Lazy Days

The mister & I are taking a lazy day today....thankfully it falls in line with my "rest" day from the gym as well.  But it's so nice to lay low, get cozy, and just rest.  Granted the past two days have been off kilter from our new food regimen - but I blame that on Honey Isaac's birthday & a football coaches BBQ.  But hey - it's life right?!  And with that I'm trying to keep reminding myself that one or two meals doesn't make me a fail.  It doesn't demolish everything I've "done" this week.  It's just life.  And today is life.  And tomorrow will be life - and another chance to make another good decision.  

In other news....let me share this beauty with you all....

That right there my friends is my first "True Spartan" bracelet.  What I've mentioned I narrowly missed getting in the past two weeks.  And I nearly missed it this week as well.  Following our grueling Saturday work out our instructor Carlos said we'd have two "Spartan Challenges."  So we all circled up to see who would be the last man/woman standing from a blinded balance challenge.  It came down to me & my friend Misty -- she ultimately beat me in this challenge.  Darn pinky toe came up and then I was all messed up. But following that Carlos started sharing how the people in our class had shown some of the best improvement he'd seen since teaching and he wanted to acknowledge us all for our commitment & improvement since starting.  So we all got a bracelet! FINALLY!

In all honesty, I came home & started sharing the story with Honey Isaac and told him I how I wish I had really "earned" it -- and Lord love him, he interrupted me mid sentence saying -- "But you did earn it - you have gone each time & almost always given it your best or as best you could each time.  That means you earned that bracelet."  Man I love that man...because he's right.  

This is the first time I've been consistent going to the gym -- particularly to do something that is wicked hard & pushes me.  Sure, I was consistent with running...but most of the time that came pretty easy for me & it was just fun to be with my friends/running-family.  But this class -- this thing is a B-face most of the time & super hard for me.  And here I am in to my 3rd month, having only missed classes when absolutely necessary.  

So I proudly wore that bracelet all day & likely will again today.  Hell -- I might even wear it tomorrow & especially to class on Tuesday.  More as a reminder to myself that I am tough, that I can do it, and I can keep going.

Small victories my friends.....small victories!

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!

Jillian Michaels is a B...

That's right I said it.... I've been tackling her 30 Day Shred DVD the past couple weeks (and only seriously in the last week), but let me just tell you... She is a B.  

Oh sure you think 20 minutes won't kill you.  You can do anything for 20 minutes.  But let's get real my friends.  It's a non stop 20 minutes (that statement alone makes me feel like a lazy fatty....) that honestly has left me pouring sweat after each segment.  And I hate sweating.  As in I really, truly, painfully dislike sweating.  But I digress -- mostly, it's just uber challenging.  The biggest pain I have are my calves.  It's shocking how much pain I'm in after only 2 minutes of alternating jumping jacks and "jump rope."  The first 2 or 3 days I had trouble walking up & down my stairs!  Let alone the impact on my running.

All this aside, I can say that I can see a little change in myself.  Miniscule change -- but hell, I'll take it!

I even wrote out a pre-planned calendar of workouts for the month.  Each day I get a sticker if I did my work out...yes, I realize how juvenile that sounds but you'd be surprised how flippin' motivating a tiny little sticker can be! I want that sticker each day and I'll push myself thru a brutal 20min Jillian Michaels DVD, a run, Zumba, or anything else just to get that sticker!  

How you do approach work outs? Pre-plan? Go with the flow?  Do you plan out any rewards for yourself? Like a pedicure or massage?
Happy Friday!   

morning workouts are a mother

Let's not  play games...getting to and completing morning workouts are a beast.  Pre-vacation I was on a pretty good routine.  Post-vacation....sucks-ville.  Can't seem to get my rear end out of bed when I intend to & get myself to the gym! Or heck, even my living room for a little Jillian Michaels session! 

My sweet friend Monique is such an encourager -- I sent her a text this morning (our morning ritual) bemoaning my lack of discipline to get to the gym, and her simple reply was to go at night & do what I can!  Yah...do what I can, when I can!  Sounds so good, so easy.  And yet, in the evenings it's so challenging (note I did not say impossible....).  The two of us are on a journey this fall -- we've got a larger goal, and are determined to celebrate small milestones too.  But I've got to do the work!

I suppose the best & only thing to do is to just keep doing what I can, when I can....and be disciplined to actually take advantage of the time that I have.  Frankly, with football here (our non-stop weekends kick off this weekend) now I've got plenty of time on my hands! Time to pull out the mini-Marine my parents instilled in me and get to work!

How do you muster up the energy/determination/discipline to get up for morning workouts?
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Gettin' Serious

Isaac & I decided that this is the year for us to shed the pounds that have been plaguing us for the last year & a half...Yup, a year & a half! Eek!  Thankfully one of my top 5 favorite shows is The Biggest Loser.  And the current season is about having NO excuses.  So that is what I'm trying to roll with right now...no excuses.  That's the goal -- operating with no excuses when it comes to my health & fitness.


And of course I'd love for that to filter over in to other areas of my life.  But right now I need to focus on one thing... one thing...  one thing...


Would love to have a yoga class I could actually get to around here...but alas I do not have a logical option.  So I'll have to stick my DVD options.  Any one have a good suggestion for a quick, great yoga DVD workout?
How do you stay focused on your health & fitness??
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Back In The Swing (AND 300!)

I've said it before...and truth be told, I'll probably say it again.  But I feel like I'm getting back in the swing again with my work outs!  Yesterday I didn't make it out on a long run with my running group -- but I did get out of bed at a somewhat early time and made my way to the local gym.  I hopped up on a treadmill...aka "Dreadmill" if you know me personally....and proceeded to run 4.89 miles!  Not a crazy long distance, but long enough for me to feel really good about it.  Walked away feeling pretty dang good, a small twinge of achey-ness in my left knee, but otherwise felt great.


That being said I had a slight revelation while running....I actually do like it, and I like that I can feel myself getting slightly faster & my endurance getting slightly better.  There's some power in that feeling let me tell you! Now, do I consider myself a workout junkie -- not by any means.  I'm one of those people who would just rather cozy up on my couch for a night instead of sweating it out at the gym.  But I am once again seeing & feeling the benefits of being there.  And like the old saying....I never feel worse leaving than I did going in.  
Next I need to start working in a weights regimen.  Don't want to be one of those fat-skinny people.  The only challenging part is that my schedule is a little more tight these days, and the time slots are not really lining up.  So perhaps husband dear can come up with an easy routine for me to do on my own.......we'll see :)


Side note.....this post right here marks my 300th post! Cuh-razy I know!  I can't say I would have figured myself to stick with this blogging thing this long.  But looking back at some previous posts -- and some from last year even, I can tell this is good for me.  An outlet to respectfully share my thoughts, feelings, experiences.  It's sometimes easier for me type my thoughts out then try and explain them in person.  So with that, thank you friends who read this. It's nice to know that there are friends out there who care to know. I appreciate you!
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Minor Setback

Well -- the blurry vision has presented a minor setback in my weightloss/work out program.  Let me just tell you that having to wear my glasses day in & day out certainly throws a wrench in my plans.  I already have noticed in myself that even in a 2 day break from working out my focus on eating healthy and in moderation is off kilter.  


Isn't that just so frustrating?!  Goodness it is for me.  How lame am I that in just two short days my eating habits have slid backwards, back down hill...  I'm trying to not beat myself up too much about it.  For me I've made some progress in that I'm willing to recognize that in myself and be aware of it.  I'm committed to losing my first 10lbs before Christmas. 


No giving up for me -- no beating myself up -- no talking down to myself.  
Here's to re-focusing, despite these minor setbacks...
How do you stay focused or get re-focused?
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It's Amazing!

Seriously friends -- it is amazing how a solid 8 hours of sleep changes your entire day!  
After a tortuous Group Power class last night I got home and made a crazy thrown together dinner, got caught up on my DVR'd shows and then forced myself to go to bed at 9pm.  Now it was night one of official football practice & I probably should have waited up for hubby to get home.  But I had a morning run on my agenda & knew I was going to need that extra bit of sleep if I was going to crawl out of bed at 5am.

So I pushed myself to bed, took out my contacts and crawled in to bed (wincing the whole time...damn that Group Power...makes me feel like a weak bum!).  The only time I woke up the entire night was when Isaac got home about 10pm. Other than that, it was solid sleep time.  I even woke up about 10 minutes BEFORE my alarm! Of course I lounged til about 5:10am, but then I was up and at the gym by 5:25am! Go Me!  A quick 45 min, 2.75mi run later and I was back home.

Normally I'm dead by this point in the day on days where I go to the gym early.  But today...today I'm wide awake and still going like crazy!  I've got energy & I'm not entirely sure where it's been stored all this time! Loves it!
Next on the agenda for my afternoon is a walk with my work out buddy & BFF Monique... Loving all this energy! And the sun & blue skies don't hurt either!

Do you work out in the mornings? Evenings? What's your workout routine?
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A New, Shared Commitment

I am so thankful for the friends that I have -- I have the best, most supportive friends out there.  And it means the world to have a friend who supports you in the area that seems to be the one of most struggle.


The area in my life where I seem to struggle the most is my weight and confidence about myself.  No matter what I would do in the past I would always be extremely hard on myself and beat myself up.  I would try and try and try to do the "right" things, eat the "right" things, not eat the "wrong" things, etc.  But no matter what I did, I was always on my own doing it.  Which of course inevitably led to exhaustion and taking a "break" from working out.


But these days I have a friend who encourages me even on my worse days.  Encourages me to keep my chin up, and take life, and my struggle one day at a time.  To take on daily challenges instead of looking at the biggest goal way on down the road and feeling like a failure if I don't reach that right away.


Thanks to Monique we have made a new, shared commitment.  This week our goal is to do something active each day.  No matter what it is, we are doing something active.  Tonight it was Group Power (a group weight lifting class) at our local athletic club.  Tomorrow morning I'll be running in the morning and then again in the evening.
My seasonal goal right now is to lose 10-12lbs between now & Christmas break when we head back to Hawaii.  So any suggestions for a week 2 goal??


So here's to new commitments! And just to keep myself honest, I'll post my weigh in's.
Starting off at: 159lbs (yikes!)  Only direction for me is DOWN! :)
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Early Morning

Alright - this morning I got myself out of bed at 4:55am to go to my local athletic club to go to a Group Power weight lifting class.  Normally I do this class in the afternoon at another of the club's locations with two of my good buddies.  But I wanted to challenge myself, and start doing my work outs in the mornings so more of my evenings could be open to spend it with Isaac or friends.  Try to keep the evenings as flexible as possible, ya know?

Well I showed up to class, got all set up - even saw a girl from one of my old small groups.  Then it started and let me just tell you I haven't felt that weak in a LONG time! And I don't think it's because I've missed 2 weeks of my afternoon class.  I honestly think it had to do with the time of day I was doing the class.  I could barely do the weight that I normally do every other time.  Boy was that a hit to the ego! And while it was nice to be there, to get it out of the way and then start the rest of my day...I think I've decided that I want to stick with running the mornings and keeping my Group Power experiences to my afternoon class.  Plus it's nice to do that type of class with a friend, who will encourage & push you to go harder.  And that's what my buddy Monique does.  She is such an amazing encouragement and friend -- I hope that I do the same for her.
So moral of the story - I do not recommend doing a weight lifting class in the wee hours of the morning unless you are ENTIRELY awake!  Bad things could happen....or you'll end up just feeling like a weak loser. ;)
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Wee Bit Wednesday

{one} how often do you do laundry?

currently once a week, but i think that's going to get bumped up.

isaac has huge clothes so i'd rather do multiple small loads than 2 HUGE loads.

{two} what is your favorite type of cookie?

chocolate chip...without a doubt

{three} what would you do with an extra $2000 per month?

hire a yard guy, cleaning lady & update the wardrobe

{four} what was/is your favorite subject in school? 

i really loved history - and almost became a high school history teacher

{five} have you ever ridden in a hot air balloon?

no i haven't - but wouldn't mind it!

{six} what was your high school mascot?

we were the Celtics - i still know the fight song & dance

{seven} if you had the chance to go in to space, would you?

probably - i mean how many people EVER have that kind of chance?!

{eight} how often do you go dancing?

not very often - but went a couple weeks ago w/ friends

{nine} would you rather drive or fly?

fly -- i want to get where i'm going so i can enjoy it the longest time possible

{ten} have you ever been caught re-gifting?

don't think so, but i definitely have re-gifted! muahahaha

Sorry for the lack of interesting posts as of late friends - I've been trying to focus my energy on getting my rear end to the gym & making better food choices, but alas the food is still my hang up.  

All in all, what usually ends up happening is I go to the gym for Group Power/running or go running & then get home and am exhausted. That's right, exhausted. As in no energy for anything.  So as a result, our laundry has yet to be folded, we have yet to go grocery shopping (yes I've mentioned probably about4 or 5 times here & on my twitter that we were going...it's yet to be accomplished), and there are still dishes in my sink.  I'm looking forward to the day when I'm energized from all this working out to get the house spic & span, have the office finally organized (i.e. go thru isaac's old paperwork & organize), the middle room finished with Isaac's recording things put together & our entire bedroom/bathroom cleaned top to bottom .  Yes that will be the day!

Maybe I'll start registering my food choices here as a for of accountability...hmm...or not. That's a whole heck of a lot of transperancy with the blogging world I'm not quite sure I'm ready for.  I think I'll just stick with my WW log.

Love to you friends!

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Workouts & Quiet Nights

Well my friends I know I have been MIA the last few days - life & work has just been so crazy that I've barely had time to even think or do anything other than work & crash.  So my apologies! I have been keeping up on your blogs though! :)


But I will say that I have been sticking to my workout schedule - which is making me pretty proud of myself.  And tonight I added a quick 30 min run after my weight lifting class.  First time I've done that, but dang I felt good afterwards.  So I may just keep that in the mix of things after class on M/W/F.  
And I'm so appreciating the quiet nights Isaac & I have been having as of late. It's so relaxing and comforting know that we can sit together and just chill out.


8 days til we get out of town & I can't even express how much I am looking forward to getting out of town.  I'm always a little nervous getting together with Ike's family, but I'm sure it'll all work out fine.  It'll be fun to see Ike's brother get married and be all together - but send me your good thoughts next weekend! :)
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