Month: May 2015

Upper Body Workout: Arms

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 18 Comments

Lately the only upper body workout I am doing is picking up my 30 lbs 2.5 year-old and carrying multiple grocery bags/backpacks at the same time! So really, I am lacking in my upper body workouts big time, whomp, whomp 😦

I’m not very good at monthly challenges even though I start out pretty solid so I’m hoping in June I’ll sick to it a little more. My plans are to do these along with my running plan and PT exercises for my hamstring and glutes.

Plank Challenge:

plank 30 Day challenge

I would love to be able to hold a plank for 3 minutes plus! So…bring it on June!

Arm workouts:

Tone arms in 7 days

Pretty basic – works for me!

And I’m sharing this last one because it made me laugh 🙂

arm workout

Do you do much upper body work outs?

What’s your favourite arm workout?

Do you plank? How often?

Don’t forget about my Cordskinz giveaway here!

Images/workouts found on Pinterest. I’m not a fitness training, personal trainer or Doctor. Please consult the professionals before starting any new workouts.

Cordskinz Review & Giveaway

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 16 Comments

I’m not very good at listening to music when I run outside. This could be the fact that I haven’t downloaded/uploaded any music to my little Ipod in a few years! Eekkk!!! Or maybe I just like to run and not hear anything, however at races I LOVE hearing music pumping along the course as it gives me a little extra boost that I need sometimes!

When I run on my treadmill I always watch a show on my tablet therefore I need my headphones. I always leave them on my treadmill so I don’t lose them or the girls pick them up and think they can play with them; a classic way of losing stuff.  A while back I was given a pair of Cordskinz to try out!

I don’t have fancy headphones and the ones I use are for my Ipod but they work AND they get tangled as do other pairs I’ve had in the past. It happens! They are plain white so I chose to put the violet Cordskinz on and make them look spiffy, I think!

cordz

The Cordskinz are super easy to put on – they supply a little blue skinner tool and directions on how to do so. They keep my headphones neat when I’m not using them and haven’t been tangled since I put them on!

Two thumbs up!

You can find out more about Cordskinz on their website here: http://cordskinz.com/  They are made in the USA, cost $9.99 and come in a variety of colours or colors if you are in the US 🙂

They sent me a few pairs and said I could do a giveaway with them. So, I’m going to give two sets away – specifically these set:

One is violet and one is pink!

IMG_20150526_213111

Violet & Pink

 

Fill out the rafflecopter –> a Rafflecopter giveaway  <– and two winners will be chosen on Tuesday June 2nd! Open to anyone that I can mail it to, anywhere – I must be able to email you or tag you on twitter to connect and get your mailing address. If I don’t hear from the winners within 2 days, I will pick another winner.

Do you listen to music when you run?

Ever get your headphones so tangled up you pitch them?

How many headphones, ear buds have you gone through?

Day in the Life of Piper’s Run

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 23 Comments

A few of the Canadian Sweat Pink Ambassador’s have come together for a “Day in the Life of…”, thanks to our little (but mighty) Canadian SPA’s Facebook page. I chose Sunday as my day and I’m pretty sure that was a bad idea. It ended up being a bit of a crazy day for us. This is how my day went….oh and my husband was away so it was just me and our girls. He is home at the moment 🙂

7:15  am After getting up 7 times, yes 7, throughout the night with Hilary, we finally got up at 7:15 to her crying/screaming. Poor girl has had a terrible rash and we’ve been to the hospital twice this past week. All I could think about was … oh man, I’m going to need to run today to just get through the day. My mother was visiting as I had to work the day before at a youth run.

Then I made breakfast, put load of laundry on, put a ham in the slow cooker, peeled a bunch of banana’s from the youth run that were left over to freeze, took the compost out and packed up my Mother’s car as she was leaving.

8:30 am Said goodbye to my mom, Lilly had a time out for spitting on her sister and then Hilary had tantrum #1 of the day.

I quickly got on Facebook to see if my neighbour could babysit that afternoon as I knew it was going to be a long, rough day. She was free and excited to hang out with the girls for a bit. This is what got me through my morning.

The girls did some dancing then colouring while I did the laundry. We were tired and exhausted from the night before. At 10 am we skyped with their Nan (Sai’s mom) from England; Hilary was pretty cranky at this point. awesome

day life of Piper's Run

10:30 am We delivered Lilly’s birthday invitations to her friends. Enter trantrum #2, #3 and #4 for Hilary. We also had to pick up a few groceries – surprisingly that was the easiest part of the day!

After tantrum #4, Hilary fell asleep in the car and it was on empty for gas! awesome I drove as long as I could since she was so exhausted and got gas while she managed to stay asleep. Lilly was so good during all of this. Eventually we got home and cranky Hilary was still cranky and we had lunch around 12:30. 

day life of Piper's Run 2

1:30 pm I called my neighbour/babysitter and headed over with the girls. She had big plans to hit up the park near by and I the trail for a run.

I have been recently given the go-ahead to run outside; low km, low-speed. This trail run was just what I needed and I knew that when I woke up this morning. After I finished I did a few PT exercises and got the girls. Then we all did more PT exercises together which was hilarious and probably the best part of our day together – no tantrums or time outs!

Beautiful day on the trail

Beautiful day on the trail

We played, did more laundry and coloured a bit.

4:00 pm Our friends arrived for dinner…you know, that ham I put in the slow cooker first thing in the morning. She has a little 8 month old and almost 5-year-old. We spent the first year of Lilly’s and Kayden’s lives together – almost every day! We had a great visit with them and as they were leaving tantrum #5 hit us.

Hilary did NOT want a bath! However, once in the tub she was loving it, as was her sister!

7:30 pm A little later than normal, I got the girls to bed. Then quickly did the dishes, cleaned up the kitchen and got ready for a #RunATCan twitter chat.

8:00 pm #RunATCan twitter chat happened which is always a good time. In between the questions, I got caught up on emails, blog stuff and put more laundry away. Man, the laundry kills me sometimes!

9:30 pm I managed to catch my husband on the phone as he wasn’t busy (he’s a paramedic in PEI) and we got caught up on the day. At some point I got a shower and checked on the girls and was in bed just after 10:30 pm.

My day didn’t stop there!

After being asleep for 1.5 hours, I woke up to Hilary crying and screaming again. Wow, I can’t wait for her last set of molar’s to be out and this rash to be cleared up so I don’t have to get up 5-7 times a night with her. She was just beside herself last night.

It was such a long day and night for me that when I woke up Monday morning, I hit snooze 5 times!

So, that’s how my day went! The one thing I noticed was when I woke up the first thing I thought about is….“how and when am I going to run today” and “can I get a babysitter for 45 -60 minutes last-minute” so I can have some time to myself and clear my head.

Selfish, sure. BUT – I needed that so I could deal with everything that was going to come my way later in the day. Sometimes you have to be a little selfish to keep everyone happy and on track. This wasn’t the best day for us and I almost didn’t want to blog about it but I signed up to share and here I am. Sharing my day, my decision and my outcomes.

Check out the other Canadian Sweat Pink Ambassador’s bloggers “day in the life of” here:

Carmy @ www.carmyy.com
Angela @ www.cowgirlruns.com
Rebecca @ www.runningfoodbaby.com
Heather @ http://girlgoesrunning.blogspot.ca/
Susan @ http://dothingsalways.blogspot.ca
Tina @ www.fabulosi-t.blogspot.ca
Kim @ www.twoyearstokona.com/
Kris @ www.canadiangirlruns.com/
Brittany @ WWW.mymamajourney.org

What’s your typical day like?

Do you plan your days our or just go with the flow?

Parents of toddlers – how many tantrums do your kids have any give day?

Running Recovery: So Far So Good

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 24 Comments

Last Friday I was called while on my way to work {don’t worry, I pulled my car over} from the physiotherapy office saying “we have an opening at 10:30 – can you make it?” Well, any injured runner wouldn’t turn this opportunity down and luckily I didn’t have any meetings that morning.

So off I went after a quick trip home for a pair of shorts. My physiotherapist is on vacation this week and I wasn’t able to get in other than the last-minute appointment on Friday. Since I wasn’t expecting to see him until June 3rd, I was ever so excited to be heading in. I shared my week’s workouts and pain level (almost none) and he started treatment right away.

During treatment we started chatted and I fessed up to run/walking with Lilly at the Bluenose youth run (2k) the weekend before. He was fine with that! After chatting a bit more about work, he said that I should be okay to do some light runs this week outside but low kilometres. That put a smile on my face 🙂

I really, REALLY wanted to run my first FULL Marathon this fall at the PEI Marathon but have decided NOT to do it. I wanted to have a good base and have completed a half marathon this spring before I jumped into Full training this June. Rather then stressing my body {and mind}, I’ve decided to run the PEI Half Marathon. Knowing that, I asked if it was realistic to run a half early September and then again mid October – about 5 weeks apart. He thought I would have no problem.

I also wanted to sign up by May 31st to get the early bird registration…and get my head wrapped around training for 2 fall half marathons. So, I left my appointment pretty excited yet slightly cautious. With my history over the last few months, I tend to have good runs and then bad, painful hamstrings.

I was going to run Saturday with my running buddy as she was volunteering at our youth run we had through work. It was much smaller this year due to many factors but the worst part of it was that it rained off an on. It wasn’t good warm spring rain it was freezing your fingers off – feels like winter – should be bundled up like winter weather – kind of rain. It was brutal and most of the kids finished their 3k or 5k race! Hard core!

I wasn’t wanting to run after standing outside and feeling so cold so we grabbed some food instead. When I got home I ended up taking Hilary into the hospital (2nd trip in 4 days) as she has a terrible rash that wasn’t getting any better. By the end of Saturday I was exhausted. She’s okay but not a happy camper.

Anyway, Sunday afternoon I went for a nice 3k run on the trail near my house. It was beautiful outside and I just wanted to run longer and further but was trying to stick to the plan, ya know!

Beautiful day on the trail

Beautiful day on the trail

It was great and so far, I have no pain in my hamstring. I took it slow and steady:

1 km – 6:20

2 km – 6:05 (my legs just wanted to go)

3 km – 6:021

Then I walked just under a half km back to my car and went home to do my PT exercises with the girls. They were hilarious.

How was your weekend?

Anyone run? Anyone run the Ottawa Marathon?

Are you thinking about your Fall races yet?