I'm no longer MIA

Sorry! It's been over two months since I've done anything through my blog. After my last race in July I felt it was time to crack down on wedding festivities. I asked for 0 help from my bridesmaids and groomsmen so I had to take on everything by myself. I looked at it as, everyone has their own lives and I can't make anyone feel obligated to help me since this is my day. It helped me not get upset with anyone that couldn't make it. 

Well, the wedding is over and it was perfect. By far the best day of my life. I'm lucky to have married someone so wonderful and fun to be around. He tells me I'm beautiful everyday (more than once) and tries to make it to every race that he possibly can. I would say that I'm pretty lucky. 

Since we've lived together for quite a while before we go married Adam has always been bugging me for a puppy. I had legitamet plans on surprising him on his birthday but that didn't go as planned. One night we had all the guys over doing their football draft and Adam made it clear that he has been looking at puppies online for a while. In fear that he would bring home some mean mut, I have in. Literally a week and a day after our wedding we got a puppy! This is Hudson. 

And this is how much he has grown in the 4 weeks we've had him.  

So that's what I've been up too. Things are winding down again and I'm back at CrossFit 3 days a week and I'll be starting my lifting back up shortly. Sunday I have a 10k to put in the books and Tuesday is the Pittsburgh Marathon registration already!! My plans are to sign up for the half and train for the full that way I can switch later. 

I can't believe this summer came and left so quickly! This was by far the greatest summer I've ever had but I'm ready for fall. 

How was your summer?

Did you have any fun races or life changes? 

Last race before my wedding.

42 days until I'm hitched to the love of my life. Wow. We started dating when we were 13. He's by far, my best friend ever (other than my twin sister). In the past 10 years he's made it to almost every dance recital, completion, softball game, soccer game, football game when I was a majorette, and race. He's so supportive and loving. I honestly don't know how I got so lucky. It takes love to stand alone in the middle of 100,000 people to try to watch someone run 13.1 miles when it took me over 2 hours to do. True love. Enough of that. 

Wednesday I ran my last race before our wedding. I was supposed to run the Rock 'n' Roll half in Pittsburgh, but due to certain circumstances it was canceled and we got our money back. I decided I was going to run this race on the 4th of July. All of my CrossFit friends were doing it so I was peer pressured into it. Lots of hills and beer at the end. Totally worth $20 if you ask me. I went to packet pick up on Tuesday to register. Got my shirt, got my beer mug, ready to go. 

Since I've been so busy with CrossFit and work, I haven't been running like I should. Tuesday was a terrible day and night for my lungs. I woke up in the middle of the night having and asthma/eczema attack. It was so humid and hard to breathe.  I was totally scratching my skin like a crack head. It was terrible. Once I got back to sleep, there wasn't much time before I had to be up for work and then the race. 

After work I changed and tried to find my way. I was told that this race had a lot of hills so I was already nervous since I had to do breathing treatments all week. There was also a big storm warning before hand but they went along with the race anyways. Since the sky was already black when it started I didn't wear my Garmin or take my phone. I wanted to see how I did without everything since the last time I PRed I didn't have anything either. 

The race

They weren't joking when they said that the first mile and a half was a hill. 3 or 4 hills actually. Completely up hill. I'm not going to lie, I did have to walk a lot of it. You know what though? I'm okay with that. I learned from this race that not every race is going to be wonderful. I usually finish under 30 minutes and this race was over 34. I'll take it. It doesn't matter how fast you run, runners don't care how fast other runners run. Just as long as they run. At about two and half miles it started storming. Thunder, lightening, everything. Just so it's clear for future reference, one of my biggest fears are thunder storms. Another fear is getting stuck in thunder storms.  The spectators were awesome though. Everyone yelled and cheered us on from their porches. I love running because everyone is so supportive. 

Once the race was over I met my mom, (this was my first race that she ever made it too) and my fiancé at the local bar for my beer and wings. I changed out of my soaking wet clothes, of course.  The bar was packed with all the runners so we ate our food and headed home. 

Fitness tip of the day: Don't stress yourself over numbers or how you do. Work on having fun and feeling better about yourself. Honestly, no one cares how you do. If they care that much, then they are focusing on the wrong aspects. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Fourth of July festivities.

This past weekend was my first 4 day weekend ever! It was so nice. I made sure that I kept my weekend full and tried to eat as healthy as I could. I still ate a little more sweets than usual but it was a wonderful weekend. It was so nice to have a break and relax for once. Here was my weekend start:

Wednesday night

CrossFit class was brutal! I think any workout including bear crawls are my least favorite. 

Thursday

I ran 3 miles with one of my childhood friends on the bike trail. Afterwards I went to my family's house for a picnic to swim and relax. 

Friday

Adam and I went and walked around the local arts festival for about three hours. It's wrapped around two lakes so when we go we always make sure to walk around at least once. I've never timed it but I've been told if you go around it the "right" way, it's 3 miles. Later on in the evening we had friends over for a cookout. 

Saturday

Adam and I met some of our friends and went to my first farmer's market! It was great! I bought fresh green beans, 2 loaves of bread, almond butter, and Adam bought a cupcake for himself. Afterwards, we pick up our dryer (it was a gift from our wedding shower. We just never got around to getting it) Later, we went swimming at our family's house again. 

Sunday

Sunday wasn't a great day. My asthma was acting up and I needed to do two breathing treatments. (Not fun!) I met my sister for coffee and finished my thank you cards from my wedding shower. After spending close to 4 hours with my sister, I went home and Adam and I wrote out our wedding invitations. 

I had a wonderful weekend, minus the lung issues. I was defiantly ready to go back to work Monday morning though. I ate a little more than I probably should have and some extra sweets but guess what?! I didn't get fat or lose my muscle. It doesn't hurt to take a break and eat what you want. It was a nice break but I'm glad to be back into my normal swing of things and routine. 

Fun fact:

My favorite "festival food" are gyros. I could eat them every day and not get sick of them.

What's your favorite holiday or festival food? 

Clean eating and healthy exercising.

A while back I promised a friend that I would post some of my meals. Honestly, I'm a very lazy eater. I do my meal preps every week but everything I make is so simple, here's why:

1.) I don't own a dish washer. I am the dish washer. 

2.) I don't have much time for meal prep so I prep what I can. 

3.) If it has more than 5 ingredients, my attention span is gone. 

Everything I make is super easy, I think the hardest part is cutting fruits and veggies for the week. I always pack a lunch, again because I'm too lazy to leave and I'm also cheap. Some of my meals include:

Breakfast:

•1 egg(hard boiled or made in a pan) Brusselsprouts, turkey bacon all loaded with sriracha sauce 

•A homemade organic multigrain waffle with peanut butter on it

•A bowel a Cheerios and Silk

•Fresh fruit 

•Whole wheat or multi-grain toast with chia seeds

•Greek yogurt

•Banana 

Lunch/ Dinner combos

•Grilled chicken and Vegetables

•Quinoa salad (recipe on last blog)

•Salmon 

•Quinoa

•Brown rice 

•Tuna

•Kale or spinach salads(big salads!)

•Turkey meatloaf (Fitfluential recipe) 

•Turkey burgers (I always use 93%lean)

•Sweet potatoes 

Snacks

•Greek yogurt (fave: plain with Nutella)

•Mixed nuts

•Almond

*I love chia and flax seeds!

That's just a basic idea. I could eat peanut butter on everything. I go through almost 1 really large jar a week. I mix and match meals to change things up, but none of it is really exciting. I also eat at least one banana a day for breakfast. I've stopped taking protein powder or pre-workouts and I don't see a difference either way. I'll probably not go back to the pre-workouts or protein because they're expensive and why bother if I'm getting the same results from actual food? I'm not against it, I'm just taking a break from it. My diet does change as far as carbs and proteins go when I'm training for a half marathon. Obviously my calorie count goes up but I've stopped counting calories.

I have finally become happy with myself and my body. I've noticed so many wonderful changes from changing my diet. I'm more energized, my stress levels are going down, the headaches that I used to get are decreasing, and my over-all feel is better. I was a very large child but once I lost the weight I was still feeling awful. My body has finally found it's happy point. 

Here's an idea of my workout: 

•CrossFit (Wednesday and Saturday) 

•Kickboxing(Tuesday or Thursday)

•Running(Depending on the training season 3-6 days with one long run it there)

•Weightlifting(3-4 days)

•Biking(1 day with a few friends)

That's my usual schedule. Right now I am less than two months away from my wedding so things do change when something comes up. I'm human. My next race isn't until the end of September so I have a lot of time to train before then. 

That's my usual life. It's pretty exciting, I know. If you have any questions please feel free to comment,tweet, Facebook, or email!

*This is an example of what I do. I am not a licensed nutrition or dietitian.  Please consult a doctor before trying something new. 

My favorite workout food is peanut butter! I eat it out of the jar (using different spoons of course) What's your favorite food that you always eat?

Quinoa Salad.

I never thought summer working only one job would get so busy! I used to work two jobs, seven days a week. I would honestly be lucky to have 1 day off on the weekend for myself. It was extremely stressful and hectic. Now that I'm able to work my solid full time job, I've started more activities. I recently took up CrossFit (which I love!) I'm also planning my wedding. We're almost done so I should have more time soon. 

Anyways, I recently tried out my own recipe. It turned out really well so I'll share it with you! 

Quinoa salad 

3/4 cup quinoa 

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar 

1/4 cup maple syrup 

1/2 cup dried cranberries(natural) 

1/2 cup sunflower seeds 

1/2 cup sliced almonds

•Cook quinoa according to the directions. •Let it cool.

•Make dressing: In a bowl, whisk oil, vinegar, and maple syrup. 

•Add dressing and stir in cranberries, sliced almonds, and sunflower seeds. 

•Let refrigerate over night. 

•Serve 

Try it and let me know how you like it! 

Race weekend and Sweat Pink

It has  definitely  been a while since I've posted on here.  I've been really busy at work and wedding planning but I did make time for a race yesterday.  Yesterday was Pittsburgh's color me rad 5k.  My sister isn't a big race guru, so it took a lot to get her to go with me.  We took our childhood best friend with us as well.  These are the two people that I could spend all of my time with every day.  They really are my best friends.  My sister got me into running, but she refuses to enter races.  She had way too much fun though.  This made up for the mud run that I made her do in Pennsylvania in November with 3 feet of snow.  I still haven't lived that down.  So, yesterday we got up and had breakfast at my sister's house.  She drove us the hour it took to get to our destination.  We met our friend's friends (who were so awesome) My dad rode along with us because he loves to go to races.  

This race was totally worth the money.  A portion of the proceeds went to the Ronald McDonald House Charity.  There were two problems we had with the race, 1.) we ran their parking lot so it was covered in rocks and gravel.  2.) There were more runners than walkers.  My group of friends and I are runners, we walked a little but we spent a portion of our time tripping over people that were walking.  

I think for the next race they should look into two lanes for people.  This race was still so much fun! 

I found out today that I became a Sweat Pink ambassador!  I applied a few months ago and have been checking my email religiously to see if I was accepted.   Sweat Pink is a group forum to learn, teach, and cheer on current athletes.  I can't wait to connect in my community! 

Your turn!

What fun races have you done this summer or planning to do?  

It's okay to have a bad day.

I'm starting to get into my new job routine. It only took me four weeks. Since it's getting light out earlier, I'm going to start running earlier. I set my alarm for 6am this morning to give myself enough time to get up, take my medicine, use my inhaler and get out the door to be home by 7am. I decided to take the hilly way through town since that's the longest way to go. About a quarter of a mile into it I couldn't breathe at all. It's crazy to think that a few weeks ago I ran a half marathon and did pretty well and could barely run today. I kept trudging my 3 miles around town with a lot of walking. The humidity was 87% so I wasn't going to kill myself to run. I left myself enough time to get home and ready for work.

What I'm slowly learning is that this is process. It's okay if I have a bad morning run. That just makes the finish line at the races better. When I first started, I felt like every run had to be a good one. I'm not saying to skip workouts or walk instead of run. Know your body and listen to it. If you feel like you're going to pass out then take a break! You'll do better in the long run. 

After I got home, I made some chia pudding. I saw it on Pinterest and just added chia seeds to light soy milk. It turned out okay but I didn't leave it set long enough so it was kind of setting In my mouth. 

Ways to get up for a morning run:

1.) Sleep in your running cloths. When you wake up you're ready to go. 

2.) Get everything ready that you need for after your run. Ex. If you have I work, pack your lunch, iron you cloths and get stuff ready the night before. 

3.) Go to sleep earlier. If you need to get up an hour earlier then go to sleep an hour earlier. The more you lag to get out of bed the harder it is. 

4.) No matter how much you want to sleep in, don't. You'll feel so much more energized after your run/workout. 

5.) Give yourself enough time before and after your workout to get ready so you aren't rushing. 

I'm naturally a morning person. I've never had to hit snooze on my alarm so if you aren't a morning person, this may not be as effective. This is what helps prepare me for my morning runs and workouts. 

What advice would you add to my list?

Are you a morning person or a night owl?