Before and After

8am 5k along the Connecticut coast. Nothin’ but beach, boardwalk, and Nikes.

(For the record, this was my second formal 5k! At Color Me Rad last years my time was about 35min. Today was 33:32!!!)

CLEARLY TIME TO DRIVE AN HOUR TO THE BEACH TO RUN A 5K.

[Here were my 2013 goals.] How am I doing after month number one?

• Weight: on track! down 4lbs since New Year’s and 72lbs since my heighest! 178lbs and 27% body fat even! Current long-term goal is around 165lbs or 15% body fat, which should be attainable some point between June and December.
• Running: better than thought! My goal was to get my mile time to around 10:15 consistantly, but I ran a 9:21 mile a few weeks ago and 3 miles in 31:05 today. So I’m going to up the ante: new goals are to get my 5k (3.1 miles) under 31:00 by June and around 30:00 by December. Holy cow!
• Lifting: on track, I think. I won’t bore you with the numbers, but my goal was to about double what I was lifting and I’ve started to already see improvement. I’m not sure if this was a realistic goal to start, but I’m definitely improving which makes me feel great!
• Sleeping and food: amazing! nutrition is great. Homemade everything, sticking to an almost entirely plant-based diet. Mostly veggies, a few eggs, and some random stuff like tofu and homemade gluten free waffles. No complaints! Plus 7-9hrs of sleep a night HOLLA

I am the fucking happiest person every right now, okay?

• January: Roller Derby Polar Dash
• February:
• March: local 5k on a Connecticut beach!
• April: Color Me Rad 5k
• May: Long Island Mudder 5k? Dirty Girl 5k?**
• June: Foam Fest 5k*
• July: Run For Your Lives! 5k
• August: Spartan Race*
• September: Warrior Dash?**
• October: Tough Mudder?**
• November: Manchester Road Race!* Local tradition :)
• December:

*still need to buy … **need to solidify the plans!

Basically my plans for February’s Cupid Undie Run got called off because I forgot I was going to a face/body painting convention for work that weekend (the one fucking weekend I do anything all year), so no official race next month? Hopefully I can find something last minute, but it’s not looking good. And by the time December rolls around hopefully I can find something too? Gah!!!!

I’m a big fan of @gymandmotivation, and his playlist has gotten me through quite a few hours of lifting heavy things. So I took a few other songs he’s posted in the past and made two fan playlists of sorts, mostly because I needed more of this to work out to.

Playlist 1: http://www.filehosting.org/file/details/415803/Gym_&_Motivation_II.m4a

Playlist 2: http://www.filehosting.org/file/details/415801/Gym_&_Motivation_III.m4a

Download these things and everyone’ll be ‘mirin’ at the gym. Got it?

(You can name them whatever you want, but I like storing them in my mp3 the same place where I put his. Because, you know. Consistency.)

Two friends who have never run before signed up for Color Me Rad with me!!! I told them I would help them train and we have until April—and I’ve heard couch to 5k works really well—but if anyone has any tips or suggestions they’d be much appreciated!

Both friends are skinny-fat average builds with no history of health problems or injuries, so it shouldn’t be too hard for them. AND we have until the end of April.

My plan was put them on that for 9 weeks, but I think everyone would probably benefit from doing shin exercises, calf raises, squats… other things to build leg muscles. But I’m not sure if those would be best done on rest days or after running?

Once again—advice please!!

I just signed up for Color Me Rad in Hartford for April 27 :) I did one last year with @newconnellygirl (that’s how we met for the first time!) and it was great.

Message me if you wanna meet up and run!!!

Within the past three weeks:

• Friend joined my gym to start working out with me and learning more about fitness
• Another friend met me at Zumba to talk more about nutrition and my progress
• Boss laughed when someone mentioned they took a walk for lunch. “Are you trying to keep up with Marissa now?”
• Brother called me to ask me about post-lifting pain
• Yet another friend texted me to ask for nutrition book recs
• The usual texts/banter with Melissa, Josh, Rose and Rachel aka my fitspos <3

This is maybe the biggest victory I’ve ever had. To go from the fat friend to the fit one?

MAKES A GIRL FEEL GOOD.

And like the scale isn’t lying and I really am making progress.

Less than two years ago I could barely walk, stand, or sit because of my arthritus and slipped disk.

Today I ran 5k on my lunchbreak in under 33min. Less than 11mile/minute, with my fastest single-mile time being 9:16 a few weeks back.

LIKE A BOSS. THAT’S FUCKING RIGHT.

Polar Bear Dash! @newconnellygirl and I ran in 40*F like champs. (The picture of the two of us is her on the left, me on the right. We met on Tumblr and it’s been bromance ever since!)

The race entry fee was donations to a local domestic violence shelter and that made it all the better.

Fitblrs Against DV! <3

@newconnellygirl is coming up from Long Island and we’re gonna run around in shorts outside and then fitspo play date!

(Thankfully my throat is feeling better so I’m probably not sick, but running a sprint in freezing weather without real clothes might push my body over the edge. Will be worth it!!)

Yesterday, after previously lamenting to my boss about those red velvet cupcakes and my need to learn raw “baking”, he arranged to have a raw vegan chocolate pie made for the staff as a treat.

Today, I planned all my meals ahead so I could take a 2hr lunch and hit the gym duing the most dead time of day. I had a protein spinach salad for lunch, now I’m back snacking on a banana and a protein shake.

I have no complaints about life right now.

Race day on Saturday!!!

And I’m going to try to work out in this?

Because as of this morning I’m doing a Polar Run sprint in two weeks.

First legs, then tears.

Skip The January Gym Crowd

Three Satisfying Workouts You Can Do Post-New Years

There are two things I can’t stand this time of year. One: people complaining about January gym crowds. You know that they are trying to get healthy, just like you did once, right? And you also know that they pay gym dues all year long, although they never come back, which makes our memberships so cheap… right?

However, the second thing I also can’t stand are gym crowds. Because I have a rhythm, my workout is the most important part of my day, and I don’t like it being disrupted.

So instead of complaining, I wrote down a few satisfying workouts you can do running around your neighborhood. I never quite feel the same about workouts I do at home, but hopefully you can incorporate these 2-3 a week into your routine and save yourself a bit of stress. They’re all inspired by CrossFit, so if you kick it hard you will feel the burn.

Thought I’d share!

All you’ll need: 1 jumprope ($5-10), weights or 1 gallon of water (aka 10lbs you can buy for $1), and a stop watch (get a free app or buy one at the dollar store). 

Workout 1: As Fast As You Can!

Hit start on your stop watch before you start running, and don’t return to it until you’re done. But you NEED to use a stop watch! Otherwise you won’t have the same amount of pressure to keeping going. Seriously.

• Run 1 mile (go on Google maps, find a point about half a mile away, and measure it out. Run there and back. Pretty easy!)
• 15 tricep hang dips with the gallon (while you’re catching your breath)
• 40 jump ropes
• 15 curls each arm
• 40 jump ropes
• 30 weighed crunches (hold the gallon over your chest or in the air above your head while crunching)
• 40 jump ropes
• 15 weighted squats (either holding the gallon to your chest or sumo-style letting it hang between your legs)
• 40 jump ropes

Workout 2: As Many Rounds As Possible (Legs)

Set an alarm on your stopwatch or phone to go off in 20 minutes. This one is short but sweet. And by sweet I mean painful.

• Run .25 mile (map it out via Google maps, but you can also just run the block if you want.)
• 10 squats
• 10 star bursts (like a deep squat, but you use the squat to jump into the air and spread out all your limbs, then fall back into the squat)
• 10 walking lunges (5 each leg)
• Repeat until the 20minutes are up

Workout 3: As Many Rounds As Possible (Arms and Core)

• 25 Jump Rope
• 25 Push Ups
• 25 Jump Rope
• 25 Leg Lifts (reverse crunches)
• 25 Jump Rope
• 25 tricep hang dips (with milk jug)
• 25 Jump Rope
• 25 Weighted Crunches
• repeat for 20min

Bonus: BFF Workout

• You run .25 miles
• While you’re running, your partner holds plank
• The faster you run the happier you make them
• Once you’re back, switch into plank while they run .25
• Repeat until you’ve each run 1.5 miles