Three Things Thursday

1. Last night i moved on to Week 2 of "Ripped in 30"
O
M
G
Have a feeling i will be doing Week 2 for quite a while - damn you, plank moves!
Also, while cursing Jillian's name, it is also quite comical to watch her "antics". In Week 2's workout, she made a reference to one of the trainer's "nice ass" no less than 3 times, slapped/pinched her butt no less than 2 times, and growled at her once.

2. I have definitely been sabotaging myself in the food department. Excuse me, self control? Have we met before? Didn't think so. Will a doctor willingly wire your mouth shut (medical reason be damned)?

3. And i shall leave you with this picture. I'm a warm-weather gal, but....I'm not ready for 99 degrees yet.

PS. 3 mile run tonight - i will most definitely be exhausted & a puddle of sweat afterwards.

The Good & Bad

Weekend in a nutshell!

The Good:

• Tom & I took Friday off work and attended a Cubs Spring training game - sun, beer, baseball...ahhh.
• Went out for Mexican Friday night & the food was so spicy i only ate half my meal. (Ha)
• Getting some pool time on Saturday
• Took Spencer to get groomed & he looks like a handsome young gentleman again
• Cute new sandals from DSW!

The Bad:

• We had lawn seats for the Cubs game & halfway there i realized i forgot to grab a towel. We drove around for 45 minutes trying to find a place that had beach towels. Rage Melissa was in full force.
• We attended a BBQ & Beer fest on Saturday and Reel Big Fish was playing at the end of the festival. I should have realized we were in for a real treat when the lines were literally wrapped around the corner on both sides. After waiting in line for 40 minutes for a drink, we decided to cut our losses & leave. 
• My second brilliant idea of the day after the BBQ fail was to see Sucker Punch. I thought it looked relatively good. Famous last words. I hated it. It was nothing like i thought it would be & i literally typed out on my phone "What the **** is this movie." and passed it to my friends. (And then apologized for making them see it.) 

The title is quite literal.

Also The Bad? I haven't worked out since Thursday....oops. A run tonight, i promise! Even if i have to drag myself out there kicking & screaming...

She is no joke...

Last night i got my copy of Jillian Michael's Ripped in 30 DVD.

Whew. Let me tell you. She is NOT messing around with these DVD workouts. Love her or hate her, this chick knows what she is doing.

This follows the same 3-2-1 circuit as the Shred, but instead of having three levels, it has 4 weeks of workouts.

sorry for the crappy iPhone pics

I am on my second time of the Week 1 workout and let me tell you - i don't regret buying this DVD one bit. It's a definite workout!

If you're not familiar with her 3-2-1 workout, here's how it's broken down:

Three minutes of strength training:

Two minutes of cardio:

One minute of abs:

ughhhh i hate planks!

You go through this three times, for a pretty good workout. While it's similar to the 30 Day Shred, i feel these workouts are a little more intense. Reading reviews online, i am to believe Week 4 is practically inhuman....

Here's my favorite things about the DVD:

• I love the 3-2-1 breakdown. It's fast paced and you don't feel "stuck" on one move for too long.
• There are a couple repeated moves from 30 Day Shred, but it's mostly new moves that target pretty much every part of your body.
• It goes by fast. With the warm-up and cool-down, each workout runs about 30ish minutes. 
• Doing the Shred, i definitely feel stronger and my endurance during running is better - and i know this DVD is going to be the same.

Lucy Camden, is that you?

So, if you're looking for a good workout DVD i definitely recommend this one! Like i said, I'm only on Week 1 and am already hooked. :)

Spencer's fav part of the workout: stealing my sweaty socks

What about you guys: do you do workout DVDs? The Jillian Michaels series are really the only ones i've found beneficial...

Long May You Run

So, i did pretty good on my workouts last week! I did the 30-Day Shred on Tuesday & Wednesday, and went for a run Thursday & Friday. I ordered another Jillian Michaels DVD (Ripped in 30) - anxious to try that sucker out.

My mileage is still pretty low - only 2.5-3 miles each run. I don't have any races on the horizon (except for Warrior Dash), so i'm not beating myself up too much that it's taken me longer to recover. But i am ready to get back to where i was before i got sick!

On Friday's run, this song "Long May You Run" by Neil Young came on. It's a slower song, not one to pump you up, but the chorus of the song is perfect for running:

Long may you run.



Long may you run.


Although these changes


have come


With your chrome heart shining


in the sun


Long may you run.

(Ok, so supposedly the song is about his first car - but let's just not focus on that, mkay?)

Long may we all run - as long as we are willing and able!

Happy St. Pat's!

"It's St. Paddy's Day, everyone's Irish tonight!" - Boondock Saints (my fav movie!)

I swear, next year i am taking St. Pat's off work. I could be out having SO MUCH fun right now, instead i am a slave to the man. Sigh.

So i saw this fun handwriting thing on Beer, Dogs, and Getting Healthier...(awesome blog name, btw) and thought it was fun. So here you go!

1. What is your name?


2. What is your blog name?

3. Write: the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

4. Favorite quote

5. Favorite song

6. Favorite band/singers

7. Say anything you want

8. Pass it along to a few bloggers

The last 10 pounds

So i think i have mentioned on here before that I am doing Weight Watchers. I've been doing the online version for a few months now and have dropped 15 pounds. (woo hoo!)

But these last 10 pounds i want to lose? Are being a.total.bitch.

I've been stuck at the same weight (give or take a pound) for about a month now. I know what i need to do - trade in my reduced fat wheat thins for salad, limit Mexican food to once a month, step up my workouts....but for whatever reason, i just can't find the motivation to do it.

Like most women would say, i've struggled with my weight for most of my life. I remember coming home at 10 years old after trying on jeans and bawling in my room because i was fat. And yes, i have had someone ask me before "When are you due?"

Sigh.

So, i guess i just need to suck it up and just do it. I'll soon forget what chips & salsa taste like......right? :P

(Almost) Silent Sunday

This, friends, is my paradise.

I have caught another cold. I am never, ever getting a flu shot again. I never get sick - this year i take a flu shot and i am now on my third round of sickness. #@!*#&!

Speedy McSpeederson

So tonight's run wasn't as good as Tuesday's, but it still went relatively well. It was much warmer for tonight's run - 85 degrees! - and i think that zapped my energy pretty quick. (And perhaps those Gobstoppers i binged on during work...but that's neither here nor there)

2.5 miles in 33 minutes

So towards the end of my run, i decided to do a little interval training. I picked a stretch and ran at a much faster pace than normal. Then walked to recover and repeat. During those sprints, i thought to myself "Huh, this must be what Hungry Runner Girl & SkinnyRunner look like when they are running."

Immediately followed by the thought "Holy crap how do they do this for 26 miles??!!" Charlie Sheen may have tiger blood in him, but he's got nothing on these speed demon ladies. (And all you other bad asses that run 7, 8, 9 minute miles!)

It's supposed to be 87 and sunny this weekend in Phoenix. I plan on taking these pasty white legs to the pool for some color!

New Plan

First: thank you so, so much for all the kind comments regarding my Granny. I truly appreciate it.

So I've decided to try a new plan with my fitness. I'm going to aim for running 3x a week, but not consecutively - so every other day I will be doing the 30 Day Shred.

And just to clarify, i'm not that much of a bad ass, i won't be doing this every day. I envision something like this:

Monday - Run
Tuesday - Shred
Wednesday - Run
Thursday - Shred
Friday - off
Saturday - Run
Sunday - off or Shred

More than likely, Sundays will be "off" days too. :)

I think incorporating the Shred is going to improve my running. I feel stronger when i do something other than just running, so we'll see how this goes!

Thinking about signing up for another Half Marathon still makes me nervous, after the last disappointing race. But I'm getting closer to thinking about tackling it again...

Tough Times

This past Thursday, i got the sad news that my Granny passed away early in the morning. She was 87 and had been diagnosed with cancer a few months prior. The fight became too much and she went to be with the Lord.

Granny with my cousin and his son John Curtis. Absolutely love this picture.

The funeral was this past Monday. Unfortunately the flights from Arizona to Arkansas were way too expensive. And to make matters worse, i already had a trip planned to St. Louis to visit some college girlfriends (some i hadn't seen in years.)

My mom told me to keep my trip, Granny would have wanted that, but of course i still felt/feel incredibly guilty.

Needless to say, these past few days have been tough. Add on extra stress from work and it's been a doozy.

While i love Arizona, it is so hard to be far away from family. I hadn't seen my Granny in 3 years - and i'm lucky to see my parents and sisters twice a year. Will someone invent a (affordable) Star Trek transporter machine already?! :/

------

I finally got out for a run today. I hadn't run since Wednesday of last week - and i think my body was missing it.

I ran 2.15miles in 26 minutes - this was also the first run since i got sick that i didn't have to stop and walk.

This run was exactly what i needed - i'm glad it was a good one.

I'm here!

....i haven't forgotten about you guys! It's been an emotional few days - plus, i was out of town this weekend & didn't get a chance to blog or read your wonderful blogs.


I'll be back in a day or two.

Warrior Dash!

So, thanks to my work buddy Matus, i am signed up to do the Warrior Dash on May 1st.

What is the Warrior Dash, you might ask?

Warrior Dash is a mud-crawling, fire-leaping, extreme run from hell. This fierce running series is held on the most challenging and rugged terrain across the globe. Warriors conquer extreme obstacles, push their limits and celebrate with kick-ass music, beer and warrior helmets.

Ok that description sounds a little scary, but fire-leaping, beer AND a fuzzy warrior helmet?? Hell yeah!

Have any of you ever done the Warrior Dash series? Any ideas for a fun outfit? (Because that's obviously a must.)