Gretch Runs

Good morning everyone! I have a fun post to share today- for the past month, I've been working my way through a schedule that's supposed to boost my mood. I was flipping through Good Housekeeping's January/February issue (FYI- I borrowed this from my library's online system!) and saw an article about little ways to feel calmer, kinder, stronger, and more joyful just by taking a few minutes each day to focus on these activities. I figured it was worth a shot and would be fun to try out a challenge, so let's go! Week One Take 5-Minute Brain Breaks : As soon as I logged into work for the day, I added 5x5 minute blocks to block off time for my brain breaks! Luckily today wasn't a meeting-heavy day, so I got to squeeze them in between a few which worked perfectly. I did a guided meditation, some breath work (both from the Peloton app), a short walk, and then just zoned out for the others. It was a nice way to reset throughout the day, but might be better when I have

Good morning and happy MARCH!! February is one of those months that always seems to take forever to go through, but this year it went by really quickly. I got reminded of the trip to Mexico that I was on exactly a year ago (my last time on a plane!), while it's been freezing and snowing like crazy here! Luckily it feels like spring is around the corner and we started our vegetable garden seedlings indoors this week. Hope is on the way! My highlight in February was probably the live Paint n Sip classes that I've been joining on the weekends. I found a painting account on TikTok (@hannahhh.mp), and every weekend she hosts a free session where she teaches us how to paint a watercolor landscape. At a time where I don't have plans or much to look forward to, this has been a bright spot for me. She also posts the tutorials on her Instagram afterwards, so when I need another calming activity I've been going through the archives. Let's start off with my annual goals and see

Happy March everyone! It feels like there's a lot of change in the air- we had warm weather last week in Pittsburgh and pretty much all of the snow is melted, and there seems to be a shift towards more positivity when I'm talking to people. Spring is (almost) here! I know that we still probably have another snowfall or two coming our way, but I'm going to soak in all of the warmth while I can. This week I started to integrate some classes with Apple Fitness + to my week! Last week I got an Apple Watch to replace my Garmin that's lasted me 6 years, and with it I got a 3 month trial for the fitness classes. After I try out a bunch of classes, I'll definitely share my thoughts on the classes versus my experience with Peloton Digital! To distinguish these classes, I'll mark the ones with Apple Fitness + with AF+, and Peloton as P. Here's a look at what I did this week- Monday Time to Walk with Dolly Parton (Apple Fitness+) For today's walk, I decided to try

Happy Monday everyone! It is COLD in Pittsburgh, but it looks like warmer days are on the horizon. This time of year is so tough for me..it's been really gray and miserable outside. Having my daily walk goal has helped a ton- now I feel like I HAVE to get outside. Even though I really have to bundle up, it always feels great to get some fresh air and (occasionally) sunshine. I'm really looking forward to having some days above freezing this week! Here's a look at how my week went- Monday 60 min Bike Bootcamp: Full Body with Jess Started this workout with a warm up ride (I always have a much better workout when I properly warm up beforehand!) then got right to business. I knew this was marked as "advanced" and WOW this was HARD!!! The bike portions were all intervals with very short rest in between. There were two strength sections with tons of movement- including burpees, snatches, lateral lunges, ohmy! Very challenging workout and by the end I was a sweaty, panti

Hi everyone! Last week was very cold and very snowy/icy..not my fave. I definitely kept things a little more low-key- I didn't have a ton of energy or motivation to work out super hard so I kept things much more chill. Still got in some fun classes though! Here's a look at my week- Monday 45 min BHM Icons Bootcamp with Jess Sims Monday Mayhem is back! Today's class was in honor of Kobe Bryant and his daughter who passed away last year. This was such an emotional class- you could really tell how much Kobe inspired Jess and also brought her closer to her own dad. She put all that emotion into making a HARD class that left me breathless! Really pushed it on this and it hurt so good. I took a cool down ride after which was much needed. Tuesday 40 min Total Strength with Andy Kicked off week two of the program with upper body. All of the exercises were the same as last week, but we added more weight and moved faster to get more reps in. It was definitely harder but I love feelin

Happy Monday everyone! Last week started a new challenge for me- the Total Strength Program on Peloton. It's always fun to have workouts laid out for you, and I enjoyed getting started and can't wait to see how the next three weeks go! Here's a look at how my week went- Monday 60 min 90's Bike Bootcamp with Jess All live classes from New York were cancelled today because of a snow storm (we got a bunch too!) so I took an older class on demand. This one was actually the very first live bike boot camp, and it was such a great class. The playlist was all 90's bangers, and the workout itself was intense but fun. I also started with a warm up ride and did a full body stretch as soon as class ended.  Tuesday 20 min Pick Me Up Ride with Hannah This was a really nice mid-day ride to take, and another from the Instructor Series list! Hannah had some great quotes that she shared the entire time and the ride went by really quickly. My favorite quote was - "Let the tears f