New year, new me

As mentioned in my previous post, December DID fly by. Every early November, I eagerly anticipate the holiday season, but every year it's over before I know it and I feel like I didn't take enough time to enjoy it fully.

So what's new in my life you ask? Well...

I bit the bullet and made the decision to do something FOR ME. I signed up for a membership at Cross Fit City of Lakes. I wasn't getting the results I wanted with my diet plan and personal training program (nor was I all that enthused about it). I have been going at least 3x a week, but trying/aiming for 4. Being this is something I am paying for, I wanted to do it right – the whole shebang. With that being said, I am also following the recommended Paleo diet – ie – no grains, dairy, grains, processed foods or alcohol. My carbohydrate intake is coming from mostly vegetables, nuts and seeds and a little fruit. I fill up on healthy fats and proteins.

I know, I know… I’m on a “bandwagon” again. But, the more I talk to my trainer and the more I read about it, the more it made sense to me and the way I want to treat my body. I ‘officially’ started on December 1st and I have been feeling pretty great. I am loving the workouts and the diet. I am not feeling deprived, not having any terrible cravings either. The only time I crave grain carbs is when I have waitied too long to eat.

My clothes are fitting better, my confidence is gaining, and I am feeling stronger. I love how I leave every workout with nothing left to give - I push myself to the limit in every workout. I cannot say enough good things about CrossFit. Seriously ladies... I haven't felt this good about myself, this strong, this confident in a LONG time.

I am also working on keeping my mind open in regards to the diet - this is LIFE. Not a judgement on how strict I keep my Paleo diet. I do have a little dairy here and there, which I am trying to cut out as I have reason to believe that it negatively affects my skin (reintroduction to dairy after a week off = hellllooooo massive breakout!). I also allowed myself to indulge over the holidays, but am back on track now. I will give myself a cheat day/meal if I feel it is necessary or if there is a special event.

Nine days in to 2011 and things are looking up.

What are you looking forward to this year? Any new years resolutions?

Traditions

December is certainly going to fly by, I just know it. Today is only December 4th, but before we know it, it'll be New Years Eve.

I have yet to decorate the house and am totally in a mood to go balls to the walls crazy and totally deck the halls. But when I think about all the trinkets I want, I realize that it'd be a waste of money to buy them all now at full price. I could EASILY spend over $100 on cute snowmen, santas, penguins, trees and lights, but is that really practical when I'm already on a tight budget? Not so much. What I really need are some elementary kids making me construction paper chain decorations and popcorn garland.

The last two years though, I've always been at Target the days after Christmas and always talk myself out of buying the ridiculously discounted Christmas trinkets. This year my inner Chrimstas-ista will give in and BUY BUY BUY!

I am loving all the holiday shows that are on TV now. On Tuesday night, I was highly disappointed that Biggest Loser wasn't on until 8, but my night did a 180 when I realized that the Grinch (the cartoon version) was on instead. I LOVE the Grinch. It's hands down my FAVORITE Christmas cartoon. Next on the list is Mickey's Christmas Carol, followed by the Frosty saga.

Mickey's Christmas Carol brings back so many warming and loving memories with my family. We would ALWAYS watch it together every year and we were all so excited about it. Last year, because of the crummy weather that came through MN the day before Christmas Eve, I wasn't able to spend Christmas with my family. I was so upset. I had spent most of the day at work checking the weather (crossing my fingers for a miracle) and talking on the phone with my Dad getting weather updates. Coming to terms with the fact that I wouldn't be spending Christmas with my family was hard to swallow. I had to babysit that night, had a white knuckle hour drive to my house that night, and let it sink in that the drive to SD wasn't going to happen.

When I got home, I walked into a candle lit house, Kenny G Christmas music playing (my favorite), and my hunny sitting at our center island with two homemade ice cream sundaes for us. He was so sympathetic, so sweet, and took the time to go out in the crappy weather to buy me my favorites - the Kenny G CD, my favorite winter scented candle, and ice cream. Later that night we watched Mickey's Christmas Carol and of course I balled.

We spent Christmas with Nate's family and eventually made it to my family two days after Christmas. I am so thankful for how welcoming and caring his family was that year and continues to be. The whole experience really made me realize that it's not about the date, it's about the celebration and time with the people you spend it with.

Alright, enough sap for the day...

I have a feeling that today is going to slip away from me. I'd really like to go get a Christmas tree today, maybe some cheap decorations, return some stuff, yoga my body up and we've reserved Eclipse on RedBox.

What are your favorite Christmas shows and movies? What ever happened to the Garfield Christmas show? I loved that one.

Favorite Christmas song?

Favorite Holiday tradition?

Have a great weekend! For those of you in MN... enjoy the beautiful snow!

Holiday time must be different

I can't believe that Thanksgiving came and went. I mean, seriously, how did the last three days just fly by.

Monday was also my Friday, my only day in the office this week. I took Tuesday off to prep for the family arriving on Wednesday and took off Wednesday to spend time with the family. They left late this morning and now that my house is strangely quiet and empty, I can't help but feel a little lost and sad. And, I am scratching my head trying to figure out how time can go by so damn fast.

The first Nate and Stacy hosted Thanksgiving was a complete success! The only losses of the day were 1. the egg that I cracked right into the garbage disposal instead of in the bowl and 2. the herb mix that Nate shot all over himself and the floor via the 'flavor injector' instead of in the turkey. We didn't have as many guests as had expected, which means that we have enough leftovers gain all our holiday weight this week.

I have always helped my mom prepare the Thanksgiving day meal, but I have never done this all on my own. It takes a lot of planning and coordinating to get everything ready on time, but regardless, not everything is piping hot. And then, after cooking a preparing all day and making sure that everything is right and ready and near perfect, you sit down to eat and 20 minutes later, the climax of the day is over. Poof. Hours of cooking for 20 minutes of eating. How does that work?! How long do your family meals last? AND.. is dessert served immediately after dinner?

With the family here and being off work, I haven't been to the gym since last Saturday. Not going to lie, I am feeling a little anxious about it, but I have continued to remind myself that it is okay. And it's also reminded me to keep my food choices in check.

Though it didn't get my heart racing, I was on my feet plenty Monday, Tuesday and yesterday. Wednesday I cranked out a rousing 30 minutes to Level 1 30 Day Shred (um.. hard!). Today I am really feeling like some Jillian Yoga, so I think I will honor that. I honestly am not feeling like anything crazy intense, but I am feeling like *something*.

If you went Black Friday shopping, did you snag anything good? Have any interesting stories to share?

Go big or go home

Long overdue, but better late than never, right?

After being able to run a half marathon without actually training for it, one would think they are in really good shape. And maybe I am, but the Cross Fit session was INTENSE and I loved every minute of it.

I started out with 3 rounds of 10 squats, 10 pushups and 10 modified pull ups using gymnast rings. Then I got into the real workout which was 3 rounds of 15 kettle ball swings, 12 box jumps and 10 squat wall throws.

Sounds simple enough on paper, but the point of the workout is to perform these moves in the shortest amount of time possible, but in proper and correct form. Even after the warm up I was tuckering out and during the workout itself I was DRIPPING sweat and needing to stop and catch my breath.

I’ve done one additional Cross Fit workout and plan on going again this Saturday. Every workout is different. The last time I went it was 3 rounds of overhead barbell squats, knees to elbows and double unders. First set was 21 reps each, 2nd set 15 each and final set 9 each. Even with just the two workouts, I feel stronger and more confident.

I just love the mentality associated with it. PUSH youself HARD and get through the workout in the best form with the best time. Race yourself. Show yourself up. GO BIG OR GO HOME.

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Love it, love it, love it.


Moving on…

I’m hosting my family for Thanksgiving this year and both me and Nate and super excited! We have a 20lb bird chilling in the freezer. My mom flipped her lid that we had a 20lb turkey. Now… maybe 20lbs is excessive, but (again) go big or go home, right?! And it’s my first Thanksgiving as a hostess. Might as well make it memorable with an oversized bird!

I still have some menu planning and some shopping to do. I am planning for all the basics – potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce (from a can of course), some sort of roll or bread, a vegetables and gravy – but I haven’t yet identified a dessert. Mr. Difficult is not into pumpkin/cinnamon stuff, so the traditional pies are out. I may go a brownie cheesecake route with some sort of fruit sauce. I will be sure to keep you all posted. Any maybe I will even get crafty and get some pictures on this boring blog!

I go through phases where I don’t feel like putting any energy into cooking. I’d much rather fill a bowl with spinach, romaine, open a can of chicken or tuna and call it a meal. If I don’t feel like that, I feel like scrambling two eggs, two whites making an omelet and toasting a piece of bread. Today/tonight is no exception. I am being forced to make potato cheese soup tonight. This meal was on the menu planner the last time I was planning meals (probably sometime in October…) and the damned half and half is barking at me since it’s time is up in the next few days. I don’t even want soup at this moment in time, but I seriously hate wasting food. It’ll make for good leftovers, right? However, on the flip side, I feel my domestic blood pumping and have a serious urge to bake my weekend away.

I really want to bake some sort of scone or muffin. JUMBO muffins or JUMBO scones. I hate wasting time with the dinky ones. Give me JUMBO ones that I can feel naughty about. Again once more, go big or go home, right? Any suggestions?

What are you all doing for Thanksgiving?

What words do you always spell incorrectly? Omelet, definitely pursue are always troublesome for me. Maybe I should invest in some flashcards.

Tree pose

I think we should work on creating a 3 day work week and a 4 day weekend. What do you think morale would be like then?! Sunday night, around 9, I am never excited for Monday and am always wishing for at least one more day. Funny how all my wishing has never actually worked. I should channel my wishing energy into something more productive.

My hunny is back home from his hunting excursion and is activity participating in National Beard Month. He’s the kind of guy that can wear it and not look ridiculous or goofy; it actually fits. It’s past the ‘sandpaper on my face’ point and is now quite soft. I give him a few days before he decides he can’t take it anymore. Sounds like me and my legs…

For those of you loyal readers, this past month or so I’ve been struggling with finding MY diet and exercise balance in life. I am happy to report that I am really beginning to feel at peace with it all. Let’s back track to the end of October.

My house was broken into and that completely killed my appetite (as in I didn’t eat much for a few days). A combination of the stress and not eating brought forth the evil stepmom version of the cold I was fighting. I eventually went to the doctor and was put on some antibiotics, but before my appetite had a chance, the antibiotics squashed it. So…after the 10 day antibiotic stint was up, the cold was dead and my appetite was coming back. During this time, I really was in tune with what I wanted to eat, what my body was craving, when to eat and when to stop. Unfortunately that didn’t include the $5.00, 3lb bag of organic spinach I had just bought at Costco prior to the madness (it didn’t last). During this time, I knew I wasn’t fueling my body properly what-so-ever. I also knew that I needed to honor and respect my body/mind in what it was going through, so I chose to take rest days. In the fear that all hell would break lose if I didn’t work out and follow a workout plan, I didn’t overeat and my pants still fit. Who knew?!

Part 1 – Diet
I know that my body responds well to a lower carb diet and that is what I plan on sticking to. HOWEVER, there are no ‘rules’ to this. It’s a guideline. In March of this year, I tried the Rosedale Diet (not associated with the Rosedale Mall for you MN readers ;) ) and had good results, felt much less bloated and puffy and felt healthy while on it. But because I saw it strictly as what I can and cannot have, I veered off of it. If you’re interested in reading about it, check it out at drrosedale.com. My plan is to stick to allow one serving of carbs a day in the form of pasta/rice/bread/oatmeal IF I want it. I’m not counting carbs from veggies, nuts, etc. And the remainder of my diet is from veggies, lean proteins, and healthy fats (avocado anyone? Yes, please!). I’m going to track calories to ensure that I am getting in at least 1800 a day as recommended by the personal trainer that I saw.

Part 2 – Exercise I met with a personal trainer the day after my house was broken into. As much as I wanted to cancel, I needed it to get my mind off of things and was curious to see what she would recommend. I LOVED the training session. The moves she had me do were different and challenging and I felt like everything was results focused. She had me lift heavy, heavier than I tried with P90X and broke down why it’s important for most women to lift heavy for 8-10 reps rather than lift easily for 12-15+. I’ll break this down a bit later…
She provided me with a strength routine, a plyo routine, and a combination of the two. She also set up a two week schedule for me to follow which includes the previously mentioned workouts, plus specific heart rate cardio days, and active rest days. This routine was given to me amidst the chaos and as much as I was paranoid that I couldn’t NOT miss a workout and had to follow the plan to a T, I respected and honored myself, and worked out when I felt I was able and when I had ate enough and rested when I felt I needed to.

Yesterday, I had my gym bag packed to hit up the gym after work, but I decided that I felt like walking the dogs, not going to the gym – key word being FELT. And for once, I listened to myself and did what I FELT like doing. I also ate what I was craving for dinner (Mmmm… Chipotle Burrito Bowl). And I’m okay with that. I’ve been doing some positive self talk lately and it usually starts with an “It’s okay to____”. I am also reminding myself of how far I’ve come, who I am, what I am capable of, and what I have to be proud of. It’s a day by day process and that’s simply all it is. Each day I have the power to make choices that positively impact MY mind, body, and life. These are not choices that are made by anyone else’s rules or standards than my own. I am learning to trust that I know what’s right for me and that it’s not the same as what is right for anyone else.

Lifting heavy… Here goes…
Basically, most women (myself previously included) say they are afraid they will bulk up if they lift heavy. Well, it was explained to me, in a nutshell, that women don’t have enough testosterone in their bodies to actually BULK UP. If you are bulking up, you should also be noticing facial and chest hair. If you are “bulking up” your diet may be off and you are actually gaining fat (insert P90X for me and I wasn’t even lifting heavy). When you are lifting weights, you should be lifting to the point where your muscles give up and you cannot complete one more rep. You should not be at a point where your muscles just feel a little sore and a little tired. You shouldn’t be sore during your weight lifting routine, your muscles should just feel ‘dead’ for lack of a better term. Now, PLEASE, my disclaimer… take this with a grain of salt. I am impressionable to health/diet and fitness information. I suggest that you research this to obtain the further knowledge you need to determine if this is right for you or not.

Today, I am doing a free 1-on-1 session at Cross Fit and I am really excited to get more feedback on an exercise and diet plan that’s right for me. I’ll be sure to fill you all in later this week!

Struttin!

I know you all have been patiently waiting for this… THE RECAP!

As you can see by the subject line, I do not need a walker to scoot around. This is good news!

Recap - Last Monday evening, I was asked if I could potentially take the place of my boyfriend’s brother-in-law in the Monster Dash this past weekend. By Wednesday morning, it was confirmed that I would be running in his place.

Flash forward to Friday…
I was in a tizzy about the run. I was put on antibiotics earlier in the week and they were totally killing my appetite. It had not improved whatsoever. To top it off, my intolerance for milk was reconfirmed after a bowl of cereal Thursday night and a bowl of cereal Friday morning (in the name of carbo loading of course). I was in terrible, uncomfortable stomach pain off and on all day Friday. I was hoping that it would work itself out by date night time, but that was not the case. It was only made worse by my nervousness. But, I bucked up and went about date night (dinner out downtown and the T-Wolves game) and had a lovely time.

I woke up Saturday morning feeling okay, but not 100% and not bad enough to bail out. I chalked it all up to nerves and got myself ready and by 7AM I was on my way. Between 8 and 830, I felt like I was going to poop my pants (literally and figuratively) but was able to get into the porta potties in the nik of time and made it in line for the race with a few moments to spare.
SIDE NOTE – Team Ortho – if you are hosting such large events, why don’t you have more than 7 porta potties available before the start? Please advise. Thanks.

And the race you ask? Well…

2:15:55

Which means it went FAN-FRICKIN-TASTIC! I was absolutely ELATED with my results. Considering that I haven’t specifically trained for this and was able to finish only 43 seconds ‘slower’ than my first, I’m happy as a clam!

The race went incredibly smoothly. I ran 10:1’s, which is running for 10 minutes, walking for 1. Me and my girl did this for the whole race and in doing so, I never had any pain or endurance issues. I felt strong as hell! I highly recommend this practice/training to anyone! Some of you may be thinking that it will affect your pace and time, but it does not. We stayed near the 2:20 pace group and within the last mile in a half we were able to break past them with no troubles what so ever. This was the FIRST time that I have ever done 10:1’s and it seriously made a word of difference! I plan on doing this for all future training and races.

Post race I had a bit of an ephifany about myself and my body. If I can run a half marathon without training for it, I have no grounds to EVER bash myself or my body. I am sticking to this and reminding myself of it everyday. I am healthy and I am strong. I may not have the perfect body per today's standards, but it's MY body and it's capable of so many things.

Are you up for the task?

I am running a half marathon this Saturday. You may be asking yourself the same questions I am asking myself.


Have I trained? No, not really.

Am I nervous? Yes.

Can I do it? Yes.

Are you sure? Um. Kind of.

Kids, I am pooping bricks her. I haven’t been sitting on my butt since my half marathon in July, but I certainly haven’t been adding on the mileage either! The farthest I’ve ran since the half was a 10K at the beginning of the month.

I *know* that I will be fine. I *know* I can do it.

My plan of attack?

-downing and extra GU during this race. One before and four during.
-Eat before – i.e. Cliff bar, banana and protein shake.
-run 10:1’s. Run 10 minutes, walk 1 minute
-watch my pace; in my first half I was running much faster than I typically would

The forecast…
High of 54
9am – 40 degrees/feels like 35
12pm – 48 degrees/feels like 44

The attire…
Still up in the air. I know that I will be warm after the first 2 miles, so I am contemplating shorts and a t-shirt. Just the thought of running 13.2 miles in pants makes me feel hot and uncomfortable, not to mention the thought of a wet, long sleeve t-shirt sticking to my arms.

Here goes nothin... Watch for the recap next week!