Last week, the Fall 2014 Athleta catalog arrived in the mail. It was intercepted by my husband (who happens to love workout gear). I was surprised to see him flipping through the pages when I walked in the house after work. The commentary that proceeded went a little like this…
Husband: “What is Athleta?” Continue reading
A long, long time ago….. like, back in the olden days….. I was a high school kid and stuck in class that I truly dreaded…..
When I was a junior in high school, a mistake was made in putting together my schedule and somehow I was stuck taking weight lifting for P.E. instead of the dance class I so desperately wanted to take. Maybe that is a stretch. I may not have wanted to take dance, but I know I didn’t want to be in a sweaty old weight lifting room with a bunch of stinky boys. One other girl was stuck in the class with me and together we went to the P.E. teacher together to beg to be kicked out of the class and put in another P.E. class. Not only was he the P.E. teacher, he was also the wrestling coach. Surely, he would be glad to evict a couple of puny 5’1″ tall girls out of his class.
We were not so lucky. After begging and I think my classmate even cried, he said that he would not sign off on us getting out of his class. He told us the class would be good for us and us two girls would team up and train together through the semester. But, I didn’t want to get all bulky like a boy I complained. He just laughed. Continue reading
I’ve always relied on a handy mix of songs to get me through a workout or a run. However, when I started running longer distances, I realized my playlists were often too short and started scouring blogs and iTunes to get ideas for new mixes. Here’s my playlist for Sunday’s Half Marathon; some songs are long time favorites, some make me smile and want to dance, and a few make me want to push through the 10 mile-wall I know I will hit. Enjoy!
1. Lose Yourself – Eminem
2. Crash – The Primitives
3. Move Your Feet – JUNIOR SENIOR
4. Runnin’ Down a Dream – Tom Petty
5. The Cause – NoFX
6. Some Nights – Fun.
7. Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) – C+C Music Factory
8. Drunk Sincerity – Bad Religion
9. Chasing the Sun – The Wanted
10. Keep On Running – Dance Hall Crashers
11. The Zephyr Song – Red Hot Chili Peppers
12. Break Me Out – The Rescues
13. The Distance – Cake Fashion Nugget (Deluxe Version)
14. Little Lion Man – Mumford & Sons
15. Just A Girl – No Doubt
16. Trees – Lovehammers & Marty Casey
17. Hazy Shade Of Winter (Purple Haze Mix) – The Bangles
18. I Ran (So Far Away) – A Flock of Seagulls I
19. I Will Wait – Mumford & Sons
20. Harder To Breathe – Maroon 5
21. Live And Let Dance – The Untouchables
22. Here I Go Again – Whitesnake
23. The Middle – Jimmy Eat World
24. Come Join Us – Bad Religion
25. Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover – Sophie B. Hawkins
26. Sweet Dreams – Eurythmics
27. If You Don’t, Don’t – Jimmy Eat World
28. Take a Walk – Passion Pit
29. Sexy and I Know It – LMFAO
30. Special – Garbage
31. Dog Days Are Over- Florence + The Machine Lungs
32. Touching My Body – Danity Kane
33. Don’t Push – Sublime
34. Settle Down – No Doubt Settle Down
35. Ring Of Fire – Social Distortion
36. Dance Again (feat. Pitbull) – Jennifer Lopez
I decided to take on the plank a day challenge for 30 days. I have never held the plank position for more than 90 seconds at one time so I am wondering if I will really be able to hold it longer than that as time wears on.
Recap:
(1.17) Day 1 – 30 sec: Pretty Easy. I did two sets to help prepare for what is to come
(1.18) Day 2 – 40 sec: Almost forgot about the challenge already. Ended up doing the plank at 11:00 at night just before bed
(1.19) Day 3 – 50 sec: Still hanging in there. Feeling strong like this is doable.
(1.20) Day 4 – 60 sec: Doing okay. Hubby got down and had to show off by holding plank way longer than my 60 seconds.
(1.21) Day 5 – 70 sec: Almost forgot about my challenge already. Had to get out of bed and did alright.
(1.22) Day 6 – 80 sec: Thought I would change it up and start my day with this challenge. Dismal failure. Lasted 30 seconds, then 15 seconds, than another 15 seconds. Going to attempt to revisit this challenge tonight. Starting t think I should have added 5 seconds a day.
(1.23) Day 7 – 90 sec: I did a 2 hr bike ride first thing this morning and then worked chest n tri’s at lunch. Did not look forward to my 90 second plank after dinner. Anyhow, got down on the floor and had my hubby time me so I couldn’t see the clock. I swear he set the timer for 2 minutes or more. I did survive the 90 seconds, and I literally felt my body temperature increase and start perspiring with each passing second.
Jen Bendewish │Running Down a Dream 