2015 - A Year in Review

What a year of fitness it has been for me. I've done a lot of fun things, and I'm proud of them.

Two 5k races
One 4  mile race
Three 10k races
Fifteen Half Marathons

I PR'd on my half marathon time by almost 5 minutes back in March at the Wicked Half in Wamego, KS

I PR'd on my 10k by almost a minute at the Plaza 10k run in September.

I completed 15 half marathons, including pacing 7 of those races.

I ran the inaugural Star Wars Rebel Challenge weekend back in January, completing a 10k and a half marathon in the same weekend! So.Much.Fun!

I became a Brand Ambassador for INKnBURN at the end of August, and had a great time sporting their gear.

I started CrossFit and Boot Camp in June, and have seen myself get stronger and more confident in my fitness.

I kept track of my fitness this year, and here are my stats by the numbers...

5:33 minutes on the Arc Trainer
17:00 minutes on the Stair Master

1 Pilates Class
10 Yoga Classes
15 Boot Camp Classes
71 CrossFit Classes
103 Jazzercise Classes

8.4 miles on the Elliptical Machine
34.3 miles on the Rowing Machine
52.9 miles on a Bicycle (stationary or road)
132.2 miles Walking (treadmill or road)
533 Running (treadmill, gym track loops, or road)

I made this .jpg for fun. I think it turned our pretty well.

The year as told by my bling (metals).

And countless more hours in the gym doing yoga, strength training, TRX, and more. It has been an great year for me, and I'm looking forward to what 2016 may bring!

Facebook - www.facebook.com/RunningWithHart

Instagram - @Running_with_Hart

Twitter - @RunningWithHart

Weekly Wrap-Up for December 20-26, 2015

My week of fitness looked like this...


Sunday - 7.19m long run with a buddy. It was really nice, and unseasonably warm for December.

Monday - 6am CrossFit

                5pm 2.5 mile gym run with Kelly while our boys did Karate

Tuesday - 6am CrossFit

                 1 mile run

Wednesday - 6am CrossFit

                      3 mile gym run

Thursday - 6am CrossFit

Friday - Merry Christmas!

 

Santa thought I was good, so he brought me these fancy goodies! 

Saturday - 6.02m run with the ladies of KC Express

Rocking Healing Mandala from INKnBURN

Weekly Wrap-Up for December 13-19, 2015

My week of fitness looked like this...

Sunday - Much needed rest day spent with the family watching football and making holiday treats

Monday - 830am yoga - so great!
                930am 2.5 miles on the treadmill

Tuesday - 6am CrossFit
                 930am Jazzercise
                3.5 miles at the gym in the afternoon

Wednesday - 6am CrossFit
                      830am Jazzercise
                     3 mile run followed by a 7 mile bike ride at the gym

Thursday - 6am CrossFit

Friday - 6am CrossFit

Saturday - 9am STAR WARS with the hubs! Way better than a long run!

12 Days of Fitness Challenge Part 3

I'm down to the last four days of the #12daysoffitnesschallenge with @slowtrigirl over on Instagram. It has been a fun way to start the month, and keep myself in check with all the holiday sweets and over eating that could occur. I've had a good time taking pictures of these movements, and watching my planking ability improve a little.



On the ninth day of fitness my trainer gave to me...
- 9 bicycle crunches
- 8 mountain climbers
- 7 skater jumps
- 6 tricep dips
- 5 sumo squats
- 4 burpees
- 3 push ups
- 2 minute wall sit
- 1 minute plank

New INKnBURN Healing Mandala tights!

On the tenth day of fitness my trainer gave to me...

- 10 lunges

- 9 bicycle crunches
- 8 mountain climbers
- 7 skater jumps
- 6 tricep dips
- 5 sumo squats
- 4 burpees
- 3 push ups
- 2 minute wall sit
- 1 minute plank

Rocking the INKnBURN Hana tank

On the eleventh day of fitness my trainer gave to me...
- 11 jumping squats
- 10 lunges
- 9 bicycle crunches
- 8 mountain climbers
- 7 skater jumps
- 6 tricep dips
- 5 sumo squats
- 4 burpees
- 3 push ups
- 2 minute wall sit
- 1 minute plank

Happy Holidays from INKnBURN!

On the twelve and FINAL day of fitness my trainer gave to me...
- 12 jumping jacks
- 11 jumping squats
- 10 lunges
- 9 bicycle crunches
- 8 mountain climbers
- 7 skater jumps
- 6 tricep dips
- 5 sumo squats
- 4 burpees
- 3 push ups
- 2 minute wall sit
- 1 minute plank

Jumping Jacks in INKnBURN Crane Pull-Over

Weekly Wrap-Up: December 6-12, 2015

My week of fitness looked like this...

Sunday - 2m run doing loops around my neighborhood

Monday - 6am CrossFit
                8:30am Jazzercise

Sporting Steam Punk from INKnBURN at CrossFit - Front Squats!

Tuesday - 6am CrossFit
                 9:30am  Jazzercise
                 4:30pm - 2.5m gym walk

Wednesday - 6am Boot Camp
                      8:30am Jazzercise
                      3.3m treadmill run
                      1m treadmill walk

My 100th class of the year rocking the new Healing Mandala tights and long sleeve tech

Thursday - 2m treadmill run

Friday - 6am CrossFit
              9:30am Jazzercise

Saturday - 4.02m at the gym
                 7am Boot Camp

Facebook - www.facebook.com/RunningWithHart

Instagram - @Running_with_Hart

Twitter - @RunningWithHart

12 Days of Fitness Challenge Part 2

For those following along, I've joined the #12daysoffitnesschallenge put on by @slowtrigirl over on Instagram. It has been a fun challenge, and I'm glad I started it. You can jump right in at any point, so don't feel like you can't participate even if you didn't start on Day 1. Here are my pictures from Days 5-8.


On the fifth day of fitness my trainer gave to me...
- 5 sumo squats
- 4 burpees
- 3 push ups
- 2 minute wall sit
- 1 minute plank

Knocking it out

On the sixth day of fitness my trainer gave to me...
- 6 tricep dips
- 5 sumo squats
- 4 burpees
- 3 push ups
- 2 minute wall sit
- 1 minute plank

Getting it done in INKnBURN Healing Mandela Pull-Over

On the seventh day of fitness my trainer gave to me...
- 7 skater jumps
- 6 tricep dips
- 5 sumo squats
- 4 burpees
- 3 push ups
- 2 minute wall sit
- 1 minute plank

Steam Punk INKnBURN for the win!

On the eighth day of fitness my trainer gave to me...
- 8 mountain climbers
- 7 skater jumps
- 6 tricep dips
- 5 sumo squats
- 4 burpees
- 3 push ups
- 2 minute wall sit
- 1 minute plank

Facebook - www.facebook.com/RunningWithHart

Instagram - @Running_with_Hart

Twitter - @RunningWithHart

Shoe Review: Nike Women's Flex Trainer 4

New shoe time! New shoe time! They might not be fancy heels with glitter and buckles, but I sure do love a new pair of sneakers. And these are pink, so bonus!!

Ok, so really. I needed a new pair of everyday, around the gym & at Jazzercise, general sneakers. I wear this kind of shoe daily, so they get worn out pretty quick. I don't like to spend a huge amount of money on them, think $40-ish. And I don't mind wearing last year, or even the year before's, color. Normally I hit up a local Marshall's for a pair, but the past several times that I have been in the store I haven't found any. So Amazon was the next place to look.

I cruised around and found a couple pair. These Nike Flex Trainers, and a pair of Asic's. I'll do another post on those.

Just look at these beauties though. So pretty. And after a quick walk around the house, I've discovered they are so light!

Ahh - new shoes! #shoeporn

In case you want to try them too, here is the shoe info

The soles - all clean and new

The tops. Love the pink!

Just look at them!

After giving them a go the past couple of days, I've decided that these shoes are great for walking around in, but they are not what I was looking for. I did a 2.5 mile indoor walk in them, and felt fine. I did a Boot Camp class in them, which included about 2 miles of running, and they were good. I did a Jazzercise class in them, and they certainly don't have enough support to dance in for an hour. I think they are more like walking or errands-around-town shoes. The other thing is that when I wear them, the sides of the shoes bunch up a little, and I look like I have fat feet. I don't have fat feet, and the bunch up bothers me.

Overall, I don't think I could suggest you run out and buy a pair of these. The pink is great, but I don't feel like these are supportive enough for a lot of heavy duty fitness.

I'll be reviewing the pair of Asics I also purchased in a day or two so watch for that.

Facebook - www.facebook.com/RunningWithHart

Instagram - @Running_with_Hart

Twitter - @RunningWithHart

Weekly Wrap-Up: November 29 - December 5, 2015

My week of fitness looked like this...

Sunday - 9:15am 3 soul crushing miles on the treadmill
               10am 45 minute somewhat soul lifting flex yoga class

Monday - 6am CrossFit
                8:30am Jazzercise
                5:15pm 3 miles on the treadmill

Tuesday - 6am CrossFit

Wednesday - 6am CrossFit
                      8:30am Jazzercise

Thursday - 9:30am Jazzercise
                  4:30pm 2m gym run, 2.5m gym walk

Friday - 6am CrossFit

Saturday - 2m run outside doing loops around my neighborhood

Facebook - www.facebook.com/RunningWithHart

Instagram - @Running_with_Hart

Twitter - @RunningWithHart

12 Days of Fitness Challenge

I joined a "12 Days of Fitness" challenge over on Instagram with @slowtrigirl. Since December 1 she has been posting a quick workout to do. You take a few pictures of yourself doing the moves, post on Instagram and use her hash tags, and poof! You're rocking it! Each day has been building on the previous day, and it has been pretty fun so far. Wanna check it out? You should!

Here is what the first four days has looked like.

On the first day of fitness my trainer gave to me...
- one minute plank

Day 1 sporting the new INKnBURN Run or Die tech

On the second day of fitness my trainer gave to me...

- two minute wall sit

- one minute plank

Day 2 rocking the INKnBURN Ryu tech

On the third day of fitness my trainer gave to me...

- three push-ups

- two minute wall sit

- one minute plank

Day 3 sweating in the INKnBURN Wallflower tech

On the fourth day of fitness my trainer gave to me...

- four burpees

- three push-ups

- two minute wall sit

- one minute plank

Day 4 getting help from my little in INKnBURN Chameleon capris

Facebook - www.facebook.com/RunningWithHart

Instagram - @Running_with_Hart

Twitter - @RunningWithHart

100 Miles in November

At the beginning over November I mapped out my month, and saw that I would be running a lot of miles (for me) by default because of the 5 half marathons I had planned.  The math translates 65.5 miles of just racing. I figured it would be a good month to give one of those running challenges a try. So I poked around on Facebook and found one that a few other friends were also doing. There was a 50 or 100 mile option. So I took the 100. Because why not?

Turns out for me, running 100 miles in a month *is* a real challenge. Its not that I can't do it, but I normally don't. I run a few times a week at the gym and long on Saturdays. The rest of my time is spent on CrossFit, Jazzercise, or sometimes Boot Camp. I ended up really having to push myself to get in the miles at the gym.

So on November 30 at around 6pm, I finally logged the last 3 miles on the treadmill that I needed to finish the month out, and end at 100 miles.

My month looked like this...


100 miles
>65.5 from half marathons
>3.1 from a 5k with my son on Thanksgiving
>the rest at the gym on the treadmill or track

11 CrossFit classes

6 Jazzercise classes (I feel like I slacked on this activity this past month. Opps!)

2 75+ minute Boot Camp classes

1 Yoga flex class

11.6 miles of walking at the gym on the treadmill or track

Overall, a great month. I think I did really well. For December, I'm aiming for 50 miles. I'll let you know how I do.

Want to join the December miles challenge too? Check it out here. 

https://www.facebook.com/events/1687554018122885/

You can also join the 12 Days of Fitness challenge with @slowtrigirl on Instagram. Check her out here: https://www.instagram.com/slowtrigirl/

Facebook - www.facebook.com/RunningWithHart

Instagram - @Running_with_Hart

Twitter - @RunningWithHart

Race Review: Ward Parkway Thanksgiving Day 5k 11.26.2015

On Thanksgiving morning, my oldest son, Jax, and I woke up and headed out to our local Turkey Trot, the Ward Parkway Thanksgiving Day 5k. It also happened to be his *first* 5k. I'm pretty sure I was more excited about this little fact than he was, but we'll just leave that out. The race started at 9am, but we left our house around 7:40 to be able to have time to park and do packet pick up.

Here we are at the start line before the race began. Yes, that is a slice of pie on my head. I had hats for both of us, but Jax didn't want to wear it...and I don't blame him. They were pretty silly. 

The big guy before the race.

INKnBURN Christmas Sweater, Cable Knit Tights, and a pie hat!

A race photog found us and took these great pictures. 

We lined up in the shoot around the 10 minute pace with about 3800 of our closest racing friends. With the weather being pretty warm and the rain holding off, lots of people came out to get a little exercise in before the day of eating began.

Last selfie in the shoot before the gun went off.

The first mile is nice and mostly down hill. I didn't wear my running watch, but there were timing clocks at each mile marker, and from my best guessing and on-the-fly math skillz, I think we did that first mile in about 12:30 minutes.

Mile 2 was a little slower, but no big deal. There was the start of a rolling hill in there, and I think this one took closer to 13:00 minutes to complete.

At the end of the race, or at least about the last quarter of a mile I encouraged Jax to really put on the gas, give it all he had, and run ahead of me. He did that, but then he'd slow down, pull up, and check to make sure I was still behind him. I think he was a little nervous about getting lost in the crowd. 

Jax crossing the finish line

Jax has crossed and I'm just behind him

Jumping at the finish, and someone blocked my camera shot

And done. Good times!

Jax's finish time

My finish time

The finish line with our pumpkin pies!

There was a tent at the race set up to be a photo booth. These were are photos.

My youngest son Ollie did the 200m kids dash. He was also pretty excited to run. My husband and Ollie arrived at the race site about 90 minutes after Jax and I did so that they wouldn't have to hang out in the cold while waiting for the 5k runners to finish. Ollie has done a couple of kid dash races before and always enjoys them. I think he'll be a runner with me as well when he gets older.

At the start line

And they're off!

Ollie with Ward the Turkey

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Instagram - @Running_with_Hart

Twitter - @RunningWithHart