Thinking Out Loud Thursday 8/14/14

Lots of randomness in my brain today so I was happy to link up for Thinking Out Loud Thursdays. 

1.  HOLY MOLY. Hood to Coast is less than a week away now. I'm not packed, literally ordered my headlamp off Amazon yesterday, and am not feeling ready to run almost 16 miles in 24 hours. Also it's been a few years since I've been on such a long flight, and I've never travelled so far completely alone. However, I'm beyond excited to make a bunch of Nuun friends and see the Pacific Northwest. I also flipped out when I read on the itinerary we'd be touring the new Brooks Headquarters in Seattle! Crossing my fingers for some free shoes...or a job offer-one can dream! And yes I'm still holding out that Kara Goucher drops by.

2. My quads are SO sore today from the November Project workout yesterday. I don't know why but lunges always kill my legs. I didn't foamroll last night either, whoops. 

Good lucking sweaty group of people on Wednesday morning

Teams of 4 split a ladder workout of 500 mountain climbers, 400 squats. 300 lunges, 200 push ups, 150 burpees, and 100 box jumps plus running stairs in between each one. My team only made it past the push ups, but don't worry, it was still a killer workout!

Chuck 12 Race Recap

For the Charles Street 12 Miler this past weekend, I went in a bit unfazed. I am in the thick of marathon training and would have been running a similar mileage anyways. However, I was happy to be running in a race setting as a nice change of pace. I LOVE the blue Under Armour half zip premium this year and even got an extra goodie-a sweet UA backpack for completing the Charm City Run B3 race series. 

I didn't sleep well the night before and had to get up even earlier to get in an extra 4 slow miles to make the total for the day 16 miles, since I skipped my long run last week.  Sarah was meeting me at my apartment so my wonderful boyfriend could wake up to take us to the 7:30 AM start in Towson.  I had been in a rush to just barely get in my 4 extra miles before we left for the race so I didn't grab everything I wanted or do things like double knot my shoelaces (which I found out at mile 3).  I'm so not a morning person. 

"Would You Rather?" Runner's Edition

Yesterday morning as I ate breakfast I read this fun runner's version of "would you rather?" from Ruthie of She's Wicked Healthy and decided to share my answers today!

Also, I emailed the winners of my Delta Labs Green + sample giveaway, and they are displayed on the widget. Thanks everyone for entering! Remember you can always use the code BREATHEBLOG for $5 off any Delta Labs order here. 

The other day Smith of Running with SD Mom posted that she finally took the plunge and signed up for her first marathon after receiving advice from fellow running bloggers-check out here what I told her!

1. Would you rather run a 5k or a marathon?

Tough one, but I'd rather run a 5K. So much time and training goes into a marathon, which is worth it, but 5Ks can be so fun and are less stressful. I can usually convince more friends to run 5Ks with me too!

When I ran the Fiesta 5K for KIND Snacks with Holly

2. Would you rather run a flat race in the heat or a hilly race in the cold?

Is flat and cold an option, haha? I suppose I'd choose hilly race in the cold. Really hot races become uncomfortable and hard really fast, even though I prefer warm weather any other time besides running. 

3. Would you rather get new running shoes or a new running outfit?

New running shoes for sure. This girl loves shoes. 

My current training shoes (Adidas Energy Boost 2)- I love how bright pink they are!

The Road to 26.2-Training Update Week 6 and the Week 7 That Didn't Happen

Hello, August-why are you here so fast?! My summer seems especially busy this year and is flying by. Not cool. A busy schedule is hard to balance with marathon training which can be seen with my solid week 6 and pretty much non-existent week 7 of training. 

ON THE ROAD TO 26.2-WEEKS 6&7 (sort of)

Long run: Week 6 had a long run of 12 miles, and week 7 was supposed to be 15-17 miles.
Week 6 felt great. 12 miles with friends went well with a nice route along the harbor. I took a salted caramel Gu after mile 6 to stick with my marathon fueling plan, but I never felt super sluggish during the run. I was wearing some of my favorite running clothes including my Lululemon speed shorts and Brooks "Run Happy" shirt.  The weather was really mild with this strange unseasonable cool weather we have had the past couple of weeks in the Northeast.

I love Charm City Run!

#SpinSweatSip at Rev Cycle Studio Baltimore

Clearly I've talked about Baltimore's Rev Cycle Studio before and how much their spin classes rock. Sadly after my class package ran out I hadn't been back in months, until I was invited a couple of weeks ago to #SpinSweatSip , a meetup of sorts for some of Baltimore's social influencers.  Thanks to Annie for thinking of me!

The evening started off with us taking a shortened 45-minute REV60 Blast class taught by REV instructor Jami. 

The class is usually 60 minutes and combines 30 minutes of cycling with 30 minutes of interval riding paired with boot camp exercises off the bike for a full body strength & cardio workout!

Before class started you could totally tell we were a bunch of social media people because everybody was on their phones!

Photo from Kate

I had never taken a hybrid cycling class before so it was a unique experience to take REV60 Blast and my first class with the amazing Jami, who plays awesome music and definitely knows the way to motivate you to push yourself to get the most out of the class. 

 I liked the 20 minute cycling portion in the beginning of the class and found it hard to get back in the zone during the 20 minute blast  portion when I jumped off the bike to do strength exercises and then hopped back on for more intervals.  

Nevertheless, I liked getting a full-body workout experience all in one class!

10 Facts about Hood to Coast and Running with Team Nuun

This summer I've been telling people how excited I am to go out to Seattle & Portland and have heard multiple times "oh that's for some running thing, right?". YES. Some running thing with that hydration company I love and promote. 

Some running thing a.k.a. the largest relay in the world, nbd. 

With the increased popularity of series such as Ragnar, runners have become more familiar with relay races. I didn't know too much about Hood to Coast before I was officially running, besides that it was big, awesome, and on the west coast. That's all still true, but I thought I'd fill you in on more facts about the race since I'll be talking about it a lot in the upcoming weeks. 

I've been crazy excited because the relay is less than 30 days away!

1. Hood to Coast is a 200 mile (technically 199!) "mother of all relays" race that began in 1982 with only 8 teams and has grown with this year's relay race having 1,050 teams!

2. Hood to Coast (HTC) is the largest relay IN THE WORLD with a capped team limit for the past 22 years. They've filled the team cap on registration's opening day for the past 16 years straight!

Procakes Review and a Chocoholic Protein Shake

Disclaimer: Through my connection with Fit Approach and as a Sweat Pink Ambassador, I received a complimentary packet of Procakes. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own. 


Today I'm sharing two of my favorite recent breakfasts. I'm usually a big egg scramble or bowl of oatmeal with nut butter kinda girl, but I like to switch it up.

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day after all. 

Like I told you earlier this week, I love pancakes and waffles. Sadly I can't be eating diner pancakes the size of my face everyday so I often turn to various protein pancake recipes as a healthy, protein-packed way to start my day.  

Now while I've had some pretty good protein pancakes, I always know I'm eating protein pancakes and not the real deal.  Let's be honest. 

The texture is weird because of the flour (or lack thereof), egg whites, or protein. They are either too dry because of coconut flour, too eggy, or fall apart when I try to flip them. You also generally have to cook them low and slow because of the batter which usually isn't an option for me before work. 

I was really excited to try out ProCakes  which calls itself "comfort food for the fit inspired" through my Sweat Pink Ambassadorship.  ProCakes is a protein pancake mix which is high in protein, carb-smart, gluten-free, and free of added sugar. 

I love that it makes whipping up a plate of pancakes a breeze- all you add to the mix is 1 egg and 1/3 cup of milk!

You can check out the ingredients here, but the mix alone is only 165 calories with 13g of protein. 

Very Inspired Blogger Award + Froyo and Delta Labs Green Tea + Flash Giveaway!

Did you see my Chi Marathon training update yesterday?

Recently I was nominated for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award by Sweaty Mess Mama which is amazing. I didn't know she was a reader of mine, and I'm glad to hear she thinks I'm inspiring! Sometimes I forget that more than 5 people sometimes read this blog! 

So these are the award rules:

• Thank and link to the person who nominated you

• List the rules and display the award.(Voila!)

• Share seven facts about yourself.

• Nominate 15 other amazing blogs and comment on their posts to let them know they have been nominated. 

7 Facts about Lauren 

1. I love pancakes and waffles. Breakfast for dinner is always acceptable. 
2. I'm a huge Francophile and was a French minor in college.
3.  I always save room for dessert. 
4. If Sex and the City is on TV, I watch it-even though I've seen every episode at least 10 times. (i.e. this weekend, haha)
5. I don't really own matching workout/running clothes. I should buy some more matching outfits. 
6. I'm easily scared and pretty jumpy. Yeah, not a fan of scary movies. 
7. My feet are always cold-I usually need to sleep with socks!