Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Spartan Training
Well in true Anna style - I dove right in to working out....no need for gradual increments right?! Ugh...I thought it'd be "easier" to just go for it. And I thought if my cousins can do it - then heck, so can I! But I'm getting ahead of myself....let me start again.
My local athletic club has this training class you can join called "Spartan." Think crossfit meets interval training meets cardio -- ALL jam packed in to 30 minutes. And when I say jam packed - I mean it! Each section is 5 minutes long - one person does one exercise, while their counter parts do a different exercise. Once the "pacer" is done - they switch with one of their teammates. You rinse & repeat for the entire 5 minute section, then a whopping 30 second "break" while you rotate to the next section for another 5 minutes. Literally you go balls to the wall the entire time. This is all done while wearing a heart rate monitor - and then at the end of class everyone can see where each other were thru the class. The goal: to spend as much time in the "red zone."
Sounds manageable right? I mean heck...it's only 30 minutes! Yah, that's what I thought too! Until I got to burpees....
What's that?! Never done a burpee?! Man oh man are you MISSING out! (pardon me while I barf just thinking about burpees....) Hell...pure hell. Bless my sweet cousin & her husband who were my teammates last night. They didn't judge me one bit when I stopped moving entirely during a few of our sections. They didn't even get pissed when I couldn't kick of a section as the "pacer." So of course at the end of class our stats are posted....and shocker! I had the most time in the red zone. But let's not get fooled -- it's not because I'm awesome. It's merely because I'm that out of shape....hell, I was in the red zone during our warm up! Not a proud moment for me....
And today what I have to show for it are sore legs, a sore booty, and sore upper arms. My lovely cousin said she felt worse the 2nd day...so I'll let you know how I'm doing tomorrow.
But despite the near death experience (driving home immediately following class was not one of my brightest moments) & the soreness - I can honestly say I'm glad I went. I'm glad I went back to the gym, even if for only 35 minutes. I'm glad I put my fears of being the "fat, out of shape girl" (I honestly referred to myself as this to my best friend before class) out of my head. I'm glad I could come home & honestly say I did something intense for the day. But mostly it has me thinking of how I really do need to get on board with moving my body, getting healthy, watching portions, being active (in all areas of my life!), and participating in a balanced life! So this week - I'll finish my demo with Spartan training & decide if I can handle that brutality 3x/week - or if I find a different route to stay on track.
Have you found something that works for you? Does it push you to the very limit? Or have you found a happy medium?? Share your wisdom with me!
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Addicted or Just Flushing The System??
Don't worry -- this post won't and isn't as ominous as that title might imply. It's actually a statement Honey Isaac just made.
See, we're currently in San Diego for a good friend's wedding - and we're here for a long weekend. Initially we were going to just lay low in our hotel room, rest up, let Isaac get some quality snooze time to get better. But as soon as we woke up this morning, Isaac has been talking about all these different things we could do tomorrow with our full day of freedom.
And in walking back to our room we pass the standard hotel brochure bar -- with all the local and not so local attractions. Of course there's one in particular that naturally caught our eye. So now it's that struggle of being logical or giving in to spontaneity and just going.
Well given our last week's sponaneity - Isaac posed the question of whether we're getting all this spontaneity out of our system before we seriously start talking/trying for kids, or are we becoming addicted to the spontaneity & risking more than is necessary? I mean we don't have so many responsibilities that we're putting off, we don't have children at home that would be in want of necessities, our house & dog are currently already being taken care of. The question definitely made me stop to ponder -- selfishly I'd like to say we're just getting it out of our system (and let's just be honest, in that my type A personality doesn't do spontaneity very often or well, so it's kind of fun for me), but when I really look at it, the decision doesn't seem that "smart."
So what should we do? How do you balance this kind of struggle? Generally speaking, Honey Isaac & I are pretty freaking financially responsible & very rarely do things like this without having it completed backed up from the get go. So a part of me immaturely wants to say "Screw it! Let's go!" But I also don't want to put undue pressure/stress on him or our little family of 2. Throw your suggestions my way friends!!
Happy Saturday! We're off to our buddy's wedding today -- Samoan style! :)
See, we're currently in San Diego for a good friend's wedding - and we're here for a long weekend. Initially we were going to just lay low in our hotel room, rest up, let Isaac get some quality snooze time to get better. But as soon as we woke up this morning, Isaac has been talking about all these different things we could do tomorrow with our full day of freedom.
And in walking back to our room we pass the standard hotel brochure bar -- with all the local and not so local attractions. Of course there's one in particular that naturally caught our eye. So now it's that struggle of being logical or giving in to spontaneity and just going.
Well given our last week's sponaneity - Isaac posed the question of whether we're getting all this spontaneity out of our system before we seriously start talking/trying for kids, or are we becoming addicted to the spontaneity & risking more than is necessary? I mean we don't have so many responsibilities that we're putting off, we don't have children at home that would be in want of necessities, our house & dog are currently already being taken care of. The question definitely made me stop to ponder -- selfishly I'd like to say we're just getting it out of our system (and let's just be honest, in that my type A personality doesn't do spontaneity very often or well, so it's kind of fun for me), but when I really look at it, the decision doesn't seem that "smart."
So what should we do? How do you balance this kind of struggle? Generally speaking, Honey Isaac & I are pretty freaking financially responsible & very rarely do things like this without having it completed backed up from the get go. So a part of me immaturely wants to say "Screw it! Let's go!" But I also don't want to put undue pressure/stress on him or our little family of 2. Throw your suggestions my way friends!!
Happy Saturday! We're off to our buddy's wedding today -- Samoan style! :)
Monday, January 14, 2013
Jet Set
Welp this past weekend we took a little jet set trip to Hawaii...yup for a 24hour period. Crazy I know. But sometimes it's necessary to do those crazy things for your family.
Honey Isaac's family was having a small reunion, and his dad called like every day to see if we were free to come. So we made a decision to throw caution....and frankly, logic....to the wind and woke up at the butt crack of dawn on Saturday and made our way to the airport to take a 6 hour flight to Honolulu. Despite a salty gate agent (flying standby is a delicate endeavor let me tell you) we both made the flight no problem. Man I'll tell ya -- it was rough goings as the night got late, that 2 hour time difference was brutal. But all in all, it was awesome - it was nutty - it was good for Honey Isaac's soul. During 2012, we took a break from traveling to Hawaii...so I could tell how quickly it rejuvenated him. Good food, family, spending time with our nieces & one of our nephews, visiting his grandma, and mostly just soaking in good weather (it was a balmy 24 degrees when we left Portland).
It was so funny how the entire drive to the airport, Isaac kept saying "This is so stupid," "I can't believe we're doing this," "I can't believe we're only going for 1 day" etc. My response...SO WHAT?! We didn't have plans. We don't have kids to worry about. We were responsible and asked my little brother to watch our dog. And we had the money to pay for our tickets and snacks with no problem. It's totally necessary to do crazy things every once in a while. To do things that make no sense. To keep things interesting! Plus it's fun & important for me to show Isaac how much I love him and be flexible for things like this and spur of the moment trips to Denver to see his brother & his family.
So our little travel loving butts are headed off yet again this weekend for a wedding in San Diego. I seriously can not wait for this trip -- it'll be my very first Samoan wedding! So fun! Hopefully I'll have lots of fun stories to share when we get back!
Honey Isaac's family was having a small reunion, and his dad called like every day to see if we were free to come. So we made a decision to throw caution....and frankly, logic....to the wind and woke up at the butt crack of dawn on Saturday and made our way to the airport to take a 6 hour flight to Honolulu. Despite a salty gate agent (flying standby is a delicate endeavor let me tell you) we both made the flight no problem. Man I'll tell ya -- it was rough goings as the night got late, that 2 hour time difference was brutal. But all in all, it was awesome - it was nutty - it was good for Honey Isaac's soul. During 2012, we took a break from traveling to Hawaii...so I could tell how quickly it rejuvenated him. Good food, family, spending time with our nieces & one of our nephews, visiting his grandma, and mostly just soaking in good weather (it was a balmy 24 degrees when we left Portland).
It was so funny how the entire drive to the airport, Isaac kept saying "This is so stupid," "I can't believe we're doing this," "I can't believe we're only going for 1 day" etc. My response...SO WHAT?! We didn't have plans. We don't have kids to worry about. We were responsible and asked my little brother to watch our dog. And we had the money to pay for our tickets and snacks with no problem. It's totally necessary to do crazy things every once in a while. To do things that make no sense. To keep things interesting! Plus it's fun & important for me to show Isaac how much I love him and be flexible for things like this and spur of the moment trips to Denver to see his brother & his family.
So our little travel loving butts are headed off yet again this weekend for a wedding in San Diego. I seriously can not wait for this trip -- it'll be my very first Samoan wedding! So fun! Hopefully I'll have lots of fun stories to share when we get back!
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Back At It
Welp I'm back....though a BIG part of me would die to be back laying by the pool, getting drinks from Javier, and reading my Kindle like a crazy person!
I do have to say though, this has probably been the most smooth back to work from vacation transition to date! Major props to our partners for covering while my mom & I were gone. And let me just tell you -- being without a cell phone this vacation was HEAVEN! My mom strictly kept me to checking my emails once(maybe twice) daily; and that was juuuuuust fine by me! I much more enjoyed relaxing, spending time with Honey Isaac. We made a few new friends -- saw our friend Yaddi & her daughter Penelope (we've known them & kept in touch for 10 years!) and a few others. All in all, a fabulous all too short vacation. Even Honey Isaac enjoyed the time away. I think he even realized how tied to his cell phone he was too! He tries to act/say that he can go without it - but the first day at the resort he was having a little withdrawal. By days end it had passed.
New Years was pretty low key for the Parker clan this year. A cozy, calm dinner with our friends and then it was back to our casa to hang out and watch the ball drop. I even had to wake Isaac up right before the official midnight ball drop just to get my kiss! Then it was right back to sleep for him. The poor man runs himself ragged (even more so than I think he even realizes) because when he has the opportunity to slow down he mostly just crashes. Which makes me glad & sad for him. But we agreed -- 2013 is the year of balance & healthy choices! Not looking to go crazy on the work out front; but we are looking to balance our lives. Time with family, time with friends, time alone, time working out, time to rest, time for responsibilities, time for fun. Makes me excited! Did you come up with any new years resolutions?
And for good measure...a few photos!
I do have to say though, this has probably been the most smooth back to work from vacation transition to date! Major props to our partners for covering while my mom & I were gone. And let me just tell you -- being without a cell phone this vacation was HEAVEN! My mom strictly kept me to checking my emails once(maybe twice) daily; and that was juuuuuust fine by me! I much more enjoyed relaxing, spending time with Honey Isaac. We made a few new friends -- saw our friend Yaddi & her daughter Penelope (we've known them & kept in touch for 10 years!) and a few others. All in all, a fabulous all too short vacation. Even Honey Isaac enjoyed the time away. I think he even realized how tied to his cell phone he was too! He tries to act/say that he can go without it - but the first day at the resort he was having a little withdrawal. By days end it had passed.
New Years was pretty low key for the Parker clan this year. A cozy, calm dinner with our friends and then it was back to our casa to hang out and watch the ball drop. I even had to wake Isaac up right before the official midnight ball drop just to get my kiss! Then it was right back to sleep for him. The poor man runs himself ragged (even more so than I think he even realizes) because when he has the opportunity to slow down he mostly just crashes. Which makes me glad & sad for him. But we agreed -- 2013 is the year of balance & healthy choices! Not looking to go crazy on the work out front; but we are looking to balance our lives. Time with family, time with friends, time alone, time working out, time to rest, time for responsibilities, time for fun. Makes me excited! Did you come up with any new years resolutions?
And for good measure...a few photos!
View of the front pool at our resort & the lovely swim up bar.
A warm 85 degrees every day....yes, it was in fact heaven.
Morning after getting back from vacation & Honey Isaac made me breakfast in bed!
Homemade white chocolate chip pancakes! Huzzah!
And just because I can't get over how freakin' precious my husband is!
Baby Hawaiian Honey Isaac! To say I'm excited for how our kiddos will look would be an understatement!
Happy Thursday Friends! I'm happy to be back -- and get back on the blog train!
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