twilight zone

hubby is on vaca. we were stuck at my in laws. there was a major blizzard and just getting around is a challenge. my family is coming sat. sunday we have a showing for a couple that loves our house. i am not sure what day it is, no schedule puts me off a bit.

This am I wanted to make the 9.30 boot camp class with iron lady but we all slept in and I didn't push it. I went later and ran. But being in the twilight zone and not knowing what is up or down, i was wrong about boot camp, it is tomorrow at 9.30am. wahooooo, i get a second chance.

I am looking forward to seeing my fam. however I am also looking forward to monday and getting everyone back on schedule.

January, wahoo. Start of a new year. getting a coach and starting my training for my first olympic tri. wahoooooooo.

lululemon wagon

so for christmas hubby got me some workout clothes from lululemon and man i love it. i am going to possibly exchange some and i can't wait to go in the store and browse and buy and wahooo..

i went to the gym with 4 kids today. had 2 over for playdate and dragged all of them out to the gym. got a quick 30 minutes on treadmill and was so happy to get it in.

starting to clean, unpack and org.

all good.

do you own lululemon ? do you love it ? how do you pronounce it ?

home sweet home

i am home.

i am happy.

i can't wait to hit the gym.

to clean.

to get a food shopping done.

snowed in...

at the inlaws

merry merry

i hope you all enjoy the wonder of the season

i was so jealous

and the theme this week is holidays getting in the way OR in other words, that is my excuse on why i am missing workouts. This AM I was going to do bootcamp with ironlady at 9.15 but we have all been sleeping in a bit here (due to my ladies staying up MUCH TOO late) and we have no early activities due to the holidays(see it is the holidays fault). We floundered a bit and I didn't rush us out and figured I would just run instead. I got to the gym about 9.30 and peeked into her class just to see and i was so freaking jealous.  They were jump roping and some other things we have never done, and I was like damn I am missing new fun (torturous) stuff.

I went on the treadmill and did 3 miles - each at a faster pace with a rest in btw. Half way through another person came up on the one next to me and she is another lady who is usually in the bootcamp so i asked her about it and she was late and we were both saying how bummed we were when we saw all the new stuff. ahh other crazy folk like me. love it.

i did not get the stuff for pecan diamonds. hubby really likes them so i need to make them tomorrow.

Luckily I am getting more fruit back in me but still missing veggies. I need a good ol salad from a salad bar.  I use to love working in the city and getting one of those big ass salads where you asked them to throw in everything .....we don't have a place like that around here. cept my own kitchen and i just didn't have all the stuff. plus it ain't the same.

where do you get your favorite salad ?

running or baking

so as my last post mentioned. holidays get in the way of other things.

this am i did NOT run. It was not the holidays fault, it was the fact that the house had a showing and I had to clean.

i just made these

lately i would rather bake than run. not a good sign. so far i made scottish short bread cookies YUM. These are pretzels with a rolo melted ontop and then i stuck an m&m in. Haven't tried them yet as they cool but i can't imagine i won't enjoy them.

tomorrow - boot camp. and then pecan diamonds.

holidays

The holidays are fun, but they sure do make it hard to stay on your nutrition and exercise. I was happy to get to the gym yesterday and ran 3 miles on the treadmill. However, last night we went to a neighbor's party and the nutrition went down the toilet. I was eating bacon wrapped around white bread and cream cheese, buckeyes, potato pancakes, and 2 beers. The problem was I decided to let the bad food continue most of today.

But Mondays are the perfect day to start over and get some veggies and fruit back in the body. With the hectic week ahead I will be making sure to get into the gym at least the first 3 days of the week.

I have been reading how a lot bloggers are getting their butts outside in the freezing cold to run and I am soooo impressed. I believe my cut off is 45degrees (and i need sun with that).

I need to order a wetsuit. I am doing my first olympic this year and I want a wetsuit. I am pretty sure open water swims in the river start in May.

Goals for the week:

-get presents wrapped
-gym m,t,w
-make a healthy dinner
-call mom

i need my fix

Yesterday was a planned day off from exercise. Today I was supposed to spin but the realtor had someone for a showing. So I opted to stay home and get the house clean. I was thinking of all the ways I could still fit in a 30 minute cardio at the gym somehow, but i fizzled out. Tomorrow I don't have time btw all the girls activities, so no gym for 3 days. I hate that. Saturday AM I will be busting out of here to get to the gym.

What do you do when you can't get your fix ?

Next up - i forget which blogger (i promise to find out and post) found it marlene mentioned sparkpeople. I had never seen it, it is a food tracking website. I love it. It is free. Such a great way to get a sense of your calories, and your protein/ carb ratio. I am so looking forward to tracking. It has all sorts of reports and graphs and I love me some graphs.

I made this last night
 Slow Cooker Chicken Cassoulet from the eat clean diet book - easy and delish....
1 (15 oz) can navy beans, pinto beans or black-eyed peas, rinsed and well drained
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 2/3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
4 celery stalks, trimmed and chopped
4 garlic cloves passed trough a garlic press
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes (not packed in oil)
3 large carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
1/4 cup fresh basil
1 T. thyme
2 Tbsp. fresh minced parsley
And just a side note, fresh herbs can be substituted for dried herbs, just make sure to use a bit less since they are more concentrated.

1. Spread half the beans in the bottom of the slow cooker.
2. Season chicken with pepper and sea salt. Heat oil over medium heat in a skillet. Brown the chicken on both sides (about 2-3 minutes each side). Place the browned chicken on top of the beans in the slow cooker. Top with remaining beans and chicken broth.
3. Saute the onion, celery, sun-dried tomatoes, carrots, garlic and herbs using the same skillet. Spread this mixture over the chicken. Cover and put on low heat for several hours.

productive

you know you have those days were you are super productive. every minute is devoted to completing a task. I love those days. I felt like today was one of those days.

I ran sunday, monday, tuesday was boot camp. I feel a mixture of emotions about my exercise right now. My running has been  a good feeling, b/c i finally feel like I am over the run 3 miles at 10 min miles. I do intervals, i will run for 4 miles on treadmill with negative splits. I know pushing myself will make me faster. It feels good to see how far I can push myself. I did NOT want to go to bootcamp. I had the little devil on my shoulder saying - stay home, why go, you could just do  this or that. But I went. I was not happy and ironlady (who is the instructor) even said, "smile" she could sense my mood. As usual I am glad I went. But I really want to turn around the feeling of "oh I don't want to go, dread dread" to "i am going b/c it is good for me, and i am strong." You know, turn the negative thoughts to the positive. I guess in some ways I know that the more strict schedule of training will be starting up and I should enjoy the laid back feel of working out right now.

by the way, ironlady killed us. i am sore. i swear i missed a week and i am sore ????

going to eat the crock pot chicken tonight. smells good. has beans, carrots, onions.

my weight seems to be going up. i know i have been horrible with sweets as usual. sometimes i am just amazed at how the sweets/carbs do really put the weight on. i joined up with sparkpeople and am going to try and count some calories. i might want to read racing weight.

only a few more presents and i will be done. however wrapping becomes a huge task in itself. we have everything hidden in the attic and i can only wrap when kids are not home. as of tomorrow my younger one is done with school til january - so her not home is not happening.

how do you turn your negative thoughts into positive thoughts ?

the week ahead

goals

- get last of xmas shopping done, mostly start and finish hubby
- dentist, car and eyes checked
- make chicken dish from clean eating cookbook, it is a simple crock pot meal that i have wanted to try
- read christmas books with girls, try and install the idea of giving not just receiving
- make sure i have all teacher gifts ready, don't forget about newspaper guy, cleaners, and mailman
- be happy and live in the moment. life is good.
- get babysitter for sat. night to attend neighbor's party (which is also special time with hubby -which we need)
- if i have time figure out way to get the girls alone so they can buy something for each other for christmas
- PJ"s for them to open on christmas eve (i always like to do this)
- run, 2 to 3 days, spin and strength

cold

i hate the cold. hate it.

why was i so tired this am. why ?

i want a personal chef that will teach me how to cook healthy delish meals. anyone ?

need to start thinking about what to get hubby for xmas ?

does it annoy you when people use xmas instead of christmas ?

got a lot of compliments on my christmas card, something i actually think i do well.

back in the day i use to take mental health days off from work, you know, when you just needed a break, so instead you sat in your tiny nyc apt and watched bad tv and ordered in, didn't shower. i need one of those days, i wouldn't think of laundry, cooking, cleaning, organizing, exercising, just one day. heck i am not sure i could even do it now, i would feel too unproductive.

do you make smoothies ? what type of protein powder do you use ??

exercise interrupted exercise interrupted ful

yesterday morning instead of boot camp at 9.15am, i was in the hospital. my little one was doing donkey kicks on the coffee table and lost balance and split her ear open. It was fun. We got to sit for 4 hours waiting, we saw a shivering drug addict and got to hear him puke. Then I had the pure 100% enjoyment of watching my poor 4 year old have her ear sting to the point from a needle that she would not get back on the bed. Then the Dr. suggested the papoose, i thought ...now that sounds like such a nice cozy word. I had visions of carrying my little 4 year old in some sort of cozy fleece lined papoose. NOOOO. the papoose is a straight jacket that they wrap on your screaming child. it buckles with 3 hugebuckles and your child can't move their arms. they called her a burrito. she screamed bloody murder, almost puked, and then finally calmed while they stitched her ear up with 5 stitches. I really enjoyed myself.

She was so brave and I was ready to buy her anything she wanted times a thousand.

She is brave but she has not learned her listen as she was donkey kicking in the hospital. She is jumping around right now. I think she actually thinks having stitches makes her cool. She is 4.

I am so thankful it was not worse.

No workout today but I did get my grays covered.

Tomorrow i will spin. Tonight I am going to make some roasted veggies, and maybe some rice and beans, beans for the protein.

running, hungry, & tupperware

i ran yesterday adn today on the treadmill, treadmill is getting boring but i am too wimpy to go outside

tomorrow boot camp

i am starving right now, but we have my daughter's parent teacher conference at 6.10 - so hubby and i are eating out after that.....this is when i fail on nutrition, i am ready to eat anything ??? RIght now i am leaning towards an english muffin with butter.

tupperware. my mom use to sell it. i can totally remember staying up late when she had a party, how they played games and someone would win something. I have many friends/acquaintances who sell something, sensaria, stell and dot, etc. I may start doing this, it is for a health company and i just tried the cleaning stuff and am happy with it. i have such a hard time thinking that i will be asking people for money BUT it is a product that i really believe in ?

we have netflix and i never watch movies. finally i watched veronica guernin - it was great, very inspiring. now i am watching man on fire with denzel, and it is some serious scary crazed kick ass denzel. he takes NO shit. i need to put PRE on my list the movie about the runner steve prefontine (spelling)

stairmaster and other cardio ?

Today I went to the gym but it was going to be quick due to activities for the girls. I did not feel like running b/c i just felt my time was too short. I am kind of at a loss if I am not taking a class (spin or boot camp) or running. I decided to jump on the stairmaster, I see many of the very inshape trainers use it and other inshape patrons.

I just walked up stairs for about 25 minutes, it said i went 100 flights. I have NO idea what type of workout this provides me. I was sweating, but i was not out of breath, but it felt like I was working.

So folks, what other cardio machines do you use ? row ? elliptical ? what type of cardio are they providing compared to spin or running ??? we don't have a jacob's ladder at the gym but i would love to try one of them.