Running Thoughts

short post...I'm going to bed. I have the beginnings of a sore throat, and I am not feeling very spunky. I did my work out and stuck to my eating plan, though! 3 sets pushups with reps of 10, 7, and 7 (these are really tough for me!) chest press shoulders--arnold press and shoulder press triceps--lying extensions Really, the pushups work all of those upper body muscles, so I really felt fatigued afterward. If I'm not sick tomorrow, we may go sledding again for HIITs. That's a fun way to do it! I'll have to feel better than I do right now, though...nitey, nite! (I can't believe I didn't win Sarah's contest...I just had a feeling...) :)

The last few days have just been hectic, so today was a ketchup day. I had to catch up! So, having missed finishing up my back and bicep workout, I planned them in today's workout. Here is what I did today: I ran the stairs....huff, puff! Muddy and cold outside today. I did bicep curls and hammer curls. I did pull-overs and reverse flyes. I also did declined twists. So, I officially have not missed a workout! Whew! I did what Ruth said and thought of the mommies who are too tired and busy to work out. I decided not to be one of them! hee hee! On track for eating...I did eat a bite of birthday cake. Kaegan's wheat-free, dairy free chocolate cake is just irresistable! I should mail you some!

Yea for Ruth, who gives it her best, Yea for Ruth, better than the rest! You missed a workout, that's OK! You'll stick with it anyway! GO, RUTH!!!! Hope you feel better!!

So, does hosting an 8 year-old's birthday party count as cardio? I sure hope you say yes, because that is all the cardio that is getting done today. I did the pushups and tricep dips, and am about to do abwork, but cardio is not happening today. Eats were awful too! Pooooor planning. But, tomorrow is a new day....

we are leaving town and will be back tomorrow night. I will be doing push ups and tricep dips tonight in our hotel room! Maybe I can find something to do shoulder presses with!!...hmmm. Catch up with everyone tomorrow night!

I did 3 supersets of crunches, side crunches, and hip ups. I hope to feel it tomorrow! Here are my four points of challenge between now and March17: 1) To concentrate more on carb choices, making those choices raw fruits and whole grains (I'm going to order from Sarah's company!) 2) To concentrate more on back workout which I have gotten into the habit of skipping 3) To only weigh myself one time each week, choosing a weigh in day 4) To get that flax oil out and include it in my diet!!!!! grrr! Why can't I ever think of this?? Inspired by Sarah's banana consumption, :) I have started adding some calories to my diet by way of bananas. I think I have not been eating enough calories, the more I considered my muscle gain and caloric intake. I'm also loving oranges, thanks to Sarah. Now, I want some dates!!! Ha, ha!

I'm still thinking about my four short term goals for this challenge...I'll haffta post that later on! I got up and ran my stairs today with a concentration on the slow descent with an intensity of using my leg muscles on the way down. I still have abs to do and plan a superset to target all 3 ab muscle groups. I usually do one exercise that targets 2 of them and then another exercise to target the 3rd. I'm not sure what I will end up with today. But, I'll get it done later today. Finished up with backward situps yesterday...just to let you know I did it! I am down on the scales about 4.5 lbs from last week...my weight is finally beginning to budge. It took this long in the first challenge for my weight to budge and for me to go down in clothing size, but I had expected the progress to continue from that point. It didn't...I stalled in progress until I hit just past halfway in this second challenge. Interesting. Maybe it was because of Christmas, etc. I was...

Don't be deceived by my shamrock's lack of leaves! I have accepted all FOUR points of Ruth's challenge! Here is my response: 1. I will dedicate my nutritional program to Dan, who travels to Colorado's capital to hold Bible studies and devotionals for the congressmen there. 2. Four areas I'd like to improve in: I will have to ponder this one some more... 3. I will keep in mind those people I know who are unable to run and move about to exercise and rejoice in my exercise over these next few weeks. 4. I will focus on some tired mommies that I know and pray for them as I work out. Hopefully, I will be able to encourage someone as well. Today's workout went like this: Bicep curls and hammer curls squats and frogjumps still to do: backward sit-ups Beautiful day here...we went to the park to soak up some sunshine!

As per Ruthie's request, here are pictures of my shoe picks for the ice. You can't see them well, but they are attached to hard rubber that stretches over my running shoes. And just so you know, that isn't a double chin...I have my ear warmer pulled down around my neck. I just got back from running my sprints outside and had to take my jacket off (tied around my waist). I was very pleased to notice a much slimmer shadow than when I began this adventure. It was a nice 40 degrees out, but the snow keeps melting into MUD. I also did declined twists (100) and 20-something reverse declined crunches which may have injured something else! I can tell that my leg is better. I decided to do my HIITs today in spite of it. I don't think the running is what did it. I think I was in a hurry doing walking lunges and pulled my inner thigh. I figured that it had had enough rest and that if running hurt it, I could stop. It felt good, so I ran 6 or 7 (??) HIITs up and down hi...

Celebrated Presidents' Day with a coke today! What? You don't normally celebrate Presidents' Day? Well, me either, but I did today....at least that's my excuse! Chest press shoulder press arnold press tricep extensions tricep dips I hope you have had a terrific Pres. Day!!!

I'm eating on program today, but taking another day of rest for my leg muscles which I seem to have a knack of overtraining. I guess that is what is going on. My right thigh is very sore to the touch like I've injured it. I dunno. Here is some info I found on the web. It is titled: Restimulating Progress by Changing Exercises. I haven't followed all the links or explored the entire homepage where I found this article, but I'm working on it. I thought I'd share it. I know my progress has come to a point of needing restimulation! http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/ChangeWtEx.html

Maybe I'm falling apart in my old age! I have a pain in my inner thigh all the way down to my knee. It's not only achy, but sore to the touch like a bruise, but no visible bruise or anything at all...I thought maybe it was a varicose vein, but after reading about them, I don't think so (anyone have any ideas?). Hmmm. Anyway, it didn't keep me from the 3 B's plus abs today. I did squats and lunges, bicep curls, hammer curls, and reverse flyes. Oh yeah, and 100 declined twists. I wonder if my e-friends got to workout today?? I wonder if Ruth had a chance to challenge herself with back, biceps, and booty?? If Sarah ran those stairs and did a billion crunches on day 30-something of 80-10-10?? If Angell took a hot bath and munched on cough suppressants??? It's snowing here, so I'm glad for a free day tomorrow. We are actually going to a nighttime sledding party tonight. We went last year, and it was the best, coldest time ever. (If you're gonna be ...

(Yesterday's post...I never got back to it to publish it!) My little dog thinks I'm crazy, but fun. I ran the stairs with him again today. We had fun. He thinks it's a blast. Kaegan ran with me some and so did Braeden. Didn't get to abs...will do them with the 3b's! Happy Friday!

Food cheats: reeses pb heart, small layer bar For my upper body workout, I did chest press, shoulder press, upward row, tricep extensions, kick-backs. Hubby sent me roses. Spent the afternoon at the school for Valentine parties. headache. sore backside and legs. ready for early bed. The kids had a great day, though. That was what I wanted. All is well. :)

just finished abwork which wasn't very much because my neck is still out of whack, although much better. I find that ab workouts pull on my neck and cause stress, so I really only worked on lower abs tonight. I wish we had a chiropractor or massage therapist here!! anyway, I'm done for the day, officially! It's almost time for my last snack of the day and I'm hungry, so...more tomorrow!!

Ruth, here is a list of positives from me... 1) I've also only missed one workout 2) I've figured out how not to hurt my neck (I think) 3) It is becoming more of a habit 4) I looked at a pair of size 6 jeans and they didn't look that small or impossible 5) My clothes are bigger than they used to be 6) Hills are easier to HIIT! 7) Another friend told me I was lookin' good (that makes 5) 8) My kids like to exercise with me 9) Meal planning is easier 10) I have new e-friends Today is cardio...I waited in case it warmed up for an outside run, but it looks like a stairs day for me! That will be even more fun since I realize that it is a good, low impact way to do HIITs. Here is how I HIIT the stairs... I warm up by simply going up and down for 2-4 minutes. Then, I run up the stairs just as fast as I can move, walk down slowly, run up hard, walk down slowly, repeatedly for at least 20 minutes. The HIITs are short, but tough and there are LOTS of them. Then I go outsi...

cyberspace stole my first attempt, so here is the short version.... I finally got to my workout...we had a busy day. Any ideas for back exercises I can do at home? I have dumbells and a stretchy band...tired of rows. :)

Well, cardio didn't happen today, but tomorrow is a new day! I just didn't feel well today. I will surely be more myself tomorrow! I am taking kids to ski team in the morning and after they are finished with that, we are headed to "town" for groceries, etc. So, my 3B's will be in the evening, but I enjoy evening lifting, so that's good. On Tuesday, I will either get up and run stairs or if it looks like it might be a pretty day, I may wait for warmth and run outside. It may be a muddy mess, though. This morning, the snowflakes were just huge and we got quite a bit of snow. I thought I'd take a picture for Ruth. Then the sun came out and warmed us up to 41 degrees and melted the new stuff. So, we have snow, slush, and mud. Last year at this time, we had knee-deep snow until spring. I saw an Aspen trying to bud...poor thing. Tomorrow!...

Just finished my workout. My neck is still bothering me some, so I'm still taking it somewhat easy, but I keep being sore, so I probably was doing too much before...that would explain the neck problem... I did chest presses and pushups... shoulder presses and upward rows... tricep extensions...and that's all. Tomorrow is free and, I intend to have yummy, happy coffee with sugar and cream.

So, I've been concerned that my stair climbing might not be as effective as running sprints has been...I'm no longer concerned about that. I have definitely not lost stamina for the sprints. The hills are easier, the sprints are easier...must be thanks to the stairs! So, Sarah, keep climbing! Today's run was a cold one...we have had a week of beautiful 40 degree days and the snow has been melting into slush (deep slush!). Today, the cold front that is predicted to bring us lots of snow showed up in the form of very cold wind...I said, "If I'd wanted this kind of winter weather, I'd have stayed in Abilene!" (sorry, Ruth, but there are other really good reasons to be in Abilene) I also did 100 declined twists, bicep curls and hammer curls (in honor of yesterday's miss). So, tomorrow will be chest, shoulders, and triceps! More after that!

Gonna Be a Bear In this life I'm a woman. In my next life, I'd like to come back as a bear. When you're a bear, you get to hibernate. You do nothing but sleep for six months. I could deal with that. Before you hibernate, you're supposed to eat yourself stupid. I could deal with that too. When you're a girl bear, you birth your children (who are the size of walnuts) while you're sleeping and wake to partially grown, cute, cuddly cubs. I could definitely deal with that. If you're mama bear, everyone knows you mean business. You swat anyon who bothers your cubs. If your cubs get out of line, you swat them too. I could deal with that. If you're a bear, your mate EXPECTS you to wake up growling. He EXPECTS that you will have hairy legs and excess body fat. Yup, gonna be a bear!

I wimped out... Well, I kept waiting for my hubby to get ready to workout with me because he said he wanted to. I should have done it earlier when I had the chance, but I thought, "no, I'll wait for him...." Now, it's bedtime, and I'm tired. I will run tomorrow, though, and do abwork and biceps plus back. So, I will make it up except for the leg workout. That's good. There is a big chance for snow this weekend which is good, but will slow me down on running outside (possibly), so I will run out there while I can...tomorrow and Saturday unless I ski Saturday....

Gracyn took this several weeks ago. I thought it was funny how baggy my jeans are now!! The roll around the middle is very stubborn! I'm workin' on it! Ran...8 HIITs...outside....beautiful day! Still to do: abwork--I plan to do 100 declined twists this time!

Well, I thought as I looked out the window while lifting today, that I guess it would have been the deer who might have seen me whoosh past them yesterday. We don't have many neighbors.... The deer were really watching me, though. Yesterday and today. They were really giving me the once over through the window today as I lifted the weights, up and down. I guess they decided I was no threat! Little do they know I could take them on all at once!! (feeling strong?) LOL Anyway, here is what I did: chest press tricep extensions push-ups shoulder press upward row

I'm sure the neighbors wondered what that whoosh was as I passed their houses today. Odell got me picks for my running shoes that grip into the ice and snow. I hadn't run outside in sooooo long, and it felt so good. I know I was up to Olympian speeds... Well, maybe 8-9 mph for a few seconds! I did 4 HIITs in the first 10 minutes and 3 more before cooling down. Abs on the declined bench...70-80?? twists. Eats were good, but yummier yesterday (free day)! I didn't have to think about when or what I ate...freedom! Our friends brought over lasagne...mmmm. Tired, sore legs. Must sleep now. Until tomorrow.....

This will be short... I am already sore.... I went to the gym and did leg presses and hamstring curls Did back and bis at home. Ate well. Hubby's comin' home (he's been gone a week). Toated kids everywhere. tired. g'nite!

I REALLY want one of these... But, I will happily wait until my Free Day. Sometimes, the free day keeps me afloat. I did my cardio first thing...stairs about a billion times. Without my mp3...forgot to charge it. But, I enjoyed passing the pictures of my beautiful, smilling children hanging on the wall as I travelled the stairs, uuuup, and doooowwn. Eats were good. Schedule for the day was good. Life is good.