Thursday, February 28, 2013

Ever feel lonely?...

I do a lot of my working out at home because I have to be able to fit it into my very busy schedule each day.  I work from home as a medical transcriptionist, I volunteer in my kids classroom as a music specialist, I do BoxTops for our school, I have to keep up on house work *this more times than not doesn't get done*, I have an endless to do list....so to make exercising work for me I have to do it at odd times.  

Take for example yesterday.  I did my strength training (Jillian Ripped in 30) right after I sent my oldest 2 out the door to school.  I have a little cheering section when I do this with my 3rd (we will call her Blondie) either trying the exercises with me or like yesterday, taking a "rest" day and telling me to jump higher :).  By the time I am done sweating it out, my 4th (we will call him Cheese) is awake and calling for me to get him out of the crib.  I am just so proud of myself for getting it done! 

Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30


But just strength training isn't enough right now.  I am training for a 1/2 marathon, as seen on yesterday's post, and I need to cross train too.  So I go take a quick bath/shower to get the sweat off and go about my day running my 2nd child (we will call her Brownie) to all of her activities.  When we get home, everyone goes down for a nap while I get my typing done and get on my bike that is hooked up to a bike trainer.  I cycle out 25 minutes and sweat lots more.  This time, I need a full blown shower.  Biking is much harder than I ever thought!

Anyway, with all that craziness built into my life, I sometimes get lonely in my goals.  I want to be able to run with people, work out with people and all that comes with being social, but it just doesn't work into my schedule right now. I have really been working hard and am lucky I have a husband who supports my efforts but he is super busy training for a crazy race season starting off with a 70.3 Ironman in May but I want more involvement. None of my immediate girl friends are runners or really work out much. I know I need to embrace my time of life and be content that it will not always be like this, working out whenever I get an extra minute but in the meantime I need some suggestions on how to get social without having time.


So my question today is....are you a social work outer?  Do you like to do it alone?  How do you get past feeling like you are all alone in the fitness world?

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

A goal of mine...

When my running journey began, I started with the desire to run 5 miles, without stopping.  That was it, that was all I wanted.  A funny thing happens when you go after a goal like that, when you accomplish it, you aren't satisfied.  You want more.  You want to push yourself again.  
You want to know you can do HARD THINGS!  

So, what did I want this time?  A 1/2 marathon!  I signed up and started training.  The ride was crazy, fun, terrifying, exhilarating and pushed me beyond the limits that I had built up around myself.  I had foot problems with tarsal tunnel, and it was a painful way to train, but I had made the goal, I had to accomplish it.  I am happy to say even with some serious bathroom problems, a numb/painful foot and running with more weight than I would have liked, I FINISHED!  I crossed that finish line with tears in my eyes and not only from the pain. I was proud of the things I had worked through, I was happy to have my husband by my side knowing he was proud and loved me.  I was running with tears in my eyes because I had done something HARD that not very many people would expect from me!  That was in 2010 and I have had the desire since then to do another one and have a slightly better experience.  

Enter this year, 2013.  I wanted to, I REALLY wanted to, but I couldn't commit to run another 13.1.  Well guess what?  The decision was made for me.  I won an entry into the Salt Lake City Marathon 10th Anniversary run!  Oh boy, not only did I get into a 1/2 marathon, it was in APRIL.  I have never even begun training for anything before April and now I will have done a 1/2 marathon by then.  I am in week 3 of my training and only have 7 more.  I will go more into what I am doing each week in a seperate post, but cheer me on as I work up to an amazing 13.1 miles in April!


What is your favorite race distance?  What have you overcome to make your goals a reality?


Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Why a Frog?

Have you ever heard the little story about how 2 frogs were playing in the farmers barn and they fell into a bucket of cream?  That little story applies to my life so potently.  I have felt just like both of these frogs throughout my life.  Some times I am the pessimistic frog, sometimes I am the frog that just keeps swimming.  Right now, I am swimming the best, fastest, steadiest I have in my life.  I am committed to become a Fit and Fabulous Frog!

Here is the story if you haven't heard it...

One day, two frogs were enjoying the day in the barn when they accidentally fell into the farmer's bucket of cream, and they couldn't get out. The two frogs kept swimming around to keep from drowning, and every once in a while they would try to climb out, but this was becoming very tiring.

One frog kept saying, "This is useless, we should just give up." But the other frog just ignored the comment and kept swimming. Finally, the pessimistic frog gave up and drowned. The other frog was sad at the loss of his friend, but he wasn't going to give up. He kept swimming and swimming, and, finally, the cream turned into butter and the frog simply climbed out.

This story shows that even if we stumble and others (or our very own self) try to pull us down, we got to keep on swimming because, eventually, the cream will turn into butter and we'll make it out of the pail. 


Although I don't have anyone who pulls me down in my life, I do a lot of pulling down on myself.  I have been trying to become Fit and Fabulous for over 5 years and I have never given up and died.  I have had to stop my working out for babies, foot surgery, cyst removal, and just overall poor health that wouldn't allow me to do much besides care for my family and lay on the couch.  But so far, I have overcome all that!! I have kept swimming and some day when I reach my goals of running a half marathon again and completing a sprint triathlon in a competitive time I will be able to have enough butter in my bucket to jump out and be a Fit and Fabulous Frog!!