Fitness – Page 4 – Yoga Pants Diary

February 15, 2016

The Wide World of Supplements

Ok. I am not a doctor, nutritionist or even overly educated in the medical sciences of the body, yet. So anything you read in this post is based on how my body FEELS and only that. Just saying.

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I’m training as an amateur athlete now. In 5 weeks, I will compete in the Colorado Golden Gloves State Tournament. Holy Crap. So this last 2 months, my training has really been more intense. I’m taking class 5-6 times a week, sparring at least once a week, sometimes having private time, and working on the regular bag and speed bag. I’m also running a little (<10 miles a week, I wish it could be more) but the weather and my body are making it hard.

I have gotten through my entire weigh loss journey with three containers of protein powder. Up until recently, I only took it when I was sore or I had put in way more work than usual at the gym. Maybe a couple shakes a month. Dan takes them too but also rarely. Up until now I have only taken my usual multi-vitamin and the occasional B-12 or something. This week: I had to invest in a new pill box because I have started taking so many supplements.

Last week, I suffered an minor-ish injury in the ring. I’d rather not literally publicize my weaknesses but I HATE being injured. I have a hard time being slow and making myself rest. I had JUST hit my fight weight so I, ONCE AGAIN, reached out to my amazing friend Jessica Kidd. She recommended adding Glutamine to my smoothies in the morning. I am already have a protein shake a day and I’m trying to get my nutrients from food as much as possible. But maybe it’s possible I’m expecting my body to do things it just can’t without some extra help. I’ve been feeling MORE than just sore for a long time now. Adding a crap ton of protein to my diet helped but only took the edge off. So after a trip to the store and talking to other people, I’m on three things:

Glutamine: Is a building block of protein, and sometimes your body just can’t make enough of it to repair your muscles. It comes in powder and pill but I take powder. I put it in my smoothies in the morning. I noticed a difference the first day. I wish I could take 10X the dosage and feel 10 times better, but it doesn’t really work that way. I paid $30 for enough for 2-3 months. I’ll probably keep this in my regimen until I’m done boxing.
Turmeric After Sport: To be perfectly honest, I only bought this because the lady suggested it. As I’m standing there, I could have counted about 15 things that hurt so I would have bought nearly anything. When I told her why I was buying the Glutamine, she suggested this. She also reminded me of their return policy and if I didn’t think it was doing anything, I could bring it back. So far, it seems ok? I’m not really sure if it’s doing anything yet.
Fish Oil – I’m taking this because we had it in the house. A few people I talked to were surprised that I wasn’t already on them. They are supposed to help with joints and overall health right? But I also read recently that most Fish Oil pills are really nothing……so I’ll probably take these till their gone and then see if I see a difference.

My point is, when I was losing weight, it was important to me to do it without supplements and by getting what I needed from my food. But now I’m not losing weight. I’m training and I’m training hard. Maybe my body just can’t produce everything that it needs. I’m still trying to get as much as I can from my overall diet, but if I need a little help keeping my body in one piece to make it to the tournament, I guess I have to do that.

January 31, 2016July 12, 2017

My Fight Weight Fight

So I’m now in training mode and focused on competing in the Golden Gloves. I’m training 8-10 hours a week and trying to trim to my fight weight of 141 pounds. 141 pounds. That’s small. I’ve been at 141 pounds before and maintained it for 6 weeks or so just to make sure I could even be that small, and for the record: I think I’m too skinny at that weight. Regardless, this is the weight my coaches have determined is the safest weight for me.

It’s actually quite difficult to think about what my true weight is. After dropping over 50% of my body weight, I pretty much have loose skin…..everywhere. So…..it’s hard to calculate my real weight, muscle mass or body fat. So I’ve been obsessed with getting to that number again and I’ve been really struggling. I have been eating within my calories everyday. I have been working out more. I have haven’t have a sweet treat (soda, candy, cupcake, cookie……) all month. I have totally cut alcohol out. And the scale………kept going up. I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong.

My elbows hurt all the time. My knee hurts every day. My should hurts every day. Weird aches and pains pop up all throughout the day. Am I going to be able to: 1. Stay in one piece until March? 2. Make fight weight? 12510425_10103151284597509_1504549280907727655_n

So I reached out to my amazing friend, Jessica Kidd, once again. She is studying for her nutrition degree and often has to make a certain weight or look for events. I knew she could help. I know I still have almost two months to get to fight weight, but I’m starting to go to an unhealthy place about it and I want to make sure I do it right.

At first she noticed that I wasn’t eating enough. My body was pretty much in starvation mode and if I didn’t increase my calories, I would never drop the weight. I know it seems CRAZY. But if you aren’t eating enough, you body saves every last calorie because it doesn’t think it’s ever going to get calories again. But if you feed it when it asks, it learns to take what it needs and throw the rest away. My body was saving everything because it needed everything. I lost my ‘excess weight’ quickly. But then it started coming back.

I reached out to Jessica again.

Since I’ve been tracking my food in Myfitnesspal (LOVE!) I could simply send her a photo of what I’d been eating and my nutrients. She noticed right away that my protein was too low and my fats were too high. Honestly, I usually don’t pay much attention to anything but my calories and sugar. I’ve gotten away with this for a looooong time. But I’m training differently now. I’m training as an amateur athlete. (What?!) So I have to provide my body with different things. She told me the new levels she would suggest and I reset my app. I went shopping the next day and prepped food for the whole week. And. It. Worked.

I’m finally dropping some of my ‘excess weight’ that my body has been holding on to. I thought I was getting enough of what I needed because my body was still going. But now I realize how much my body was telling me it needed something different. Now that I’m eating the way I need to, it’s not complaining. My elbows don’t hurt. My knee is only sore after running. My shoulder doesn’t hurt. I feel so much more put together and stronger. And the scale has agreed. I’m not to fight weight consistently yet, but I’m getting there!

December 3, 2015December 3, 2015

I’m in a video ?!

Wow I really need to update that picture! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Recently my trainer and gym have been expanding their marketing and were shooting a short ‘promo’ video.

So this is basically totally bizarre for me in a way that might be hard to understand. When I look at this video, I can see that it’s me and I recognize myself, but it’s hard for me to believe that’s actually me. Who would put me in this cool video? Why aren’t I cut out?

When you spend the majority of your life in the shadows of society, it’s really weird when you aren’t anymore. When I was overweight, I wasn’t a wallflower by any means. What I mean by “shadow of society” is that no one really notices you. Men don’t look at you twice. Women dismiss you immediately. Even though everyone can see you, it’s like they never notice you. Now people see me all the time. I get the “Skinny Bitch” face all the time. ( you know what I’m talking about) Men look at me. Sometimes it’s the man with a woman ON HIS ARM that’s looking at me. (which I really freaking hate by the way).

I’ve been struggling with my identity in society for a while now (Read Here) but regardless of what ‘box’ I’m in now, it’s still weird to ME, which I think it most important. I can agree that the girl in this video looks good and fit. I agree that she doesn’t look like she has loose skin or literally lost half of her body. I can even ALMOST agree that that girl looks hot. But it still just doesn’t quite feel like me. I’m beginning to wonder if it ever will.

I’m the girl that gets cut out. I’m the girl that doesn’t have hardly any photos of her whole body for almost a decade. I’m the girl that stands in the back to hide her body from the camera. I’m the girl that would NEVER be filmed in a video. Right? Well. Apparently not. Do I have to spend equal amount of years in this body that I did in that body before it will fell like mine? That means I’ll feel normal in this body when……I’m…..50?! Let’s hope that’s not true.

November 23, 2015January 5, 2016

My First Real Sparring

Last year I wrote tips about how to keep thin on Thanksgiving each day of the week. Don’t forget to go back and check them out!

Last week, I finally had my first real experience “fighting” in the ring. First let’s be clear. A fight is when your in the ring to win a sanctioned match. When you’re training it’s called sparring. Just a note 😉

Most of you know that I’ve been taking boxing training for almost a year. I box almost everyday and I never get tired of it! I’ve been toying with the idea of actually competing in the amateur tournament, Colorado Golden Gloves for most of that time. A few things were holding me back: I hadn’t had enough experience in the ring to know if I had what it takes and……the hubby wasn’t hot about the idea.

After nearly 6 months of training I felt like I had good enough skills and wanted to open up the idea of fighting. After Dan came to the gym a few times and watched me, he agreed that I could try fighting if I wanted to. My trainer, Jameson Bostic, agreed that I should start sparring (unsanctioned fights at the gym) more so I could get more experience. After a few successful spars at the gym, one of the other trainers approached me about sparring with his client. We set the spar for the next day.

Right away my trainer had no worries. He knew that if I could just do what I know, I would be successful. But that is a BIG if. Up until now, I had never fought 100% against another person. It’s rare to spar with someone of your ability and weight. To make it safe and fair, we usually have rules when we spar. Sometimes you can only use your left had, sometimes I’m told not to go 100%, sometimes you’re only on defense or offense, sometimes I don’t get hit at all. While I had several sparring sessions under my belt, I had never gone 100% against another girl with both hands.

I was nervous ALL DAY. It had been a long time since I had taken hits in the ring to the face or head. My partner, Brandi, had experience and about 20 pounds (?) on me. I knew she would hit and she would hit hard. Would I freeze? Would I cry? What would happen? Jameson knew I was nervous and sent me messages throughout the day. When I arrived at the gym, I was more excited than nervous. Today was the day. Today was the day I’d know if I wanted to get in the ring and compete. And it was…………FREAKING AWESOME.

Some people think boxing is just violence with rules. I used to not be able to watch boxing or MMA on TV because I thought it was violent and gross. My first time sparring another girl the whole time I thought, “Why is she trying to hurt me?” But now I can see the sport that is in boxing. When I’m in my corner, I’m not thinking about hurting the other person. I’m thinking about beating them at their own game. I’m thinking about when they throw that punch I’m going to be right there throwing back. I’m thinking about their rhythm and dominant side and how I’m going to throw them off. I’m not thinking about how much it’s going to hurt because it doesn’t.

During the round, my adrenaline is so high, I barely feel getting hit. I’m more focused on the timing and her errors. We fought three rounds. My coach and I were hoping to go longer but her coach called it. Meaning…….I kicked her ass. See below for a breakdown of the rounds.

It felt INCREDIBLE. To be clear, it’s not punching the other girl, making her bleed, or even injuring her that felt incredible. Beating her at her own game felt incredible. Being the faster, smarter and stronger fighter felt incredible. Knowing that all the work I’d put in, all the sweat and tears felt incredible. Seeing the look on my trainer’s face and knowing he was proud was incredible. Over coming my own insecurities of not being good enough was like flying to the moon. I lived off the high of winning my first real spar for a few days. There’s no feeling quite like proving yourself wrong or realizing you can do whatever you want to do. You’d think that I’d gotten used to breaking the odds or overcoming new goals, but thankfully it just gets better and better.

Click here to view the whole fight via Google Drive

Round One: I spent WAY too much time trying to feel her out. I was trying to find her rhythm and I was on the defense. My trainer expected her to fight much differently so I spent some time trying to figure out their plan instead of destroying their plan.

Round Two: During round two I fought much better. I spent less time worrying about what she was going to do and put my plan in motion. There was even a moment in round 2 that she gave up and dropped her hands. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do so I stopped too! But I knew in round 2 I was going to ‘win’. Her punches weren’t strong enough and I was able to anticipate her throws quite a few times. After two right hands from me her mouth started to bleed.

Round Three: Brandi stopped about a minute into round three. She had hurt her shoulder and her coach didn’t want to continue.

Overall I’m really happy with how I fought. Watching back the video, I can see all sorts of things that I did wrong. I missed opportunities and always go to the left. But instead of beating myself up about the errors, I’m still holding my head high for getting in!

November 1, 2015

Rock and Roll Half Marathon

HOLY COW!?! It’s been a month since I posted?! Things have been soooooo super busy that everything has gotten away from me!

Things here have been going pretty well. I’ve really gotten back into the swing of things with work and still finding time for fitness. The hubby and I signed up for the Rock and Roll Half Marathon way back in July. Since then, we have been going on long runs every Sunday together. Things were much much different this time around for my second half marathon.

The Training

For my last half marathon, I trained religiously. I followed the Jeff Galloway plan (mostly…..) and tried to mix running with my regular boxing schedule. I ran short runs once or twice a week and a long run on the weekend. Of course I slowly ramped up my mileage until running 13.1 all by myself. This time I did things much differently knowing I had the mental stamina and physical endurance to carry me across the finish line.

Dan ran short runs on his own during the week. I skipped almost all of the short runs! I found that I was training so hard and long at boxing that I didn’t need the extra running time. Also, my body was happy not to be running so many miles. I still ran long runs on the weekend, but this time I had Dan with me. The runs went by a lot faster having someone with me. We don’t really talk when we run but it’s different to have someone there with you. I enjoyed the time together while still being able to have plenty of mental time to sort through my brain. I could always keep up on the long runs even with skipping the short runs.

As the marathon grew closer, we knew we would run out of weekends to practice the whole 13.1 miles. I knew that if Dan could do 10 miles, he could do 13.1. The first time he would go the whole distance was in the race!

The Morning Of

The morning of the race we were both pretty nervous. The temperature was much colder than we were used to. Also, we had to take a bus downtown to get to the race and we were feeling anxious about getting there on time. I checked a backpack for the first time at a race as well. I always avoided this because I thought it would be a pain, but it was actually pretty convenient. The bus got us downtown in time……..to stand in line for the bathroom.

While we were standing in line for the port-o-johns, we heard the first wave starting. I refuse to stop during the race unless absolutely necessary. We were in wave 6 and were trying to keep a time of 2:10. I really wanted to beat my previous time, even if just by a minute. I knew that if I ran the same pace I’d run on our 10 miler, I would make it.

I’m usually really early for races and end up standing at the starting line for 20 minutes at least. BUT, we waited for the bathroom for so long that we almost missed our starting time. When we were walking up, our wave was starting. So there was no time to stand and get pumped but no time to get nervous either. So there’s no ‘before the race’ picture otherwise it would have been a selfie in the port-o-john. Gross.

The Race

Dan and I had planned to run the race together and cross the finish line together. Since he had never gone the full distance, I was worried about Dan over-pacing himself and not being able to finish strong. Once we started, Dan made a rookie mistake and I was glad I was there to fix it. Dan took off like a bat out of hell. We are used to running 9:30-10:15 pace. We ran the first mile in 8:30. In a race, it’s so easy to get caught up with those around you. It’s easy to run at their pace not considering how much farther you have to go. (And let me tell you, most of the people in front of you in mile 3 are way behind you in mile 10 if you know how to pace yourself) When I finally caught him in mile two I said, “The point isn’t to beat everyone. I can’t keep running this pace and I can’t chase you for 13 miles. Are we running together or not? Let me pace you.” After that, things went much better.

The Rock and Roll is a very cool race. They had lots of local bands along the route. Also, the Denver route loops for the first few miles downtown so there are lots of spectators. The sunrise was beautiful and the people of Denver cheered us along the way. Some of the route was even our usual running route! We passed our apartment four times, which got harder each time!

When we picked up our race packets, they had wristbands with paces of them. We picked up the 2:10 wristband so all through the race I knew if we would finish on time. Because Dan sprinted the first two miles 🙂 we made up extra time that we needed at the end of the race. Each mile we were ahead but close to the pacer. In mile 10 the 2:10 pacer runner passed us and I was devastated. My heart sank and I thought we wouldn’t finish in time but I was also thinking that the pacer was a little too fast according to my calculations.

When we hit mile 12, I knew it was close. The last mile of the course was fun! My nike app clicked over to mile 13 and we could see the finish line around the corner. I grabbed Dan’s hand before we crossed the finish line.

The Times:

Official Colfax: 13. 2 miles, 2:21 Nike +: 13.1 miles, 2:18

Official R&R: 13.5 miles, 2:17 Nike+: 13.1 miles, 2:12

So according to my records, I broke my last time by 6 minutes. What made me even prouder was setting almost all new personal recorders and FINALLY breaking half an hour on a 5K, so thanks to Dan for running to darn fast at the beginning!

September 29, 2015

Proving Myself Wrong

This weekend was very emotional for me because I traveled to my hometown for my brother-in-law’s wedding. It was a joyous occasion and a few days filled with memories and flashbacks. Some were great and some were painful. I’m of course going to focus on one of the more painful ones. I feel like I had a bit of a break through in my emotional journey this week.

Over vacation it’s always hard to get a workout in but since the hubby was with me, I knew we could carve out some time. Twice I went running and did some body weight exercises. On Sunday morning, I was able to get away and spend sometime by myself on the track. While I was running, it hit me. This is where I gave up on myself.

All through my childhood I never felt good enough. I felt the same way when I did sports. In basketball, I was always second string no matter how ‘hard’ I worked (which let’s face it, was never really that hard). In track, I was never fast enough or fit enough to have any success at running. I ran the 400 meter, the 4 X 200 meter and sometimes the 4 X400 meter. I remember a lot of 4th place ribbons but NEVER a 1st place. I now believe that it was on that track that I gave up on myself. I suffered an injury during my freshman year of basketball where I dislocated my kneecap. I used this as my excuse for rest of high school and beyond. “I can’t run. I have a bad knee.” is what I would tell people all the time.

What I think I was really excusing was my feeling of failure. If I never tried, I never failed right? I committed my time to music and the arts and decided that was good enough and it has brought me so much joy in my life. But I gave up on my dream of every being a runner or a strong athlete.

As soon as I arrived at the track, I felt it all over again. The track felt huge and yet so small at the same time. I could hear my coaches yelling about how slow I was. I could hear myself saying I would never be fast enough. I would never be a runner. I would always be ashamed of my athleticism. I would never feel good about myself. I would………give up. It wasn’t just one day or one track practice; it was over time. But that’s where it happened. That’s where my life got paused. That’s where I decided I wasn’t worth it.

As I began to run, I knew I was going to click over my 200^th mile on my Nike+ running app. I thought back to all the miles I’ve run in the last year. One year ago I ran my first 5K. I remember being SUPER nervous like everyone was going to be watching me. I didn’t know if people would walk or run or judge me for walking. Now here I am, literally hundreds of miles from where I was. When you’ve trained and become a runner at a higher altitude, it’s much easier to run at a lower altitude. I’d already set how far I wanted to run before resting, but I found I never needed it. I could just keep running. And running. And running.

As I clicked over that 200^th mile, which in all actuality is probably my 300^th mile (since I never track at the gym and forget sometimes), I could feel my old self running with me. I could feel that 14 year old girl who never felt good enough falling behind. I could hear her shouting that I’d never be good enough or fast enough or pretty enough or just……enough. But this time I knew she was wrong.

She was wrong about so many things. So many things. Now I try to never think I can’t do something. Sometimes I think maybe I shouldn’t, and then I try anyway. Now I know that with the proper training, I can do anything I want to do. Now I know that only you can change you.

15 years ago I could have never pushed myself to run that track the way I did because I never knew I had it me in. Now I know. That’s the difference. Sorry for the language mom, but I ran the shit out of that track. All by myself. With no coach. No teammates. No one to push me but my own self. And if felt freaking awesome.

September 20, 2015July 12, 2017

I’m a Tough Mudder

Last weekend I ran and finished the Colorado Tough Mudder! For those of you that don’t know, the Colorado Tough Mudder is a 11.6 mile race with 20 obstacles. If that wasn’t hard enough, you start at 9,000 feet above sea level and rise another 2,600 feet along the course. Needless to say, it was a hard hard race. I’ve heard of obstacle races but never done one. So like usual if I’m going to bother, I might as well start with one of the hardest right?

My friend Blanche approached me about running it a few months ago. I’ve known Blanche for several months now and we work out together sometimes at TOS Boxing Gym. She is simply the sweetest and nicest person I think I’ve ever met. When she first asked me, other than it being a messy obstacle race, I didn’t know much about it. Being the moron I am, I agreed to do it before knowing much about it. No one would have EVER approached me about running a race like the TM 3 years ago. Not even 2 years ago. 1 year ago I’m not sure I could have finished. Thank goodness I felt obligated to fill one of the spots on Blanche’s team after I’d agreed or I might have missed out on one crazy and incredible weekend.

When I finally looked up the race, I couldn’t believe what I’d just signed myself up to do. The Tough Mudder is an expensive race, plus it was a three hour drive to the mountains and required a hotel night stay. I was already worried about how much money it would cost. So I spread the registration, parking pass and hotel night over a few pay periods. Eventually I saw on the Tough Mudder site that you could volunteer the second day of the race and get a reimbursement for your registration. Um…..run the race for free if I volunteer? Sign me up! More on that later….

So we arrived in Snowmass Village, Colorado on Saturday Morning. We got up pretty early to leave the city and make it in time for my start wave. We made it with over an hour to spare, which I was thankful for. At this point, I still didn’t really know what to expect. I had looked up the race course and saw it was 11.6 miles and not the 10 miles I had been told. I saw where the obstacles were and how far the running distance was between but I didn’t look up the obstacles or how to do them. I have been going to obstacle course training once a week for about a month. So I knew there wouldn’t be anything that I didn’t know how to approach or have the ability to do safely. I set out to run the course with two objectives in mind: finish and don’t get hurt.

Blanche told me to start without them because she knew the group would slow me down. What she didn’t know what I wasn’t running for time. I was running for the experience. The only reason I had trained was so I had confidence about my abilities and knew what I could do. I of course waited for the team and we all started together. At the start line is Sean Corvelle. He is known as “The Voice of the Mudder”. He gave an incredibly motivating speech filled with “Hoo-rahs” and shouting. He informed us of the Mudder Motto: No Mudder Left Behind. So when you finish and obstacle, you turn around to see who might need help behind you.

I was thankful that I had not looked up the obstacles. There were a few that I might not have tried if I knew exactly what I was doing. Some were freezing cold, some were wet, some were waist high mud and some were physical. Of course I loved the physical obstacles the best. When I got to the “Berlin Wall” I knew exactly how to get up and over by myself without getting hurt. This is why I went to training. Here’s a perfect ‘cat hang dismount’ over the wall!

One of my favorite moments of the race was at this obstacle: Balls to the Wall.

Once again I made it up and over with no problem. My teammates were aghast at my ‘monkey’ capabilities. But once again….training! When I got down, I waited for my teammates and looked for anyone that needed help. Once all four of us were over the wall, I saw the crowd was cheering someone on. At the top of the wall, a girl was stuck. She was heavier than expected for the physical requirements of this race. I saw myself in her immediately. Everyone was encouraging her but no one was up there with her. I looked around and said, “Is anyone going to get up there?” And then I realized I was probably the best person to do it. I was NOT going to let this girl fail. So I climbed the obstacle once again and talked her over the top. She was frozen and terrified of falling. BUT with my help, she was able to muster enough courage to get over the wall herself and down safely. I’ll never forget the smile on her face when she accomplished it. I don’t know if that girl finished the race. I know I’ll never see her again, but that moment was special to me. I saw so much of myself in her and it felt awesome to help her!

The hardest part of the race wasn’t the distance or the grossness or the altitude or the obstacles. The hardest part of the race was how long it took to do it. My team crossed the finish line in just over 5 hours. During the last hour I was really bored. I was tired of the race, tired of being muddy, tired of running, just…….tired! I knew I could keep going and I never thought of stopping. 5 hours is a long time for my brain to focus on any one task. I do 50 million things all day everyday and to take that big of a chunk of time was hard for me! I think I could have finished in 4 hours but it was worth the extra hour to have the company!

On Sunday, Dan and I volunteered at the check-in table. It was so fun to wish the runner’s good luck and answer questions they had about the course. Later, after people couldn’t check in anymore, we got to go to the finish line and put people’s headbands on when they crossed the finish line! That was even better! We could watch them go through the last obstacle, Electroshock Therapy, and then cheer them into the finish. Electroshock was no joke. It dropped me to the ground!

Here’s what I knew about running the Tough Mudder:

It would be hard and gross. It would be long.
Wear clothes that I don’t care about! (Which I did end up crossing the finish line with less than I started with but I kept and cleaned everything else)
I’m going to need a serious nap afterwards.
I could do it.

Here’s what I didn’t know about the Tough Mudder:

What I was really getting myself into.
When running the TM there’s a huge sense of camaraderie. Everyone is one big team; at least until mile 9 or so. There were 7,500 runners the day I ran.
HOW Hard, HOW Gross, and HOW Long it would actually be.
That I could get though it without breaking down mentally.
I wouldn’t be able to take a nap for sometime but Free Pumpkin Beer kinda helps 🙂
How proud I would be to finish.

Things to remember for next year:

Spray sunscreen is really convenient for your hairline which will be nearly purple by the time you finish if you do nothing. See above shot of Electroshock Therapy.
Wear a bright color so you can find yourself in the photos as your # is likely to be destroyed.
Bringing a backpack or bag is not as much of an inconvenience as I expected, like one of the members of our team did.
Bring a better marker because a Sharpie will wash off in the first obstacle.

The Tough Mudder is another thing on the very long list of accomplishments this year. It’s something I could have NEVER done before. It’s something I couldn’t have even dreamed about doing. And now I’m a Tough Mudder! Hoo-RAH!

August 30, 2015

Vacation #2 – NYC

Since I’ve been back at work for two weeks now, I thought it was time to write about my second vacation to New York City. I’m already dreaming again of what it was like to have so much time off! I love my job but I’m totally spoiled by the summer.

In New York City, I had the time of my life. (If you didn’t sing that last phrase in your head, we obviously aren’t friends) Once again, I noticed how much easier the whole trip was because I was fit and active. I can only imagine what the trip would have been like if I had gone two years ago. And once again I would have missed so many things.

Walking – So it’s true what they say about NYC, it’s a walking city. The subway and buses are easy to figure out but you still have to know how to get to the stations. And, since I’m fit when it was only a mile or so, we’d just walk it. Rarely, and usually late at night, we would take a taxi. I tried not to add it up when we were there because I didn’t want to discourage myself from walking more. I knew I was talking a TON because my legs hurt everyday. I worked out only twice while there, see below, but I was sore the whole time. Also, I knew I wasn’t gaining weight even though I tried nearly all the food. Walking gives you a totally different perspective of the city. I would have missed a lot by driving.

Here’s my day’s walking totals:

Day 1: Airport, Staten Island Ferry, Dinner, Lots of walking around, 12 miles

Day 2: Morning walk, Brooklyn Bridge, Financial District, Battery Park, Ground Zero, Coney Island, 14 miles

Day 3: Time Square, Garment District, Central Park, Broadway, Boxing, 14 miles

Day 4: Freedom Tower, Empire State Building, Wall Street, Fire Museum, Airport, 10 miles

Grand Total: 50+ miles!

Food – I wanted to eat anything I wanted in NYC. Because I was walking so much, I was able to partake in all the New York traditions: pizza, hot dog cart, cheesecake and bagels! Everything was wonderful. It was so nice to not worry too much about what I was eating! As long as I kept up my water intake, I knew my weight would be fine. I was so happy to see I’d actually lost weight on vacation when I got back!

Workouts – My friend and I had already discussed what workouts we wanted to do before we left, we ended up doing about half of them. Our legs were so sore from walking that we knew we didn’t need much more activity. I had two killer workouts while I was there.

After reading The Long Run by Matt Long, I had set a personal goal of running the 6 mile loop in Central Park. To quickly summarize: Matt Long is a NY firefighter who survives 9/11 only to be hit by a city bus during the transit strike. Matt was an Ironman and marathon runner before his accident and he would dream of running in Central Park. He eventually recovered enough to run marathons and even an Ironman again. I was so inspired by his story and his book that I couldn’t wait to run his favorite path in Central Park. I ran it with him in mind and crushed it! It was a very emotional and spiritual moment for me.

Jameson, my boxing trainer, is from Brooklyn. So when I was planning a trip to NYC he set up a training session with his original trainer at New Bed Stuy Boxing. In one short and sweaty lesson, Naye fixed elements of my stance and my punches. It was a great workout and it was fun to see where my trainer began his own journey. I was proud to show his teacher what he had taught me.

Sleep – When you only get so many hours in NYC, I didn’t want to waste it sleeping. I wanted to sleep as little as possible so we had more hours to do things. Because I’m used to pushing through when I’m exhausted in workouts, I was able to keep going. I got to pack my hours with all the things I wanted to do and keep going. While I was tired most days, my natural energy from being active kept me going. Needless to say I slept A LOT when I got home!

All though the trip I kept wondering how it would have been different if it was three years ago. I would not have been able to see half of what I wanted. The trip would have been more expensive because I would have had to rent a car and pay to park everywhere. I wouldn’t have figured out how easy it is to take the subway or buses. I wouldn’t have been able to eat all the NY treasures without guilt. (although I probably would have anyway…..) I definitely wouldn’t have run Central Park. I would have missed out on most of my favorite moments of the trip.

One of my favorite moments was seeing the ocean in Coney Island. We went to Coney Island on a spur of the moment decision. We saw that they subway line went all the way there, so we just decided to go. When we got down to the beach, neither of us had our swimming suits on. But how often do you get the chance to swim and play in the ocean? I actually played in the ocean in my bra and underwear. This is something that NEVER would have happened before and was probably my favorite moment. I would have missed so much without even knowing it. I would have been uncomfortable and nervous the entire time. But because I knew I could go anywhere I wanted and be able to walk back, because I was confident in my appearance, because I could just relax, I was able to have the time of my dreams!

July 31, 2015August 1, 2015

Vacation #1

This past week I traveled home to the Midwest. I was a little nervous about seeing my family after a full year of not seeing them. I’ve changed both physically and emotionally in the last year. But family is always family……..right?

I had a lot of first moments on this trip. My whole life I’ve looked up to my sister. Stephanie is two years older than me and is a stay-at-home mom. She is raising three beautiful and well-behaved children who are already turning into outstanding little humans. Through our childhood I was constantly jealous of my sister. She was always taller, skinnier and prettier. My parents did a good job of loving us the same way and giving us the same opportunities. I was never jealous that she was the older sibling and I was the younger, but it definitely effects your development.

As a younger sibling, a lot of times I felt like I was in her shadow. She was the first to do everything: walk, talk, date, break curfew, sneak out of the house…… It bothered me for a long time through adolescence that everything I did had already been done. Then in high school I started to create my own path that lead me to who I am today. I think it just takes a while for siblings of the same sex to be individuals. Even after I had grown to be an adult, I still felt a lot of the same things from childhood. Steph was still skinnier, healthier and prettier. Even my mother was skinnier and healthier than I was. I thought my place in the family was the ‘fat one’. I thought I had my mom’s physique and always envied my sister for having my father’s. My family would gently express their concern for my weight but I felt like I didn’t ‘fit’ in my family for a long time and getting skinny wouldn’t change that. Well for this trip, I finally felt like I physically fit in my own family. I do have my father’s physique; I just could never see it.

Being able to fit in physically allowed me to have a lot more fun. We went hiking, which I never would have done before. We went to the public pool where I was seen in a bathing suit! I even went off of the diving board, letting everyone see me in all my glory. Other than a few times already this summer, I hadn’t been to a public pool in years. I had not gone off a diving board since I was dating my husband or went to summer camp. I was fit enough to feel confident doing flips and fun dives. I would have missed out on this bonding time and fun with my family if I hadn’t changed my life. On a two-mile hike, I was able to talk and run with my niece, whom I don’t get to see very often. My niece Phoebe is my twin. She is the middle sibling in her family and reminds me so much of myself. She’s quirky, caring, funny, helpful and a little awkward. We were able to talk and laugh with each other in a way we hadn’t before. Another important bonding experience I would have been on the sidelines for.

Being physically fit and being happy with my body made me feel like I fit in my family for the first time. They never excluded me from these events before but I would find a way to exclude myself because I wasn’t comfortable. I was holding myself back from knowing and loving my family in the way I wanted to, with my weight. Having that weight gone left so much more room to bond with them.

I have a much, much different life than my immediate and most of my extended family. Almost everyone in my family is conservative, religious and lives in a rural area. I’m very liberal and love living in what my mother calls “The Big City”. My family and I don’t agree on a lot of political topics or major societal issues; so sometimes I feel like I don’t quite fit in mentally either. This is not a result from them. They are always interested in my opinions and don’t try to pressure me to come their side of the issue. On rare occasion we can agree on things, like Donald Trump’s hair.

While I do not expect these parts of our relationship to change anytime soon, I found that with my confidence up, so were my opinions. I’ve never been one to hold back my thoughts or change my beliefs for the crowd I’m in. But, in the past it’s been hard not to back down or just leave my opinion out. This time, I felt like I not only had confidence in my body, but since I’ve done a lot of emotional work, my beliefs are stronger. I felt like I could say what I meant more clearly. While I still have A LOT to figure out, I felt more confident emotionally as well. This made me feel closer to my family, like I was letting them see who I really am. It made me feel like I fit in, even though we are so different.

Another big change in my trip this time was my ability to stay calm. I know for sure this is a result of exercise and specifically boxing. I usually get nervous to fly but not for the actual flight. I hate the process at the airport and always worry I’ll lose luggage or something will come up that makes me miss my flight. I felt a lot more calm and confident about flying and getting through the airport. I even had a connecting flight, which I’d never done before. The whole time I felt a lot less anxious than ever before.

Usually on a trip, I like to know what we are eating the next day, where are we going, how long will it take to get there, when will we come back……… This time it was a lot easier to just roll with the punches. I felt like I was able to give up control and just enjoy my time, most of the time. I knew there was nothing they’d ask me to do that was uncomfortable or I couldn’t do physically. This made me less anxious the entire trip. I even slept better and didn’t get ‘travel belly’.

The whole trip was awesome and I loved t almost every minute. (Being eaten to death by mosquitoes in 98% humidity can just never be fun for me) If I hadn’t lost the weight and worked on my mentality, I wouldn’t have enjoyed this trip as much. I would have missed out on essential bonding with my nieces and nephews. I would have worried the whole time. AND I didn’t even realize how much I was missing before. I would have never even known. I wouldn’t have this beautiful picture of me and my sister.

July 14, 2015July 15, 2015

Rock Climbing @ Earth Treks

Lately I’ve been feeling like the summer is getting away from me way too quickly! I haven’t done nearly as many things as I hoped to. Last month I had ants in my pants about getting to do more things. So we made plans for hiking a 14er and signing up for indoor rock climbing. Read about my 14er experience here!

Rock climbing is something I’ve been interested in for a while. I first looked in to it this winter when I was stuck inside and going crazy. Since I live in the climbing capital of the world, there were LOTS of options. I started on Groupon and asked around for advice on where to go. I very quickly found Earth Treks.

Earth Treks is one of the larger climbing gyms near Denver. It’s located in Golden, CO. Although I wish it was closer, it is easy to get to. A friend of a friend recommended this place as well as a staff member at our local outdoor store: REI. They also have a introduction package that I thought was worth the deal.

For $79 you get a BOGO offer for two introductory classes and a 15 day open pass. I definitely needed the introduction class and the hubby needed a refresher. So we signed up for this past Saturday and went.

When I try new things now, I get less and less nervous. I find that I’m so fit now that it’s hard to surprise myself with what I could do. I wasn’t nervous about my abilities to rock climb but I was nervous about the height. While I don’t have a natural fear of heights, I do have a fear of falling. I hate that suspended feeling. You know when you’re in an elevator and there’s that second of suspension before you get to your floor? That makes my stomach flip every single time. So I wasn’t sure how my brain would react to the heights of climbing and how it might effect me physically.

The staff at Earth Treks was great! We went for our introduction class this past Saturday. They taught us all the basics of climbing: knots, harness, safety, belay and a little bit of movement. On my first climb, I made it to the top with ease. The course we chose was fairly easy for our first time. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to pull myself to the top. I found myself thinking, “What’s the big deal?”. Just wait…..

I didn’t have any fears of falling while climbing. Maybe it was because my hubby was my anchor (belay is the proper term) and I knew he’d never let anything happen. Even when I turned to look at the top of the wall or glanced down to find the next foothold, I never got scared. Each climb got harder and harder. We selected harder courses and moved to a taller wall.

By my third time up, my arms were exhausted! I don’t currently do a lot of forearm work because…..well I never thought about it! But my forearms ached the rest of the day! Some parts of rock climbing are easier than I thought while others are harder. It definitely uses different muscles than I usually work. Overall it was a great time and SUPER fun. We went back the next day. We also have movement class this week and will climb over the weekend again. I probably won’t be getting a membership until the winter time. I just don’t have enough time to mix it with everything I love and get the money out of a membership.

After climbing, I read into the health benefits of the exercise. I felt pretty spent afterwards but I wasn’t sure how many calories I was burning. So I read this article and really liked the information. It’s a good read with lots of info.