Biggest Loser and Sneak Peak

Wow! That was some first couple of months on the new job. I started my boot camp in November, got hired on at the club in December and started working the first week of January. On January 16th, I was thrown head first into leading my very first Biggest Loser team during our New Year 8 Week Challenge. We had our final weigh in last night...aaaaaannnnnd..I do believe it was our BEST weigh in of all 8 weeks! The team held strong with an average weight loss of about 2 pounds per person each week. We were by far the most consistent of all the teams and I think we may just have won this thing. The big reveal will be at our Party in two weeks. I'm hoping the suspense doesn't kill me before then.

In other news...

I'm holding a fund raising raffle in April on this here blog and thought I would give y'all a sneak peak at some of our donors that are helping us to raise funds to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. More details to come, but for now I leave you with these lovelies:

Some sweet Bondi Bands

Some even sweeter (smelling) Sheebody creams

and for you interval geeks...

GymBoss has graciously donated one of their timers!! This is probably the one piece of workout equipment I just can't live without these days.

Raffle entries will be run directly through my Team in Training Page and I'll let you all know when the raffle starts and what the prize will look like in it's entirety.

It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hippie Hippie Shakin' and a Group Ride

Thankfully, an event got canceled last night and although I'm bummed about having to postpone it, having a night to just relax with kids and movies was very welcome. Friday night my Biggest Loser team at the club met for one of their last workouts. We are the team to beat right now and after our last chance workout on Monday, we weigh in for a final time. After the Friday workout, I headed to the school to join the kids at their Hippie Hippie Shake dance.
Jack went traditional Tie Dye...

And Mai dolled up a bit more...

Saturday rolled in early as I headed out to Sunset Cycles for a group ride. 30 miles with rollers and up Pumpkin Ridge. We parked our bikes outside...

...and then headed in for our Mission Moment...

,,,where we heard from Lenore about her son Hunter's battle with AML Leukemia. He spent over 900 days in treatment before he died at age 3 1/2. It was a heartbreaking story.


 You can read Hunter's story HERE. It was so hard for Lenore to stay composed, but she did. It was hard for me to stay composed, and I didn't. There was not a dry eye in the house. It's easy at some point in the season to forget the REAL reason we are out there training. It is not about us, our workout, or our plans for how we are going to conquer our race this year. It is about the people who we are fund raising for. It's that simple. It should be that simple. We do this for the people.Yesterday was a great reminder.

Wiping away the tears, Steph and I headed out...

... for a big "GO TEAM!" and then we rolled along into our ride where I saw two goats fighting to what looked like the death if they continued to ram each other, only for them to stop and nuzzle as I continued on by. I started crying again when I saw a poor dead little dear in the road going up Pumpkin Ridge. Then I found the perfect side of the road protection for a potty stop (TMI) and that made me happy. Some guy tried to run me over and that made me lose my composure and I tried to give him a double birdie but thought I might wreck, so I only managed one finger. My butt muscles started screaming at about the 1/2 way mark and then we were done. Not a bad ride at all. The fact that we'll be doing twice that distance in April seems crazy to my butt right now, but it's happening whether she (my butt) can deal with it or not.
Onward!!

Every. Stinkin'. Day.

I'm tired. Oh so very tired.
All. the. time.
...these days. My first alarm goes off at 4:23am. The second goes off at 4:30am. The coffee starts to hit my brain at 5:00am. I don't know what happens during that first half hour I'm awake. I think I mostly just shiver under my blankie on the couch. At 5am I work out the details of boot camp and by 5:30am I'm out the door and practicing my smile in the car. If I don't practice it first, it simply ain't coming out to play when the first bootcampers start heading in the door. I wouldn't say I'm NOT a morning person...but I'm not a 4:30am in the morning person. FO. SHO.

The day goes on from there. Some days Baby Steps Boot Camp, some days working our home business, some days a shift at the club, and sometimes all three. Then there's supposed to be at least one workout of my own for 1/2 IM training during each day, and of course some family time, taking the kids here and there, the dog always needs a walk, and if everyone is lucky I'll do some laundry. Then, if I get at least one load of laundry done, I'm out handing out flyers for the bootcamp or fundraising for a cause Man...it doesn't look that bad written out like this, but trust me - it's a full day! I know this because...

Eventually at some point during every day since the beginning of 2012, you will find me like this...

Look, someone even kissed me before they snapped this pic. I'm not showing you the awful video they made of me snoring.

The other day, a friend asked me if I had changed my hair and I realized the only difference is that I had actually washed it! ...and "did it". Who has time for such things? I shave my legs once every three months whether they need it or not ;-)  I blog infrequently. I show up at bible study with only a vague recollection of our topic for the week. I forget my own phone number...

...and I wonder how long I can keep this up.
The answer is:
at least for awhile longer...
...and I'll whisper this to you: "it's all about the boot camp". I really.really.really.really. want this boot camp to take off. I love being there so much! It is paying me the least, but it gives me the most joy of all my jobs>>>and so nap if I must, there is something to be said for being able to do the thing you love.

My question to you today:
Are you doing what you love?...Tell me ALL about it :-)

Floppies

Yesterday's run was a real boost for me. It was a 6 mile hilly run (and that last hill was a magnificent piece of work that had me drooling out of the side of my mouth and almost collapsing). I felt strong the whole way through (even during the drooling episode). It's all coming back to me - this strength in my running that has eluded me for so long. My run probably had a boost directly related to it being our TNT Mission Day. Our route start and end was lined with posters of the people we run for, the people who have lost their lives to a blood cancer...as you can guess it's quite emotional. Our coaches gave us a pep talk..

...and our honored teammates spoke during our potluck. One of our honored, in particular, touched my heart because he is about the same age as my cousin, Michael, who passed away last year. I so wished it was Michael standing up there speaking to us about how our efforts in fund raising had helped him to be able to be with us on this Mission Day. But that is not how it is.

As a child growing up in a large extended family, I have lots of great memories, but one of the best is of weekend breakfasts at my Grandpa Frank and Grandma Ruth's house. I remember the smell of bacon and the crackling of the oil in Grandma's skillet and her filling plate after plate after plate of food for all of her children and grandchildren. My favorite part of this breakfast? The Floppies! I guess they are kind of like a crepe, but isn't "Floppie" much more fun to roll off your tongue?! I remember all the men, my dad and uncles, and how many floppies they could eat (amazing!) and I loved the taste of the butter and syrup together with the smooth feel of the floppie on my tongue.

After Grandma Ruth passed away, Michael stepped up to fill the role of Floppie flipper. So at family gatherings, he did what we've always done in the Glazier family and he rolled out the big skillet, a huge tub of Margarine and got to it. I so wish somewhere in someone's drawer there was a picture of one of those mornings from way back when of a Floppie breakfast, but I did manage to get a picture of Michael during one of our last family gatherings - our fun family camp out the summer before he got sick again.

Oh...now that's a drool I don't mind sharing with people. Bring on the floppies and let me salivate while I wait in line for them.

My Aunt Cathy decided the tradition could not end with Michael and she has taught his son, Parker, to make floppies and so we continue on. Sometimes it's the smallest thread of tradition that can keep the family quilt together...

When you think of your family or your childhood, what tradition do you love the most?

The Injury

Yikes! This thing with my shoulders/neck/back/chest is not getting so much better. I've been pretty good about staying away from push ups (this is REALLY hard to do while running a boot camp) and it's impossible for me to do things like a dumbbell side raise. Trying to do an Iron Cross with 5 pound dbs dropped me to my knees one day. It's pretty pitiful. BUT>>>I've still been able to demo burpees and mountain climbers and I've been doing planks, so when Laura from Undeterrable threw out her March Burpee Challenge (30 consecutive burpees per day for 30 days) I was all over it. I knew I couldn't do a push up or put my hands over my head during the jump, but I could do the bulk of the exercise. I grabbed my camera to make sure my form looked good and got to it.

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

As you can see, my back was totally rounded as I was protecting my shoulder. Although it didn't hurt much while doing the burpees, immediately after, the burn started and I realized my time in this challenge was quite over. I had a one day streak :-(
But maybe you want to try it. Go over to Laura's blog and get in on the action. You are just a few days late and I'm sure she'll let you make them up.

So, other than swimming, I'm totally trying to stay away from much upper body stuff and it's killing me to see my shoulders and arms atrophy away to nothing (ok...I'm probably exaggerating a tad) but c'mon already. I'm over this!

CAN I JUST SAY...as much as this sucks... AT LEAST IT'S NOT MY LEGS!!! I'm running, I'm biking...I'll take it. And with that, I must skedaddle on out of here to meet up with the team for a 6 mile hilly run followed by our TNT All Team Mission Day. A post on that to follow later today.

New Toys and The Eugene Half

I've completely geeked out these last few days with some new toys for my own personal workouts and for my boot campers. It started two weeks ago when this baby was delivered:

My very own pink sandbag. I have two individual sandbags in it so I can use 30 pounds or remove one bag and take it down to 15 pounds. I tried to make my own by using a duffel bag and putting an 18 pound bag of dog food in it, but without all the strategic placing of handles, it just wasn't the same. I LOVE this piece of equipment - it is so versatile!!

Then, while visiting Sports Authority the other night, I found some SAQ pieces that I've been eyeing on line and managed to make my way home with these gems:

...and if that wasn't enough...
This...

...came from Fed Ex yesterday (minus the hot girl).

My boot camp continues to grow (too slowly for my liking) but it is by far the favorite part of my work day, so I will continue on!!

I have to say that I feel that my boot camp workouts have gotten me a lot closer to the running speed that I'm striving for. In addition, my legs feel pretty darn AWESOME. 14 months ago, I started running again after being on the sideline for well over a year dealing with achilles and anterior tibial tendinitis/shin splints. Then after recovering from all that, I injured my glute/hammy area and spent all last season being somewhat slowed down by that, but at least able to run. I dreamed of having runs where my legs didn't hurt, and AMAZINGLY to me, my first two track workouts this year have been magnificent. Although I can still feel a bit of tension in my left glute, it feels much better than last year and my speed is significantly better. I'm experiencing a bit of a runners high right now and hoping that it continues all the way through this season!! I am definitely running the Eugene Half again and so now I need to find out >>>WHO is organizing the blogger meet up this year? Who do I need to know is going to be there? I have looked at Raina's Blog and found links to Lauren, Ronda, and Tricia's blogs, but there have got to be more!! Laura?? Are you still planning on running Eugene? What are everyone's goal times? I'm going out on a limb and just blurting it out now. I want that sub 2:00.

Ok, then...

*What is the one piece of workout equipment you could not live without?

*What is the one new piece of workout equipment you really really really really "need"?

The Boss Of Exercise

Can you all tell I've been keeping pretty busy? With Team in Training , leading the boot camp, new job at the club and now the addition of our Baby Steps Boot Camp, I'm hopping around quite a bit. I've got lots to share about all that is fitness, but today I'll start with one of my favorite parts of my birthday  ~thank you all for the well wishes, by the way!

The owner of the bouncy house facility, where I rent space for my boot camp, thought it would be a great public service to the community if she were to offer a fitness class for the parents of her customers (the children who come to bounce around each day). You know how we are with our children - we'll always find a way to pay for them to do new and fun activities, but spending money on ourselves is harder - especially when there is not much money in the budget to start with. We also know that boot camp by definition is a pretty aggressive activity and not something that someone with no workout experience wants to jump right in to...so we decided to give those moms and dads an option to take some baby steps towards their fitness. Two days a week during open play time for the kids, we invite the parents to join us for a workout.

The fun part is the kids who like to join in. Sometimes a parent will opt out of joining us, but you just can't stop those kids from wanting to move around. We often catch a stray child doing lunges across the room while watching us get our workout on. It's too cute!

So yesterday, a cute little 3 year old whose mom is a regular to the class - let's call her Princess (because she's always in pink and dressed in princess clothes) had me smiling from ear to ear! I was on the ground performing some mountain climbers, when all of a sudden a little head comes up right under my face...

Princess: HEY! Do you wear a pony tail? (my hair was down yesterday so I guess I looked different to her).
Me: Um...yes.
Princess: I know you!
Me: Hi Princess...I know you, too!
Princess (in a really loud voice): HEY! Are you "the boss of exercise"?!
Me (giggling): Why, yes. Yes, I guess I am the boss of exercise.
Princess: WELL! I wanna be the boss of sumpin', too!
Me: How 'bout boss of the bouncy houses?
Princess. NO! I wanna be the boss of exercise!

We've moved on to squats at this point.

Me: Ok then, Boss - tell the ladies 5 more reps.
Princess (in her best drill sargeant voice): HEY LADIES! Five. More. MINUTES!


I like her style :-)

So today I ask...
What are you the boss of ;-)