ning | Keeping up with Kate

Never a Prouder Moment…

Posted on February 17, 2013 by keepingupwithkate91

Never a prouder moment to be a Penn Stater than on THON weekend. This year THON (the largest student run philanthropy in the world) raised $12,374,034.46 for the Four Diamonds Fund in a hope to find a cure for pediatric cancer!! Since 1977, THON has donated over $100M to the Four Diamonds Fund (with this year’s fundraising). To learn more about THON or to donate to THON14 go to http://www.thon.org!

Inspire Tomorrow’s Miracles

THON has grown throughout the years. When I was at Penn State it was held in the White Building (the same place where I took my aerobics gym class), then it moved to Rec Hall (where the Volleyball teams plan now) and then moved to it’s current location – The Bryce Jordan Center. There were times this weekend where the wait to get into the BJC was over 3 hours long and this morning due to capacity issues they stopped allowing people to enter – pretty amazing!

I followed posts throughout the weekend, watched the live stream online and then spent the last two hours watching THON today – I caught Family Hour – which is where the families who benefit from the Four Diamonds Fund share their stories – about their kids who are in remission and the ones who are now angels. So very moving – not a dry eye in the BJC nor at my house!

For the Kids! (FTK)

An oldie but a goodie

Posted on January 20, 2013 by keepingupwithkate91

Sorry I’ve been gone for awhile…the end of 2012 was a bit crazy both from a work and personal standpoint. So to get me back in the groove – thought I’d pull out and oldie but a goodie smoothie recipe – the Cinnamon Roll Smoothie!

This has got to be my favorite smoothie – it really tastes like a cinnamon roll. My favorite cinnamon rolls or what we call them – sticky buns are from Harner’s Bakery at The West Shore Farmer’s Market in Lemoyne, PA (I go for the mini stickies with nuts – can you say YUM!!)

So here is the recipe for a healthier version (and trust me I get the real thing every once in a while):

Cinnamon Roll Smoothie

1 cup almond milk (unsweetened and organic) (I use Trader Joe’s)
1 cup coconut water (I like Zico – make sure it is the natural – no sugar added)
1 scoop of protein mix (I use Prograde Vanilla) (http://ryanlee.getprograde.com/protein-powder.html
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 pinch sea salt (I use Himalayan Sea Salt)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1-2 pitted dates
1 tablespoon pecans (I usually add a bit more too)
Stevia to taste (I used 1/2 a packet)
2 ice cubes (optional)

Put ingredients into VitaMix or a Blender and mix until smooth. Pour into a nice tall glass and enjoy!

What do you think?

PS: My breakfast drink of choice this weekend!

PSU vs. WI – 2012

Posted on December 1, 2012 by keepingupwithkate91

Last week was the final game of the PSU Football 2012 season. I won’t go into the details as to why – you know.

It was a cold and windy day (with snow flurries making an appearance too). Did I say cold and windy? – boy it sure was! It was so windy, my canopy was a no go (and I left if there as the wind bent the frame and put holes in the tarp) and I couldn’t get my heater to work. Thank goodness for the group from Altoona and Allentown – we hung out with them to stay out of the wind (and got my heater to work).

It was a great day for a final football game in November – Big 10 Football. We got into the game early as it was Senior Day (a favorite game of mine). This year it was special since this year’s Seniors truly showed what it mean to be Leaders and what Success with Honor really means. Here is a great tribute to them prior to the game and a tribute to the entire team – 2012 will always be remembered in the Stadium not for an undefeated season or a championship but because they stayed and due to their leadership and commitment have showed all of us what ONE TEAM really means!

The game was exciting (and did I mention cold?). Although at halftime I had the best HOT CHOCOLATE EVER!! After lots of back and forth and a great show of force of the defense the game was TIED and we went into OT. PSU had the first possession and put 3 points on the board. WI had a chance to tie with a field goal and it went wide left. The jubilation that erupted in the stadium was amazing (I can’t find the right words to describe)!

The singing of the Alma Mater with the team, students and fans was the best ever! And BOB closed it out with a WE ARE… and he was met with a resounding PENN STATE!

I’ve been a Penn State fan for as long as I can remember. I remember watching the 1986 championship game against Miami – the interception at the end of the game was amazing. Penn State wasn’t the best team when I was in college, but my Senior year in 1990 – I remember watching the team beat undefeated (& #1) ND (at Southbend) on a 13 inch tv with my roommate – and the celebration downtown was awesome! I still have The Daily Collegian from the following Monday. Another favorite was the 2005 game against OSU – my favorite game in the stadium (until now) – it was the time for us to prove we were BACK and the stadium was rockin’. I’m so glad my brother and I were there to watch it together. Another memory is the 2008 PSU vs. MSU game – a great football day – cold, snowy, Senior Day and in the end a Big 10 Championship and a trip to the Rose Bowl (and another great trip with my brother). As I remember all of those great games and personal memories – I have to say that last Saturday is now my favorite PSU game – not only for the WIN (what a way to end a season), but because the Penn State family pulled together – the Players, Coaches, Staff, Cheerleaders and Blue Band needed the Alums and Fans as much as we needed them. We fed off of each others energy! And in the end – adults had a chance to learn from some young men – 31 Seniors to be exact about Leadership, Commitment and Success with Honor! For the Glory!!

WE ARE…

PS: Here is a link the the Football Letter published by the Penn State Alumni Association and written by John Black: http://www.imakenews.com/footballletter/e_article002572182.cfm?x=blN4tl6,b2VBTTNL

What happened to September?

Posted on September 30, 2012 by keepingupwithkate91

Have you missed me? I can’t believe how fast time flies. I know it has something to do with getting older. Where did September go?

Here is what I’ve been up to this past month via my weekends:

I started off the month heading to Central PA and PSU’s season opener against Ohio with my Mom. We had a great time – it was an emotional day too. We didn’t walk away with a win – but I’m so glad I was there.
The second weekend of the month was my birthday weekend – where I just chilled out at home, relaxed, had some reflexology and went out with friends.
Back to Happy Valley for the PSU vs. Navy game with my college friends. The group keeps getting smaller each year, but we always pick up like it is was just yesterday we were in college. I’m sure there will be a time when we are all able to get the larger group together. It was a great time, great win, great way to show our American pride – a great weekend overall!
Back to Happy Valley for the PSU vs. Temple game with my college roommates from my Junior year. We had so much fun. We hit a lot of our favorite spots, enjoyed the game (and stayed dry during the little bit of rain), got our picture taken at the LION and as a reward got some Creamery Ice Cream.
Milestone Alert – Monday afternoon I went back to the Nutritionist – happy to say I’m down 11 pounds since May! Wahoo!! He is pleased with my progress. And I haven’t missed out on enjoying the festivities of the weekends in September. PS: Although I am a bit impatient – I have to remember ‘Slow and Steady Wins the Race’! 🙂
And this last weekend of September – I chilled out at home most of the time – watched the game with friends and joined some other friends for dinner Saturday night.

Hope you had a great September – sorry to see Summer go – but if it has to go I’m sure glad Fall follows!

Ready for a fun and busy October!

Training Session 1 – in the Books!

Posted on August 20, 2012 by keepingupwithkate91

In my last post I shared that I caved to ‘peer pressure’ and I’m doing the Beauty and the Beach 5 mile race on November 3rd in Long Branch. It is a walk / run. I have a lot of my boot camp friends joining me and my college roommate and her daughter in for the fun too. I’m really looking forward to it.

Last Friday over lunch, I bought some new kicks. A nice pair of Asics (reminds my of college – my sneaker of choice back in the day). See – aren’t they pretty? And my friend, Tracy, pointed out that they are PSU colors too (totally pulled that off by accident)!

I didn’t make it to boot camp today so I thought it would be a great time to start my training program. My trainer suggested I start out slow – which is exactly what I did – 2 minutes of walking; 20 seconds jogging. I used the gymboss on my i-Phone (although the alarm was almost impossible to hear over my music) for 10 rounds and I completed 2 sets so 40 (-) minutes of walking and about 6+ minutes of jogging (near the end I added on longer running segments) so maybe it turned into 30 minutes of walking and 10 minutes of jogging (total time: 52 minutes, 5,218 steps, 2.907 miles and avg HR 141 / Max 167). What was the verdict? I didn’t hate it. I really loved the countdown/switching to walking / jogging and liked when I pushed myself to run a little bit more. My knee seemed to hold up pretty good – my arches not so much. They were definitely bothering me. Seemed to get a bit better as I went. I did a short cool down and stretched – taking off my sneakers was killer. I just got done icing my arches and I think the golf ball will be my new best friend for a while (note to self – warm up and stretch the arches more).

So in the end, I’m glad I’m doing this event in November. I think it is something I need to do for me and I’m glad the first training session is in the books! 🙂

Peer Pressure Can Be a Good Thing

Posted on August 10, 2012 by keepingupwithkate91

Back in May I agreed to do a 1/2 Marathon. If you read the post you knew that I was scared but had finally come around to reality that I was going to do it. The friend of mine I was to wog (walk / jog) the 1/2 Marathon with got excellent news – she is expecting – so it has been postponed a year. I will tell you I was a bit relieved that it was postponed.

Now fastforward to Wednesday night – I’m out with some friends from Bootcamp. We were talking about some of our Bootcamp peers who are training for a tri and about a mud run some of them have done in the past. Somehow we got talking about runs in the fall and I remember our trainer talking about Beauty and the Beach (and rumor has it they have a great swag bag) in Long Branch, NJ. At first we thought it was a 5K and low and behold it is a 5 mile all ladies walk/run. I checked my schedule and PSU doesn’t have a home game – and we all agreed that we would try it.

I went to bootcamp today and checked with everyone to make sure they were still in and the answer was YES. I registered when I got home this morning and then sent them all links to register. I know at least 3 of us are now registered (and if you are reading this blog – you know who you are – don’t forget to register – http://tiny.cc/brpuiw) for the event. I’m so excited!!

So I jokingly put in the subject line about Peer Pressure and don’t get me wrong that definately helped; however, my mindset has changed a lot since May. I’ve been much more focused on my workouts and what I eat/drink.

Thank You Ladies for pushing me at each and every bootcamp – I love the camraderie and letting peer pressure be a good thing!

Loving forward to November 3, 2012!! 🙂

My New Favorite – HIIT Workout

Posted on July 6, 2012 by keepingupwithkate91

July is a very busy month with vacation and travel so I won’t be attending my normal bootcamp. Two days this week while on vacation I re-discovered HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workouts. I’ve known about them for since the first BodyProject Transformation, but I’ll be honest I never really embraced them. I dislike cardio – all kinds – it is just not enjoyable to me – never has been.

The mantra for HIIT is “no long cardio” – and this is not a long cardio at all. The gym I joined while on vacation has a 30 minute time limit for the treadmill and elliptical machines. I select the elliptical and have gotten 23 and 24 minutes of HIIT workouts for the past two days with 7 and 6 minute warm-up/cool-down. This hits the mark for me! I love the sense of accomplishment!

Here is the work-out I did today (I did the 10 rounds x 2):

Work Hard – 15 seconds; Rest: 45 seconds
Work Hard – 15 seconds; Rest: 45 seconds
Work Hard – 30 seconds; Rest: 60 seconds
Work Hard – 30 seconds; Rest: 60 seconds
Work Hard – 15 seconds; Rest: 30 seconds
Work Hard – 15 seconds; Rest: 30 seconds
Work Hard – 30 seconds; Rest: 60 seconds
Work Hard – 30 seconds; Rest: 60 seconds
Work Hard – 15 seconds; Rest: 45 seconds
Work Hard – 15 seconds; Rest: 45 seconds

For more information about HIIT workouts check out this link: http://tiny.cc/5zv0gw

Here was the rest of my workout this morning:

5 Times x 5 Rounds

Overhead Press – 8 lbs
Bicep Curls – 10 lbs
Tricep Kickbacks – 8 lbs
Chest Flye – 8 lbs
Back Row – 10 lbs

And lastly 4 30 second low planks and finally a nice stretch. I’m ready to start the day. Have a fantastic Friday!!

PS: This will be my go to workout when I’m traveling for work next week! 🙂

Happy Day – June 11th!

Posted on June 12, 2012 by keepingupwithkate91

I started this blog almost a year ago to document changes when on the Clean program for 21 days – to see if I could find my X factor. Although I learned a lot during the process – it just didn’t work for me. The blog has morphed into both my personal journey and self-discovery as well as random fun and observations in general.

I’m hopefully that I’ve found my X factor – almost a year after I started this journey. During the Spring Transformation at Bootcamp there was seminar with a Nutrionist that I went to see (and was encouraged by my trainer to attend). I listened, took notes and even made changes starting the next day – moving from small meals throughout the day to 3 meals per day. I promised myself I would make an appointment to go see the Nutrionist. It probably took me a month to finally make the call and he is in high demand so it took a few weeks to get an appointment. My first appointment was May 7th. I weighed in at my heaviest ever (maybe someday I’ll share). He gave me simple things to focus on: Hydration, 3 meals a day (and make them things I enjoyed – ‘no dirt and grass’ – things to chew), have at each meal – protein, carbs (30 mg) and veggies and no fruit (he was treating me as a diabetic) and if I was hungry between meals go for protein first. He also wanted me to find an exercise I enjoyed. That was easy – I had bootcamp.

The first two weeks I did pretty well – well balanced for all three meals, getting at least 2 bootcamps in a week. I even got a workout in while traveling (historically I take my workout clothes and sneakers and never use them – the workout is the lugging of the suitcase in the airport 🙂 ). Then I had a challenge – weekend leadership conference – I did pretty well with my food selections and still enjoyed some libations with friends in Happy Valley. I was hit with a stomach bug that derailed me for a few days and took me awhile to get back on track. I started noticing major fatigue in the afternoon that I just couldn’t explain – that was really starting to worry me.

Fastforward to yesterday – my appointment and review of the past month. We talked about how I was feeling – especially the fatigue. We discussed what I had changed in my diet – I had added bread back to my diet as I love a sandwich for lunch – think that is what is driving my fatigue. For the next month, I’m going to experiment – either selecting lower carb bread or bread type items for lunch or swap my lunch / dinner options – dinner for lunch and lunch for dinner. We’ll see how it goes. The end of the appointment is the weigh-in – I’m pleased to announce that I dropped 6 lbs!! We were both very pleased with the results. I will never see that ugly unnamed number from above. I’m still on a HIGH from it. I’ve tried many things in the past (JC, WW, SB, Clean, NS, etc – it may have worked for the short-term – but always felt I was missing something). I can honestly say I didn’t feel that this passed month. I went out to dinner, I shared dessert, had cocktails, enjoyed a BBQ over Memorial Day, had a hot dog and beer at a Phillies game. I enjoyed life and I’m enjoying this lifestyle change that seems to be working for me.

I go back for my next follow-up mid-July – stay tuned for updates.

Have a fabulous day!!

The Weight of The Nation – HBO Documentary

Posted on June 11, 2012 by keepingupwithkate91

Have you heard of The Weight of The Nation? Have you had a chance to watch it on HBO? If you haven’t, I highly recommend it whether you are struggling with your weight, have kids or know someone who is struggling and you want to support them. I personally think it is a wake-up call for all of us. Here is the link: http://tiny.cc/kajffw.

I remember seeing something on Facebook about a week or so ago, but brushed past it. Then last Monday one of my teammates from our SprintGetFit challenge mentioned the series to me and suggested that I watch it. She said it was eye opening. She said it changed her view on things that while exercise is important – what we eat is really the key to weight loss. Then a couple hours later one of my trainers posted a link on FB to all to watch it. I had already decided to start watching it last Monday night. There are four episodes – a little over an hour each. I figured I would watch an episode a night. I’m happy to say I watched all four episodes last Monday night.

I can tell you I experienced a lot of emotions while watching – anger at watching the kids who had to play in a parking lot as they didn’t have any parks near them (and sadness), sadness as I listened to some of the stories, jealousy – over the bravery of all the people in the documentary – I don’t think I could’ve been that open while being interviewed.

I learned that it is never too late to make a change (which I’ve been working on) and making even the slightest changes can help reduce my risk for so many chronic diseases.

If you’ve watched it what are your thoughts? If not, watch it and come back to the page and share your observations.

Names I’ve been called lately – all in good fun!

Posted on June 3, 2012 by keepingupwithkate91

At work for the past year they launch a SprintGetFit challenge. It gets the competitive juices flowing plus it is great as we all become healthier. This time around, I’m the team captain. You can have a team of up to 11 people (we have 9) and they ask you to track weight, steps walked and minutes exercise – you have to compete in at least on category (and everything is private). The program runs from May 14th – July 8th.

One part of the program allows everyone to issue daily challenges. A challenge could be to walk or run for 30 minutes, yoga, drink 64 ozs of water, complete your favorite exercise and even record your results (and yes that is a challenge) (and there are prizes for this program). I decided this time around, I would take this a lot more seriously – especially since I’m a team captain. I’ve leveraged some of my boot camp experience to issue a little more challenging ‘challenges’. Here is an example of one of them: 30 minutes of exercise, 10 push-ups, 10 sit-ups and 2 30 second planks. Here are some of the comments from my team (and btw I love it): ‘Taskmaster’, ‘Are you crazy?’, ‘Always up for a ‘D’ Challenge’, ‘I hate planks, but I will do them’, ‘Fun for all’. At least they are reviewing the challenges right? And even doing them. It helps me hold myself accountable and provides additional motivation! (I shared the comments with my trainer and she loved it – she even volunteered to help me with challenges – some of my team reads this blog too – hmmmm – maybe I’ll take her up on her offer 🙂 )!

I’ve even put out some easier challenges as well – here was Friday’s: Drink at least 64 ozs of water (not ice tea or crystal light – pure water) and 30 minutes of your favorite exercise. Even got some people not in our group to accept the challenge. I think the team was glad to see I went a little easy on Friday.

Then I posted Saturday’s challenge (which I didn’t get to until tonight): Set the clock for 15 minutes and do the following (record your rounds): 5 bicep curls, 5 tricep kickbacks, 5 walking lunges (I had to do high knees), 10 Jumping Jacks (modified mine), 10 full sit-ups (with a weight) and 10 squats. Rest/Hydrate as needed. All exercises requiring weights I used 8 lbs weights – I just got 6 rounds in! Whew – and worked up a great sweat!

Have a fantastic week!!

PS: Hope you enjoy the two posts in 1 day!