"Scary" Exercises

Was browsing the interwebs and found this article so of course I had to click and read!  Not sure why they labeled it "Scary" but I was bored :-)

7 "Scary" exercises women should try

Well let's see:

Kickboxing = Check (2 off seasons of kickboxing classes at a real boxing gym loved it!)

Trying to look mean...

Bicylcing = Check

Kettlebell Training = Kind of check, I've tried a few on my own but never a full training cycle, I tend to favor the weighted medicine balls and plyometrics over this

Push ups = Check am back up to 3 sets of real push ups now that I'm hitting the weight room again

Rock Climbing = NO  I need to try this it is officially going onto my off season list!  I'm excited!

Yoga = Loving it just got into it about 3 months ago!!!!

TRX Suspension Training = My favorite of these is the one where you lean forawrd away from the wall and do kind of like a push up mid air, it's a trend that you can only do if your gym happens to offer a class or like me know where they hide the fancy ropes (straps)

What new sport are you going to conquer?

It's that time of year again...

It's usually around this time of year that I start to wrap up my triathlon/running season, reflect on the past season, plan the next season, and start getting really excited about weight training and the upcoming ski season.  Yesterday I spent most of the day at an information session for families of Marines being deployed.  Some of the info was useful and I realize they are trying to provide support for everyone but the frustrating part is that you will never get solid answers.  So basically my next year will be up in the air I won't know when travel plans will need to be made or what I should plan for.  For those of you who have seen some of my posts around planning, I am a  BIG PLANNER!!!  I love "to do" lists, yearly goals, monthly goals, weekly goals, project lists, I could go on and on.....  So not having control over planning my next year shoots my anxiety levels through the roof!  So after this I went home and instead of running my planned 10 miles I sat on the couch the rest of the day and watched and ENTIRE season of a show I had never heard of.  It was based out of England and was about an recovering alcoholic Human Resource person and the staff at her company.  It would have been funny if I wasn't a little depressed!  Then when hubs got home I hadn't cooked, cleaned or exercised and I stuffed my face with pizza and ice cream!!!  I am not proud of this moment but I think I was entitled to that 1 day of self pity.

The good news is that I have recovered and am ready to make the best of this!  I started the day off right and am in a much better mood.  I mean I have one last year of freedom where I get to plan out a full year of whatever I want in preparation to settle down into a life of marriage and possibly starting a family.  So most people usually don't get the luxury of this kind of planning.  I'm going to see it as a positive.  He gets to visit countries he's never been to and learn new skills and I get to have a record ski season and hopefully do a second Ironman!  That's right I'm buying a season pass to a local ski area (which I've never done!) and plan on skiing every weekend this winter!  Then I'm volunteering for Ironman Arizona with my dad this November and with any luck we will be registered for IM AZ 2012!  Keep your fingers crossed!  Now I just have to decide after I get registered if I will also have a full local triathlon season or solely concentrate on that one.   As long as he returns home safe I'm happy!  I'm thankful that it is not a combat zone.  Things could be much worse and I am fully aware that other families have had a lot tougher situations to handle.  I will just keep reminding myself of how lucky I am to have the things I do have!

My tentative goal if I get to do another IM is 1) faster finish time 2) better finish photo where I'm not just tripping over the finish banner at my failed attempt to "skip" through the finish!

Lots of planning and waiting and seeing what's ahead for me but I'm looking at this as an exciting part of my life and a growing experience.  What are your plans for next season or for your off season?

7 posts throw back

I was nominated by the lovely and always funny  B.o.B. to participate in this fun little post game...  (if you haven't checked out her blog you should)

Here are the rules:

1. Blogger is nominated to take part
2. Blogger publishes his/her 7 links on his/her blog – 1 link for each category
3. Blogger nominates up to 5 more bloggers to take part.
4. These bloggers publish their 7 links and nominate another 5 more bloggers

WOW I can't believe I've been at this blogging thing for about a year now!  This definitely took me down memory lane it was good to get a reminder of some of the things that keep me going and to see that even with the setbacks I've had I'm still at it never giving up.

Most Beautiful

This was the easiest one for me to pick.  My family has always been a great source of inspiration for me and I wrote this particular blog about my brother Inspiration

Most Popular

This one shouldn't be a surprise My 1st Giveaway  It doubled my followers, yes I know I don't have that many even after that but I value each and every one that I do have, maybe I should try and do another give away, any ideas?

Most Controversial

Ok so I'm not really that controversial in general on here but I guess if I had to pick one it would be The What, When, and Why of Your Nutrition Plan

Most Helpful

I thought this one was the most helpful: Running Tips for Beginners just because it was specifically requested by a friend for me to post about it.  But judging by the search results and popularity of this one I think others were hoping this one would be the most helpful: Tendonities of Extensor Hallucis Longus sorry if it was a little misleading. :-)

Success Surprised Me

At first it surprised me because it didn't seem like a very involved or exciting race report but then I realized it was for such a great cause that it was the cause that got the attention it deserved!  8k Run with the Kenyans

Didn't Get the Attention It Deserved

 I think for everyone who starts a blog sometimes our earliest blogs are our most inspired but least read just because it takes a while to learn the ropes of the blogging world so it was hard for me to pick this one, but I went with this one because it had such an important role in my relationship: Sedona Full Marathon Race Report

Most Proud Of

I went with this one: 2011 Calendar Photos just because I loved the end result and it ultimately has inspired me to be more creative in all aspects of my life.

Ok I'm done being self indulgent now it's someone else's turn (drumrolllll):

Big Daddy Diesel
Adventures of an Average Athlete
Swim Bike Mom
Adventure Is Out There
Gourmet Runner

Have Fun!

Fall is in the air...

Don't hate me if this isn't true for your neck of the woods!  If it makes you feel better it's probably a false start!  But for now it is in the air and I'm loving it, even though you can't tell by my workouts.  Now that all the marriage madness has died down I need to kick it into high gear and go all out these next 2 weeks before my taper week for the Disney Half marathon.  So here's a question if it is at 10 pm would it be the kiss of death to visit the park during the day?  How can you be in Disney World and not visit the amusement park, but I know being on my feet all day will kill me for the run that night.  hmmmm

So I've noticed that as I get older it becomes increasingly harder to adjust to the time change that will soon be coming.  At first it just took me longer to adjust and now I just plain hate it!  Which is contradicting to the fact that I love winter because I love skiing, my off season addiction.  Here are some of the things I try doing to help:

1.  Go to bed a little earlier
2.  Do more group runs with my running group, the more I get outdoors the better I feel
3.  Try new sports, again to keep me outdoors, snowshoeing, cross country skiing
4.  Try not to sit still too much in the evenings just because it's dark doesn't mean the days over.

I need more help though, what do you do to keep the winter blues from taking over?

 

Back to reality....recap in pics

 My weekend started with a rainbow, a day off, lots of cleaning, and lots of cooking on Friday.  This was the first batch of food had to boil & peel the tomatoes and lots of fresh garlic and basil for the pomodoro sauce that was requested...

 

Saturday the still fiance and I went to spin class where I managed to fit in 18 miles and then a yoga class which worked out all the knots in my neck, have I mentioned that I love that class?!   We then went to Costco with his parents to buy food for 12 people for five days that's a lot!!!  I don't know how big families do it!

On Sunday I woke up to a beautiful morning and it is starting to feel like fall here!  So even though I was tired from only having 3-4 hours of sleep I had hope that this 13 mile run would be a good one.  Little did I know that at mile 7 I would fall apart, everything in my legs started hurting and I had to stretch every mile to keep going.  At about mile 10 I had a full blown panic attack with hyperventilating and all.  I managed to calm myself down but the last 3 miles had a lot of walking....  I did it but it's making me think I shouldn't have signed up for this 1/2 marathon that's just a few weeks away, I just haven't had the time to dedicate to training!!

 Went to the county clerk's office thinking we'd be done when they said no you still have to see a judge and they're booked for a month!  Ahhhh, then when we informed them he'd probably be getting deployed soon they found one that would fit us in, Yay!!

So off to the court house we went!

 We managed to get married then home for more food and good laughs!

 Whole Foods has the best cake ever!

So while everyone else got to pass out from the food coma we were off for one night alone!

We were lucky enough to get to stay in this wonderful resort with 3 pools, a waterslide, spa, tennis courts hiking and an awesome view.  Needless to say I didn't workout for 2 days. 

 

So there you have it!  I'm married and probably gained about 5 pounds, good food, good people, good times!  Now back to reality and back to regular workouts!

How was your long weekend?