Music Moves My Soul {And my Feet}

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Yesterday, I completed the Lake Country half marathon.  It wasn't my best half marathon, but it wasn't my worst either.  Full recap to come.

But today, to celebrate seeing Carrie Underwood at Ravinia, I'd like to talk about music & running.  When I injured myself back in April, I first blamed it on the city of Chicago for not fixing the running path and then on myself because I got so caught up in my music and forgot to pay attention to what was going on around me.  After my sprain, I started running sans music and I surprisingly enjoyed it.  With the wedding just around the corner, I had enough thoughts to keep myself entertained :-) But when I signed up for this half marathon with my friend, I knew I'd need some music to help power me through my long runs.  

The Friday before the race, I made sure to update my 1/2 marathon playlist with some new favorites.  In total I had about 42 songs.  I won't list all 42, but I will list the ones that motivated me to get running again or run just a little bit faster.

1. Otis-Jay-Z

2. I wanna Go-Britney Spears

3. Pumped up Kicks-Foster the People

4. Super Bass-Niki Minaj

5. All I do is Win-DJ Khaled

6. Cowboy Casanova-Carrie Underwood; (I typically don't put country on a running playlist but when I hear this song, it motivates me to run only b/c I want legs like Carrie Underwood!)

7. Power-Kanye West

8. Sexy Bitch-David Guetta

9. Give me Everything-Pitbull

10. Waka Waka-Shakira

11. Party Rock Anthem-LMFAO

12. You Make Me Feel-Cobra Starship

13. Shake Senora-Pitbull

14. Every Teardrop is a Waterfall-Coldplay

15. Moves like Jagger-Maroon 5

16. Loca-Shakira

17. La La La-LMFAO

 I'm off to start my day!  Maybe some yoga & pancakes?? LC bought Carrie Underwood tickets for us at Ravinia tonight.  They're lawn seats, but I'm looking forward to packing our picnic and just relaxing and listening to the music.  I hope everyone's enjoying their long weekend!

Ice, Ice Baby!

On Saturday, I drew my first ever ice bath.  I did this because I haven't ran 8 miles since my last 1/2 marathon in October and my mileage increase was pretty sudden.  I wanted to be able to walk on Sunday, and the fact that my legs were already hurting me after my run told me that something needed to be done ASAP.

I've always read that icing after long runs works wonders for your muscles.  After I got up on Sunday and walked 3 miles to the Air & Water Show, I'm a definite believer in ice baths.

Here's what I did:

-I filled our tub up just enough to cover my legs with cold water(our "cold" isn't very cold at all, it's more of a room temp/cold).  

-After the tub was filled to where I wanted it, I got in (with swimsuit bottoms!) and a sweatshirt and dumped one big bag of ice into the water and on top of my legs.  I was very surprised at how refreshing this felt!  I sat in there for about 15 minutes.  

Benefits of ice baths

-Reduces recovery time

-Reduces muscle pain/soreness (inflammation)

You can read in more detail here about ice baths and how it works on your body.  

I'm off to taste test some flourless peanut butter chocolate chip cookies I made :-) I hope they taste as good as they smell!  I'll be back tomorrow with the first "Wedding Wednesday" post!

One Fish, Two Fish

Thursday already?  This week is flying right on by.  The fact that I was off of work on Monday & I have a 1/2 day tomorrow might have something to do with it.  This weekend, LC and I are headed north for drill and to enjoy some Wisconsin State fair goodness :-) I can't wait for a roasted corn :-) 

Last night my friend Courtney and I went to Jazzin' at the Shedd.  It's a music event hosted by The Shedd Aquarium where you can listen to live music, sip fancy drinks, and walk around the aquarium.  It's $12 to get in & if you pay an extra $6, you also get admission to the special exhibits.  Not too bad considering the regular price of admission.  I'm so glad we went to this because I've been wanting to see the jellyfish exhibit since I first saw it advertised and it was pretty amazing.  With the music they play in the exhibit, I could sit and watch those things all day...so relaxing!

This morning, I woke up pretty early and full of energy {which was a surprise considering the two delightfully strong cocktails that I enjoyed the previous night}.  Since I had a lump removed from the left side of my torso on Monday, I decided to take it easy and stick to a 3 miler.  I had to change up my normal route because of Lollapalooza, but it was a good change, because I got to enjoy this view and appreciate the fact that I live in such an awesome city :-)

I finished 3 miles in about 32 minutes.  One thing that I want to work on, when it comes to running, is my speed.  I can outlast my hubs when we go on runs together, but when it comes to sprints, he's definitely got me beat.  I've got great endurance when it comes to distance, but I'm slow.  I know a lot of this had to do with pushing myself outside my comfort zone, which I need to start doing.  But to be honest, I have no idea on where to begin to make times faster.  Any runners have any ideas?  I'm off to start packing for WI and to make some dinner.  Enjoy your Thursday!

LC's Tough Mudder Recap + SIDI for the Week

Sorry this posting is a day late, but I hung out with my parents all day on their boat yesterday & the time just got away from me :-) It was a glorious way to end the weekend and I didn't want to leave.  We didn't get back to Chicago until after 9pm, and after sunning & swimming all afternoon, I was beat.  But not as beat as this guy...

Hubs had his tough mudder race on Saturday and he completed it like a champ :-) I'm not going to lie, I had my doubts about him finishing only because this race sounded so intense & the night before, we were laying in bed and I asked him when the last time was that he ran 10 miles.  He told me 8 or 9 years ago...EEK!   

We woke up EARLY Saturday morning to get ready and drive up to Devil's Head in WI.  We got on the road at 4:30 a.m. and guess what...there was a traffic jam!  At 4:30AM!!!! To be honest, I was not the least bit surprised...it's Chicago.  But we later found out that the highways had standing water and there was a part of the highway that was closed all together.  Needless to say, we made in there just in time for LC to start his race.  

Pretty much, he had to complete run/walk/ crawl :-) 10 miles and complete 25 obstacles.  I tried to make it to as many obstacles as I could, but being a spectactor at these things are no joke.  One, I definitely wore the wrong kind of shoes.  My old school Adidas flip flops are shot :-(  And two, the maps were not helpful at all.  I pretty much just walked around, asked the people what obstacle # it was and waited for him to show up. (Tough mudder, get better maps and some guides out there to direct you on where to go.)

This was obstacle #10.  But the first one that I saw him at.  I was so happy to see him alive & not hurt.  And I'm pretty sure he was happy to see me :-) 

  (No thanks buddy, we'll save the hugs for later.)

Some of the obstacles included runnning through walls of fire (so mad that I missed this), climbing up a wall, carrying logs, jumping into pools of ice water, low crawling through barbed wire in the mud, and last but  running through yellow tenticles that had electrcity running through them.  Most people made it out of that unharmed, but hubs was not so lucky.  He got shocked with a BIG one and, therefore, fell into the mud.  This was the very last obstacle and why he looks so dirty compared to everyone else...

I think he's still feeling the effects of that shock!

After they finished the race, they got a beer, a clean t-shirt and those groovy sweatbands :-) Oh, and a facebook badge that says you complete Tough Mudder.  He keeps asking me to do it with him next year, but I told him the ONLY way he could get me to do it is if we get to do the one London or Syndey Australia ;-) If I'm going to put myself through that kind of punishment I want a sweet vacation out of it, or at least a medal :-)  The money went to a great cause & I was just so happy he finished successfully AND injury- free.

So below is this week's Say it Do It.  I saw one of my BFF's for a bit yesterday and she roped me into doing a 1/2 marathon with her.  It's her first one and I thought it would be nice if she had a buddy to run it with her.  Did I mention that it's over Labor Day weekend? 6 weeks to go, so I better get running! I also got my turbo fire DVDs in the mail.  So far I LOVE them.  They're so much fun :-)

Monday: Fire 30 + Stretch 10

Tuesday: Run 4 miles + Turbofire workout

Wednesday: Run 2 miles + Bar Method+ Volleyball playoffs!

Thursday: Run 4 miles + Turbofire

Friday: Turbofire workout

Saturday: 5k Race to Zumba in the Park :-)

Sunday: Yoga!

I'm off to the grocery store & to grill out with hubs.  Grilling has become our Monday ritual since it's his day off and the only day he gets to perfect his grilling skills this week ;-)

Who's The Toughest of Them All?

Happy Friday! The weekend is finally here :-) LC & will be heading back to WI tomorrow for a fun-filled (for me anyway) Saturday & Sunday.

Back in December when LC was deployed, he sent me an e-mail with the subject line, "I found something fun for us to do!" I was immediately excited and thought it was a fun, tropical vacation to take (even though we had a wedding to pay for, wishful thinking). I opened up the e-mail and saw this video below:


This looks 10 times worse that basic training.  I responded back with, "What part of this looks fun for me?" He said that because I had run two 1/2 marathons last year, he thought that I'd be interested in doing this with him. I love you dear, but no thanks. So LC found some fellow Security Forces members to participate in the race with him and tomorrow morning we're driving up to Devil's Head WI so that he can do just that.  Tough Mudder is a very intense 10-12 mile obstacle course that was designed by the British Special Forces.  There's not a time goal, but just to finish the race is an accomplishment on its own.  On average, about 78% of participants actually complete the course.  I believe there's a tattoo & mohawk for the finisher, which LC will NOT be getting.  He also had to sign a death waiver for this race, that's how intense it is.  I'm hoping that the weather in WI tomorrow will be less hot and humid than it's been here in Chicago.  The money raised by the event goes to a wonderful cause, the Wounded Warrior Project. 

After the race, we'll be headed back to a town close to my parents house because LC has to go to a Yellow Ribbon conference on Sunday.  The conference is for those who have been deployed for a certain amount of time and it's about reintegrating back into society...even though he's been home since February, he still has to go.  I on the other hand will be spending the day on my parents boat (weather pending).  It seems like every time I go out on the lake with them, the clouds decide to come out.  I'm bad "boat luck", but we're going to take our chances anyhow.

Tonight, I have scheduled a 3 mile run & some yoga.  The yoga will for sure be happening because my hips are extremely sore from Bar Method & it's been forever since I've practiced it, but the 3 mile run might turn into something a little bit shorter or some elliptical action. 

Today's eats have been pretty good :-) I'm getting back on the "healthy/whole eating" track after our wonderful honeymoon.  I started my day off with a cup of iced coffee & 1/2 cup of almond milk along side a peach & a hard boiled egg.  My breakfasts haven't been anything great lately.  For some reason lately I don't have much of an appetite in the mornings and I can just get by with a smoothie or piece of fruit & something small.  For lunch today I tried a new place, Freshii.  They have a TON of options, including a DIY salad/wrap.  It took awhile to decide what I wanted, but I went with the vegan wrap w/goat cheese.  My wrap came undone, so I mostly just ate it as a salad and picked at the wheat tortilla.  It was very, very good!  

Have a good weekend!!! I'll be back at some point with a recap of LC's tough mudder race! What's the most extreme race/workout you've ever done? For me, the toughest race was my first 1/2 marathon in Chicago last August.  I was undertrained and way overheated!

Finding Motivation

I'm not going to lie.  The wedding planning process took a lot out of me.  While it was mostly fun & the day turned out perfectly, there were times when there were tears, it was very stressful and caused arguments between LC & I.  Since we've been married, we've been argument/tear/stress-free and very happy in love :-) 

But there's one thing that I'm missing: motivation to workout.  I wish I could say that I exhausted myself from all the working out that I did before the wedding, but that would be a big {fat} lie.  I did take a little bit of a break from The Bar Method, but I'm back to it this week.  I've been working out since I got married, but not the extent that I should be to continue losing weight and the motivation to actually get up and go is just not there.  

Before I got married, what motivated me to get up and workout was that BWD {beautiful, white, dress}.  I wanted to look and feel my best on my wedding day, and I did. But lately, when I don't feel like running, I have nothing to think about that gets me up and going.  Now I see how newlyweds gain weight their first year of marriage.

But I won't let that be me.  I'm mixing things up here at the casa.  I've recruited a running buddy: my husband.  Our goal is to run at least twice a week together and I've been toying around with the idea of signing up for a 1/2 marathon at the end of the October.  I've also ordered Turbo Fire from Beachbody because I've heard so many great things about it and it looks FUN! I was going to start the 60 day Insanity program {which I bought about a year ago}, but one of my bridesmaids had asked to borrow it so I'm going to let her try it out.  I also think it's time for some new workout apparel.  Maybe a trip to lululemon is in my near future :-) 

Sean T, We meet Again

This morning, I was supposed to get my butt to Bar Method, but I forgot to set my alarm last night and woke up too late.  Luckily, I still woke up early enough to get a home workout in.  Instead of going downstairs and doing the usual elliptical/treadmill action, I decided to take the cardio up a notch and do Insanity Pure Cardio. Holy man! I forgot how intense Insanity was.  I've never sweated so much during a "warm up".  The workout felt so good afterward, but my heart felt like it was going to bust out of my chest while doing it. 

I bought Insanity last year after one of my BFF's did the whole 60 day program to shape up for her wedding.  She looked more amazing than she did before.  I bought the DVDs with the intent to do the same thing, but then I started training for my 1/2 marathon and after that I discovered the Bar Method and fell in love with that.  So Insanity & hottie Sean T, have been sitting on my shelf for a good amount of time.  I think they'll be making an appearance though after the honeymoon.  As much as I love going to Bar Method (and the results I've had), I think it's time to switch up the workout routine for a little bit.

An another note...T-11 days until the wedding!!! It's crazy that I'm now able to say, "I'm getting married next Sunday!" Words can't even begin to explain how excited I am right now!

Good News & Disappointments

Good news or bad news first?  I'll start with the good news because it's short & sweet.  About a year ago, I started a blog to track my wedding planning progress.  When I realized that I was writing more about working out and nutrition, I decided to start a blog geared more towards that.  I had invested a lot of time in that other blog and had also written through LC's 2nd deployment.  I had a link sending people to the new blog and never deleted the old one.  It wasn't until today that I realized that I could import all of my old blog postings!!  Thanks to the traffic tracker and whoever got to this new blog via the old one.  So so happy! It's the little things people :-)

So now, you can find a tab with all my wedding-related posts and I can reference back to older postings.  This has seriously made my day.  That and volleyball getting canceled due to weather...I've got a big "to-do" list to tackle tonight!

On the downside, and this is a hard one for me to write about, I've decided that this year I will not be running the Chicago marathon.  Major. Fail. A lot went into making this decision.  Could I physically do the training program? Defitely.  Would I have the time to do. Sure, if I set everything else that I have going on this summer aside.  Ditch out my BFF's bachelorette party because I have to run 13 miles the next day? Not this summer.  When I signed up for the marathon, I guess I never thought about how much it would have to coinside with.  And just getting through this first week of training was tough with everything else I had going on.  Run on my honeymoon?  No thank you.  There's a time and a place and celebrating marital bliss is not it.  

Another reason, I decided to pass on the marathon?  My sister will be gone for training with the Air Force.  When I first realized this, I knew this wouldn't be my year.  My sister is one of my biggest supporters.  We ran our first 1/2 marathon together and I know that if she lived in Chicago, she would be my designated running buddy.  We're really good at pushing each other.  It must be a sister thang :-) When I ran my 2nd 1/2 marathon she was there with my mom, holding up signs chasing me around the course.  Her excitement and motivation for me made that run worthwhile.  So for me to run my first ever FULL marathon without her being there just doesn't feel right to me.  

I'm dissapointed in myself, but there's always next year.  This summer, I'm going to run for fun and maybe sign up for a fall 1/2 marathon after the wedding craze has died down a bit.       

Bar Method

Source

A co-worker of mine has been talking about this fitness class she's been going to, the Bar Method. They have a couple of different studios located across the country. It's a fitness class that's meant to lean and sculpt your body. I've been wanting to try it out for awhile now but wanted to wait until I was done with my class. So, tonight I found it to be the perfect opportunity. It's a great class and the nice thing about the studio is that it's a 5 minute walk from my job.

When I got there, I filled out all the paperwork and they showed me around the studio. I went to the locker room and changed. They require you to wear yoga pants/capris and socks. We first worked on our arms, then our legs, and abs. Within the first 5 minutes of the class, I was thinking in my head, "I am no longer friends with H.D." (my co-worker who suggested it to me). I never knew you could get a workout just by using 2 and 3 lbs weights! It's a class that practices isometrics so you hold a lot of the poses for a long time and pulse up and down for many repetitions. It was hard but I loved the way it worked out my body, very low impact yet effective. I've worked out with a personal trainer a few times before and to be honest with you I'd rather spend my money on this. (It's $20 a class).

Happy Monday!

I'm sick. Like call into work, sleep all day, stuffy head, ears, nose and throat kind of sick. At the rate I was going, it was bound to happen. I'm actually surprised it didn't happen earlier.

My weekend was otherwise a productive one. It was pretty low-key but I definitely needed that. On Friday night I cleaned my apartment and caught up with all the shows I had missed for the week. Hey Grey's Anatomy...what's going on, yo!? You're majorly slacking. And Hello Private Practice...(and wink wink to Taye Diggs) you are my new favorite show. I got 8 hours of sleep on Friday night. It was heaven. Saturday, I finally switched out all my summer clothes for my winter ones, and spent two quality hours with my friend, GYM. After my sweaty reunion with GYM, I ran (literally) in 40 degree temps with capri pants to Target to get some goodies for LC's Christmas care package. It's going to be a good one! Funny, I started sneezing and feeling sick already Saturday night... I woke up on Sunday feeling a little sickly, but still held my date with Sean T who kicked my butt before church. So on top of having a really bad cold today, I cannot move the rest of my body. On Sunday night, I watched one of my Netflix movies, The Duchess. I thought it was a very good movie and Keira Knightly always does such a good job with these "era" movies. The ONLY good thing about LC being gone, is that I get to watch whatever "girly" movie I want without having to hear anything about it.

Today also begins week 2 of phase one of the South Beach Diet. So far, so good. I'm down 4lbs, and my stomach feels great. I saw a GI specialist a few weeks ago about some complications and so far eating "clean" and lots of veggies has helped. I thought that I'd miss bread, pasta or sweets, but the hardest part about phase one is the no alcohol for two weeks. I do enjoy my vino on a Friday night...and a Thursday night. I've tried Weight Watchers, and although it has worked (when I stuck with the plan) I've gained the weight back. It doesn't teach you how to eat properly. I remember once thinking to myself, "I can get all my points in by eating ice cream sandwiches all day!" I like the South Beach diet because it's forcing me to cook for myself, make smarter snack choices, and there's no calorie/point counting involved. I will admit though that I'm very nervous about starting Phase 2 where I can allow alcohol and carbs back into my life. Phase 2 begins next Monday, but I think I might stay in phase one until Thanksgiving, because who really diets on Thanksgiving?

Reality Check

Last week Wednesday, my BFF Rach and I went to go and pick up our bridesmaid dresses for our friend's wedding. Becky's getting married in one month from today. Well, we got the bridal store and the girl asked us if we wanted to try them on. Rachel didn't want to (she had just had a baby) and I said that I would, so into the dressing room we went. I took the plastic off of the dress, looked at it, and thought "Wow, this dress looks really big I will probably have to get it taken in". WRONG! I put the dress on, Rachel attempted to zip it and it would not zip all the way up! I got it to the middle of my back and it was a no go. Crap! I made her try hers on, we got it zipped but it was tight. We both shared a good laugh about it and then headed off to Cheesecake Factory. Don't worry, we were both thinking of our friend and her wedding. I had salmon she had a soup and salad.

I got back to my sister's house (where I was staying for the week) and I told her about my problem. I tried it on again, maybe Melissa would be able to zip it. Nope. Reality set in. I have a month to fit into this bridesmaid dress. I month to fit into this dress that I thought I would have to get taken in. Sure I could have just let it out, but my wedding dress is the same size and if I go and try on my wedding dress and it doesn't zip? I would be having a bigger mental break down. Hard core motivation set in. I worked out everyday before working at the base, I didn't consumer more than 1200 calories a day, and I drank a shit ton of water. I was feeling great by Sunday. I had scheduled an appointment for that day to see a seamstress to have her look at the dress and see what could be done. Before I left, I told my sister that I wanted to try on the dress and see how far apart the zipper was. And guess what!? IT ZIPPED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have never been so excited in my life about fitting into something. It's still a little tight and there's still more work that needs to be done, but I'm definitely back on track. I weighed myself yesterday and I've lost 5lbs since last week. I'm sure some of it is water weight, but I will take it!