Yes!!! It Is FRIDAY!!!

It is here!!!  FRIDAY!!!  I honestly never thought this day would get here this week!!  I’ve been looking forward to it since Monday, and I think everyone I know has felt this week dragging on too.  Of course, I now have a snow storm that might prevent our girl’s night out from happening tonight.  I’m going to hope for the best, but there is a butt load of snow coming down and more on the way.  However, I’m still on my high from my run yesterday, so the snow isn’t dragging me down.

Yesterday was an amazing running day for me!!  I haven’t had a great run in ages, and yesterday’s run is one for the books, especially since I did it on a treadmill.

I finally had some time between my spinning classes I taught to go upstairs and get on a treadmill.  I had my 5K Bacon Challenge to run and my running coach, Jen, wanted me to get in 3 miles, so I hopped on a treadmill after my first Spinning class, cranked up my Ipod (first song “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” by Jake Owen…my new fav), and started running.  For once, I had zero distractions at the gym yesterday, and I was able to relax and go into my own little world.  I started thinking about a bunch of different things, and by the time I looked down at the reading on the treadmill I had gone 4.76 miles!!!  I almost fell off the treadmill when I saw this.  I felt like I had barely worked at all, and I was holding a 10:40 pace!!  I kept going, but had to stop at 5 miles to go teach my next Spinning class, and I was really upset that I had to stop running (lately I jump off the treadmill and run as fast as I can from it).

I don’t know where this amazing run came from, but I’m so glad I had it.  As of late, I’ve been thinking about postponing my half marathon until I can really get into it.  After yesterday, I think I’m going to stick with running, and try to keep it positive.

Today I’m teaching 2 Spinning classes and working out upper body with Rita.  I haven’t been able to workout with Rita for a few weeks, so I know I’m going to get my butt handed to me today, and I’m beyond excited to get said butt kicked!

I’ve had several requests at the gym for another walking treadmill workout, so here ya go!!  Remember to stretch when you are done.

Back in North Dakota

Well folks, I’m back in freezing cold North Dakota.  I got home at 2 am on Monday morning.  A blizzard in Minnesota delayed my flights, but thankfully, I didn’t have any cancelations to deal with.

Leaving Florida and coming back to North Dakota is always hard for me.  Every time I say good-bye to my friends and drive off to the airport I always start tearing up.  All those times I’m always thinking that I just cannot handle going back to North Dakota and my life there.  This time things were different.

As I was pulling away from my friend Kim’s house I didn’t break down in tears like I usually do (honestly happens every time).  Instead, I started thinking about my friends and coworkers at the gym.  I was actually looking forward to going back to North Dakota to see them and get back to teaching Spinning.  Plus I wanted to share what I learned about aerial yoga with them.

When I got up Tuesday morning I was so excited to go to work and see everyone, and sure enough they were all there welcoming me back with smiles and questions about my trip.  I cannot thank everyone I work with enough.  I think Rita said it the best when I was talking to her about this while working out…”We are all here for each other and we are each other’s support system.”

So a special thank you to Andrea, Rita, Margel, Sandy, Alina, Joyce, my wonderful students, so many others that I work with at the Y, and even Leo (I know the man will smile one of these days).  You have made North Dakota…dare I say it…start feeling like a home to me.  Y’all have given me more than I can every give you in return.

Alright, enough of me being sentimental and time for Workout Wednesday.  Today I have the treadmill workout I did on Tuesday.  I was pretty tired from all of my traveling yesterday and I didn’t want to run or jog before teaching my cycling class.  Instead, I walked on the treadmill with some fun hills thrown it to burn some fat off of my bootie.  I hope you have as much fun on these hills as I did.

Frozen Pipes

Sorry for the later post today.  I spent yesterday evening thawing out the pipes that lead to our washer.  Yup that is right!  The pipes going to our washer froze!  Aren’t I just a lucky girl?

Here is the short of it…The pipes that lead to our washer run out in our garage before snaking back into the house.  Since my hubby has been out of town, I got all the laundry caught up (fist pump for me), and then I didn’t have to do any laundry for 4 days.  During these days we have not gotten above 0 degrees.  During that time the pipes froze.  Sadly I discovered this when I desperately needed workout clothes for today to teach in.  Insert swear words here about how cold North Dakota is.  Thankfully, I was able to do a load of laundry at my friend Melissa’s…She is a life saver!

To unfreeze the pipes, I cranked up the heat in the laundry room, pulled out space heaters for in the garage by the pipes, and whipped out my handy blow dryer and got to work.  By 9:30 pm we had thawed pipes!!  I have learned my lesson…Never take a day off of doing laundry.  You never know what can happen!

On to a neat television treadmill workout I came up with at the gym yesterday…

On Thursdays I teach 2 Spinning classes with an hour and a half off between them.  During this time I try to run, jog, walk, and do core work.  Well, since the Australian Open is on right now (I’m a huge tennis fan), I just wanted to park my butt in front of the tv at the gym and watch.  Instead, I hopped on a treadmill and started walking.  I had already run 2 miles around our indoor track and didn’t want to jog anymore, but I knew I needed to.   A plan then formed in my head.  I decided to walk on a hill while Djokovic and Ferrer were playing, and then jog during the commercials.  This worked out pretty well.  And, I was able to act like the crazy fan I am and talk to the players on the tv  Here is a cute printout of this treadmill workout for ya.

A Big Day

Today is such a big day, and I have several things to tell you about!!

First…the winner of the The Women’s Health Big Book of Exercises: Four Weeks to a Leaner, Sexier, Healthier YOU and Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 Days DVD is…..drum roll…Amanda Tipton!!!  Congrats Amanda!!  You will love the book and DVD.  They are among my favorites!  Also, look for an email from me this afternoon!

Second, Jill Conyers will be guest hosting on Monday.  Jill will be answering the questions about how to strength train and avoid injury for runners.  Then, Jill has had also Graciously (note the capital “G”) offered to guest host again to answer the rest of the amazing questions everyone had.  I loved all the questions everyone had, and so did Jill, so she is kindly hanging around to post again.  I honestly cannot thank her enough for helping us beginning and experienced runners.  I’m throwing myself in the beginner category, and everyone asked questions that I also had!

Third…It is a birthday day in our house!!!  Little Tilly is turning 1 year old today!!!  Tilly is our sweetheart that we fostered with RAGOM, and then we ended up adopting her.  I would like to make a quick plea for other dogs out there in need of a home…If you are ever looking to get a dog, please check out your local shelter, or go online and look up “dog rescue groups”.  RAGOM is a rescue group that I volunteer with, and they, like other similar groups, place dogs in “foster homes” until they find their “forever home” and are adopted.  Our lab, Lady, is also a rescue dog from Florida, and she is amazing.  So, instead of going to a pet store (which gets its puppies from horrible puppy mills) look into saving a wonderful puppy or dog at your local shelter or from your local rescue group.

Back to the birthday girl…My goal was to make frosty paws and dog treats on Wednesday and have a write up for you with the recipes, but since we didn’t have any water, and I had to spend my day melting snow for water, I didn’t get a chance to make her birthday treats.  So, we are doing the doggie birthday baking on Saturday.  Tilly is still getting more stuffed toys to destroy, and all 3 dogs are getting Kongs filled with peanut butter and carrots!  Happy Birthday Tilly!!!

And speaking of water….We now have running water.  Never in my life did I think I would be so happy to flush a toilet regularly!  No more melting snow on the stove for me!!!  Well, at least not until this happens again.

It is workout time!  Here is the treadmill workout I did the other day at the gym.  Time flew by with this workout since I was so busy keeping and eye on my time and changing speeds.  I didn’t add an incline for this workout, but feel free to add a hill or two in there for yours!  Hope you enjoy it, and remember to stretch!

Post Christmas Workout Wednesday

Happy Day After Christmas!!!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Our Christmas Eve was pretty tame.  I spent the day cleaning out and organizing our laundry room, and then baking coffee cakes for all the neighbors to have on Christmas morning.  I have to say the laundry room looks pretty amazing!  Just check out the before and after pictures.

I do have an interesting short story from Christmas Eve night…While I was baking, I was singing along to the Rolling Stones’ song You Can’t Always Get What You Want, and my son says, “I haven’t heard this Christmas song before.” I reply, “It isn’t a Christmas song. What makes you think it is?” Web then says, “It is about how you shouldn’t want something and accepting what you are given and need,” Makes sense to me. Guess we have a new Christmas song to add to the playlist!

We also had a great fireworks display put on by our neighbors on Christmas Eve.  We had a ball watching the show, and I could almost pretend that it was warm outside just like on the 4th of July.

Christmas morning we were greeted by Hank and Tilly breaking into the doggie gifts early!  In our house our son never has gotten up early for Christmas. It is always the dogs waking him up, and this morning they were dragging him out of bed.

All 3 of them dug right in to the toys and stuffed shin bones.  They each got a mammoth stuffed toy to de-stuff, and they had them all de-stuffed before night fall.

Santa and the grandparents stocked our son up with Legos.

Santa also brought Bill and I the TRX suspension trainer!  Bill already has done a workout with the system, and he is raving about what a great core workout he got.  My goal is to get a TRX workout in on Friday, so I’ll let ya know how it goes.  I also got some pretty awesome gift cards to Starbucks and Barnes and Noble too!!

My friend Caroline brought over an amazing gift bag full of goodies from Alaska.  One of the goodies was Blueberry Hot Cocoa.  I’ve never heard of blueberry hot cocoa, and I’m dying to try it!  Check out the all natural almond and cashew butter too!

Oh, and of course we had our chocolate croissants for breakfast.  Flakey, buttery, chocolaty, goodness…and I enjoyed every bite!

What did Santa bring you? Did you get any cool workout gear?

It is still Workout Wednesday, so I guess I should be getting to the workout part of this post.  I know I’m in a bit of a post holiday stupor (I just want to lay on the couch and read or watch movies).  However, I know I will be happier after a workout, so it is time for me to get my butt in gear.

Since I’m going to be running quite a bit of races in 2013, and I’m getting my upper body built up for aerial silks in February, I figured I would combine the the two into a workout today.  Today’s workout involves a treadmill and weights (have the weights you will need set next to your treadmill).  You will run or do sprints on the treadmill in between working your upper body out with weights.  This is a great workout to do if you are pressed for time.  Do 1-3 rounds of this circuit style workout (Today my goal is to do 3 rounds).  I’ll follow up this workout with my Get Those Abs workout and some yoga.  Remember to stretch after you are done!  What is your post Christmas workout?

A Race, A Recipe, A Run

It is hard to believe that today is already Friday!  This week has been jammed pack full of things for us this week and it has totally flown by!  It still has been a fun week for us even while we were running and doing 10 things in one day.

I did my very first virtual 5K, Once Upon a Time, on 12-12-12!  I ended up alternating between running for 4 minutes and walking for 1 minute for the whole 5K.  I was going to do the run for 3 walk for 2, but I was feeling good with the 4 minute run so I stuck with it.  I wanted to stick with what I knew would work, and I had fun with it.  Sadly I was nowhere near my PR, but I’m getting back into the swing of running again, and I want to enjoy it.

I cannot wait to get my medal in the mail!  Don’t they look sweet?

On to that crock pot brisket recipe we had the first night of Hanukkah…Then a treadmill workout to help you burn off the brisket  I must apologise for the picture of the brisket.  My family dug in before I could get a better pic!

I do have a little note to make when it comes to you choosing a barbeque sauce.  Please look at the ingredients in your barbeque sauce before you buy it.  A ton of barbeque sauces out there have corn syrup and it’s many variations in it.  You all know how bad corn syrup is for you, so please stay away from any sauces that contain it.  Thank you!

Easy Crock Pot/Slow Cooker Barbeque Brisket

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 – 3 1/2 lb brisket (basically as big a one as you can fit in your crock pot)
• 1 3/4 cup BBQ sauce
• 2 T brown sugar
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp garlic salt
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp seasoned salt
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

Directions

Combine all of the ingredients together.  Pour some of the bbq mixture in the bottom of an airtight container that is big enough to hold your brisket.  Place the brisket into the airtight container on top of some of the sauce.  Then, coat the brisket with the remaining sauce, and refrigerate overnight.  The next morning, place your brisket and sauce fat side down into your crock pot.  Cook on low for 9-10 hours.  Enjoy!

Now on to that treadmill run!!  Remember to stretch afterwards!!

How Did It Get Here So Fast!?!

This week has been absolutely chaotic for our family.  All of us have had something to go to every day and evening.  Therefore, it was no surprise that I ran out of clean socks yesterday morning.  I ended up having to wear my son’s socks to the gym, and change into an extra pair I had in my locker.  Thankfully my husband and son still had plenty of clean clothing.  One of these days I’m going to get all the laundry caught up…I’m just not sure when.  Is there a mom out there who has ever been able to stay caught up on laundry?  If so, please share your secret, because it is starting to get out of control here.

With our busy week I somehow thought that the holidays were farther away than they really are.  We are a half Jewish half Catholic household, so December can get pretty busy with Hanukkah and Christmas all in one month.  Somehow, I thought I had more time to prepare for Hanukkah…I don’t.  Hanukkah starts tomorrow evening at sundown, and I don’t even have the potatoes for the latkes!!!  What kind of Jew have I become!?!  I will be making a mad dash to the grocery store after I teach my spinning class to stock up on all the food for our Hanukah feast!   I’m planning on brisket, latkes, garlic grits, roasted veggies, and baked blueberry glazed doughnuts!  I’ll post all the recipes soon!

This year I’m going to bake doughnuts instead of frying them.  Jelly filled doughnuts are a Hanukah tradition in most Jewish households.  This year I’m going to make baked blueberry glazed doughnuts, in an attempt to try to make the holidays a bit healthier.  I found a great recipe at the Country Cleaver blog.  This actually looks like a delicious and somewhat healthy (it is as healthy as a doughnut can get) doughnut.  The recipe even uses Greek yogurt!

I do have the menorah out, polished, and ready to go!  At least I can get that part done.

In the meantime, here is the treadmill workout I’ll be doing before I workout with Rita and teach my spinning class.

Funny Saturday

I saw this picture this morning and just busted out laughing!  Actually I’m still laughing.  The sad part is that it is true.  This year Target put out their outdoor Christmas decorations at the same time the put out their Halloween decorations!  How screwed up is that?  All of it is in the name of money too!  Oh well!

After I found this funny cartoon I went in search of more! There is also a 40 Minute Treadmill Workout that alternates between speed and hills at the end of this post.  You will love it!  Enjoy!

40 Minute Treadmill Interval

Preparations!!

Today is the big Skype day with Jenna Blum, author of Those Who Save Us!!  I have been spending my morning in the kitchen making food for our book clubs meeting and Skype session.  The cannoli’s (recipe to be posted tomorrow) are made, the coffee cake is in the oven, and the honey beer bread is cooling.  Of course, there will be other munchies too!  Now all I have to do is pick out an outfit to wear, and I’ve been staring at my closet for awhile now with no idea what I’m going to wear.  Arg!  Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post to see how our Skype session went with Ms. Blum and if I can find something to wear that does not involve yoga pants!!!

Well, I still have a workout to fit in, so I’m going to head on downstairs and do Workout A from Tina’s Best Body Bootcamp.  I’m totally loving the workouts she comes up for us.  In only a few weeks I’ve already gone up in the weights I use, and I’m really starting to see some nice looking muscles popping in my arms and shoulders again!!

Here is a 35 Minute Treadmill Workout that focuses on speed and increasing your endurance.  It is a favorite of mine!

40 Minute Treadmill Fat and Butt Buster

I won’t get to the gym till this evening, but here is the workout I will be doing on the treadmill before I hit the weights to work on upper body.  Hope you get a chance to try it out yourself!