Week 3

January 14- 3.5 mile Run

After class this morning, my boyfriend and I went to the gym in between our classes. While he biked, I ran 3.5 miles. After two days of hitting 3.5 miles, it is starting to feel like I need more of a challenge… So, on Wednesday my goal is to run 3.75 miles and see how I’m feeling. I’m hoping I will be able to push through an extra 0.25 of a mile and hit 4 miles on Wednesday. I will for sure try to hit 4 miles on Friday and hope to be around there on Wednesday as well!

January 15- Full body circuit

I am so glad I decided to go to the gym last minute tonight! It was 8:30 and I had gotten carried away on practicing for the VITA advanced test. Passing this test allows me to volunteer to help others with filing their taxes. Before I knew it, it was way past 7 (the time I had planned to go to the gym). I debated whether or not it was worth still going… I talked myself into it and I’m so glad I did!

There were a few of my friends who also happened to be at the gym late tonight. It was so much fun learning their workouts and talking as we did our own things as well. I got to learn a really fun and intense ab workout. One I will try and incorporate into my full body circuit.

January 16- 4 mile run

I can’t believe how much I missed running outside!! After getting over the mental block of “do I really want to run today? I am pretty busy…” I got all my running stuff on and started running toward Fairhaven’s Boulevard Park.

This run was BEAUTIFUL. The sun was getting lower in the sky, almost ready to set, creating a soft pink and baby blue sky. It was amazing to be running right next to the water and seeing all the vibrant colors and hearing the waves of the water crash around me. I wanted to take a photo to post on here, but also didn’t want to run out of daylight and therefore opted not to stop on my run.

This run was exactly 4 miles with many hills to get over. It took me about 36 minutes to complete this route. I was amazed at how much ground one can cover in 4 miles. I’m so used to running in one spot on the treadmill that I forgot how freeing running outside can really be! I can’t wait for nicer and warmer weather to be running outside more often! I am starting to find some fun spots around Bellingham to run to and can’t wait to find more this spring.

January 17- Full body circuit

I had one class today from 8am to 10am. I hit the gym right after class and it put me in a better mood for the rest of the day! Today I realized how much I like going to the gym and completing more workouts in the morning. It makes me feel productive and motivated for the rest of my day.

After getting home from the gym, I sat down to work on homework and was shocked at how much more focused I was. It made getting through my work more enjoyable and I felt like I was retaining the information way better than I would have without going to the gym.

This schedule of going to the gym in the mornings is something I am hoping to keep up on Thursdays and Fridays as these are the only two days that this works with my schedule. As for the other days, the afternoon will have to suffice!

January 18- 2 mile run

Today I took it easy on my run. I ran 2 miles and it was a good break from running the 3.5 to 4 miles I had been doing this week. I woke up feeling under the weather and was worried about pushing myself too hard and getting more sick.

I am glad I went to the gym, and it felt good to take a little breather on the treadmill and only go the two miles. I can’t wait to get back up to 3.5 or 4 miles next week though!

January 19- Full Body Circuit

This workout didn’t feel as satisfying as it normally does. I felt off doing the dumbbells and leg machines. I think it might be time for a rest day. Thankfully, that day is tomorrow!

Today was one of those days where it felt like I was just going through the motions to get my workout done. This feeling sucked! There wasn’t any passion or heart in what I was doing. It felt like it was just one of those things I needed to finish to check it off the to do list. I’m hoping after my Sunday rest day, I will get back into the right mindset of why I go to the gym.

January 20- Rest day

This day was much needed. It was nice to give my muscles and body a rest from the other six days I worked out this week. I have to admit, it did feel weird not putting on my gym clothes, lacing up my shoes, and heading to the gym. Instead, I got to relax, catching up on some Netflix shows, and finishing up the majority of my homework. My boyfriend and I also got out and drove up to Birch Bay. I’m hoping to take some time this upcoming week to post some of these photos to the photography part of my blog. As classes start to pick up, I’ve noticed it has become a lot harder to write on here each day. I’ve slacked off a bit and have been writing these posts a couple days after the fact. Next week, I will try to stay on top of it and write one each night after going to the gym.

Week 2

January 7- Run 3.5 miles

Today was a day where I needed a run. There was some unnecessary drama between a friend and I that put me in a funk. I don’t like drama and try to stay away from it as best as I can, but this time it wasn’t something I could look past.

Without getting into to much detail, after our hour long talk I felt emotionally drained and down. After getting back to my boyfriends apartment and spending some time with him and his roommates I made the decision to run Lake Padden. I can’t begin to tell you how good this run felt. I had good mile times (about 8 minutes and 30 second miles) and I was in the right mindset to push myself as hard as I could.

It felt so rewarding when finishing the lake out of breath and legs tired beneath me. It was at the moment when a feeling of gratitude rushed through me. I was thankful for the sun shining, my friend and I sitting down to talk, and that classes will be starting up again tomorrow.

Running helps give me a more positive outlook on my day and it is something that I need to remember as classes begin tomorrow. I’m a little nervous to hit the gym tomorrow with all the other college kids trying to fulfill their New Years resolutions, but I am hopeful that this week I will be able to obtain my workout goal.

January 8- Full body circuit

Today was the first day of classes and it went by so fast! It was great seeing and catching up with friends I have not seen since winter break, and others since last spring quarter. It also felt great being on a schedule and a routine again with a specific time to go to the gym, it makes my life so much easier and is so rewarding to make it one of the last things to do on campus.

I decided to hit the gym late tonight, around 7pm after dinner had settled in my stomach. My boyfriend and I both went to the gym, while he biked, I fulfilled all of my circuit. It felt great to lift the dumbbells again and focus on strengthening my leg muscles.

It’s amazing how much better I feel after hitting the gym. It puts me in a motivated mood. This is something I’m going to have to keep in mind as classes start to pick up and begin to get harder.

January 9- Run 3.5 miles

Today’s run was tough to get through. I was going to run outside after my classes, but realized I left my running shoes at my boyfriends apartment who had class from 2pm-6pm. What a bummer! I was pumped to run outside, but had to change my plan up a bit.My boyfriend and I decided to hit the gym around 7pm. I ran 3.1 miles on the treadmill.

As I continue to increase my mileage, I think I might have been a little too optimistic about how many miles to increase every week. I still want to increase my distance to 4 miles by the end of the month, but I think it is going to take a little longer to build up to that. Today’s run was a little challenging, but I’m hoping to increase it to 3.5 miles on Friday!

January 10- Full body circuit

I got done with classes at 10 this morning and decided to hit the gym on my way back home. There weren’t too many people in there, making my routine go by fast because all the machines I needed were open!

I’m hoping to stick to this time for the gym on Thursday’s and Friday’s to make sure get the best workout in that I can. I feel like I’m starting to get used to the 5 pound dumbbells as the arm workouts aren’t seeming too hard anymore… my goal was to increase the weight at the end of each month, but I’m thinking it might need to happen sooner!

January 11- Run 4 miles

Last night I ended up going to the Greta Van Fleet concert with my dad in Seattle. When classes were over I drove home from Bellingham, my dad and I went out for sushi, and then headed over the the Paramount Theater to wait in line until the doors opened. My dad LOVES live music and luckily I do too, so on occasion either my brother of I get to accompany him. The show was great, if you haven’t heard of Greta Van Fleet I would totally recommend checking them out- especially if you listen to rock or like Led Zeppelin.

With this being said, the show got done around 10:45pm and we were at home and in bed by 11:40pm. Unfortunately, I have an 8am class on Friday’s so I only got about four and a half hours of sleep before having to head back to Bellingham. Running on four and a half hours of sleep sucked, after class I took a two hour nap but still feel exhausted. With this being said, I am deciding to switch up my calendar routine… I honestly never thought there would be so many changes or interruptions in my workout plan! Good thing I haven’t started working on February’s calendar yet.

Here is my new plan for this weekend:

FRIDAY– Rest

SATURDAY– Run 3.5 miles either outside or on the treadmill

SUNDAY– full body circuit

Hopefully this will keep me on track for this weekend and next week!

January 12- Run 3.5 miles

I successfully took enough time out of my day to head to the gym and run 3.5 miles on the treadmill. It felt really good! I was able to finish in 33 minutes, a lot faster than I thought it would take me!

Overall, this run felt really good. I hit 3.5 miles and wanted to keep going. I’m excited to finally hit 4 miles… hopefully within the next week or so! Holding myself to running longer distances has been a mental block that I am excited to overcome as I gradually run longer distances each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

January 13- Full body circuit

This workout was a nice break from reading textbooks and preparing for the week ahead. It gave me a time to clear my head and focus on my body and building muscle.

I completed my legs, arms, and core workouts. I increased the dumbbell weight from 5 pounds to 7.5 pounds. This was more of a challenge, but I was able to complete the full workout. Hopefully I am not too sore tomorrow for my 3.5 mile run!

It finally feels like I am getting into a routine and it feels amazing! It makes working out everyday a lot easier and something I look forward to. I can’t wait for next week to see the progress I can make in both mileage and weight training.

Week 1

Here is an update on how the first week of my new workout plan went… Definitely did not start the way I thought it would!

January 1st- Full body circuit

The new year definitely didn’t start off like I thought it would. My boyfriend and I had to head back to Bellingham early due to his apartment flooding. There was four and a half inches of water throughout his entire apartment. So, as you can imagine everything on the floor was soaking wet and needed to be moved out of the apartment. With this being said, I wasn’t able to hit the gym to get my workout in. Instead, we spent the whole day moving things from his apartment to mine (thankfully we are less than a block apart!).

Here is what the apartment looked like the day we got the call it had flooded. It is hard to see, but there were puddles of water all over the floor, it felt really humid in there, and the carpets were soaked with water. When walking on them you could see all the water rise up around the weight of your feet.

We were able to move almost everything out of his room and his two other roommates. We flipped mattresses up on top of the box springs to try and dry them out, boxed up all the valuable things to take to my place, and got almost everything off the floor and onto counters and high places that wouldn’t get wet.

Although I didn’t get the workout in I had planned on the calendar, I did get my fair share of heavy lifting. My boyfriend and I ended up carrying his full sized mattress down the hill to my place. This was quite a challenge; I worked up a sweat and definitely engaged my arm and leg muscles to get the job done. I’ll call that a good enough workout for the day! Hopefully the rest of this week I will be able to find some time to hit the gym and stick to my new workout plan.

January 2nd- Run 3.5 miles

Sadly this run didn’t pan out either. My boyfriend and I spent the day on the phone and in the office of the landlord who owns the property that flooded. Fortunately, my boyfriend was able to get out of his current lease and into another lease for an apartment that is still close by. This new lease will start on Friday, but in the meantime we will by busy packing up the rest of his stuff to move into this new place.

After we finally got all the paperwork in line and off the phones it was dark out. My plan was to head to the gym on campus, but found out it closed at 5pm due to winter break still being in effect. What a bummer! I’m already two days into the new year and haven’t been able to try out my new workout plan. At this point I’m longing for a free day to hit the gym and get a workout in, even if it is just for 15 or 20 minutes! Hopefully early Friday I will be able to run outside for a bit.

January 3rd- Full body circuit

Today was a little more relaxed than the rest of the week has gone. All the paperwork has been taken care of and the stress of helping my boyfriend find a place to move into has subsided. Tomorrow and this weekend we will be moving him and his two other roommates into their new place.

As far as the gym went, I didn’t make it in time as the gym closed at 5pm again. Parking is only free on campus after 4:30pm and I didn’t feel like 30 minutes would have been enough time to get the workout in that I wanted. So, instead I revamped my workout to be able to do it at home. This included pushups instead of dumbbells, wall sits instead of leg machines, planks, and a 5 minute core workout. Although I didn’t work up too much of a sweat, this mini workout felt great and was much needed!

I’m so glad I was able to compromise and come up with a different workout to do at home! My boyfriend and I are planning on running Lake Padden tomorrow. It’s about 2.5 miles. I can’t wait to be out in the fresh air and get some good cardio in before moving him into his new apartment later that afternoon.

This week has defiantly been one for the books, I never thought I would have to deal with an apartment flooding or the stress of needing to find a place by next Monday (as classes begin on Tuesday). I am kicking myself for not applying myself harder to my workout plan. It just goes to show you how crazy life can get and the choice I made to put my workout on the back burner was one I will learn from. The goal of the calendar and keeping a log on this blog were to keep me motivated and honest about sticking to my new routine. With the newness of classes beginning next week I will hold myself accountable for going to the gym when I am done with classes. There will be no excuses. This is something I want to do and am excited to see where this journey will take me!

January 4th- Run 3.5 miles

We did it! My boyfriend and I ran Lake Padden first thing this morning when we got up. It felt so good to feel the cold wind blow through my hair as we ran the lake. It has been a couple months since running this lake due to the colder weather and being at home in Seattle over winter break. But it sure felt good to get out there again. It makes me long for the spring and summer weather and being able to run outside every day.

Hopefully after this week I will continue to fall into a habit of going to the gym and running each day of the week and then having Sunday’s off as rest days.

January 5th- Full body circuit

Today was full of packing up boxes, cleaning the old apartment, to the best of our ability with all the industrial fans blowing drywall dust everywhere, and getting things in order for the moving truck tomorrow.

It was a long day, but we successfully finished packing up all of the stuff that didn’t get damaged from the flood. Tomorrow will be full of lifting heavy boxes and moving things from one apartment to the next. So, instead of doing my full body circuit tonight I’m going to count all the moving and lifting as my workout tomorrow! I think this will be a fair trade as we will be moving two mattresses, two sofas, and a bunch of other furniture.

January 5th- Rest

Today was so long! My boyfriend and I got up at 8 this morning to start moving some of the stuff we stashed at my apartment to his new one. By 10 his parents were up here and were able to rent a moving truck for all the mattresses and furniture. Moving those sofas were a pain! Definitely got my workout in for the day with all the heavy lifting. We were able to finish moving everything by 4pm and have spent the past six hours or so unpacking and reorganizing.

As I lay here in bed writing this, I can feel how tired my legs are from being on them all day. I had my watch tracking how many steps I took today along with my heart rate. We took over 14,000 steps and there were some high spikes in the heart rate. I will call that a successful day of exercise. I’m hoping I’m not too sore for my full body circuit tomorrow!

I can’t wait to finally get on a solid routine this upcoming week. With classes starting Tuesday I’m sure I will be able to stick to my January calendar and can’t wait to report back on it and start to see some progress after all the snacking from the holidays.

Hope you all have a great upcoming week!

January

Ringing in the New Year with a new workout plan!

Welcome 2019! The time for celebration of ringing in the New Year and New Year’s resolutions. As stated in my previous blog post, “New Winter Gym Routine”, my goal was to make monthly calendars focusing on both running longer distances as well as incorporating rest days by focusing on weight lifting and strengthening my muscles.

It took some time to put together, but I did some research and found some good exercises to incorporate into a full body circuit. I also took the time to realistically figure out how far I want to run every other day and how many miles I will gain in a month. For now I decided on increasing my distance by one mile per month. Listed below on the calendar I made you will find my plan for January and how I will accomplish the goals set before me.

My goal is to record what I do at the gym each day. This will not only hold me accountable for sticking to my plan, but it will also give me something to write about on my blog. I hope to follow this plan for the entire 2019 year. I’m sure it will be hard to do as life begins to pick up again with Winter classes and the craziness of life, but I know the perseverance will pay off in the end. I hope you will join me on the workout adventure for the 2019 year. Happy New Years!

Monthly Stats

Here’s my break down of rest days, run days, and gym days throughout the weeks of January. Looks like January was off to a slow start with 4 rest days, but the rest of the month was kept on a good workout schedule.

New Winter Gym Routine

As it starts getting colder out, I’ve had to move my running routes from outside around town to the treadmill indoors.

Now as we move more and more into winter I dread going to the gym. I love running, but I’m not a big fan of running on the treadmill. I always feel like I’m not going anywhere, I miss the fresh air in my lungs, and worst of all my motivation to run long distances goes right out the window. Anything long than 2.5 miles seems to take way too long!

So, what have I done to fix this negative mindset about running indoors? I started using the different legs and arms machines that the gym offers. They were a little intimidating at first, especially not really knowing how and what they worked, but after awhile I got the hang of them. And man was I sore the next day! After doing this full body circuit-type of workout a few times I realized I want to switch up my gym routine and focus on getting a fully body workout as well as increasing my millage on the treadmill. So, with that being said, I am going to also switch my new years resolution (and start on it early). I still want to increase my running millage, but I am going to incorporate “rest days” where I focus on upper body and core exercises. I have been working on a monthly work out calendar as a way to track my progress. This is still in the makings, but I can’t wait to share it with those who are interested. I hope to finish it within the next two weeks and keep you updated on what I’m doing at the gym and record on here how I’m feeling about the workouts I’ve laid out for myself as a way to track exactly what I am doing.

In doing this, I feel it will keep me motivated to not only go to the gym, but also report on it and keep those of you who are interested in following my gym journey up to date. I can’t wait to finish my plans and eventually see the goals I made for myself become a reality. To end this post, I want to leave you with a quote that helps keep me motivated and helps me attain the goals I have made for myself. The words are simple, but I think the message behind them is very powerful. It reminds me why it is important to keep going and push through the pain and the negative mindsets. I hope you will find wisdom in this as well…

“We are what we repeatedly do” – Aristotle

My College Running Life

One of my favorite running spots in Bellingham: Lake Padden (a little of over 2.5 miles around the lake)

College is stressful. I’m sure most people can relate to this and some would even offer advice to make it seem less stressful. Well, here’s my advice: RUN! (or find some other type of physical activity to relieve stress). This is easier said than done, but my goal for this blog post is to share some insight into how I found myself as a runner in college.

Freshman year of college is crazy. You’re living on your own, there is no set curfew, you’re meeting tons of people, and its seems like you always either have way too much time on your hands, or no time at all. With all this new stuff going on in my life, I fell away from running. I honestly probably only ran a handful of times my freshman year of college and looking back, I regret it. I gained weight, my acne got pretty bad, and I felt stressed out all the time. There was so much “new” happening that I forgot about the “old” healthy habits I had left behind from high school.

Going into my Sophomore year, I had a plan: don’t let classes bog you down, and make sure to take time out of your day to hit the gym. This is the motto I stuck to for most of my second year of college. I found this awesome ab workout app that I used every night for ten minutes. The results were incredible! I was starting to feel confident about my body again and working out was something I looked forward too, much like I did back in high school. I was running 2-3 times a week, this becoming my main stress reliever. Whenever I was having a bad day I would try and run, becoming a habit: bad day = time for a run. This was an okay running mindset, but going into my Junior year I wanted to get away from running only when I wasn’t having a good day to running because I know how much better it would make an already great day.

So, as I sit here and write this post I reflect on the first quarter of my third year in college. I just took my last final (literally an hour ago) of fall quarter and I can’t believe how happy and healthy I feel. I consistently ran 3-6 times a week, EVERY WEEK!! That’s twelve weeks of straight running. Not only do I look and feel good, but I also was way less stressed out this quarter than I have been in the previous two years of college. I also found a lot of cool running spots around Bellingham which is a huge plus for next Spring and Fall when it starts getting warm out again.

It is crazy to sit here and think about how my dedication to running has changed in the past three years, and how it will continue to change in the future. As the new year rolls around I have started to think of a running new years resolution: run longer distances. Right now I stick to 3.1 miles for my runs, but I really want to push myself to do a half marathon (or at least start running that distance at least once a week), so 13.1 miles. I will obviously have to train for this and push myself, but in the end I think it is an attainable goal. I plan to make a running calendar over Christmas break, outlining the next couple of months which I’m sure will make its way onto this blog. In the meantime, I will stick to the 3.1 mile runs while I construct my new goals for the 2019 year.

Why Run? ~ Why I Started Running

There are so many ways to answer a such a simple question. As with everything else, everyone has their own way to answer this question, but for me its been a long journey. One filled with many mental mind blocks, personal records (PR’s), and sore muscles.

For me, it started as a task in a high school gym class and having to run the mile once a month. Most of my peers dreaded that day, but I looked forward to it. Not the competing part, but noticing how my mind would wonder and the mile would be over before I was ready to head back to reality. At this time in my high school sports career I was strictly a volleyball guru. I had played since 5th grade on school teams, rec leagues, and select club volleyball teams. I lived for volleyball.

The life I knew before my running career

As junior year of high school rolled around, I went to volleyball tryouts as I had done my previous two years. This time was different. I no longer found joy and excitement playing, I was good and an asset to the team but I was tired of always being yelled at by a coach or other teammates. It was becoming too competitive for its own good. So, once tryouts were over I decided to deny my spot on the team and totally switch sports. Thus ending up on the Women’s Cross Country team. Little did I know what I signed myself up for. Cross Country was HARD! I went from running zero miles a day to the end of the season running five to seven miles a day. I loved running in the 5k races and pushing myself to PR. At first, it was hard to push past the mental game of keeping a good pace throughout the race or to stick with the girl in front of me. But eventually it became motivation to PR and look forward to the sore muscles the next day.

As my love for running increased, I continued to run XC in the Fall, train in the off season, and run track in the Spring for the remainder of my high school career. I looked forward (almost)everyday after school to go for a run. It helped me relieve stress, it kept me in shape, and it was my escape from doing homework.

Running is my escape. It’s my way to cope with the things that life throws at me and it was something I forgot about when I went off to college.