travel peace

24 June 2013

SUMMERTIME ROLLS

Summer is upon our household.  School's out, "I'm bored" gets dropped on the daily, and I am trying not to lose my mind in keeping my family busy.  Busy sometimes translates to getting off-track, eating out, and no gym time so I am fighting to keep that from happening.

  ^^^ that's AM!!

I am back in action on Saturday mornings.  

  >> In October 2011, I began running every Saturday morning at 6am with a group of people.  That group has since dwindled but I always crave those Saturday morning runs.  Getting up at 5:15 on a Saturday morning may not sound like fun to some people but I love that there is someone to hold me accountable when I say that I will be there at 6:00.  We run at a large regional park that is about 15 minutes from my house.  There is an array of terrain; trails, paved paths, a beautiful lake, and early morning scenery that is to die for.

Having a running partner that is roughly the same pace and has the same goals is paramount in my Saturday morning training.  Saturdays are for distance, not time.  Sometimes that requires some peer pressure/support!

My running shoes had holes inside and I've been running in them well over a year.  I love my shoes.  We are in a serious and loving relationship so I bought the exact same model, just the newer version.  I looooove the new colors!

I've been up in the gym working on my fitness...and I am seeing PROGRESS!!  So awesome!  For so long I was using the dumbbells off of the small rack (AKA "the women's rack:" 5, 8, 10, 12 pounders) so I can't explain how excited I was to move to the BIG BOY rack!!  I'm finally curling the 15 pounders, pressing the 20s, and using 25s for my upright rows.  Halla-freaking-luja!!

After always having to re-rack the 45-pound plates off of every machine (because the dudes before me NEVER re-rack their crap), I am finally using 45-pound plates on the leg press.  It may not seem like much but I started with 10s...

For the record, I am no longer lifting weights in my running shoes.  I am lifting with flat shoes (Chuck Taylors).

After running 6.5 miles Saturday morning I hopped on my road bike.  She hasn't seen much action in the last couple of years.  My ride was cut short because of a loud clicking noise that I sure as heck couldn't diagnose.  I wasn't stoked on the idea of having to walk my bike back to my car in the case of my brakes failing or my wheels falling off, so I headed back early.  I did get a nice long hill in which further proved to me that I need to stay in the gym and build those leg muscles!  Holy hell.

I am really looking forward to surfing, riding my road bike and mountain bike more, continuing to lift weights, and training to run the LA Half Marathon that takes place in October.

28 May 2013

This was a long weekend, and not just in the holiday sense. We drove to Arizona to help my folks get ready to move by having a 2-day yard sale in 100 degree heat, cleaning out the attic of all contents, donating unsold items, and taking wanted items to storage. We were up at 6:00 am and were in bed late every night. Exhausting. I did not get in a single workout yet my body is so sore. My calves, especially.

Today I had many chores to do and decided to not go to the gym. i turned vacuuming and sweeping the pool into an upper body and core workout.

I then went swimming and did some high intensity sets for a chest/shoulder/core/leg workout.

I then took my new running shoes for a spin while my daughter was at soccer practice. I was also testing out my ankle (so far, so good). My old kicks developed some holes on the insides last week and today was my first chance to get to the running store (I like to support the little specialty shops…especially when they are competitively priced). I still love my Asics. i get the same model every time…they just change the look each year.

After I ran, my daughter’s soccer coach asked the parents to scrimmage against the kids for some fun and “friendly” competition. I got taken out by a 7 year old and boy, did they ever think that was hilarious. It was actually!!!!!!! :D

After my long weekend and some way over the top indulgence, it felt good to get back on track.

This is what happened on Monday:

We took my parents to an early anniversary dinner (47 years!). This ginormous mud pie made it to our table and I ate some. I planned on eating some dessert all weekend. I was saving it for the end. I had a slip up meal but over all I am very pleased with how I did due to the lack of meal prep time and how over the top busy we were.

… … …

FOR ME, it is very important to know that I can screw up once in a while and recover by getting back on track, forget the guilt, and move forward. I am doing that. And by the way…that is called life and I am perfectly ok with that. :)

21 May 2013

Chili Topped Sweet Potato 

1 sweet potato olive oil spray sea salt your favorite HEALTHY chili

I made sweet potato fries for my kids while my husband and I each had half of a very large sweet potato.

Sweet Potato Fries:

I cut 1 large sweet potato into fry-sized pieces and spaced them out on a cookie sheet.  I used my olive oil spritzer to spray a light coat of olive oil on the fries and then sprinkled a bit of sea salt over them.  I baked them at 450 degrees for about 15 minutes (watching them to make sure they didn't burn).  At that point I took them out of the oven and turned them over.  I cooked them for another 5-10 minutes (again, watching to make sure they didn't burn).  **I used too much olive oil on my first batch and they were not as crispy as I would've liked.

  Baked Sweet Potato:

I cut a very large sweet potato in half and put the halves on a foil-lined cookie sheet.  I baked at 400 degrees for 45-50 minutes.

Chili:

Use your favorite HEALTHY chili.  I can't share the chili recipe I use because it is a family recipe (I am dead serious...there is also the Solari Salad Dressing that is out of this world and top secret).  This chili won the blue ribbon at the church chili cook-off!  Uh-huh!  What I can tell you is that we use extra lean ground turkey, replaced some of the kidney beans with black beans for added fiber, and the entire huge pot of chili only has 1 tsp of sugar (although when eating it with a sweet potato, you don't need any).

21 May 2012

I have decided to use this as my journal for my fitness journey. I’m sure my Instagram friends are SICK of my feed turning into my fitness diary of sorts but I find it imperative to post on fitness to keep myself accountable.

A little background: I was a soccer player, cheerleader, and swimmer in high school. I was always active and could eat whatever I wanted without consequence. HA. HA. Those were the days! I did an Olympic distance triathlon (Wildflower) on my 29th birthday. I sustained an IT Band injury that sidelined me for a bit after that tri. I had every intention of doing more tris but never did.  I have been a sort-of runner since then, but never really fell in love with it. I’ve done a handful of 5Ks, a 10K, and I did a half marathon on New Year’s Day in 2012.

With alllll that being said, I ruin any progress with my sweet tooth. Yes, I will eat super clean every day and then I blow it with a Dr. Pepper midday or a Kit Kat during my afternoon moment of weakness or bowl of ice cream after dinner. I piss myself off.

So while I live an active lifestyle and have increased that activity by adding weight lifting to my cardio, the challenge of age/slowing metabolism (I just turned 39) and poor eating (my sweet tooth) have kept me in less that ideal shape. I am not using that as an excuse though. I know I can look on the outside how I feel on the inside, and that is my plan.

My number 1 goal: Do at least 1 unassisted pull up by the end of 2013.

BAM! That’s it!

Right now I use 70lbs of assisted weight while doing pull ups (I was using 90lbs in February…so there has been progress). I also think I want to do another triathlon…but I’ll get back to you on that one!

I don’t care much about how much I weigh as long as I get super lean. Right now the scale at the doctor’s office says anywhere from 158 to 160 depending on the time of the month (I am 5 feet, 5-1/2 inches tall).

I tweaked my ankle last week so I have been taping it and today was the first time I’ve run on it in a week and a half; it feels good. I think I’ll continue to tape it until next Monday (Memorial Day).  My weight lifting has been amazing. I started back to weights in late February and I’ve had a ton of progress. I love that progress shows up in almost every workout with weight lifting. I was working out every other day (Mon, Wed, Fri) alternating biceps/back/legs and then chest/triceps/shoulders and then throwing in some HIIT (high intensity interval training) runs at the end of my workouts. I would throw in some Ab workouts during the off days but I’ve been concentrating more on holding my abs strong ALL. THE. TIME. Try it, it’s hard work!

But...It’s time to ramp it up. I’m going to keep working the same muscle groups together but I’ve gone back to working out everyday (Mon. through Fri.).  I try to workout on the weekends but I’m a soccer mom to 2 girls and that makes it tough sometimes. I use those as rest days usually (although I’m always on the go on the weekends and I try to keep my eating on point).

My past 5 or 6 workouts have been some of the best of my life. I think it’s my state-of-mind more than anything, but I like it!  Before today’s workout I took one CLA tablet (a supplement I bought at Vitamin Shoppe) and had ridiculous energy (but not jittery). My muscles were super gassed after my back/bi workout but I still had tons of energy so I ran 2 miles (testing out my ankle) and spent 17 minutes cooling down on the bike at a level 4. I then drained my legs and stretched. I am sore but feel AMAZING!!!

I guess my goal is to show myself where I've come from so I can see my progress and motivate anyone who thinks it is too hard to start or that fitness is only for young people (Note: I don't think 39 is old, in fact I feel young but age does make it more challenging when trying to get in better shape...but it is NOT impossible and I'll show you that).  I'll post my specific workouts in another post.  If I ever get brave enough, I might post my before photo.  YIKES!!