Happy Wednesday!

I think the weather in Dallas officially has a split personality. Yesterday was beautiful and sunny outside, and today I wake up to this yet again!

I know it doesn't look to bad, but we got a ton of sleet and rain that froze on the roads. Luckily, I was saved from a 45 minute icy commute when school and work were both closed down this morning. Looks like I'm in for another day of fun at home. I'm ok with that! ;)

Today's workout called for a 7 mile run and speed work. I think the speed work was supposed to be included in those 7 miles, but I forgot to do them so I just added 4, 200 meter sprints on to the end of my run. Overall the run felt pretty good but my right hip flexor started acting up again about mile 5. Ever since the White Rock Marathon in December, my right hip flexor has been ridiculously tight. I have dedicated a ton of extra time to stretching it and made sure to take days off after long runs etc., but nothing seems to be helping. I'm starting to think so much time on the treadmill might be messing with my stride, but I'm not sure. Any thoughts from my fellow runners out there?

Although I should be taking advantage of this extra time to catch up on homework, that is so hard when I have so much good snow day reading at my fingertips!



I'm hoping that I can find the answer to my hip flexor problem in the Athlete's Guide To Yoga. I purchased this book online a few days ago and I am so excited to dive into it. I love showing people how incredibly amazing and beneficial yoga can be when add to your fitness routine. I am hoping that this book increases my knowledge on how to help athlete's use yoga to improve performance. We are all athletes after all! I am living proof that yoga can dramatically improve your running performance. I pr'd  in my last race, and I know my increased dedication to yoga had a lot to do with it.

One of my wonderful friends & reader, Jennifer, asked me to do a post on fish oils so I am off to start doing my research for that post, which I hope to have up on Friday (oh and I'll try to do some homework as well)! I absolutely love getting topic requests from readers! If you ever have any questions or topics you would like to read about, please feel free to let me know by leaving a comment, posting it on the FF&F facebook page (which if you haven't "liked" yet you should), or shooting me an e-mail at LaurenEGeorge@gmail.com. I want this blog to be a place where we can all learn more about health and fitness, so it's great to know what you want to read about!

Thank you again to FitBlogger for choosing Fun, Fit and Fabulous to be the featured blog of the day!

If you are stuck inside like me, check out these neat reads:

12 Tips for exercising on the cheap

USDA says eggs now lower in cholesterol This is great news for me since I eat eggs almost every day!

150 Years of fad diets and still no quick fix

New excuse for eating carbs

Q's and A's:
Do you ever have issues with chronically tight hip flexors?
What books are on your must read list right now?

In health,

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Howdy!

Happy Super Bowl Sunday everyone! Super Bowl fever is definitely taking over Dallas, and thankfully the snow is starting to melt away giving way to a beautiful Super Bowl Sunday! I hope all of the Packers and Steelers fans are enjoying Dallas so far!

Although it is nice outside today, that was so not the case on Friday. After I talked to y'all on Friday, I ventured down the street to the gym. It took quite a pep talk and a few layers of clothes (3 to be exact) to convince myself I could handle the walk down the road. :) Please forgive the terrible picture quality, as you can see, I took it on my cell phone. I am wearing a running shirt, 2 jackets, running tights, sweat pants, and a beanie I stole from Eric. I was ready!

Even though I complain about the snow, it sure is beautiful!








After snapping quite a few pictures of my walk, I finally made it to the gym. I got in a nice 6 mile run plus 1 mile walk. It felt great to stretch out my legs after being cooped up in the house for so long. Eric had to go to work in the snow, so he snapped a few pictures of downtown for me! Isn't he sweet?

This is the view from his office (well from the conference room across the hall)!

Isn't that church just gorgeous?

I am so glad the snow is finally melting so I can get back to running outside. This morning, I had to do my 9 mile long run for the week on the treadmill. Although the snow is mostly melted, any sidewalk that is in the shade is still very icy so I didn't quite feel safe running outside yet. I am hoping to get back outside in the morning! :)

I hope everyone has a marvelous Super Bowl Sunday!! I will see you tomorrow!

Q's and A's:
Are you pumped for the Super Bowl?
Do you prefer running outside or on the treadmill?

In health,

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[source]

According to the weatherman, the snow was supposed to lighten up today. I was really hoping I could get out and about to run some errands and stretch out my legs. However, I woke up this morning to this!


Let me remind you I live in TEXAS! What is going on here? :)

Since I am oficialy snowed in today, I had to keep my workout indoors as well. To the yoga mat I went to do a series I learned in Tara Stiles' book Slim Calm Sexy Yoga.  I added a few extra poses and more sun salutations than I could count. Let's just say my triceps will love me tomorrow.

For lunch, I was craving something warm and slightly spicy, but my options were pretty limited. I went with a southwest egg white scramble. I mixed together 4 egg whites, black beans, spinach and wrapped it all in a whole wheat tortilla. It just wouldn't be lunch without an apple on the side. ;)


I also snacked on one of these guys for dessert!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Now, I am trying to decided if I am brave enough to follow in this persons foot steps and walk over to the apartment gym. I'm not going to lie, I am a little nervous! EEEK!


What do you think?? When I first sat down to write this post, I was going to talk about healthy eating during the Super Bowl, but then I remembered that fellow bloggers Laury and Emily had already done that for me! They are both super creative and have great recipes! Check them out at:

Laury at The Fitness Dish - 5 Menus Ideas for Your Super Bowl Party

Emily at A Nutritionist Eats - Super Bowl Food

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend, and have fun at all the Super Bowl activities!

Q's and A's:
Are you going to a Super Bowl party? Who are you cheering for?
What is your favorite party munchie?
Anybody else still snowed in?
What is your favorite snow day workout?

In health,

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Hello All!!

How is everyone this afternoon? Are you having a good day? It is day 3 of being snowed in, and I am officially starting to go stir crazy. I ice skated my way over to the apartment complex gym and ran 6 miles and walked 1 this morning.

Eric made it home safely from Kansas yesterday at around 3:00pm! I was so excited to have him home. We even got to venture out for a birthday dinner. I felt a little safer with Eric driving his 4-wheel drive vehicle than I would if I tried to go somewhere in my tiny car. I think the driver had a lot to do with it! ;) We went to Hoshi hibachi and sushi which is my all time favorite sushi place. If I had to choose one type of food to eat for the rest of my life, it would probably be sushi! After dinner, we made a stop by the grocery store since I haven't been brave enough to go myself since the storm. The store was pretty picked over, so we settled on a not-so-traditional but still delicious birthday cake.

I think this might need to be a new tradition. That cake was stinkin AMAZING! :) Let's just say I took advantage of the fact that birthday cake calories don't count on your birthday! That is a fact isn't it?

On Tuesday night, I was raiding my pantry to see what I could cook for dinner and came across these little guys. I forgot to take a picture of the package before I poured it into the boiling water so here is one I stole/borrowed from their website. Ooops

[source]

I purchased these noodles a while back, but was waiting for a night when I was just cooking for me to try them out. I'm pretty sure Eric wouldn't go for anything with the word tofu in it. I first learned of these noodles through the Hungry Girl cookbooks and my friend Mallory assured me they were good.  They are gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, and only have 20 calories, and 3g of carbs per 4oz serving. So you can eat the entire bag for 40 calories and 6g of carbs. Talk about a guilt-free way to enjoy pasta.

Noodles check, now what can I put with them? I found a can of stewed tomatoes in the pantry, 1 zucchini, and some mushrooms in the fridge, and a chicken breast in the freezer. Voila, a yummy well balanced meal in no time flat! The noodles literally take 2 minutes to cook. You simply boil them for 2 minutes and they are ready to go. They have a slightly different consistency than regular spaghetti, but once I put the tomatoes and veggies on top, I could hardly tell the difference. Honest!


I will definitely be purchasing these noodles again!

Now, on to our new moves of the day! As many of you know, I don't like to spend hours upon hours in the weight room. When I go to lift weights, I love exercises that work more than one body part at a time. That is why I am a huge fan of these two moves.



Side lunge with a shoulder press [source]


This move works your shoulders and entire lower body. Although it is snowing outside right now, Spring will be here before you know it and so will tank tops and shorts. This move will have you ready for both in no time. Grab a pair of 8- to 12-pound dumbbells and stand with your feet together and your arms at your sides (A). Take a giant step back with your right leg, landing with your toes turned out. Sink into a lunge until your left thigh is parallel to the floor, then lower the dumbbells and your torso until the weights are on either side of your left ankle (B). Straighten your left leg without locking your knee and stand up, bringing your right leg forward so your legs are together. At the same time, press the dumbbells overhead with your palms facing each other (C). That's one rep. Do 12 to 15 reps, then repeat on the other side. That's one set. Do two sets, resting for 30 seconds between sets.

One leg dead lift with a row [source]

This move works your core, back, glutes and hamstrings. The hamstrings are one of my favorite muscles in the body, so I love this move! Grab a pair of 8- to 10-pound dumbbells and stand with your arms at your sides. Place your right toe on the floor about two feet behind you (A) and bend forward from the hips. Keeping your right leg straight, raise it off the floor until your body forms a T and your arms hang straight down from your shoulders (B). Row the dumbbells toward your ribs until your elbows pass your torso (C). Lower the dumbbells and return to start. That's one rep. Do 12 to 15 reps, then repeat on the other side. That's one set. Do two, resting for 30 seconds between sets.


Try adding these two new moves to your next strength training workout and let me know what you think!

Q's and A's:
What is your favorite type of birthday cake?
If you could choose one genre of food (Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, American, Thai, etc.) to eat for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Have you ever tried Tofu Shirataki noodles? What did you think?

In health,

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Hey everyone!!

Thank you so much for all of your comments on the yoga article I discussed yesterday. I love hearing your thoughts and comments! This morning, I woke up and saw this outside of my window:

They shut down work and school for today, so we officially had a SNOW DAY! I was beyond excited especially because yesterday was one crazy day. I left my house at 8am and didn't get home until 10:15pm! It wasn't a bad day by any means, it was just busy. So when they called to tell me school was closed, it was such a nice surprise.

Due to the YogaFit training this weekend, I missed my 9 mile training run I had scheduled for Sunday. Since I had the entire day off, I thought this would be the perfect time to fit it in. There was only one problem - I almost did the splits the second I walked out my front door due to the ice. Since running outside was obviously not an option, it was to the treadmill I went. I must be crazy, 9 miles on the treadmill is ridiculous!! Oh well, I survived and caught back up with my training. Luckily, I had HGTV to keep me company. I watched House Hunter International, and the guy was shopping for a house in Tokyo. He ended up spending $700,000 on a 800sq ft. condo! I am so never moving to Tokyo! Here are a few pictures I snapped on my way to the apartment gym.

The view of the junior college across the street. They were closed down too.

The stairs leading up to the gym. These just scream danger!



This is where I almost ate it!

Can you see the cracks in the ice? Every time I took a step you would hear a crack.  It was probably the most nerve racking walk to the gym of all time. :)

The view from the end of our driveway.

Beautiful, snowy sidewalk!

I'm not a huge fan of snow, but I can make an exception when it results in a snow day! There are so many things to love about snow days:

1. Waking up to beautiful views.
2. Your coffee tastes extra delicious.
3. You don't have to blow dry your hair or put on makeup if you don't want to.
4. Extra time for blogging!
5. Everything looks brighter when the sun bounces off of the snow. :)
6. More time for catching up on your reading. I can't wait to dive deeper into my YogaFit manual from this weekend.
7. You can sleep in until 8am. My alarm was set for 9am, but my body wasn't having it.
8. It's the perfect time to make some baked goodies.          
9. You get to wear comfy sweatpants and fuzzy socks all day long. Don't make fun of me for not matching!
   
                                                          

Probably the least flattering view ever, but who cares it's a snow day!

Lastly, you have time to try out a new yoga download! I am super excited to try out this 30 minute video by YogaJournal.com, especially since the soreness from my time on the treadmill is already starting to kick in. :(



I hope you have an absolutely wonderful day! If you haven't already, don't forget to "Like" the new Fun, Fit and Fabulous facebook page! :)

Q's and A's:
How is the weather in your area?
Did you have a snow day today?
What is your favorite thing to do on a day off?

In health,

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