Social Workout

Snapshot

Elizabeth Makes Her Own Yogurt and Hates Running Skirts

Elizabeth!

Every day, we give you a snapshot of one fellow striver in fitness. We ask personal questions, he or she boldly answers. Today's snapshot: Elizabeth, aka liz.

• What's the best thing in your gym bag? My Tek Towel is far and away the best thing in my gym bag. This towel is super absorbent, light weight and small. Plus it comes in its own tiny pouch, so I could easily carry it if I ever decide to run the four miles to the pool – not that I've done this yet. But my goal is to pair running and swimming in a single, amazingly exhausting workout this summer. 
• What's the healthiest thing you eat? Smoothies crammed with two to three servings of fruit or veggies and homemade yogurt. They are a good way to hide healthy things I hate (like bananas), and homemade yogurt is not as hard or scary to make as it sounds. Plus, I know exactly what is going in my body – no creepy stabilizers, sweeteners or chemicals with names I can't pronounce.
• What's your secret (fitness-related) sin? I fuel most of my workouts by gobbling down a slice of cheese, one or two cookies, a handful of chocolate chips or something equally unhealthy but delicious minutes before I work out.
• What do you wear to the gym? I'm a big fan of the double tank-top look – usually a colorful one from H&M under a plain old Hanes ribbed white or gray tank top (the kind you buy in a three pack at Target). I also wear either those ubiquitous cropped black yoga pants that every other woman in America wears or fancy running shorts with built in underwear and little pocket for a GU and my keys. Once I wore a running skirt. That was a mistake. I did not feel empowered in it. Instead I felt like a self-conscious college freshman going to a club for the first time in a short skirt. Also the extra fabric restricted my stride. 
• What's your go-to workout? When the temp is above 40 degrees in the morning, I love running five miles around my neighborhood followed by 20 minutes or so of weight lifting (usually I do the second half of Crunch's Total Body Sculpt video with 5 lb or 8 lb weights). 
• What's your number one workout spot? I don't belong to a gym, so most of my workouts take place on the streets around my neighborhood and in my living room. But my favorite workout spot is Rock Creek Park. Splashing through creeks, bounding over boulders and tree roots and scrambling up steep inclines makes me feel like a super hero or international spy running after the bad guys. 
• What would you do (fitness wise) if you had all the time/ability in the world? I would train for a triathlon. I'm so impressed with tri-athletes who not only conquered ONE sport but THREE. Not to mention their endless endurance. Amazing. 
• What are you just never going to try? I will probably never try any kind of diet. I figure that one of the benefits of waking up at 5 am five days a week to exercise is that I can eat what I want, when I want and I don't need to feel bad about it. Plus, I think denying myself the bite of cheese or dark chocolate (80% coco please) will cause the craving to overwhelm me with desire until I binge on an entire block of cheese instead of just a slice. 
• What superhero (real life or fictional) most inspires you? Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That's right. I'm not ashamed. She can seriously kick, punch, run, jump and banish scary things without breaking a sweat or messing up her hair.