Some ABCs and the week ahead!

Moving + HTML/CSS class + Internship = one stressed out Kristen. I know I haven’t been the best blogger lately, but as I work to pack everything up (not to mention the stress of the past week of helping my boyfriend actually find a place for him (and me to crash) has been crazy, so I’ve spent a lot of my free time.

But, everything seems to be working itself out and after the next two weeks are over, everything should be in place. And although my shins haven’t been reacting well to running (well, I was stupid and ran a mile a week ago in 10 minutes–super fast for me)–I’m super excited for a Color Me Rad race with my sister in about two weeks. It’s just going to be crazy in the meantime.

Since my brain’s kind of too stressed out to function to come up with a more substantial post (I’ve got to work on defining real goals for myself for August and seriously get myself back on track–but more on that later), I’ve stolen this introductory ABC post from Amanda at Adventure Year since it’s been awhile since I’ve talked a lot about myself:

A. Attached or Single?

My boyfriend and I at a wedding last year. I make the loveliest faces, I know.

From a wedding over a year and a half ago now. He blogs over at The Active Gamer .

B. Best Friend?

303574_3404804083214_982263777_n

This girl. Although we haven’t seen each other in months, we text each other nearly every day. Pic is from the Color Me Rad in Philly last year.

C. Cake or Pie?

Cake. Preferably ice cream cake.

D. Day of Choice?

Thursday. Favorite ballet class of the week because it kicks off my weekend.

E. Essential Item?

Ballet slippers and running sneakers. Don’t make me pick!

F. Favorite Color?

Pink and periwinkle.

G. Gummy Bears or worms?

Sour watermelon. Close enough, right?

H. Hometown?

A little town near Allentown, Pennsylvania no one’s ever heard of.

I. Favorite Induldence?

Cheese dip. I love it, and it seems to be the one thing I can’t give up. That and mac and cheese.

J. January or July?

July. Although this heat wave’s been murder, the cold is not my friend.

K. Kids

They’re pretty awesome. Sometimes I miss working at the pool and my camp buddies.

Life isn’t complete without?

Running and dance.

Marriage date?

Don’t have one. What kind of survey question is that?

N. Number of brothers/sisters?
247002_1738659153812_4469566_n

Just one sister. At her graduation two years ago. Clearly I need to get better at taking up-to-date photos.

O. Oranges or Apples?

Oranges are yummier, although I do enjoy apples, too.

P. Phobias?

Needles. And shots. I cried the last time I needed shots. And I was 18.

Q. Quotes?

I’ve got a lot of favorites, but here’s one:

It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.

J.K. Rowling

R. Reason to Smile?

There’s a lot. A great family, best friends, a loving boyfriend, the best dance teacher. I’m lucky to have them all.

S. Season of Choice?

Summer, even if I haven’t gotten to the beach yet.

T. Tag 5 people.

Not going to, but fill out this survey if you like. Or leave me an answer in the comments with an answer to a letter question of your choice.

U. Unknown Fact about me.

I’ve did pretty much ever sport/extracurricular activity when I was little, and failed at most of them.

V. Vegetable?

Potatoes.

W. Worst Habit?

Breaking good habits. I’ve yet to be able to stick to a routine and keep falling behind in trying to establish one. Maybe one day I’ll find one that sticks. Like a stretching routine. Or running routine.

X. Xray or Ultrasound?

Never had an ultrasound, but Xrays are relatively quick and painless and I’ve had quite a few in the past year.

Y. Your favorite food?

Right now? Mac and cheese. Can’t. Stop. Eating. It.

Z. Zodiac Sign?

Gemini, but it’s been ages since I’ve followed astrology.

Pick one question to answer in the comments so I can get to know my readers better!

Do Love and Running Go together? Running with Your Significant Other

Slightly cheesy post alert. Do love and running go together? I’m looking for couples (or individuals in relationships) to interview about running (or not running) with your significant other.

Running Styles

Not us.

It’s my two year anniversary with my boyfriend today (cheesy, I know). I’m working on a post related to an article in Runner’s World a few issues back, Can Love and Running Coexist? Both of us were extremely interested in this article and writing about it because we have different views on when we should run together and the things we do to annoy each other or help each other when we do run together (I’m a slow turtle runner, he’s relatively fast). We run together about 50% of the time.

We’ll both be doing a post on our own blogs about the topic (he’s over at The Active Gamer). I’m looking to put together an additional post with thoughts from other people on running with their significant other as well as their own personal experiences. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail (info at adultballerinaproject dot com) or leave a comment if you’re interested in sharing your experiences. I can’t wait to hear what everyone thinks on this topic!

Calf Stretches for Ballet and Running

This one applies to you runner’s out there too: calf stretches. Both ballet and running cause me to get horribly tight calves and shin splints, but they’re getting slightly more manageable. Here’s some of my favorites:

Downward-facing cat

Downward facing cat

 Downward Facing Dog:

Arms should be shoulder width apart, legs hip width apart, balancing your legs equally. Knees can be bent if you’re a beginner. I like to alternate between keeping one knee straight and the other bent to feel a full stretch.

Runner’s Stretch:

This one’s really popular. Stand at a wall with your hands placed straight in front of you, with one leg bent in a lunge and the other extended behind you. Sometimes I have to bend my back knee ever so slightly to get a good stretch in this one as well ( I have hyper-extended knees).

 Wall or stair stretch:

I don’t have any stairs in my apartment, so I often do this one just on a wall or on the foot of a ballet barre if I’m in class. Stand by a wall with one foot pressed up again the wall at an angle; or stretch one heel down off a stair while the other remains of the step.

Towel Stretch:

The same basic stretch you used to do in high school gym class with some help. Sitting on the floor, extend both legs out straight in front of you and wrap a towel or theraband around your feet and pull yourself down to your toes. While I can reach my toes, I like the extra stability this gives me. Another variation is to start by gripping the towel with a straight back and then lean back slightly to stretch the calves.

Foam Rolling:

The foam roller is my frenemy. It hurts but also helps so much. For calf tightness I like to roll both by shins and my calves. I roll my shins both at the same time which is pretty easy; I roll my calves individually by holding myself up with my arms with one leg crossed over the other.

I know there are lot more great stretches out there, so let’s hear them! What are your favorite ways to stretch out your calves?

Workout Motivation and Ballet Class Slumps

  Workout Motivation helps beat the heat

Everyone has their off weeks, and last week I had a bad one and I’ve seem to lost my workout motivation. Although I got 2.5 miles in on Monday while I was still at home with my sister, I only managed to get in .75 on Wednesday before I started to have knee issues while I was running on the indoor track and decided to quit since the Urban Scramble (a scavenger hunt with a lot of uphills and running on sidewalks) was the next day and I didn’t want to be hurting for that.

Once I got to the Urban Scramble, while my legs were feeling better, I decided to pass on two scavenger stops in University City since they were fairly far away from the other spots and all uphill. We ended up walking a lot of the first 2 miles (I was being pouty as my Garmin wasn’t starting up). We ran the last 1.3 miles roughly when my Garmin magically started working. After that race/scavenger hunt I was extremely sore (I did something wonky to my hip, but I’m not sure what), so Saturday morning ballet was a bit rough. I also woke up extremely tired, so I struggled through most of the class. Sunday became an unintentional rest day.

Yesterday I had the intention of running for 30 minutes on the track, but only got about a mile done since HQ and I didn’t get out the door until about 11, and even the indoor track was brutally hot. Since I had to head into work extremely early this morning, I’m hoping to fit in a bit of spinning plus about a mile on the treadmill and then some easy (if there is such a thing) fartlek training on the track (probably still indoors, the temps are super high here in Philly this week). I just need to pull myself out of this workout slump.

How do you pick yourself back up after a bad week of workouts?

Submit Your Studio, Instructor, and Product Reviews!

Quite awhile ago, I asked readers to submit instructor and studio reviews so that their fellow ballerinas could have a guide to the best studios and instructors to check out in their area. I’ve done a little bit of reorganizing, but you can still find all the reviews under the Instructor Reviews and the Studio Reviews. I’ve also added a product review submission form so you can review your favorite leotard, ballet slipper, tights, food products (I love snack bars and protein powders all that stuff), etc.–even running products. We still could use a lot more submissions, so use the forms below to submit some more to help out your fellow ballerinas. I’ve moved to Google Forms, so you should be able to submit more than one response and multiple reviews unlike before.

Instructor Review Submission Form

Studio Review Submission Form

Product Review Submission Form