Mindful Monday

December 1, 2014 by 10 Comments

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Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I really enjoyed having 5 days off – it was a chance to unplug and re-connect, and I took full advantage of it.

It also gave me time to think a lot about how I want to spend this holiday season. It is too easy to get caught up in the “doing” that comes with holidays – the frenetic pace of shopping, decorating, cooking; of fitness challenges and events to attend all gets to be way too much. You can get so caught up in the doing that you forget to be….to just be in each moment.

I’m choosing to not spend this last month of the year ruled by my to do list; so frenzied by all that can be packed into these 31 days that I miss the opportunity to really enjoy it. My goal is to “live in the present wisely and earnestly” and hopefully both my mind and body will thank me.

How do you deal with all the hubbub of the holidays?

 

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Filed Under: holiday sanity

Taking a Turkey Timeout

November 26, 2014 by 9 Comments

 

Happy-Thanksgiving

School break has started and I’ll be diving into my kitchen to start cooking shortly. I’m looking forward to a few days of relaxing and having time with my family. But before I sign off, I wanted to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!!

Quick note — There’s still time to get in on my WIN giveaway so don’t forget to enter!

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Filed Under: gratitude, Thanksgiving

WIN Detergent Review and Giveaway

November 22, 2014 by 3 Comments

I received samples of WIN Detergent  for the purpose of a review through my affiliation with Sweat Pink. As always, all opinions express here are my own.

Tech laundry If you follow RWA on Facebook (and really you should!) then you may have seen this photo in my feed a couple of weeks ago. It made me laugh because this is often what laundry looks like in my house. Between my husband’s workout clothes, my oldest son playing football, while the youngest is playing hockey, plus my own workout clothes, you can easily see how this pic is far from fiction! And if any of you have kids who play sports, you know just how ripe their clothes can be…we won’t even discuss my husband’s stuff!

Win Detergent

Suffice it to say, we sweat hard in the RWA house, so when I was offered a chance to test out WIN Sports Detergent I couldn’t wait to try it. I received two bottles of Win – the original and Win green.

WIN offered a nice light  scent, while WIN Green, as you might expect had no fragrance at all. When put to the test, both formulas delivered on de-stinking the clothes. The green formula wash smelled “clean,” while the original formula left the clothes with a pleasant fresh scent, without the cloyingly perfumey smell of other brands I’ve tried that do more to cover than remove the stink. The original formula did fall short on removing the stains from my son’s hockey socks, and does make me wonder how it might  fair against the grass stains of my boys lacrosse clothes come spring. (I only tried WIN Green on my running gear – so no stain-removal required).

Want to see if WIN can stand up to the test of your workout clothes? WIN is giving me the opportunity to do a giveaway for all RWA readers. One winner will receive a full sized bottle of each, the original and the green formulas. If you don’t want to wait for the giveaway and want to buy it now, you can also use the coupon code WINGIVE1 for $1 off a bottle of WIN.

To enter the giveaway, please follow the Rafflecopter instructions below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Filed Under: giveaways, product reviews, WIN detergent

More Runfessions

November 21, 2014 by 16 Comments

Joining up with Marcia, from Marcia’s Healthy Slice, for her monthly “runfessions” – a chance to cleanse your sweaty soul.

Runfessions

Runfession #1 — I was suppose to be getting on a plane tomorrow to head to the Philly half. Every time I get an email update from the race I must admit it stings just a little.

Runfession #2 — I’m not running much at all. I’m finding it hard to hit some those pre-dawn runs in the bitter cold when I’m not training for something.

Runfession #3 — I have been hitting the cross-training more and more…cause frankly I’m hard to live with if I don’t workout! Just ask my husband…

Runfession #4 — I am starting to plan a race schedule for 2015 that I’getting excited about. Now I either need to hit lotto or find a sponsor to cover the race fees 😉

Runfession #5 — Not at all run-related, but it’s freaking me out a little how quickly these weeks are slipping by.  My youngest son keeps announcing the weekly countdown till Christmas and I haven’t even started planing yet. (Just under 5 weeks in case you were wondering!)

There….I feel better now! Do you have any runfessions to share?  Have you started planning for the holidays yet?

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Filed Under: Friday Five, general musings, Runfessions

Good Stuff Going On

November 17, 2014 by 7 Comments

Happy Monday!

The weekend went by way too fast for my liking (isn’t that always the way?) And this week is shaping up to be a busy one! Before I dive in, I wanted to share some fun stuff going on around the interwebs.

Women’s Running Telesummit — The International Association of Women Runners (IAWR) is hosting a Running Telesummit. The Telesummit features a great line up of speakers including my running coach Bennett Cohen, Jeff Galloway, Katherine Switzer, Sarah & Dimity from Another Mother Runner, and one of my fave bloggers Marcia from Marcia’s Healthy Slice.  The Telesummit starts today and runs until December 4th…and it’s free! Click HERE for details.

DC Trifecta’s Gratitude Challenge — Also kicking off today, Mar, Cynthia and Courtney (aka the DC Trifecta) is hosting a Gratitude Challenge on Instagram. Should be fun to see the different things people are grateful for!10404864_602419843218804_8831049627205448334_n

Holiday Sweat Challenge — Formerly known as the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge, this year Amanda from Run to the Finish is teaming up with Sweat Pink! This 6-week challenge is one of my favorites and with the addition of Sweat Pink, this should be fun!

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The Challenge starts on November 24. Click HERE for details and please say I sent you 🙂 (Disclosure: I received the Sweat Pink Ambassador discount).

What have you got going on?

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Filed Under: #holidaysweat, Challenges, gratitude, just having fun, running community

Friday Five – Cold Weather Running Tips

November 14, 2014 by 22 Comments

It’s Baaaccck! The Polar Vortex that left most of us feeling like human popsicles is back – and adding insult to injury it’s making an early appearance! With temps quickly dropping as much as 40 degrees in a day in some areas, Courtney, Mar and Cynthia’s link-up topic of “Cold Weather Running Tips” couldn’t be more appropriate!

Surviving Winter

Layer, layer, layer! —  Surviving and thriving in cold weather running is all about layering. I think at minimum you’ll want to consider three layers: a base layer, an insulating layer and an outer layer. Depending on the weather and your tolerance for the cold, you may want to use more than one insulating layer. And, layering isn’t just for your upper body. Start with a good pair of running tights, and if you find that one layer isn’t enough, add wind-proof track pants over your tights for extra protection.

Wicking still matters — Just as with running in the summer heat, this is no time for cotton! Make sure your base layer is made of a wicking material to keep sweat away from your body and to help keep your skin warm and dry.

Protect you extremities — Did you know that you can lose as much as 40% of your body heat through your head? Wearing a fleece or wool hat can go a long way to keeping you warm during your runs. You can also lose a fair amount of body heat through your hands so you’ll want to keep them covered with moisture-wicking gloves or mittens.

Change quickly post-run — Chills can quickly set in as your body’s core temperature drops post-run. Quickly change out of your running clothes and jump into a hot shower or, my favorite, a warm Epsom salt bath.

Be willing to hit the ‘mill — Some days it may just be too cold to run outdoors, so be willing to head for a treadmill or do some form of cross-training.

How do you manage cold weather running?

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Filed Under: Friday Five, winter running

A Little Mid-week Motivation

November 12, 2014 by 7 Comments

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Just sharing a little mid-week motivation! Happy Wednesday!

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Filed Under: motivation

Some New Goals

November 3, 2014 by 22 Comments

Only two months left in 2014 – can you believe it?!

With no race now in my immediate future, my plan is to use this time to get stronger, run for fun and keep tweaking my nutrition so I can put this anemia in the rearview mirror.

Goals for this month:

T25 Program — I bought the program back in the spring and have used it in spurts but could never quite figure out how to make it mesh with my training plan and higher mileage. Since I’m going sans-plan for a bit, I thought now would be a great time to start the program.  It’s 10 weeks long so it will carry me nicely into the first week of the new year!

T25

#NovemberMileage Challenge — I’m joining Erika (aka MCM Mama) for her mileage challenge. You can pick your mileage goal and I’m aiming for 50. I figure this will be a comfortable goal while  helping me make sure my running doesn’t fall off too much.

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Focus on Iron-rich Foods — I will continue to focus on adding iron-rich foods to my diet.

What have you got planned for November?

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Filed Under: goals, Nutrition, T25

November’s Ultimate Coffee Date

November 1, 2014 by 12 Comments

It’s the first Saturday of the month so that means it’s time to join in on the Ultimate Coffee Date! This month I’m linking up with Coco at Running with Perseverance.  This is always a great time to catch up, so grab a mug and pull up a chair!

If we were having coffee together, I’d tell you that I started a new job last month! It’s a long-term consulting gig with a nonprofit – first time for me working in the nonprofit arena. It’s part-time hours and I can work from my home office – huge win!

If we were having coffee together, I’d tell you that with the new job I’ve needed to shift my running time to o’dark thirty and boy am I struggling to get my face out of the pillow! Except for summer months, when I head out uber-early to beat the heat, I usually don’t run until post-school bus/mid-morning. But now I need to be out and back before my kids (and the sun!) are up. Too early

If we were having coffee together, I’d tell you that since I’ve made my decision about Philly, running has become a lot less stressful for me – definitely a sign that it was the right decision.

If we were having coffee together, I’d tell you that our family is doing “30 Days of Thankful” where each day everyone will share at least one thing they’re thankful for. I’ve been thinking a lot about gratitude lately, especially where my kids are concerned. As we head into the season of consumerism on overdrive (aka the holidays), I’m hoping to help them strike a balance.

If we were having coffee together, I’d tell you that I  haven’t been able to comment on other blogs for almost a week. So frustrating! I’ve been working with Akismet so my posts are flagged as spam. They keep telling me that they’ve fixed it but it’s still not working. So please know that I’m not being rude – hopefully I’ll be back to commenting soon 🙂 .

If we were having coffee together what would you tell me?

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Filed Under: early morning runs, gratitude, Ultimate coffee date

Time to fold ’em

October 30, 2014 by 22 Comments

“You’ve got to know when to hold ’em
Know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away
Know when to run…”

This is not the training update I wanted to be writing…but, I’ve reached a decision – it is time for me to fold ’em on this training cycle. I have been giving everything I can to try to get through my training plan for Philly but the reality is you can either focus on getting 100% healthy or you can train – you can’t do both. Or at least I know I can not.

When I learned that I’m anemic I was relieved to have an answer to my energy woes. My first thought was “I still have time – just change the diet and I’ll be back on track.” The reality is for me this has not been a quick bounce back and yet I have continued to push my body – push the distances, push the speedwork. There have been some really solid workouts, but they’ve taken a toll on me later in the day. Honestly my comfort zone is 6 – 7 miles…after that things get really hard – like short-of-breath, headache-inducing hard.

Of course, I’m disappointed – Philly was a goal race in a year of very little racing. I’m not interested in going and struggling or worrying about how under-trained I am or if I’ll hold up on the course. Feeling healthy and strong again is so much more important – there will be other races (you should see what I’m planning for 2015!).

walk away

Once I made the decision and discussed it with J and Coach Bennett, I felt a great sense of relief. You see, the other thing that was happening is that running had stopped being my stress release – it had become something to stress about. Oh so no bueno! This is just one race — time to know when to walk away…this is not the time to run.

Have you ever walked away from a goal race?

 

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Filed Under: choices, listening to your body, to race or not