GREEN ACRES IS THE PLACE FOR ME!

TORTURE SESSION OF THE DAY (TSOTD) :



warm-up - medicine ball wall throws (overhead/15 reps, chest/15 reps, facing forward side throws/15 reps each side); squats w/ bar only (45#)/10 reps



1st set - 3 rounds



5 squats - round 1 (65#), rounds 2&3 (95#)

5 lateral raises - 12 lb dumbbells



2nd set - 7....yes 7 rounds!



8 deadlifts - (65#)

50 m sprint

8 assisted pull-ups alternating wide grip and neutral grip (pin at 6 for rounds 1&2, at 5 for rounds 3,4,5, &6, then assisted bar chin-ups for round 7)



Rest 45 secs between rounds. I'm not going to lie my arms were in failure for my round 7 chin-ups and they were pretty pathetic to say the least!



3rd set - 2 rounds



15 cable lat pull downs (I actually have no clue what my weight was on this because I was gone at this point.......maybe 25? 35? for each cable)

8 cat's curls - 10lb dumbbells (8 internal rotation curls, 8 external rotation curls, 8 hammer curls = 1 cat's curl)



cool-down=LOTS AND LOTS OF STRETCHING!

Tomorrow marks the beginning of May (already! May never came this fast when I was in school)! Also, it marks the beginning of The Simple Life Challenge

Here is how I am suppose to track my points:

Tracking your points:

•1 point for riding your bike, carpooling, taking the public trans, running, or walking to work or to the market or some place you would normally drive too.
•1 point for every meal you prepare at home(not snacks just meals).
•1 point for doing something frugal! This is where you can get really creative!

Eating out is not too big of a deal for me. The creative frugal thing is something I am going to have to think about. As for the green commuting......I need to get a key from security at my one job to lock my bike up in the bike cage (otherwise that will be short-lived); my other job I work 3p-3a and it is a little farther away (the buses don't run out there at that time of night and safety is more of a concern at 3am then being green is so I don't plan on biking there); I will try to ride my bike to my TSOTD's in May.

In doing this challenge it made me think about some things yesterday as I was reading a few magazines. Is having a magazine subscription "non-green"; what if I donate my used magazines to the hospital, and then they get recycled after that? Is reading a news publication or magazine online actually "greener" despite the plastic and other products used to make my computer and also the electricity it uses up while reading on-line?

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT (UPDATE).....I FOUND THE SOURCE!

Had to share that, thought it was pretty funny in all the mass hysteria!

Torture Session Of The Day(TSOTD) -

GROCERY SHOPPING!!!!!

Lol, seriously though if I was rich these are the things that would be at the top of my list to spend money on:

1. Professional driver - except for the month of May because I am going to try and ride my bike or walk more to places I would normally drive.....it's the Live Simply Challenge brought to us by N Her Shoes

2. Professional menu planner and grocery shopper

3. Professional ironer - if they are BOARD with just that they can actually do the laundry too!

Ok, on to real stuff! This morning I ran at 5:30am!!!! It was actually quite nice out, I forgot how nice it is to run that early in the morning. I ran with the bf who hasn't ran since the Ragnar Relay back in Feb. We did an easy 1.5 miles since it was his first day back running. I say easy, but I definitely have a faster pace whenever I run with him because he is just naturally (ARMY trained) faster (and taller) than I am.

My quads are pretty tight so after this I am going to revisit yoga for runners and my foam roller. Tonight we bbq'd some teriyaki steak skewers and peppers. Squidney invited some friends to join us, they decided to go for swim.

Hope everyone had a good day and remember WASH YOUR HANDS!

TSOTD

Yesterday evening I went on a nice bike ride along the canals with one of my friends. We rode about 8 miles. At the 4 mile turnaround we caught the back end of a community world gym trail and so we followed it off the path and stopped and did some of the exercises along the way push-ups, balance walk, leg raises, and pull-ups (lol, well the attempts were at least hilarious). Today I spent all morning cleaning and doing laundry which is typical of Tuesdays. This afternoon I met up with my trainer for this. I am going to try and start posting more of my workouts like this mostly as a journal of workouts to do on my own.

TORTURE SESSION OF THE DAY (TSOTD)

total time - 60 minutes (resting 1 minute between rounds)

warm-up - y/t/w; hanging knee raises



Round 1 -

alternate arm chest press on ball - 30# dumbbells/10 reps

burpee jump up to box - 10 reps

single arm squat to clean w/ 20# dumbbell/10 reps each arm

sprint 100m? was outside gym in parking lot area distance not measured



Round 2 -

repeat round 1

backpedal 25m? sprint 50m? backpedal 25m?



Round 3 -

repeat round 1 doing only 8 reps of each exercise; increase dumbbells for chest press to 35#

shuffle right 25m? sprint 50m? shuffle left 25m?



Round 4 -

repeat round 3

ali shuffle 25m? backpedal 25m? sprint 25m? shuffle 25m?



Round 5 -

medicine ball push-up (move ball from r to l in between push-ups)/ 8 reps

side to side jumps on step box (4 tall)/8 reps

hanging knee raises/20 reps

assisted dips (3 or 4 on machine) /15 reps



Round 6-

medicine ball push-ups/8 reps

broad jumps/8 reps

plank on medicine ball with 1 leg in air (30 secs/each leg)

assisted dips/15 reps



Round 7-

clapping push-ups on bench/8 reps

bunny hops over mini hurdles (30-40 jumps)

russian twist w/ medicine ball/20 reps each side

assisted dips/15 reps



This evening I went to an advanced pilates class which we worked mostly on the wunda chair and tower. Tonight I learned that changing an exercise in even the slightest can make all the difference in the world. Normally, I can do a pretty decent teaser or at least I think I can. Tonight we did a teaser with the pull-down bar on the tower under I knees and as you go up into teaser you slide the pull down bar along the back of your calf up to your ankle. For the life of me it was like I couldn't even lift my legs off of the floor with the bar like that. Then we turned around and did teaser with lifting the bar up above our heads and I was back to being able to do a decent teaser (so weird). To most of you that last paragraph probably is jibber jabber so just ignore.

Sunday Brunch

Normally, I am asleep at this time because I usually work Saturday nights. So what does a girl do on a Sunday morning off. Go for a run!

I had a nice 2 mile run this morning (I'm still sticking with the 2 miles/run for a few weeks to get my legs back under me). Today I ran 9 minutes/walked 1 min during my run which ended up being just under 20 minutes and I am ok with that because I still have not had any knee or IT band pain while I am running which is WONDERFUL, MAGNIFICENT, AMAZING! I did some stretching and foam rolling when I got home. My hip flexors and low back still get pretty tight and I am starting to get a little sore from my workout yesterday.

Next up, work in the garden!

Here are some updated pics of the pumpkin patch, oops I mean ant hill, oh wait I mean garden!

These are my sunflowers that I just got planted a few days ago and already they are springing up! Sunflowers are my favorite!

Look strawberries! One is already turning red! Although I am not seeing many more blooms on them, any suggestions?

Last week I replanted some okra since only a few seeds took the first time. Much better results now that the ground is warmer!

Corn stalks looking good!

Finally, the problem child. Check out the huge blooms on the pumpkin plants! Also, check out how the pumpkin plants are taking over the carrots and green onions. I know I should cut them back some. Also, I have ants! Specifically all around the back side of the pumpkin plants where I found an ant hill. Any suggestions on how to get rid of them without poisoning my dogs or my garden?

So I am hoping to meet up with a good friend for brunch now that I haven't seen in a while. Then it is back to work tonight. Has anyone seen THE STAND recently? WASH YOUR HANDS AND STAY HOME IF YOU ARE SICK!

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT!

WASH YOUR HANDS, WASH YOUR HANDS, WASH YOUR HANDS PEOPLE!

If any of you have watched the news this weekend I am sure you have heard of the mutant swine flu which they are stating is a flu virus that resembles part swine flu, part bird flu, and part human flu virus. The CDC is concerned about this for a number of reasons. Mexico City is basically shut down according to the news and cases have been confirmed here in CA, TX, and I have now heard KS and possibly NY. One of the most concerning things about this strain is that it most of the people it has killed in Mexico are between ages of 20-40 an age group usually not affected to this extent by flu viruses which make it more of a concern of having a wider outbreak. Again all I can say people is WASH YOUR HANDS! Here is a resource (there are a million resources out there)

http://www.azdhs.gov/phs/oids/epi/flu/swine/index.htm

Ok onto fun? stuff.

My torture session of the day (aka personal trainer) started off with a little competition among his clients and ultimately with yourself. Here is the deal.

21/15/9

The sequence of the exercises goes like this -

squat thrusters (I was using 2-20lb dumbbells), push-ups, burpees (hands down to ground, jump back to plank, then jump feet back to hands and explode into vertical jump)

The basics of it is you do 21 reps of each exercise, then 15 reps of each, then 9 reps of each. You can rest when you want, but you are clocking your time from beginning of first rep to end of last. My time was 6:42. This was my first time doing this and I felt pretty good about my time, but definitely will try to beat this in the future. Try it out sometime; let me know what your time was.

Keep on keeping on'

Yesterday I did another easy 2 miles this time at 8am. It's only April and already I hate running at 8am. I don't think it is the heat so much as it is the desert sun beating down on me. I really hate 5 am, but it is going to have to happen. I hate wearing stuff on my head (hats, headphones, sunglasses, bandannas, baskets of fruit, etc) while I run, but I may have to just try a few different running hats that can block some of that desert sun.

Question of the day? Do you run with a hat? Sunglasses? Headphones? If so what kind?

My mom runs with a baseball cap on (of the cotton sort) and I offered to buy her one that wicks the sweat away and stays cooler and she said "No, then I wouldn't form a sweat ring on it. That is how everyone can tell how hard I am working when I am running."

So besides my 2 mile run yesterday I worked at my new job so I guess you could add a 12 hour walk to that training total. I tried to wear a pedometer at work one day to see how far I had walked by the end of my shift. My data was slightly skewed. I think mostly due to the fact that the pedometer I was wearing was from my box of Corn Pops.

This weekend I start my Pilates instructor program which throws my schedule for a curve. Work, workout, treadmill run, lecture.....sleep......lecture, work.

Coming up next week - more running! more pilates! updated garden pics aka killer pumpkin plants from outer space! maybe some local pics from bike ride or hike!

I scream, you scream, we all scream

ICE CREAM!!!



Today was a cross train day and another hot one. 98 degrees!



Cross train - 60 min Pilates Reformer class (focused on some basics); favorite exercise of day = Single Leg Thigh Stretch

One-hundred and TWO degrees

HOT! HOT! HOT! Summer has arrived here in the desert. The temperature peaked yesterday at 102 in the valley of the sun sometime in the mid afternoon. Due to my being unable to find Motivation yesterday morning I ended up running at 6:30 pm. Still daylight and I am sure still well up in the high 90's. I ran an easy 2 miles - yogging 4 minutes and walking 1 minute throughout. My left it band/knee didn't hurt at all! I was a little tight afterwards, stretched, and foam rolled. The legs are feeling pretty good this morning so despite my runs being very slow and short right now I am happy that I am not having any pain and shall continue with my very slow build up of a new and improved base. Today is a cross train day.

While running yesterday and realizing that it is only going to get worse as far as the heat goes I was thinking about how people continue to be runners living in the desert in the summer. Here are some options I came up with. Please feel free to add to this.

A. Become a hamster and join a gym!
B. Become a bat and run at 3 am!
C. Become a camel and continue your normal routine!

Dear Motivation,

Where are you hiding? I woke up this morning hoping to see you. I've looked near the coffee pot where you sometimes like to hide. The yard, the laundry, the garden, the workout, the run....all these things are in dire need of your presence today. I will keep looking.

GO KARA!!!!!

WATCH THE BOSTON MARATHON LIVE ON THE INTERNET RIGHT NOW!

http://www.universalsports.com/mediaPlayer/media.dbml?CLIP_ID=110201&_MODE_=EVENT&db_oem_id=23000

Sunday Brunch

I wish. That is one thing that sucks about working sat/sun nightshift is you don't get to enjoy a good lazy Sunday brunch because it is in the prime of your sleeping hours.

This morning I drove straight from work to the gym to meet up with my trainer. It is sooooo hard to go workout after I get off work in the mornings but during and after it is not so bad and I actually get my workout in. It felt good to be lifting weights again. My last trainer session was almost exactly one month ago (03/20). Maybe the lull in training will jump start my body since it will think I am doing something new again.

Workout - 60 minutes of I can't remember what, lol! My brain shut off about 5 minutes into my workout and then it was just robot zone. It was a good workout, hard but not as bad as I thought my first back would be (ask me again tomorrow when the lactic acid sets in)!

Back to work now - food for thought though.

If you go to a doctor for a physical complaint don't be shocked when the nurse asks you to change into a gown. I mean really is this such a novel concept? Also it is rude to continue to text message while a health care provider is trying to explain something to you and even ruder to continue after they have asked you nicely to put the f$@#*!#g phone down.

Cross train Saturday

Todays cross train was pilates (reformer class) - 60 minutes

I again ventured into class with a new teacher. It is actually really fun going to classes with different teachers because they all focus on correctly just slightly different parts of your form. This was the first time I have had a male pilates teacher (actually I take that back I was a guinea pig for Bart when he was going through instructor training). Either way it was a great class and my favorite exercise/stretch of the day which I haven't done since going to STOTT class was The Mermaid.

When I got home I did some foam rolling and further stretching. My legs were a bit more taxed by the mere 20 minute yog I did yesterday than my cardio was. It is amazing how fast you lose it.

Ok so this post is short and sweet as it is now time for my weekend vampire life to start. To mix things up a bit and because my trainer cancelled my friday torture session I will be dragging my tired self to the gym in the am for some good ol' weight training torture! I can feel the lactic acid brewing already!

Have a great rest of the weekend. Good Luck to everyone in Boston especially Kara!

THE END OF A HIATUS

Running shoes on, check. Watch, check (not like I need to keep some pace or am going to lose track of the hours and hours I am not about to run). MP3 player? Not today, must concentrate (where is that thing anyways? I should cancel Napster. I bite the bullet and get an ipod. Why I don't even know where my mp3 player is). Hydration? This short of an outing will not require such (have I drank any water today? hmmm....coffee, coffee, better take a few sips of water before I go). Weather? Sunny, warm, no wind. And I was off and running.


Actually I walked for a few minutes to loosen up the legs, get the blood flowing. Stopped at the footbridge over the canal to stretch. Wouldn't you know it, I get a splinter in my hand from the stupid railing while trying to stretch. No worries though MRSA won't take over at least for a day or so. And then I was off and running.



Actually it was more of a jogging, shuffling, pathetic little run but there I went. And then I stopped. Stupid traffic. Stupid street interrupting my long, straight, flat, dirt canal. ***cue Frogger music*** and I'm off again.


4min easy run - 1 min walk x 4


short, simple, the end of my running hiatus!


My left knee was a little irritable, frustrating since I haven't ran in over a month. My left hip popped quite loudly while I was stretching when I got home. It actually felt good, like it relieved some pressure. I need to reschedule with the sports therapist (that went to the wayside along with everything else in my life the past few weeks).


My running plan right now is simply to start low, go slow, and build to a therapeutic level (it's the nursing way in elderly-ville). More specifically my running plan includes:
1. run 3-4 x week
2. cross train on bike or elliptical 1-2x week
3. stretch 5-7x week
4. start logging at least 1 of my runs/week on the treadmill since triple digit weather is nearing upon us and history tells that I usually stop running altogether in the summer due to this
5. try out this running group that one of the volunteers at work has been inviting me to every week during my hiatus


Haven't posted this week because I was waiting to break the hiatus. Also I had to work wed and thur at my new job orienting 11 am -11pm. The worst shift ever. I would rather work 7p-7a any day of the week.

I'm also gearing up for the start of my Pilates instructor program. I am thinking that once it starts I will take one day a week and post about a Pilates subject (exercise, history, philosophy).



I did some work in my garden today. WEEDS! GRASSHOPPERS! I restaked some of my tomato plants. I replanted some watermelon, okra, and cantaloupe. I think the first seeds I put out the ground was not quite warm enough for them to take. I don't think it will matter though because as you can see my pumpkin plants may take over my whole garden soon anyways. Linus would be so happy!

Exhausted

I did not leave the blog world, only my computer. After being sick last week and working all weekend I was planning on getting back on track and schedule this week, however when I got off work Monday morning I had a message that my grandpa had emergency surgery for a ruptured aneurysm. Tuesday morning I hopped a plane to Texas via Denver? to be with my grandpa. I just returned home today, exhausted from spending the week in the hospital (so weird to be the family and not the nurse). My grandpa is doing good for having gone through what he did. I got to see A LOT of my family which is always good. My grandparents have 8 kids, 22 grandkids, and 14 great grandkids (I think another 1 or 2 on the way). My previous reference to John Wayne was while I was thinking of my grandpa. My grandpa is truly one of those last real American cowboys.

Upon returning home I realized what month and day it is and finally faced up to my taxxacre sending in my state payment and doing the unthinkable of making a deal with the devil (aka irs) to pay off my federal in payments. ***again I vomited a little in my mouth***

The Cowboys

Favorite John Wayne flick

MY BODY HATES ME

Do I blame it? No.

Let's rewind one month to a little 33 hour race. http://idlenessidealness.blogspot.com/2009/03/run-drive-sleep-repeat.html

I am going to tell you a story of a girl and her body. Now the girl's body told her "NO" prior to the race by coming up with some lame sinus infection. She ignored the warning, popped some antibiotics and told her body, "We can do this." Her body responded after the first leg, "blah" (all over the van floor remember). Now during this little squabble between the girl and her body were some uninvited guests "Mr and Mrs. Germinator". Now Mr. and Mrs. Germinator took note of the ongoing battle between the girl and her body and decided that due to the war among the land they could sneak in and start a little family. Fast forward after the race and the girl now willing to listen to her body finished off the antibiotics. These antibiotics were too much for Mr. and Mrs. Germinator and sadly they passed, BUT not before they had started their little family. Now because the kids of Mr. and Mrs. Germinator were exposed to these antibiotics in their young stages some died. The ones that didn't were the strong. Throughout the next few weeks the strong Germinator kids grew up and had families themselves. Back in the homeland the girl and her body continued to fight. The girl attempted to take care of her body and thought it was getting better. So once again she pushed the body making it work multiple days in a row and depriving it of its recovery sleep flipping from days to nights back to days. The new Germinators with their families decided that where they were living was too small for all their new kids and set out to conquer more land and as the girl and her body were in turmoil still they felt it the perfect time. The Germinators were already living in the sinuses barrio, some ventured out and took up roots in the ear, others the wildest of the bunch moved down into the throat. The girl had lost her fight. The body was now being overran by the Germinators and was letting the girl know just how mad it was about this by shooting pain and fever all over. The girl is now making one last attempt to save her body and once again be in a state of balance. A stronger antibiotic is being taken and the girl is letting her body rest as much as it can for as long as it needs. STAY TUNED TO SEE IF OUR GIRL WINS BACK HER BODY!


oK with that being said here are some updated pics of what is going on outside!



PRICKLY PEAR CACTUS IN BLOOM - DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO GET RID OF THE WHITE PATCHES ON IT I BELIEVE IT IS A FUNGUS

ROSES ABOUT TO BLOOM

OKRA FINALLY COMING UP

ZUCCHINI STARTING TO FLOWER

GREEN ONIONS!

CARROTS!

CORN - ABOUT TIME TO SPACE OUT

PUMPKINS- JACK-O-LANTERNS, PUMPKIN PIE, PUMPKIN ROLLS, PUMPKIN COOKIES, PUMPKIN BREAD, PUMPKIN PORTER (OK I WILL LEAVE THAT UP TO THE BREW MASTERS)