Evening Boot Camp and Cat Drama

Tuesday night was my first evening boot camp class. The class size was about 10 people, so you still get personalized attention. Mike is the evening instructor, and like Damon, he was very nice - no drill sergeant type attitudes at these classes! However, I didn't like 2 or 3 of the stations, as they were kind of "eh" to me. One station required you to do one-legged crab walks across the room and I couldn't understand what I was working out or trying to accomplish through those. Another station was just push-ups, which I'm probably complaining about simply based on the fact that I don't like doing push-ups :)

The rest of the stations were great, though. We did some more work with kettlebells, including squats and swings. Then we also did some new stuff with the harnesses - suspension planks!



You can do a lot of variations on these for your abs - LOVE IT! You can swing your legs out to the side to work your obliques, or pull your knees to your chest to better engage your core. I did a mix since we do three sets of these. By the third one I was pretty worn down so I just held the plank position and still felt the burn!

I decided to skip Wednesday morning's class for a couple reasons. The first was that I felt my muscles need a day of rest to recoup and get stronger. I will still be going to classes Thursday and Friday, so that's 4 days of boot camp; plus I did a regular workout on Sunday and plan to do stairs this Saturday and Sunday. I feel I'll be able to finish the week out strong if I give my muscles a day to repair.

Beyond that, there was a more important reason to me for missing - my cat, Lucas. Some of you may remember he was really sick earlier in the year. We noticed on Tuesday that he was squatting and trying to pee in strange places all over the house, but nothing was happening. We put him in the litter box and he would try to go, but couldn't. My aunt, a vet tech, told us that we should take him to the emergency animal hospital, but we were told that it was going to cost $600 - $800. We love Lucas and want to do anything for him, but how are you supposed to scrape up that kind of money at 11 o'clock at night? Especially after I just had to shell out $1,000 for my car accident. All we could do was pray that he would make it until the morning so we could take him to the vet.

Since I was up late, I was already concerned about waking up the class, but I woke up a couple minutes before my alarm went off at 5:30 AM. That's when I knew I wasn't going to go - Lucas was laying next to me and I thought to myself, "If he's really sick and this is the last morning I get to cuddle next to my cat, I'm going to do that." So I stayed with my baby.

Just look at that face. How can you not fall in love?!

THANKFULLY...this little mischief maker is going to be OK. He had a very bad bladder infection, they helped him clear out at the animal hospital and gave him some antibiotics to get him well again. There aren't enough words for how much I love this cat!

Kettlebell Khaos

Whew, what a day! Hope you all had a good start to the workweek! Today was my second boot camp class, bright and early at 6:15 AM. Errrr...maybe I should say dark and early, since the sun wasn't out yet! My hamstrings were still sore from Friday morning's class, but that was no excuse for ditching. Today's workout circuit included a lot of things I haven't tried before, one of which involved an exercise harness. Using the form below (except knees straight, not bent), you pulled yourself forward, working your arms and back.


The exercises at each station were completely different from the ones we did in Friday's class, even used different equipment. I like that the class size is not big, there were about 7 of us in the class this time. Tomorrow will be my first evening class (doing those Tuesdays & Thursdays), so I'm interested to see if the class size will be bigger.

At the end of today's class, we did something called Kettlebell Khaos. Holy WOW, it was tough! It consisted of 6 different kettlebell moves that you did for 30 seconds each. I was wary of the one arm swings and didn't really partake in those to avoid hurting my lower back again, which most of you know about by now. I hate having to stand there and not participate because it makes me feel everyone else is thinking I can't do it, but better to be safe than sorry.

I am really excited about these classes because they're introducing me to new exercise moves, as well as forcing me to get used to some morning workouts. I have to admit that it felt really good to just relax after work this evening knowing that my exercise was done for the day. I wasn't feeling too great last night thanks to a bad migraine, so I didn't get my normal Sunday tasks like grocery shopping and laundry done. One of my favorite things about grocery shopping on weekdays is the 40% off produce deals you often find, like these fruit bowls!



I never buy them regular price, but when they're on sale I pick up 1 or 2 for an easy snack. Good way to keep me away from the Smith's House of Horrors, AKA the Smith's House of Sweets.

Feeling pretty tired at this point and pretty excited about going to sleep at about 9:30! Good night everyone!

Whirlwind Weekend!

This was a crazy busy weekend! Friday night was a surprise party for my mom's 50th birthday. We successfully pulled off the surprise!

*Mom when she first walked in!*

*Me and my family*

I was glad my mom had a great time at her party. Around 8 PM, my legs started feeling pretty sore from Friday morning's boot camp class. I tried to stretch for awhile and hoped it wouldn't be worse in the morning...

Saturday

Ow. OW. OWW!!! I pretty much have not done squats since May, so my legs and butt were not at all used to this and were killing me! Phil and I were meeting up with my friends Lisa, Cheryl and Ingrid and their fiancés and husbands at Scarecrow Fest in St. Charles. The weather was beautiful and the St. Charles area is gorgeous. Finding parking was a nightmare, though! I had been hoping to work out in the morning but given how badly my legs were hurting, I decided to skip, especially because I knew we'd be doing a lot of walking at the fest.

*Phil having a deep conversation at Scarecrow Fest*

*Just one example of the different types of "scarecrows"!*

After the group split up, Phil and I enjoyed some burgers and a pitcher of beer on the rooftop of one of the restaurants nearby. We were pretty tired, so we just stayed in for the evening.

Sunday

Sunday was my mom's actual birthday. She got another surprise in the morning!



I watched some of the Chicago marathon in the morning and saw the first finisher, Moses Mosop, cross the finish line. It was absolutely amazing to watch. I finished my half marathon in 2 hours, 13 minutes; this runner finished the full in 2 hours, 5 minutes! Much of his mile pace was 4 minutes, 40 seconds. So incredible what people can accomplish. I cannot imagine running a single mile that fast, let alone keeping up that pace for a marathon. My legs were still aching just as much on Sunday morning, so I decided to work out to see if that would loosen them up. After watching the marathon, I definitely didn't want to confine myself to an indoor workout on such a beautiful day, so I hit the pavement. I haven't run outdoors in about a month, so I was pleased I ran 4.3 miles. I loved seeing all the beautiful trees and feeling the leaves crunch beneath my feet. While it was a nice run, it didn't do much for my muscles. Still sore and aching!

Then it was off to Phil's second cousin's 2nd birthday. I love Hannah, she is such a little cutie!

*Me and the birthday girl!*

This is where the food overload began. I had a sandwich from Potbelly at about 1 PM. We ate at Hannah's party around 4 - I tried to keep my servings small, food was catered from Qdoba so I just made a mini nacho plate for myself. I wish I could have stayed at the party longer, but it was off to my mom's birthday dinner at Jameson's Charhouse. I had to order something, otherwise me being there was kinda pointless! I got a cheeseburger and ate about 3/4 of it. When we got home, I fell asleep on the couch for a good hour. Food coma!

The amount of sweets in our house right now is pretty awful - may the force be with me this week to avoid these! Look at all this sugar in a house of three people - ridiculous!

Chocolate covered strawberries, Halloween cupcakes,

brownies, Oreos, Chips Ahoy and leftover birthday cake

Well, off to bed - have to be up bright and early for boot camp! I just hope my legs can make it there!

Heaven and Hell Bootcamp

Tuesday nights are usually a designated workout time and Wednesday nights I usually rest because I stay at Phil's place and generally want to spend time with him instead of going to the gym. I have a busy weekend ahead of me and have been looking at my closet in dismay these last few days, feeling like I have nothing to wear. I was in a cleaning and organizing mood last night, so I decided to sacrifice my workout in order to get some things done that needed to be done. Success - I realized that there are plenty of clothes in my closet and I don't need to go on an emergency shopping spree!

This morning, I intended to wake up at 5:45 and get to the gym a little after 6. My alarm went off and I hit the snooze button. 10 minutes later it went off again. I shut off the alarm and lay there for a minute, contemplating if I should continue sleeping or not. "You're never going to get all your workouts in each week if you don't start going a few times in the morning," I thought to myself. "Plus, you're only going to get about another hour of sleep anyway - that's practically nothing." FINE, brain. I'LL GO.

*Sun isn't up yet, but here I am!*

I made it to the gym at about 6:20, and needed to leave a little after 7, so I had to have a shorter workout. Taking baby steps here when it comes to waking up early! I did 2 sets of 3 weight machines focusing on my arms and back, then got on the treadmill. I only had 20 minutes for cardio, so I made up an interval workout. It went something like this:

2 minute warm-up at 5.5 mph on a 1.0 incline

Alternate 1 minute walking at 4.0 mph pace on an 8.0 incline,
then run 1 minute at 6.0 mph on a 1.0 incline

Minutes 10 - 20 same thing, but run for 2 minutes at a time instead of 1

2 minute cooldown at 3.0 mph, 0 incline

I felt surprisingly awake and energized for the rest of the day and feel positive about making morning workouts for the rest of the week. I still prefer evening workouts - they help me feel I am working off the stress of the day. I also don't feel as pressed for time as I do in the morning. But a short workout in the morning is better than no workout at all!

On Monday, I purchased a deal through Amazon Local (they are starting to get some good stuff! I check out their site, Groupon and Living Social every morning) that was $20 for a month of bootcamp classes at Heaven and Hell Bootcamp in Lisle. Regular price is $85 for the month, so this was an awesome deal!

I've been contemplating for a couple days if I should take on the morning or evening classes. Feeling inspired by the fact that I got my butt out the door this morning, I called and booked my classes as soon as I got home from the gym. I decided to do a mix - class at 6:15 AM on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays and then 7:15 PM on Tuesday and Thursdays. The classes are 30 minutes long. I opted for this schedule because I meet my good friend Christina for breakfast every Tuesday, and I stay over at Phil's from Wednesday to Thursday, and he lives a bit farther from the classes than I do. I like this schedule as it doesn't completely lock down my evenings, but also doesn't require me to wake up early for 5 days in a row either ;)

I'm going to attend my first class this Friday. I'm a bit nervous about my back...so shhhh, don't tell my chiropractor about this! I'm looking forward to this challenge and changing up my workout routine, but I know I need to be smart about it too. The chiropractor explained to me back in May what type of exercise can be bad triggers for my lower back, so I will just have to modify or avoid those types. Basically, anything where you are leaning over at a 45 degree angle and using weights is bad for your lower back. I plan on mentioning my back issues to the instructor before the class.

Check back Friday to hear how the first class went!

October Already?!

I pretty much say the same thing on the first of each month: "It's [month] already?!" I just cannot believe how quickly the year is flying by! As you may have noticed, I finally figured out how to change the look of my blog a bit. What do you think of the new layout?

I welcomed fall by spending time with friends and my boyfriend. On Saturday morning, I hit the gym around 9:30 AM. I save my treadmill interval workout for Saturday mornings, because I am usually antsy to get on with my day and don't like to be at the gym too long. Since I tend to indulge a bit on Saturdays, it's crucial to start my day with a calorie deficit! I love this 30 minute workout, which I clipped out of Fitness magazine about a year ago. It's always challenging and goes by quickly.



If you give it a try (and I really recommend you do!), let me know what you think!

I then met up with my friends Jacklyn, Brittney and Julie at Binny's Beverage Depot for a wine tasting. There were a few wines we sampled that I liked, but I didn't buy any of those because I was too excited to see this:



Pumpkin wine from Prairie State Winery! This winery is located about 30 minutes from DeKalb and I was introduced to their pumpkin wine a few years ago while up at NIU. I was planning on picking up a bottle when I go to NIU's homecoming next weekend, but now I'm all set! It is a sweet white wine with pumpkin (obviously!) and spices. It is unique and yummy. After the wine tasting, we were all pretty hungry so we decided to walk next door to Gordon Biersch. I love this restaurant! I didn't feel too guilty about eating all of my pulled pork sandwich - we were eating mid-afternoon and I stayed so full that I had a small dinner.

*Me & the girls at Gordon Biersch*

Then my boyfriend and I went to Oktoberfest in Naperville. It was fun to just kick back and enjoy some beer outside in the nice fall weather.





Phil had some of the food there, but I'm really not a fan of German food (hate sauerkraut...hate sausage...) so I didn't eat anything besides some apple strudel. See what I mean about indulging a bit on Saturdays?!

Sunday I had some coffee before my morning workout, which I don't usually experience because I work out in the evenings. It really did amp up my workout! I did the stair climber for 25 minutes on the aerobic setting, then another 20 minutes on the fat burner setting. After that, I did an added 15 minutes on the crossramp machine.

I have some busy nights ahead of me this week, so I am going to try very, very hard to make it to the gym Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning. We shall see what happens...

The Half Marathon

It's been one week since the Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon in Chicago, and I haven't really known what to do with myself now that training has ended! It feels strange to know that I don't have to go run long miles at the end of each week anymore. I must be honest - for the week after the half, I pretty much paid no mind to what I was eating, and I only exercised once with a 5 mile run on Thursday (August 18th). I had cheeseburgers, fries, ice cream, pizza and wine throughout the week. Although I know it's not the right mentality to have, I felt that I deserved it and that 6 days off wouldn't be the end of the world. Yesterday (Sunday) I got back on track. Now, to review the race!

Friday, August 12th

You had to pick up your bib number and race packet on either Friday or Saturday prior to the race at McCormick place. I was grateful that I got to ride along with my boss Lindsay who was also doing the same half, because I HATE parking at McCormick place with a passion - as Lindsay very well knows, since we were at a conference there last fall for 4 days and I got lost looking for my car EVERY day! At the expo, there were all sorts of health and running vendors who you could score freebies from. At check-in, we got a bag full of goodies and your T-shirt:


There were also a lot of food and drinks you could sample, and I made a couple purchases. The first was Nuun.



Nuun are these little tablets you put into your water that add flavor and electrolytes. I sampled the strawberry lemonade and lemon lime flavors, and they were delicious! They had a deal of two containers of 12 tablets each plus this cute plastic water bottle that has the pull top that I like for $10, so I went ahead and got it. I took it with me running today, and learned something important...tastes kind of gross when it gets warm! So I won't be taking it running with me anymore, I'll drink it post run.

The second purchase was from PR*Bar. Now, I didn't actually talk to anyone at their booth or read information, just sampled their product which tasted REALLY good and then decided to jump on their 3 for $5 deal. After checking out their website just now, it looks like they market it as meal replacement for weight loss, which I don't agree with. But, I am willing to give it a try as something to have pre-workout and then have a smaller meal after working out, which I often like to do. I got the iced brownie bar and chocolate peanut butter bar. These bars are unbelievably soft and smooth - not gritty like some energy bars are.



Saturday, August 13th

Took it easy and rested up. Knew I needed to load up on carbs and had a craving for waffles all day long, so I ended up eating them for breakfast and dinner! I did have a turkey sandwich from Spicy Pickle for lunch, which was good for protein. I went to bed at 10:15 PM - early, but not early enough considering I had to be up at 3:30 AM! =(

Sunday, August 14th - RACE DAY!
Alarm went off at 3:30 AM. My first thought? "F this." But there was no turning back now, so I dragged myself out of bed. Lindsay was coming from Aurora, and so it was easier for her to pick me up off I-88 rather than I-355 where I live, so I parked near my boyfriend's apartment. We left at 4:30 AM. The race started at 6:30, and the roads start getting closed off around 5:15, so we had to get down there to park.

Us bright and early!




I felt a little nervous, but I was definitely way more nervous before the triathlon I did last year. My wave started running around 6:40 AM. I ran pretty slow in the beginning, because many warned me to not start off to quickly and burn yourself out. The race did not go by as quickly as I was expecting. My 10, 11 and 12 mile runs didn't seem to bad, but honestly this seemed like an eternity! I didn't see mile markers until mile 4, and I was expecting it to be mile 5.

I kept trying to make up my time and was monitoring my watch between mile markers, but no matter how hard I tried to go just a little faster, my pace kept hovering around a 10 minute mile. When I saw it was only mile 4, I was like "Are you KIDDING me?!?!" By mile 8, I was really tired. Mile 10, I kept thinking "I cannot wait to NEVER run again!!!" By mile 12, I wasn't sure I would make it. Once the finish line was in sight, I had to push myself like never before. The look on my face for the finish photos shows how badly I wanted it to be over!



After the race, I got my sweet medal:



The temperature for the race was perfect - about 70 degrees - but it did rain a few times throughout the race, and that made it kind of cold. I wanted to check out some of the vendors that were at the race and snag more free stuff, plus get my two free MGD64's that I wore my darn wristband for all weekend! (You could get your ID checked at the expo to avoid waiting in line after the race, provided you wore this yellow wristband that I had to keep on all weekend long). However, it was raining pretty steadily at this point and we were freezing, so we left.

I had a celebratory breakfast with Phil, Julie and Mike, which ended up being free because poor Julie bit on a piece of glass that got into her eggs! Besides that, breakfast was delicious. I've never finished a huge breakfast portion like that, but I was ravenous! Then as soon as we got back, I passed out for a nap. That night I went to bed at 8:30 and slept until 7 the next day!

So now that it's over, I'll be training for the Willis Tower Stair Climb. However...I have come across a Naperville Half Marathon that is happening Sunday, September 11th. I would just pick up the last three weeks of my training schedule to prepare. Kind of crazy that I'm already considering another one! But it's cheap, it's close by, and best of all...it doesn't start until 8:30 AM :) I only have a couple days to decide, as I would need to get back on my training. But Phil and I were going to go to Wisconsin September 9 - 10th, provided that he gets a 1/2 day request approved at work. If we go, I won't do the race. If we don't...I'm considering it!

1/2 Marathon Training: Final Week

Just 6 days until the half marathon! I'm excited and feel ready for it. It's felt a little strange winding down my training knowing that there is still a 13 mile race ahead...last week my long run was 9 miles, this week I'm not supposed to do more than 4 or 5 miles on any given day. Part of me is nervous that my endurance will wear off, but overall I know that I've trained properly and am ready to go! I'm looking forward to doing different cardio workouts again - I'll keep up with the running somewhat, but definitely cannot wait to take a break from these running blisters!

Now that my training is almost at an end, I feel that I need to get my eating back under control. I lost two pounds during training, which isn't a whole lot, but given that I still ate fast food, cookies, cake, cheeseburgers, hot dogs here and there, it's fine by me! All the running leveled out any extra calories. I was also stuck between two clothing sizes at the start of the training, running helped me move down a size and stay there.

I purchased a Groupon for a small, private owned grocery store in Downers Grove called Lemon Tree. They carry a lot of quality produce, organic foods, and healthy foods. The deal was $12 for $25 worth of groceries, so I jumped on it right away. Here's what I got:



I bought some convenience produce that I normally don't waste money on - like $4 on pre-cut strawberries and blueberries, for example. The grocery store also has a cafe, and so the shopping area was a little cramped in my opinion - I regretted choosing a cart instead of hand basket. I might have to cough up the extra cash on a regular basis for the deli turkey and provolone cheese that I got - it's DELICIOUS!!! Melts in your mouth! Was about $5.50 for the 1/2 lb of turkey and 1/4 lb of cheese, I will get 4 wraps out of that, so not bad when you consider most deli sandwiches cost you about $6 anyway.

I have been OBSESSED with Flatout wraps as of late.



I like the mini ones (pictured above), but also bought the regular size ones today since I have so many more veggies to add to my turkey wrap I've been eating for lunch. I spread roasted red pepper hummus on the wrap, then add lettuce, tomato, turkey, cheese, and now will be adding yellow and orange bell pepper slices. So much more filling and satisfying than my Lean Cuisines I've been eating the past year!



I also really like the mini wraps for a midday PB&J snack. The package recommended trying this with fresh strawberries and banana slices with a sprinkle of granola - YUMMY!



I have been wanting to eat more eggs in the morning but am usually too lazy or running too late to do so. Since I often reheat breakfast leftovers, I realized I should just do the same thing. So I made some scrambled eggs tonight (1 full egg and 2 egg whites) mixed with feta, tomato, and bell peppers. I will try it in the morning!



After the marathon training, I'm excited to focus more on toning and strength. I'm always so concerned with fitting my running in that I haven't done a whole lot of strength training, which is a main reason why I want to start eating more healthy and fresh foods. When I started eating the wraps, I noticed that if you start looking forward to your fresh foods instead of thinking about the things you aren't allowing yourself to eat, you're a lot more satisfied overall and not tempted by the unhealthy foods as much. I am now trying to focus on wanting healthy and fresh foods - it seems to be doing the trick!