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Community Support

By Mary Baum on January 23, 2012

When I decided to start a blog, I did it because I thought it would be fun – it would force me to take more pictures, and would be fun way to keep track of my running and fitness journey.

Something I never knew that I would be getting out of my little blog was such a great community of friends. I have met some amazing women in the Tampa Bay Area (and virtually across the country), and feel so lucky to be part of such a fantastic group of people. I got another taste of the blogging community on Saturday, when Marcus and I met up with Stephanie for our long run. Meghann had introduced me to Stephanie about a month ago, so that I could help with Stephanie’s move to Tampa, and recommend a few apartments in the area for her to take a look at. After many, many emails, Stephanie and I finally met for the first time on Saturday, and had a blast running together! We are both actually training for the same marathon in April! Small World :) Welcome to Tampa Stephanie!!! I hope you enjoyed your South Tampa Running Tour!!

Marcus and I had 13 miles to complete on Saturday, and it felt like we only had a few miles to run! I highly recommend showing someone around on a long run. It makes the miles absolutely fly! It also may have had something to do with all the commotion on Bayshore…

Saturday was the annual Gasparilla Children’s Parade, which is always the week before the main parade. The city of Tampa basically shuts down, and everyone heads out to Bayshore Boulevard to witness the pirate’s invading Tampa Bay. I believe it to be the most fun weekend in Tampa, hands down! Pirates, Plundering, Beads, & Booze…. honestly, what could be better?! Can’t wait for next weekend!!

 After we completed our 13 miles, we headed home for a yummy breakfast! Neither of us felt like a big meal, so we decided on a smoothie. Since strawberries are in season now, I took advantage and made a strawberry smoothie with bananas and a few blueberries. Here’s what went into it (serves 2):

  • 2 Big handfuls of fresh strawberries
  • 1/4 cup frozen blueberries
  • 2 bananas
  • 1 cup of plain Greek yogurt
  • 3/4 cup of almond milk
  • 2 scoops of protein powder
  • ice
We were out of spinach, otherwise I would have put some in as well. No complaints here – it was creamy and delicious! So refreshing after a long run!

How was everyone’s weekend? How has the blogging community surprised you? Does your town or city have any fun parades or events that you love?!

 

 

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Focus on You: Hydration

By Mary Baum on January 20, 2012

I received a sample from Crystal Light Pure right around the holidays, and I figured it is time I get this review out there! After reading quite a few New Years Resolutions and Goals, I noticed a trend: there are so many people out there that do not feel like they drink enough water. Even though the temperatures have plummeted (for those of you that live outside of Florida), it is still incredibly important to stay hydrated! Well, its time to Focus on You and Crystal Light Pure is definitely here to help!

Usually, I tend to stay away from these type of powder drink packets because of the amount of chemicals. The Crystal Light Pure Packets are different – they are naturally sweetened with both sugar and truvia, which comes from the stevia plant (hint: natural).

The packets are easy to bring with you on the go, and just slip in your purse or pocket.

The one thing about the packets I think to be somewhat strange is that one packet it actually two servings. I don’t know about you, but if I open a powdered drink packet, it’s not too likely that I am going to keep it, and then reuse the second half later. A way to get around that? Get a bigger water bottle! I went ahead and put the powder into a 1 Liter water bottle so I could use the entire thing at once.

It was a perfect mix! Not too sweet (I hate that about powder drinks) and had just enough flavor. Sometimes you just need to drink something other than water, and Crystal Light Pure is a great choice. Did I mention it has only 15 calories per serving – so only 30 calories per packet! You can stick with your hydration goal, and your get healthy goal, all at the same time :)

Need some more ideas on how to up your water intake? Here are some Hydration Tips from Crystal Light Pure Spokesperson Molly Kimball, RD

1.       Keep a Tally

During cold weather seasons, we may be at an increased risk for dehydration because it’s not hot out and we may not feel as thirsty, but can’t actually tell how hydrated we are by how thirsty we feel. For many of us, by the time we start to feel thirsty, we’re already dehydrated, but just how much water is enough when it comes to staying hydrated? Keep a running tally of how much fluid you’re getting and aim for half of your body weight in ounces of fluid per day, plus an extra 16 ounces for every pound of sweat lost during exercise.  If you’re really not in the mood for cold water, try leaving a pitcher of water out on the counter – allowing it to get to room temperature may make it easier to drink.

 

2.       Flavor Up to Drink Up

Want to drink water to stay hydrated, but hate the boring taste? Add the flavor you want and none of what you don’t by sipping on naturally sweetened Crystal Light Pure. It’s got no artificial sweeteners, flavors, or preservatives and is sweetened with sugar and Truvia, a natural sweetener derived from the stevia plant. It’ll give your water light, refreshing flavor with just 15 calories and 4 grams of sugar per serving. And the Grape and Strawberry Kiwi flavors have the added bonus of electrolytes!

 

3.       Don’t Forget about Food

Staying well-hydrated is essential for maintaining optimal energy levels, preventing muscle cramping and headaches. But that doesn’t mean you have to force down gallons of water or bottles of sugary sports drinks. Any type of alcohol-free beverage can count toward your fluid intake – and even some foods! Some of the top electrolyte-rich, hydrating foods include all types of fresh fruit, soups loaded with vegetables – even fall and winter foods like sweet potatoes and kale can provide much needed fluids.

 

4.       Watch the Caffeine

For years, the widely held belief was that caffeinated beverages were dehydrating. Research has proven otherwise, however.  The amount of caffeine typically found in standard servings of tea, coffee and soft drinks appears to have little diuretic effect. Meaning that these beverages don’t cause us to lose more fluid than they provide.  Drink a variety of beverages every day and remember all fluids, including those in foods you eat, contribute to daily water requirements.

Have you ever tried powdered drink mixes? How are you doing keeping hydrated?!

 Kraft Foods sent me a sample of Crystal Light Pure to try. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Progress and Setbacks

By Mary Baum on January 18, 2012

It’s Wednesday, which means it is time for the second update from our Working Out Sucks 21 Day Challenge participants!! Check out Week 1 Updates here!

(Source)

Jennifer is back this week, with an awesome recap! Here it goes:

I have been on the program for 9 days and am loving it.  Here are my thoughts thus far.

READ THE BOOK
I sat down and read the whole book cover to cover in an hour and a half.  It was a great read and keep me wanting to turn the page to read more.  One chapter really stuck with me and that was the mind over matter.  Your brain doesn’t like change but applying mind over matter to replace negative thinking.   It made sense and really became my motto in this journey.

WORKOUTS
Before I started I went online to the website to make sure that I knew what all the exercises were and how to do them correctly.  To be honest the workouts kicked my butt.  I am an out of shape mother of two hoping to get my body back from my athletic days and the first week of workouts were tougher than I expected.  I love the circuit training and it did not take as long as I thought.

FOOD

The recipes are great.  There is nothing that I haven’t like.  The only change that I have made was cutting out one of the snacks because I want to lose weight and now that almost 2000 calories is too much for me.  With two small children I didn’t know how they would react eating different types of foods that they have heard of but have rarely eaten.  It has been welcomed and they are now asking what is for dinner and looking forward to it. 

I was tired in the beginning but now have found my energy and looking forward to days 10-21.

Continue reading →

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Lots of Nothing To Do

By Mary Baum on January 17, 2012

I was one of the lucky people who had yesterday off from work! Holiday weekends that are a little bit more low-key than the big “family holidays” are so much more enjoyable sometimes. Sleeping in, relaxing, no where to be … couldn’t be better!

Ha... my job is to keep your relaxation down to a minimum!

Friday night I met up with a few friends for a much-needed Girl’s Night at a local restaurant, The Refinery. The food was amazing, and the company was even better! Meghann recently got engaged, so we had a lot of wedding talk – so appropriate for a bunch a girls sipping wine and having a blast. Check out Meghann’s recap of the restaurant – we will definitely be back :)

Photo courtesy of Meghann

We started off Saturday with a nice 8 mile long run. This weekend we were supposed to reduce our mileage, so that next week we could bump it up a little bit. Whatever you say Hal Higdon… a “short” long run sounded great to me!.

Then we headed up to Inverness to celebrate one of our best friend’s birthdays!

Chris got a job up in Inverness (which is about 90 minutes north of where we live) as a lawyer in a small law firm there in town. (remember when he took the Bar Exam…?) It is quite a different experience being in such a small town, that’s for sure! We had a blast grilling out, playing cornhole, and just relaxing with his family.

Yesterday we hit up some more “hills” at the Upper Tampa Bay Trail. I say hills lightly since the closest inclines we have in Tampa are actually bridges. But hey, it works! We did four sets of the bridge, which included going over the bridge, and then back, counting as one set. Every time I think I am in good shape, make me run up a hill – it puts it all into perspective! I was huffing and puffing after each incline. It was one tough workout!

We followed up our hilly run with a tasty lunch at Taco Bus!

The Taco Bus is just that – a restaurant that serves tacos out of a bus. They have their original stand alone bus/restaurant, and have expanded to have true food trucks to take to the local rallies.

The restaurant was around way before the food truck craze hit, but really took off in the past few years. Their food is so authentic and flavorful!

They use cabbage rather than lettuce, which gives everything such a great crunch! Any reason to go “the bus” is reason enough for me! I completely forgot to take a picture of my burrito before I inhaled it – woops! Bad blogger, bad blogger!

Did you have MLK Day off? Were you able to make it fun and relaxing?!

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Workout Gloves and Gasparilla Booty!

By Mary Baum on January 13, 2012

I finally got back to the gym last night – I’ve been neglecting strength training all week! Woops!

I decided a good arm workout would be the best for me to tackle – I’ve been having some pains in my glutes, so I did not want to strain them anymore! Hoping that will go away soon! Anyhow…

I decided to do something new in my workout – wear gloves.

Don't mind my the inappropriate toosh in the background. Classy lady....

I have a “condition” that affects me called hyperhidrosis, which is really just excessive sweating, mostly on the hands, feet, armpits, and face. Luckily my hands and feet get the worst of it most times. So needless to say, lifting weights is not always an easy task. I have no problem actually lifting the weight, but sometimes the sweat on my hands prevents me from reaching my full potential in the weight room. I have been thinking about getting gloves for a while now, and I finally caved in. For some reason, I have it in my head the workout gloves are for sissies (Yep, I just said the word sissy…), and that real athletes don’t need them. Well, I went ahead and threw those thoughts to the curb, and picked up a pair of awesome gloves!

They are loose enough so my circulation is not reduced in my hands, but also tight enough so they don’t wiggle all around when I have dumbells in my hands. The palm side has some slip resistant padding, which I love!

No more slippery hands when I am doing bicep curls! Success!!

Gasparilla Booty!

The Gasparilla Race Weekend is only 50 days away!!! I am tacking the Michelob Ultra Challenge, which includes all 4 races, and I could not be more excited! This year is hands down the best year to participate in the races! The race swag is better than ever, and it should be an amazing race weekend! Check out all the booty half marathon participants receive…

The other races have great goodies as well. Check out the race website for more info :) Don’t forget to sign up by January 29th, so you are included in 35 daily deals, only for Gasparilla Race Participants!!

Do you have a goofy thought stuck in your head about a piece of workout equipment that you think makes you less of an athlete? What are your thoughts on workout gloves? Have you ever tried them/would you try them?

 

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