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Exercise

How I Got Under Armour Socks for Free

Well… Almost free. Does $1.05 count as really paying something?

Anyways, for the past few months, I have been tracking most of my exercises with the MapMyFitness apps. Specifically Map My Run and Map My Ride.

One of the things that you can do through this app is join public challenges. For example, one of the ongoing challenges is the BMW X1 Ultimate Fitness Xperience Challenge, in which you have to use the app to record 19 workouts in 6 weeks. If you complete the challenge within the time period, you will be entered to win a $500 gift card from Under Armour and a personal training package from Men’s Health.

I was recently entered into the 30/30 Challenge where you had 30 days to complete 30 miles by logging exercises of 20 minutes or longer. Because I had been training, I logged over 80 miles and was in the top 15% of 152,000 challenge participants.

Today I got an email claiming that I had “crushed” this challenge and I was being given a promo code for 15 dollars off any purchase from the Under Armour online store. All I had to do was spend $15.01 or more to qualify. I set out to find something I could get for free and I found this set of long socks that I thought would be great since the weather is getting colder. It was $15.99 for the pair.

I used a 30-day free trial from ShopRunner to get 2-day free shipping and the grand total for my purchase came to $1.05.

I don’t know exactly why I got the $15 off and I don’t know if it will come around again or not. But I do know that I got a ~~basically~~ free pair of socks just because I worked out this past month… and that’s pretty cool.

August 24, 2015 by meaganleanne

Exercise, Running, Training, Triathlon, Weight loss

Envisioning the Finish

Today I had a horrible run. It’s been raining all day and the roads were steamy, the air was muggy, and my body felt like it was in a sweaty hell.

For the past few months, I’ve been using Active’s Couch to 5k program and today was day one of the final week. The last week! Today’s run was a straight 30 minute run with a 5 minute warm-up and cool down. I wanted to give up before I even started running. It was so hot, I’d been feeling mildly sick all day, and I was still a little tired from my workout the day before. Each step was miserable.

I reached the top of the first long hill and spent the next 5 minutes trying to work myself out of the cramp in my side. Meanwhile, my face was dripping in sweat and I had to keep wiping it off on my T-shirt turned sweat-rag.

I forgot to bring my headphones so I spent the run thinking about the next couple of weeks and how much work I feel like I still have to do to get ready for this triathlon. I started to envision the finish line and how amazing it’s going to feel to reach that goal. I began thinking about how two months ago when I started this program, I could barely run a minute and a half without feeling like I would never be able to take another breath. I also realized that I’ve managed to lose 15 pounds from working out this summer.

So while it did feel as though I was running through a swamp, all of my positive and happy thoughts kept pushing me forward toward my goal.

I can’t wait to finish this race!]

July 29, 2015 by meaganleanne

Exercise, Triathlon, Weight loss

Pushing Limits

Sleep has not been my friend the past week. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because we’re moving out of our first nest a month from today and I haven’t started packing. Maybe it’s because dad’s getting married the day after we move back to Maryland. Maybe it’s because life is going to be changing a lot over the next couple months and I don’t know if I can handle it… but whatever it is, it’s causing me to have anxiety and sleep has been quite elusive recently. s causing

Today I slept in quite a bit and didn’t eat much this afternoon… and when it came time to go to spinning class I felt weak and tired out even though I hadn’t done much at all. I had decided I wasn’t going to go. I started feeling guilty because I had missed last Wednesday’s class due to back pain and after a few minutes giving myself excuses, I got off of my butt and ready to go within 5 minutes so I wouldn’t be too late.

What a day to be late. I almost got stuck with one of the crappy bikes. Over the past month, there haven’t been more than 3 participants in one class and there were 5 new girls today.

spinning intervals — My Camelbak Eddy (affiliate link). I love this water bottle. Straws make drinking more enjoyable.

I felt like I was dying. More than I have on any other day because today we were doing intervals. We pushed hard while we were on the bike and then we did multiple one-minute intervals of quad-killers, including squats, burpees, and high knees. At one point, I looked at the clock thinking the class must be almost over and it was only halfway done. This is why I go to classes… I don’t push myself hard enough when I’m by myself and working out with others who are going through the same thing as you make it a little easier.

spinning intervals-2 — Dripping in sweat and trying to catch my breath.

I texted hubby while I was in the sauna following class and I said, “If it sounds like someone fell down the steps in a few minutes… they did. It was me.”

It’s been almost 4 hours since class ended and my legs still feel like jelly.

spinning intervals-3 — How many exercise balls are in this photo?

I haven’t lost much weight yet, maybe 5-7 pounds, but I feel myself getting stronger and my endurance is growing. So here’s to pushing limits, finding new strength, and overcoming obstacles on the way to a better me.

June 16, 2015 by meaganleanne

Exercise, Hiking, Triathlon, Weight loss

Stormy Hiking Adventures

Our canoe trip was canceled… 🙁 So on Saturday, hubs and I decided to be healthy humans after a day of sitting inside and doing nothing. I convinced him to go with me to Warren Dunes State Park in Southwestern Michigan for a little dune hiking. The giant hill at the dunes is great if you want a really good lung workout. It’s a killer.

Well, I missed out on that joy this time because hubby suggested we actually do the hiking trails. What?! There are hiking trails? I’ve been to this park so many times over the past 5 years and I just assumed the lakefront and all the dunes towering over the parking lots was the majority of the park. But there are actually a few miles of trails.

The trails were actually quite nice. Not quite as nice as the trails going through Ludington State Park that we traversed a few weeks ago, but still enjoyable. The sun was out. The humidity was high. But all in all, we were having a pretty nice afternoon walk. At about the halfway point… A minimum of a mile hike away from the car, we started to hear some rumbling thunder. I figured a little rain wouldn’t be too bad because I was already drenched in sweat… but I also didn’t want to become a lightning rod out in the sand once we got out of the woods and back onto the dunes.

I wish I had a picture of intensely dark clouds looming over the dunes/woods behind us as we came out but at that point, it was starting to rain we were beginning to hustle. I did manage to grab a photo of the horizon so you can get an idea of what was coming.

By the time we got to the beach, this was headed towards us.

stormy adventures-3 — Deep haze in the distance = heavy rain

While to our right, it almost seemed like we were just going to be enjoying a nice sunset.

Within a few minutes, we were being pelted by large heavy raindrops that might as well have been bullets being hurled against us in hurricane-like winds. You can kind of see the rain in the next couple of photos.

For some reason, I had decided to wear makeup and at this point, my mascara was falling off my eyelashes and running into my eyes. I had to take my glasses off because it was raining so hard and glasses wipers don’t exist (?).

At this point, we had been hiking for at least an hour and a half, I was drenched and I figured why bother rushing to get back anymore? The worst of the storm and ugly clouds were to the east of us and we’d be out of the rain soon. Once it did stop raining, I had to take this photo because it was hilarious. You can see just how hard we were walking into the rain. At least the phones stayed dry.

What an adventure.

June 15, 2015 by meaganleanne

Exercise

Childhood Memories

Last week I decided I was going to go for a ride around the neighborhood before making dinner. The sky looked ominous, but I figured that the rain was still a few minutes out. It only took moments to get ready, but by the time I opened the door, it was already starting to rain. I decided to go anyways because it was a relatively warm day. I rode for about half an hour and while I was riding (and getting soaked), my mind was flooded with happy memories of when I was a child.

I lived in Australia for the first 10 years of my life. I started school just before I turned 6 and after school every day, the bus would drop me off about a half-mile from home and I would walk home from the bus stop. There were days that rain was pouring from the sky and I had nothing to keep my dry. So I would slosh home through the gutters on the side of the road and make the most of the body-soaking situation. I can only imagine my mom’s dismay when I would arrive home dripping wet.

It’s been almost 15 years since then and I still have fond memories of my Australian adventures. I miss calling Australia my home, but I’m thankful for the moments in my life that can bring me back to my childhood, even if only for a few minutes.

May 20, 2015 by meaganleanne

Exercise, Healthy eating, Recipes, Weight loss

Nut Butter Banana Smoothie Recipe

So I registered for the Iron Girl Columbia on August 16th and I’ve just completed my first week of training! Since I’ve been out of shape from the winter, I’m primarily working on rebuilding my cardiovascular endurance. Here’s my general workout and my favorite snack – a Nut Butter Banana Smoothie – for the past week:

Monday: Picked up a lot of healthy groceries at Whole Foods! (Not exactly a workout but hey, I took a lot of steps and eating home more is important!)

Tuesday: Signed up at the gym, did just over 21 minutes of hill intervals on the elliptical and a couple of various machines before going home. I also did a “My Routine” with about 20 minutes of Yoga on the Wii. I also started calorie counting on My Fitness Pal again today.

Wednesday: I swam laps for about 25 minutes and I did 600 meters. I played on the Wii Fit Plus for half an hour when I got home including my 20 minute Yoga Routine (I’m horrible! Really needing to work on my balance some more.)

Thursday: Zumba on the Wii. Wii I find that doing Zumba in my house helps me feel a little less stupid when I don’t know what I’m doing. I definitely feel like I have two left feet sometimes and when I try to add my arms… But it’s a nice variation to my workouts and it’s a good 30-minute workout.

Friday: I swam 400 yards in just under 17 minutes (including breaks) so I made improvement!

I made a Nut Butter Banana Smoothie today in an effort to replenish my tired body and I figured I’d share my recipe for it because it was just that amazing. This is a very loose recipe so that you can customize it to your preferences! More frozen bananas to less milk ratio will give a thicker smoothie bowl consistency.

Nut Butter Banana Smoothie

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Author: Meagan Leanne
Total Time: 5 minutes
Yield: 1 1x

Print Recipe

Description

Refreshing healthy breakfast smoothie. Cinnamon is the magic ingredient in this recipe, so don’t leave it out!

Ingredients

Scale

1–1.5 large frozen bananas
1–2 Tbsp of your favorite nut butter (I like peanut or almond) or 1/8 cup of walnut halves
1–2 cups of milk (I use unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
A few shakes of cinnamon
1–2 tsp Cocoa powder (optional)

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth and well combined. Pour into a clean glass and enjoy!

Switch out the nut butter for a small handful of walnuts if you like. It’s also a delicious combo.

Notes

Add a small amount of ice to cool it down if using a fresh banana.
This is a very loose recipe so that you can customize it to your preferences! More frozen bananas and less milk will give a thicker smoothie bowl consistency.

May 8, 2015 by meaganleanne

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