Training Day 50!

Wow can you believe it has been 50 days since I have started this process?  Doesn’t feel like it has been that long.  Amazing.

Thursday morning we headed to the park, not knowing what was in store for us.  The sun was shinning the air was crisp, perfect for a serious crazy butt kicking workout.  My trainer was way to excited about what she had up her sleeve.  We warmed up and then we were told to head to the hill. UGH!  Really hills again.  Secretly I was excited. 

I headed to the hill we ran our .50 miles to the final destination, where we were told to do a warm up and stop at the top.  The our trainer strategically placed two orange cones breaking the stretch into 3 sections.  We were to start at the bottom run up to the first cone and turn around and run back.  Without stopping we then had to run back up the hill to the second cone turn around and recover to the bottom.  Again without stopping we were to run back up the hill to the top and turn around and recover run to the bottom.  When we reached the bottom, we had to start all over again 4 times.  WOW.

It was amazing.  I am pretty proud of myself.  I made faces, grunts not so nice words.  but I did it. 

4.25 miles of hills.  Yay me!

I love family vacations…

We went to the Russian River Valley for the holiday weekend.  It was absolutely perfect.  We always enjoy vacationing with Denise and Rob.  Our girls have so much fun together and we all enjoy doing the same things.  Whether it is running on trails, fishing, eating good food, wine tasting or just hanging out with the kids.

We didn’t do to much wine tasting or actually any (well other than the drinking) Denise is expecting so, the wine consumption was a little lower this trip.  We ran on a trail from Shell beach to Goat Rock which was so muddy, I have never ran in the mud before.  I was so worried about falling down that I ran hunchback and my lower back killed me later that day.  We then hung out at the beach all afternoon.  It was so beautiful.  That's were all of these pictures are taken.  The waves were crazy.  This was the same weekend that the Waves took down spectators in Half Moon Bay.  We went to Doran Beach in Bodega Bay and it was so calm and beautiful. Kelsey even body surfed.   

This was the first day at the beach.  The sun was hiding behind the clouds but it was pretty warm.

On Sunday the weather was amazing.  Hard to believe it was in the middle of February.

We made an amazing dinner for Valentines; Rob made his (famous to us) Clam Chowder, Stephen grilled up filets and Denise and I made a yummy Salmon Pasta.  Along with a bottle of special select and Caymus. YUM  it was an amazing dinner.

Here is an amazing red wood.  They are so huge.  The girls loved looking up at them.

Training Day 47 (yikes it’s been awhile)

Ugh, really 47, yikes. It has been so much fun!  I have come a long way.  I have almost dropped an entire size, and haven’t lost to much weight because I have been gaining muscle, but I have lost so many inches.

Could I be trying harder yes!  Have I been giving it my all?  Honestly no.  And I really need to start.  I am enjoying the process but also taking it really slow.  I threw myself into training and put nutrition on the back burner.  For me that was the best way.  I love food.  I have made changes but nothing dramatic. I can now run 4 miles woo hoo and I am running almost 15 miles a week.  I love it.

On March 28th, I will be participating in a race being put on by Mama Bootcamp!!! Yahoo.  My goal is the 10k, but the rate I am going with injuries and feeling ah just a little sore probably the 5k.  But I can hope.

So today, I am suppose to run or do some kind of cardio. I don’t want to.  Plain and simple….I just don’t want to.  I will though.  I will get on that Treadmill and run my butt off. 

Training Day 9 (Friday)

Rest Day Yippy!

I forgot to mention yesterday that when I got home from Tri Training, I took an Ice Bath to help my legs recover from the week.  It took me 10 min to get in, and I used Lamaze breathing to get me through it.  After the first 2 minutes, it wasn’t to bad.  It felt like needles in my ankles and feet, then that went away.  It started to feel good, I know that is crazy but it did.  I got out after about 5 minutes, then took a really hot shower and stretched.  Pantea our running coach recommended this, she said I would feel better.  And YES I did.  I am actually looking forward to running on Saturday and then plunging in the ice again.  Anything that will make the recovery faster and more effective.

We made Clean Eating Turkey burgers from dinner tonight and they were yummy the entire family enjoyed them.  They were so juicy and we put chopped garlic in them for that extra yummy flavor.  So good.

Training Day 8 (Thursday)

Ok, I am just plain exhausted.  My legs are killing me and my spirit is a little down.  I was excited to start training again today, but smiling not so much.

Thursday is a great group.  It a lot smaller than Tuesday night so there is a lot of time to actually talk with the trainer.  We were doing much of the same on Tuesday night so I wouldn’t really be timed on my mile.  But I would love to see what I thought was my slow time on the mile.  Boy I was still having a hard time with the run.  My legs where just not having it.  I was really discourage now.  Wondering how long it would take for them to get back there energy.  What should I do? I ran to mile 2, stopped got myself together striped down before we started, which I learned from last time.  When the whistle blew I was off, ugh, so slow so tired.  Geez legs get with the program.  The rest of the body wanted to run.  I struggled so much even more than on Wednesday.  I finally pushed through.  I made it at 10:46 are you kidding seriously?  Even my crappy run was still under 11 min.  I just didn’t know what to say.

On to drills which I really enjoyed because it gave me sometime to work the pesky heavy legs.

At the end I was glad it was over and I was looking forward to a rest day.  And I was going to rest a lot!

Training Day 7

Ok so I love Wednesday mornings too!  Who am I kidding, I love all my Training days with Mama Bootcamp.  This morning was Bootcamp.  The sun was shining and birds were out, the rain as much I enjoy it was gone.  It wasn’t too cold, so I hydrated and ate a quick but effective breakfast (protein shake with a banana) grabbed a cliff bar and water and I was out the door.

I dropped the girls off at school, and headed to the park.  I was still pumped from the night before and ready to put my body in gear. Mentally I was ready, but physically not so much.

The machine was not super excited to be put through another workout so fast.  Warming up I took it easy.  I didn’t push myself just easing along.  I was tired and a little disappointed.  When I want my body to work and it doesn’t I get really down. After the warm up, I was told to take it easy with my run.  I told Holly that wouldn’t be a problem because I wasn’t sure if my legs would actually move any faster than slow.

Off I went, Yikes!  It felt like I had 80lb bricks attached at the ankles, ugh.  I was a lot distracted by it and irritated.  I wanted to fly by like the other Tri trainer who worked out with me the night before.  But my machine wouldn’t let me. I pushed and pushed and finally made it to mile 2.  I then decided to walk a little while thinking that would help and also thinking about what Lorri Ann said once “don’t underestimate the power of walking”.  I think as someone who loves to run and loves what running does for me mentally and physically, I often forget that.

I finally made my way back feeling discouraged, but happy that it was over and then on to workout.  I had to take it really easy at one point I almost started crying, my legs where just so tired. I found my happy place and just did what I could. I realized I was no longer smiling, I was no longer happy to be there.  But another thing I realized.  I didn’t make an excuse or try to find a way out of staying.  I wasn’t looking to leave.  That is a huge breakthrough for me.  I usually play scenarios in my mind about how to get out of exercising, i.e. there is always something more important to do or I  just convince myself that I am not feeling well.  Not this time though.  I pushed right through it and was happy when it was over and really proud of myself. Yea Me.

Tomorrow….Thursday Tri Training…..Woo Hoo.