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BeachBody Challenge Day 34

Mar8

I really need to get to bed earlier. I finished one of the boys’ videos last night. Finding and adding music takes me the longest. Despite how tired I was, I got up and got dressed.  I love that the sun is out bright and early now :-) Now, even though I am tired, I can get up and at least go for a nice 30 minute walk.  If I hadn’t been so tired, I probably could have gone for a run. My knees were still pretty stiff from my long run yesterday. I think that it will just get worse as my runs get longer so I wanted to get into the habit of going low impact the day after.

Sunrise Walk on the peninsula

The sun was just coming up when I went out.  It was a really nice morning and I could tell that it was going to be a beautiful day.  It was nice that the wind had died down a bit too. It was cool but I warmed up as I walked. I don’t take an easy stroll when I walk. I walk as fast as I can without going into a run :-) Low impact but lots of intensity!

I meant to do a workout right after dropping the boys off at school, but I got started on Seppe’s tball game :-/ I got a lot done by the time Ben got up. Finally got Ben to go to the gym with me :-) Well – I went with him.  He is really trying to get back into working out and I thought that if I went with him, it would help. I’ve stayed away from the gym – except for speed training – now that the weather has been so nice because I love running outside. And today was a big reason why I don’t hit the gym often.

Rockin my Tone It Up tank to the gym. Forgive the crazy lady appearance :-)

When we got there, a lady was on the bike talking on her phone. It is my biggest pet peeve! Why even sit on the machine when you’re obviously not getting a workout while you’re sitting there casually pedaling and talking up a storm – and talking loudly.  Ben got on an elliptical. An older lady was on the one working treadmill, so I decided to warm up on the other elliptical.  I decided to do Tone It Up’s Max Burn workout (minus the Itty Bitty workout at the end).  I figured the lady on the bike would be getting off her phone soon since I had no idea how long she was there before us. I finished my warmup, went through the first set of of exercises and lucked out! The older lady finished on the treadmill so I was able to hop on for the 5 min jog interval. I kept my pace easy for my knees. Lady on the bike was talking even louder. Second set of exercises and she was still talking. 2nd 5 min jog, she moved next to me and now I could hear her even over my headphones which I had up pretty loud. ugh! Thankfully Ben told her to quiet down because he was super annoyed. She just plugged in her headset and continued to talk. SMH. I finished up and did Day 8 of the MadAbs March challenge while I waited for Ben to finish. We were going to lift some weights but the lady was still on her phone talking so we left.  Our gym is small so there wasn’t any place we could really go to get far away enough to Not hear her.  Ok enough about that annoying bitch. lol.

Turbo Fire Day 32

I decided to be nice and let Ben have the tv for his video game. I used my laptop to do my workout. I started with Tone30. This one is killer on my arms.  I’m still getting use to the resistance band.  I kind of want to use weights instead, but I’ll stick with the band. Fire30 was also on the schedule for today.  Definitely did better on it today.  I kept it low impact so no jumps or tucks. I did do the sumo burpee  though. My favorite is the second combo. I can really get into that one.

Ended with a 5 min plank.

1 min on hands, 1 min side plank (30 second side dips) each side, 1 min hands (30 sec tummy tucks), 1 min elbows (30 second hip dips)

Meals:

M1: Chobani Champions with raw almond butter and chia seeds.

I try to get every last bit of yogurt :-)

M2: Chocolate Peanut Butter Shakeology. I usually use almond butter but I decided to change it up and use peanut butter.

M3: I bought some collard greens on yesterday so I could try out collard wraps like the one in Tone It Up Nutrition Plan :-) I’ve never had collard greens before and I was a little worried about the taste. I told myself that I’ll never know unless I try it so I bought it. I took my left over quinoa mix and wrapped it in a leaf. I made two because even though the leave were big, I didn’t a lot of filling in so it would wrap. I really like collard greens and I want to try cooking it :-)

Collard Greens

Left over quinoa, chicken, mushrooms, spinach, zucchini, and squash mix.

Quinoa mix Collar Wrap

M4: Lara bar.

M5: I made burritos for the boys. Kept it simple for the kids – a little refried beans, ground turkey and cheese. For Ben, I added guacamole and plain Chobani yogurt. I was hoping that it would be a good enough substitute for sour cream for Ben. He can be quite picky so I was glad that he liked it with the greek yogurt. I used whole wheat tortillas. For me, I made salad using the ground turkey I made for boys, red kidney beans, and tomato avocado salsa on top of spinach. I added a bit of plain greek yogurt on top.

My No Taco Salad :-)

Topped with Plain Chobani Greek Yogurt - just as good as sour cream :-)

I wanted to something sweet so I decided to have 5 strawberries.

90 oz. of water. 1 Zico.

BeachBody Challenge Day33

Mar7

TurboFire Rest Day :-)

Today didn’t start off all that well. Yep, I was up late again last night working on the boys’ tball games. Since I was doing a long run, I skip my bootycall workout to help give me more energy.  But I still had to be up early to get Gio to school.  I was running a little late because I had fallen back asleep after my alarm went off :-/  It was a rough morning where I was rushed and very tired at the same time.

After getting Gio to school, I had to get some grocery shopping done.  I was hoping to take a nap just so I could have energy to do my run. At this point, I didn’t feel like doing my run at all. I got a frustrated that there was always something that I had to do – feed Seppe breakfast (since he hadn’t eaten anything since getting up at 7a), help Ben do dishes that have been sitting there for 2 days that he now felt needed to be done, and get Seppe showered and dressed.  I was relieved when Ben took Seppe with him to run his errands and said he would pick Gio up from school. I was starting to think that I wasn’t going to have time to do my run at all.

I felt much better after my hour nap.  It was just what I needed to shake that exhausted feeling. Got dressed, filled my water bottle with some Zico, set my Nike+ app to do 7.5 miles and headed out.  It was a windy day but it felt good once I warmed up. I felt really good my whole run. I felt my knees a little bit after the 5.5 miles but they didn’t hurt.  I do like to do my runs earlier because at the time I went today there tends to be more people to weave through – like middle school kids getting out :-/ Then there were the people who decided to feed birds in the middle of trail and take pictures of them without moving at all.

Getting closer to 9 miles. Big Sur race coming up in April :-)

Got home and Gio was pretty much done with homework :-) Did some stretching and made myself a protein shake. Then I hit the shower and wished I could stay there.  Gio had practice to get to so I didn’t have time to relax after my shower.  I decided to take pictures today so instead of sitting down and watching, I walked around. My legs were pretty tired once practice ended.

I don’t usually do much more on my long run days. Over an hour of running really wears me out. Even though I had a nap today, I could fall asleep right now. I did Day7 of the MadAbs March Challenge. Up to 15 regular pushups :-) Then I did a 5 min plank to end my day.

1 min hands, 1 min side plank each side, 1 min hands, and 1 min elbows.

Meals: I have been really making an effort to stick to 5 meals a day and not eating more than one serving.

M1: Flax Plus Oatmeal with chia seeds, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and just a tad bit of cocoa almond butter.

Fueling up for my long run.

M2: Choclate Shakeology with unsweetened almond milk, spinach and half a banana. I ate the other half of it while I blended my shake.

I also had a mini Luna bar after my nap before heading out for my run. I didn’t want to eat a full lunch but I needed a little something.

M3: Post run Protein shake. This is from the Tone It Up Slim Down and it is my absolute favorite. I usually use almond butter but I used some natural peanut butter that Ben doesn’t like so I’m the only one who uses it.

M4: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Larabar.

M5: Quinoa, Black beans, chicken, spianch, zucchini, squash, onions, and mushroom mix – seasoned with sea salt. I could have easily had another bowl but I made myself stick to one :-) This is a big deal for me since lately I’ve been going back for seconds ;-) I also passed on pot stickers, rice, and chow mein that Ben and the boys had. I count these moments as small victories that my willpower won.

Protein packed dinner.

60 oz. of water 1 Zicos, and 1 Chocolate Zico. I had the chocolate Zico after dinner so it was like dessert.

The Best!

BeachBody Challenge Day32

Mar6

I tried my hardest to get up for a bootycall workout this morning. For some reason it was super hot in our room last night and I couldn’t get comfortable. I tossed and turned a lot. When the alarm went off, I felt like I hadn’t gotten any sleep at all.  I did get up but everything was in slow motion. Plus, I was sore from my workouts yesterday. I did do Day6 of the the Mad Abs March challenge. Even though I was tired, I did 13 regular pushups.And that was all I could get myself to do.  I figured I needed the energy I had to get the boys ready and off to school.

I had planned on taking a nap when I got back from being a chauffeur, but when I got home I realized that there was a lot to do. I started the first load of the boys’ laundry. I did the dishes and then sat down to pay the bills. After that, I had to rest for a little bit. Instead of a nice 2 hour nap, I got 30 minutes. Even though it was tough, I made myself get up and do a workout. Tuesdays are the only days I get the house all to myself for a few hours so I like to take advantage of it. I needed to make up for not doing my bootycall workout the way I should have. So I did a set of M100’s as fast as I could. Beat my last time by almost a whole minute :-) That got me warmed up so I decided to do a NTC workout focusing on the back muscles.  I realized I don’t work my back that much and I need to incorporate more exercises that do. Shaped Back is only 15min but like every other NTC workout I do, it makes me sweat.  I still had time before having to pick Seppe up so I went for another NTC workout. I had unlocked Lea Michele’s Triple Threat workout yesterday and couldn’t wait to try it. I was little worn out yesterday so I went for it today.  There are no weights in this 15 min workout but OMG! it is tough. It probably didn’t help that I was a little tired from the back workout but still, this is a great Total Body workout.  It’s a new favorite and I know I will be feeling it tomorrow :-)

New M100 Best Time

Turbo Fire Day 30

I wanted to do my Turbo Fire workout before Gio came home, but I got started on creating and editing one of the boys’ tball games, and got carried away. I had forgotten how much time it takes to make these videos and it doesn’t help that I’m a perfectionist so everything has to be my idea of perfect before I consider it done. Lol.  Gio is actually very good at allowing me to do my workout after I’ve helped him with homework.  Honestly, I think it just allows him an hour away from mom watching everything he does :-)

No mismatches between the class schedule and the SuperGym today. It was Fire30 and Sculpt30 for me. I started with Scukpt30. I try to make the resistance harder every time I do this – especially with the bicep exercises. I still feel so wimpy with my arms but I’m working on it.  I also used the resistance band during the first set pushups this time too.  The fact that I could do a pushup with the band just shows me that I’m improving.  I hadn’t done Fire30 in a while so I kinda forgot what it was like but I still just went straight to class. It didn’t take me long to catch on since I know all the moves. I only fell behind a couple times. I was able to increase the intensity by really focusing on my punches and dropping down lower with my legs. This time I did the squat jumps, tuck jumps, star jacks, and the sumo burpee during the fire drills :-)  The only time I don’t jump is with high low punches. For some reason it throws me off but I’ll work on it because it definitely looks neat when they do it.

I think that’s pretty good for today. I am still going to do my PlankADay. I have the @PlankPolice on twitter calling me out because I don’t tweet my planks that much anymore. lol. I’ve really made it  a point to doing at least a 2 minute plank every day.  It’s a simple but effective exercise that doesn’t take long to do and you work so many muscles all at once – especially your core :-)

Meals:

M1:  Chocoloate Shakeology with blueberries and spinach.

Added blueberries and spinach.

M2: frozen grapes and 6 dark chocolate almonds. Can you tell that I have a sweet tooth? lol.

I was craving sweets so I went for fruit and dark chocolate almonds.

M3: Kashi Mediterranean pizza.  This is the only pizza I really ever eat these days.  They taste great and is pretty healthy too :-) Today is my carb up day for my long run tomorrow – going for 7.5 miles (eeeeks!) Seppe loves these too but his favorite is the Margherita one.

My Favorite :-)

M4: Almond coconut Kind bar.

M5: Left over whole wheat pasta with white sauce and chicken. I made the white sauce from scratch using almond milk and organic parmesan cheese. I added some peas and corn. I also used my new favorite sauce (balsamic/honey) and roasted some zucchini, squash and bell peppers. I have to say that the roasted veggies were the best part :-) Make sure to check out FitFoodJunkie.com for the recipe.

All Homemade.

100 oz. of water. I’ve been really thirsty lately. I feel great when I’m drinking enough water :-)

BeachBody Challenge Day30

Mar4

Last night I didn’t set my alarm so I could sleep in today :-) It was absolutely wonderful not to hear the sound of my phone. I was awake at around 8a but stayed in bed until 9a.  I tried to go back to sleep but it was no use – that was as late as my body would allow me to be asleep today. It was still nice though. You wouldn’t think an extra couple hours would make such a difference – but it does :-)

I got up and had a mini Luna bar just so that there would be something in my stomach before heading out for a run. I decided to go a different way than my usual. I took the streets and realized why I don’t go this way that often.  The traffic lights annoyed me. I don’t like stopping and waiting. I jog in place but I feel like it messes with my flow. That and it slows my time down.

Sunday Runday :-)

The rest of the day was for laundry, house cleaning, and importing photos and videos.

———————- Turbo Fire Day 28 ———————

Of course I made time for my Turbo Fire workout. I wouldn’t miss doing Fire45 :-) Have I mentioned it’s my favorite? Lol. The first and last combos are the most fun.  I know those two the best so I really have fun with them. The second combo I’m still working on. I did the Star Jacks for the fire drills and the tuck jumps.  The only time I don’t jump is during the high low moves. I get mixed up when I throw the jump in there so for now, I stick to the low intensity version. Stretch10 felt Amazing today.  I think I was also tight from last night’s workouts and from the run this morning. It felt really great to stretch out my arms.

I’d love to do more tonight, but I have a mountain of clothes to fold so I can have a place to sleep. I will be doing a 5 minute plank and calling it a night.

PlankADay - 1min elbows, 1 min hands, 1 min side plank (each side), 1 min hands

I’ve made it through the first 4 weeks! I will do measurements and weigh myself tomorrow morning. I’m not expecting drastic results – especially with my weight. I was never doing this challenge to lose weight. I was looking for something fun and challenging for me to focus on.  I like to do challenges – big and small.  They help me from getting bored and give me something to work towards. I think that it’s what has really helped me stay on track with exercising regularly.

So has there been any changes? Well, I’m not sure what the numbers will say tomorrow morning. I know I could have done a lot better with eating. I don’t think I ate too badly but I can always do better :-) I can say that I feel a lot stronger. I’ve gotten faster in my runs. I’ve gone further on my runs too.  I can do more regular pushups and I can do more reps with heavier weights. I’ve improved in my Turbo Fire workouts. My biggest win is getting my left knee back.  I was really worried that starting this challenge would make my knee worse or that because of my knee, I wouldn’t be able to give it everything.  But it turns out that as I did the Turbo Fire workouts and my other exercises, my knee got better and I was still able to run :-) I am ready to head into the next 30 days with even more intensity!

Meals –

M1: Mini Luna bar and water.

M2: I was going for an omelette but I can never get it right when I have the veggies and eggs in the pan at the same time.  I was really hopeful since it looked like it would be the perfect omelette but when I went to flip it, it just fell apart and became a scramble. It tasted great though.

Looked Like it was going to turn out to be the perfect omelette.

Turned into a scramble - 2 egg whites, spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, and 1 piece of Havarti Natural Cheese

M3: Brown Rice tortilla with the last of my chunky olive hummus, spinach, chicken, left over roasted zucchini and squash, and carrots. I only ate half of it.

Brown Rice Tortilla Wrap: chunky olive hummus, chicken, roated squash and zucchini, and carrot.

M4: Trailmix and a Larabar.

M5: Made a Quinoa stir fry – with a red and white quinoa mix, spinach, zucchini, squash, peas, corn, chicken and tomatoes. All I did was season with sea salt and it was actually very tasty. All the flavors worked well with each other.

Quinoa stir fry - red and white quinoa, zucchini, squash, peas, carrots and chicken.

80 oz. of water.

BeachBody Challenge Day29

Mar3

Today started off great right away :-) Even though I had stayed up a little too late last night watching a movie with Ben (well he watched it while I slept through most of it because I had already seen it) I got up at 6:30a and headed out for a bike ride. I realized that I wouldn’t be able to do my usual hour long ride because I had a lot to do to get ready for the boys’ first t-ball games. I decided to to do a short 6 mile ride, I kept the gears high and pedaled as hard as I could most of the time.  There are times when passing and crossing streets that I had to slow down.  It’s been a while since I’ve done a bike ride and I could tell. I was able to get up to 14mph before but my legs felt heavy doing 12mph today. Maybe they were just worn out from yesterdays workouts? I just know that I need to get back to riding my bike more often.

The rest of the morning was ruled by t-ball. I packed snacks and drinks so we wouldn’t have to settle for the food at the Snack Shack. It’s mostly hot dogs, chips, and nachos. Gio’s game was at 9a and we were late because they switched fields on us. His game was short but he did really well. We don’t live far from the fields so we had time to go home after his game for snacks and so Gio could change. Seppe’s game was at 11a and he did a lot better than we thought he would.  I didn’t expect him to last the whole game without just walking off the field. He made it through 4 innings :-)

I was pretty tired after we got home. I record all their games so I was on feet walking around for both games. After lunch, I wound up laying down and fell asleep. A couple hours later I got up and made sure to do my Turbo Fire workout.

———————- Turbo Fire Day 27 ———————–

It was all about core and flexibility today with Core20 and Stretch40. It felt like Core20 was harder for me today. Maybe I was still tired? I’ve been working on keeping my feet off the ground during the matt exercises. Those hurt so good :-) Last week I felt like I was making progress, but I had to keep my feet on the ground quite a bit today :-( I did a lot better with the Stretch40 workout though. I can do the triceps pushups and the chataranga :-) My left knee did great. I was able to keep it straight for the triangle pose and when stretching with the band. I think that the stretching in this video really helped my knee get better and that I’ve gotten a little more flexible :-)

Mad Abs March Calendar

I found a Mad Abs March workout on Pinterest that I decided that I’d start today. Since I didn’t start on the first, I had 3 days to catch up on. I did Days 1, 2, and 3 back to back. For the plank – I just added up the time for all the 3 days and did all at once. I did the crunches and pushups separately for each day. I did regular pushups. The last set of 12 was tough. I looked at the calendar and saw that by the end of this month, we’re suppose to do 45 pushups. eeeeks!! Not sure if I’ll be able to do all 45 regular pushups but I’ll be trying :-) I figure if I follow the calendar, it will help me get to 45. Decided to do a 4min plank to end my  day :-)

PlankADay - 1 min hands, 1 min side plank (each side), 1 min hands

Meals –

M1: last slice of zucchini loaf because Seppe took a couple bites and decided he wanted something else. Had a Chobani Champions Vanilla Chocolate Chunk with raw almond butter and chia seeds. I’m kind of addicted to adding chia seeds to my breakfast.

Small but filling breakfast

M2: Grapes and a Luna bar in between the boys games.

M3: Ben decided to go to Panda for lunch and I was too tired to put much effort into making anything. I went for a Veggie Bowl with Chicken and String Beans.

M4: Snapea Crisps and Olive Tapenade.

M5: Panko Tilapia, broccoli, and roasted zucchini and squash. I used a little olive oil and sea salt for seasoning. This is the first time I’ve cooked veggies in the oven. I think it’s going to be my new way of cooking veggies from now on. It’s so easy to do :-)

Veggies going into the oven :-)

The rest got cut up and put in the freezer :-)

Fish and Veggies - had to finish off the left over broccoli and Tilapia

80 oz. of water.

BeachBody Challenge Day28

Mar3

Yesterday WordPress decided to suspend my blog :-( Apparently, I had violated their Terms of Service but I wasn’t given any information on How my blog did so. This was so upsetting to me. I wasn’t sure what I would do if they didn’t reactivate my blog. Yes, this stressed me out a lot! I’ve worked so hard on my blog for the past year. It would have been heartbreaking to lose everything. I contacted them right away but wasn’t expecting to hear back from them until their support team was back on the 6th. I was extremely happy to get an email this morning telling me that it had been a mistake due to their Auto Spam filter and that my blog was active again :-)

I had actually written this post last night so I wouldn’t have to try to remember everything. My short term memory isn’t all that great these days. lol. I blame it on the boys and lack of sleep.

So here is how Day28 went for me:

Today went pretty well. It’s the first Friday in a while where I didn’t do a long run. It was kind of weird. Lol. It was also the first day I was able to go out for a run again first thing in the morning.  I love that it is light enough outside at 6:30a that I can go run. My favorite bootycall workout is running. It really helps me wake up. I don’t worry about my speed this early in the morning.  I go on an empty stomach so I don’t have much fuel for a Fast run. I do try to run a good pace though. I do 3 miles and it’s perfect because I get back at the time I need to wake the boys up for school.

—————— Turbo Fire Day 26 —————-

I wound up doing a bunch of errands for most of the day. I finally got a chance to do my Turbo Fire 55EZ after picking Gio up from school.  I did so much better this time around.  I did the tuck jumps during the fire drills! I think I even got higher this time. I can really tell the difference when I’m going all out during the workouts. I’m out of breath most of the time :-) And it’s easier to crank up the intensity when I know the moves. This one has a lot of kicks. I had to take it easy on my left side because my knee wasn’t feeling to strong when I kicked.  I’m being careful and listening to my body so I can avoid getting injured. I want to be able to complete the Turbo Fire challenge and continue training for my half marathon.

I followed it with a quick M100. I beat my time by 10 seconds :-) And that was after a kick butt Turbo Fire class. The burpees are the hardest part for me. As much as I dislike burpees, they are really good for getting the heart rate up.

My new personal best for the M100's :-)

I also did the Tone It Up Happy Hour Challenge of 30 Lunges every hour.  I did miss a few hours but I made it up by doing several sets of 30 at one time.  I started at 8a and ended at 7p.  Doing my PlankADay (2min) and that’ll be it for me.

Meals –

M1: Maple Nut Oatmeal with unsweetened chocolate almond butter, cocoa almond butter (1/2 tbsp) and chia seeds. I really love adding chia seeds to my breakfasat.

A Very yummy breakfast. I couldn't even taste the Chia seeds.

M2: On the go – Zico and Chocolate Dipped Coconut Luna bar with grapes. Zico and a Luna bar is my absolute favorite snack to have. I only had half of my Luna bar and grapes because Seppe decided that he was hungry and wanted me to share with him.

My Favorite Snack - only got to eat half the Luna bar.

Seppe took the other half of my Luna bar and ate most of my grapes.

M3: Same as yesterday – quinoa and veggie pasta with lemon pepper chicken.

M4: Larabar and handful of homemade trailmix.

M5: Panko chicken and broccoli. This is a favorite with my family. It’s a healthy version of chicken nuggets or chicken tenders. I think I’ll have to make this in bulk and freeze it so I don’t have to make it All the time. lol.

80 oz. of water.

BeachBody Challenge Day27

Mar1

Today started off pretty good :-) I forced myself up to do my bootycall workout. It was light enough to go out and even though it was cloudy, I decided to head out for a brisk walk.  I really like going out for a walk/jog first thing in the morning. It usually helps me wake up.  I knew it was going to be raining for most of the day, but I pulled on my rain coat and went out anyways. It only rained on me at the end.  I go for two miles and walk it as fast as I can. Walking shouldn’t be taken lightly. I think it is a really great low impact exercise that Anyone can do.  If you do it at a quick pace, engage your core, and focus on good posture, it can be a decent workout :-) Plus it gives my knees a much needed break from pounding the pavement.

My favorite part about early morning walks/jogs - the trail is pretty much empty. All mine :-)

Last little bit of the sky before the clouds took over

Then it was time to do my usual morning routine with the kids. It was a little difficult with Seppe this morning but we all got out the door in time. After dropping the boys off at school, I decided to do a workout.  I wanted to do some strength training so I turned to my NTC app. Went for the 45 minute Challenger workout. I was dripping sweat the Entire workout. A minute never seems so long unless you’re doing these intervals with NTC. If you have an iPhone – I highly recommend downloading this app! I wanted to do a set of M100’s but ran out of time :-(

————————— Turbo Fire Day 25 —————————

I was a little frustrated because my Turbo Fire workout got pushed back further than I wanted it to be. Sometimes Ben can wind up dominating our schedules. It was HIIT20 and Sculpt30 today. And let me tell you, I totally took my frustrations out on my workout. I jumped higher – not that it was super high – but I did all of the jumps.  I hit like I was really punching someone in the face – it may or may not have Ben’s that I imagined. lol :-) I was able to keep up pretty well this time around on the HIIT.  I remembered the moves and was able to really focus and venting my anger.

Sculpt30 was as tough as I remembered it. I did challenge myself even more this time through.  Added more resistance to some of the moves.Didn’t stop when it burned and did all the pushups at the end :-) I didn’t add the resistance band with the pushups though – maybe next time.

I wanted to do one more workout for today, but time wasn’t on my side.  Plus we got some frustrating news about our rent going up super high. There was lots to talk about. I ended with a 5 minute plank – 1 min elbows, i min hands, 1 min side plank (each side), 30 second hands, 30 seconds elbows.

1min elbows, 1 min hands, 1 min side plank (each side), 30 sec hands, 30 sec elbows

Looking forward to tomorrow.

Meals:

M1 – Chobani Strawberry with Raw Almond Butter and Chia seeds – gotta thank my TIU sister @GetFitCat for giving me this idea. She always adds it to hers so I decided to give it a try (It is Try It Thursday after all). Also had a slice of zucchini loaf and half a banana – the bigger half went to Seppe.

Trying Chobani with Chia Seeds and Almond Butter

Yummy Breakfast

M2: I had been craving bacon so I picked up some Turkey bacon from TraderJoes. I decided to cook up some egg whites and sauté some mushrooms, spinach, and tomatoes. I placed on piece of bacon on top of the veggies, set the egg whites on top of the bacon and added one more slice of bacon on top.  It was soooo good and just what I needed after the NTC workout.  Also had a small bowl of grapes.

Egg whites, turkey bacon, mushrooms, spinach and tomatoes

M3: Left over quinoa pasta and veggies with a side of TraderJoes Lemon Pepper Chicken.

M4: Snapea Crisps, carrots and hummus.

M5: TraderJoe’s Turkey meatballs and grilled asparagus. I could have sworn that I took a pic but my boys had my phone for a bit so they may have deleted it by accident :-(

80 oz. of water.

Today is the First day of March and there’s a new Tone It Up March Calendar. I always make mine my Desktop Wallpaper so I can always check to see the challenges. Make sure to get yours – Just click the pic ;-)

Tone It Up's March 2012 Calendar - Make sure to print/save Yours!

I really can’t believe it’s March already! I have a feeling that this year is just going to fly by. New month means New Goals. For March, I will be focusing on getting at least 80 oz. of water a daily, running 8 miles by the end of the month, and continuing with my BeachBody Turbo Fire Challenge.

BeachBody Challenge Day26

Feb29

—————————– Turbo Fire Rest Day ——————————

It may have been a Rest Day from my Turbo Fire workouts but it wasn’t a No Workout Day.  I moved my Long runs to Wednesdays (the rest day for my Turbo Fire) because it was just too draining for me to do a long run And a longer Turbo Fire workout on Fridays. Going to bed early last night was just what my body needed to help me get through run today.

When I woke up, it was raining. I use to let the rain be an excuse to Not run, but not anymore.  It was raining pretty hard after dropping Gio off so I wanted to wait for it to lighten up a bit. I have no problem running in the rain but I didn’t want to be completely drenched. I timed it perfectly because when I went out, the sun peeked through for a little bit and even though the clouds came back, it didn’t rain – until after I was done. I did some foam rolling while I waited.  I highly recommend foam rolling for All runners :-)

7.3 Mile Run with my Nike+ App

I really love my Nike+ app. I love how I can “challenge” myself by going farther or faster.  I did 7 miles last week so I decided to go for 7.3 miles today. The beginning is always the hardest part for me. After getting myself out the door, the first 10-15 minutes is mentally challenging.  The thought of how far I have to go intimidates me and a part of me wants to stop right away.  I think about things I want to do and things I have to do to keep my mind busy. Once I get past that part, I’m usually somewhere else mentally so I’m not thinking about running. I’ll focus on the music or the scenery. I just run. When I get to the halfway point, I get a second wind and feel pretty good.  Towards the end, I start to feel it physically and I have to tell myself I Can Do It – I’m Almost Done – Just a Little Bit Further – Just Keep Moving – Don’t Stop….  And when I finish, I feel Great that I made it without stopping. I always feel like I’ve won a huge mental battle. I Beat the voice that told me to Stop and Quit! I don’t worry too much about the time.  Today, I needed to finish in time to pick Gio up though. I finished just in time to do a stretch, pull on my sweats and coat, and head out. I had to walk since Ben had my car (which had the car seats).  I brought my chocolate Zico to drink on the way.  I swear that stuff is Best post run drink ever!  We walked back home and my legs were pretty worn out.

After helping Gio with homework, I took a nice long shower.  It felt absolutely amazing. I did some stretching while in the shower to help my legs out. I wish I could have stayed in there all day. That’s all I’m doing for today – except for my plank. Going to try to get bed at a decent time tonight.

Meals:

M1: Chobani Champions Vanilla Chocolate Chunk with 1/2 tbsp of raw almond butter and Zucchini Loaf. Fueling up for my run :-)

Breakfast: Chobani Champions and Zucchini Loaf

M2: Luna bar.

M3: Chocolate Shakeology with spinach and frozen blueberries.  I can’t even taste the spinach at all and this was so filling. If you hate eating greens, seriously adding it in a shake will help :-) Also had some Snapea Crisps.

Lunch - Green Chocolate Shakeology Shake with Spinach and Blueberries

M4: Carrots and Nut Thins with Chunky Olive Hummus.  Just had a little bit of Nut Thins left so I decided to finish it.

M4: Carrots, Nut Thins and Hummus

M5: Panko Tilapia and broccoli.

Dinner: Panko Tilapia and Broccoli

60 oz. of water. Had a Zico during my run and a chocolate Zico post run.

BeachBody Challenge Day25

Feb29

I was so tired last night that I actually listened to Ben and took a break from blogging. lol. I went to bed at 9:30p – and that is Super early for me. It felt great to get some Good sleep – more than my usual 5 maybe 6 hours. Yesterday was a great day though.

I was determined to get up for my bootycall workout. I really need to get back to doing these regularly. I decided to do Tone It Up’s Bikini Blast Circuit – 20 reps each X 3 sets. I followed it with a 2 minute plank. It maybe hard for me to roll out of bed and to do a workout but it totally wakes me up once I’m done :-) I got dressed and made Gio’s lunch all before having to wake the boys up. It felt great to be on top of things.

I went grocery shopping after dropping the boys off at school. I really think that grocery shopping should be considered exercise. lol. At least the part where I have to carry All the bags from my car and inside. I had 8 bags and it took me 2 trips to get it all upstairs. I was a little worn out from it, but I decided to get a workout in before having to pick up Seppe. I hadn’t lifted weights in a while so I did the Spartacus Workout.  I used 25lbs for the Goblet Squat, 15lbs for everything else except for the T-Pushups and Plank Rows where I used  5 lbs. I had just enough time to get in a round of M100’s. I timed myself to see how long it takes me and hopefully I can get faster :-)

How Long it took me to do M100's

—————————– Turbo Fire Day 23 ———————————

I wanted to do my Turbo Fire workout before picking Gio up from school so I did it after lunch.  On the schedule was HIIT20 and Stretch10.  I guess it had been a little while since I’ve done this one because I didn’t remember it. Lol. It felt like a new workout.  I attempted all the tuck jumps.  I liked that we did every drill Twice – and the last one 3 times.  It gave me a chance to do better because I was always behind a little the first time through. Hopefully I’ll remember more the next time so I can just focus on giving it everything I’ve got.  Definitely needed the Stretch10 afterwards.

I probably should have stopped after Turbo Fire.  It was a pretty intense workout. But there was a new Tone It Up Shredmill that I couldn’t resist trying. It was short one – 20 min so I did it before making dinner.  I’ve done most of Tone It Up’s Shredmill’s and their first one is one of my favorites.  I use it for my speed training. I figured I was pretty prepared for this new one…. But I was wrong.

Tone It Up's New Shredmill

I do Treadmill HIIT’s without much of an incline to save my knees.  This new one had inclines! Sprinting for 15 seconds on an incline was super tough. I really wanted to stop after the second round. I was breathing hard but I told myself that it was for only 10 minutes. The cool down at an even higher incline was intense! I was at 6mph but I wound up lowering to 5mph because I just couldn’t keep up. Yeah I got my butt kicked! Since this one is so tough, it will definitely be one I keep on doing. Plus I think it just gave me a good way to train for hills :-) I’m glad it’s  a short one though because I don’t think my knees would be too happy if I tortured them for too long.

How I Did with the New Shredmill - Going to Keep Working on it :-)

That Shredmill took the very last bit of energy I had. I was completely exhausted at the end of it. I have no idea how I made up 4 flights of stairs to my apartment. I could have gone straight to bed as soon as I got home. Originally I had planned on doing another plank, but I decided I had done enough for the day. My body needed to rest up for my long run tomorrow.

Meals:

M1: Chobani Strawberry with Raw Almond Butter and Granola

M2: 1/2 a Luna bar that Seppe didn’t want to finish, a slice of TraderJoe’s Zucchini Loaf and a bowl of grapes. I need to start makingzucchini bread from scratch again. I use to make it all the time when I was younger. This one from TraderJoe’s is pretty good. Gotta keep it to 1 serving though.

Meal 2 - I was hungry :-)

M3: Panko Tilapia Salad

Lunch - Panko Tilapia Spinach, carrots, tomatoes, avocado, and cucumber salad

M4: Snapea Crisps, pear, and homemade trailmix

M5: Quinoa pasta with Veggie sauce made from scratch – 3 roma tomatoes, zucchini, squash, and mushrooms.

Quinoa pasta with tomatoes, zucchini, squash, and mushrooms

Dessert – 4 dark chocolate almonds

60 oz. of water and a Zico.

BeachBody Challenge Day24

Feb27

Had to be up at 5a today in order to get Ben to work by 6:30a since we only had one car until later. The boys did not want to get up and I didn’t blame them. I didn’t want to be up either. We gotta do what we gotta do.  I wasn’t sure how traffic was going to be.  I assumed the worse since it was a Monday so I had the boys get dressed and ready for school in case we wound up stuck in traffic. Luckily, we were just ahead of the rush hour traffic.  It was slower traffic but it moved and we got home in time to relax a little bit.  I decided to take the boys to Starbucks and get them breakfast.  I haven’t gone grocery shopping in a while so my fridge is empty on breakfast items right now :-/

By this time the boys were fully awake with tons of energy.  It was time to drop Gio off at school and take Seppe to speech therapy.  After that we had to make a stop at the post office to drop off a couple pairs of shoes Ben had sold.  I was pretty tired and so was Seppe so we wound up taking a nap :-) I got up to do my workout an hour later but I let Seppe sleep some more because he just looked so comfy and sweet.

——————————- Turbo Fire Day 22 ——————————–

It was Fire 45 today – I doubled checked to make sure that was what I was suppose to be doing :-)  I think I like this one so much because I do so well with the first combo.  It’s so much fun and you can definitely really get into it. There’s a lot of kicks in this one.  My back kicks feel awkward so I have to work on those.  I did the star jumps during the Fire Drill this time. I also did the tuck jumps.  Stretch 10 always helps loosen me up.

I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do for my afternoon workouts.  I was running behind because we had to pick Ben up and drop him off at the repair shop. By the time Gio was done with homework, it was almost time to start cooking dinner. I wound up doing Tone It Up’s Rush Workout (20 Reps each X 3 sets) and M100’s.  Going to do a 2 minute plank before bed.

Meals:

M1: Spinach and egg white breakfast wrap from Starbucks

M2: 1 clementine and a Luna bar

M3: Salad with spinach, chicken, carrots, and avocado. Tiny bit of Raspberry dressing.

Spinach, Chickem, Carrots and Avocado

M4: Almond Nut Thins and Olive Tapenade

16 Almond Nut Thins and Olive Tapenade

M5: Panko Salmon and broccoli

Panko Salmon and Broccoli

Dessert: 5 dark chocolate almonds

80 oz. water

I feel that last week was super stressful and had me completely out of whack with my sleep.  Even though I was able to workout – I know I could have done more if I hadn’t been so tired most of the time.  This week and for the month of March, I really want to focus on pushing myself.  I looked over my workout schedule and rearranged a few things.  My long runs will be Wednesdays and I will adding more toning exercises.  I will be working on doing my bootycall workouts.  It’s starting to get lighter out earlier so I can go out for runs/walks first thing again :-) I also made a goal of drinking at least 80 oz. of water Everyday. I’m going to take it one day at a time. I know if I stay focused, I can reach my goals!