Okay, you know that I sing the praises of strength training all the time. I honestly believe that it changes the shape of your body and your muscles like nothing else can. I love teaching BodyPump and strength training classes! I’ve been promising you guys a glimpse into how I strength train for a while [...]
Fitness Topics
-
Yoga Teacher Training: My Final Thoughts
May 20, 2011 { 31 comments }I promised a “final thoughts” post on yoga teacher training. I thought that I would want to write it immediately but instead I needed time to let everything sink in. It’s been about six weeks since training ended and in that time I have started teaching and have had the opportunity to reflect on my [...]
-
Six for Summer
May 19, 2011 { 6 comments }I’m on vacation in Jamaica but I’ve lined up friends and fellow bloggers to keep you in the know while I’m gone. Check out the guest posts so far: Alaina’s Story – My Path To Bliss Win’s Story – Running with Ulcerative Colitis Today’s guest post comes to us from my friend Meg. She’s put [...]
-
An Exercise in Patience
March 30, 2011 { 14 comments }Tonight I attended my least favorite yoga class that is offered at my studio – Long, Slow, Deep. In LSD you warm up with a little bit of standing flow and then move to the floor for loooooonnnngggg holds (3-5 minutes) in the poses. I think I’ve completed a grand total of maybe five LSD [...]
-
Rainy Day Fun
March 9, 2011 { 31 comments }Today has been a great day! It’s been really rainy and gloomy here (like, we were under a flood watch rainy) but I’m still full of smiles and energy. :D No AM workout today. Oatmeal at my desk. Oats, blueberries, banana, dried cranberry, cinnamon, pinch salt, almond milk, water, chia seeds. Topped with almond butter [...]
-
New Yoga Experiences
March 7, 2011 { 10 comments }I am so happy to hear that you guys found the Foam Rolling 101 tutorials helpful. I was excited to receive comments from many of you that you are already getting to work on the foam roller. Awesome! It was also funny to see how many of you commented on my accent. I was born [...]
-
Foam Rolling 101
March 6, 2011 { 64 comments }I took advantage of my low-key weekend to finally work on Foam Rolling 101. I know I promised this several weeks ago so thank you for your patience. My schedule has been just a little crazy lately. Before we launch into the how to, let’s talk about what foam rollers are, where you can get [...]
-
A New Cardio Challenge
February 21, 2011 { 32 comments }When Brandon and I arrived home on Sunday evening I was itching to move my body after a couple of days of rest and a five hour car ride. Brandon encouraged me not to run even though my back was feeling better because of the pounding. I actually listened (that is rare) and we compromised [...]
-
The Reasons I No Longer Wear High Heels
February 3, 2011 { 34 comments }I’m settled in on the couch with a bowl of ice cream and some hot tea (to help with the fact that it’s 30 degrees and sleeting outside and I’m eating ice cream ;)) and I’m ready to talk feet. I mentioned in Sunday’s post that I gave up high heels when I was training [...]
-
Realigning
February 1, 2011 { 16 comments }I have been ignoring it for a couple weeks but after this morning’s ashtanga practice it had to be addressed. I’m not injured (which I am oh so very thankful for!) but my body hasn’t been feeling right. My low back has been feeling compressed, I had a slight bit of neck pain during Sunday’s [...]
-
Iced Out
January 12, 2011 { 30 comments }Okay. I don’t know how those of you who live in places where winter weather is the norm do it. We’ve only been dealing with snow and ice for three days and I am over it. The winter weather is driving me to extreme actions. Yesterday I bought a space heater because all the classes [...]
-
BodyPump: What It Is and Why I Love It
January 4, 2011 { 32 comments }I covered a BodyPump class tonight for a fellow instructor who has the plague that’s going around. I was prepared for a full class and was so excited to arrive to find the gym already filling up. We ended up with around 45 participants tonight. I was surprised to see a LOT of familiar faces. [...]
-
Decided
December 20, 2010 { 49 comments }I said this in yesterday’s post but THANK YOU for your support and encouragement regarding my decision. I am glad that I shared my struggle on the blog because once the responses started rolling in, it was clear to me which path to take. The outside perspective was the push I needed to follow my [...]
-
Sara’s Story – A New Start
December 6, 2010 { 9 comments }I’m very excited about today’s topic and it’s the first ever guest post on Peanut Butter Runner. I received some great responses to last week’s “Why Wait?” and as soon as I read Sara’s comment about her weight loss journey, I knew I had to ask her to guest post. Lucky for me (and all [...]
-
Why Wait?
November 30, 2010 { 15 comments }I was talking with a co-worker at the Y last week about how our class numbers started to plummet in November, will continue to steadily decline through December and then skyrocket in January when everyone repents their holiday sins and commits to working out again. The question we asked each other is, “why wait?” Why [...]
-
Cold Weather Running
November 8, 2010 { 25 comments }The arrival of November has brought cooler temperatures and shorter days. It was 31 degrees here in Charlotte this morning and dark by 5:30 p.m. This presents some challenges for running. Gone are the days of throwing on shorts and a tank and hitting the road. The time has arrived to break out cold weather [...]
-
Who are you?
November 5, 2010 { 21 comments }I’m a… Runner? Yogi? Teacher? Lover of all things fitness related? In my last post I mentioned that over the past year my relationship with running has been a little tumultuous. This time last year, I was 12 weeks into training for the Thunder Road Marathon and found myself injured…again. I was sick of running [...]
-
Not Quite Ready Yet
November 3, 2010 { 14 comments }I have been extremely pleased with my recovery from Sunday’s marathon. It’s been night and day difference from my first marathon. I attribute it to better overall fitness and my body being more accustomed to recovering from tough workouts. All of my soreness faded by Tuesday and now I’m just dealing with general fatigue and [...]
-
Stomaching the Run
October 14, 2010 { 11 comments }I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say that running makes them sick to their stomach. I’ve received questions on how to avoid this. I think most runners have been there and here are a few tips to help you finish your runs feeling like this… And not like this… First and [...]
-
Three Yoga Poses for Every Runner
October 11, 2010 { 21 comments }Several months ago I created a list of topics that I wanted to blog about. One of these topics was the most beneficial yoga poses for runners. If you’ve read the “About Jen” section of this blog, you know that I started practicing yoga over a year ago hoping that it would help with running [...]
-
Slowly Recovering (with the help of good food!)
October 4, 2010 { 4 comments }I’m slowly recovering from yesterday’s 20-miler. The first step was ice bath, hot shower and food. The second step involved me sitting on the couch from 2:30-7:30 p.m. without moving. I blogged, watched Grey’s Anatomy and ate peanut butter chocolate chip bars. It was glorious. Around 6:30 my legs said, “beer me.” I had a [...]
-
A Fun Morning at Metro Fitness + Zoe's Kitchen
October 2, 2010 { 4 comments }*Become a fan of Peanut Butter Runner on Facebook! I just set up a fan page and would love to connect with all of my readers on Facebook! Happy Saturday! I started mine with a 6:30 a.m. wake up call. I had plans to check out an 8 a.m. class at the Y and then [...]
-
Strong and Sore
September 25, 2010 { 5 comments }First, thank you so much for the nice comments and Tweets about my painless return to running. I have felt so encouraged by everyone’s kind and comforting words over the last couple weeks. Thank you, thank you! Second, wow am I sore! I woke up pretty sore on Friday after teaching BodyPump on Thursday night. [...]
-
Fun with Shaksuka
September 21, 2010 { 9 comments }I am lucky that my husband is totally willing to try crazy ethnic vegetarian recipes that I put on our weekly menu plan. We may struggle about my desire to go 100% vegetarian but at least we’ve come to a good compromise and only cook meat/seafood at home a few nights a week. This week’s [...]
-
Everything Has Changed, Absolutely Nothing's Changed
September 18, 2010 { 14 comments }The words of the brilliant Eddie Vedder sum up my situation perfectly. “Everything has changed, absolutely nothing’s changed.” This song popped up on my playlist today while I was walking with Sullie and this line really resonated with me. Yes, I was walking Sullie and I have no long run to update you guys on [...]
-
Long Run Regret
September 13, 2010 { 10 comments }Yesterday I posted about my 18-mile turned 13-mile long run. I knew that I would regret it when I threw in the towel at mile 13 and sure enough the regret is hitting heavy today. I’ve been dwelling on my failed long run all day. It didn’t help to look at my training schedule and [...]
-
Three New Abdominal Exercises
August 30, 2010 { 10 comments }The idea for this post came to me after my yoga class this morning. Backing up…I usually teach BodyPump on Monday mornings but I received a call at 5:15 a.m. that they were canceling all morning classes because the AC was out at the Y. The first thing that crossed my mind was, “awesome, I [...]
-
Self Awareness
August 26, 2010 { 5 comments }Today I’m focusing on self awareness during exercise. We are lucky at the Y that we are able to team teach BodyPump. I have a co-instructor and we split teaching the class 50/50. One of us teaches while the other participates as well as walks around and corrects technique. Tonight while I was walking around [...]
-
Finding My Marathon Motivation
August 25, 2010 { 5 comments }I know the name of this blog is Peanut Butter Runner but it shouldn’t come as surprise to most of you (if you know me in real life or if you have been reading for a while) that I have been feeling really over running for a while. I committed to running the Marine Corps [...]
-
101th Post, Ashtanga Awkwardness, Grilled Okra Obsession
August 24, 2010 { 13 comments }Obviously, I couldn’t decide what to name this post. I usually really struggle with titles but tonight the creative juices were a flowin’ so you get a laundry list. Another thing I must note is that I’ve discovered the joys of blogging in bed. Last night Brandon was watching True Blood (which I know I’ve [...]
-
Early Riser and How to Work Out in the Morning
August 10, 2010 { 10 comments }My alarm went off at 4:45 a.m. this morning. Yeah…seemed like a good idea last night when I got in bed at 9:30 but I was definitely second guessing myself when it came down to it. But somehow it has become easier for me to get up when my alarm is set for the 5 [...]
-
Speedy
July 22, 2010 { 10 comments }The first speed workout of my Marine Corps Marathon training plan was scheduled for today. I dreaded it all day…it was so hot outside (97 degrees) and it just didn’t sound fun. I know that any sane person would have just done the run on the treadmill (easy to adjust speed, air conditioned) but I [...]
-
My Exercise Journey…and Ashtanga Take Two
July 21, 2010 { 8 comments }I used to always stick with what I knew when it came to workouts – and what I knew was running. I was always very reluctant to try group exercise classes, walking was boring, the elliptical was boring, yoga was boring…I just wanted to go, go, go and feel the rush I got from running. [...]
-
BodyPump 74 Launch and First MCM Long Run
July 17, 2010 { 10 comments }Happy Saturday – it’s been an active one for me! This morning we launched BodyPump 74 at the Y (by the way, did you see that the YMCA is officially changing its name to the Y?). We had a four instructor launch team and over 30 members participate. I realize that not everyone knows what [...]
-
Marine Corps Marathon Training Plan
July 14, 2010 { 31 comments }After months of talk, promises of base building and a little bit of procrastination…I’m finally ready to share (and commit to) my Marine Corps Marathon training plan. For some background information on why I chose this race and who I’ll be running it with check out this post. Now, prepare to be underwhelmed by this [...]
-
Blog Drama
June 18, 2010 { 3 comments }Before I launch into eats and workouts I have to let you know about some stuff going on behind the scenes with the blog. I am in the process of moving both of my blogs over to self-hosting and it is the most frustrating thing I have done in a long time! I’m having major [...]
-
Happy Birthday Giveaway!
June 16, 2010 { 30 comments }Good morning! (a picture of Sullie because she’s a cuter birthday girl than me!) Today is my birthday! I started my day at Y2 Yoga with a hot vinyasa class. What better way to kick-off my birthday than with a yoga class to honor myself and my practice? I probably get asked once a week [...]
-
Dogs on the Run
June 3, 2010 { 3 comments }I received a Facebook message today from an old friend asking about running with her dog, Cooper. She’s having problems with other neighborhood dogs chasing/following her and Cooper. I was thinking about this on my run with Sullie today and thought that it might be beneficial for some readers if I talked about 1) running [...]
-
Big Toe Trouble
June 2, 2010 { 2 comments }So my morning started out bright and early at Y2 for a hot vinyasa class. One of the perks of making it through a hard yoga class is that most instructors will give foot massages while you’re in savasana. Well, after class this morning my teacher pointed out that my feet are ridiculously tight – [...]
-
Base Building
May 17, 2010 { 8 comments }I can’t put it off any longer. It’s imminent. I must find a way to overcome my yoga addiction and get back on the road to start building my base for Marine Corps Marathon training. My 3-4 mile runs here and there are not cutting it to prepare me for the training cycle that starts [...]
-
Respecting Rest Days – When to Rest and When to Power Through
May 13, 2010 { 6 comments }My goal for this blog is not only to document my lifestyle but also to discuss fitness and nutrition topics and hopefully provide some insight and education for my readers. The topic I want to discuss today is something that you all know that I’ve been struggling with the past couple weeks with moving, traveling [...]