Thankful Thursday

This week has been a crazy, exciting and busy week. A lot of big things have happened in my life and I have a lot of things to be thankful for so today  I bring you Thankful Thursday!

1. I am thankful for my new apartment! I have signed a lease on a new place with my sister and her friend starting August 1st! the decision to move, find a place, and sign on it all happened within the past 10 days or so. I am going to miss my roommates now and my current apartment but finding a new apartment was essential due to…
2. MY PUPPY. I have mentioned on and off on this blog that I want a dog and as of yesterday I have a deposit on a 4 day old golden-doodle pup! I will share so many pictures you will hate me soon enough. I made the decision to buy a pup instead of adopt because my roommate is allergic and can only be around hypoallergenic dogs. If you have any other questions about how I chose my pup please ask
3. I am very thankful for ice cream. It has been really warm here lately and all I want is ice cream at all times. I’ve had cookies n creme, snickers ice cream bars, and hagaan daz ice cream cones. All within the past  4 days thankyaverymuch. Don’t judge me, or do. Either way I’m probably going to eat more ice cream tonight.
4. I am also thankful for smoothies. I have been loving on smoothies lately and this one was especially delicious. Frozen mango, pineapple and strawberry pieces mixed with milk and strawberry yogurt. Heaven in a glass.
5. I am also thankful for books! I love reading books especially fiction, trashy romance novels. I have been trying to read more books lately and just finished this one. A great read if anyone is looking for an only semi-trashy romance novel.
6. Finally I am thankful for 3 day weekends. I fly to Nashville Saturday morning to hang out with my boyfriend and his two sisters and their two friends. Its going to be an awesome 3 day weekend. I am NOT thankful for the fact that they all get to go on Friday and I have to go by myself on Saturday due to my lack of vacation days but cest le vie.

What are you Thankful for this Thursday?

Any places I should make sure to visit in Nashville?

Workout Wednesday

For this week’s Workout Wednesday I bring you variety: If you read my blog regularly you will know that my most common form of exercise these days is running. I haven’t always been so big on running though and for a few years in college I barely ever ran. So if you are looking to switch up your cardio workout routine why not try one of these ways to get your cardio in, especially now thats its summer!

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Rollerblading: I’ll admit until last night I haven’t gone rollerblading since I was a kid. Yesterday I decided to change that and set out on a 20 min stroll on my roommates new rollerblades. It was pretty difficult at first but once I got the hang of it I was having fun. Rollerblading gets your heart rate up and is an excellent quad and core workout. Read on about the other benefits of inline skating here.

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Biking: This summer I purchased an awesome new bike and have been using it a ton! Biking is a great form of cross training for running as well. I found that while it may take a little bit more effort to get my heart rate up on the bike, if I ride it for a little longer then while running my calorie burn is about the same. It also gives my always sore shins a nice break.

While rollerblading and biking are my two favorite forms of summer exercise besides running there are a lot more! You can always swim laps (in a pool or lake), play volleyball, kickball, softball or any other sport, or simply go on a long walk.

What is your workout this Wednesday?

Check out more Workout Wednesday ideas here! 

Week 5 Recap

This half-marathon is creeping up faster and faster. Oh and apparently June is almost over? So glad the weather in Chicago JUST decided to be nice.

This past week I really wanted to run 20 miles. I didn’t quite hit that but I did run 4 out of 6 days so that was a great success, I like you (thats my Borat impression).

• Monday: 4.1 miles 35:57
• Tuesday: 50 min bike ride
• Wednesday: 3 naked miles
• Thursday: 5 miles of fartlek 44:57
• Friday: Easy bike and arm weights
• Saturday: Proud to Run 10k 55:41
• Sunday: 30 min walk/rest (just counting the walk for the 100 day challenge) 

Weekly total: 18.3 miles

Not exactly the 20 I was hoping for but close enough!

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My plan for this week is a little messed up because I am flying to Nashville early Saturday morning for the holiday weekend. As of right now the goal is

• Monday: 5 mile run (Check! It was slow but I did it)
• Tuesday: Insanity or bike ride
• Wednesday: 5-6 miles with some sort of speed work
• Thursday: Elliptical or bike ride
• Friday: 9-10 miles long
• Saturday-Sunday: do my 30 minutes for the 100 day challenge in some legit way thats not just lifting a drink from the table to my mouth

If you are a runner how many days a week do you run?

What’s your suggestions for fitting in exercise on a weekend vacation focused around partying?