Destination Lincoln, Nebraska

Ashley and I drove 8 hours to attend the Beachbody Game Plan Conference in Lincoln, Nebraska. We had a great time and learned a lot of new information about Beachbody products. My main motivation to drive all that way was to try the new Shakeology replacement shake. They have two flavors: Greenberry and Chocolate. I was torn on which flavor I would like. After sampling both, Ashley and I both agreed on the Chocolate. We ordered our first months supply today! Ashley is going to use it to replace dinner on her long workdays and I am going to use it to replace lunch at work. If you have never heard of Shakeology, check out my website and see what all the hype is about!

Click Here

While we were in town for the conference we were able to enjoy the quirky town of Lincoln. 1. Keno is everywhere! This is Ashley's winning ticket. She won 50¢ (or lost $5.50 depending on how you look at it)! My Keno tickets. Ashley's Keno tickets. 2. People read novels... at the bars! 3. The bars close at 1AM and there is no bar time. 4. The legendary Zoo Bar is in Lincoln, Nebraska. Ashley in front of the bar. 5. Ashley ate a lot of fake food on this trip. This is hard to see, but Ashely ordered a chicken sandwich and we couldn't tell if it was chicken or fish. It was the fakest chicken we have ever seen!! 6. Rich. We met a man, who owned a mountain, who's mountain had uranium in it which upped the value of his mountain to $35 million. The mountain is in Colorado Springs! The mountain is Broadmoor Bluffs! Ashley and I had a good laugh at this for most of the night. 7. The University of Nebraska. Eat More Corn!! 8. Ashley found her Big Hunk in Nebraska! The "Big Hunk" gas station.

I Do Declare

Michael: Well, well, well, what is this contraption, I do declare?! Oscar: It's my Blackberry, Michael. I'm trying to get updates on the company. Michael: Who's Michael? I'm Caleb Crawdad, I do declare! Ryan: You don't have to keep saying 'I do declare.' Every time you say something, it means you're declaring it.

I am getting up at 6AM and going to the gym, I do declare!

The Odd Little Duck

My legs HURT! I feel like that is all I have been working lately. Ashley and I ran on the treadmill yesterday. I am happy to report that neither of us had the urge to puke nor did we fall (but the girl next to Ashley did). I ran/sprinted 3 miles in 29 minutes 20 seconds. I am pretty happy with this, but I have a long ways to go. I started mile one jogging at a 5.5 speed. I don't know why I put the speed in my posts, it's not like any of you know how fast or slow this is. In the second mile I sprinted 1/4 mile and jogged 1/4 mile and so on. I am pretty proud of myself. Ashley reminded me that 1/4 miles is one time around the track. This means that I sprinted a 400... twice! When I was on the track team my Freshman and Sophomore years I didn't have the stamina to sprint one lap around the track. Let's be honest, I had a hard time sprinting an entire 200. I was SSLLOOOOWW but more importantly I didn't know how to push myself past my comfort level. When I felt pain I pulled back instead of pushing through it. Instead of kicking as fast as I could at the end of the race I let up. The McCoins had me run a couple of different races to see where I fit in, but the truth is I was BAD. This time, I want to push myself past my limit and past the pain. I want to compete! The last mile I started out sprinting every other 18th of a mile, but in the end to keep from falling I switched to every 10th. All in all, a good, hard, mentally challenging workout. Sprinting 1/4 of a mile, without letting up, is a good accomplishment for me! I had big plans on getting up this morning and swimming. When my alarm went off at 6AM I knew there was no way in hell I was getting out of bed. Believe it or not, I made myself go to the gym after work. I should have done a round of P90X, but I guess I still have high hopes of Preston getting back into it with me and I don't want to move on without him. P90X would be cake if it weren't for the commitment (like everything else in life, right?). I had been wanting to try a group class, they always look full and full means a good class. So tonight I tried Body Sculpt or something like that. Boy was I out of place. Have you ever walked into something where everyone knew what was going on and what they were supposed to do, but you? People were getting steps and weights and mats and bars and more weights out of the closet. So what do you do when you have no idea what to do... you fake it! I grabbed anything and everything I could get my hands on. Luckily, the lady next to me was an expert and nice enough to help me. She asked if I lifted weights and I said yes, I mean I do do P90X. She asked if I lifted often and I said yes. Well technically the last P90X workout I did was probably two weeks ago, but still. So she told me how much weight to put on my bar and when to add and take off weight. Let me tell you this, she gave me too much credit!! At times the weight was too much, but to save face and my youthful persona I grunted through it. The class was interesting. We did legs, tricepts, bicepts, shoulders and some abs. I know I will go back at least once since I now have a handle on how the class is run, but something was off. I can't quite but my finger on it. I think what got me is the instructor said okay push up time. I LOVE push ups. In kickboxing Deb would kick our butts with push ups and in P90X Toney kicks your butt in push ups. But this lady didn't. She didn't push us. We might have done maybe 10 and the ladies and two men in the room were groaning like this was a lot. Deb if you are reading this I MISS YOUR PUSH UPS! With me I want the instructor to yell and threaten that I and anyone else in the class better not quit. This lady was too mellow for me. So I guess it wasn't the class, but the personality of the instructor. Not to mention that she sounded like she smoked. You can't smoke if your are going to teach others how to be fit!!! My opinion.

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things...

My Husband Memories Augusta Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan Picture Cricut P90X FitFlops Arbonne RE9 Face Products Lady Foot Locker Jacket Celestial Decaf Green Tea P90X Recovery Drink Farmers State Bank Reusable Bags iPhone Apple MacBook Purse Key Finder BodyBugg Doggy Door

Rants from this Past Week

• Preston and I decided to trade in our Jeep (while it was still worth something) and get a new SUV. This means that we are no longer debt free. Kinda sad. This also means that our social life will not be as active as we would like. But the SUV is awesome. Talk about a bitter sweet feeling.
• I had a hard time with the diet. I sneaked M&M's at work (Yes you read this right. Does anyone else do this? Is this normal?), made organic chocolate chip cookies almost every night (which I am now addicted to), ate out a couple of times and ignored the healthy food that I bought at Sunflower. I was completely out of control, which for me is the most depressing feeling ever.
• The house was a disaster! I am not over-exaggerating. There was dog hair and dirt everywhere. Laundry was piling up and we still had our suite cases out and filled with stuff from Las Vegas. I spent today cleaning the house. A clean house makes me feel in control and will also allow me to focus on exercising and eating healthy this week instead of stressing over the filth.
• My bones are aching. I am being serious. My legs have been achy the entire weekend. I have no idea why? I haven't worked outed since Wednesday so I am not sure what is going on.
• I have not worked out since Wednesday. A couple days of rest is okay, but when I am "training" for a triathlon it is imperative that I get to the gym at least 5 time a week. I really want to compete in the triathlon, not just finish the triathlon.
• Preston and I have made it a priority to take Augusta on a walk every day. We decided that it is not fair for us to get our exercise in and not her. She absolutely loves the walks.

Being Your Own Cheerleader

Today I found out that if you push yourself past your comfort level and literally become your own cheerleader, you can do anything. This evening, Ashley and I did an hour long spinning class at the gym. We decided to try a different instructor. The class was surprisingly packed. About half way into the workout we realized why. This instructor took a lot of breaks; more than our British gal allowed. The workout was different and had some new elements like climbs, but it was not as intense as we were used to. After the class we decided to see what if felt like to run a mile on the treadmill. Our legs and calves felt so tight and sore that at 1/5 of a mile into it I really, really wanted to quit. 1) I knew I couldn't quit before Ashley. Have I told you how competitive we are? We both look at each others speed to make sure we are not being out worked. 2) I am going to have to swim 1/2 mile then bike 11 miles then run 3 miles so I CAN'T QUIT, QUITTING IS NOT AN OPTION 3) Really, I can't make it just one little mile? All of these thoughts were going through my head. I kept telling myself over and over, you're almost there, just hang in, you can do it, it doesn't hurt that bad, keep it up. I was my own cheerleader cheering me along. Before I knew it I was at 3/4 mile. I upped the speed to 6.8, not because my legs loosened up but because I wanted to get the mile over with! At .80 of a mile I upped my speed to 6.9 and the last 1/10 of a mile I was sprinting at a 7. Much to our amazement we ran the mile in 9 minutes and 20 seconds! Remember the goal I set awhile back? I decided I wanted to run the three miles each in eight minutes. I picked this number out of thin air, not realizing how hard of a goal I just set for myself. But you know what, I just might be able to reach it!! It is amazing what you can accomplish when you are your own cheerleader. You can't rely on outside factors to motivate you or push you along. YOU have to be the one who believes in yourself and cheers you along as you reach the milestones that you have set out in your life. Tomorrow, Preston and I are going car shopping in Denver so I think I am going to take a day off from working out. Hopefully we can find an SUV at the right price and come home with a new vehicle!! I'll post a picture if we find one.

Cardio Covered

Ashley and I have been working hard these last couple of days. Here is a quick recap. We met a new friend in the pool the other night who helped us with our flip turns and form. Turns out our strokes were not quite right. Something about our arms going too high in the air and not leading with the shoulders. Ashley caught on real fast and has since then gained confidence in the water. I still feel like I am fretting over the form especially since my left arm seems to be doing whatever it wants. Today in the pool we decided to focus less on arms and more on putting it all together. It is so hard to kick, stroke and breath all at the same time. I had Ashley time me in a 100 sprint. The goal was to swim 100 yards in 1 minute and 30 seconds. We got the idea from a workout that was left on the whiteboard. I ended up swimming it in 1 minute and 45 seconds. Ashley said on the first 25 I was above pace at 20 seconds but from there my time slowly declined. We came to the conclusion that the workout on the board was probably for a more advanced swimmer! On Monday we decided to really push ourselves on the treadmill. We ran the first mile at an eleven minute pace. At mile two we upped the pace to a sprint sprinting 1/5 of a mile at a speed of somewhere between 7-8 and then jogging the next 1/5 of a mile and so forth. We did this for one mile. The last mile I took the speed up to a 9 and sprinted 1/10 of a mile, jogged 1/10 of a mile and so on. I didn't last the entire mile because a couple of times I had to jump off because I thought I was going to puke! At one point I looked over at the trash can and decided it was too small, not to mention potentially embarrassing, to puke in! Ashley had a little mishap on the treadmill as well, but that is her story to tell. All in all, I ended up walking, jogging and sprinting 4 miles. Tomorrow is spinning class. This time it is with a different trainer. I am a little sore from the past two workouts so we will see how it goes!