Workout Weekend

It's amazing how my mind set changed once I wrote out my goalutions and made them official. I feel as though I am more aware of my every action and it seems easier for me to do the things I wrote down.

This process was more powerful than I thought. I decided to hang them on my wall so I can look them every day and remind myself of what my intentions are.

A weekend update...

I accomplished many things that were on my 10 for 2010!

- I lived an active lifestyle.
Thursday I went to my favorite cardio kickboxing class for a 60 minute sweat-fest. This was my first official visit to the gym in 2010 and was surprised that it wasn't as overcrowded as I had thought it was going to be.

Friday I decided it was time to get the first run of the year under my belt. My goal was to just run for 30 minutes. I didn't care how far I went or how fast, just 30 minutes. Well I fell into a groove on the treadmill, maybe it was my new running shoes or the peacefulness of running with no music but the sound of my feet hitting the tread. I started going faster and felt amazing. I managed to bust out 3 miles in 31:30 which is a crazy amazing time for me on the treadmill. I was feeling good afterwards!

Saturday I felt the need to just sweat a little. I hit the gym up yet again for a nice 40 minute cardio session. I did 20 mins on the elliptical and 20 minutes on the bike.

Sunday - Fun day! Okay so today was the highlight of my weekend because The Will Run For Wine running group had it's first group run of the year. Wahoooo! It was also one of the nicest days we have had in long while - 44 degrees! We ran a beautiful run along the greenbelt and got in 4 miles . Today was mainly about getting back outside and having some fun. I love the girlies that I run with. They make it fun and exciting.

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On an exciting note, I am happy to say I was tagged by Katie at Fit to Wed with the beautiful blogger award! This is my first ever blog award!



The rules are that I am to write 7 random facts about myself and then pass this lovely award on to 7 lovely bloggers! So here goes...

1. I am obsessed with Italy. I had the chance to study abroad for 9 months and have visited there one other time. I would choose to live there again if it were possible. I just love the language, the food, the wine and the culture!

2. I love to car dance! I am so one of those people who is rocking out, singing at the top of my lungs and busting a groove in my car. I just pretend that people aren't gawking out their windows at me and I can continue on as normal.

3. I have a this problem where I literally fall asleep while watching movies. It is usually about 9 times out of 10 and it doesn't matter where I am. I have slept through I-MAX 3d movies, I have fallen asleep in theatres and almost always while watching movies at home. I think it really bugs the bf because we rent a movie and have to watch in like 2-3 increments over several days.

4. My favorite singer of all time is Jonny Lang. He is a beautiful blues singer. I never considered myself a blues fan, but his music moves me.

5. I was a sorority girl! Yeah it rocked! Boise State University did not have your typical greek scene, so it was actually more like a club. But I learned so much about myself & life in those years and made the most amazing friends. I heart you my Delta Beta Nu sisters! (Many of the Will Run For Wine group is comprised of my sorority sisters, crazy to see how strong the bond is).

6. A trait passed on to my by my lovely mother - an obsession with calendars! It's true, we like to hang them in every room. And we can't feel at peace starting a new unless we have atleast 3 calendars purchased. It's almost sick, but there is just something so gratifying about writing things on calendars.

7. I wanted to be a writer when I grew up. I used to write stories all the time and hoped one day I would publish a book. I actually got out of the habit for many many years until I found blogging. It seems to be a great creative outlet for me. And who knows, I can still dream about a book deal in my future. It seems to be working out for a lot of bloggers these days.

So now I would like to pass along this Beautiful Blogger Award to these 7 beautiful bloggers!

1. Karathon @ Kara's Marathon

2. Gina @ Looking Forward

3. Aneta @ Confession of a Rambunctious Runner

4. Paige @ The STP Experiment

5. Dana @ Darting Through Traffic

6. Springs. Steel Springs.

7. Sami @ Eat Breath Run 13.1

I am excited to hear your 7 random things!! :) Happy week everyone!

My ten for 2010

Okay so who said my new year's resolutions/goals had to be declared by 01.01.10?

I mean really?

I think any day is as good as ever to decide to make a change. And as I mentioned yesterday, today is that day. HOOORAY! :)

Once I reveal my Goalutions (lol, I mixed resolution and goals teeehehehe), it's official. No more bitching. No more whining. No more excuses. Game on!

And to preface my Goalutions I would like present my mantra for the year. I am sooooo a mantra person.

I dubbed "2000 - Great" for 2008

I dubbed "Time to shine in 2009"

And now "Doing it Again in 2010" (This refers to having an amazing and productive year such as that of my 2009)

I now present you with My Top 10 for 2010.

{Body}
1. Choose to live an active lifestyle and do it with purpose & intensity

Mini-goal: Run alot. Complete a half-marathon, Relay Race & Marathon. Participate in kickboxing, yoga, spinning and body pump classes each week. Ride bike to work more often. Lose 25 lbs.

2. Eat with intention and for health

Mini-goal: Eat & drink in moderation. Choose healthful things to put in my body. Continue to cook new and interesting meals. Drink tons of water.


{Mind}
3. Continue to feed my mind

Mini-goal: Read 1 book per month. Continue to learn about things that interest me, running, being healthy, cookbooks...etc

4. Cultivate my Culture

Mini-goal: Practice Italian language. Read books, watch movies and cook unique dishes. Learn more about my heritage.

5. Find a financial balance in my life

Mini-goal: Conscious saving. Budget. Live within means.


{Spirit}
6. Act with my heart

Mini-goal: Continue to take opportunities to give back and think bigger. Community Service projects monthly. Inspire others.

7. Embrace my Spirituality

Mini-goal: Delve deeper into my spiritual faith. Continue to learn and be open-minded. Practice meditation.


{Social-Emotional}
8. Connect within my relationships

Mini-goal: Plan meaningful gatherings and be present when I am there. Take time for life. Write more cards & make more personal phone calls.

9. Mindfully express myself

Mini-goal: Blog with purpose. Inspire through my words & experiences. Create art.

10. Be Happy with Me.

Mini-goal:Celebrate my victories. Take time for myself. Don't be so hard on myself. Do things that make me "The Linz".

I am committed to these things and I am joyed to take charge of my life. I am ready to do things differently and with passion. I have no doubt that 2010 will be the year that I find my inner Linz. And I am so happy that you will be there for me to share it with you! :)

A Step Toward Resolution

My process of translating New Year's Resolutions into goals is becoming harder than you would think. I wanted to put thought, planning and heart into each one. Every day that has passed since January 1st has given me more to think about when crafting each goal and some anxiety since well New Year's Resolutions usually happen on the first day of the year.

I was inspired by Tricia's posting of her amazing transformation and took to heart that attitude & determination is everything. She decided one day last year (it was the 5th of January to be exact) that she was ready to live her life differently and she did just that. Her story got me to thinking that any day is as good as ever to change your life. So I didn't feel so bad that my resolution/goals had not been announced to the world yet.

I also attended a Franklin Covey seminar earlier this week about organization and goal planning which also bombarded my brain with great ideas. A tip that stuck out in my mind was "Do not set goals based on a feeling when you make that goal".

There are just going to be days when you do not feel like doing whatever it is you declared you were going to do. And you have to realize that the excitment & newness feeling will wear off eventually.

But if you have set the right intentions, identified your values, made a game plan and are commited, you will succeed. You must realize that you are not always going to feel that runner's high like the day you did when you decided you were going to make the goal to run a marathon.

So don't make the goal because you feel amazing after a run. Make the goal because you value your health and body and would like to push your limits farther than they have been pushed.

How to achieve your New Year Resolution/Goal:

1. Start today. (the waiting period just gives you more time to stew over it. It's like a bandaid, just rip it off already!) What are you waiting for?

2. Do it everyday. (Consistency is the key. Commit to daily actions that will further you toward your goal)

3. Finish it. (Easy enough?)

Now intermingled in this 1,2,3 is setting yourself up to succeed. Making a goal is all fine and dandy until someone gets hurts. So you need to take your goal to the next level of a weekly and daily plan. It seems like a lot of work, but this plan of attack is imperative for you to reach your destination.

Taking a day each week to plan a full week's workouts takes the thought out of it. If it's part of the plan for the day then you won't stress or tempt yourself into straying away. This can also go with planning a food menu for the week.

Stay tuned, I am going to reveal my goals/resolutions tomorrow! I am excited to have taken so much time to work them into real attainable goals.

Shed it & Share it

Tuesdays have become my favorite day, because that means I get to watch The Biggest Loser!

I am happy to see that they are doing things to challenge America to lose weight all while giving back. I have been moved to pledge to the Pound for Pound Challenge.



I was happy to say I ended 2009 15 lbs lighter but had a bigger goal in mind. I am pledging to you that I will lose 25lbs in 2010. I think this is a reasonable goal and I know I have what it takes to do it.

I would also like to pledge that I will personally donate the amount of food in pounds that I lose, to my local foodbank. So I lose 25 lbs, I will donate 25 lbs of food to the Idaho Foodbank as my way of personally shedding this weight and giving it a purpose.

Let me know if you are interesting in joining me in this pledge! I think it would be inspiring to start our own pound for pound challenge. So Shed it & Share it!

The Biggest Loser has touched the hearts of millions. I have been a fan for about 4 seasons now. I realize the show has changed a bit over the past few seasons and has become a lot more dramatic and has pushed people to their breaking points. But I sort of wish I had this pressure on me to do the same. If I had Jillian hiked up on top of the treadmill staring down on me telling me to RUN FOR MY LIFE! I know I would get it done without question.

This show has also showed me that with a lot of hard work and determination your goals can be accomplished. I am not agreeing necessarily with all the methods of the Biggest Loser, I can't imagine they are always healthy and proper. But the underlining message is that "You can do anything you put mind to".

I would like to live my fitness life with intensity & purpose. I took last year to warm my body up to the idea of doing physical fitness. I don't think I have really pushed myself to the limits in fear of hurting myself or burning out. But I have hit a point where it's time. It's time to kick it into full gear!

So thank you for following me as I make my way to becoming fit and into an official marathon runner. I will tell you now that I am going to run for my life! :)

Bronco Nation Represented

So you may have heard about that football team that plays their games on the blue 'smurf turf'. Well they come from a land abundant with potatos. But let me just tell you, we may like our potatos, but we LOVE our broncos! Yep, these guys are my team and today they are two-time Fiesta Bowl Champions!

I was excited to watch the game last night and was even more excited when I realized I would be watching it with almost the whole WILL RUN FOR WINE gang! Okay so we weren't running but we definitely talked about doing it! Since the incoming of this cold, snowy, icy weather we opted to take a few weeks off until the sideswalks were no longer a danger zone. It seemed that everyone misses our runs so much, you might even see an appearance from the gang this week if the snow holds back. Woo hoo!



I have made a few New Years Resolutions just as a way to keep myself motivated and focused for the new year. I will be revealing them to you later this week. But one of them is to cut back on my alcohol consumption. I really don't drink that much, it may seem otherwise considering all my posts on wine! (I love it!) But I would like to concentrate more on putting good things into my body. This proposed an interesting dilemma at a football party.

Well my solution was the Pom-Spritzer!


All you need is Lime Spritzer, Pom Juice and some cut up limes.

It made for a fruity fun drink that has some healthful benefits and if you don't tell people they will never know it's alcohol-free. It's the mock-tail of all mock-tails! Yum!

But, it was still a football party. So we had to throw in the not-so-healthy Fiesta Bowl tradition... Orange Jello Shots w/ Blue sprinkles! :) We only took one when we we scored a touchdown.


(sorry for the horrible picture quality, I really wanted you to see the sprinkles!)


Score!

(Me, Brittany & Jessica)

It was a fun night with friends and I was super proud of myself for sticking to a healthier way of being. And proud of my Broncos (17-10)! They keep proving everyone wrong and have finished off the football season as the only undefeated team.

What tricks do you have for choosing healthy at partys, tailgates, etc?

SNOW DAY!

There are typically only a few days per winter season that I am NOT jealous of all you floridians basking in your 70 degree heat, while we are up here freezing our you-know-whats-off in the snowy, icy, freeeezzing weather. Yesterday was definitely one of those days.

With a new year upon us I am always looking for a fun and creative way to get in a little workout all the while enjoying the beautiful nature around me. AKA as embracing this gawdawful cold snowy weather.

So what a better way to burn a few post new years drinks and get the bootie moving then by SNOWSHOEING!


What I can tell you about snowshoeing is that it's a full body workout. You are hiking through the snow but the added resistance of the snow really works your whole body. No kidding around - my butt, back, arms and calves are feeling the burn today. And while we were trekking along it definitely didn't seem hard, but I was working up a sweat for sure!


We began our 2 hour and 2 mile snowshoeing adventure. I love the stop sign almost covered in snow!

Also, It's very important to pack water with you when you are engaging in this type of activity. Working up a sweat makes you thirsty.


I was also really excited to try out my new camelbak!

This thing was a must have for this type of adventure. It was my first time using the camelbak and I absolutely loved it! It held about a liter of water and the pak was great for holding other things like snacks, keys or whatever. And it was convenient to be able to drink water hands free, since we had ski poles in our hands. I originally wanted the camelpak for my running which I am even more excited to be able to get my full usage out of it.

Note to self: Sometimes you just need to take a break to make snow angels. And that's okay.



We stopped every now and then to take pictures. We found it a little difficult at times as there were no real good spots to set the camera for a timed picture. Everything was covered in snow! At one point we even went so far as to rig our own tripod with our ski poles.


The verdict....

Well we got 3 out of 4 in the shot - not too bad.

We had to keep going until we found the perfect place to stop for another family picture. Success!


Snowshoeing was great fun and we were able to find a local sporting good store that rented the snowshoes and poles for $10.00/person. That doesn't seem to pricy for a day of burning calories in nature!

The key to great snowshoeing fun is to bundle up, bring lots of yummy-healthy snacks for after (you are starving when you are done), hot chocolate, and have good company. I had it all!


Oh yeah and make sure your brother dresses up like a rockstar. That helps in the fun! :)

Have you ever tried snowshoeing? And did you consider it a workout?

Pa-PIE-ahhh

Does anyone else ever get their second wind at oh, say 11:00 pm? Well, well, well, I sure did last night. I think it was the papaya post that was looming over me, I couldn't sleep. Aneta and I picked this glorious fruit to report on this week and I just wasn't sure about it at first.

I mean, look at this thing!


I know I have had papaya before, but I couldn't remember if I liked it or not. So this was a good excuse to buy one and give it a review. I also thought papayas were smaller like mangos. But no, this baby weighed something over 3 pounds. I tried to find the smallest one because I wasn't sure if I was going to like it and well it was like $1.00 something per pound!


I am trying to figure out what to with all this fruit... did someone say pa-pie-ahh? Yep, I'm turning this baby into a pie, because seriously there is just too much papaya for one person.

So let's cut this beast open already!


Once you cut it in half, you must scoop out the seeds. Haven't you always wondered what the inside of a papaya looked like?


Since I am using the fruit in my pie, I chose to cut off the outer skin. Which was super to ease to remove with a knife.


Then you slice into pieces or cubes (for the pie) and enjoy!


So the aftermath...tasted similarly to a melon to me. And I hate to say it but I am soooo not a fan of melon. It's not as pungent but there is a little melony taste lingering. I did enjoy the soft texture of the fruit though.

The pa-pie-ahh recipe has a better chance I think.

What you need to make Pa-Pie-Ahh:
- half of papaya cubed
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 3/4 cup oatmeal
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ginger
- 1/2 tsp salt
1 pie crust

Basically just mix all the ingredients except the papaya in a bowl. Once mixed thoroughly put 1/3 of mixture in the bottom of pie crust.


I mixed 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract into the papaya cubes before pouring them into the pie crust. Then top the papaya with the remaining mixture from bowl and bake at 350 for 35 minutes.



Holy Yum! Okay so the end result is that the papaya taste is very very mellow in the pa-pie-ahh. But fresh out of the oven and mixed with the yummy mixture it tastes like a cobbler. Mmmm Mmmm... And it was SOOOOO easy to make.

Any suggestions on what to do with the other half of the papaya? I just don't think I can stomach eating it alone. But I didn't mind it mixed up in the cobbler pie! Also don't forget to head over to Aneta's for her take on this freakishly huge fruit.