Sunday, April 29, 2012

The Art of Doing Nothing...

Injury Report! One week ago today, I took the big doggy out to let her run off the leash.  She likes to play her own version of "Chicken" where the human always loses. I usually jump out of her way, but, on this day, I didn't move fast enough.  I tried to step to the side and she collided with me, completely knocking me off of my feet, my ankle twisting in the process. So, once again, I am on a running hiatus.
The damage... last Sunday
On Monday, laying her head on my ankle.
I'm pretty sure it's sprained, but I didn't get it checked out. The swelling has gone down, but it's still sore and painful.  It's also bruised.  I've been icing it... when I remember, resting it.... when I'm at home, and elevating it... when I'm sitting or laying down.  When I'm at work, I do wear my ankle brace. The swelling had decreased by Tuesday evening, so I tried going without the brace on Wednesday and Thursday.  That was stupid. It just swelled up again and became painful to walk on. So, basically, it's going to take forever to heal. Oops. 
Thursday evening
I decided to rest and ice as much as possible this weekend.  And, I've done a pretty good job.  Here is how I spent my weekend:

Yesterday I did laundry and watched TV.  I also played with the little doggy. She loves to lick/give kisses, chew on things, run, jump, growl... Last night she was licking my [clean] fingers and I was taking pics to see if I could get a cute one of her with her tongue out.  I got this one and thought it was hilarious:
Finger-lickin' gooood.
The hubby bought her a tennis ball. This is what was left after 1 hour with the Boston Terrorizer:
The Boston Terrorizer strikes again.
I felt guilty about not doing any sort of workout this week, so I did do some floor work that didn't require me to put weight on my ankle. To kill more time, I looked up photography tips and ways to take better pics. I found out how to make a light box and how to take "studio quality" photos at home by making a reflective card.  (I plan on doing both of these things one day.)
Today, I wasted more time on Pinterest. :) I spend way too much time on that site. The hubby is actually trying out a recipe I found on Pinterest right now.  It's from a blog called Marie's Cooking Adventures and it's her recipe for "The Best Pot Roast Ever"
And this, folks, is how you do nothing [productive].. for two days straight! (At least I included some cute pics of the doggies!)

Sunday, April 22, 2012

New Gear and Gadgets!

Who doesn't love getting new stuff?! Over the past few months, I've bought some new items to help me get more fit and healthy.  Now I want to share with you! 

Nike running shorts: I bought this pair at a Nike outlet when I was shopping with my sis.  I love the pops of pink! I've never owned real running shorts, mostly because they're so short and I've always assumed they'd be creeping up during the entire run.  I figured that since I've been running so much lately, I could try them out... and they were on clearance.  The pair I picked has spandex under them, which I figured would make me feel more secure if they did start to ride up.  They're so light weight that I feel like I'm not wearing anything.  Unfortunately the looser fitting outer layer does creep up.
Lovely pink running shorts
Nike+ for iPod Nano: I heard about Nike+ a few years ago and thought it was so cool. But, since I don't wear Nike running shoes (they're too narrow for my feet), I never thought I'd be able to use the technology. Recently, I was reading this article (I'm sorry, I can't find the link!) that reviews the Nike+ and found out you can use it without the compatible shoe.  Several readers reported that they LOVE the Nike+ for the iPod Nano.  I looked it up and it's only $20 and it's sold at Best Buy, where I had earned $10 in rewards.  So, I bought it!  The sensor is inserted in the Nike+ compatible shoe, or a pouch can be purchased to connect the sensor to the shoe.  I had neither.  I decided that nestling the sensor in my shoe was just as good.  It stayed put in my shoe and I calibrated it to my running.  When I was done, 55 minutes later, I checked the distance.  This is what my iPod read:
Yep.  According to Nike+, I ran 1.47 miles in 55 minutes. (The 5 miles that reads at the top was my goal.) I tracked my route on SparkPeople and I had actually gone 4.62 miles. I don't know if the sensor wasn't secure enough or if the calibration didn't work properly, but I returned the product. It had some really cool features, but I wasn't going to spend the time figuring out what went wrong.  I'm just going to keep using SparkPeople.

Kinect for Xbox 360: For my birthday, in January, my husband got me the Kinect sensor for our Xbox 360.  Included was the Kinect Adventures game.  It's so much fun! Although it's not designed to be a workout game, it really gets you moving (jumping, dodging, kicking, etc.).  The only problem is that it's so quickly beat.  And, once you get to the advanced level, you don't really want to go back to the beginner level.  The next game I got was Jillian Michaels Fitness Adventure.  I love Jillian, but this game did not meet my expectations. The sensor could not track the floor work, so I had a difficult time moving on to the next level and, in general, it was really slow-going.  (A full, accurate, no holds barred, review can be found here.) If you're looking for a good fitness game though, I found it! When I returned the Nike+, I instead purchased Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012.  This game is awesome.  There's so much variety in the workouts (from "Running the World", where you run through major cities in the world and past famous landmarks, to Cardio Boxing to Hip Hop Dance Routines to toning specific trouble zones).  The feedback on your accuracy is so much better than in the Jillian game. You earn points, burn calories, and get tips on making your workouts better. You can even get a breakdown of your stats online. I'm addicted to the Wall Breaker game, where you punch blocks. Each broken block adds more blocks to a wall. When you've finished the wall, you then punch a final golden block that knocks out the wall.  I don't know why, but I find this one so fun!

Gear I look forward to purchasing: new running shoes, Zumba Fitness Rush, more running shorts, heart rate monitor, food scale.  These are the ones I can think of for now.  Do you have any favorite fitness/health related gadgets or gear? Share! :)

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Writing a blog and other things I'm bad at...

After some not-so-subtle reminders from family that I haven't written in a while, I've decided that I could make time for one itsy bitsy post. :)
Since it's been pointed out to me more than once that I've dropped the ball on this blog-writing thing, I'd like to dedicate this post to the other things in life I'm not-so-perfect at.
I'm bad at...
  • table manners. (Why was this the first thing that came to mind?)
  • cooking! 
  • cleaning... on a routine basis, but I'm getting better at it!
  • going to the doctor
  • spending money.  I've become such a tightwad. :/
  • making decisions. 
  • writing a diary. As a kid, I'd write in my diary, like, once every 3 months... what made me think I could write a blog??
  • resisting the temptation of a cookie or some chocolate. 
  • staying motivated
  • dancing
  • being an accountability partner (sorry, sistah!)
And the list could go on and on. Right now, I'm in need of some motivation to reinvigorate my fitness routine. I haven't been working out as much as I'd like to.  It's hard! I'm gonna go hunt down some motivation now. Pinterest here I come!
Oh, today I ran for the longest amount of time that I've ever run without walking: 25 minutes! After walking for 3 minutes, I then ran another 10 minutes straight. I think that's pretty darn good.  (I went 45 minutes total. I hope I didn't make you all think I could run 3-5 miles without taking breaks for walking! Some day!)  It was such a nice day for a run - overcast with a nice breeze.  It would be wonderful if this springtime weather would stick around. :)
Haha from www.someecards.com