What's Your Dream?

Rowing is where it’s at! I totally forgot about rowing machines. I can never go on them for too long because they make my back muscles go crazy because they are actually being used for a change! But last night I did a solid 15 minutes on a rower and it was pretty good. My back feels like someone round house kicked me yesterday but that is exactly what I was wanting, to feel like I am making real progress on strengthening my back. I love the fact that it is a cardio workout as well. That was my main draw to it yesterday. I wanted to get 30 minutes of cardio in and after 17 minutes on the StairMaster I ventured over to the rower to work a bit more on my back. I think I figured out that I just need to go nice and slow with a consistent rhythm on the rower and I can go for quite a while. Usually I try to go pretty hard and want to give up after a few minutes. But Last night I felt like I could keep on going last night for quite a while. A little known fact about me, I LOVE the StairMa...

With my new plan to go to the gym now three to four times a week after work I have decided to do something I really struggle with. Weight lifting. It’s not that I don’t know how it’s just that I don’t like to do it! I find cardio much more enjoyable and therefore it is much easier for me to do. I need to work on my overall strength and besides that muscle burns fat!   Last year I was taking out the trash and I bent over to pick up the bag and I pinched a nerve in my back and I couldn’t hardly walk for three days and it took almost two weeks to fully recover. I still think that my recovery probably would have gone a lot faster if I had had a stronger back. Last night when I was at the gym I really wanted to work on my back strength but I realized that I really don’t know many exercises for that and I only found two machines to work on it. So today I thought I would look up some new moves to improve back strength and share them with you. We all know that abs mean nothing unless ...

Are you ready for some football!? Seahawks are going to beat those Packers for sure! I can't wait for the game. I hope your weekend is going well and that your team is playing today as well. Just remember to have a health lunch/snacks for the game. Last week I had carrots and celery as my snack with cod and brussel sprouts at my dinner. Today I am working so I won't be indulging in anything that isn't accepted by Advocare. As far as my Advocare experience is going, I am ready for it to be finished. It isn't the food part of the diet at all, it's the supplements. I am tired of taking so many pills and feeling like poo. At this point I am only planning on finishing it because it is so expensive! I love the clean eating but the supplements make me feel like blah and it's always a fun experience having to run to the restroom in a rush. Never thought I'd say I miss the simplicity of Nutrisystem. There is my not positive update. I wish I was loving it as much...

I'm sure that you have heard of planning your weekly meals ahead of time, that way you have absolutely no excuse not to eat healthy during the week. But today I was thinking of new ways to create a no excuse atmosphere in my life. After discussing and our weekly workout routines with Anthony we decided that I will now go on to the gym after I get off work instead of driving straight home, then on my days off we will do our weekly runs together.  Traffic is kind of miserable during the drive home after work and it turns a 15 minute drive into a 35 minute drive. With the gym only being about seven blocks away from work, about 5 minutes, I thought those extra 20 minutes of drive time could be spent at the gym instead of stuck in traffic. By the time the traffic will be much less severe and it won't have lost anytime but instead gained a workout. I wanted to take it a step further and make it even easier for me so that way I would not have an excuse not to go to the gym afte...

How often do you struggle with motivation? I struggle with it daily and when it comes to working 12 hours a day I'm always completely exhausted after I get off work and have 0 motivation. Strangely enough I found it easier to work out on the late shift because I could wake up and work out before going to work. If were to do that now and if you getting up at 230 in the morning. This is just one of my daily struggles thought I'd share with you so that you know that you are not alone. I've only been on day shift for a little over a month and I'm still adjusting I hope to find my groove soon. Would be in the New Year and all the sales of gym memberships and workout equipment you would think I would be able to my motivation more easily. It really is kind of the other way around because the New Year's resolutions to be a fad that most people don't really stick to in the end,  and kind of just take up my space at the gym. By February usually the gym is back to nor...

Okay, Day 6 did not go very well. And I don't mean with what I was eating or what I did that day but in reference to how many times I had to run to the bathroom. It was a pretty unpleasant day altogether I spent probably half of it in the restroom. And I wasn't just going to the bathroom but running to the bathroom. Now this is the first day I've had  this happen on this program and I'm hoping that it doesn't continue because if it does that means I may have to stop. But today I go back on the fiber drink, because we took a couple days off according to their daily planner, and I'm interested to see if that will straighten my tummy back out or just make me even gassier like I was when I first started. Sorry for the unpleasantness but I promise to report all the gritty details on my Advocare experience. I am hoping for the best! Thank you for reading this nasty post, have a great day.  Keep on running.

Running after the holidays is never easily. Finding your grove once again can almost seem impossible. I have been out for a couple of runs in this new year and it has been a little rough to start. But Anthony and I have made a pact to workout and run more frequently and step up our game dramatically to get ready for the Mountains to Beach full marathon in May. It really isn't that far away!  We are wanting to create an amazing memorable experience with our trip to California for the run but we aren't quite sure what we would like to do yet. Ideally we would fly down, rent a car and take two weeks to drive back up to WA but that seems a bit of a stretch, in a good way though because Anthony just received the great news that he will be switching to a new company in a couple of weeks. Congratulations to him on moving up in his career! So we may just make it a luxurious weekend on the beach with a marathon thrown in. Can't get much more relaxing than that!  I am so grate...

Yesterday on day 5, I can tell you now that it finally felt like a "cleanse" phase. But barely. The reason why is because there were two trips to the loo twice yesterday for the number two. But it was totally normal trips, just twice in one day instead of just once. But that is really it. No crazy illness, weird feelings or reactions. I am still having a mild headache, it is getting much better now. Which is a relief. I am also having gas still but this has also calmed down a bit but I am not going to kid you, it is still very prevalent and annoying as all get out.  I little tell about me that I don't believe that I have mentioned in the past, is that I do have IBS, Irritable Bowl Syndrome "is a disorder that leads to abdominal pain and cramping, changes in bowel movements, and other symptoms. IBS is not the same as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. In IBS, the structure of the bowel is not abnormal....

Are you a writer? The topic of this morning's conversation at breakfast. I believe that I have the ability to be a decent one, I went out for the journalism team in high school but my teacher felt like I didn't make the cut. I still believe to this day it was due to the differences in our writing styles. Why do I believe that? I received an A in every writing class that I have ever had. In college my professor loved my work and even used my work for future assignments. However, I felt hurt and undermined by my high school teacher. I didn't think I could ever be a writer after the way he treated me. Strangely, 11 years after being rejected I am, as far as I know, the only person out of that group of students that did make the cut actually writing anything at all these days. It is strange how that worked out. That is life for you.  This whole conversation was brought up by the idea of trying to actually earn money off of my writing. I doubt that will happen any time soon...

I am doing well on Advocare so far! I am only on day 5 but I am sticking to it. On the positive side the headaches and gas have calmed down. Which is good, I am going to attribute the stomach problems to the Fiber drink. I use Benifiber but I think it is way less ... fiber-y. The much brighter side of things is that I have lost 3lbs on Advocare thus far! Which is definitely inspirational! I am pretty excited about that! Now to the good juicy stuff! I was contacted by ClassPass and they are giving you the chance to skip the wait list for the Seattle area and sign up today! Use this link to skip the wait: http://classpass.com/buynow?utm_source=tpblog&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=sea&utm_content=3258 I can't wait to hear about your experience with this amazing program. Keep on Running!

So far I have had a few side effects from Advocare. If you don't like icky subjects, stop reading now. First, really bad gas! Like super bloated and gas to the extreme... No fun for anyone. Second, I have had a mild headache sense yesterday morning.  Third, and so far the last, this morning after taking my Spark before eating breakfast I felt pretty queasy and had to find something to calm my stomach. But thankfully that passed after eating something.  Over all the side effects are bateae thus far and I am hoping they subside once my body starts to adjust. The fiber drink wasn't as bad this morning because I was prepared for it and I drank it as fast as I possibly could. Still a weird consistency though. But it through without gagging this morning, which is a step in the right direction.  More updates to follow. Keep on running!

Yesterday I completed the first day of Advocare and it was tough. Not because of the diet restrictions but because of the fiber drink. As soon as I poured into the water to mix it together my first thought was "this looks like a ground up walnut they stuck in here"and after reading the label it turns out I wasn't far off, there was oak fiber and black walnut in it. At first the drink isn't bad but if you let it sit for more than a few minutes it's starts to coagulate and reminded me a lot of malt I meal from back in the day. The consistency is what was tough for me to taste itself wasn't bad at all. The two Spark drinks that I have with my 24 day challenge are orange and fruit punch. The orange kind of reminds me of a weak tang and the fruit punch does taste like Kool-Aid so it isn't bad.  Last night I also took my first set of cleanse pills before going to bed but so far haven't noticed anything different with that either. Now to continue on with day ...

Today is my first day of Advocare and I can already tell this is going to be an interesting experience. This morning I started off with their signature drink Spark. I am not a fan of fizzy or carbonated drinks and this is a fizzy drink. I will take this twice a day to start, 30 minutes before breakfast and again 30 minutes before lunch. Then in the first 10 days I will also be taking a fiber drink or a probiotic with my breakfast and an herbal cleanse supplement before bed. That's it during the first phase, not too bad really. I already take fiber, probiotics and multivitamins every day. So I'll just be taking a different form of the supplements I am already taking.  Basically the program is just making sure that I will be getting all of the nutrients in my diet that I should be getting. The "diet" part of it is simply promoting clean eating. Or kind of a paleo diet in the sense that they ask that you don't eat processed foods. So fresh vegetables and fruit...

Happy New Year! I can't hardly believe it but New Years has come and gone! For New Year's Eve Anthony and I went downtown Seattle and celebrated the New Year at the Space Needle! How exciting is that?!?! We were able to watch the amazing firework display from directly under the Space Needle. It was completely amazing! This year I realized I am not so much into resolutions but more into goals. The goals that I have for 2015 are ones that I have been working on for months already and didn't just decide to do the week of New Year's. Yes, my goals are in the traditional "fitness" fields but they are things that I have been planning for months now. I started off my new year with a 5k Resolution Run and Polar Bear dive at Magnuson Park in Seattle, WA hosted by Promotion Events. The same company that has hosted the last several races that I have run.  It was below freezing the morning of the race but it was a beautiful clear day. The event was hosted in a g...