I Talk Too Much

I talk too much.  For anyone that knows me, knows that that is a very real statement.  My husband even had the song "You Talk Too Much" as my ring tone once (he immediately took it down for some reason, though).  At any rate, I'm now proving my point.  So, what is the point?

Well, today was zumba and I needed it.  I was kind of dragging today because of lack of sleep.  Netflix and past episodes of "Gossip Girl" are not a good combination for me.  So, when it was time to zumba, I was ready.  I needed a jolt of endorphins.  The class was about triple the size of last week's, and I saw a few more people that I haven't seen in a while.  It was fun.

So, what's the problem?  I was chatting the whole time!  Believe me, I was still exercizing.  However, I was chatting with a friend to my left about cookie booths.  I was chatting to a lady I had never met before to my right, about this blog and the community 5k.  AND I was chatting to the two ladies in front of me (one was my daughter's former 1st grade teacher) just for fun.  It was fun and it made the class go by faster, but I was going left when Kim was going right.  Zumba is a concentration sport.  You either pay attention or you pretend to move.  I think I was doing a bit of both.

I still got a pretty good workout out of it, but I think if I would have shut my mouth, I could have burned more calories.

Thanks for listening to my random thoughts and remember, it just takes one foot in front of the other.

Caged Tiger - Week 3

Week 3 - For this week, choose between time or distance.

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then do two repetitions of the following:

• Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds)
• Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds)
• Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes)
• Walk 400 yards (or three minutes)

Do this 3 days this week.

Couch to 5k program
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I have a confession to make reguarding this Couch to 5K thing.  I get scared every Monday looking at that new schedule.  It just seems so daunting, but when I break it down, it actually becomes manageable. 

That brings me to yesterday and today.  Monday came and I thought of every excuse in the book NOT to exercise.  Then I remembered that I still had Tuesday.  Well, it came and went until about 9:00 tonight.  I realized that I needed to remain accountable.  My question was, "Now what do I do?".  I could have gone outside and ran in the dark, but my wimpiness came out because it was too cold out.  My only option?  Walk and run INSIDE and not on a treadmill.  Don't blink, you read that correctly.  Now, before you think that I live in some enormous house, I don't.  I live in a little 1600 sq foot house.

If you know what a caged tiger looks like, then you can actually picture what I looked like running around in my house tonight.  My husband and daughter couldn't stop laughing.  BUT I did it, and I did it all inside.  This is what I learned when I did that....I have no excuses.

With that said....get out and move!  One step in front of the other.

It's a Dance Party!

Do you remember those high school and junior high years when you went to dances and had a blast?  I would dance with my friends, have a great time, and then head home and crash because I was exhausted.  Well, I go to a dance every Wednesday night, have a blast with my friends, and then head home exhausted.  The only exception is that there are no cliques and the usual HS drama :)

Picture this....The lights are low, your friends are all there, the music is really loud and everyone is singing along.  You dance like there is no tomorrow, but no one is paying attention to how you dance...You just dance.  Doesn't this sound like fun?  It is, and it is called ZUMBA.  I mentioned this in a past post, but every Wednesday, I take a zumba class at Pointe of Grace.  The owner of the dance studio, Kim, is the instructor and she is so much fun.

So, the question is, if I am training for a 5k, then why am I doing zumba?  Well, the question has a few answers.  The first answer is quite simple and honest. 

1. I think that running is, quite simply...boring.  Ok, I can hear my friends Kira and Brie gasping in shock that I just said that out loud.  I think that you have to be a very special person to love running, but I am not that special...lol.  When I do zumba, I pay more attention to the music and movements than I do the clock.  And, believe it or not, I actually laugh, joke, and even smile while I zumba.  It is quite simply....fun! 
2. I tend to work harder at zumba. When I jog, my heart-rate stays in the 140-150 range, and I jog for approx 30 min. When I do zumba, my heart-rate stays in the the 160-180 range for a constant 60 minutes.

So, the next question is....why am I training for a 5k if I don't like jogging?  Well, again, there are two answers to this.

1. While I am working to make myself healthier, I need a goal.  A 5k is a simple goal that can be easily attainable for anybody, however it pushes me.
2. This time around, we are working towards running the 5k together as a family - minus my husband who works really long hours and thinks I'm crazy. So, as a family, we go outside and spend time together. In my past post, you should notice that we have a blast doing this.

The only time that I really can do zumba is Wednesdays and some Saturday mornings.  So, I have tweeked my 5k training schedule.  It looks like this:

• Mon - 5k training
• Tues - REST
• Wed - Zumba
• Thurs - REST
• Fri - 5k training
• Some Sats - Zumba
• Sun - REST

This works for me, and I am still increasing my endurance.  So, find what works for you.  I would love to hear what works for you too.

Have a GREAT day!  One foot in front of the other or dance like there's no tomorrow.  Either way, you accomplish the same thing.

Week 2

Week 2: "Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes." Couch to 5k Program

I had to take a week off due to a very bad cold I had last week.  It felt like my lungs were literally on fire and I had no voice for 4 days.  So, back on the horse today.  Today, I started on Week 2 and got my kiddos involved.  The kids had today off so we had girl scouts, making messes, and more playing on the agenda, but by 4:00, I thought, "What are we doing inside?  It is gorgeous out!"  So, we all went outside and played.  We also did "training".  It was fun and the kids loved it.  It was nothing special and we didn't have to go anywhere special.  We just ran/jogged/walked up and down my driveway repeatedly.  The kids were obviously faster than me, but we just high-fived each other as we passed one another, and the babies had a blast trying to decide who to run after.

Most importantly, we had fun!

By the way, I've decided that on my Wednesday training day, I will be doing an hour of zumba.  I feel like I'm still getting the cardio, and I'm switching it up a bit.  Can't hurt, right?

Ok, remember, one foot in front of the other!

Zumba or Bust!

After my training day on Tuesday, I decided to be ambitious and go back to zumba on Wednesdays.  I am hooked.  It is fun to dance (or at least attempt to dance) to really great music.  Before you know it, the class is over and you are sweating up a storm.

I love to go to Pointe of Grace because the instructors are great and fun.  Plus, the people that take the class are regular people just there to have fun and make themselves healthier.  Kim, the owner of the studio, was my instructor on Wednesday and she did something fun that I had never seen done before.  She turned the lights off (mind you, this is at 6:00pm), but there was a lonely light in the middle of the studio and Christmas lights over both of the mirrors in the front and the back of the room.  At first, I thought she was crazy, but then I realized she is a genious!  Whenever I went before, I would always stare at myself in the mirror and the bad self talk would start. "Man, look how fat you are compared to the others".  "Look at that jiggle".  "How did you ever let yourself get that way?".  I would still have fun in the class, but I was always comparing myself to others and comparing myself to what I "should" be. 

So, when Kim turned off the lights, I was intrigued.  I wasn't looking in the mirror at myself.  I wasn't even looking at the other people and comparing myself to them.  I was focused on the moves, making sure I could keep up in the dark, and having fun.  Honestly, I think I worked harder in that workout than I had any other time I had gone.  It was a blast!  My daughter takes dance classes there every Wednesday, so I have committed to go there every Wednesday for zumba.  I need to set aside some time for me.

Because I pushed it a bit more at zumba the night before, I woke up yesterday extremely sore, and because I didn't do the normal rest between training, I decided to give my body a rest yesterday.  I will do my 30 minutes of training today.  Tomorrow morning, I'm going to freeze my butt off and run/walk a 5k that my church is putting on.  I'm not even close to being in shape for it, but I really want to see where I'm at so that I have something to compare it to at the 5k on April 27th.

Now, what got me started on this journey last year was reading a blog about a lady named Katie who started walking and then running, to lose weight.  I figured that if she could do it, then I could do it to.  Her blog is honest and encouraging.  In the middle of the year, she started training for a Ragnar relay in Florida with 11 other people that had lost over 100 lbs.  The race happened this past weekend and will be a documentary called "From Fat to Finish Line".  They were also featured on the Today show yesterday.  Here is the link to the Today show piece.  One of my favorite quotes was from Rik who said, "Just put one foot in front of the other."  That is a great mantra to live by.

So, until tomorrow, "Just put one foot in front of the other".

5k or Bust - A do-over

    It has been quite a while since my last post.  I would like to say that since then, I've lost 100 pounds, I've run a marathon, and I can bench press 150 pounds.  In all honesty, I haven't run since May, I've gained 20 pounds, and I can lift two toddlers at once.  However, I am proud to say that I have found a love for zumba.  I don't do it as often as I would like, but I honestly think that it has helped keep my cardio up. 

    That brings me to now.  I want to do another 5k (without getting sick this time), and I want others to do it with me.  Through this journey, I've realized that ANYONE can run, jog, walk, or crawl.  We just have to do it.  As a solution, my children's school PTO will be hosting a 5k on April 27th and we are trying to get families out there with us. 

    Has anyone been watching this season's "Biggest Loser"?  I'm super impressed that they are trying to combat childhood obesity.  That topic is always on the forefront of my mind as I am trying to teach my children good eating habits verses picking up on my bad eating/exercising habits.  So, as my 9 year old daughter and I were discussing this upcoming 5k, she told me that she had made two New Year's resolutions for this year. 1) Train with me for the upcoming 5k and run it in April. 2) After the running, train on bikes for the 42 mile route in the El Tour de Tucson in November.  This will give us something to train for and work towards all year long.  I realize that for me, I am the one that seems to hold my children back.  This time, I won't allow that to happen.

     Back to this 5k run in April.  One thing I am super excited about is teaming up with the schools' PE teacher to prepare the kids for this run.  On the parent side, the principals are putting training schedules from the Couch to 5k program on their newsletters to parents.   My hope is that parents and children will work together to increase their fitness levels and have fun while doing it.

     So where does that leave me?  I started my training today.  5 minutes of brisk walking, alternate between 60 sec of jogging/90 sec of walking for 20 minutes.  It is hard taking that first step, but I did it.  This time around, I'm not really going to focus on losing weight, although that would be a great consequence.  My goal is to have fun with my daughter while conquering those goals that she layed out for us. 

     By the way, I invite any and all people, to do this with me...wherever you are.  We can all support one another.  So, if you are doing this with me, please comment here or on my facebook, send me a note or call me, I would love to hear.

Ok...Ready, Set, Go!