Monday was a nice rest day. Today was pretty brutal though. I managed to get up in time for a short run, and I have never experienced such muscle pain after 2.5 mile run. Ughhh. I'm taking a day off tomorrow, primarily to meet with a professor about a paper, but I could also use the rest.

Total calories: 400

Best. Workout. In. Years.

Wow. Today has just been a good day over all. I woke up early, worked on homework, and then headed to the gym. I ran 3 miles with ease (and at my new faster pace). 5k here I come!! :D Then it was off to do some serious lifting. My arms could use the toning. And let me tell you, I definitely felt (and am still feeling) the burn today. I was much more productive today. I like to push myself a bit extra on Sundays because I have a very hard time fitting in working out on Mondays with my schedule, so I usually use it as a rest day.

It definitely helps that I had some good "fuel" before working out. Plain oatmeal with fresh pieces of apple, cinnamon, and a drizzle of honey. Om nom nom. I think that definitely gave me the extra boost of energy I needed today. Unfortunately, I ate it too close to when I left to workout (an hour before). My stomach is really fussy when I run so I usually can't eat 2 hours prior or I get sick. I thought maybe I'd outgrown that. Nope. Definitely could feel the oatmeal trying to escape while running. So lesson learned. But still, I managed to have my most successful workout today, so I'm proud of myself for pushing through the stomach cramps.

Total estimate of calories burned: 750

Woot woot! Now it's off to do homework and keep on this productive track. Later gator.

Amazing

Today's workout was amazing! I definitely pushed myself today. I ran 2.5 miles and walked for .5 which is pretty standard. What I really pushed myself in today was weight training. As important as I know it is, I tend to ignore most weight training because, well, I love cardio so much more. I'm also not one to stand by the meathead guys lifting more than my body weight as I struggle with 5 pound weights. Today I decided to just "to hell with it" and make a go at it. Considering I haven't tried doing any type of toning, I went fairly easy on myself, but I must say it was step in the right direction. I don't feel that successful burn like I'd like too, but I hope to push myself farther tomorrow.

Today's numbers:

Run/Walk as stated above

Elliptical

Bike

Toning/Weight Training

Estimate of Total Calories Burned: 800 :D

Woo go me!!

Thursday was a rest day for me. I had to wake up and meet with a professor during the time when I normally go and work out. It was a nice change of pace. I figured working out 5 out of 7 days is good enough for me. haha.

Today I slept in a bit later, but I still managed to have a very successful run. I've been able to complete two miles at a faster pace the past two times I've gone running, so that makes me happy :] After running the standard 2 miles and walking a half mile to cool down, I made my way to the elliptical, and I'm not going to lie, I went on a different machine today and it kicked MY BUTT. I'm a lot more sore than normal today.

Tonight I'm going to get lots of sleep, and then I plan on enjoying a nice long workout with no time constraints when I wake up. Hooray weekends! Knowing me, I'll workout for much longer than I anticipate, so I'll probably spend the rest of the day curled up on the couch reading and recouping. lol.

I don't remember today's numbers because I didn't post immediately after I worked out today (clearly, check the timestamp on this bad boy). I want to say it was in the ballpark of 400 calories burned.

I've really been struggling to get up lately...perhaps I should try getting 8 hours of asleep instead of 7, although that usually ends up poorly. 7 hours is usually a good median for me between being painfully over tired and incredibly groggy. For some reason getting even the slightest bit of too much sleep leaves me drowsy the whole day. I've cut back on my lattes...actually, I've cut them out all together. This wasn't entirely intentional, but I don't really mind. They were just empty calories anyhow. I must admit though, that when a test comes around that I need to study for, I might cave in and get one. I've been drinking more regular coffee although with cream and sugar added, I'm not sure how much good I'm really doing for my body. So I'm switching over to mostly tea. Thankfully, I'm fairly sensitive to caffeine, as I am a fairly new coffee drinker (I didn't really start until last year). Although I have noticed that I've been having to drink more than I used to (a small cup of coffee used to make me super jittery and slightly nauseated) which is unfortunate because it's going to take quite a bit of time before my brain can prune off all those receptor sites that are begging for caffeine...but I digress.

I watched Food Inc. yesterday. Granted, I've watched quite a few of those PETA videos where they show the true brutality of animal treatment (although I can't tell you why I ever watched them to begin with), but this one seemed a bit more interesting. There was more substance, and I didn't feel like the need to be a vegetarian was being crammed down my throat. This movie was a bit more thought provoking, and it incorperated the business/corporate side of things which I thought was pretty interesting. Although I can't say that it will necessarily change much in eating habits personally for quite a while (if at all), I do think it was worth watching.

So like I mentioned earlier, I had a hard time getting up, so what should have been an hour and a half workout ended up being only an hour, but I feel pretty satisfied right now. Ran another 2 miles, so that's good. I also ran it at a faster pace than normal with no difficulty, so at least I know my hardwork isn't in vein. I'm considering doing a 5k on April 11th as a sort of precursor to the one I want to run with my dad, but it all really depends on what I end up doing in terms of celebrating my boyfriend's birthday (which is the day before).

Today's numbers:
Ran 2 miles
Walked .5 miles
Elliptical 15 minutes
Bike 30 minutes
Total estimated calories burned: about 500

Another Successful Day

Waking up this morning was really difficult, but I managed to drag my butt out of bed to go workout. I've been slowly trying to cut out my unhealthy snacks (such as Chex Mix) and replacing them with healthier alternatives like more fruits (Mmmm, apples with peanut butter), wholesome granola bars without as many hydrogenated oils, etc... All is going well so far. Well, I should note that I have been eating a cupcake here and there, but that's only because they were left over from the bridal shower I was at. Thank goodness they're almost gone! I have such a hard time resisting them.

Today's outcome:
2.5 mile run
.5 mile walk on incline
30 minutes on elliptical
20 minutes cycling
Misc weight lifting/strength training

Total estimated calories burned: about 650

Quick Update

This beautiful weather is such a motivator to work out. I already feel good about how nice it is outside, and then after a nice long workout I feel even better. Life is truly good, and I'm happy to be getting back to a more healthy lifestyle.

Went for a nice long work out today. I usually run 2 miles every time I go to the gym, but today I pushed myself the extra bit and ran 3. I really wanted to keep going but unfortunately my knee started to twinge which, as told by my doctor, should be a red flag for me to stop running since I've already had surgery on it :[ Stupid physical impairments holding me back. But at least I learned what I need to do in order to be ready for the 5k with my dad: increase the strength of my knee gradually. I cooled off with a half mile walk, then moved on to the elliptical and then to the bike. So here are today's numbers (which I'm posting only to keep a personal record of it).

Run/Walk: 3 miles

Elliptical: 20 minutes

Bike: 15 minutes

Total calories burned: 600

Now it's off to study and do homework. Peace.

Getting Back in the Groove

So after weeks of stressful planning for a big upcoming event and lots of homework, it should be pretty obvious that working out was the least of my worries. I'm coming back though!

My dad and I are going to run a 5k together this summer. He is a cyclist, so running isn't quite his expertise, but we've both started running more regularly to help train ourselves for the big day. I know it's not going to be very difficult for me, but I'm very excited to see my dad push himself so hard because he knows that this is something that I really want to do with him.

So like I said, I'm definitely getting back in the groove of things. I'm reading a new book for my developmental psychology class, The N.D.D. Book: How Nutrition Deficit Disorder Affects Your Child's Learning, Behavior, and Health, and What You Can Do About It--Without Drugs, and it is really changing my perspective on my diet. It's primarily targeted towards parents to help them learn about making sure children eat healthy to help brain development and functioning, but the scientific principles obviously apply to everyone. I don't want to ever go on one of those fad diets, but I'm definitely hoping to move in a healthier direction. I realized that even though I'm not a complete junk food junkie, that I take in more processed foods than I should.

As a poor college student, I usually find myself buying knock-off brands of processed foods that are easy to eat on the go and are super cheap, but I really want to change that. The book mentioned above (which I've only read two chapters of but HIGHLY RECCOMEND), emphasized that even though the healthy alternative foods are more expensive, the positive attributes are so much greater. Getting sick less often means fewer classes and days of work that I miss, the better sleep I will get, the healthier I look and feel definitely seem to outweigh the costs. I wish I could have seen this sooner.

So here's to eating less processed food, to reading the labels on what I buy, to more fresh produce and less fatty meats, and to healthy snacking :]

If anyone has any good recommendations for good healthy snacks (your fav. trail mix recipe, etc...) please post a comment. I want to start off on the right foot, and your comments help!