I workout! ......And eat soo much

Do you? My weightlifting club at school recently posted this helpful article on what to eat and buy and the grocery store. I liked and wanted to keep it and share it, in case anyone is looking for good food ideas, whether you lift or not. Here's the link!

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/beginners_shopping_list.htm

And ain't it the truth.......

Tough Mudder!

"The toughest event on the planet!!"

That's the tagline you'll hear constantly at Tough Mudder events, media, and from workers there. While I'd say it's perhaps not the toughest event on the planet, it does give you a run for your money, and your balls! A good way to describe TM would be challenging your fears and determination. If you run a lot, 12 miles may not be a big deal to you. Most people, however, don't always jump in to some of the obstacles you'll see here. Some of the fears you may face are claustrophobia, electroshock, heights, and of course pain. I ran my first in Chicago in May this year, and my second several weeks ago in STL. The course for STL was pretty great, with a wide variety of obstacles and a lot of elevation changes. Here are some of the May experiences:

Wounded Warrior Carry! (In STL, I finally nutted up and carried a man twice my size on my back!):

Following the 17-foot jump:

The team, after the jump:

Endless running....

Another after jump photo op:

We survived the Electric Eel....

Belly-down through mud and water through live wires (up to 10,000 volts!):

While not everyone needs a teams to get through the obstacles, this is one big difference with TM: the brotherhood mentality. Everyone works together, everyone puts on a smile and gets through it. One of my favorite parts about TM, and the heart of it, is the pledge we all take before going out.

That's Tough Mudder. If you like getting dirty, working with friends and strangers, being badass, and feeling great about yourself, you'll love it. And the best part? Earning the delicious Dos Equis at the end. Hoorah!

Trail Running

Iowa is sometimes a challenging state to find a good, mind-stimulating exercise arena. Granted, there are days when I am simply working on flat speed and a good track is easy to find and better suited for training. However, when I'm working on endurance and hills, I need something to keep me mentally engaged.

A great trail I recently discovered is the Coralville Reservoir Trail, located in Coralville, IA. It's incredibly hard to find the address so I've taken the liberty to copy and paste it here from www.alltrails.com (great site for finding new paths):

3955 West Overlook Rd NE, Iowa City, IA 52240

I wasn't sure what to expect, except that the reviews listed it as a 4.4 mile looping trail with moderate hills. Indeed, for this area, it was a moderate difference in elevation. The only drawback was the complexity of the trails. It was truly a looping trail, but in the sense that there were many loops. Fortunately there are plenty of trail markers to let you know where you are. In fact there are a lot of different trail distractions, such as this "sculpture" that looks like a wooden igloo about a half mile in.

You'll definitely want to make sure your ankles and feet are up for this. I recommend some solid trail shoes before going out here, and be prepared for elevation changes.

Overall, I'd say this was a great trail. If you end up running ALL the paths, you'll also run into "trail training," stations along the way that let you work on muscles with pull up, pushups, climbing, etc. If you are in the Iowa City/Coralville area, I definitely recommend checking it out.