Sick Day

I wasn't feeling all that great last night. My stomach was messed up all day. I stayed at work all day, but I don't think running a 5k and participating in my ripped class would have been good for my stomach. So, I took the day off...

Bland food, tv, a ceiling fan and a husband with the same problem was my night. Now, it's time to get better!

What do you do when you don't feel well?

Somber Weekend

This weekend was not the most fun. I saw a lot of people I haven't seen in a while. But, it was under not so great circumstances. A friend died a couple weeks ago and we went to his memorial on Saturday and another on Sunday.

There were a lot of happy stories told, and so many many memories shared. It was a fun weekend, but sad. Mike was a guy who loved a good time with a lot of cold ones. There was a lot of drinking and music this weekend. One of his friends wrote a song with him and it was played a few times. It was good, but brought tears to my eyes. 

I can't wait to get back to fun times, a lot of sad family stuff. All is getting better! Next weekend is going to be sooo much better (Color Run Saturday!!!)!!!!

My fat is Crying

A couple hours before I left for the gym, I was getting extremely restless at work. I couldn't hold still and all I wanted to do was run. I ran my 5k in 32.56. Not too shabby. It's my fastest time since I started my training (not my pr, though). I'm so proud, but not as proud as when I hit the under 30 minute mark. 

I hit up my spin class for the first time in about 3 weeks. It was a much needed class! Since I was so speedy for my 5k, I got into class early and taught myself a little somethin somethin. This time, the instructor was insane. He had us on huge hills and doing 2 minutes sprints on them with only 15 recovery between them (for 20 minutes and other difficult stuff to equal a 50 minute class). At least had a good song selection (which he usually does). 

Before I left work, I had a little snack. I tired my Honey stinger bar, I tried the chocolate and mint almond one. WOW!!! They are awesome!! They taste exactly like those little mint candies that you get at those Italian restaurants. You know the ones. It tasted exactly like it. I can't lie, I have a new obsession!

Right now, I'm cooking dinner and relaxing while the yard is getting watered and I have my calve sleeves on (which I'll talk about next week). Let me tell you, I have been getting some strange looks while I'm out front watering the yard in them. Not a lot of people run here, so I'm not sure they know what these are. They probably think I'm some crazy lady that has cold calves. 

Have you ever tried calve sleeves? What's your favorite type of compression? Have you ever had any crazy spin instructors (or are you one)?

Cold Feet

Last night's yoga class was so much better than last weeks. I was finally able to relax and forget all the bad things that have been going on in my life (it's getting better, don't worry). 

My feet get so cold, that in yoga, I usually just take off my shoes and leave my socks on. Then, about half way through class, I take them off, just in time to start the cool and they get cold again. I just can't make up mind! All the other people have their socks off the entire class. Actually most of them arrive in sandals. 

I was so relaxed when I got home, I didn't want to do anything that a responsible adult should do. I did all my busy things, then sat down for the night and watched some Dexter with Jason.

While we watched Dexter, we ate dinner. We rarely ever eat dinner at the kitchen table (but we always eat breakfast there). I made Jason's favorite dinner (which is good, because it's so easy to make): chicken taco past salad. It may not look appetizing, but my taste buds really enjoyed it!

After the evening was over, I went into the bedroom to change out of my gym clothes and shower and this is what I found on our bed. I think I had a tired kitty waiting for us.

Do your feet get cold easily? What time do you go to bed? What's your "go to" recipe?

Trying Something New & Getting Stung?

Last night, I tried a new class (for me, it's been at my gym since I can remember). I was really scared about trying the new class. I hate embarrassing myself by doing the moves wrong or different than everyone else. The thing about the GST (group strength training) class was that I had to rush out of work, change like Superman and get to class. I had 20 minutes to do all of this. The good thing is that I made it with 5 minutes to spare (I work really close to my gym)!

The class was good, but I'm use to a cardio type of class and sweating a lot. Well, I didn't work up a sweat, but I'm sore today! I loved the instructor. He made the class fun: we did the moonwalk and played Cinderella (aka cleaned the floor with gliders). It was great! I just don't know if the class was worth all the chaos of getting there so quickly (it's the only time I could remotely make it to). I'm going to think about it. 

I have my desk stocked with goodies for my spin class (pre-spin snack):

Honey Stingers

I can't wait to try these babies!! I could really use them on Mondays (when I take my ripped class) or Wednesdays for spin class. Today, I was strangely full after my lunch. I can't wait to get stung on Wednesday (does that sound stupid?)!!

What are you looking forward to this week? Have you tried anything new lately?

Rockin' w/ a Visitor & SF

Jason has every other Friday off. This was a Friday he had off. He was messing around in the backyard and he happened to notice this. He didn't move anything or dig this hole. The hole just appeared and these little pebbles were popping and jumping around. After a lot of research, he found that they are little larvae that fall from the oak trees that hang over our yard from the park behind us. It's pretty gross. They're everywhere. If you keep them wet and cool (aka watering the yard), they will live. They die in heat and dryness.

On Saturday morning, I was outside drinking my coffee and noticed a little (not really so little) visitor trying to find a place to crash. It's a raccoon. This was the first and only time we've seen it. 

After we relaxed, we needed to make our way to San Francisco to visit a family member n the hospital.Since we drove the 2.5 hours, we decided to make a day of it. We visited the Pier and watched all the sail boats play on the water near the Golden Gate Bridge. This is the place where people watching is at its finest!

Watched the ferries go to and from Alcatraz.

And took a bunch of self portraits (I won't bother you with them all and only show you one).

More sail boats. It was so windy, it was the perfect day for them. 

On Sunday, we made a day out of playing (aka fixing up) with the house. We're starting to build our rock wall I mentioned last week. All the rocks are behind me and in the very top left corner, there's the start of the wall.

Here's a closer picture. We ran out of cement and are going to buy more next weekend. We weren't sure how far each bag of cement would last us. This is only 1 bag. 

It was a very busy and filling weekend. It was also very long. I don't see any time for me to catch up on sleep this week. I think I can on Saturday, but who knows?

How was your weekend? Have you ever been to SF? What do you like to do there?

Difficult Time Relaxing

Last night, I went to a much needed yoga class. I had the worst time trying to relax. I'm was trying to concentrate on my breathing, but the guy behind me was such a loud breather, it made it very difficult to pay attention to myself. Doesn't everyone know it's all about me? The worst pose for me last night was this:

Mountain pose. I couldn't get comfortable and I just wanted to lay down (shavasana). I've had a difficult couple of weeks and just wanted to relax and concentrate on my breathing and it just didn't work for me last night. I guess everyone has a bad workout. I've usually only had a bad run, but never a bad yoga time. There's a first time for everything. 

Have you ever had a difficult time relaxing during a yoga class before? What's your favorite pose? What's ?your least favorite?

Another Way to Workout & a Million Peaches for $5

I had a very busy and productive weekend. On Saturday morning, I got up nice and early to acquire some rocks for our backyard rock wall. I think we will have enough rocks to do what we need to do. Another great workout is to carry every rock by hand, up a hill, many, many times. You will work up a sweat in no time, especially when it's 93 outside and in direct sun. 

On Sunday, we went to this farmers market farm. They had over 100 acres and everything was open to the public. They were celebrating their 100 year anniversary. They had bags that you could fill up and high as you wanted and pick your own peaches, and they were only $5. 

I've never picked my own fruit before. I think I got a little possessive after hand picking them. They're my precious.

At the farm, they also had alpacas. This is the baby eating it's lunch. They are so soft. I'm glad they had they're winter coats shaved! It's it cute! It posed just for me!

The view was pretty nice too!Some people may think that everywhere in California has palm trees everywhere. It's mostly a SoCal thing, not too much in the valley. But, what a view!

I made some awesome cupcakes over the weekend, too! I used this recipe for the cake and this recipe for the frosting. It's the perfect cupcake! I'm going to make these for Jason's birthday party in September. 

For dinner last night, I made some awesome salmon with home grown ingredients. I used fresh from the vine tomatoes and freshly picked oregano and farmers market bought garlic. 

I just realized that I haven't been posting my dinners lately, so you're going to see a lot more of those, very soon!

How was your weekend? What kind of cupcakes do you like? How often do you eat fish?

Enjoying Summer

Last night, I didn't feel like going to my spin class, but I forced myself to at least run my 5k and see how I felt afterwards. I ran my speedy 5k in 30:52. I ran it inside on the treadmill, it was way too hot to be running outside (106 yesterday). I was still so tired, I decided I was done for the day. I headed home.

When I came home, I opened the container of balled up watermelon and sat on the cool dining room tile while I ate it. It was nice to cool off. We don't have ac in our house or screens on our windows (we have cats inside and a lot of bugs outside). So, it stays very hot in our house. It's nice to go outside, drink a cold beverage and enjoy the sunset. 

These are things that I love about summer. I love running in the cool mornings, the ac in the gym while I workout, sleeping in on weekends, sunsets, cold beverages and hanging out with friends. I love how much more daylight we get and hate how fast it all goes by.

What are your favorite parts of summer? How hot is it where you are?

Yogaing Again & a Look Back

Monday, I hit up my ripped class for the second week in a row! I think that may be a new record (for 2012 at least). As I look back at last year's training, I was very determined to get into shape. I was up and at the gym by 4 am, then came home to blog about it. Then, I worked for 9 hours and headed straight back to the gym for more training and classes. I was spending at least 3 hours (most of the time 4 hours) at the gym 4 days a week, then a 2 hour run on Sundays and a short run thrown in there somewhere. No wonder why I was always crashed out by 8 pm every single night. Since I don't have any major races coming up, I've been taking the training slow motion. I just want to keep in shape. I'm extremely happy where I am. 

So, I've decided to change up my workout schedule. On Mondays, I will either participate in Group Strength Training class (GST) or RIPPED, Tuesdays will be yoga, Wednesdays is spin night and my 5k training. There will only be working out 3 days a week (2 hours at a time) and the rest of the week will be spent working on the house. Jason's 40th birthday is in a few moths and I'm throwing him a party (and everyone will see the house for the 1st time). Being busy is great!

Yesterday, I had a great passenger in my car, on the way to the gym:

I was so excited all day long, for my yoga class. I haven't taken, or done, any yoga in too long to think of. I'm so happy I went. I did work my legs before hand and stretched them really well during class. My only complaint...the class went by too fast!

What is something you look forward to?

My Energy

When I went to Tahoe a couple weeks ago (which we're going back this weekend!), I mentioned that we went on a difficult hike and searched for rocks to build our backyard rock wall. This takes a lot of time and a ton more energy! There were a few things that helped me get through my tough day (also I was really looking forward to my nachos and beer). 

When we found our hiking spot and were searching for a parking spot, I chowed down on some of Kate's Real Food. I've had a few of these bars for a while. They have a lot of calories in them, and I knew we were going to go hiking, so this was the perfect time to eat them. They taste amazing!!!!!!!! I had one and Jason had one and we shared them. I love that Kate uses real ingredients. I've heard of everything in these bars and can pronounce everything. This really is "real food, real energy real good".

After a few hours of hiking around a steep mountain, and hauling (by hand) heavy rocks, I needed a little pick me up. I tried H2O overdrive. 

There are so many vitamins and minerals in it, it's awesome! The only bad thing is that I could taste them. The after taste was a little too vitaminy. You know, when you take you vitamins for the day and the taste your left with afterwards. That's it. 

It did make my muscles not feel like I had been hauling rocks for 4 hours and hiking up and down a steep mountain for 2 hours. I felt so good the next day, I was able to take all the rocks (with Jason's help) out of our truck and into the backyard (by hand).  

They also have something a little bit more mild and it doesn't come with the vitaminy after taste. It's called H2O Hydrate. It tastes just like juice. Yum!

What gives you your energy?

Happy 4th!

Jason & I both had the day off yesterday, so we went over to our friends' house and had a private fireworks showing. We do this every year and enjoy every moment.

All of our friends get together have have a great night!

They always take great detail in setting up every firework. We rarely ever just light one firework at a time.

How did you spend your 4th?

The Red Faced Runner

Last night, I wasn't in the mood for a medium run, so I only ran a couple of miles. My calves and booty were sore from my ripped class on Monday night. It was about 95 with no breeze when I started running at 5 pm (after work). It was pretty, pretty warm, but my legs felt good. I am glad I only ran that couple of miles. 

I get so red when it's really hot outside. I am the red faced runner!

I have the day off today for the 4th of July and we're heading out to our friends house for a bbq and fireworks. All of our friends have been getting together every year for this for about 11 years. Parents, friends, kids, everyone comes! I think this is the only time of year everyone gets together. I love it and I'm really looking forward to it! I'm bringing my famous 7 layer dip. Everyone loves it and it's usually devoured in hours! I'll do a post tomorrow about how I celebrated...

How are you spending your holiday? If you're not in the US, how do you celebrate during the summer?

I'm Told I Love Push Ups

Last night, it was time to head back to the gym. I haven't been in too long of a time. I'm so happy to be back there. I feel like I have so much in common with all these people working towards the same goal. 

I worked the stairs for about 20 minutes at level 10. Crazy sore now, btw. After that, it was time to work the legs. In my ripped class, we usually don't do too much with legs, so I wanted to make sure I got them worked up nicely. 

Little did I know, we would be mostly working our legs. They weren't too happy about that! I think we probably did about 100 squats, 125 push ups (diamond), 50 jumping jacks and so much more!

When I announced on Twitter that I was going to get "ripped", I had someone asked what the routine was. Ripped stands for Resistance, Interval, Power, Plyometrics, Endurance, and Diet (at home). It's s a great class!

Usually a class consists of warm up, running in place, weights, jumping jacks, fighting (not real people) and cool downs (so much more between all this, too). If we have time, we try to work the abs for a little bit. If you go to a gym and they have this class, take it!! I've had a different instructor than normal (a sub) and he wasn't good. As always, it depends on the instructor, but mine is perfect for me!

Every time we would be in a block of push ups (diamond this time), she would remind us that we love push ups. I don't think we were aware of that. It wasn't even the good kind of push ups:

When I got home, I automatically dropped my gym bag in the kitchen and went outside. We have our garden out back and I always check the progress on our tomatoes. We finally have some cherry tomatoes that I was able to pick. We have so many flowers = lots of tomatoes to come!

The perfect way to end a great, hot summer day is with a cool mojito that Jason made for me after my tough workout! It was well worth it!

Besides water, do you have a drink of choice ("adult" beverage)? I'm a girl, I have to say I like strawberry or watermelon margaritas the best (during the summer).