Last Call for a GIVEAWAY!!

There is only one day left to enter my Tough Chik giveaway and I feel it is my duty as a good blogger to remind you to enter!!

You can do so here.

Share the love and tell your family and friends.

Happy Sunday!

Gettin' FIT

It's been a busy week here- My parents were on vacation this week so that meant Lola spent plenty of time visiting with them and that allowed me to have some great training sessions! There is a two hour limit in the Y's kids club and I can easily kill two hours there....it was really nice to have a little more flexibility!



It's always fun and games with Mimi and Pepere!!

I got to do my favorite indoor cycling class with (evil) Charles -- USAT Race Director/Tri club member/Triathlon Coach -- who always delivers an ass-kicking class. Lucky for me *sarcasm* I did a heavy leg workout on Monday so Tuesday's spin was especially torturous. Another Lactate Threshold special!! Several of us cooled down after by sitting in the snow! I was also able to jump in on one of the group weight training classes I have been wanting to try. I several quality runs in too so I am happy with how this week went.

Thanks to Mike at 26.2 Is My Cooldown, I am now the proud owner of a Tanita BC-1000 body composition scale. I had my first weigh in last Friday and today was the first comparison check.
Down 1lb. and 3/10's of a % of body fat! I am pleased with that. I want to drop about 8-10lbs of fat and increase my lean muscle mass a bit (or even just lean out) so Yay! I am not sure my body fat % is really as low as the scale says so I will have one of the trainers at work "caliper" me so I can compare.

I gotta say the whole Paleo for the Athlete based eating I am doing seems to be working. I have had a couple days where I felt like I did not have my normal power on the bike, kind of 'blah' but it could be from several things. I am loving the foods (as is hubby) and it's been fun trying new things-even the "fails". Plus, it is definitely doing what I want it to do. I am certainly seeing much flatter abs too. Nothing like EMZ famous abs...yet!

Speaking of famous: I'll soon be "famous" for my tri skillz! *more sarcasm* I made my triathlon television debut his week when the local news station, WCSH-6 came to the Y to do a story for their Fit at Five feature on the upcoming indoor triathlon. They needed some B footage (aka filler) and guess who was asked to be in that B footage? Yup, me...and my bestie, Dawn and a couple other tri peeps from the club. The camera man spent an unusual amount of time taping Dawn's legs so, I think her quads will need an agent soon.

In bike news several things happened this week:

• I got two new pairs of shoes-one pair of PI road shoes and Carnac tri shoes. The old toe-cage pedals came off the de Luca and the Look KEO's went on. I did my Tuesday spin class clipless!
• My Bontrager Race Lite aerobars came and I will putting those on soon.
• I went to see Jared at OA to have my bike fitting done on Thursday.

The fitting was a learning experience. He educated me on geometry and angles of the body on the bike; How the road bike set up differs from TT/Tri specific and how my set up will need to be adjusted once I put the aerobars on. We talked about wheels (clincher vs tubular) and pedal technique. He was pleased with my pedaling so that's a good thing. I still have so much to learn about cycling but I am really enjoying it and cannot WAIT to get outside~

Did you enter my Tough Chik giveaway yet? Make sure you do, there is only a few days left to get in on the action!!

{silly} Dreams

Well it's Monday and there is only one week left in the month of February!
Can you believe it?

My first "race" of the season is in just a month, The Nor'Easter Reverse Tri. Eeek.

Speaking of races, I had a very strange dream last night. I was doing a fun tri at the local high school and after the swim and bike, the run was broken up into segments where you had to answer trivia questions or complete a task every 1/2 mile or so to continue on the race course. Well I did not have my running shoes and I did not want to run in my bike shoes so I went barefoot. And it hurt. A lot!  I started skipping and running sideways--and at the same time, I was SO annoyed that I was losing time with a slow run. I was cursing but running anyway. I don't remember much more than that part but...How strange/hilarious is that??

I was sick for a few days early last week so it was not the week I was hoping for but-what can you do?
I ran 17 miles-sad. I'm celebrating 17 miles of running. My average weeks used to be 35-30 pre-injury.) I got out for my first run outside since I hurt my knee on Jan 2nd. 4.6 miles in the cold winter wind and it was glorious! I ran 4 times though and they were all pain free.
I biked 39 miles-again, nothing epic here. 3 rides with one being a brick.
I swam once, 1800 yards. It was a rough swim to start since I had been out of the water for about 2 weeks but after a bit I found my groove and felt good.
The end of the week also got me into the gym for a couple really good weight sessions!

This week will be much better!

My Monday indoor cycling class has been changed to Tuesday so I am definitely looking forward to that tomorrow. I think I am going to swim before or after class.
I'd like to get at least 3 hour long swim sessions in this week so I don't lose all the ground I gained since the last TI class.

Did you enter my Tough Chik giveaway yet? Make sure you do--you can enter here.
Make sure you check out the Tough Chik blog too!

Here are great new foodie blogs I found last week that I think are worth sharing with you:

The Athlete's Plate-between the nut butter and burger recipes he's got up, I'm in a daze at what to make next. His egg salad with hummus was a winner and my lunch yesterday.

Healthy Exposures- this link will bring you right to Sweet Potato Waffles. I think I shorted out my laptop drooling on this recipe. But she has tons of other yummy things to drool over like Almond Joy Nut butter. Check it out!

Yes, the commonality there is nut butter. Both sites have some amazing recipes for making your own at home and I think I am going to give this a whirl. Considering the closest retailer of Justin's Nut Butter is 30 mins north, I think I need to try this out.

What are some of your favorite sites for healthy recipes??
What's on your agenda for this week?

Dailymile Team

Well folks, I got this in my e-mail yesterday afternoon:

Congratulations, you've been voted by the dailymile community to be a member of the 2011 dailymile team! We're so excited to welcome you, and even more excited to kick off a great year for dailymile!

I am so happy to announce that I was voted in for the 2011 Dailymile Team!

I am super psyched about this and I just cannot believe the drastic change that has taken place in my life.

Think about it...
three short years ago my idea of a triathlon was a 6-pack of beer, 6 egg rolls followed by 6 plates of chinese take-out.
I used to joke that the only way I would ever run would be if they were giving away Louis Vuitton handbags.

Now.
I am an ambassador for an entire community of athletes!
Now.
I cannot even fathom living my life without running or being active.

I cannot expess how gratefull I am to each and every single Dailymile member who voted for me.

Thank you!! Thank you!!

If you are not a Dailymile member, what are you waiting for??

Go sign up-start tracking your miles, making new friends and getting a daily dose of motivation.
Make sure you friend me up!! Jen S. 

The Joy of-

Cupcakes

Working on your "Bike"

 

New Sneaks

Don't forget:

A great giveaway!

If you have not entered my Tough Chik giveaway,

you can find it HERE.

I'm CooCoo for CoCoNuT

I have been loving the recipes I have been making from different Paleo sites like Everyday Paleo and Paleo Perfectly. Even hubby is lovin' them--he asked for the Orange Chicken two nights in a row.

For Valentine's Day, Lola and I made him a LOVE CAKE (so NOT Paleo) and I decided to get a little creative with the coconut.

Love Cake: banana cake, coconut filling topped with powdered sugar.

During my Florida days I used to love to go to Shooter's and get the Coconut Shrimp so thought I would try making Coconut Chicken for dinner.

I cut up boneless, skinless chicken breast into tenders and set aside.

Then I set up my COCO-NUTTING station:

in the first bowl I added about a cup of coconut flour. Then in a second bowl I added 3 eggs mixed with about 3TB coconut milk and in the last bowl I added unsweetened shredded coconut

roll your chicken tenders in the coconut flour--then dip into the egg mixture-then cover in the shredded coconut.

In my saute pan, I melted some coconut oil and browned each chicken tender until golden.

Once browned, put onto a baking sheet or stone and finish in the oven (400*) for about 15 mins or so.

I served this with a giant green salad and lightly steamed broccoli-you gotta leave some crunch in it!

Easy and it was a nice change of pace. I love coconut so I will definitely make this one again. I think I will try to figure out a good sweet/spicy chili dipping sauce in the meantime!

Don't forget to enter the TOUGH CHIK giveaway. All the cool kids are doing it--Right Kovas?

Speaking of Tough Chik--did you see that EMZ is running for 24 hours on her Treadmill in May to support The Sojourner Center? Call I get a collective "YOU FREAKING ROCK EMZ?" 

A Valentine's Day Giveaway too "Tough" to pass up

Happy Valentine's Day! Valentine's Day is about love and I want to share something that I love with YOU!! SO it is the perfect day to have a review and giveaway!!

Some time ago, I stumbled upon an advertisement for Tough Chik on Endurance Athlete Project, I was instantly drawn into the name and had to find out more.


Once I clicked the ad and read about Tough Chik I was impressed. I loved "the story" of how it all started and really like the philosophy behind the brand--I identified with it on my own Tough Chik level.




Tough Chik is not just a clothing line, it is an outlook on life.
All women have a personal story that makes them tough and our goal is to celebrate Tough Chik triumphs in a creative way. We want to revolutionize women's performance apparel by linking it to something more profound than just pretty designs.




After thinking about it for a couple days, I took a chance and emailed Shannon, the owner of Tough Chik and told her a bit about MY story and started begging and pleading as well as offering bribes asked if she would be interested in participating in a blog review and giveaway. To my delight, Shannon agreed!


I ordered a couple tee's from Tough Chik and the hardest part was picking which ones I wanted to get, there were so many I wanted! So I settled on my first two choices:

Triathamom and I RUN.

This is the Triathamom tee and I absolutely adore it! It is one of the newest designs for 2011 from Tough Chiks!
I am a Mom and a triathlete so this was a perfect blend of my two favorite things. When I tell you this tee is soft, I mean soft.
It is made from quality fibers and the fit is just perfect. Not too tight and not too baggy or loose. There is nothing I hate more than a tee shirt that gets all bound up around me while I am working out or playing with Lola.
I wore this tee to physical therapy, out shopping, to the gym and just hanging out. It was perfect for all those occasions.
The tee is a pale pearl grey with purple writing. I love the TOUGH CHIK logo on the back shoulder.

It's different!
And it let's all those behind me know I am a Tough Chik!

The other tee shirt I got was I RUN in navy blue. Again, super soft and a perfect fit. I am a stay at home Mom so I wear tee's and yoga pants a lot.
I really liked these tee's because the fit makes it a bit more refined than your typical tee shirt. Is it ok to call a tee shirt dressy?? You know what I mean, it's not that box cut tee that just hangs on ya. This fits well and looks great!

These tops also washed like a dream. They did not shrink, lose their shape or their softness.

I know you want to rush on over to Tough Chicks right now and get your own right? Well, you can AND Shannon has hooked the readers up with a super discount!

At the check out enter the code “milesmusclesmom” for 20% off your TOTAL purchase.




Are you into cycling? Running? They have a tee for that!
Are you a yoga fan? Yup, they got one for you too!
You just wanna look cute doing your thing? Tough Chik can help you.
Tough Chik even has an entire line of Bamboo fabrics-Tough Chik Embrace.
Not only do they carry a great variety of tees and tops for the active lady, they also have a line of performance apparel. I will be featuring this line in the future!!


We all know some Tough Chiks and many of us are Tough Chik's ourselves.
You don't have to win races to be tough. You don't have to be a professional athlete to be tough.
Tough is many, many things.

Tough is finding a way to balance everything in your life to achieve success.
Tough is overcoming challenges to make your dreams reality.
Tough is pushing through that workout knowing the benefits that will pay off.
Tough is not accepting NO for an answer.
Tough is asking for help when needed.
So I ask you, are YOU a Tough Chik?

This is Mainer tough (right Caratunk Girl??)
Who needs an ice bath when you have tons of snow??

An icebath-the Maine way

Tough Chiks is ready to hook you up with an awesome giveaway package!

Water bottle, sweat towel, catalog, wipes and Tee of YOUR CHOICE!

Wanna win?? Of course, YOU get to pick the TEE of YOUR CHOICE for this contest.

**Please leave a separate comment for each entry**

Here's how you can enter for a chance to win:
1) MANDATORY Be a follower of my blog!
2) MANDATORY Go to the TOUGH CHIK site and tell me which tee you would pick if you were to win this contest.

Bonus Entries:
3) Make a purchase from Tough Chik (don't forget the 20% off discount code!) and get 5 additional entries!
4) Sign up for the Tough Chik mailing list
5) Follow Tough Chik on Twitter
6) Like Tough Chik on Facebook - leave a comment or write on their wall.
7) Share the love! on Twitter, Facebook, your blog etc. Leave a comment for each.
8) Did you comment on THIS blog post? If so, you earned an additional entry! (I know who you are)


Entries to this giveaway will be accepted until 2/28/2011 at midnight. The winner will be chosen randomly from all eligible entries and announced on 03/01/2011.

NOTE: This giveaway is dedicated to Chris K at The Manly Runner!! Because sometimes being manly is all about embracing your inner TOUGH CHIK!!

ETA: If you are a dude and you want to enter, that's cool. You can enter for yourself or on behalf of your lady. Who said a man can't wear a Tough Chik tee? It's all good. I don't judge. Do your thing-

One Final Plea...

Uggh. I'm sick with this annoying head/chest cold. I'm not dying but I feel very crud-like today. It is one of those "I'm staying in my PJ's all day kind" of day...I knew this was coming on yesterday --
Yesterday was a great day though. I had a child-free afternoon with Dawn doing the things we LOVE to do. Talk training, brainstorm ideas, shop for running and triathlon gear, hit Trader Joe's and Whole Foods and enjoyed a little lunch. Dessert rocked too! Justin's Nut Butter (peanut butter and chocolate) right from the package baby~This is what girls on the go eat


So I have spent the day resting, drinking lots of fluids. Oh and spending tons of time on slowtwitch.com, ebay and other velo site searching for bike gear of all kinds. (Big thank you to Jeff at Dangle the Carrot for a great bunch of links he gave out to bloggyland a while back!)
What else is a sick girl to do??

There is one thing that would make me feel better.
Could you please, please go to Dailymile.com and cast your vote for me to get onto the Dailymile Team in 2011??
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
http://www.dailymile.com/team/vote

Saturday Stew

Here is a giant stew of what is on my mind early this Saturday morning--

First, welcome to all the new followers! I see that there are a lot of new faces and I am so happy to have you following along on my little journey. There are a lot of new readers from Run Like a Mother. If you missed it, I was in their feature this week, Follow this Mother! Check it out and while you are there, sign up to follow their blog as well. Yes, Caroline, Canadians are always welcome here!!  A very special Hello and Welcome to my friend, Njou who as jumped on board as well.

SUAR is giving away two entries to run the BOSTON MARATHON. You don't even have to qualify (just be able to finish in under 6 hours). Seriously...check it out!

This week's training plan versus reality was a FAIL. I just had too many things happen that derailed all of my good intentions-mainly Lola related. I am trying to get over it and move on. Now, I wake this early Saturday morning and I feel the beginnings of this chest cold coming on. Drat!

The good news? I did get in a 5.65 mile run on Thursday and this is the furthest distance I have logged since I hurt my knee. Happy dance!!
Week to date: I ran 14 miles, biked 38 and spent 2.5 hours in the gym weight training.Far below what is on the plan.I had a ton of stuff on the agenda for the weekend, including a bike time trial but with this chest cold, those plans might have to wait. Drat!

Thursday night (Friday morning actually) I was startled awake by the loud sound of crashing and the scattering of "toys" at 2:14 am. It. Scared. ME. to. Death!! (ala EMZ) I thought it was a home invasion in Lola's room and "they" knocked over toys in there. Woke hubby up and he searched the house.

Come to find out-my magnetic calendar with my training plan fell off the refrigerator door and went crashing onto the floor, taking down Lola's magnetic letters and numbers with it!
Dang training plan. Hubbs then made fun of the the remainder of the day telling me to watch out for the calendar, it might get me.

A reminder to everyone that Valentine's Day is on Monday. Don't forget your sweetie pie.
I don't care about chocolates, diamonds and flowers...
I want bike gear for V-Day. Show me the LOVE~
"Rumor" has it that Cupid is bringing me some new clipless pedals and carbon shoes....
Will let you know if I got lucky!!
If there is a PowerTap involved, Cupid will be getting very lucky!!

And the You Freaking Rock Award goes to...

I know you have been waiting very patiently for me to announce the second winner of the YRFA-you know, the coveted You Freaking Rock Award.


Oh, you have no clue what I'm talking about??
If you are a new reader or just need a friendly reminder, the very first You Freaking Rock Award was given out on December 14th to the one and only EMZ. You can read all about it here.


I know, I know. It appears that I totally skipped over the Month of January and did not select a winner for the next award BUT actually, this blogger deserves TWO months SO without further ado, I will now tell you who is being honored!

It's Jason
(formerly of Life of an Aspiring Triathlete) 
which has now grown into the updated and sleek site 
Cook Train Eat Race.

If you do not follow this blog already, you are missing out. Even if you have no interest in endurance sports, you will find SOMETHING that will make your day a little better :)
This New Yorker turned Texan talks about motivation, being real, making change, and inspiration-

He creates an entire day of healthy eats in his feature, The Athlete's Plate.


The one thing that really stands out about Jason is his positive energy. No matter what kind of day you are having, he can find a way to make you laugh, smile or even feel good about a not-so-good day. He is there with an uplifting comment or words of encouragement to so many!!


Jason started dipping his toes into the endurance waters in 2007 completing several half marathons before his discovery of triathlon. He has since completed marathons, triathlons and currently he is training for Ironman 70.3 California in April.


It is only natural that with his contagious energy, smashing personality and love of endurance sports that he is also a Team Leader for Marathon Makeover in North Dallas.
What is Marathon Makeover? Marathon Makeover is a 40-week, marathon-training, wellness program and is helping ordinary people do the extraordinary — train for and finish a marathon! Now, we are ready to transform the couch potatoes of North Dallas.

You don't have to live in the Dallas area to take advantage of their training plans, online training plan and support is also available.

Jason and his wife, Karen recently celebrated their one year wedding anniversary. They met through running and continue to run together. I think that is just super awesome. OUR family is wishing you both many happy miles on the road of life!!

Thanks Jason for bringing inspiration, motivation and positivity into SO many lives. I see big things in your future!

There are many more things you can learn about him and from him but I will let you make those discoveries on your own. Go ahead, go read his blog--

On yesterday's post I discussed the word BELIEVE and talked about how my journey had impacted my INNER me far more than the outer physical changes. I will leave you with these words (from his website) that I could not echo more.


I believe in the power of endurance sports to provide us with strength, confidence, health, wellness and tons of other adjectives. It is a lifestyle that will lead you to the tops of mountains because no matter how fast you are when you cross the finish line you are a doer, a finisher and unique. We are the few that look at a race and think to themselves this is going to be fun. Others run away and we run to.

I believe

I believe that the mind is more powerful than the body.


I believe that you can do anything you want to do, you just need to believe it too!


I believe in God and the power of Faith.


I believe in love at first sight.


I believe in pushing your limits.


BELIEVE.


Such a powerful word with some many connotations.




When Sport Girl Jewelery was hosting a ONE WORD contest to win a necklace, I knew exactly what I was going to get-

The package was so pretty, I did not want to open it! Ok...I did but-

Top Tag: BELIEVE Bottom Tag: I was born to do this

The bottom tag says: I am not afraid (it is on the reverse side of I was born to do this)

Words really cannot express how emotional I get some days thinking about all that has happened in the last couple of years--It brings me to tears, happy tears. One of the biggest changes for me was how I felt about ME. I never used to believe in me. I never thought I was good enough. Now I know I really can do anything I want to do and that I do deserve to be happy. Not because I lost weight and physically changed but because I found the strength to struggle, to learn, to get back up and fight, to push myself, to accomplish...these are the lessons that changed me. These are the lessons that shaped me into the fighter I have become.
So I believe-

This necklace is very special to me and I plan to wear it all the time. When I am having doubts creeping into my head on a long run, I will let the gentle tinkle sounds of the tags be a reminder to me to believe. When I am feeling less than motivated, I will let my fingers wander to my neckline to feel each tag and remember what my goals are.

A BIG thank you to Sporty Girl Jewelry for this beautiful and very special piece!
If you have something special to celebrate of just want to wear your love for the sport, please visit their website!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Speaking of BELIEVE--
can you believe this???

Yours truly is on Run Like A Mother this week in their recurring feature Follow This Mother!

I am so humbled and honored to be chosen and I hope you will check out their site.

It is a great resource for the active Mom: fun & fabulous giveaways, recipes, inspirational and motivation tidbits with a ton of funny stories!!

 If you run and your a Mom, I am sure you already have their book, right?? If not-add it to your reading list.

Fight for your right to TRAIN

Last night the darling Hubby and I ended up having a heated discussion. What started out as a simple statement/question turned into something much bigger.

As most of you know by now, I am a stay at home Mommy and I work a couple nights a week at the YMCA. I usually wake up early, early (3-4 am) to fit in workouts, I go to the Y in the mornings while the kids club is open so Lola can play while I workout. I workout later in the day when hubby or my parents and/or in-laws can help out with Lola. I schedule my long workouts on the weekends so she can be with hubby.

Monday things did not workout for me to train and I get was disappointed that I did not get to fit in my trainer ride or swim. Yesterday appeared to be another day that my training plans would fall through but alas, it worked out for me to workout!

Hubby made a comment about me being in a better mood than I was the previous day and then said "you must have been able to workout this morning". True, I did. And true again, I can get grumpy if I don't get my workouts in. Then he dropped THIS little bomb on me:

"What are you gonna do when you HAVE to go back to work full time and you can't workout ALL DAY LONG".

Whoa. What? What the frankincense does THAT mean??

Workout ALL>Day>LONG??

Do you have any inkling as to what I really do all day? You think I am on some sort of self-centered vacation here? I wish I could train all day long but alas, I do not.


At first, I just kind of laughed it off and said that I know plenty of ladies who juggle full time jobs, family, and training without issue. Some are even training for marathons, Ultra's and Ironman distance events.
 
Then he says:
"So...when do YOU think you are going to be able to workout when your working?" (sarcastically!!)

I attempted to maintain my composure.
I will workout in the mornings, like I do now. I will workout at night, after work. I will fit it in on my lunch breaks. I have weekends. It will happen--because I want it to.

We went back and forth a bit about this and that, then it started to turn ugly and I will spare you the details. The conversation ended up being "put on hold" for the time being because we were getting a little too passionate about our version of how events would unfold.


Yes, we were arguing about events that will take place 2-3 years down the road when Lola goes to school.
Yes, we were debating how much "personal" time each of us was entitled to while raising a family and working full time.
Yes, we both had valid points.
No, he did not seem to think I could do it.

But you know what. I believe that if you want something bad enough, you make it happen. I have zero doubt that I will find time to train for ANY EVENT I want to complete--even working full time.
And speaking of working full time, who ever said I would return to working in medicine? I could very well be on my way to completing my PT Certification and eyeballing other training certifications down the road. SO maybe my FULL TIME JOB will be training and workout. Ha! Take that!!

I know many of you work, take care of your family and still find time to train. I would love to hear from you. Please share with me how you fit it all in!!

On another note, the voting is up on Dailymile for the 2011 Team. I even saw one of my bloggy friends there (Hello Barb!! You got one of my votes!)

I would really, really love to be a part of this and if you could please take a moment of your time to cast your vote for me :)

If you are not a Dailymile member, you would have to sign up to vote. If you are not using Dailymile now, I highly recommend it. It is user friendly, you can meet all kinds of athletes from all over the world. I love the daily dose of inspiration and motivation!!

VOTE HERE!

My video is the one with the name Jen S. under it and it is a picture of me with 3 friends the beach showing off our triathlon body markings on our arms.

Dailymile Team 2011

We interrupt your regular blog post to bring you this late breaking news.

Jen has officially applied to be considered for the Dailymile Team 2011.


While she did suffer from a mental breakdown trying to figure out something as simple as connecting her video camera to her PC, eventually she threw the damn thing in the trashcan found another way to get her message across to those on Dailymile.

It took many hours, lots of cursing and a couple temper tantrums to finally complete this masterpeice project before the deadline of Monday, February 7th at midnight.

While details on the voting have not been announced by the brass at Dailymile, Jen will be back at her reguarly scheduled time to plead beg solicit bribe you ask for your vote.

The Woodb!tch Workout

I love functional fitness. You know, those workouts that actually correlate to real life situations.
Take for example splitting, hauling and stacking wood!

My PIC/BFF Dawn and I have a name for this workout: The Woodbitch.

Basically, I am my husbands wood bitch nymph for as long as required to split and stack and/or refill the wood bin in the basement to keep our home warm and toasty during this ridiculous winter we are having.

More snow on the way today and into tomorrow. Are you kidding me?? God, please. Enough already...


Anyway, darling  hubby tried to teach me how to split wood with the maul earlier in the season but that did not go quite as planned and I got frustrated with the whole thing. Needless to say
ME + a giant wood maul + frustration = BAD


So I will stick with picking up all the wood HE splits, stacking into gloriously neat plies or filling up the wheel barrow and sending it down the bulk head into the basement and then make more beautiful stacks and piles of wood.


I enjoy doing projects like this with hubby, we work together to do something for the family and I am moving my body. I love the way my core feels doing this kind of work. This weeks woodbitch workout was a painful one.

One giant flying chunk of wood bounced and landed directly on top of my foot. Luckily, it's only a bruise and I'll be just fine. I kind of freaked out a bit at first because the only thing I could think of was 'NO RUNNING' but the pain subsided after a while and like I said, just a bruise.

Ignore the toenails-they are still recovering from summer/fall running!

I ran another 4 miles today and it's going great!
Happy Saturday!!

Five for Friday!

Hello from Snowville Maine! I hope you are having a great week. Here is what is on my mind today.

ONE
We are BURIED in snow with more on the way this weekend.
Wednesday's storm dumped quite a bit on us but not the 20-24" we were expecting. The hubby was home for the day so we had a fun family day playing in the snow. Well, Lola and I played mostly while hubby cleaned out our house and his parents place (they live up the street!) as well as roof raking.

Lola all bundled up and ready to go out!

Lola with her "shovel" while we cleaned out wave one of snow

The view from the SLEDCAM on our way to the in-laws

TWO
I had my second PT session with Jared today and we are making great progress already. The patella tendons are already starting to loosen up and my quads are enjoying the stretching and rolling. He gave me some new exercises and some of these work on core and balance which I loved! Challenging stuff but I love a challenge. We also did more running and the changes we made with my form are making a huge difference. In one short week of running drills, he was pleased to say that I was running correctly and looking good!

THREE
While we are talking about running...I have been told to switch out shoes. The Kayano's are too heavy and I do not need motion control. Jared has suggested a lightweight performance stability shoe like the Saucaony Fastwitch and and New Balance 905. If you run in this kind of shoe, I would love to hear from you!
The bad news is-I just won a pair of Brooks Trance 10's from Leah at Chasing Atlanta this fall and they came last week. Jared looked at them today and said "no". Wrong shoe for my foot.
The K-Swiss shoes I won from Dailymile.com are also wrong for running but I will use these for weight training and cross training days.

FOUR
Speaking of Dailymile.com, I was selected to apply to be on the Dailymile team! They select 300 people on the site and then you apply to get one of 30 positions. To apply you need to put together a video why you would be a great addition to the team. I have until Monday at midnight to submit my application.
Not that I want to sway any votes away from me but check out Mike's video submission--hilarious!!
Click HERE
I will certainly be posting when the voting is up-your support would be appreciated :)

FIVE
I hope you have been paying attention lately. I am doing an exciting giveaway this weekend!! Make sure you check in for your chance to get in on some cool stuff.
Also, there is another really cool giveaway at 26.2 is My Cooldown . He is doing a Tanita BC-1000 scale giveaway. I thought this was supercool considering I am on a quest to lower my body fat %!! I just had to share this with you!