I figured I'd kick my first post about my favorite things with a fitness edition. This felt fitting considering this blog basically started as just a diary about my workouts and somehow transformed into so much more than just running. I've linked the products on all titles of the favorite thing I'm talking about! Lululemon SpeedsMy local Lululemon store let me know they've recently changed the name to Speed Up shorts. When I tried the Speed Up short, it fit exactly as the Speeds did, fewh! Speed, excuse me, Speed Up shorts are my go to shorts. I like the length, the liner and the material. Speeds are my go to shorts, especially for races & long runs. I like the 2-way stretch and the 4-way stretch. One thing that surprised my about Speeds and Lululemon is the sizing. While I'd say their sizing is pretty consistent across the board for me. I had to go a size larger than I would have initially guessed. But once I got over the fact that size is just a number (no one cares what size you are if you're happy with yourself), I rock the fact that I'm a 6 in Lulu, loud and proud. The only con with these is they're a little expensive for shorts. Sometimes you can find them on clearance but most time these will set you back about $60. The quality and customer service from Lulu is FANTASTIC, so for me, the investment has been worth it. Here's a few pictures of me either pre or post race in my speeds. Talos Jump Rope
Thanks to a good jump rope, I’ve discovered that jumping rope is HARD. It’s such a good workout too. I also like it because you can learn tricks and switch things up. If you don’t have a good jump rope yet, I highly recommend incorporating one into your routine. Here’s a video showing some variations (and you can see how much I’m enjoying it). Lumo RunIf you follow me, I’m sure you’ve read my rave review of the Lumo run. This thing is incredible. Coming from a cheerleading and gymnastic background, I’m a sucker for good form. Heck, when I saw Cirque du Soleil, I cried watching the perfect form of the performers. It was stunning. With running, I wasn’t really sure what good form was, so I just fumbled my way through it. This lack of form was a big contributing factor to being injured pretty much all the time in 2015 and 2016. Since I’ve been using Lumo, my form has improved. My times have improved. My confidence in my running has improved. I’m recovering faster after races because I’m using good technique. Is my technique perfect? Nope! I still have yet to get all 5 aspects Lumo tracks into the green. I can’t say enough how valuable Lumo has been for me. I’m a Lumo ambassador (my opinions are 100% my own), if you use my code CWI10, you’ll get $10 off a Lumo of your own! Reflective JacketNow that it is starting to get darker earlier means it is important to stay safe if you're working out outside. Rob got me this AMAZING reflective jacket for Christmas. I honestly feel so safe running while wearing this because I know that people can see me. Mine is made by Kyodan. Unfortunately, it looks like they're not making it any longer but I've linked a similar one above. That wraps up my list of favorite things, fitness edition!
I'd love to hear from you. What are some of your favorite fitness related things? xoxo, Chelsea
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If you're like me you're probably watching what you eat (except on those cheat meals... can't live without those... am I right?), working out and drinking water but you can't seem to "lose two pounds" (Mean Girls reference). Well, you might not be getting enough sleep. Wait, what?! How did I just jump from weight to sleep? Surprisingly enough, lack of sleep could be causing you to gain weight! (NOTE: Weight isn't all about vanity either. Maintaining a proper weight is critical to your overall health. When you're at the proper weight, you lower the risk of stroke, diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.) The National Sleep Foundation says the recommended sleep range for adults is 7-9 hours. Without enough sleep, your body isn't able to regulate key hormones that factor into the feeling of hunger and ability to feel full: ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin, aka the “hunger hormone”, works to regulate hunger and appetite. Leptin, aka the “satiety hormone” is the opposite of ghrelin and works to deter hunger. So, if these hormones could talk, ghrelin is hangry and is saying “I’m hungry… feed me NOW” and leptin says “I’m full. Time to put the fork down”. If these hormones aren't regulated properly, your body sends the wrong signals, which can cause overeating. When your body isn’t getting enough rest, it lowers the levels of leptin in your blood stream and increases the levels of ghrelin. This will cause your body to signal you're hungry, even when you're not or that you're still not full, when you really are, causing you to over eat and gain weight. In one study, people suffering from lack of sleep consumed 300 more calories per day than the group that was getting enough sleep. That could add up to 30 pounds in one year alone! Not only does lack of sleep cause an imbalance in the hormones that control hunger signals, it has also been shown to drastically slow metabolism. This means your body will burn fewer calories throughout the day than if you had been getting the proper amount sleep. So, combine heavier appetite, inability to tell when you're full and a lower metabolism?! No thank you!! That's just asking for some serious weight gain, which puts your entire body at risk for stroke, diabetes, and even cancer (not to mention, for me, shopping for a bigger size always stings). Make sure you're catching those zzzz's! xoxo, Chelsea PS - "Four for you Glen Coco, You GO Glen Coco! ....And none for Gretchen Weiners" Product Links:
I'm not sure if it's because I was a cheerleader my entire adolescent (and some adult) life but I love bows. The more the better. I love them on bags, shoes, jewelry, headbands, etc. Needless to say, I'm delighted that they're trendy right now on shirts. If you're like me, you're probably on a budget. So, I've found the bow top trend three ways and paired them with a less expensive version.
First up, is a more relaxed version of the trend. Inspiration was the $225 top from Bloomingdale's. While the less expensive version isn't exact, I tend to prefer the cheaper version. What about you? Next, is the bow tie collar blouse. I am absolutely in LOVE with the teal and pink Gucci blouse. It is probably my favorite bow shirt I've found. I'm seriously swooning over the color combination, the buttons, the cuffs and the collar. Unfortunately, spending over $1,000 on it is crazy unrealistic, so I found a similar shirt. While it isn't exact, it does have an adorable scalloped collar. I'm going to keep hunting to find a closer style. Finally, a bolder take on the bow trend. My inspiration is the Johanna Ortiz striped shirt with bows on the shoulders. It's a great spin on the bow trend and I just adore the style. It's been fun seeing different designers take on the bow obsession. I like this one because I'm crushing on statement sleeves and this puts my love of bows and statement sleeves together. Unfortunately, $995 for a top is a LOT, so I've found a similar version $40 from Chicwish. I love the bell sleeve with the ruffle details above the bows. This one is on my wish list for sure. All shirts are linked above in the smaller images below the collage. I'd love to hear from you! What do you think about the bow trend? Will you be incorporating it into your fall wardrobe? XOXO, Chelsea Rob and I are always looking for fun, inexpensive ways to go "out on a date". I know some people cringe when couples call going out to dinner a "date", I'm not one of them! I think it's adorable, but I digress. Sometimes it's hard to think of inexpensive things to do, but trust me, they're out there!
I've compiled a list of seven inexpensive date ideas below. Click "Read More" to see my 7 ideas! Fall is coming, fall is coming! Although it doesn't feel like it at all, it's almost time for the cutest clothes of the year. Fall fashion is my favorite! Most days you'll find me in workout clothes or a simple outfit composed of jeans and a plain top but that's not to say I don't love fashion, because I do! I absolutely love taking pieces that you wouldn't think would go together and making them work (think pattern mixing). I don't do it enough, so I used this blog to challenge myself. While I'll never claim to know it all about anything, here are some fall trendy outfits that I'm currently crushing on. Layering - whether it's adding a scarf or pairing a vest with a long sleeve shirt, I love layering. I think the great part about layering, is it makes pattern mixing easier because you're complementing the layer below it. Statement Sleeves! I have been obsessed with the statement sleeve trend and knew I wanted to continue that into the fall. I am in love with the polka dot shirt. The sleeves are to die for! Plus, I love that you can wear it with leggings or jeans. Definitely a versatile piece. "Leather" pants - I put leather in quotes because mine are faux leather or vegan leather as some stores are calling it.I love how you can dress them up or make them super casual with a pair of Chucks. Above, I've got them pair with a black tunic and vest with some fun smoking shoes. I've also paired it with the polka dot shirt and metallic gold pumps for a night out. Hats - I've got a bunch of hats that I never wear! A goal for myself this fall is to actually wear them. I love how they look when other people wear them. Time to step out of my comfort zone and rock all of the hats! Metallic / Statement Shoes - Between the metallic gold pumps, the sparkly smoking shoes and the metallic flats, I've included three of these in this post alone. They can take an outfit that might otherwise be pretty boring and pull together the look to make it look finished. I'm excited to pair to continue to pair these with my fall looks. What are some of your favorite fall looks?! xoxo, Wilk I've included links below (they're not affiliate links, just doing it for the love of fall) Shop the looks:Meal prep doesn’t have to be a chore. When I first started prepping lunches, I was overwhelmed and fumbled my way through it. A lot of the lunches were boring and just blah. Now that I’ve found turkey tacos, I eat the same thing for lunch every day and I really enjoy it. I save money prepping meals and it’s helped me fuel my body. I'm already looking forward to lunch on Monday! Here is how I make my favorite lunch ever. What you’ll need:
Have be a great weekend all! xoxo, Run Wilk
The following true story isn't exactly something I'm proud to admit, but I think it's important. If I can help even one person realize they don't need the scale, I'll count it as a win.
There was a time when I was obsessed with the scale. I'm talking, wake up every morning, use the bathroom, step on the scale and hold my breath to be a light as possible. Then I logged it into an app. I felt euphoric on days where it had dropped, and bummed on days when it didn't. I got to the point where I was weighing myself multiple times per day and the number always won. It would have some sort of emotional effect on me. Sounds crazy, I know. But I was in a vicious cycle that I knew I had to get out of. Not to mention, stress can cause people to gain weight. I feel like this was definitely at play with me. I was always stressing about that stupid number. I wasn't focusing on how nutritious items were, I was focusing on the calories because fewer calories means a lower number, right? WRONG.
I don't have a dramatic moment where I realized I needed to do something. I think I slowly started to realized I needed to back away from the scale. The first step I took, was setting the app I was to change the setting from actual weight to average weight. This way, I would start to move away from focusing on the daily number and begin focusing on the overall trend. I would still weigh myself daily, so I knew when I would be compared to the last day. This continued for sometime and while it did help alleviate some of the stress, it was still there.
From here, I decided I'd weigh myself once a month. This combined with the app showing the overall trend would be perfect. So, that is what I set out to do. Fast forward a month, I jump on the scale and the number was awful. I felt defeated. I remember thinking: I workout, I'm eating well, I'm drinking water. All my effort was for nothing. I don't know why I even bother. I'll always be stuck here. I'll never get in shape. What a horrible attitude to have & I wish I could go back and hug myself in that moment. I think after letting the sting of that number sink in, I decided to make a change. I finally realized that, for me, the scale is not helpful. I have an unhealthy relationship with the scale and it causes me more harm than good. There are a lot of people who can use a scale, but I'm not one of them! If you're anything like me, please, please, ditch that scale. I am so much happier and have so much more self love than the days of jumping on the scale all the time. I did take time to get to where I am, but now that I'm here, I wont go back! Rant time: WHO CARES ABOUT THE NUMBER ON THE SCALE! Seriously, your family doesn't care, your boss doesn't care, strangers walking down the street don't care. It effected my mood so much and it isn't like someone would see me and be like "CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR 1 LB WEIGHT LOSS TODAY!". It was just such a stupid mindset. If you're eating healthy, working out, you know, doing the right things, that scale doesn't matter. And in case you're not convinced, I've included some transformations to prove that the number on the scale does not matter. (I've included a direct link to each person's Instagram for credit. If anything is incorrect or should be removed, please let me know.) I'm simply sharing woman I find inspiring and who have shown the scale is crap. XOXO, Run Wilk I'm a self proclaimed picky eater "in recovery" aka I'm trying to be more open to foods. I'm very weird about textures, so I was hesitant to try this combination. The combination of the chicken, freshly sliced tomato and basil was ah-mazing. Plus, it was super easy! Serving size is 2 with some leftovers.
Here is what I used:
That's all! Now, you've got your self a quick, healthy and tasty meal! If you try it, let me know! I'd love to hear what you think. XOXO, Run Wilk
If you've been following along, you probably already know my goal was under 2 hours. My last half, my official time was 2:09:20 in 2015. My first half in 2014 was 2:13:14. I knew it was a lofty goal to cut off 9:21 from my 2015 half, but I'd worked my tail off training, so I knew I could do it. Did I do it?! Nope! My official time was 2:03:30. Officially, I missed my goal by 3 minutes and 31 seconds. I thought I'd be really angry at myself for not hitting my goal, but I'm not. If anything, I'm even more determined to keep my training up and get to that goal. Once I'm under two hours, my goals will be adjusted and I'll keep chipping away at my time.
The course came up as 13.4 (it did also for my two friends who ran with me). I also had to stop to use the bathroom (which wasn't on a flat surface and felt like it was going to tip... scariest moment of the race haha). Nike+ said my half time was 1:59:37. But none of that is official and the official is all that matters. The race was extremely well organized. It started exactly on time. They also did a fantastic job of explaining how everything was going to work. My corral, number 7, got to the start line and were off and running at about 7:37 AM. Man, I'll tell ya. You can't beat that feeling once the race official starts. A total rush of adrenaline. I swear I had a huge smile on my face the first few miles. I've got some photos to show it, but I haven't purchased any. Once I do, I'll update and post those here. I was hoping to write this great race recap where I could tell you how I felt at each mile, but I can't. The race was a blur for me. The miles seemed endless and all ran together. With the exception of when I stopped to use the port-a-potty around mile 5, and that crossing the bridge over the Schuylkill seemed like torture. The DJ pumping music at the end of the bridge turned my attitude around and re-energized my mind. The course felt really long. Running Broad Street, I remember seeing City Hall, which I knew was about mile 6 and thinking "holy cow, I'm almost done". I never got that during this race. The miles (especially once the course left the city and went around the Schuylkill) seemed never ending. I remember thinking at one point the race would never end. I tried to relax and enjoy the moment. Yes, the races feel like they'll never end but they always do and when they do, it seems to have gone too quickly. It is a weird feeling and in the moment, I tried to remind myself of that and to really soak in all the excitement from the race. The week leading up to the race I ran twice. Three miles on Monday and two miles on Friday. I thought I'd have super fresh legs. But I didn't. Me, R, K and J walked around Philly the night before. We got to see a lot of the sites and it really made the whole weekend a great experience, but after walking over 5 miles, my legs were drained on Sunday. If I had to choose to do it again, I would. Memories like that don't happen often, so I'd rather be 3+ minutes off my goal. I've included some pictures of our adventuring above. A lot of things wrong for this race. I went out too fast. I'm usually so conservative running, but my body felt good for the first 3ish miles (minus my stomach acting up), so I just went with it. I didn't make myself slow down. Hindsight, I should have forced myself to pull back. I didn't eat enough before the race. I also didn't eat a proper dinner the night before, so my nutrition was way off. It was also humid. But all of those are excuses, I'm proud of my time. I've managed to cut off over 10 minutes from my first half and almost 6 minutes from my second half in 2015. I'm also proud of myself for staying positive (for the most part!). Yes, there were some moments it crossed my mind that maybe I couldn't do it or I should just quit, but I was pretty good about pushing those negative thoughts aside. Overall, am I disappointed I didn't hit my goal? Yes. Am I disappointed in how I did? No. I trained hard and consistently for the past 12 weeks. There are definitely some changes I'll be making to how I train (namely training at faster paces) but next half when I actually OFFICIALLY hit under two hours, it'll be an amazing feeling. Until I find my next half, I'm going to incorporate lifting, BBG and yoga back into my training. If I want to get faster, I'll need to be stronger too. If you have anything more specific you'd like to know, please let me know. That's all for now! XOXO, Run Wilk Week 11 is the last "real" week of my program. Week 12 is race week and much less of an overall workload than I have been doing. I had debated making the week easier, but as the week went on all my aches and pains from last week had gone and I decided to continue to follow the plan. Monday: 3 easy miles to kick off week 11. My legs were tired from the long run, but it felt good to get back out there and get some miles in. Monday also consisted of food shopping, meal prep and lots of re-organizing. It was kind of like a spring cleaning but in the *almost* fall. I also cooked a nice dinner when I got home. Simple but flavorful. I plan on writing some blog posts about what meals I've been doing. I like quick and easy prep with only a few ingredients for weekdays. I don't have all night to spend cooking, so I've found some go-to easy recipes that I do. I've included some pictures of meals I've been eating below. Let me know if there is any in particular you'd like to know the recipe for. Otherwise, stay tuned! Tuesday: My body was still very sore, so I decided to pump my rest day up. In it's place, I did some more fall cleaning and outfit planning. My goal it to incorporate more of my clothes into my fall outfits. I've got so many items I've just forgotten about in my closet. If they don't get worn this fall, I'll be donating them. I also took some progress pictures. I haven't taken them in a while, so I was curious. I tried to find pictures from last year, but I didn't have any. June 2016 was the most recent I was able to find. I should also compare to my heaviest to see a full difference from where I've come. All in all, happy with the progress. The June picture, I'm wearing a loose top and bottoms. September a sports bra and tighter shorts, happy to see not to much bulging out! Wednesday: Aka Fantasy Football draft day! I'm in two leagues, first draft started at 8:00pm and the second at 8:30pm (PS - not a really smart idea! I ended up with back-to-back picks in one league the same time I had to make my first round pick in my other league). When I got home from work the one league still wasn't set up so I spent about an hour trying to get it set up properly so the draft could happen. Once I knew the league was good to go, I put on one of my favorite athletic outfits of recent days and headed out for a rainy run. The temperature was great and the rain wasn't too hard but hard enough that it kept me cool. Hal's plan only called for 3 miles, but it was a day where I was just really loving running so I let myself do an additional mile. Thursday: What a mess Thursday was! I brought all of my stuff to change at the track and headed over. There were soccer players on the field and a few people in the stands. There was also a little girl playing on the track. So, I decided it's okay to run! I'm about 1 lap in and hear people cheering. Is this a game? I think to myself. Then I spot two walkers coming onto the track. If they're walking on the track, I can run on the track. So, I pass them an begin lap two. When I finish lap two, I notice they are no longer on the track and realize it was a game, not practice! I felt like such a jerk. I packed up my stuff and headed home. Lesson learned! I'll be contacting the high school for a schedule so this won't happen again. Sorry parents and athletes! Friday: Diverting from my plan a bit, I decided to do 6 slow miles on Friday. I wasn't worried about pace, I just tried to keep my heart rate low and enjoy the run and the weather was beautiful. Saturday: I spent much of the day Saturday procrastinating (which would become a theme for the weekend). I ended up braiding my hair, which got me motivated to run. Why? Because I wanted to see if it would stay in! So, out I went. My goal was to do 6.3 miles, which would put me over 20 for the week. Went out for a nice and easy pace. I very strongly believe that slow miles are the best kind. Sunday: I've been tossing around the idea of not doing the 2 hour run that the plan had called for. I watched football (Go Eagles!!) and at about 6 pm figured it was time to get my butt in gear and get a run in. At around mile 2.5, my stomach started to grumble. I figured I'd go out another 1/2 mile, turn around and run home to use the restroom and then come back out and do another 4 miles. So I started asking myself some questions: Do I really need to go back? Am I just using this as an excuse to possible stop running? If you go back now, will you get back on the road or just call it a night? Why don't you just keep going and see what happens? So, that's that I did. Next time I looked at my watch, I'd be running for over 45 minutes. Only 15 more minutes and I'd be half way for the 2 hour mark. I can do that! So it was decided, I was going to complete the full two hours worth of running. I didn't get home until a little after 8pm. I was tired and hungry! Was it worth it? Heck yes! Completing that run was a great confidence builder. My body recovered faster than the last 2 hour run. I needed to be out for 2 hours and I'm glad I followed Hal's suggestion.
Look what you made me do has been on repeat (seriously.) since it was released. I can't get enough! Naturally, I had to include reference to it here. I know there are a lot of mixed opinions about it, I actually wasn't crazy about it the first time I listened to it... BUT I did audibly GASP when she said "Because she's dead". Now, I'm obsessed with it. What do you think of it?
Also, have you heard the Toxic LWYMMD remix that someone did?! It's delightful! Check it out below:
But I digress, back to half marathon prep report.
Monday: As usual, Hal has the week start off with a 3 miler. Hal is a genius. It makes easing into a new week a little easier. It's such a nice way to kick off peak week. No major issues to report. My hamstring is still a little sore. I made sure to KT tape it and stretch. I also learned not to form roll on the spot it hurts like I had been doing (whoops!).
Tuesday: I had planned to do another Track Tuesday, but mother nature threw a wrench into that plan. I like running in the rain, so I decided I'd do my tempo run for the week. I dressed too warm, which I feel like I do every single time it rains... why do I have such a hard time dressing correctly for the rain?! Anyone else out there do that too? I need to make sure to follow Runner's World's guidelines next time. Run went smoothly. At one point, I was like oh I really like this pace and I was at 9:03, which is faster than my goal pace. That was a really cool moment!
Tuesday also provided a feel good moment. Without going into too much detail, I got to help reunite a lot senior doggie with his family. It made my heart feel very happy. I also realized, I had officially had my highest mileage in a calendar month since I've started running (and there were still two more days left of the month!). I have also beaten the miles run in a calendar year, with 4 months left to go! After dealing with a lot of injuries these past few years, I can't even describe how good it feels to really be back and finally moving forward to become a better, faster runner. Former record for a month:
Wednesday:
Wednesday: 3 easy miles. This run officially took me over the 100 mile mark for the first time ever. What a great feeling to hit that mark. I've been steadily increasing my mileage, so I'm hoping to hit more miles in September than I did in August. That is all going to rely on how I feel after the half though. I'm hoping my training helps me get a quick recovery so I can get back out on the road.
Thursday: For some reason I did not feel like running at all on Thursday. I brought my running gear to work and forced myself to change and head to the track. During the warm up I kept thinking, maybe I'll just stop now. I can just come back and do the workout tomorrow. Before I knew it, it was time for my first interval. Man, my heart was just not in it. I stopped a few times, stretched out my hamstring (still bothering me bit) and assured myself that after this interval I could quit. Then something happened, it it hard to describe but it is almost like my heart got back into the run out of the blue. I was pretty happy for that two. Besides the disaster first interval, all other intervals were faster than my goal pace. Official workout: 1 mile warm up, 4 x 1600 with .3 mile recoveries and a 1+ mile cool down. Part of the issue for me, was during interval 1, I tried to go slower so I was in the 9:0X range. I had a hard time holding that. For the final three intervals, I just let myself go hard enough where I was working, but not so hard that I would be able to hold the pace. My body seemed to like being in the 8:5x range more than the 9:0x range.
Side note - this was the first time I've been on a track and someone was running the wrong way. I'm still really new to the track, but is this something you see a lot? Do you say something to the runner? There were maybe 10+ people on the track all going the same way. I'm not sure why this person would run the other way? All I'll say is it was very frustrating have to doge her twice a lap. Maybe there is a reason I'm not aware of because I'm new to the world of track workouts. If so, someone fill me in please!
Friday: REST DAY. *Insert happy dance here*
Saturday: I was supposed to do a 55 minute tempo run today. With my hamstring still bothering me, I decided to go out and do 5 easy miles. I was hoping this would get everything loosened up again. I'm not looking to get injured so close to the half. So, that's what I did. I went out and tried to keep my heart rate down. Average BPM was 147. R & I also took the day to walk around the Great Swamp. It was really great to get out of the house and explore nature. The highlight for me was getting to see baby turtles. They were so cute and tiny!! I've included a few picture from the Great Swamp.
Sunday: Final run of the week & my IMO the hardest of the program. 2 hours running 3:1. If you're new to this (I wasn't sure what it was when I started this plan) 3:1 means you do 3/4 of the run at an easy pace and the final 1/4 at or near your race pace. I'm just realizing that as I write this I've been doing these wrong. I thought the last 1/4 of the workout was progressively faster. I can't believe I've messed up these runs the entire training cycle. For this run, I was in the mid to high 9's instead of the low 9's. That makes me a bit nervous for the half.
My body felt really good during the run. I was able to relax and just go with the flow. I did get a little bored towards the end, but besides that (and the fact that I did the run wrong) I'm proud of this run. Closing thoughts about peak week: This training cycle seems like it has been one step forward with confidence of hitting my goal and two steps back. I'm proud of myself for doing 6 runs this week. I'm proud of myself for doing 36 miles this week and for hitting 100 miles in August. Is this going to be the race I break the 2 hour mark? Deep down I believe I can do it. I feel like I'm ready but only race day will determine that for sure. It is also bitter sweet that peak week is over. It means the training program is coming to an end. I feel like I've gotten attached to the program and I'm not ready to see it end. Can anyone else relate or is this weird?! I'd love to hear from you. Feel free to shoot me an email, connect via social media or leave a comment. xoxo, Wilk |
About meMore than just running....
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