Words

Marathon Training and PDB Challenge day 8

No run today. Hubbie had to run out to the "new" old house and I ended up as back up daycare for DGS... I sort of expected this to happen, and I tried to get every body here on board with letting dear ol' Mom get in a run this morning, but someone dropped the ball and here I am... At home...

Other Stuff

Last night's party was fun. I had my one drink, ate really clean, and did well UNTIL they served dessert. They had these little gourment cakes that were oh-so-yummy, and the dark chocolate ones were like a little bit of heaven. I could have been completely happy with just desserts last night. I ended up not wearing the jeans like I had planned, but black pants, a silk coral sleeveless top, and black strappy sandals. Hubbie came home from work and filled me in on what some of the ladies would be wearing, so I panicked and changed out of the jeans. Turns out that many of the women wore what I had originally planned to wear. Some women were dressed to the nines, so it probably didn't really matter what I wore. There was live music, dancing and open bar. A good time was had by all, and I'm sure many of them aren't feeling too swift today...

On another online workout board I belong to, several people have decided to delete their blogs because of the potential of having their pictures and words miss-used... Unfortunately, this has happened to a few wonderful people. It's a shame, really. I've met many wonderful people in blogger-land. It is my choice to NOT delete my blog. Perhaps I'll choose my words and photos more carefully, but my blog isn't controversial or earth shattering. I post things about my running, family, working out, running, photography,running, the house, running, current happenings, and running, but not in that order... I know I don't use proper English and my spelling can suck at times. I use this as a creative outlet. My intentions on my blogs are not to verbally hurt or disrespect anybody. I respect the decision of those who decided to delete their blogs. I wish they didn't feel like they had to delete their blogs, but I understand.

Peace

Black Friday

Last night hubbie and I went out for date night but I kept it clean. No alcohol -- I just stayed with water and a lemon wedge, and I had seared ahi sashimi and jasmine rice with veggies. YUM!

Today is a scheduled rest day and I might actually take it as a rest day. Some "rest" days I feel like I should be doing something, so I'll throw some sort of workout in. Tomorrow is supposed to be a run day but I might have to put that off until Sunday again, just due to everybody elses schedule.

The leg cramp is almost non-existant.

Party tonight for hubbies's business partner.... I gotta figure out what to wear. I have a black blouse that's kinda dressy, but I'm thinking of pairing it with a nice pair of jeans and red, high heeled, pointy toed pumps... Well see...

Peace

Rebel Yell

Half Marathon Training and PBD Challenge - Day 6

I got in my 2.5 mile run last night but I managed to get a cramp in my left inner quad. OWWWWWWWW!... that hadn't happened before. Today I did a long round of stretches. The leg feels better but still twingy...

I attempted my own version of chicken satay with peanut sauce last night. I didn't have half the ingredients the on line recipe had, but it was okay. I need to figure out how to make it lower in fat and calories, especially the peanut sauce. We also had a broccoli salad that I picked up at Costco, but I only used half the dressing provided. Much to my surprise, my 3 year old grandson ate up the chicken and the broccoli out of the salad. He called the salad "little trees."

Other Stuff
My son won tickets off a local TV station to see Tom Petty and Beck in concert. He answered a trivia question correctly. He's a huge Beck Fan. He said that Beck opened for Tom Petty, and when Tom Petty was on, he played some Fleetwood Mac songs, then Stevie Nicks came out and sang, which was a surprise because she was not listed as a performer. He said it was a good show. I asked him about the demographics of most of the concert goers, and he said it was mostly folks over 40... He should have taken ME to the concert! LOL...

Peace

Arms Of A Woman

Half Marathon Training - Crosstrain or Rest and PDB Challenge Day 4

Crosstrain - UBW mostly BFL style and Abs.

I kicked my own @$$ today. There were exercises I forgot about because of the tendinitis issuse I had earlier this year. I threw in rows on the row seat attachement on my Bowflex. I got my heart rate up and did those to failure. That was fun! I hadn't done those in ages.

lat pulldowns, 3 grips
rows
upright rows
incline bench for chest flys and presses
bicep curls
Tricep kick backs
Abs - Floor crunches - 2 sets of 150

Food is clean so far. I'm CRAVING dark chocolate right now, luckily I have some chocolate protein bars on hand. Not quite the same thing but it's chocolate and I hope that will take care of the craving.

Other stuff:
The "girls" from work (at my last job) called me today and asked me to join them for a spa day. Ohhhhhh yeah! Sign me up! It was so much fun when they did that last year. So in about 3 1/2 weeks I can be guaranteed a few hours of bliss...

Peace

We Don't Run

Half Marathon Training and PDB Challenge Day 3

REST
Always a rest day after a long slow distance run day.

My legs are a little tight today, but no weird pains.

I had a discussion with my former PT friend. The way my body stores fat has changed since I've started running. My upper body now carry more fat than they used to. My legs are much leaner. It's funny because I used to be a classic pear shape. Once this half marathon is over, and the huge need for extra carb calories is over, it will be back to more BFL style way of eating and weights.

I've reposted my progress pictures today on Muscletank.net and on PDB. I used MY camera, so I was able to use natural lighing.

Other stuff:
We have tile in the new old house! Well it's waiting to be installed, but we have it. The tile guys ripped out the old linoleum and prepped the floor with Hardiback board. They're good at what they do but they're doing our house on weekends only, until they comlete some other jobs. Since the work load for them is slowing down they're also going to sand the rest of our floors and paint the exterior of the house. I hope we can move in in a couple of weeks...

Happy Monday!

Peace

Another Park, Another Sunday

I finally got in my 20K... 2:36. Just 2 miles shy of me finishing, asthma kicked in and I had to do a walk/run. Last week 8 miles was all I could muster, so about 12.8 this week felt like a success. My initial time goal to finish the half marathon (13.1 miles) was anything faster than 2:26:00, even if it was 2:25:59. The flu really threw me off. I'm on my way back and I plan on doing another 20K training run next Saturday or Sunday, and I hope I'll be just a little bit faster.

Peace
<

Pretty Baby

Half Marathon Training Rest or Crosstrain
Crosstrain - Chest - BFL style and Abs - 2 sets of 100

I was supposed to take pictures and get measurments today, but my PT buddy got sick, so I'll have to dig out the tripod and search my house for perfect lighting. I'll get my own measurments, but I always feel like it's more accurate when someone else does the measuring, plus it keeps me honest.

Hubbie and I received some good news today. Our college roomate and his wife just received word that they have a baby daughter to adopt from China. They're naming her after our daughter, who was a baby when hubbie and our roomate graduated from college. How cool is that? Any way, We're thrilled for them. This little girl will be their second daughter from China.

Peace

Dig Myself A Hole

Was it a gopher? You know how those gophers like to dig holes everywhere... What pests!


This hole did make a good place to hide a ball, though. Maybe that gopher isn't such a bad guy after all...




More holes... The gopher??? Um... Oops... That little boy left his green bouncy ball outside. It was too round and bouncy. Wonder how THAT happened???


WHAT??? I DIDN'T DO ANY THING!!! IT WAS THAT GOPHER, I TELL YA! HONEST!

Sigh...

All right... I fess up... I did it... I was bored! I enjoyed every minute of it! I found a place to put my favorite ball and took care of that green bouncy ball... It was getting on my nerves, anyway.


I stand by my work, er, um, lay by my work.

Woof (Peace)

Para Donde Vas

I've stumbled upon an interesting article: "Exercise = Weight Loss, Except When It Doesn't" I found the article through the Complete Running Network.

It's pretty quiet here. Bi's and tri's today. I'm feeling a little stronger each day. The stomach is sorta doing better... At least I'm eating better. Because of this flu bug, I'm down to 123, but I'm not going to hold much stock in that number, just because I know it will go back up for the big carb load in a couple of weeks.

I need to take pictures and get measurments again. I'm planning on doing the 100 day challenge on PDB. This challenge could also be the kick I need to get completely past this stomach thing.

Other stuff:
My sister just informed me that she is now running 3 miles with out stopping at a 10 minute mile pace. Wooohoooo! She did the Couch to 5K program. Now we just need to find an event that my brother, sister and I can all meet at and run in.

Peace

FUEL

Hubbie and I did an 8 mile run today. It wasn't pretty, but we did it in just under 2 hours. Not my best time for an 8 miler but it's done!!! I'm used to doing a carb load 2 to 3 days prior to a long run, but since I've been down with the stomach flu I haven't felt like eating much. Fueling up for a long run is everything. Any day I get to run is a good day, so I'm feeling pretty good, regardless of how it went. It was a beautiful, sunny day, WARM, but a cool breeze came off the lake. I relaced my running shoes differently and that helped with the ankle situation. One cute thing I did see at the lake was a lady on her bike with one of those bike baby trailers that she was toting behind the bike BUT she was toting her little dog... Looked like a Pekeniese (sp). It was hysterical because her dog was sitting up happily barking as they went. I love seeing all of the different people and their dogs at the lake.

CHEESY SHAMLESS PLUG...
If you happen to catch HGTV, a house my hubbie designed will be featured on a show tonight, September 17, 2006, at 10PM, PST. I think the show is "What's With That House?" The good thing about cable is that it will be rebroadcast a gazillion times. The house he designed is in the La Jolla, CA area... It's a house that used to be a small Craftsman style house, like the rest of the neighborhood, and is now more contemporary per the client's personal style. Hubbie was the main architectural designer, the client did her own interior design.






PEACE

Sick City

I've been venting on other boards about my stomach flu and not being able to run. 'Nuf said. A friend of mine sent me an e-mail titled "Things You Don't See Everyday" with several pictures of unusual things, people and animals -- This "tigers in the tub" picture was in it. I thought I'd post it here just for a change of scenerey.

Peace

Tell Me Why

Side-lined....

We're slammed with the stomach flu here -- well, just me and my daughter. I thought I was over it but, no. I sooooo don't need this right now! Too much to do and no energy. Sure, my weight is dropping but it's not healthy weight loss and I feel like crap.

On a more positive note, it's not blazingly hot outside. I may go sit in the backyard and eat my crackers and drink electrolytes...


House stuff
Finally, a room that doesn't look like a construction zone!!! Prior to the estate sale, this room, which is the dining room, was knee deep in junk, plus stuff piled on my grandmother's dining room table and all kinds of nic-nacks crammed in the built in hutch. This is a freshly finished dining room. The floor is in decent condition because it had an area rug under the table, but it still needs some light sanding and a few coats of polyurethane. The chair is from my grandmother's dining room set and I placed some of my own things in the hutch just so it would show up in the picture. I still need to purchase new handles for the hutch, but it's really clean looking.

Next on the list of things to do is the floor. My uncle did not do a lot of maintenance on the house, and did quick fixes, such as the linoleum on the kitchen floor. Yep. This is the kitchen floor with staples in the linoleum. We have selected ceramic tile that looks like travertine(sp?) -- and the linoleum with staples will be just a memory in this picture.

This is the range top, now placed where the refrigerator used to be. The former range used to be in the middle of the kitchen, which took up too much floor space and made it rather cramped. We've actually used the range for hot water, for tea.
I didn't get a picture of where the refrigerator will go, but hubbie had to rip out an entire cabinet to accommodate what ever refrigerator we end up with.

Just to the right of the range is a small work space where the electricians put a new, 4 plug outlet. The electricians put a lot of holes in our walls to make room for all of the upgrades, plus bringing everything "up to code." We have a few places to patch that look like this...

Sure, I'd love to rip out ALL of this yellow tile and put a granite backsplash and countertops, however, the budget doesn't allow for it at the moment, as we're just trying to get everything functional, for now... We're becoming pretty good at patchwork. The old yellow tile will be replaced with other old yellow tile that a friend saved from their bathroom demo -- it just happened to match our kitchen tile.

Stay well.


Peace

Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life

I planned out my 20k run the night before. I had my hydration pack filled with water, gells ready to go, Propel and a towel in the trunk of my car, running clothes and shoes all stacked up and ready to, cell phone and ID in my hydration pack, I even set the alarm clock for 6:45 am... I woke up sick with the stomach flu. Just grrreat... Grrrrr... It seems like we keep passing around something here. My daughter has it too. Towards the evening I thought I was feeling better and thought, just maybe, I could do my run on Sunday morning early. That didn't happen, either. TTOTM came on with a vengeance and I had a headache that felt like someone kicked me in the head. Peachy. If there's any consolation, I did rest my foot a little longer I ended up going to the "new" old house on Sunday and cleaned up. The dining room actually looks like a dining room now, instead of a construction zone. Not what I had planned but I got something done. I'm hoping to get in my 20K this week at the lake.

Today is LBW.

Peace

Fly Away

Day 26 - Half Marathon Training - rest or crosstrain

Rest

I read a post on the My Blends forum yesterday, of how someone (sorry, I don't remember who) doing dumbbell flys with 20# weights, each hand. I got to thinking... How heavy could I actually go on dumbbell flys? I did dumbell flys, BFL style, starting out with 10# in each hand one set of 12. Okay... Then 12.5#-10 reps, 15#- 8 reps, 17.5# - 6 reps. Curiousity set in so I continued. 20# - 6 reps. 22.5# - 6 reps but form was starting to be compromised. Could I do more? 25# - 4 reps, not pretty. So I guess the answer is: Yes, I can do 20# safely. 22.5# is pushing it and 25# is probably, really, more than I should do safely. I've been doing low weights high reps for so long that I didn't really know or realize how heavy I could go. I still have my work cut out, but it sure beats doing only 10#. So, yesterday, I did sorta work out.

Today was actually more of what I would consider a rest day. I spend my morning with DGS while his mommy was at class, and, later on, got my hair cut and colored. No new color or cut. Just a trim and a teensy bit darker.

Tomorrow I am planning a 20K run/walk at the lake. I'm still dealing with ankle issues but I need to get some mileage in, just for the endurance. I'm not in pain, there's just a constant soreness. There's no rule that says I have to go fast. I figured that I did a half mile walk yesterday (to the park and back) and I was pretty comfortable, so if I do a walk/run pattern, I should be able to safely do a 20K distance and not hurt myself. Yes, I realize that there is a big difference between a half a mile and a 20K distance, and I can always cut the 20K distance short if I am in any pain. I'll have ice in Ziplock bags ready to go for when I get home and put my feet up...

Have a great weekend!

Peace

Godspeed (Sweet Dreams)

Day 25 - Half Marathon Training - rest or crosstrain

Rest - Not really rest. I'm back up daycare for my grandson.

We have a break in the weather today, so it's more in the 80's, not so much high 90's and 100's. Today will be a great day to take the little guy to the park, let him run around and get really tired so he'll have a good nap this afternoon.

I thought I'd be feeling my abs this morning with all of the crunches I did yesterday, but I'm really feeling my arms. I might try and fit in some sort of cardio today, IF my daughter comes home early. I might be able to get myself to the gym for some recumbent bike. I'll have to see how the day plays out.

PEACE

Ready For The Good Times

Day 24 - Half Marathon Training - 3 mile run - easy.

No run today... Too flippin' hot!

It's toasty here in Southern California... A few schools were let out early due to the extreme heat. I am without a car, the garage where my Bowflex is set up is like a hot sauna, and only one room in my house has a/c, and it's a cheesy wall a/c, but it's better than nothing. Soooooo, in the only room that had a/c, I did exercises without weights, and worked on regular pushups 4 sets of 10, bench dips 5 sets of 12 (using the coffee table and couch), squats (didn't count but did a bunch) ab crunches, 5 sest of 100. Not exactly to plan but it was too hot to run anywhere today and I couldn't drive out to the gym since DS had my car... I decided to to this workout because I didn't get in chest and triceps yesterday, and since I didn't run I threw in the squats and abs for fun.

My brother called today asking about my running. He said that the closer it gets to the half marathon date, the more people he's seeing on the running trails. He's wondering where all these people have been the whole time, and if they're really ready. I will be as ready as I can be. I was planning on running the whole half marathon in about 2:25. Any time remotely close to that will make me happy. Finishing will make me happy.

Peace

Wake Me Up When September Ends

This was supposed to be yesterday's post...

(What day is it anyway? A little 3 day weekend and everything goes off course, but not too bad)
Day 23 - Half Marathon Training - Rest or Crosstrain

Crosstrain. UBW.

This past three day weekend was spent doing manual labor at the "new" old house. No scheduled workouts or runs. The electricians did a good job putting holes everywhere, and the paiting contractor is done, soooo we had to patch and paint. DH also ripped out a closet in the garage for the washer and dryer. The dryer was easy to lift up into the close, but washer was a bit complicated and super heavy, but we did it. Since I'm smaller than DH, it was up to me to crawl behind the washer (in the closet) to hook up the hose, water and power, THEN crawl out. I reminded DH that he should be glad I work out because most wives wouldn't have wanted to do that, let alone lifting myself up and out of a tight space... I should have taken pictures, but I didn't have my camera with me...

I did okay, food wise, Friday through Monday. Not perfect, but good. No major endulgences.

The right ankle is still sore but not so bad. I saw my chiropractor this morning and he made some adjustments on my feet, which helped tremendously.

Peace

Look What They've Done To My Song, Ma

Here's the list of song titles, artists/group, and who guessed the correct artist/group for the past month, more or less... Thanks for playing along!

7-31-06 Sing A Song - Earth Wind & Fire

8-1-06 New Attitude - Patty Labelle - Shpprgrl

8-2-06 Cliffs of Dover - Eric Johnson - FV Tom

8-3-06 Word Up - Cameo

8-4-06 Let It Grow - Eric Clapton FV Tom

8-5-06 Unguarded Chocolate Chip Cookies are Easy Targets - Andthewinneris

8-7-06 Bring Me To Life - Evanescence - Cathy

8-8-06 One Headlight - The Wallflowers

8-11-06 Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Diana Ross

8-13-06 En El Cielo No Hay Cerveza - Flaco Jimenez - FV Tom

8-14-06 Steady As She Goes - The Raconteurs

8-15-06 I Won't Back Down - Tom Petty - FV Tom

8-17-06 Back In The Saddle Again - Gene Autry - FV Tom

8-19-06 It's A Sunshine Day - The Brady Bunch TV Tom

8-21-06 Everyday Is A Winding Road - Sheryl Crow FV Tom

8-21-06 Enter Sandman - Metallica - Zooman

8-24-06 Hungry Like A Wolf - Duran Duran - Zooman/FV Tom

8-25-06 Empty Garden - Elton John

8-26-06 Woo Hoo - The 5,6,7,8's

8-28-06 Monday Monday - The Mama's & Papa's FV Tom

8-29-06 Rock Me On The Water - Jackson Browne - Katiefeldmom

8-30-06 Sex And Candy - Marcy Playground

8-31-06 Girlfriend - Alicia Keys

PEACE