miles, I found a construction site to stash my t-shirt, gloves and water bottle. At mile 4 I slowed just enough to take my tank top off. At about 5.5 miles I passed the construction site to pick up the clothes I’d dropped there. Here’s where it got tricky…and a bit embarrassing :) I put my water bottle in my left hand and rolled my tank top between the fingers of my left hand. I stuffed my gloves between the Velcro straps of my i-pod/phone case around my right arm. Then, I stuffed my t-shirt down the back of my shorts and let half of it hang out, flapping in the wind for the rest of the run. The only thing that got my to 6 and three quarter miles was the Red Hot Chili Peppers blaring in my ears. I was got and sweaty and forgot that my last trek is pretty much a gradual incline. I didn’t make it seven miles like I wanted but I was done feeling so bogged down by all the clothes I was carrying. Kevin came and picked me up thankfully.

I’m glad I didn’t push too hard because that would’ve made our Fall Hiking Spree hike pretty miserable later that day. Instead, it was beautiful and as always, a bunch of fun!

Right before our hike!

 

My husband wandering, as usual :)

This field at the entrance to the Big Bend trail at Sand Run Metro Park is actually transformed into an ice rink during the winter!

This trail is actually part of the towpath that C and I trained on for our half-marathon. Ocsar’s butt is in the bottom corner.

 

Shelby and Sampson came along with their parents this time.

 

This may look like a game is Twister, but all the leashes got tangled up and it started a pretty long laughFEST!

My First Run-In & Rest Day!

Boy am I feelin’ it! This is the first week in a while where I’ve combined running and some pretty hard-core strength training either from Bosu or 30 Day Shred. Yesterday was my second run of the week at 3.5 miles and it was really nice.I got home late from my run which meant we were late to meet our friends and I showed up with my hair still in a ponytail, but they understood :)

When we got home last night, I rolled out the yoga mat and did some serious stretching that I considered pretty mandatory after 4 straight days of running and strength training. Today is a rest day because I’m hoping to keep my Saturday-Morning-Long-Run habit alive. I think if I can ignore pace measurements and simply pick a direction and start running with the Saturday goal being anything over 6 miles, I’ll feel I’ve done my body good.

I wasn’t going to share this with you all, BUT last night was my first ‘run in’ with danger. I picked a major road lined with sidewalks because it is well lit in the evening compared to the dark side roads. I took Mina and we got into a great rhythm. I am a very defensive runner and I really feel like I stay very alert to what’s happening around me. Last night around my second mile, I stopped and waited for a car to pull out of a bank parking lot and chose to run across the entrance after them, only to find the LARGE SUV behind that car wasn’t stopping. The driver must have wanted to make a break for it onto the main road and slammed on his breaks just in time to avoid hitting me even though I slammed my hands on the front of the towering vehicle. Mina tugged on the leash on my right side and pulled me forward. We stopped on the other side of the driveway and I checked her out while she circled around me. We were both fine just a little shaken. We ran home and after telling my husband about the ordeal, he ordered me to buy both myself and Mina reflective gear immediately.

The moral of this story is that even when you feel you’re doing all the right things when you’re running outdoors, you can’t count on the people around you to be as alert as you are. My husband says I give people the benefit of the doubt more often than I should. After last night, I’ve learned there may be some truth to that.

I’m on a mission to find some reflective gear and I’ll probably order a Runner’s ID tag for my shoes as well. If something would have happened last night to put me in a hospital, no one would’ve know who I was unless I was able to tell them. I’ve felt pretty invincible up to now but I’ve learned that protecting myself and taking the proper precautions is also part of being a good steward of my body.

Have a great weekend and try to get your SWEAT ON at least once!

I’m Amazed…

at all the cool stuff that I’ve learned today!

1. I read Dean Karnazes’ blog today at Runners World. He was right on with the news he shared and I’m so excited that this is what the world is coming to! In his latest post, State of Running, he wrote about how much the sport has grown and how the industry has really thrived in good economic times and in bad. The BIG takeaway I got was…

Several recent polls have shown that during this unprecedented global economic maelstrom, people have begun to reevaluate their priorities. The shift is fittingly captured by the recent New York Timesheadline, “Health is the New Wealth.” This “new wealth” is defined less by an individual’s material accumulations and more by his or her physical state of being. I, for one, would argue this is a good thing.

Isn’t this great! I read this article as part of my daily news read/blog read/coffee guzzle and it made my day.

2. Later in the day, I got a call that my glasses were in! I had my first eye exam last week and went to pick out two pairs of glasses. They were ready today and I promptly went to pick them up. I got a brown pair and a funky red pair my hubby picked out.

 

Putting these glasses on taught me that I couldn’t see JACK before :)

I’m excited to start reading all night again and typing on the computer for work all day without getting a headache from squinting.

3. Last but not least…I finally tried Exercise TV! I’ve heard about it before from Caitlin’s blog and today created the perfect opportunity to try it out. I overslept and missed my 6am Boot Camp class at the gym. I had a mentor meeting for lunch so no running happened then. My plan C was to take the Chisel class at 6pm but Kevin and I were talking and all of the sudden I realized I was late for that class too. At this point, I normally would have admitted defeat and called it an off day but Kevin was heading out for the night and I was determined to get my SWEAT ON! I got my ATT UVerse remote and after what felt like forever searching…I found it.

Exercise TV is a listing of a bunch of FREE workouts from various trainers, including Jillian Michaels. I got right into her 30 Day Shred routine and it definitely met my required sweat quota for today.

It’s always a great day when I learn something new and I’m glad I didn’t let life get in the way of my workout today. Tomorrow I’m planning a shorter run and I hope Jillian’s ETV workout didn’t “SHRED” my legs too much :)

Stomach Ache

I didn't complete the 4 miles I had planned. I did run 2 miles to the gym and do a little more running/biking there before I met Kevin in the jacuzzi.

Tonight was my first run outside where the weather was cold enough to make my lungs hurt. Allison's Bosu class also made every abdominal muscle God created me with ache while I was running tonight. Part of me is disappointed that I didn't do the other two miles. However, I was running at 5:30 at night and I have Boot Camp class at 6am so I'm sure I won't have those same feeling tomorrow morning. With my luck, Allison will focus her whole entire Boot Camp routine on Abs :(

I just made one of my hubby's favorites for dinner! I took Mediterranean whole wheat flat bread and made personal pizzas with turkey pepperoni, onion, green pepper and cheese....YUMMY! Now we are closing out our evening with an episode of House!

Getting In a Groove

This seems like a long day but it’s gone by at a nice steady pace. I woke up at 5:15 and quickly got dressed and turned the coffee pot on. Luckily, I prepared my gym bag the night before so all I needed to do was remember to take it with me :) It felt like I was doing ten things at once while I was driving down the road to the gym. I finished my coffee, gulped some water and devoured my peanut butter toast just in time to park and get to the 6am Bosu class.

Allison’s teaching style and ever-changing routines keep me coming back for more. I can count on her to give me a great workout and the right mix of exercises both in and out of my comfort zone. I drove separately this morning because I knew C would leave early for work and I was dying to spend a few morning minutes in the sauna before my day started.

I know I’ve been logging my workouts on the right side of the blog so you can see what my week looks like, but I also know how important it is to share my plan for the week so that you all can help keep me accountable. So here goes:

Monday	Bosu
Tuesday	3 – 4 mile run
Wednesday	Boot Camp
Thursday	4 mile run
Friday	Rest
Saturday	Long run…hoping for 7 miles
Sunday	Trail hike or light run

Our of the whole week, I really want to complete the 7miler.

My Question For You…Our of the entire week, what one workout do you really hope you complete?

Already?

That’s what I’m asking myself this very moment. Am I ALREADY starting to eat everything in site under the veil of the ‘holiday spirit’? Our wonderful weekend kicked off Friday night at 80’s night! Our church hosted an 80’s concert and since ‘we know the band’…we decided to come in style. I’ve been planning my 80’s get up since Halloween.

Kevin went as the Transporter and I wore more make-up and glitter than ever before.

That outfit was a little racy for a church concert so I changed it up for Friday night. C and her hubby got decked out too! Here C and I are in the lobby waiting to find our seats.

There’s my hubby Marty McFly sitting between me and C in our front row seats! The concert was a blast.

    

Saturday I got up early and enjoyed a 6 mile run at the Sand Run Parkway Jogging Trail. It was a cold, but beautiful morning and I had a great run. My legs were sore from dancing in high heels the night before, but they felt fine by mile 4. I had no idea at that point that those 600 calories I burned would barely put a dent in the amount of Great Lakes Christmas Ale, movie theater snacks, French fries, pizza and Mexican food I would inhale this weekend. :( Oh well, better luck next time.

Today was a rest day in preparation for tomorrow’s 6 am Bosu Class! I think I’m driving separately so I can roast in the sauna for a bit afterwards.

Apologies and A Yoga Mat

First things first…I apologize for not taking pictures last night during our hike. You didn’t miss much. For one thing, now that it’s winter, it gets dark so early that half way through the hike we could barely see anything anyway. We’ve decided that 5:30 hikes on the weeknights just won’t work. We’ll start hiking on the weekends now for the rest of the Fall Hiking Spree. We hiked the Schumacher Trail which takes its place as my least favorite so far, but it was only a few minutes up the road from our house so it was convenient.

In other news, I’m so glad I went to Boot Camp yesterday! C and I left early because she had to get to work. That meant we missed the stretching/cool down part and then I didn’t make up for it when I got home. Needless to say, I’ve been on my yoga mat all morning paying for that mistake. I woke up feeling sore in all the usual places. I’d really like to run today with the dog so I needed to stretch out and get back to normal. Let’s hope that works.

I’ll leave you with my Runner’s World Quote of the Day that comes to my inbox every morning:

I really look forward to a hearty long slow run. You feel good while you're doing it, and get to feel good about yourself all day long after you're done.

 

Jennifer Van Allen, Special Projects Editor, Runner's World

Jennifer, you hit the nail on the head! This is the exact reason why I’m dying for a long run…hopefully this Saturday.

No More Bird Virus!

Ok I haven’t been blogging the last few days because I felt like…

I didn’t have swine flew but a sore throat, sore body and cabin fever was not good :(

This morning I woke up feeling better and rushed out the door to pick C up for 6am Boot Camp! This was my second time at this class. I met some more regulars and got my sweat on! I had a bit of a dizzy spell during the last set of speed drills, but it passed quickly.

Allison focused on super sets and exhausting one body part at a time. I really liked that type of workout.

Ok folks, I’m back at it and just in time for Wednesday’s Fall Hiking Spree!