New Hobby

I am a lot better at racquetball than I remembered (but not by a lot). 

Today my BFF, her husband, The Hustler a.k.a. Super Star and I played racquetball at the Y. Side note: I remember why I am not a member of the Y although Super Star is. The kids run wild and the pool lap lanes are overflowing with kids, swim lessons and swim aerobics classes. It also has the feeling of a school. It might be all of the brick.

Anyways, Super Star is pretty good at racquetball. He could have destroyed us with his serve alone, but was kind enough to go easy on us. My serve on the other hand is pitiful and I serve it to the opposing players strong hand every time.

Super Star says the two most important tips to racquetball are 1) move your feet and 2) learn how the ball comes off the wall. I sometimes have a hard time with #2. I get all turned around and backwards.  

My new fancy-smancy heart rate monitor/watch said I burned around 300 calories and my max heart rate was around 160. I am liking this new gadget!

Racquetball might be my new Saturday hobby as long a Super Star can put up with my poor skills.

Getting my booty handed to me by...

OLD WOMEN!

Ashley and I attended a class at Gold's earlier this week. This class works the full body: arms, legs, abs, core and balance. 

The class is always packed. A good portion of the women are older. And let me tell you, they can lift some weight and rock the deep lunges! 

I haven't lifted seriously since I completed P90X about a year ago. This class seriously brings out the wimp in me. I have to force myself to grab the 6 pound weights only because the next step down is the puny looking 3 pound weights. 

I constantly fall off the balance ball and my legs shake and burn like non other. The one workout that I rock, like seriously rock, is the twisty ab move. But probably only because this move is in P90X Ab Ripper X.

This class might be the missing piece to my cardio intense workout regimen. I know that weightlifting is essential to any workout schedule, but I have been ignoring it. Mostly because lifting in a gym is intimidating and where do you start? 

This is one of the reasons why I love P90X. The training program is laid out, which takes out all of the guess work. But sometimes the gym is fun and it's nice to get out of the house now and then and be around other people who are working out. It's kind of motivating. 

So for now I will attend the F.I.T.T. class at Gold's and continue to get my booty handed to me by older women.

Hoarders

Saturday night (yes this is what I did on a Saturday night) after cleaning out the storage room The Hustler and I watched a couple rounds of Hoarders on A&E. 

Have you seen this show?! These people hoard everything: animals, trash, food, new items, old items and anything else you can think of. The episodes we watched were pretty disgusting. 

The first lady was hoarding trash basically and animals (goats, chickens, ducks). Half of the animals were deformed and some had diet due to lack of care. It was actually very sad.

The second man was hoarding trash and RABBITS!! The rabbits had bunnies and they took over the house. Oh ya, they were renting the house and the owners of the house had no idea it was being destroyed by rabbits.  
 
I was so freaked out by all the mess and filth that I went upstairs and cleaned the shower. I am a little embarrassed to say that it took me over an hour to clean. The soap scum was at its worst. I was in there so long I became afraid for my health. Inhaling the cleaning fumes cannot be good for you. 

The next morning I cleaned the top of my vanity. Nothing like watching some Hoarders to motivate me to clean!

Dump + Goodwill= Organized Storage Room

This go 'round of the Points Game we changed up the challenge a bit. We each picked one item on our list that desperately needs to be done. I chose to clean out the storage room.

Luckily, Preston was also thinking that it was about time to clean out the storage room so on Saturday we tackled the project. It took us all day to pull everything out, organize everything and put it back in it's place. We took one trip to the dump and another trip to Goodwill. Our theory was if we haven't needed it in the 2 year we have lived here donate it. 

The most exciting part for me was sorting the Christmas decorations by color and putting them in their own bins. So far I have gold, silver, a little white, red, blue and purple.

I was also able to put all of my house decorations in a large cabinet we brought in from the garage a while back.  It's so nice to have all of my decorations in one place where I can see what I have.

It feels great to have a clean and organized storage room. I love that everything has its place!  

Dreadmill

This evenings workout was grueling. Some days you are on your game and other days you struggle the entire time. Today I struggled. 

The goal was to run 6 miles. If I completed my goal this would go down in the books as my furthest run to date. 

I started out slow and steady. So slow that the first 3 miles took an eternity. At mile 4 I was board, my legs felt like concrete and the show House Hunters just ended. I picked up the pace and well I never really recovered. It took me almost one freakin hour to run 5 miles. I think I ended up running 5.3 miles in one hour. I honestly thought my legs were going to fall off. I am starting to question how in the world I am going to run a 1/2 marathon without stopping...

Looking at the bright side I did run for one hour straight without stopping.  That's an accomplishment to be proud of.

Stupid Logic

Does anybody else do this? Work their butts off working out and then eat like crap for the rest of the day? 

A co-worker and I were talking today and she brought this up. Not because this is what she does, no she is a workout superstar! She completed the Jullian Michaels hard core online fitness program, then P90X, then Turbo Fire and now she is on Insanity! I am telling you, she has a drive like no one else! Oh ya did I mention she has a full time job, a very active son, husband and is a Beachbody Coach who has an extremely clean house with dinner on the table every night! 


The conversation I had with my friend should have knocked me upside the head the moment it was over. It wasn't until after tonight's workout that I realized h-e-l-l-0, this is exactly what I am doing!!!! I am going to the gym working out hard while eating like crap all day and then getting upset when the scale goes up and I have to pay my $5 in the Work Weight-loss pot. 

Talk about stupid logic. I had myself convinced that if I went to the gym at least 3 times a week I would not have to focus on what I was eating and yet I would miraculously lose weight and keep it off. If only...    

So here's the deal-yo.
1) I will eat clean for the next 6 days starting right now! 
2) I will weigh myself in the morning and record how much I lose in these 6 days to remind myself that eating clean is worth it. 
3) I will allow myself a free pass on Friday night (did I mention that I have BUNCO Friday night with the girlies?).
4) I will go grocery shopping tomorrow, plan my meals and not eat out.

Sancho, My Worst Enemy

I discovered something pretty important this week. I realized how much power that pesky little voice in the back of my mind can have over me. Let's name him Sancho.

I started running last year. The thought of running more than a mile was terrifying. But gradually I built up my endurance and 1 mile became easy. I got to where I could run 3 miles at a time I was happy with. But I let Sancho trick me into thinking I couldn't run more than 3.2 miles. I believed him so much that I never even tried to run more than 3.2 miles. 

After taking a couple of months off, I started running again. On my third or fourth time on the treadmill in over 3 or 4 months, I told myself and Sancho I am going to run 4 miles. And I did- twice! Tonight I informed Sancho I am going to run 5 miles. I rocked it! Don't get me wrong, it wasn't easy but not impossible.

I was able to run 5 miles today not because I am in better shape than last year, but because I told myself I could do it.

Don't allow your little voice in the back of your mind tell you you can't do something. It is better to fail trying than not try at all.