My No Good, Unfair, Sucky Post

Setbacks...every athlete has them and guess what? They suck!! Fortunately for me, I have never had a setback dealing with broken bones (knock on wood). Unfortunately for me there is a history of bad backs in my family and yup you guess it..it got passed down to me too.

Just when I was getting into a good, steady flow of running 3-4 miles about five times a week, it hit me. The back pain is so horrible and definitely way worse than I have ever had before.  I’ve had soreness before in my back that kept me from playing softball as best as I could junior year of high school, but I never had to sit out of a game.

Now…Im not going to call exercising an obsession for me but it is definitely something that I love to do, it puts me in a good mood and I feel good for the rest of the day. Not being able to work out is putting me in a slump and it has to stop.

I ended up calling Physical Medicine to schedule an appointment and luckily I got in today right away this morning. After my check up, I got sent to the 2^nd floor for Radiology to get x-rays. Hopefully I will finally be able to figure out what is wrong with my back and I can hit the pavement again.

New Beginnings

Alright so I have been M.I.A. from my blog for a little while but I have a good reason…I graduated!!! So of course I’ve been celebrating this whole weekend.

I woke up on the morning of my graduation and went for a run. I even got David to go with me! (surprise, surprise) After that we had to get ready for the day. We kind of cut things short so we had to eat on the run…so I chose a lunch for champions… J Peanut m&ms!

YUMMY!

Graduation was soooo LONG! Two hours of listening to speeches and people’s names getting called off and finally I was done. Then it was picture time.

David HATES getting his picture taken…let’s just hope he gets a bit better as we continue dating.  Then it was time to eat and I was starving. We ate at Anchor Bay and I had a delicious Chicken Caesar salad wrap and some sweet potato fries (sorry no pictures…I basically inhaled everything set in front of me).

After dinner David and I had a fun night out with friends to celebrate with a much needed recovery period the next day. 

Me and my girlies!

Now I’m back to the job search with a second interview on Wednesday for an internship. (Wish me luck!)

Step by Step

Do you ever wonder how many steps you take in a day? I know for me it was definitely not something that I ever thought about. ..that is before my mom gave me her old pedometer about three months ago.

The recommended goal of a single person is to walk 10,000 steps in a day. 10,000!? That was my initial thought to begin with. How the heck am I going to get 10,000 dang steps in a single day? That has to be about 10 miles right?? How naïve I was in my thinking.   For a person to get 10,000 steps in a day, you have to walk five miles.  “Ok…(I said to myself)…This isn’t too bad but let’s see just how many steps I do on an average day”

As I mentioned before, I went to college at UWSP and like many colleges students I didn’t live a hop, skip, and a jump away from my classes. Being the eco-friendly person I am (and going to an eco friendly school) meant I basically walked EVERYWHERE.  

So I woke up that first morning, put my pedometer on and started walking. After getting to my first class of the day, I was of course curious, so I opened up my pedometer and was definitely shocked. Just that quick 10 minute walk to class was actually ¾ of a mile…and I did that four times a day!! Just in that little bit of time….those four short walks a day..I was logging in 3 miles on my pedometer.

By the end of the day I was completely shocked by how much I walked during a single day. Also I was pleased to know that I was getting the amount I was supposed to. By the end of the day, I was logging about 18,000-21,000 steps, including my hour workout. Waaaaaaaaaaay over the recommended limit but it definitely made me feel good and now it is my goal every day.

I continue to wear my pedometer daily, actually now I feel completely naked and incompetent without it. Who else uses a pedometer and what are your stepping goals every day?

Finally it is Finals Week...

AND...I have nothing to stress about. I have zero finals..JACKPOT!.. and I finished all of my projects this week. I picked up my cap and gown and the tickets for the big day. I even got a graduation/party dress which is strapless (Oh boy!). Definitely a good reason to tone up these chicken wings that I call arms.
 

Ooooh pretty!

Now...whenever I need to learn how to do weights you should know I turn to my brother Adam. He has taught me basically everything I know about weights, which isn't a whole lot considering I am a self proclaimed cardio junkie. Lucky for me, he has made me a pretty, little chart to check off what I accomplish a long the way. Hopefully I will have something to show for it by next weekend.

All 3 sets of 15 reps	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Bicep Curls
Triceps Extension
Bent over Row
Shoulder Press
Overhead Triceps Extension
Chest Fly

As you can see, I will be doing 3 sets of 15 repetitions for each arm workout that I will be doing and they will be at a lower weight. I am looking to tone, not bulk up, so by doing more repetitions at a lower weight I will hopefully achieve this goal. These are some pretty standard exercises that you can find anywhere on the Internet.

Oh! And on a completely different note...I have fallen in LOVE...in love with Luna Bars that is!!! And with nutritional facts like 8g of protein and 5g of fiber I don't know how someone could not fall in love with them. Today I had the Luna Chocolate Raspberry and lets just say that it is the most delicious Luna Bar I have had to this day. It seriously tasted like a candy bar but the ingredients on the back are anything but unhealthy. I definitely recommend you picking up one of your own if you haven't tried it yet or even just going to their website to see what they are all about. http://www.lunabar.com/

What brand of protein/nutrition bars do you guys swear by?

Sooo, a little background about me...

Well as you know, my name is Kayla and I am from a small town in central Wisconsin where I have lived my whole life. I am a huge football and baseball enthusiast (don't be surprised if I blog about the Brewers a bit) and have been a very athletic and active person from 2nd grade until now. Growing up, I played softball, basketball, and volleyball and even tried to run in track (lets just say that didn't turn out too well).

After high school, I was at a stand still when it came to sports and fitness. With no competitive sports to play I was lost and didn't know what to do. I started going to the campus gym, working on my cardio mostly (Im still a newbie when it comes to weight training) but I felt that something was missing. I finally realized what it was... the competitive edge I had in high school. I missed it...plain and simple. There is no competitive edge when racing yourself on the treadmill and lets be honest...I was starting to feel a little bit like a hamster on a wheel.

I turned to intermurals to try and get my competitive fix but basketball and trenchball (a lot like dodgeball, google it) were just not enough. Plus it didn't help that the people I was playing against were just trying to relive their high school years.

My mom, my brother Adam, and ME!

This is about the time that I unexpectedly found 5K's. Now let me just say this...I hated running in high school...HATED IT! Whenever we had to run during basketball I wasn't the last runner but I was definitely not the first and you could hear me grumbling along the way. It just wasn't for me.

The first 5K that I stumbled upon was just this month on May 1st and I seriously mean stumbled upon. I came into this 5K with no training and little preparation, finding out about it only three weeks before it was going to happen. Luckily, I got my mom and brother to join me so that I didn't feel like I was the only one not prepared.

On the day of the 5K, inappropriately named Spring Thaw, temps were in the mid 30's and the wind was blowing at a pretty good speed. Definitely not ideal temps for a girl who doesn't know if she likes to run yet. Putting on my cheetah cuddle duds (Not a "gear girl" yet, plus I just love anything cheetah) I was determined to not only finish the race but do it under 30 minutes.

Bundled up with our ipods blasting, my brother, mom and I finished the race a little frozen but definitely looking forward to more 5K's (we are all a little competitive, must run in the blood). Also with a time of 28:51, I ranked 17th in my age class out of a total of 62. Not the best but with more preparation I know I can do better. The more important thing was that my goal of finishing under 30 minutes was reached.

Now its just time to look forward to Race #2 which is on June 11th in Wisconsin Rapids. Hopefully with a little more preparation and A LOT less wind, I can do much better on my next run and my new found "like" for 5K's will turn into something a little more like love.

Just the Beginning

Welcome to 5K-ayla...my first ever blog. I've been wanting to start a blog since becoming a Communication major two years ago but could never think of a catchy enough blog name. With a newly acquired interest in running, in particular 5K's, came the birth of 5K-ayla.

I created this blog to share the highs and lows of my running experience, healthy recipes (mostly) that I am starting to learn how to make and the active lifestyle I am trying to follow in my life after college. Its time for the real world and Im off and running (no pun intended).