Monday, April 30, 2012

Hanging in There

School is so close to being over. I had my last day of classes today and I couldn't be happier. I mean I guess I could. My professors could have cancelled all of my finals. BUT. Regardless of those tests, summer is coming. Granted, that means I get to start new classes, an internship, and work a lot more. But I think it's going to be better. :)

World Dance Day '12 at Northern Liberties. :)


So while it may look like I'm neglecting my blog ridiculously, I WILL be more dedicated to it in roughly one week. And hopefully I'll have a lot to blog about. I have some goals in the meantime!

  • Choreograph a piece this summer.
  • Get a library card instead of thinking about getting a library card.
  • Try all sorts of workouts. And then actually blog about them.
  • Eat (and cook!) better!
  • Go on adventures!
  • Become a FitFluential Ambassador? That would be cool. I've got a looooong way to go, I think!
  • Keep dancing.
  • Become a certified personal trainer. (Test is on 6/16!)
  • Ride my bike more.
  • Go to the beach.
  • RUN!
  • Have an amazing summer before my senior year! I'm so lucky to have two of them. Ayyy.
I'm really excited. I'm going to see the sunrise at Penn's Landing earrrrrly tomorrow morning because Temple is officially on study days. I've never actually seen a sunrise before. So I'm really excited. :)

Workout for the Day

I started my morning with the HIIT the Beach workout from the Beach Babe DVD. I quite liked it actually! It was short but I was definitely sweaty. That was my first time using the DVD, so I'll definitely tell you more about it as I discover it! I'll probably do a review too. Maybe.



Tonight is my last day of dance for the semester and we get to spend time with all of the new members this evening. We're going to have a stretch/strength session and then watch our DVD. It's going to be lovely. I love those dancers so much and I can't wait to be the captain of this crazy ship. :)

Who let these crazies take over?

Any exciting plans for the summer? :)

Friday, April 27, 2012

Happy Hour

Just a quick check-in today for my Tone It Up Happy Hour challenge. They asked for ten things we're grateful for and I gave. :)

1. Waking up before Paul and pestering him until he decides to wake up.
2. Wearing purple all day. With a pink sports bra.
3. My dance team. Forever and always.
4. When people donate.
5. Finally coming home after a long day.
6. When people ask to take your shift so you don't have to go into work.
7. My friends.
8. The fact that I get to run tomorrow and keep thinking about it.
9. Making plans for summer and getting ready to kick butt.
10. Getting mail! I have a package that I think is my Beach Babe DVD and I'm pumped. :)

What made YOU happy today? :)

Monday, April 23, 2012

Life on Hold

One of the hardest things to do is know how to organize your time. I feel like I'm doing a million things right now, and training for the Broad Street Run is CONSTANTLY in the back of my mind. But I did not do my seven miler this weekend. And it took me a long time to legitimize it. But I expected myself to dance my very best last night. And that required rested legs.

Your steps are making too much noise. Shh. :)

It also required stretched legs. Thank you to the Stretch for Seven challenge. :) I know I was pretty silent but I am proud to let you know that the mission? COMPLETED.

Stretching allows me to freeze. Sure!

I'm in the midst of studying for finals, but I will be attempting to pull a seven miler out on Tuesday to make up for my lack of running this weekend. I think I'm at the point where I am calm and relaxed about the idea of running ten miles, but that may only be because I still have so much to do before I actually have to run it.

Like love people. I'm good at that.

So I guess that's that. Also this week, I'm trying to eat healthier and plan my meals a little bit better than I had last week. This is a crazy, crazy time. So I want to make sure I'm still happy and functioning up to my full potential. I'll try really hard to check in this week. I'm still keeping up with the Bikini Series. So maybe I'll focus on some of that too. Working out makes me really happy and I NEED it during this time of the year. :)

This picture makes me happy. Can you spot me?

What did you do this weekend? Do you love dancing as much as I do? :)

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Fling, Flang, Flung

Spring Fling was yesterday! Woo! You'll be happy to know that I attended all of my classes and THEN proceeded to Fling. :)

Inviting people to our show. And flinging. :)

After flinging, I had three hours of dance rehearsal. So I'm not going to lie, I counted our warm-up/stretch session as my completion of the Stretch for Seven challenge yesterday. This might just be a mental thing, but I feel so much better since this challenge started. Sure, I still have my rough moments of the day, but I really feel like I'm able to bounce back quickly and with more gusto.

Is that lame? Am I actually...relaxing? Who knew! Stretching everyday is ACTUALLY effective! All of those things we read saying so are NOT lying to us. :)

On my plate for today is a three mile run and my Tone It Up challenge for the day. I actually didn't do my HIIT routine yesterday because I was flung I am an awful human being so I'm going to use my three miles as double duty. I'm nervous because I'm going to try the treadmill again so I don't have to watch my phone constantly for how long I've been running.


I need help with HIIT, how do you time it when you're running?

Point is, the treadmill and I don't really get along very well. So three miles might be very, very interesting to see.

Pinterest suggested this for treadmill. I can dig.

And then of course, I have my stretching for the day! I haven't decided yet but I might try to find a yoga video or a stretching video. Otherwise I'm just going to do the same old "put on music and stretch like you mean it." Which is good, but I want to be adventurous! So if anybody has any good ideas, please let me know!

Have a wonderful, wonderful Thursday! :)

Monday, April 16, 2012

The Cure

I just want to say thank you to the two geniuses that came up with the seven day stretch challenge. I knew I needed to give a portion of my time to stretching today to stick with the challenge, but I needed it for so many more reasons today.

I'm in that weird post-stretch state of mind where I kind of feel like I'm floating. I put on a playlist of Goo Goo Dolls for a half hour and just let go into my body and deeper into my stretch.

I sound like such a crazy.

So this is just my quick day update. I was really excited and happy. Did my Bikini Challenge for the day. Went through my classes. Spent some time in the city with Laura. Ate froyo. Went to dance. Came home really stressed and unhappy. So I sat down with good old Roll-E.

This is what he looks like. I love him.

I went through about fifteen minutes rolling my poor legs out and then continued for another fifteen with some stretching out. I feel bendy and satisfied. Not quite happy, but calm.

Content.

Come join me. Stretch at least for four minutes to this song!

How does stretching make you feel? Am I the only one who feels like this afterwards? Can you even understand a word I'm saying? GO STRETCH.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Junior Year?

WHERE DID YOU GO!? I feel like my life is speeding by so fast right now. I'm loving every second of it! Okay. Maybe not the few million seconds that I spend at Rita's, but that's okay. I try really hard anyway.

So with school winding down (eventually), I have a lot of plans fitness-wise on my plate. So if you want to know what's going on in my life, this is the post for you.

InMotion's Show and Auditions: I love my dance group so much. And our end of the year show is on April 22nd. THAT IS NEXT WEEK. It is going to be here before I know it, and I don't know if I can handle the excitement. But I get to pick some great new girls for the team next year when auditions come around. So that will be fun!

My heart literally swells when I think of these girls. :)

Broad Street Run: You know, that little race I've been training for. I'm really nervous about it, I'm not going to lie. I go through waves of being really confident and really terrified. It's an interesting experience. Today I ran five miles instead of four and it was ROUGH. But I did them anyway and pushed through them. The fact that I can do that keeps me looking up. Also, the fact that I bought new running clothes yesterday helps me too. :)

My new love and obsession. Thank you for being so amazing.

Dedication to Stretching: I know I've talked about Bess Be Fit on here before, but my admiration has risen to a whole new level! She and Lauren from Peanut Butter Powered are issuing a challenge! The task is to dedicate at least twenty minutes a day to stretching. It can be of any kind! You just have to streeeetch. Stretching makes me feel free, loose, and happy so I think this is an awesome challenge and I'm really excited to start. They have GREAT blogs, so I really suggest you check them out if you want some fitness role models. :)

I am way too excited for this.

Becoming a Beach Babe: I have heard so much about Tone It Up. SO MUCH. I'm not sure if their diet plan will work for me, mostly because I don't want to drop over $100. However, I'm super inspired by their workouts and so I'm joining their second annual Bikini Series! I'm really excited to see how this works out (get the pun?) and see how it makes me feel! Also, if anybody has anything they want to share about their plan, please don't hesitate to tell me. I want to know all that I can! I also might invest in the new DVD. So if you want to share anything about that too, that works!

Our first challenge was to share the challenge. COMPLETED!

COLOR! I am officially signed up for Color Me Rad in Philadelphia and could not be more excited. Thanks to Groupon it was half price! I promptly used the money saved to invest in a white tutu to wear. I don't know if Paul will acknowledge me during this race because of it, but I am SO EXCITED. JOIN ME! :)

I almost peed my pants when I got my registration e-mail.

Staying Immersed in Dance: This summer, I am lucky enough to have an internship with BalletX! They are a more modern ballet company associated with the Wilma Theater on Broad Street. I am so unbelievably pumped to be a part of their team. I'm also crazy excited to stay surrounded by dance lovers during the summer. So I'm counting it as fitness. So there.



So there's that! There's also my job, some more schooling, some Philles games, some beach runs, maybe ziplining, etc. It's going to be an awesome summer! I'm going to miss camp dearly, but I can't commute that far for a job with a camp paycheck. But I'm sure I'll go visit sometimes. Hopefully, if they let me. Casey, are you reading this? :)

Anything exciting for you to share with me? Signed up for either of the races that I'm running? Do you love tutus? Let me know!
*All pictures were taken from the websites of the people/companies/races I talked about. I'm not trying to pass them off as my own. Except for InMotion's. That one is awesome.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Ya Little Snotnose

Three miles was on my plate for today. So three miles I was going to run. "Allergies aren't going to stop me!" I thought. So I threw on some running clothes and headed out the door with Paul.

Now, I live roundabouts 22nd Street. By the time I got to 16th I was gasping for air and couldn't inhale deeply at all. I was in trouble. My nose was hurting, I felt disgusting, and I wanted so badly to stop.

I also had toilet paper in my shirt because we have no more tissues.

We were running towards the art museum and I was being cranky and whining about how it wasn't fair that Paul felt like going faster than me. So I'd ask to slow down. And then speed up all defiantly. I was a mess. 

My legs, however, were totally good. They were like, "Okay, you do your complaining thing up there and we'll just be down here running, okay?" My legs felt great! And I didn't stop once. Even though I might have had to. I refused. I just kept turning random places so as to distract myself from everything.

I sounded like a twenty-year smoker by the end of it. So I can promise you, if it felt that way, I will never ever smoke a cigarette in my whole entire life. I know I'm one of those lame people. But it was so painful and such a struggle, I could just never do that to myself.

Sorry, I am not falling for the cool factor.

WOAH I'M PREACHING! I will not do that. I'm done, I promise.

So. Sickness. My chest being tight when I was running. Should I have stopped? When don't you run? Maybe I'm just tough. Yeah, that's it.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Success!

I haven't felt this accomplished since I won March Madness.

Yes, this happened, thankyouverymuch.

My training plan over this weekend called for a six mile run. Now, that is longer than I've ever thought of running (although...registering for a 10 miler might negate this statement) and I had doubts that I could do that. I pushed it to Sunday for an Easter run! Prior to our feast, naturally, Paul and I head out around my hometown for a nice little walk in the park.

That would be six miles. More than six miles.

I have got to tell you, it felt GREAT to finish this. It was super windy but the views of good old S-ville kept us going and it was awesome. We didn't walk at all, which was super exciting. And we were able to converse when we needed it or shut the heck up be quiet when we needed that too! It was wonderful! We had some nice discussions about the mental aspects of running. Apparently it helped us out.

Lesson of the Week: GET A RUNNING PARTNER.

At the beginning of this whole training process I brought up the idea of running the race together. His response was something along the lines of "Well, I think I'll run faster than you because I'm a boy."

And I just proved him wrong and acquired myself a racing partner. So THERE. :D

How was your Easter/Passover weekend? Paul and I hit up both holidays and so we were quite full by the time we returned home, I can tell you that.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Am I Doing This Right?

I have done everything on my training plan this week like a good little girl. Yesterday that included going to a yoga class at my school's fitness center.

This is exactly what it was like, I can assure you.

Guys, I really want to be good at yoga. You know. That whole dancing thing kind of requires some flexibility. And I was REALLY tight after my sunset run on Tuesday. So I know I needed it. I forgot to bring my mat to school, but didn't let that excuse me and used the junky ones at the fitness center that a million other people sweat on.

But whatever.

I liked the instructor for the most part. She had some nice calming music going on in the background, which I fully appreciated. She had us do some balances too, which were super fun. But like. Did we really have to go into Downward Dog four hundred times? Am I missing something? I don't even think I'm doing the freaking thing right and I actually know how to do that one. Second guessing myself is my number one talent.

Somehow I don't think I can do that one.

I know the point of yoga goes way beyond being good at it and being flexible. Am I doing everything wrong? How do I do it right? YOGA BLOWS MY MIND, OFFICIALLY. I can't figure it out.

That being said, I left class feeling very stretchy and calm. So at least I'm doing something right. Or I'm really good at tricking myself.

Today I went for a rough three mile run, did a lot of school work, and cheered the Phils on from afar. Hooray! Happy opening day! I LOVE THE PHILS!

I would wear this around.

I do have something in the works that I might get a tutu for. But that might have to be white. :)

Philadelphia Color Run, YEAH!

How do you do yoga? Help me!

Monday, April 2, 2012

Learning Process

I know that a million runners have discovered these shocking discoveries I am going to tell you about. So many healthy living bloggers could read this and say nothing but, "Duh, Amanda. Anybody can tell you these things."

BUT. I am going to say them anyway. Because sometimes beginning runners need a little loving too. Some of us don't like getting up at the buttcrack of dawn to run. Four miles isn't an easy day for everybody by any stretch of the imagination. Sometimes you need some help getting through it.

My (April)Fool('s) Proof Guide to Running

Step One: Sit on the couch on Twitter, contemplating the fact that you could theoretically do a four mile run before your dance performance that evening. Map out some runs, go back and forth about the weather, but eventually get up and go after your boyfriend suggests that you might as well.
Lesson: Hold yourself accountable. You'll feel lousy if you don't listen.

Plus your friends can boost your ego. :)


Step Two: Assemble your running playlist, outfit, and locate a place on your body for your keys. It is important to note that at this point in the process, you should pick a song that really motivates you and start listening to it.
Lesson: Music is your friend.

Step Three: Actually enjoy this running thing as you head out the door. GPS signal found, weather is sunny, awesome.
Lesson: Just do it.

I love you, Nike.

Step Four: Realize about half way into your run (at the turnaround point) that your stomach is ready to explode and you would love to double over in pain. Look at the river instead. Take pictures of said river. It doesn't matter that your phone deleted them. It's the thought that counts.
Lesson: Distractions, distractions, distractions.

Step Five: I NEED TO STOP RUNNING. Put that song back on your iPod. Listen to it four hundred times if you have to. Just keep running. You will be lame if you stop running to this song. This is your jam.
Lesson: I am becoming Young the Giant's biggest fan.

Step Six: "You can stop running as soon as you're up this hill." "You might as well go down it now." "You cannot be passed by this girl who has an outfit that you really wish you could afford right now with brighter colors. KEEP RUNNING." "Go to the bridge." "No, not that bridge. The NEXT bridge." "Run up the steps, you ain't done yet!"
Lesson: It is more than okay to talk to yourself. It's all about the mental games my dear.

Step Seven: Walk into your apartment complex with swag and nod at the security guard. He knows you're awesome too. Your red face and sweaty hair definitely show it.
Lesson: Running feels good. And swagtastic?

Thanks for the swag definition, Pinterest.

Step Eight: Go boss out whatever else you need to do for the day. Remember, you've got swag now.
Lesson: Endorphin highs are REAL.

What are your tricks for getting through a run? Any lessons learned that I missed? I'm sure they're out there. :)