Review: Mizuno Wave Rider 17

Happy Fitness Friday! I hope you had a wonderful holiday and are enjoying all of your new fit gear.

Earlier in the month my friends at Mizuno sent me an early Christmas present - a pair of shoes to try out before their release. As soon as I saw the new Mizuno Wave Rider 17s, I knew they were going to be fabulous.

Admittedly, the first thing I was excited to see when I opened the box was the color. I had been eyeing the slate gray shoes since seeing the color options on my laptop.

When I slipped them on, I noticed right away that the shoe felt wider. The toe box especially seemed much more roomy than the Wave Rider 16s. I have worn the 16s for more than 200 miles and never thought of them as narrow, but next to the 17s you can definitely see and feel a difference.

In fact, the new Wave Rider 17's toe box width reminds me a lot of the Wave Sayonara.

Although these shoes are lighter than the 16s (can you believe it?), they are still supportive and very flexible.

I've already put my Wave Rider 17s through the New England initiation and they are awesome on the road...

on the snow...

and on the treadmill.

In addition to function every runner girl knows that running shoes must look good. The Wave Rider 17s have some fashionable features that standout, like colored aglets.

A cool new medallion design.

And look at the rainbow reflection.

Once again Mizuno has completely spoiled me in more ways than one: they treated me to another pair of awesome shoes and every time I lace them up, I'm reminded why I fell in love with their brand.

What new fit gear did you get for Christmas that you are loving right now?

Update:

Road Runner Sports spotted this awesome review and asked me to share their exclusive review video with you! Enjoy!



Women's Mizuno Wave Rider 17 Video Credit: Road Runner Sports

WIAW: Raspberry Protein Bars

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you have a wonderful holiday with your family and friends.

It's also #WIAW, so I wanted to share the newest homemade protein bar recipe I tried over the weekend.

I'm really enjoying making my own bars and knowing what exactly goes into them. The recipe is very similar to my Banana Peanut Butter Bars and Blueberry Protein Bars, but I used Sunbutter for the first time.

This recipe only takes about 15 minutes prep time (I'm usually ready to put them in the oven right as the beeper tells me it has pre-heated) and 15 minutes to bake. So just 30 minutes until delicious-ness!

One of the best parts of baking is the removal from the oven. Everything smells so yummy. I flip the baked mixture onto a cutting board and remove the wax paper right away, but then let it cool for a minute or two before I cut it into squares.

After opening presents this morning, we're heading to Massachusetts to spend the holiday with my husband's family. These homemade bars will be a great little snack on the 2.5 hour drive.

Do you have any favorite snacks for when you're traveling?

Training Truths: Bonding with my Treamill

After months of spending barely any time on the treadmill, last week I was forced to do all of  my runs there. Between snow, long days, and the threat of freezing rain, none of my planned runs took place outside.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those runners who shun the dreadmill. I'll jump on the thing, turn on the TV and go.

However, my first choice is to run outside for many reasons:

Time goes by faster - For some reason it just feels like it takes forever to finish a run on the treadmill. Even Wednesday's short 3 miler felt like a long run.

It feels easier - For me, running on the treadmill feels like a lot more effort than it would if I were doing the same mileage outside. Like on Friday, I set the speed to 6.0 and increased gradually to 7.0. According to my sportwatch my pace was much slower than when I run outside, but it felt like I was working much harder. Are my feet made of lead?

Outside is prettier - I love the convenience of the basement especially on days like Sunday when the freezing rain prevents a safe outdoor run, but the view is pretty uninspiring. I can turn on the TV or listen to music, but it's no winter wonderland. No breathtaking views here. My sportwatch was more cooperative in reporting my pace on this one, but shorted me .20. So confusing.

On a positive note, I stayed on track with my cross training for another week and attended another session of SurfSet on Saturday. Sara took our urban surfing class through a H.I.I.T training workout and for the first time I used the resistance bands with the boards.

The Chilly Challenge wrapped up week #3 and the challengers have been hitting their workouts hard in the hopes of winning a pair of Mizuno Wave Rider 17s! You can follow along on Instagram and Twitter with hashtag #chillychallenge, but here are some of my favorite photos from last week's daily challenge posts.

How do you feel about treadmill running?

Fitness Friday: Holiday Workout Plan

Happy Friday!

Today I get to start my Christmas vacation! After finishing up some shopping, present wrapping, and baking, I'm looking forward to spending time with the kids and my husband's family in Massachusetts.

With all that running around, it's easy to lose my fitness focus. My pre-holiday weeks went much better when I had a plan, so I'm taking the same approach with my Christmas break.

After feeling the benefits from cross training during my runs, I've been trying to attend a cardio/strength class at least once a week. With my mornings open over break, I'm taking advantage and heading back to Booty Barre class. Last month I snagged a great deal on Living Social for three classes making it even easier to want to go.

In addition to cross training at the barre, I'll be attempting to complete my RTB team captain's weekly challenge. She is serious about getting us ready to run 200 miles across Massachusetts in May. I love that the challenges encourage us to cross train and strength train in addition to run.

Our latest weekly challenge.

Speaking of running, I'll be lacing up my Mizuno Wave Rider 17s for some more miles. My weekly mileage has been increasing slowly and it is working. My last long run was 6 miles on the treadmill because of our first big snow storm, but I'm hoping to get in another 6 miler outside this weekend.

Another goal I set for myself is to do better pre-run warm-ups, so I put together this drill hoping that my dependence on routine would ensure that I do it before every run.

I also put together a mini Tabata workout of some of my favorite strength moves that I think will be good to do once or twice a week post-run. Even though I'm accustomed to following a schedule, sometimes I'm motivated to do a little more.

How do you stay focused during the holidays or vacation?

Need some extra motivation? Join my Chilly Challenge and you could win a pair of Mizuno Wave Rider 17s of your very own! More details here.

WIAW: Gluten Free Blueberry Protein Bars

The following post is sponsored by FitFluential LLC on behalf of Designer Whey.

One of my goals for 2014 is to continue to make healthy food choices. Since giving up wheat in the summer, I have been more conscience of the foods I make and eat. 

One of my favorite snacks to make are my Peanut Butter Banana Protein Bars. Now, even though I am a proclaimed creature of habit, while prepping to make my latest batch of protein bars I decided to change things up with a new flavor: Blueberry.

I used to eat blueberry muffins, blueberry bagels, blueberry toast...you get the idea. My smoothies often have blueberries, but it's not the same taste. So I changed up my peanut butter banana bar recipe and came up with this:

I mixed all the ingredients together (btw - I used a mini-chopper to mash up my blueberries), plopped the mixture down on wax paper, and then rolled it out before putting it in the oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

After flipping the baked mixture over onto a cutting board and removing the wax paper, I cut it into squares.

It was blueberry delicious-ness! (full disclosure: I will probably double that amount the next time I make them...because I like blueberries that much!)

I love packing these homemade bars for lunch, grabbing one as a pre-workout snack, or munching on one after a good sweat session. They are so much healthier than my pre-gluten-free choices and using Designer Whey protein helps make my food work better for me.

What is your go-to pre/post workout snack?

In case you are interested in more healthy snack choices, head over to the WIAW linkup or join the fun!