Life

We all have crazy seasons in life. And not every day can be overwhelming. I've been trying to remind myself of these facts.

Life can NOT be just one insane moment and I need to stop and enjoy each day and be present within each moment.

It's easier to do this and remember this when I'm not under a ton of deadlines and stress. January and the first week of February are not those times.

But, in the midst of the chaos of life, I am making healthy choices and taking time to play (a little).

To recap the last month..

January has been a month of sickness in our house. All the girls have been sick. Lots of days of missed school and lots of doctor appointments. Even last night, Super Bowl Sunday, Maddie had a contrast MRI done at the hospital an hour a way from our house. What was supposed to take about two hours took FOUR! We are hoping that we get some answers for her constant pain. A relatively "simple" procedure for the rest of us is scary and unsettling for someone with kidney disease and severe allergies.

Professionally for me, January to early February is a tough time. So many deadlines! Results come in from the huge national contest as well as two major state contests are the same week. It's always a relief when these contests are completed.

In the midst of this, my diploma came in the mail!

That was a nice pick me up!

To keep sane in these weeks, I have really ramped up my activities. I know, it would be easier to just let it go and get more sleep, but then the stress would push me over the edge I am afraid!

So the little girls and I have been swimming a couple of times. I really want to improve my tri time and Lexi wants to join the swim team. So we are braving the cold indoor pool. It may be "heated" but it isn't warm!

We also went hiking one Saturday at Mineral Wells State Park and loved it! Lexi wants to learn how to rappel and we want to foster all outside activities! (I had some great pictures, but I got a new phone and even though we synced and all that jazz, I still lost a ton. ugh!)

Thankfully Doug got a picture of Kylie and me!

Between running, cycling, strength training, and swimming as well as a few random other things like hiking and rowing, I logged 35 activities in the month of January. And all but about 4 or 5 of those were logged at 5am!

So that wraps up my January. Tomorrow wraps up my 30 day Isagenix challenge. I can't wait to tell you about that!

Weight Watchers Active Link and Me... a perfect pair? :)

FYI: This is not a paid endorsement. (I wish) I have to pay my monthly membership and my extra $5 for active link just like everyone else. Should Weight Watchers ever decide to give me something for free, you all will be some of the first to know! :)

This post is about why I have fallen in love with the Weight Watchers Active Link...

I am only in week 1 of my 12 week challenge with the Weight Watchers Active Link. But I am already hooked!

Why, because I THRIVE on challenges. The Active Link gives me a DAILY CHALLENGE, but it also gives me a 12 week goal.

That's right up my alley!

So what is an Active Link? Active Link is this little body clippy thing that you clip to your shirt or bra strap or put in your pocket and it monitors your activity. All your activity. Good or bad. See below the picture of my active link.

I put the little bugger on first thing in the morning when I get dressed and take it off when I get into bed at night.

Here is my page from today. (8/14/13 at 8:12pm) Today being a Wednesday, is my sleep in day... no morning workout. Normally I would do some sort of afternoon run or cross training, but it was our first day back at teacher in-service and I wasn't up for a workout. Tooo much happening in my world right now for an afternoon workout. And I overdid it yesterday considering that I am still recovering from Bronchitis. (shocker..)

What I think is really cool is that even though I sat most of the day, and didn't have any "real" exercise, I still earned 4 activity points. I think playing the wii helped out. But even then, I hit my baseline at 2pm while still at work. I like knowing that even on off days I'm not going backwards.

Did you notice yesterday's points? 11. yup. Maybe that's the real reason behind my not worrying about today's 4.

Now, if you aren't training for a marathon, I realize that your points are not going to look like mine. I hit the highest target from the start. And that was with my assessment week missing 3 days of workout or any real activity because of being sick! I'm actually thankful that the assessment wasn't completely accurate... not that I'm happy about this bronchitis thing, but because I am afraid it would have pushed me to do more. And I don't need that. Challenge yes, push no.

So where do I go from here? Well, my plan is to continue wearing it at least for a few weeks into the school year. I want to see what my activity pattern looks like on a normal school day. I think if nothing else, it will help me to see when I am sitting at my desk too long and when I am engaged teaching. I like the idea of sustained movement. (It helps me rationalize the oreo's!)

As to the Challenge phase? Well, I've got a marathon to run! The long term goal is to earn 8 points a day by the end of 12 weeks. Will I do it? I think so... but we shall see!

If you are a Weight Watchers member and you haven't invested in this yet... DO IT! I don't go to meetings and I don't input all of my food anymore, but this has given me a new spark in my overall weight loss/fitness mindset. And if you are a fool for charts, graphs and details... you will LOVE THIS! I'm guessing you could probably even make a spreadsheet for all of the data! No matter, it is a great little investment into your overall health.

Another 100/200/20 done!

This morning I got up and went and did my crazy 100/200/20 workout with a friend. We started at 5:15 and finished in just about an hour.  I was beat, but it wasn't as hard as last week! That's cool.

And now I have the hardest workout of the week completed!

It's going to be hard couple of days around here, but working out sure helps!

30 Day Fitness Challenge.. You with Me?

One of the coolest things about Facebook is the random (and really not interesting) things about your life are archived for you to find later. Sorry facebook friends.. I use status updates for this reason a lot!
Anyhoo. As you all are more than aware, I am a year into reclaiming my life and as I sit here tonight eating McDonald's, I am feeling the need to put a new challenge in front of me. Yes, feel free to groan. In the last year I have lost close to 40 pounds, have run a couple of 1/2 marathons and have become stronger. And while yes, I am training to run the Dallas Marathon, running has become fun and social and not as challenging. I need to change that. 
So here is what I am doing. First, I am going back and looking at what I was doing last summer and am going to give myself a FITNESS TEST tomorrow morning. Then, over the next 30 days I am going to bust it and see where I stand. I know my running is way, way better, but can I still do the deck of cards workout? Probably not. I’m thinking I’ve let things slide! Then at the end of 30 days I'm going to do the Fitness test again!

A quick recap from last summer… these are my facebook posts!!
July 26: Warning: when the instructor says "it's just 10 moves today and then we go home..." don't get excited. What she didn't say was that it was 10 moves with 100 reps of each plus "bonus" running laps between each exercise! Let it be known, I did EVERY single REP. Ouch!
July 27: Accomplishment for the day.. Doing better headstands than my children!

August 7: Who is this new me? A couple of months ago I would have used my sore muscles from yesterday's workout as an excuse to not do anything for a week. Today, I did an hour of bootcamp followed by a 2.5 mile run! And guess what, I feel better now than when I got up this morning!

September 10: Deck of Cards workout = 111 reverse leg lowers with crunch, 111 pushups, 111 tuck jumps, 111 jump squats, 200 squats, 200 jumping jacks and 40 burpees for grins.

August 16: Best way to start day 2 of inservice? Doing more than 100 burpees. oh yeah.

August 25: I RAN 5.04 miles this morning at an average pace of 10:54!! AWESOME!!!
September 30: 4 months ago I decided to take back control of my life. In doing so, I started running. On June 1st I posted a 2.46 mile jog with an average pace of 14 minutes. Today, September 30th, I just finished an easy 4 mile run with a pace of 9:50. Yep. I'm proud of myself!!



I have to say, I miss that excitement.
I ran 12 miles on Sunday and guess what, it wasn’t a big deal. 

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!

12 miles! And it was hohum. Crazy stuff.

So tomorrow at 5am… I am doing the Deck of Cards Workout. (Minus the deck of cards, because when it’s just me, the drama of flipping the card and moaning gets lost!) Anyone want to join me…

What’s my game plan?

• 100 reverse leg lowers with crunch
• 100 pushups
• 100 tuck jumps
• 100 jump squats
• 200 squats
• 200 jumping jacks
• 20 burpess

I’m going to do them in sets of 10 and (20’s for squats and jumping jacks and 2 burpees) and then jog for .25 miles then do another set. Will I make it through 10 rounds? Probably not. But I have to start somewhere. And it’s not like I’ve been a total slacker, I put in two workouts today!

Should you want to join my fitness challenge meet me at 5am. Text me for more info!