Couch to 5K

Hey there!  It's Nicole from Teaching With Style!  I recently signed up for my second 5K ever.  My first 5K was the Shamrock run in Portland, OR in like 2010.  It was horrible!  It rained the entire time, then the lines afterwards for the free chowder and beer were horrendous.  Not to mention how far away my friend and I had to park!  After that race, I swore I would never do another one because "I'm not a runner".

Well, here I am again, signed up for a 5K without being a runner.  I actually committed with a group of friends to join their team for the Spartan race in Oahu on August 17th.  Spartan is a 3 mile obstacle course and is supposed to be really fun.  To help me gear up for it, I signed up for a local 5K, the Tri Lanai City Run the weekend before.

So, as I said, I'm not a runner.  I like to do yoga, go to aerobics classes or do aerobics videos.  But I've never liked running.  Every time I run I always get mad at myself that I have to walk, that I don't have stamina to run the whole time.  Then when I get home, I'm always completely out of breath, my chest hurts, and I want to die.

Last week I stumbled on this website Couch to 5K.  I was intrigued.  Could I really become a runner?  Could I do this 5K and not feel like I wanted to die? I downloaded the free mobile app and started.  Basically, for the first week, you run for 60 seconds and walk for 90 seconds for a total of 20 minutes. You do this 3 times in a week.  Each time, I ran 2 miles.  The second week the running increases, but so does the walking.  It's such an easy way to ease yourself into it!  I'm not out of breath, my chest doesn't feel like collapsing.  I can really do this!

I'm about to start my 2nd week, so I'll keep you updated after I do it!  I'm debating on if I want to run with my 3 year old in a jogging stroller or with my 1 year old Brittany Spaniel.  Either one will pose an obstacle! I will keep you updated!

Are you like me?  Or are you a runner?  Share your story in the comments!

Healthy Cooking and Living!

Hello there!  This is Nicole from Teaching With Style!

I live in beautiful Hawaii and my family spends most of our down time at the beach.  The kiddos LOVE to swim and surf the waves.  Hubby loves to paddle board and kayak, and we both recently got scuba certified.

You would think that by all this outdoor activity that we would be in great shape.  Well, we are not.  Between work and beach-going, I just get too tired to cook dinner and we end up with macaroni and hotdogs or hamburgers from the local diner.  It's bad.  I decided that this summer, I would challenge myself to make a change in the way my family eats!

I recently re-joined Weight Watchers.  I did it a couple years ago when my daughter was one.  It's a great motivation for me and I love the recipes.  I also bought some at-home work-out videos and Shakeology supplements from BeachBody.  This is the same company that does P90X, Insanity, and Brazilian Butt Lift.  I opted to go for Turbo Fire, because I like upbeat, dancey types of workouts.

So my plan: eat healthy and work out every day.  I'm not going to do my videos everyday, but switch it up with a hike once a week, swimming in the ocean or pool once a week, a local yoga class once a week, then Turbo Fire the other days.

I have a recipe Pinterest board where I will be pinning my weekly recipes.  I can pull up the recipe on my iPad as I'm cooking, making it a lot easier than printing them out and having to organize all the paper.  We are almost through with week 1, and it's going really well so far!

Do you have dinner ruts like me?  Join me in turning that around this summer!