Since I posted last, I did the Warrior Dash with a group of awesome ladies. This is the second one that I've participated in, and was so much fun! Even made it through the water obstacle with out having a panic attack, as I'm not a fan of deep water. I could do without the mud part, but deal with it because I lovelovelove the obstacles!!
Also am still following the Whole30 plan, on which I unintentionally lost 5 pounds. Just have to figure out portions still. Am generally feeling energetic, although sleep not any better. Also am drinking decaf coffee and can definitely tell the difference when I have caffeine.
Unfortunately here in the PNW, we are heading in to the rainy season early. Not looking forward to working out in the rain, but not willing to sit on the couch for the next 6 months waiting for it to stop, lol!

Oh my gosh, didn't realize how long it had been since my last post! Summer is coming to a close, soon we'll be working out in the rainy weather, boo! Really, I don't mind it. Once I get going, I don't even really notice it.
Decided to try a Paleo type eating plan. Found the book called "It starts with Food", very interesting! It's not much different than I had been eating, just cut out dairy. I have to admit that I miss my greek yogurt! I am experimenting with this as I am trying to track down the cause of my poor sleep. I also cut out caffeine, so hopefully with all that, I will be able to sleep past 3am!
Am still loving the T25 workouts, and am on week 7 I think. It's pretty easy to crack out a 25 minute workout, although they are intense!

Keep movin' y'all!

Started T25 this week, and am really liking it!! It's difficult for me to follow a workout that is any longer than 45 minutes. Not that I can't actually do the workout, but I can't pay attention for that long! These are perfect, each workout is 25 minutes long, with a double on Friday, and Sat/Sun off. And it's the delicious Shaun T from Insanity, etc. If you're not familiar with any of the BeachBody workouts, you should check them out. There is something for EVERY fitness level!

On a non fitness note, really missin my son this week! He's totally out of the house and on his own now. I know all parents go through this eventually, but I'm not really liking it. Guess that means my hubs and I did a good job of raising an independent kid...sigh...

Oh yeah, so about that broken ankle.....a group of 4 friends and I set out to participate in the Terrain mud run the day before Mother's day 2012. It was an awesome sunny day, which for the Pacific Northwest is sometimes unusual in May. We set out on the course about noon, easily climbing over the first cargo net obstacle. Then it was on to the monkey bars, set at an incline over a small pit of water. A few people looked at it and decided to just jump in the water and skip the bars, I of course was too stubborn for that and started across. I had a pretty good rhythm going and was almost to the end when my hands started slipping. At the second to the last bar I couldn't hang on any longer and dropped. As soon as I landed I knew I had done something bad. I could no longer put ANY weight on my right foot. I grabbed the rope to try and pull myself out of the water, but couldn't do it on one foot. One of my team mates noticed I wasn't moving and came down and lifted me out. Two very nice firefighters were coming up behind me and they just scooped me up and carried me off the course. Now that I could actually see my ankle, I KNEW it wasn't good. There was a softball size lump on the inside of my ankle, and my foot was at a weird angle. The EMT's wrapped it up and put some ice on it, I turned down an ambulance ride, as it didn't even hurt at this point. I waited for the rest of my team to finish, then they drove me to the ER. The xrays confirmed by worst fears, broken tibia, and tendon damage. After surgery & hardware, I spent 8 weeks on crutches and another 4 in a boot.

It took another 3 months of PT before I was fully able to participate in exercise the way I'm used to. I still do not have the dorsiflection necessary to easily run uphill, and may never. But at least I can get out there and do something. Sitting around is not an option!

Whew, what a week! Busy work-wise, and work-out wise! Had a realization during a workout yesterday that I'm really using my sore ankle as an excuse to not fully push myself. Which is silly, because it's gonna be sore whether I half-ass my workout, or hit it full on. Sooo, might as well push it to the limit!!

Getting started....

Hello!

This is something I've wanted to do for a while, so here goes! I'm gearing this toward women my age, newly 50, thank you very much, but hope that others will find it amusing, helpful, etc. as well.

I was NOT an athlete as a child. I did the normal childhood things, climb trees, ride my bike, etc., but didn't participate in any organized school team sports. Unfortunately I was not encouraged to by my parents, it wasn't their fault, I think it just didn't occur to them. I got interested in the weight room in high school, cuz that's where the boys hung out, duh! I found that I really liked pushing weights, and was able to lift pretty heavy for a while. Then someone made an unfortunate comment about my weight, so I decided that I was "fat". I started cutting WAY back on what I was eating, and weighing myself every day after school. Pretty soon I was down to 98 pounds, which on my 5'3 frame is way too skinny. My Dad even asked me if I was ok, and said that I looked too skinny. So I got back up to 105, and stayed there until I graduated.

Fast forward 15 years & now I was married with a toddler son. I didn't lose all the baby weight right away, I mean it took 9 months to get there right? I wasn't liking how I looked, and the fact that I had a "muffin top", which I had never had before. I started running, and that went pretty well until I tweaked my knee. That took a REALLY long time to heal, and I got frustrated and stopped exercising all together. Then a co-worker was talking about how she had lost weight after cutting sugar out of her diet. I decided to try it, and lost 10lbs in about a month! Then a different co-worker started talking about a new exercise DVD that she had been doing, P90X, and let me borrow it. I. Was. Hooked! After completing that program I had lost another 5lbs, and gained a lot of muscle. I then went on to Insanity, P90X2 and Les Mills Pump. After completing all of those, I started to get bored. A family member had been going to an outdoor bootcamp class and said I should try it. At that first class I was pretty sure that both she and the instructors were trying to kill me! But I was also totally hooked. I now do the bootcamp 3 days a week, and lift on the other 3. I weight a solid 110 and am happy with my fitness level. I have also participated in some obstacle course/mud runs. Tragically during one of those I severely broke my ankle, but that's for another posting!