Together Tuesday

This morning started out with my alarm going and my motivation getting me out of bed. Its funny sometimes I just do what is right, other times I have to talk myself into getting up and still others I know no amount of self-talk is getting me moving. Today I was up and at 'em. Headed over to GMU for bootcamp and was pleasantly surprised at how warm it felt. I was not pleasant when I was the only one there for warm up. Soon others started coming and all was good again. I am scared to do a workout with Edye by myself! Not really, as I have before, but I know it would be HARD to have her focused on me for an hour!

Today we broke up class into 2 parts. First was strength and then we did intervals. I did ok with most everything, except the push ups. (must practice - really) She estimated we went 2 miles for the 30/30 intervals. I think it was closer to 1.5, but what do I know. What I do know was I kept with it and felt good at the end.

I typically wear semi dressy clothes to work, but today I had on my Woodrow Wilson half shirt on. No one else at work was wearing a race shirt, but lots of my friends on FB were. It was a small thing to do, but made me feel better. Lots of folks were also running for Boston.  2.62 miles, silent miles or some other amount of time or mileage. I didn't end up running again today for various reasons, but will think of Boston when I run tomorrow. I am feeling much better this week, more energized (even though my eyes are about to shut on me right now) and back in the business of getting healthy.

Tomorrow is another day and I plan to carry on with my momentum.

Praying for Boston and everywhere else

As I sit here watching the coverage of the race (finally, I won't watch it when the kids are around) I am just as horrified, if not more so, since the news was broken at work today. I think about the runners who worked so hard to be there. So hard that their families would never think of missing them cross the finish line. That one person's goals put whole families, new couples, children at risk. I won't try to recap the news here. The facts as we know them are changing rapidly. I think about those that were impacted and those that might be reconsidering a goal race such as London next week or MCM in the future. I wonder about the runners who deferred from last year due to the heat and if they feel like this race is cursed for them.

Boston is a goal race, a big goal race. It has its own language. To BQ is to Boston Qualify. It is one of the few races in the nation where you have to meet a time target in order to run. Races advertise themselves a flat and fast for BQ. All of that was shattered today.

I heard about 17,000 people had already crossed the finish line. How do they feel about their accomplishment? Is it all overshadowed by the victory. Will the winners always be connected to this tragedy? Will they be more determined to come back and conquer this course and show that runners will not be defeated by such senseless violence. As you can see, I haven't been able to formulate any real thoughts around this. Just more questions.

The racing community is spreading the word to wear race shirts tomorrow in support of the runners, the marathon and Boston.

So this is how I am ending the day.

I began it at boot camp. Today was our first day outside. There was a light rain. It didn't bother me except for when were laying on our mats doing crunches. I am not sure how the weather will impact our schedule, but hopefully the rain will start after 7 am on most days. I feel like it is a major victory that I made it this morning. Tomorrow I am going to try again!

Listen to Yourself and Speak Up

I had a very productive day at work today. Got lots done and even stayed late despite a 2 hour early release we were granted. I feel so much better now that my desk is partially cleared off!

Started out the day with a circuit workout at bootcamp. I was not good about sticking with the exercises, I was in wimp mode I guess. Today was the first day I started to use my modifications.

I have a confession; I have not been my best advocate. I am adamant that parents are the ones that have to advocate for their kids medically. (well in all areas, but my experience is with the medical establishment.) We are the ones that know when something really isn't right, even if it is within normal for other kids. You get the idea.

Well way back in December I started getting this awful jaw pain. I mean at times I was having trouble chewing because my jaw hurt so much. I waited until my next dentist appointment. (I go every 6 months without fail, so it wasn't too much of a wait) and talked to the Dr about it.



He was convinced I must be grinding my teeth at night. I have never had issues with that or any other jaw/mouth issues. At the last minute I said I had joined a bootcamp, could that have anything to do with it. Yes, he said.

I have a bad history with core work in that I tend to use my neck rather then engaging my core. I have taken pilates and struggled with many of the exercises for this reason. I had kind of forgotten about it, but clearly I was still struggling with targeting parts of my body during a move. (confession within a confession; I never get how to engage my abs when we are working on some other part of the body. May as well pat my tummy while circling my head) Anyways, I didn't do anything. I didn't talk to my instructor, I didn't change the way I did things. Eventually it went away most of the time. I suspect because I starting going to bootcamp only twice a week as I ramped up my mileage for Disney.

Not me. :)

After my knee issue, and I took the week off last week, I decided I wasn't being smart. I talked to my instructor and interestingly enough she said she isn't a fan of crunches. She doesn't feel like they do as much as plank work and push ups. Ok then! So I am going to work on relaxing my neck and if I need to rest my upper body while I do reverse crunches, that is ok. 

That is one thing I like about this bootcamp is that we can all modify as we need to. I am happy I spoke up and now have a partner in helping me work towards health without injury that is informed about what my body is saying. 

Happy spring break, Passover and Easter to all who are celebrating one or all! 

Just a Few More

Laura finally downloaded her pictures from her phone so I found the picture I took with Dimity and SBS!

If you haven't hooked up with them and their great tribe of Mother Runners, I can't recommend it enough. I remember reading their first book, Run Like a Mother, as I was preparing for my 12 in 2012 goal. I think I got it as a free download or close to free on the Kindle. It has enough humor and contributions from other mothers to give a balanced approach. The best part is the community of runners that frequent their facebook page and now the forums they have on the website. Each week they release a new podcast full of news about their kids and running topics. Just like your running buddy would give you on a run.

One last princess picture before we start turning our focus on the Marine Corps.

I hit up bootcamp this morning and ran 3.1 miles this evening. I bumped up the speed the last mile and felt good. I still have to take breathers on the treadmill, but I am still working towards consistency.

My goal for the week is to get my workouts in and watch my eating. I know the weight will come off if I can just keep the early evening snacking to a low roar. Tonight was just too full of snacks while I waited to get dinner ready. I have a guest coming this weekend, so not sure about my weekend run yet.

Monday - Bootcamp (done)
Tuesday - Bootcamp
Wednesday - Run
Thursday - Rest
Friday - Bootcamp
Saturday or Sunday - Run

Who Cares About Running....Its Going to Snow!!

I live outside of DC and we haven't had a good snow storm for 2 years. It is going to snow starting in a few hours and I am EXCITED. 

Courtesy of  Capital Weather Gang/Washington Post

Isn't it beautiful? 

I am sorry to say that I slept through boot camp this morning. Silly alarm mistake, but an honest one. When the cleaner comes through our rooms and dusts she always manages to turn the volume way down. She hasn't done it in awhile, but my alarm was screaming with no voice this morning. 

When I woke up I was a little upset. I had planned to be at boot camp 3 times this week, and this was going to throw a wrench in things. Tonight was my son's first Boy Scout meeting and they were having a parent meeting as well. I wanted to go and meet the other parents, so today became a rest day. I think it will be ok, as tomorrow is shaping up to be a big upper body workout. (see above!)

All seems right with the world right now, so we are going with that. 

Planning for Success

I am sitting here watching the Biggest Loser contestants get their make overs. It seems like this gets set up as a big goal for them and something to work for. Just another example of why setting goals and milestones is so important.

You may have noticed that I split up my year long goals into smaller chunks. The overall goal of 750 miles for the year is represented as 62 miles each month. I know if I have a lower month it won't mean I am not going to hit my goal, but it will serve as a good reminder to get back on the treadmill.

For my plank goal I set 1 minute, 1.5 minutes, etc working towards my goal of 3 minutes. I have gained strength faster then I expected, having started at only being able to hold one for 30 seconds.

What was my non-scale victory today? I stacked my feet during push ups at boot camp. It wasn't as hard as I thought at all. Gave myself a little pat on the back for that!

I have also been seeing some progress on the scale side. Double bonus.

Workout schedule
Monday - boot camp
Tuesday - Boot camp/short run
Wednesday - snow expected! 30 day shred or run
Thursday - rest
Friday - boot camp
Saturday - 30 day shred
Sunday - Long run

What have been your non scale or scale related victories lately?

Oh Monday, How You Torture Me

Usually I am not big on the Monday Blues, I am rested for the weekend and ready to go. I got up for bootcamp today as we pretty much had an engraved order  invitation. Today was the first Monday of the new year. Time to get to work. I had went to bootcamp last week, so it wasn't such a big deal for me, but I didn't want to miss any discussion about goals.

When we got there she didn't have us lay out our equipment and mat like usual, but handed us an index card with our goals we had emailed her. She had a space for starting plank time, our height, weight and the goals. So we all did a plank together with her calling out time in 15 second intervals. I stayed up until 45 seconds. My goal is 3 minutes by the end of the year, so I felt pretty good about that. (plus I had only done 32 seconds the night before!) We did the plank with our arms extended, which I don't typically do. I do them on my elbows, which way is harder?

Photo:Self 

Photo: Cooking Light

So for 2013;
     Goal 1: Run 750 miles
     Goal 2: hold a 3 minute plank

My 3rd goal is to do 100 pushups in a row. I originally had crunches, but I figured the planks took care of the core, so the pushups will take care of the arms.

That is 3 goals that are much more well rounded then my 2012 goal of running 12 races in 12 months. However, I think they are going to be hard enough that I can't finish them in like a month (although if I do, I can always set more!) and varied enough that they support each other and an overall healthy movement. They also are part of my word for 2013 - STRONGER!

So what was the torture today? Just silly work stuff. Nothing that I need to keep with me, but it did give me a little pause this morning. Moving on and moving forward.

Have a great day!