NEW BLOGGY

Hello world - I'm making the move!!!!

Over to Wordpress! It's way better over there!

So find me at www.thefitacademic.wordpress.com


It'll be worth the move - I promise!!!

New Distance PR

First of all: Sorry - I am incredibly lazy in a hurry this morning, and did not bother to rotate the pics.....so turn your head sideways or something - you'll get it : )

Today I'm attempting a new distance personal record (PR). To date, I've done 7.5 a good handful of times (probably 4-5), but EVERY TIME, right around 7 miles I start dying and by 7.5 I am DONE! I've read that this 7 mile "slump" is pretty common. Today - I'm pushing through and doing 8! That's right - it's happening!

When training for half-marathons, you're always going to have some "long runs." It's really best that you learn what food works for you prior to these long runs, so you know what to eat on race day and there's no surprises! My standard go-to is Almond Butter Toast with half a banana and just a drizzle of agave nectar honey. (I couldn't find the dang nectar anywhere!!!)















The other thing it took me awhile to learn - you need to plan in extra time for digesting your breakfast! I used to just get-up-and-go in the mornings. That's okay if I'm just running a few miles, but for distance - not so much. So (for example), I woke up at 7:00am, ate my breakfast immediately, got dressed, & now I'm blogging - planning to actually leave my house around 7:30ish. Easy - see? You just have to plan ahead.

This weekend I went camping. I've been abstaining from most alcohol in the weeks prior to my wedding. I'm not drinking carbonation (including beer) at all! That poses a special "problem" for camping. Not to worry - it was freezing cold, so I brought some sugar-free apple cider. A little splash of liqueur & it was good to go!
















Check out the awesome camp fire! Good times!

Soooo much better

I'd been feeling kinda run-down over the weekend. My voice was gone for almost 4 days!

Well, I'm feeling a lot better, but we'll see how I'm doing after this weekend! Yikes - everything is just a whirlwind!

It's important when life gets busy to focus on what's really important and prioritize your "to-do" list accordingly! It's easy to get caught up in the minutia.

I like to focus with yoga:




















No that's not me - this is from a Google image search.

You know what's really cool? There's a whole channel, "FitTV" that shows tons of workout programs! Like - set the DVR and you'll never have to buy workout DVDs again!

Maybe this is old news - I haven't had cable TV for 4 years now & we just got it again, so this is something new I've discovered.

I started off my morning with a little in-home yoga. Good stuff.

More reasons I love fall

If you don't have a Trader Joe's near you.....I'm sorry. You're missing out.
This week I got their newsletter (on all recycled paper) and discovered they've brought back their PUMPKIN CREAM CHEESE!!!!
















Freaking delicious! Breakfast this morning features half of an "everything" bagel with about 1/3 almond butter and 2/3 pumpkin cream cheese. The pumpkin would taste better on a plain or wheat bagel, but the hubs-to-be (tee hee) really wanted "everything", so I relented. I used some AB because I'm about to go on a run and wanted the extra protein.














To be fair, this is really only 1/2 of breakfast. The second 1/2 is after I return from this mornings' 5.5 mile run and will feature a green monster smoothie with banana, pineapple, orange, strawberry, and SPINACH!!!! I need the extra antioxidants because I've been feeling crappy lately and this morning re-affirmed my worst fears when I awoke with a totally scratchy throat and my voice is almost gone! I have to nip this illness in the butt before it gets worse! I"m getting married in T-minus 3 weeks so this is NOT ALLOWED (on the other hand, I'm taking it easy on myself because getting sick now is SOOOOOOO much better than getting sick the week of the wedding.) It's important to listen to your body and do what's right for you.


Oh - and more Trader Joe's deliciousness.....I plan to have a cup of this later. Best Cider EVER!!! If you know me, you know I often drink calories (more than I should!) so it's my personal goal to only have 1 glass per day of this yummy juice until its gone.
























my mantra: *do not chug* *do not chug* *drink slowly & enjoy* *do not chug* : ) It's just so tasty its hard!



Enjoy your Sunday!

Gorillas in the mist (or, um....desert)

As you may recall, I recently ran a race with a group in primate costumes, in an effort to raise money for an upcoming trip to Rwanda, Africa!!! With Halloween just around the corner there are lots of races where people run in costume so I thought this might be fun to share. My only advice: if you're racing for time, do NOT use a face mask! They obstruct views and require an awful lot of fussing. Otherwise, we had a great time!

Fall is here!!!!

Well I've been reading about cooler weather on blogs & facebook updates of friends. I have been JEALOUS!!!

But, the cooler weather is finally coming around in Tucson!

Today the high is 87, and the low is 60. That may not sound so great to those of you who've been in the 70s for weeks now, but I'm EXCITED to be out of the 90s!!! Woohoo!!!

This weekend I did my first ever race in costume!

A group of us grad students and faculty from UA got together and raced as primates in Jim Click's Run & Roll 5K. The race is to improve handicap accessibility in Arizona. We raced as primates to raise awareness of our Primate Field Course that's taking place in Africa this summer! Exciting!!!!

This morning to celebrate the cooler weather I decided on a seasonal breakfast: pumpkin pancakes! I actually ate two, but forgot to take the picture until I had eaten the first one. There's no real "recipe" - I just kinda threw stuff together.
In the mix:
-whole wheat pancake mix
-vanilla protein powder scoop
-appropriate spices (pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, ground cloves)
-a heaping helping of pumpkin!!!
-add water to desired consistency













Grill it up on a griddle until cooked through. I topped mine with a little scoop of dark chocolate almond butter (yuuuuummmmmm) and a sprinkling of chia seeds. Delish!
Look how I store my Chia seeds:



I need to get some more of these guys (hopefully for a wedding gift)
















Maybe you'll recall that this week marks the first week of really gearing back up with exercise and dieting, right?

Well - so far, so good!

My biggest weakness is desert & post-dinner snackage. Well Monday I forced myself to have a banana with probably 1/2 tablespoon dark chocolate almond butter as a snack (and no fatty, processed crap). Tuesday I kept myself busy in the evening - went to a play immediately after dinner & by the time I got home my cravings for sweets had passed. Success!

Oh right - I'm also training for a half marathon (and mixing in some P90X workouts, too).

Here's the weeks' plan

Sunday: Core Synergistics & 5K race/run
Monday: Cardio X & 3 mile run (with 3 fartlicks mixed in)
Tuesday: 3 mile FAST run
Wednesday: Yoga X (in the evening) and a Shoulders & Arms dvd
Thursday: Legs & Back dvd & Ab Ripper X dvd
Friday: Kenpo X dvd
Saturday: 7 mile run

*I may switch around some of the workouts, because one of my BEST FRIENDS is getting MARRIED on Saturday morning!!!! I'm leaving for the wedding on Friday (and thus missing school), so I may do the 7 miler on Friday morning before I leave, and just plan to do the Kenpo X dvd from the comfort of my Grandma's guest room (that's where I'll be staying for the wedding). I'll keep you posted!

Updated Stats

You may recall that I've mentioned that my lab at school has one of those super fancy scales that sends electric impulses through your body to measure not just your weight, but also your BMI, % body fat, % water weight, and all types of other cool stuff?




















This is kind of what it looks like - fancy, right?

Well my first weigh-in was August 30th. It was totally just for fun - just to see where I was at.
When September 30th rolled around i decided to see where I was at - and I was pleased with the results!

I have not been dieting nor working out extra hard, or anything else. I've been running and exercising, but nothing extra and nothing too extreme (not far distances, not too difficult, etc.). So basically I viewed it as a "maintenance" period - but here are my results:

BMI:
August: 23.5; September: 23.4 = down .1
% body fat:
August: 28.6%; September: 27.5% = down 1.1 %

Now, these are very modest gains, but I was just so happy that I'm moving in the "right" direction without even trying! This next month I'm kicking everything up a notch, so I can't wait to see what my October 30th weigh-in will be like!!!

Also - I'm going to be adding some PICS - stuff I eat, places I jog, etc. so you can actually SEE what I'm up to!

Happy Monday!