Week in review - Shamrockin'

As you may recall, last week I said that I was going to post my workout plans here in the hopes that it would motivate me to be more accountable to my workout plan.  Let's see how I did...

Workouts Planned/Actual:
Monday:  Bob Harper's cardio workout, then Ab-Ripper X./Bob Harper's Cardio - no Ab Ripper
Tuesday:  2 or 3 mile run (depends on foot) - Jillian Michaels Killer Buns and Thighs/3 mi run/JM DVD
Wednesday:  1 hour pool running/nothing
Thursday:  Jillian Michaels Banish Fat/Boost Metabalism/Kenpo X
Friday: 2 or 3 mile run - Zuzuka light you tube workout/3.25 mile run
Saturday:  Firm Power Yoga/nothing
Sunday: 4 mile run (hopefully if foot is holding up well)/Shamrock run - 5k and 1k

So this week was ok.  My running was pretty good, I increased my mileage a little bit from last week, and my foot held up well, so that's encouraging.  My daughter was sick all week, so my routine was thrown completely off and accounts for Wednesday's unplanned rest day.  Thursday I felt like punching and kicking (working out some aggression I guess?) so I did Kenpo X instead of the Jillian Michael's workout.  I have no excuse for Saturday.

Going forward - plan for this week:

Monday:  Bob Harper Cardio
Tuesday:  3 mile run/JM Killer buns and thighs
Wednesday:  Jillian Michaels Banish Fat/Boost Metabolism
Thursday:  1 hour pool running
Friday:  3 mile run/20 min Pilates workout
Saturday:  Firm Power Yoga and Zuzka Light workout
Sunday:  4 mile run

We'll see how that goes! 

This weekend we did the Shamrock run as a family.  My husband ran the 8k and I ran the 5k with my son and the 1k "Leprachaun Lap" with my daughter.  It was a fun morning, although brrrr freezing!  I love the Shamrock run because it's such a big Portland event.  The weather is usually guaranteed to be crappy - yesterday it was cold/wet and a few snow flakes thrown in - yet the event draws 30 thousand people.  I just love that.

We were running late to get to the race, so I had to drop my husband off to make his start time while I found parking - which means no pix of all of us at the race.  My sweet sister met me to help out with the kids while I ran each race.  Here's a few pix of the morning...

My daughter's run was first - she had a 1k run, and she was NOT into it.

Don't let the smile fool you - she didn't want to run...

I don't know if she's still not 100% from being sick all week, or if she just didn't feel like running - but she was not into this at all.  I ended up carrying her for most of it.  I did make her run across the finish though! 

Next was my son's race - the 5k.  We lined up with about a bajillion other people and waited....and waited....and waited....

Finally we were off and he did so great!  We only stopped to walk twice (and only for a few minutes each time) and once to get water.  It was so fun to run with him.  I think he loved it too- although he was pretty tired afterwards!

After everyone was done (my hubby finished his 8k while my son and I were starting the 5k) - we drove to a restaurant for a nice big breakfast.  We met my running buddy Michelle there with her family -  Michelle ran the 15k, which is one of my favorite races, and her kids and husband did the 5k. 



Shamrock kids, in front of the beer sign...nice...

And here's the whole gang...

All in all it was a great morning based on running and family, which will always make me happy.  I wish I could have run the 15k, but next year I will be back to rock it for sure! 

Happy Monday!

Friday Five

It's Friday - so happy!  This week has been LOOONG with one sick kiddo, one sick hubby and one kiddo celebrating a birthday -super busy trying to keep everyone happy!  Here's the Friday five...

1)  This weekend is the Shamrock run.  I'm doing the 5k with my son, and the Leprechaun lap with my daughter (.5 mi).  It will be fun, and I'm thinking it will be more of a run/walk.  My running buddy is doing the 15k and I'm super jealous - it's one of my favorite races - but with my current long run being 3.5 miles, I'm a little short in training for the 9+ mile course...

The shirts are cute:


excuse my crappy photography....

 Adults get long sleeved tech shirts, and the kids get cotton t's.  My son loves having shirts to wear advertising his races, so he's happy to have a new one!

2)  My foot has been feeling good - last week I did my longest run in a while of 3.5 miles, and it held up well.  On Tuesday I ran on snowy/slushy roads, and I don't think that run did my foot any favors.  It was difficult to get traction, and I was sliding all over.  My foot was a little sore on Wednesday, but icing a lot and rolling on my trusty golf ball seems to have calmed it down.  I ran 3 this morning and it feels good.  Fingers crossed that things keep progressing!

3) I did another new workout DVD on Monday, and I think I was sore until Thursday because of it!

This "inside out method" is a set of 3 DVD's - weights, cardio and yoga - each 1 hour long.  To this point I had only done the weights and yoga - both of which are challenging.  When I think cardio, I think running/jumping/aerobic movement but no weights.  Well this DVD does running/jumping and so many squats WITH weights!  It was a great workout -my heart rate was definitely elevated - and I felt it for the entire week afterwards.  I would highly recommend these DVD's for a butt kicking workout!

4)  No new recipes this week - everything seems to come to a grinding halt when you have a sick kid, including grocery shopping and cooking.  Lots of cuddling on the couch and lounging around.  I'm very grateful to have such an understanding boss (aka Mom) who lets me work from home when I need to.

5)  The Biggest Loser.  Emily got sent home and I was sad - she was one of my favorites.  She really has some severe self esteem issues that I think she's going to have to work hard to overcome.  I'm bummed because they are picking off all the people I actually like, and I'm not enjoying the people who are left.

oh, and Emily can sing  - who knew?!  

Here's an interesting article from someone who spent a week at one of the Biggest Loser Resorts - it's interesting.  Sounds very hard core to me - but if weight loss is the goal it sounds like it is pretty effective. Although I think it's kind of scary they don't have a doctor on campus.  I love the idea of a "fitness" vacation - but I'd like to do one where you exercise during the day, get healthy meals, but also get to relax with a glass of wine or beer at night - who's with me?

Hope you all have a great weekend!  Head on over to Fitness, Health and Happiness for Friday Fitness!

Thankful Thursday

Who has two thumbs and is totally awesome?

...this guy!  Or, I should say this EIGHT year old guy.  Big Birthday yesterday. 

Can't believe how fast these 8 years have gone!  So quickly he went from this...



happy baby!

 to this...

So this Thursday I'm so thankful for my amazing son.  I'm thankful he loves to laugh, run, read and learn.  He's probably one of the funniest people I know, and he makes me laugh every day.  I'm grateful for all he is and I can't wait to see all that he'll become.  HAPPY 8th BIRTHDAY OWEN!

Week in Review - looking for a little motivation!

GAH!  I'm still feeling so unmotivated!  What is my problem?  Usually these things pass quickly, but the longer and longer I'm dealing with my foot, the less I seem to want to do anything!  But - I'm not wearing this injury well - my jeans are tight (I don't own a scale, so this is my super scientific way of knowing if I've gained weight or not) - when I see myself in spandex I notice a few little lumps and rolls that didn't used to be there.  I'm so disappointed in myself that I'm in this spot.  But...only thing to do is to get moving, right?

So, to enforce a little accountability, I'm going to start listing my previous week's workouts and then also list my goals for going forward.  The shame of having to write down that I did nothing will hopefully get my booty in gear!

So here's my last week in review (Monday through Sunday):

Monday:  Spin class followed by Bodypump class
Tuesday: 2 mile slushy run in the rain/snow
Wednesday: Nothing (boo!)
Thursday:  Jillian Michaels "Banish Fat, Boost your Metabalism" DVD
Friday:  3 mile run
Saturday:  Nothing (boo!)
Sunday:  3.5 mile run

So - nothing spectacular.  The best day of the week was Monday with 2 solid hours of working out.  The runs are short, but I'm hopeful that going forward I can keep adding some mileage on.  I need to incorporate more weights and would also like to do yoga once a week.  On the days when I do short runs I should come home and do another short workout to increase the benefits on those days.  So that's my goal for this week.

Plan for this week:

Monday:  Normally I would do Spin/Bodypump again - but my daughter is sick with a fever/cough, so I couldn't take her to the gym daycare.  I'm going to do Bob Harper's cardio workout and then Ab-Ripper X.
Tuesday:  2 or 3 mile run (depends on foot) - Jillian Michaels Killer Buns and Thighs
Wednesday:  1 hour pool running
Thursday:  Jillian Michaels Banish Fat/Boost Metabalism
Friday: 2 or 3 mile run - Zuzuka light you tube workout
Saturday:  Firm Power Yoga
Sunday: 4 mile run (hopefully if foot is holding up well).

So that's the plan.  I will report next Monday to see how I follow through.  Please please keep your fingers crossed that no one else in this family gets sick - my son is turning 8 this week and I hope he/we are all healthy!

And just to get myself (and maybe you) motivated - here's some quotes from my favorite lady, Jillian...

Happy Monday!

Five for Friday

Once again, only one post this week - someday I will get better at posting more often!  Here's my Friday five...

1)  I love my dad.  We were talking about why people run, and I said something along the lines of "obviously I don't run because I'm going to become an elite runner or anything..." and my dad says "well, I think you're an elite runner...".  Hee!  Gotta love parents!   Then I came home and saw this article, saying that Ryan Hall is suffering from Plantar Fasciitis...JUST LIKE ME!  

Clearly my dad was right...I'm totally the same as the elites...

2)  Speaking of PF - my foot is feeling good!  Well, not 100% by any means, but I'm feeling ok about things.  I've run twice this week, and I also did this workout:

This is a cardio workout with LOTS of jumping and plyometrics, and I did the entire thing without feeling my foot!  So, once again, I'm cautiously optimistic that things are coming along.

3)  I have never made homemade pizza dough before, but I made some the other night and it was SOOO good.  My husband even said that this was the way we should eat pizza all the time because it wasn't greasy.  Kids loved it, we loved it - big win all around.  It was so easy AND it was whole wheat crust, so even kinda healthy! 

This is not the pizza I made, but my crust DID look like this!

I got the recipe from the website 100 days of Real Food (here) which is an awesome site and has some great recipes on it.  I don't think we'll ever be truly 100% off processed food, but I'm making small changes every week to get us closer.

4) Love Joan Benoit - saw this on the Runner's World FB page and had to repost:

5) Biggest Loser. Does Chris remind anyone else of that Debbie Downer character from Saturday Night Live?

Seriously, girl needs to smile more...

So they switched trainers, alliances formed, everyone had bad weight loss, Cassandra sent home...blah blah blah...here's the real reason to watch the show....

yes, Dolvett in tights.....drool....

Happy Friday - have a great weekend!

Head on over to Fitness, Health and Happiness for Fitness Friday!

Five for Friday

Yippee - it's Friday!

1)  I got asked to join another relay team!   

I've run Hood to Coast several times, but I've only done a handful of other relays.  I'm so excited to do this - my friends ran it last year and said it was awesome. 

2)  I went to the Podiatrist on Tuesday.   We looked at my orthotics and think maybe they are giving me too much support.  When I first went and he gave me temporary supports my foot felt great, but my foot started hurting again with these custom made orthotics.  He popped off the heel support on them, and they feel much better.  Hopefully this will get me back on track.  Since I've signed up for two relays now I better actually start being able to run!  I ran this morning and my foot felt good. 

3)  My mom's 70th birthday party that we threw last weekend was a big hit.  We wanted to give her a personal gift, so my sister painted this awesome picture of my parent's house that we had framed.  I don't have a photo of it framed, but here is the print -

Isn't that awesome?  It looked really nice framed and my mom loved it.  My little sis is so ridiculously talented and amazing.

4)  I've been doing some strength work lately to try to get back into fighting shape...and also because my jeans are starting to get tight (hate that!)  It's really crazy how much weaker my left leg (the one with the injured foot) is than my right is.  I am CLEARLY compensating for my injury on my other side....which is probably why my hammy/glute on that side is consistantly sore.  Sigh...it just never ends.  So, upping the attention on my weak side to get things evened out.

5)  The Biggest Loser...

It was nice that the contestants were off the ranch and away from each other because we didn't have to deal with Conda and her bitchiness with the other contestants.  In the end, I did feel bad for Chism for two reasons: 1) he has to live with the name Chism (seriously - is that even a name?), and 2) he was clearly heartbroken about going home (missed his goal by just 1 pound!).  But I do think he acted pretty mature about the whole thing.  I wish Conda wouldn't have made her goal and she had been shipped out, but hopefully that day is coming soon. 

Next week it looks like the teams switch trainers again and everyone is freaking out - so I'm sure more drama is in store.  Bob will probably be thrilled because he's losing Conda after only having to deal with her for two weeks, and Dolvett is probably cursing the powers that be. I really can't stand Conda...I'm just reiterating that in case I hadn't made that abundantly clear already...

Have a great weekend!  Head on over to Fitness, Health and Happiness for Fitness Friday!

New to You Cross Training Challenge - February

As with everything lately, I feel like I'm just getting stuff done in the nick of time - luckily for me there's an extra day in February this year so I can squeeze this post in today!    I had some really grand plans for cross training this month, but they didn't really pan out.  So, my February submission will be an at home workout that has been collecting dust on my shelf for far too long...

We've had P90X in our house for over a year.  Up until this month I have only done the X stretch, Core Synergistics and Ab Ripper X workouts.  Last week I tried out Kenpo X, Cardio X and Shoulders and Arms.   Since I can count any of these for my February workout, I'm going to talk about Kenpo X because it's the one I liked the most.

This is what the manual has to say about Kenpo X:
The word Kenpo means "law of the fist," and that's exactly what you'll be throwing during this cardio-intense workout.  That and a whole bunch of kicks, elbows, knees and forearms.  You'll learn a highly effective way to defend yourself, while at the same time getting one heck of a total-body, super-cardio workout.

Here are my thoughts after doing this workout for the first time:

The Good:

• The warmup and cool down.  P90X really emphasizes proper warm up and cool down.  In a 58 minute workout the first 11 minutes are spent warming up/stretching.  I also like that a lot of yoga moves are incorporated into the warm up.
• The workout is fun - who doesn't love kicking/punching/getting your aggression out?
• The instruction is great - most moves are explained well, easy to follow (even for someone like me who gets her rights and lefts confused!)  One good tip he gave was to not  "bang your joints" - meaning to kick, but don't hyperextend your legs during the kicks.  In other kickboxing classes I've done I definitely have a tendency to do this on my back kicks and it makes them painful, so I was grateful for the reminder.
• There are 5 rounds in this workout with water breaks in between.  I used the water break time to do more kicks and punches and kept moving - but if you need breaks they are there.
• Great core workout - all the kicks really force you to use your core to keep proper form.  It's something you have to concentrate on, but I was feeling it in my sides for sure.

The Bad:

• The warmup.  Ok, I know I said the warmup was a good thing - and I do appreciate that this (and all the P90X workouts I've done) emphasizes proper warmup - but I think 11 minutes is pretty long.  I was anticipating the workout to be an hour of cardio - but with the warmup (and cool down) it's only about 45 minutes.
• The intensity.  I was just expecting this workout to be harder.  I'm sure if I was doing P90X the way it is intended to be used (6 different workouts a week for 90 days) then I'm sure it would be more than sufficient - but as a stand alone cardio workout, it wasn't as intense as I had hoped.

So that's my February Cross Training Challenge!  Thanks again to Kim for hosting the challenge and getting me to try new things.  Hopefully next month I'll have something a little more exciting to report!