An arm workout with a little Plyo X

So, today we were blessed with the mother of all gifts, not only 16" of snow, but a SNOW DAY! It was amazing. We snuggled in and waited until the snow stopped this afternoon to start digging out. Having not made that investment in a snow blower yet (ughhhh), both of us grabbed our shovels and headed out. Or at least attempted to. We were stopped at our front door, by this:


So we shoveled out our walk, and started on the driveway, when our neighbor uttered the most magical of words, "Would you guys like to borrow our snow blower?" The sky opened, rays of sunshine rained down, the birds were singing, in short, our neighbor should be knighted or sainted or whatever for sharing it with us. Life. Saver. So Rex took on the machine and I kept shoveling away. About an hour and a half later, we were dug out. Talk about an arm workout. Here are a few more pics that don't even do it justice, seriously awe inspiring. I feel like a little kid given the best Christmas gift ever.

The Front Walk


Buried Car


Some Handsome Guy Who Stopped to Shovel ;)


More Snow




So then, since I've made this commitment to P90X, I went ahead with my Plyometrics workout for the night. I was really dragging by the end, but it was so worth it. I feel great. Now if only they'd give me another snow day tomorrow...

Week One

It's almost in the books, just have to finish Kenpo X tonight and I'll have completed my first week. All in all, I think it went great. Have I been sore? Oh yeah. Have I been able to do all of the exercises? Definitely not. Have I pushed through and given it my all? Yep. Do I hate doing ab work? Most definitely.

What I really like about this program is that I don't have to think up the workouts. I like just having to follow along and not plan it out before I get started. My elliptical and weight routines that I'd cobbled together were getting a bit dull and it's nice to have a new set of things to work on. A set that forces me to workout the muscles I don't always love to work on, because let's be honest, if someone isn't telling me I have to do these lunges and squats, and work my abs, I'm most likely to skip 'em.

Hopping on the elliptical and rocking out to my tunes? Love it. Working my arms? Love it. Forcing myself to do leg work? Not so good at making myself do it. Working out my abs? Pretty much non-existent. When I first started working out with Erin two years ago I really, really didn't like working on my arms. I'd much prefer to work my legs because they were the stronger of the two. But as time has gone on, I'd much rather kill my arms than focus on doing any leg workouts besides running, ellipticaling or cross country skiing. This program is making me work them again outside of what I've been used to, and I love it. Sure I'm sore, but it's a good sore. The same is going for my abs. They've long been my weak point in my workouts. They were my least favorite thing to work when I'd train with Erin, and the same holds true when Tony is kicking my booty. I feel like I'm just flopping around attempting to do all the crazy ab moves he wants me to do, but I'm not as sore after each time now. So I've got to think that I'm making at least a bit of progress. And who knows, maybe in time I'll love working them too? For now I'm just going to enjoy the ride, feel the burn, and hang in there for another week.

Let's get it started Tony Horton!

So. I took my "before" pictures today, or more accurately, I conned Rex into taking them. Let me tell you guys, seeing bathing suit pics in the dead of winter that aren't looking so hot, not awesome. However my photographer was more than willing to take them and compliment me, which never gets old, so it wasn't all out terrible. I'm debating if I'm going to post them or not. I know most of you have seen me in a bathing suit at some point in my life, but I'm not sure if I want to post them for the whole world to see if they stumble across this little blog of mine. We'll see what the 30 day pics look like and maybe they'll go up then.

You may be wondering what I'm "starting" or those of you with some detective skills may have figured out that it's P90X. I figure by putting it out there, hopefully, it'll make me a little more accountable for myself. My program will be a little offset with the addition of our dodgeball league in the mix, therefore my "rest" day won't be the same each week. And if I feel like taking a day to go cross country skiing or another athletic activity, I'm going to go for it, and just pick back up the next day. I need that flexibility.

My lovely little journey was supposed to start last week, before it got sidelined by a major cold bug (thanks kiddos at school!). So, in respect to that, if there comes a day/week where I feel something coming on, I will take the rest I need, and repeat a week if I have to. Again, flexibility is key. I hope it'll give me the same results, but I guess I won't know until I try. So, here's to a healthy, hardworking 90 days. I can't wait to see where it takes me! :)

Training Runs aka People Watching

Tonight my friend and I went on our weekly 'run' through the park, only instead of going in the AM as usual, we went after work. Both of us punked out on getting up early and making it out there this morning. Go figure. :) Boy am I glad we waited. As follows is a short list of event that happened while dragging booty through 4 miles...

1) Almost got hit by a disc from some guys disc golfing, since we were both rocking out to iPods the "Fore!" they yelled was not heard until it was almost too late
2) Were tortured by the awesome smells of grilling, because everyone and their brother decided it was a nice night to host bbq's in the park.
3) Speaking of 'bbqing,' stumbled across a group of teens smoking pot in the woods, I think I scared them off with my death-like, Darth Vader gasping as it was half way through my run
4) Swallowing a zillion bugs, and trying to spit them out just as fast
6) All the cute dogs being walked
7) And last, and perhaps the best, the group doing some 'Live Action Role Playing,' like in the film Role Models. Priceless.

As you've gathered half training is sort of in full gear ahead mode. I've made most of my long runs, tried to get in at least one other day of actual running in, and done some strength and elliptical-ing here and there. I might have to revise my finish time goal, because I'm learning that I'm definitely not fast, but consistent. As long as I don't have to walk like a granny for two days after this half, I'm going to consider it a success. :)

On the road again.

Hey everyone, so tonight marked my first official run as part of training. It was a 4 miler and I didn't die, I actually felt pretty decent until that last half mile, then I wanted to die. I dragged my friend Cristina along for the run, and she kicked booty. There's just something about having someone to run and commiserate with to make the time pass faster-I'm definitely a social runner. So with this next half "looming," (Ha!), okay so not really, I've started to think about any goals I want to achieve for this particular "timed run." So far I've only got two, but two are better than none, so here they are:

1) Finish my training plan-stick with it 'til race day. I'm sure this will help my recovery, and that way I won't feel like an invalid hobbling down stairs for the week following the run. It also might help me achieve goal numero dos..

2) Beat my last time. I'm actually hoping to shave about 10 minutes off. This may be a ridiculous and lofty goal, but I'm going for it. I want to come in at a solid 2:30 half, if I can go even faster, sweet! But I'm aiming for a 2:30. We'll see what happens...

A confession...The Nike Women's Half Marathon.

Well, I think it's about time to let the cat out of the bag...and once I say it, I can't take it back so here goes...

A couple months back, say early to mid April I got a call from my sister. She was excited, really excited. What could possibly have her so worked up I wondered? She went on to tell me about the most glorious half I could have dreamed up. The Setting? San Francisco. Awesome. Finisher Medals? Tiffany Necklaces. Who hands them out? Firefighters dressed in tuxedos! Swoon. Rumors of a "Chocolate Mile"-unconfirmed at this point, but given the rest of the awesomeness, I'm not discounting it yet. Possibilities for fun after running? Endless. Wine tasting, exploring the city, visiting family and friends, basically something I couldn't pass up. She had me convinced. I was in. I signed up the next day with her group. The draw backs? We most likely wouldn't get in. Traveling to San Francisco would be expensive. I'd have to run another half (ha ha ha). Let's take a look at these one by one...

Not getting in...apparently they have to do a drawing because the demand to race in it is so high. It's capped at 20,000 participants, and not everyone gets in. Knowing my luck when it comes to drawings/the lotto/ etc. I figured we wouldn't REALLY get in. Imagine my shock when I got the confirmation e-mail that indeed we were in...which brings up the next point...

Expensive travel...gotta love those reward credit cards. Though I don't have enough to pay for the full ticket, I've got enough points to take the price to the reasonable range. Plus, I wouldn't need a hotel-another major perk. Just the spending $ and the ability to get out west. Definitely do-able. Plus, this HAS to be my year to get a teaching job, right?

Lastly, running another half. Really, not too tragic. I figure the 10K I did in May is practically a half of a half, and I do have until October to ramp up the training again. True that only leaves me slacking until next month, but really nothing too terrible. Plus, that sense of accomplishment at the end is so powerful, it's addicting.

So yes readers, it's official. I'm doing it. I'm San Francisco bound in October to run with 20,000 other ladies and get a great workout and the ability to eat as many freakin' calories as I want for the day. Who can argue with something that great?

5/3rd Riverbank Run 10K

The weather forecast going into Saturday's race looked suspiciously like the weather for last weekend's run, but about 15 degrees chillier. I wasn't looking forward to it and was praying for a weatherperson mis-forecast with no luck. Friday was packet pick up, and the sunny skies that had been hanging around Thursday had changed into gloomy grey ones with smatterings of sprinkles. I picked up a trio of Bondi Bands at the expo, my favorite one read, "I love running, I hate running, I love running, I hate running" and decided that would be the one to wear Saturday morning. It pretty much sums up my affair with 'running,' it's definitely a love/hate relationship. :)

So we tried for the traditional "pasta" dinner, but our favorite Italian place was booked solid, so we ended up going Mexican and it worked out fine. Saturday morning dawned windy and chilly, but, it wasn't raining and for that I was thankful. Sure there was the occasional misting going on, but nothing to soak you to the core, it was actually pretty refreshing. The first mile as usual was the most difficult, something about getting moving and getting started and not seeing that first mile marker for what seems like forever is tough. The course was fairly flat (thank god!) but did have some hills near the end, which really weren't too horrible. I hit the half way point and kept thinking how the heck am I going to keep up this pace and go 3.1 more miles?!

Luckily, I had a running buddy. My friend Jenna conned me into signing up for the 10K instead of the 5K to run it with her. She definitely kept me moving and it was nice to have someone to chat with and pass the time. Eventually we turned that last corner and saw the best sight ever, "Finish Line!" Picked up the pace a teensy bit and crossed the line in 01:04:10! I was SO incredibly excited! The last "10K" that I have a time on was from the half which I kinda sorta actually trained for and that was a time of 01:16:13. Somehow I shaved 12 minutes off my time! I know there are so many people who are much faster than me, but for me, someone who generally does 11/12 minute miles for longer distances, it was a major accomplishment!

For now I don't have any more "races" on the schedule for the season, but I'm sure I'll pick up one here or there, maybe I can get back out and actually start running on a semi-regular basis again too...