Randomness

TGIF folks!!

Cheers to the freakin' weekend! And a 3 day weekend too!

That's always a plus. I'm looking forward to 3 "No Alarm Clock" days.

Where has this month/year gone?! I can't believe that it's almost September!! I love September because it means cooler weather, football, and my birthday! But I'm sad to see my sun filled, boat floating, bikini wearing days go. :( I think that we're going to continue to camp when our schedules allow just to have a place to get away to on the weekends. It's so nice to have that happy place!

It's time to crack down and seriously focus on fall half marathon training.
I'm still not sure which one I'm going to do yet. I'll probably go ahead and run the Route 66 in Tulsa. I've asked Holly and Mel to come run a leg of the full marathon relay with me. I'm not sure if they will be able to yet. I think you should all visit their pages and encourage them to do it!!
I would also like to run one in Colorado, Arkansas or New Mexico but I'm undecided about that at this point.

I've been good with my fitness goals this week. Wednesday night, my Pathways group ran a fartlek run. It was HOT and humid. We did fartlek intervals for the first half of the run and our usual pace and intervals for the second half of the run. We cut it a little short and ended up with 3.5 miles. It was a challenging run but they all did well! Afterward, I did Focus T25 ab intervals.

Yesterday I did Focus T25 total body circuit and a 40 second plank. So far today, I've already done Focus T25 Speed 1.0 and a 40 second plank. I will do T25 lower focus after work tonight, before we head to the lake. I'm planning to run tomorrow and Monday morning and continue my plank challenge.

As far as my eating, I've been pretty consistent with clean eating this week, probably 80/20 this week and I'm pleased with that. Its going to be difficult not to blow it this weekend, but I'm going to try really hard to stay on track!! 

I've gotta go get ready for work so, have a wonderful weekend!

Be safe and be awesome!!

Workout Wednesday #13

Good morning folks!! I'm back up and online at home.....finally!! Woohoo!! Today is Wednesday, which means we're halfway through this work week.....thankfully!! Monday, my Pathways group was scheduled for speedwork at the track. I used to be intimidated by speedwork, so I gave my group a little peptalk before the run. I told them that we didn't expect them to be Olympic athletes but we did expect them to do the best that they could do. I challenged them to step out of their comfort zone and push themselves just a little bit to see what they were capable of. They were AMAZING!! It was hot and humid but there was very little complaining! I was so impressed with them and I think some of them even surprised themselves! After the run, I went was scheduled to do Focus T25 cardio. Since we had done speedwork, I opted to do Insanity upper body strength training instead. Recently, I posted my thoughts about my Insanity workout. I was asked by a reader to post pics. I have been a little hesitant to do so because I'm not where I want to be, but I've come to the realization that "progress is progress, no matter how small" So, here ya go! Before and after Insanity:

So, today is Workout Wednesday!! I've been trying to incorporate more strength training to my workout regimen lately. One thing that I've been doing and really find effective is a kettlebell workout. I don't have a kettlebell at home, so I use a 20 lb dumb bell. So, that's what I have for you today. Try it out and let me know what you think! I'm also doing a 30 day plank challenge. It's not too late to get in on that! That's all I've got for now! Have a wonderful day!!

Manic Monday/Plank Challenge

Whew! Where did the weekend go? It seems like I blinked and it was gone :( Other than being too short, it was a great weekend. It started with a fun 4.5 mile run with my Pathways group. It was a large group, about 30 runners. We started at our Fleet Feet Tulsa Blue Dome location and ran to Swan Lake via the trail. For some in the group, it was a distance PR. It was a little bit hilly and the humidity was insane, but everyone was able to finish the run without any difficulties. After the run, my husband and I were en route to our happy place at the lake. I know that summer is winding down and that makes me very sad. I'm looking forward to fall, but I'm determined to eke out every last little drop of summer that I can!! We enjoyed soaking up some sun and visiting with friends. I'm still blogging from my phone app which is beyond annoying and inconvenient. They are scheduled to come out and upgrade my service, so hopefully I'll be back to normal as far as that is concerned. Tonight, we're taking the Pathways group to the track for the first time this session. I remember when I was in Pathways. I despised the track!! It was probably because I got a groin strain one night and I think that was the beginning of my IT band issues. But, the more I run, the more I find that I really don't mind track night. Then, I'm scheduled to do Focus T25 alpha cardio, but I'm thinking that I might do Insanity strength training instead. And, my plank challenge starts today!! Whatever workout I decide to do, I'm going to add my 20 second plank to the end of it. Gotta get it in when/where I can!! There's still time to join the plank challenge!! Have an awesome Monday!! Be-YOU-tiful today!! Are you joining the plank challenge??

Catching up

Howdy y'all!! TGIF!! I'm so glad it's Friday!! It's been a good week with the exception of not having internet access at my house. That's been a tad inconvenient! Wednesday evening, I ran with my Pathways group. It was our first hill night. We ran all of the bridges in downtown Tulsa. It was pretty hot that night, but we made 2 stops by water stop and that helped some. We also made a pass through the splash pad at Guthrie Green, which was fun!! The group did a great job and handled the hills readily! I was very proud of them. I think this is going to be a great session and a fun group to work with. I tried something new last night. I did my Focus T25 cardio workout as scheduled but I added on a kettlebell swing/weighted burpee drop set workout. I used a 20# dumb bell, as I don't have a kettlebell and I used 10# dumb bells for the burpees. I did 21-15-9. It was a sweatfest!! Then I proceeded to plank while I waited for my pulse and breathing to return to normal. That seemed like an eternity, but was probably more like a minute. I plan to tack the kettlebells/burpees on to the end of my workouts for at least the next couple of weeks. And I've decided to try a planking challenge that starts on Monday. I would love to have you join me!! See below for details. I've been a little more consistent with the clean eating this week too. Hopefully I'll start to see some real results soon!! Tomorrow I'm running 4.5 miles with my Pathways group then I'm heading to the lake for some fun in sun!! I'm going to try to eke out every moment of the summer that I can!! Have you ever tried kettlebells or weighted burpees?? Who's going to do the plank challenge with me?

Workout Wednesday

Good morning friends!

We're halfway there!

I finally decided to upgrade my existing internet service, so hopefully I will have a new modem soon and will be back online at home. Yay!

Today is workout Wednesday. I've come up with a quick power workout for you today.

I hope everyone has a great day!

Two things Tuesday

Good morning folks! I hope that you're having a great Tuesday so far!

Just a couple of quick thoughts for the day: First, not having internet at my house sucks!! BIG TIME!!

I can get on the internet using my cell phone but the reception is spotty at best. I still haven't decided what I'm going to do for internet.

I'm leaning toward upgrading with my current provider. I wanted to pursue other options but those are limited in my area.

Currently, I have Hughesnet satellite internet. Although it is relatively reliable, it is stupidly expensive and I can't stream Netflix because it buffers all the time and I would exceed my bandwith. :-(

I thought about a wireless modem through my cell phone company, but as I mentioned, cell phone reception is poor at my house. Oh, the joys of living in the boondocks!!

Secondly, I will never understand mean people (girls). For the life of me, I cannot understand why any one would say/do things to deliberately hurt someone else. It is immature, unprofessional and counter productive. What the heck is wrong with these people? Are they so unhappy and miserable with themselves, their life, their situation, etc that they have to pick on others for sport?? Are they bored? Don't have anything better to do?? Mean people SUCK!!

OK, enough ranting! Have a fabulous day!! Be kinder than necessary today!

Out of commission....

Good morning folks!

Here we go again!

We had a great, relaxing weekend. We got up early Saturday morning for a run. It was 55 degrees! I was worried that I would be cold in my tank top, but I wasn't.

We had fun in the sun all afternoon and then we enjoyed a campfire that evening. We made s'mores. I learned a pretty clever trick....I used Keebler fudge Graham cookies to sandwich the marshmallow! They were yummo!

When we got home last night, we discovered that our DirecTV receiver wasn't working. Then, I tried to log on to their site, I discovered that my modem had crashed too. I guess we had a power surge or something. I think I finally got the receiver up and running but the modem is toast. So, I will be posting from my phone and/or work in the interim. Be forewarned that posts may be sporadic, random, sans cool photos, or non-existent until we get some form of the interwebs at our house again. Bear with me! Please be patient!

Thanks!

And don't forget to be awesome today!

Finally.....

Good morning friends!!

TGIF

It's been a little bit rough this week. I'm trying not to sweat the small stuff but I'm having a little bit of difficulty shaking it. I'm so looking forward to running away to my happy place this weekend!!  I need to get away from it all with no distractions.

 

 

The weather is supposed to be beautiful!!  It's going to be in the 60's in the morning, so I'm hoping to get in a good, mind-clearing run and then hopefully some fun in the sun with good friends!!

I hope that you all have a fabulous weekend!!

I was insane

Good morning folks!!

As most of you know, I recently did the Insanity workout. I've seen the infomercials on TV for years and have been curious about it.  2 of the doctors I work with completed the program and challenged me to try it.  So I did. 

I started at the end of May. I really enjoyed the first month. It was challenging but I didn't feel like it was too difficult. The workouts were about 40 minutes in length. They started with about a 10 minute warm-up and a 5 minute stretch. The actual workout part was about 25-30 minutes. The exercises consisted of plyometrics, cardio, and body weighted exercises with focus on core strengthening. The recovery stretches were very good and focused on balance.

After month 1, there is a recovery week which focuses on core strength and balance.

Month 2 was an entirely different story. The workouts were all about an hour in length. After the warm-up and stretch, there were about 45 minutes left for the workout. I'm not sure why, but that seemed like an eternity to me. The exercises were markedly more difficult. I felt very discouraged and definitely did not look forward to doing the workouts. They just seemed more inconvenient and tedious. So, consequently, I did not actually complete the workout. I completed about 6 weeks of the workout but that was really all I could muster.

I didn't see any outward results in my weight or body either. I think there are multiple reasons for this, primarily my diet. I didn't follow the meal plan. Secondly, I'm at a point where I want body sculpting. I want to build muscle and have definition. I'm at a point where I need to focus more on weight lifting vs cardio.

However, I did have results. My endurance and stamina has definitely increased. I feel like my core strength, flexibility and balance are all very much improved!

The bottom line here is I enjoyed it and I would do it again.

I have moved on to the newest Beachbody workout program, Focus T25. I'm enjoying it so far. The workouts are all 25 minutes in length. They are a mix of cardio and body weighted exercises. I find that it is much easier to find 25 minutes to workout each day. And I'll have time to incorporate more weight training so that I can build more muscle.

Have you done Insanity or any other Beachbody workouts??

What workouts are you currently doing??

Workout Wednesday

Good morning folks!!

It's Wednesday and that means that we're halfway there!! It also means that it is workout Wednesday.

I survived the root canal yesterday. It was bad enough but wasn't a bad as I was imagining. It isn't something I'm eager to repeat anytime soon, however.

After I got home, I did week 2, day 2 of Focus T25, total body circuit and was dripping with sweat at the end of it.

I was discussing plank workouts with a friend yesterday. She has had some recent health problems. She wants to workout but wants low impact exercises that would help strengthen her core.

There are quite a few plank exercises in the T25 total body circuit and this got me thinking about how wildly effective planks are. They would be perfect for my friend.

So, I found a couple of plank workouts for you today:

How to get washboards abs and no more crunches

And:

 

 

So, there ya go!! That's all I've got for you today!! Have a great Wednesday!!

New Day

Good morning y'all!

It's a beautiful day! I woke up to more much needed rainfall. Plus, we made it through Monday!! 

And I'm so glad! That means that today is a new day. I love the fact that we get a new day every day and that we get to start over!!

A reply to my post yesterday really made me think about this and helped me put my food/drink transgressions from this past weekend into perspective.

I can't change the way I ate/drank with reckless abandon (even thought it didn't really seem like it at the time, but the scale says so) The only thing I can do is move on and try to do better.

I didn't meal plan over the weekend and that always leads to disaster. I had to eat whatever I could find in the hospital cafeteria. I chose the "Red, White, and blue salad" chicken breast with raspberries, blueberries and feta cheese so that was pretty healthy. But they had Macaroni and Cheese!!  They have the BEST mac and cheese and haven't served it for months. So, of course I had to have some of that as well. And 2 peanut butter cookies happened to find their way onto my tray :/ Oops! 

So I ate the cookies and the mac and cheese. Guess what?? It was pretty damn good too!! 

Can I change it now?? No, I can't. It's a done deal now. But I can get my shi*t together and plan/prepare meals for the rest of the week so that I don't continue down the slippery slope of eating.all.the.things! I know that eating mac and cheese or cookies occasionally isn't a crime. But I also know that one thing leads to another for me and if I don't put the brakes on the garbage eating quickly, I'll never stop.

So, after work yesterday, I led the Pathways PW3 group on a 2.5 mile run. It was pretty humid but they did a great job. This is going to be a great session.

I stopped at the grocery store on the way home and got some things to prepare for the rest of the week so hopefully, I will make better food choices.

I came home and did the Focus T25 cardio workout, which  was pretty challenging for me last night. I was tired and it was really all I could muster. I wanted to start my weight training program that Erica @ Mom With Muscle designed for me but I was just too tired. Excuses, excuses......I know!!  But it is very important with weight training that you use good form and if you're too tired, your form suffers. So I opted to wait until today to start weight training (hopefully)

After that, I spent about 30 minutes and prepared food for the whole week. Yep, that's all it took! 30 minutes!!  I can't believe how easy it really is with a little bit of planning.

I put chicken breasts in the crock pot with McCormick garlic and herb seasoning. I bought 2 different bags of Bird's Eye Steamer vegetables. Each one takes about 5-6 minutes to prepare in the microwave. While those were cooking, I cut up some fresh asparagus and steamed that in 3 minutes. I still have brown rice and spaghetti squash in the refrigerator, so essentially I was done after cooking the veggies.

My crockpot goes to warm after the timer shuts off. I usually wake up at least once during the night for the restroom or drink of water and last night was no exception. My chicken was done when I got up so I put it in a container and went back to sleep.

So, voila!!  With minimal effort, I have roasted chicken breasts, steamed veggies, rice, spaghetti squash and sweet potatoes for lunch this week.

NO MORE EXCUSES!!

I hope that you all have a fabulous day!!  I'm having a root canal today :(
Hopefully that goes well. I hate the dentist with a passion but at least I've got a good one!

Monday, Monday

Good morning folks!!

Here we go again!



We had a great weekend soaking up sun and visiting with our friends!! I managed to get in a little run Saturday morning. It was humid and I felt like I was kind of struggling, so I cut it short but at least I got it done!!

I didn't pay too much attention to my eating/drinking and the scale shows it!!  I'm going to have to work even harder this week to overcome that!!

We didn't get home early enough for me to meal prep for the week so I'm going to be at the mercy of the hospital cafeteria today. I'm hoping they have a decent salad or something remotely healthy. One would think that the hospital would serve healthy food but that is not the case.

My workouts for the week include--

Monday: Pathways 2.5 mile run; T25 Cardio
Tuesday: T25 Total Body circuit
Wednesday: Pathways 3 mile run; T25 speed 1.0
Thursday: T25 Cardio
Friday: T25 Lower focus (Leg day) and ab intervals

I'm also going to start a weight lifting program this week, I hope!!  Maybe I'll finally start to see some results from my hard work and effort. And maybe, if I didn't blow it all on the weekends, I would see some more progress!!

Ok, that's all I've got for you now. Until next time....

TGIF

Good morning friends!!

TGIF

All in all, this has been a great week!!

I've been really trying hard to eat "clean" this week and have been successful for the most part.
It really helps when I have meals prepared. I always thought that meal prep and planning was too time consuming. But it was actually pretty easy this week and didn't take all that long really.

Wednesday night was my first run with my fall Pathways group. We're training for the Tulsa Run 15k. It was hot!!  The actual temp was somewhere around 95 with a heat index over 100, so the coaches collectively decided to shorten the workout to help prevent any heat related issues. My group did very well despite not being acclimated to the heat yet. And it was a large group too!!  I'm really excited to work with them! It is so satisfying to help other achieve their goals.

I've also been doing the new Focus T25 program from Team Beachbody.  I really am liking this workout so far and will elaborate on that, as well as Insanity next week when I have a little more time! I wish I could get in the habit of preparing my blog posts ahead of time. Maybe I'll try that next week.

We're looking forward to some fun in the sun with good friends and family this weekend. I'm planning to get up early in the morning for a 3-5 mile run then we'll hit the lake to soak up some rays!

I hope that you all have a fabulous Friday and a great/safe weekend!!

What's on your schedule this weekend?

Workout Wednesday

Woohoo friends!!  We're halfway there!! 

I just have time for a quickie this morning TWSS so, I'm gonna share this workout that I found on Pinterest.

It looks like a good one and I can't wait to try it!!

 

Have a wonderful Wednesday!! 

 

Get up, get out and get moving!!

 

Be awesome today!!

Recap and weekly goals

Good morning folks!! 

I'm back from my little hiatus aka vacation. We really didn't do much of anything but I feel rested, relaxed and accomplished. I think that's what time off is all about!!

We were scheduled to go to Iowa to visit family, but unfortunately, we were not able to make the trip. I had some tooth problems/dental work done and was in quite a bit of pain so we decided to postpone the Iowa trip. We stayed home and did some much needed, neglected house work including shampooing the carpets.

I finally started to get some pain relief Friday afternoon, so we decided to go ahead and salvage what we could of our time off. We packed up and headed for our little lake retreat.

We woke up to cloudy skies and rain on Saturday. We waited that out and finally got on the water about 2 pm. We explored some new areas of the lake and got sprinkled on a little bit, but it all in all, it was a good day.

Sunday looked like it would be a much better lake day. We had some sunshine and got some good floating time. We spent the better part of the afternoon/evening visiting with good friends that we don't get to see often enough.

We got up early yesterday morning for a sunrise boat ride. It was partly cloudy so we didn't actually see the sun come up, but we got treated to some awesome wildlife. We saw deer at the water's edge, a couple of foxes on one of the rock ledges and even an eagle perched in a tree.

After our boat ride, while we were cleaning up, I almost broke my knee trying to get off the boat in a hurry trying to get away from an aggressive bumble bee!!  Then we packed up and headed home. We got home early enough to get the laundry caught up, get the grocery shopping done, had dinner, worked out and even had time to relax/catch up on a couple of our favorite TV shows.

I didn't really watch what I ate/drank too much over the weekend and haven't worked out or run for a week but the scale wasn't too hateful to me this morning, fortunately!!

The fall session of Pathways started last night. This session, we're training for the Tulsa Run 15k. I'm looking forward to working with them for the next few weeks. Tonight is Turkey Tuesday and if it isn't too hot, I'll run with my friends tonight and then run with Pathways tomorrow night.

I started the new Beachbody program Focus T25 last night and really enjoyed it. I like the shorter, more intense workout. I even got hubs to workout with me!!

Meal prep for the week included: lemon garlic chicken breast cooked in the crock pot, steamed yellow squash, steamed asparagus, and spaghetti squash.

I don't think I saw the results that I really wanted from Insanity because my eating was poor and that's mostly due to poor planning on my part. My fitness goals for this week include:

Monday: T25 Alpha cardio
Tuesday: 2-3 mile run, T25 Speed 1.0
Wednesday: 2-3 mile run, T25 Total Body Circuit
Thursday: T25 Ab intervals
Friday: T25 Lower focus and alpha cardio
Saturday: 2-3 mile run
Sunday: rest!!

Ok, folks.....that's enough recap for now.
Gotta go get busy! Have a wonderful day!

Be awesome today!

What are your fitness goals for the week?
Do you meal plan and prep??