Work it Girl

This weekend I've been enjoying some time with my family in Maine. After three weeks with the in-laws, I was a little nervous about three more days with my family, but in Maine life is perfectly relaxed and we've been enjoying it all.

Yesterday I spent most of the day laying on the beach reading and getting some sun. It was the kind of sunny, kind of cloudy type day, but I still managed to get a sunburn (I always burn...I apply lots of sunscreen, but I will inevitably miss a spot and burn there...it's unavoidable).

After several hours of simply laying around (it's Maine so it's a little toooo cold for swimming), I decided to get my butt in gear. I didn't really feel like running, so I hoped on this gem of a bike and took off instead.

I was told it needed air in the tires, but I didn't listen. So I rode about 7 miles with low tires. On my way back home I ran into my uncle who was out on a ride as well, so I turned around and joined him. He promptly took me to the gas station and we filled up my tires. The next 3.5 miles were SO much easier. Funny how properly filled tired make such a difference...I ended my ride at 10.5 miles, but I was still itching to go. So I took off running. My legs felt weird for a while, so I kept going until they felt better, and at that point I was on a three mile loop and didn't want to turn around. I took a handful of walk breaks going up some hills (because Maine is seriously hilly), but I did it! I was so proud. Now I'm a little less nervous about my tri that is LESS THAN A MONTH AWAY (yeah I'm freaking out a little). A couple more bricks like this one, and I'll be good to go! I came home a hot sweaty (really proud and happy) mess.

Annnd I spent the rest of the night in terrible pain. My stomach was in complete knots. I think I was dehydrated from being in the sun all day and working out for about an hour and a half. It wasn't fun. I missed out on a dinner of chicken parm made my dad's wife. I couldn't do dinner, but I did manage to stomach half a piece of birthday cake. I can't pass chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting to celebrate my husband, my dad, my gramma and my brother's birthdays. That would just be rude ;)

Today the sun is not out, and my legs are tired, so I'm not sure what's on the agenda, but there will be more celebrations for my gma...she's 81 today!

She's a brick....YMCA?

This morning I found myself here:

source

This is the YMCA where I visited many times as a kid. I learned how to swim here, and I was even on the swim team one year. I trained for track in the off-season in high school here, and this morning I did a brick workout here!

It was raining and raining and raining here, so I decided early this morning to hit the gym. This YMCA has an indoor track, so I thought that would be more exciting that running on the treadmill. Turns out, it wasn't. The track isn't too big, so it was A LOT of going in circles. And there were kids there. I forgot what it's like to work out where kids are...and I can't say I had to much patience for it. The track did amuse me with all the motivational words on the walls. 

source

source

Regardless of how annoying it was to run in circles, it was a pretty decent run. I don't know how far I went because I would have had to count a million laps per mile or something, so I just kept running. I did 25 minutes before I headed back to the locker room to prep for a swim.

This horrendous locker room picture was the only one I could take before my camera battery died again (hence all the outsourced pictures). I swam for another 25 minutes before I got out and dried off with the t-shirt pictured above. Apparently I'm dumb and forgot that not all gyms have a towel service and I probably should have packed my own. But I didn't. But I did have a good swim and got another awesome blackberry picture for you.

After another awesome workout (I'm feeling much better about the fitness path I'm on these days), I headed back to my Gram's to find my laundry done and all the fixings for a huge salad lunch ready and waiting for me. She's amazing.

Today I also set a huge goal for myself. To start off, I will tell you that I have never run farther than 3.1 miles. 5ks are the most I've ever ever done, but I can do it pretty regularly. This afternoon, while coloring  Easter eggs with my friend who lives in NY we were discussing this issue, and she suggested I run the yearly 5 mile road race held in my home town on 4th of July. Well I can't run the race that day because I already have plans for that weekend, BUT I did agree to run the course with her in June. YIKES! I know it probably doesn't seem like a big deal to most people, but for me that's going to be a huge deal. I'm already freaking out about it, but I know I can do it. It's not THAT much longer than a 5k, right? I said June because I need a few weeks to build up to 5 miles, but I'm actually really excited! I need to have something to push myself towards and although the tri is going to be amazing, it's still pretty far away, so this is a great goal much sooner. Hopefully I can do it!

HAPPY EASTER to all two of the BFF readers out there!!! :D

For Crying in a Bucket

I'm pretty sure that means the same thing as "for crying out loud", but it sounds way more fun, and much more like something my Gram would say.

I say this, because I am crying into a pot of soup! I am up bright and early this morning to make soup for tonight's dinner (we ended up having some friends over for dinner last night, so it didn't get made then). Johnny, who is the designated onion chopper in the house, is still sleeping. So I had to brave it. And it hurts! I remember why I made him do it all the time! My poor eyes still hurt!

I think I'll recover alright though :)

Yesterday I did a double work out. A brick? Maybe, I'm still not 100% sure what a brick workout entails. Regardless, I went to the gym and first did a swim workout, and then took the strength training class that I love so much (and haven't been to in about a month). It as all smiles in the beginning.

And it ended not quite the same way. I made it through the strength class better than I thought I would, but I was sweating chlorine the whole time. The smell of myself alone was enough to make me want to throw in the towel. I guess next time I need to shower off a lot better after the pool? I'm not sure I'll try this exact brick (or not brick) workout again, but I'm pleased to know that I can handle them.

Tonight is the premier of America's Next Top Model! I'm so excited. I love reality TV and this tops the list of show I'm in love with. I haven't done any reading on the models on the website because I love trying to figure it out myself through the first episode. It should be interesting because Tyra is a little nuts and always has something up the sleeve of her onesie!

PS- The tater tots were amazing on Monday, in case you were wondering.

not so good photo of me by: johnny