The Right Fit in Jewelry: Oia Jules on Etsy

Fashion update today!

 I am a huge fan of statement necklaces- I hope they never go out of style....or I would be out of luck!

They seem to be sticking around though, and even though I have quite a few, its still fun to update my accessories occasionally with a new piece. I recently came across the cutest jewelry designer on Etsy that I think you will enjoy.  It's called OIA JULES 

I picked out one necklace that I absolutely LOVED.

Upon checkout, I decided why not add another fun pink one from the sale section, for just $25!

I guess I'm loving pink this spring....

The jewelry is really well made and relatively affordable...and so cute!

I wore the necklace  first to work on Friday, with a beige Banana sweater and navy Banana sloan pants. I wanted the necklace to stand out so I paired it with the basics. I wanted the necklace to make a statement, so to speak! :)

Then on Saturday night, I wore it again- this time with this tipped silk tee in windowpane from JCrew, this black Banana blazer, and an older pair of hot pink corduroys from the Gap (no longer available).

P.S. I got a cut and color on Saturday from Kol at Salon Stella- she's so awesome! I have been seeing her for 6 years- she's the best!

Anyways, go check out Oia Jules on Etsy. She has tons of other cute necklaces- I'm actually tempted by the same necklace that I purchased in pink, but in blue:

Oia Jules  also has a ton of great earrings and bracelets as well. Check out her stuff, and let me know what you think!

Fitting Remarks: Graston Technique and Active Release Technique (A.R.T.) at Uptown Natural Care Center

If you have been reading the blog for awhile, you know that I have struggled (like so many other runners) with IT band issues in the past.

I foam roll regularly, and I have really tried to strengthen my butt and core (with barre classes, yoga, plank challenges!). I try to do the right things to stay on top of this issue, but sometimes it still flares up. I am starting to think it will plague me for life!

Fortunately, I have found an awesome clinic that has helped me work through this issue- the Uptown Natural Care Center!

I was referred to the Uptown Natural Care Center by several Calhoun Beach Running Club members who had gone there to see Dr. Jenna Boren. Jenna Boren is an elite runner, and a great doctor. Unfortunately, she moved to the West Coast last year. (Before she left, she did do a fun interview with the Right Fits- read it HERE!)

I was sad to see Jenna go, but her replacement, Dr. Tyler Crabtree  <-- follow him @Mpls_Chiro, is also great! I have had a few appointments with him this year for A.R.T. and Graston on my IT band, and I really think it helps a lot.

What is Graston Technique? I'm not a doctor, so I'll share the information straight from the source:

Graston Technique is a trademarked therapeutic method for diagnosing and treating disorders of the skeletal muscles and related connective tissue. The method employs a collection of six stainless steel tools of particular shape and size, which are used by practitioners to palpate patients' bodies in order to detect and resolve adhesions in the muscles and tendons.

So, that's the technical explanation...MY explanation? The doctor uses a crazy metal tool that is kinda painful to work out all the bad stuff! It feels like a really focused massage, but it works.

What is A.R.T.- or Active Release Technique?  Again, here's the experts' definition.

"ART is a patented, state of the art soft tissue system/movement based massage technique that treats problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves."

MY explanation? Paying a doctor to stretch you out really well!

Dr. Tyler Crabtree at the Uptown Natural Care Center performs both of these techniques. If you're experiencing IT band pain, or any other running injuries, make an appointment with him. He might even be able to squeeze you in before work, at the end of your workday, or even on Saturday mornings- pretty convenient!  I pay for the appointments out of pocket, but they are very affordable ($45). 

Dr. Crabtree worked out my IT band yesterday with both A.R.T. and Graston. This morning, my long run was 18 miles, and I survived the run without any serious pain (just a little bit of pain)- thanks to Uptown Natural Care Center of course!

**This post was NOT sponsored. Opinions are completely my own! I highly recommend the Uptown Natural Care Center for running related injuries.

I'm actually hoping I don't have to visit Dr. Crabtree too often. I plan to keep working my core (with this month's sit-up challenge!), lots of yoga and stretching, and of course, time with this my friend the trigger point foam roller. I also am taking more non-running and rest days this training season as well, to ensure my body fully recovers after each run. Fingers crossed that my plan works!

Fits On the Road: Frozen Minnehaha Falls!

I may complain a lot about the Minnesota winter this year, but its not ALL bad. In fact, on Sunday, after returning from Anandale (where I was for all the bachelorette fun) Dustin and I took Matilda to the Minnehaha dog park....Yes, she is wearing a cowl neck sweater. The Right Fit in dog fashion?

By the way, today is Matilda's 5th birthday. She has brought so much joy to our lives over the past 5 years...we love that furry pup!

She had a great time racing around in the snow, despite the cold temperatures.

After Tilda wore herself out, we headed over to Minnehaha Falls. I had seen a few other people's pictures of the frozen falls, so I knew that I needed to see them for myself. 

Tilda found them fascinating as well!

The hike down to the falls was actually kind of treacherous. I would suggest wearing snowpants, and boots with good traction, or maybe even a pair of Yak Trax. Someone has put up some temporary rope to hold onto when you climb down, but its still pretty dicey! Be careful, but give it a go, because its definitely worth it. Here are just a few of the awesome pictures we took from underneath the falls.

Pretty amazing, right?

Gorgeous.

I suppose this makes winter a little bit more bearable.

If you have time before spring arrives (if it EVER arrives), head to Minnehaha Falls for a quick little hike for some awesome views, courtesy of Mother Nature.

Hey- did you do your 20 old school sit-ups today? I did! Actually, I did them as part of a kettlebell class at Balance Fitness tonight. We did 5 sets of 20, so I think I'm good for today's challenge. Let me know how you did!

Fit Challenge: 26 Day Sit Up Challenge

I'm a little behind with March's challenge, so it won't be quite a 30 day challenge. It will be a 26 day challenge!

I have a beach vacation coming up, so that means I have to bare it all in a bikini. After hiding under multiple layers during this Polar Vortex, imbibing in all those hearty winter beers, and indulging in a little too much comfort food, I'm not all that excited about "bikini time." Its time to work those abs a bit...

I know, I know, belly fat is all about diet; you can't fix it with ab work. But let's assume we're all making some improvements to our diet this month too, in addition to the 26 day sit up challenge.

That's right- March is going to be a sit up challenge!

Now, I'm talking about old school all-the-way up, all-the-way down sit ups. The kind you used to do in gym class in middle school.

We'll officially start tomorrow, though I did 15 just now to get a feel for these old school sit ups..not too hard, but I don't know about 100 of them...

I hope you participate! We'll work our way up to 100 sit ups by the end of the month.

I'm guessing you probably know how to do a sit up, but just in case- here's how you do it!

1. Have your knees bent your feet placed flat on the ground.
2. Place your hands on opposing shoulders, so that your arms are crossed over your chest, or behind your head. 
3. Gently draw in your belly button to your spine
4. Keeping your feet on the ground, slowly and gently lift your head first, followed by your shoulder blades. Focus your eyes on your bent knees, all the while gently contracting the abdominal muscles. 
5. Pull up from the floor until you’re at a ninety-degree angle, or when the elbows are on, or past, the knees.

So simple :-) ! Good luck!

Fitting Remarks: Top 10 Worst People to Run Next to on a Treadmill

In my weekly recap from yesterday, you probably noticed that there was a lot of treadmill miles...in fact, all 45 miles of last week's running were on a treadmill- eeks! Not fun.

Though I started to get kind of used to the ol’ treadmill, I can't say I have learned to love it. I definitely prefer to run outside. It was a lot of time indoors pounding out the miles, but it did give me a lot of time to think about all the different people who I ran next to. 

With that said, I have come up with what I consider the Top 10 Worst People to Run Next To on a Treadmill.

1. The Chatty Kathy: I had one of these next to me the other day- he wanted to talk about my pace, what I was training for, how far I was going, etc., etc. Sometimes, I don't mind making small talk, but it’s not really that easy to make polite eye contact when running on the ‘mill without a high risk of an epic fall. Also, most of the time, I just want to zone out, rather than being locked into a conversation with a stranger- a conversation that everyone else at the gym is forced to overhear….

Most of all, I don't want to end up like this little guy:

2. The Lurker: This person doesn’t show up too often at my gym, as there are usually enough treadmills to go around. Yet occasionally, there is a lurker...that guy who is peering over your shoulder, trying to make sure you're not disobeying the 30 minute cardio limit (but really, who only runs for 30 minutes?) This guy is quick to hop onto your treadmill if you make a quick bathroom break. He also doesn’t hesitate to call you out for going over the time limit allotted by your gym policy. Need to wipe the sweat off the ‘mill afterwards? No time! The Lurker has already hopped on.

3. The Unwelcome Competitor: Every time you change your pace, he changes his. Every time you increase the incline, he peers over and does the same. At this point, I usually try to position my sweat towel over the pace/info so he can't see. Take that, Unwelcome Competitor!

4. The Faker: This guy turns up the treadmill as fast as it goes, sprints for about a minute, and then puts his feet on the sides for a "break". He spends more time "breaking" than actually running, but hey, look how fast he went!

5. The Jeans Guy:  Okay, more power to you for working out at all…but in jeans? I don’t want to know how nasty it gets inside those sweaty Levi's. It’s like skiing in jeans…100% failed fit!

6. The Cell Phone Talker:  I don’t want to hear all about your drunken weekend escapades.

7. The Grunter:  You’re working hard. You need to make sure we ALL know just HOW hard with several ugh, arghs, and uffdas…

8. The Overwhelming Body Odor Guy: The stench..it burns the nostrils! This guy hasn't washed his gym clothes in months, and has no plans to do so at any point in the near future.

9. The “High Perspire”: This person is sweating all over the place! I might be guilty of this one- I swear, the heat is always super high at my gym, and I finish most of my runs totally drenched. But there's nothing worse than getting a sweat shower from the guy on the treadmill next to you.

10. The Gas Passer:  I am wearing headphones.  Not a nose plug.

Just remember, the first rule of treadmill running is that you always select a treadmill that is on the end of a row if possible. Hopefully that means you only have to deal with a person on one side of you. Otherwise, you could be sandwiched between TWO people from the above list.

Do you have any others to add to this list? Please share in the comments!

Weekly Recap: Last Week of February and a Snow Bunny Bachelorette Party!

The week I was in Utah didn't deserve its own weekly recap, as my workouts were minimal (except snowboarding of course). I'll consider it a "cutback" week, and not stress too much about it.

However, by Monday, I was ready to delve into my Flying Pig Marathon training. Unfortunately, Minnesota weather wasn't on board will this idea. We received a foot of snow while we were in Park City, and the temperatures were still crazy low, so the trails (and roads for that matter) were still extremely icy. 

Icy trails and extremely cold temps meant that this week turned out to be a whole lot of treadmill time...

Monday: 7 miles on the treadmill, wall sits and planks

Tuesday: 8 miles on the treadmill with three 10-minute tempo intervals

Wednesday: 5 miles on the treadmill and kettlebells class at Balance Fitness <-- great class!

Thursday: 9 miles on the treadmill with "simulated" hills. I cranked up the incline for 4 minutes, then 4 minutes at zero incline, repeating this about 6 times. It felt pretty similar to our hill workouts with the club.

Friday: Rest.

Saturday: 16 miles on the treadmill. I broke it up into sets of 4 miles. It didn't seem as daunting if every time I got on the treadmill, I only had to run 4 miles (instead of thinking about the 16 total.) After each 4 mile set, I would take a water/Gatorade/GU break, stretch, maybe even switch treadmills, and then get back on for another 4 miles. Now, I could have run outside, but the temperature was about -5, and the trails were still so icy! Plus, I knew that none of my regular running buddies would be at the club yesterday, so the treadmill was where it was at for me. I really hope that was the only time I have to do my long run on it! 

Sunday: Another rest day.

Total: About 45 miles, 2 rest days, 1 strength day, and no yoga.

After Saturday's long treadmill run, I hurried home to shower, eat, and pack to hit the road to Anandale for my run club friend's bachelorette party! 

Her maids of honor had planned such a fun weekend at a beautiful cabin on the lake. (If you recall, another friend's summer bachelorette party was also in Anandale- read about that one HERE) This party was a little different since it was the middle of the winter, so there was a snow bunny theme! We were encouraged to bring ice skates, cross country skis, snowshoes, sleds, or any other outdoor winter activities. We arrived a little too late to participate in all of the outdoor activities, but we were all on board with our snow bunny attire!

There was a penguin, a snow bunny, some bunny ears...I wore a faux fur Marmot vest that I purchased after seeing my little sister's similar vest in Park City (find it HERE). I wouldn't normally wear the vest without anything underneath, but we were all having a great time celebrating and bonding at the cabin- there was no need to go out on the town! Instead, we stayed inside where it was warm and cozy, where a faux fur lined vest without a shirt underneath is perfectly appropriate!

We played a few fun games, and there might have been a little imbibing in the spirits...even some moonshine soaked berries! Those were a bit strong...

I had such a great time celebrating with this wonderful group of friends (and some new friends too!) and I can't wait for the bachelorette's big day this summer.

FYI- I found the gray/pink/white sweater I'm wearing on "Life with Emily"'s blog. I just loved the way she styled it, so I ordered the same one for me! Check out that post here.

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday afternoon. Are you prepping for some Oscar watching? I've added it to my TiVo, but I'll be honest, I'll probably fast forward a lot of it. 

Tell me- what's the longest you have run on a treadmill? I think 16 might have been my maximum...

What are you most looking forward to at the Oscars? The dresses!

Fits on the Road: Park City and Snowbird!

I’m back with more Fits on the Road from Park City, Utah!

After Susie’s and my short high-altitude-holy-cow- am-I-out-of shape run, we were showered and ready to ski by 9 am. Our condo was very close to Park City Mountain Resort, so we decided to check out that resort on the first day. The really nice thing about Park City, Utah is that there are a TON of resorts very close to each other- Park City Mountain Resort, Snowbird, Brighton, Deer Valley (ski only), Alta (ski only), the Canyons, Solitude, and probably even more that I am missing.

We purchased our lift tickets for Park City Mountain Resort online ahead of time and probably saved about $25/ticket, paying about $78/ticket.(Definitely buy your tickets online ahead of time if you can, it’s worth it!)

Since we were there on a Thursday, it really wasn't so busy. I think Park City Mountain Resort has a little something for everyone. There were plenty of easy greens and blues, yet lots of black diamonds as well, and some challenging back country stuff for Dustin, Sam, and Jeff. Most of the time the ladies stuck to the blues, venturing occasionally into a few black diamonds (after which we were always quite proud of ourselves!) 

I ran into a skier with the exact same pants and coat as me. Twinsies!

I'm not into tricks and all that on a snowboard, but if you are, the Park City Mountain Resort has one of the best terrain parks out there. This is where the Olympics were held. It features 80’ kickers in the Pro Park. Even if you don’t ride park, it is fun to go and watch. It is not uncommon to see Sean White, or other professional riders. The resort is huge and features all types of riding. However, the downside is to Park City Mountain Resort is that it doesn’t get the deepest snow in the state. If it doesn’t snow within a week, the conditions won’t be great. The resort gets a lot of sun.

If you stay in Park City, you can take a lift right from downtown Park City into the resort. In fact, we took this "Town Lift" once, and it was really cute! Most lifts I have seen that pick you up right in town end up being really slow lifts to flat catwalk trails, where you have to kick for a while to get to a real trail, but the Town Lift actually took you practically to the top so you were in a good spot to ski!

The names of the lifts at Park City were a little questionable!

On our second day of skiing, we hit up Snowbird, and then on the third day, we actually went back to Park City Mountain Resort. Unfortunately, this does mean I only have the two resorts to review. We had debated going to the Canyons, but one of the members of our group was a little more "green" so to speak, and she didn't like the looks of the trail map for the Canyons after a tough day at Snowbird the day before. So we went back to Park City Mountain Resort instead on the third day.

On our second day at Park City (3rd day of skiing), the snow wasn't quite as soft, and the crowds were definitely bigger (it was a Saturday). However, the cafeteria never seemed that busy, even though we were usually breaking for lunch right at noon, and the lift lines still never seem quite as long as some of the lines I have experienced in Colorado.

Snowbird:
On our second day, we went to Snowbird and it was AMAZING. It was so beautiful, and had some really interesting features. Right away in the morning, we took one lift up to the summit that involved a tunnel with a magic carpet that went through the mountain to the other side. 

The other side was even less busy, and gorgeous! 

It was here that Kelly and I braved a few black diamonds. Sure, we took some falls, but that’s how you improve, right? We had such a blast on this mountain! Just one word of wisdom- this is not a beginner’s mountain. The greens and blues were very limited, and usually they were just catwalks to get from one area to another, with potentially very sharp drop-offs on both sides, and very narrow paths (a beginner’s nightmare!). I would not suggest this resort for a newbie. I definitely pushed myself pretty hard on this mountain, and was exhausted and very sore by the end of the day.

Sam's action shot!

Snowbird was a bit of a drive from our condo (about an hour) but it was definitely worth the drive. I don’t think there are a lot of places to stay in Snowbird, and if they get a lot of snow, the road through the canyon will be closed (which is great if you stay at Snowbird- no crowds!)

According to my coworker who grew up in Salt Lake City, Snowbird is a local’s resort that gets heavy snowfall. If you take the tram to the top, it is like a 3,500 foot vertical drop in one run. The resort has limited grooming and great backcountry. It doesn’t have a terrain park, so don’t count on that. If you like riding double blacks, it is the place to be. However, the downside is that is there isn’t any fresh snow, the resort isn’t the best.

We did take the 150 person tram to the top- it was pretty packed, and not a good idea if you are claustrophobic or scared of heights. It dropped us off at the summit, and you would need to be able to do at least a challenging blue trail to get down. But getting down is the fun part!

For reference, I have skied most of the Colorado resorts (Vail, Breckenridge, Aspen/Snowmass, most of the Vermont resorts (Stowe, Sugarbush, Jay Peak, etc). The past four winters, I have gone to Big Sky, Montana. I thought Utah (particularly Snowbird) was up there as one of my favorites so far, though I know there are so many other resorts out there that I haven’t tried yet.

Park City in general…
Park City, particularly downtown on Main Street, had more of an Aspen vibe, with fancier restaurants and cocktail lounges, as well as long waits for a table. Big Sky, on the other hand, has more of a cowboy vibe- very low key and casual. Park City was clean, cute, and fancy whereas Big Sky is casual, casual, casual.  Sure, we found some more casual bar-food type restaurants in Park City, but there were also quite a few very upscale places around as well.

Other highlights of the trip? 
Playing Quelf, Catchphrase, and Cards Against Humanity. Our condo also had a 5 person hot tub, which was thoroughly enjoyed after long days of skiing!

Salt Lake City
On Sunday, we had a lot of time to kill before our return flight, so we explored Salt Lake City. We toured Temple Square, the center of Mormon life. 

Most of the buildings were not open to non-Mormons, but we were able to explore the grounds.

We had planned to do a little shopping at the City Creek Center, but unfortunately ALL the stores there were closed because it was Sunday! We did fine another mall, the Gateway Mall, which was open, so we killed some time there. 

Candy store at the Gateway Mall

We ate late lunch at the Red Rock Brewery, which had really great food. Afterwards, we sat outside, as it was a balmy (balmy to Minnesotans!) 60 degrees. I was totally overdressed, and ended up stripping down to a tank top I had on underneath. Failed Fit!

I would go back to Utah to snowboard in a heartbeat. I loved that the resorts were very close to the airport, and VRBO has a lot of options for places to rent. It would have been fun if we had had really good snow at least one of the days, but the snow was still pretty good…maybe next year!

What's your favorite place to ski? Have you been to Utah? What did you think?