Things Will Only Get Better.

Hey Y'All!!! I'm BACK BACK BACK!! OMG Vacation was WONDERFUL. Just what the doctor ordered-- I listened to my own advice and did NOT work in any way while I was gone. I unplugged and chilled out and was on NO schedule at all. It was heaven. I stayed ACTIVE too. The first day I did a 90 minute power walk in the HOT Miami sun. Total Sweatfest. And then every day except Monday I got in a great workout, from power walk/run/sprint/walking lunge intervals (90 minutes) to some INTENSE Hot Yoga. Kids, I'm DOWN with the yoga more than ever now. And, I'm also kind of dating RUNNING again. He and I are taking it slow but I'm cool with it...it felt great to run again and for me, it's all about the breathing and then I'm ROCKING IT.

Check out my post walk/run/sprint/walking lunge vlog:

I LOVE this stretch. And wow I did things in yoga class that I've never done. DANGIT I didn't shoot a vlog with my BFF Kelly, the Yoga Queen of all-- but even though I didn't, stay tuned because she will be a part of our upcoming FitFluential Road Trip Events!!! So if you want to take some seriously intense and educational yoga sessions, stay tuned. ;-)

Much of what resonated with me in these yoga sessions was how important it is to overcome our fears. Kelly asked me to do drop-backs-- where basically you arch back and end up in a backbend. I was like HELLLLLLLLLLL NO I WON'T. She said, "Why not?" I said, "I can't". And she goes, "Oh you will now!". While I started sweating bullets she came over to spot me and guess what, I did it, and then, the next three days I did it. And guess what- I'll be practicing daily and WILL do them unassisted. 

Go ahead. Call me a tiger. Cuz I'm GREEEEATTTT!!! Anyway, I was sooo enjoying the hot yoga, the running outside, the down time and of course just Miami. I took time out to focus on my future, on what I want to do in LIFE and what I saw, what I plan to do, what I know will be is AMAZING. Life-- well things will only get better. 

Word UP.

I saw this video yesterday and had to share it. I won't tell anyone how to workout but when I do it, I like to PUSH IT, whether it's 90 minutes of hot yoga or just a killer session boot camp like this. Especially now. I'm in it to win it.

I'm back to wearing Under Armour sports bras for running-- although I'm going to start trying a lot of brands. I'm determined to find other fits and ones that I like. For those of you busty chicks like me, what's your fav??

Also, do you bring your phone with you when you run- for long runs? 

Here is my ramble-on-a-thon vlog from earlier in the week. Please forgive the ratty-ass hair thing going on, I couldn't see that it was sticking up all over the place. I was talking here about my love affair of yoga, beyond the workout part.

Ahhh. Good times. All that to say, I am very much about a whole lotta Namaste in my life here and forevs!!! ;-) 

I'm sharing this gem from Tony Horton, because if any of you are skeptical of yoga not being tough or for guys or an intense workout, check this:

I'm SO Happy It's Friday.

WHAT'S UP??????????

I'm back home and feeling FINE!! How was your week? Did you kick butt? I kicked moderate butt. I'll say that. Moderate. I'm not feeling like I NAILED it this week, but I do feel that now that it is OCTOBER 1ST- the 1st day of the last quarter of this year- I'M MOVING INTO CRUSH IT TIME. 

ARE YOU??

I've come a long way in 2010, started to make the nightmare of 2009 seem irrelevant, but I tell you, this last 90 days, it has to be ON. It really is time to BRING IT. Go BIG or GO HOME. It's time to bring it all together, my running, my planned workouts, my eating right and healthy and sensibly, my supplements and my attitude. 

It's just ON. 

Went for a run this morning, and as you'll see in my vlog below (wearing some new Champion tops for outdoors from Target, I'm digging them so far!), I started getting those blasted side stitches again. I'm going to be reading that Chi Running book that so many of you have raved or are raving about- this weekend. It's all about belly breathing and I will nail it. Funny thing is, I've found that when I run REALLY FAST- I tend to breathe more normal. It's when I'm focusing on pacing myself that about 15 minutes into the run I start to breathe wrong- all upper breathing. 

I'm not worried about this but I am determined to move past it. I am LOVING running. I'm also really looking forward to making the next 90 days ROCK MY FACE OFF in the weight room. OK?? I'm just saying.

Tomorrow will be legs, and I'm thinking of Ms. Jenny Lynn and some of this:

I love to work legs. So love it. Now I'm also loving doing hard core work. Seriously. It's time to create some serious DOMS tomorrow! WOOT! 

Question of the day: WHAT ARE YOU BIG PLANS FOR THIS LAST QUARTER OF 2010?? WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE ABLE TO SAY AT THE END OF THIS YEAR THAT YOU'VE ACCOMPLISHED??

Who's Your Daddy?

I'm feeling pretty much like a bada** right now. Yes, I went for a kick butt run-session again! WOOT!

So, as you'll see in my sweaty vlog below, I had an even better session than yesterday. I have SO many questions about running y'all, so chime in! Lurkers! Come out of the shadows and make yourself heard! Comment away!! 

Today I drove to the high school track area. (I wish I could find someone that had the key to the track, but oh well, the parking lot seems to work fine.) I measured one lap of the parking lot and it's about 1/3 of a mile. So, today, I walked 2 laps, then ran 2 laps! (Yesterday I walked 2 and ran 1), then I did that again. Then I did 25 walking lunges and a 1/2 "court" sprint. Then I walked 1 lap, ran 2 laps. Then I hit these bad boys:

Do these look hard to you? Let me tell you. Running up these stairs gets my heart rate up to 178 every time. I had to remember the 2nd time to bring my water bottle with me because I was gasping. I did this running workout at around 11am and it was already getting up to about 87 degrees. There was a small part of me worried that I was pushing it too hard with the heat and being that out of breath.....so after 3 times up and down the stairs (the last time I did power steps, every other step), I came down, did 25 more walking lunges, stretched, and headed home. Once I got home, I did some bicep work and stretched some more and I ended up at 850 calories burned. I always take pictures of my Polar HRM readout on my Posterous feed if you want to subscribe to that. 

So, here is my feedback after 2 days:

• I love it. Not sure why, but conquering running for me (even though I'm just starting) is a huge deal. 
• Today I am definitely feeling my GLUTES, followed by my calves and lastly my quads. I feel areas of my legs/glutes that I don't normally feel as far as DOMS so that's a good thing, it tells me that running is using muscles that I don't normally use or normally push that hard.
• The Saucony shoes are the ones I ran in today. Definitely great shoes, although the ASICs are far more "airy" and comfortable feeling. They both are wonderful but I'm loving the ASICs a bit more. 

Here are my questions so far:

• If it is a really hot day out like today at close to 90 degrees, should I try to run in the mornings, is heat "exhaustion" a threat?
• I have no idea how to pace myself, how fast I'm running. I THINK that I am tending to try to run too fast. Is it better as I'm just starting to run to focus on going LONGER amounts of time vs. going FASTER? It just feels slower when you aren't on a treadmill, and yet I think when I am going really too fast is when I cramp up easier. The cramping was less today than yesterday for sure, because when I felt it coming on I went slower. 
• Do you stretch before you run or only after?
• Do you eat before you run?
• Do you run every day?
• How long do you run each time? 1/2 hour? 1 hour?

Would love your tips. It was a help to me today to have my water bottle with me. And I have to get an arm band for my iPod for sure. Also the Under Armour bras KICK BUTT. Big time. Totally. 

Enjoy the sweaty goodness below:

CRUSHED IT!

Oh hell to the yea! I crushed it! I'm so doing a virtual happy dance right now you have no idea. 

I did my first run today! Now, mind you I will describe for you kids what I did, and I'm thrilled to hear from you, those of you that have been running for a while, on tips and pointers to help me out. I'm reading a ton of good stuff HERE on Women's Health & Fitness, but I love hearing from you all, my blogger world of BFFs! ;-) 

So, I tried my Asics Gel Nimbus shoes (for a peek at these bad boys, you can CLICK HERE) I have to tell you all, these shoes are like running on a mattress. SO SOFT and so cushy. I'm wowed. I wore my Polar HRM of course, (stay tuned because I'm getting a newer one very soon and I'll be sharing a lot of exciting Polar stuff in the next couple of weeks! Yay!) and my new Under Armour bras! (Wow I kind of sound like a walking advertisement in this paragraph, but please note, I am NOT getting paid to mention this, I did not get any of this stuff from the supplier, I'm mentioning brands here because in this case, specific brands/styles help and are important.) Let me tell you on the bra note: OMG. These bras rock. First of all, it doesn't take 7 hours to get into the bra, because it zips up front. Second of all, the girls didn't rock all over the place. Here is the note of brilliance; I didn't even NOTICE my boobs. I wasn't even aware of them during my workout. These bras are incredible. Those of you with boobs know what I mean when I say how much of a big deal it is to not notice your boobs when running or with plyo...I'm used to always feeling my boobs, knowing that it was hurting in some way or worried that I was going to pop out of the bra. Yeaaaaaa. These bras are COMFORTABLE, easy to wear, and they do the job. I'll be buying a LOT more. 

So I looked up a high school near my house, because I thought it would be nice to run on a track. My neighborhood is very hilly, which is great for walking, but I think me RUNNING up and down steep hills as I'm starting off is maybe not such a great idea? So this high school is 1 mile away. I left my house, and ran down this hill and then crossed the street and ran UP a very steep hill. By the time I got to the top of the hill I was at 165 on my HRM and I got a cramp! This is my "thing" that I have to conquer...the cramping. 

**Now, I think there were a couple things here. This might be TMI but I think I needed to *pee* before I left my house and I didn't. Also I hadn't had any water before I left. Is this a cramping factor? Do you guys take water with you when you run? Also, I'm sure going UP that badass hill was pushing it.**

Walked the rest of the way to the high school, found the track and it is LOCKED UP. Rats. But, I didn't let that stop me. Right by the track is this huge parking lot and then there is a big STAIRCASE up to the high school. And this area is monitored by video cameras, so that makes my mommy happy. I plan to come back here but I think I will drive for a couple reasons. #1 is I can bring water and my phone with me. #2 when I'm running, I want to run. Not walk a mile there and a mile home. Not that this is a horrible thing but that's just my preference. I'm hoping to build up to the point where I can run all over the place, in my neighborhood, up and down hills etc. But I think it might be smart for me to start my runs on a flat surface; do you agree? 

I did one lap around the parking lot RUNNING. Then I did one lap speed walking. Then I did another lap RUNNING. Then I walked around to the stairs. I ran up the stairs all Jenny Lynn-like and holy hell, my Heart Rate was at 177! That's when I was wishing I had some water! Came down the stairs and did one more lap, then walked home. By the time I got home I was at 525 calories burned.

I did get cramps. After running UP that big hill at first the cramps under my right rib area were bad. The kind where I stretch my arm up away from that side over my head and breathe to get air into the area.....it took me walking a while and breathing right to get the cramp to go away.

Tell me your thoughts on my cramps; is it breathing or water related?? Cramping is the #1 thing that prevented me from becoming a runner girl before. I WILL CONQUER THIS. 

After all, my name is Kelly which means WARRIOR. (I'm not joking look it up. I'm so cool.)

So, all in all. I feel very good about my first try. My adrenaline rush was big! And then I came home and did a killer shoulder workout, followed by some planks. Total calorie burn of 875 Calories. WOOT!

So glad it is a holiday weekend. I'm home, I finally feel better. I'm going to work on the last pieces of my book, do a Massage and Movie tomorrow after church and then hang with the family on Monday. What are your plans??

Tomorrow I'm going to have a profile of a very cool new fitness friend who is kicking serious bootie. Stay tuned.

So, runners! Tell me your tips, your ideas for me starting out. How long do you run and how often? Do you do gym/treadmill or outside or both? Do you eat before running? Do you deal with cramps? 

Also, I had to share these two videos below. Don't laugh at the late 90's workout gear, but this video was one of the early "tapes" I bought to workout with at home. This CherFitness one had a step workout, ending with some KILLER standing leg work and glute work (which you'll see below) and then some abs work. It is Keli Roberts in the video training Cher and I tell you, these leg moves are really awesome. No weights, but this will work your lower body HARD. I love the idea of mixing up my workouts between heavy isolation training and then moves like this. My body reacts well in every way. 

**Gotta love YouTube people- no excuse for not working out, you can find killer workouts for free online any time!! Notice, on the first video, the leg workout starts around 1:22.