Monday, January 30, 2012

Baking frenzy!

I love baking and decided to tackle bread making this weekend with huge success! I seriously can't believe how easy it is to make whole wheat bread. My first bread was a whole wheat flax meal bread. I have a kitchen aid mixer and put the dough hook on it and let the mixer do the work. The bread rose for about an hour and then right into the oven. The next bread I made was a whole wheat sunflower flax bread. The recipe I used made two loaves. I ended up making three loaves of bread for around $1.00 total. I plan on making bread every weekend. It really takes me no time at all. I can't believe I waited so long to do this!

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Weekend Groceries

Do you think eating healthy is not affordable? This is what I purchased this past weekend:

 

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

How to Keep Your Ticker Ticking












How do we keep our heart in tip top shape? Here are four strategies to keep your ticker ticking:

Friday, January 20, 2012

Oh that caffeine addiction!

How many of you have a daily caffeine habit? I definitely do!! Coffee and me are long lost soul mates. Without it, I never would have survived the four years of interrupted sleep that my little ones have given me. (yes, both kids were TERRIBLE sleepers!!) The question is, How do you partake of this addiction?

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Keep at it!











Ah yes...the "boring 4". I made it! A typical week right now is one long run on the weekend, one day of weights and abs and three days of 4 mile runs during my lunch break. I've been taking Wednesday and Saturday as rest days. As I get farther into my training, my long runs will get longer but my lunch hour runs will stay the same. Does that seem like alot to you? I assure you that its not and its not at all a hassle to my day to day routine. It's just a nice part of it :-)



A good tip for keeping at your fitness and nutrition is to keep a log or diary of what you do and eat each day. That way you can see how your nutritional profile stacks up. I recommend cronometer. It's really easy to navigate and breaks down your daily nutrition right down to the last macro-nutrient. There is also a complete user guide on the website so you will be able to navigate easily and efficiently.This is especially important if you really have no clue what nutritional content are in the foods you eat. Be honest with your food tracking too! That way you can really see what you consume in a day and where you need to improve. I know a big downfall of mine is to take bites of my kids leftovers. (or eat almost half a sandwich off their plates if its left over!). That, in itself, might not sound like a lot but if you add that into the rest of your food intake for the day, it can quickly add up.In order to lose weight, you need to create a deficit and if you're honest with yourself and track accurately, you might realize that you are eating way more than you thought you actually were.



Tuesday, January 17, 2012

The importance of proper hydration



I was super thirsty after my run on Sunday and I couldn’t drink enough water. I finally became sufficiently hydrated by 6 pm that night and then spent most of the evening running to the bathroom to pee. Why is hydration so important? Your body depends on water for survival. Did you know that water makes up more than half of your body weight? Every cell, tissue and organ in your body needs water to function correctly. For example, your body uses water to maintain its temperature, remove waste and lubricate joints. Water is essential for good health.  You lose water through sweating, breathing and going to the bathroom. When you don’t replace the water that is lost, you become dehydrated.
So, how do I know if I am dehydrated?

Sunday, January 15, 2012

10K Snow Shoe Race!

Well, I made it! It took me around 1 hour and 30 minutes to finish the entire course. These are the shoes I ran in:


















Saturday, January 14, 2012

Winter Blah’s and Keeping Fit


This winter has been quite a blessing for me! Last year, it started snowing in October and didn’t stop for 6 months. It was awful. Getting to work was miserable. It was such a huge pain in the butt to go anywhere with small children since they were bundled up in puffy coats and could barely walk through all the snow in their clunky boots. Is it possible to still work out in the great outdoors during the cold winter months?

Friday, January 13, 2012

The Biggest Loser


Have you ever watched this show? They are now broadcasting “The Biggest Loser Season 13” with trainers Bob Harper 














and Dolvett Quince.















Jillian Michaels (doesn't she look HOT??)















was a trainer on the show from 2004-2010 (with some breaks in there).

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Nike +


You all know that  me and the treadmill have a hate/hate relationship.  I am an outdoor runner through and through but I also hate running when I don’t know how far I’ve actually traveled.  The Nike + was the perfect solution for me.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Why hello there white teeth!

I tried the Rembrandt 2 Hour Whitening Kit this past weekend. This product works great!

Masks

Are you really comfortable in your own skin? If not, why not? Are you
hiding behind a mask and not really being who you are? It amazes me
the amount of information that we find out about people in the public
eye as their lives become on display. Maybe we need to understand that
there is no "perfect" person. We are all human and if you strip away
the masks, we're not very different, fundamentally speaking. Our basic
needs are the same; food, shelter, warmth, sleep. Think about a
newborn baby. Those are the basic human needs for a newborn.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Run Sara Run



                           Hmmm...sideways yet again. I am obviously very good with computers :-)

 

Oh Tready, you bore me so. Why can't you be the nice open air and blue sky?? Do you have a Planet Fitness near you? I highly recommend this gym. The one I go to is open 24 hours Monday-Thursday and open from 5am-9pm on Fridays and 7am-7pm on the weekends. You can get a membership for as low as $10 a month!



6:20 am



Apparently my camera was as tired as I am this morning! ha ha. Vid quality is not looking so good but hey, its 6:20 am :-)

Motivation

What exactly is motivation? People are motivated by all sorts of things…money, love, sex, prestige, body image, self image, power, etc. It can be something as small as one thought or as large as something that changes an entire nation. You have the power to motivate. You have the power to change what’s in front of you. I come into contact with negativity everyday. There are a ton of “I can’t” and “You can’t” people out there. I say to them “Why can’t you and why can’t I?”.  I call bullshit. What holds us back is fear. We have let fear become some sort of black shadow that hovers over us and guides us away from things we really want. Fear is a de-motivator. Fear is a crutch. Fear is why you haven’t reached your full potential. During my Sunday run, I thought about the difference between someone who is successful and someone who isn’t. What’s the key element that differs the two? The successful one made it happen. They stopped listening to all the “You can’t” that was thrown at them and said a big “F-U” to their crutch. I ran a marathon last September. I work a full time job and I have two full time little kids. There’s no messing around with marathon training. No one can train for you. You will absolutely not be able to finish that 26 mile run if you don’t put the effort and time into the training. My motivation for that process was to run a marathon and to finish it. Were there days that I didn’t want to train? Abso-freakin-lutely!! You think running a 20 mile training run in 80 degree weather is fun? We had (and have) limited amounts of time where people are available to watch our kids so we can train. It just so happened that the one day we could get in our 20 miler was a ridiculously gross humid day. Such is life. Suck it up and get it done my friend. I took the same approach to that run as I did during labor with my kids. Each minute that goes by is one less minute left but one minute closer to the goal. Being in labor, in my humble opinion, is the worst. Seriously. I hated everything about it. The doctors checking you, the hospital, the pain, the IV…pretty much the entire experience. What’s the end result to all of that? The baby, of course. That baby is the goal. So my advice is to look at your situations as they arise and figure out what your goal is and to figure out your path to your goal. What’s your motivation for getting there? How are you going to keep yourself going in the right direction? I’ll give you an idea of my fitness goal. I want to be 80 years old and still running. I truly believe that fitness and good nutrition are the true “fountain of youth”.  Today, I challenge you to do 20 minutes of exercise, in any form that you can fit into your day.  That 20 minutes is for you. Clear your mind. This is the medicine for the mind, body and soul. Really feel you body moving and remember that our bodies love motion.

Monday, January 9, 2012

What the heck is the Megatransect??

Megatransect

Here's a quick youtube vid for your enjoyment.

And here's my dad climbing one of the Boulder Fields:














That's a fairly easy looking terrain, right?? :-)

Here's the 9 mile aid station and my dad eating a PB&J:




















This year's entry sold out in 90 minutes!!

No Excuses!

Yes, that's the phrase of 2012. The Biggest Loser is using that mantra this season as well. This is my work out check in:
yea yea yea...its sideways :-)  I'll get all these kinks worked out as I go. Bottom line is, we're all busy. We all don't have time. We're all tired. We're all sick. blah blah blah. I didn't want to run 4 miles today. I certainly didn't want to run 4 miles yesterday but I stopped my whining and did it. I'm not telling anyone to go from not working out to training for a Megatransect but everyone can walk. Everyone can try to eat better. When I run, I daydream. I think about all sorts of things. Yesterday, I ran outside, which I prefer. The treadmill is just torture for me. I literally have to do every single thing possible in order to distract myself from the fact that I am running on it. I cover the time and miles with a sweatshirt. I listen to dance club music because the quick beats help me keep pace and I don't let myself look at the time or mileage until I've heard 7 songs. That's distraction at its finest. Yesterday was 28 degrees and overcast but for January, it's like heaven. The first mile is usually the time my brain tries to convince my body to stop running. "You're really tired" "What good is this 4 mile run gonna do anyway? You could get away with 2" "You have a million other things to do today" I keep running. Shut up brain. After around 2 miles, some sort of lovely chemical washes over my head and I sort of have an out of body experience. It feels like my body is no longer connected to my head and I don't feel the tired muscles anymore. I'm just a conscience floating around the street. Ah, the Runners High. It's legit. Then I start thinking. Sunday's thoughts involved a lot of "life thoughts". I know that the only person you can truly count on in life is yourself. You are the only one that will look out for your best interest and you are the only one that can take steps forward to accomplish what you want. My run mimicked this basic concept. Each step I took, was once step closer to my goal and to accomplishment. I stopped whining. I ignored my own negativity. I finished what I started. No Excuses!!