Running Thoughts

I got up late...was up all through the night with kids (both boys are sick)...but did cardio (stairs) before a late breakfast! I'm very sore, and it is a good kind of feeling as opposed to the PAIN I was having! Yippeeee! My muscles didn't just wither away while I was a baby last week! Did everyone see Ruth's pic? That's no "before" shot! It looks pretty good to me!! Today was the first day of a new schedule...how did it go? We did absolutely nothing according to plan! Ha! That's ok...we had a great day just the same! I think it is because I got my cardio done early and that is such a boost. Upper body tomorrow. Not too heavy duty, though, for me!!

I got up this morning and did walking lunges before taking G to ski team practice and eating a turkey foldover. (3 sets of 15 each leg) drank coffee and water. (ate two small bites of a cookie...oops!) played scrabble with my kids. straightened up the living room from the disaster it was in. read some and planned some. ate tacos al carbon for lunch. drank tea and water. let the cat out. let the cat in. let the dog out. let the dog in. began the kitchen disaster. did 3 sets of 10 @10 lbs--bicep curls. did 1 set of 20 @ 10 lb--hammer curls. (still feel my neck a little, so this was all I did) stretched. did 3 sets 15 backward sit-ups. felt good. did 1 set 15 frog jumps. had a shake. Need more water and to finish my kitchen!! How is your today??

ouch!! Well, having taken a break due to my hurt neck...I thought this a good time to re-set my goals. Here are some: 1. To keep on truckin' even when I don't see as much progress as I would like or think I should. 2. To consider the health benefits over appearance. 3. To feel more energetic. 4. To create an example of fitness for my children. 5. To eventually fit into a size 6 and not worry over it in the meantime. 6. To re-dedicate myself to the resolve of getting fit and feeling great! So, to re-dedicate myself...I am concentrating on water intake and less coffee. Getting up earlier on cardio days and running the stairs or else setting aside a time to go to the gym for treadmill/elyptical machine on those days. I'm taking new pictures next weekend and measuring with tape measure and callypers. And I'm making myself a new journal...that really helps me. Have I mentioned that we are planning a trip to the virgin islands in June? I want to be bikini-worthy by June. But...

I'm much better today. I think Monday will be good! My plan for Monday: lower body...squats and frogjumps bicep curls and hammer curls (lighter weight than usual) backward sit-ups if any back work at all shake veg omelet marathon bar mexican stack salad tortilla roll-up water, water, water, water, water....You get the idea!! I have some pics I want to post, but my USB port isn't working right...some of my pre-BFL jeans, etc. I'll try again....

Still in pain...no workout. I felt some better this morning when I woke up, but got progressively worse as the day went on. Sick little boy too. He's been officially sick since yesterday afternoon, but not feeling perfect since the day before...Hubby leaves for portland tomorrow a.m. for a week... a long week. My goal at this point is to shoot for Monday to get back into it. Everything has been on hold this week...homeschool, everything. Sorry if I sound bummed...I am. This happened once before when I lifted too much for side-raises, and I think that's the deal again. I need to avoid side-raises or else go really light with the weight. As Winnie the Pooh would say, "Oh, Bother!"

Well, I've been alternating between lying perfectly still and crying out in pain. No workout today unless you count being very careful with an extremely painful neck as a workout. I also ate at the wrong times and usually the wrong things..... Not a BFL day!! I just didn't feel like moving to go get myself the snacks I needed and ended up with the wrong things...oh well. I hope I feel better tomorrow!

"....such a crick in the neck!" I don't know exactly what I did, but I woke up with a crick in my neck that has gotten progressivley worse... I don't see myself doing cardio or abs today...bummer. I hope it's better tomorrow!

Did upper body today... chest press--12, 10,8,6,12 inclined flyes--12 highest weight: 30 lb dumbells for 6 Shoulder press--12,10,8,6 side raises--10 highest weight: 20 lbs for 8 and 6 tri dips: 3 sets of 15 Well, doing things the BFL way, the fat loss is supposed to kick in at some point. I've lost some, but...sheeesh...I'm stil waiting..... I need to pay more attention to my water intake lately, so I would vote for a Valentine water challenge of some sort. DH got me some spikey doo-dads for my running shoes, so I may try HIITs in the snow tomorrow if it is sunny. Sounds invigorating. Or else, crazy.

I decided to take 2 free days. Call me a slug. I'll be working out chest, shoulders, and triceps tomorrow. I'm thinking that I might not try to do cardio first thing in the morning this week since DH is home. While he is here, I will most likely go run the treadmill at the gym which works better for me late morning or early afternoon. He will be gone the next week, and I will be trying that week to run HIITs on the stairs or jumprope before the kids are up on cardio days. Better get to some things around the house! I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Did squats, frog jumps bicep curls, hammer curls Will do backward sit-ups before bed or tomorrow, free day. This week, I read some more in a new book, cleaned my bedroom (no small task), kept the kitchen clean (including the floor), got much schoolwork done and did lots of good planning. I need to get into Kaegan's workroom more each day. I'm focusing on that in my planning for next week. I will need to get a few things done (organized) this weekend for next week to go according to plan. I will take some guitar time and art time this weekend, though!!! Got all my workouts in and ate according to plan! I begin free-day at supper tonight---yay! Pizzzzzzza!

Well, I just finished hauling my booty up and down the stairs for HIITs again and contemplating what do do with our homeschooling... I think I am going to pull Braeden out of PE class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I am thinking of taking him out of art as well. That would take him out of the school here altogether, though, and I'm not sure if I want to do that. I really need him to go 1/2 day, but the teacher of his grade level doesn't do that very well, so he has just been going to PE and art. It doesn't help me in the least, but he likes to go to art. I have seen a plummet in his self esteem in relation to PE, though. So, I will take him out of PE which is slightly more help to me with Kaegan's schedule than art, so it doesn't make sense in that way. But, it makes sense in other ways. Trying to decide about art.... I am going to begin next week getting up for cardio days to accomplish that early before we begin school and try to adhere to a little better sche...

That silly dog always beats me up and down the stairs!! Here he is in a fashionable hat. I ran the stairs once again. We are thinking of buying an elyptical machine, but I still will probably opt for the stairs sometimes. I like it! Here is my plan for abs which I haven't done yet...inclined twists and hip-ups. I like inclined twists...or are they declined??... Crazy day...I forgot to plug in the block heater on the truck AND I left the garage door open.... It wouldn't start today (-18 degrees overnight brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr). Plugged it in and let it warm up a while then finally got it started in time for Gracyn to go to her last 2 classes of the day at school. She missed art and Braeden missed PE. The silly speech therapist didn't show up AGAIN today! That kind of thing really whacks my day. We get all geared up for it, I explain to Kaegan what will happen because that is necessary for him, then she doesn't show and kills all the explanation and I have...

Here is the little whittler who inspired me to get out my oils and canvas. Balance.... Well, the carpet on my stairs is going to get worn to nothing this winter. I'm enjoying running up, walking down, listening to my MP3 player, seeing my kids at the top and bottom, racing my dog up and down....it's a fun change. 20 minutes seems short and sweet, but I get a good cardio. When I get hot, I step outside for a second...brrrr! And afterward, I go outside for a cool cooldown. This morning, I went out to cool down by checking out the footprints of the lynx we saw through the window earlier. I got a picture of it. I have other pics too, so I will try to download some later today or tomorrow. I also did cross-crunches, lifting my hips and shoulders...what are those called???? and hip-ups. Abs were still sore from last week, though. hmmmm. I got a new supplement called Thyroid L-Tyrasine?? or something like that. It is amino acids that stimulate your thyroid function. I thought you mi...

So, I waited all week for today's stuffed jalepenos I had planned and they were worth the wait!!! So was the coke and so were the hotwings and so was the sweetened coffee..... THE NOTE did turn out to be a very good book. It's by Angela Hunt. I really enjoyed reading something just for fun! My kitchen has stayed clean all week. I'm about to fiddle with my guitar.... and look for the pictures I took of Braeden whittling a while back for an oil painting I have in mind. We didn't get everything done in the way of homeschool that I wanted, but we are making progress. Most important is that we read and read. We accomplished that this week. I didn't get to post yesterday, so here is what I did yesterday: I committed death by push-ups. I also did tricep dips. I thought I'd be sooooo sore today, but I'm only slightly sore. My abs are reminding me of Thursday, though.

We had to go to The next town for groceries today. We were 'spose to go to get our drivers' licenses renewed, but I lost my wallet...long story...found it again, but too late. Anyway, the office is only open on Tuesday and Thursday from some silly time like 9am to 11:00 and then something like 2pm-4pm. We can never make it and today I took B out of PE so that we could go...then couldn't find my old license. Bummer. We will have to try again. Anyway, I said all that to say that I had very few eating choices. Timing could have been worse, but wasn't perfect, and we ended up with Taco Bell. I ordered the grilled, stufft burrito which was the best I could determine.... Other than that, I'm on track. Sore for shore. ;)

Hi! I thought I'd post a description of what frog-jumps are and where they came from...since I did 4 sets of 12 of them this morning, plus side lunges. Ouch. Our friend, Mark, discovered frog jumps in Bill Phillips' magazine a few years ago. They work all of your leg muscles, making it a complete lower body workout all in one. here is how you do them: Start in a squatting position (like a frog) and jump up as high as you can, keeping your back as straight as possible. Land in a controlled squatting position to repeat over and over. I do either 3 sets of 12 or 15, usually. Be prepared to be sore! Also gets your heart pumping.

Today, it didn't look like I would ever make it to the gym to do cardio, and it is too wet and icy outside (not to mention I still don't have any mace) to do much out there, so I tried something new...I ran our stairs. I ran up and then walked down, ran up, walked down...for 20 minutes, 1.26 miles. Not very exciting, but works. I'm sore from yesterday's workout. That feels good. Eats are good. chores....well, I'm trying. I have to get hubby to get the Christmas tree out of the living room so that I can vacuum like is my Tuesday chore. I did some homeschool planning and managed to fit in some of my plans around some crazy stuff that comes with having people come into our home to help with Kaegan...Occupational therapist showed up unexpectedly, speech therapist didn't show up as expected.... Life at our house. Here is a list of what went right: I got my workout in even though it wasn't easy. Food. Working on water. Wrote down some good plans for school....

Did upper body today... chest: presses and flyes shoulders: presses and side raises triceps: extensions and lying extensions My arms are like jello, so I think I did OK! Had a fun History morning with my kids. Still to do...math, bathrooms, Read my Bible. I'm going to tune my guitar right now and practice some rhythm exercises just for fun. I haven't started my book yet, but it will be good! My Kitchen is looking good.... On track so far! I think I will have Odell take my picture in my "before" jeans and post that later! Ha! That will be fun!! Meals are going great except that I've gotten out of the swing of timing and was an hour late with lunch! Yummy veggie omelet!

My theme this challenge is "balance." I mentioned that I am an "all or nothing" kind of person...I'm either into something all the way or not at all. I haven't played my guitar in ages because I can't put my "all" into it. I haven't drawn or painted anything in even longer...can't put my "all" into it. Haven't read a book for enjoyment...can't put my "all" into it. Kaegan's program...suffered for this past year...haven't put my "all" into it. This is how I got overweight in the first place...I'm either working out full force or not at "all." So, my guitar is out, my easel is out, I have a book to start, I'm scheduling Kaegan's program better so that I put my "all" into it for certain hours each day, I'm scheduling certain household chores on certain days, I'm planning my journal to include Bible Study and prayer... "All in all," I am planning...

Well, just so you know...I'm being a total sloth. I did frog jumps one day, and I might do HIITs on the stationary bike tomorrow...MIGHT. I'm eating on program, though...NOT! I'd forgotten how yummy peanut m&m's are! It's been fun, but I am anxious to get started back when I get home! Christmas was great, and our trip has been great. I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday time!