Gym Fashion Police Bust-up

Okay. 


I will be the first to admit that I need new sports bras.  


And it is a well-known fact that I am a cheap, cheap bastard with little, if any, shame.  

But even I have my limits.

This woman...not so much.

I almost admire her.  Okay, I totally do.  


Happy Friday!  

Back with a VENGEANCE

So.


I went and did my body fat % last night.  


Uh huh. Yep. 


Yes indeedy, I have me some data.

*meaningful pause*

It's cool, man. It's fine. I'm totally fine.  Totally and completely fine. I'm so fine that we don't even need to talk about it.


Instead, we're gonna talk goals.  Specifically, my goal of getting my body fat percentage BACK down the 2.5% that it rose in the six months since I had it tested.  You know, the six months that I spent living in the world of "everything in moderation."  Like I said last week or whenever it was that I wrote this about going back to being diabolical, I had a feeling that moderation thing wasn't working for me.  And I don't want to rub it in or anything, but I was soooooo right.


And now that I have cold hard facts to back up that gut (pun intended) feeling, I am really glad that I have already spent every day since that post completely focused on getting back in shape.  I'm putting my little smiley face stickers on my calendar, kicking up the intensity of my workouts, and thank the Lord I am done traveling for a while.  Those are all great springboards for getting back to my happy zone.


So while I wasn't uber-pumped to have that reality check last night, I am uber-pumped about what I have already done to take away some of reality's bite.  My goals for the past few months have been about accomplishing tasks: a triathlon, a half-marathon, regularly running 10 miles at a stretch at least once a week.  I've done those things.  Now, my goal is about accomplishing a physical state of being.  


A completely different type of discipline.


A completely different type of benchmarking.


A completely different type of sense of achievement.


Wow, that sounds like a lot of hard work.  Good thing I have a head start!  :)

Playground Logic

Playground logic hits me in the face on a regular basis.  What I mean is the black and white way that kids assess situations that cuts to the chase in a way that we grown-ups have forgotten.  It seems the products of the "everyone gets a trophy," generation have kids who have clearly defined lines of who is a winner and who is a loser.

And since I frequently run races, I frequently have to explain to my son that I just because I didn't finish first, I didn't actually lose.  I mean, I didn't win, but, well, everyone in the race is a winner in some way that is unique to them.  And he looks at me and says, "did you win?"  Well, no.  "Then you didn't win."

yeah, this kid is definitely related to me.

So on Sunday I was painting the front door and watching some of the repeat coverage of the NYC marathon, and Mr. Positive Reinforcement comes wandering around right as the first male finisher is coming in.  He witnesses this and cheers to the TV, "yea!  you won your race!"  It was so sweet.  And then he asked me, "are those people the losers?"

"Those people" would be the people who are coming in just slightly after the first guy.  You know, the ones who ran a marathon in  2 hours, 9 minutes.  Those people.  So we started the conversation again, only this time instead of trying to explain the grainy defintion of "winner" in today's world, we talked about how calling people losers is just not polite, regardless of your opinion of their goal achievements. I think he got it this time.

When I ran the half-marathon last month, all of the finishers got a bottle opener on a lanyard with the race logo printed on it as a keepsake medal.  My kiddo saw it and said, "good job mommy! You won your race!" 

I almost told him that I had not actually won.

But I kept that little nugget of reality to myself and instead just said, "thank you."

Huge shout-out to two of my friends, Elizabeth and Josh, for running on Sunday!  Good job!  You won your race! :) 

Good day!

I'm Standing in an Interesting Spot

You've heard that phrase, "if you love something, set it free?"

Or what about how giving is better than receiving?

Or my favorite, from a t-shirt I had as a kid, "Love is like peanut butter - spread some around today."

Well, I believe all of them!  I'm a giver! 

There are a few things in life that I really love:

1. My family, and I am not just saying that because they read this or at least tell me they do
2. Pizza
3. Health and wellness

I share my awesome family (and sometimes threaten to give them away) with my friends all the time and so far no one has asked me to stop.

I begrudingly share my pizza, which is hard to do but important for portion control so I suck it up and do it anyway.

And when it comes to health and wellness, I am a firm believer that the more you give, the more you get.  I really can't put into words how insanely satisfied and happy I am when I can be part of someone reaching a wellness goal....there are no words.  That's why I've decided to earn my certification as a Wellness Coach.  I'm about halfway through my training and will sit for the exam in January.  Eeek!  Thanks to my wonderful mentor and friend Mary Barley for suggesting it to me and convincing me that I could do it. I can't wait to be legally qualified to mess with people's heads.

Anyway, I am getting to a really exciting (and nerve-wracking) part of my training: practice clients.  I've got a few people lined up who have volunteered to be my guinea pigs so I can practice what I have learned.  I don't know why I am so nervous, I coach people all the time and have done it for years.  But now that I actually, like, know stuff, it's different. 

ANYWAY!  The point of starting this blog entry today was not to tell you all that.  It was to capture this nervous feeling that I have that I am finally standing on the crest of a dream and about to jump off. 

I have a lotta lotta love for fitness, wellness, and people's crazy fitness and wellness goals, and I am going to spread some around today.  And tomorrow, and the next day.

And I just wanted to tell you that. :)

My Favorite Mistake

Who would have thought that accidentally sprinkling pepper on my Thanksgiving oatmeal yesterday would be the tastiest decision of the day?

Lately I've been making what I call "Thanksgiving Oatmeal," for my morning snack.  It is so yummy and nutritious.  The recipe is a cinch:

40 grams of old fashioned oats
15 grams of raisins
15 grams of chopped walnuts
15 grams of chopped apple
15 grams of whole, unsweetened cranberries
Pumpkin pie spice
Hot water

Combine, fuel, move on. It's good and good for you!

Anyway, I also like a dash of salt in my oats. I know, weird.  But the salt and pepper shakers at my office are always mixed up and I can't rememember which is which, so I usually sprinkle a little in my hand to check.  Well yesterday I was in a hurry so I skipped that part, and ended up with PEPPER in my oatmeal.

And then I was all, "Well, that's just great. So that's just sooooo awesome."  But in a really sarcastic internal voice. 

But what do you do?  Toss it out?  No way!  That is some high-octane fuel right there!  So I ate it.  And it was really not bad!  In fact, I think I may do it again today!

Just a tiny tiny bit.  Try it!

Have a good, tasty, high-octane fuel kind of day!

I'm Back, Baby!

I'm back!  Back to being diabolical, that is.

The kinder, gentler, more moderated Healthy Heather just wasn't doing it for me.  For one, I somehow became super flabby.  Not sure how that happened.  Oh wait, I do know:  I moderated.

Which is to mean I slacked.  I stopped taking every meal, every day, and every workout seriously.  I gave myself some wiggle room.  And, sorry folks, it just doesn't work for me.  So, on my way back from Pilates yesterday, I decided to go back to what I do best:

being a total machine, every day, no matter what. 

Well, except Thursdays. Moderation I can do without, rest not so much.  I learned that the hard way.  Just Google "Healthy Heather exhaustion lecture from doctor" for details.

YAY! I am soooooo soooooo sooooo happy!  Yessssss!  There are not enough exclamation points!  I want to use them ALL!

It feels good to be home.

New Month! New Goals!

Ahhhh.....November. A fresh new clean month.  The past few have been doozys for me so I am really glad to see a calendar with almost nothing on it!  A few races and that's it.  What a treat!

And it's also time to brush off the training goals and set some new ones for 12/31.  So, as of this morning my new training schedule is in full effect:

Mondays: 5 mile run, weights, and Pilates

Tuesdays: 8 mile run and swim (yay!)

Wednesdays: bike intervals, weights, and Pilates

Thursdays: rest. Bah. *grumpy*

Fridays: 5 mile run, weights, possibly swim, and Pilates

Saturdays: bike to my 10 mile run, bike home

Sundays: rest.

I have two 5ks, a 15k, and a 10-mile race over the next eight weeks, which will keep the legs busy, and I am FINALLY getting back in the pool for some swim training.  Becoming a stronger swimmer is a 2011 goal and I like getting a head start.

How about you?  What are you doing to stay fit, healthy, and strong through the next two months?

Have a great day!