Pros and Cons

I've been thinking alot about my new workout regiment. I suppose it's cause I'm reading tons of books about running (CHI running), weight training, swimming (Total Immersion), and cycling (Beginner Triathlon. Finishing your first Triathlon). It's started this domino affect of understanding and learning about a whole health lifestyle. All these books touch on, not only techniques and workout schedules (which is why I initially checked them out), but also discussed healthy diets, motivation, mental focus, camaraderie, tips, goals, and having fun, (which I never considered). Before, when it came to working out, it was all about weight loss, and hurrying to do my time at the gym so I could enjoy the rest of my life, (kind of like a prison sentence.) I think all the reading has changed my attitude in fitness for the better and it's made all of it make sense. I'm actually enjoying myself. I've set mini goals for each week to increase the speed, intensity, and weights and it's something I look forward to reaching and accomplishing. Anyways, all this info got me to thinking about the pros and cons of why I work out, so I listed a few below. Just my opinion, but I hope it helps.

PROS: I feel great, happy, warm, confident, strong, and fit after each workout session. The weight loss, the inches lost, my clothes fitting better and looser, working out with my Boo, my running shoes (I heart my Mizunos, just putting them on makes me feel strong!), sleeping better, noticing progress with my weight training, getting better with each swim session, running faster, feeling pretty, being less stressed, feeling comfortable in the gym, feeling like an athlete (even though I got a looooong way to go! ha ha!), getting fit for hiking season, how working out motivates me to eat healthier, and my favorite... Boo mentioning I'm getting smaller each time he wraps his arms around me.


CONS: Getting up at 4:30am each morning, falling asleep at 8:30pm each night! Looking fug at the gym every day, cause I have not make up on and my hair is slung into a ponytail. (I literally roll out of bed and walk out the door.) On days I do weight training, I can't lift my arms up til around 9am cause they are fatigued out! Talking myself into having a great workout every morning. I need some new motivational phrases! ha ha! and lastly... the extra loads of laundry I have to do every week cause of all the stinky, sweaty workout clothes and socks!

But it's all good. I think the Pros totally out weigh the Cons :)

Guest Post: Walking in the clouds

Hey! Today I have the pleasure of sharing with you a Guest Post by Anna, aka Mud Butt. For those of you that don't know who she is, she is the head Dame, the founding Dame of the outdoor women's group called Trail Dames. I've had the great fortune of meeting and hiking with her and many Trail Dames over the last few years. I can honestly say, I have never met a Dame I didn't like! Anna created an amazing group for introducing women to the outdoors. For more on the Trail Dames, check out the link under my Fav websites on the right. Now enjoy a page out of her Appalachian Trail Thru hike down below! Til next time... GET OUT DOORS!!!

Walking in the clouds (Excerpt from Mud Butt's AT Journal)

Well, today I learned what the inside of a cloud smells like. We walked up in the clouds most of the day and it was our best hiking day yet. We did 9.6 miles today and would have gone further except that the weather turned very nasty, very quickly. When the grey fog threatened to overtake us, we pulled into a great campsite out of the wind and hunkered down. The temperature was dropping very quickly, so I decided that the best place to be was in my sleeping bag! It was a great hiking day, though! It was alot of ridge walking, which was fairly flat, with just a few big climbs. We stopped for lunch at Low Gap Shelter and there was a group of fraternity guys there out doing trail maintenance with a member of the Georgia A.T. club. They were so funny, these self assured young men. You should have seen the look on their faces when we told them we were walking to Maine! It was priceless! We did take the time to thank them for the work they were doing on the trail. I for one, am so grateful!

After our lunch break, we enjoyed the rest of the days hike immensely. Bumpkin and I both agreed that it was our best hiking day so far. When the weather turned nasty, she found us a wonderful camp site out of the wind and off we went to find water. The neat thing about our water source was that it was actually head of the Chattahoochee River. You would think that it would be grand and big, right? Well, it was actually a small trickle coming out of the ground. But it does go on to become the Chattahoochee. I think that is kind of cool!

The not-so-cool thing was that it was a half mild hike down a very steep trail. And when I stay steep.... I mean steep! But like Bumpkin said... that is what hiking the AT is all about!

After we had retired to our tents for the evening, we heard two voices shouting out 'Hello!' It was two fellow thru hikers that were looking for a campsite. The combination of the deteriorating weather and signs of bear activity combined to make them pretty nervous and they were very glad to see others in the area. As they set up their stuff, we all introduce ourselves. It turns out that they are the Good Grass Consort, a bluegrass due that we had heard about on the trial. Needless to say, we had a ton to talk about!

The cold soon drove us all back to our sleeping bags and we settled in for a snug night on the trail. The temperature might be dropping quickly and my hands might be freezing, but in case I haven't mentioned it... I am having a really great time!

Love, Anna aka Mud Butt

Checking in

So it's been 1 month since Boo and I started working out 6 days a week. There's been alot of sweat, a lot of red faces, and lots of cussing. haha! The cussing is only at 4:30am every morning, cause that's what time the alarm goes off to get us up, dressed, teeth brushed, and at the gym by 5am. I secretly love getting there before the doors open at 5am. I'm sick like that. hahaha! On the occasion that we do get there b/f the doors officially open, Boo rants that he could of used the extra minutes (literally a couple of minutes) to sleep in. I just laugh and remind him to have a great workout today.

Here's what we've been doing:

Monday: Running and weight training

Tuesday: 45 minutes of cardio (elliptical usually)

Wednesday: Running and weight training

Thursday: 45 minutes of cardio

Friday: Running and weight training and at night swimming

Saturday: Off

Sunday: Swimming

I've mentally and physically have gotten used to the schedule. The first week was rough! I was tired all the time. But now I feel good all day long. I think for the next month, I'll add some spin classes in the evening. Sounds crazy and I can't believe I'm saying that. Hell, I can't believe I'm enjoying it so much. I think I'm becoming a gym rat! haha! Seriously though, I think you need to be working out for over 6 months or something to officially be labeled a gym rat. Right? Anyways, it's actually a nice and comforting feeling seeing the same people at the gym every morning. We share a smile, a slight nod, a bond in knowing that we are hard core for getting up so early to beat ourselves into shape. There is even an elderly man who walks around handing out peppermints to all us 5 am'ers every MWF. He's so sweet, he makes me smile and look forward to those little treats, like it's a reward or something. Anyways... off to the pool! Enjoy your day and make it a good one!

Slo-mming

Slo-mming, as in SLOW SWIMMING. That's what is on my mind today. My first experience back in the pool (competitive swimming, not recreational swimming) was a humbling experience. Let's just say if I kept score, it would look like this. Pool-1, Sweetpea-0.

Swimming kicked my ass. It's been a loooong time since I swam races. I was a swimmer in high school and had a pretty respectable freestyle, so going into this, I thought it would be alot easier than it was. After all, I've been running for 6 months, so I should be good cardio wise right? WRONG, so wrong. I could barely do 50 meters without choking on some water trying to breathe. I did eight 50 meter sets with rests between each set and I was beat when I finished the 400 meters. At least now I know where I stand. Looks like I got a good challenge to keep me going :) Til next time.... GET OUTDOORS!!!

TIRED!!!!!!

WOW.... I have never experienced tiredness like I have this week. I just want a good 12 hour nights sleep! I go to bed every night and sleep the entire night thru, only to wake up, to what feels like, minutes later. But it was actually a good solid 7 hours of sleep. What is making me so tired you ask? Well, it's my new workout schedule. It's tough, but doable. I'm starting week two this week, and I'm sure my body just needs to adapt. haha!

Here's what I'm doing. So I continued the running 3 days a week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday mornings. I've actually upped my pace and doing some tempo runs to challenge me, which is good. On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, I do straight cardio for 45-60 minutes on an elliptical or bike or combo of both. At night, we, (Boo and I), weight train for a good 45 minutes doing an all over body workout. We did Tuesday and Thursday last week, but we are upping that to 3 days a week this week, so M-W-F nights, we'll be hitting the gym a second time, after work, for a good weight training session. THEN, sometime in the week, we'll incorporate a nice 400-600 meter swim. Wow... pretty aggressive and pretty intimidating, but I'm ready to work on my fitness. Til next time... GET OUTDOORS!!!

Winter Hiatus

So I've taken a small break (4 weeks) off of running. It started with a really bad run back in the December. I hopped on the treadmill and could only go 10 minutes, after running 41 minutes just 2 days before! Now I've heard of people having bad runs, but this really took me by surprise and just really knocked me down. Top that with the holiday crazy schedule of party's, dinners out, and cocktail drinks. I just spiraled a bit out of control and the next thing I knew.... it was 4 weeks and I hadn't ran a yard. So this week Boo and I got up early and hit the gym.

What inspired me and motivated me, was watching Boo go to the gym w/out me and seeing how much better and happy he felt afterwards. So on Monday, at 5:30am, I was at the gym and on the treadmill. I was sure I wouldn't be able to run more than 8 minutes b/c of the hiatus I took, but I was surprised when I ran 25 minutes straight without any pain. I will admit that I was a bit out of breath, but I was surprised that I finished 25 mins. I stopped b/c I didn't want to hurt anything.

Well on Wednesday, we showed up at the gym at 5:15am and Boo went to the indoor track to do his run and I hopped on the treadmill for mine. I was determined to run 30 minutes. I was really surprised at how much easier Wednesday's run was than Monday's. I actually upped my MPH and I finished the 30 minutes! I felt so much better and like I'm back on track with my running. I'm going to try to go for 35 minutes on Friday and hopefully see how much of my endurance I've kept. I was running 41 minutes with a goal of 60 minutes. So we'll see. Til next time... GET YOU BUTT TO THE GYM!!! haha!

Disc Golfing 2011

It's been a while since I've been disc golfing. So today, Boo and I got up (late, hahha!) and headed down to our usual disc golf spot. We got to the course at 10am and it took us just under an hour to finish all 18 holes. I thought for sure, I'd be out of the swing of things, but both Boo and I played pretty good! I got 2 birdies and threw some pretty shots and Boo got 4 birdies! It was awesome. We are starting out the new year outdoors and looking forward to what 2011 has to bring. Happy New Years to everyone. Til next time... GET OUTDOORS!!!

I must of been a good girl....

Cause Santa brought me some GOOD stuff!! I had, probably THE best Christmas EVER. Better than my childhood ones, better than the Christmas' spent in the Caribbean. It was awesome. It all began after Thanksgiving. (We hosted a Thanksgiving and had friends over.) Boo and I had put up the tree, decorated it, and started getting our Christmas card list started. We even started listening to Christmas music. Through out December we really had the Christmas spirit going. The week before Christmas was crazy, we had two movie previews to catch (True Grit and Black Swan, both really good.) A Christmas Concert at one of Boo's Coworkers' church. Then we had two Christmas parties to attend. Friday, one of my friends, and Saturday one of Boo's friends. We were hardly home all week!

Christmas finally arrived. Santa had left me stuff I've always wanted. I can't remember any Christmas where I actually got stuff I really, truly wanted! I was that kid that was always too shy and afraid to ask for what I really wanted, so I never got what I really wanted. No one's fault but my own, and I'm still that kid, but somehow Boo listened to me talk incessantly about the things I wanted over the year and he told Santa exactly what to get me. I can't believe Boo actually listened to me. haha! I now know exactly how a little kid feels when they get exactly what they want for Christmas. HAPPY!!! EXCITED!!! LOVED!!!

Ok...Here's what I got...

The new Snowpeak Giga Powered Litmax Titanium 1.9 oz backpacking stove with the serated edge!! (wow... that sounded alot like a Ralphy from Christmas Story asking Santa for an "official Red Ryder Carbine-Action, two hundred shot range model air rifle!" haha!) I was drooling over this stove last April during Trail Magic in GA when Sunny (who tests outdoor gear before it comes out to the retail market) pulled it out of her goody bag to show us the new 2010 model backpacking stoves. Santa brought me the perfect stove with the serated edges, not the one with the prongs. Just like I wanted!

I got a Buff, which I've been wanting to warm my neck and keep my hair back for years! and Santa brought me a black one, not one of those weird patterned/tie dyed ones! He knew exactly the one I would like and want!

I got an awesome Snowpeak Trek 700 Titanium backpacking mug that is great for cooking. This would of been an amazing gift if I already didn't have the Evernew Titanium 700 Ultra Light mug, which I love, love, love. Seriously, I felt like being greedy and keeping both, but decided to return the snowpeak for more future gear. Santa brought me something I really liked. I liked so much I bought myself the equivalant back in April. Thanks Santa, and your return will yield more things that I really want!


A couple of Wigwam Fusion outdoor socks for hiking. For those who hike, you know what quality socks can do for your feet and how important good socks are in making your trip an enjoyable one. Seriously, try backing 60 miles in some cotton socks, bet you won't get but 6 miles til your feet hurt b/c of some bad blisters. haha! So these pricey socks are definately worth it. Thanks Santa, for thinking about the comfort of my feet on my trips!

A new 32oz Purple Nalgene from REI . YEAH! I usually take two with me when I plan a trip into the woods. Thanks Santa. Boo says now I can stop using green nalgene :)

A warm fleece Earhat Flap hat from REI to keep me warm in the winter months! Too cute! Thanks Santa, for thinking of how cold my noggin and ears get at night in the hammock.

and finally....

A Garmin Forerunner 405 watch. OMG!! This thing is the most awesomest gadget I've ever gotten! This watch will monitor my time, distance, pace, heart rate, GPS track me, and wirelessly tranfer my data onto my laptop so I can check out the progress of my runs and chart it out. Cool huh! Santa, thanks for watching me slogging away for the past 5 months. I really really love this gift.

Thanks so much Santa! I love all my gifts and like I said, best Christmas EVER! Special thanks to Boo, but listening to me obsessively talk about backpacking gear, then taking notes, and telling Santa what I wanted. You are the best. Love you!

Post C25k

So since finishing the Couch to 5k program, I've started the 1 hour running program and I am amazed to say that I'm still running and guess what??? It's getting easier and easier and easier. Who would of thunk it! haha! Seriously, I'm up to running 41 minutes and still plugging along. I have to admit, I run 3 times a week, usually a short 30 minute run (look at me saying 30 minute is short! I remember when 30 minute was the goal! haha!) then a longer run for my second, usually around 35 min. then the final long run, which this week is 41 minutes. I'm on week 6 of the 10 week program. I'm excited that I'm actually still doing it. My pants are falling off of me, but my scale still hasn't moved much. I think I need to, No... I KNOW I need to supplement some weight training, but honestly, I hate it. I need to wrap my mind around that fact that that's what I need to do to move that scale. Oh well.... Til next time... GET OUTDOORS!

Post C25K

So I've completed the couch to 5k program and I am actually in my 3rd week of the 1 hour running program. I figured, since I'm not into running races, I needed something to keep me going thru the cold winter months b/c hiking season is right around the corner!!!! Whoo hoo!! And being a 3 season hiker/backpacker (I'm so not into freezing my ass off in knee deep snow and blizzard condition winds. haha! but hats off to you if you can do it!), I thought, the best way to stay in shape is to keep running thru the winter. After all, I enjoy how I feel AFTER I run, not before I run (I ususally procrastinate or dwell on how much I don't want to go running), nor during (I usually count down the laps on the track or the mile markers on greenway, or check the minutes on the treadmill), but AFTER, I feel great! Like I can take on the world. I feel warm, confident, pretty, relaxed, and happy. So that's why I run. I do it to feel good for the rest of the day :) And let me tell you, music has ALOT to do with keeping me going. A good playlist can make or break a run haha! at least for me it can. Since I'm running longer, I just put on the playlist and go! and just when I think I want to stop, I hear a sweet 808 beat and it propells me forward, faster. haha! Seriously, Boo made me some great playlists for me. Thanks BOO! So anyways, that's the plan, to ramp up my runs for an hour. Til next time... GET OUTDOORS!!!