Feeling REALLY good today!  A little sleepy from staying up too late.  A little nervous about my Run For the Cross meeting tonight.  But all-in-all, I am feeling pretty good about my life in general:)

Side note: Run For The Cross is a small local race put on by my run club(Heartland Road Runners/Walkers Club) in which I am the Race Director for 2nd year.  I still get a bit nervous when I feel all is lying on my shoulders, but last year, I had a lot of help and support, and the event went GREAT!  Hoping for more of the same this year.  If you would like to know more, or if you are local, you can even print off the registration form, the website is www.runforthecross.wordpress.com.

OK…back to my original thoughts.

So, as you see, with that and my 90-Day Personal Challenge going on at the same time, add in my gardening, and the fact that summer is always a bit hectic, I am a bit busy right now.  And I am feeling a bit overwhelmed and hoping I did not bite off more than I can chew.  BUT…I know it can be done, and I just need to focus at the task I am working on at each moment, and try to organize my time as best I can.  That said, I must say that I have an “air of confidence” about me today.  I had a great workout last night, got a lot caught up on here and I got the agenda ready for the meeting.  Now I just need to actually have the meeting, and get some opinions and inputs, assign some tasks, and keep doing what I am doing and I think it will once again be a fun event that I can be proud to say I was part of.

After my meeting, I have a few things to pick up at the store, and then heading to my garage to do a chest and tri workout rather than go all the way back to the other side of town to the gym.  All free weight and body weight work anyway. Plus I can crank up the music and grunt as loud as I want!  I am seeing another late bedtime in my future tonight, but it is worth it:)

So organizing my time and focusing on the task I am working on and giving it my full attention in THAT moment is going to be key.  That said, my break is over and I have to get back to work:)

Make today GREAT!

This weekend was a lost battle in an otherwise well-fought war.  But losing one small battle will NOT derail my focus!  I went to FIT and Zumba tonight at Legacy, so my exercise schedule is good for the day.  I have a race meeting tomorrow night, so things may be a little “off” tomorrow, but I will work out at home.  Chest and tris, so mostly free weight work anyway.

Anyway…back to the subject of today.  I over did it a bit this weekend.  The Girls’ 5th birthday, gotta have cake.  Which is fine!  Everything in moderation, right?  Moderation went out the window when I realized there was 3 fairly large pieces left in the house.  EEK!  The rest is basically a BAD falling off the wagon story:(  BUT, if you want to know exactly what eating that much cake will do to someone who normally doesn’t eat that much sugar OR white flour…well, I gained 7# overnight!  Carbs make you hold fluid, so it makes sense, but it is very frustrating all the same.

It also made me realize that I need to reassess where I stand on Day 16 of my 90 day challenge.  I found yet another reason to stay focused….spite!  OK, I didn’t say it was a good reason!  But what I mean, is I am going to do it in spite of myself.  I know what I need to do, in fact, everyone around me knows what I need to do, BUT there is someone in my life who has pointed out the fact that I keep falling “just short” of what I consider my goal weight and look.  HHHMMMMM  OK, so is this me wanting to “show” this person?  Possibly!  Is this person trying to fuel my fire?  Also…Possibly!  Does it bother me?  A little, but I have finally realized that in the end, this is MY life and only I can make it what I want it.  The choices are MINE and mine alone.  I choose the exercise I do, I choose what goes in my mouth, and I choose what I want most in my life.  And right now, that is to continue living my life in a healthy way by eating clean and healthy and exercising and hopefully continuing to inspire and helping others to do the same.

It may take some time, but I WILL see the visions in my head become a reality!

Going to start off by telling you all that I am sticking to my plan about 75-80% of the time.  NOT the greatest:(  I am working on some mental stuff this week, to try to figure out WHY I still seem to be self-sabatoging.  I am still catching myself eating my emotions, and eating out of boredom or procrastination the last 2 weeks.  I am making better choices in my foods, but too much IS too much.

I still have not been feeling quite myself since I had that respiratory infection 2 weeks ago.  Not sure if I jumped back in too fast to my normal workouts, or if I still haven’t completely shaken it, or what the issue is.  That said, I am doing my best to keep myself healthy AND get in my workouts.  I also did some great food prep this past weekend, that is keeping me more on track than I would be had I NOT had several meals in my fridge to GRAB AND GO.  FOOD PLANNING IS ESSENTIAL for me at this time.  Also, I am going to cut myself a bit of slack this weekend, and spend some time just “being”.  Yes, I am planning a full REST DAY!  LOL!

So….don’t forget to REST!  Yes, if you want to get fit, you WILL have to push yourself beyond your comfort zone.  BUT!  You also have to give your body proper rest to recover and build.  Recall, that your muscles actually grow at REST!  When you are working out, you are actually breaking them down, putting little micro tears in them, and those little tears require healthy foods and rest to repair and grow.  And the bigger your muscles are, the faster your metabolism will be, so we want to build our muscles!  And NO!  I am not saying we all need to be body builders, or even fitness models.  I am talking about lean muscle mass.  But I will GUARANTEE YOU(especially women), that you are not going to get “bulky” without being EXTREMELY DEDICATED and lifting MASSIVE amounts of weight.  And for a “body builder’s” body you would HAVE to take some pretty scary stuff to get it.

Enjoy your long Memorial Day Weekend!  And remember WHY you have off on Monday…….

Things are going pretty well.  I have been holding some water, but woke up this morning down 3# from yesterday, so I think my body is just adjusting to the new eating plan, and possibly even my body still trying to get all the antibiotics and meds from being sick last week out of my system.  I know what I am doing works, so I will KEEP GOING!

I did realize yesterday after adding up my exact calories for the first 3 days, realize that I UNDER estimated several things, and I had dropped my calories way too low.  So I added some back in yesterday, and I feel much better this morning.  Tonight is my first BIG test.  I need to stick to my limits on my “treat” meal and not let myself go into full binge.  If I do, “treat” meals will have to be re-evaluated from here out while on this challenge.

Workout are going great so far too.  If you are curious what I have been doing, look on the MY DAILY WORKOUTS tab.

Make it GREAT!

I am SORE!  I know I did take last week mostly off because I was sick, and then ran a half-marathon on Saturday, but I am exhausted!  Last night’s workout was another great FIT class followed by Zumba at Legacy Martial Arts.  And I gotta tell Yas….I could really tell that I have not done Zumba in a couple weeks, because for the most part I felt VERY uncoordinated:P  LOL!  But it is all good, because as always, Stacey made it fun, and I had a blast:)

For tonight, I am not sure if I will go to the gym, or come home to work out.  The weather is so beautiful right now, that I may take advantage and come home to workout. I have done pretty well with my food for Days 1&2, so let’s see how Day 3 goes.  I gotta admit, that I woke up hungry again, so once I figure the calories for yesterday, I may find out that I am still a bit low.  Monday was around 1350, and that is WAY TOO LOW for me.  I need to eat ENOUGH to fuel my body and maintain, and hopefully even build, my muscle mass at this time.

Time to make it a great day!  Here is my daily motivation!  Never mess with a determined woman!

EEK!  I have to admit, I am a bit scared.  I am really putting myself out there front and center this time, for the whole world to see.  I hope with the support of all of you, I will find out EXACTLY what I can do! NO EXCUSES!

I did a little research, and have decided to use Body By Vi products(One shake a day after my workout and their Vita-Paks.) during this self-proclaimed “Personal Best” Challenge.  I will be planning my meals, based on Pauline Nordin’s, Fighter Diet Concept, using her Food Pyramid.  And I will be arranging my own lifting workouts with a 4 days a week split, and doing FIT and Zumba classes at Legacy 2-3 days a week.

Also during this time, I will be planning the Run For The Cross race, so if I miss a few entries here and there…I am ASLEEP!  LOL!

I am starting today with Shoulders and Abs, and will generally post my workout after I do it.

Here is what a basic day in my diet will look like:

Breakfast – oat bran with wheat bran and a 1/4 C coconut milk and 5 egg whites

Lunch – a large spinach salad with bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, and mushrooms, and a small can tuna with 1/4 LF cottage cheese and 1T mustard.  Before you say EEWWW…..try it!  It makes a great tuna salad, and if you put it on the spinach salad, you don’t need extra dressing:)

I will have a pre and/or post workout protein shake(depending on if I am lifting or doing cardio)

Supper – chicken breast(lean protein), steamed broccoli and a small salad(veggies) and Miracle Noodles(carb-free pasta to have the “illusion” of eating something starchy).

There is room for one more snack in here somewhere, which will usually be some FF Greek yogurt and some almonds.

Calorie total goal for the day is between 1700-1900.

Sorry I didn’t get any “starting” pics taken, but here is one from this weekend at the Bridge the Gap being my normal “goofball” self:)

I really haven’t changed from my last posted progress pics on 3-31-12.  I will get a starting weight and my measurements and get them posted tomorrow.  Wish me luck!  90 days from today is August 11th!  Time to see what I am made of:)  #norecess

MANDATE EXCELLENCE!!!

The good, the bad, and the UGLY!

Weight – 160.8

Chest – 34.5

Upper Arm(R-cold-flex) – 12.5

Waist – 33

Hips – 37.5

Thigh(R) – 21.75

Started out from home for my 3.5 hour drive to Champaign, IL bright and early.  OK…those who know me…NOT so bright, and NOT so early:P  LOL!  I got a bit of a late start, and rolled into Champaign around 11:30.  Which as it turned out was just in time to meet several friends for lunch/coffee at nice little cafe(Cafe Kopi) on Walnut Street, just a short distance from my hotel.  Some of these friends included Michael Scholtz and Greg Hottinger, who are the authors of Coach Yourself Thin, and owners of NOVO Wellness(www.novowellness.com) which I suggest anyone with weight issues check out.  Also were some friends that I had met in the past, Jen and Renee(who are also IN the book) and Sue(who I feel like I have known forever from Biggest Loser Club:), and got to finally meet Carol, who lives in Champaign and not only was it a GREAT pleasure to meet her, but she did a wonderful job of playing hostess all weekend and her story is exceptionally inspiring.

From there, I went to my hotel to check in and change clothes, because I knew I would not have time again before the 5k that night, and headed to the Champaign Public Library for a wonderful session with Greg and Michael, where we met up with the rest of the Novo Group.   As always, very informative and and we had some great discussions both during and after.

Then we were off to the 5k.  I wasn’t sure up until the start if I was walking, running, or a bit of both.  I ended up lining up and running it with my friend Renea’s hubby Randy!  It was his first 5k race.  We had a blast!  I kept pushing, and we finished with a nice respectable 32:17.  I was grateful for the company and the push.  My year of being riddled with injuries has kinda stunk, and I was not sure exactly where my efforts were going to lie for this race weekend.  After everyone finished, we went for a nice dinner at Houghlihan’s.  YUM!

That brings us to Saturday morning!  RACE DAY! This would be my 4th Half-Marathon.  I got up and ready and headed out the door a good hour and 15 minutes before the race was to start.  My hotel was about 8 mins from the parking lot.  TRAFFIC JAM!  EEK!  I got parked as the elites in the first corral took off.  Thank goodness they switched to a wave start this year, because being a “back of the packer”, I had plenty of time to hit a porta potty and get to my corral.  Also less time to stand in the cold and wind, so it all really worked out for me.  But I missed seeing everyone before hand:(  Getting that pre-race encouragement maybe would have pushed me a littl more.  The first couple miles went by pretty easily.  I used the Galloway run(4:15)/walk(0:45) for most of the race, and I actually felt pretty good.  Just as my hip kinda started “talking” to me, a girl from the Quad Cities who was struggling came up along side of me, and seeing that I had on a Garmin, asked what pace we were going.  I started talking to her and we slowed just enough to give it a breather.  Then I helped pace her, since she was struggling even more than I was, for about the next 3 miles.  Finally, around mile 10, she told me to go ahead, that she was hitting the wall hard.  I made sure she was OK, and since it was just lack of training, and not an injury or anything, I went ahead and ran MY race.  I don’t know how much I helped her in those 3 miles, but she made a HUGE difference for me.  The last 5k went pretty well.  I slowed a bit here and there, but sticking with the Galloway Method was working for me.  With only .4 miles to go, I decided to GO FOR IT!  I sped up and with a goal of 2:30, I finished in 2:25:30.  So I was pretty happy with that.

I may not be fast, but I am DOING IT!  That was kind of my epiphany of the weekend.  I worry so much about trying to be the best.  The best WHAT?!?!  All I can do is be the Best Me I can be.  And you know what I figured out???  I am OK with that:)  I am a LONG way from where I was 4 years ago, and I LOVE my life now.  I hope to continue to grow my knowledge in health and fitness so that I can help as many people as possible find their way to a healthier lifestyle.

Back to the story:)…..

At the  finish line, I saw many of the HRRWC members and stopped to chat and visit for a few minutes, but being drenched in sweat, the wind got VERY cold VERY fast!  So I headed out to meet up with the Novo group for one last lunch before several of them had to head out. Then it was back to the hotel for a soak in the tub and a nap.

Later that night, I went out with two very inspiring ladies.  We talked about EVERYTHING for hours.  Had a GREAT time!  Made me think about a lot.  And I get to help one of them work on an ST plan:)  Many of you know that is my PASSION, so I can’t wait to get to work on it this weekend!

We wrapped up the weekend with the remaining 4 of us going out for a wonderful brunch, and then it was time to say our final good-byes and head for home.  It was a long ride, as sitting for too long is still the only thing that really agitates my hip.  But the experiences of this weekend were WELL worth it:)

Thanks to all of you who made it a wonderful weekend:)  My only regret was not getting to see my HRRWC family a bit more, but we have next year:)  C-U There!

Now to get ready for Bridge the Gap in 9 days!  EEK!:)