Tag Archives: morning workout

Dark Morning & Marathon Prep

Daily Life!, Running, , , ,

Happy Thursday everyone! I hope your day is going well. It’s rather cloudy and dreary here in Springfield. I would have much preferred to stay in bed today than come to my office. Oh the joys of adulthood. 🙂

I woke up this morning thinking it would be raining so I would go to the gym instead of run outside. It wasn’t raining but the wind was blowing around 25 mph, so I decided the gym it would be! Side note – if you are a runner, you know how annoying it can be to run on a windy day. Running against a strong wind is one of my biggest pet peeves.

As I pulled out of garage to head to the gym, I noticed something was odd outside. It was oddly…. Dark. Like super dark. All of the street lights were off! What the heck?! It was creepy! So moral of the story – go with your gut feeling. Since I decided to go to the gym instead of run outside, I saved myself from having to run solo on some very dark streets! Now tomorrow morning they better have those babies back on for me, or the city will be getting a very angry call from me!

Marathon Prep

As of today, I’m 10 days out from the Go! STL marathon. I’m getting excited! And also nervous. But it’s a good thing. My nervous energy helps me get lots of prep work done! Last night I cleaned, did laundry, made dinner, and even had some couch time afterwards! It was glorious and gave me some down time to send some emails. My Jazzercise ladies are awesome to help me out with my classes when I go out of town. I just have to remember to ask them first! So I’m a little more stress free today as I got all my classes for next weekend taken care of. Whew!

Now I just have to worry about packing, getting mine and Mac’s haircut next week, traveling, carbo-loading, and the weather on race day! I’m thankful my Jazzer team makes things easier on me when I already have a lot on my mind. 🙂

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I’m ready to go make some more awesome memories like this one! Haha I love how optimistic I was at the beginning of the Little Rock Marathon. I feel like I learned a lot at the race that will help me get through this upcoming one.

1. Don’t panic. And just keep running. No matter what.
2. If something bad does happen, find a buddy. And stick with them until mile 25.2 when you can try to gun it to the end. 🙂
3. You’re going to be emotional, and that’s okay. The stress of 26.2 miles makes it acceptable to cry multiple times on race day.
4. Remember to have fun! It’s actually possible to enjoy yourself during a good portion of a full marathon.
5. And once again, DO NOT PANIC. Everything will be okay. But you must use your heart, mind, and legs to get yourself back to the finish line, your family, and your car. 🙂

I need to print this list and commit it to memory in case everything doesn’t run super smooth on race day. Something else I learned? Don’t drink too much coffee pre-race. And use the porta potties at the start line at least 2x before lining up. No more peeing at mile 2 for this girl!!

Well it’s going to be another busy night. I’m teaching 2 classes to help out an instructor that is traveling for work this week. Then I just have to make it through work tomorrow and 1 more class tomorrow night before Saturday is here! And my momma is coming to see me and do some shopping! It’s going to be a good weekend. I’m also going to squeeze in one last long run of 10 miles to help ease my mind before the week of tapering and carbo loading begins!

Have a great evening!>

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Anticipating Snow

Daily Life!, Food for Thought, , ,

Happy Monday to ya! How are we all doing today? It’s been a pretty typical day around here.

I kicked off my morning by teaching a Jazzercise class at 5:40 am. Usually I’m lucky to have two students during my Monday AM class time, but today I had FOUR students! I know it seems silly, but this is the biggest class I’ve had during this time slot! I was shocked and pleasantly surprised! The class definitely pumped me up for the morning.  I love the feeling of getting in a good workout before my work day begins. Some people think I’m crazy for waking up before the sun to run or do Jazzercise, but I love it!

Breakfast

Breakfast was quick and easy today: grab-n-go on my way out the door!

photo(29)After my class this morning, I was starving! I had lots of coffee along with the yogurt, cheese stick, and Clif bar for lots of protein and staying power. I had the banana as a mid-morning snack to tide me over until lunch. The tiny tupperware is full of my vitamins. I’m trying to make it a goal to take all my vitamins every morning this week! I’m a little lazy when it comes to taking all my vitamins, but I know I feel better when I have them with my breakfast. Fingers crossed that this week will help me start a good routine.

As for the rest of day, I’m subbing a Jazzercise class right after work at 5:40 pm. Then I’ll be home by 7 to finish up some things around the house I was too lazy to do last night.

But – most importantly – our first forecasted snow of the season is tonight!

photo(30)It’s supposed to get rainy here with dropping temps overnight, so we may wake up to a dusting of the white stuff.  It’s not a huge chance, but hey, a girl can dream. 🙂 I love snow so much! I’m planning on going for a short run in the morning to catch a glimpse of the snow even though it’s not on my normal training schedule. If I’m really lucky, it’ll still be snowing when I take off around 5:15 am.

Well I hope you enjoy your Monday. Hopefully I’ll be able to report at least a little snow in the morning!

Ready for Rest

Daily Life!, Food for Thought, ,

Happy Friday!! It’s been a beautiful day here in the SGF. I definitely took Mac on a long walk during my lunch break to soak up as much sun as possible. It’s looking like today may be our last ‘hot’ day of the season, so although I hate hot weather, I’ve gotta try to enjoy it while it lasts.

Quickie Workout

Since I’m running a 10K in the morning, I was going to sleep in today to let my body rest. But it had a different idea and I awoke at my normal 5:15 AM and couldn’t go back to sleep. So I decided to go to the gym for a light and quick workout.

I didn’t want to do anything to make my legs too tired, so I contained all my cardio to the Elliptical machine. I started with 2 miles before doing a small circuit of weight machines that focused on my arms and back. I moved onto the rowing machine for about 5 minutes (I get so bored!), and then I finished with 1 more mile on the Elliptical. It was quick and easy, but I was sweaty and felt accomplished.

Breakfast

Breakfast should’ve been better, but I don’t think I cooked my oatmeal correctly.

photo(77)Blah. It tasted okay, but somehow I messed up my classic breakroom oatmeal. At least it still filled me up. And I had an apple and some yogurt on the side with lots of coffee.

photo(78)I’ve been washing this pink coffee tumbler just about every night. It’s my Breast Cancer Awareness mug – so obviously October is the time to use it most!

The morning crept by pretty slowly, and my tummy was growling by around 11 AM. I was ready for more food!

Lunch

Lunch started out with a big salad that I threw together last night.

photo(76)This salad was FULL of veggies as I was trying to use up some stuff that nearing it’s expiration. My tummy was lovin’ it. So I had a few more veggies (also leftovers!)

photo(75)A mix of sweet corn and lima beans leftover from dinner last night. A colorful lunch so far! And then I finished it all off with some eggs and cheese.

photo(74)I scrambled 2 eggs in the microwave and then put some reduced fat colby jack on top. I could hear the lactose-intolerant part of me screaming “NOOOOO, Don’t do it!!” But the cheese was calling my name and I had to. I’m paying for it slightly right now but nothing too intense. 🙂

And now as my day is winding down I’m getting more and more tired. I wish I could’ve slept in this morning, but my body was just ready to go! I’ll be extra ready for some rest after my race tomorrow. I start at 8:30 a.m., so I should be relaxing by approximately 10:30. Can’t wait! Nick and I also have a Groupon to use tomorrow night that is getting ready to expire. It’s for a date for 2  at Vino Cellars. Should be a fun time and will be my little reward for (hopefully) finishing my first 10K!

I hope you all have a great start to your weekend. I’ll see you after I dominate my first 10K!