Monday, November 29, 2010

Turkey Day vs. Me

The Holidays are upon us and so is the yearly battle with not gaining the dreaded "holiday weight".

Last year on Thanksgiving morning, I was up at 6 am for a 7am spin class. For dinner, it was just my sister and I and we made a vegetable with some fast and fancy green beans, a sweet potato bake, and addicting roasted cauliflower. The best part, I ate it all guilt free.

This year, my sweethearts family joined us for Thanksgiving. The plan was to get up every day at 6 am to keep to my usual schedule and routine. That was to include my weekly runs, P90X DVDs and the stair master. More importantly, the plan was to enjoy my Turkey dinner, but in moderation.

I would love to say that I did all of the above, but the truth is...I didn't even come close. I can blame the not exercising on the company. Which is true, but only in part. If I really wanted too, I could have made time and excused myself to get it done. But I just didn't feel like it. In fact, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, my boyfriend had to force me out of bed to work out. I was grateful later but downright whinny at the time. As for food....I indulged in waaaay to much mash potatoes, macaroni and cheese and the best....cheesecake, pumpkin pie and even some awesome mimosas.

The result of my Happy Thanksgiving on my body? I have yet to brave the scale. I decided I'll get back on track today and weigh in on Sunday. I didn't quite make it up for my 6 am workout as planned but I did get it in when I got home tonight. However, due to the many splurges on this Monday, I really don't think the workout made a dent in the extra calories I consumed and didn't need today. That's the hardest part of cheating on a holiday like Thanksgiving. I've gotten so use to taking in larger quantities of calories than I'm use too and suddenly I am cutting back and I feeling starved!

To make matters even worse? The lack of exercise flared up the Fibromyalgia. By Friday, everything was aching at some point or another and the meds just weren't cutting through the pain and the exhaustion was setting in. Oddly enough, this made me NOT want to exercise even more!

I guess the lesson learned this fine Holiday is that you can't win them all. Now it's time to get back on track. No body is perfect.

Thanksgiving is now over and Christmas is just around the corner. I will be spending it in NC with my sweethearts family. Lets hope I make out better this time. If not with the food, at least with the exercising!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Officially in training for Tough Mudder

Tough Mudder is possibly the toughest event on the planet. The 7-12 mile course is designed by the British Arms Forces to test all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie Forget finish times. Simply completing a Tough Mudder is a badge of honor and it's a badge I want. www.toughmudder.com Footage can also be found on youtube.

I will be competing in a Tough Mudder obstacle course on April 9th at 11 am in Allentown, PA. I am sooo freak'n excited. Even better, my sweetheart will be competing with me. Feel free to come watch. Spectator tickets are $15, but I promise you, it will be an amazing event! Especially if I make to the end and get to run through a wall of fire!

However, the kink in this plan is that after the concussion/neck injury in late June, I've only done cardio and no strength training. Any muscle/strength I might have had is long gone. How can I possibly make it through a Tough Mudder obstacle course when at the moment, I have absolutely no upper body strength whatsoever?!?!?

Thus, training began. On Monday November ,I began my P90X workouts. I've even made it up at 6am for a full week! When I started P90X some time ago I was picking at random which of the 12 DVDs I wanted to do. This time, I am flowing the guide book. Tonight, I take my measurements and before picture and hopefully by April, I'll look something like Dreya above. Maybe not quite that good, but I'm hopeful. *smile* Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?!

I have a little less than 5 months to train. I even went out and bought my Iron Man "Gym" which hangs over my door to allow me to do my modified pull ups and chin ups and also is useful in my push ups. Yes, I can do modified push ups and pull ups in just two weeks! Woohoo!

I'm on my way to strength, stamina, mental grit and camaraderie!

Tough Mudder, here I come!!