Hey there! Happy Wednesday!

I had swimming on the schedule today but I didn’t get to bike yesterday because my ankle was sore from physical therapy (it’s always sore after PT from all the exercises and poking and prodding). So, instead of skipping the ride all together I figured it was a good time for a “two a day”!

I headed to the pool first:

I actually went to the indoor pool today, but you get the idea.

My friend, Suzanne, mentioned that she swims 1,000 yards in about 20 minutes so I wanted to see where I stood in comparison (she’s a much more experienced swimmer than I am). I swam the 1,000 yards in 25 minutes exactly. I did have to stop a few times to unfog my goggles, but that was it. So does that mean I suck? Or is that OK? My guess is I need some improvement….

Then I did my deep water running for 30 more minutes. It felt good. I’m really enjoying the pool!

As soon as I got home, J and I headed out for a quick 10 miles on our bikes.

If you are friends with me on Facebook or Instagram (I’m “heathamursch”!), you know that we we’ve been searching for road bikes. Well, this past Sunday I was ready to make the commitment. I had done my research and I.was.ready. Would you believe that the first store we went to J bought a bike instead of me???!

Isn’t that always the case?

I refused to give in, though, and after 6 more hours of bike stores finally found one that I LOVE! It should be shipped to the store tomorrow so I’m keeping my fingers crossed!!!!! I may or may not have already called the store 2 days in a row asking if it’s in yet or not……..

In any case, I had to work REALLY hard tonight to keep up with J. He was cruising. And I gotta admit, I was totally jealous. I can’t wait for my bike to get here!!!!!!

We only ran into one little problem when J’s chain popped off.

Is this common for road bikes? I sure hope not.

So far this week, so good. I got home, did my ab work, hung out with C, and now it’s bed time (gotta get up there before 10!).

Are you a “two a day” person? I’m typically not (not anymore, at least), but I do like to stay active. So I might do my workout and then take a walk or bike ride with the family later.

Glad you guys liked yesterday’s post. I found it to be quite amusing myself!

I totally killed my goals from last week. I even made it to bed at 10:00 every night! I may not have been asleep at 10:00, but I was in bed. HUGE improvement from the 11:00 bedtime routine.

I also bought my first pair of spinning shoes:

I LOVE LOVE the white! I just hope I can keep them this clean. I have a thing for white shoes.

AND I booked our apartment for the NYC marathon!!! We’re staying in an apartment south of the park, but north of Times Square – it’s the perfect location. We got really lucky!

This week’s goals are:

• In bed by 10:00 (I’m sticking to this one!)
• No eating after 8:00 – the kitchen is CLOSED
• Ab work 5 days this week

I also rocked last week’s plan. I only missed Friday’s ride and that’s because it stormed! But I spent Sunday morning riding the quiet streets of Lakewood with C (perfect way to start a Sunday, btw).

That kinda makes up for the 20 miler I had planned, right? I’m not worried. Spending some quality mom/son time with this guy all but makes up for it.

The plan for this week is:

• Monday: Swim 1200 meters (done!)
• Tuesday: 15 mile bike ride
• Wednesday: 60 minute deep water running
• Thursday: Spinning class (already signed up!)
• Friday: Rest or bike ride depending on how my ankle feels
• Saturday: Group Power (I’m subbing a class)
• Sunday: Whatever I feel like!

I really like having my weekly goals and plan written down. It worked last week so maybe this is something I need to do regularly? I guess we’ll find out!

What about you? Do you set goals each week? Or are you more of a long-term goal setter?

Saturday was HOT. But I didn’t mind because my mom took me to Menchie’s for frozen yogurt. It’s her favorite place and says she wants to be the mayor (whatever that means). I don’t care, I love it and get to put gummy worms on my ice cream!

She made us eat outside, though, and my cup of strawberry frozen yogurt quickly became soup. There’s only one way to solve that problem.

I think my mom was trying to butter me up because she felt bad that she couldn’t run the 5k that my dad and I were running that night. I love that she’s our cheerleader, but I miss running with her. I hope she gets better soon.

But luckily my dad is training for the Columbus half marathon and willing to run! We dressed in matchy matchy outfits so my mom would be able to spot us in the crowd easily.

My dad checked mom’s blog to see what our PR was from the last 5k we ran and it was 31:35. Mom then told us that we needed to run 10 minute miles or less in order to beat that time (dad looked a little worried).

I’m a bit of a weather nut so I kept looking at the weather channel on the computer before the race. I could hear the thunder in the distance and couldn’t stop asking my mom and dad questions as we walked down to the start. I mean, would we run in the rain? Would we run if it was lightning? Would the timer still work if it got wet? Mom and dad didn’t look amused with all my questions, but that didn’t stop me from asking more.

We went to registration right away and my dad tried putting my bib on, but it was all crooked so Mom stepped in and fixed it.

Mom can fix anything.

Mom ran into some of her blog (and non-blog) friends and introduced me but I was too nervous to talk to anyone. I’m sorry if I was rude to any of you!!

Then 5 minutes before the race started it literally POURED (I told them it was going to!). Mom and her friend were in dresses and hiding under a big tree while my dad and I had to stand out in the rain waiting for the race to start. I thought it was pretty awesome!

The first mile was epic because it was all downhill. I think it was the fastest mile I’ve ever run. The second mile was OK, but the third mile was horrible. I got a cramp and my dad just kept saying “Try to stop thinking about it. Think about all the Pokemon characters you want to get”. Ugh, my dad was so annoying during this part – now I know how they feel when I won’t stop talking.

My mom was shocked when she saw us come around the corner when we did. I heard her yell and saw her jumping up and down.

She was out in front of the crowd screaming and taking pictures (she can be so obnoxious sometimes).

Miraculously my cramp disappeared during this last sprint and we finished in 28:24! WOW!! A PR for both me and my dad! I think my mom even cried a little bit when she saw us cross the finish line. Not sure why she was crying, but she cries a lot at weird times.

This was my favorite race so far because I got to eat 2 pieces of watermelon and 2 bag of potato chips after the race AND hang out with some of my friends (since the race was in Lakewood, my friends were there, too!). Pretty cool.

I can’t wait for all three of us to run this race next year.

I think this is one of the fastest weeks of the summer so far. I can’t believe tomorrow is Friday already!

Anyways, I found some fun photos on my phone from the week that I wanted to share. Enjoy!

At Saturday’s ride:

A lazy Sunday morning in bed with my favorite boys:

Silly puppy:

Another new shirt (which is SO true!):

(my poor husband)

And the trouble C and I got into tonight:

Have a great weekend, guys!

Hope your weekend is full of fun activities, family, friends, puppies, and cookies.

I thought I’d bring back Workout Wednesday for old times sake. But is it really considered “bringing it back” when it only lasted a month? Oh well, who cares.

My mom has been asking for ab work (sorry this took so long, Kath!!) so I thought I’d show you guys my two favorite exercises!

The key to these is to roll slightly back onto your tailbone but keep your back nice and straight. Kinda like so:

You like the crazy pool hair?? Sexy.

If you’d like, pick a light weight to use (completely optional). Mine was about 2 pounds.

Then scissor your legs and pass the weight through your legs:

Lighten up, Heatha!

Do 10 each leg (20 total) and come back to the starting position (without letting your heals touch the floor!).

And go right into the next exercise.

Extend both legs out straight as you lean back. The lower your legs the harder it’s going to be so pick what works for you!

Then come right back up to the starting position:

And repeat 10 to 15 times.

If you can, repeat this series 2 more times. If you need to take a break in between sets that’s completely fine, but if you don’t have to then don’t!

Even more exciting than hot abs (well, not really, but kinda) is my shirt!!

Now everyone PLEASE go say a prayer that my ankle heals FAST. Please, please, please.

I stuck to the plan and aqua jogged tonight so now I’m just waiting for the swelling to go away. I’m thinking frozen yogurt from Menchie’s might help?? I’m willing to try anything at this point.

What’s your favorite ab exercise?? Let me hear it – I love trying new exercises!

Things are about to get serious, people. I was supposed to start my NYC marathon training last week but since I can’t run yet because of this stupid ankle sprain I had to come up with an alternate plan.

I mean, check out this photo of the start of the NYC marathon. Talk about intimidating!

image found here

I went to the PT last Thursday and she told me that in order to get better she recommended PT twice a week for a month! I gave her a “look” when she said this and then she said “November 6th is going to be here before you know it.” Ugh, I hate when she’s right.

My biggest problem right now is keeping my cardio up. This is key (and sucks at the moment). Especially since I can’t teach step now either, the only cardio I’m getting is from the bike.

So, here’s the plan for the rest of this week:

• Monday: Rest (my ankle is a little swollen from all the housework and painting I did yesterday)
• Tuesday: 15 mile bike ride
• Wednesday: 60 minutes deep water running
• Thursday: Rest (or swim if I feel like it)
• Friday: 20 mile bike ride with J
• Saturday: Spinning class if my ankle feels good (I can’t wait – it’s been too long!)
• Sunday: Rest

I’m also setting goals each week.

image found here

I wish I could say I normally just stick to my weekly goals, but obviously I don’t or I wouldn’t be writing them here. I need some serious motivation.

• In bed at 10:00 (this is a hard one – typically I don’t get up to bed until 11:00!)
• Stick to the plan (see above)
• Find (and buy!) spinning shoes
• Book NYC apartment, condo, or hotel!!

What are your goals for this week?

I can’t believe it’s Sunday night already. It’s always a little depressing going to bed Sunday night knowing the work week starts the next day, right?

But it’s also nice to reminisce about the great things that were accomplished over the weekend, too.

Like a 42 mile ride that totally kicks your sweet ass!

After the 30 miler last weekend, Beal tweeted about doing the Annual Ice Cream Odyssey Ride in Medina it was something J and I couldn’t pass up. I mean, ice cream at the rest stop?? Come on, who wouldn’t want to do that?

We did a few training rides during the week but nothing really prepared us for this. This was a lot more serious than the PEP ride the week before. There was spandex and road bikes everywhere we looked!! I’m not gonna lie, J had to give me a little pep talk after I had a mini panic attack after we got there. And since I didn’t really have a choice, I put on my big girl panties and off we went.

The first few miles were rough and I was seriously doubting myself. I’m not good heading into the wind and the first half was constant wind and rolling hills. J and I felt we were keeping a pretty good pace until we saw this speed demon fly by:

Holy heck – he is FAST!!!!!! Wow. I really have no words. (except it was great to finally meet you!)

This was the half way point. J and I definitely partook in the ice cream. It was 10 am. Awesome.

We were seriously sweaty and only halfway there. I was a little intimidated that we still had 21.5 miles to go.

Maybe it was the ice cream, but we totally rocked the second half. There were still hills, but we had the wind at our backs and felt strong.

Well, until we hit mile 35. I could tell J was feeling it, too, because he ALWAYS passes me on the uphill and at this point he didn’t. It was so weird (and I secretly felt kind of badass for staying in front of him!).

And then I just started counting down the miles. I knew we could do 7 miles no problem. Then we were already at 5, then 4, etc. But when we got to 42 and weren’t anywhere near the finish I started to get concerned because we really pushed ourselves those last 2 miles.

It ended up being 43.41 miles total.

The last 1.41 miles were our slowest the entire ride. We were tired and feeling defeated at this point. We just wanted to get it done. This would be the equivalent of adding .25 miles onto a 5k – that would suck, right?

Both of us were surprised and said to each other that this was harder than we thought it would be. But I think with road bikes we could totally kick ass. We’re thinking about making the investment, but nothing is decided yet. Anyone got a road bike they wanna sell me for $50?

With all the swimming I’ve been doing lately, I think I may even see triathlons in my future………….?!

Which sport do you prefer? Running, cycling, or swimming?

Man, am I glad it’s Thursday night. I’m so looking forward to the weekend – it means I get to see my favorite boy soon! It’s getting harder and harder every day for me now. Not that I’m not enjoying my alone time with J, I am, I mean, we even went out to dinner on a weeknight – we’re 2 wild and crazy kids, I tell ya!! But I sure miss my boy. The weekend can’t get here soon enough.

So since I had some extra time on my hands this week, it ended up being a week of firsts!

My first organized bike ride:

My first time painting stripes (and probably my last since they’re a pain!):

My first time having electrodes attached to my ankle (or any other part of my body):

J always calls me the bionic woman. Hmmmm……maybe he’s on to something?

And my first time contacting a company about a giveaway:

I never thought I would actually contact anyone about providing a product to review or give away. But I really wanted to play up the silly mistake I made with tweeting I am a Marathong Maniac, and promote a product I truly believe in at the same time. Win win!

But I’m sure all you guys want to know is who won the awesome prize pack:

Amanda (who is one of my fellow Fitfluential ambassadors)!!

Congrats! Email me your address and I’ll get these awesome chaffing prevention products out to you asap.

Have a great weekend everyone! Do you have anything exciting (or not exciting) planned? J and I are doing our second organized ride on Saturday morning, I have a shopping date with my BFF Saturday afternoon, and I get to pick up C on Sunday!!!!!! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Hi, Friends!

A few weeks ago I tweeted this (hint: check out the yellow):

Hehe. I’m sure you can imagine to where that conversation led. But seriously, think about it for just a second…………are you cringing??? Ew. I can’t even IMAGINE the pain….

That tweet led to Body Glide responding and to them sending me this most awesome giveaway!!

During my marathon training last year, I relied heavily on BodyGlide. Especially under my sports bra and underarms. And I trained when it was cold out!! Once my ankle heals (I have high hopes, guys) and I start training for NYC, I will NO DOUBT be using BodyGlide for every run. It’s going to be August, for God’s sake. August + running = chaffing = a not so happy Heatha.

So, here are the goods:

And the one I’m most excited to try myself:

It’s an spf and BodyGlide all in one!!

When I contacted BodyGlide to ask about a giveaway I specifically asked if they could provide this. I’m going to get all serious on you for a minute. Bear with me, please.

A year ago, right before the Pittsburgh marathon, I noticed a red spot on my forehead that was not going away. I had had it for quite awhile but never thought anything of it until it started to itch and peel. When I called the dermatologist they wanted to see me right away. I had a biopsy done and it was basal cell carcinoma (skin cancer). It was so severe that I had to have surgery to have the cancer removed and then plastic surgery to close up the hole.

You can see the cut and baindaid on my right hairline in this horrendously sweaty picture:

If you look at my pictures closely from last year you’ll notice I go from very tan to white as a ghost (except for when I got spray tan!). White is obviously my natural color.

This was not a direct result of the nasty tanning beds I so frequently used (well, of course, they contributed), but of my fair skin and being out in the sun my whole life without being protected. It was a definite wake up call. Especially since the doctor said I have an 85% chance to get it again since I’m so young (the only person to call me young in a long time – hehe). I’ve since then had two other spots removed (all non-cancerous, thank God, but one was borderline). It’s a constant battle now.

In any case, now I only buy products with that have spf. Whether it be moisturizer, lotion, chapstick, etc!

I don’t want to get all preachy on you, I just want you to be aware of the sun. Take care of your skin! And one way to do that when you’re out running or cycling or walking the dog (what, it’s hot out – am I the only one whose thighs rub??) is to use this BodyGlide!

All you have to do to win this little prize pack is leave a comment with your favorite summer outdoor activity. That’s it. No tweeting, no extra commenting, just one thing. Do it. Your skin will thank you.

Good luck!

Hey guys!! Happy Sunday!

I’m in a ridiculously good mood tonight.

1. Because Menchie’s opened near my house and now I can have my fill of frozen yogurt whenever I want
2. Because we just saw the movie, Horrible Bosses, and it was HYSTERICAL. Seriously, funniest movie ever. I may have even snorted once or twice I was laughing so hard (you are welcome for that information, btw).
3. Because I rode my first organized bike ride today!!!!

Never in my life did I think I’d be a biker. Biking is J’s thing. But since my ankle is being stupid still, and J has taken up running for me, I figured I’d give it a try. But when Kimi suggested we try this 30 mile ride I was a little worried since this is my bike:

Yes, that is a mountain bike. But I finally said “F it. Who cares what people think. I’m gonna try and see what happens.” (try before you cry, yes??)

The ride started out great. The weather was beautiful and the scenery was gorgeous (I said a few times that I felt like I was in a different state!).

But then this happened:

Poor Kimi took a fall! Luckily she just scraped up her hands, but it was scary for all 3 of us! Note to self: next time be prepared with bandaids.

She was a trooper and got right back up on her bike. She’s pretty much bad azz.

We made it to the halfway point with smiles on our faces.

Had a quick snack, filled our water bottles, and got right back out there.

But unfortunately, this ride had lots of hills. We live in the city. We’re not used to hills. I swear to you that it felt like we were constantly riding into the wind uphill. Well, my ankle started to really hurt around mile 22 and I got pretty crabby. I was downright pyssed. Ugh, I’m so over this stupid ankle. But what was I supposed to do? We were so close!

In addition to the ankle, my azz started to KILL around mile 25. Oh.My.God. Even with padded shorts it was so bad.

What am I doing wrong?

Anyways, we made it and finished pretty strong if I say so myself. 30 miles. Not too bad considering the furthest I had ever ridden before was 15 miles!

J and I both liked it so much that we’re 95% sure we’re doing another one this coming Saturday! It’s the Ice Cream Odyssey ride and you get ice cream cones at the rest stop. Ummmmm………..hello……….this is the most perfect ride for us EVER. We are ice cream dominators!

Well, I’m off to ice my ankle for the third time today. I’m taking care of it like it’s my JOB.

So, for all the bikers out there. Do you think I could get a decent bike on Craigs List? Where would you recommend a nice, but reasonably priced bike for a newbie??

Hope you had a great weekend, guys! Did you spend any of your time outside today?