Featured Post

I have to give a big shout out to Lisa over at Workout Mommy. She did a featured post about me finding fitness while also being the mom of 3 crazy boys. It's always flattering when someone wants to talk about my efforts. Thank you Lisa and if you don't read her blog it's great!

Being a mommy, I had a hard time today. I was up late and was woken up early. Finally around 10:30 I dragged my tush on the treadmill. Today I had a choice menu of things to run as long as it was between 4-5 miles. I decided to do intervals. At first, I warmed up for an easy mile. After that I started with a 30 second sprint, recovered for 2 minutes, then upped it to 45 sec. sprint, 2 minute recover. I alternated between speeds 5.7-6 on the recovery and 8 for the sprints. I shouldn't even call them sprints, but it's pushing my limits for a period of time. I ended with about a half a mile cool down. What my treadmill said took 49 minutes to run in mommy time took almost 3 hours off and on. Normally my kids are better about bugging me. Next time I either need to :
A) Not be up so late so I can run earlier
B) Try to run at the gym where hopefully they won't interrupt me
C) Wait until they nap to run
D) Beat them ;)

All but D are all viable options. Tomorrow is a light run day, so I'll probably run and then do some Jillian and Wii Active. Getting to bed early may be an issue though since my oldest son is having a sleepover tonight! Ugh.

Workout: 5 mile interval running 49:20 under the Fartlek method on my Runner's World Training Plan

Wii Active

So you know how you get those gifts sometime that make you think, "This gift isn't really for ME?" I feel that way many times when I get a "gift"from my hubs that I know I'll never use but he will. For example, one Christmas he gave me a Family Tree Maker CD. Now there's nothing wrong with family or anything, but I am not a genealogy nut like he is. I think that was the first thing he opened and he rushed to the computer right away to you know...install it for me. He's so sweet. Well, I have to admit, for Father's Day I kind of did the same thing. I bought my hubs new lighter hand weights (since Jillian Michaels is a crazy woman and is trying to kill us). I also bought him a Wii Active program. Do I think he will use it? Yes. Do I also think I will use it? I tried it out just today (before he has) and I like it. We already have Wii Sports and Wii Fit so I knew I liked the idea. I'd read about it in my various Fitness and Weight loss magazines and I kept toying with the idea of buying it. I was on the fence though because I liked my Wii Fit, in fact I was obsessed with it for awhile. But I am a busy working mom and the Wii Fit can take forever. There's a lot of talking in between and I just want to workout and not listen to a computer generated trainer give me the same advice, "You're strong but you need to work on your stability." My hubs and I both used the Wii Fit a lot this winter but have been on our running and Jillian kick lately. But I went ahead and bought it since it's supposed to individualize a program just for you.
Today I entered my weight loss and fitness goals. I also took a food survey to see what it said. Then it came up with 12 different exercises for me that I am supposed to be able to finish in 20 minutes. It also gave me the option of low impact, medium, or high impact exercises. I had choices that I could select or remove and it gave the estimated finish time and calories I would burn. I only selected 5 exercises since I had already gotten my butt kicked by Jillian, but when it said the estimated amount of calories I'd burn was 47 that was unacceptable! I did my 5 and then chose to do some more. I like that it gave both cardio and strength training choices. It was kind of like interval training. Tomorrow is supposed to be different exercises to keep it fresh. Also there was an option to watch a demo or not, so that could be a time saver. There didn't seem to be a lot of talking and button pushing between exercises either like in Wii Fit. I'll keep you posted on how I like it. I just want to keep doing strength training and running. I usually just run and I know that I need to strength train. Unfortunately, since I'm usually short on time I choose to get my running in and then don't have any strength training time. I'm working on it since I know it's important to my health AND should make me a better runner.

Workouts- Monday Jillian Michaels No More Trouble Zones DVD and 15 minutes on Wii Active

New Experiences

I have only been off of work a week and a half and I have been working out like crazy! My hubs had a three day weekend and we did a lot together as a family.

Friday was supposed to be a rest day. I didn't run, but I did workout HARD. We went on a 5 mile bike ride which doesn't sound like a big deal. But when you're pulling 70 lbs. of dead weight behind you, it definitely burns the legs. My husband just discovered a new activity, well for us anyway. From what I've read they call it a "sport" but it doesn't seem like one to me. It's just really fun. It's called GeoCaching. To those of you muggles (nongeocachers), GeoCaching is where you get Satellite coordinates to a location. You can also get clues and information online before going in search for the cache. It's like a secret society/scavenger hunt/hide and seek. You find the secret spot with a compass or GPS device (my Garmin works). Once you get to the spot you have to find where the cache is hidden. Sometimes we find it, sometimes we don't. In a regular sized cache there's usually a notepad and pencil to write your name and date to kind of "claim" that you found it. Then there could be other things inside that if you like you can take, but you have to leave something in it's place. It's hard to explain, but our family had a lot of fun just trying to find these things hidden all near our own house! It made bike riding and hiking like a little adventure. We were out on our biking caching for over 4 hours! Our 8 year old is in to it! I was very proud of my hubs and I today because we were at a toga party last night. I've never been to a toga party and it was so much fun! But I have to admit, we were both really hungover. Despite our hangovers, we both ran 3 miles today PLUS the bike riding that was almost 8 miles plus all of our off trail hiking. We're trying very hard to be an active family!

Here's a pic from the toga party:

Workouts:

Thursday- Run 4.5 miles Friday- 6 mile bike ride Saturday- 5 miles long run

Sunday- 3 miles run + 7.8 miles bike ride

Trying to break some new habits

I remember over a year ago being at a Weight Watchers meeting. There was a guest Leader that day. I remember her saying that she counted every BLT: bites, licks, and tastes. I remember thinking that was weird. Why would anyone need to count one little bite here and there. Besides, at the time I wasn't tempted to do that because I had stronger self control. But as I have become more complacent in my eating, I find I do nibble. A LOT! And it's usually off of what most mommies do...my children's plates. I'm only lying to myself thinking I can nibble and not count it. It's not a full meal and nobody saw me so it doesn't count. Really? You know better!
I have been working REALLY hard this week to not do that. I am still trying to fully potty train my strong willed twinsies. To bribe them, we offer sugar cookies with the frosting on them or KitKats or other cookies...basically we're desperate to get them pooping in the potty OK. Please don't' judge...they're 3 1/2 for crying out loud! (I also take them to the pet store too which is a cheaper healthier treat for them) Anyway, we give them the cookies and they love that the earn them, but they never eat them all the way. They leave about half left over. Now the last 2 nights I had those cookies sitting next to me. Staring at me! Calling for me to eat them. I was trying to to look at them. In my mind I was plugging my ears saying, "La la la I cannot hear you." I'd glance at them from my peripheral vision but then quickly break eye contact. Finally, I just got up and put them down the garbage disposal. That way I couldn't you know, maybe get them back out of the trash if they didn't really touch anything dirty. Not that I've ever done that or anything! I think what helped me was tracking. After each meal I immediately wrote it down so I wouldn't forget something. Since I did not have the 2 points needed to have that cookie, I did not eat it. Plus for me once I bit into that sugary naughtiness, I can't stop with just a bite, or two, or half of the cookie. I'd probably grab the other half and then find something else and then I've worked my way into a guild ridden sugar comatose! Not worth it! My hubs and I have said to each other this summer we want to get into the best shape of our lives. I can't get there with eating the BLT's and not counting them. Those little nibbles add up. And where they add up are right on my love handles. I don't need any new additions there. That space is already at full occupancy to me! I want some vacancies to open very soon if you know what I mean!
Today was day 3 of marathon training. My muscles are still sore! I will be doing a lot of stretching and rolling out the muscles. This is the first time I have worked on strength training with my running. I hope to not be this sore everyday!

Today's Workout: 3 easy miles in 33 minutes and 40 minutes doing Levels 1 & 2 of Jillian's 30 Day Shred. Earned 5 activity points

Daily points allowance 20 + 4 activity points

Soreness

The day after I do a Jillian Michaels video I am sore for days. You know it was a hard workout when you are sore throughout the day. I used my marathon stick to try to roll out the muscles. My sons crack me up. They will pick up my stick and start to roll it on their legs like mommy. They also will find my weights, pick them up, and start moving like they're doing a squat! They are 3! It's too cute! It was good that I had an easy run day today because I am stiff. It helps when you have stiff muscles though to get them moving. The more I sit, the more stiff the legs get.
Today is the first days I've run for about a month. I always tell myself to not take a long time off because my stamina disappears quickly, but I took a month off! I ran VERY easy (slowly more like it) today. I ran 4 miles in 43 minutes. Ugh! But I was sweating so I got a good workout in. I love staying home in the summer with my guys, but I didn't run for 43 minutes straight. I have little men coming to me and saying, "Mommy can I puffs!" "Mommy Jacky hit my eye." "MORE JUICE!!" etc. They always want me to pick them up and then I hear, "Mommy you're wet." Yes I do get a bit sweaty wet...live with it dudes! It's so nice outside and it kills me to run on the treadmill. Right now I don't have a choice unless I wish to run pushing the two of them in a trailer. They aren't able to ride bikes yet. My only other choices would be to wake up at 5 am to run (hello I'm on vacation) or wait until the kids are down for bed (then I won't be able to go to sleep). So the treadmill it is. I may have to run on the treadmill at the gym though. Maybe I wouldn't get interrupted so much. Then again, when I took them last year they always kicked me out since the twinsies wouldn't stop crying!
It's feeling good to get back to training. Another thing I got back to was tracking! I haven't tracked for about a year. Maybe this is my problem with these 13 extra pounds. I wrote everything down yesterday, stay on points, earned 4 actitivy point for my video and what did I get for all my good work? I was up .8 on the scale today. I won't let it get me down though since it could be the cookies and ice cream I ate on Father's Day catching up to me. Well I'm off to take the maniacs outside!

Marathon Training Day 1

What I find funny about my 1st day of training for a marathon is that I didn't run at all. I am following The Rookie Marathon Training Plan by Runner's World. Mondays will be cross training days. On these days, I plan on doing any of my Jillian Michaels DVDs, riding my bike with the kids in the trailer in the back, or the StairMaster. I did Jillian's No More Trouble Zones DVD today. I've done this DVD 4-5 times now and it never gets easier. It's a killer and that's why I love it.

On a completely different subject, my 8 year old son had a sleep over on Saturday night. Unfortunately, many things happened at this sleepover that I don't necessarily approve of. For example, they had a scavenger hunt where they went door to door to strangers houses asking for obscure things. Also, the mom took a mini van full of them to tee pee peoples houses until 2 am. When I picked him up I could see he had stuff on his face. I asked what it was. He said, "We had smores for breakfast." Ugh, really? Are you kidding me? So it made me feel really good when we got home that he and I made a really healthy brunch for the family. We made flax pancakes, eggs, turkey sausage, and fresh fruit on the side. Both the hubs and child are very picky eaters, so I was nervous about the pancakes. It was the first time I made them. Both of them loved the pancakes! I got the recipe from the back of my Milled Flax that I buy in a big tub at Costco. Also, I have never had a meal sustain me for as long of a time as this one did. We ate brunch at around 11 and I didn't want to eat again until 5:30! My boy definitely needed some fiber and protein. In fact, it's 10:30 where I love and the poor kid is still sleeping! That's not like him at all. Good thing we're off for summer break!

Scared but Willing to Try

It's not quite official, but I printed out a new training guide for a marathon. A MARATHON!!! This from a girl who said she'd never run. This from a girl who used to say she'd rather get stabbed in the eye with an ice pick than run. This from a girl who said she NEVER had the notion to do a marathon. A marathon was beyond my scope of comprehension. Well, since I've done 2 half marathons I started thinking, "Maybe I actually CAN do this." Never say never right? I am completely terrified. Even though I've been running for about 2 years, I still feel like a newbie that knows nothing.
I have had several people message me about how I started running. I had lost all but 10 pounds of my weight when I really took to the gym. I started with the elliptical, then the ArcTrainer, and the rowing machine. The ArcTrainer and Rowing machine really got my heart rate up and made me sweat (which I like in a workout). I never really got sweaty or out of breath on the elliptical unless I had the resistance up full blast. I started reading my Weight Watchers books about how long it would take me to earn 4 daily activity points. If I did a moderate exercise, I would need to do it for 90 minutes to earn 4 pts. Now I am a mother of 3, 2 of which are twin toddlers. I don't usually have 90 minutes a day for cardio. Then I looked up what Weight Watchers considers High activity. This included jogging and running and to earn 4 activity points I'd only need to do it for 35 minutes. That I can handle. So my sister-in-law, who also used to be overweight, took up jogging and it really slimmed her down. Plus I watched Biggest Loser contestants running so I finally thought I'd try it. I started at a really slow pace, probably 4.8 and would try to run for 5, walk for 5. Then I'd bump it up the next time to maybe 7 minutes running, 5 minutes walking. Eventually I was up to 35 minutes. Once I could handle that time for awhile without feeling like I was going to die, I gradually increased my speed. I ran at the gym at first one summer. Then of course school started and I quit running because I let that be my last priority. Not healthy I know. Then for Christmas I bought a Treadmill. That was money well spent. My hubs and I run and it still to this day. Now that I've run outside though, I definitely like it better. I don't stop running when I'm outside. I seem to find excuses to stop and start a lot when I run on the Treadmill.
My hubs, who I love but is cheap, cheap, cheap, told me that a friend of his whom has run several marathons loved the Portland marathon. He said it's not too hilly and the crowd is fantastic. I like the fact that you can run with your Ipod. I can't believe some races will disqualify you for running with music. I couldn't do it! I need my tunes for motivation. So that's the marathon I am going to train for. I have 15 weeks which makes me a bit nervous because they recommend 18 weeks. I haven't really been doing much exercise since my half. I will officially start on Monday. I hope to truly make a commitment but next month!
Any of you runners out there have advice for me on training for my 1st half? I printed out Runner's World Marathon guide for beginners. Any one try that plan? How often do you eat during your long over 13 mile runs?

Has it been that long???

Holy moly I can't believe my last blog was in April. If anyone will still be reading this and has read before, I get consumed with stress. The beginning and end of the school year just hammers me. My hubs just doesn't understand. I was at work on Tuesday from 8:30 until 7:30 just to have everything ready for the last day of school. He thinks if it's the last day of school I should have no more work and just be able to walk out the door. It does not work that way.

So I have still been struggling with maintaining my weight. It was so easy for me the first year. I probably was almost cocky about it. I didn't understand what was so hard. You plan your meals, track your food, stay within your points, exercise. As I type it it still sounds simple. But ever since my surgery last summer I have been up 10-18 lbs. above my lowest weight. I try to ask other people who have lost weight, "When you lost, did you get down to your lowest weight, and then bounce up a little to where your body wants to be?" No one seems to answer me. They either don't understand what I'm asking, haven't had that experience, or think I'm talking about plateaus. I mean when I was in the midst of losing I dropped down to 117. That's my lowest weight. Last year I had a tummy tuck and seemed to instantly gain 10 lbs. That still seems weird to me. I had a pound of skin removed, I should have dropped to 116 but instead I bounced up to 127. Lately my highest weight has been 135! I feel like crap at that weight. When I was 117 everyone told me I needed to gain 10 lbs. Well I gained that and then some and I don't like how I look or feel. I don't like that ALL my pants are tight. I don't like that I can feel back fat when I sit. I don't like it. So I am back to no longer trying to maintain but trying to lose again. This morning I weighed 129 and normally this would frustrate me, but I haven't seen a 2 in the tens place in awhile and it was a welcomed change. Here is a quick recap of the last 2 months:

• I ran a 10K April 19. I ran it in 51:21.
• I ran a 12K May 3. Finished in 100:02.
• Ran my 2nd 1/2 marathon and got a PR! Finished in 01:47:04.5. This time I raced I felt great afterwards. My first race I had to lay in be for 6 hours due to rotten gut! I'm pretty sure it was eating GU with caffeine that hurt my tummy. I had GU this race plus Imodium before my race and it helped tremendously.
• Went to a family reunion in Atlanta with my husband and oldest son to meet family I'd never met. It was amazing.
• Signed up for a 12 person relay race that's 190 miles long. I did not think it all the way through. It's a 2 day race which means I could have a leg at 2:00 in the morning! Well it will be an experience.
• I am trying to eat more clean. Not that I eat bad, my I find myself snacking off my children's plates. I need to stop eating as many crackers and thing like that!

So have any of you lost weight but your body couldn't maintain it and you gained a little bit more? Maybe it's just me. Everyone keeps telling me this must be where my body wants to be but I don't receive that well.