MIA

So I realize I've been MIA for the last 2 weeks or so!  The reason?

source:  http://www.jestais.com/en/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Back2School11x17-Page-006.jpg

Yep...it's that time of year again!  Last week was spent setting up my room and making it look all warm and cozy for my little first graders.  This week is full of meetings and last minute room prep before meeting the kiddos on Thursday afternoon.  I'm actually far enough ahead in getting my room ready that I've been working on lesson plans and making copies for next week.  I've never been this far ahead!  But I'm really excited for the start of a new school year!

There's something about fresh decorations, sharpened pencils, and newly laminated name tags that I just love!  Lame?  Perhaps.  But I'm ok with it.

Running has been going pretty horribly.  By horribly I mean, I just haven't been.  I did run once last week.  2 miles.  But it was a fast two miles.  And a fast two miles is just as hard for me as a slow 6 miles.  I also did pretty well with keeping up with T25.  This week so far?  No bueno.  Last night I stayed at school until almost 7 and was exhausted.  Today, 6 and then had to go grocery shopping.  C'est la vie!  Sometimes something has to give and until I get back into the swing of things, I guess that'll have to be it.

Sad to see summer end but ready for the adventure of a new school year.  This just might be the make it or break it year for me and teaching....

Fitness Survey!

I'm linking up with She Cooks, She Crafts, She Runs for a fitness survey!

*What is your favorite healthy and filling breakfast?

Lately I've been a fan of toasted cinnamon bread with almond butter and some ricotta cheese with strawberries and a sprinkle of cinnamon!

*What keeps you motivated?

There are a few things that keep me motivated.  My motivation to keep running is signing up for races.  If I paid to run, then darn it I'm going to run the whole thing!  For Focus T25, I'm part of a challenge group.  It's way easier to be held accountable.  And my boyfriend is pretty fantastic about pushing me to get that 25 minute workout in when I'm not in the mood.  And for eating right, I'm part of another challenge group for the month of August for clean eating.  It gave me the push to start eating a lot healthier and to start checking the labels on food that I buy at the store.  So I guess a lot of things motivate me!

*What's your favorite way to change up your routine?

Running a new route is always a good one.  Or switching up a playlist.  Starting T25 also changed up my routine by giving me an actual weekly routine!

*What's your go to "get back on track"tip?

Think about the amount of time you spend procrastinating a workout.  You'd probably be at least half way done if you had started when you started procrastinating!  Also, for me, signing up for a race forces me to get back on track.

*What's your favorite distance to race?

Probably a half marathon.  I love 5ks and 8ks, but I feel like I've accomplished SO much more when I've run that far!  Plus you almost always get a fancy shmancy medal!  :)

*Name one thing on your fitness bucket list.

Oh man, I have so many races on my race bucket list!  (Which reminds me I need to update that tab!)  But definitely one of the Disney half marathons and the Boston Athletic Association Half Marathon!

*Best reason for living a healthy lifestyle.

There are SO many, but I'm going to go with investing in myself.  I love how I feel after I workout and it's so fun to accomplish the goals I set for myself!

*Favorite workout at the gym or at home (crunches, pushup, etc.).

At home - T25 and running.  At the gym - Zumba and Body Pump.

*Show us your shoes!  Take a picture of your fitness shoe pile. 

So I didn't get a chance to do this, BUT for running, I have 2 pairs of Reebok Real Feel sneakers that I LOVE and for T25 I use an older pair of Real Feels that have a bit more support.

This morning I ran 6 miles and it felt really good!  The half is officially in one month and even though I've kind of failed with keeping up with the training, I think I'll be ok.  And I'm half way done with the Alpha phase of T25!  (Well, after I do today's workout.)  Crazy!  And I'm still loving it!  

What's on your fitness bucket list?  And what's your reason for living a healthy lifestyle?  

Fitness Update!

I survived week 1 of T25!  I swear there should be t-shirts made that say that!  Thursday was Ab Intervals.  The cardio that I dreaded on the other days, became the breaks from doing intense ab work.  Friday was supposed to be a double day, Lower Body Focus and Cardio.  I did the Lower Body Focus and holy cow...squats and lunges and leg work, oh my!  It was pretty intense!  I had good intentions to do the Cardio to get my back to back in, but ended up doing yard work instead.  I feel like that totally counts!  Especially since we did yard work allllll weekend!  But I did get the Stretch workout in on Sunday!  It was a yoga/pilates kind of workout, which I really enjoy.  And it felt GOOD after all of those fast paced, intense workouts!

Another challenge I've accepted is a 30 day clean eating challenge.  One of my friends is a personal trainer and is doing the challenge on Facebook.  She's done other challenges this summer, but I didn't take part in any of them.  This, however, fit perfectly into my new BeachBody plan to get in killer shape!  Basically for every clean meal you eat, you get 30 points.  For every snack that's clean, 10 points.  You lose 5 points for every ingredient that's not clean.  I'm loving it!  It's making me try new recipes, look at labels on food, and eat healthier!  I looked up a bunch of recipes this morning and was surprised at how amazing they all sounded!  We're going to give a few of them a try this week!

Saturday we headed to a farmer's market in the area.  Why it took us so long to get to one, I'm not really sure!  But it was love at first sight!  So many amazingly fresh veggies and fruits waiting to be bought!  We ended up with corn on the cob, sweet candy onions, poblano peppers, tomatillos (never used these before but we want to try salsa!), white peaches, and two jars of fresh, homemade pickles.  We'll be going back for sure!

And finally!  I made it out for a run this morning!  It was perfect!  It was about 70 degrees when I headed out, low humidity, and plenty of shade on my route.  There was also a perfectly placed sprinkler  at about mile 3 or so that I thoroughly enjoyed!  I did 4.5 miles in 42:54 and it felt amazing!  I also got my best 5k time in there too - 29:09.  It was an awesome run and felt so good!  I'm hoping to make that the shorter run of my week.  Hoping to get a longer run in on Abs day since it's way less intense than the other days.

It feels so good to be back on track!

Do you have any favorite clean eating meals?  I'd love to hear about them!  

Three Things Thursday

Since I haven't been up to a whole lot lately, I figured I'd do a random Three Things Thursday post! :)

1.  I finished day 4 of T25 today!  I'm loving it!  Monday was cardio, Tuesday was Speed 1.0, Wednesday was Total Body Circuit, and today was Ab Intervals.  You'd think Ab Intervals would mean a bit of a break right?  Wrong!  Twenty five minutes of intense abs!  There were cardio breaks (I know right?!?  A cardio "break"?) but you were supposed to engage your core the whole time so even those breaks ended up working your abs!  Whew!  Tomorrow is a double day of Lower Body and Cardio.  I'm scared.

2.  We've applied to adopt a dog!  Scary step into the adult responsibility world!  But I'm going to be on my own for a good 6 weeks this fall and I don't do "on my own" very well.  So I figured I need a friend  to keep me company!  All of my friends are having babies or are getting married...well, all I want is a dog.  I'd say less responsibility than both of those things, yes!?!?  :)  

3.  I've been trying to eat healthier and healthy foods are actually starting to taste *gasp* good!  My new favorite way to drink water?  With strawberries, lemon, and mint in it!  Let it sit in the fridge over night and YUM!  Oh my gosh is it good!  And a pretty pink color too!  Way better than those artificially flavored waters out there!  It tastes like a watered down pink lemonade, but fresh.  So yummy!  

before it got all pretty and pink 

Day 1 Down

So after a fabulous weekend of watching two of my best friends tie the knot*, today was time to start a new routine.  Because my T25 Challenge pack came in the mail while I was gone this weekend!  Woo!

Really excited and ready to give it a go!

Twenty-five minutes later.  Really sweaty.  And gross.

I did the first workout on the calendar, the cardio workout.  Holy.  Cow.  It was intense!  I'm not sure I could have done much more than 25 minutes of that!  It was awesome though!  It went by fast and it definitely kicked my butt!  I haven't tried my vanilla Shakeology yet, but will let you know how that goes!

*Total wedding side note:  Besides getting to be a bridesmaid in the wedding, my favorite part might have been during the "Toast and Roast" portion.  Anyone who wanted to say something about the bride and groom could.  My guy (who admitted he was getting choked up during the ceremony) thanked the couple for introducing him to me.  It was so sweet and caught me so off guard!  And he got all choked up (again) and couldn't finish saying the rest of what he had planned.  :)  Adorable!  And then we got a picture with the bride and groom.  It was one of my favorite moments of the night!  :)

Motivation!

So I finally got a good ol' healthy dose of motivation to get my lazy self off the couch and pick back up on training for the half!  What got me going?

Sweat - Yep!  After sweating it out at the gym on Monday, I forgot how much I loved the feeling of being absolutely, disgustingly sweaty at the end of a good workout!  It felt so good on Monday that I just had to get more of it!  haha

Weather - For the first time in a month, it's not horribly hot and humid out!  It was a perfect 75 degrees with a touch of humidity this morning....at 10am!!!  Fabulous for an end of July run!

52 - The number of days until I have to conquer 13.1 miles!  Gah!  Yep!  That was a serious kick in the @$$!

T25 - I decided that I needed something more than running and that the gym just wasn't doing it for me like it used to.  Not a fan of the schedule and such.  So I broke down and bought the new P90x style DVD set called Focus T25.  It's a 25 minute work out that basically kicks your butt.  A trip to the gym?  15 minutes to get there, getting to a class 15 minutes early to get a spot, 1 hour class, 15 minutes home. Yep...we're talking an hour and 45 minutes.  This?  Less than a half hour!  Totally doable right?!?!  Well, I'm about to find out!  Hopefully it'll be here next week so I can give it a try!  I also got a month's supply of Shakeology.  Figured I'd give it a go.  I hate eating breakfast so this might be a good alternative once school starts back up!

So I did a far from fantastic 3.1 miles today, but it felt GOOD after not running in almost a month!  Was it my fastest 5k?  Well, actually, according to my Garmin it was!  haha  At least the fastest I've done since I've had it!  So that was good!  Still far from where I want to be, but it's a work in progress.

And then, last but not least, AFTER my run today, these two lovelies appeared in my mailbox!

Woohoo!  I got a year's subscription for $5 through a Living Social deal!  And they're totally perfect!  One is a half marathon special issue with everything you need to know to run a half (ummm how perfect!) and the other is about the Boston Marathon (if you didn't know, I'm originally from MA so this totally tugs at my heartstrings).

So yes...I'm back on the running band wagon!  :)  Catch me if you can!

Adventures!

So I realize that I've been seriously slacking on this whole blogging thing!  BUT in my defense, I've been crazy busy since my last post!  Here's a quick recap:

4th of July - We spent Wednesday and Thursday night of the Fourth.  We spent the days with his family, hanging out, watching fireworks.  Eating crazy amounts of food!  It was definitely a good time!

We came home for a few days, packed, and then off to the next adventure.

Mexico - We spent 7 glorious days in Playa del Carmen, Mexico!  It was 7 days of paradise!  We had views of the Gulf of Mexico, ate amazing food, drank delicious drinks, and relaxed!  We also went on an amazing excursion to see some of the cenotes that the area is famous for.  Cenotes are basically holes in the ground that lead to underground caves, most filled with water.  We repelled down into one of these caves and the water was SO clear and SO cold!  But it was beautiful!  We also zip lined and snorkeled through these gorgeous caves!  It was SO much fun!  Here's a little glimpse at the fun!

Repelling down through the cenote!

Zip lining above the jungle

Inside the underground caves

Relaxing

View from our room.

You'd think our adventures were done after this!  Nope!  There's more!

B&B - We had purchased a 2 night stay at a bed and breakfast in southern VA last fall.  Well every time we went to use it, they were booked.  So they happened to have 2 night available right after we got back from Mexico.  So we got back on a Monday, did laundry on Tuesday, and left Wednesday and drove 4 hours to get down there.  It was actually a lot of fun!  There was a lot to do down there!  We visited the town that Mayberry from the Andy Griffith show was based off of, his hometown.  It was actually really neat!  And we visited a winery and ate more amazing food.  It was a blast!

So after all of this fun, it's finally time to start cracking down on training since I've been failing miserably with it!  Today I went to the gym and took a Zumba class.  I'm pretty picky about my Zumba classes since I used to be an instructor (still licensed, just not teaching right now).  But this class was the first Zumba class at my gym that I've enjoyed since last summer!  It was fantastic!  I think I'll have to start heading back.  I left dripping in sweat and it felt SO good!  :)  I also walked a half mile before class started to kill the time.  Hoping this can get my butt back on track!