Day 4: The Chocolate Frog

As warm days and clear skies begin to turn cold, grey, and wet here it signifies the end of the short summer and the start fall. Harvest season!! I am SO excited that my tomatoes are ripening! This means delicious, fresh produce from my little garden.

As we say goodbye to the summer and clear skies I wanted to share with you a little about what I am doing for exercise. I am training for the Mud Factor – a mud run & obstacle course 5K at the end of September. Today I ran with my neighbor (who I am doing the run with). It's always best to work out with a friend, for accountability, motivation and company. Our fastest mile was yesterday at 7.58min/mile, and our average was 12.2 min/mile. Today, we ran a little slower, about 12.32 min/mile. My calves are SO sore and it was raining, and she wasn't feeling well, so we went a little slower and took it a little easy.

This is a perfect opportunity to point out the importance of stretching!!

I am so excited to share my first-ever video!! This is a little intro to me, Meg, and I will run your through my post-run stretching routine. Also, for your reference the stretches are listed below.

Here is my pre and post-workout stretching routine.

1. Standing, split-leg forward stretch: lead with your chest (not your head) and hold 30 seconds. Then, you can lead to the left side, then to the right (again, lead with your chest, not your head).

2. Deep, runners stretch: make sure the front leg is as close to parallel to the floor as possible, you should feel the stretch across your hip on the back, straight leg. Hold for 30 seconds. Do both sides.

3. Deep, inner thigh stretch. Hold for 30 seconds, do both sides.

4. The 4 stretch. Laying down of the floor on your back, with one leg bent at the knee, and the other crossed over the other, forming a 4 shape. Reaching through, grab the lower leg behind the knee and pull both legs up toward your chest. Make sure to relax your neck and head on the floor. Hold for at least 30 seconds, do both sides.

5. The ½ 4 stretch. Still laying on the floor, from the last stretch, this is the ½ 4 stretch, so grab the upper leg, which is rotated across the body, pull up toward your chest, keeping it perpendicular to your body. Hold 30 seconds, do both sides.

6. Classic quad stretch. Hold 30 seconds, do both sides.

7. Classic calf stretch. Hold 30 seconds, do both sides.

With food today I didn't do so well... let me restate that... I did crappy!! Grrr.

For Breakfast: honey-Greek yogurt with raspberries, a banana and 1 cup blueberries (good)

Lunch: Steamed broccoli and (sigh) Spaghetti O's – disclaimer, I'm trying to save money and eat up the food in the cupboard, plus, I like Spaghetti O's. I won't be eating this kind of food again, so I'm giving myself a break.

Snack: 1 slice of whole-wheat toast with sugar-free apricot preserves.

Dinner: Toast pizza! Yeah, I broke down and did not have the best food day. WAY too much bread!

Post-workout snack: This is pretty bad... straight from Hogwarts, sigh, a chocolate frog. Yes, and yikes! I started out just wanting to open the package to see which card came with it. I got Helga Hufflepuff!! Then, I saw the frog, and it looked so tasty!As these things often start, innocently enough, I just wanted a little taste, so I nibbled off the toes... but it didn't just stop there. Before I was through, I had eaten all but the head. Sigh. I felt like crap afterward too!

*** Tip of the day***

When you make a mistake, enjoy it, embrace it, and then move on! Everybody falls down, that's life, it's how quick you get up that counts. So get up, and get up quick. Don't let your failures define your success. Don't say “because I failed, I'm a failure”. Use the failure as fuel to motivate you to get past it quickly and do better next time. In this process, I know I'm going to fail. The trick is to get up, and get up quick.

Thank you SO MUCH for reading and watching my video. Please keep reading, keep in touch if you have any questions or comments, and I'll see you all tomorrow!