Goals for 2014

I can't believe we are almost to the end of 2013.  This year has flown by and I still don't know where all the time went.  It has been a great year for me.  As the year is coming to a close I want to start setting goals for 2014.

Goals
I am still not at the point where I want to be physically, not sure if I will ever be there.   Am I better than I was a year ago? Yes, I am way stronger than I was at this time last year.  Hell, I am one pound away from deadlifting 1.75 times my weight.  I can't wait to hit that goal.  Do I totally look the way I want to look?  No, but that is my fault and no one else's. Getting to the gym and doing the workouts is not my problem.  I am at the gym 5 days a week, plus I run on my own.  My issue is that I wasn't on point with my food as much as I should of been or as often as I should of been.  I just got a little too comfortable.  I am trying not to beat myself up over it and just look at what I need to do and move on. 

My food will be goal #1 for 2014.  I want to be really good and hit all my numbers for the first 10 weeks of the year and see what changes I see.  (I was told it takes 10 weeks)  This means I will have to be good through my birthday and everything.  This is going to be a challenge, I love celebrating my birthday, but I really want this and I don't want to make anymore excuses.  I have seen the ladies who competed in a bikini competition this month (so inspirational) do it and I know that  I am no different than they are.  If I really want it, the reward is better than anything I would eat or drink.  I have a great support system at my gym, with my friends and my number one supporter Lido (my husband).  I need to hold myself accountable and not make excuses.  I want to make sure I am consistent and prep all my food and not feel so odd when I carry around my own food to events.  This is my body and my goal so I need to be in control.

Even though I am stronger than I was last year, that doesn't mean I don't have thing to work on in the gym too.  I want to continue getting stronger and one thing that is preventing me is my form when I lift.  Geoff (my coach) has done a great job of helping me focus on my form, kind of hard to ignore when he is make me do the lift over and over and correcting me the entire time.  I never realized how hard lifting is until my form prevented me from getting some new PRs.  There is so much to think about and do correctly.  It has become impossible to be lazy and hit the numbers that I want. So goal #2 is to correct my form and hit some new PRs. 

Goal #3 is to stop being so negative and hard on myself.  I need to learn to stay positive and flip my mental perspective on things.  I often go into things thinking about how hard it is going to be and how I won't  be able to do it.  I am learning that if I push those thoughts out of my head and think positively or just focus on what is before me, that I can do it.  Just because it is hard doesn't mean I can't do it and that I should speak negatively about it.  The more negative I am the higher chance that I won't be able to do it. I have so many people in my life who believe in me, I need to start believing in myself.  No more negative talk from me (or at least that is what I am working towards).

I am sure there are more goals I can come up with, but this is a good starting point for me, I don't want to get overwhelmed (I tend to do that).  What are you goals for the 2014?

It's been a while...

I know I have been MIA for a few weeks, we have been pretty busy and coming up with something to write has been a little difficult.  Many of you who read my blog also follow me on Facebook, so you know what I have been up to.  I am pretty much an open book when it comes to Facebook and my friends. So what have I been up to?

I went to NYC for Thanksgiving to celebrate my BFF's birthday:


Survivor Tree at 9/11 Memorial

View from our hotel room

Horse drawn carriage Ride through Central Park

 We went to a Christmas Party:

 

Went for a 12 mile run and did some relaxing:

Now you are all caught on what I have been up to.

 

 

Here are some confessions and thoughts:

1. I am way behind on my running training, with it getting darker earlier and me not really wanting to run, I am behind on my mileage.  I have been running to the gym on Saturdays, working out and then running home.  This gives me about 5 miles once a week.  That's about all I have been doing. 

 

2. My coach told me today that I need to stop with all the running, that I can either be good at running or good at lifting, I can't do both.  Well, since I am not a good runner, I guess I will stick to the lifting, although I am not that great at that either.

 

3. I have realized that it is easier for me to be super supportive of other's accomplishments but I don't do the same for myself.  I am going to try hard this month to celebrate my own successes just as much as I celebrate other's.

 

4. I am a natural stressor and I think all this stress causes things to happen to my body.  I never realized how much stress affects the way our bodies operate.  This is another thing I need to work on, but I don't know how to work on this. In the past I have ran to let go of my stress, but I think I might need to come up with another way (refer back to number 2).

 

5. Life is pretty damn good.  There is not much in my life that I should be complaining about.  Yes there are things I have to deal with that maybe your average person doesn't, but those things make me who I am and make me dedicated to being healthy and motivated to keep going.  I need to stop complaining and bitching all the time.  I need to use those around me to motivate me and keep me positive.  I have a gym buddy who is one of the most positive people I know, I need his point of view on life to rub off on me.

 

Well, that is all I have for now.  I will think of some more topics to write about, just wanted to catch you all up since I have been MIA for a little while.  Happy Monday!! 

Things to think about...

I recently came across something interesting on the internet, 13 Thinks Mentally Strong People Don't Do, I started to look at this list and analyze how I approach these items. 

Here are my thoughts about each item:

1. They Don’t Waste Time Feeling Sorry for Themselves
I actually think I do a pretty good job with this. I don't like to dwell on things too much and therefore I don't feel sorry for myself too often.  There are days that I don't feel the best, but I try my hardest not to let it slow me down.  I try to remember that feeling sorry for myself isn't going to solve anything.

2. They Don’t Give Away Their Power
I used to be really bad about this and allowed others to dictate how I should act or what I should do. As I have matured I believe I have taken back the power of my life.  I am the one who has to live with myself and I should be doing things that make me happy or I know is right for me.

3. They Don’t Shy Away from Change
I actually really enjoy change (except when it comes to food).  I like to try new things and go new places.  I don't fear moving on to something new or letting go of something.  I am not saying it is easy, but I don't mind it. Now when it comes to food, I don't like to try something new at a restaurant if there is something I already know I like.  I worry I won't like what I have ordered and then I am stuck with it. HA!

4. They Don’t Waste Energy on Things They Can’t Control
This is probably something I am the worst at.  I want to be in control at all times. I want to be able to plan every second of my life and have things happen the way I want them to happen.  I am very uncomfortable when I am not in control of something.  I spend a lot of time thinking about things that I wish I had control over, but in the end I don't.  This is a big waste of my energy and I need to learn how to stop this.

5. They Don’t Worry About Pleasing Everyone
Here is another item I could work on.  I too often worry about if I am doing to right thing and keeping everyone happy.  Trying to keep everyone happy is exhausting and most times it is impossible.  Another point I need to work on.

6. They Don’t Fear Taking Calculated Risks
I am all about stability and feeling safe.  No matter how calculated a risk is, I still am afraid of it and very uncomfortable with it.  I was scared when we bought our house, I had to be pushed into it.  Now, here we are 5 years later and I love my house. The unknown scares me but sometimes it is necessary.

7. They Don’t Dwell on the Past
I live too often in the past.  I truly try to just look at now and the future, but I find myself suddenly wrapped up in the past.  This is a hard habit to break, but I am working on letting go of the past as I cannot change them. 

8. They Don’t Make the Same Mistakes Over and Over
Finally something I can say I don't do.  Learning from our mistakes is important, we can't be a better person if we don't make mistakes, learn from them and the apply what we have learned.  This is something I have learned as I have grown up and been married forever.  I really try not to make the same mistake twice.  (Unless it has to do with cleans in the gym, I make the same mistake over and over, it is very frustrating)

9. They Don’t Resent Other People’s Success
I try to be happy for everyone's successes.  Now, that is not to say I am not human and sometimes I am a little jealous.  I try to never let my bit of jealousy show and only try to celebrate their success. I love when those around me are successful and I truly enjoy seeing them happy.  Plus, it helps me to push myself that much harder to be successful too.

10. They Don’t Give Up After the First Failure
Ha, if I gave up after the first failure, I would never do anything.  There are many things that take me more than once to succeed at.  I believe failure is part of the learning and growing process.

11. They Don’t Fear Alone Time
I love my alone time. I enjoy being able to do whatever I want and not having to answer to anyone. Now, that isn't saying I like a lot of alone time.  There were times when Lido would be gone for long periods of time, I didn't like that. I can't be alone with myself for that long, I start to drive myself crazy.

12. They Don’t Feel the World Owes Them Anything
I believe everyone should work for what they have.  When you are handed something, I don't think you appreciate it as much as if you had to work for it.  I have had a pretty great life, but I also had to work hard for the things I have.  I am thankful for all that I have.

13. They Don’t Expect Immediate Results
I don't expect immediate results, but damn it would be nice if it worked that way. HA!

I really enjoyed going through this lists and thinking about how I act as compared to the list.  There are things I need to work on, but I still have time and you can always teach this old dog new tricks. 

How do you measure up to this list?  Would you consider yourself a mentally strong person?  Hope you are all having a great Tuesday!

What's Your Motivation??

What makes you eat healthy?  What makes you workout?  What drives you? 

 

I have been thinking about what my motivation is and why I do what I do.  I realized that I have gone through many different phases of motivation. 

 

When I first started my journey, my motivation was purely to lose weight. I wasn't thinking about getting healthy per se, I just wanted to see the scale go down.  My successes were only measurable if the scale went down each week (or day). I cut my calories down to 1200 a day and didn't worry about anything else.  If I had a party to go to one night, I wouldn't eat all day so that I would have all my calories to really enjoy myself.  I lost weight, but I wasn't really changing as much as I wanted.

 

My next phase of motivation was to get into a smaller size jean.  I had this idea that a size 4 was the perfect and ideal size for me.  So I started adding running into my routine of calorie counting.  Again, I didn't care about what my body needed, I only cared about structuring and limiting what was being put into my body.  I lost more weight and went down in size, but I don't think I was giving my body what it needed.  I was just getting smaller, but not ensuring that I was healthier. I was hungry a lot of the time and weak.

 

 

Then I started going to Train Insane.  I had always liked lifting weights, but felt that cardio was the only way I would lose the weight that I wanted to lose.  Over time I saw the scale continue to go down, my pant size go down and I was feeling stronger.  I began giving my body the foods it needed.  I focused not just on the exercise, but on eating healthy.  I have followed this routine for 1.5 years now and really enjoy it.  I started asking myself recently, what motives me?  Why do I get up at 5:20 each morning to go to the gym and workout, then rush home to get ready for work?  Why do I plan out my food out each Sunday and spend 3 hours in the kitchen to prepare it?  I know it would be easier to just eat whatever whenever.  Why do I track my calories, fat, protein and carbs each day and make sure I hit my goals? 

 

Here are my reasons, this is what motivates me (in no particular order):

 

1. Living a healthy life

2. Being strong, I love when someone come to me for help that requires a little bit of muscle.

3. Being able to be active while I can, who knows what will happen tomorrow.

4. Motivating others to be healthy

5. Fitting into my skinny jeans

6. Hitting a new PR in the gym

7. Hearing my husband tell me I have a nice back!!

8. Constant improvement, being stronger, faster, fitter than I was before.

9. Realizing what I am capable of.

10. Showing all those negative people in my life that I can do whatever I put my mind to and their opinions are better kept to themselves.

11. Proving to myself that I can do things that I never thought were possible.

12. Looking good in pictures (seriously, who doesn't want this?)

13. Having someone ask me how I do it.

14. Socializing with all my Train Insane Friends, this is one of my favorite parts of going to my gym. 

15. Being healthy and active for my future family.

16. Beating the person next to me in a metcon, I can't help it, I am competitive!  But I still cheer for everyone!

17. ?????

 

This is just a short list of what motivates me.  Each day there is something different that motivates me for the day.  Some of my reasons are completely superficial,  but I don't feel bad about that.  I like feeling confident when I am in clothes or even naked.  Are there things that still can be improved? Of course! This is a process that I will always be working on.  Once I get comfortable (which has happened) I will see the scale move up or my jeans become a little tighter and that is when I know that I need to get focused again.  I am not prefect, no one is, and there are days I do want to eat bad.  I just have to know that I will pay the consequences and I am only slowing down my journey.  But, it is a journey that I happily go on.  It isn't always easy or fun, but with the support system I have (husband, family, friends) it is bearable and rewarding.

 

So what motivates you?  Do you have to pull from your motivation list often?

No More Excuses

I had a goals meeting with my coach last night.  I went in thinking I would get to lower my calories since I wasn't seeing the results I was expecting. I left with instructions to tighten up my food and refocus.  Not exactly what I was expecting. 

He looked through my journal day by day for the last month as showed me where I was falling short. I figured since I make most of my meals and I stay within my calories I should be following the plan just fine.  Well that was not the case.  He pointed out every time we had gone out to eat, especially over the last weekend, and would not listen to any of my excuses.  I even tried to change the subject at one point, but he was not done giving me a hard time about my food.

I have to admit, after speaking with him, I can see where my food is lacking.  I was only making sure I was hitting my numbers, but I was not always thinking about what I was putting in my body.  It is no surprise that my body isn't changing how I would like it to.  I am not feeding my body what it needs to support the training I do and change the way I want it to.  I have become lazy when it comes to making the best choices for my body's needs. 

I tried to come up with excuses and push the blame, but in the end, I know I have no one to blame but myself.  I have the knowledge and the tools (recipes, scale, coach, supportive friends) to do what I need to do.  My body doesn't want to hear excuses, my coach doesn't want to hear excuses and I don't want to hear any excuses.  I was being lazy. I wanted to eat how everyone else was eating when it was convenient for me.  I can't just pick and choose when to be on point with my food.  I need to be on top of my food all the time or I will not get to my end goal.  I am responsible for myself and no one else can influence me to make bad choices.  I am a big girl and it is time for me to put those big girl pant back on and do what I need to do to get what I want.

I went home from the gym reignited and ready to focus on my food.  I cooked up a whole bag of asparagus, a couple turkey patties, and some chicken breast.  I even popped some oatmeal banana cookies in the oven this morning.  These cookies are healthy, with only 3 ingredients (recipe below). I will get back to journaling my food the night before, instead of in the morning when I don't have as much time.  I plan on spending more time in the kitchen experimenting with recipes, which I love doing. 

Oatmeal Banana Cookies:

Ingredients:
1. 2 ripe bananas
2. 1 cup instant oats
3. One Serving Organic Peanut Butter (I added this, you don't have to)

Directions:
1. Mash the bananas
2. Mix in the oats and peanut butter
3. Put on a cookie sheet, I was able to make 11 in my batch
4. Bake on 350 degrees for 15 minutes

Stats for 1 cookie: 51 calories, 8 carbs, 2 fat, 1 protein, 1 fiber

I figure these cookies will be a good/healthy snack when I want something.

I don't want to bore everyone with my food, but I will be keeping up on it and I will report back to everyone how I am doing.  I am going to be completely honest, so if I slip up, I will tell all of you.  Although I don't plan on slipping up.  I am worried about our trip to NYC at Thanksgiving, but  if I want the results I have to make the choices and sacrifice. 

I told my coach that I didn't like any of his answers last night, but I know it is what I needed to hear.  I am at a point where a calorie is no longer just a calories.  Eating a Sprinkles Cupcake and telling myself it is okay because I didn't go over my calories doesn't work.  Down with the cupcake!!!

 

As much as I love them, it is time to breakup!! 

No Negative Nancy's Allowed

My gym participated in a competition this Saturday and I was one of the competitors.  I had a great partner, who kicks butt everyday in the gym. She is constantly impressing me with her strength and stamina.  I was so excited when she agreed to be my partner.  I don't know what happened on Saturday, but our team just didn't have it.  I take the blame since she is amazing and I was obviously the weakest link. It is very true when they say you are only as strong as your weakest player, well that was me.

 

My poor partner is so used to being the one on the podium and she had me as a partner. I was totally our of my element on top of everything.  I don't exercise on grass and I don't exercise in the heat and sun. I know those are all excuses for my poor performance, but it is true.  I went into the competition nervous, which is usual, I mean who likes having people watch them do Burpees and Bear Crawls. No one wants to see my butt up in the air while crawling on the grass.  Not a pretty site. I expected that we would at least finish our first heat strong, and we were doing pretty well until the darn Bear Crawls in the grass.  It seemed like we had to crawl and entire mile.

 

I am pretty sure this sloth would go faster than I was.

 

I am not sure where we ended up in our heat.  I know our time was 7:01 and I was expecting us to go a lot faster. My legs were on fire after the first heat and there was still two more to go.  Now, I know I run Half Marathons, but all that means is a can run long distances at a slow pace.  The next two heats involved running, short distances at a fast pace.  This would be my kryptonite.  First off, no one should ever do anything called "Suicide" anything.  I went into the second heat wondering what the hell was a Suicide Run. I quickly found out and wanted to injure myself.  Again, no one should watch me run on a basketball court in the sun with a ball that weighs 15 pounds but feels like it weighs 50 pounds.  I came close to puking a couple of times, but got through it with my protein bar still in my stomach. I take that as a small victory.

 

 

 

The last heat had running, sit-ups, more running and then walking lunges the length of two basketball courts.  Really? Why? That is just torture.  Well we started our run and was right at the back of the pack.  What are you going to do?  Thought about tripping people, but there was too many witnesses. Then we get to the sit-ups.  We couldn't get our rhythm down and just kept laughing. Our judge kept telling us to go faster and we would, while he watching, then we would start laughing.  My partner tried to bail at 50 sit-ups (we needed 60), I had to tell her to come back. We finally knocked those out and then had to run again.  I won't go into detail about what we were saying when we were running an no one was near us, but it would make some people blush.  Then on to the walking lunges over lava (ok, there was no lava, but it felt like it). I wanted to die, it felt like it was 100 degree outside and my partner was way ahead of me.  We finished... finally.  I don't know our time, I don't believe we were last, but who the hell knows.  I don't think I even knew my name at this point.

 

So, what do I take away from the experience?  I suck! Just kidding, but there is lots of room for improvement on my part. I went into this competition feeling prepared and learned I was not as ready as I thought I was.  Even with the competition being way out of my comfort zone, I had a blast with my gym.  Train Insane has the best bunch of people.  They are all so supportive and positive (and good liars when they tell you that you did a good job). 

 

Train Insane killed it!!!

 

Thank you to Ashley for being my partner, I owe her big time for taking me on as a partner, although I didn't give her much choice. 

 

I figure I can sit here and be negative about the competition or take it as a learning experience and set some new goals.  Although I still think that no one should ever do bear crawls in front of an audience.  I had a great time with great people and I got a great workout in, right? There is no time to be negative.

 

True Dat!!

 

Happy Monday!! 

 

 



In the Kitchen

Last night I decided I wanted to try a new recipe, I was getting tired of the usual for dinner.  I had taken out ground turkey meat before I left in the morning for work, so that was the only requirement, had to use ground turkey.  I follow a lot of blogs and health sites, so I knew I would be able to find something.  I went to Skinny Mom and typed in ground turkey, easy as pie.  What came up is one of our new favorite recipes.

 

Skinny Cheeseburger Pie

 Ingredients:

1. Ground turkey (I used one package of 93%/ 7% ground turkey since I buy that at Costco in bulk)

2. 1/2 onion chopped

3. 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce (you could leave this out and use some other seasoning, didn't make a difference to me)

4. 1 Clove Garlic (I didn't use this because I didn't have any)

5. 3/4 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese (I used 2% cheese)

6. 1 Egg

7. 1 cup nonfat cheese (I only had reduced fat)

8. 1 package reduced fat crescent rolls

9. Slice of tomato

 

Instructions

1. Brown Turkey Onion & Garlic in a pan. 
2. Drain meat of fat/grease. Mix Worcestershire sauce in with meat mixture.
3. Place rolls in pie pan (or 8x8 pan) to make crust (I used a pie pan, but I think I will use a square one next time you will want to go up the sides a bit)
4. Pour meat mixture into pan
5. In a separate bowl, mix cottage cheese with egg.
6. Pour cottage cheese mixture over meat in the pie pan.
7. Top with shredded cheddar cheese.
8. Place tomato slices on top. (I did 4 big slices and then filled in the holes with the more)
9. Bake at 350°F for 35-40 minutes – let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

 

The recipe says it makes 8 servings, but I served them as 4 larger servings.

 

My Stats: 508 Calories, 31 Carbs, 25 Fat, 43 protein

 

Next time I make this I will switch the cheese to make it have less fat, maybe switch the cottage cheese to fat free too.  Since I used the whole container of ground turkey, it was really meaty, which I liked!  We are having the leftovers for lunch today.  Higher calorie count than I usually do for lunch, but I will work my food around it.  At least I won't be tempted to eat at the office potluck.

 

Not the best picture, but it was good.

 

I have a lot of new recipes I will be working with soon, so stay tuned!!  I even have a few desserts to try out. I will be making Healthy Chicken Fried Rice tonight. 

 

Looking forward to handing out candy tonight, get it out of the house so I am not tempted.  Good thing it has been hidden in the house for the past 3 weeks!



Burpees and Booze

Oh boy, what a weekend that was.  I still can't believe it is Monday already.  It went by way too fast and I didn't sleep enough.  Too much going on in a short time and not enough rest.  I am feeling exhausted and bloated this morning. So what happened this weekend?

Friday was our typical dinner out and a movie.  We went to see Carrie and actually really liked it. We stayed up a little later than usual, but nothing too bad.

Saturday was where the Burpees and booze came in.  I went to Train Insane as usual.  Planned on doing extra mobility and some skills work.  I didn't want to get too sweaty since the beautiful Hannah was going to be doing my make-up for the Halloween party I was going to that evening.  Well that plan didn't happen.  One of my gym friends asked if I wanted to do a 50 Burpee Challenge with him for time.  I stupidly agreed without a second thought.  Then he said, well why not 100 Burpees.  I hesitated for a moment and then of course I stupidly agreed.  It didn't take as long as I thought it would, but it was as awful as I thought it would be.  So I was drenched in sweat and then it was time to get my eyebrows waxed and my makeup done. 

Tinkerbelle Makeup after 100 Burpees

 

I then had to run errands to get ready for our Halloween Party in the evening.  We decided we also wanted to get the CO2 tank for Lido's new toy, his kegerator.  What a pain that was! We had to drive all over just to get it filled and get a keg. Then it was time to get ready for our party. 

 

I was already exhausted and I had no idea how I was going to stay awake for the party, but Tinkerbelle put her wings on and partied with her Peter Pan.

 

We started off slow, nothing too crazy, just chatting with some new friends and old friends.  Had a few drinks and chatted for a while.  Then it happened... By it, I mean I made a very poor agreement.  I was asked (dared) to drink a 12 year old beer.  Since I am never one to say no to a challenge I went for it.

 

The poison

 

First lesson learned: beer does not get better with age!! It tasted awful! Second lesson learned, just because people are chanting "Tink, Tink, Tink" , you don't have to drink the entire thing in two drinks!! I still can't believe I actually was able to drink it all. Yuck!! Lesson learned, don't do it!!

 

We continued on with our evening, having a great time!. Next thing I knew it was about 2 AM and we were walking to Sarah's house.  We had a great time, my feet were killing me (don't wear 5 inch heels the whole night) and I was exhausted.  I just can't party like I used to, even though I guess I thought it was a good idea to try.

 

Tinkerbelle and Peter Pan out!

 

Waking up Sunday was hard and I was not feeling like moving or doing anything.  I was hangover and remembered why I don't like to drink like that.  I am now going to have to take a break from alcohol for a while.  I think just the smell of it would get me sick again. Hey, it was fun, don't get me wrong, but I am too old for the aftermath of a night of drinking. Going shopping at Costco was torture!  I hardly drink anyways so I don't know why I thought it was a good idea to drink so much in one night.  I am pretty sure my liver is giving me the middle finger right now.

 

Today is a new day and I can't let one weekend of binge drinking keep me from my goals. So I got up at 5:15 this morning and put on my workout clothes like I always do.  What do I see on the board this morning?  BURPEES!!!! (and Wall Balls) What the heck!!! My arms are still sore from Saturday!! I guess it is my punishment for going over board on Saturday. 

 

Happy Monday!!! 





Oops! I did it again...

I signed up for another Half Marathon (my coach is not going to like this).  We are signed up for the Surf City Half Marathon in February.  This race takes place in Huntington Beach on Super Bowl Sunday.  We have ran this race before and we will be Legacy Runners this year, which means we have a special entrance to the beer garden after the race and we get a special shirt. All great reasons to sign up for another half marathon, right? HA!

So now what? I have finally gotten over the last horrific race and have thought about what went wrong and what I need to do in the future (maybe actually train a little bit). Now it is time to put a plan in place.  I already go to the gym 5 days a week and already do extra cardio, so do I need to do to fit in my running training? 

First Step, fill in a training calendar.  I printed some monthly calendars off the web and started to fill in all my Train Insane workouts. I usually workout Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  Second step was to download a training plan from Runners World. I used the race time I would like to get along with the amount of miles I plan on running each week.  Runners World has a great tool that plans out each run with how fast and how far they should me.  I then took that information and entered it onto my monthly calendars. 

 

 

Here it is!! (yellow is TI workouts and pink is running  workouts)

 

 

I am sure some of these days will change here and there depending on what comes up in every day normal life, but if I can follow this plan, I should be able to finish the race in the time that I am aiming for. 

 

I will have to do the running in the evening, which is going to be a little tough with the time change coming and it getting darker later.  But, we have a treadmill at the house, so I can always do my runs on there while watching my reality TV.  It is always easier to run when you are watching train wrecks (The Kardashians) on TV. 

 

I will need to meet with my coach/trainer to see what he thinks about this schedule.  I know he will tell me not to do the race, but the money is spent and I don't back out of things.  I will need him to analyze my food intake and let me know if it needs to change with the addition to the running.  I hope it won't have to change too much, I like the plan that I am currently on.  I know that I will need to spend extra time with mobility. I don't want to end up with any injuries that keep me from lifting and being at that finish line on race day.

 

I know that adding all this running is going to suck.  I am going to hate life some days.  I won't want to put in the time or the miles, but it will all be worth it when I cross the finish line with a Half Marathon time of 2:15 or better.  That might sound slow to some of you, but when I started these stupid things, I was running them in 3 hours and 8 minutes.  I have come a long way and I want to keep improving.

 



Here is a hilarious article about why training for marathons is the worst thing ever: 

Why Training for a Marathon is the Worst Thing Ever

Happy Wednesday!!!

Food Prep Sunday

No two weekends are ever the same for us, there is always something planned.  There are only a couple of things that happen every weekend.  One: I workout on Saturday mornings, which is one of my favorite workouts because it is more of a recovery workout for me and I get to catch up with all my gym friends that don't come to the 6 AM class during the week. Two: Weekly Food Prep. 

I like to figure out what we are going to be having for lunches each week and get them all cooked up and packaged so that we don't have to worry about it each morning. Not only does it save us money, but it makes it easier to know what our calories and other numbers look like each day.  I am better able to plan my dinners and snacks if I already know what my lunch consists of.  Plus, I like to open my fridge and see all the containers nicely organized.

I try to make lunch a higher protein choice, usually something with chicken or ground turkey.  I have an app on my phone that has tons of different recipes that I start with.  I don't usually stick to the recipe as I tend to use whatever I have in the kitchen.  I don't like to have to go grocery shopping just to do the food prep, especially since I already have tons of stuff in the cabinets already.  I want whatever it is I am going to make, to be simple so that I am not in the kitchen forever (I have shows to watch).  On top of making the lunches I try to package up some snacks for us, this makes it easier to just grab and go.

This week I decided to do something with chicken and the crockpot. (Oh how I love the crockpot, best invention ever!!)  So I looked on my recipe app and found something that I could  use as a base.  Here is what I came up with:

Crockpot Chicken Salsa

 

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1. 6 Frozen Boneless Skinless chicken breasts (I buy the individually wrapped ones at Costco)

2. 2 cups Trader Joe's Frozen Roasted Corn

3. 1 Can Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes

4. 1 Can diced green chilies

5. 1 diced red and yellow bell pepper

6. 1/2 diced onion

7. 1/2 pack Trader Joes Taco Seasoning

8. Salsa

 

Instructions:

1. Put the chicken at the bottom of the crockpot

2. Sprinkle taco seasoning on top of the chicken breasts

3. Pour corn, tomatoes, challis, bell peppers, onion and salsa on top.  I didn't measure the salsa, just kind of eyeballed it.

4. Turn crockpot on low for 6-8 hours.

 

When everything is done, I put one chicken breast in a container and then equally measure out all the other stuff that is in the crockpot.  I will eat the chicken in a couple different way.  Today I had it shredded with brown rice, tomorrow I will eat it with tortillas, then I will probably have it with Quinoa.

 

Stats (chicken and mixture): 204 calories, 16 carbs, 4 fat, 25 Protein, 4 fiber and 7 sugar

 

The original recipe called for carrots, celery and other items, but I didn't have that stuff on hand, so I just made do with what I had.  It makes it easy to clean out your pantry and fridge without making food prep take forever.

 

The snacks for this week will be Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein balls (addicting), Veggie bags, Fruit bowls and hard boiled eggs. 

 

The more that I can have done and in the fridge, the easier it is for me to stay on track.  It doesn't have to be a lot of work to have healthy food choices, but it does take some work and some planning.  I am lucky that Lido isn't a picky eater and will eat pretty much anything I give him, except Kale. I still can't get him to eat Kale.  I also can't sneak spinach into his smoothies.

 

Really, this food prep thing is just about being creative and using what you have.  Again, I usually find recipes online or through phone apps and then I just tweak them.  I love trying new things as long as they aren't too difficult. I am just looking to be able to stay on track and hit all my numbers without having to stress about it.  Plus, it makes it easy to say no to going out to lunch or anything not within my food plan because I have it all ready and it is already in my food journal before I leave for work each day.

 

I hope everyone had a great weekend and you are all ready for the week.

 

How do you prepare for your week?  (Failing to prepare only prepares you to fail)



Recovery

Boy has this been a week of recovery.  The Long Beach Half Marathon sure did a number on my body.  My knees feel like they are 80 year old and my hips feel like they are about 90 years old.  I am still mentally recovering from such a hard run too. 

My recovery plan changes each race, it just kind of depends on how the race went and how I am feeling.  For this race, I first rehydrated with 2 Beers at the end. I made sure to eat a banana and cheez-its while drinking my beer.  You know, the good carbs.  Then I walked around trying to figure out where to get my correct medal.  I also had a little bit of a melt down. Then we took a nice 1 mile walk back to the car. Darn right I GPSed that walk! No one wants to walk another mile after you just barely got through 13.1 miles. Stupid finish line not being right at my car.  We then stopped at Chipotle for some recovery food. However, we didn't eat our food for about 2 hours because our family stopped by.  I was fine with it because I got to play with my niece and nephew. Totally worth it! Oh yeah, I took a shower before they got there.  I then finished the day by laying on the couch until it was time for bed.

The next morning I rolled myself out of bed at 5:30 and went to the gym. I didn't workout, but I did roll out and stretch.  I was walking very slow and stiff that morning.  I made a good decision and didn't wear my usual heels to work.  I tried to get in as much water as possible.  I was trying to get out all those Lactic Acids everyone is always telling you about. I also made sure to hit all my calories and nutrient numbers.  I do understand that it is important to replenish your body after putting it through such horrible torture.

Tuesday was much of the same, but I did workout at the gym.  It was tough, but I am glad I did it. I believe it is important to get the blood flowing back into all the stiff muscles.  We had a massage Tuesday night, boy did it hurt.  We try to get deep tissue massages monthly to try and help with all the stiffness we get from working out.  When she got to my IT bands and calves, I wanted to jump off the table. I think this helped my recovery go faster.  I love a good and painful massage.  I don't have time for any of that relaxing crap.

Now what I should of done was taken an ice bath.  I have done this in the past and it really helps, but I was lazy and didn't want to buy ice, change into a bathing suit and get into a cold tub.  None of that sounds fun when you are sore and don't want to move.  I believe I will start buying the ice before the races so I have it at home and there will be no excuses.

Tuesday I received an email from the Long Beach Half reminding me to sign up for 2014 and giving us a discount code for being Beach Bums. I immediately had flash backs of the horrible experience and seriously almost started to cry.  A couple days later and this happened:

Seriously?  Why the heck do I torture myself?

 

 

 

If you didn't think I was crazy already, I also signed up for the Huntington Beach Half in February.  I even asked the hubby to help me train for it.  I NEVER train for races, I just show up and do them. But the crazy and competitive part of me wants a 2:15 race time.  We will see how this goes. 

 

 

I will leave you with a picture of my beautiful salads that I have been making for lunch all week:

 

And what I am planning on having tonight for dinner:

 





There is fish under all that yummy avocado!

 

Now I can't wait to eat lunch and dinner!!!!

Long Beach Half Marathon

Yesterday was the Long Beach Half Marathon yesterday.  Long Beach holds a special place in my heart, since it was the first half we ever did.  I always look forward to running this race as I love the course and I love all the support.  That is, until yesterday's race...

I went to the race not really ready, I don't do much running training, just my gym workouts and some extra cardio.  I just wanted to go out there and run it, well not really, I tried to back out a couple of times, but hubby wouldn't let me.  Well, his hip was bothering him so he said he was going to run it with me.  This was decided that morning as we were walking down to the race. He is a really good runner, it takes him little effort to run fast and he makes it look easy.  I got a PR back in June of 2:25, but wasn't really thinking I could do any better since that course had a lot of down hill.  Well, he suggested I aim for 2:15, yeah, that means I would have to take 10 minutes off my last race time, which I worked hard for. I told him if I got that time, I would retire from running because that would be a one time deal.  I used to run races in 3:10, so I am pretty happy with all my progress.

We arrived to the race early (like rally early).  The race didn't start until 7:30 and we were there at 5:45.  So, we hung out for a while, people watched and even walked back to the car to get some water.  When it was time to start the race, there was Lido, lined up with me.  I am not used to this, I am usually lined up by myself.  So this already threw me off my routine. 

Us hanging out waiting for the Full Marathon to start.

 

At the starting line, waiting to go.

Then it was time to start.  I was going pretty strong, keeping up with Lido, who was pacing me, not getting a side ache at Mile 1 was awesome, that is where I usually get them. I could tell I was working harder than I usually do,  but I wasn't dying. I later found out that I was staying at a 10 min mile pace.  Then we got to the hill, turns out I run up hills way faster than I run down them.  Lido was frustrated by this, but oh well, that's how I attack hills. Then I hit a wall! I was only at mile 3 and I was ready to be done.  I still had 10.1 miles left and I was ready to walk it or just drop out all together. I looked up and there was Lido in front of me running with little effort and looking back at me.  He kept reminding me to drink my water, but I didn't want to, I just wanted to feel sorry for myself and quit.

We just kept running. I tried to zone out and listen only to my music, but my body was already hurting and screaming to stop.  I was breathing a little harder than usual, but nothing I couldn't handle.  I had to pee this whole time, usually I can run through it and it goes away, but I was at mile 4 or 5 and I still had to pee.  We stopped real quick so I could pee and we were off again.  We got to the part of the race that is along the beach and that is where it go really bad.  We were running right into the sun (stupid late start) and it was feeling hot.  I wasn't doing my usual people watching, just watching Lido check is watch and tell me to drink water, grr.  Then I started feeling like I was over heating.  We went to one of the showers on the beach and sprayed me down, but that only helped for a little while.  One Lady fell on the path and I kind of wished it was me so I would have an excuse to walk.

We turned off the beach around mile 10 and Lido looked back and said it was just a straight shot now and only 3.1 miles left. Only 3.1 miles left, give me a f-ing break!! I am dying back here and don't even want to run .1 miles. I was over the whole freaking running thing and wanted to pay someone with a bike to take me to the end.  I was seriously thinking about how I had $20 in my water bottle and could I get someone to take me. But, I kept running, although I think it looked like walking.  Lido ran over to one of the spectators and got a donut, he tried to offer it to me, but I was working too hard not to throw up to eat a donut.  Stopped at a water station and dumped two cups of water on me. At this point I think Lido was pretty frustrated with me.  I had slowed down so much, but I just didn't feel like I had anything left.  Lido told me if I didn't stop at all and kept at this really slow pace I might tie my last time.  Really slow pace?  WTF, I was going as fast as I could.  We finally finished the race and I just wanted to collapse.

When we got to the beer garden and went to the Beach Bum section (special section for those who have ran the race 3 or more times in a row) I was so happy to be done, sitting and drinking my beer.  I had finished one of the most mentally challenging races ever.  I didn't die, I didn't kill Lido and I was barely slower than my best race.  I can't really complain too much about it.  I was admiring my medal when I realized they gave me a freaking 5K medal.  There was no way that I endured all that just to walk away with a 5K medal.  We quickly finished our beers and then went to 50 different people (ok only 5K to get the correct medal.

In the Beach Bum Beer Garden, celebrating!

Now it is the day after the race, I am hobbling around today, but happy I ran the race and went through all that I went through.  A part of me wanted to give up half marathons for good yesterday, but now I am in a better mind set and have already registered us for the next one.  I told Lido he could pace me for it and he just laughed.  If it wasn't for him yesterday, there is no way I would of finished in the time that I did.  As much as I wanted to kill him yesterday, he did a great job of supporting me and keeping me moving.

Working Hard

I have really tried to stay focused on my food and exercise all week.  My exercise is never really the problem, it is more my food.  It isn't that I cheat on my meal plan, but there are time I have a hard time eating all my calories or hitting all my carb, fat and protein numbers.  Hitting my fat it the hardest part actually. 

I met with my trainer on Monday to have a food meeting and goal setting.  These meetings tend to always be the same, my food is pretty good, I don't see much change lately, what can I do more.  Well, this time I told him that I wasn't always eating all my calories and when I told him there are days that I am about 400 calories short he was not happy.  I had told him my weight on the scale was up and I think we need to lower my calories.  He said how can he determine if that is an issue if I am not even eating what I am supposed to.  We then talked about how it is hard for me to hit my fat.  At the end of the meeting I said I would hit my numbers and we would talk again in a couple of weeks. 

I have been really focused on hitting my numbers since Monday and I am feeling pretty good.  I am trying hard to stay off the scale since that is my enemy. I am trying to listen to my body and see how it feels. After a few days of hitting all my numbers and cutting back on the extra cardio, I am feeling strong.  I had an awesome workout this morning.  It was hard and challenging, but I got it done and had a pretty good time too.  I guess yet again I have to declare that my trainer/coach knows what he is talking about.  I am interested to see what my measurements look like next time I do them.

This self doubt is a never ending cycle.  It amazes me that we can't see ourselves the way others see us.  I do get a lot of compliments, but I only see the things that I want to fix.  I work my butt off in the gym and I work hard to keep our food healthy, but nothing is ever fast enough for me.  I have lost lots of weight and I should be happy, but there is always more to be done. I sometimes wonder if there will ever be a time when I can look in the mirror and not just look at the things I want to fix.  When do you stop  being such teenage self conscious girls? 

I guess life is just a bunch of baby steps.  I do love the journey though. Below is a picture to give you a little idea of my journey so far.

New Recipes

So I tried a couple of new recipes last night.  Each week I do our weekly food prep and decided I wanted to try something new for dinner and lunches.  They both turned out pretty good and figured I would share.

Turkey Meatloaf Muffins

 

 

Ingredients:

1 pound of ground turkey (I used the whole container so is was 26 ounces, we don't mind more meat)

1 Large Egg (beaten)

1/4 Italian Bread Crumbs (you can use whatever you have on hand, or even crackers)

1 cup tomato sauce (you could probably use ketchup if you don't have sauce)

1/4 package of dry Italian dressing

1/2 Red Bell Pepper chopped up

1 Small Onion chopped up

Optional: 1/4 cup fresh shaved (Parmesan Cheese)

Optional: Red Pepper Flakes (we like our food spicy so I added this)

 

 

Directions:

1. Spray muffin pan

2. Mix everything in a bowl together

3. Dish out mixture into each muffin

4. Cook on 400 degrees for 40-45 minutes

 

Stats (the way I made it): 99 calories, 1.9 grams fat, 3.5 grams carbs, .5 grams fiber, 17.2 grams protein 

The recipe makes 12 muffins

 

Not the best picture, but they tasted really good. I had three of them and the hubby had 4 or 5.

Now for lunches this week, I made a new recipe, that will definitely need some tweaking next time I make it, but it still tasted good.

Mexican Chicken and Rice Casserole

(not sure why it is Mexican style, because it doesn't taste like anything Mexican)

 

Ingredients:

1 can FF Cream Mushroom Soup

1 can FF Cream Chicken Soup

2 cans water (next time I will only do one can)

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can diced tomatoes with chilies

1 1/2 cups rice (original called for instant, but it turned out too soupy for us so I will use regular next time)

1 package of taco seasoning

6 boneless skinless chicken breast (frozen)

Optional: 1 cup shredded cheese (I didn't use cheese)

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix the soups, water and taco seasoning and then pour into a casserole dish that all 6 chicken breast will fit in. Mine were a little big, so I had a hard time getting them all to fit.

Sprinkle rice over the soup mixture.

Place chicken on top.

Pour beans and tomatoes over the top of the chicken

Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour and 40 minutes

Remove foil, sprinkle cheese on top and cook uncovered for 10 minutes

 



Stats (with no cheese and 1/2 cup more instant rice): 320 calories, 4.6 grams fat, 40.9 grams carbs, 5.3 grams fiber, 32.2 grams protein

 

Once it was all done cooking, I put one chicken breast in 6 containers and then measured out the rest of the ingredients and spooned it on top of each chicken breast.  When I heated it up today for lunch, I shredded the chicken up in the mixture.  It turned out to be more like a Jambalaya then casserole since there was too much liquid. It wasn't pretty (hence no picture) but it tasted really good.

 

I plan on playing with more recipes later this week so stay tuned for more to share. I am making Chicken Tortilla Soup tonight so I will make sure to post the recipe and pictures tomorrow.

 

Happy Monday!





Feeling Strong Today!

Today in the gym we had to get a new 3 rep max for our push press.  Every time we need to get a new max I get stressed because I want to make sure it is a big jump. I just never know what I am going to be able to push, pull or squat.  Well, my upper body isn't very strong, especially compared to a few of my gym buddies.

Back in June I was in a competition at my gym, Train Insane, and one of the lifts was a shoulder to overhead.  We could get it over our head however possible (strict, push, jerk) at that time I was only able to get 85 pounds doing a push press.  I tried over and over to get 90 pounds up there, but it just was not happening. Today was a different story, I was able to push press 95 pounds 3 times!!! I think I could of gotten 100 pounds, but that will have to wait for another day.  This was the perfect way to start my Friday! I am feeling strong and accomplished. Yay!!

I am hoping to get in some skill work at the gym tomorrow. I working on being able to get some strict pull ups and get my handstand push-ups together without falling off the wall.  Planning on getting in about 45 minutes of cardio. I will probably go for an easy run on Sunday, if I feel up to it. It wouldn't be a bad idea since I have a 1/2 marathon next Sunday!!! Crap, who's idea was it to sign up for another 1/2 marathon?

My body is sore already (always is) and then I am going to go run for over 2 hours. I wish I was a fast runner so it would be over sooner and I could be refueling with a beer at the finish line.  I don't know why I torture myself with these runs. I think we are only going to do two races a year going forward.  We were doing about 4 a year and now we are down to three.  I prefer my workouts in the gym to running long miles, so I think I will keep my focus there.

My last race back in June I was able to get a pretty huge PR (personal record) for myself. I was actually pretty surprised with my time, especially since I don't train for the races anymore and just kind of go out there and do them.  I get asked a lot how I train for my races and I just tell them I don't.  People sure are shocked when I tell them I don't train for my races. I used to train a lot and saw very little improvement with my race times.  I guess losing 42 pounds and going to the gym consistently is what works for my race times. Looks like I have 9 days to think about the race.

I am still figuring out this whole blogging thing and what to talk about each entry.  I will soon figure out how to add pictures and what topics to talk about.  I follow a lot of blogs and some discuss their entire day, some discuss specific topics, share recipes or just random stuff. I am not sure what my blog is going to focus on yet, but you can expect me to talk about workouts and my food. I hope to include recipes that I use and pictures of the food we eat.

If there is something you want me to talk about (if anyone is reading this) just let me know and I would be happy to.  Talk to you later!

Hard Headed Over Achiever

That's me!! I am a hard headed, over achiever for sure. I try not to be, but it is who I am.  Just like I try to say I am not competitive, yeah right! Sometimes I don't know how my husband and friends put up with me. 

Anyways, the reason for this topic. Tuesday I was at the gym and my awesome coach asked me how I was feeling that day, I told him, "exhausted", he then proceeded to tell me that he could tell I was exhausted because is showed in my face. He told me that I need to take a break from all the extra cardio I was doing at night. See, I have been going to the gym twice a day about 2-3 times a week. I enjoy going to my gym (I already go 5 days a week), I truly feel it is the best gym ever! I love all my TI (Train Insane) friends and what is better than socializing while working out? 

I was devastated when he told me this, I know it sounds dumb, like who gets told they need to cut back on going to the gym and then gets upset about it?  So after I finished my metcon, I was laying on the floor trying to catch my breath (like usual) and I started to cry, WTF!! Who the hell cries when they are told to get rest from the gym? This crazy girl right here. I was upset because I was being told I couldn't do something, like a child I know. It's not that he wasn't right, I just couldn't see how cutting back was going to help me to get to my "goal". 

Well after a couple of days off from the extra sessions, talking to my friends and stepping back to reflect on what he said, I know he was right.  I wasn't upset because he said I couldn't workout, I was upset because my first thought was that I was allowing my MS to get in the way of me working out. I don't let this disease get in the way of anything. If I feel pain, I power through, if I am tired, I power through.  I don't like to talk about my MS and I don't like to feel like it is controlling me.  You see, I recently had to go back to daily injections, I was taking a pill. I hate these daily injections because to me they are a constant reminder of the MS.  When I popped a pill I really didn't have to think about it, but sticking myself with a needle every damn day makes me mad. I seriously hate it.  Heck, Lido and I used to fight about it before because I wouldn't want to do it and he would tell me I had to.

After these couple of days of rest, I now can see that I really did need it.  Whether I was exhausted from all the exercise I was doing or from the MS, who cares, my body needed it. 

My take away from all of this, don't be so hard headed. I need to learn to listen to my body sometimes. I need to try and stop comparing myself to others, I say try because it won't happen, but I can at least make and effort. Often times as we workout or train for something we are so focused on getting to our goal that we don't always take the time to listen to our bodies. Sometimes we just need rest, either for our physical or mental well being. 

You know you have a great coach and friends when they can look at you and tell you that you are doing too much.  Lord knows that I would have never willingly taken the couple of days of rest.

Thanks for reading!

And so it begins...

 

I guess this is officially my first blog post!  I have talked about starting a blog forever, but never really got around to it.  I mean, who really wants to read about my day to day life?  Oh well, I am doing it anyways.

If you don't know me personally, I will give you a little background about me.  I am in my early 30s, been married almost 13 years and love it.  We don't have any children, but we are starting down the path of trying. That is really scary to me, but that is another story for later in this rambling.  I was diagnosed with MS in December of 2006.  Before I was diagnosed I knew nothing of the illness and had no idea what I was going to be dealing with in the future.

At the time I was diagnosed I wasn't what you would call active or super healthy, I worked out here and there, but nothing to the extent that I do now.  When I was diagnosed I decided I wanted to be as active as I could while I still could (at this point I thought the diagnoses meant I would be in a wheel chair sooner or later) so I joined a couple soccer teams and a couple of softball teams.  I had never played sports growing up, but I went for it.  I still ate like crap, but hey I was exercising on the weekends.  Fast forward a few years, I wasn't what you would call obese but I was not in good shape either.  I had put on a good amount of weight and I wasn't happy with how I looked. I had ran a couple of 1/2 marathons, but nothing too impressive. I had a friend who invited me to try some meal replacement shakes (2 years ago) and that is when it all started.

I started drinking the shakes and taking some supplements while running a lot.  Then my Best Friend sent me a deal that her gym was having. I signed up for the month deal, which meant I was waking up at 5:15 AM, 3-4 mornings a week. Well, once I started I was hooked! After one month at the gym, I wanted to sign up for a year.  Hubby agreed that is was working and that I was sticking to it so why not. Well here I am a year and a half later, 42 pounds lost, able to lift some heavy weight.  Competed in 2 competitions at my gym and as active as I have ever been in my life.

I am always looking for new healthy ideas I can try and have others try.  I am dedicated to my health and my husbands health.  I know some say I am obsessed, but when I think of how I could be, I don't care what they think. I have my good days and my bad days. I try my best not let my MS hold me back in any way and I just try to be supportive to all those around me.

The point of my blog is to share with others what I experience, share healthy recipes I find and try and maybe have a place to express what I am thinking.  I love living my healthy lifestyle, I am not perfect, never claimed to be, but I am grateful for my life and all that I have accomplished.