Jill McCauslin, Author at Becoming Elli

Trying Out the Peloton App

November 18, 2021

Fit and Strong, Product Review, Work Outs

I got a free 30 day subscription so I'm trying out the Peloton app. I don't have the Peloton bike or treadmill but my daughter-in-law suggested that I try out the exercise classes on the Peloton app or website. The classes are led by instructors and include a wide variety. I've been trying out different ways of getting a workout so I liked the idea of trying the Peloton classes. Categories There are different categories for each class: Yoga Strength Stretching Meditation Cardio Cycling Outdoor (audio only obviously) Running Walking Tread Bootcamp Bike Bootcamp So far I have tried classes in the yoga, strength, and stretching categories. Once you're in the different categories, the classes are then grouped by body parts such as core, quads, hamstrings, arms, etc. I...

Peloton

Spicing Up My Bland Vegetable Soup

November 11, 2021

Fit and Strong, Food and Drink, Recipes, Veggie Challenge

I made a pot of vegetable soup the other day using my Instant Pot. My son and daughter-in-law were coming to visit and I wanted to have soup since it was one of the first cooler days of fall. I was rushed and just sort of threw the soup together. It wasn't bad but it was rather bland. It definitely needed some spicing up. Here's how I made the soup. I used: Onions Carrots Celery Cabbage Potatoes Chicken Can of diced tomatoes Chicken broth Because I was rushed, I didn't sauté any of the vegetables before adding the other ingredients. I decided it didn't really matter. The Instant Pot was full, almost overly so. I cooked the soup and served it up right away when my guests...

#soup #veggiechallenge

My Return to Boot Camp Class

November 4, 2021

Fit and Strong, Work Outs

I’d like to say that my return to boot camp class at my gym was a great success and that I left the class in a moment of triumph. It wasn’t quite that exciting, I confess. In fact, I felt glad that I managed to scrape through the session. I realized that I had not been to boot camp class in almost two years. How is that possible? I went to this class every Saturday morning for several years. Well, I was dealing with some family issues out of town in the beginning of 2020 and then of course the gyms as well as the world just shut down. I returned to the gym over a year ago but at first the classes at the gym had...

boot camp gym

Running in the Fall with My Dog

October 28, 2021

Fit and Strong, Running

What could be better than running in the fall with my dog, Penny? It's been several months now that Penny has been doing her canine Couch to 5K plan with me. We actually abandoned the official plan and just went with a run-walk program. I use my Garmin to set times for running and walking and we go from there. On a beautiful fall day, this is the face I saw at the top of my stairs. What a dejected looking pup! I said, "come on, Penny, we're going for a run." We drove to the Towpath Trail in the neighboring town. It's a lovely trail that runs along the Cuyahoga River. I wanted to run a section of the trail to figure out the distance between two...

Towpath

Finding Inspirational Music for My Running Playlist

October 21, 2021

Fit and Strong, Motivation, Running

I often listen to music when I run by myself so I’ve created my running playlist on Spotify. I wrote about this in 2018 (wow, that seems so long ago!) and was just making the transition from playing music from a variety of sources to using Spotify. Now I just have my playlist and listen to that when I need some motivation or distraction or just a good beat to run with. I don’t usually listen to music when I’m running with someone or if I just want to listen to the sounds of nature. I see that some of the songs that I mentioned in my earlier post are still on my playlist. Some of them I’ve forgotten about. Also, I said I was considering...

Inspiration Playlist Spotify

The Wonders of Bacon

October 18, 2021

Fit and Strong, Food and Drink

I received an email from some website suggesting that I should write a blog post about the wonders of bacon because “everyone loves bacon.” I thought, yes, perhaps that’s true but it doesn’t seem to fit with the Becoming Elli motif. We're the group who does the Veggie Challenge. We're a group of women who eat in a variety of ways but we do try to focus on being healthy. Bacon is popular right now with the Keto followers because it's a good source of fat and protein. It's a very fatty meat, regardless of the source of the pork. The Wonders of Bacon I remember frying up lots of bacon to go with pancakes when my son had a birthday sleepover to celebrate turning 13. Those boys...

Towpath Half Marathon Race Recap

October 14, 2021

Fit and Strong, Half Marathon, Running

Here's the Towpath Half Marathon Race Recap before I forget the details. It was a hard race for me but I managed to complete it. Towpath Half Marathon Race Recap I used the run-walk method that I used in training. I stuck with the three minutes of running and one minute of walking for the most part. There were some steep hills at the beginning and end of the race. They were tough so I found that my walking window was longer when I was going uphill, especially at the end of the race. I adjusted my running and walking time as I needed towards the end. My training had only gone up to ten miles so I found going the full distance to be a challenge. Fortunately,...

run-walk running Towpath Half Marathon

Training with a Run-Walk Program

October 7, 2021

Fit and Strong, Running

I've been training with a Run-Walk program because I'm scheduled to run my half marathon this coming weekend. I signed up for this race, knowing it would be tight time-wise to train for for it. This summer, I was doing the Couch to 5K with my dog and ran a four mile race on the Fourth of July. I had to walk part of that race because it was really a bit too long for me at the time. As I began to increase my mileage for this race, I wanted to avoid getting injured. In the past, I ended up with a few different injuries from over training and I really wanted to avoid that this time. I did some research and decided that I needed...

run-walk

Kayaking for Fun and Fitness

October 1, 2021

Fit and Strong

I remember Chris writing about kayaking and thinking that sounds like fun. She wrote about kayaking in 2019 and how popular it had become. Well, then came 2020 with the pandemic and suddenly kayaks could not be found. Everywhere was completely sold out of kayaks. Evenutally, of course, stores began to restock and kayaks began to show up. Buying a Kayak I bought a demo model from a kayak store so I was able to get a good deal. Then of course I had to buy a paddle, and a life jacket, and a couple other odds and ends to make kayaking fun. I later realized that they sell kayaking clothes, but I haven't spent any money on that. Kayaking is a good workout. It takes some work...

#kayak

Four on the Fourth Race Recap

July 22, 2021

Fit and Strong, Races, Running

This year I ran the Four on the Fourth race. It was held in Hudson, Ohio and was well attended. I’ve run a few Fourth of July races over the years and they’re usually hot. I wrote a post a few years ago about some of the Independence Day races I’ve run and when you look at the photographs, it’s clear that most of those races were hot. Last year there were no July 4 races due to the pandemic lockdown. Four on the Fourth Race This year’s Four on the Fourth race was a little different from the previous races. First of all, it was four miles, instead of the traditional 5K. Secondly, the morning started out cool. It was cool enough that I actually said, “well, at...

#FourontheFourth #FourthofJuly #HudsonOH

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Author: Jill McCauslin

Trying Out the Peloton App

Spicing Up My Bland Vegetable Soup

My Return to Boot Camp Class

Running in the Fall with My Dog

Finding Inspirational Music for My Running Playlist

The Wonders of Bacon

Towpath Half Marathon Race Recap

Training with a Run-Walk Program

Kayaking for Fun and Fitness

Four on the Fourth Race Recap

Beyond the Basic Bowl: Creative Ways to Use Quinoa

Buddha Bowl

Vegetable Soup for a Cold Weekend

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