A Day in the Summer Life of @THEMIRNAVATOR

Friday, July 10th

One of the great things about being a teacher is having time during the summer to focus on training  for particular events (along with preparing materials and having meetings for the upcoming school year--it's not all play so DON'T GET IT TWISTED!)

I wanted to give a glimpse of what I like to do during my "lazy" summer days:

This week I have my sister and her family visiting from New York. I love having family and friends over because they expect that they'll be really active the entire time they are visiting and they LOVE IT. We go hiking, swimming, walking. We garden (this is new to me--we're city folks), fish (I don't really fish but my sis and brother in law do!) cook great food, wake up with the sun, and relax on the porch.

My niece enjoying some time out of NYC

Today I got up at 6am. I made coffee and drank it (inhaled it, really) then did PiYO Lower Body Focus. This is a great pre-running dynamic workout that gently stretches and strengthen your legs. PiYO is one of my favorite Beachbody videos. On a typical day, I like to do a video or two to get the blood moving. Also, I just really like exercise videos because it gives me the chance to try out different sorts of physical activity without traveling to a gym. I LOVE gyms too, especially Lifetime Fitness.

Next, my brother-in-law, my running buddy/colleague Rebecca (who ran her first marathon at Tortoise and The Hare 12 Hour Ultra last month!), and I ran a local dirt road (from 3.6-4.6 miles.)

The views were astounding as they always are.

We often have very foggy mornings in the North Georgia Mountains

And then there are the cows. They are EVERYWHERE. They are gorgeous. Jealous yet?

After our run, we did a set of body weight exercises from yesterday to warm up:

25 jumping jacks

15 squats

10 jumping squats

10 pushups

10 walking lunges

Then we did 3 sets of the following:

15 Kettle Bell Swings (I love this video for a great Kettlebell Workout)

The Bro-in-law 

10 Sandbag tosses ( I love this sandbag workout)--And my sandbag is a 20 pounder)

Rebecca, my running buddy quoted in RW

15 Russian Twists

Me with a post gum surgery swollen face

For many, this may not seem like a lot. But the point is to do SOMETHING everyday or at least most days of the week. Make it a habit. Make a commitment to yourself and then make an appointment with yourself.

Worried about equipment/clothing costs? I've acquired all of my weights, clothes and various training paraphernalia over the years. One year I bought a kettle bell from Wallyworld, another I bought some dumbbells and even got some for my birthday, and the medicine ball...well, let's just say it's on long-term loan from one of the schools I taught at. Two colleagues gave me a spin bike that they used maybe three times. I bought my first treadmill from HSN on the easy-pay plan because I didn't have a spare $600 lying around.  Another friend from college supplied me with a top of the line NordicTrack treadmill simply because I had joked online that I needed a treadmill. A few days later, my husband brought it to me from NYC.

Put it out there. It will come.

Adidas I got on sale at the New York Running Company for $50. There are sales everywhere. There are consignment shops, too. Also, there is Nordstrom Rack! If there is one near you and you need a pair of running shoes, get there immediately. They have discontinued models and big shoes for those of us that either have WIDE feet or extra long feet. I wear a size 11 and sometimes 12 depending on the shoe and many places and websites don't always carry sizes above a women's 10 (which is stupid.)

Shirt was from the Double Tap 50K, an awesome brushed cotton-poly blend that is great for working out in or wearing to Walmart.

Compression shorts are from Road Runner Sports. These shorts aren't super tight and they hold your stuff in so you're not jiggling around unnecessarily all over the place. That's not fun.

Socks are Darn Tough wool socks that I got for free at the Finger Lakes 50s event this past weekend. These socks are second only to my absolute favorite Swiftwick running socks. Sign up for an event and you'll either get a shirt, pint-glass, free socks or arm-warmers (like in The North Face Endurance Challenge) or other types of samples from sponsors.

Hat was $5 at the Finger Lakes 50s because who doesn't need another cap?

And drumroll........the BRA is theVictoria's Secret Incredible Bra (for high impact activities)-I'm not gonna lie--None of the models represent what I look like in the bra, but at this point I need a bra that works. It was also expensive but it is one of the best sports bras I've had, second only to Moving Comfort. Give it a chance ladies--I know, VS is not the brand that automatically comes to mind when one is purchasing a sports bra. I was extremely skeptical myself but decided to try it out. I was not disappointed.

Anyways, whatever you wear and whatever you do-DO IT and be LOUD and PROUD. Get your family and friends in on it and make it a party, a daily celebration of life and health.