Staying Active In the Last Days Of Summer

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Target® C9 through their partnership with POPSUGAR Select. While I was compensated to write a post about Target® C9, all opinions are my own.

We aren’t talking pumpkin spice quite yet, but trust me..these last couple of weeks here in Minnesota have been a bit brisk so far. At least for summer.

Before we know it the leaves will start turning shades of bright red, gold and fire orange…but for now, it’s still summer! We still want to remain active no matter the season. Whether you are headed back to school now or are just in an end-of-the-summer funk, rest assured there is still plenty of time to get active outdoors!

You May Call it an Obsession

You may know by now that Target® is one of my favorite stores, located dangerously close to my apartment (read: right across the street). I am mildly addicted to their Essie nail polish as well as their office supplies and can’t seem to go a week without walking into the red emblazoned store. Much like a kid in a candy store.

You may also know that I basically live in workout clothes. For my job at a gym café, we have a uniform shirt that we wear with black workout pants. I just checked and literally all of those black pants I wear are from the C9 collection. They look sharp enough to wear at work, are very functional and breathable (which is essential when I’m dashing around making smoothies and pesto egg sandwiches for customers) and they are affordable (also essential on my current budget).

I’m currently curled up wearing my comfiest pair of C9 active wear pants,the track pants, after two uber long days of work: which are loose-fitting, have a drawstring and pockets (< a veritable rarity in women’s active clothing).

It gets even more ridiculous. The sports bra I’m wearing (my favorite style..I may have 3 of them in different colors) is C9. My purple pullover with the essential thumb holes is C9. Dave even pointed out that my pink socks are C9. You would think I planned this, but I promise you I did not intend on walking around like an ad for Target® C9 active wear…it just happens!

Okay I might have a problem. I promise I will seek professional help (after I write this post) about my obsession with Target® and its C9 active wear collection.

 

Being Active in the Last Days of Summer

I’ve been doing my fair share of fun runs lately.

[ Bacon Chase in Minneapolis ]

What I like about fun runs is that they aren’t overly competitive, but it’s like a fun and active social event you can attend with friends. I highly encourage anyone who is a newbie runner to sign up with friends and “train” for the race..even if you aren’t actually timed on race day. It’s the perfectly relaxed way to get into running.

 

[ Pretty Muddy 5K in Chicago ]

I have a confession to make though: I haven’t been doing much running lately outside of these fun runs.

I don’t even have another race or fun run to look forward to now! This kind of dawned on me when I was invited to an event at a running store centered around…running. I realized during the talk that I missed getting out and running by myself, jammin’ to my 90s Pandora. I missed those dang endorphins created from the runner’s high. I missed a good sweat—yes, I’m a girl and I like to sweat!

Another confession: I haven’t been going to yoga either.

I know! What am I doing with my life? The class I was regularly attending right after work on Thursdays switched to a different class and I kind of started making excuses to myself why I didn’t want to go and just stopped attending.

It happens, though. Kinks get thrown into our schedule. Life happens and we fall out of that routine.

I’ve heard the saying “tomorrow is a new day,” but I like to think about a song I used to listen to by Addison Road that says “every moment is a second chance.”

Even if you have an off morning or day or week, you can start over right this instant.

New Active Goals

I always like goal setting. The thing about goals is that they have to be believable, achievable and have a definite timeframe attached to them.

My new goals starting now through the fall are:

1. Yoga once a week.

2. Running twice a week. (stretch after!)

3. Strength training twice a week. (includes body weight workouts)

Honestly I would settle for the running and strength training just once each week, but I’ve found that if you set your goals just a liiiittle higher then you just might reach those higher expectations. Working out 3-5 times per week is a totally achievable goal for me, but figure out what works best for you!

Motivation + Mindset

For yoga, I will remember how amazing and relaxed I feel after each session. I will also reward myself with a green smoothie from the café (it’s a treat because it’s much cheaper to make them at home. plus I also feel like a fitness goddess when I do yoga then sip on a green smoothie.)

For my running, I will remember how amazing the sun feels on my face and the wind through my hair. I will do my best to run outdoors and savor this time before the crazy Minnesota winter takes over again. I will also do my best to be totally fine with walking part of the time and still call it a “run” since it is proven to decrease recovery time and injury risk.

For my strength training I will try to keep a journal to see if I can improve on first the number of reps, then the amount of weight I use.

Bonus: if I’m sore, I will soak in some lavender Epsom salts while watching Netflix (that right there sounds better than a spa amiright?).

I know that when I’m more active outdoors my whole mood changes. I’m in pretty good spirits as of late and want to keep it that way! No post-summer grumpies here!

[Tweet “Active goals + motivation + proper mindset = no post-summer grumpies! #targetc9 @target”]

 

Don’t forget to check out my recent giveaway to support your healthy lifestyle! 🙂 

Tell me….

It’s your turn! What are some of your active goals this time of the year? 

 

PS I’m all about Pinterest this year, so I would LOVE IT if you could pin one (or two!) of these images!

Pin with me!

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