July Goals

I used to post my monthly goals – in life and fitness. I got away from it with my blogging sabbatical (if you want to call it that), but I’m trying to pick up the blogging pace…among other things.

July Goals

1. Blog 3x per week. 

I don’t want to promise posting every day. BUT I do want to restart good habits. I’m also working on adding a few features (email subscription? anyone? bueller?) to the blog to really capture the readers I lost with the transition from my old blog.

2. Stick to my triathlon training 

So far I’ve been doing…okay. I haven’t really gotten any bike workouts in aside from the spin class I took in Vermont, so I really need to take my bike to the road. But I have gotten in my one swim day per week. I have been doing speed workouts running, and a couple of “long” runs (4 miles is long to me now – how the times have changed!), and doing strength workouts on my “off” days (aka when I don’t feel like biking) so really, I can’t complain because I am feeling stronger and hopefully, that’ll play out in August during my tri and du.

3. Check items off our summer bucket list

We recently hit up Lewes/Rehoboth Beach, DE and Chesapeake Beach Water Park (Father’s Day weekend – Hubs got in free!). Stay tuned for a post on why Lewes, DE is my new favorite place. This month I want to do more bbq-ing and hiking.

4. Lose 4%

Some moms in my moms group on facebook started a little weight loss challenge similar to diet bet. By July 31, in order to get a share of the honeypot, I need to lose 4% – which is roughly six pounds. I’ve lost 2. I need to hit those last 4 hard. Stay tuned for progress reports.

5. Meditate more

I really do feel a bit more centered when I meditate regularly. We got into it at my old job, and it really helped center me when I was feeling stressed. I need to make time for five minutes. Goal? Meditate 5 minutes/day for 15 days in July.

What are your July Goals and/or intentions? 

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Currently | July

Happy July friends! I’m linking up with Anne and Jenna today to share my currently’s 🙂

Currently (1)

Craving: Beach time. Seriously. I haven’t spent time with my toes in the sand since the summer I was pregnant with Little Man so I’m looking forward to our day trip to Rehoboth this weekend.

Grilling: Shrimp! We’ve done shrimp kebobs recently and I am loving how easy shrimp is to cook – new summer staple perhaps? Not to mention anything that goes with Old Bay and some Flying Dog Dead Rise Ale makes my summer loving heart flutter.

Listening: to a little bit of everything. I finally figured out how to play something other than just Pandora in my car so now I have my amazon downloaded tunes and spotify! Making my commute a little happier than just traffic and commercials 🙂

Planning: Vacation. Hubs and I originally had a week up north planned for mid/late July. We’ve had to scale that back a touch due to a huge work launch on his end and the lack of vacation time on my new job end, so it’ll be five days instead of nine, but we’ve got a U2 show in the mix, hopefully a beach day and my father-in-law’s birthday celebration. It’ll be a nice little break away from everything. We haven’t had a real break that didn’t include at least 3 days in the car to visit family in both Vermont AND Connecticut, so I’m looking forward to hitting up a beach, doing a couple of fun touristy type things in CT and spending an evening with the Hubs in NYC. Either way, we have much that we want to do that a little bit of planning needs to go into this so we don’t come home needing a vacation from our vacation.

Decorating: Working on decorating my cube. I’ve got pictures up but it’s still feeling a little blah. I need some COLOR.

What are YOU currently up to? 

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Getting Pretty with Bubbles in Annapolis

Right before Christmas, my coworker took me to get my first blow-out. It was quite possibly one of the best things I’ve done – and not just because I didn’t have to wash my hair for like three days but it made me feel quite pretty.

I rarely get my hair done – cut, colored – it’s just one of those things that I loathe spending money on.

Thankfully for me, blowouts aren’t pricey. And even more thankfully for me, there’s a new place to visit to see if I can find the perfect stylist.

You see, once upon a time, I had the same stylist for years. Like went home to Vermont from college to visit her same stylist. Same stylist who did my hair for my high school formals and did the last cut for me before I moved to DC. And then I’d even visit her during the once or twice a year I’d pop up to Vermont to visit.

Alas, I stopped being able to justify getting my hair done by her when I went home. It stopped being a priority for me.

Then I found Bubbles. And a great network of stylists – they were my Capitol Hill go to when I didn’t want to spend $80 on a cut and dry. And now, they’re opening a new location in Annapolis right next to Trader Joes and Home Goods (perfect to pop in for a

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I am so grateful that this Friday I get spend an evening with some of the coolest people I know getting pretty while we celebrate the Blowout Opening of Bubbles in Annapolis Plaza at 150 Jennifer Road.. They’ll have a DJ, free blowouts (!!!), food and drinks. What a fun way to spend a Friday night no? More details and RSVP details here.

 

This post was sponsored by BUBBLES salons, however, all thoughts and opinions here are strictly my own. 

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2015 intentions

Happy 2015 y’all! We had a quiet night – flying in from Connecticut and getting home in time for dinner and an early bedtime for Little Man, and then some CNN/NBC 2014 recap shows while cuddled up on the couch catching up on reading and sipping some Harpoon Gingerland. It was perfect and quiet and everything a New Years should be for these old souls.

2015 beer

2014 was a year of so much change for us – a new job, E went into daycare, hubs got a new job after a few months of unemployment, but we ended the year on a high note and I’m ready to restart this whole blogging thing in 2015 after I have most definitely gotten off track through the second half of 2014. But new URL, new blog design…what’s not to love about my new bloggy home?

So I wanted to start the year with some intentions for the year – not resolutions because I don’t like that term. Intentions and goals.

 

Intentions

Be present at home when I’m with hubs and little man.

Develop myself as a leader and subject expert at work.

Coach 25 people this year.

Eat healthier and cleaner. So many holiday cookies – SO MANY.

Get rid of more clutter.

Participate in a quarterly wardrobe capsule in an effort to par down. (stay tuned next week for the reveal of my winter wardrobe capsule!)

Blog more. Regularly if you will.

Take care of myself. Mentally. Physically.
I had a lot of emotional ups and downs in 2014 and need to resolve some of those lingering issues in 2015.

 

Goals

Complete a century or metric century ride.

Run 12 races.

A sub-2:15 half marathon.

Register for a 2016 Half Ironman.

Run 500 miles. Bike 1,000 miles.

 

What are your intentions and/or goals for 2015? Any lofty ones?

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Promises

I promise I’m not disappearing again. I actually have some fun stuff up my sleeve. Stay tuned for a big ole announcement end of this week (no. There is no Baby Schmidt part deux FYI).

In the mean time, if you want to get in on one of my clean eating challenges, they’re totally freesies and I’m doing a 5 day clean eating challenge next week. You get a meal plan, workouts, a free coach and the support of likeminded folks. Interested? Email me 🙂


 CREATIVITY.

 

 

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Eating Clean on the Go

So recently I started focus on a more 80/20 clean eating plan. I haven’t been great at it this past month, in fact I’ve been really horrible at it. BUT I know this. And I know what I need to do to fix it. I’m constantly asked “How do you eat clean on the go?” So I compiled my top five tips to eat clean on the go or when you’re super busy.

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1. Plan clean snacks. If I know I have a dinner out for Junior League or a lunch meeting, I make sure I bring clean snacks (celery and peanut butter is a favorite of mine, berries are another great snack) to eat during the day. Also, I always plan for a clean breakfast – whether it’s a shake or eggs – I start my day off with clean eating to make sure I set myself up for success.

2. Plan, plan, plan!!! Not just snacks but every Sunday I plan out my meals for the week. I take into account any client meetings where I might have lunch out or any dinner events. I always tell hubs “fail to plan…plan to fail” and it’s so true.

3. Leftovers make great lunches. If you plan a clean dinner make enough for leftovers. Todays lunch? Leftover whole wheat pasta, red sauce and sausage – measured out when I made my plate last night.

4. Don’t beat yourself up if you “cheat”. I don’t like to call it “cheating,” it’s indulging. I plan out my indulgences. For instance, I’m on a hiatus from drinking to cleanse my system BUT i know that Wednesday night the wine will be flowing pretty heavily at a work event, so I’ll make sure I fit in my workout, and make sure that I eat well. I don’t beat myself up for indulging, I just make to sure to keep my indulgences in check.

5. Keep the boozehound at bay. Listen, I like wine. I like wine. Especially good wine and beer. Lately, I’ve been hitting the bottles more frequently and my pants are now protesting. Keeping your boozing at bay is an easy way to eat better. Not only do we eat more when we drink but let’s be honest, booze is a bunch of empty calories anyhow.

So what does a clean eating day look like?

For me it looks something like this:

Breakfast: shakeology or omelet with salsa and black beans

Morning snack: juice (we juice at the office, yesterday I had a glass of kale, cucumber and pear juice – it was delicious!)

Lunch: Salad. I hate making salads so if I don’t make my own, I’ll pick one up from the salad bar at Giant or I have special place for the southwest grilled chicken salad from McDonalds if I’m really not on my game for lunches.

Afternoon snack: This is when I usually have celery and peanut butter or carrots and hummus.

Dinner: Glazed salmon with roasted acorn squash. or grilled turkey burgers with whole wheat pasta salad have been two regular meals lately.

You can see some clean eating meal plans from previous clean eating challenges.

 

Are you interested in eating clean? We have a clean eating accountability group starting up NEXT WEEK! Let me know if you’re interested! 

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October Intentions

After talking about my September fails, let’s chat about goals.

When I don’t have goals, I feel like I’m flailing. Like I’m not on track.

So, I decided to get back to it and set myself some goals to get back on track and not eff up this month.

october goals

1. Complete the 3 day refresh.

I’ll be starting that this week in preparation to fit into my bridesmaids dress for my friends wedding in like…11 days.

Ladies, here is a tip: if you are ever a bridesmaid, try the dress on so you know how it fits. I did not try this dress on because the only place that had it in stock to try on in a 45 mile radius wanted to charge me $40…just to try it on. I was all like, eff that noise. I went up a size but apparently I should have gone up 2 sizes. That or I’m not the size I thought I was even though I based it on the bust size which I measured and had hubs measure me for – I am a solid 36 my friends, but I should have added 2 inches to that because that’s how much I had to have it TAKEN OUT. That dress was not 36 bust size. So I’m hoping the 3 day refresh coupled with 2 weeks of healthy eating makes me feel a bit more comfortable in the dress (which is so pretty!)

2. PiYo certification.

I want to do a full 30 days of PiYo before I start teaching but I’m super excited to a. find a place to start teaching. b. start teaching. c. stick with it and get in shape. I’m struggling because, as I suspected and my new primary care doctor confirmed, my metabolism is stupid slow and is making it stupid difficult to lose weight. Seriously, I take a sip of beer or even look at a bagel and I gain 5 lbs. It’s ridiculous. If you’re interested in trying PiYo – email me!

3. Blog regularly.

Three times per week. That’s not a lot. More is better but I want to commit to 3 days per week. At least.  I blogged exactly like…five times in September which is just…sad. I love blogging and I love sharing my journey with y’all so I need to remind myself of that, especially when life is feeling overwhelming.

4. Workout on a schedule.

I’m not really training for anything right now, but I do miss running so I think committing to running a couple of days would do me, and my new sneaks some good, fitting in some PiYo (which I especially enjoy in the mornings) and even a Pure Barre class or two before my class package expires in January.

Get it done!

One tip I really like? Tony Horton suggests 22 days. Schedule out ahead of time and in a 30 day month, you only need to work out 22 days. So me? I’m committing to 24 days this month. #24inOctober.

5. Try two new recipes.

I have one on tap for this week – a baked pumpkin tortellini which I made for a pal who had a baby at the beginning of September but haven’t tried myself. Also I really want to make a soup. I’ve been jonesing for hearty, autumny soups (think butternut squash…) so I really want to find a recipe to try out (post-our next trip north).

6. Buy Nothing

I’ve been shopping a touch too much for my liking. I’m cutting myself off for October to save some dough for Christmas and for our trip in January.  Stay tuned for more on this later.

What are your October goals and intentions? Any fitness goals I can help you reach?

 

 

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PiYo Baby

So I finally got PiYo in the mail yesterday.

Finally. God the USPS is so SLOW sometimes (kidding. I just have the patience of a newborn). It actually got here relatively quickly

Did my first workout last night – sweaty…holy sweaty! I really enjoyed the fast pace of it, though it was hard to follow at times, I’m excited to continue so stay tuned for some before/after images and a follow on my journey. I know my blogging has been a bit lackluster as of late but I’m trying to get back on board.

So this morning, Hubs kept E home from Daycare so we could break in his new orthotics for a little while since for the next 4-5 days we increase time by an hour (1 hour today twice per day, two tomorrow, twice per day, etc…). Homeboy has learned how to turn on the DVD player. He’s also walking more and more every day. We’re not in infant stage any

 

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I’m super excited to dive right into PiYo. It’s definitely challenging, but I think within a few weeks, if I can stick to this 3 days per week and keep up with my training (Waterman’s Tri on October 4th will be my last tri of the season!) I think I’ll start feeling a lot more comfortable with myself.

Interested in PiYo? Or in joining a clean eating challenge (teaser: 1 lb,  -4″ overall after 4 1/2 days of clean eating)  email me and we can chat about goals and motivation! 

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Race Recap: Foam Fest 5k

Recently, I completed my first adventure/endurance race and holy….eff…was it hard.

I mean, there are hard races (like the one I ran Sunday in Baltimore that was a bit hillier than I was prepared for) but then there are races that just challenge your endurance and make you leave everything out on the course. Those races can be marathons or they can be endurance 5k races. Regardless of the race that challenges your endurance and confidence as an athlete, the Foam Fest 5k was that race for me.

It was a good race – the Foam Fest 5k course was challenging enough, it looped through woods (wowza hills!) and up and down motocross jumps on a dirt path. We started by running through a massive pile of foam.  Woo?

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The obstacles seemed pretty standard for a mud run/endurance race based on what I’ve heard – army crawling through mud (gross. I was so grossed out), over/unders on logs, walls that you climb over, you know the drill.

It was pretty well organized with some solid volunteers kicking around. I was late for the race because it took us longer to get down there than we anticipated, but jumping into another wave wasn’t difficult – they started about 10 – 15 minutes apart. However, as I’ve heard from many others who have completed other endurance runs, I did think that there was a lack of volunteers on the course with many obstacles not having any supervision. Although I personally never felt unsafe, I can see how if someone was a newbie, they could certain feel like something was lacking with the race.

The course it self first sent us through a dirt motocross track for about the fist mile, into the woods, there were a couple of inflatable obstacles that were fun but nothing challenging.

There was one obstacle that held us up for about 10 minutes or so – annoying – it was when you had run over a foam bridge over a pool of muddy water. Of course I fell. Of course I did.

The course had a couple of more obstacles in the field area before we headed into the woods for a good mile and a half with a few obstacles (spider web, army crawling) along the way. We came out of the woods around mile 2-2.5 for a few more inflatable obstacles and a couple of ropes challenges which were…okay…but kind of cheesy at best.

It should be noted that my lululemon cool racerback tank top grew in length about four inches because of the water. Thus looking like my shorts were MIA.

We finished off after a massive slide that totally scared the pants off me. I’m afraid of heights so I definitely had breathe deeply for that one.

All in all, it was a really fun, challenging race. But there were tons of walkers, groups and people of all levels so it was an all-levels race. Definitely, no matter what level you are, go in expecting to run for time.

Unfortunately, Foam Fest has since gone bankrupt leaving a lot of people out of money (the race wasn’t cheap!) and angry – understandably so.

All in all, it was  fun day. It would have been a lot more fun had I ran it with a group of pals. It’s definitely an all-level kind of activity – no one is going to make you feel bad for walking up hills or struggling through obstacles. Everyone was super supportive and the volunteers were great along the way (when I saw them. there didn’t seem to be an over abundance of them).

Have you ever done an obstacle race? 

Disclosure: I was provided with a free entry to the race thanks to Fit Approach as a race ambassador. All thoughts here are my own. 

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