Thankful Thursday: Sore Muscles

1. Today I'm giving thanks for the soreness in my shoulders thanks to finishing the Fab Ab February workout yesterday and starting the New Rules of Lifting for Women workout this week. I've made it through workout A and B, with some modification due to my apprehension about the weight room (which you can read about HERE).
2. I'm giving thanks for having a sports chiro who is working with me to get back to running.  I have some new stretches and exercises and I'm hopeful that I'll be able to run tonight (recognizing it will not be pain free and that I just need to suck it up).  
3. I'm giving thanks for all my friends who have gotten me into running and are now getting me to strength train.  Maybe with their help I'll be buff by bikini season :)

What are you thankful for today?

Also-I want to do another 20 questions post but I need YOUR questions.  I've gotten a few, but please - ask away - anything goes and when I get enough questions I'll post the answers!

I Did It!

No, not THAT - get your head outta the gutter!  I made it all the way through the Fab Ab February workouts!  (I think I only missed 2 - one at the very beginning because I started late and 1 in the middle when I had the flu.)  Today was insanely hard and I had to stop a few times on the push ups and finish the plank on my knees 1/2 way through, but I got it done.  (Clearly I'm not as strong as I'd like and/or the NROLFW workout left me more fatigued than I thought it did since I can barely lift my water bottle this morning.)  I have seen an improvement in my shoulders and back, but not much in the abs department, which is disappointing, but I know I'm stronger because the NROLFW ab work wasn't very tough on Monday.  Since the NROLFW workout incorporates ab and shoulder work, I don't know if I'll keep the push ups going.  I'll just need to see how I feel.  Also, the author is really not a fan of the basic sit up or crunch since it really hasn't been shown to do anything (I think my lack of ab improvement just proves that), so I'll stick with his ab work.

Since today is also Wednesday Check-In for the Shrink Yo-Self in 2012 challenge with Shrinking Jeans, I can report I'm down 0.6 this week.  Not great, but I'll take it.  Obviously my body is not wanting to get rid of the extra flab, which totally sucks.  I've been tracking a bit more consistently too and actually trying to get in more protein per the NROLFW book (I'm not following their diet plan exactly though, just trying to swap out some less nutrient-rich foods for ones higher in protein and include protein with my breakfast each morning.)

Did you participate in Fab Ab February?  If you did, what did you think? Will you try to keep it going?

Confessions: Chicago!

I super big puffy heart love Chicago.  Seriously, it's probably one of my my favorite places to visit and is close enough to me that I can go on the spur of the moment.  This weekend I got to do just that.  I got wind that 2 of the writers from Shrinking Jeans (Christy and Melissa) were meeting up in Chicago to do some work on the site and Nancy (another Shrinking Jeans writer) was planning to take the train in on Sunday to meet them for breakfast.  I was lucky enough to go along and it was surreal to see the girls again (it had been WAY too long).  We had a great time having breakfast and seeing a couple of Chicago landmarks before Christy and Melissa had to catch their shuttle for the airport.  

The Bean

Beautiful ladies

Looking down 103 floors from the Willis (Sears) Tower SkyDeck

Yep, we are all in the glass box, 103 floors above the city!

After Nancy and I said goodbye to Christy and Melissa (after only a few short hours - so wish we could've spent more time together), we walked up and down Michigan Avenue.  The day was absolutely glorious.  

For the record, Marilyn is wearing panties.

I even did a little fantasy shopping.  There's something about designer $800-900 shoes that make you feel like a princess (and having feet small enough to try on the display shoes & not have to talk to the sales people is PRICELESS).  

Something about that red Louboutin sole is so sexy

Channeling my inner Carrie Bradshaw in a pair of Manolo Blahniks

Thankfully, Nancy wore her FitBit so we were able to get an idea of how far we walked.  The 6.6 miles helped to undo some of the booze choices on Saturday night and the food on Sunday (although we were both really good at dinner and ordered the most amazing fish tacos - so yummy!).

Monday was back to reality.  I started the New Rules of Lifting for Women strength training workout yesterday.  I'm not very sore today, but you can read about how it impacted my pride here. My experience with the free weights area really  made me wonder why women think there is an sign above the door that reads "Penis Required for Entry", because last time I checked - there wasn't.

Probably not the "confessions" post you were expecting, huh?  Today I'm feeling pretty good about everything, even if my dress is a little snug.  I'm on the right track and I'm hoping to get back to running this week (even if it means running with some pain - I have a half marathon in a month!)

Confess something awesome about your week in the comments. I give you permission to love yourself today.

LLRB 365: 2012 Week 8

Sunday

2-19-12

Was feeling the need for chocolate so I made Oreo Truffles.

Monday

2-20-12

We had the day off from school and K wanted to go to the track to practice in her spikes.

Tuesday

2-21-12

Either my girlfriend's son has really huge feet, or I have really tiny ones!

Wednesday

2-22-12

In an effort to get in more protein as I start on my IronSisters New Rules of Lifting For Women workouts, I discovered this at Costco.  Not bad mixed with a banana and frozen berries.

Thursday

2-23-12

Finally bought some decent headphones.  They stayed in great with all my upsidedown yoga crap I did today (but I still have a hard time actually getting them IN my ears).

Friday

2-24-12

A wintery blast reminded me that I really do live in a snow globe for part of the year.

Saturday

2-25-12

The start of a great weekend with friends.

Fitness Friday: Broken

I guess if your legs are going to pick a time to rebel and you need to take some time off from running even though you have a half marathon in five weeks and you're now freaking out over your ability to complete it it might as well be at a time when winter decides to finally arrive in West Michigan.

We actually have a snow day today (which is really kind of silly, but I'll take it).  I needed the extra sleep this morning.  Tomorrow I'll take pictures and measurements for the NROLFW program I'm starting next week.  Please ignore any self-loathing tweets this may result in.  

It just seems so weird to read everyone's tweets and whatnot about their long runs tomorrow knowing that I won't be running "with" them.  So far I think I've only made it back up to 7 since Tinker Bell and this time off is really screwing with my plans, but I know I need it or I may not be running at all come April 1st.  I'm just hoping my body is playing an early April Fool's joke and all will be back to normal in a week or so.

What do you do to keep from going crazy when you can't do the workouts you want to do?

Thankful Thursday: Shoulders! (and other stuff)

1.  SHOULDERS:  I have a thing for shoulders.  No lie.  Most of my girlfriends (and a few of my guy friends) already know this so this won't be a shock to many of them.  What's really freaking cool?  Thanks to some hard work and a lot of push ups, I now have some shoulders of my own :)  Hopefully the rest of my body will start to fall in line once I start NROLFW next week (I'll be blogging about it here).

2.  CLASSIC MOVIES: We finally introduced the kids to the movie classic, Dazed and Confused, this weekend.  Now my boy is walking around talking like Slater instead of Napoleon Dynamite.  I consider this a huge improvement.

3.  COMPRESSION SOCKS:  My calves (the right is worse, but really it's both of them) are giving me nightmarish fits right now and now so are my hamstrings and even the base of my skull since apparently it's all freaking connected.  I'm thankful that no one at work can tell I'm wearing KTTape and CEP socks under my dress pants (the heals were probably a bad idea but these pants are too long for flats).

There you go - three things of thankful randomness.  What are YOU  thankful for today?

Also, if you give up something for Lent that you shouldn't be doing in the first place, does it count?

Shrink Yo'Self in 2012 week 8

I hope someone out there is shrinking, cuz it sure as hell isn't me.  I'm down a whopping .4 this week (that's POINT 4, not 4 pounds) which is sad cuz my obsessive scale habits tell me I was down 2 lbs on Thursday, but I managed to finally find my appetite again and blew my flu-induced weightloss.

It is what it is.  Do I wish I was seeing more results (hell ANY results)? Yes.  What it is it is.

I do have something exciting in the works that might actually help my clothes start fitting better.  Beginning Monday, I will be adding in the strength workouts from the book The New Rules of Lifting For Women.  I'm working on getting the book read this week and I'd like to start incorporating some of the diet changes as well (mainly adding in more protein, NOT restricting calories so much, etc).  A few of us girls have gotten together and started another blog.  You can find us here.  We will be blogging our progress through the stages and including before/during/after pictures and measurements.  Wish us luck!