Category Archives: Fitness

I <3 Sleep

[Standard Theodora disclosure: there’s a paid review at the end of this post. Also, there will be a discussion on these sorts of posts soon, promise.]

There’s a lot of talk on healthy living blogs about the importance of exercise and nutrition, but I think there are a ton of factors that go into your health–including your mental health, and SLEEP.

I love sleep. I know a lot of people say that, but I really love sleep. And my bed. And laying in it. (No, really. I have no idea how I gained 50 pounds…)

I read an interesting post on Greatist the other day about which is more important: sleep or exercise. One of their readers had asked if it was better to get 8 hours of sleep and no workout , or six hours of sleep and a workout.

If someone put a gun to my head and asked which I’d rather do, I’d first freak out, you know, that there was a gun to my head.

But I would then answer that I’d rather the eight hours of sleep and no workout. I am absolutely one of those people who needs her 8 hours of sleep every night (and three square meals) to be a normal, functioning human. I can get by for a few days on less sleep, but I’m a lot less nice of a person to be around, and I feel way less productive at work. I can also feel the link between sleep and recovery–it takes me much longer to get over muscle soreness.

Sleeping in certain positions is also linked to pain. I usually sleep on my stomach, with my right knee up, almost like a reverse sort of pigeon pose.

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Which can’t be good for anything.

Since the Dr. Oz show, I’ve been sleeping with a Comfort Revolution pillow we got. Before that, I’d only ever done the standard feather pillows from Target.

Through FitFluential, I got the opportunity to try out a fancy new pillow. I was curious to try it and see how it compared to the Comfort Revolution.

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Like the Comfort Revolution, the Technogel pillow is no light and fluffy pillow. This box was hefty.

We were allowed to choose whichever pillow we wanted, so I went with the Anatomic pillow, which is recommended for people who suffer from neck, back or shoulder pain. It’s also recommended for back sleepers, which I’m not, but I was hoping that I could still reap those benefits even sleeping on my stomach.

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The pillow is soft and contoured.

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I like the contoured aspect of the pillow, but sleeping with it straight across hasn’t been very comfortable for me, whether I try to sleep on my back or stomach. It’s been most comfortable when I sleep with it either completely sideways or on a diagonal.

Would I buy this pillow on my own? Unsure. At ~$150, it’s definitely more than my Target pillows were, and the contour hasn’t seemed to work with my body. I’m also lucky enough to generally just fall asleep as my head hits the pillow, so I didn’t have any insomnia I hoped the pillow would help with. With that said, I love the texture and firmness of the pillow, and it works much better with my body when I sleep with it at an angle.

Now, I’m going to go get back in bed…without the tripod on my windowill.

What position do you sleep in, and what kind of pillows do you like–soft or firm?

FitFluential LLC compensated me for this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Last Long Run Before the D.C. Half?

This has been a weird training cycle. I almost feel like it should be “training cycle.”

Yeah, I’ve gotten most of my runs in. (Even on weeks when I had trouble working out, I still got my runs in.)

But that speedwork thing you speak of? Yeah, no. Has been totally M.I.A.

When I decided to abandon my strength challenge and do a non-plan plan for this half, I knew I was making the right decision. I knew I ran a ton of races last year, have a ton of races on my calendar for this year, and don’t want to burn out on running mentally. I knew that, with trying to get settled in my new job, pushing myself at something else would leave me with absolutely no gas in the tank.

What I didn’t know was how much I’d miss that feeling of pushing myself hard. I’ve tried to play off next week’s race as “yeah, I’m not trying to PR, I’m just running it to run it.” But I’m learning I love pushing myself. I’m not happy with the status quo.

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But, there are other races this year, and taking this not-strict approach to training showed me how much I thrive on a training plan.

On my imaginary training plan this morning (or, when I asked Jess what my long runs should be between the Princess Half and the DC Half) was 7 miles. I tweeted last night to see if anyone was around to join me, and the lovely Caitlin was in. The last time we ran together, it was FREEZING. After this week’s freak warm weather, today felt pretty cold, too, but we warmed up quickly. I ran the 1.25 miles up to the park, ran 7 with Caitlin, and then ran the 1.25 miles back to the bagel shop. Obviously.

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The park was absolutely packed with runners, most of whom, I’m imagining, are gearing up for next week’s New York Half. I felt a little left out that I wasn’t training for that same race, and although I’m excited for Marine Corps, I absolutely know I’m going to feel that way around the NYC Marathon.

Once I got my bagel, I was much happier, though. I also thought about how slothenly my weekends were when I lived in D.C. and how I had so little that made me happy, and I am so glad I changed my life.

Also, I know this is annoying, but I was nominated for a Fitness magazine Best Weight Loss Blog award! I’d love if you voted for me–and checked out the other very worthy blogs in there.

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In updates that really only I care about, I picked a paint color yesterday–misty teal.

Sometimes New York is a really annoying place to live, but yesterday, I walked across the street from my office to the paint store, picked a color, swiped my credit card for two gallons, and asked if they could be delivered to my new place. New York? You’re not so bad.