Jodi V

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't been around much, but I started to feel a little overwhelmed with life too (feeling ya, Buggs!) and stepped away for a bit. Unlike Buggs, however, I didn't really drop in to give ya a heads-up -- that wasn't nice! Thanks to those who checked in on me! I have posted my week's update here. Even though I felt really off this week, the results were good. I'm struggling with recovery from my running days, probably just my body acting its age, but it's keeping me from accomplishing my yoga goal for the challenge. I'm trying to hang in there and keep up with stretches, but I feel a little like I'm having my ass handed to me. And my shins. And my thighs. Well, you get the idea... I did have a fantastic time running in my 5k race on Sunday. Here's a pic: It was called the Pink Laundry Race, and I really had planned a much more rosy-hued getup, but as race day approached and the forecast said 45 degrees F at race time, I had to add a non-pink outer layer to stay warm. Oh well, it was still my Diana Nyad shirt (extreme distance swimmer who just swam from Cuba to Key West a couple of weeks ago, will be swimming for 48 hours straight for a Hurricane Sandy relief fundraiser in NYC this week, generally awesome and awe-inspiring individual). I am sure it helped me improve my time! Onward! #xtremedream Have to run off to get ready for work. Happy Monday, everyone!

Week 3 Summary -- A Running 3 runs + weekly distance walk completed: A+ Done! I was able to increase my dreadmill time to 28 minutes before I ran in my 5k race on Sunday. I also did 2.2 miles around the soccer field while my daughter was practicing on Thursday. That got me a bonus! This week I get to start more trail running! Yay! Yoga 4x yoga practice/week: B Slipped a little this week to a straight B. Body is just not cooperating with my regular yoga practice, and I'm spending a lot more time doing plain old stretches multiple times a day rather than one longer yoga session. It's not what I had hoped for when I started the challenge, but flexibility is still increasing in little bits, so I'm still happy. It is beginning to look like I'm not going to accomplish that goal of doing the whole Shiva Rea dvd. Darn arm balances will be the death of me... Meditation Meditating 5x or more/week: A+ Daily practice again this week. Life Goal -- People IRL Date night with the hubby and another couple. Margaritas -- PASS

My Week 2 summary can be found here. Woot! I managed a 28-minute run on the dreadmill today -- mighty proud of that. I didn't know if I was going to make it! My 5k is this Sunday, and I have no designs on running the whole thing, but I am going to jog as far as I can, then walk for a minute and jog some more, etc. Only one minute of jogging for rests. I'd like to see a time somewhere under 40 minutes, but we'll see what I can manage! Hope everyone's Week 3 got off to a great start!

Week 2 Summary -- A Running 3 runs + weekly distance walk completed: A Done! Increased my time on the dreadmill to 25 minutes, and got in another 2-mile walk during soccer practice. The walk would have been longer, but I stopped to chat with some of the other parents about Saturday's game, and before I knew it practice was over. LOL Yoga 4x yoga practice/week: B+ Same grade as last week, did 4 yoga sessions and a lot of stretching for my very sore muscles... I'm starting to think that squeezing one more yoga session into my week may be virtually impossible. I'll try again next week. I am happy with 4x a week, since I am seeing increases in my flexibility and poses that used to be very challenging are gradually getting easier. I am also learning more about breathing and relaxing in order to deepen some poses, so overall the practice has been very beneficial even if I can't get to it as often as I had hoped. Meditation Meditating 5x or more/week: A+ Daily practice, so 7x week. Probably should have done the A+ last week too. Ahh well... Life Goal -- People IRL Invited my sister-in-law over for wine and deck time one evening. Love her! -- PASS

My positive addiction (thank you, Buggs!) had me on the dreadmill for my regular workout this morning in spite of a lingering ache in my right knee and what I suspect are the beginning twinges of shin splints. Gonna hafta get full blown before they'll drag me down. LOL However, I did get thrown for a loop toward the end of my workout, and I thought I'd share... I actually set my C25k running app to skip today's workout and move ahead to Monday's workout. That added 3 minutes to my total running time, but I felt motivated and ready to take it on. I had run for about 19 minutes of the scheduled 28, and I was still grooving along with knee and shins keeping pace. My mind wasn't quite as focused as usual, and I was starting to feel a bit winded, so I started with the mindgames (you can check your time at the end of this song...). Out of the blue, a couple walks up and hops on the treadmills directly to my left. Literally right. Next. To. Me. In spite of the fact that my headphones are blasting my Sunshine Dancing music, I can hear every word of their loud, giggly conversation. Remember, I am already easily distracted. But that wasn't the worst part. The real kicker was the sickeningly sweet smell of whatever perfume/bodywash/lotion the woman had on. It hit me like a brick as soon as she started to move! Ermagerd... My real frustration with this was that there were about 30 other empty treadmills at the time (no kidding, Planet Fitness has a TON of treadmills), so why on earth did they have to park themselves right next to me? *sigh* I struggled to refocus, but eventually the overpowering smell was more than I could take when I was gulping for air. I ended up stopping my timer (drat! hate that!) at about the time my normal Friday workout should have ended -- 25 minutes. I couldn't feel bad about not finishing since I did my whole regularly scheduled workout, but I really think I could have made the whole 28 minutes if not for the sweet flower-fog that enveloped me. I had to do a lot of deep breathing to cleanse myself of that one when I got home. And then something weird happened -- I started to cry. I started to cry when I realized that almost exactly a year ago, I was heading to the neurologist. It might have been a year to the day, in fact. I had suffered a neck injury and was experiencing debilitating pain. I was on leave from my job and spending most of my waking hours on my couch, squirming in agony while waiting to be able to take my next pain pill. I was on the brink of surgery to repair a herniated cervical disc and fuse two vertebrae in my neck. Yet today, just a year later, I ran -- RAN, mind you -- almost two miles on a treadmill, completely pain free. I practice gratitude daily, yet somehow I had managed to forget that my life as I know it is nothing short of a miracle. I had forgotten the pain and the lessons I had to learn before it agreed to leave. Today, I am completely recovered, and I didn't have to have a surgery that could have made a lot of the things I enjoy now uncomfortable or nearly impossible. I cried buckets of happy tears off and on today. Remembering all the stones that make up my path really helped me put the smelly lotion in perspective.

I agree with the magnesium. I sleep pretty well about 85% of the time now, and I fall back asleep much more easily now that I have in the past. When I was having the most trouble, I used this: http://www.gnc.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3502519 It was wonderful. Hope that, along with implementing a meditation routine, works for you! You might also try some kind of white noise. There are sleep apps for your phone that play all kinds of sounds, from monk chants to birds to traffic noise. They helped me a lot, too.

Getting ready to go on a trip is always stressful, so I'm glad to hear you're taking time to do relaxing stuff like taking walks with your daughters. Sending the light to you as you prepare for your journey. Safe travels!

Yes! Do that, wideeyed! That would be awesome!! Incidentally, ElbowRocker, I just wanted you to know that my 13-yo son's new favorite saying is "got verbed right in the nounhole." Thanks so much for that... Rock on, Brigadiers!!

I woke up feeling blah this morning, lots of little complaints coming from my body. I decided to take a rest day from the gym. I hated to do it, because it makes me feel like a failure... Got up, got hydrated, got coffee (so, you know, dehydrated ) and got the kidlets to school. The "slacking" was just nagging at me, so I did some stretching and tried to ignore it. It would not be ignored. Soooo...I took my body to the trail and had a go at my first trail run. It felt great. I was able to run over half the time, which really surprised me. The weather was perfect! Blissed out right now. These are my happy trail-running feet:

I was going to suggest hydration, but Donar beat me to it. Hope you get it nipped soon and get back in top form, Ash!

Agreed, Ash! Nobody around here is using a walker...yet. Oh Donar... *sigh* Are you sure I need to eat all this stuff? I feel like I am *gorging* myself, to the point that I actually get tired of eating. Yesterday I missed my cal/pro/cho. All I hit was the fat. Any suggestions? I just need a little help getting it figured out!

I wanna be golden! I wanna! I REALLY wanna! I'll do my best, Coach! Pickle juice reminded me that my friend's husband once did shots of tequila followed by shots of pickle juice at a party. He was fine for about 10 shots' worth, and spent the rest of the party with his head in a bucket. We now call him BucketHead.

Sooo...yeah. I'm going to check off "vegetable nagging" as complete for the day. The Brigade has your back, Will! We're all rooting for ya!

Thanks for the rec, forks! I'm going to check it out!!

Oohhhhhhh... *gulp* Shandies. I miss shandies. No wheat, no beer. Have one for me, will ya? Ima stick to my gluten-free hard cider up in here.

I do remember now Donar mentioned that -- go pro/cho after workout, avoid fats. I'm not doing any protein powder right now, and I imagine it will take some looking to find one with no wheat or soy. I might just try it, though. Hooray for hitting macros! We'll see if I can do it today -- looks like I ~only~ need to eat 1600 cal/187pro/133cho/43fat for dinner to make it. OMG...

Your breakfast plate looked heavenly! Thanks for sharing that! I had a pumpkin smoothie yesterday -- roasted pumpkin, vanilla almond milk and chai spice. It was fan-freaking-tastic, and might be good with your new protein powder... Welcome to autumn!

I burned 73 calories just reading this workout. Thanks for that.

Well said, Ash!

I know for a fact that the Sunshine Dancing station was the sole reason for my success on the dreadmill yesterday. Got the yoga done yesterday as well, plus the meditation, so it's an A for the day. Goodgood! This morning I got a text from my workout buddy saying she had injured her back somehow and couldn't get out of bed for our workout. Boo! I slept in and got the kidlets off to school, then went to the gym by myself and proceeded to tear up my legs and abs. I was tempted to hop on the dreadmill for a brisk walk, but I'm going to try to hit a trail for a while before my kids get home from school. Of course, I also have 457 errands to run before that time, so inevitably the trail hike will be the thing that gets pushed off until tomorrow... Fortunately, there is the opportunity to walk/jog (I call it wog) around the fields tonight while my youngest is at soccer practice. Grass instead of asphalt...cooler temps...happy Jodi I am trying to work out a schedule that will allow me one complete rest day per week. I'm thinking Sunday. I'm kinda fighting some fatigue and a few mild pains here and there, especially in my lower back and knees. I've been the Ice Queen the last couple of days when I get back from the gym. Brrr! Effective, though. Time to get going. Have a great day, everyone!

Plang is, in fact, Official Dai-Gurren Brigade Lingo now and forevermore. I have nothing from which to plang, or I would be doing this myself! It sounds like a helluva workout! Keep up the good work, Swamps!

Seeing your pics is so amazing! Looks like you and your new toy are getting to know each other Really great shots of your rider friends, and great macro shots. I love few things in the world more than purple flowers New tattoos!?! We're going to need snaps of those as well... Musical Note (hehe) -- I LURVE Xavier Rudd. That is all. Have a great day!!

Even through a pounding headache, you're still smashing all the things! Reading the workouts in this thread is absolutely exhausting, and yet makes me think I'm not doing NEARLY enough in the gym! And I only have two minis at home (who are mostly self-sufficient, so it doesn't even count, really) so I clearly have NO EXCUSE! **Editor's Note: My 13-yo is decidedly NOT self-sufficient at the moment, because he broke his arm on Friday in a bike accident. His cast is neato hunter orange. *sigh* Guess who gets to write out his algebra problems tonight?? LOL I'm also working on mastering Donar's macros...totally f'ed up yesterday and had a cheeseburger in a moment of weakness. Screwed fat totals for the day. Every day is a new beginning (thank goodness). Ash, what do you eat post-workout? I'm looking for ideas. Hope to hear about another stellar day from you today! Keep rocking it, sister!

Don't worry -- I'm a stalker too, Will I read a lot and don't post very much, but I'm trying to keep up with everyone! So glad to see yeti back in the thread! *hugs* I see the Battle of Kiwi ended with no bloodshed. Glad to hear it I've been struggling a bit with fatigue and tweaks the last few days. Guess my running/yoga regimen is going to be a challenge. I'm up for it, just had to drag out the ice packs and ace bandages... *sigh* You're only as old as you feel, right? Well, I'm sure I will feel younger tomorrow then