Insanity Days 1-4

If you are friends with me on dailymile then you know that I use Insanity DVD's for supplemental workouts every couple weeks or so. Well, I'm happy to announce that since my long distance races for the season being over I have decided to complete the entire 60 day program! Woot Woot! It is hardcore (see my beachbody reviews here.) I skipped the fit test and jumped right into the workouts because I've done the fit test several times and have an idea of where I am fitness level wise. I wouldn't recommend doing that becuase it's nice to have the numbers to look back at, but it's what I did. I printed out a blank calendar and filled in the workouts as they fit my schedule. For example week 5 begins with a few recovery core and balance workouts- two of those days I'm going to skip and replace with Ragnar Relay NW Passage!!!! Go team NOM NOM NOM! :)

The first four days are physically challenging no matter your fitness level, if you're not dying then you're just not pushing yourself hard enough because this program is progressive but also relys heavily on you keep up the intenstiy. I won't list out all the exercises because I am sure you can google them but Plyo is hard, lots of quad and glute work- even the warmup gets sweat pouring off my body. I also ran 2 miles that day for some extra punshiment- my calves were burning with both workouts combined. Power Resistance, ok my DVD skips so I only did 20 out of 40 mins but again legs were burning, arms were feeling it and the sweat was dripping off my nose, chin, collar bones, you name it and it was sweaty! Any other workout and 20 minutes who feel a little half ass to me- not with Insanity. Pure Cardio is tough as shit, like seriously, even the people in the video are dropping like flies. This was the hardest for me to get through because it's not a circut like most Insanity workouts, it's non-stop, no breaks and extreme moves. Last night was Cardio Recovery and while I didn't get as sweaty I got a great stretch and did a bunch of lunges and squats so my thighs were screaming at me. Plyo is on the menu again tonight. I wanted to go to spin as well today but I'd be lying if I didn't say that due to a not so healthy lunch I'm practically comatose at my desk. In full disclosure it was poptart, my 190 cal fish tv dinner was DISGUSTING, so I resorted to the vending machine and I'm on a major sugar crash. 

 I'm having the 3 o'clock inner struggle with myself right now as I plan dinner. Tortilla soup is sounding sooo good. It feels more like October than June with the rain pouring outside. We got a nice thunderstorm last night, here is what the rain did to my back hill:

More updates to come- I'll be posting my changes in weight, measurements and comparion photos every 10 days during Insanity. "This shit is BANANAS YO!" ~Shaun T.

The RNR that wasn't

Friday night I couldn't sleep, didn't feel 100%, and last remember looking at the clock at 2:15 am thinking, wow I REALLY need to fall asleep. My alarm was set for 3:50 am, I had a 4:50 ferry to catch. Since it was a weekend there aren't an abundance of morning ferries and the 4:50 would be the only one to get me to Seattle on time for a 7 am start as it's a 1 hour ferry ride + 1.8 mile walk/taxi/monorail to get me to the start. Well long story short after not being able to sleep I woke up with a start at 4:38 and it felt surreal. NOOOOOOOOOO- I woke up my husband frantic. I'm going to miss my ferry! I was suppose to be meeting a new running buddy, Dorothy, at the ferry so she text me and I had to tell her what a loser I was. A million ideas of what I should do bounced back and forth in my head. We re-checked the ferry schedule, I considered driving around, but in the end I thought the 90+ mile drive, cost of gas, cost of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge toll, traffic (think 20,000+ runners converging on Seattle), and cost of parking would end up costing me almost as much as the race fee. Disappointed I texted Dorothy that I wasn't going to make it and slunk back into bed to stare at the ceiling in disbelief.

RNR is such a fun race. I was mad that I didn't get to experience it again. I was mad I wasted my money. I was mad I didn't get that medal. I was mad I missed out on sharing a fun morning with some friends. Then I decided to not wallow in it and move on to my next activity.....stay tuned....

RNR Seattle Expo

Yesterday afterwork James and I hopped the ferry to ride over to Seattle and visit the RNR expo. There is no race morning packet pickup so while a weekday trip is hard for me to manage I decided I would rather do it Thursday than Friday. It was raining and I wore flip flops to work so I had James bring some boots for me to change into. We had a little under a mile walk from the ferry to the events center and I wasn't going to walk that with my feet sliding all over wet sandals! Last year when I ran RNR I went to the expo Friday night and it was chaotic so imagine my surprise when I walk in last night and see virtually no lines anywhere! Score! I picked up my packet and proceeded to corral change. Since I am running the half vs. the full my pace will be a little faster so I moved from corral 29 to corral 21. Brooks sponsores this race- well at least in Seattle is does- it's a Seattle based company, so there was a TON of gorgeous running apparel calling my name. Maybe next year- the jackets were $85 a pop and most of the workout tanks were somewhat sheer. I need to work on having less belly to bounce around before I dare wear something sheer enough to see my belly button. I tried on some moving comfort bras hoping that since it's an athletic based company (unlike my current stock of Old Navy bras) that it would caress my back fat a little more sweetly and prevent quite as much spillage. We according to the saleslady with a racerback bra "even our most fit models still have a tiny bit of back overhang." I don't know if that made me feel better or just frusterated that I wans't going to find a solution. I tried two styles on anyway and then decided since I had to "matrix" my body in order to get out of them I was going ot hold onto my $45 for elsewhere.

We went to the Brooks prize raffle and tried to win some free shoes- didn't keep up my lucky streak from last year- but I did get a shirt, and James got some new earbuds, sweeeet! I found the sparkly soul  booth and was excited because I need new headbands and I love me some sparkle. I actually won one of these headbands from a contest online but there was a mix up in getting the headband to me so I talked to the lady at the booth and she emailed her contacts back in NY- BOOM, this morning I had an email asking what color and thickness I wanted :) I bought two while I was there yesterday though cause hello a girl needs more than 1 headband, so I sprang for the rainbow and a dark pink. I'm getting a kalidescope pink in the mail for KK. The website says they are for ages 3+ so I'm interested to see how they fit her cause I think they might be too big, I'm hoping to be proved wrong. I'm also a fan of sweaty bands but in our limited time at the expo we didn't come across their booth. Oh, I finally got a 26.2 sticker for my car. James and the cashier talked me into pink. I was going to go with black but since I'm putting it on a tinted window they both said it wouldn't show up as well, "ok ok."

MMMMM....Fitting for RNR race weekend

After the expo we had an hour until our ferry came so I told James we HAD to go to Ivars. I love fish and

chips- and he'd never been- so we indulged in some good 'ol fashion deep fried cod (well James had the chicken actually). He was completely grossed out by me mixing garlic vinegar with tartar sauce but it was soooo good. I even dipped my fries in it mwwwahhhaahahahaha. I love Ivars' food but I also love how much just standing at their old walk-up window makes me truly feel like I'm a Seattleite (sp?) and yet tourist all at the same time. Now I don't know that I can or can not say I am a Seattleite because I wasn't born there but it is the only big city that I really can claim as "home." I have run several races on those streets, walked along the piers more times than I can count, attended concerts and sporting events, danced the night away with my friends; yes it kind of feels like home in a weird way. I still carry my camera though capturing the odd sights that make this city so unique.

The ferry ride back home wasn't very relaxing the crew decided 8pm was a good time to test out their fire response or something like that. I didn't see him but I heard other passengers talking about someone walking around in a gas mask that was chirping (I did hear it), kind of creepy, not really something I want to see when I'm stuck on a boat.

Today I over indugled in Krisy Kreme donuts- can I call that carb-loading? A sweet friend left me this message on my facebook after I complained about probably not running a PR tomorrow:

I'm again reminded how lucky I am to have met such wonderful running buddies and people

HS Graduations & RNR anticipations

Where did the time go? I was sitting at a high school graduation thursday night thinking, "wow, next summer will be my 10 year reunion!" It struck me as odd because while it both unbelievable that it's already been 9 years since I graduated it is also unbelieveable that it's ONLY been 9 years since graduation.

Here are some pictures. The graduates are my cousin Emie, and a honorary family member, Rob.



I'm the fabulous one in red ;)




Family Photo - Yes we are a spectacular bunch!


 Tonight is KK's last cheerleading class. She starts soccer this summer and that will be a two night a week deal and we're really looking forward to it! We live 3 miles from the YMCA so I'm going to run down there while James and the girls drive. If I leave by 5pm I will get there right one time, have caught some rays and burned some calories. In the words of Charlie Sheen "WINNING!" Based on the above picture you  can tell I need some rays! Tomorrow I WILL make it to spin class at 5 am- I can't say "I'm planning on it" because it's always so easy to just stay in bed. That will be my only really tough workout this week because I need to keep my legs fresh for RNR this weekend. 

With Ali Vincent circa 2010?

Speaking of RNR, it's pretty much settled I'm running the HM now as opposed to the full. My friend LaRee was told she could defer her entry if she volunteers so she may do that to save her IT band from further distress. Probably a smart decision. Anyway I have zero desire to run it (the full) alone so I'm excited now to try and beat my time from last year, 2:17:03. It's a fairly challenging course so I will not PR (2:06) but I think I can get a sub 2:12 so that is my goal. I haven't been running the distances I should so I want to PR on that course yet not damange my body. Ragnar is only a month away and I'm pumped up! Oh, and I just read that Ali Vincent (first female winner of biggest loser) is going to be speaking at the expo Thursday night so I of course totally want to go. I was planning on getting there about 5:45 due to work but am going to try and work through lunch so I can leave here about 3:30 and if I drive around to Seattle I should be at the expo around 4:50 then instead- squeak in just in time. Of course lord only knows what traffic will look like but there isn't a covienent ferry to get me there in time. Enough rambling for now :)

Hot Pockets

Heyyyyooooo. Look what arrived in my inbox a few days ago:

It's a little hard to read, but it's a Hood To Coast Invitation! I have to admit I heard about this last year for the first time after running Ragnar. I had no idea that this was the mother of all relays and you actually have to enter a lottery to get your team in. 1,050 teams line up race morning and over 2,300 submit applications. I'm sure you can do math but I'll point it out anyway that more teams are denied than accepted into the event!!! So this is a big deal and I am beyond excited.

This weekend was Father's Day- shout out to my husband James who is an excellent father to our two little rascals, and to my own Dad who is the hardest working man I know without question.

So since I last checked in I went running Friday with my brother, 3.2 miles in the blazing sun (ok like 71 degree but for here that is hot!). Saturday started off well enough with a group run including LaRee, Jenny, Tabatha and Dorothy, all of whom I like or am enjoying getting to know. LaRee and I ended up doing a 2.65 miles because her IT band was really bothering her so we turned back before the rest of the group and started to discuss our plans for RNR Seattle this upcoming weekend. The plan is ...to figure out the plan later this week, haha. She is weighing the pros and cons about pushing herself through this race and let's just face it my training has no been anywhere near half marathon mileage, let alone marathon mileage, however since I've logged 26.2 before I'm stupidly not as scared as I should be and figure if we take it slow I could do 26.2 miles again....on limited training....with a sort-of messed up ankle....in the heat...on a hilly course...I mean I won't DIE. If LaRee doesn't want to do the full though I am 100% ok with scaling back to the half. The idea of running a marathon undertrained ALONE just sounds terrible, with a friend sure- misery loves company! I did the marathon thing alone and the only time I want to do it alone again is if I'm really seriously shooting for a PR- something I will NEVER do on a Seattle course.

Sunday I was as checked out as could be. After a post-run binge that lasted all day Saturday it was all I could do to wake up and make James a fathers day breakfast. Breakfats pizza and cream cheese cinnamon pancakes. I ate then just wanted to go back to sleep. Poor guy ended up taking the girls out on a run while I laid in bed reading the rest of "Dark Places" and tried to doze off. The neighbor had different plans for me though since he hired some "landscapers" to come weed his yard all I heard was tiny little rakes clinking off of the rocks. I got so tired of listening to it that I slammed the window shut which of course just made the room get really hot within a matter of minutes with no airflow on a 70 degree day. Ugh.

I HATE my neighbor. I was just waiting for him to confront us yesterday. He complains about EVERYTHING. We put up a fence- he complained that it was wood (he has chainlink), we plant a tree- he questions us about if it's going to grow into his yard (ok valid question except it was such a tiny japanese coral  bark maple that he will pass on before it even grows big enough to get half way to his fence). Then he complains that the dogs bark when he comes out- I want to say "ok creep, come out more than once a year and they will get to know you." Nevermind the fact that 3 jack russell terriers on the other side of his house bark NON-STOP and James has seen moles burrowing under his deck- something like that is gaurenteed get a dog attention! Anyway we used the weedwacker in the front yard and it kicked a little bit of grass into his "flower beds" (aka patches of dirt w/ unkillable bushes) and we offered to go over and clean it up (something we wouldn't have to do if he had got a WOOD fence! hmph), and he told us no he had to weed anyway- then 5 minutes later he's out there

complaining about it?!! He is just a bully. If he hates people so much he should move out of a development. I'm surprised he hasn't complained about the sound of children's laughter coming from the backyard on sunny days!!



I like this sign- I should tweak it and stake it in my yard



Anyway, so Saturday morning when I go out to the car I notice a bright red Hot Pocket box in his front yard, inside his chain link fence. I come back home 2 hours later and the box in now in our front  yard. No way it could have blown up over his 4 foot tall fence- they had to have come out and thrown it in our yard thinking it was ours. A. I don't buy Hot Pockets so it wasn't ours, B. How rude to throw it into our yard and C. Fuck you Old Man! I picked it up and threw it back into their yard while saying "fucking bullshit, no my god damn hot pockets!" I proceeded to go out in the backyard where James was picking up dog poop and the nasty old mans wife happened to be on her porch (gasp- I can count on my hands the number of times I've seen her in the 5 years we've lived next door). So I ask James, "Did you eat hot pockets?" "No." "Because there is a box in our front yard- it WAS over in the neighbors yard, they must have throw it over here. That really irritates me, it's not my job to pick up their trash and it's not our damn hot pockets." Well she quickly popped back inside and shut her sliding glass door, closed the blinds. When the gardner (aka random man from craigslist) they hired came over to pull the weeds (in the yard they never go out in) I wanted to take him

some f*ing hot pockets.
Tomorrow I'll try to vent less. In the meantime have a FUN and healthy day! Enjoy the fact that my neighbor is not yours!

Uh oh, a Binge!

Yes unfortunately I've spent the past two days acting like the glutton I can often be. Stuffing my face with milkshakes, raisins (in excess!), licorice, chocolate and pirates booty. My meals haven't been particulary large but snacking has been out of control. Oh, I forgot to add the two bags of lime and salt popcorn I popped for myself with 20 minutes of eachother while watching The Walking Dead, or the 3 fruit strips I ate last night in bed after 10 pm. I wish I could say I had a really big piece of cake or a juicy burger but no I've just been snacking myself to death. Everytime I think of it I flash back to that video with.....um is it Brad Pitt? It's about a bunch of sins- one of them is Glutton- ah shit, I'll have to look it up. All I remember is a head in a box? Am I mixing movies?

(Pause)

Well shoot. I guess I should get more familiar with my bible, I didn't find the movie but did see this little graphic....and I'm royalled screwed.  I grew up in church and heard this many times but seemed to have forgotten. I need to read the bible again, I wonder if they list it on goodreads?

I logged into my dailymile today and have 1.4 miles logged for the week- a family walk on Monday evening. I should go for a run tonight but I've been nervous cause my ankle is throwing all kind of weird signals to me. It feels as though it's been rolled although I don't remember doing anything that could have injured it. I guess it just requires a test drive to further diagnose the problem but I've been scared. It's the curse of RNR I think. Last year my knee hurt me so badly in the 2 weeks leading up to RNR that I couldn't even run more than a mile and a half without limping back home. I toughed it out through the race but ended up with a left knee that I couldn't bend, an achy hip and two months of physical therapy. So RNR is now a week an a half away and I'm feeling the pains again.  Half marathon or full- I guess I don't really care. Listen, I just want the medal! :) The half marathon has a much prettier medal, it's blue and green. The marathon medal is red....WTF? What about Seattle says red? It's the EMERALD city!!!

Ragnar 2012- Night Leg, 11pm!

I have even more exciting news to say. Can you say HTC?!! I'll post more when it's a little more official and I have fun details to spew. In the meantime I've been nerding out on numbers for Ragnar, making my own unofficial pace calculator so my teammates can have an idea of when they are going to run. The people with night legs need to prepare mentally because if you're never run at 2am in an unfamiliar place it can be a mind trip. Last year I wanted a pacer so bad but didn't want to look like a big chicken and make someone else run even more miles so I sucked it up and ran past bars in full swing right on into the country past horse farms. That was my most memorable leg.....ok big lie. Most memorable leg was the last one because it was much hillier than I expected, much much hillier. I was so happy to be finished at that point and I was cussing the coordinator for having the exchange at the top of the hill where I HAD to run because hundreds of people who watching me. I love this sport :P

I have a Disease!

In the words of my friend Rosanna, "Best. Disease. Ever." I've got the running bug. I've had it since Dec 2009, and it only keeps getting worse!

Some Inspiration :P

I decided it would be a good use of my time this afternoon to start planning for 2014 races. Sick, I know. I've looked over my 2013 schedule so many times I needed something else to focus on. Planning for 2014 allows to me to dream when my 2013 dreams are starting to die, ha-ha. I've accomplished my goal for the year to run a marathon but funding is impacting other race goals such as running quadzuki and running another out of state race. Awhile ago I decided that I wanted to run 50 races (any distance) in 50 states by the time I'm 50. I have to be realistic, 50 days, 50 weeks, 50 months....no way, I don't have that kind of money or time. So I settled on completing this by the time I'm 50- that gives me just over 23 years to complete this feat. I'm going to make a tab dedicated to my 50 in 50 so watch for it. If you're around in 23 years hopefully you'll see 50 states listed, but today I can only record two. Washington (duh- home-state) and Oregon.

I have 18 races that I WANT to run next year totaling $1,013 race fees. Whoever said this sport was cheap obviously never paid for marathon, put 500 miles on a pair of running shoes, loaded a fuel belt with GU's, purchased a foam roller, traveled to said race etc etc etc. You get the picture. Two of these races are destination races to cross CA (Disneyland half) and VA (Marine Corps Marathon) off my list. The idea is to take the family vacation to Disneyland and sneak away to VA with just my husband. He is a former United States Marine so I think it would be special to go experience that particular race together.

Moving along, tonight we have a Ragnar team meeting with an optional 10k afterwards. I think I'm just going to run/walk pushing the girls in the jogging stroller for 2-3 miles so that James can get a good run in. We have most of the race details worked out; obviously it's paid for, we have volunteers, vehicles, hotel arrangements for the night before, yet I feel unprepared. Maybe that is how all first time captains feel?



I've been watching my nutirtion more closely the past week and am down 3.8 lbs, woot woot. No cutting corners or retarded carb-free, low calorie diets for me, I have ate real food and lots of it! I've been treating myself to Skinny Vanilla Lattes from starbucks- I even paired it with 2 organic chocolate peanut butter cups for breakfast a few days ago. It's all about moderation and fitting in exercise when you can. P.S.Happy Friday!



Burping up Chicken Fries

Happy Monday! The sun in shining in WA and it's suppose to be in the 70's all week- woohoooo! Not that I'll get to experience that much of it since I'm indoors at work for almost 9 hours a day but at least I have a waterfront office with a lot of windows to torture me :) My fingers are crossed that this glorious weather sticks around until the weekend.

Me and my little brother after our run

I spent this last weekend working Saturday (overtime money = less stress when it comes time to pay bills), and I don't work much overtime so I was alright with coming in for 6 hours. When I got home I packed the girls up and we went out to my parents for dinner, the hubby had to work so he missed out on an awesome sweet and sour chicken dinner. Only problem with my mom and dad's house is that it is a trigger for me- FULL of temptation. I got my desire to eat from my dad because my mom can have all kinds of sweet treats around her and not even think twice about them. They cause me agony however! So between a never-empty candy drawer, the chip cabinent, and the cookies and candy jars sprinkled around the house I could go into full cardiac arrest! I did indulge in a few treats, mainly some mini reeses peanut butter cups from the candy drawer. Unforuntaely my parents also eat dinner about 1.5 hours after we normally do so I was famished and indulged in a handful of pringles- and then mom heated up some chicken fries to snack on. My saving grace was that I brought running clothes with me in case my little brother (ok- 21 now, not so little) wamted to go run with me. He's on my Ragnar team this year and we've only run together a handful of times over the years so I thought it would be fun. Right after indulging in chicken fries he told me he wanted to go- perfect timing, NOT. I suited up. Of course I did not feel like running AT ALL, but considering how much pre-dinner food I had consumed I knew I had to burn some calories off before actually eating a real dinner. Before the drive over I had decided that if we ran I wanted to do around 5 miles, when he asked me, I said I'd have to see how I felt but I wanted to back down to 3 miles so badly. My brother is like 6'2'' so running at my 9:35 pace he looked like he was taking baby steps but he never complained- a few times we hit 8:50's but I was not in shape to hold that pace on Saturday. I burped up chicken fries the entire run, and it was HILLY. I was of course cursing running, saying I hated it the whole time- a normal occurence until afterwards when I'm so happy I went out.

My girls playing dress up at Grandmas

Sunday I did some weeding, finished up a P90X Arms/Shoulders DVD that I started last week but wans't able to finish due to two little lady bugs who kept jumping all over me! Then did Ab Ripper X- well some of at least, it's killer- I didn't remember how hard it was!

Well planned on writing more but got pulled away from the desk and the end of my previous paragraph to do some urgent work and now I'm leaving 30 minutes later than I should. Until next time friends.....