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Showing posts from February, 2012

23 1/2 Hours a Day

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I wanted to share this video with you today.  It is almost 10 minutes in length - but trust me - it's worth the watch.  If anyone is pressed to make their time on the computer "count" it's me.  So just settle down and watch it. It is a very brief over view of a study that was done with regard to a treatment that reduced symptoms in some of the most common chronic ailments in the country. What did you think? Did any of the findings surprise you? Can you limit your sitting and sleeping to just 23 1/2 hours per day?

Indoor Sprint Triathlon Race Report

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Today, I completed the Grand Island YMCA Indoor Sprint Triathlon.  The events involved a 500yd pool swim, a 12 mile spin on the LeMond Spin Bikes and a 5k trip around the indoor track - which worked out to be about 40 laps. (!) My Mom and Grandparents live in GI, so it's always fun to go there for a race.  We arrived Friday night before the race and hung out with the Grannies.  The kids slept pretty well - our older two crashed on the couches and our little ones slept on the floor next to our bed (thanks Bro for letting us crash in your room!).  We were all sacked out by 10:30. I only slept in 2 hour intervals - but thought that better than the last race I slept for...that one I didn't sleep at all!  We got up and snuck out of the house a little after 6, leaving the kids with the Grands.   Drawing for my lane. The event was well organized and small.  Most folks were competing as a team, with one person doing each event.  We were able to choose our own bike in

Happy Bank Holiday!

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Workout today - 1500yd swim.  This was not a hard workout.  I am doing my best to "taper" for a sprint tri on Saturday.  And I may or may not be using it as an excuse to eat and rest.  :P I had the day off today, so I came home from the gym at about 6:30am and changed back in to my PJ's, grabbed a mug of coffee and my newest Cooking Light magazine and hopped back in bed!  My husband either thinks I'm insane or brilliant...but I hear it's almost the same thing. It wasn't to long until I had a little visitor: Perfect Mother / Son moment...with boogies. After some quality snuggle time, another little person realized that Momma was hanging out in her room: What?  You don't give your toddlers smart phones to keep them quiet? We had a fun day at a School's Out Party given by the Children's Ministry at our church.  Those ladies work so stinkin' hard just to give the kiddos a good time.  They had the kids making their own ice cream, a craf

Numbers That (Don't) Matter

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Husbands birthday, our anniversary, kids' ages, lowest price on milk, how fast I can pretty-up to leave, what time the kids need to be at church/practice/lessons, how many scoops of formula to 2oz of water, how much the house payment is, dosing of ibuprofen per body weight, how many servings to cook for dinner... How many yards I can swim how fast, my personal best for 5k, 10k, 15k, Half Marathon, how much for new peddles on the bike, monthly membership at the YMCA, what time to get up to get the workout done, average pace, elevation, number of reps, rest between sets... Resting heart rate, blood pressure, cholesterol... These are all numbers that matter to me.  They serve a purpose in my life.  They cause action, asking "what's next?" It's taken me about 10 years, but I have finally decided on the numbers that DON'T matter anymore. My weight, my hip circumference, my waist size. These numbers don't mean a damn thing to me anymore.

One Week Til I Tri!

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One week from right now, I will (hopefully!) officially be a Triathlete.  I've been training in all three disciplines since October, and my first Tri is next Saturday.  It's a sprint distance with a pool swim, small town, limited participants...all the right components for a first go. Yesterday morning, I did a "confidence swim" to see just how long it would take me to swim the required 500yds.  I wasn't able to do it all freestyle, but I got it done in just over 10 minutes.  I'm pretty apprehensive about coming our of the swim dead last - but my plan is to use these big 'ol bedonk-a-donk legs that God gave me to kill it on the bike.  *grin*  I've done a kajillion bike to run bricks, so I'm confident that I can run on those tired legs. Workout today - 30 minutes moderate output on the bike, 3 miles moderate on the treadmill.  I meant to do 6 on the 'mill like last week, but I may or may not have had a searing pain  small twinge in my right

Favorite Things

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It's time to share some of my favorite things! First up is an application called Pocket Yoga .  This application is available on the Android market and on the iPhone.  I really liked this ap and used it a lot.  You can choose from 3 different practices, depending on the intensity of the workout you desire.  There are 3 different duration choices (30, 45, or 60 minutes) and 3 difficulty levels (beginner, intermediate and advanced.)  This is well worth the $1.99.  I used it a couple of times a week for about 6 months.  I've recently discovered another ap in the Pocket Yoga family called  Practice Builder .  If you are someone that has done enough Yoga to know what you like - you'll really like this.  I've had a lot of fun building my own sequences.  It's nice to be able to put together a short routine that I can do before bed, after a run, or any time! Butter!  Who doesn't like Butter?  A little dab will do ya - it's a natural food - and darn it, it ju

One Month IF Report

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I just wrapped up 30 days on a style of Intermittent Fasting (IF).  The protocol I followed, allowed for me to eat during an 8 hour window.  I chose the hours of 9am - 5pm so that I could have meals with my family.  I didn't count calories, but ate a balanced, whole foods diet.  Here's how it turned out. I had about a 75% adherence to the program.  Normally the wiggle room was on the weekends where we had popcorn after dinner with a movie.  Some days I was able to push my "break fast" until 10 or even 11am to extend the fasting window from the night before. I lost 3.5 pounds.  My body fat scale showed "no change" but I'm not sure it's working properly. I noticed a difference in the composition of my tummy and resurrected a shirt that was deemed "to clingy" before! I found it much easier to wait to eat if I drank more water. In the last 5 days I noticed a daily headache (though late in the day about 3pm) and a serious inability to

Kick Pull CRAZY

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Workout - 1500yd swim / 45min I did a kick set out of the November 2011 issue of Triathlete Magazine  and added 6x50 pull to make 1500.  I still feel like I don't belong in the pool and am just this side of drowning.  Friday, I'm going to see what I have to do to get 500yds strung together without stopping.  I know I will have to combine breaststroke and a possible flip over on to my back to get it done.  It's really hard to get used to breathing heavy in the water.  Timing is everything! I keep thinking that I will look back on my first triathlon (coming up on 2/25!!) and laugh about what an inadequate swimmer I was...and hopefully feel happy about how much better I will have become. *sigh* I haven't been writing much because I'm going through a "thing" right now.  Everyone has those times when they are just tired and don't wanna.  I find that the isolation and constant demand of the SAHM/Daycare Lady gig compounds this in to a tight wad of st

Happy Valentines Day

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Snowed In

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We had a little snow last night and this morning. 8am - we went on to get about 12-14 inches total. I think I experienced the "Worlds Longest Morning" this morning.  Somehow, being unable to go anywhere makes time pass more slowly.  I am a stay at home Mom and a home daycare provider - so being at home all day is the usual for me.  Not being able to leave and go about our usual Saturday fun wasn't so easy. I made coffee and hung out in my pj's while my Superman husband scooped snow.  Finally, about 8:30 or so, I decided that the clunker treadmill in the basement was going to be my only option for a run today.  It is barely  electric and the readout is broken.  I just run on it at a moderate pace for a specific time and guess about the distances.  Today - the schedule called for 6-8miles, but I made it 5 on the old clunker.  Some running is better than no running.  For the sake of my sanity and my family. Two little "snow angels" in the yard with

Just Here for the Conversation

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I went to the Fallbrook YMCA this morning rather than the Downtown location.  I needed to fit in a swim and a bike today, and while I like the pool better Downtown, they don't have spin bikes.  The stationary bikes are okay - but they only have 3 and they are always occupied by someone barely peddling while reading a magazine. Which brings me to my ROD - Rant of the Day. Folks who come to the gym and occupy space but don't really work out. Now, let me preface this by saying that when I started exercising, I weighed 230lbs and smoked a pack a day.  I couldn't even get through a 30 minute Sweatin' to the Oldies DVD.  Well, back then it was on VHS...but you get the picture.  I'm not being judgy-wudgy, I am glad that they are doing something  but these examples are annoying me: The two women that "water walk" and take up an entire lane chatting.  Water walking is GREAT exercise.  However, floating and barely propelling yourself with the errant foo