Healthy Living Survey

I always find surveys to be fun ways to get to know people, plus it can be a change from the usual everyday posts. I found this one on a fellow HealthysELFer’s (and Sweat Pink sister) site…thanks, Lauren!

1. What did you eat for breakfast?

French Toast Scramble and a glass of cold skim milk

2. How much water do you drink a day?

At least 2-3 full 24 oz CamelBack bottles during work, then some more throughout the evening.

3. What is your current favorite workout?

Running and CrossFit. Since I can’t really run, I’ve been loving CrossFit more and more!

4. How many calories do you eat a day?

I really need to keep better track of those right now…

5. What are your favorite healthy snacks?

Strawberries!! I could snack on those all the time! And almonds, too!

6. What do you usually eat for lunch?

Depends. For the most part a simple sandwich with Greek yogurt and Wheat Thins or pretzels. Or leftovers. It varies from day to day.

7. What is your favorite part of the body to strength train?

My legs–I feel like they are so strong.

8. What is your least favorite body part to strength train?

My arms because I feel so weak. Though it’s my favorite to train because I feel weak and I want to improve that. Does that make sense?

9. What are your “bad” food cravings?

Kettle chips from Jimmy John’s, anything chocolate just about (horrible sweet tooth), fresh kettle corn (can’t go to an event in Lexington without some!)

10. Do you take vitamins or supplements?

No, but I know I should, especially some glucosamine and chondroitin for my joints with all the running I do. I do drink protein shakes–does that count?

11. How often do you eat out?

M and I have tried to curtail our eating out. Now we’ll go out to dinner most often only once a week. Most days I have lunch at home, but there are times that I just crave something different and pick something up for lunch.

12. Do you eat fast food?

Yes, but mostly it’s breakfast on the road on the way to dog agility trials, and then it’s usually an Egg McMuffin. Unless you count SubWay as fast food (and I do occasionally enjoy Jimmy John’s).

I was so happy to have my cheerleader to meet me at the finish line.

13. Who is your biggest supporter?

My parents have always been my biggest supporters in everything I’ve ever done. I’m very happy to have big support from M. I greatly appreciated seeing his face after I crossed the finish line of the Run The Bluegrass a couple of weeks ago.

14. Do you have a gym membership?

Yes. I use my membership for treadmill runs when the weather isn’t the best, plus I enjoy participating in the group fitness classes and spin classes now and then, not the mention the weights. I’d be lost without a gym membership! Though I just started CrossFit, so I’m thinking of canceling my membership to my regular gym and just do CF.

15. How many hours of sleep do you get a night?

I always feel like I didn’t get enough sleep. The amount of sleep a night varies from 5 to 7 hours a night. But even on days that I can sleep in, my body/mind doesn’t let me.

16. Do you have a “cheat” day?

I used to do cheat days with one program that I did–they were scheduled. Now it’s more like “cheat meals” if it’s something special. I’m trying to keep a balanced lifestyle, especially when it comes to eating and I feel like cheat days made me feel allowed to go crazy for 24 hours–not the most balanced lifestyle.

17. Do you drink alcohol?

Yes, but not as much as I used to. I enjoy a beer (or two) on the weekends while at agility trials, and maybe a glass of wine or bourbon and Sprite Zero to wind down after stressful days, but not that often.

18. Do you have a workout buddy?

I have running buddies for some days, and now I workout with people at CrossFit, but a lot of times it’s just me, myself, and I.

19. What is the best thing that has changed about your life since committing to a healthy lifestyle?

When I’m being active and healthy, it gives me a new confidence in myself. I realize the control I have over myself and my own life.

20. What was the last healthy thing you did?

Walked the dogs with my husband after eating lunch. I love my lunchtime dog walks because they’re a nice break in my day at the office.

Your turn!

Tulsa Time

I apologize for being quiet lately–I’m still in Tulsa, Okla., showing my Corgi at the American Kennel Club National Agility Championships. Today was the first official day and so far Dally is sitting in 10th place for her jump height! Go Corgi!

Meanwhile, here are a few more photos from our trip out here, including a stop at Fort Leonard Wood in St. Robert, Mo., and the “World’s Largest McDonald’s” in Vinita, Okla.

Dally and Porter salute the troops at Ft. Leonard Wood in St. Robert, Mo.

Dally loved the smell of French fries from the “World’s Largest McDonald’s”–it spans across Interstate-44 in Vinitt, Okla.

We’re here!! It’s been gorgeous weather for us so far!!

Related articles

• Tulsa or Bust! (planetmarsz.wordpress.com)
• Eating Healthy While Stressed/Pressed for Time (planetmarsz.wordpress.com)
• Looking Ahead to a Crazy March (planetmarsz.wordpress.com)

Looking Ahead to a Crazy March

I’m so happy it’s March because I have a lot of things happening this month that I’ve been looking forward to (and getting nervous for). It’s going to be a crazy busy month for me, but I’m looking forward to every minute.

March 9 – Rail Runner 10 Miler  This will be my first 10-mile race and I’m looking forward to it. It’s being run on the grounds of a local railroad company. They’re having a 5K and the 10 mile race, and they’re opening up the 5K course early for those of us who have longer distances scheduled. I’m going to do my best to try to get there early enough to get in a run on the 5K course for my 3.1 miles before the start of the 10 mile race, that way I have another 13.1 training run complete.

March 13-18 – American Kennel Club National Agility Championships   Dally, my friend Merinda and her Cardigan Corgi Porter, and I will be headed West to Tulsa, Okla, for the National Agility Championships. I’m so excited because almost all of my agility friends qualified this year, so we’ll have two stalls together for crating and will be cheering each other one and hanging out. Plus, we’ll be competing in the same arena I won a world championship with my horse nine years ago, so I have lots of memories here. My good friend from college, Cassie, is coming from Oklahoma City to watch me and hang out, so I’ll finally get to meet her little girl, Emily! So much excitement in too short of days!

Dally and I competing at the AKC National Agility Championships in Reno in 2012.

March 23-24 – Agility Trial   Just four days after getting back from Nationals, we head to an agility trial where I’ll be able to show LaMesa as well as Dally at one of our favorite locations. It’s always nice to show there.

March 30 – Run the Bluegrass Half Marathon  It’s going to be here before I know it! 13.1 miles of hills over some of the best scenery you could ever ask for! I’m still nervous about what I’ve heard is possibly the worst hill of the entire course (mile 9, which I didn’t see in my training run over the course a month ago), but I’m telling myself it’ll be alright to walk at the top of the hill–just get your booty up and over!

I’m excited to have one of these medals hanging around my neck after conquering 13.1 miles of hills!

March 31 – Easter  Easter means I get to have chocolate again, and since I’ll be celebrating my conquering of the RtB, I’m already planning to celebrate with lots of Easter candy! M and I usually make little Easter baskets for each other, so I plan to have fun with it. We probably won’t be able to celebrate the holiday with family (which is a total bummer), but I’ll try to do something special for the two of us.

I’m more excited about Easter candy that I have been in a long time!

Do you have anything exciting happening in March?

A Fun, Educational Weekend + New Year’s Clean Fest

This weekend I had the opportunity to attend a dog agility training seminar in Southern Indiana. Agility seminars are usually pretty expensive to have a working spot in, but I was lucky that my parents paid for me to have a working spot on Friday and auditing spot on Saturday for my birthday present a couple months ago. So my friend, Merinda, and I packed up our pups and set out to learn so much. If you’re interested in learning more about dog agility, follow my training blog: Agility On Stumps.

This morning M and I went out to breakfast and then came home to tackle Christmas decorations and rearranging the living room. When we moved in together into the house we’re renting a few years ago, we basically combined all of our stuff–so we have two couches (which remarkably go well because mine’s blue and his is cream with blue accents), his old recliner and dining table set, my coffee table, etc. (We’d love to get some new furniture, but we want to wait until we buy a house of our own, which is now further from our sights with the job situation and uncertainty of where we’ll be settling now.)

The new living room layout will take some time to get used to, but it opens up the house so the dogs can play and just opens up the front part of the house. This setup should also allow plenty of space for me to do my yoga videos and hopefully M and I can get back to play with out Kinect and do the exercise games we got a while ago.

The new setup opens up the front of the house so much more.

While we moved things around, M and I worked together to sweep, vacuum, dust, and mop (scrub) the living room. It was basically a New Year’s clean fest. It was nice to do some heavy duty cleaning together and it just makes things so much nicer around the house when everything’s clean. Next week we’re planning on tackling our spare bedroom, which became “wedding central” the months leading up to the wedding, and then has been a place for us to just put things to get them out of the way. I’ll be sure to take before and after photos of this project!

The afternoon was spent interviewing a source for a freelance article, cheering on the Colts  (who, unfortunately, lost to the Ravens in the Wildcard Game), and grocery shopping.

This will it’s back to the grind–working all five days! I was lucky to only work two days the past two weeks each, so to work five days will be hard! Haha But tomorrow night we’ll be cheering on the Notre Dame Fightin’ Irish to a national championship against Alabama! Go irish!

Now I’m off to watch the premiere of The Biggest Loser–I love this show! What do you think of it?

Making A Comeback

It’s been a long time since I’ve blogged. I’m not sure if any of you missed me, but I sure missed blogging! Life has been crazy this summer–dog agility trials, volleyball, new job, wedding planning, etc. I’ll try to sum up the summer as well as I can…

Running
I’ve been keeping up with my running, however it hasn’t been the most consistent training–but hey, at least I’m running! I’m trying to get in runs 2-3 times a week right now. I haven’t had any races that I’m training for, so I guess the inconsistency is alright. I did run in the Extreme Rampage a couple of weeks ago. It was a little over four miles of running through mud, creeks, jumping over horse cross country jumps, climbing wooden walls and cargo nets, etc. It was a lot of fun and I’ve decided I really do enjoy the obstacle/mud races! While I haven’t been running for time, I’ve had a lot of fun running with my older co-worker, Tom. While he’s in the 65+ year-old category, he celebrates every moment of the runs, which is inspiring to me.

Unfortunately I don’t be able to run in my favorite race, the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure this year (which was also my first 5K 3 years ago) because it’s the morning of my wedding day. I was really thinking about trying to squeeze it in, but I’m afraid that’s one more thing I will stress about, and I’ve been told I shouldn’t be stressing on my wedding day. So maybe I’ll wake up early and get in an easy 3 mile jog around my neighborhood for good measures that morning.

Wedding Planning
As I’m writing this, the countdown is now down to only two weeks–14 days!!! I can’t believe it’s coming so fast! And yet, everyone reminds me we’ve been engaged for almost two years now. Some times I feel like things are coming along smoothly, but then there are times that I am stressing because I forgot something (i.e., guest book!) or I’m unsure of something. We’ve met with our DJ one last time, I’ve already had my final dress fitting and brought my dress home, had a hair trial (but would like to fit in one more), we’ve gotten M’s wedding band, and already applied for our marriage license. I’ll update more on things in a later post this week…

New Job
I changed positions at my company earlier this spring. Since then, it’s been a lot of learning about new processes, testing processes, and just trying to keep up with everything happening at work. We’re about to launch something big middle of this month, but until that has been launched and we’re comfortable with it, I’m sure things will be pretty crazy and stressful in the office. While I never blogged while I was at work, I haven’t had the time to think about what my upcoming post could be about. Hopefully I’ll be able to be more creative in the next month or so…

Dog Agility
I’m trying to get back to blogging more, which also means updating my dog agility training blog. So, you can check that out for updates. But, I’d like to brag that Dally and I qualified for the AKC National Agility Championships once again–this time we’ll be heading to Tulsa, Okla., in March and I’m already stoked about it!

So there’s your quick wrap-up. I can’t guarantee how well I’ll do updating things as I get closer to my wedding day, but I’ll try my best to keep things moving along. I’ll definitely plan to share some pics if I have any and details about that day and our “temporary honeymoon” (that’s an update all on its own).

Back to the Daily Grind and a Splash of Disappointment

Dally and I in the mountains with Lake Tahoe behind us.

It’s been quite some time since I’ve posted, and for that I apologize. Last Wednesday night I started my travel to Reno, Nev., for the 2012 AKC National Agility Championships which I was competing in with my Corgi, Dally. We competed Saturday and Sunday and finished in the top 10 for our jump height (I’m still not sure where we finished up), and then I flew back Monday. Today was spent catching up on everything at work, as well as catching up in the gym–I hadn’t worked out since Wednesday morning when we ran 3.5 miles before work.

I’m reviewing my weekend in Reno on my dog agility training blog, along with some photos and links to my videos, so if you’re interested in knowing how that went, please feel free to visit Agility On Stumps.

I had originally planned to run at least once while in Reno, and had got a couple of ideas of decent places to run, but the time just wasn’t there for me. Plus the weather wasn’t playing nicely–50-70 mph winds, etc. (On Saturday we experienced a dust storm, then sideways rain storm, then a blizzard all within four hours while we were at the trial!) So, I went five days without a single workout, minus the short bursts of sprints and turns while running my courses, walking Dally around, and the small sets of pushups and crunches, along with some yoga stretches I’d do in the hotel room when we first woke up. I hated not working out, but I knew my body also needed a break.

Unfortunately, I think I may be on a longer break than I had planned. Friday I started feeling a sharp pain in my left heel that just wouldn’t go away. It hurt after I ran, mostly because there’s a lot of stopping, turning, and pushing off in agility. I couldn’t honestly tell you exactly when the pain started, but I figure some time Friday. By Sunday, it hurt so bad after I’d finish a run that I would blink back tears as we crossed the final jump–not good.

I went to the doctor this morning and they took X-rays, but didn’t find heel spurs. So, the thought is either a tendon sprain or plantar fascititis (PF). I’ve been given a prescription for some stretches and exercies to do for PF and told to rest it some. It felt better earlier today, but after walking LaMesa a short bit at lunch, it hurt just as much as it had over the weekend.

Still committed to working out, I gritted my teeth as I ignored the gorgeous weather (upper 70s, sunny) and walked into the gym for spinning class, hoping that not putting direct pressure on my heel would help. After 45 minutes of sweating and grinding it out, my heel still hurt–arg! So now I’m updating my blogs while resting my heel on an ice pack.

So…what do I do now? My half-marathon is less than a month away (25 days to be exact), and I haven’t run in a week now. I had planned to try to run 10 or 11 miles while visiting my family in Indiana this coming weekend (I ran 11 miles the weekend before Reno), but now I’m afraid that’s not going to happen. I’m going to do my best to be patient, do the stretches/exercises and ice my foot the next couple of days and see where things are by the weekend–maybe I can at least squeeze in a 5-6 mile run this weekend?

Have you experienced PF? If so, any tips? Is my half now doomed??

Related articles

• More Than Dog Training (planetmarsz.wordpress.com)
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A Busy Weekend

This was Dally Friday evening, pre-bath, enjoying one last romp at her favorite park before getting ready for Reno.

Yesterday was extremely busy, with my 11-mile training run (post to come, I promise!), yard work, and getting Dally’s things together for her trip to Reno. Remember how I’ve talked about doing agility with my two dogs? Well, Dally (my Pembroke Welsh Corgi) and I qualified for the AKC National Agility Championships, which are being held in Reno, Nev. She’s leaving before me because she’s riding across the country in a car full of otehr dogs, and one brave man who is driving them the 36 hours there.

Here’s my post from my dog agility training blog (Agility On Stumps) about her preparations. I’m going to be needing lots of positive vibes this coming week, folks…

Well, Dally’s bags are packed… She’s had her toenails have Dremeled, her toe hairs trimmed, and her dirty rough scrubbed to a brilliant white. She’s had her last chiropractor appointment. She’s as ready as she’ll ever be for the AKC National Agility Championships.

We’re heading to Cincy later today to meet with Dally’s ride to Reno–a couple from Columbus, Ohio, who are also competing at Nationals. Elissa runs a brindle French Bulldog named Scribbles (#1 Frenchie at the AKC Invitational) and her husband, Roger, runs a Pembroke (with a tail) named Keebler. Elissa is an animal behaviorist and Roger is a chiropractor (perfect combo, right??). Dally will be riding with Keebler, Scribbles, Gus (Camille’s dog, who they are also picking up at Queen City), another Pembroke named Hope, and an Australian Shepherd…all in a Toyota Rav 4! Roger will be heading West early Monday morning and hopes to make the trip in three 12-hour sections–depending on the weather (it’s a 36 hour drive to Reno from Columbus).

I’m more nervous, right now, about sending Dally off with them. I’m just nervous about how she’ll react to me “abandoning her” with these two “strangers” and how she’ll handle all the other dogs that are riding with her to Reno, let alone all the dogs at Elissa and Roger’s place. Call me overprotective, but I just worry she’ll be overwhelmed and upset. But, I think she’ll be OK once she gets into a routine with Roger and the other dogs.

All I know is I’ll be counting down the days until Thursday, when I fly out to Reno with Camille and we meet back up with Roger and the pups. I’m not going to want to let go of Dally once I see her!!

I’ll keep you updated on how things go…Elissa will be updating us on Facebook when she hears from Roger, so I’ll be glued to Facebook more than I already am.

 

A New Year of Goals…Not Resolutions

Happy New Year!! There have been quite a fair share of resolution blog entries covering the realm of things like weight loss, financial freedom, education, etc. I think it’s great to see what everyone else hopes to accomplish in the coming year. Writing things down is a great way to make yourself accountable for what you say you resolve to do. You can always look back on that blog post to remind yourself of either how far you’ve come or how far you still have left to go.

For example, my brother-in-law and sister set out on 1/2/11 on the typical weight loss journey. Jerry started out by changing his recipes to be healthier and in smaller portions. He started working out using first a hand-me-down treadmill then a new elliptical and a weight machine Matt and I gave them for Christmas. My sister, Erin, stuck with her gym membership and went along with Jerry’s meal plan. I’m proud to say that 364 days later my sister is at least 40 pounds lighter and my brother-in-law is at least 100 pounds lighter, and they competed in their first 5K on 12/31/11. How amazing is that?? I’m so, so proud of them. Sure they didn’t finish towards the front, but they finished…and they weren’t last…and they are both proud of themselves. Both of them still have more weight to lose, but they’ve come so far that it showed how this is more than just a typical resolution, but a change in their lives for the better.

2012 Goals: Career and fitness satisfaction, agility achievements, and wedded bliss!

I don’t really do “resolutions.” It’s more like I set goals for myself (sure goals are about the same as resolutions, but I feel a little less cliché saying “goal”). I try my best to look forward, and 2012 is definitely the year to do so. I’ll be celebrating five years of living in Lexington and working at my current place of employment, which is pretty good considering how much moving I did after college. I hope this is the year that I can take more of a bigger role at the office and be able to celebrate some of my work as my own. I’m also starting to freelance again, which has excited me and rejuvenated my love of journalism. I’m hoping to grow this aspect of my professional life and be organized with deadlines, sources, and payments.

Speaking of payments, I’m excited to have such a wonderful person to help me with my finances in Matthew. He says that this summer we should both be debt free, minus our auto payments, which was his goal before we got married. How exciting is that!? After all the credit cards are paid off, I may only use a credit card once a month or less just to fill my truck’s gas tank…only to be able to pay it off that month.

Of course I have some fitness goals for 2012. Last summer I ended up losing 14 pounds, which was perfect for choosing my wedding dress. I’m at the lowest I have weighed in a long time, but I know I need to lose a few more pounds (5-10) to be at the typical “healthy weight” for my height. Plus I want to be sure that that darn dress will zip up easily and that I will look my best! I want to start toning my body more–my legs are pretty darn toned (and for someone who doesn’t wear skirts, I never really show them off), but my arms need more toning, as well as my core. And, of course, I will be running in my first half-marathon at the end of April, so my main fitness goal is to be able to finish all 13.1 miles in less than 3 hours. I hope that this summer I’ll be able to finally accomplish my goal of running in a 10K (I know, a little small after finishing a half-marathon, right?), so that’ll keep me motivated to keep running after April.

My dog agility goals are simple–I want to get Dally qualified for the 2013 AKC National Agility Championships in Tulsa, Okla. We qualified for the 2012 Championships, but they’re in Reno, Nevada, in March, which is exciting but very hard to go to participate. I can’t afford to fly Dally and myself out there, plus get a rental car and hotel room, and driving the 31+ hours because I would have to take off a lot of time from work, which won’t work very well since I have to take quite a few days off for the wedding and honeymoon in October. So, I’m hoping we can earn the six double “Qs” (called “QQs”) and 400 speed points (1 point for every second under the standard course time)…and do all of this in a limited agility schedule, since I have to cut back for the wedding.

And, of course, there’s the wedding that’s been hinted at throughout this blog post. I’m excited to start seriously planning the wedding the early part of the year and then enjoying every moment leading up to it. I do not want to be one of those “bridezillas” and I want to be able to enjoy things with my family and friends. I know it’s more about the marriage and the time after the wedding than the actual day itself, and I hope we can keep that in mind. I can’t wait to continue growing with Matt in more ways than just in age and solidifying our happy little family.

What are your goals/resolutions for 2012? Whatever they are, best of luck and stick with them!!

More Than Dog Training

As I continue to get this blog going, my goal is to share a little bit about myself in each introductory blog post, to give you an idea of who I am, where I’ve come from, and my goals for the future in just about every aspect of my life.

Dally competing in Dec. 2011

For the past few years, I have participated in what some might call an “unconventional sport”–dog agility. I grew up with dogs all my life, but never really thought they’d be a big part of my life like they are now. I was always into riding and competing with my horses (more on this later), but when I moved to Lexington and still didn’t have my horses with me, my competitive drive and need to train something was focused on my Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Dally. I got Dally the Fall after I graduated college and she travelled the country with me from internship to jobs, from Texas, Oklahoma, and now Kentucky. She’s been my best buddy–I can’t help but smile every time I see her face.

LaMesa & I preparing for her run in Dec. 2011

Then in January 2010, I added on to the family with LaMesa, a Swedish Vallhund. She’s been a trip! She has a boundless amount of energy and can always make me laugh as well. She’s totally different from Dally in her attitude and athleticism, but she hasn’t been easy to train. It’s been a big education for me the past year of training with her, and we’ve done well so far.

We compete in American Kennel Club (AKC) and Canine Performance Events (CPE) events. Dally and I even qualified for the 2012 AKC National Agility Championships, but they’re being held in Reno in March, and it’s not possible for us to travel that far at this time. So, we’re aiming to qualify for Nationals in 2013, which will be held in Tulsa, Okla., which I can definitely handle!

So if I happen to mention agility on this blog, this is what I mean. I have a separate blog following the training and trials of Dally and LaMesa. I’m not the best at keeping it up to date, but I try my best. Please feel free to follow that blog as well: Agility on Stumps