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It is that time again. I promise you, this week’s love of the week is not a hair product. Though, it does go around your head.
I don’t know about you, but I when I run, clean the house, or want to drown out my kids (only kidding!), I want to grab a pair of earbuds and listen to some music, a podcast or an audiobook. However, earbuds drive me crazy. After a while, they become very uncomfortable. As I sweat, they fall out of my ears and I have to keep readjusting them. I can’t hear anything else around me. This is a concern of mine when out running. I want and need to be aware of my surroundings. The solution?? AfterShokz !
AfterShokz are bone conduction headphones. Sound is vibrations. The vibrations travel through the air to our eardrums. With a bone conduction headphones, the sound is vibrating against the cheekbone, sending the vibrations to the inner ear, bypassing the ear canal. As you can see from the photo, the transducers sit against the cheekbones outside the ear canal. There is nothing blocking the ear canal, causing discomfort. Again, with nothing blocking the ear canal, one can still hear everything around them. I am very aware of when a car pulls up, someone is walking behind me, etc.
There a few different models. I own the Trek Air. I had the Trek Titanium, but stepped on them and they snapped. I went with the Trek Air because they are smaller. I also wanted a fun color and loved this color red.
The headphones are wireless, light, have a 6-hour battery life and are sweatproof. I have worn them in the rain, though please do not submerge in water or leave out in bad weather. I have worn them in the gym and even with all the noise there, could hear perfectly fine. I have even taken a phone call or two on them. Often times, I have come home from a run and forget I had them on long after I have turned them off, they are that comfortable.
If you are ever in the market for a pair of headphones, I highly recommend AfterShokz. I will never go back to earbuds again!
Shop Aftershokz Headphones Today!
Shop The Trekz Air Tech Bundle at Aftershokz.com!
Shop The Trekz Titanium Adventure Bundle at Aftershokz.com!
Not every week, but a couple times a month, I will share with you a tip related to productivity, goals, health & fitness, travel or just life in general. We could all use more tips in our life. Today’s tip has to do with working out and scheduling in that time. I am going to share what works for me.
I am a pen to paper girl. I am not a fan of electronic calendars, scheduling apps, etc . There is nothing wrong with them, it is just not my thing. However, this tip can be incorporated into your life, whether you are put it on paper or in your phone. I am often asked how I find the time to workout. I am a full time attorney, raising two busy teenage boys, with a husband, a dog and two cats. I also run this blog as a side hustle and do online health and fitness coaching. I have a full plate. Which is why it is so important for me to schedule my workouts, like I would any other appointment. I don’t just schedule them a week in advance, I schedule them a month out. Take a look.
As you can see above, I schedule out each of my cross-training days and each of my run days. I do take into account everything else on the calendar, but didn’t want to publish my every move, so left it off for today’s purpose. As you can see, I even schedule in my rest days. You will notice, there is not a time associated with each workout. That gets put down on the daily page in my planner. For example, April 2nd is a lifting day. On the page for April 2nd, I will put next to 5:00am- Liift4. Again, you make it like any other appointment on your calendar. By doing so, you are making it a priority and more likely that not, you will not cancel on yourself. Makes sense? So there you go.. your first Tip Thursday. I hope it helps!
Before we dive into today’s post, I wanted to let you now I have been featured at https://planningaway.com/ go check it out.
I listen to a really cool podcast called “Best of Both Worlds”. It is hosted by two working moms, Laura Vanderkam and Sarah Hart Unger. Laura is an author and time management expert. Sarah is a physician and blogger. The podcast talks about balancing work and family. Each week they bring a new subject to discuss, along with a segment called Love of the Week. They, along with their guest, discuss something they are loving at the moment. It is actually my favorite part of the podcast. I love it so much, I thought I would incorporate it into this blog.
I love receiving packages in the mail, but I really love runner’s swag! I invested in a new training plan for my fall races. I listen to another podcast, Another Mother Runner. AMR offers a variety of training plans and I am always looking for a way to improve my running. I chose their heart rate training plan. My actually training starts in May, so be sure to check back as I will be posting about my journey. In any event, for purchasing one of their plans, I was sent some runner’s swag. It is filled with lots of goodies, including some of my favorites.
The package includes some fuel (can’t wait to try the waffle), my favorite brand of socks, Balega, some laundry detergent, another favorite of mine, NUUN and a cute bumper sticker. It is so much fun to receive things like this in the mail. You also have to appreciate companies and/or organizations that do this. A big shout out to Another Mother Runner.
How about you? Have you received anything fun in the mail lately? Just so you know, once I reach 100 subscribers I will be doing my own giveaway. So make sure you subscribe and have all your friends subscribe as well.
Two weeks ago, the boys and I went down to Disney for a 10 day vacation and so that I could run the 5k, 10k, and half marathon for the Princess half marathon weekend. This year, my youngest, decided he was going to run the 5k with me
For those of you that don’t know, Disney races start early, around 5:30am. Disney recommends you be on the bus no later than 4:00am. Nicholas and I were up at 2:30. He was less than thrilled. The race took us around Epcot. It was a nice course with some characters. He did not want to stop, so we decided to just get wear the medals in the parks and get pictures. I knew I would have plenty of opportunity to do so in my other races. Here are a few shots of the race and one of the Expo.
I am so proud of him and could not have asked for a better running buddy. Maybe someday he will develop a love for running like his Mama.
Today I had my last long run before Princess weekend. The boys and I are headed down to Disney World in a week and half. We plan on having some fun and then Mama is going to run the 5k, 10k and half marathon. The end of my training plan called for 12.5 miles, but I figured why not 13.1. I know many of you are out doing some long runs for your spring races. I am always interested in hearing what others take on their long runs, how they fuel and how they recover. I thought I would share what is currently working for me.
First things first, I always run with my Garmin watch. I do have a FitBit I wear everyday, but my Garmin is mere accurate and does a bit more than my FitBit when it comes to running. Second, I need go be listening to either a podcast or a book while running. I use Aftershokz headphones. These are bone conduction headphones. They sit outside of your ears. I am aware of heat is boing on around me at all times and can still her my podcast or book perfectly fine. I also wear them grocery shopping and cleaning the house. The final gadget I carry around with me, is this cool device my husband bought me called Wearsafe. As the website states “It is s modern-day mobil panic button designed to get you the help right away.” If you are out and about and get into some trouble, you press the button and I sends an alert to all your emergency contacts. The alert includes your GPS location and audio of what is happening around you. I find it to be pretty cool and a lot better than carrying around pepper spray. Too many wild animals were being sprayed.😂 So that is it for gear.
As for fuel, before I head out the door, I put a pack of Energize into my water and drink it up. This is my pre-workout drink. It increases my energy, improves m performance, increase muscle power and delays muscle fatigue. Then during my long run, every 4 miles I take 2 salt tablets and a couple of Honey Stingers. In the dead of the winter, have been known to bring candy cane Hershey kisses with me. I also carry a handheld water bottle with some Nuun. I make sure I run past somewhere to refill the bottle. When I get home from my run, I make sure to get some protein I my body and usually do that by drinking my Shakeology. Not only does it have a nice amount of protein, it is filled with lots of super foods and the only thing that keeps the post run headache away. So there you have it, my must haves during a long run. Tell me, what are your must haves when you are out there putting in the miles?
When I first started running, 6.5years ago, music was what got me through my runs. As my distance increased, music was just not doing it for me. Someone in my running group mentioned podcasts and I decided to check it out. 3.5 years later, it is just about all I listen to on my short and long runs. Some of my favorite topics, Disney, true crime, personal growth and development, running and more. Today, I am going to share some of my favorites and in return, I would love for you to share some of yours.
- American Scandal – this tells the story of some of our countries greatest scandals.
- Another Mother Runner- running, specifically mother runners.
- Be Our Guest- my favorite Disney podcast
- Best Case, Worst Case -true crime
- Best of Both World- a great podcast for working moms
- Build Your Tribe with Chalene Johnson -how to build a business
- Criminology- true crime
- Real Crime Profile- true crime
- Rise Podcast – Rachel Hollis- awesome personal growth podcast
- Style Your Mind-another fantastic business building and personal development podcast.
- The Chalene Show – personal development
These are just some that I listen to on a regular basis. There are others, but these are my all time favorites and highly recommend. Now it is your turn. Please share your favorites so we can continue to build our libraries. Remember, sharing is caring. Have a good one!
I did something that changed by life. I became a marathoner! Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would run a 5K, never mind 26.2 miles. However, when I saw that it was the 25th anniversary of the Disney Marathon, I just had to run it. It was hard, humbling, tiring, exhilarating and fun all at the same time. At mile 16 my IT band started to give me trouble. I began to panic. I had 10.2 miles left to go. What was I going to do? My good friends, Maria and Maura were tracking me. They noticed I had slowed down a bit. They, along with my friends Erin, Kim and my sister Jen, reached out to me. They encouraged me to keep going. They were with me every step of the way until the finish line. In fact, Erin met me in Epcot, right before I crossed that finish line.
I remember running around Epcot, passing all the countries and thinking I was really going to do this. All the training miles, early morning workouts, blisters, chafing, blood, sweat and tears were worth it. As I rounded the corner, heading toward Spaceship Earth, I heard the song “How Far I’ll Go” from the movie Moana. I lost it. I knew how far I would go to accomplish my goal and I did just that. Crossing that finish line was amazing. Though I have no desire to run a full any time soon, I will never forget the feeling of accomplishment. It is true what they say
“Everything you ever wanted to know about yourself you can learn in 26.2 miles. – Lori Culnane
Friendships play a very important role in our lives. We all remember our very first friend. (Mine was one of our neighbors. ) As we grow up, there are high school and college friends. During that time, we think nothing will tear us apart. Then we grow up, perhaps grow apart, have a falling out or take different paths in life. Make no mistake about it, when we go off into the world, whether it be to embark on a career, get married, have kids or simply travel the world, friendships change. In the case of having children, unless our friends have kids at the same time, we may see less and less of them. We get busy with our lives. We have other priorities and as much as we may want to keep these friendships alive, life happens and we drift apart. However, as my kids grow up and have their own interest and lives, I have come to realize how important it is for me to rekindle these friendships, not be afraid to make new ones or to let ones go that are no longer serving me.
Growing older, surviving the teen years, kids going off to college, menopause, career changes, aging parents, end of a marriage, whether by divorce or death, etc. can be down right scary. To have a tribe of women that I can turn to, talk to and blow off steam with is essential! Never mind girl’s night out, girl’s weekends have become non negotiable in my life! These are the women I can talk and share my dreams and fears. These are the women I can turn turn to when I have doubts about a parenting decision or upset about something my spouse did. There is no judgment, but there is no coddling either. Any one of these women could call me out and I would respect their opinion. These women get me and I get them. In terms of friendships, 2018 has been a great year for me. New friends were made during my epic marathon weekend. Old and new friends came together as we celebrated the 50th birthday of another fabulous woman. The annual girl’s weekend to run the Wine and Dine races in Disney, brings together high school friends. Finally, a quiet weekend along the beaches of Cape Cod to scrapbook the days away. Each experience filled my cup, in one way or another. I am grateful for these women and our time together.
