Winter Sport No Fail

I finally found a winter sport that I enjoy!! And not just enjoy a little, but like cannot-wait-to-go-again-hopefully-soon!

After trying and not loving ice skating and downhill skiing, I was so nervous when the hubby asked me to go cross-country skiing. He is a big winter sports kinda guy and I wanted to share in the fun. So we headed out to a relatively flat area in the Jemez Mountains, the Valles Calderas.

Gorgeous Mountains

We kept on a relatively flat path which made the learning process easier. I still need to work on the downhill part but it's a start! The day wasn't complete without a few falls...



Hubby Practice Falling

Ironically, about 20 minutes after taking this picture, Jay really did fall hard on his bum. And then I did a complete face plant. It was really hard to stop laughing and get back up.

In the spirit of trying (and liking) new methods of exercise, I gave a pi-yo class a chance. This mixture of pilates and yoga is so intense! I'm not sure how most classes are set up, but this one flowed from one position to the next and in between there were reps of exercises. For example, we went into plank then did two push-ups, then upward facing dog and back up to plank and repeated the entire process several times. As soon as we finished that we moved into downward dog and did several tricep push-ups while still in downward dog! By the end of this class, my heart rate was up and my muscles were jelly. Fantastic, in my book!

I'm working on a post with an update on my goals and one where I'll be sharing a recipe for crock pot enchiladas. Stay tuned! Have a great week!

A Week of Random Fitness

To no one's surprise, I'm sure, I'm traveling again. I had a conference yesterday in Baltimore, and I'm staying the weekend to hang out with my awesome non-Welsh friend from Wales again.

It's been fun so far...in that I've not made it all the far from the hotel...but I had a nice view...

And we ate dinner at a German resturant in the private dinning room. And by that I mean there was NO ONE else is the entire place. Talk about awkward. But the food was decent.

It's been a busy week, but I've managed to work on my fitness a couple different times and stay fairly on track this week (minus drinking a couple too many on Sunday night when the Pats lost...to Baltimore nonetheless.

On Sunday and Wednesday I took spin at the gym.

I really love spin. It is such a sweaty wonderful workout, as show cased in this awesome selfie I took in the car post-Sunday spin.

On Wednesday I was not as pleased with spin though. I don't love the new bikes at the gym closest to my apartment, but it's closest to my apartment and the class times work well for me a lot of time. BUT there was a weird screw on my bike and it ripped my pants and I ended up with a nice little chaffed spot on my leg because my leg kept rubbing on the seat instead of my pants being nicely in the way. It was not pleasant when I got in the shower.

Yesterday and this morning I rocked out at the hotel gym. I'm not sure I would have motivated myself because I'm kind of hating on the treadmill right now, but a couple of my conference friends were going and I didn't want to be the lazy one, so I knocked out some walk/run time. I didn't count any of it toward my 365 Miles in a Year total because with the chatting and the jankiness of the hotel treadmill, I don't think I actually ran a whole mile without stopping. But hey, at least I went! And I foam rolled the ever living daylights out of my legs and it HURT SO GOOD.

I'm off from work today, but of course I've already been on the phone like 4 times and answered a million emails, so I guess I'm not so good at actually taking the day off. I need to get my stuff together and get outta this joint before I miss my checkout time, but I wanted to leave you with a picture of my breakfast today.

Breakfast. Of. Champions. Boom.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

I am not a graceful person. There is no getting around it. I fall. I don't pack for the correct weather. And I lock my self out. ALL THE TIME. It's just part of my being.

This weekend was no exception. I was home for a wedding and I decided to make my way to the YMCA for a swim. I haven't had a good swim in a while, and although it was probably nice enough to run outside, I just wasn't feeling it. I was sore from TRX on Wednesday and a swim sounded perfect.

So I went to the Y and signed myself in as a guest and made one mistake. I accepted the key to the adult woman's locker room. I am an adult woman, yes. But I usually just go to the family locker room. I know where it is, and I used it all the time when I went with my family, and there's nothing that says I can't. But this time, I decided I didn't need to do that. I'm an adult woman, and I can handle the big girl locker room. So I followed the signs to where the locker room is, and I even figured out how to get to the pool from there.

I had a nice swim. Nothing super special, but it wasn't terrible having not been in the pool for quite a while. It was after my swim when I went back to the locker room that I realized I needed that key for this door too. And of course I didn't have it. Luckily, the lifeguards did have a key and they saved the day, but I was fairly embarrassed. Not embarrassed enough to not take an awkward picture of myself in the locker room though!

You. Are. Welcome.

On Monday after spin class, I also thought I lost my keys. I spent a good 5 minutes on the sidewalk outside the gym rummaging through my bag trying to find them, but they were not there. So I went back into the locker room to see if I left them there. No such luck, so I dumped out my bag on the bench and there they were. Of course. Well as I packed up my bag, I turned and whacked my elbow on the corner of the locker, in which my keys were not. I now have an awesome bruise. 

And on Tuesday morning, I got a flu shot in the same arm with the bruise. I'm not always super smart. Especially because Wednesdays are TRX days, and a sore arm made it pretty difficult. Clearly not my week, but I'm in good spirits about it all. Mostly because it's all pretty damn funny and does not matter in the least, but also because it snowed yesterday and I got to work from home and eat a pomegranate.

instagram: maddieogren

Clearly, life is good, even with the bruises.

Goal Status & Pony Cake

I hope everyone had a great weekend, I know I did. This weekend we had some of my family in town celebrating my little sister’s birthday, I even baked a cake (let’s not discuss the caketastrophy that happened before this 2^nd attempt at cake)!

 

 

Here’s my status on last week’s goals:

1)      There was only one day where I didn’t meet my goal of drinking water, which is a pretty good start, I’d say.

2)      There was also only one workday where I did not take my vitamins.

3)      I haven’t found a salon. I can’t seem to find a Locks of Love salon in the Abq area, so I’ve decided to find a new (maybe not permanently but my preferred stylist is on maternity leave and I have no idea about her return) salon and we all know how much of a task that can be! I’m hoping to receive my issue of Albuquerque The Magazine: Best Of The City. This particular issue lists the best of EVERYTHING - from restaurants to salons to radio personalities and in my past experiences, it has been incredibly reliable and accurate. As soon as I find out who the best salons/stylists are for the year, I’m going to schedule an appointment. I’m so excited and wish that issue would show up in my mailbox already!

 

This week, I’m going to carry the same goals over.

You may also be wondering what the heck is going on with my running scene? Since my visit to get a 2nd opinion, I rested for a while and then started back at ¼ mile and have been working my way back at 10% gains all while running on my toes. I have not rushed my mileage increases because I don’t want to just be able to run again, I want to be able to run fast again. I’m just now at 1.2 miles and I’ve run it 2-3 times a week the past two weeks and it’s still not comfortable, I don’t feel that I have nearly enough control of my form and my pace feels weird. This week I’ll continue to run 1.2 and if at the end of the week, I feel that my form is excellent, pace is fast and I’m confident I will then move up to 1.3, if not, I’ll continue at 1.2. It’s a slow progression and I’m not very patient but this is healthy and best of all, I have ZERO ankle pain when I run on my toes.

Can we also discuss how amazing it is to finally have new Justin Timberlake music to add to our workout playlists…and life? 

Back In The Saddle

There is a generous helping of dust on my old blogging brain! I have missed this so much and I look forward to picking it back up!

As Maddie mentioned, things got pretty busy  for us. I moved. I got really busy at work. Oh, and I got hitched! Hopefully there will be a full wedding recap down the road.

 Now that things at home are slowing down I really want to get back to focusing on living healthy every day. And I don’t just mean eating my veggies and hitting the gym. My 2013 goal is to be healthy – mentally, physically and spiritually and the only way to accomplish this is by doing things each day. Here are my 3 very small goals for the week:

1)      Drink more water. Despite my efforts to sip on the old H2O all day, I have found myself feeling lethargic and so dehydrated having only taken in ¼ of the daily requirements. No bueno, amigos. This week I’ve told myself to just drink 3 large glasses of water at my desk, in addition to the water I drink when I get home, with dinner and the cup of hot tea (it counts!) before bed.

2)      Take my vitamins. I am incredibly lazy when it comes to taking my vitamins and I know it. To help me achieve this goal, I’ve packed my work week (small steps, remember?) in a nifty pill case and I keep it in my purse. When I get a hankering for some candy, I just pop my new calcium chewable, a Flintstone vitamin (you’re never too old!) and fish oil. 

3)      Find a Locks of Love salon. I started growing my hair out months ago with the goal to donate it. I enjoy having long hair but there is someone out there who needs this hair so it is time to quite being selfish, cut it and donate it. I’ll report back with my cutting date soon!

 

There you have it – my 3 goals for this week. I’ll update later with my status! 

 

Plans for 2013

I'm not really big into resolutions, but I'm willing to say there are things I want to change. I'm determined to make 2013 a good year. That being said, there are some things I'm willing to commit to, and hopefully will be able to stick with them for the next 12 months.

1. Get back into running and track my miles. Although I used to post about my runs here, I never really kept track of how far I went each week. I know I can go back and load all the info from my Garmin, but at this point that's just past miles. From now on, I'm going to keep track of what I do. My awesome friend, Lou, is doing a really cool thing that I also decided to take part in. 365 miles in 365. I know there are people out there who aim for 1000 miles a year, so this might seem like small peanuts, but for me, 365 miles will be a great showing. Not only that, but each mile comes with a dollar attached to it.  I'm going to have a pretty jar that will get a dollar per mile, so by the end of the year, I'll have $365 saved up just for running. Sounds like a win win to me!

2. Strength Training. One of the things that disappoints me most about having fallen off the fitness wagon is my lack of muscles. Before I changed jobs, I would go to a strength class twice a week. I loved the class and I love how strong I left. These days, I feel extra jiggly because I have NO more muscles. I'm not really good at weight training on my own, so I know the class will be ridiculously important to getting some guns again. Luckily, I rejoined my favorite gym (it's worth the money to love my gym and have access to classes). Not only will I be able to take the strength class once a week, I've also signed up for a TRX class. My first class was last night and all I have to say is OUCH. I loved it, but in the hurt so good kind of way. It was VERY evident that I've got a long way to go to get back to where I was, but at least I'm on my way there!

3. Take my vitamins and floss. Although unrelated to fitness, it is related to overall health, and that's always a good plan. Since I was traveling so much, I was out of my regular morning routine, and I stopped taking my vitamins. I didn't notice the difference too much, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't take them. I usually feel VERY dependent on my iron vitamins. Just a week without them and I'd be covered in bruises and could barely stay awake some days. Now, I don't feel that way. I am still pretty bruised, but I don't feel tired, and I think it's mostly because of the gluten-free eating. It's been suggested that a gluten free diet will increase energy levels, and I'm definitely feeling those positive effects. But the reality is, the iron levels in my blood are low, and gluten or not, sleepy or not, I need to make sure to get those levels up. And who doesn't love a good floss or a Flintstones multivitamin daily?

4. Be more involved. This one actually has two sides to it.
First, I want to be more involved in "extracurricular" activities. I want to volunteer more. I want to join a rec league of some kind (which might require me to be good at a sport, but we'll see). I want to raise money for a race I'm signed up for, not just run it. I want to just DO more. I work a lot and some days I work really long hours. But that doesn't mean that at the end of the day I should just go home and park my butt on the couch. I need to get out there. I need to meet new people. And I need to have fun activities on my calendar.
Second, I want to be more involved in the lives of the people I'm with. I need to respond to emails more. I need to schedule coffee dates. I need to make sure my little cousin who just started middle school know that I'm here for her if she needs someone to talk to. I want people to know that I care about them, I'm interested in what they do, and I'm not "too busy" to do things. I'll attend concerts and show of my friends. I will visit my Gramma more. And I'll send birthday cards. Get psyched.

So that's that. I'm sorry for yet another post with no pictures, but here are the goals. They're set in stone (kinda) so I'm hoping that I can stick to them!

And I promise the next post will have awkward sweaty pictures! (Just what you've all been missing, I'm sure!)

Welcome Back!

Happy New Year! Welcome 2013! Hi, there again! We're back!

It has been almost 7 months since our last post, and we are fully aware of that. It's been a busy 7 months, and the blog just had to take a back seat. It happens. We're okay with it. We had some good life going on in the mean time, but now it's time to get back into action and back on the proverbial wagons.

For me, the last seven months have been tough and wonderful. I worked A LOT. I traveled A LOT. I focused A LOT on my career and making sure I was putting 100% into my job. Between October and December, I took 12 trips. I visited 11 different cities and 10 of the trips were for work. The two trips not related to work were for Mari's wedding (it was AMAZING, but I also did a whole lot of work while I was "on vacation") and Thanksgiving. It was hard work, but I love my job, so I went very willingly. But spending that much time working means there is very little time for anything else, including working out.

After the half marathon, I was burned out. I didn't want to run anymore, and I had no gym membership. I "trained" for the triathlon in September, but definitely not well. I ran the race, and I finished the race, but I was not particularly thrilled with my performance. I know I could have done better.

Naturally, having not worked out basically at all in the summer and after the tri, I have gained weight. More than I care to have gain (any is more than I would care to gain). I'm not proud of myself anymore and that's not a good thing. For me, it's not so much about the number on the scale (which I am boycotting at the moment) but rather the fact that I no longer feel like I can do anything. Skiing makes me nervous. Am I in good enough shape? Will I be able to last a day on the slopes? I don't have much of my muscle left, and my clothes don't fit the way I like them too (or at all in some cases). These are things that don't make me happy, and I'm working on that now. I'm back at the gym and trying to make the decisions that will leave me feeling good, instead of stuffed into my clothes.

Another change I made was to go gluten free. I'm not 100% gluten free by any means, but I'm probably about 90%. I've struggled with stomach issues for a long time, and I just kind of dealt with it. I tried a lot of different things, but nothing seemed to do much so I'd kind of just given up. A friend of mine at work started going gluten free at the suggestion of her doctor, and I decided to try it too. It was working for her stomach, and I wanted mine to feel good too. I started at the beginning of September, and so far it's been great. The few times I've decided not to follow the gluten free diet, I definitely pay for it later that day in stomach pain. As I said though, I'm not 100% free. I still eat regular soy sauce and things that "were processed in facilities that process wheat," and those don't bother me. I'm still figuring out how to make it all work, but so far I like what it's been doing for me.

So now we're here. It's a new year, and I'm hoping to kind of start new. I'm not huge into resolutions, but there's a few things I'm going to work on. Since this post has already been super wordy and has no picture, I figure it's probably best to save those for the next one. But have no fear, we're back and here to stay!