KO'd by kindergarteners

I believe that the actual culprit for giving me this horrible, somebody-please-shoot-me-level cold virus was a 2nd grader, but I was ambush-hugged by a couple of kindergarteners, too, so they may be guilty as well.

Children: nature's original biological weapons.

Two weeks now that I haven't exercised. TWO! The first week, I was out because of overwhelming fatigue and soreness from over-training and racing. This time, I'm battling the first cold I've had in ages. Were colds always this bad? My voice is almost gone. How is it that germs from kids can knock out a grown woman!? 

And I thought I was getting better, but my mom confirmed otherwise:

Me: "Mom? Is my voice sounding better? I think it's sounding better now. I called to see what you thought."

Mom: "What? What? I can't understand what you are saying because your voice sounds terrible!"

Oy vey!

It's My Birthday! Virtual 5K

Ran the "It's Your Birthday!" virtual 5K this afternoon! 53:41

A little pre-birthday reflection

Jan. 25, 2012 - Me: "It's the night before my birthday! I'm gonna get fit-shaced!"

Jan. 25, 2013 - Me: "Man, I've got to make sure I get to bed on time to do my Birthday 5K in the morning."

This week's veggie bag!

Another Executive Decision

It's official: it's a training slump!

A third round of Insanity plus back-to-back race weekends has broken me. It's overkill. So the decision is to back off the entire week--even though I don't want to do it--for my own good.

Lay down like a lamb and come back like a lion.

Shutdown

It's my last week of Month 1 of my third round of Insanity, and I haven't even done the Fit Test. My body and my mind are simply exhausted. On top of that, my daily demands are more demanding and not even rationally so. I can't believe some of the requests that people feel comfortable asking. It's "Can you do this/will you do this/do this for me". Everything has just shut down. So tired, just so tired. I'd smash my phone into a million pieces if I had the courage. Even my dog is more needy and it's driving me nuts.

Maybe I will have to restart this last week next week. Goodness knows I don't want to do that, but I really am in a slump and have nothing to give right now.

New Year's Resolution Run Virtual 5K

This race was supposed to be done on New Year's Day. I actually gave up getting toasted the night before to do this race. But that morning, my interest disappeared. In fact, I wasn't interested in doing that race at all until the medal came in the mail. I posted a time guesstimation on New Year's because I figured that the race would be done long before now.

My legs were like lead the entire time. It was an unpleasant distraction. This weirdo black guy in an ugly red and yellow striped jacket and his companion, Buffalo Bill's aging doppelgänger, were hanging around one of the more popular run routes, which didn't help.

Oh well, at a dismal 54:16, this thing is finally over. One day I  hope to look back at that time and laugh at it. I can hang my medal up now.

Camp Butter & Egg Inaugural Mud Run

Survived the Camp Butter & Egg Mud Run yesterday morning. In hindsight, it wasn't that bad, but for a camp that has a stick of butter as a mascot, you wouldn't have expected it to be quite that arduous. It was a small race, and in that race I faced the second of my three running fears: being the last finisher. The other fears are 1.) oversleeping and missing a race...which has been done and 2.) the dreaded that-which-must-not-be-spoken...DNF. But I digress. We got a spinning medal, though!

The best part was this adorable 8-year-old future Olympian who did the last lap with me. I told him that he could wait for me at the finish line if he wanted. He says, "It's OK. I've already done this path four or five times this morning." I don't even remember him passing me! He refused to leave my side, it was so sweet! After the race he and his brother gave me a tour of the camp.

R3: INSANITY - Day 11

Today was Cardio Power & Resistance.

I cannot believe I am up this late...again. At least this is done. Might as well put the sleeplessness to some good use.

Tomorrow: RACE DAY

R3: INSANITY - Day 9 & 10

Today was Plyometric Cardio Circuit and Cardio Recovery.

I won't deny...this was not a banner day. However, given that I am playing catch-up, the benefit of the doubt should count as something. Still, better planning is need.

Tomorrow: Cardio Power & Resistance

Veggie Bag # 2

Healthy and delicious!

Who says healthy has to be plain? The turnip root gratin recipe was from Cooking Light, and I still trimmed some fat from that recipe by using 1 cup of half and half instead of making the cheese sauce from flour and whole milk. I'm REALLY happy with my Bourbon Collards recipe! I'm getting better at creating recipes and tweaking existing ones! As for the restaurant-style steak, this recipe came from Amuse Bouche. However, whereas she used an entire stick of butter, I opted for just a pat:

R3: INSANITY - Day 8

Today (well, technically yesterday) was supposed to be Pure Cardio, however, I am still experiencing pain and thinking maybe I should back off. Hopefully tomorrow will usher in a comeback because I am not starting this stuff over.

Tomorrow (today): Plyometric Cardio Circuit

Decision Time

It's time for a hard decision about my eating habits. Exercise isn't an issue. I actually enjoy exercising. Eating,  however, is a problem. If it isn't me grazing mindlessly when I'm stressed or choosing fatter foods because they are cheaper, it's being emotionally blackmailed or nagged and harassed into eating fatty foods that I don't want in order to make enablers and dietary saboteurs happy. I can't keep doing this. It's got to stop. All of this exercising will be in vain if I don't. My body is sick of all this bad food anyway. The more of it I eat, the worse I feel lately. I ate fatty food today and have been nauseous for hours. My kingdom for an orange!

Today is the day. It's time to start eating better, even if it means offending people in the process.

R3: INSANITY - Day 6 & 7

I have decided to count the Hot Chocolate 5K as a workout. As for R3ID7, this will have to be a rest day. There is just too much soreness to risk an injury.

Hot Chocolate 15K/5K

Yay! Survived this race! Of course, I did the 5K. My nephew was there, too. This was his first 5K and he walked most of it and still got a time I would love to run someday! The mountainous hills of Atlanta were killer, as usual, and I took a day of rest because there was so much soreness from scaling those things. Oy! The goodie bag was delightful and the finisher's cup is awesome--even though there is some confusion to whether or not it is microwavable.

Here are the goodies:

R3: INSANITY - Day 5

Today was supposed to be Pure Cardio, however, I did Plyo instead. Seeing that Sunday is a race day, there is a very strong chance of an Executive Decision that will count the race as a workout.

R3 INSANITY: Day 1 FIT TEST #11, R3 Day 2-4

It's time to play catch-up!

Fit Test:

57 switch kicks (-3)
40 power jacks (-2)
94 power knees (+3)
14 power jumps (+0)
  8 globe jumps (+0)
14 suicide jumps (+2)
12 push-up jacks (+2)
32 low-plank obliques (+2)

Day 2: Plyometric Cardio Circuit
As usual, my 2nd least favorite of Month 1, after the most dreaded and hated Fit Test, of course.

Day 3: Cardio Power & Resistance
Not bad, considering how tired I was that day.

Day 4: Cardio Recovery
I should love this workout, but I don't.

Veggies! Yay!

I picked up my first bag of farm fresh veggies today!

Fixing it

After some thought, the only thing that was done differently last night compared to other workout evenings was that I drank the pre-ignition fuel, but it  had been in the refrigerator for two weeks during my hiatus. It does not have an expiration date after it is prepared, but given how terrible last night was, I must conclude that the longer it sits pre-made, the stronger it becomes. This situation will not be repeated.

Failed Attempt

I tried to do the Fit Test today, but started to feel really strange and stopped. This wasn't nausea, my heart was beating way too fast so I stopped. I waited to see if I felt better, and I do, but my Spidey Sense is telling me to back off. Ultimate frustration. Now I will be two days behind schedule, and I do not want to start this again next week. I have been feeling really stressed lately, and was experiencing an unnecessary level of nervousness about the Fit Test. This makes absolutely no sense, since I am just competing with myself.

The only alternative is to just play it by ear tomorrow.

Try, try again...

Today was supposed to be the start of Insanity Round 3, but the day got away from me. I hate it when that happens. I really, really, really hate that.

The pursuit of cleaner food

Yay! I'm officially associated with a local farmer and will start getting my produce this week! So excited! I was thinking about breaking up my food budget in a manner that reflected the food pyramid, anyway, so this should work out. I'm going to document my performance to see how this better fuel will help me during my runs!

You know, it's funny: the more I focus on the totality of health instead of what the scale says, the more my body starts craving healthier stuff? I tried to eat something fatty my brother brought me and it was hard to do! Literally wrapped that food in a veggie leaf before I could eat it!

The move to local food

Buying local isn't really a new thing for me. Several stores in my town have been buying from local farmers for years. The produce isn't exactly thrilling, so often I walk pass it. But after reading about how certain artificial ingredients are made and what they are made of, this is going to be the year of the co-op. The discovery that artificial vanilla and raspberry flavors are made from beaver anal gland secretions has scarred me for life.

A local market has been found, and it is a bit pricier than I hoped. Here's hoping that this effort works out and my body thanks me for it.

No matter what happens, anything that has artificial vanilla or raspberry flavor is a no-no FOREVER.

This Chick: the journey continues

My God, has it been a year already?

Every year for a long time, I would make the pledge to fitness. It was always the same pledge. It was always the same "This year will be different." Every year would bring about the same reflection: "If I had just started last year..."

This time I can look back with pride. I did start last year. I did lace up my shoes and hit the pavement faithfully. On those days where I was burned out, the lesson was to learn how to lay down like a lamb then come back like a lion. There were only two resolutions for 2012: the 1st goal for 2012 was to do one 5K. I completed six 5Ks, three obstacle races, two fun runs and even my first 10K! 12 races in 2012! The second goal was to run five miles straight. The mission was accomplished by Thanksgiving. And even though it wasn't on my list at all, I completed the Insanity 60-Day workout plan not once, but twice. This part is still a lot to grasp because so many people I know that are so much thinner than I am haven't done it once. It would have been a source of joy for me to just have one finisher medal. Instead, the year ended with me taking home seven. The progress has been above and beyond anything I could have expected.

It is very rare for me to cry tears of happiness. Now I am sitting here, fighting the inevitable. The new year has begun and I am sitting on this bedrock of progress. This year, there isn't talk of finally doing that first 5K, this year the goal is to do that first half marathon! This year is about ignoring the naysayers because last year you proved them wrong and now they are trying to catch up with you! This year is about going to that next level. 

Today is the first step in my next evolution!