cardio – Page 3 – Runs With Hips

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Sunday Speeds & Starts

June 23, 2014June 23, 2014 runswithhips

Happy Sunday, Hip Huggers!

I got my Jesus on to start this morning!

I came home, had a burger induced nap instead of starting my run.

Had to wait until the rain let up a bit before that happened… but it happened!

I started on much avoided speed work. I’m glad to have started a little running streak.

But I know I haven’t been pushing myself to run faster.

That is still a big goal of mine: to run 10 minute miles easy.

Another goal was to start some decent mileage this week.

Tuesday morning when I was gearing up for 3 miles I told myself,

I should really knock the ball out of the park and try and run 30 miles this week.

Then, I laughed. That would leave me 6 days to run 30, no rest days.

But I did it! With .3 mile to spare.

I think a good formula for me is running one long day, 8+ miles

and getting out there at least 6 days a week.

I may not get 30 miles total, but I’ll sure be close. And satisfied.

I should start there.

***

With some serious stretching started, I got on with the

Asana of the day for Summer Splits, Super Soldier is what they call it.

My yoga teacher saw it on Facebook and even SHE was impressed.

Made my day! Love her to true death!

Speaking of, Season 7 of Trueblood starts Right Now…

I’m Outta Here, Hip Huggers!!

Question: Did anyone catch the Final Season Premiere? Let’s Chat!

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Boom! and Bloom

June 21, 2014June 21, 2014 runswithhips

Happy Solstice, Hip Huggers! Today started out absolutely gorgeous!

Summer is in full bloom!

I jumped in yesterday with a quick share about my natural hair feature, because

a) I can’t hold water, and

b) It was a special post that earned its own special spot.

**Quick Friday Recap: **

Yesterday was my hubby’s birthday so that is my excuse explains by leave of absence.

Not from running though! I got a good run in about 9am.

Funny, my brain said 6 miles and my body adamantly said 5. My plan was to break even, or at least

convince my body that was the plan…

Friday Workout: 6 Mile Run

Clearly, the gams lost… I just have a weird peeve of half miles –

so I knew that wasn’t happening.

Today’s run was a little smoother. I knew I was running 6 miles, so I could totally zone

and win races in my head, as we should.

Saturday Workout: 6.2 Mile (10k) Run + Yoga

Some Sirsasana (Handstand) Love.

And I love this filter! It’s called Bloom.

My shoulder felt good, too! Just needed a few days

To rest I guess, glad I obliged and backed off of the challenges.

I’m good at listening to my body, totally over overdoing it.

***

I’m also ~~totally~~ over 27 miles for the week! Boom.

So a 3 Mile run is the ONLY running I am

Planning to do tomorrow. Boom.

Long time since I’ve been able to

Tout those stats .. ~~boom~~

I’m encouraged!

And rehydrated.

I found this absolutely perfect quote on a Yoga page and

It just absolutely speaks my heart about being the best you…

Bloom Big, Hup Huggers 🙂

Question: Do you find yourself competing? Does it help or hurt you?

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Strep and Long Steps

June 19, 2014June 19, 2014 runswithhips

Hello Hip Huggers!

I spent a lot of time late last night fixing my ~~weird Wordpress issue~~ blog. Booooo.

I’m totally spent. I’ve already had to repost a picture on Instagram

because I don’t know the difference between Day 10 and Day 19.

Fa’ Sho.

My husband is off today, so that meant I got pretty late start considering my sleep was completely

uninterrupted until about 8 am. I had my typical morning of devotional and breakfast

and scrambled ~~eggs~~ to get out for a run before 9 am and it got UBER hot.

Still, apparently not early enough because after just a brief warm-up I was already dumping my rationed water on my head.

~~Which I paid for later~~. But anyway.

I had only planned to run 2 miles, yes exactly 2. Was going to take it real easy;

maybe a longer yoga session, or lift session if the hubby was up to it later.

I certainly did not plan on doing any heavy cardio, especially anything over an hour.

But, I got going and felt good! My hamstrings were a bit sore from yesterday’s yoga session so,

I just told myself we were going to run until they loosened up, just a bit.

Before I knew it, I had made up in my mind it was going to be a long run …

Workout: 8 Miles!

I had decided about mile 3 that I was going for 6… then 7.. you know how that goes.

I didn’t even care how slow it was, I just couldn’t shake the urge to run it!

Glad I did. I hadn’t run that long since the Hot Chocolate 15k back in February, and I got

a reality check on the speed I’ve lost.

I’ve got work to do, Hip Huggers.

I wanted to jump ~~off my roof~~ right into yoga after my run, my daughter had been complaining about a sore throat

all morning. I gave her some Tylenol, but still felt I should check her in to see her Dr.

Thank God I did! She has strep throat, poor baby! So, while we waited for her Rx to be filled, I figured

I’d reward us for ~~our~~ her inflamed sufferings this Thursday morning..

Doesn’t get much sweeter than this! Now back to fitness …

Yoga Pose of the Day:

Puvvottanasana, or Upward Facing Bow.

My hips were about as heavy as an actual bridge. But we got ‘em up into a plank! For that, I’m very happy.

And glad that was the extent of the challenges for today.

My shoulder is not pleased. One of the yogi’s I follow, @gypsetgoddess who recently over exerted herself,

gave a very encouraging word in her post today. She said:

“Always practice safety first”.

“Respect your body and limitations.”

“Don’t get so attached to advanced poses”.

“The basics feel just as good”.

.. and THE most wonderful thing I’ve heard on social media yet,

“Taking it easy isn’t the same as taking a step back. But rather a step forward in personal growth.”

Pretty amazing words from a pretty amazing Yogini. Namaste Caitlin 🙂

I’ll let that simmer on your minds. Meanwhile. I’m waiting for the electrician to come look at my kitchen.

The dishwasher won’t come on, the garbage disposal either, and my microwave is not heating anything.

This could get $$$! Then it’d be Kitchen Nightmares, for reals.

Say a prayer for me, Hip Huggers.

Question: Who ran ~~unexpectedly~~ long today? How was the weather?

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Passing on Presses

June 18, 2014June 23, 2014 runswithhips

Hello Hipsters, It’s a NEW Day!!

I can’t begin to tell you how much BETTER today is going.

Yesterday was just the pits, and I’m just glad its gone.

I had a good word and a good breakfast this morning.

Did I mention I ran 4 miles yesterday after cleaning, tending to sick kids,

all on the fuel of a small apple and a Spark? No Bueno. I made sure I had carbs today!

I didn’t go into lame details about all that happened, yesterday.

But, one of the tragedies that did was my dishwasher expired…just decided to die. Right after I loaded it.

So, that meant, I had to wash everything by hand yesterday today.

Lots of work, but I’m glad I waited until today, or else I’m sure I would’ve broken something.

No casualties. Good day so far.

Also, some good exercise was in the works early today…I got busy!

Here’s a little Tree Pose to spread the love..

Workout: 3 Mile Run

It was HOT! From now on, if I don’t run before 9am, ain’t gonna happen! Now it’s..

Time for Yoga!

Confession: I skipped out on the 2^nd Summer of Balance challenge. Here’s the ~~excuse~~ deal:

My right shoulder was overworked this weekend, I’m thinking Sunday it had too much.

My arm is totally functional, but certainly sore.

If there is anything I’ve learned from Yoga that I can apply here, it’s that

“one must be patient with the body.”

So, until my shoulder feels 80% 100% again, I’m laying off of the headstands forearm presses.

So, that is that. being said,

Yoga Challenge: Kapotasana (King Pigeon) &

Utthita Hasta Padangushtasana (Standing Leg Raise)

I convinced my head to touch my knee, and we’d reward the tummy with cookie butter…

Cookie Butter Yumminess. FTW! 🙂

~~~

Almost forgot – You know that moment when you tag your FAVORITE artist in a Tweet

(because her music is amazing) and she starts following you on Twitter?

Made my entire ~~life~~ YEAR! She is phenomenal. Her music is incredible.

I was also asked to contribute to something next month Fitness related, so

I’ll keep you all in the loop about that too!

Wow. Today was fantastic! Finally, can laugh at yesterday’s nonsense…

In. Your. Face.

Off to finish cooking dinner and and get ready for Yoga class. I’ll holla, Hip Huggers 🙂

Question: Have you ever 86’d a ‘challenge’ because your body said “No”? Or did you press on? 🙂

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Not Namaste…Its’s Okay.

June 17, 2014June 19, 2014 runswithhips

Hello All! How’d your Tuesday Go?

My morning went NOTHING as I’d planned.

I wanted to get out before things heated up but

it was literally a case of one thing after another.

Wasn’t until noon that I actually got outdoors!.

By then it was hot, humid, and I was over my run

before it ever began.

However, I managed to get a solid run in (can’t believe no walk breaks as hot as it was),

but it was very slow going. I was literally out there almost an hour

from warm up to cool down. Not legit in this weather, but

4 miles done!

As peeved as I was I had to wait and run when it was blistering hot,

the drag was likely because I just had not been running,

and certainly had not been running in the heat.

I’m just glad to be home and cooling off. I was beat.

Luckily for me, today’s challenges were leg stretches, so I killed 2 birds with one stone.

Day 17 Supta Samakonasana ..

& Visvamitrasana

First asana, pretty easy. Second asana hard.

I have a real tired right shoulder, so I wasn’t going to

put too much pressure on it. I also have really tight hamstrings and

I didn’t want to piss them off either.

All in all – I’m still a beginner, and I had a pretty

craptastic morning – So, today I cut myself a lot of slack.

Interesting, todays devotional was all about laughter…glad I had that to dwell on all day.

Going to recover and hope for bluer skies tomorrow, Hipsters 🙂

Question: How do you shake a bad day? Is a run/workout the elixir?

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Cold Legs and Hot Buys!

February 19, 2014February 19, 2014 runswithhips

My legit reason for not working out, running, or blogging these past few weeks.

Its been sooo cold! And ugly! I self diagnosed myself with SAD so that has sucked up normal spice for life. I’m back now! So, lets recap…

Came, saw, and conquered the Hot Chocolate 15k! It was brutally cold! Freezing fog, and I wore running shorts because I’m a ~~freak~~ geek. I had a goal of sub 1:45.. My official time was 1:48 and 11 seconds. Considering the unexpected hills, trust me…I was pleased.

My playlist was awesome, the race was awesome, the whiskey shot was awesome, and I had a blast! I can’t wait until next year!

My reward for my conquest was a new pair of kicks! I now own a pair of Brooks. My dreams are coming true…

I was so excited about these guys, I ran 17 inaugural miles in them in 3 days! New shoes and still living off of the high of finishing that race! All the excitement of logging miles actually seeped into my laptop because I am registered for another race next weekend.

So! That’s ~~enough~~ a lot but in new food news, I also added a wonderful staple to my self-healing repertoire of eating… Bone broth!

This stuff is amazing!! I was immediately addicted! I’ve read SO much about healing benefits and just HAD to make it. I asked fellow IGer Paleo On a Dime for a great recipe because her food is awesome!! She directed me to a recipe on her blog and I went for it.

I’ll post the recipe below. I am so excited about it! Finally, something awesome I can make and bring to my sick ~~minded~~ ailing friends suffering from colds this season. I didn’t have am entire chicken carcass, but I had just made a batch of greens the night before so I had some big bones hanging around, so I used those.

Bone Broth
2 smoked or roasted turkey legs (my hubby smoked ours)
4 cups water
1 chopped yellow onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup baby carrots
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
4 sprigs of Thyme

Combine all ingredients in a large crock pot. Cover and cook for 24 hours. Strain, store, sip and enjoy!

If that recipe wasn’t enough good vibrations, my wonderful husband found a steal on me some jeans. Yes my husband buys my clothes ~~and underwear~~. I have little style sense. I’m über hippie and hobochic 🙂

Well, I’m off to hit 5 miles on the road and get some arm work in… Happy Hump Day, Hip Huggers! Any natural healing remedies you’d like to share? I’d love to hear some!

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80/20.. Always Plenty!

January 25, 2014January 25, 2014 runswithhips

I get asked often on Instagram and Facebook how I lost weight and kept it off? Do I EVER eat bad? How long have I been running? Who runs the world? You know those complex questions…

I kindly answer questions, but sometimes wish I had a FAQ page so I wouldn’t have to sound like a broken record. But, the one great thing about retelling my journey is I can reflect back on what I did. What worked, and what did not.

Pretty much EVERY aspect of life involves the uber famous 80/20 rule. I have yet to see this philosophy not work! No matter what phase of my weight loss I was in, I had accidently adopted the 80/20 rule. For those that may not know – Eating clean 80% of the time and relaxed eating 20% – very simple math that can make or break your eating plan. Done wisely, yes it works! And it still works.

The ultimate reward for eating healthy, whole foods is a more efficiently fueled and functioning body to sustain life, not rewarding yourself with that big mouf’ burger.. Never Forget That! That fact is what will pull you out of a many slumps you’ll face when you are staying on your plan, exercising and yet seeing no results. Which happens at times for many different reasons, and should NOT be blamed on that cookie, glass of wine, slice of pizza. Those things actually HELP your body to recognize that you will not eat nuts and berries for the rest of your life but will again indulge in a little sugar, fat, and carbohydrate. Your brain loves those things, so don’t try and outsmart it…just be smart!

With that said, even with those cheats – all things in moderation! As healthy as exercise is, you wouldn’t do it 365 days a year. Why? Your body needs rest. Being proactively healthy can be a bit stressful, especially first starting out. Give your brain a break! here is a VERY interesting article my hubby sent to me a few years back when I was absolutely obsessed with eating right…click to enlarge:

I remember when I first began losing weight. After a few months, I started to notice I could only go so long without something…naughty. Those became my cheat meals. I mean, I was eating oatmeal for breakfast, a 600 calorie meatless TV dinner for lunch (bad idea but that’s another post) with rice, broccoli, and chicken breast for dinner…maybe 1200 calories a day! Absolute metabolism murderer, but I knew very little about long term weight loss and I was just high on seeing results…#laterpost.

Every Saturday, I would buy one bag of Maui onion chips from Target and yes, inhale the entire bag! That was my only cheat meal of the week, and the thought of those chips made me turn away from anything off of my food plan all week! That was my 50 Shades of Grey in a loveless, boring marriage with bland, low calorie foods.

My, how things have changed! Healthy food is never boring now and that mega bag of greasy chips is now almond crackers, snack peas, rice chips, or any of the TONS of healthy snack options I have discovered over the years. Food is meant to be enjoyed, you just have to learn how to enjoy it and do your body good at the same time…its all about balance!

Now that we have that equation in the mental ~~math~~ books, we can exaggerate that thinking and apply the 80/20 eating to our 80/20 lifestyles! We will touch on this topic next week!

Question: Do you think eating 80/20 is practical? Would you try it?

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Lean in 2014 – Junk Food

January 21, 2014January 23, 2014 runswithhips

Hello Hip Huggers!

If you are anything like me, one of the greatest struggles in eating clean and staying lean in 2014 has been… junk food cravings, aaahh!! I can run 6 miles, go beast in the gym, but a pack of Oreos will have me on my knees. As I woke up today on my birthday (stay calm) and contemplated all the “permissions” I have today to get ~~cupcake wasted~~ my sugar fix, I came across one of my favorite blogger Kenzoufit’s post about quitting junk food.

I myself eat without a doubt 80/20 clean and try and keep MOST of my food intake within the low glycemic index, but every now and then, those Oreo’s start visiting me in my dreams! Ebony and Ivory is what I call them, and what a perfect pairing they are…

Anyway, she mentions some very great habits to adopt in the effort to combat that way of eating, which as we all know if abused can totally sabotage all the hard work you’ve put in! UGH! So, here are my favorite tips from her post:

Start Cooking. I cannot tell you how my culinary skills have improved by cooking healthy myself. Unless you want to pay an arm and a leg at the Hot bar at your local health food store, or eat mindless massive bowls of salad, you are going to have to learn to grill it up, bake it up, sauté it up so you can eat it up! And be creative! Grab eggplants, zucchini, veggies you have never tried before and cook them! I use coconut oil whenever I am cooking stovetop, and I cook on medium heat. Make a marinade for your protein, add Italian seasonings to your veggies, if you are eating a carb, look for something rice based (rice flour tortillas are so good!) or 100% whole wheat or brown. Trust me, once you start cooking, you will be Googling clean recipes daily and you will become quite the clean eating, culinary sensation!

Resist the Urge. Now, if you have youngins’ such as I do, you may find yourself with a pantry full of snack foods. Yes, I am that mom. For me and my house, we will serve the ~~snack food to friends and guests and even snack when bored because that’s what we do~~ snack every now and then. The problem isn’t having snacks in the house, its the lack of control that leads you to think they are for YOU! I don’t go anywhere near my kids snacks, really! I tell myself ~~you are taking food out of their mouth, you thief~~ “no” and that works for me! However, you are going to want to snack and enjoy a treat ever so often. So my advice, eat and walk away. Don’t go park it on the couch, cookies at arm’s length, but rather grab a serving and be done with it! Deprivation just leads to overindulging later, remember that. If you tell yourself you can’t have that cookie but can have some peanut butter, you will frequent that PB til the jar is bare! Way more calories ( good or bad) than a few cookies. So, have a taste, but not everyday and not when you haven’t eaten a meal! Remember eat healthy more than not. 80/20!

Don’t Give Up. Food management is an art, and it takes time to get down. Don’t give up on your whole healthy eating plan because you didn’t say “no”. Regroup, and get back to your plan! MyFitnessPal is a wonderful way to track your eating and stay accountable until managing your food is second nature, and it will be! Take the time to create meals and research the calories/nutrition so you don’t overwhelm yourself later trying to add up calories, make it simple and doable!

Kenzou has a TON more tips and even for a weight loss guru such as myself, I was taking notes and taking names! She has lost over 70 lbs. with Low GI eating and has fantastic recipes and weight loss motivation. Check her out at kenzoufit.blogspot.com

Until next time, Hip Huggers! Eat clean, train mean!

Oreos for me! What is your hardest food to resist?

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Smoke and Mirrors

January 21, 2014January 21, 2014 runswithhips

Hello, and Good Morning to you all out there!

Guess what? I am 33 years young today, and I truly mean young! I have never felt more awake on a birthday in my ~~failing~~ memory as I do today. Full of energy, high on life, and looking forward to a great year.

So, let me touch upon something I mentioned a post awhile back. Today, ~~I gave up on~~ turned down a job that 3 weeks ago meant the world to me. No, not a dream job, but something I felt I needed to do to keep me busy and possibly enhance my hopeful future career as a fitness trainer. But, it was not for me.

Funny how from one angle, an opportunity can look like field of gold. But really, slows you down on that path to where you have professed you want to be. Smoke and mirrors. Things look one way until the smoke clears or that mirror becomes distorted. Then, you are stuck looking around wondering how the heck you ever got wrapped up in all of it? Why your eyes deceived you. Why your thirst for something was unquenchable until you see it for what it is REALLY worth. That was a not-so ~~scathing~~ tough lesson as it was just a part time job, but it was a stark reminder that dreams take focus and hard work! You can’t just pure wet your way around that fear of failure, but you must tear down that wall, brick by brick..

Yesterday being MLK Day, we all are inundated with that one word… dream. What is my dream? Being a phenomenal mom? Loving wife? Well yes, those are efforts I strive ~~most days~~ daily to improve upon, and happy to be the mom/wife that I am. But what is my DREAM? What do I lie in bed at night and think about. When I am feeling my bossiest, where am I on my way to?

My dream is to be a fitness trainer. I want to help people lose weight and gain knowledge. I want to be fortunate enough to change lives for a living, not make a living fortune. That was corny, but I really mean it. I want my days to be filled with sessions and travelling, bands and kettle bells, spandex and hoodies. I want my biggest job expense to be a gym membership. I want my phone to constantly be going off with texts, and emails from clients about their non-scale victories and prospective clients to ask if I am taking newbies. I want to end a session and go pick up my kids from school. I want the first GNC charge card, lol!

From a child up until last year, I wanted to be a social worker…always. I have lived with that desire of leaving my job everyday knowing I made someone’s life better, and may even perhaps saved it! I looked forward to helping people that could no longer help themselves. I wanted them to leave knowing I was going to do everything I could to lift them out of their situation.

Well, you know what? Health and fitness IS my social work. This is me helping someone make a better life. I have transformed the eating habits of my family. I have helped friends lose 20-30 lbs and see frowns turn into smiles. The looks on my friend’s face when their body changes. That late text, “can I eat this?” That “you’d be so proud of me the way I ate this weekend”… that is life to me!

So, as I have been blessed to see yet another year of life, I am also blessed to have a passion and a desire to do something for the rest of my life that will make a difference! I am standing up and walking in what I know is my destiny. Step by step. Onward and upward.

Even so with this blog! I am a very comical person, I live to laugh and joke. However, when I started this blog, my vision was to help people lose weight.

I found myself scrolling through older posts and realized, “wow, my blog is a whole lotta bout me!” That is not my intention for this blog, and could very well be why I have gone from hoping to post twice a day, actually posting once a day, to posting once or twice a month. Why this change? Fear. I may have to be certified to exchange fitness services for $$$ but I don’t have to be certified to share what I KNOW about losing weight, and keeping it off while enjoying food and life! I AM the expert at that, ~~damn it~~.

So, the landscape around here will change a bit. More self-help and less self-seeking, sum that up as you please ~~not too harsh hopefully, I’m still learning.~~ So, be on the lookout for my next post… really soon! And thank you, readers! You are honestly the heartbeat of this blog. Whoever and wherever you are.

Question: What is your dream job? Your REAL dream job?

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Far and Few…

January 11, 2014January 12, 2014 runswithhips

Happy New Year, Hip Huggers! I bet you were wondering where I’ve been all year…

Well, i’m alive! I have so much to write its crazy! However, I am strapped on time, ugh! Sitting in a dressing room as I write this but I have to share a few highlights of my year so far. Most importantly, I had to share today’s gem…

I ran a far 10 miles. Yes, I pushed through the fear of my body totally falling apart at the ~~runswith~~ hips, and I did it! Longest distance ever ran, so Nike have me a medal. 10 Mile ~~High~~ Club, holla!!

Well, my actual farthest run ever was from Cali to Texas in an attempt to find myself… but I won’t overwhelm you with that… for now…

I have also still been getting it in at the gym. I upped my home workouts and geez, am I seeing my body start changing. I knew I had to start mixing it up.. I’ve got serious goals this year…

I’m still training my clients and boy and I gonna be one heck of a trainer. My fear was not knowing how to separate my sweetness from my ~~self absorbed determination to drown people with the passion to get fit or~~ seriousness. Oh, but there’s a big fat check in that box! I am Trainer-in-Chief around these parts…

Lastly in my quick review, I adopted a new 4 month old Shih Tzu. Her name is Lucy. I have a weird way of correlating names and title to stuff with things going on in my life I ~~have a meaningless tattoo that proves it~~ so that will make more sense in my next post…

My Love 🐶

Ok, I gotta get back to business. See you later Hip Huggers!

Are you sticking to your New Year goals? What changes have you made so far?