An AM workout, A Few Hours Late

 

First off, I want to link back to my post,  Comparison Trap  through the the Love Yourself link up.  This is something I’m pretty passionate about and I think this link up is an amazing way for us to get together and talk about the importance of each other, and really Loveing ourselves :).

Ok — down to business.   I was surprised by how much support my morning post about skipping a work out and vitamins got.  I am SO thankful for all your feedback, and am happy to know I’m not the only one who is a bit confused on the topic.

As for the AM workout, it happened, at 5 PM this afternoon :).

Hey, I told you all I’d squeeze it in!

Workout for the Day:  Music Treadmill Run

• Run for the length of Fall Out Boy Album
• 1 song steady run warm up
• 10 songs running 6.1-6.3 pace, with 8.0 during chorus.
• 2 song cool down at 6.1-6.4
• 5 minute incline walk cool down (really I just wanted to finish CHOPPED on TV).

The run went well!   I normally do feel stronger in the afternoons than work day AM’s and I think it’s because I’ve gotten a few meals in me and had time to digest.  With that said, I still like to get my work outs done in the AM and enjoy the family in the PM.

You may notice that I haven’t listed a distance for this run.

The dreaded Emergency Stop.

Unfortunately at song 10, in the midst of a speedy chorus, I hit the little red button that completely stops the treadmill and erases the run history.  So, after cursing for a few seconds, I started the treadmill back up and finished out my run.  Unfortunately I only have proof of 1.5 miles at the end, because I had a tshirt over the milage and time to keep me from obsessing over it while I ran.  My guess is somewhere between 5 and 6 miles, closer to the 5.5 point.

All in all, I felt strong the entire run and besides the darn emergency stop, overall I had a great run.

Nice and sweaty!

After my work out, Zach and I caught up for a bit while making a nice, healthy dinner.

Salmon marinated in Jerk sauce, a loaf of everything bread, and a salad with

• spinach
• carrots
• garden grape tomatoes
• grapes
• parmasen cheese
• roasted red pepper salad

Perfect balance of cards, healthy fats, and veggies for my post run self 🙂

And now it’s time to hang out with the family and enjoy some brownies…if there are any left!  Zach went on a long bike ride today and I’m not confident that he left me much…

Quesiton for the night:  Have you ever had a run in with the dreaded emergency stop button?

Love Yourself Link Up: Comparison Trap

My afternoon post today was completely inspired by a post I saw on a friend of mine’s page.  You really need to check out Aubrey if you haven’t already, she’s amazing Chic to Chic.  Aubrey had written a post about Enjoying Yourself through the Love Yourself Linkup, a beautiful link up through another amazing writer, Anne the Adventurer.  This was not the first I’ve seen of this link up, but  today I was inspired to join.  Thank you to both Aubrey and Anne for the inspiration!

The Comparison Trap

I think most of us have fallen prey at one time or another to the comparison trap.  Comparing your strengths, weaknesses, beauty, values, etc. to those of someone else.  Maybe it’s a person you admire, maybe it’s someone you don’t even know.  As women, we are particularly vulnerable to this comparison trap.

Growing up, I compared myself to my girlfriends often.  Our teenage years are filled with emotional ups and downs as we are still learning who we are and developing our own sense of self.  Through out that time, I struggled being comfortable with who I was. I often wished that I looked more like one of my girlfriends, or had another’s outgoing personality.   Looking back now, I realize that by comparing myself to others, I was not valuing what I had to offer as an individual.

To this day, I still fall prey to the comparison trap.  The most common place for me is with my running.

Running is therapeutic for me.  It is my ME time, my challenge.  Running fulfills me in a way that sometimes I don’t think I fully appreciate.  I didn’t begin running until my mid-twenties, when I was inspired by my fiance and his family.  Zach is speedy himself, running halves in 1:30, but also has a brother that is an elite runner and a father who has run 5+ marathons and has even BQ’d.  When I first started running, I constantly compared myself to them.  I never felt like I was fast enough and often felt like I wasn’t a runner. No, people like Zach and his family were runners.   By comparing myself to others, I was stealing my own joy from running. Something that I was growing to LOVE and really value.

It took me some time and self awareness to figure out that just isn’t true… no matter what speed or what distance, I AM a runner.  And this really is a metaphor so many other things in life.  What is good and suitable for me will likely be different for someone else.  it’s one thing to be motivated by someone else, and it’s another to COMPARE yourself to another.   I can’t get stuck comparing my running, fitness, body, beauty, etc  to other women’s, because I am NOT them, I am ME.   Sometimes we need a little reminder that who we are is who we are supposed to be, and that’s pretty great.

There’s only ever going to be one of me, and one of you.  How cool is that?  Let’s celebrate THAT!

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A (postponed) AM workout and Vitamins

So I failed this morning.

I had every excuse in the world flowing through my head.

“I’ve been so busy the last two weeks I haven’t been able to work out in the afternoon.  I should wait until the afternoon and see how I feel.”

“Zach is riding tonight so he’ll need to be working when I get home…”

“I deserve to sleep in”

The list goes on, and the reality is, I was happy to sleep in a bit this morning.  I’m OK with it.  Sometimes sleep is more important, and to be honest I know myself and know that I will get a workout in this afternoon.  This morning sleep just seemed more important.  I’m flexible, it’s OK.   I know you all won’t judge me.

So, because I’m confident I’m going to get this workout in this afternoon, I am going to put it out there as

PLANNED workout for the day.

• Music run to the Fall Out Boy CD
• Steady run for one song
• 10 songs 6.0-6.2 for song, 8.0 for chorus
• 2 song cool down steady run

I’m not sure what kind of mileage or distance this is going to be, but I know it’ll be a strong run 🙂  Thanks for understand, and for holding me accountable 🙂

Vitamin Conversation

I’ve never been a good vitamin taker.  Except maybe as a kid, I am certain that I was Flinstone strong through and through.

As an adult, I’ve tried to take vitamins on a couple of occasions, but have never been consistent with them. I take them for a few days, then fall off and forget about them.  I always justify it with the fact that I try and eat a healthy, balanced diet and likely don’t NEED vitamin supplements.

Then, I met gummie vitamins.

And now I have absolutely no problem remembering my vitamins.  In fact, they are my favorite part of most mornings.  I take two women’s multivitamins and two calcium supplements with vitamin D.  I’ve read that as a runner the calcium is really good for bone and joint health, specifically for someone who doesn’t like milk or much dairy (unless ice cream counts).

This AM, as I was taking my vitamins, I started thinking a bit though.  These are literally sugar covered gummies, with lots of vitamins mixed in them.  I eat 2 of them, and then just want more sugar all through out the morning (I guess I still get the sugar effect from them, even though their vitamins).

Would it be healthier for me to just make a concerted effort to get more natural vitamins in my diet, specifically in the AM?  Like what if I started every morning with a healthy homemade juice (Zach would love that!)?  I guarentee, the only reason I remember to take these vitamins is because I basically now get to start my day with candy…

This is something I really have no clue about, and wanted to reach out to my bloggie friends and get your opinions.   Please feel free to weigh in with any thoughts, opinions, concerns.

Please note that I am NOT a doctor, just something I was thinking about this morning!

Happy Tuesday All 🙂

Question For the Day:  Any thoughts on vitamins yourself?