Michelle

New Year’s Ultimate Coffee 2019

January 4, 2019 by Michelle 25 Comments

Happy New Year!

Catching up with friends over a big mug of coffee sounds like a great way to help kick off this new year so I’m joining Coco and Deborah for the first Ultimate Coffee Date of 2019!

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I really enjoyed the holidays. It was great family time and I loved having the Christmas week off from work. While I did race around a bit like a chicken with my head cut off the week prior, the holiday week I was able to totally kick back and relax, and I did my best to soak up every moment of the downtime.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that having the time off has left me craving for a “real” vacation. We didn’t take a family vacation last year, but I’ve already got my sights set on the boys’ spring break time in March – now the question is where to go?

If we were having coffee, I would also tell you that I took advantage of the downtime to also reflect on the past year and start to set some goals for 2019. For the past few years, I’ve picked one word as the theme for my year across all areas of my life – and this year my word is Intentional. With the “busy-ness” of life it is too easy to move through the days on autopilot and before you know it days…or weeks have just flown by. My ultimate goal is to be more intentional in the habits I form, in my career choices, in my home life…I think you get the picture.

My 2019 Fitness/Running Goals:

Run a marathon — This was top of my list last year, but was derailed first by family schedules and secondly by injury. But I’ve got my sights firmly locked in on Chicago and know with Coach Marc’s help I will reach that starting line ready to take on 26.2!
Stay off injured-reserve — This will encompass a variety of things including consistent “pre-hab”, strength training 2x’s/week, and continuing to incorporate the Chi Running focuses Coach Marc has me working on. I also think Marc will keep me from powering through when I should be backing off.
Make sleep a priority — I am a notoriously bad sleeper and when things get crazy, sleep can easily get pushed to the bottom of my list. My goal is to do a much better job of going to bed early and not falling asleep while watching late night TV on the couch.
Mind what I’m eating — While tracking my macros during the FASTer Way to Fat Loss program, I realized just how little protein I’ve been consuming. I don’t plan to continue to actively track my macros (though never say never), I will continue to be mindful of upping my protein intake.

Sharing goals over coffee #oneword #livingintentionally #yearofthemarathon Share on X

So what would you tell me over coffee? Have you set any goals for the new year?

Filed Under: goals, one word, Ultimate coffee date

Final Runfessions of 2018

December 28, 2018 by Michelle 19 Comments

Believe it or not, it’s the last Friday of 2018, which means it’s time for the final runfessions for 2018. Marcia has opened the runfessional, so let’s dive in shall we?

I runfess that I definitely indulged over Christmas Eve and Christmas… and I’m just fine with that! Moving on…

As my social media feeds have been filling up with runners celebrating their mileage goals for the year, I runfess that I’ve been debating whether to set a mileage goal for 2019. I’ve never done one before but I’m wondering with marathon training if this is the year to go for it or does this just create undue pressure?

I runfess that I am just about at the end of my rope with my gym membership. On my last couple of trips to the gym, there were easily at least 4 cardio machines with notes on them announcing repairs needed; and this seems to be the norm more and more. Combine this with bad gym behavior and the soon to be New Year’s fitness resolution rush, and… you can see where I’m going with this.

Cleansing my sole with some final runfessions for 2018! #runfessions #runchat #fridayfive #runnerslife Share on X

I am super excited to return to more racing in 2019! Thanks to a nagging injury I ran just 4 races this year. And, while I certainly don’t think you need races to be a runner, I really enjoy both the camaraderie and challenge races provide. I runfess that with all the “early bird” registration specials coming across my email someone may have to hide my credit card!

I runfess that, being a mostly solo runner, that I was initially nervous about running with my new coach. But I’m happy to say that I’ve found the runs to be both challenging and enjoyable, and I am amazed at the difference these guided runs have already made. My husband has commented on the difference in my form and I can certainly feel a difference when I’m running. Makes me very hopeful for 2019!

So tell me what are you runfessing? Do you set yearly mileage goals?

I’m also linking up with Meranda and Lacy for Fridays with Fairytales and Fitness.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Weekly Wrap: Ready for the Holidays

December 23, 2018 by Michelle 9 Comments

Happy Christmas Eve Eve!

I’m just getting in from a walk with the pup – he needed to burn off some energy and I needed a break from all the holiday-prepping. So before I dive into wrapping gifts, I thought I’d quickly join Wendy and Holly for the Weekly Wrap. Be sure to stop by and show both of these great ladies some blog love!

Monday – The day was all about ticking as much off my work to do list as possible. I did manage to squeeze in a quick mile walk to keep my Holiday Challenge streak going.

Tuesday – 4-mile run. There was a wind advisory – it was brutal so yeah this run was finished on the mill. I also had another session with the acupuncturist.

Wednesday – A nice change of pace at work had me out scouting a location for a charity race. 6-miles of trails done!

Thursday – The weather was picture perfect as I met up with Coach Marc for a 5 miler. We ran a beautiful rolling course which gave us a chance to work on hill technique.

Friday – After a brief check-in at work, my vacation officially began! I logged a quick mile walk before meeting a friend for lunch and shopping.

Saturday – I was up and out early with my husband for 5 miles before a full day of cleaning and cooking.

Including today’s trek with the pup, I logged 23.25 miles this week and reached Day 32 of the Holiday Challenge!

Given how hectic this week was, I’m really pretty pleased with how the workouts went. Today is also my last day of the 6-week FASTer Way to Fat Loss program, so I’ll be sharing some final thoughts on the program in an upcoming post.

For now, I am really looking forward to Christmas and some time off with my family. With the hopefully slower pace of the days ahead, I’ll get a chance to get back to the strength training that’s been missing for the past couple of weeks, in addition to continuing to log some miles. And catch up on some sleep…yes, sleep would be good!

To everyone who celebrates, I wish you a very Merry Christmas!

Filed Under: #HolidayChallenge, Christmas, Weekly Wrap

Chicago-bound!

December 16, 2018 by Michelle 32 Comments

The sprint to the finish of 2018 continues – I swear someone has flipped the switch into overdrive!

This past week was busy on all fronts, but there were lots of highlights!

Work kept me hopping – but I was super productive and, with now just a few loose ends to wrap up, I should be in great shape to take the Christmas week off! Both of my boys started their school breaks, so we really kicked things into the Christmas spirit, picking up our tree and decorating the house. We’ll start making cookies later today.

On the workout front, it was a pretty solid week:

Monday – 3-mile run
Tuesday – 1.25-mile power walk
Wednesday – 3.5-mile run – this one was ugly!
Thursday – Another power walk followed by a strength work.
Friday – 2-mile run and some much needed yoga. Also had another acupuncture session.
Saturday – 5-mile run. For as bad as Wednesday’s run felt, this one felt great!

Sunday – Today was basically a rest day, I did get an early morning 1.25-mile walk with my husband and pup to get the day started followed by another session with the acupuncturist.

17.25 miles for the Holiday Challenge!

And, if you follow me on social media, then you know this was my biggest highlight of the week!

I was beyond excited to see this notice in my email! Chicago-bound for 2019!

I’m joining Holly and Wendy for the Weekly Wrap.

What was a highlight from your week?

Filed Under: #HolidayChallenge, Chicago Marathon, Weekly Wrap

A few goals to wrap up the year

December 10, 2018 by Michelle 27 Comments

With all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, I can already feel that this month is going to go by in the blink of an eye. Here it is the 10th of the month already and I have yet to post my monthly goals. But first, a quick recap on the week that was:

50 degrees – Perfect running weather!

Monday – 3-mile run
Tuesday – 2-mile night run
Wednesday – 4-mile guided run with Coach Marc
Thursday – 1.25 mi power walk plus strength work
Friday – 1-mile walk and yoga
Saturday – 4 miles
Sunday – 1.25 mi power walk with the pup

Total 16.5 miles

Thank goodness for this Holiday Challenge! While the week started off with a beautiful 50+ degree morning, the nice weather was very short-lived. There were a couple of times I could have easily chosen to hideout from the nonsense Mother N was dishing out, but I was determined not to miss a day of this Challenge. So far, so good.

I had my first guided run with Coach Marc on Wednesday where he took me through a series of body sensing drills. It was a great refresher for me on many of the Chi Running principles. We ran on some great rolling country roads with almost no traffic, which was perfect to focus and practice without dodging cars. I know I must have been pretty absorbed in all Marc was sharing with me because I realized afterward it never occurred to me to once pull out my phone to take pictures. A “blogger fail” perhaps, but it was great to be wholly concentrating in the moment.

December Goals

While I hadn’t gotten around to posting them yet, I did set some goals for the month. I like to have monthly goals to keep myself on track, and especially at this time of year with so many demands on time, it can be pretty easy to let things slide.

My main goal for November was consistency – whether it was running or cross-training, and I think I did a pretty solid job at that. I kept the running short and easy and gave my nagging injuries a chance to heal.

So for December:

Finish the final 3 weeks of FASTer Way to Fat Loss
Start incorporating Chi Running focuses into my runs and run with Coach Marc at least twice
Pre-hab with PT exercises 3x’s/week
Complete the 40-day Holiday Challenge I started on Thanksgiving (today marks Day 19!)
Continue with regular acupuncture treatments – (I had two this past week and felt so good afterward!)
Return to kickboxing classes

Hopefully, these goals will keep me on track and building momentum for a strong kick off to 2019!

I’m joining Holly and Wendy for the Weekly Wrap.

And, with Erika, Marcia, and Patty for Tuesdays on the Run.

Have you set any goals to close out the year? Have you started planning for 2019 yet?

Filed Under: #HolidayChallenge, ChiRunning, goals, Weekly Wrap

2018 Runners Holiday Gift Guide

December 7, 2018 by Michelle 24 Comments

How are you doing with your holiday shopping?

I’m hoping to make a real dent in my shopping list this weekend. And, in that spirit, now seems like the perfect time to share my annual gift guide for the runner in your life.

(While this post contains affiliate links, all opinions expressed are, as always, strictly my own)

Rockay Accelerate Socks – I am very picky about the socks I wear and tend to not venture outside my comfort zone once I find a brand/style I like. However, I was recently sent a pair of Rockay socks and decided to give them a shot – it was love at first run! These socks are made of merino wool and offer a comfortable fit with no bulk, great breathability, and serious moisture-wicking. The design includes nice compression in the arch and padding in both the toe and heel.

Resistance Bands — After spending a good bit of my summer working with the physical therapist, I’ve come to appreciate the importance of owning a good set of resistance bands. I think every runner can benefit from having a set! I use these PhantomFit bands – they’re durable and reasonably priced.

Headsweats Hats/Visors/Buffs – If you’ve been around here for a while then you know how much I love my Headsweats gear. Safe to say that 9 times out of 10 if I have headgear on, it’s Headsweats. In my opinion, they offer some of the best products out there, which is why I was so happy to be a 2018 ambassador. Use code ATTITUDE25 to save 25% on the Headsweats website.

Magnesium Oil – I discovered Magnum Solace magnesium oil earlier this year and just love how it soothes my sore legs. I have also found that I sleep better when I use it before bed.

Oofos Slides or Flip Flops – These sandals provide a great combination of foam cushion and arch support – perfect for post-run recovery or everyday wear. I live in my Oofos Sport Slides after a run and have been eyeing a pair of the Oolala Flip Flops to add to my collection.

Sharing some gift ideas for the runners in your life! #running #runchat #giftguide Share on X

I’m linking up with Lacey & Meranda for the Friday with Fairytales and Fitness link-up!

Happy Shopping!

Filed Under: #TeamHeadsweats, fave things, Friday Five, Gifts for runners

Runfessions Over Coffee

November 30, 2018 by Michelle 28 Comments

Well hello, Friday!

Maybe it’s playing catch-up after the holiday, but this was one crazy busy week and it went by in a flash. I am so ready for this weekend to begin! So let’s get things started with a little catch up over coffee…and a few runfessions thrown in for good measure 😉

Over coffee, I’d tell you that I’m wrapping up my third week of FASTer Way to Fat Loss. I won’t get on a scale until the end of the program, but I do feel like my clothes are fitting better – so that’s a win! While the FWFL program definitely has helped me to be more mindful of what I’m eating, I do runfess that there are days where constantly tracking my macros is making me a little crazy.

Over coffee, I’d tell you that I’m pretty excited to have made a return to acupuncture this past week! I have used acupuncture on and off over the years for a variety of things including migraines, blood pressure, and yes running injuries. When I started wrestling with my nagging hamstring/hip issue earlier this year, I started hunting for a new acupuncturist since my previous practitioner is no longer in the area. I’m psyched to have finally found one I like and am planning to go for another session this weekend!

Over coffee, I’d tell you that despite my love of kickboxing as a workout, I runfess that I realized the other day that I haven’t made it to a class in almost two months! Whoops! Between work and family schedules, getting to the studio for a class has been tough – I clearly need the flexibility to work out when it fits my schedule and not the other way around.

Over coffee, I’d tell you that I recently had my first experience of riding in the car with my son driving with his permit. Yeah, well I runfess that I’m either going to have to learn to seriously chill out or make my husband do all of the driving hours.

I’m linking up with Coco and Deborah for the Ultimate Coffee Date;

and with Marcia for Runfessions;

and with Meranda & Lacey for the Fairytales and Fitness link-up

Any runfessions to share? What would you tell me over coffee? Do you regularly attend fitness classes?

Filed Under: Friday Five, Runfessions, Ultimate coffee date

Wrapping Up Thanksgiving Week

November 25, 2018 by Michelle 26 Comments

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

For the first time in a long time, we weren’t on the road for the holiday. We stayed local and my brother hosted an awesome meal! My oldest son was home from school for the week, and it was nice to have a few days to just kick back and chill with the family.

My workouts for this week were pretty low-key too – here’s a quick recap of how things went down:

Monday: Yoga
Tuesday: T25 Cardio
Wednesday: Run evaluation with Coach Marc, followed by a 3-mile run
Thursday: 3-mile run

14 degrees with a feel like of 3 – Brrrr!

Friday: 1.25 power walk
Saturday: 4.5-mile run
Sunday: 1-mile walk plus yoga

Runner’s Revamp

The highlight of my workout week was meeting up with Coach Marc for a run evaluation. For these sessions, Marc works in partnership with a chiropractor Dr. Kelly for what they call “Holistic Injury Prevention & Runner’s Revamp” (HIPRR). After a warm-up run with Marc, they filmed and observed me running at various paces and then we spent quite a bit of time breaking down the film. Let me just say that watching yourself run in slow-motion is an eye-opening experience! Having each of them providing input from their different perspectives was so helpful, and I could have easily sat around talking about running all morning with them. My head was spinning by the end and thankfully they’ll be sending me all of their evaluations, along with next steps as Marc starts to build my new training plan.

Taking on the Holiday Challenge

For a little added motivation, I signed up for Race Cancer’s Holiday Challenge – the goal is to run or walk at least 1 mile each day from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve (outdoors mileage gets you Winter Warrior status). It’s the first leg of the Charity Challenge Trifecta, which includes the Winter Challenge (January 1 – 31) and Winter Challenge Overtime (Feb 1 – March 31). I did the Winter Challenge last January as part of the Black Girls Run! Boston team. I love that they added the Holiday and Overtime components for this year – I don’t know if I’ll end up doing all 3 components, but it is a great way to keep moving during the winter months. I also love that the challenge has a “3 strikes, you’re out” rule, so you can miss 2 days and still remain in the challenge – cause well…life happens, right? Holiday Challenge registration is open until 11:59 p.m on Monday if you want to join me 😉

So tell me, how was your week? Did you travel for Thanksgiving?

I’m joining Holly and Wendy for the Weekly Wrap.

Filed Under: #HolidayChallenge, Weekly Wrap

Shaking Things Up

November 12, 2018 by Michelle 22 Comments

Happy Monday!

I missed last week’s Weekly Wrap because I was just coming off a week of dealing with a stomach bug, so needless to say there wasn’t much to recap. Thankfully, by Sunday, I was finally back to running and this past week was a decent mix of running, some yoga, and cross training in the form of leaf raking.

Time to Shake Things Up

While being sick is never fun, laying low did give me some time to step back and start to think about goals for the upcoming year. One thing I know for sure is that it’s time to get out of the cycle of injury; pseudo-recovery; pushing too hard; then back to injury – it’s been a frustrating cycle which has impeded the way I have wanted to train and race, along with impacting my joy of running. Time to shake things up…

So I think the first big step in the right direction is that I’ve hired a new coach. I first met Coach Marc when I attended his ChiRunning workshop last year. I really enjoyed the clinic and his style and have been thinking for a while that he would be someone I’d be interested in working with. I’ve occasionally been in touch with Marc since the clinic, but when I got an email from him a couple of weeks ago, it came at just the right time. We had a great conversation and by the end of our call, I knew this was a great step in the right direction.

I’ll be sharing more about my work with Coach Marc in future posts as we work together to build a year-long plan to get me to a fall marathon, with some fun races along the way!

I’m joining Holly and Wendy for the Weekly Wrap.

And, with Erika, Marcia, and Patty for Tuesdays on the Run.

Filed Under: running coach, Tuesdays on the Run, Weekly Wrap

5 things over November coffee

November 2, 2018 by Michelle 30 Comments

Happy Friday! And, hello November!

It’s time once again for one of my favorite link-ups – a time to dish a little about life happenings over a cup of coffee. So grab a mug of your favorite beverage and let’s join Coffee hosts Coco and Deborah and chat.

Over coffee, I’d tell you that we went out to visit my son at school for Fall Family Weekend last weekend, and had a great time! I continue to enjoy seeing him settling in and happy – does a momma’s heart a lot of good!

Over coffee, I’d tell you that I started a gratitude challenge on Instagram. I’ve been having a little bit of a pity party over the way my running’s been going (or not going) – combine that with work stress, election fatigue, etc. and I was just feeling the need for a bit of an attitude adjustment – And what better way than to focus on gratitude? So for the month of November, I’m doing a daily post on something I’m thankful for that day using #FocusingonGratitude. I’m hoping others will join in.

Over coffee, I’d tell you that I’m looking forward to taking on the FASTer Way to Fat Loss Program with Amy C. I’ve heard such good things about this program and have been curious for a while. And, I’ve known Amy for years, so when I learned that she had become a certified coach I knew I wanted to give it a try.

Over coffee, I’d tell you that in the ongoing world of house projects, I’m driving myself crazy trying to find the right shade of gray for our bedroom! Seriously, how could there possibly be so many!? But I have decided one of the most fun jobs would be naming the paint colors.

Over coffee, I’d tell you that I cannot believe that in less than 60 days 2018 will be history. Despite my desire for time to slow down just a little, I feel like the pace at which the days are moving is increasing. I was surprised by some of the posts showing up in my Facebook feed from friends who couldn’t wait to be done with Halloween so they could put up Christmas decorations – wait, what?! While I love the holiday season, I’d like to ease into it – not dive in full force without a parachute!