New Shoes!

I have had the same Nike shoes for 3 and a half years, so I thought with this training season a new pair of shoes was needed! I shopped around and talked to people at different sporting good stores. I tried on different pairs and decided I would go with the Asics Gel-Blur 33. I found out that on Amazon.com I could get the shoes that are $130 in stores for $80. Can't wait to get them in and start breaking them in!

Ouchhhhhh

So did the NTC Core Crunch and holy crap. The whole 15 minutes of it I was crying on the inside because it is really hard and no little breaks. I also woke up and my back and abs muscles are ridiculously sore. Which is a good thing!!!! If you haven't already, download the app. Best decision ever!

• 1 minute - V-Ups
• 1 minute - Full Extensions
• 1 minute - Suitcases
• 1 minute - Side Plank Crunches
• 1 minute - Frogger with Swivel
• 1 minute - V-Ups
• 1 minute - Full Extensions
• 1 minute - Suitcases
• 1 minute - Side Plank Crunches
• 1 minute - Frogger with Swivel
• 1 minute - Plank
• 2 minute - Side Plank
• 1 minute - Opposite Arm/Leg Supermans
• 1 minute - Kick Downs

Fitness Tracker

If you have a hard time staying motivated, try tracking all your fitness and nutritional intake. Here is the Fitness and Calorie Tracker I use on my iPhone.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/livestrong.com-calorie-tracker/id295305241?mt=8

Lauren Conrad's Get Fit Quick Plan

So just came across Lauren Conrad's Get Fit Quick Plan... and it looks amazing. Her plan is not a diet but more of a life style. I want to take it on in the fact that it helps create a healthier lifestyle. She has a rules list, off-limits list, breakfast options, lunch and dinner options, snack options, and exercise options.

Take a look at it! It looks awesome! I'm starting today!

Sunday Gymday

Gym day today! Today my friend Brianne and I went to the gym to get our fitness on. We started off just walking on the treadmill for a long time talk...because we're girls and thats just what we do! We then we got to business and ran on the treadmill. We then spent 10 minutes on the elliptical. Then we went into a open room in the gym and did a Nike Training Club workout, "Ab Burner". This work out was 15 minutes in duration and consisted of 3 repetitions of:

• Toe touches with a medicine ball for 1 minute.
• Russian twists with a medicine ball for 1 minute.
• Plank for 30 seconds.
• Modified side plank and each side for 30 seconds.
• Crazy Ivans for 1 minute.
• 30 recovery.

We then went and did floor ladder drills. Bri's brilliant idea to do the drill with an elastic band around our ankles holding them together for resistance. The first time both of us did the drill of running in and out of the ladder went well and worked our short legs out, but the second time Bri tried to do it her elastic snapped and flew across the room! So much for that...

Then I jumped onto Jacob's ladder and did about 2 minutes of climbing. After I did Jacob's Ladder, we went and did some weights with our arms and our legs. Total we spent 2 hours at the gym. Woohoo!

Breakfast Smoothie Recipe

Great Breakfast Smoothie!

Ingredients

• 5 raw almonds
• 1 red apple
• 1 banana
• 3/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup nonfat milk
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

1. Place all ingredients in a blender. (Depending on how powerful your blender is, you may need to chop the apple and almonds into small pieces before blending.)
2. Blend on medium-high for 30 seconds (or until desired consistency).

*This smoothie tastes awesome and full of nutrients you need to start your day! Enjoy!

Races Within Windsor-Essex County

So if anyone is looking for races to do in the Windsor-Essex County area this year, Running Flat is a great site that displays some of the great races within the area!

Day 1

Day 1 of my training started yesterday! Since Windsor decided to be Canada for once and snow I went to the gym to do my workout. I ran 2 miles on the tredmill to start off with and to get my run out of the way. Then I went onto doing some arm workouts on the weight machines targeting my biceps and my triceps. Finally I went into one of my gyms empty work out classrooms and did my scheduled Nike Training Club workout called ''Get Lean Beginner 30 min Slim Chance' program. Awesome workout, I was tired the entire time, but how I really knew it worked was I woke up this morning feeling my inner thighs and butt were going to fall off. I even resorted to taking a bath with epson salts to try and help the pain!

Training Schedule

Many people have different ways of training for half-marathons and different plans they use. For my last half-marathon I used a schedule from Nike+. This time around I'm using a Nike plan again but they've revamped it since last time. They've added in cross training into the plan, where as the old version only had the distance needed to run. They are available at Nike Running Race Coach, where they have 5km, 10km, Half-Marathon, and Marathon. You are able to choose your distance and your goal of 'Finishing a Race', 'Set a New Personal Record', and 'Lead From the Front'.

Within the training plans are scheduled cross training workouts from Nike Training Club. I have this app downloaded onto my iPhone and find it amazing. It has 85+ workouts that work your whole body. Even if your not planning on training for a road race and are just looking for a good workout, I highly recommend this app.

Well hey there!

So I decided to create this blog about my 2013 running training. I basically created it so that I could share with people my progress.... and possibly, not hopefully not, regress. Last year I had a lot of people asking me how my training was going for the half-marathon I did in October. This way people will have access to my training and witness my out of shape body turn back to being in shape!

So far this year I am registered in:

 - Loaring 10km on April 28th, 2013.

 - Ottawa Half-Marathon on May 26th, 2013

 - Detroit Free-Pree Half-Marathon on October 20th, 2013

I plan on registering for some more smaller races through out the year to keep my racing mind fresh.

Last year my goal was to finish my first Half-Marathon. Key word FINISH! I did finish it and without stopping! Woohoo! But this year I set some goals to beat my last years time in the half-marathon. So that means I need to train harder in order to go faster! 

I'm going to try and update my blog as much as possible. I'm aiming for updating it after every run and workout! I am also going to post some awesome workout I do and some healthy recipes that I will be eating. 

Stay tuned!!

Taryn