Motivation Monday

This past week I was in Colorado visiting my mom and stepdad. Being in the altitude was something that I knew would affect my runs and marathon training but I figured that I would push through it. Oh man, talk about a struggle. I started out my 14 mile run on the treadmill in the office. At mile 7, the treadmill stopped working, I BROKE IT! Geez. So then I took it to the outside. I found a 2-mile loop through the neighborhood but it was characterized by a major hill that i dreaded. But i pushed through. I had to stop and walk several times but I completed my run and felt awesome at the end. I didn't even look at my time since I knew that my time would suck but I completed it which was the big thing.

Keep it up!

relax before bed with these 5 simple moves

Many people have a hard time shutting off their brain in the evening but these five moves from Fitness will allow you to seek out a more restful sleep.

Upside Down Relaxation (2 minutes) 
- Sit facing a wall (or your headboard) with your butt about 6 inches away from it.
- Lie back and extend your legs up the wall.
- If this is too intense a stretch for your hamstrings, slide your butt farther away from the wall.
- If it's not enough, scoot closer.
- Let your arms rest by your sides, palms facing up, and breathe gently, feeling the stretch in the backs of your legs.

Winding Down Twist (1 minute) 
- Sit cross-legged on the bed and exhale as you place your right hand on your left knee and left hand on the bed behind your tailbone.
- Gently twist your torso to the left.
- Allow your gaze to follow, looking over your left shoulder. Breathe deeply, then return to center and repeat on opposite side.

Nighttime Goddess Stretch (2 minutes) 

- Lie on your back with knees bent.
- Place the soles of your feet together, then let your knees fall open, forming a diamond shape with your legs.
- Rest your arms on the bed.
- If you feel any strain, elevate your legs by placing a pillow underneath each knee.

Child's Pose (2 minutes) 
- Sit up comfortably on your heels.
- Roll your torso forward, bringing your forehead to rest on the bed in front of you.
- Lower your chest as close to your knees as you comfortably can, extending your arms in front of you.
- Hold the pose and breathe.

Rock-a-Bye Roll (2 minutes) 
- Lying on your back, hug knees in to chest.
- Cross your ankles and wrap both arms around your shins with clasped hands.
- Inhale and rock your body up to sit; exhale as you roll back.
- Continue for 1 minute, then roll back, extend arms and legs, and drift off to sleep.

Several of these are moves that I can be seen doing while cooling down from a cardio workout so why not do them when trying to "cool down" from the day. Sweet dreams!

Motivation Monday

Trial and Error is the story of my life right now. I am working in my marathon training schedule with a new job and all kinds of new opportunities that keep coming up to me. While exciting, it is forcing me to really buckle down and schedule my days out. My long runs are constantly switching days and will either be Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday based off of what is going on. I wish that the sun came out earlier so that I could do my long runs before work instead of after. But oh well. We push on. The key to my success has been perseverance and maintaining the course set before me.