Sunday, March 29, 2009

Gym Clothes Shopping!

Yesterday, Caitlin and I went to Target and the outlet mall looking for gym clothes. I have to say that most of the clothes I found that I actually liked and that fit my graduate student budget were at Target and the Champion outlet store (which is the brand that Target carries, ironically). The shirt in the picture is one of the shirts I purchased. I love the bright pink and the little girly design along the arm. I am so excited about working out, and trying to get a bit more tone for the cruise I may be going on this summer (my first cruise! Woo-hoo!). I just love the way working-out makes me feel. I'm in a much better mood. (o:

Later today I need to go grocery shopping for food for the week. I'm trying to figure out what to get for breakfast. Since Caitlin and I are working-out at the gym on campus, we are both just showering there then studying. So I need to buy food that can be put in a lunch bag to eat after my work-out. I was thinking about a Turkey sandwich and yogurt for breakfast... that way I get protein. Does anyone have any suggestions? I was wondering if freezing a smoothie the night before and allowing it to thaw in my cooler during my work-out would be a good idea. I would think that as long as it is still cold it would be okay to drink. I'm not sure though.

Off to finish my clothes shopping!

Friday, March 27, 2009

Great work-out and great guy!

So this morning everyone else bailed on our run because they either weren't feeling well or just didn't sleep well. I still went to the gym though. I walked around the track for a bit to warm up, then I ran 2 miles at an 8:20 pace!!! I was so proud of myself! Granted I did end up with a pretty bad cramp at the very end, but otherwise the run went very well! Then Caitlin met with me and we did a bicep and back work-out followed by abs.

Now I'm rather sleepy but feeling really good!

Last night Chris and I celebrated a year and a half of dating. (o: We went to Outback for dinner. The food was great, as usual. This has definitely been an amazing year a half! I love him so much!

Well I better get back to the library to find books for my seminar. Bleh. Have a great day!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Inspired to Weight Train!

This morning I met with Caitlin and Kelly so Kelly could show us her chest and triceps work-out. The work-out was amazing. We also did abs and 20 minutes on the elliptical machine. Caitlin and I felt so great after, that we've decided to meet three days a week to do weight training. I am really excited about this!

I am also excited about Ocean Spray's new On-The-Go mixes to flavor water. I LOVE cranberry juice, and this way I can get the great flavor with 100% of my daily value of vitamin C and only 5 calories per serving. When I went to their website to find a picture to post, I discovered they have the following flavors:

Cranberry
Cranberry Grape
White Cranberry Peach
Cranberry Pomegranate
Cranberry Lemonade
Ruby Red Grapefruit

Now I've tried the cranberry pomegranate, cranberry grape, and white cranberry peach. I absolutely love the cranberry grape and white cranberry peach!!! The other isn't bad either. I am psyched that they have cranberry lemonade and even more psyched about ruby red grapefruit! Now I just need to find those!

In other good news, I got my kinetics and catalysis midterm back (from a couple weeks ago), and I aced it! That is always nice! And tomorrow Chris and I celebrate a year and a half of being together. We are going to have dinner at Outback when he gets off work, and I'm done tutoring. I can't wait. (o:

Well time to finish a paper. Have a great week!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

8:30 Pace! Woo-hoo!


After studying until very late all weekend, and taking an exhausting test Monday night, I decided to skip my Tuesday morning run so I could sleep in. I did sleep very well, and started today looking forward to my solo evening run. I recently downloaded new music to my iPod, and the weather was PERFECT today! My run was great. I set out determined to run 4 miles at a faster pace than my recent turtle pace. I was really pushing myself, pausing only at the crosswalks. I pushed until I hit mile 2 (my turn around point) then stopped to take a breather. I looked at my Garmy and my pace was 8:30!!! After a few seconds I headed back, continuing to push myself. After a half a mile I started to feel nauseous, so I walked a little over a tenth of a mile. Then I ran a little over a half a mile before I felt nauseous again. I checked out Garmy and it turned out that while I was running I was maintaining an 8:30 or slightly under pace. Since I was pretty hot and tired at that point, I decided to walk the rest of the way home, and even took a slightly longer path. Overall I didn't run 4 miles straight, but I did run a total of 3 miles at a pace must faster than I thought I'd be able to do. I've decided that I want to train to run a 5K at an 8:30 pace. We'll see what happens.

Sadly one of the girls from work has decided she only wants to run together on Fridays (Panera bagel day!!), so that leaves me and Kelly to train by ourselves on Tuesdays. Come December, Kelly will be moving away, which means I'm going to need to find someone to run with me in the mornings a couple days a week. I've decided I prefer the mornings as a routine because then my work-out is done, and I don't have to worry about what I eat and when I eat later in the day. If anyone wants a running partner, let me know! (o;

I'm meeting Kelly and Caitlin at the gym in the morning. Kelly is going to show me her chest and triceps work-out, then we are going to do abs and cardio.

I better get some sleep. Have a great week!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Chris and I just came back from grocery shopping at the best grocery store ever... Publix! Not only does Publix have great produce and wonderful buy-one-get-one deals, but their customer service is spectacular. As we were in line to check out, the cashier, a delightful young woman, looked at me and said with a cheerful voice, "Hello Gorgeous!" I thought for sure she was talking to Chris, but no, she was looking right at me with a happy smile. I was flattered. Here I was shopping in a baggy sweatshirt, sporting my dorky glasses, yet she managed to call me gorgeous. I love Publix! That totally made my day!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Gate River Run 15K and Shuttle Launch

The Friday before last the girls from work and I drove up to Jax and stayed the night at one of my co-worker's parents' house. After very little sleep, we woke at 6 am to head out for the race. Over 20,000 participants were expected. It took some time to pick up our race packets, and Caitlin ran the 5K so her race started first. Kelly, Katie, and I ran the 15K (and my roommate watched from the side-lines due to a knee injury). Before the race we were all separated. Kelly ended up finding me shortly after the race started, but unfortunately we didn't find Katie until the end. Due to my mad dash to check in my bag (since I ended up getting separated from my roommate who was going to hold my bag), I ended up with a cramp before the race even started. I fought through that darn cramp for the next 9.3 miles! I am happy to say I made it through the entire race, although my pace was pretty sad. My overall chip time was 1 hour and 38 minutes. Of course, the girls and I had been training for distance and not speed. And we definitely hadn't been training on hills (the race went over two large bridges). We are now going to start training for a 5K to increase our speed. I really want to get back to my 9 minute pace (*fingers crossed*).

Despite the cramp and slow speed, the race was really great. We ran through some spectacular neighborhoods where people were handing out fruit and even mimosas! I saw five golden retrievers, which made me think of my "baby". (Note: I did put him to sleep. I intend to post a blog dedicated to him... I just can't bring myself to write about it yet.) It was challenging dodging between so many people, but Kelly and I really pushed ourselves at the end. About two miles from the end we hit the big bridge, which was pretty rough, but once we started going downhill we really picked up our speed. Garmy says my best pace was a 6:11!

I am really proud of myself for running the race, and I enjoyed it enough to run it again next year. I'm also proud of Kelly and Caitlin for running their first races. Granted Kelly is a runner (soccer, refereeing, etc.) but it was still her first official race. After we all met up we went out to eat and met up with Katie's parents and my mom and niece. Then we headed back home. I was completely exhausted by the time I got home!

This week I went to the gym with Kelly. She had a three day pass to her gym. She does weight training and cardio all the time, and works out at least 6 days a week. So we made plans for her to teach me her weight training routine. The first day we worked out biceps and back. I do not think I have ever intentionally worked out my back. And I definitely have not done weight training in... well... I don't even remember how long! The work-out was wonderful! We also did abs and some cardio. Unfortunately the next couple days I could not move! My entire upper body and even my legs were sore. I definitely need to be working out with weights more often! The next day we were both too tired to work out, and the third day did legs. It was a really great work out!!! I would like to do more weight training, but to be honest I probably won't significantly increase that until the semester is over. I seriously cannot wait for this semester to end! It is killing me.

Oh yes, after the race last Saturday, Caitlin, Anthony (a guy who works at the lab with us) and myself went to see the shuttle launch. We played mini golf, went shopping, walked along the beach, then saw the launch from Cocoa Beach. It took us 4 hours to get home! (What is usually a 45 minute trip). It was a lot of fun though!

Now I need to get back to studying for a big organic synthesis test I have on Monday. Bleh. Hope you all in blog world are doing well. Thank you for the support for Syd. I really appreciated it.
Pre-race


Almost to the end!


Crossing the finish line


Post Race Pic


Caitlin and I under the stream from the shuttle


Anthony and I under the stream from the shuttle


Caitlin and I goofing off


Mini Golfing (I got a hole in one, and hit Caitlin with a golf ball!)