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 ...

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...

I took third in my age division at the  Get Your Rear in Gear 5k !  There I am! Third place in my age division. However, I feel like I was gypped yet again because I wasn't even given a ribbon. That is not the point, I had a ton of fun!  Jump up and celebrate! Tricia, Anthony and I got our butts out of bed early Sunday morning and headed down to Marymoor park for the 5k.  Waiting for the start! Cute Brooks shirts for this race! Getting ready to start! It was very well organized. I was surprised! For a small race it had wonderful aid, great snacks and free give away. The huge staging area for the race reception! Super Jock N Jill gave away probably a dozen gift certificates! I was waiting for Tricia to cross the finish line so I didn't get in on the give aways but it sure was fun to watch the contests!  Miss Tricia crossing the finish line, YAY!!! They had the cutest kids race! The kids chased vegetables and fruit!  Anthony made Tricia and I breakfast! How...

So today because I couldn't find another weight program online by Jillian Michaels I used a DVD program that I already had by Bob Harper, Inside Out Method, Body Rev Cardio Conditioning workout 2. It worked on balance, upper body and lower body strengthening. It is quite a workout for 30 minutes! I am definitely  going to be sore tomorrow! The main reason why this 3 x 30 challenge is such a challenge is because of time management! With only about 2 hours of "free" time from waking up to getting ready to leave for work, there isn't a whole lot of workout time allowed. This challenge also is wonderful because of the next couple of week I will be doing about 40 hours extra overtime at work to help out but not only that, it's overtime on day shift! So I will have to flip flop my schedule like crazy. Wonderful because it'll help me stay in workout mode through this craziness at work. Keep me going and not just stop because of a weird schedule. Speaking of work, I...

Tomorrow morning I will be departing work and headed straight up to Snohomish to run in the the Snohomish River Run half marathon. I have run this race before back in 2012, their first year. Because it was their first year there were many ... difficulties. For instance the shuttles was so late that my sister and I had to walk down to the start. Which added almost another mile onto the distance for that day and then the course ending up being rather difficult at one point at the "turn around" you repeated the same spot several times and mentally it was just really hard. But I have high hopes for the race this year. There is a new "route" it's almost backward from the original and there is plenty of parking close to the start, only a couple of blocks away. I also feel that they have a better understanding for the requirements of their aid stations , they added a couple more, even more porta potties!  I just know that this year the race will be an amazing event co...

There are several ways that I cross train but my most regular "go to" are Bob Harper's workout videos. Don't be fooled by the fact he is a Biggest Loser trainer, that only makes his videos harder! I started off with his Biggest Loser videos several years ago but now I use his advanced videos. These are the DVDs that I currently own. They are very affordable, none over $10 and these are all $5.99 each. However, Bob is so awesome that he also has his DVDs on YouTube ! I have just listed the previews on here but if you go to YouTube and type in the name of the video or even just Bob Harper all of his videos pop right up. Your legs are sure going to feel it after this one, do those squats! You are going to be out of breathe the Whole time! I did this one last week and could hardly walk for three days! My favorite yoga DVD! Last night I did the Pure Burn Super Strength video off of YouTube (I just didn't have the DVD with me but that's no longer an excuse!), it i...

Diet, for me, I have to watch every single little thing I eat or I balloon up over night! I personally keep a food log on MyFitnessPal , bassett8807 to friend me, and I really do try to log all the food that I eat. I also keep track of my exercise on MyFitnessPal and MapMyRun for all of my outside workouts (you may also friend me on MapMyRun !).  MyFitnessPal MapMyRun I started working out and dieting in 2011 and I lost 40 lbs! But when I moved to the Seattle and started working night shift I gained 30 lbs slowly over a year and a half. All of my hard work down the drain! I was still working out and eating healthy but the schedule did not suit my body. I couldn't figure it out. Finally one day I was pushed to my limits and tried, what I consider to be, something drastic. I started Nutrisystem .  Right away I started losing weight! I lost 15 lbs in the first couple of months. Then I plateaued for a few months, which was due to my busy summer schedule and slacking a little on ...

There are days that we runners all know are on our calendars, rest days. That's right the inevitable rest day. Some times they are very much looked forward to and other times they are a day to feel guilty about. For me I usually regret them. I personally don't like rest days because I feel like I failed or I should have worked and done some form of major work out. I feel like I fail in my health and fitness when I take a day off from working out or running. But the truth is they are called rest days for a reason!  I personally try to plan my rest days on specific days of the week I know for sure I will not have time to fit a work out in. So it's more like a working rest day. But if I am fortunate enough to have a day where I can get a rest day in and do something very productive with that day like yoga or a good stretch session then I do. Those days I feel so much better about myself than if I use my rest day as a work day. I don't just feel better physically either, th...