Up for the challenge

Move that body: 3.02-mile run with my boys

Can I just say wow?

Wow, wow, wow.

I am totally excited (and surprised) that so many of you are willing to join me on my November challenge to get strong. I definitely can't back out now :)

Viva la resistance!

Here's the plan.

Do some sort of resistance training twice a week during the month of November. You can join me and Jillian on our quest to get tickets to the gun show or you can do your own thing whether it's a class at the gym, another DVD program, pilates, yoga (hello chaturangas!).

I'll report my progress on Thursdays when I do my weekly body after baby weigh in. The post will also give you a chance to let me know how you are doing.

Besides the satisfaction of achieving a goal, I plan to make this worth your while. At the end of the challenge, one lucky gal will receive (at least) the following: a one-year subscription to a fitness magazine, a BIC band (review coming soon) and an iTunes gift card.

The drawing for the prize will work like so: Participants will receive an entry for committing to participate. If you did so on the previous post, awesome. You can also join in here. Participants will receive additional "entries" by commenting each week on my post with their own progress, posting about the challenge on her blog (let me know you did so; only counts once); commenting that they exceeded two days of resistance training that week and completing the entire challenge. Everything will be logged in a spreadsheet and I will pick the winner via Random.org.

Let's get pumping.

Weighing in: Wake up call

Move that body: 20-minute treadmill workout4

I don’t want to say it. I really don’t but I think I have to.

I think I need to start waking up to someone new. I know, I know. Mark is such a nice guy. He washes the dishes and he rubs my feet and he doesn’t hit me when I scream at him that “in fact, no, I don’t want a figging hug.”

But sometimes you just have to admit when things aren’t working. and they aren’t. I need a change.

Of the Jillian variety.

I’ve promised myself countless times over the past 10 weeks (the 10 weeks since I got the OK to workout) that I would get into some sort of strength routine and each time I’ve disappointed myself. I’ve been able to make myself feel better by bringing out the new mommy card but with Miles sleeping much better, getting up just once in the middle of the night, I don’t think it’s going to fly much longer.

It’s time to get up early, like early early, and get things moving. My body. My weight loss (which, by the way, was flat this week).

I know it’s going to be tough to set that alarm for 5 a.m. It’s going to be even tougher to listen to Jillian. I’m going to need help. From Mark. From Miles.

From you.

Y’all are always such a good support so leave me some encouraging words or call me at 5:10 and tell me to get out of bed. Or, you could join me in a challenge. Complete a strength routine twice a week each week in November and let me know how you’re doing. Maybe, just maybe, we could have a prize at the end.

Thoughts? What is your favorite strength routine?

WIAW: What's left to give

Move that body: 2-mile walk with my boys


Leftovers.

Just the sound of that word would make my nose turn up and my mouth grimace as a child. "We're having leftovers? Really? UGH! I hate you, Mom!"

God, I was insufferable.

Maybe I just didn't like my mom's cooking enough to eat it a second time or I really did believe that mothers were superheroes and were able to work 40 hours, play chauffeur to sports-playing children and get dinner on the table.

Now I know that, quite possibly, my mom just needed a break to, you know, brush her teeth. I know that's what I do when I have a free minute. I now plan for leftovers - and eat them. I make big slow cooker meals to carry me through work lunches and one night a week is always designated for leftovers. If I'm feeling super inventive, I plan a double-duty dinner where it might be spaghetti and meatballs one night and meatball subs another.

That was not the case this week.

The eats

Breakfast:

Pancakes "stuffed" with pumpkin fluff. Oh, fluff, how I've missed thee.

Lunch:

Leftover Kahlua pork in a whole wheat wrap with rice, teriyake sauce and pineapple salsa. Check out the plastic fork - I know how to keep it classy!

Slow cooker potato soup with cheese, bacon and green onions. Oh, and a dollop of sour cream. (Note: If you use that recipe, which I did, be sure to use an immersion blender just before serving. No one likes a super chunky potato soup.)

How often do you eat leftovers?

Same old, same old

Mark and I have lived in our house for six months. And for six months, for all intents and purposes, I have ran/walked the same three routes.

I have seen the same houses, the same flowers, the same trees for six months.

 

And, to be a bit honest, I’m bored. B-O-R-E-D. Bored.

I try spicing things up a bit, whether it’s running a route backward or taking to the more urban areas near my home when I can leave Miles with Mark. On Sunday sans BOB, I had the best of intentions to try a less stroller-friendly part of the trail but my tummy failed to cooperate and I had to run the same section of park as I always do because there were a couple bathrooms along the trail.

I felt defeated and was filled with dread as I looked toward today’s run, which is up to 4 miles. Getting up early, squeezing in that extra half-mile of boredom seemed like torture as I stared at the running clothes I set out last night.

Then, I had a rare moment of genius: I could run after work.

OK, that wasn’t the genius part. I run after work at least once a week. The switch would be to take my clothes and Garmin to work and change at the end of the day. I plan to run east through downtown and head to a portion of the greenway that I’ve only run once or twice. Alone. No dog. No baby. Just me and my feet.

I am so excited. E-X-C-I-T-E-D. Excited.

What are you pumped about today?