Nike Takes to the Studio

This past week has been very busy. With running, basketball, and watching the Australian Open tennis tournament every evening, I have been extremely busy! Sorry that I have been neglecting the blog, but here's a quick post to catch you up to date!

This past week I have experimented with becoming vegan, and so far so good. I really haven't struggled much, except when a huge pizza was sitting on the counter - covered in cheese, but I held strong. I must say I have felt a bit better and my skin seems to be clearer. I am enjoying the challenge and can't wait to see what this does for my running ability. I have found a lot of great recipes to try, so I am looking forward to giving them a shot soon.

I just found these crazy shoes on the Nike Pinterest page. The Nike Studio Wrap looks like such a great idea. I love doing barefoot classes at the gym, such as kickboxing, taekwondo and yoga. These shoes would offer great traction and be a unique sight at the gym. I can't wait to try them out in February when Nike releases them online and in stores. What do you think?

How has your training been going? I know some of my friends have been crushing their mileage recently and are beginning to train for upcoming races. I have hit 70 miles for this month and am hoping to be close to 100 my January 30. 

The Nike+ Fuelband Family Grows!

The Nike+ Fuelband is a relatively new product from Nike. I have been using mine since April of this year. Many people wonder what exactly "Nike Fuel" is and I want to let you know how I have been able to gain so much fitness and motivate myself to push harder with this little device. It's a way to track and measure your daily activity level without ever having to journal in a notebook or log every workout. Just put the bracelet on every day, workout as usual and sync wirelessly with your iPhone! 

The three Fuelband colors!

Nike Fuel is a measure of activity and that activity is measured the same no matter what activity you are doing. You can compete with your friends in different sports and at different times a day because all of your activity is measured the same. Whether you play basketball, football, soccer, tennis, or run; all these activities are measured and calculated using Nike Fuel. When you connect with your friends on Facebook you can see their goals and compete for the top spot on the leader board! 

I had the pleasure of meeting some of the members of the Nike+ Fuelband team at the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco and they were an awesome group. They had their new "White Ice" Fuelband with them and we got to try it on! It is a great new color and comes out just in time for the holidays. On October 31st you can get your hands on one of these at a Nike retail store, Apple store or online! 

The Nike+ Fuelband is a great fitness tool that I use to motivate myself to move more every day. Sometimes I set my goals higher, sometimes lower, but I always try to move more. The competitive side of me loves competing with my friends and my own previous records. So far I have earned over 1,000,000 Nike Fuel and am working on the two million mark. With more and more of my friends joining the challenge every day and getting their own Fuelbands, the competition just keeps heating up! Are you going to join the movement?

Preparation Breeds Success

Marathon training officially begins tomorrow. I have a 4 mile run in the morning and then I will have officially begun the journey. Today was spent in a frantic flurry of wrapping up final details. I had no idea how much I had on my list today. This is everything that I felt was important to finish before training began so I would have no distractions or excuses. 

• I finished my "Marathon Bible," a collection of recipes, meal plans, workouts and my training schedule so I never have an excuse not to go on my run or eat a healthy meal or snack. 
• Created a training plan for one of my friends to complete their fastest 12k
• I washed 5 loads of laundry
• Went shopping for healthy, vegan food
• Weight lifted
• Cleaned my apartment from top to bottom
• Packed my workout bags (yes, that is plural, I have an insane amount of things I take with me to the gym)
• Baked a berry crisp 
• And treated myself to a new pair of jeans

I now have no excuse to fail and everything prepared for this week. Right now I am prepared to push forward and am excited to begin. I know there will be ups and downs but I am ready. I have been gearing myself up for this day for the last few weeks. None of the excitement at being chosen to train with Nike Women has worn off yet and I am even more excited to see what the next few months bring. I am officially living my dream. Watching the Olympic Trials for Track at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon this weekend just spurred on my desire to compete and train. 

Stay tuned for my race training updates! 

Nike Free TR Fit

After weeks of perusing websites, trying on shoes, and going back and forth between all the shoe options out there, I finally settled on a pair of Nike Free TR's.

The smile on my face has not left me for days. I love working out in my Nike Free's. They are so light on my feet that I sometimes forget I am wearing shoes. And their flexibility is unmatched. I folded the shoe in half and it sprang back as if it were a boomerang, always returning to where it originated.

I can't believe I didn't own a pair sooner. Now I want to buy them in every color and version (they come in a style made for winter training). The winter version is treated to keep the cold and wetness of winter out, while allowing your feet to breathe.

My Christmas list this year has a lot of Nike products on it. Hopefully some of my wishes will come true! If you haven't checked out the Nike Free TR's, do so soon, you won't regret it!