Hello Everyone and welcome to your week! I hope you had a great weekend.
B and I had a wonderful weekend.
We declared Saturday our "Explore Detroit Day" --we have lived in Ann Arbor over a year, but have not really ventured into the city at all. After my long run in the morning (14 miles went pretty well!), we hopped in the car and headed first to
Eastern Market.
I sadly did not take any pictures at Eastern Market - it was such a cool place and experience. I would describe it as a really large farmer's market, surrounded by quirky stores and specialty food stores. We wondered around the market and decided to get a little snack and settled on pierogies! We got 3 pierogies and they were all sooo good - a mushroom, a spinach and artichoke, and a breakfast with sausage and egg. The mushroom was incredibly earthy and the spinach and artichoke tasted like the dip inside a delicious dough! So yummmy!
After we were done exploring Eastern Market we walked to Comerica Park for a 1pm Detroit Tigers Baseball game! It was our first Tigers game and we had a lot of fun ... I love watching baseball live! I thought Comerica Park was a great ballpark - so many choices for food and drink and very clean. I loved that they had a special bar that sold just Michigan beer - support local breweries!
The Tigers lost and it was actually a little cold (in July!), but we still soaked in the time together and had fun playing this fantasy baseball team game that we always play at live games.
After the game we made the best decision of our lives ... we went to Slow's BBQ! It is a famous restaurant in Detroit and I would recommend it to anyone traveling to the area - it was sooooo good! B and I both thought that Slow's would be more of a fast food, deli type place, but it was actually a gorgeous, hype restaurant with a great bar too. It is known for having really long waiting times because it is so popular, but we got lucky and found a place at the bar. I am a big preacher of the "everything in moderation lifestyle" ... well we really did not follow moderation with our delicious meal ... BUT this was a special day ... so I would say we have crazy, huge meals like this in moderation =)
I got BBQ pork and B got ribs (and brisket), and for sides we had smashed sweet potatoes, green beans, sinful mac and cheese, and baked beans (yes - there was just 2 of us!). It was all so good! I loved that they had 5 different homemade BBQ sauces that you could try and mix together.
After Slow's we headed home and lazily sat on the couch the rest of the evening and talked about our tasty meal =)
Sunday was filled with checking things off the "to do list." It was actually a really productive day ... so I consider that success!
But now it is the start of a new week and I wanted to pop in this Monday and tell you about the best FREE fitness app out there!
Nike Training Club
Meredith from the blog
The Mitten Wife introduced me to this app and I LOVE it! I have to admit, I do not use it that much in the middle of training for a race, but when I do use it - I am always sweaty and sore!
Most of the workouts you can even do at home with little equipment - usually just need a set of dumb bells.
One thing I love is that you can pick what kind of a workout you want that day. As you see above, you can pick from the following,
- Get Lean - cardio drills
- Get Toned - light weights/ intervals and still cardio (My favorite!)
- Get Strong - heavier weights and more reps to build strength
- Get Focused - 12 minute workouts that target certain areas - LOVE these!
Once you pick the kind of workout you want that day, you can pick the challenge level you want. I actually find there is little difference between intermediate and advanced - so I normally pick advanced.
After making those selections, you still have about 10 -15 workouts to choose from that fit into those selections and you normally have a choice between a 15 minute workout, 30 minute, or 45 minute. You can click on each workout to get a preview of what you will be doing too!
* Tip - when I go to our little gym in our condo complex, I get on the elliptical for a warm-up and as I am slowly warming up, I am going through the app to select my workout. Multitasking - warming up and picking the workout!
Once you finally select your workout and click on it - it will start timing the workout and basically gives you exercises to do in minute or 30 second intervals. Sometimes it is so nice to have someone (or something) tell you what to do for your workout.
I also love that if you do not know exactly how to do the move it is asking you to do - you can click on the play button, and it will take a break from timing the workout, and give a 15 second tutorial on how to perform the move!
Sometimes we all need a little bit of encouragement to get moving, and this app is perfect for those days! Start with a 15 minute workout to get you moving and then hopefully once you get started you will want to keep doing more! Getting started is always the hardest ....
The "Get Focused" 15 minute workouts are also great to tag onto the end of a shorter run to get some focused core or arm work into the day!
Also, if you feel like you are in a funk in your workout routine or schedule, try one of these workouts to mix it up a bit!
Do you guys have an apps that you love and want to share (it does not have to be workout related)?
