#running masterpost

3//100 Days of Productivity 

Today was a really productive day. I studied my LSAT for an hour in the library after a 3.5-hour shift in the library. I did a few practice exam questions and wrote down why my answer was either right or wrong. I have to begin studying harder for the exam, which I take in June. 

I went for another training session at 5:00. We worked on my upper body, which is weak, but I have 7 months until the Tough Mudder so I have enough time to build up that kind of strength in my weakest area. It was a tough and painful workout, especially crushing those mental barriers, but I tried as hard as I could. I’m in a lot of pain and my shoulder was clicking during another workout, but I’m faithful that I will get better. 

I’m settling down to a cup of lemon zinger tea with honey and some House. Soon I will get in the shower and go to bed. I have a 7:30-11:00 shift tomorrow and three classes from 2:00-6:15. Then I will head to another training session at 7:00 tomorrow night. 

I’m super excited to see what progress brings in the next three weeks. The hardest part is finding the energy and the will. The energy to study for the LSAT, the will to do one more pull-up. I’m having a difficult time not eating everything I’m craving. One second I’m craving something sweet, the next time I am desperate for something cheesy and full of bread. 

Hopefully I find balance.

I have always heard that visualization works and there are recurring images in my head that I would love to make happen in the next 5-7 years. This semester I will be working MUCH harder towards several dreams such as being a lawyer, being extremely fit, and going on adventures. 

There’s this one image of Emma Watson sitting on a panel, super focused on what she’s doing, for the UN. 

Look at how in charge she is, how ready she is to kick ass. I want that to be. I want to work for the UN as a civil rights attorney like Amal Alamuddin Clooney. These women are more than their celebrity status. They’re brilliant, absolutely genius, with this thirst to change the world to this radical place of peace and kindness and I so desperately want that to me. I want to drastically change this world to one of equality for all. 

Another image I have is really vivid and very new in my head. I only thought of it last night, so it isn’t a recurring theme in my head but it is beginning to be. 

I found this image from the original poster, @fitastic . I want to work hard and see my progress in the things I couldn’t do before. As I begin training for these three races, I am essentially building everything from the ground up so this kind of power in my body isn’t going to exist right away. I’m ready and excited for the hard work that will be involved in getting at this point. 

All my life I have been considered weak. I’m always sick (especially with my stomach), I’m klutzy, and I’m awkward. Yet this image exudes confidence that I want to possess. I’m willing to tear down the old me, to reconstruct a better version of myself. I’m evolving. 

There’s really not an image for adventure. It’s more like a feeling. I have a list of places I want to see from places in the US like Yosemite and Yellowstone to Banff National Park in Alberta to Amsterdam and Paris. I want to be a global citizen, always on an adventure with friends from different places in the world. I’ve been living in New York my entire life, my parents grew up in Queens, NY their entire lives. Although New York is very cool and a big dream for some people, I’m disillusioned because I’m from there. I go to the city a lot and I experience Adirondack Park. 

I think visualization is essential to your goals. You can see someone and work towards something that they have, but can you picture yourself in that position? I feel as if that what makes the goal much more powerful. You can see yourself doing or being something, which motivates you to really work hard to attain it. There have been instances in my life where visualization has been everything. I wanted a promotion and I could see myself as an associate at my job. So I both visualized and worked hard. I took shifts and when I was at work, I worked my ass off. I want to be like that in my academic and fitness lifestyle. I want to put in more because effort will never betray me. 

Hi, hi, hi! Over the course of a few weeks, I’ve watched my community grow. It has prompted me to give a brief overview of the content I reblog, who I am, and what I plan for this community to grow.

I would like to say thank you. I consider all of my followers to be my friends and each time I follow someone or someone follows me, I consider that to be this little spark, a connection being made. Both the study and fitness community are places where I feel so proud. I watch each and every one of you grow and I see myself grow as well. I’m more motivated and ready to kick ass more than ever before. So I would love to extend a thank you and a form of gratitude before I move forward in this post. 

I like to reblog fitness and study content. I named my Tumblr Slytherin’s Corner for several reasons. Although we don’t have the best reputation like the other Hogwarts houses, I think we bring something unique to the table. We value ambition and achievements, especially all the hard work centered around accomplishments. I love being a Slytherin and I want to show off that pride. Hard work is something I grew up valuing as a child and I have this need to be as accomplished as I can. That goes into the things I reblog. I like action so when I reblog fitness content, I want it to show a body in motion. I like the act of hard work, not just the outcome of it. The same goes with my studyblr content. I reblog studying tips, people studying, and notes to demonstrate different, effective ways of learning. This is the kind of content you will see me reblogging without fail along with social justice posts, lawblr posts, and Emma Watson,

So, who am I? Well, my name is Gabrielle. I’m 20 years old (I turn 21 in April!) and a senior at SUNY Plattsburgh. I am a double major in English: Writing Arts and English: Literature. I graduate this fall and will be going to law school the next fall. I hope to one day work for the UN. I am an ENTJ-T personality, meaning that I’m focused, driven, and highly organized. I’m an atheist, but I grew up Roman Catholic, and I am from New York. My favorite bands include The 1975, Troye Sivan, and Coldplay. My favorite books are Pride and Prejudice and Harry Potter (specifically The Prisoner of Azkaban and The Deathly Hallows). I like to run, hike, and kayak. I used to keep a pretty active lifestyle as a child, but anxiety and depression really caused me to be sedentary from ages 17 to 20. I try and be very active now (except during winter break because it's cold and tired). I am currently am training for a Warrior Dash in May, a 5k in June, and a Tough Mudder in August.

To wrap up this post, I will briefly discuss some goals that I want out of this joint community. I want to talk to all of you, find out who you are, and become friends. I want to expand my personal community and get to know each and every one of you. So please don’t hesitate to talk to me privately or publicly.

In order to be a lot more proactive for the next semester, I have created two separate log sheets. One of the log sheets is a study log that I created on Google Spreadsheet. It will calculate my hours for each class including my internships and the LSAT. Each academic class (excluding my internships) are 3 credits. For each credit hour, I need to complete 3 hours of studying. For example, my marketing class is 3 credits. That means I need to study for 9 hours a week for that specific class. For 15 credit hours, I need to study 45 hours a week, which is basically a full-time job. I can almost guarantee that’s how much work I put into last semester. The activities I will include the hours of my spreadsheet is reading (which is easy to complete for a lit major), tutoring sessions (which I go to every time I have a paper), writing papers, and office hours. My internship at the attorney general’s office is 1 credit (3 hours/week) and my other internship at the Center for Community Engagement (CCE) is 2 credits (6hrs/week). Furthermore, I am treating my LSAT like a 3 credit course (9hrs/week). So I will be logging my hours in for a 4 week period and be reviewing at the end of those four weeks. If it’s working, I will continue with the current strategy. If it does not, I am a quarter of the way through the semester, which means I have plenty of time to turn it around. 

My second spreadsheet is a training and work sheet. Work is a lot easier to log because it’s already logged into my time sheet so I can get paid, but I want to know how many hours I’m working in total over the course of a semester. It is mere curiosity on that front. Training is my priority 1B (School is 1A-- I have labeled them as such because they are my first priorities with work and social being my second. It sounds silly but it makes sense in my head). I have 3 races to train for so I need to work very hard. I’m essentially building from the ground up. These foundations I need to build upper body strength, endurance, stamina, and core strength needs to be honed and perfected in the next few months. I need to train 6 days/week. I plan on signing up for training sessions as soon as the gym opens and taking fitness classes during my down time. I also really want to change my life and be proactive on that front, so logging in my hours keeps me a) accountable and b) seeing what I have/haven’t done. This sheet is also in a 4 week period so I can see what is/isn’t working.

If anyone has any questions or advice, don’t hesitate to message me privately or go into my ask box (anons are welcomed as well)!

Hi friends!

It’s been a while, hasn’t? I’ve been working and participating in an internship. I’m graduating this semester, so I have been preparing for job interviews and getting my resume all set up. This summer, my last summer as a student, has been busy and I have not been able to workout. I’m still trying to find that balance of exercising, working on my professional life, and indulgence. It’s not easy, that’s for sure.

I got the most interesting email from my mindbodygreen subscription. It suggested not eating meat for 100 days. I think that will be my challenge this semester. I want to do a Whole30 while simultaneously going meatless. I want to look at it as a science experiment. 

These are the questions I hope to answer with this semester-long experiment:

Do I have more energy? 

Am I healthier?-- This includes comparing and contrasting my health stats such as my weight, my blood pressure, my cholesterol, my vitamin intake, etc. 

How do I feel?-- Am I exhausted, am I malnourished, am I more energetic

How do I look?

How has my view on food and wellness changed?

Now, this experiment begins August 26 (move in day) and ends on Thanksgiving. I graduate December 16, so it might seem like it’s not the whole semester but I’m going to be doing this in LA (I’m going in October), Halloween, and majority of the semester. The last two weeks will be one of celebration as I near the end of undergrad and I definitely want to indulge. I will also not be indulging in cocktails. I’ll try to stick to just tequila and only a shot or two once a month or so (I’m in college and my friends and I like to go out!). 

What are the rules and guidelines of this experiment:

I will not eat meat, dairy, gluten, or artificial sugar

I will not drink sugary cocktails  

I will exercise 4-5 times a week-- Cardio 3 days a week, weight lifting 2 days a week for an hour each.

I will weigh myself on Sundays

I will monitor my blood pressure and heart rate every day-- Thanks to my Fitbit! 

I will record all of my findings every day

I will review these stats once a month.

I’m trying to change my relationship with food and promote wellness. I’m not trying to be restrictive, I’m trying to explore new foods that are healthy that I can enjoy as much as I adore the unhealthy foods. I’ll be hitting up the salad bar and indulging in fruits. I’m going to be listening to my body and looking at my experiment scientifically.