Charity Miles

I found this great app while reading the October issue of Shape magazine. The article was talking about other great charities (above and beyond Breast Cancer charities, with October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month).  CharityMiles was listed as a great app so I checked it out.

This free app is designed to be similar to a walkathon where large corporations sponsor runners and walkers for each mile you complete.  How easy is that? You earn the charity of your choice (which you can change each run) $.10 per mile!! Just for doing your usual workouts!

I definitely recommend trying it. It tracks your mileage via GPS which I have found to be a little inaccurate, so if mileage matters to you, use another form on GPS (I use the Nike+ Running App for that) but its not bad for the job.

What are some of your favorite apps to use?

Wednesday Recipe! Quick Vegetarian Chili

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onioin
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 chopped red bell pepper
1 chopped yellow bell pepper
4 cups chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 15oz can vegetable broth
1 15oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 15oz can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup corn, cooked
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
1 package vegetarian crumbles

Heat oil in large pot, add in onion and garlic. Cook 2 minutes until tender, stirring constantly.  Add peppers and cook 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and remaining ingredients, stirring well. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Pepsi 10k

My dear running buddy and I ran the Pepsi 10k for Special Olympics yesterday.  She did such a great job and really pushed herself to achieve her PR!! Go K!!

Quick Arm Workouts

As I try to get a set schedule for half marathon training starting up again and increasing my strength training I am forced to fit in workouts whenever I can.

Today I found a spare 20 minutes to go through a bicep/tricep workout that left my arms feeling like noodles afterward! I had already completed a Kettlebell class this morning and wanted to finish out my arms today.

Feel free to try these out, and of course email me or leave me a comment if you are unsure of the exercises! I'm happy to help!

Workout Group!

Here's a great pic of my workout buddies at ACAC.  I love that we all have matched our shirts to our shoes without even planning on it.  Chad took us through a killer leg workout that was great. It is awesome to have workout partners not only for the accountability, but also for pushing you.  Its great to have someone to have friendly competition with or to cheer each other on.

Tips for finding a great workout buddy:

1. You'll probably want to find a partner who is about the same fitness level as you are. Trying to keep up with someone who is in significantly better condition, or who is significantly stronger can be dangerous unless you pay close attention to your body.  Don't try to keep up with them just because you don't want to look like a wuss or weakling. If they are a good partner, they'll understand, and while you'll want to perform better, you never want to risk injury. So stay at your pace and as you improve, you'll see that gap closing!

2.  Similarly, it helps if you have a similar fitness goal.  That's not to say it won't work if you don't, but you'll have to improvise a bit more and the workouts wont be quite the same for each person.  It can be fun, however, to team up with someone new and learn some new and different exercises you might not currently be doing.  Then you can learn how to do them correctly, what they are for, and consider adding them in to your own workouts.

3. Choose someone who will show up.  Accountability is a huge part of the workout partner benefit so make sure getting a workout in is important to both of you.  You might have slightly separate goals, and thats ok, but make sure getting in the door is a priority.

4.  Find someone you enjoy hanging out with outside the gym too.  Chances are you'll enjoy being around each other and will see each other elsewhere.  This (a) ensures accountability for scheduling gym time and making healthy lifestyle choices when you aren't hitting the weights and (b) allows for chit chat and catching up somewhere other than the gym.  You don't want to undermine your workout because you are chatting about the best ways to clean your baseboards...save it for later.  

One workout away!

Ok, I admit it.  Sometimes, every now and then, I occasionally don't really feel like teaching a class.  I know, I know, I am supposed to be a model of promoting a healthy lifestyle and encouraging others to make fitness a habit and a "must do" part of their daily routine.  But every once in a while I don't really wanna. Take this morning for example. I had an incredibly frustrating evening yesterday with some computer issues and am now even further behind on a project than I was yesterday morning. Then I had really weird dreams that make me feel like I was up all night. I mean really weird...and not good.

So I get ready to go to the gym to teach, already a little draggy, and I realized my notebook that I keep a lot of my class plans in was not in my car, it was at my other gym.  Now I have to come up with a class plan while on what feels like, very little sleep.  Ugh!

Luckily, through my limited creative abilities this morning, memories of college athletics, and a little help from the Nike Training Club App I put together a KILLER Athletic Conditioning workout.  With minimal equipment it would be great for traveling!!

It went like this:

Its amazing how much better I feel now! Much more refreshed and recharged and I feel like I can really tackle my project now.  I love how a workout can do that!!!

RoadID

I just ordered my RoadID this weekend and cant wait for it to come in!! Its so important to stay as safe as you can when you are out on long runs (or really, hiking, riding horses, anytime!!!).  RoadID allows you to keep your ID and contact information on you just in case something should happen and you can't speak for yourself!
There are so many different options for products you can buy, from silicone bands, cloth bands, straps for your shoes, necklaces, and more.

Personalized to include your name, contact information, and any necessary medical information that may help first responders in an emergency.

In case you are interested, here's the link:

Get your RoadID!!!