Warm Up

Warm up.

Yes, I am talking to mother nature. At LEAST warm up to 40 -- please??

But really I'm talking about warming up before you workout. I went to a class the other day my coworkers hear me lovingly (and sometimes not so lovingly) refer to as the Kick Your Butt Workout Class. Really it's called Total Conditioning, an advanced strength training class offered at Lifetime Fitness. (More to come on my intense love of Lifetime Fitness. LT is my gym soul mate.)

The class takes you through a mix of cardio and strength training intervals. For example, you may start out pressing dumbbells from shoulder height up to the ceiling for 1 minute. The 2nd minute you may add a lunge with the press, and the third minute you're at a burpee with the press when you're standing. These three minutes are considered a set. There's a recovery period after a set and then it's repeated.

I'm not going to lie, it can be real intense. And if you don't want to look and feel like you're out of shape, don't come to this class because I guarantee you it will Kick Your Butt.

You know a class is going to be tough when in the warm up you're struggling. That's exactly how I felt when I went to this class earlier this week! The warm up KILLED and I considered darting to the door before we even started our first set! When I started to think about it, I feel the same way in yoga class. You know when you're in table top position and they have you put your right arm out straight and your left leg straight behind you? That gets me every time, and every time I feel so out of shape!

Is it the same as when you run and the first mile to two miles is pretty hard but then you hit your groove? It's like your body is saying "No! No! Don't do this to me!" but then like a stubborn child, realizes it has no other choice so it finally decides to stop fighting. If that's the case, I don't feel so bad about wanting to quit 5 minutes into a workout class. The only thing that gets me through is when I look around the room and middle aged, overweight women aren't even breaking a sweat. No way will I give in if they aren't. I'm stronger than them....I think.

There is no proven benefit to warming up before a workout, according to Mayo Clinic. But, their point is that it can't hurt. It slowly revs up your cardiovascular system instead of sending it into workout shock and gets your blood pumping. The theory also is that it can reduce your chance of injury.

My theory is that it's going to suck the first 5 minutes whether you want to call it a warm up or a workout. Call it what you will...I'm sticking in there.

Read More

Shower...I mean bake...I mean shower

Who knew you could literally shower with all the ingredients coming straight from your kitchen. I'm on a kick recently of being more....simple. I don't want to call it organic per say, because if I could buy something at the store that I could actually read the ingredients, I would do that. Why is it that even the organic things always contain ingredients that I have no idea what they are? Normally I don't even think about it, but it all started about two months ago with my face.

I've never had great skin. Never. Every year I ask God why I am in my mid twenties and still have acne like I'm 16. There are worse things in life, but it has always bugged me. My coworker was telling me about washing her face with oil one day and how that has helped her face not to break out. Obviously, my first reaction was no way, I'm not putting OIL on my face! (another oxymoron in life -- why is it that when you say no way, those are exactly the things you end up trying?) I'm not going to go into detail about the face wash, I'll save that for another post, but it turns out that I LOVE washing my face with oil! It has done wonders for my skin, and I can't help but hope that it'll help keep the wrinkles that are starting to crease my face in check.

Naturally, finding a household product that has helped my face so much only led me to wonder what other miracles were hiding in my kitchen. I started thinking about my hair....my poor hair. Damaged from years of color and curling, and yet my favorite article of clothing every day. I googled "homemade shampoo" just to see what would come up. There were a couple of recipes that included a castille soap. When I asked the woman at the co-op what she thought of that soap, she said she had tried it and didn't recommend it! Plus, if you're buying a soap to put into your homemade shampoo, it just doesn't seem that homemade anymore, does it?

So I went with a very simple recipe. Cheap and simple. I tried this one off of onegoodthingbyjillee.com:

 ...and of course I then had to try the conditioner as well. I was going for the whole experience here....

When I made the concoction, it didn't look quite as nice as the pictures. More like some whitish water in one bowl and some yellowish water in another bowl. I really should have thought about how this was going to go down, because I realized when I was in the shower that pouring a bowl of tap temperature water over your head when the rest of your body is under hot water feels like an ICE BOX! 

I didn't feel anything spectacular in my hair. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't wonderful. I think more than anything I learned two things: baking soda and water doesn't taste good, and apple cider vinegar and water stings your eyes. Literally, after washing my hair with baking soda and apple cider vinegar, and washing my face with oil, you could have stuck me in an oven at 350 for 30 minutes and I would have been pretty tasty! 

I think for now I'll stick to my Herbal Essences...

Read More

There always seem to be themes in my life...a couple of unrelated instances popping up all around one subject in a short time frame. Recently it's been about the Paleo diet. I know it's a fad -- just like Atkins, just like the South Beach Diet -- but this one has some history behind it. I haven't read anything scholarly about it yet, only a couple of articles online. One book recommended to me by a coworker is "The Primal Blueprint" by Mark Sisson. That's next on my list to read...

What intrigues me about this diet is that it's roots are grounded in how our ancestors long ago used to eat. Back then, we didn't have the agriculture we have today to make grains and processed food so available. A couple thousand years ago, people were eating plants and meat. The argument is that our bodies were made to function best on what was available in the beginning of the world. Honestly, from a Christian perspective, because the Garden of Eden was perfect and the diet of Adam and Eve was only plants, it makes sense that plants are an essential part of our diet....imagine Adam, Eve, and God kickin' it with a little Caesar's and a can of Coke. :)....maybe not.

After the fall, God required sacrifices and death became a part of life. The priests ate part of the sacrifices according to the command of God, so eating meat became a part of our diet. Fast forward to the Israelites in the desert, God gave them manna when they thought they were going to starve. From what I know, that was a wafer type of food. Jesus broke bread at the last supper, and multiplied bread and fish for the crowds. Obviously bread was a part of the diet in Jesus' time as well.

Putting all this together, we have plants, meat, and wafers, and bread. I think if Jesus is eating bread, it's okay if I eat bread too. What I'm guessing is that the bread back then was not as processed and they didn't eat it as often as we do today. When I think about how I used to eat a couple of years ago, my diet looked like this:

Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Sandwich
Dinner: Pizza

Grains, grains, grains. I'm more and more interested in the idea of the Paleo diet, but anything extreme sends up a red flag for me. Annie's Modified Paleo Diet: A Christian Viewpoint on Ancestral Eating...I feel a book coming on....

Read More

Confessions

I have to confess...I've been eating chocolate without exercise.

I've been out of commission this week since the 1/2. Every step I take I feel my knee. I'm starting to reconsider if it was all worth it.....nah, it totally was. I limped for two days and am now walking reasonably normal, but it still hurts and is keeping me from being as active as I want. I tried to bike this afternoon.....

See why? Imagine how disappointed I was when 5 blocks in I decided to turn around because I decided it wasn't a good idea to ignore my body. And you know what else I'm guilty of? Not stretching as much as I should. I just researched how to cure a bum knee, and of course, stretching is the cure. Is it just that stretching is boring so I don't want to do it? Or is it that ouch-is-this-really-supposed-to-feel-good sensation I always seem to have? I suppose I can't complain about my knee when I'm not doing everything I can to help it along.....I guess I'll substitute my bike ride with some basic quad, hammy, and IT band stretches....and a little bit of chocolate. :)

Read More

Yesterday morning my alarm clock rang at 5:00am. And yes, I willingly got up at 5:00am....willingly in the sense that if I didn't get up, the only person that would be disappointed would have been me...and maybe my running buddy....not willingly in the sense that I felt perky.

No. I never feel perky at 5:00am.

The only thing that drew me out of bed at that ungodly hour yesterday was this.

I had been waiting for this day for awhile. Actually, probably for about a month and a half when I found a half marathon training program online and got to work. And yesterday, it all paid off. Let me tell you about the race. First of all, I was nervous....not for the distance as you might expect, but for my knee. This is the first time I've ever had any sort of pain when exercising, and in training leading up to the race it wasn't getting any better. It was about 3 weeks before the race and I was out for my 10 mile run on a Saturday afternoon. Mile 8 rolled around and my knee started to hurt. It kind of took me off guard. What? My knee? No way. By mile 10 I was limping along. My next attempted run it acted up at mile 6, and then again on the following run at mile 3. See why I was nervous? I wasn't liking the trend. So I stopped in my local running shop and got one of these.

It's wrapped right above the knee to lessen the impact on your knee cap from your IT band. Needless to say, for the two weeks before the race I didn't train tapered.

The race day finally came. There were TONS of racers.

And the course was absolutely beautiful, up and down the river. I had my brace in hand as my running buddy and I entered the corral. We started at the back of the pack and before we knew it, we were off. The first few miles were great -- I felt good, the adrenaline was still pumping, and I was having fun looking at people's cute running outfits....and then it happened. Between mile 2 and 3 the pain came. I'm going to ruin the story right now and spill the beans that I finished. I wasn't sure if I could finish until I reached mile 7. It hurt -- I mean it really hurt. I actually never ended up putting on the brace. I wasn't sure if it ever really helped during training, so even though it stayed in my hand the whole 13 miles, it was nice to have something to squeeze every time I felt a shot of pain. And I probably looked ridiculous, because I realized that the less I bent my knee, the better it felt. Just call me the hobbit runner.

I think the only reason I was able to (children, don't try this at home) push through the pain, was because of my running buddy being right beside me the whole time (thank you Emilie!) and the cheer squads along the way. Really, race-supporters, you make all the difference. Seriously. I love the bells. I love the cheers. and I love the signs. Here were a couple of my favorite signs.

Run like you stole something.

Where is everybody going?

Getting up early to make this sign wasn't easy either.

Pain is temporary. Pride is forever.

You trained longer for this than Kim Kardashian was married.

....just to name a few. So, I have accomplished a half marathon. Check.....now what?

Read More

ITBS

ITBS....Iowa Test of Basic Skills

Just joking.

More like, Ilio-Tibial Band Syndrome. I am a self-diagnosed ITBS victim. It was only 2 weeks ago that on a long run I had some pain around mile 8. I pushed through the next 2 miles okay, but at the end of my 10 mile run, I was having pain just walking. Wow, I'm young, and aren't knee problems for old people? Here's where your IT band is.

And here's how it connects to your knee cap.

Since you can believe everything you read online, the world wide web says if your IT band is too tight, in combination with other muscles being too weak, your knee cap can be pulled to the side. The unbalance can cause pain. A real bummer. 

But, on the good side, I also read that stretching and strength training can cure it. Let's hope! Because I don't want to feel old anymore. 

Read More

This weekend I downloaded some new songs I think will be great workout songs. You know when you hear a song and it makes you want to dance? That to me is a good workout song. Here are the four songs I downloaded:

1. Call Me Maybe -- Carly Rae Jepsen. I love this one. The orchestra in the chorus makes my heart leap...and hopefully will have the same effect on my legs.

2. All I Do is Win -- DJ Khaled. Yes, all I do is win (yeah right!). I like the fight-feeling in this song. I will fight until the end of my workout. Scouts honor. 

3. So Good -- B.o.B. 

4. Starships -- Nicki Minaj. Both So Good and Starships are feel-good-summer-songs. They make me picture a skinny me at a bar-b-que with good friends and a good pair of shorts. 

I'll try them out tomorrow on my run!

Read More