Wednesday, December 16, 2009

I think I fixed the video I posted yesterday.  If someone could please check it I'd appreciate it.  THANKS!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

December 15th ... already?

Howdy Everyone!  Remember me??  Boy the time has been flying by lately.

My time has been a bit limited lately and instead of posting I've been trying to keep up on others blogs as much as I can.  You guys are more interesting anyway. ;)

This past Saturday was my 37th birthday and it turned out to be a pretty darn good day.  Normally my husband and I don't exchange presents, but this year he went out and got me a really nice looking running outfit.  (sorry, I forgot to take pics and can't find any like it online) 

However, once I put it on it didn't work for me.  It was a nice bright green Under Armour jacket and black Under Armour running pants.  The jacket was a medium, but was too big (YAY!).  The pants just fit goofy.  Considering together they were $170 I couldn't swallow that, so we returned them. 

We ended up going out shopping and I bought these running capris from a running store.  They are still sickenly expensive, but they are SUPER comfy and I had that $25 gift certificate I won last month.  Throughout most of the year I prefer a capri length to a full length.  Also, since my legs are on the short side most lengths are too long for me (and petite is too short).




We had some consistenly cold weather last week and our big pond froze over enough to go out on it.  The kids had some fun out there goofing off.



That night I was eager to try out my news pants and did a session in the gym.  I've been feeling lost in the work out dept. lately and when I have worked out it's mostly been running.  I've totally been neglecting my muscles.  So ... I've turned to Jillian.

I have her Making the Cut book and while I find the diet too much for me to follow, her workouts look really good.  A nice variety and you're always working something different.  You do 5 circuits.  Each circuit you do without stopping between moves and then you take about 30 seconds or so between circuits.  The workout takes about 45 minutes.

Day 1 looked like this:

CIRCUIT 1
20 reps Dumbbell Chest Press
15 reps Dumbbell Fly with crunch
50 Squats
1 min 7mph sprint

CIRCUIT 2
10 sec Plank
5 Push-ups
10 reps Side Planks with Inner Thigh Raise
5 sec Plank
5 Push-ups
10 reps Side Planks with Inner Thigh Raise
5 sec Plank
10 Burpies
50 Sumo Squats
1 min 7mph sprint

CIRCUIT 3
20 Frog Push-ups
20 Squat Thrusts (plank to squat)
30 sec Static Squat
10 reps W Shoulder Presses with Leg Extension
1 min Jump Rope

CIRCUIT 4
20 reps Bench dips
to fail Rope Tricep Presses
10 each Static Lunges with Lateral Shoulder Raise
1 min Mountain Climbers
30 sec Boat Pose (V-Sit)

CIRCUIT 5
1 min Jump Rope
50 Bicycle Crunches
30 sec Extended Plank

The next day we got our first little snowfall that amounted to anything and we went out for a run.  I hadn't run since the previous Saturday and REALLY wanted to get out, no matter what.  It was about -3°C (26° F) and had just started to snow when we left.  We ran 10Km and it was actually really pleasant and peaceful.  But by the time we turned back the snow got heavier and about 1" deep.  That was fine for running in, but it kept sticking in the crease under my shoe and building up a 1" ball under my shoes.  We had to stop every 2 minutes to pick them out.  Very annoying.  It was a tough run and my pace sucked!  But, I was happy to get out there.

After Jillian's workout and a cold run, I was DONE yesterday and didn't workout. 

My diet has been so-so.  I really need to get back to tracking.  Now, just to do it..... GRRR!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Personal Best!

Yesterday was such an awesome day!

In the morning we went out and got our tree.  Then my son played a wicked soccer game (best of the season).  Then, before it got dark I went out and did that 5K run.  After that we put up our tree, decorated it and had a nice relaxing evening.  Perfect day!

Certainly my run didn't involve any winter storms, crazy snow, insanely cold temperatures, nor santa hats or bells.  But I promised Syl I would be out there running with her.  And that I did.

Here's my cheerleading prior to the run (sorry for the blurriness, but I thought they were still funny):



I was going to go by myself, but my husband asked to come along. 

Here I am on my way out the driveway:


Follow the pink Syl ......

The weather was pretty darn good.  Clear skies, a bit of wind and just above the freezing mark.  The route we took was good for doing a fast 5K.  Straight forward and pretty much no hills.  The only thing we had against us was temperature and a strong head wind going out.  I was certain that I could finish under 27 minutes.  But I did even better than that:



Under 25 minutes!!!!!!

Wooooohooooooooooooooo!   I was thrilled!!!!!

After that we got our tree up.  Sure is hard to get a decent picture of a Christmas tree.  I'm not that skilled with my camera.  Believe it or not this is one of the smallest trees we've had in many years.  Normally the angel is shoved up into the ceiling.  But decorating it is still a challenge:



When it was part way decorated we sat back and relaxed a little with some mulled wine.





Ahhh a perfect evening!



Friday, December 4, 2009

Did it! And 5K here I come

YAHOO, I got out there today.  No more "tomorrow I'll exercise".  Today! 

Went to a drop in fitness class.  It's the same one I used to go to every week but the class never changes and after a while it just got too monotonous, and easy.  The music today was driving me absolutely batty.  It was this really repetitive background type music and it completely ground on my nerves.

But the class served it's purpose and that was to get me going again.  I feel GREAT today!

Of course it helps that it is absolutely GORGEOUS outside!!!!  We are currently making up for the crappy, rainy month of November.  Here's the forecast for next week. 




Not that it will be even close to accurate.  Around here they can't predict the next 48 minutes of weather, nevermind 48 hours or more.  Apparently this area is one of the hardest locations to predict weather due to the ocean and mountains and such.  Watching the weather forecast around here is pretty much a joke. 

So my poor friend Syl is running in the Santa Shuffle this weekend and expecting horrible wintery weather.  She left me this comment yesterday to motivate me:
Heidi, your buddy will be running in a HUGE STORM tomorrow..don't you feel sorry for me? I think the least you can do is get out and run a 5k tomorrow...I mean common it's Saturday....
there is that the push you needed :-)
xoxo
Syl
You know what? She's right! The least I can do is run a 5K too. I was planning to do the Santa Shuffle out here this weekend too but given a few unexpected financial hits we've just had I can't justify paying for Garry & I to enter in this race when we can just run on our own. And since our weather is going to be fantastic then I have no excuse!



So ... tomorrow morning I'm going to go out and time myself on a 5K road run.  See how fast I can do it.  If it's not under 27 minutes you'll find me cowering in the corner crying - haha.

Syl, tomorrow I will be running with you.  I'll be wearing my bright pink jacket so keep your eyes peeled for me.

.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Kicking Excuses to the Curb

Haven't blogged in a while and all you fellow bloggers know what that means .....  things haven't been ideal.  Though I can't say they've been completely bad.

Workouts have been sparse.  I have a million excuses, none of them really valid.  I ran last Tuesday, then not again until this Monday and last night I walked with a friend (instead of running as I'd planned).  Other than that I've had very little activity unless you include one day of reasonably heavy yardwork and a day of shopping. ;)

Eating has been ... OK.  I haven't journalled my eating completely for about 3 weeks now.  But I've tried to be mindful and I don't think it's been bad really.

The good news is my weight is holding.  The scale is fluctuating around the same numbers and is basically the same.

The bad news is my body is not. :(  I feel gushy - yuck!  My muscles need a workout.



Unfortunately tonight I have hours of bookkeeping that I'm working on. (just taking a short break to post what I typed up earlier)  But, tomorrow morning I plan to go to a fitness class or do a similar workout at home.  No matter what I've got going on I can't let this slide.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have a new love ♥.  A while ago Susan posted about her new love ... her Magic Cookie.  I gave it a try and while it wasn't quite the thing for me, it did spark an interest in me for a great new breakfast I've been having.  Especially at this time of year I like something warm in my belly in the mornings.


1 cup water
1/2 cup oats
1 scoop chocolate protein powder
1 tablespoon peanut butter

I put the oats & water in a pot on med-low for about 5 minutes and then just before eating I stir in the protein powder and the peanut butter.

You may remember that I have a variety of peanut butter on hand, so it's easy to make this a little different when I want.  Of course you can always do add-ins, but I'm really like this just the way it is.  Sometimes I top it with a few sliced almonds and/or add some ground flax.

This breakfast holds me for a LONG time.


I need to make an effort to post more often.  I've still been following everyone else's blogs, I just didn't get to posting my own. 

AND ... I really NEED to make more of an effort in exercising and journalling.
I can NOT let those things slide!
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