LOST COUNT

It is just been great weather here, all the flowers are out and the red bud trees are full of blossom in that beautiful pink color. The temperature is around 58 in the mornings and warming up to the 80's by afternoon.
This morning when I checked my e-mails I saw that Shayla wanted us to meet out side to do hill runs. It was a perfect day for this. We met over by the lake and there is this hill they use. We were running up and walking down and running up backwards and walking down. I lost track of the count but we did a lot. I didn't mind this hill stuff because it was nice not to be running in a parking lot.

HOME BOOT CAMP

Our tree out back has had a limb going over the fence and into the neighbors yard. I'd been telling my husband that we needed to saw it off. Today we did that and added a few extra branches to the pile. You certainly get a good workout!

The saw becomes the weights, just heft it up and give it a start.



With the saw working you can trim branches and also do squats.


Find a nice size branch and it becomes the weight for shoulder presses.

Before boot camp I went out and did 5.34 miles on the trails. It was a beautiful day to run and to trim trees!

ANOTHER SIGN OF SPRING

I was driving Allie to school and then making my way to boot camp,I noticed there were a lot of

signs out for garage sales. I guess this is just another sign that it's Spring.

Since it was so nice out side we did a lot of sprints plus a mile to warm up. Inside it was jump rope, squats, mountain climber and burpies and we finished with crunches, lots of crunches.

Friday is weigh in day and some how I managed to get the 2 pounds off I put on over the weekend so my weight was the same as last week. I'll try harder this week. One thing I wasn't doing was writing down everything, so this is my challenge to try and journal next week.

NO WALK IN THE PARK

These pictures were taken at the Keukenhof in the Netherlands last year. If you ever get the chance to go

do it. The flower displays are spectacular. Our tulips are just starting to open and the daffodils are almost done. Some how the Spring flowers quickly disappear.

In Dallas there is the arboretum where you can walk the grounds and view the flowers.

Today was Wednesday boot camp. It was no walk in the park. We ran out side, the weather was perfect even thought the weatherman said we would be getting severe storms later today( it is raining as I write this) with a chance of hail.

Inside we did lunges, all kinds of lunges. We did chest press and crunches and in between all that we did sprints in the parking lot. Can't wait for Friday!

Hope the flowers are coming up where you live. Enjoy the Spring!

ASSESSMENT DAY

Monday morning and I was up 2 pounds from all the junk I ate including the chocolate covered Peep which wasn't as good as I thought it would be. When I got to the gym she said it was assessment day and we would be taking measurements along with weight.

OUCH! After measurements we were tested on how many crunches and push ups we could do in a minute. I did 25 push ups five of those were regular the rest were on my knees and 25 crunches. This is my first time to be measured so I only can improve with the next test.

There was still time to work out and she made sure it was a tough one, stationary squats with triceps press. Ten on each leg.

Side squats with shoulder lifts, ten on each side

plank with a push up, ten times.

Repeat twice.

Finished with three sets of the above and moved on to abs. We did 80 crunches and then got to stretch it out.

Today was beautiful and I ran outside for 3.96 miles. My legs were still a bit sore from the above workout.

WELCOME SPRING

Here's a picture of my house taken last night while it was snowing. Yes, we had about an inch and a half of white stuff on the ground this morning when I got up. I guess we were lucky because some parts of the Dallas area got eight inches. Needless to say with the strong winds and cold ( you know how I hate the cold) I did not run today.

Everyone in my family who did run, did an awesome job. Congratulations to all of you.

Tomorrow is boot camp and the promise of warmer weather so I'm sure I'll be out side running.

Take a look at Jenny's blog to see her running part of her race on Saturday.

TIRED

Surprise! I wasn't alone at boot camp today. There was someone else who wanted to be tortured. We started with a 1 mile warm up out side and then moved indoors for the following.

squats with shoulder presses using weights 15 reps
dead lift squats with weights 15 reps
V abs 20 reps
sprint out side
Repeat for 5 times

Ab workout with partner standing by your head and pushing your legs back down, 10 on each side and 20 straight down.

I am so tired tonight and my legs feel like dead weight. There is a class tomorrow. Do I want to go, NO!

Seriously, I'm really enjoying the camp and have lost 5 lbs since I started three weeks ago.

This weekend there are a lot of family running races. Good luck to Amy and Stefaan in Belgium, Katy and Tonya in Atlanta running the ING for the third time. Sorry I won't be there this year. Mark and Jenny are running separate races in Florida.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

Oh I didn't have the luck of the Irish today, it was boot camp. I wore my shoes with the green in them to keep with the holiday. There were just two of us and we started out with cardio. I was on the elliptical for 15 minutes.
Next lunges with 10lb wt and then 10 push ups with the Bosu, 3 sets of each.
We also tried jack knife planks.
Bench triceps 20 reps and hamstring curls 10 reps, 3 sets of each.
Finish up with 100 sit-ups.
I dragged myself to the car and wondered as I pulled away, what would Friday bring as I am the only one who will be there.

HAVE A BALL

This morning was boot camp day so I headed to the gym. First up was running outside to warm up and then inside to work our upper body. Here's what the agenda was:

Chest press on ball 3 sets 15 reps using 15 lb wts.
Pullover on ball with one 15 lb wt. 3 sets of 15 reps
plank roll outs on ball 15 reps 3 sets
push up with a partner. We are facing each other and do the push up and the touch the opposite hand of the partner. 20 each set for 3 sets.
In between all of this we ran sprints outside for 3 times.

WEEK'S DONE

Where has the week gone? I guess it is moving fast because I have been busy with boot camp and getting my runs in. Today we had a soccer game and I took my Garmin and did the trails out by the soccer fields. There was a wee breeze but it was a beautiful day for walking or running.

I think these balls are neat all lined up in a row.

The trees were full of blossoms, I think that is why we have such gray days in February so we appreciate all the beautiful flowers that pop up in March.

The trail takes me around the small lake in the background and then I looped back towards where the game was going to be played.

I finished with 2.28 miles.

They tied the game 0-0, but yesterday they one 2-1.

10 RANDOM THINGS

I was tagged by Kathryn to tell 10 random things about me , so here goes.The best thing that ever happened to me was meeting and marrying my husband.

I loved to sew and made most of my kids Halloween costumes.

I'm the middle child.

I ran my first half at Disney with my four daughters.

I've been to 46 of the 50 states.

I love going to Maine in the summer, wouldn't want to be there in the winter.

I like a nice glass of red wine every now and then.


I went to a 3 day Orvis fly fishing school.



I was a majorette in middle school and high school.

I love chocolate but it has to be cream filled and good chocolate.

KICKED ASS

Monday morning, rainy and cool. I had boot camp and didn't think it would be bad, but I was wrong. We ran outside to warm up and then came in for a really hard ( to me anyways) work out. First was bicep curls with shoulder press 3 sets of 15 reps. In between those we did 25 sit ups.
Now here's the part that wore me down:
Plank rollovers the length of the floor
lunges back to start
Three sets of these.
sideways plank length of floor
lunges back
Three sets of these.
Push up, walk feet up and then walk hands out then push up, the length of the floor
lunges back
finished with 75 abs.

After that we stretched it out, I could barely move off the mats to get myself out the door and home. Not only was I tired , I looked like someone had thrown a bucket of water on me.

Yep, she kicked my ass today!

BACK AND FORTH

Since the weather was really nice this morning we warmed up inside and then move outdoors to do some sprints and lunges. Back and forth we went between the stripes, lunges and sprints. I'm not a big fan of lunges but they are getting easier. I think doing Jillian this Winter was a big plus.

Back inside it was mat work out. We did three sets of each exercise for 1 minute for each set.
bridges
plank
straight leg abs
bicycle

SIGNS OF SPRING

What a gorgeous day to be out running. The temperature was close to 60 and the sun was out.
I noticed while I was running on the trail that there are lots of signs that Winter is finally over and Spring is just around the corner.







There were plenty of dandelions poking up from the ground.

and those cute little tiny flowers were showing their purple heads.

And finally I even spotted some daffodils by the pond. Don't you just love Spring!

Miles today 5.51

BOOT CAMP DAY 2

As I was driving to the gym I was wondering what we would be doing today. She said it would be harder than Monday. I was still a little sore from that work out.

Warm up and then we were going to do weights. She explained that we would be doing 4 different exercises and start with 15 reps and then work our way down to one rep and then pick one and do 80 reps. "What" I said . I just wasn't getting it. Then the light went on. We would be doing a total of 120 reps for each and then we were to pick one and do 80 more reps. ARGH!

So here is what we did:

Squats with shoulder presses
Bent leg dead lifts with weights
Push ups
abs

I used 8 lbs for the presses and 12 pounds for the dead lifts. I selected abs for the 80 reps, at least I could lay down for that, LOL.

After the work out I drove to the library and could barely make it up the steps. I did find a new book by Jodi Picoult, House Rules, that I checked out.

ONE LITTLE BIRD

The sun was shining today but the wind was blowing so I waited to go out for a run until the afternoon. The temp was around 47 but it felt a lot cooler. As I started off on the trails I spotted a lone bird sitting on a fence. It looked like he was wishing it was warmer out.

I wonder if Spring will ever get here. Today in Atlanta they are having snow. How's it looking in your part of the world?

Miles today 3.71

I WAS EARLY

The weatherman was predicting it but I couldn't' believe after two nice days we would not only have rain but also cold. Today was my first day of boot camp and I arrived about 5 minutes before class. The place was dark, there were no cars around. Did I miss something, was it being held at a different time? I called Jenny and she reassured me that they probably didn't get there until class time. While I was talking with her twp cars pulled in , aah they're here.

We started with a warm up, I was on the elliptical and one was on the treadmill and one was on the bike. Yes, there are only three of us in this class. After cardio she had us doing 1 minute sets of three different exercises. First up was abs, leg extensions and hamstring curls. Every minute we rotated. Next it was abs, chest press and back. It's been awhile since I've done weights so I went with the lighter ones, next time I think I can increase them. Class seemed to zip by and before I knew it we were into stretching and saying good by. Shayla did remind us that this was an easy class and Wednesday would be harder.