Holiday Slacker!

Alright, I have to be honest! I did not make it past week 1!! With the holidays, family, parties, food, sickness at our house and everything else (lets see what else can I use as an excuse?) I totally fell off the band-wagon!

But you better believe I'll be back on it at the new year with the rest of the world!

End of the Week Blues . . . .

So for my workouts I always start out great on Mondays.  I'm excited for a new week, I have fresh new motivation! Tuesday hits and I'm going strong, Wednesday still good . . . then comes Thursday, & it takes everything I have to convince myself to follow through, then Friday & Saturday, and I get so busy and SO demotivated to work out.  It's the weekend, my kids are home, my routine thrown all out of wack!

 I fell off the band wagon this weekend for both diet and exercise.  I'm never going to get the results I want if I keep doing this :(

Any advice? How do get over the end of the week blues?

Special K = Success

I realize I'm only on Day 2, but I had to say, I thought I would be STARVING attempting the Special K diet along with my workout routine. . . . but I am pleasantly surprised!  Day 2 and both days I have felt completely satisfied.

Basic Diet:

Breakfast - Special K bar (sadly I don't usually even have time to eat a bowl of cereal in our hectic mornings)
Lunch - Protein Shake (I LOVEE the vanilla Special K protein shakes!  & I've tried many)
Dinner - is where you can mix it up, I've been having fun trying a bunch of new healthy recipes!

Day - 1 (again)

Went really well!  Felt great to be back, even with Jillian making me work to death :)

Also, a classic favorite of mine for dinner tonight, Chili:

Only 1.5g of Fat per serving with a whopping 15g of Protein! Delicious! (I add a little canned corn, bell peppers, and salsa to spice it up a bit)

Horrible week . . . great ending!

Well, after a horrible week: strep throat at our house; both boys and myself! Then celebrating J-bug's 3rd birthday, we will be starting my workout challenge again on Monday!  This time to stick in out for the full 4-weeks!

Day 1 & 2

Workout day 1 went great!  I did Jillian's 30-day shred and pilates that night in the same day.
Today (day 2) not so good:
Both S-man and I have strep.  Yuck, horrible timing.  Not what I planned.  Had to stay home from work and take care of a sick boy all while I felt terrible as well.  Anyway, got on an antibiotic and hopefully by tomorrow or Thursday at the very latest we'll be back on track. . .

The vegetarian's protein dinner:

I so wish I would have taken a picture because it was DELICIOUS! Being vegetarian, trying to do a high protein diet always takes a little creativity.  Just so you know, on a regular basis I'm never really concerned about getting enough protein, but doing a HIGH protein diet can be a bit more challenging.  Tonight's menu:

Steamed broccoli
Baked Tofu (marinated in balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic)
Walnut Penne Pasta (whole wheat pasta, with sauteed onions, peppers, and walnuts in the sauce)

And let me tell you, (for all those rolling their eyes at tofu) my 2-year-old and 4-year-old LOVED the tofu, they gobbled it up!  Brand new recipe, and the pasta was amazing as well!

Based on my totals from CalorieKing: 35 grams of protein!

Not my pic's, but thanks to Google you can have a visual:

New Workout & Diet! ~via Jillian

So freakin' excited to start a new diet/workout routine starting tomorrow.  I've been in a horrible funk since the end of race season and all the holiday treats and junk!  It's really made me down right depressed!  So I'm getting my groove back on starting in the morning!!

This regime was inspired by Jillian Michael's book "Making the Cut"

Now, I have to be honest, I haven't actually read the book. . . I've just read up on a ton of reviews and friends comments, and my conclusion is that I can't do the diet.  (inspired also from my friend Stef at Run-On; check her out!)  She has you surviving on your BMR, (mine is just about 1,200 calories), and I'm sorry . . . I cannot teach high schoolers, work-out like crazy, and look after my two wild boys on only that many calories.  But she also has a quiz in the book and based of your score on the quiz tells you what type of balanced diet you should have, and I do agree with her that I need more protein (being vegetarian tends to do that to you).  So all-in-all this is what I've decided to do for my own personal 4 week challenge of "Making the Cut":

The Workout:

I'm going to combine Jillian's own circuit training from her 30-day shred, with Winsor Pilates.

If you aren't familiar with Winsor Pilates, it's a favorite of mine.  It's not high in cardio, but great for toning and focuses on your core and lengthening muscles. I'm going to want to do both things each day, but my focus for WEEK 1 will be as follows:

Monday: Jillian
Tuesday:  Pilates (whole body)
Wednesday: Jillian
Thursday: Pilates (abs)
Friday: Jillian
Saturday: Pilates (buns & thighs)
Sunday: Rest

I'm going to through in the occasional run if I can get my butt out of bed at 5:30am!! and I've hired my husband as my personal trainer so he might be throwing in a few more workouts in the evenings . . . I'll keep you posted as we go!

The Diet:

I'm using a program that I bought called CalorieKing, to track my food & exercise.  I'm going to try and stick to about a 1,500 calorie diet high in protein and low in carbs.  Also, I'm eliminating as much as possible all sugar!  I'm kicking off this 4-week challenge with the Special K diet for the first two weeks.  I'll keep you updated on meals as I figure them out!

I was diagnosed with Graves Disease two years ago, it's an overactive thyroid.  As a result of that I underwent a small dose of radiation to kill my thyroid gland completely and now will be on replacement meds the rest of my life.  Because of that, I have had a really hard time losing weight (among other issues). So to help jump start this program I'm going to try two supplements that were recommended to me.  The first is by Twinlab called "CLA FUEL".  It's conjugated linoleic acid to help maximize lean muscle mass.  And then I'll be also taking a B-12/B-6 vitamin to help boost metabolism.

Wish me luck!  Up next, starting measurements . . .

Race Day!

It was freezing Saturday morning, but my race went great!  My goal had been 35 min and here's my totals:

So yes, I was quite pleased with my results.  I know it's nothing incredible, but its definitely an improvement and accomplishment for me!  I felt great after the run.  So right now, weather permitting, I am planning on running the Turkey Tri in two weeks!

S-man & J-bug also ran a kids half-mile race.  They had a blast!

One of my best friends and her family came and raced as well.  As did my hubby!  He raced in the "cupcake" division.  You had to be just a little insane to do that.  He ran half the race, ate as many cupcakes as he could, then finish the race.  Every cupcake you ate was a two minute time deduction!  He managed to down 8 cupcakes!  It was a really fun day!

Today's Workout

Run:
1.8 miles 26:07 min

Horrible run today . . . between a bug flying in my mouth and another one 5 min later flying in my eye, my shoe coming untied, and a horrible side stitch . . . . hopefully race day will go much more smoothly!

Bike:
8.8 miles 39:29 min

Today's Workout

Always feel's like an INTENSE workout when I let Jillian kick my butt!  & 20min is all it takes, which is great when you're crazy busy like me. . .

I've got a choir concert and the high school that I'm helping out with tonight, so this is probably all the time I've got for my workout today.  Race in 6 days!

I've also started my own version of the Special K diet.  I really like their meal-replacer shakes, so I'm using those and a few of their other products.  My goal is to be down 8-10 pounds by Thanksgiving!

Pre-Race Run

Well in a week I'll be done with my 5k.  I'm still trying to decide if I should do the Triathlon that I wanted on November 5, the following week.  So I'm going to use my race next week to help me decide (and the weather of course . . . there is no way I'm biking and running if there is snow and ice on the ground).  I really wish running wasn't so hard for me.  It is my LEAST favorite workout and it is just hard for me.

I ran a full 5k today to pace myself and train.  It took me 35:33 with an average pace of 11:45/mile.  So my goal for next week is to complete the race in under 35 minutes.

Wish me luck!

Past Run's

I'd been so out of shape I hadn't even wanted to post these . . . but wanting to follow my improvement and new goals here are my past few runs:

Oct 10, 1.48 miles, 22:14
Oct 4 (GPS not working)
Oct 1, 1.84 miles 22:27
Sept 26, 1.94 miles, 24:13

I can't believe I'm running a 5K in a week and a half . . . I am NOWHERE near ready! But hopefully a major motivator!

Today's Workout:

Jillian's 30-day-shred Level 1

and

Biked on my old bike pulling the boys!

2.5 miles 18:32

Lacking Motivation

I don't know what the deal is, but I just lack the motivation to work out.  I love technology and there are so many fun ideas, blogs, social networks, television, that I feel like all my free time is sucked into screen time and I hate it! But I don't know how to break the habit.  Anyway, I found THIS site today that gave me some great ideas.

Exercise Motivation Secrets:

1) Find your "why"
My "why" is that I want to feel better about myself and the way I look
I want to be happier
I want to be healthier
I want to set a good example for my kids
2) Make a commitment 
"a commitment is the ability to carry out a worthy decision, even when the excitement of making that decision has passed."
3) Set daily, measurable, & realistic goals
I feel like I've done that . . . .
4) Keep track of your progress
5) Give objective feedback
6) Avoid the "all or nothing" mentality
This is my worst problem. . . I get SO down and hard on myself when I miss a workout that I've planned on . . . don't give up, just move on and start again immediately.
7) Be accountable
If you have a friend or a personal trainer or something to keep you accountable for your workouts you are more likely to keep working out and training. . . . again this is a huge problem for me. . . but something I'm trying to do with this blog.

Morning Workout's Rock! (please note the sarcasm)

6:30am . . . and I'm home from the track with my run already finished for today!  I am NOT a morning person:

But with it getting later in the year and dark so early in the evenings, my run just wasn't happening.  So I've made the goal (it only has to happen twice a week) to get out of bed and go run BEFORE work.

Day 1:

Feels great that my workout is already done. . . I underestimated the time it would take to get out of bed and get ready, and now am running late for work.

And found out that my GPS will NOT work on the indoor track.  My app told me I had run 7miles at a pace of 2minutes/mile.  Yeah Right!  But I did my interval training:  Run for 5 min; walk for 3 (repeat 3 times)

Swimming today!

Headed swimming today!  Went running last night and man was I SLOW . . . . better get moving before my 5k next month.

Week's Workouts

Monday: Run
Tuesday: Swim
Wednesday: Run
Thursday: Bike
Friday: Run
Saturday: Run

I'm hitting the running side hard this week since it's my least favorite, my weakest, and I've got a 5K coming up :P  Here goes nothing!

Technology failure . . .

So, went on the bike ride as planned on Thursday.  Turned on my AllSports GPS app on my phone, put it in the bike trailer and took off.  I got back home and went to check my milage and time and realized my phone had never started tracking.  It said I did a workout for 00:01 seconds. . . awesome!

I'm guessing we went about 4 miles.  And man-oh-man has my new bike already spoiled me.  Pulling S-man & J-bug on that old mountain bike about killed me. . . but it was too nice of a day to miss out on our daylight time.  & I figured short grueling rides should still be good cross-training right?  I figured between the two boys, plus the bike trailer, I'm pulling about 80 lbs, on a horrible bike.  But it was still a fun day, although I didn't go running that night.

New week here I come!

Today's Workout

Windsor Pilates . . . check .

Planned: bike ride this afternoon, then running tonight :D

Happy Thursday

Awesome Bike

Today's work-out:

Windsor Pilates, then a bike ride with the hubby pulling S-man & J-bug.  It was a blast, but we were really going at a cruising pace.  The hubs definitely got more of a workout pulling the boys on our cruddy old bike.  My new bike is SWEET!  It is so much fun to ride and feels great.  It took me a little bit to get used to the road bike positioning of everything but I am really loving it!

These pic's are courtesy of my 4-year-old who I didn't know had stolen my phone and taken some pics of me. lol, this was right after we got the bike put together and I took it for a little test drive.

Next Race

Got to keep motivated right?  It's a 5k to help me train and get ready for a Sprint Triathlon.  It sounds like a blast!

5K Cake Walk & Run

October 22 here I come!

New Bike

Thanks to an amazing/supportive husband, after reviewing my race we decided that if I'm really going to get into this that my 10-year-old broken down mountain bike just wasn't going to cut it.  So he just let me order this Triathlon bike today:

I can't wait to go try it out!

Finished first Race!

Well I didn't do so well at posting workouts everyday, but I did complete my first triathlon last Saturday! And it was so much fun! I've definitely got the bug!

It was a Beginner Triathlon: 300 meter Swim; 6 mile Bike; 2.4 mile Run

I finished in 1:09:45 My goal had been in under 1:15:00 so I was very excited!

My splits were:

Swim: 8:28

Bike: 30:47

Run: 26:06

I also need to improve my swim->bike transition, for some reason I lost almost 4min on that switch. But overall I'm very happy with my results!

Workout Plan:

Today's plan:

To swim 100 meters more than the race distance and then run a mile.  I'll let you know how it goes!

Today's Workout: Day 1

6:00am:  Day 1 of 5-Day-Abs

Have you seen this workout series?  It's hilarious.  End of story.  Totally 80's in leotards and leg warmers . . . But it works!

1:00 pm:  Level 1 - Jillian Michael's - 30 Day Shred

Again another favorite of mine.  It involves circuit training and is a great workout to do from home.

9:00 pm: Run

Distance: 1.09 mi

Time:  12:01

So I realize I'm still slow and out of shape, but even if I could just complete this race it would be a huge accomplishment for me!  So here goes nothing!

I suck at following through. . . . .

I really need a personal trainer or something.  I psych myself out of things or come up with way too many excuses.  Does anyone else ever have that problem?  Anyway, I started freaking out that the Turkey Triathlon would be freezing! Because it's the middle of November and there might even be snow on the ground and the swimming section is last and all that blah, blah, blah.

So again, new goal:

There is a mini-triathlon coming up in two weeks.  It's half the distance of a Sprint Triathlon and I felt like that maybe that would be a good pacer and motivator.  I agree, I'm insane.  I'm no where near ready for it.  But I have kicked my training into high gear for this week and we will just see where it lands me.

Wish me luck!

Bike Haul

So I went biking with S-man and J-bug in tow in the bike trailer.  That's got to count for a double workout or something, because I figured I'm hauling an extra 65-70 pounds between the two of them, plus the weight of the trailer.  So when it comes to race time biking by myself should be a piece of cake, right?

Plus, I've got S-man back there as my trainer telling me, "pedal faster mom . . . I want to go fast . . . are you going slow because we are too big for you?"  Gotta love 4-year-olds!

Today's Workout: First Run

This shows you how far I have to go, it really will be a miracle if I complete this race, but here we go:

1.41 miles  --  21:14 min

Lesson of the day: I've got to get going much earlier in the morning because it is HOT HOT HOT!

Readjust and New Goal

Alright . . . so a few things interrupted my planned training schedule and race:

Like an incredible summer getting married, going to Florida, & going to Hawaii.  But now that our crazy adventures are done I'm ready to hit the training schedule hard again!

The new race is the Turkey Triathlon.  It's on November 10 this year, and I'm back on track to hit the ground running!

MIA - on Vacation :)

I guess I'm getting in some swim practice :)

Technology is Awesome!

Can I just say I think it is amazing how far technology has come and how fast we are getting more and more things available all the time.  Even a couple years ago a GPS cost a couple hundred bucks.  Now on my phone, I found a free app that I love!  It's a GPS that has specific kinds of sports, it tracks your route, your time, and calculates your average speed.  It's called AllSport GPS for any of you interested :D  And it will become my new best friend as I train!

Rain, Rain, & Rain

We have had more rain in the last two weeks than I remember EVER in May.  So there was a small break in the clouds and we hopped on the bike.  Too bad that at a mile out it started pouring on us again. Luckily J-bug & S-man were nice and dry in their trailer . . . it was just mom getting soaked!

 Me, not so happy getting rained out of my ride . . . 

Here's the culprit cloud :)

Total workout today:

Bike: 28 min; 3.1 miles

Yesterday's workout:

Run: 17 min; 1.38 miles

The Goal? LOL

I'll keep dreaming . . . after two kids, there are just some things that don't change :)

New Goal

One thing that has always been on my bucket list is to complete a triathlon.  So this is it!  The time is now!  I have decided to train and enter the Yuba, September 10, Triathlon Sprint!

What made me decide to attempt this crazy thing it that I have gone through a big phase of different workouts.  Basically I'm really unhappy with the shape I'm in and how I look, and my work-out regime never sticks.  I get really bored with the same thing over and over.  I used to run track in high school.  I was never amazing, but I had fun.  Then out of the blue last night I decided to go running, (well a slow jog is much more like it).  And it about killed me, but I actually enjoyed it.  And I started thinking (scary idea I know).  Now just running as a work out would never stick with me; it would be the same old story just like Jillian Michael's 30-day-shred.  It lasts about 10-15 days and then I get busy or bored.  But a Triathlon. . . . Running, Biking, & Swimming.  Mix it up everyday, get in shape, and compete!

I started doing some research and found this amazing website: BeginnerTriathlete.com it has free training schedules for whatever you are looking for.

So this is it.  I have picked my training schedule.  This blog will be a journal of sorts to document my training and keep me motivated.

I am a high school math teacher and this is the last week of school, so I am starting just a few work outs of my own.  Right after school gets out I am heading to Florida on vacation, but the day I get back, serious training begins!  So June 9 better watch out, because this girl is ready to kick some serious triathlon butt!