30 Day Challenge Begins!

Alright peeps here we go! I am challenging myself to be a better me every day for the next 30 days(lets hope it lasts longer 😉 I am going to make sure I do one good thing for myself every day and make sure all of my choices are deliberate and healthy! Working at a winery makes it challenging to not drink completely, so my goal is to only have 2 drinks a week for 30 days. Maybe some of those weeks I will have 0 maybe not. I will eat gluten free, low sugar and as primal as possible. I am making sure my goals are small and achievable. I also will be keeping to my Marathon training that officially starts on Monday! So far this is my list of goals for the next 30 days!! 4th of july might be rough but when that comes closer we will chat about it.

Goals June 6th-July 13th! 

Do one special good thing for myself every day

Only have 2 drinks a week (Wine/cocktails only no gluten)

Eat gluten free, low sugar, mostly primal

Keep up with Marathon training  

 

What goals do you have for the month? 

Have you been struggling with anything lately? 

Tales from the couch

After my profound post the other day, I went straight into oral surgery Wednesday Morning. I am currently still not feeling great but still focusing on the goals ahead. As I sit here with a cocktail of meds floating in my tummy, I am realizing job hunting might not be the best idea at the moment. Just wanted to check and and tell everyone to love life even when your stuck on a coach unable to chew anything. I will be back when I am a little more coherent. Happy Friday friends!

The Challenge

When I think of the word challenge I think of something that is hard but still doable. It is a challenge because I have to really look at myself and find a way to make it happen. The challenge I am about to embark on is loving myself.

When I was in yoga this morning(aka the best thing about my days and I really wish I could afford to be a yoga instructor) at the end of class the instructor told us to work on the ultimate challenge; to love yourself right now while still moving forward. This is something that resonates with me so well right now. I am currently looking for another job but also trying to find what I really want to do. I struggle with feeling like there are not a lot of options out there for me, and with a tough economy to boot, it just feels slightly hopeless. At least that is what I have been saying and feeling in the past.

Today is a new day, the sun is shining and I am going to really work on loving myself as I am right now. Focus on what you are doing right at this moment, and if you are doing it to the best of your ability you are already a great accomplishment. It is too easy to focus on the future or the past. But that is just it, it is not what is happening right now. Right now is what you can actually change and what you can actually work on.

As my Yogi said this morning, loving yourself right now but still setting goals and looking ahead. This will be what I am going to work on and this will be what the new focus of this blog is. Of course there is always going to be fitness, fashion and food because these are all the things in my life I have grown to love. But the focus will always be on love and truly loving the moment right now.

What are you going to do to love yourself today?

Yoga was a great love and an amazing journey which it always is so I am happy I did that for myself. I am also going to dedicate some time to work on my Personal Training degree and do a little reading. Job hunting will be there tomorrow today is for love.

The road less traveled

Today I committed (again) to the healthy life. It is hard to say what health means When I think about it pertaining to my own life, it is having not only a healthy body, but a truly healthy mind. This means not being destructive in any form because of sadness or other emotions. I found myself being destructive to my health this weekend for no other reason than the fact I was hurting. It is a journey that takes time and there are lots of twists and turns on this journey of life. Recommitting to having a healthy mindset can be one of the hardest things you do. But here are the things I am going to do today to make myself have a healthy mindset throughout the day.

• Only letting positive thoughts stay with me today
• getting out in nature with a good friend and seeing what the world is truly about
• putting good energy out there and hoping for the best in all situations

What are you going to do to be healthy today?

 

I will be back later to update how my day/hike went and how I was able to manifest happiness throughout the day. 

Saturday and Wednesday WOD

I know the weeks are just passing me by at this point. I am so excited about my up and coming wedding and just busy with life. Between Crossfit, dinners with friends, wedding hair trials, buying various wedding stuff and trying to keep my sanity my schedule is more than a little full. Since I didn’t have a chance to write down Saturday’s WOD (Saturday was straight bananas), here is a recap of my new love of crossfit!

 

Saturday WOD

4 Rounds for time

10 Squat Cleans (40lbs)

15 Push-ups

20 Pull-ups (Jumping)

25 box jumps ( Tire 18′)

Time-29:46

 

This was challenging  for me. My foot was starting to flare up after all the box jumps  since we did them on Thursday as well. I need to make sure I stretch really good as we tend to not stretch after the crossfit class.

I proceeded to just have a long day in general. I have been spreading myself thin so on Sunday I was not  feeling that great and lounged around. Monday came and I still was feeling slightly under the weather so no crossfit for me 😦 Tuesday I had an acupuncture appt because I really truly needed it! Then I finally made it back to crossfit last night.

Wednesday WOD

5 Rounds for Time: 35 minute cap
20 Turkish Getups (10 each) 10lb KB
1 Building Lap
20 Russian Situps (10 each) @ 10lb KB
20 Ring Rows

Well in the 35 minutes I finished 3 rounds then 11 TGU’s. This was a truly tough workout. I picked a smaller weight because I remembered how hard just 10lbs were when I tried it a few weeks back. I am trying to get my form down before adding more weight. I started doing 10 TGU’s on each side, then round 2 I did 6 on each side, finally at round 3 I was doing 4 on each side then added a few extra because of where the clock was.

I feel so good going back to crossfit yesterday. I swear it is the difference of night and day when I have a good workout. I am getting stronger I can tell, and I can see some progress. I am going to hold off on measurements and weighing myself until next week or maybe the week after. We have been having so much stuff going on I just don’t really care that much. I can tell I am progressing so why do I need an exact number  right now? Maybe I will do it at the 2 month mark and just go from there. Today is crossfit again! I can’t wait to get in the cage after work.

Thursday WOD and Goals

WOD

5 Rounds for  time

10 Knee’s to Elbows

10 Pistols- Done with 5 Risers and a med ball

10 Box jumps- done with tire

11:59

I felt  really strong today, my knee to  elbows are getting better and the tire jumps were not that bad. I want to try  the box but I am a little scared of it maybe in a little while I will make it to the 20 inch box. Pistols were tough with my right leg, aka the lame leg that I had knee surgery and constantly have issues with my foot/ankle/knee, But I think that these are the things I need to do to get that side stronger. I had no flare-up of my plantar fasciitis so that was a total win! I am a little over a month in and feeling stronger. 

I am trying hard to not let the ultimate goal be weight loss. I want to be stronger and fitter, the excess fat will come but for now I just want to be healthy and feel good. I have been moving  towards a more Paleo diet which can be  challenging but I think is good for my body type. We will see if I can make this a true life style change. I wrote down a few goals earlier this week when I was having a particularly bad day and I wanted to have there here to refer too when I need to re-evaluate how things are going in my life.

 

Fitness Goals

• Do crossfit 3-5 days a week (shoot for more than less)
• Try to do more yoga- this is challenging with cost and time
• Go on more bike rides with Jason this month

Diet

• Eat as paleo as I can!
• No more than 3 drinks in a sitting (aside  from my  bridal shower of course 😉
• Meal plan more

Health and wellness

• Take more baths!
• Make sure date night happens at least ever 2 weeks
• Apply for more health/fitness related jobs

It is kind of funny that it is 3 categories and each category has 3 aspects to it! There is a method to my madness!

 

Tonight is date night, I think I am feeling sushi hehe or Cuban we shall see! Then crossfit  tomorrow. I am hoping for a somewhat mellow weekend even though I am somewhat busy.

 

WOD 6/19/2012 feeling stronger!

Well in an effort to keep my crossfit stats somewhere that I can easily see and compare to previous I have decided to start posting it here. I have had a hard time putting my heart into this blog, maybe its time and stress. It turned into just another thing to do at the end of the day. So it might be sparse and it might only be my workout for the day but this is for my own personal gain.

I need to remember that more when I am doing the workout. I can’t look around and see that I am at the lowest weight and feel bad. I am doing something different, I am challenging my body to be different and i am already seeing results. I can’t wait to see how it goes after 3 months of doing it. 

WOD

8 rounds for time 

5 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls @ 85/125 lbs ( actual 35lbs) 
5 Hang Cleans
5 Split Jerks
*Goal: Don’t put the bar down until the round is completed

14:52 

I didn’t come in last but I also think I could have pushed myself. I was nervous for the slit jerk. With my bad knee and my foot that has been bugging me for a while I wanted to take it easy. I also was not feeling that great all day and contemplated not going to crossfit at all, but I am glad that I did. 

Tomorrow we have a meeting with the wedding planner so I won’t be able to make the 6:30 class, the workout looks awesome tho but I think doing a 6am the morning after a 6:30 is a bad idea. Or I just don’t feel like doing it yet either way. 

NROLFW, starting again to really change my body.

Hello all, I honestly have just not had the motivation to write on this blog. I am still trying to figure things out with where this blog is going but for now I will update where I can. My fashion page has been lacking, and as it if a passion for me I just don’t have the money to get lots of new clothes. I will start posting more pictures of outfits as the weather is nicer. 

Now lets get to the meat of this post. New Rules of Lifting For Women, aka NROLFW. This training program is based on heavy weight lifting. The idea is to abandon the barbie doll weights and really start lifting heavy to see a change in your body. After countless hours doing cardio, I have decided to give this a real shot. For me this means following the program preferably 3 days a week, if only 2 happens sometimes I will not be too hard on myself. If you want more information about this program and book check out the website here

 http://www.thenewrulesoflifting.com/nrol-for-women 

I attempted to start this program a while back but I was not dedicated. I think I was also half-marathon training or something so heavy weight lifting was not something I could really commit to. After reading lots of success stories and seeing that lots of cardio was not  giving me the body I wanted I am going to commit to NROLFW at least until the wedding. I will most likely continue when I come back but if I can commit 4 solid months I should see some great results. I have not had a chance to take starting measurements or photos but here is my starting weights.

 

Starting weight for workout 1A

Squats- 65lbs- 20lbs added to weighted bar.

Push-ups- On knees

seated row- 45lbs, I think I can bump this up next time.

step-up- on 4 risers with 10lb weights in each hand

jacknife on ball- 10 reps

I feel good an strong today. It is going to be hard not doing as much cardio, I do love a good run here and there but since my foot is messed up anyways I can’t run for a while. I plan to do light cardio on my off days, hopefully biking and swimming.

Starting photo’s and measurements to come! Come on weight lifting, get me to a super toned body for my wedding in September!

Yin Yoga, My new love

This Monday after the race I tried Yin Yoga for the first time. Here is the Wiki description of Yin Yoga-

Yin yoga- Mostly sitting or lying postures for promoting growth, clearing energetic blockages, and enhancing circulation.

My fitness buddy Nicole invited me to check out a new studio and I figured why not give it a shot. I have been wanting to have more Yoga in my life so this was a great opportunity. Even if it isn’t the kind of yoga that I am used to, I was willing to open my inner yogi and explore what other styles had to offer. Nicole had told me that this class is extremely chill, basically just laying in the various positions so I figured it would be a piece of cake. Well I should have know that no matter what kind of yoga it is, it can always be a little intense.

When we walked into the small studio I was told by the instructor to grab two bolsters ( large pillows with handles), two blankets and two blocks. I set up my area and laid down, ready to stretch out my sore muscles from the race the day before. The instructor then told us that we would be doing so basic cat and cow poses to start off the day before getting into the more “yin” part of the class. When we got into the Yin part that was when we needed to use the bolsters and blocks. The poses were ones that I am familiar with, like child’s pose, forward bend, and pigeon pose; but we were using the props to hold up certain parts of our body so we could sustain the position for 3 minutes. As I was moving through the poses it felt really good but also somewhat intense because of the length of time. The hour and a half somewhat flew by except for the fact that I was hungry and had to pee the last little bit. When I was leaving the class I had a yoga-high that I always love. It made me realize that even though it wasn’t what I would consider a workout, it was still really good for my body and mind. Now that I have tried Yin Yoga I think I will keep doing for a while, it if anything to keep my crazed wedding brain at bay.

Oakland Marathon Recap!

Sorry for the lack of pictures, I didn’t bring a camera and my phone was not cooperating. I have learned my lesson and will bring my camera to every race now!

This was the first time that I was lucky enough to run in the Oakland Running Festival. A few months ago I was searching for how to keep racing in my life, but not have it take over since I do have a wedding coming up on September 14th. I saw that the Oakland Marathon had an option for a 4 person relay race. I asked a few girls to see if they were down to take on the challenge, and the Bay Area Betty’s were formed. The months leading up to the race seemed to fly by and then it was the day before race day and we had to pick up our packets. This was the first race I have ran that was local so it was really nice to just have to drive 5 minutes to go to the Packet Pick-up. Me and my girl Nicole ventured to the Marriot convention center, in the pouring rain, for the Oakland Running Festival Expo. I, of course, didn’t have my bib number printed out so after some searching through my phone found the info so we could grab our bibs. We grabbed our bibs and left the others for the other girls and worked our way through the small expo. This was somewhat of a disappointing expo compared to the ones I have been to in the past. There we not a  lot of vendors and the free stuff was lacking. We left the expo slightly disappointed but excited for the race the next day, hoping that the rain would stop before morning.  Later that day I got a call from one of my teammates, apparently the volunteers at the expo gave the last of our packet to someone else. That means that our first runner didn’t have a bib or the timing chip band to pass as a baton to each leg! After some frustrating phone calls we were able to get all new numbers, but that meant we had to meet up before the race to collect our bibs for the race. 5:30 AM rolled around the next morning pretty quick and I was getting dressed in my pink tutu and hot pink shirt, scarfing down an almond butter and jelly sandwich before picking up Nicole. I grabbed her and we were off to downtown Oakland to meet up with Amelia and Katie. We met them at a closed starbucks,(Lame!) and got our bibs on. The 2nd leg runner had to be at the bus at 7am so she hightailed it to the bus to get to the second leg of the race. I was the 3rd leg of the race and my bus left at 7:30, apparently some people are pretty darn fast for relay’s. I hopped on the bus and met up with my race buddy Carol,(who I know from Lavaman last year). We went over to our start and waited in the cold. Honestly at that point we were just happy it wasn’t raining like the day before. At 9:45 I started getting ready to see that tutu coming down the hill. I saw Amelia running down and then I got in the right spot to grab it. Once I had the timing chip I took off running. I only made it about 10 minutes before I started to get really hot. I took a little walk break to strip off my long sleeve, which was under my short sleeved shirt so I chilling in a sports bra for a quick minute, but was back to running pretty quick. Now I was a little worried about this race before actually running. I have not ran in the past 2 weeks, and even before that I was only running 1-2 times a week and my max was 4 miles. This run was 7.5. I was surprised that I was feeling so good, I made it a little while doing 9:1 intervals (9 minute running, 1 minute walking) then felt good enough to do a mile then walk a minute. As I was booking it down international I met a sweet runner named Priscilla, she was a cute little thing that was running like a beast. We started chatting and decided that we would run the last 4 miles together. As I was running down International Blvd. (one of the ghetto-est roads in Oakland) I couldn’t help but smile. It felt so good to be running a race, seeing people cheering and cheering others on. I was completely glowing from all the energy. I checked my garmin and saw that I was at the 7 mile mark and started looking for where the pass off would be. Then, as I came around the corner I saw Nicole rocking the tutu and I screamed at her “ you better be ready to run!” I handed her the timing chip and reveled in my joy of running 7.5 miles. I found Carol and we headed to West Oakland bart to get back to the start point of the race. At the start I met up with Katie and Amelia,  and I drank my free coors light that the race gave me. I was all smiles and a growling belly at this point. I inhaled half of a luna bar and we found our spot at the finish line to cheer on Nicole. A little while later she came in all her glory, I unfortunately had ran to the bathroom at this point so I missed her crossing the finish. We congratulated each other and grabbed our medals, then we had to split out ways. Nicole and I went and grabbed brunch to fuel after the race. Mimosa’s count as fuel right? Hehe. I went home and passed out, it was a really early morning! Now that the race is over I am thinking about my next race, I am also thinking about doing a full marathon! I would love to do the Oakland half marathon next year! But maybe I will just do the relay again, or who knows maybe even the full.