Fun Fitness Survey

I was browsing through the drafts of posts I never completed and found this fun fitness survey from July 2013. I can't remember where it originated, but I thought it would be fun to fill out now!

1. What did you eat for breakfast? Leftover white rice with a vanilla protein shake, cinnamon, and raisins warmed up in the microwave. Also, a banana.

2. How much water do you drink a day? Not enough. :(

3. What is your current favorite workout? Running's my favorite, but you all know that. :)

4. How many calories do you eat a day? No idea. Not a calorie counter.

5. What are your favorite healthy snacks? Carrot sticks and hummus.

6. What do you usually eat for lunch? Leftovers.

7. What is your favorite body part to strength train? Strength training is my weakness. Not sure I have a favorite body part.

8. What is your least favorite body part to strength train? Same answer as #7.

9. What are your “bad” food cravings? I have a MAJOR sweet tooth. :-(

10. Do you take vitamins or supplements? Nope.

11. How often do you eat out? Not very often. Maybe a couple times a month.

12. Who is your biggest supporter? My husband, of course!

13. Do you have a gym membership? No. I prefer working out at home.

14. How many hours of sleep do you get a night? Generally around 7ish.

15. Do you have a “cheat”day? Every day is a cheat day. lol.

16. Do you drink alcohol? I mean, not excessively.

17. Do you have a workout buddy? I'm mostly a solo girl, but sometimes Jeff will workout with me, and I have a few local running friends that I sometimes get together with for a run.

18. What is the best thing that has changed about your life since committing to a healthy lifestyle? Idk. More energy?

19. What was the last healthy thing you did? Yoga this morning.

Feel free to play along. Answer in the comments or on your blog.
Do you ever come back to drafts years later?
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Staying Fit While Traveling

Good morning! It's FRIDAY!

And I think that summer is officially HERE! I know most people think of Memorial Day weekend as the unofficial start to summer, but I think more when school is out - even though I'm no longer in school.

With summer, comes travel. At least I like to pretend. :) We don't really have too many travel plans on the agenda the year, but a girl can dream.

And be prepared.

Ready for the Weekend!

Happy Friday!! Even though it was a short week with Monday being a holiday, I'm more than ready for the WEEKEND!

We ordered Bountiful Baskets to pick up this weekend. Yay for fresh produce! I usually drive to pick it up, but we're hoping to hop on our bikes tomorrow morning. We biked to pick up our basket the very first week we participated, and NEVER AGAIN! Oops! That was more than a year ago. Wow!

Speaking of biking, we really need to get back in the saddle. :) We're still hoping to get in our first triathlon this year. Even though, we'll be doing a sprint distance, and we certainly won't be racing, we still need to get used to being back on the bike. We still haven't decided on a specific triathlon. We were thinking about doing the Solana Beach Triathlon in July, but we've decided against that one. I'm still feeling a bit of twinging pain in my butt, and I'm not sure if I'll be ready for that kind of race in just two months. Plus, I'm a bit nervous about doing a tri in the ocean - without living near enough one to practice. :)

In the meantime, I just need to get on my bike MORE! I think I've only biked to work ONCE in the past SEVERAL months. Yikes! I used to be so good about it. Now, I always seem to have one excuse or another or I simply didn't prepare the night before.

In addition to biking to Bountiful Baskets tomorrow, We're also hoping to join a few friends for a trail run/hike Sunday morning! Yay for active weekends. :) I hope I feel good enough after tomorrow's bike ride to head up to Mt Charleston on Sunday. I just want this pain to go away! I know I need to do a little more research on some good stretches and strengthening moves to heal properly. And give it some time.

Now, I've got to get a move on, but here's a random conversation I had with a co-worker earlier this week.

HIM: So, how many marathons did you run this weekend?
ME (being a smart-ass): None.
HIM (looking perplexed): Oh, you took the weekend off?
ME (laughing a little): Not really. I just didn't run any marathons. I only ran a half Saturday morning and a 5k Saturday night.
HIM (looking impressed): Wow. I don't know how you do it.

I love conversations like that! One of the best parts of being a runner is the bragging rights! lol.

What are your weekend plans? Anyone racing?
Do you run for the bragging rights? Or is that just me?
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I'm linking up with Jill today for Fitness Fridays.
Go check out how everyone else is celebrating fitness today.

Fitness Friday 4/11 - Race Updates

HAPPY FRIDAY!! Anyone else ready for the weekend?

It's going to be a great one! I'm hoping to get in a couple runs tomorrow, and then Jeff and I are volunteering at GREENFest. We'll be working in the Green Vehicle area from 10-2, so if you're around, come and say hello.

And then, I may join  a few girlfriends for a  GNO. :)

Definitely a fun and exciting weekend ahead.

Here are a few other things that are exciting me this morning...

#LVKickOffNight 5k recap

TGIF, my friends! Actually, this week really seemed to fly by! I could hardly believe that yesterday was Thursday, and now it's Friday already. Woot woot!!

Wednesday night after work, I headed straight to Red Rock Running Company for the #LVKickOffNight 5k fun run. I arrived just in time for the group to be heading out of the store. :)

I met up with George, and we were off!

The guy leading the group started out with a much faster pace than I'd expected, but I did my best to keep up with the group. Every time I glanced down at my watch and saw sub-9:00 paces, I couldn't help but smile just a little. Turns out this was going to be a tempo run.

5 for Friday: Running Edition

Happy Friday! Who's ready for the weekend? I know I am!!

I've been running like crazy lately. :) Well, crazy for me. Crazy good, of course. I've got a few running things on my mind, so I thought I'd share them all with you in one quick little post.

1. Running partners. You all know how I sometimes run with my little dog Sallie. She always excited to join me and wants to go out every time I lace up my shoes, but this past week, I had a new favorite partner to join me - JEFF! He started running a bit with our neighbor and joined me for 2 miles once this week. I'm excited to start logging more miles with him.

I also joined a Twitter friend for a trail run last weekend (and maybe tomorrow). We'd never run together, and it was fun to meet up with George for a loop at Red Rock.

2. Running Story. One morning last week, I was out for my morning run. As I passed by the Convention Center, a little old security guard got my attention to say, "If he wants you to look good, he should be out here with you." That totally made me laugh. And when I told Jeff about it a few days later, he thought it was the funniest thing. Definitely blog worthy. Ha!

3. Running Shoes. I'm starting to feel like a real runner. Check out this pile of shoes. And this is just what I've left in the living room. :)

4. Running Goal. You might recall that one of my goals for 2014 is to run a sub-25 min 5k. I've got a lot of work to do! My plan at the beginning of the year was to incorporate speed work into my training. I've decided to define that a little bit more. I'm hoping to do a tempo run at least 2x each month, starting in March. Each month, I'll increase my minimum tempo pace by 15 secs, so by Dec, my tempo pace will be 8'00". For March, my goal tempo pace is 10'15". Yesterday was my first tempo run of the month, and I blew this goal out of the water with an average pace of 9'22". If I can keep this up, I'll be looking good for this 2014 goal. :)

5. Running Link. Before my tempo run yesterday, I tested out this quick pre-run yoga routine over at Oiselle. I think it really helped to loosen me up for a great run. Try it out!

I'm linking up with Jill today for Fitness Fridays. Go check out how everyone else is celebrating fitness today.

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5 for Friday

I hate that I'm being so whiny about this stinking cold. In some ways, it's gotten better, but in other ways it's gotten worse. I am really looking forward to the weekend, so I can sleep and rest and consume a LOT of liquids. :)

For Fitness Friday, I thought I'd share a few of the blog posts I've pinned in the past week. Click on the pics to go to the post.

Kristin at Exploring Domesticity shares her thoughts on week 2 of the Move, Nourish, Believe Challenge. I loved this image that she created. I know I need to remember this more often.

Fitness Friday 1/24

Not too much to say this morning, so here's a little update on my #sunmoonchallenge.

With just a couple hiccups, I've been pretty good with the sun salutations, but the moons have been a lot more difficult to maintain. This past week has been the most difficult. My cold was a bit worse. Not terrible. Not enough to keep me home from work. Just enough to have that icky, mucus dripping down my throat, nastiness that makes you crazy!!

As for my weekly recap, I didn't do the best this week. :(

Friday, 1/17

• #sunmoonchallenge - 7 suns, 0 moons
• walked 4-5 miles to the Stratosphere and home again

Saturday, 1/18

• NOT A DAMN THING :(

Sunday, 1/19

• #sunmoonchallenge - 19 suns, 0 moons
• 6.2 mile run

Monday, 1/20

• #sunmoonchallenge - 20 suns, 0 moons

Tuesday, 1/21

Wednesday, 1/22

• #sunmoonchallenge - 22 suns, 0 moons

Thursday, 1/23

• #sunmoonchallenge - 7 suns, 1 moon

I was a lot less mucusy when I woke up this morning, so I'm hoping that I'm on the mend.

So, the challenge hasn't been perfect, but I'm hoping to finish the month out strong. I've still got one week to go.

Random thoughts about the doing the salutations.

I'm loving the suns in the morning. I always start out real slow with them. Letting myself really sink into the poses. The first few are always so tight, and it feels amazing to stretch it out.

I can have ZERO distractions when doing the suns. Even if the thoughts in my head stray from my practice, I lose count (even with my clicker app) and forget which foot to move back or forward.

Moon salutations are easy to forget. I usually push my bedtime to the last minute, and then I crawl right into bed. Some nights I remember, and simply don't want to crawl back out of bed.

Moon salutations both get my heart pumping and relax me for sleep. The first couple of nights, I was really amazed at how I felt after doing a moon salutation or two. My heart would be really pumping, but I was surprised at how I simultaneously felt jazzed and ready for sleep.

Breathing. Sometimes I have a difficult time breathing. I've had doctors check it out in the past, and they ruled out asthma, but couldn't really offer a diagnosis. It comes and goes. Could be stress-related. Anyway, I was really hoping that a month of yoga would help with the breathing issues. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened. The past few days have been the worst. What are you gonna do? Just keep going, I guess.

Are you doing the January Challenge with me? What are your experiences with the challenge? Don't forget to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for a chance to win a Barefoot Eco Yoga Mat. If you haven't joined the challenge, why not start today?

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Any exciting weekend plans? Jeff has really caught the yoga bug, so we're planning on having a yoga weekend. We recently got a few new yoga toys that we're excited to try. Like this yoga trapeze.

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Fitness Friday 1/17

For today's Fitness Friday, I thought it would be fun to link up with Cori from Olive to Run for a little Would You Rather.

#1. Would you rather run in a thunderstorm or a snowstorm? This might come as a surprise, but I'd definitely prefer a snowstorm over a thunderstorm. There is something so calm and peaceful about running in the snow. Now, if the snow didn't have to come with cold...

#2. Would you rather breathe through your nose or breathe through your mouth? Nose. It just seems cleaner and healthier, though I do a lot of mouth breathing - especially when I run. Or have a cold.

#3. Would you rather do 100 squats or 100 crunches? [Now take a break and go do them. ;)] 100 squats. I don't know why. I think they seem easier. Gotta work my core more!

#4. Would you rather have a baked good for dessert or an extra serving of your favorite entree? Definitely a baked good. Or chocolate. Or anything sweet.

#5. Would you rather run on a treadmill for an hour or run around the same street block for an hour? Treadmill. At least there I could zone out instead of having to dodge pedestrians that aren't paying attention.

#6. Would you rather have a headache during a run or a side stitch? Hmm. I think I'd go with headache.

#7. Would you rather have a rest day on a work day or a day off? On a day off, so I can make it an active rest day and do something fun OR do absolutely NOTHING at all.

#8. Would you rather be a race director or a race volunteer? Definitely volunteer. It's so fun! Plus, you don't get all the negativity that RDs can sometimes get.

#9. Would you rather spend your money on running gadgets [HRM, GPS watch, Headphones] or running shoes? Running shoes. They don't seem to last as long as the gadgets, and really they're all you need. :)

#10. Would you rather run in a relay or do the run portion of a distance triathlon? I ♥ relays!! So, I guess I'd prefer them.

As for my weekly recap, I didn't do the best this week. :(

Friday, 1/10

• #sunmoonchallenge
• arms/abs

Saturday, 1/11

• #sunmoonchallenge
• 5 mile run

Sunday, 1/12

• #sunmoonchallenge

Monday, 1/13

• #sunmoonchallenge
• arms/abs
• 25 min run on the treadmill (2.59 miles)

Tuesday, 1/14

• #sunmoonchallenge

Wednesday, 1/15

• #sunmoonchallenge

Thursday, 1/16

• #sunmoonchallenge

My cold really kicked in earlier this week, so my workouts really petered off, plus work has been very stressful this week. Lots of changes and uncertainty. A few people were let go for some restructuring. Luckily not me, but some great, long-time employees. It was sad to see them go. :(

Now, if I can just kick this cold and refocus on my workouts and drinking water and BEING HAPPY!!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Any exciting weekend plans? Jeff and I are hopefully going to the top of the Stratosphere this weekend. It's free for locals in January, so I'm really excited to go! Plus, we get to check off January's new thing from our 2014 goals.

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Fitness Friday 1/10

It's finally FRIDAY!! It's been one LOOOONG week, and I am definitely ready for the weekend.

We're now 10 days into the New Year! I hope your year is off to a fabulous start. :)

I've got some pretty exciting news to share with you!!

You know that #SunMoonChallenge I started on Jan 1st? Well, I've got a giveaway lined up now!

Barefoot Yoga offers all kinds of great yoga supplies, clothing, and mats, and they've generously offered to give one of YOU a Hybrid Eco Mat.

I love anything that's eco-friendly, so I'm really excited about this mat. It doesn't contain phthalates or heavy metals, plus the method of production is completely non-toxic and latex free.

How awesome is that? I never really thought about a yoga mat containing toxins before, but I love that there's a mat out there that's non-toxic. Healthier for me AND better for the environment. Win-Win!

The Hybrid Eco Mat that's up for grabs

Even if you haven't been able to join the challenge yet, you can start today for your chance to win this mat. :)

Originally, the challenge was to start with one sun salutation in the morning and one moon salutation before bed and then add one of each every day.

If you're unfamiliar with the Sun Salutation A or the Moon Salutation, you can read this post for more info and helpful tips on doing these salutations.

Since I created the challenge without ever having done a moon salutation, by day 7, I decided that adding a salutation every day was too much for me for the moons.

Post by Enjoying the Course.

The intent behind the challenge was really to get us to the mat everyday, so I'm re-inviting all of you to join me! You can do just one sun and one moon every day OR you can do however many you want. Just be sure an do at least one sun and one moon each day from 1/10 through 1/31.

To enter the giveaway, use the Rafflecopter below to let me know when you've done your salutations.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
You may want to bookmark this Rafflecopter to easily enter every day. I'm also adding a tab to my Facebook page for your convenience. :)

NOTE: To be eligible to win, you need to be a US resident and enter at least 10x from 1/10-1/31. I've made the "Tweet about the Giveaway" a mandatory daily option, but if you're not on Twitter, just enter the number of salutations you did that day in the URL field. Ex. "Not on Twitter, but did 10 salutations."

Update: I've removed the at least 10x stipulation as a requirement to win.

And now for my weekly recap.

Saturday, 1/4

• #sunmoonchallenge (4 each)
• Weight-Free Arms and 8-min Abs

Sunday, 1/5

• #sunmoonchallenge (5 each)
• 3 mile run

Monday, 1/6

• #sunmoonchallenge (6 each)
• Arms and Abs

Tuesday, 1/7

• #sunmoonchallenge (7 sun; 3 moon)

Wednesday, 1/8

• #sunmoonchallenge (8 sun; 1 moon)
• Arms and Abs

Thursday, 1/9

• #sunmoonchallenge (9 sun; 3 moon)
• 2.65 mile run

Highlights
I'm really enjoying this yoga challenge. Even though I've changed my expectations for the moon salutations, I love the stretching I'm doing every day with these sequences. I'm trying to really focus on deepening my poses. A couple of days ago, I even made the switch from Cobra to Updog! :-D

My energy has been completely zapped in the evenings after work. I missed my run on Tuesday because I was so busy before work and then so tired after work. :( I more than made up for it with yesterday's treadmill run, though. It was a short distance, but I really pushed it - doing intervals in the 8.0+ and resting at 6.0. I'm not used to that kind of speed, but I figure that's one step to getting used to it again.

That's about it for this week's Fitness Friday. After you've finished your morning sun salutations, hop on over to Jill's to see what everyone else is talking about fitness today.
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Fitness Friday 1/3

As I mentioned in my New Year's post, I'm going to start participating in Fitness Friday with Jill Conyers.

Since it's still so close to the New Year, and I'm just finding my new blogging groove, I don't really have too much to say this morning.

So, I'll just share this pic I found on Pinterest the other day. What a great thing to keep in mind as we enter the new year and all year long!

Here's my weekly recap, starting on the 1st.

Jan 1st

• Started my #sunmoonchallenge with 1 sun salutation in the morning and 1 moon before bed. If you're joining the challenge, be sure and like me on FB for a daily check-in!
• 3-ish mile run with Sallie
• New Year's Workout

Jan 2nd

• #sunmoonchallenge
• Arms and Abs 

Jan 3rd

• #sunmoonchallenge
• 3 mile run

Highlights
The arm workout I did yesterday was TOUGH! I was so sore immediately afterward that washing my hair was ooh! so rough!! The soreness subsided for most of the day yesterday, but it's back with a vengeance this morning - especially my elbows. :)

Today's 3 mile run was AWESOME! It was SO COLD 41°F that I ran my fastest pace in a LONG while. I just wanted to get out of the cold. Ha! But it felt good running at that pace. I didn't feel like I was dying. At all. No, I felt like a gazelle.

How's your New Year starting out?
On your best runs, which animal do you identify with? I always like to imagine I have the grace and speed of a gazelle. Not sure why.

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Working It Recap:: May 17-23

Seriously?? Another week has gone by??

I'm honestly not sure where this week went, but CHECK OUT MY CHART!!!

There are only FOUR frowny faces. Pretty nigh on to a perfect week, exercise-wise. ;-) Whoop whoop.

Date	Cardio	Sexy for Summer	Strength Training	Commute
Fri 5/17	Cardio at home (jumping jacks, high knees, butt kickers, etc)	95 squats 65 sec plank	Upper Body Blast	YAY!!
Sat 5/18		100 squats 70 sec plank		WEEKEND
Sun 5/19	9 mile run	100 squats 50 lunges (25 per side) (2) 60 sec planks	REST	WEEKEND
Mon 5/20	Morning Flow Yoga	120 squats 75 sec plank	Yoga for Runners #1	YAY!!
Tue 5/21	50 jumping jacks	125 squats 80 sec plank	Triceps Tuesday	YAY!!
Wed 5/22	1 mile run (8:08 Whoo hoo)	135 squats 85 sec plank	Attempted a pull-up
Thu 5/23	REST	REST	REST

And a few other things on my mind....

1. I'm having fun spending some time over at the What's Beautiful website. There are so many awesomely inspiring, beautiful women out there, and I'm so honored to be a sponsored participant through Fitfluential. If you haven't signed up yet, what are you waiting for? Go here, set a goal, join a team or two, and let's redefine Beauty together. Maybe you'll even win a trip to Costa Rica for yoga and surfing lessons. Wouldn't that be fun?!

2. National Running Day is in less than two weeks. Will you be running? I created an event on my Facebook page. You should totally sign up! It's purely for fun. There aren't any prizes or anything, but hopefully lots of support and inspiration.

3. I ran my fastest mile yesterday (that I can remember at least). Here's what it looked like when I was finished.



I also tried a pull-up. Check out the video on my What's Beautiful profile.

How were your workouts this past week?
What are your plans for the long weekend? I'm picking up my very first Bountiful Basket Saturday morning and going to the Las Vegas 51s baseball game Friday night, but I've got no other plans. Probably a run or two and hopefully lots of time at the pool.
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Working It recap:: May 10-16

Where did the week go? I can't believe it's already Friday!!
Not that I'm complaining...

As you can see, I'm getting a bit more consistent! Yay!!

Strength training is definitely my weakest link, but I am getting some from the Sexy for Summer challenge, so I don't feel too terrible about it. It's definitely the first to get skipped, though, when I'm running late.

Date	Cardio	Sexy for Summer	Strength Training	Commute
Fri 5/10	3 mile Speed work (Treadmill)	70 squats 50 sec plank	300 Abs
Sat 5/11		70 squats (2) 30 sec plank 30 lunges		WEEKEND
Sun 5/12	6 mile run	REST	REST	WEEKEND
Mon 5/13		75 squats 55 sec plank		YAY!
Tue 5/14		80 squats 60 sec plank
Wed 5/15	4.5 miles Speed work	REST
Thu 5/16	Jump off Jiggle	90 squats 60 sec plank		YAY!

Remember last week when I mentioned that the worst section of my bike commute was getting repaved? Well, apparently I was wrong. While the road was closed for repaving, the section that was repaved was not the worst of it. *sigh*

This week, I wasn't feeling well on Tuesday, so I drove to work. On Wednesday, I was going out to dinner with a vendor and some co-workers. Since we were leaving right from work, I chose not to bike. Didn't want to get to the fancy restaurant all sweaty. ;-)

Also, since I was out to dinner until after 9pm last night, we skipped the Sexy for Summer challenge. I marked it as a REST day yesterday, because we decided to just shift the challenge to accommodate.

How were your workouts this week?
Which of your fitness goals is the easiest for you to skip (your weakest link)?
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Fitness Friday - First Week of May

Are you ready for the weekend? I sure am. :) It's been a long week.

DOMS + period + sore throat = Clarinda's down for the count.

I called in sick Wednesday. It was kind of nice to have a mid-week respite, but being sick wasn't so fun. :( Despite being sick, we are still on track for our Sexy for Summer challenge. whoo hoo!

In April, I tried doing a weekly review of my fitness goals, and, unfortunately, I wasn't very consistent. Sometimes, I just have difficulty blogging on Sundays. I want to be outside or lounging and spending time with Jeff.

So, for May, I decided to move my weekly reviews to Fridays. Of course, I didn't decide that until after last Friday, so here's a look at what I've done since May 1st.

Still not perfect, but there are a few less frowny faces out there.

Date	Cardio	Sexy for Summer	Arms	Commute
Wed 5/1		25 squats 20 sec plank		YAY!!
Thu 5/2		30 squats 25 sec plank		YAY!!
Fri 5/3		35 squats 30 sec plank
Sat 5/4	Race for the Cure 5K	40 squats 30 sec plank		7.4 mile bike to the race
Sun 5/5	8 mile run	REST	REST	WEEKEND
Mon 5/6	Indoor Cardio Crusher	45 squats 35 sec plank	Upper Body Blaster
Tue 5/7		50 squats 35 sec plank
Wed 5/8		60 squats 40 sec plank		called in sick
Thu 5/9	3 mile run	65 squats 45 sec plank	Triceps (dips, kickbacks, extensions)

I know, I know.

I didn't commute once this week. 

Partly, I was lazy. 

Partly, I was sick. 

Mostly, the crappiest section of my bike route is being re-paved this week. (yay!) With the re-paving, that section was closed, and I'd be forced to bike on roads with heavier traffic, so for safety sake, I chose to drive.

Any fun weekend plans? I'm doing a Girls Night with a few friends! I've been looking forward to it for a couple weeks now, so tonight can't get here fast enough.

And for fitness? Since I only ran once this week, I'd like to get in some speed work and maybe 9-10 miles. Not sure which to do on which day. What do you suggest?

Fitness Friday: Post-Run Routines {Part 2}

Waaaay back in Oct, I wrote a post about my post-run routines. I meant to do a follow-up post with some of the stretches that I do in addition to those simple strength exercises.

I really did take the pictures the very next week!

But then other things got in the way, and I never got around to fiddling with them to get them ready to post. Until this morning.

Now, this is what I do, and it works for me. I know my form isn't perfect, but it's still stretching and helps me feel better after running.

Of course, I'm on a hiatus until January 1st. I can't wait to run and do this stretches again soon!

Like I mentioned in that earlier post, I don't know the names of these stretches, but I'll try to describe them.

1. Lie on your back. Raise one leg straight until it is perpendicular (somewhat) to the floor. The other leg can either be flat or bent at the knee.

2. Lie on your back. Bend one leg and draw knee to chest. Keep other leg flat on the floor.

3. Lie on your back. Place ankle on opposite knee. Draw bent leg toward chest.

4. Lie on your back. Bend one leg and twist body away from bent leg.

Hold each stretch for a minimum count of 15. Remember to stretch both legs!

This is what has been working for me.

What are your favorite post-run stretches?
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