Tiny Thunder Running

Don't you just LOVE Pinterest?? I do.  Between hooking me up with lots of workouts when I need something quick, or just something new, and awesome quotes and inspiration to KEEP GOING (along with oh say, crafts, food, life helpful hints, organization help and on and on) I just love it. Great time killer and great inspiration to be had. I wanted to take a moment and just share some of the fun inspiration I have found in regards to running and fitness lately.   here   here   here     here     And one final one for the road. (pun intended??)   here     Do quotes inspire you? What are some of your favorites??   Off to run.. catch ya later!!          

Today I got up early thinking it would give me some time to go on a little longer a run than 3 miles. Little did I know how great it really would be. I started out, determined to finish a route that is a big challenge because of the hills, but especially one. I have gotten up the worst part before, just once, but never was able to continue without taking a short walk break. Well, until today. I was seriously so proud of myself for making it. Seems silly but, is a huge accomplishment.  I think anyone who has ever pushed themselves beyond what they thought was their limit, can understand. I wish I could remember to take pictures on my runs- especially when I run by the river... like I did today. I was too focused and determined on making my goal that I was all business. This isn't to say I didn't enjoy myself 100% on this run, just didn't stop. Plain and simple. Either way, as usual, here is a little summary of my day I completed my planks (side and 2 armed) as we...

Since I scheduled hubby and I's dental appointments for this morning, that meant no morning run for me (well, I could have it just would have been uber early). I decided I would try out this crazy bodyrocttv.com HIIT Tabata workout tonight instead. Seriously guys, this is ROUGH. She challenges you to do 24 rounds and I did 13. Partially because I didn't want to overdo it and partially because I accidently closed the video at round 10 and I constantly had trouble getting it to stay loaded correctly after that. I will tell you that everything burns and is already sore.  All I can say, as usual with these videos is WOWZA.  I even skipped my planks and russain twists tonight because I think I put my core and legs and arms through enough for one night. I also had a simply delicious easy dinner fave of mine- grilled cheese with avo and tomato Isn't it pretty??? It might not have been as perfect as a regularly cooked meal with all the nutritional pieces, but it was oat...

Hey everyone, sorry for the late day post, but here I am! How was your weekend? Mine began bright and early Saturday morning with my LLS Team in Training run in Harrisburg at HACC. It was pretty interesting because our initial run was "at least 6 miles" which turned into over 6.5 and then silly me decided to go along with the halfers again since I had time this week. In all we ran about 12.25 miles. Granted this was with stop and stretch/water breaks, but I am still pretty proud of myself and really all of us for being out there in no where near perfect weather. By this I mean misty rain and some wind (of course!) It is seriously fun running with this group. Never thought I'd run a)without music and b)with others!  I know I have said this before, but I continue to amaze myself. It's SO FUN!! Just my little Saturday RECAP. I ran the 12, came home and promptly took my ice bath as directed and man I am SO glad I did. Definitely helped my poor hammies. (I will do...

Once again the Treadmill Thursday has come around. I am beginning to dread it less. The only thing about yesterday is that I forgot my break-down sheet so I quickly had to come up with another one. Thanks to the dear internet, there is never a shortage of them. I have been trying to pick ones that involve an incline to get even more benefit out of it. This one was pretty tough at times and not tough enough at others.. aka the 5.0 mph. Either way, it was a decent workout as I was sweating buckets at the end. It was also kind of weird for me that there was no set pace for Part c- but I did a 5.0 jog and a 6.0 sprint pace. I really could have gone a little harder on that, but I didn't really want to hurt myself, haha. Next time I will push harder, I swear. My calves were so tight from my bitter cold run Wednesday that I didn't want to push it too far. My lovely instragram mix to show the day's accomplishments. I did 1 minute side planks on each side, 2 minute re...

So I don't know where everyone lives, but where I do it is COLD. And I don't just mean cold, I mean COLD AND WINDY!! Either way, yesterday I set out to run and that is exactly what I did. I am ever so thankful for Target's winter runner gear markdown that allowed me to have a nice (not too)warm hat for this run. I think I might have frozen to death. So the dinner picture it whole grain pasta, mukamame, 1/2 avocado, some garlic, and ground venison. I did squirt a little lemon juice in the veggies while cooking, can't really taste it, but the whole dish was DELISH! Tonight is treadmill night and some strength training at the work gym....it is all for my April LLS Team in Training run. I mean I should be doing it anyway and hopefully it keeps me in the habit of doing more strength training. Speaking of LLS TNT, here is our runners pic from last weekend.. I recieved it in email and totally forgot to post. I love all of our bright colors :) I guess we all nee...

Tuesday morning I was a bad lady and kept snoozing and resetting my alarm. Monday's power outage really screwed with me. Even though I rallied and made it out Monday morning, Tuesday I was not quite as eager or motivated. I decided it was ok and that I would just switch my cross train day to Tuesday and run Wednesday morning instead. No big deal. The only tricky thing was that Tuesday's are late nights for me and I didn't get home until almost 9:30pm. I knew I needed something QUICK but a really good sweat. Where else do I do turn but Body Rock TV . I have posted this video before (I think) and it is a really hard one that might have you crying or your body screaming to STOP.. but keep going. Some days it is easier than others... but definitely NOT easy. I was DRIPPING sweat after this 12 minute workout. LIKE WOAH!!! I continued with my one sided planks- even though this was quite a struggle after my 12 minute workout. I actually adapted them to be on my lower arm bec...

I saw a post on facebook for a free bulu box. Perfect way to try, right? I am so excited, I wanted to share the link here too, in case anyone is interested. It is legit free, shipping and all. www.curebit.com/x/Ks3KU It ships on March 15, so I have to wait anxiously  patiently until then.. which also happens to be my birthday, woooop! I will definitely be letting everyone know how the box is :) Now, time for some sleep to rest for a fabulous AM run!!

 First and foremost I am soooooo excited for the color run- yes so excited I signed up the day it OPENED!!! I really wanted to do this last year and just wasn't on the ball about it. I never recieved any information on when the race I wanted opened up (last year we were gunning for DC) and by the time I looked back it was closed. This year I was NOT missing out so I created a team and signed right on up. Is it too early to be THIS excited? Yes, it really is. Why? The answer is because I have this race FIRST. I have mentioned in a previous post that I am running for Leukemia Lymphoma Society Team in Training. I am participating in a 10k in Hershey PA in honor of a classmate who was diagnosed Christmas day 2012. She was just recently released home and is hopeful of news of remission very soon. She has been fighting a really hard battle and I admire her. You can donate and support me and the team Kicking cancer's butt one step at a time   Speaking of here is th...

So I mis-spoke on my last post with where I was in my plank a days- so this is the correct count. OOPS! This is why you don't get behind in posting because you get confused. Also, to make sure you save the photos with the writing on and not just upload them to instagram. Good grief. Anyway, I had a nice morning run Tuesday- a little longer than expected, barely made it to work on time but I did it. Yesterday morning I also squeezed in a nice 3 miler and after work came home to eat dinner from my crock pot- deer steak... yum!! Haven't had any in a while and hubby isnt a huge fan so I made one for dinner and the other is for lunch today. For my side, I made some new potatoes and green beans. What a yummy dinner and I had a good bit of time in my evening to catch up on other things like finish laundry and unload the dishwasher- fun stuff right?!? Before settling in for the night, I made sure to do my #plankaday Day 14 as well as 15 burpees per a challeng...

Please don't confuse my silence with laziness or lack of activity. I did take Friday totally off, and Saturday did a plank only, Sunday ran only, and Monday I worked on some yoga stretching and did my plank. The weekend was really busy with babysitting 3 kiddos for the entirety. I was up early Saturday and although this would normally have been a long run day for me, there was no such possibility this weekend. I did somehow manage to squeeze out a plank at the end of this long-long day though. Not too bad for being TOTALLY and I mean TOT.AL.LY exhausted. Functioning for an entire day on only a few hours of sleep was pretty rough, but I knew I'd be mad if I didn't do it. I used yoga blocks at the house I was staying at to give my poor elbows a break. At home, I usually fold my yoga mat a few times to give me some support otherwise it hurts pretty bad when I am done. It was still just as hard to hold! This is day # 12 This is my nice run on Sunday. The kids we...

I am not a perfect eater and I don't eat clean or in an alternate diet of any sort.   I do, however, try to eat my best when I possibly can. This time of year is notortiously hard for me thanks to cold weather, and the lack of cheap wonderful farmers market produce. I realize I could still purchase good foods in the supermarket this time of year, but lets face it,        this is most certainly not in my budget. Maybe someday, but not now. So that being said I eat as healthy as I can on a budget and with limited time. Last night I finally had some time (after my workout of course) to make dinner, lunch for today, dinner for today and lunch for Friday. Using salmon, tuna, green beans, peppers, tomatoes, and quinoa I know those 4 meals are great and healthier than microwave meals I fall back on when there are no leftovers in my fridge. While the quinoa was in the rice cooker, I did my plankaday and some cardio with bodyrocktv. Wasn't as good at the cardio as...

So even though Moday was really a rest day, I did some yoga and my #plankaday. The yoga I chose, I thought was just going to be good stretching but oh my did it work my legs and arms unexpectedly!   The only awkward thing is that they are static pictures of the poses with a voice explaining what to do from one to the other. Not sure I will make it a priority to go back to this one becase of that honestly. Bummer. Tuesday was a running day and even though we had some snow Monday night and I really didn't feel like getting out of bed in the morning.. I did it anyway. After work I did my plank a day and a little combined squatting/free weight arm work. WHEW!! Anyone else have strange weather to run in lately? Its weird, I kind of take on the challenge of running despite Mother Nature's mood swings :)

Saturday morning I got up at 7:30am to do something very different. Not sure whether I have mentioned this previously, but on 2012, a girl who graduated High School with my husband and I back in 2003 was diagnosed with Leukemia. At first I definitely felt a sadness for her and her family, but this seemed to grow as the days  something more. a week or so ago, one of those little ads popped up on one of the websites I was visiting. It looked a little something like this As soon as I saw this, I knew I absolutely needed to figure out how to be a part of this. And dedicate the training and actual run to my classmate. I clicked on the link to find more information and saw they were having info meetings but they were all while I was still at work in the evenings. I didn't let that stop me because they actually had a conference call in the evening one night which, even though I'd be at work, I could step away for a few minutes to listen and get questions answered. As luck woul...

It has been a busy & productive few days since my last post. Thursday I completed a pretty crazy treadmill workout- kind of a rendition of the Cardio Cliff  I shared last week as my treadmill workout. I have officially decided to make sure I do treadmill work on Thursdays after work. As much as I initally dread it, it kind of excites me that I can control my speed better and work on increasing my speed overall. It also makes me feel so great at the end of the workout! Needless to say, I have now completed two weeks of this and am starting to notice a difference. After I did my treadmill workout, I went home and did my #plankaday and held out for 3:46.1. Friday was my rest day- from everything! I mean it. I didn't run or workout of any kind. Not even my plankaday! Saturday I surprised myself and ran 9 miles! This is actually part of something else which I will talk more about tomorrow :) I was so impressed that I hung in there, considering those I was running with are trai...