Running Addiction

I'm seriously addicted to running. I love the way it makes me feel. I love being soaked with sweat when I'm finished. I love the feeling of my legs and arms pumping, and knowing that my heart and lungs are strong. Plus, you can't rule out the wonderful ol' runners high either. I love that!
I actually ran 11.25 miles today!!!!!!!! Just because I wanted to. Wowsers! I'm feeling GRRRR8!!! (we'll see if I can walk tomorrow! LOL!)

P90X is missing me....

I can hear my P90X screaming at me, "Where are You???" It even went so far as to send a messenger to check on me: aka: my husband. He said this morning "when was the last time you did P90X?" Um...well....last week was "recovery week" but I only did the Ab Ripper Dvd once. Otherwise I just ran all week (needed the stress relief, and pms relief).
On Friday, I ran 8.2 miles! Woo-Hoo!!!
So I got a lot of running in, and at least did Ab Ripper, but I didn't do any other p90x last week.

So far this week....um, Saturday I worked all day on our house. I push mowed around the immediate back yard area and around the drive/walkway, etc. I then cleaned up the riding mower, went to get gas for it, and mowed the rest of the back yard. I then cleaned the entire house (which took forever!), did laundry, and once it started cooling off I went out and mowed the front.

Sunday afternoon: I weeded all of the flower beds, vacuumed the floors, swept and mopped all the floors, and did some more laundry. Then I vacuumed out the pool, and played in the pool with Stephen and the boys. We then grilled some steak and chicken, and made some sweet potato fries and homemade baked beans. Around this time, my friend Venece came over, so she could do my hair! YEA!!!!!!! (I was so far beyond the "need to get it done"..) So after dinner, she colored my hair, and cut it. It is SUPER CUTE!!! She put 3 different colors in it. Blond, a reddish blond color, and then a deep copper/brown color. It is so pretty! I love it. Then she trimmed it up for me, and put some shape in it with long layers. I LOVE IT!!!!!! (Thank you Neece!!!!)

Yesterday I worked all day, which is good for the ole' paycheck...but again, I didn't get an official workout in. Geesh, I'm feeling like a total slacker. Today I'm going to run though....then I'll see what my P90X says I'm supposed to do for this week.... :)

This week....

Last week on Saturday I got the boys up and we went to walmart early, to get what we needed for our trip to the lake that afternoon. After I got back home, I ran 6 miles, to get a workout in. Then I loaded up our ice chest, rinsed off my sweat and threw on a bikini, then we went to the lake, and spent the afternoon on the boat and grilling. It was such a great day.

On Sunday=Father's Day, again no workout. Actually took a nap! LOL!

Monday-worked, then took boys out that evening, again no workout. (It's recovery week, does that count for anything? LOL!) :)

Tuesday-I worked on a report, then worked on catching up on chores here at home.

Wednesday-yea! finally a workout! I ran 6 miles!

Thursday-Caught up on more chores that were on my to-do list. I was all crampy and didn't feel like doing much that evening (after catching up on to-do items). But I did at least make myself do Ab Ripper X, at 11:30PM, after I had gotten the boys asleep.

Friday-Today! We'll see. I have plans on getting a good long run in.....(exercise helps alleviate PMS symptoms! I need a LOT of Exercise! LOL!!!)

Day 20, Friday

Why can't I ever seem to get these Kenpo X workouts in on Friday? I was gone, working, most of the day. Then I stopped on my way home and did a little Father's Day Shopping. Once I got home, my husband asked me if I'd wash the boat (we are taking it out to the lake today), so of course I said yes. I not only washed the boat, I also washed my car while I was at it (it needed it desperately). After that, I jumped in the pool with the boys for a few minutes.
Then it was time for Stephen to go into work for a little bit. The boys and I ate some dinner, then built their train track and played, and finally we crashed on the couch and watched "Shakiest Gun in the West" (that old movie, with Don Knotts). they loved it, and laughed so hard! I love watching them crack up like that. By the time this was over, it was about 10:30pm and neither of my boys were asleep yet. They did fall asleep by 11pm though...once Daddy was finally on his way back home.
So I didn't get an official workout in, but it was a very busy day. Maybe I'll just consider that my "rest day" and do a workout today instead.

Day 19, Thursday...

Today hasn't been a good day...I'm moody, and craving junk food like crazy....(pre-PMS)
I've totally flubbed up and ate a cinnamon roll at breakfast (those little canned ones, that I make for the boys...they didn't eat them all, and I nibbled at their leftover bites, and realized that I ate those and the last cinnamon roll...oh well, damage is done.....)
So then I did some work, and around noon I took them out to swim. After this we came in and I fed them some lunch, and I ate some leftover turkey/whole wheat spaghetti for lunch....however, I let my hormones get the best of me and I gave in and ate a few of the boys mini homemade chocolate chip cookies. GAH! What was I thinking?! Afterwards I was like "great, I feel sick now...I'm not used to eating sugar...I've totally blew it today". I was beating myself up. So I finished up some work and hit the treadmill (gotta burn off that sugar...before I crash and burn). So I ran, and I ran, and I ran....trying to burn off my guilt at having ate that un-needed, un-healthy, junk. As the sweat was pouring, I started feeling better, so I just kept going. I did a total of 6 miles....I should have probably done about 10-12 to effectively burn off the crap I've ate....but I'll do my scheduled Ab Ripper X, and finish cleaning the house and go do the grocery shopping...and then maybe just eat a light dinner of salad and veggies (healthy stuff).

Why do we do this to ourselves? Let our hormones dictate how we feel and what we eat, etc? Sometimes I hate being a women, with these fluctuating hormones every month. I wish I could just have a magic pill that would even them out, and keep them even all the time...no more ups/downs depending on the time of the month....that or maybe a hysterectomy; just remove it all...but then your still on a pill to supplement your hormones, and if you miss that pill...woo-wee...it aint pretty... LOL!

Day 18...Wednesday

Yesterday after my run, I did the Ab Ripper X DVD. By this time, I had to start making dinner, and I never got up enough motivation to do the Arms and Shoulders DVD after dinner.

Today, I ran 3 miles (fast; for time) and then I did the Arms and Shoulders DVD. For some reason I just can't talk myself into doing 90 minutes of Yoga....I can do a Yoga class jut fine, and I enjoy it...but here at home, 90+ minutes of Yoga just seems like such a waste of time, because there are so many other things I feel that I "NEED" to be doing. I know it's great for me...I just can't seem to tackle it mentally right now.

Day 17...so far

I just finished running 6 miles. Whew. I'm a sweaty mess, but I feel GREAT! :)

My scheduled P90X workout for today is Shoulders and Arms, and Ab Ripper. Guess I better get busy if I'm going to get those workouts done today also.

Day 16:

Dear Lord, what was I thinkin'? To think I could do Core Syn. and Cardio X both in one day?! I've just completed the Core Synergistics DVD and I had forgotten how long and strenuous that workout was. It has some of the same exercises as Cardio X also.
I guess we will see. If I get a spurt of energy later, I may still do it (just because Cardio X is one of my favorite workouts). But whew, I'm tuckered out at the moment.....

Day 12, 13, 14, and 15

Day 12: Thursday-should have been legs and back, and then ab ripper. However, my boys were playing wii (when I finally got the chance to workout) so I just ran and jumped on the treadmill and ran 3.5 miles instead. Then I talked the boys into taking a bath to get ready to go visit my Nanny. After getting them situated with that, I ran back in the living room and did ab ripper. I then threw together out stuff and we were out the door to go visit my Nanny.

Day 13: Friday-should have been Kenpo X....however we were at my Nanny's house, putting a new metal roof on the barn. My Dad, me, the boys, Stephen, my brother, and one of his friends, worked all day on the barn. We took a break for lunch, and I of course cleaned up Nanny's house (swept, washed dishes, etc). When Nanny got home from work, we were just finishing up for the day, so we all had dinner together, and then we drove back home. We got here and cleaned up the house and got our spare bedroom ready because Stephen's parents were coming down for the weekend to help re-build our tractor. It was a long day, and we were exhausted when we finally crawled in bed at Midnight.

Day 14: Saturday-Rest Day? Yea right. Ok, so I didn't do a scheduled workout, but I did go to work. I then battled the crazy crowd at walmart to pick up some groceries, since we were out of everything. I came home, and Stephen and his Dad had been working all day, but Stephen had put a brisket on the smoker that morning. As soon as I had walked in the door the boys were begging me to take them swimming, so I did. Then I made the sides to go with the brisket, and also made some sugar-free banana pudding for dessert. I think I was on my feet all day. I was tired when we finally got in bed.

Day 15: Sunday-Supposed to be CoreSynergistics...but we had family visiting, and since i was gone most of the day Saturday, I decided to take it easy and enjoy the visit. They finished working on our tractor! Yea!!! It's now back together and running great. I did take the boys out to swim, and we played in the pool forever. Then we had some lunch and relaxed. It was a much more restful day, than any of the others. We needed it.

Today I may try to do the CoreSynergistics and then do my scheduled Cardio X also. We'll see....

Wednesday...day 11.

I didn't do the scheduled workout today, because I felt like running instead (need to keep up my running stamina, since I'll be doing a half-marathon in September). So I ran 5 miles. It felt like a struggle for the first few miles, and I was thinking "oh man, I remember when 6 miles didn't seem bad at all...why does it feel like I'll never even make it to 2"?? Once I made it to 2, I thought 'ok, now I can at least make it to 3'...then I made it to 3 and was finally in a rhythm and feeling good, so I just kept on going. At about 5 miles, the boys were asking for snacks, and wanting attention, so I stopped at 5:15miles.

Day 6, 7, and 8

Day 6-Friday, Levi's first day of Summer Vacation. We were busy most of the day, since this is Stephen's day off. However, Stephen had to go into work that evening for a few hours. So at about 10:30pm, I started Kenpo X. I did about half of it, before I started pushing the fastforward button. I was trying to hurry and get through with it, since it was after 11pm and the boys were still not asleep and they had to get up early for their last T-ball game the next morning.

Day 7-Rest. If you can call it that. We had t-ball games that morning. Then I had to go do an appraisal. I came home and then helped clean house, then sat out by the pool and watched the boys swim.

Day 8-I didn't do my scheduled workout, because I spent the afternoon cleaning house, weeding my flower gardens, watering plants, mowing the lawn, cleaning the pool, swimming with the boys, etc.

Day 9, and 10...

Day 9-Jenni came to visit!!!!! I was running errands all morning, then got home shortly before she was scheduled to arrive. After she got here (after being cooped up in a car for hours and hours) she was ready for a workout. Since it was my scheduled "CardioX" day, we did that workout together. It was so much FUN!!!! I will never be able to do CardioX again, without thinking of her being right there beside me. I've never done all of the drea rolls before, but with Jenni there doing it, I pushed myself and did it all. Amazing what a difference working-out with a friend can make. You just push yourself harder than if you were doing the workout on your own.

Here's pictures of us doing CardioX. Levi (my 6 year old took these pictures)

Stretching/warming up.

See, white girls CAN jump! LOL! :)

Getting hot, sweaty, and tired....

Whew...close to getting done....

Run.....

See, we laughed and talked through most of the workout. We had so much fun!

Banana...

Switching....


Superman! *Jen has great form!

Look, her "Banana" form is perfect to...guess she's had a lot of practice. :)

I don't know what had this shocked look on my face.....

but it must have been funny....Jen is laughing. :)

After our Cardio workout, we changed into our bathing suits and took the kids out to swim. They had so much fun playing in the pool, and Jenni and I enjoyed lounging by the pool visiting. Levi took this picture of us, after we came back inside, so they could gather their things and go meet their family for dinner. (Hence my messy hair and lack of makeup, do to working out and then laying out in the sun.) LOL! :)

Jen looked so amazing! I've never seen her so slender, and muscular! This is the smallest I've ever seen her, and WOW! What a transformation! She looked absolutely amazing, and happy, and I'm so proud of her!!!!!! I know that took a lot of hard work, determination, and motivation. You Go Girl!!!!!

Day 10: Arms and Shoulders and Ab Ripper X.

I was busy all day yesterday, catching up on reports. So after dinner last night, I did the Arms and shoulders workout, and then we took the boys for a walk. When we got back, I did the Ab Ripper X.

day 5...

Since I missed yesterday's Yoga X workout, I was determined to get today's workouts in. Today was Legs and Back, and then Ab Ripper X.
I did the Legs and Back DVD after I finished one of my reports/before going to pick Levi up from school. I don't have a pull-up bar, and have no secure place to put one, so I tried using our exercise band for the pull-up exercises, but it just was intense enough and I wasn't feeling it much. So then I started lifting weights to target the back muscles while they did the pullups and then toward the end (I was running short on time, and needed to finish up so I could go get Levi from school), anyway by the last 20 minutes I was just skipping the parts where they were doing pull-ups, and would hit the next button on my remote so it would go straight to the next leg exercise. My legs got a great workout!
Then later I did the Ab Ripper X. Yikes! My legs were very tired and my abs were still tight/sore from doing this workout two days ago. I barely made it through this workout this time. I even stopped doing the mason twists, the last exercise, about half-way through. Levi said "Mom, why are you stopping? They are still going. Are you tired or something?" I then told him that yes I was tired and because of that I was losing my form and was starting to feel it in my lower back instead of my abs, so that was why I stopped.
Anyway today was a great day, and my abs and legs got a tremendous workout! :)

Day 4...total slacker!

Yesterday was day 4.
I had 3 houses to measure, all before picking up Levi at school at 1:20pm. Then I came home and had a report that was due, and then another due today. So I got busy working. We went to subway for dinner, just so I wouldn't have to cook. Then I worked until after midnight last night.
Needless to say, I never did my workout yesterday. It was supposed to be the Yoga X workout...but I didn't get it done. Total slacker, I know.
Oh well, today is a new day. :)

Today is also Levi's last day of school! Woo-Hoo!!! Summer-time is here!!!!!

P90X Day 3

Day 3: Shoulders and Arms, and Ab Ripper X.
I did Ab Ripper X, right before leaving to pick Levi up from school. I had just enough time, so I squeezed it in. It was a really good ab workout. Not very long, but extremely intense. I could barely get through those Mason Twists. Yikes! Today I'm feeling it, every time I laugh or sneeze, I feel the ache in my abs. Love that feeling! Yea!!! (this is probably my weakest area, after having babies).

Then I decided to do the Shoulders and Arms DVD before Stephen got home, so he wouldn't watch me and laugh the whole time. LOL! But it was a long workout, and he made it home to see the last 20 minutes of it. But I was doing really well with it, so there was nothing to laugh at. I used my 5 and 8 lb weights (8's for most everything, and 5's for the triceps and straight arm raises). The reason I used these lighter weights is because I saw that this workout was almost an hour long and I was afraid to use heavier weights, since I did need to be able to work today (aka: use my arms! LOL!) but at the end of each workout I wasn't exhausted or feeling a major burn and I felt like I could keep going, and today I'm not even sore, so I'm thinking I should use heavier weights next time. Only problem is I have 5's, then 8's, and then 15's. Jumping from 8 to 15 is a lot. I guess I can start with 15, and then when I feel like my form is getting sloppy, I could drop to 8's to finish it out.

Anyway, it was a good day....
Later!

P90X....

Stephen had told me that some friends of ours had ordered the P90X. So when we were at their house this past Saturday, I asked Kim how her husband was doing with it. She said "oh, here" and proceeded to walk over to a cabinet, pull out a box and hand it to me and say "he ordered it a long time ago but has never used it, and probably will never use it, so please, take this with you". She opened up the box, and it was all still packed up, the bonus DVD's were still wrapped in plastic and everything. She did say that the nutrition plan was really good, and when I got home and was going through the box, that was the only thing that wasn't in it. So I guess she had been using it, and it wasn't with the box. But I know how to eat clean, so I will just have to make myself stick to it.
Anyway they are in the process of selling their home, and then moving into a larger home, and she said it would just get packed away anyway, so someone may as well be using it. I was just shocked! I was telling her about Jenni and Matt's success with it, and that I had been wanting to order it, but just hadn't had the extra money and didn't know if I wanted to spend that much money on something I didn't know if I would use or not. So I told her I would use it, and if I get dramatic results, then I would give it back to them for them to use it. LOL! :)

I took my "current" photos, and I started the "Lean" program on Sunday. (I say current, because I lost a lot of weight/fat/size about 10 years ago...so I don't know that you can really call my "current" photos, "before photos"). I decided to do the "lean" version, because I already maintain a decent amount of muscle without really trying to hard, but would like to shed the thin layer of fat that is hiding the muscles in my abs and around my upper thighs.

So Sunday I did "core synergistics" and then yesterday I did "Cardio X" I like the way it counts down the time for you, so you know exactly how much time you have left. Last night when I was doing Cardio X, Stephen came inside to put the boys in the bath, then sat on the couch and watched me. He did more laughing than anything (that little stinker!). I told him "hey, I've never done this before, give me a break!" LOL! Those wacky jacks were really cracking him up....LOL!

I have survived days 1 and 2. These two videos were not nearly as hard as I had expected them to be. (although the drea rolls were really tough! I had to use my hands to push myself up off the floor.) Maybe it's just because it was my first time, and I was trying to figure out the moves, so I wasn't quiet giving it 100% throughout the entire time. Or maybe it's because I'm used to running 6 miles for cardio, and then being totally drenched in sweat afterwards. So I didn't feel like I was sweating enough. BUT my abs are feeling tight today. So that's a good sign. I'm working areas I don't normally work when I'm just running or lifting weights.