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Archive for December, 2011

I spend way too much time in doctor’s offices….

Posted in Blog, tagged , , , , , , , , , on December 30, 2011 | 5 Comments »

That might be a slight exaggeration, but I feel like this I’ve been living in doctor’s offices between strep, mono tests and a follow-up appointment for my foot. Despite the fact I spent a heck of a lot of time sitting around in waiting rooms, it’s been all good news!

  • antibiotics for strep.
  • no mono.
  • PRN on the foot!!

I’m cleared and encouraged to do absolutely anything I feel like I can handle on my foot. I had a feeling this is how it would turn out today. I was confident, so confident that I actually walked into a foot and ankle surgeon’s office wearing a pair of heels. I contemplated changing my shoes before I went to the visit, but then I figured they don’t hurt, I’m not sore, so I’ve got nothing to hide. I didn’t feel like I was doing anything wrong. I was just showing the doctor how awesome of a job he did. :)

I managed to get some shopping in at Urban Outfitters before the appointment. Urban Outfitters was having an awesome sale. Take an additional 50 percent all sale merchandise. I managed to get a purse and two shirts for just $20. Not a bad deal at all! Plus, lunch at the Pita Pit taking advantage of a Groupon I had purchased months ago.

Now it’s off to do some more ice skating. I am so much more comfortable with the idea of ice skating since I no longer have any more follow up appointments for my foot…unless of course I have a problem and feel the need to make one.

 

 

 

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Health and Fitness Fridays- Interval Training

Posted in Fitness Ideas, Fitness Tips, tagged , , on December 30, 2011 | 3 Comments »

Interval Training: The Fast and the Furious of the Exercise World

Life is a marathon, not a sprint. You’ve likely heard this saying before and chances are you will hear it again at some point in time or another. However, it doesn’t hurt to throw a little cardiovascular training into this marathon we call life. Interval training has its benefits – they have been studied, marketed and even have made national news headlines. Why? Interval training works.

In a study conducted in the Journal of Physiology, researchers found that 20 minutes of interval training – including 30 second burst followed up with four minutes of recovery – works. This type of training produces the same results of an hour and a half of moderate cardiovascular exercise. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition also reported similar findings. The list of research studies on the effectiveness of interval training goes on and on.

Interval training is great for your body and can help you burn calories. What’s not to like?

What if you’ve tried it and can’t seem to get results? Chances are you are not going at it hard enough or aren’t allowing enough time for recovery. As a general rule of thumb, you should aim to exercise between 85 and 90 percent of your maximum heart rate. This will help to give you the results you want. (Remember your maximum heart rate can be determined by subtracting your age from the number 220).

Moral of the story? Interval training works and fits well into even the busiest of schedules. Imagine cutting your workout from 90 minutes to 20 minutes. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

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2011 Year in Review

Posted in Blog, tagged , , , , , , , on December 29, 2011 | 4 Comments »

Can you believe it is almost the new year? 2011 flew by so quickly. Since I’m not well enough to be trying out any new exercises for my normal Tryin’ It Out Thursdays, I’ve seen year in review posts on a few other blogs and have decided to give it a try. Although, I am very happy to report that my mono test came back negative! Overall, I’d say 2011 was an awesome year. Here it goes:

Went to a ton of sporting events…I absolutely love Pittsburgh sports!!

Visited the Pittsburgh Zoo…I adore penguins!

Moved into my first home! (I closed at the end of 2010 and moved in January 2011)

Went ice skating for the first time in a very long time:

Decided to complete a second Master’s degree (M.S. Exercise Science and Health Promotion):

Strained my hamstring attempting to punt a football (looks like I won’t be making the Steelers anytime soon, ha) and found myself in PT:

Had foot surgery:

Started baking a lot (shocking, since I hated it up until a few months ago):

Held my first ever party at my house:

And, of course, started this blog! I’m excited to be able to share my life, thoughts, ideas, baking attempts and fitness knowledge with all of you! Thanks for reading!

What stands out in your 2011?

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Antibiotics are Heaven Sent!

Posted in Blog, Fitness Ideas, tagged , , , , , , , on December 28, 2011 | 3 Comments »

I’m not one to take medicine; I never have been. Unless I am in excruciating pain, I stay far way from medications. But in this case, antibiotics are heaven sent! I’ve only taken one day worth of pills and have noticed an extreme difference. I slept more last night than I did in the past week combined, have been extremely productive working (hello, long weekend again perhaps!) and my voice is starting to return. Although, I still haven’t gotten word back on the mono test. eek!

I’ve been doing a lot of writing this morning about fitness goals for 2012 and New Year’s resolutions, often related to health and fitness, that fail, which got me thinking. I should probably decide on some sort of goal or resolution, that is obtainable, but not too easy. It actually only took me about two minutes to come up with a goal that is obtainable, not too easy and I’ll be able to say I’ve accomplished something I’ve always wanted to do.

I’ve decided I want to run a 5k (I haven’t really looked up any 5ks around here, but one that comes to mind is the Pittsburgh Marathon’s 5K although it’s not until May). The 5k is the day after my 27th birthday and could be an interesting present to myself. It’s a long ways off and I know I won’t need that much training to run a 5k, so I’ll probably need to find some others along the way, but I know I can do this.

I’ll essentially be going from “couch to 5k” do to nearly three years plagued with injuries and a couple of foot surgeries. Needless to say, I will be extremely cautious. I am by no means a natural-born runner. I’m more of an accident-prone runner and will be doing everything in my power to avoid more injuries. It’s bad when they know your name at the orthopaedic doctor’s office when you sign-in!

All I need to do now is wait for my surgeon to tell me my foot is all healed. I’m fairly confident, in my very non-medical opinion, that I’m doing great, but I’ll let him be the judge of that. I was supposed to have an appointment today, but I pushed it back to Friday do to strep. So, we shall see!

What are your New Year’s resolutions, if any?

Runners, how did you get motivated to run your first race?

Running

 

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Strep with a Side of Mono

Posted in Blog, tagged , , , , , , on December 27, 2011 | 5 Comments »

How was everyone’s Christmas? Mine was great expect for the horrible cold (what I thought was a cold) I had. My parents (“santa”) were overly generous on the presents (Kindle Fire, blender, clothes, purses, boots, cookbooks, home decor, etc..) I must have been good this year! The food looked amazing (I couldn’t actually swallow food to eat most of it) and dessert looked great too (I still managed to sneak in some cookies). It is very hard to resist cookies no matter how sick you are.

After doing virtually nothing but coughing and attempting to work yesterday, I finally caved in and went to the doctor’s. I avoid doctor’s at all costs. I have nothing against doctors, all my doctors are awesome, but unfortunately the only doctors I seem to see on a regular basis are orthopaedic doctors. I’m extremely accident prone.

It only took me 26 years to develop strep throat for the first time and it is awful. I’m waiting on the results of a mono test now, hopefully that one comes back negative. But for not I’m chilling with my medications, a box of Kleenex and attempting to do my work. I just figured out what I miss most about holding a full-time job opposed to freelancing, sick days! I could really use a sick day right about now!

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Merry Christmas!

Posted in Blog, tagged , , , on December 25, 2011 | 5 Comments »

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Today marks the first Christmas that I didn’t wake up in my parent’s house! All grown up now and waking in in my own home!

What does your day have in store for you?

Me….presents at my parents then a day at my aunt’s with my mom’s family. Always a loud and interesting time! Plenty of food and cookies! I’m pretty excited to finally get my Kindle Fire, but I think I’d be more excited if I could kick this nasty flu I’ve had for the past few days…I haven’t been sick in years and ended up with the flu just in time for the holidays.

Enjoy your day!

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Cranberry Hootycreek Cookies

Posted in Food, tagged , , on December 24, 2011 | 2 Comments »

Merry Christmas Eve!

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/4 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup softened butter
  • 2/3 cup brown sugar
  • 2/3 cup white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • 1 cup dried cranberries
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1 cup chopped nuts

Instructions:

  • Combine flour, baking soda and salt.
  • Cream butter, then add sugars, eggs & vanilla.
  • Mix in flour mixture & oats, then cranberries, chips & nuts.
  • Drop by spoonfuls on greased cookie sheet.
  • Bake at 350 for 8-10 min.6
Makes 3 doz. Cookies
I recommend using a large mixing bowl. I underestimated how many ingredients when into these cookies and made a huge mess! 

 

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Tryin’ It Out Thursdays.

Posted in Fitness Ideas, tagged , , , , , on December 22, 2011 | 5 Comments »

After a few years plagued with injuries, I’m about ready to start doing some running. What better place to start than doing some stretching? Something I had quick to neglect, which naturally leaves me more susceptible to injuries. I found these 4-must-do moves for runners on fitnessmagazine.com.

These must-do stretches focus on the calves and hamstrings, which I must say felt amazing after my two hour ice skating trip on Monday. I’ve had extremely sore legs for the past couple of days!

Stretches include:

  • a cross-over stretch
  • single-leg raises
  • drop-off stretch
  • wide-leg squat
I’m a big fan of the wide-leg squat. It also works your glutes and quadriceps. Felt great!

Fitness Magazine’s 4-Must-Do Moves for Runners.

What’s your biggest down-fall when it comes to fitness? What are you guilty of skipping out on from time to time?

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What I ate Wednesday….

Posted in Food, tagged , , , , , , , on December 21, 2011 | 6 Comments »

Peas and Crayons

Breakfast:

Chocolate Brownie Z Bar with Vitamin Water

Lunch:

Wheat pita bread with Roasted Red Pepper Hummus with Some Added Peppers

Dinner:

Pizza Burger…not pictured side of pasta

Snacks:

Handisnack!

Cranberry and White Chocolate Chip Cookiess

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Party Wrap-Up

Posted in Fitness Ideas, Food, tagged , , , , on December 21, 2011 | 1 Comment »

I finally found the cord to my camera. However, I’ve decided to only post a picture of my food (for those of you following me regularly and want to see some ugly sweaters click here, you know enough about me that you can feel free to friend me on Facebook for a look at my party pictures.) I have some friends with jobs where pictures of them should not be spread all over the internet, so out of respect for them and their jobs I’ve decided against it (doctors and teachers probably don’t need pictures of them spread everywhere!)

However, here is my food spread:

a tray of chicken nuggets was still in the oven at the time!

We had pepperoni bread, spinach and artichoke dip, hummus, chips and salsa, a shrimp ring, chicken nuggests, mocha phyllo cups, chocolcate mousse and plenty of Christmas cookies. As far as alcohol goes, my entire bottle of 3 Olives Cake went. The hot chocolate and peppermint schnapps was not as popular.

For a workout this morning, I borrowed this workout from Peanut Butter Fingers…she always has great circuits! Reading blogs is also a great way to find some new workouts!

Now for the mission for the rest of the day: get all of my freelance projects done and enjoy a four-day weekend! The only time I plan on touching my computer is for my blog, which never really seems like work to me! Now, I need to try to get in-the-zone.

Questions for the day:

Where do you look for new workouts?

What do you do to get in-the-zone when working, working out, etc..?

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