Stretch & Shag

Hi, guys! Get ready for a marathon blog post!!

Workout

So, I really like the new gym I’ve been trying out, but I don’t want to shell out $59 each month for it. It’s super convenient and there are SO many classes to choose from. I’ll probably just enjoy my 2-week membership and think about joining when the weather turns cold. Having all of those classes will help with cross-training when I am training for the Boston Marathon (as long as a charity picks me up to run with them).

At the gym, I did my favorite 45-minute Treadmill Workout. I love this workout so much, I practically have it memorized, but I always take a copy of it to the gym just in case. (I printed it out and taped it to a piece of cardboard.) It’s a little beat-up, but it does the trick!

I’m not going to lie, the RUN option of this workout really had me huffing and puffing today. Running is a totally different cardio experience than other forms of exercise. I guess my body is a bit out of practice. Even still, I pushed myself through 45-minutes without stopping. I even picked up the pace on a few intervals and covered almost 4.25 miles. So, I guess it was the varying inclines that really killed me. I hate hills!

After my run, I did a little bit of stretching at the gym. I used the foam roller and then the Stretch Trainer. Have you seen the Stretch Trainer at your gym? Well, you should make friends with it because it’s awesome! You can pretty much stretch every part of your body using it. It feels soooo good on my lower back.

When I got home from the gym, I continued to stretch. (I’m convinced that all of this stretching is going to help me accomplish my goal!)

The treadmill workout that I did involved lots of inclines, so I started with the Tiger Tail to stretch my quads. The Tiger Tail is a rolling muscle massager that helps relieve sore, tight, cramping, fatigued, and stiff muscles. It’s great for your legs! Like a foam roller, it helps you perform deep tissue massage and trigger point therapy on yourself, but it doesn’t take up as much room in your house. I actually throw mine in a drawer in the living room for easy access.

I couldn’t take photos of myself using the Tiger Tail, so here are a few examples from The Pressure Positive Company.

I also use the Tiger Tail to roll my tight IT bands, which I did plenty of this morning. You can basically roll it over any tight muscle on your body and adjust the pressure as needed.

I finished off my 20 minutes of stretching by using the Yoga Tune Up Balls, which are perfect for getting the smaller muscles in the front and side of my hips. Like I always say: It hurts so good!

Lunch

For lunch, I ate cookies. Yep, cookies. I had a craving for them, so I put a bunch on a plate, along with a couple of slices of watermelon, and called it a meal. Why not, right? I mean, the Oatmeal Blueberry Cookies had some healthy-ish stuff in them. It wasn’t the worst option for lunch, right?

Sometimes, you just need to eat cookies for lunch.

Shag Boston

After lunch, I went to get my hair highlighted at Shag, a hip and modern salon in South Boston.

Shag is really cool inside– exposed brick, stainless steal everywhere, and splashes of vibrant color here and there. The staff is super cool, too. I actually felt a little bit out of place with my “weekend” jeans and boring, old t-shirt. I sort of wished that I put in some more effort in today. Oh, well. No one seemed to notice.

Ok, so let me tell you how I got hooked up with Shag. Remember my friend, Hannah? Well, her sister, Tasha, is a haircolorist at there and she’s looking to increase her cliental. Tasha offered to color my hair in return for blogging about my experience. I’m always happy to help out a friend, so, of course, I agreed. Plus, my hair was really starting to bother me. It was so blah, even after I used boxed dye on it a few weeks ago. My hair definitely needed an “upgrade.”

Let me start off by saying that I am very weary of highlights. A few years ago, I got them done and it was a complete and utter disaster!!! I had orange streaks throughout my hair! I told the stylist that I didn’t like how they looked, so he tried to soften them, but it still looked terrible. I tried to get used to my new look over the next couple of weeks, but I just couldn’t stand the way my hair looked. Eventually, I bought hair dye from CVS and dyed over the highlights, and I haven’t tried anything “crazy” with my hair ever since.

So, when Hannah approached me about getting my hair highlighted by her sister, I told her my highlight horror story. She assured me that her sister would not steer me wrong… and she was completely right!

Tasha was amazing. Before she even touched my hair with dye, she talked to me quite a bit about how I wanted my highlights to look. Again, I recounted my highlight horror story and told her that I wanted them to look natural and be easy to keep up with (aka not cost me a fortune once it starts to grow out). Tasha threw out the words “caramel” and “low-maintenance,” so I knew I was in good hands.

Tasha worked her magic and meticulously selected pieces of my hair to highlight. She even considered how I style and part my hair. Once she was finished with the foil, I chilled with a magazine and a cappuccino while the hair dye did its thing.

I felt so spoiled!

A couple of hours later, I fell in love with my hair. I’m very happy with it. Seriously, I’m enjoying the best hair day of my life (as some of you already heard about on Twitter). Here’s a shot of my very natural-looking caramel highlights. I’ll take some good shots of my hair tomorrow night.

Snack

When I got home, I was so hungry! Even though they were delicious, my cookies and watermelon didn’t hold me over until dinnertime. I ended up grabbing a Siggi’s from the fridge and throwing in some Cranberry Orange Galaxy Granola. Mmm! I loved the sour + fruity flavors.

Dinner

For dinner, I ate a bowl of Lentils with Penne, Brussels Sprouts, and Feta that I cooked last night. It was just as delicious as leftovers. And, now I want something sweet!

Jeez, Louise! Longest post ever!

I’m relaxing for the rest of the night. I have a big day tomorrow!

Tagged as: 45-minute Treadmill Workout, Boston 2011, Shag Boston, Stretching, Tiger Tail, Yoga Tune Up Balls