What They Think I Do - Runner's Edition

Not sure if you've seen any of the 'What They Think I Do' posters yet... but I thought 'Runners' Needed one :)

Next up I think I'm going to do one for Female Engineers....

Relate to any of these??

Workout Wednesdays - Week VI

Weekly recap, at least for myself, of what I actually accomplished or got done!

This happens to be on Wednesdays because 'Workout' starts with a "W" and I'm a sucker for alliteration. Guess that's what happens when your mom is an English major!


Also feel free to follow/friend me on The Daily Mile!

This Week in Workouts:

 

Thursday, January 12th -

Dark Night Run 5.51 mi 00:49 08:58 pace

Cold here in TX! Running gear did good, thank you bubble gum pink Nike hooded jacket :-D felt good to get in some exercise before Grey's Anatomy and girls' night!

{pictured: bubble gum pink Nike Jacket}

Friday, January 13th -

I started with a BodyRock.tv Routine:

Workout Breakdown

Time: 12 Minutes  Workout Type: 12 Minute Interval Workout 

Bringing Sexy Back!

Lisa-Marie’s Cardio Workout:
Set your interval timer to 10/50 for 12 rounds. You need to complete the following 4 exercises 3 time through.
Press up Burpee + Plyometric Jump (or squat/tuck jump)
Star Single Toe Touch Abs
Sit Squat & Jump using the Pink Sandbag
Ugi Ball Mountiain Climbers x 10 & Ugi Ball Toe Touch’s x 10

VIDEO

Holy Goodness!!! That knocked the Sparkles out of me... this BodyRock.tv stuff is serious.

Also, can I say how cute Lisa-Marie's British accent is??


Modification:  Since I don't have a huge weighted Sand bag I held two 5lb weights for that part.

This SERIOUSLY brings your heart rate up quick! Then I started a second BodyRock.tv circuit -- "Turn Me On", but too many burpees for one day -- I only got through round one!

Finished up with Treadmill 3 mi  00:26mi   //  08:33 pace

Really pushed it.

Saturday, January 14th -

Super Speed because we had somewhere very important to be!

I convinced Mike to try the BodyRock.tv routine with me -- we staggered the order of the circuit so that we wouldn't need the equipment at the same time and could just complete it in my apartment.

He agreed that it got his heart rate up and those Press up Burpee + Plyometric Jumps were intense.  

Sunday, January 15th -

Another BodyRock.tv Routine:

Workout Breakdown

Time: Rep ChallengeWorkout Type: Interval Rep Challenge

Glory to the Booty!

Lisa’s 600 Rep Workout
Set your BodyRocker interval timer to a stop watch and do the following 6 Exercises as quickly as you can & post your scores here.
100 High Knee Skips
100 Lunge kicks (50 each leg) using the Pink Sandbag
100 High Knee Skips
100 squats using the Pink Sandbag
100 High Knee Skips
25 Straight Abs
25 V Abs Left
25 V Abs Right
25 Bicycle Abs

Holy Handsel and Grettle!!!!!!

Subbed 10lb free weight for the Pink Sandbag.

My thighs are SCREAMING today.  They say we are no longer friends and I have the bruise to prove it...

Nope, I didn't RUN INTO A WALL  thank you for asking, it just appeared and if you press on it you can feel a nice large knot.

Finished off in the gym with:

Treadmill 2 mi 00:19min 09:30 pace

Recovery... My calves & quads hurt so bad but the sweat feels good :)

Gym 0.8 mi 00:10:00min 12:30 pace

10 min fast walk INCLINE 10

and 10 minutes additional strength training (a.k.a. me wandering around on different machines because I was bored)

 

Monday, January 16th -

REST DAY

Tuesday, January 17th -

Yoga/Weights/Abs 01:30

Still trying to give my legs a rest - I've been rolling them EVERY NIGHT.
Yoga, then arm weights, then abs... nothing too crazy.

Wednesday, January 18th -

Gym with Mike!!!! Will post what I decide to do once I do it :)

Reasons to be Fit:

How often do you push yourself until you're really sore?  

A Short Trip in the Private Jet for Lunch on the Lake...

WEEKEND RECAP

Friday I finally left work in one of those moods.

You know, where you just HAVE to get out of there!

I decided the only thing to do was obviously work for an endorphin high.  Since I'd just did a long run the night before I figured I'd better stick to the gym. 

I started with a BodyRock.tv Routine:

Workout Breakdown

Time: 12 Minutes  Workout Type: 12 Minute Interval Workout 

 

Bringing Sexy Back!

Lisa-Marie’s Cardio Workout:
Set your interval timer to 10/50 for 12 rounds. You need to complete the following 4 exercises 3 time through.
Press up Burpee + Plyometric Jump (or squat/tuck jump)
Star Single Toe Touch Abs
Sit Squat & Jump using the Pink Sandbag
Ugi Ball Mountiain Climbers x 10 & Ugi Ball Toe Touch’s x 10

VIDEO


Holy Goodness!!! That knocked the Sparkles out of me... this BodyRock.tv stuff is serious.

Also, can I say how cute Lisa-Marie's British accent is??


Modification:  Since I don't have a huge weighted Sand bag I held two 5lb weights for that part.

This SERIOUSLY brings your heart rate up quick! Then I started a second BodyRock.tv circuit -- "Turn Me On", but too many burpees for one day -- I only got through round one!

Finished up with Treadmill 3 mi  00:26mi   //  08:33 pace

Really pushed it and was so schweaty!!

Hahaha yeah right... not me!

...

Here I am!

It felt good to get in such an awesome burn - especially since I met Mike & Friends at the local Sports Bar for dinner & drinks.  Since I'd been so healthy all day and pushed myself at the gym I splurged in one of my favorite Southern meals -- Mike and I split the Chicken Fried Chicken, Mac and Cheese and Mashed Potatoes with a side of Broccoli - yum!!!!

Don't judge me, this is not your average Chicken Fried Chicken ... I won't even order it at other restaurants because I dispise when they serve you piece-meal questionable chicken drowning in grease, slop canned gravy all over it and call it 'food'.  This was clearly delicious all white meat chicken lightly battered and fried and oh so worth it!!


Saturday's workout was super speed because we had somewhere very important to be!

I convinced Mike to try the BodyRock.tv routine with me -- we staggered the order of the circuit so that we wouldn't need the equipment at the same time and could just complete it in my apartment.

He agreed that it got his heart rate up and those Press up Burpee + Plyometric Jumps were intense. 


We showered up toweled off (thank you Victoria's Secret Body Spray) and rushed out the door to grab breakfast at Einstein's before heading to THE AIRPORT. 

Not the main airport, a smaller one about 45min north of Dallas...

because we were about to fly IN THIS:

A Cessna 172

Our friend Kris recently got his Pilot License so he offered to be Captain and fly us all to Lunch on the Lake!

[Mike and I in the plane]

I took the headphones because I wanted to be 'clued in' with the Pilot.

If that's not the right saying... I don't care Don't tell me about it.

Everything was smooth sailing flying until Mike nearly flew off the plane.

You're not buying it??

Yeah.. my phone photography skills aren't that great.

Maybe now that I fly via Jet to lunch I'll start being swarmed with Paparazzi and they can catch the good shots.

We flew out for some seriously delicious burgers.

I got a Cessna (in honor of our plane) Not greasy, modest size, super fresh veggies + pickles + mustard = win.

I'm not a huge burger person and I'm hard to please, but I really liked mine :) 

The burger place was called

It was truly in the middle of nowhere, not a very public part of the lake, so the name fit!  They had a bunch of old plane memorabilia and a few alien parts to decorate.  Definitely an experience!

The views from the air were pretty spectacular

Texas can be beautiful!!

But, just a quick lunch!  Then I was off to shower and get ready to celebrate our good friend's Birthday!

Happy Birthday Kim!!

We starting at a Wine Tasting at 2 Corks and a Bottle

Those are the managers and the same gentlemen who were there to serve us!

THEIR STORY:

We loved the idea of opening a unique business that would be fun and enjoyable for our guests! The ability to make your own wine or just come in and enjoy a glass or bottle of wine in the winery is something we know people would enjoy!

The first two whites we tried were not my favorite to say the least.. but the selections got better as the tasting went on (easily could've been becaue I'd had more wine as the night went on!)

The atmosphere was fun and my favorite pick was actually not part of the tasting, it's the bottle my roommate recommended called Romeo.

INTERESTING FACT I learned during the tasting was what WINE DIAMONDS are

{my lucky glass}

The  crystals  that  are  sometimes  found  in  the  bottom  of  your  wine  bottles  are  not  known  as  wine  "diamonds"  for  nothing. 
Wine  diamonds,  or  potassium  acid  tartrate,  is  a  mono potassium  salt.   In  its  natural  state  it  is  commonly  found  in  many  fruits  but  predominantly  in  grapes.  Wine  made  from  grapes,  fresh  grape  juice,  grape  juice  concentrate  or  a  combination  of  these,  can  sometimes  produce  this  crystal  fall  out.  Since  it  is  cold  temperatures  that  cause  the  diamonds  to  form,  you  may  notice  these  crystals  when  you  remove  a  wine  bottle  from  the  refrigerator  or  cold  storage.  This  phenomenon  can  be  found  in  both  white  and  red  wines.  It  is  entirely  natural  and  is  NOT  a  defect.  In  fact,  it  reflects  high  quality  and  will  accompany  a  wine  which  processes  wonderful  tastes  and  aromas. 

[source]

Fancy, huh?!?!

 

 

CHEERS TO WINE DIAMONDS

 

 

 

 

After the tasting we went to Hibachi for dinner and rented out the whole room!

 

 

I had the Shrimp and Broccoli and of course a Sake Bomb or two!

 

 

 

"Kanpai!!"  {Cheers}

 

 

We finished up the night out at Avenue - an Uptown Dallas Club that played great music.

 

 

 

 

I felt young again but was WIPED OUT by the time we made it home at 2am!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday consisted of recovery...

 

 

Well, AFTER a workout of course!!

 

 

 

Another BodyRock.tv Routine:

Workout Breakdown

Time: Rep ChallengeWorkout Type: Interval Rep Challenge

 

Glory to the Booty!

 

Lisa’s 600 Rep Workout
Set your BodyRocker interval timer to a stop watch and do the following 6 Exercises as quickly as you can & post your scores here.
100 High Knee Skips
100 Lunge kicks (50 each leg) using the Pink Sandbag
100 High Knee Skips
100 squats using the Pink Sandbag
100 High Knee Skips
25 Straight Abs
25 V Abs Left
25 V Abs Right
25 Bicycle Abs

 

Holy Handsel and Grettle!!!!!!

 

Subbed 10lb free weight for the Pink Sandbag.

 

My thighs are SCREAMING today.  They say we are no longer friends and I have the bruise to prove it...

 

 

Nope, I didn't RUN INTO A WALL  thank you for asking, it just appeared and if you press on it you can feel a nice large knot.

Finished off in the gym with:

Treadmill 2 mi 00:19min 09:30 pace

Recovery... My calves & quads hurt so bad but the sweat feels good :)

Gym 0.8 mi 00:10:00min 12:30 pace

10 min fast walk INCLINE 10

and 10 minutes additional strength training (a.k.a. me wandering around on different machines because I was bored)

I figured I earned a hearty lunch so I whipped up a HUGE Egg White Veggie Omelette

Totally full of veggies inside too!

My omelette had chopped carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, a slice of colby jack cheese, sprinkle of parmesan and some Italian seasoning!

Then while rolling out my legs I caught up on Once Upon a Time and Desperate Housewives.

It was a good day.

 

 

 

 

Now on to the most important thing... Mike told me this weekend he spotted a baby leopard spotted Alpaca.

 

I told him I wanted one and he said he got me the last one.

 

I am skeptical... but he said so, so it must be true.

 

 

When I get him I'm going to name him Pierre.

I told him to bring the Alpaca over tonight... and he told me I have no where to keep him right now so I'd better start construction on my 'Paca Palace.

 

 

 

 

I will.

 

 

And once this palace is complete Mike will have no more excuses, he'll have to bring me my Alpaca.

 

 

LONGEST POST EVER!!!!  whew!

Questions for the Day:

Have you tried any of the BodyRock.tv Workouts?  Any favorites I should try?

Have you ever flown in a non-commercial plane?  Were you nervous before hand like I was?

Have you heard of or ever had Wine Diamonds in your glass?



Weekend Recap and BETTER than the $1 (Dollar) Menu

So Friday afternoon I sped outta work because THIS is what the weather was like:

75 degrees in January?!  CRAZY SAUCE!

It was so gorgeous I threw on my LuLuLemon Run Speed shorts as soon as I got home and raced out the door.

I tried to run my Challenge Nature Run and completed the 6.4 miles in 1:04 (9:55 avg pace).

Apparently I needed to eat more, I'd only had oatmeal and berries for breakfast plus coffee then 2 Gu Chomps before the run... I run better when I don't work through lunch... Still, the weather was gorgeous!  I was also slightly slowed down because they were doing construction on the trail and I had to 'limbo' under caution tape a few times.  There was no stopping me.

I hurried in the door after my run to have a quick shower and change for a dinner with several couples from work.

So fresh and so clean!!!

We went to Buca Di Bepo which has Family Style dining so you order a few entrees and it feeds the whole table. 

Thank GOODNESS they brought out some salad first because I was famished!!

For our entrees the group ordered two versions of spicy pasta (one with sausage, one with chicken) and the Eggplant Parmesan.  I had the eggplant which was AMAZING.  I am not a fan of spicy pasta...

Afterwards most of the couples went home, but M & I joined another couple for a few drinks at a local bar - we felt like being young and crazy since it was Friday night.

Saturday we woke up and hit the gym - I managed a 3 mile run on the treadmill but it was rough after my longer run the day before, and my legs felt like lead.

I also managed to get in a pretty good strength session with some Tone It Up Sunset moves.  I've been doing a great job so far this year at continuing to work strength into my workout plan!  2012 Week I = complete!!

We ended up meeting a bunch of friends at Top Golf for lunch.

I'm just a beginner, but Top Golf is still a lot of fun for me.  They have 'bays' that remind me of nice bowling alleys where there are tables and TV touch screens with your 'score' and of course additional TVs with sports playing.  There are different colored flags in front of you and you simply shoot at the different flags and depending on how close your ball lands that's how many points you get - simple, right??

I only shoot at the closest flags because I don't have any sort of a long shot yet.  I also get bored easily so I like to be on a team and take turns swinging :)

The food isn't bad either - especially for a sports venue:

M & I split the chicken wrap and Asian Chicken Salad.

Oh, and a few light beers - mine with lime :)

After spending 4-5 HOURS at Top Golf, we headed back to Mikesta's Casa and placed a few card games before our friends went on their merry way leaving us to decide how we wanted to spend our Saturday night.

We decided the GROCERY STORE was the best call.

WERE. WE. RIGHT!!!!

If you are one of those people who is excited by the DOLLAR MENU try these specials on for size!!!

FIRST the produce aisle greeted me with

$1 Raspberries or Blackberries

and then the frozen vegetable aisle followed up with

$1 Mixed Veggie Bags

in a million styles!  The Bell Pepper and Onion Blend is one of my favorites but I also stacked up the cart full of Broccoli, Spinach, and Tuscan Style Mixed Veggies.

You can't beat $1... and although I love fresh vegetables, I always keep some frozen in my freezer to heat up last minute and add to pasta dishes and rice.

I told Mike it was like a very belated Birthday gift -- Thank you Kroger :) :) :)

After returning home from our successful grocery store date we decided to get fancy and pull out the Lobster Tail meat we'd bought from Costco the previous weekend. 

Lobster Tail Meat + Veggies + Smart Noodles + Tomato Basil Sauce

That's Mike's plate -- his always looks nicer than mine because I just throw everything in a cereal bowl since that way I'm less likely to spill over the sides.

We watched a few episodes of Dexter we have on Net Flix and called it a night!

via

I'm still not caught up with the current season so don't spoil it for me!! We're at the point where he has befriended Julia Stiles (ya omg remember her from Save the Last Dance?!)

The show is a little bit dark for me... but I do appreciate how good typically wins over evil :)

Sunday I started my day out VERY HAPPY.

Doesn't that look like a HUGE smiley face to you?!?!

Egg White and SUPER VEGGIE omelette with toasted artisan bread.  YUM.

I also added a slice of Munster Cheese which was DELISH.

A big lunch fueled another workout at the gym - but I stuck to a sweaty elliptical session to give my running muscles a bit of a break.

The rest of our Sunday was spent researching a few things that I will talk about on the blog ONCE they actually happen, that way I don't jinx anything ;)

I hope everyone has a fabulous Monday!

(lol)

Questions for the Day:

How's the weather where you are?

was gorgeous all weekend - but super rainy and 40's today! blech

Do you have anywhere like 'Top Golf' near you?  Do you golf?

Still very new to golf!  I am working on my swing using a 7 iron and refuse to try any more until I get this one down - I'm a bit of a perfectionist.  And also, I don't go but once every few months.

Have you ever had 'Date Night' at your local grocery store?



Itching to Run...

OMGoodness WHAT time is it?!

Puzzled by that clock?  Don't worry.. the numbers are still in their typical locations, just using Nerdy Math terms ;)

That clock was a graduation present from my parents when I graduated with a BS in Applied Mathematics.

::NERD ALERT::

It's roughly 10:50am according to my clock now hanging in my cubical here at work... and I am simply itching to run!!!

Surprisingly there were no Cartoons on Google that had to do with a Runner fidgiting frantically at the office... so I drew that one up myself then added text via FotoFlexer.

That's ME right now.

I have barely been able to focus all day, I just keep thinking about the GORGEOUS weather outside!!

Friday, January 6th

70 | 47 °F

Partly Cloudy

Umm... high of 70 in January?!  WONDERFUL!

This is still slightly a strange feeling to me, because a year ago I had never even run a race nor had I felt any strong feelings for running. ::gasp::

Since discovering a love of running I've found confidence, pride and happiness in my workouts.  That doesn't mean that they're all wonderful cherry topped sundaes or easy by any means, but it means that each and every day I'm learning to be happier with myself, my body and my health.

Running is like a Box of Chocolates.

Not every Run is going to be your favorite, and each one is a surprise - but all in all, you'd rather have the box of chocolates, right??

Anyways part of this dying to run today is probably due to my REST DAY yesterday.

I went with K and M to Middle-Of-Nowhere where Ash lives now to bring her and Jax her FAVORITE Burger from this tiny diner out there.

I was skeptical to say the least, but this place was pretty awesome!

and PACKED.

It's a 50's ish Car themed Diner - "MG's" - where every burger on their menu is named after a car (e.g. Chevy, Ford, Thunderbird, etc)

Retro JukeBox

M & K waiting for the Burgers

I went with the T-Bird (Turkey Burger) on their HomeMade Bun with Lettuce, Tomato, Swiss and Mushrooms.  It was HEAVEN.

And then the four of us split these....

I cannot remember the last time I let myself eat a tater tot.  Those puppies are dangerous.  So much for being healthy I probably ate half the tots myself!  Oh well, we're allowed an indulgence every now and then, right?

I just justified it by saying it would fuel my run TODAY.

Speaking of indulgences, the Grey's Anatomy premier was AMAZING SAUCE!!!

via

What that girl goes through just makes you really appreciate your life and the people around you! 

At least with all the sadness and heartbreak 

(still upset they killed off another of my favorite men - Henry)

there was a Happy Ending :)

And I made sure to start off this morning back on the right track...

From the Cafe at work -- Oatmeal with Strawberries, a few raisins, cinnamon and Truvia with a Black Coffee - YUM.

That Oatmeal was gone like the Flash.

Questions for the Day:

BEST thing you got for graduation?  Go.

How long can you go between workouts before you start getting 'antsy' and unable to concentrate? 

If you're an avid Grey's watcher (like me), what do you think about Mark's new love interest?  Do you feel bad for Lexie or think she made her choice?