As I’m sure you have heard by now – it’s November. We have only two months left in the year. Hard to believe, huh? At least October went out with a bang! Are you ready to read about a stellar new workout and get an overload of cuteness?

I kicked off my last day of October with a frightfully good workout. Since I knew we had plans for the afternoon ahead, I hauled my booty to the gym to spend some quality time with the treadmill again. But first – a new workout!

The compound moves in a continuous fashion really had me sweating. I loved the use of the resistance band in this workout too. Always fun to mix things up!

Since I had such a sweat going from the circuit (and a little ole thing called a half marathon this weekend), I kept things light when I hit the treadmill. I didn’t mess around with speed work to entertain myself on the treadmill. I just set the speed at 6.2 and kept on running until I hit four miles.

I’m happy to report that my foot finally feels completely normal again. You may recall the top of my foot feeling sore after a long run a little over a week ago. It would still feel a little tender at times, which had me worried. I looked into it and found numerous suggestions to tie my shoes differently.

I followed this guide on Runner’s World and laced my shoes up in a parallel fashion.

No more pain! Who knew such a simple change could work such wonders? I guess trading in my old shoes for the new pair I had waiting for me helped too.

Most of the rest of the day proceeded normally – laundry, play time with the kids, getting work done during nap times, and so on. Then came the night and the excitement picked up considerably.

You thought I was going to dive right into the cuteness, didn’t you? Well, sorry to burst your bubble but excitement for me meant starting the night with a heaping bowl of chili.

I made Kelly’s recipe for chili (because I know she does a good one) and loved every Frito and cheese topped bite. Some things just need the old-school toppings.

Now that you have waited ever so patiently, time for trick-or-treating…

…and the corresponding explosion of adorable.

This season is easily my favorite time of year because I simply cannot get enough of the many family activities.

You can’t help but have some of the kid excitement rub off on you.

Makenzie had an absolute blast trick-or-treating since this was the first year she fully understood the process. Which also meant Peter and I had to be a little sneakier about nabbing a few pieces from her stash. You know you would do it, too!

Butterfinger, Reeses, and Twix make good race fuel, right?

She obviously has plenty. Today I will be sorting through it all, pulling out a small stockpile of her favorites (Dum Dums) and our favorites (above) for special treats, then donating the rest to Makenzie’s preschool. They are taking donations to send to the troops to have for treats and also to pass out to kids where they are stationed. Isn’t that cool? And friendly to the whole holiday maintenance balance thing. Win win situation for all!

• Favorite: Halloween candy? Costume? Holiday?
• What’s a surprisingly simple fitness tip that has made a big difference before for you?

Morning, friends! I hope you’re having a good week so far! I want to start this morning with a quote I found yesterday that fits blogging so perfectly.

Friendship is that moment when one person says to another: “What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” ~ C.S. Lewis

Is that not the perfect quote for this fabulous community? Thanks for letting me be a part of it and for visiting me here at FFF. Big love!

I love coming here because I know you all will get my excitement over the following.

I got my “spice” back with two new strength training workouts this week!

Now, why can’t everyone get the cause for celebration in finding a new challenge in strength training? They’re missing out, don’t ya think?  

What did I do to finally spice things back up? Since I like to save the best for last, I will talk about yesterday morning’s workout first.

Last Friday I discovered that my library has quite a few workout DVDs available for check-out. I scooped up Jillian Michaels’ The Shred and couldn’t wait to try it out!

Yesterday morning was finally the time to pop it in the DVD player and see how I fared against Jillian. Since each workout is 20 minutes in length, I decided to go through both Level 1 and Level 2 to get a bit more of a challenge.

Challenge, it was! At first, I thought it wasn’t too difficult…but by halfway through Level One I started feeling it. It progressed from there FAST! I was one hot mess by the end of my 40 minutes!!!

Looking a little something like this…

I think the many compound moves and those squat thrusts did me in. Whew!!!

As much as I loved The Shred (and can’t wait to give Level 3 a shot), I simply have to toot my own horn here a bit.

Monday morning I headed to the gym with a new circuit idea in mind. I had a feeling it either would either be a total flop or a total killer. If I’m talking about it…you know it was the latter. OH. Muh. Good-NESS!

I wanted something relatively quick (around 30 minutes), but with enough variety to switch things up from my regular weights routines. I went with the trusty circuit style, but instead of doing a few different circuits with 3 sets of each move, I went completely hodgepodge and did a different move each step along the way.

Let me explain a little better. I present you with the 5 x 5 circuit:

5 body parts x 5 moves per body part x 1 minute per move.

Basically, I crafted five DIFFERENT circuits. In each circuit, I picked a move for legs, chest, back, and shoulders, then finished with my fave move ever – the plank. I went through each circuit only ONCE, before going straight to the next one. I didn’t have a set number of reps for each move. I simply used the timer on my phone and completed each move for a full minute. Turns out – a minute is a long time in workout world!

Here’s a breakdown for you:

Told ya it was a good one! Be sure to let me know if you try it out! Or if you have any questions. Like “where should I keep my sweat towel???”. I think I may just have to do this again tomorrow!

• Have you ever done The Shred?
• What’s something other bloggers get your excitement over that friends and family do not?

PS – I’m not a certified trainer yet, so use this workout at your own discretion.

PPS – I can in fact do math, and know 5x5 is 25. The 30 minutes comes from the extra time added in for transitions/rest/etc.