happy new year!!

Happy New Year to all my readers! I hope you all had a fantastic holiday season spent with family and friends. For New Years I went to a party at a friends place. It involved eating and dancing, which are two of my favorite things, so the night was definitely a success.

And today I signed up for the gym! It made me a little sad because every gym will now be compared to the UMaine Campus Recreation Center... and most gyms come up a little short. That being said, I have signed up at GoodLife Fitness for the year. There are a ton of these gyms in my area, which is great because I can usually find at least one fitness class occurring at a time that fits my (currently non-existent) schedule.  I'm happy that they offer Les Mills classes which include step, body pump, and something similar to kickboxing. The major flaw that I've noticed is that they don't offer a kettlebell class (well, they do, but you have to pay an extra $300 for 3 months... no thanks). I'll keep you updated on how I'm adjusting to the new gym.

With the new year comes the new years resolutions. I really haven't thought about it too much. Last year I believe mine was that I would continue to stay active throughout the year. I really think I achieved that goal. I'm wondering if I should set something more specific, or stay with something vague.

That being said, my sister Nikki wanted to set a specific goal for the month of January. I like the idea of something more short term, rather than thinking of the LOOONG year ahead. Her goal is to run 10km at least once a week and do these arm exercises 3x/week. My month long goal is to log my eating on loseit.com every day, run 10km at least once a week, and do the famous 8 minute ab video 3x a week.

What are your new years resolutions? Did you meet yours from last year?

feeling good

Last Wednesday I tripped while running in the woods. This morning I fell down the stairs. WHAT WILL NEXT WEDNESDAY BRING?!?! I'm scared.

That being said I had a great run tonight! Well, I say that now that it's over. Every run I do is difficult and tonight was no different. HOWEVER I am really happy with my pace!

Yesterday I ran 3km and my pace was 10:38/mile which is a little slow. Prior to trying to up my mileage I was running closer to 10:10/mile pace.

Tonight I ran 6km and my pace was 10:17/mile!! I am really happy! Now I'm off to take a COLD shower and have some supper!

Note: I include my walking breaks when determining my pace.

busy bee

What a busy week! Back in Maine, getting settled back into the school routine. Managing to keep on top of my running which I'm happy about.

Just completed week 5 of my training which included:
M - off
T - 3k
W - 4k
T - off
F - 3k and I did kickboxing at the UMaine Rec Center! (Beautiful new gym, check out their facilities!)
S - 6k
S - walk 30 mins

I actually ended up doing the 6k today (time 39:39, pace 10:35, 3 - 1 minute walking breaks). I ended up waking up too late on the weekend and so by the time I got up it was WAY too hot! Today was beautiful though. It was a tough run which I attribute to me not sticking to my schedule. So I want to make a point of trying to stay on track.

Some photos from my run today:

Two photos while I'm crossing a bridge.

View of the bridge from another part of my run.

The route I've been doing lately has allowed me to check out my current neighbourhood a little bit which is nice. I go over that bridge twice (there and back), which allows for gorgeous views and a nice breeze. Today I ran through the University of Maine campus which has great tree cover. My only complaint is that in a lot of areas the sidewalks are TERRIBLE but there is usually a wide shoulder, so I run there instead.

My running schedule (week 6) for this week is:

M - off (but I ran the 6k)
T - 3k
W - 5k
T - off
F - 4k
S - 7k
S - walk 30 mins

I am trying to increase my strength, and so I am trying to incorporate more strength workouts in my routine. I find this difficult to do on my own, as usually by the time I get home from a run (even just 3k!) I am WIPED out. I think the heat has a lot to do with it. This is why I attended kickboxing last week. 
I want to do kettlebell on Wednesday, but I'm not sure if I'm up for a 5k AND kettlebell. Looking for some opinions here... should I keep my current schedule and try to do a 5k and kettlebell? I could also switch my T/W run and do 5k tomorrow and 3K & kettlebell Wednesday, but then I would be doing a 6k and a 5k back to back. Let me know if you have any insight! Thanks

source: http://umaine.edu/wp-content/rotator/222/Rec%20Ctr%20At%20Night.jpg

The beautiful UMaine Rec Center lit up at night!