TODAY'S PARK WORKOUT

Today's workout can be completed outside at your local park.

1) high knees

2) reverse push-ups with chin-up bar

3) step ups on a bench

4) knee hug crunches on a slide

Do these 4 exercises 4 times through

Set your timer for ten seconds rest and fifty seconds work, 16 sets

For post workout/breakfast I had a banana, a handful of walnuts, some Chex mix, and sea salt & vinegar chips. Yum!

I'm totally ready for warmer weather. I've got a song called "Summertime On My Mind" by Kelley James on my phone. I know, it's March in Illinois, but a girl can dream! While I listen to it I imagine my best friends and I are lying on the beach sunbathing. I can see my favorite bikini on the body I worked so hard to get. The feeling I get from eating healthily and seeing myself fit motivates me to go that extra ten minutes on my run and keep away from sugary junk foods. What motivates you?

DEAR WORLD, I FEEL LIKE DEATH...

I came down with seasonal bronchitis last night and I can't keep up my energy level enough to get work done, much less try to exercise and write blog posts. The only days I worked out were Friday and Saturday.

I'm gonna be completely honest. I've been eating junk food, apart from the occasional salad and orange, because I don't have the time to make anything else, and the crap I'm putting into my body is making me feel like blah. It doesn't help that for my roommate's 22nd birthday, I had a few drinks.

I'm so excited about the fact that spring break is next week. I'm going home which means I can relax and rehabilitate my poor body. I have yet another lab report due Thursday and I still have a short paper to write tonight before I can get started on the report. HELP!!!! 

Slacking

I haven't been keeping up with the blog because I've been both lazy and busy with other things. Tonight is Lina's birthday so I'm going to go on a quick run outside. It's 42 F and partly cloudy outside. Perfect weather for me. I haven't eaten yet because I woke up late. I'll eat when I get back and I'll take a picture to share with you. It's 12:48 currently.

STRESS LESS?

Pass two exams: check.

Eat: check.

Blog: uhh.... well if you see this, then check.

I didn't get to take a picture of my breakfast, but as usual I had a banana with peanut butter. Doesn't get old. Brain food, I tell ya.

My classmate Rachel brought our class lunch. Casey's breakfast pizza with cheese, scrambled eggs, and sausage. So bad for you. So delicious!

Dinner was cold somen noodles with soy sauce, seasoned octopus and egg over-easy. Weird combo but it was delicious.

I haven't worked out yet so I'm going to get in some yoga now.

MONDAY... NOT SO FUN DAY :(

This is a super stressful Monday. I have a writing assignment for Italian due tonight at midnight, two exams tomorrow in Italian and Cognitive Psychophysiology, and a lab report due tomorrow for Cognitive Psychology Lab dealing with categorical perception. I will not be getting much sleep tonight. This is the smoothie I made this morning for breakfast:

1 Banana

A handful of blueberries

 About a tablespoon of peanut butter

Half a scoop of Total Lean: Lean Shake powder from GNC

A cup of Almond Milk

Blend it all up with an immersion blender...

... and TADA!

A quick and yummy breakfast smoothie! Happy Nana! :D

That's going to be the highlight of my day. How sad is that?

I had rice and seasoned octopus for lunch, which I didn't take a picture of.

For dinner I had some cucumbers with Japanese Kewpie mayo and hard salami and Muenster cheese on two halves of whole wheat flat rolls.

I realized that I haven't had a single glass of water all day. I am so dehydrated. My goal for the rest of the week is the drink more water!!!


Update on schoolwork: I have finished my lab report and I will start studying for my psychology exam now. It's 7:30. No workout today. Sad Nana. :(

I'm back and it's 2 am :P
Finally finished with my studying. Thought I'd post a pic of my study snack:

Pistachios, almonds, and a clementine. That's brain food right there.

I'm going to bed now. I have to be up again in a few hours so I can eat breakfast, study for my Italian exam, and do some final reviewing for my Cognitive Psychophysiology exam at 9:30. Wish me luck and keep me in your prays.

SUNDAY FOODIES!

Last night I went to a club on Chester Street, aptly named C-Street, for my friend Zach's 21st birthday. It was marvelous! We danced from about 10 pm to 2 am and I got all the ants out of my pants. When we first got there it was totally deserted and we had the floor to ourselves but in a span of about 10 mins between 11:30 and 11:40 the club became totally packed. I had a White Russian and lots of water to keep me hydrated. 

Half of our group left around midnight. Party poopers. Kevin pointed out that I was the only girl in our group and I was mad repping the female population. Hahaha! We left around 2 because poor Zach had lost motor control. He had around 6-7 drinks and couldn't stand up straight so he was leaning heavily on the guys. He was walking at a 45 degree angle, but he was completely conscious and coherent. We let him sober up for a bit on a friend's couch before taking him back to his dorm, after which I finally got to walk my sore body back to the apartment for a good night's sleep. I slept like a baby.

To help my body recuperate from last night's damage I ate a banana with peanut butter and a handful of blueberries around 11 am.

And I just had a snack of almonds and a clementine. :)

I have to get back to writing my lab report and studying for my exam in Cognitive Psychophysiology. It's a really hard class and I'm so nervous.

Back with dinner pics:

Eggs over-easy with rice and a tablespoon of soy sauce along with a side of cucumber and tomato.

And my late night snack was these chips and half of the spicy guacamole. The container has a lid that keeps the guac from oxidizing as quickly. Yummy!

NEW RUNNING SHOES

One of my New Years resolutions was to run a 5k. In a weird act of God's grace, Karina and Katrina (K&K) of Tone It Up started writing a three-part blog post series on running. It reminded me of my resolution and so I read what it said. K&K mentioned the Couch-to-5k running program. I've heard about it before, but I always dismissed it because "I wasn't a runner." Silly Diana. C25k is meant for non-runners who want to be runners. DUH! Well anyway, I saw that and remembered I had to find a 5k to run, preferably after school got out. So I found the Color Run 5k Chicago on June 16th and made the commitment to run it. 

After I had made that commitment and did the first day of C25k schedule, I realized I needed a new pair of running shoes, so I hit up the Finish Line at my mall. The sales rep there helped gauge my gait and I told him I wanted something that would be durable and had enough ankle support. He came up with the Brooks Trance 12. This is what they look like:

They're nice right? They have plenty of arch support and from my test run of these they are incredibly comfortable. The foam they use is very strong and structured. I compared these to the less expensive running shoes they had and the others used cheap material and they didn't have the optimum ankle support. Some of them were very well cushioned, but you could tell they wouldn't last very long. If you want the technical specs you can check out this link.

This past Wednesday, K&K came out with part 2 of the Run Your Heart Out series and they give some advice on how to find the right shoes which applies to both guys and girls. Also for the ladies they gave some tips on clothing options for running. Read through it. They talk about sun protection and other shenanigans that I wouldn't have thought would be important. Hope this helps.