Tag Archives: Health & Fitness
Celebrating A Milestone
Yesterday was Fitness Friday and I reached a pretty big milestone! For the first time ever I hit double digits on a run/walk! The furthest I had ever walked prior, was 8 miles back in 2010. My furthest run was 7.5 back in early March.
I started out running yesterday and for some reason, I just kept going. Hitting that double digit has been something I’ve wanted to do for awhile now, but I never really went for it. I started to get tired and struggled for a little while around miles 4 & 5. That little voice of negativity in my head started to beat me up, but I pushed through and decided I was going for it. I shut that little voice up by deciding that my time didn’t matter today, all that mattered was hitting my mileage of choice.
Once I made up my mind, the rest was pretty easy. I slowed down and walked when I needed to and picked up the pace and ran when I felt good. I have to get my legs used to carrying me for longer runs and they’re not quite ready to do that yet. Until they are, there is nothing wrong with slowing down to a light jog or fast paced walk.
I know that with determination, time and practice, I will be able to run the full 10 miles. My goal is actually 13.1 with a respectable pace, but I have to remember that it takes time to build up to that. I have to remove the self imposed pressure that I place on myself to perform at great levels. I have to learn how to celebrate my milestones, instead of getting mad that I didn’t reach them at a certain level, or by glancing over them to start working towards the next goal.
Over the past four years, I have skipped many celebrations and I regret that. I regret pushing myself towards the next goal instead of taking some time to reflect on where I came from and what I just achieved.
The beauty of this journey is that I am always learning…and as a result, I will continue to grow as a person.
Yesterday I put the Further in #FurtherFasterForever. Down the road I hope to add the Faster, but I have Forever to work at it and enjoy the celebrations as I go.
Filed under Fitness Inspiration, Health & Fitness, Running
Feet, Meet Pavement. Pavement, Meet Feet.
It’s been a month since I have gone out for a run, thanks to the acute asthma I developed during my bout with the plague. Over the past few days, I haven’t been relying on my inhalers as much so I decided it was time to try. I laced up my running shoes, put on an old race shirt to show support for Boston and hit the pavement again.
My plan was to drive up to the recreation center and just do a few laps around the parking lot and soccer field to see how I felt. Surprisingly I felt really good and my goal of 3 miles turned into 6.5 miles!
It wasn’t a pretty run and I didn’t expect it to be. I had to slow down every 1/4 mile to give my lungs a break, but I kept going and it felt great.
One of the things that kept me going, besides the gorgeous weather and my stubbornness, was the amount of people on the trail. Normally I see a few walkers and one or two other runners, but today there were a lot more people out and they all had on blue & yellow or a race shirt. It was heart warming to see people doing a small gesture and showing that they cared.
Today I wore an old race t-shirt and did a #RunForBoston
After the events at the Boston Marathon yesterday afternoon, I was left stunned and appalled. What should have been a happy achievement for so many athletes, turned into a scary and senseless part of history that had life altering impacts on many.
Over the past few months, I have been privileged to become friends with many runners. I have seen the love they have for running, and have even experienced it for myself. I have seen how hard they train, how willing they are to help new runners and what a wonderful community of supporting people they are.
My heart goes out to the city of Boston, the runners, the spectators who were excited to see their friends and loved ones cross the finish line and the volunteers who were forced to face circumstances that undoubtedly never entered anyone’s mind that day. My thoughts go out to the victims and their families, as well as all of the runners who never got to cross the finish line and finish the race they trained so hard for.
Today, I ran to show my support for a wonderful community.
Filed under Health & Fitness, Running
{Fitness Friday} Full Body Workout
Wow, it’s been awhile since I’ve done a Fitness Friday post.
I don’t have much to report about my own workouts for the past week. I’m still feeling pretty run down and I’ve been having issues with my breathing since being sick. I have not gone on a run in a little over three weeks, which has left me quite cranky and feeling a little defeated.
On the bright side, I did manage to do a few mini workouts this week and it felt good to workout. I stumbled upon an oblique mini workout that I shared on my Facebook Blog Page, and it left my muscles sore which felt great!
If you have not already “LIKED” my page, please take a moment and do it. I often share workout tips, mini workouts and recipes over there. You can click on the banner to the right or just CLICK HERE to visit me on Facebook.
The week has been also been spent focusing on staying hydrated, finding and trying new recipes, getting enough sleep and eating on a schedule. Being sick really turned my routines upside down and like a toddler, I tend the thrive on routine, so I get cranky when my schedule is messed up.
Before getting sick, I also made up this workout for the days that I can’t get out to run. It can be done anywhere, even outside if you’d like and it doesn’t require any weights which comes in handy if you are traveling, too!
I would probably even toss a forearm plank in at the end of this for a little extra core/shoulder burn!
Hope everyone has a great weekend filled with nice weather! We are supposed to be in the 60’s here on the East Coast, so I’m hoping to get out and enjoy it!
Filed under Health & Fitness, Quick Workouts
Derailed By The Plague
Okay, so it’s not actually the plague, but it sure as hell feels like it.
It all started a little over two weeks ago. My husband, son and daughter all caught one of those dreaded stomach viruses. They took turns running for the bathroom and I sprayed everything down with Clorox, while holding my breath and praying I wouldn’t be the next victim. As each day passed, and they recovered, I become more and more confident that I escaped getting sick.
I made it to our anniversary weekend away in Atlantic City and despite my daughter having a relapse, I still managed to avoid getting sick. It must be all of the healthy eating and running that had given me super powers…right?!
Our weekend in Atlantic City. Maybe I caught the plague from playing slots….hmm.
The Wednesday after we came home from Atlantic City, it was gorgeous out and I was feeling great, so I went for a run. I headed towards the post office since I had a package to mail out and I was determined to do a straight run…no slowing down or walking breaks. To my surprise, I did it and I set a new personal record which had me on cloud 9 all day!
You see, for weeks I’ve been battling that little voice in my head that tells me I can’t do things. I don’t know why it was so strong lately, or what I was afraid of, but I would sabotage all of my runs by listening to the voice and slowing down or taking a break to walk for a few minutes. I finally conquered that voice and made it shut up, I was so excited. Little did I know that I was going to pay dearly for that major break though.
The next day I woke up and my throat was sore. Soon, my nose started to run and I felt very sluggish. I figured the shift in weather had triggered my allergies, so I took some Claritin and decided to take it easy for the day. By that night, I took to the couch and knew it wasn’t allergies.
Friday, I woke feeling terrible and it took me the better half of the day to get up and get moving. You see, every year on Good Friday we have a tradition on making pierogies from scratch. We make well over a hundred of them, so I sanitized myself and got to work. Thankfully I am only responsible for the filling, so I bonded with the couch while my hubs did the dough and formed all of the pierogies. That night I broke down and took some meds before bed, which is huge for me. I hate meds and I am a total baby when it comes to them.
Good Friday = Pierogies in our house
The next morning when I woke up, I knew things where getting worse. I felt awful. My throat was on fire, I was coughing and my stomach didn’t feel good either. My bladder finally forced me out of bed and on my way back to bed, I got so light headed that I passed out in the hallway. I have no idea how long I laid in my hallway before coming to and then crawling back to bed, but I didn’t leave that bed again (expect to use the bathroom) until Tuesday, when the hubs took me to the doctor.
Easter was ruined, thankfully hubs took off from work on Monday because my daughter was puking AGAIN and need to go the pediatrician.
When I finally got to see the doctor, he put me on antibiotics, cough syrup with codeine and an inhaler three times stronger than what I normally end up on when I get bronchitis every year.
I’m happy to report that I am feeling a week and a half after being struck by the plague, but my breathing is still very labored and I’m not sure when I’ll be able to safely start running again.
My plan is to go out for a few short walks over the next few days and as I see how I feel, I’ll add short periods of jogging to that to see how I feel. It’s very frustrating to finally have a mental breakthrough, only to be completely derailed by something that is so out of my control. I was also supposed to have started Insanity on April 1st, but that too has been postponed.
I have my fingers crossed that my breathing settles down over the next week, and I can ease back into running sooner than later.
Have you ever been derailed by sickness? If so how did you ease back into your routine?
Filed under Health & Fitness, Running
Who Wants To Kick-Ass in April?
Summer is quickly sneaking up on us, although you wouldn’t know it by the weather we’ve been having. Your window of opportunity to tone-up and shed a few pounds is quickly closing and those damn Girl Scouts and their cookies aren’t helping!
(For the record I love the Girl Scouts, I was one, my daughter was one and my nieces represent…it’s the evil cookies I don’t like…well…I love them…but my ass doesn’t.)
Anyway… I was killing time on Pinterest while being stuck in the house with sick kids and I stumbled upon this:
Thanks to Lauren for noticing that the dates on here do not reflect 2013. Please make a note of that if you plan to follow along. If I have time, I’ll make a new graphic and post it.
Click on the image to view the source of this workout and look up past ones.
I know the same three moves daily can become boring, but they are all very effective and I think you’ll be amazed by how much improvement you’ll see with each passing day. Just like with the plank challenge, you start out slow but with each passing day, you become stronger. This also doesn’t take a lot of time out of your day. You can easily do this before you take your morning shower, or just slip it into your usual routine.
So who wants to join me for a month of booty toning goodness?
Filed under Health & Fitness, Quick Workouts
My Week So Far + Five Things
This week started out dragging and then suddenly flew by!
My weekend was nice and quiet. Saturday was a rest day for me, which my body truly appreciated since I’ve been pushing it so hard. As I was lazily laying in bed, I stumbled upon a Groupon for the Color Me Rad 5K, which is taking place in May. Of course I couldn’t resist signing up for another Fun Run…especially since it was only 20 bucks! After a lazy day and dinner, the hubs and I watched “Oz The Great and Powerful”, which I enjoyed but had some issues with. Have you seen it? What were your thoughts?
Sunday I earned my final badge in the #FurtherFasterFurther Road ID Challenge, by doing a 3.17 mile run, wearing green for St. Patty’s Day. After my run, I begin cooking our St. Patty’s Day Feast and then we spent the rest of the day relaxing and eating.
![IMG_5230[1]](https://getfitwithnikki.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/img_52301.jpg?w=300&h=300)
I ended up earning 31 badges….some had double or triple worth so I think I ended up 37 or 38!
Wednesday I did ChaLean Extreme, Push 1 & 2 and then followed it with 10.5 on the trainer. I also took a ride up to The Vitamin Shoppe and picked up some Quest bars. I’ve seen the lovely RunEMZ rave about them on Twitter and Instagram, so I had to check them out. Upon returning to my vehicle, I immediately tried the Chocolate Brownie and I was not disappointed at all! I need to get my booty over to GNC (since Vitamin Shoppe sucks and had limited stock of these) so I can try the other flavors she recommended.
![IMG_5249[1]](https://getfitwithnikki.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/img_52491.jpg?w=300&h=300)
Today has been a rough day. The hubs woke up puking around 1am, then my son woke up at 3am puking and finally the girl woke at 6am and followed their lead. I honestly don’t know how I escaped this, but I am truly grateful, as I am a total wuss when it comes to vomit. I did however complete a 15.5 mile ride on the trainer a little while ago and I’d like to do a short run as well as some yoga later.
Now for the Five Things…
The lovely Jackie, from Nora & Jac, tagged me in a Five Random Things post (which I didn’t realize was “random” so I’m winging this as I go) the other day, and I’ve been a super slacker about blogging, but I’m finally completing it soooo…
1. I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York in this apartment building:
2. I HATE mayo…loathe it. I’m so against it, I don’t even like to touch the jar in the fridge. There is something about it that creeps me out.
3. I have “corpse extremities”. Seriously… my hands and feet are ALWAYS ice cold. I can have socks and boots on all day, take them off and I have toesicles. The hubs just LOVES when I stick my icy, dead hands on his back.
4. I love taking road trips. Granted, I am referring to road trips sans kids. I love driving, seeing the landscape and listening to whatever I want on the radio.
Finally, I’m borrowing one from Jac’s post, because my brain isn’t really functioning due to lack of sleep…
5. I’ve had many people tell me that I look like Mary-Louise Parker…you can be the judge.
Okay…there you have it. My week in review as well as Five Random Things about me. If you want to join in, please feel free and leave a link to your post below!
Filed under Health & Fitness, My Ramblings, Running
getfitwithnikki.com 