All posts by Kim

I am a 44 year old wife, mom and athlete. I started running in high school and have loved it ever since. As I got older, I had to stop running every day so I added in weight training and all sorts of fun work-outs like Insanity, P90X and Turbo Fire. I'm a certified personal trainer and I love all aspects of fitness.

Uncategorized

The 45 Mile Run

January 22, 2015 Kim 117 Comments

I started this blog the day I turned 43 to document a year of daily moves/exercises for 43 reps. Now I’m 45 and in my 3rd year of daily reps – still matching my age.

Even before I did the daily moves, I celebrated my birthday by running my age.

I reverse aged!! Just kidding. This was supposed to be 43 but since I was running with a stress fracture in my left hip this was all I could handle.

This one was brutal – I walked the last 16 miles and it took forever!!!!

I didn’t do my 45 miles on my birthday in September because I had just done the Patriot’s Run 5 days earlier and Chris was in Germany so I didn’t have a full day to devote to the run. I had planned to do it during October but I ended up with some weird leg injury that put a damper on my running for awhile.

On Tuesday I decided that it was time to do my run so I told Chris and the boys at dinner that Wednesday would be the day to run.

The first 6-7 miles were brutally long. It was hard to know that I had well over 6 hours of running still.

I finally got into a groove and broke the time into 10 minute increments by changing the speed from 6.5 up to 7.0 and back down (0.1) each minute.

I celebrated every single mile:

1 mile and a fist pump!

45 fist pumps and numbers followed by a

Hunter asked me before I took him to school what I would do when I needed to refill my water bottles (he didn’t want me to cheat!). I didn’t want to pause the treadmill since it resets quickly from pause so I told him that I would just slow the speed way down. Plenty of motivation not to get off since I had a time goal!!!

There were times when I thought about walking but I knew if I started walking I would have a much harder time running again so I just kept running!!!

Around mile 23 I realized that it was a little overwhelming to say 22 to go so I just focused on one mile at a time. This really helped during the last 10 miles – I told myself that anyone can run 1 mile.

3 movies got me almost to the end of my run. I was on the last mile and a half when my 3rd movie ended and I just let the credits roll until I finished.

The time rolled over 3x – total time was 6 hours 35 min and 18 seconds (it took a second to actually hit pause). I think it averaged out to about 8:45 pace. And, even though I know it’s not accurate, the calories rolled over at 6000.

Sweaty and tired but happy!!!

It was a good run – hard but overall I felt good both physically and mentally!!!

Want to join me in running your age?

Happy Thursday!!

Kim

Uncategorized

Moving Outside of My Comfort Zone

January 20, 2015 Kim 83 Comments

In December I did something that sort of made me step out of my comfort zone – I filled out the application to be a

Friday afternoon I received an email saying –

I did all of the steps on the email to become an active FitFluential Ambassador so I guess it is official?!

There is a part of me that doesn’t feel like I really belong to this group of people. Even though I love to workout and talk about fitness, I feel like being an Ambassador takes this to another level.

I’m horrible at using ######, I don’t have 1000s of followers and I’ve never had products to review.

Hopefully I will just learn as I go (sort of like I’ve been doing with all aspects of blogging) and be able to represent in a way that will make FitFluential proud!

Have you had any big opportunities because of blogging?

Happy Wednesday!!!

Kim

Uncategorized

Life’s Contradictions

January 18, 2015 Kim 88 Comments

There are some funny things in life – things that just don’t make any sense but sometimes we just have to go along with them.

Chemotherapy is one of those things – hard to believe that something designed to cure a disease can make people sick.

Another contradiction is in schools – not all people learn the same. Some of us are visual learners, some are audio, some are tactile…..But the big thing in schools now is Common Core – an attempt to standardize teaching.

Hard to fit all kids into a mold and use the exact same method for all students everywhere.

Both of my boys had a class in 8th grade where part of the curriculum involved bullying. The main thing they were told is that if they see someone being bullied and step in to help then they become the bully – WHAT?!

I think that is one contradiction (for the students around here) that should be done away with!!

Another thing that I find very contradictory is the Blue Light treatment for precancerous spots. When you have all of these places that are caused from too much sun exposure and then have a treatment that basically gives you the worst sunburn ever it doesn’t make any sense!!

I had my 2nd Blue Light treatment (the first was on my hands and arms in December) on Friday. My face/neck is completely fried and will start peeling in another couple of days. Funny that the thing Drs tell you to avoid (sunburn) is the way they treat this issue.

And, there are a lot of funny things that don’t really make sense –

Can you explain any of these contradictions?
What is something that doesn’t make sense to you?

Happy Monday!!

Kim

Butt, Core, Fitness, Hamstrings, Lunges, Resistance Bands, Running, Thighs

Back on Track (1/11 – 1/17)

January 17, 2015 Kim 38 Comments

This week has been a much stronger week of workouts! I’m hoping to start getting in a few mega runs soon!!!

Sunday 1/11 – 45 supine rolls, great for your core and also your upper back.

Make sure your elbows are pushing down to the floor

crunch up but keep your elbows pushing into the floor the entire time

I got in a 6 mile run (45:01) at a faster pace than I had been running for awhile followed by an easy mile.

Monday 1/12 – 45 double knee in to a full body extension with arms extended.

Knees in (excuse the blurry photo - hard to get a good mirror picture!!) — Knees in
(excuse the blurry photo – hard to get a good mirror picture!!)

extend legs and arms (both arms are actually supposed to be overhead but that didn't work to take a picture) — extend legs and arms
(both arms are actually supposed to be overhead but that didn’t work to take a picture)

I did a DVD that I don’t do often but it really is a good one – MashUp Conditioning. This DVD has 7 different workouts (called Tempos) that are 15 minutes each. Each segment has strength, HIIT, core. I did Tempos 5,6 and 7.

Tuesday 1/13 – 45 plies with heels up.

I always love the feeling in my inner thighs when I do plies!!!

I ran 10 miles!!! (75:33) I finished off the workout with an easy mile.

Wednesday 1/14 – 45 step-up to knee, step down and lunge back. This move is similar to one that Josie (YumYucky) did – stairless step climbing.

step down and lunge back with the left leg

After I did 45 like that and had shaky legs, I switched the whole pattern for another set!!

Fun move – and my heart rate really got up since it is all lower body work.

I did one of my 10 Minute Solution DVDs – Tone Trouble Zones. This workout uses a band –

the green one for this workout — the green one at the bottom for this workout

and is very effective.

I also walked 2.45 miles with a 10% incline (had some DVRed shows to catch up on!!).

Thursday 1/15 – 45 single leg bridges with one leg crossed over the other and the supporting foot on a stability ball. This move is from Nellie’s (Brooklyn Active Mama) weekly Wednesday workout.

YIKES!! This move was hard!! Probably why my hamstrings are sore today (2 days later!!).

This was another day of running – 8 miles in 59:37 followed by 1.75 easy miles.

Friday 1/16 – 45 side leg abduction with band.

I love moves like this because while it works the hip of the leg lifting, the standing leg also starts shaking!!!

I don’t know if you can tell but while I lifted my leg I also pulled on the band for some extra resistance.

I did Denise Austin’s Personal Training System. This is a full body workout with about 20 minutes of cardio followed by 10 minutes of lower body, 10 minutes upper body, 10 minutes core and 10 minutes of stretching.

Saturday 1/17 – 45 bow lifts.

Pretty sure this is the first time I’ve ever done any of the pictures in our bedroom – I have to stay out of the light today and this room is one of the best choices.

Overall this was a really good week of workouts. I’m still incorporating a lot of the moves from physical therapy into my workouts – just amping them up a little. And, my running speed is starting to pick back up!! Now I think I’m ready to slowly increase my mileage again!!

Happy Saturday!

Kim

Uncategorized

Comparing Activity Trackers

January 15, 2015 Kim 61 Comments

Most of last year (2014) I wore the Fitbit Force and loved it. The band ended up breaking in September and Chris got me a Garmin Vivofit –

I like some things about the Garmin, including the new straps I can get from Mobile Mob, but I loved the Fitbit!!! My favorite thing about the Garmin is the fact that the time stays visible without needing to press anything.

For Christmas, Chris got the new Fitbit Charge – for me because he had heard me mention it and knew I loved my first Fitbit.

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been wearing both trackers to see how they compare. After a couple of days I could tell that the Garmin counted way less steps than the Fitbit if I wore both on my left (non-dominant) wrist.

So, I have been wearing the Fitbit on my left wrist and the Garmin on my right wrist.

Here is just a sample of how they compare (Garmin on the left side, Fitbit info on the right side):

This day was a non workout day but I made about 100 trips up and down the stairs putting up Christmas stuff. Funny that the Fitbit has more steps but less distance!

Saturday – no workout just normal living. Only 49 steps difference with the Garmin higher.

Another close day – both the steps and mileage are almost the same.

This day was way off – I ran 10 miles – funny that neither one of these is even close to the right mileage.

Not sure why there was such a huge difference on Wednesday. Funny that the Garmin was higher since normally it is the low one.

Thursday was a lot closer – only 79 steps different. Funny that the mileage is low since I did a total of 9.75 on the treadmill.

I think it’s funny that the 2 are so different and not even consistent on the differences. One thing that is always consistent is that the mileage never matches what I really do on the treadmill.

Do you wear a fitness tracker? Which one?
Would you wear 2 to compare them or am I just a total dork???

Happy Friday!

Kim

Day With KT

All posts by Kim

The 45 Mile Run

Moving Outside of My Comfort Zone

Life’s Contradictions

Back on Track (1/11 – 1/17)

Comparing Activity Trackers

Fitness – Food – Fun