About my first blog!!

So you may be wondering what this blog is about....here's to day one on my journey in the blog universe and I'm very excited! :) 

I was inspired to start this blog after finding and consistently following a random fitness blog that I absolutely fell in love with.  For those of you who haven't heard, check out www.carrotsncake.com.  I was truly inspired.  In addition, I have amazing friends who are all very motivating when it comes to health which leads me to my second and most important reason for starting this health blog.  To give you some background about myself, I moved to Myrtle Beach about 4 years ago leaving all of my close family and friends behind to start what has been an unforgettable journey: I took an offer from my dream job @ Merrill Lynch, I bought my first house, I bought my first dog (<3 you Lils Nils), I got a brand new car and I have done more traveling in the past 4 years and met beautiful people along the way which have molded me into the strong female I am today! :)  Being that my friends live so far away, I thought what better way to motivate each other than to have a venue where we can share our workouts, eating habits and daily activities.  I may only have a few followers but I figured this to be a great way to not only motivate others, but keep myself disciplined to continue doing what I LOVE most.....running, working out and eating right!  I hope you enjoy getting a little insight into my daily life!!! :)

For those who don't know me well....my absolute favorite workout consists of running and lifting weights.  In the past 2 years I've run several small road races to get me to completing my very first half marathon in February of this year; my goal was under 2 hours and my dad, boyfriend and I all finished in 1 hour and 54 minutes!  I was injured shortly thereafter and had to take a 3 month break away from running....for any avid runner out there you know, THIS WAS TOUGH.  I'm back to where I was earlier this year and am starting to feel a little empty having not completed any road races in nearly 6 months.  At work today I ran across my half marathon training plan and decided to put this into action again!  My goal:  complete one more half marathon this year to help me to prepare for my first FULL marathon in February 2013.  I've completed my first week of my 12 week plan which consisted of:

1. Tuesday:  a very TOUGH leg workout thanks to my muscle man, J. <3
• 5 sets (25 each) of squats with a 25 lb weight on each side
• 5 sets (20 each) of calf raises (95 lbs)
• 5 sets (25 each) of leg presses (130 lbs)
• 3 sets (25 each) of leg extensions (50 lbs)  
2. Wednesday:  6 mile treadmill run in 55 minutes (start at 6 speed increasing .1 every .1 of a mile until you get to 7 and then decrease back down- repeat this for the 6 miles)
3. Thursday:  3 mile interval run (see below) + 3 sets of bicep curls (15 lb dumbbells), 3 set of bicep curls (20 lb free bar), 3 sets of skull crushers (20 lb free bar), 3 sets of dips (on assisted machine with 45 weight)

My dinner for the past 2 nights.....one scoop plus 8 ounces of skim milk!

Now time to go pack for the weekend....my little sister is leaving for Radford University (GO HIGHLANDERS!!) to follow in her big sisters footsteps.  Sending her off with the best of wishes in this very important phase in her life!

Cheers :)

-HP