is an early morning jog! Wait, wut?! Well it sure isn't folgers in my cup ;) I'm a senseo girl, never could stomach that folger's stuff. So, yeah, this morning I woke up at 6:15. Actually the alarm went off then but I was awake a few minutes before. I put myself to sleep fairly early last night, I'd guess somewhere between 9 & 930 so that I'd be well rested for this monrings run. Weather forecast was calling for high winds and 100% chance of rain by this afternoon so I didn't want to chance not being able to go today. Now I am not a morning person, in fact I would be just fine & dandy without mornings. I love the night time, yet I am scared of the dark, go figure that one out! I had a harder time getting Pixie up & dressed while I had no problems at all. I was actually, dare I say, a bit chipper.
Now my body is still sore as hell from the torture I put it through on Monday, despite the yoga I did yesterday. I took it easy and made sure all of my important muscles were well covered to stay warm. My workout went like this 5 minute walking warm up, 90 sec jog to 90 sec walk, 2min 50 sec jog to 3 min 10 sec walk, 90 sec jog to 90 sec walk, 2 min 40 sec jog to 3 min 30 sec walk, then 5 minute walk cool down. I almost almost reached the full 3 minute jog. The 1st one I literally groaned when I realized I had only missed it by 10 seconds. I wasn't as upset over the last one since my body was really feeling it and is still so sore.
To make my morning even better I just heard Pixie go outside on the back deck and call to the deer "Hi Bambi, how are you doing today? Come here I won't hurt you" They may come up closer but they won't ever get close enough to touch. Now she is sad they wouldn't come to her lol
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
A bra makeover
Do slipping straps, riding up backs, or not enough support have you ready to write a Dear John letter to your old bras? Apply for a Bra Makeover from Playtex! Seven out of 10 women are wearing the wrong size bra, which can result in an ill fit for the rest of their outfit, back and shoulder pain, as well as bruising and digging.
We know that busy moms don't always have time to update their bras or even check to make sure they are wearing the correct size. That's why we wanted to let you know about this contest from Playtex! Playtex recently launched www.PlaytexBraMakeover.com, a site where women can go to apply for a bra makeover or nominate a friend. If chosen, the winner will be flown to New York to receive a Bra Makeover with style expert Alison Deyette. Deyette is a fashion and trend lifestyle expert who has been featured on Bravo's Millionaire Matchmaker and TLC's Ten Years Younger, as well as in print publications including Good Housekeeping, The Washington Post, and O Magazine. Apply for your chance to win a Playtex Bra Makeover today. The last day to apply is Friday, May 21st, 2010.
The 10 winners selected for a Bra Makeover will also star in their very own webisode wherein a makeover candidate will receive a fitting with Deyette and walk away with the perfect Playtex products. A new webisode will premier on www.PlaytexBraMakeover.com every two weeks.
I am heading over to the website now to see what they have. I struggle with finding the right bra as every manufacturer makes theirs a little different and even the same size but different styles by the same manufacturer can vary the fit! It's even more frustrating when your breasts are 2 different cup sizes. I sure wish the bra makers would cater to the fact most women have at least 1 cup size difference (if not more) between their breasts and a one size fits all cup just doesn't work!
- By posting this information, I am entered into a contest to win a free bra from Playtex. I did not receive any compensation for this post and thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
We know that busy moms don't always have time to update their bras or even check to make sure they are wearing the correct size. That's why we wanted to let you know about this contest from Playtex! Playtex recently launched www.PlaytexBraMakeover.com, a site where women can go to apply for a bra makeover or nominate a friend. If chosen, the winner will be flown to New York to receive a Bra Makeover with style expert Alison Deyette. Deyette is a fashion and trend lifestyle expert who has been featured on Bravo's Millionaire Matchmaker and TLC's Ten Years Younger, as well as in print publications including Good Housekeeping, The Washington Post, and O Magazine. Apply for your chance to win a Playtex Bra Makeover today. The last day to apply is Friday, May 21st, 2010.
The 10 winners selected for a Bra Makeover will also star in their very own webisode wherein a makeover candidate will receive a fitting with Deyette and walk away with the perfect Playtex products. A new webisode will premier on www.PlaytexBraMakeover.com every two weeks.
I am heading over to the website now to see what they have. I struggle with finding the right bra as every manufacturer makes theirs a little different and even the same size but different styles by the same manufacturer can vary the fit! It's even more frustrating when your breasts are 2 different cup sizes. I sure wish the bra makers would cater to the fact most women have at least 1 cup size difference (if not more) between their breasts and a one size fits all cup just doesn't work!
- By posting this information, I am entered into a contest to win a free bra from Playtex. I did not receive any compensation for this post and thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
A yoga kind of day
It's a typical day here in Washington and at Chez Pinup. Rainy & gloomy outside, thundering inside. Oh wait, that's just my temper. I love my special Pixie and her unique little quirks but sometimes she can push my buttons faster than any other kid. Lately it's been about her eating. She is typically a great eater, and much like me she is a grazer. I don't mind the grazing part, it's the wasting part. Every morning she has a bowl of cereal or oatmeal. As soon as she is done she wants a snack. I do make her wait a little bit (otherwise she'd eat every 30 minutes, no kidding). Yesterday her snack was a slice of bread with butter on it, which she never ate. For lunch she wanted apple slices & peanutbutter, which you guessed she never ate (in fact both are still sitting on the counter), for another snack she wanted yogurt, she had all of 2 bites and the rest was tossed. Then dinner all she ate were about 15 saltines and spinach salad. Today she had her typical cereal, then a banana. For much she wanted a hot dog & 2 slices of cheddar cheese. yes I know hotdogs are gross, I buy kosher dogs (except this week I decided to try out the new nitrate/nitrite free angus oscar meyer weiners). She ate the dog left the cheese and not 15 minutes later was asking for a bowl of oatmeal. Of course she asked half way through my workout so I stopped to fix it only to look at the table and see that she didn't finish her lunch. I was annoyed first for being interrupted and two for the food waste. I have just had it with her asking for food and then not eating only to com ask for something else to eat 15-20 minutes later. Arrrg! I don't think she should have to eat all of her food if she isn't hungry but not eating and asking for more is just not ok. We are on a tight budget and when she just throws away food like that it's taking food from the other kids who will eat it. And here comes miss crankypants yelling about being hungry and wanting her oatmeal and not wanting the cheese ::sigh::
I guess it's a good thing I am somewhat relaxed after finishing 30 minutes of yoga. After yesterdays body beat down I really needed a good stretch. I may have picked the wrong video for that ;-) I did Crunch: yoga 10 minute solution. Actually it wasn't bad but on my sore muscles it was challenging. There are 5 segments yoga basics, yoga for buns/thighs, yoga for abs, yoga burn, and yoga for relaxation, all of which are 10 minutes. I skipped the yoga burn section ok! The basics was a good intro to yoga and taught the sun salutation. The buns/thighs was great for the legs though my muscles were on fire, I love loved the ab section, short but to the point and I can feel my abs burning. The relaxation could have had some more stretching, especially for those of us who are not very flexible, but it was good and I felt it served it's purpose. I'll likely do some more stretching tonight as well as adding in some shin exercises. Getting shin splints in week 3 of the c25k is not my idea of a good time so I need to build up that muscle. I may even consider knitting some legwarmers to help keep the shin muscle warm while I am running.
I guess it's a good thing I am somewhat relaxed after finishing 30 minutes of yoga. After yesterdays body beat down I really needed a good stretch. I may have picked the wrong video for that ;-) I did Crunch: yoga 10 minute solution. Actually it wasn't bad but on my sore muscles it was challenging. There are 5 segments yoga basics, yoga for buns/thighs, yoga for abs, yoga burn, and yoga for relaxation, all of which are 10 minutes. I skipped the yoga burn section ok! The basics was a good intro to yoga and taught the sun salutation. The buns/thighs was great for the legs though my muscles were on fire, I love loved the ab section, short but to the point and I can feel my abs burning. The relaxation could have had some more stretching, especially for those of us who are not very flexible, but it was good and I felt it served it's purpose. I'll likely do some more stretching tonight as well as adding in some shin exercises. Getting shin splints in week 3 of the c25k is not my idea of a good time so I need to build up that muscle. I may even consider knitting some legwarmers to help keep the shin muscle warm while I am running.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Jari Love: Ripped or Hype?
I love trying out different work out videos, it keeps me entertained, keeps me from getting bored and tends to target different muscle groups in various ways I wouldn't get by sticking to one program. Plus I get to share the experience with you guys and maybe help someone find the video or workout that will suit them best.
So this week I am kicking it with Jari Love's Get Ripped: slim & lean. My first impressions was the warm up was very ehhhhh, the music is boring and really so is everything else about the video. The workout itself is fairly intense and focused for each muscle group it works. The legs, well I didn't even finish those sets for 2 reasons 1-- I have to run today, this is the start of week 3 day 1 of the C25K and I know it's going to kick my ass with those 3 minute jogs so I don't want to overwork my leg muscles and 2 -- holy fuck. Now I try not to curse too much in my blogs but really there is no other way to express the hellacious workout on the legs. I was jell-o very quickly and even had a hard time doing the dead lifts for the back/shoulder portion because my legs were shaking so bad. I cried, literally, during the arms section, the overhead tricep curls KILLED me. The push up section was awesome I loved it and man I really impressed myself keeping up with that one. So for arms and legs this workout is excellent and yea you are going to get ripped with all of the reps and the weight loads (I stayed at 3lbs, it's all I have and well I am WEAK!). I would not classify this as a beginners workout definitely for someone who is more towards intermediate or advanced, just keep in mind the music and everything is boring with a capital B. What really lost me on this video however was the serious lack of attention to the core/abs. Good strong abs are essential to good form for all over workouts and this video really really lacked the abs more than any other series I have tried. You get about 2 minutes of actual ab work and it's easy without much focus on all of the muscle groups in the abs. So while I would continue to do this workout for the arms & legs I would look to something else to fill in the gap on the abs workout (such as Jillian Michaels no more trouble spots, fantastic ab program there!) or create your own.
Now pray for me as I am going running in an hour, it's muggy and my legs are seriously shaking.
-- 2 hours later --
Holy mother of a biscuit eater! Nope I did not jog a full 3 minutes :/ I could do both 90sec jog/walks but the second sets turned in to 2min jog/4min walk. I am disappointed in myself and I refuse to blame it on having done that intense workout, or the heat (wth it was rainy/cloudy all day and then just before I leave to jog the clouds part and the sun beats down. Nice Mother Gaia, nice). I will just make myself push that much harder on Wed, while tomorrow I will do some yoga to stretch out these muscles and get them ready for the beating.
So this week I am kicking it with Jari Love's Get Ripped: slim & lean. My first impressions was the warm up was very ehhhhh, the music is boring and really so is everything else about the video. The workout itself is fairly intense and focused for each muscle group it works. The legs, well I didn't even finish those sets for 2 reasons 1-- I have to run today, this is the start of week 3 day 1 of the C25K and I know it's going to kick my ass with those 3 minute jogs so I don't want to overwork my leg muscles and 2 -- holy fuck. Now I try not to curse too much in my blogs but really there is no other way to express the hellacious workout on the legs. I was jell-o very quickly and even had a hard time doing the dead lifts for the back/shoulder portion because my legs were shaking so bad. I cried, literally, during the arms section, the overhead tricep curls KILLED me. The push up section was awesome I loved it and man I really impressed myself keeping up with that one. So for arms and legs this workout is excellent and yea you are going to get ripped with all of the reps and the weight loads (I stayed at 3lbs, it's all I have and well I am WEAK!). I would not classify this as a beginners workout definitely for someone who is more towards intermediate or advanced, just keep in mind the music and everything is boring with a capital B. What really lost me on this video however was the serious lack of attention to the core/abs. Good strong abs are essential to good form for all over workouts and this video really really lacked the abs more than any other series I have tried. You get about 2 minutes of actual ab work and it's easy without much focus on all of the muscle groups in the abs. So while I would continue to do this workout for the arms & legs I would look to something else to fill in the gap on the abs workout (such as Jillian Michaels no more trouble spots, fantastic ab program there!) or create your own.
Now pray for me as I am going running in an hour, it's muggy and my legs are seriously shaking.
-- 2 hours later --
Holy mother of a biscuit eater! Nope I did not jog a full 3 minutes :/ I could do both 90sec jog/walks but the second sets turned in to 2min jog/4min walk. I am disappointed in myself and I refuse to blame it on having done that intense workout, or the heat (wth it was rainy/cloudy all day and then just before I leave to jog the clouds part and the sun beats down. Nice Mother Gaia, nice). I will just make myself push that much harder on Wed, while tomorrow I will do some yoga to stretch out these muscles and get them ready for the beating.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
That'a not fair!
Imagine a 2 year old throwing a fit over not being able to have something, the stomping, the screaming, the whole nine yards. Now imagine that is a 31 year old woman and you will have a picture of me today. I am on what week 10 of working out (minus that week I fell off the wagon) and week 4/5? of healthier eating with plenty of whole foods and fresh produce. One of the motivating factors for getting fit was that I was not fitting in to some of my clothes. Now I can see some very small changes and felt confident I was slimming down a little. Flash Forward to yesterday I put on one of my fav retro capri's and omg I had to the the lay on the bed and suck in my gut move to button them. By the end of the day I was in a lot of pain, my hips are literally bruised today from wearing them :( On the shopping list was a new scale as the Wii has been iffy lately on being accurate. Husband brings it home, I rip it out of the box step on and I thought I was going to cry. I haven't weighed this much since giving birth 5 years ago. In the grand scheme of things it's actually not a lot of weight but 20lbs over what you are used to be IS a lot to me.
It's just not frakking fair! My mom has been doing C25K for 3 weeks (she just started week 4) and has lost 8lbs. I am on week 3 (after repeating week 2) and getting my ass kicked by Jillian Michaels or the Envy girls on my days off from running and I GAIN 15-20lbs?! What the hell? Time to step up the game and really kick it in to gear. Maybe my cousin is on to something with 2 hour workouts.
It's just not frakking fair! My mom has been doing C25K for 3 weeks (she just started week 4) and has lost 8lbs. I am on week 3 (after repeating week 2) and getting my ass kicked by Jillian Michaels or the Envy girls on my days off from running and I GAIN 15-20lbs?! What the hell? Time to step up the game and really kick it in to gear. Maybe my cousin is on to something with 2 hour workouts.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Triple Crazy
That's right I am not just one kind of crazy I am Triple crazy! Yeah baby, yeah! Ever since settling on our plan and finally deciding what I want to do, what is calling out to me, I have done nothing but read read read on my options for childbirth educator training/certification. There are several places to go all with similar philosophies, all with advantages and disadvantages to them. My top 3 picks are ICEA, ALACE (or IBHW I believe it is now called) and CAPPA. So let's look at the 3 of them individually
ICEA -- this certification would allow me to teach in a hospital (where 90% of women give birth). Very thorough with lots of hands on learning/training. Downside? It does lean more towards the hospital model of birth obviously and boy are they all over you during your training (which could be a good thing too) and it's an intense training program, which is a pro & con.
ALACE -- another I could use to teach in the hospitals although they prefer the ICEA. More towards the natural birth philosophy. Not as structured, very hands off training, no workshops, the student (me) gets a lot more flexibility. While I do love my flexibility I think it's a good thing to at least have a framework for the classes which I don't feel like I would get with this group. But since this is hands off and less structured it is also a lot less intense training program meaning I could get through it faster and practicing faster.
CAPPA -- this one is also towards the natural birth philosophy, I haven't seen anywhere that you can teach in the hospitals with this one. This is another structured heavy training with hands on interactions as well as them hands on my training although not nearly as tight as the ICEA hand is. Extra benefit to this is they also offer lactation educator certification and that is one I'd like to add to my repertoire.
So my thinking is Start with ALACE to get my certification quickly then I can go through ICEA in the accelerated (ie cheaper & faster) program and then add on the dual certification with CAPPA.
Each individual certification would be around $1200 including reading list books (and I actually plan to buy/read all of the book snot just the 4-5 required, what can I say I am a birth junkie, and huzzah I have already read at least half on the ALACE list!). However by going the accelerated route with CAPPA & ICEA after getting my ALACE it would be considerably less. I'll keep my certifications for about 3 years, long enough to get established an then I'll likely drop all but the one I need to work in the hospitals should I decide I want to keep teaching in the hospitals. I figure most clients are going to come word of mouth eventually an the certifications are just a piece of paper, any Joe Blow can get certified, it's really just a formality but gives me the education I want/need to get started on this path.
Hell who knows I may decide to add lamaze, bradley, birthing from within, birth works and hypnobirthing to my arsenal one day ::laugh:: See, triple crazy.
ICEA -- this certification would allow me to teach in a hospital (where 90% of women give birth). Very thorough with lots of hands on learning/training. Downside? It does lean more towards the hospital model of birth obviously and boy are they all over you during your training (which could be a good thing too) and it's an intense training program, which is a pro & con.
ALACE -- another I could use to teach in the hospitals although they prefer the ICEA. More towards the natural birth philosophy. Not as structured, very hands off training, no workshops, the student (me) gets a lot more flexibility. While I do love my flexibility I think it's a good thing to at least have a framework for the classes which I don't feel like I would get with this group. But since this is hands off and less structured it is also a lot less intense training program meaning I could get through it faster and practicing faster.
CAPPA -- this one is also towards the natural birth philosophy, I haven't seen anywhere that you can teach in the hospitals with this one. This is another structured heavy training with hands on interactions as well as them hands on my training although not nearly as tight as the ICEA hand is. Extra benefit to this is they also offer lactation educator certification and that is one I'd like to add to my repertoire.
So my thinking is Start with ALACE to get my certification quickly then I can go through ICEA in the accelerated (ie cheaper & faster) program and then add on the dual certification with CAPPA.
Each individual certification would be around $1200 including reading list books (and I actually plan to buy/read all of the book snot just the 4-5 required, what can I say I am a birth junkie, and huzzah I have already read at least half on the ALACE list!). However by going the accelerated route with CAPPA & ICEA after getting my ALACE it would be considerably less. I'll keep my certifications for about 3 years, long enough to get established an then I'll likely drop all but the one I need to work in the hospitals should I decide I want to keep teaching in the hospitals. I figure most clients are going to come word of mouth eventually an the certifications are just a piece of paper, any Joe Blow can get certified, it's really just a formality but gives me the education I want/need to get started on this path.
Hell who knows I may decide to add lamaze, bradley, birthing from within, birth works and hypnobirthing to my arsenal one day ::laugh:: See, triple crazy.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Negative, Ghostrider
What a beautiful day it was in Washington, clear blue skies, warm spring breeze, the birds chirping in the background . . . dead mouse on the porch. Thank cat, I know you love me and the presents are awfully nice but really can you stop with the mice? I love days like today, they make me want to leave the house and do things. I drove up to town and mailed off some packages and then headed to the school to pay for lunches for the rest of the year (can it really be only 4 weeks left?) and a filed trip, then it was off to the district office to talk to the food service director. Liz is awesome! I find it amazing to have the support of the school board and FSD behind me in this school food revolution, especially knowing how much opposition other parents have gotten trying to enact changes. We hit the ground running today with ideas and went over what we can and can't do at the moment including our two biggest hurdles: lack of a functioning kitchen at the intermediate/middle school and parental involvement. I am hoping that a parent/teacher/school board gathering one night with the showing of 2 great informative videos will really help bring the parents in and get them involved and supporting the changes. It's really imperative since I will be leaving in 2 years and will need someone to be just as passionate about this as I am to step in to my shoes and keep this movement going.
Today was also a running day as I took yesterday off after the back to back runs. Being that it was a nice day I thought this is great, nice sunny day I'd get my weekly allowance of Vitamin D, something I seem to always be deficient on out here. Ok THAT is not going to happen again. Note to self, if it's sunny and hot you have 2 choices wake up early and jog in the morning (and this means like 6-630am uggghhhh) or at night (and in the summer this means 10pm). This was probably my most painful jog, between the shin pain and the stitches/cramps I got up under my ribs I was really struggling to finish today. I can't figure out why I am having the shin pain, when I ran in the 'hood my calves got a workout but I never had any issue with my shins, but now on the flat track I am having shin issues. I've read a lot that says to land center or ball of foot and I am doing that, so maybe I need to try lengthening my stride so I land on my heel first? My lessons today: do not run during the hottest part of the day on a blacktop and stick to Carli's podcasts, the go nicole yourself music is kind of suck. No offense meant to Nicole but there were really only 2 songs I liked and on that made me laugh out loud while I struggled to finish my last interval. Thanks Carli (www.runningintoshape.com) for creating some awesome C25K podcasts!
Today was also a running day as I took yesterday off after the back to back runs. Being that it was a nice day I thought this is great, nice sunny day I'd get my weekly allowance of Vitamin D, something I seem to always be deficient on out here. Ok THAT is not going to happen again. Note to self, if it's sunny and hot you have 2 choices wake up early and jog in the morning (and this means like 6-630am uggghhhh) or at night (and in the summer this means 10pm). This was probably my most painful jog, between the shin pain and the stitches/cramps I got up under my ribs I was really struggling to finish today. I can't figure out why I am having the shin pain, when I ran in the 'hood my calves got a workout but I never had any issue with my shins, but now on the flat track I am having shin issues. I've read a lot that says to land center or ball of foot and I am doing that, so maybe I need to try lengthening my stride so I land on my heel first? My lessons today: do not run during the hottest part of the day on a blacktop and stick to Carli's podcasts, the go nicole yourself music is kind of suck. No offense meant to Nicole but there were really only 2 songs I liked and on that made me laugh out loud while I struggled to finish my last interval. Thanks Carli (www.runningintoshape.com) for creating some awesome C25K podcasts!
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