When Life Knocks you down do a Burpee

So last week I was feeling kind of down. I will admit I have not been doing well at all this summer with weight loss and it is making me mad. I am not where I thought I would be but I am can do now is try and rest myself and continue to move forward.

This week and last week I have some extra time on my hand which is nice. With this extra time I have been able to try some classes at the gym that I have wanted to try and I also have been able to cook. I do enjoy cooking, being able to work with the food that I will eat and prepare it just make it that much more satisfying to eat. Last week I made shredded chicken taco's that were super easy to make and they were delicious and Chicken Enchilada Soup that was also scrumptious!  I made this for my family and they all liked it so much that there was nothing left over!

 Yesterday was Minestrone soup because it was raining and cold all day a.k.a the perfect day for soup.

And today was Chicken and White Bean Stuffed Peppers because I wanted to try making something not in the crock pot lol.

Besides trying some new classes at the gym I have started two new things in my workout plan. I have started taking a water aerobics class the last couple week and I love it. Yes it is a lot of older women in the class but for me that is part of the fun. I started taking the class as per the suggestion of one of the trainers at my gym as a low impact workout for my knee. The other change that I made was that I started my Couch to 5K program which means I am so close to running my first 5K this year!  I completed the first week and it felt good! I also tried to solve my problem with music by instead of listening to a random mix listening to whole CD's and I enjoyed that. Last week I ran to Alabama Shakes, Foster the People, and Wilco. All three of them I felt had great beats to run to.

Week 1 Running:

Start with a 5 minute warm up walk 

repeat this interval 3 time 

Run 30 sec

Walk 45 sec

 Run 45 sec 

Walk 60 sec

Run 60 sec 

Walk 90 sec

End with a 5 minute cool down walk

Firefly 5K: 31 days
Chicago Blackhawks Mad Dash To Madison 5K:  38 Days
Pounds removed: 76.0

How I Met Your Workout

One thing that I love to do like many people is watch TV. I have lots of favorite shows and recently I have found a great site that has great workouts that you can do while you watch the show. So this morning I put in a disk of one of my favorite shows How I meet Your Mother. I watched two episodes and did the workout.

The Workout: 

Every time...

Barney says something inappropriate.....10 Crunches

Lily and Marshall Talk.............................15 Bicycles 

Ted Goes on a Date................................5 Pushups

They Refer to Journalism.................................15 Jumping Jacks

We See Ted's Kids................................10 Squats

We hear the narrator...............................10 Lunges

Robin Complains......................................25 Punches

 I enjoyed doing this! It gave me something to do while watching a show other than just sitting there and maybe even eating. I will definitely be using this site and trying the other workouts for other shows!

Firefly 5K: 37 days
Chicago Blackhawks Mad Dash To Madison 5K:  45 Days
Pounds removed: 74.2

Olympics and Running

What a week so far! Being able to watch the Olympics has fulled my urge to continue to work hard. I mean I highly doubt that I will ever be able to swim a 100 IM Backstroke in 58 seconds like Missy Franklin but I defiantly can work on swimming. I was able to find an awesome Kerri Walsh butt workout that I am excited to try! I do enjoy watching the Olympics, I think that if I were to compete in an Olympic competition right now I think I would want to be a competitive speed walker, I don't know why but I just think it would be fun.

Other than watching the Olympics, next week I start my training for my first and second 5k of the year! WOOHOO!!!!!!!! That means in 5 weeks I will be running in my 4th 5k! I started running them last year as another fitness thing to do. I have yet to be able to run the whole distance but I hope that one day I will be able to. One thing that I find essential to running and working out in general is to have a good playlist of songs that you enjoy and something that you won't get sick of easily.This is something that I have been having some trouble with. I do have a workout playlist that has lots of popular songs on it, lots of Pitbull, Black Eyed Peas, and Lady Gaga, but the problem is that I am so sick of listening to them now (I know I am in the vast minority who is sick of Gaga and thinks she is overplayed). So I guess I'm a little stuck with that right now. I am thinking about trying a running playlist with a combination of Alabama Shakes, Wilco, and maybe some Beatles. By the way if you have never heard of Alabama Shakes go to Youtube NOW and listen to them, they are AMAZING and as my brother said it is like going to church for your ears.

Firefly 5K: 42 days
Chicago Blackhawks Mad Dash To Madison 5K:  49 Days
Pounds removed: 76.4