Diana's blog-My Life with Kettlebells

11/08/2007-12/07/2011

2011-12-07T11:34:00.014-06:00

Back on November 8th, 2007 I wrote my first blog post. It was titled; "This is all new to me!" and if interested, you can read it here. It's funny to go back and read that-as well as a lot of other ones. Back then my blog was called "The Road to Marinette".....then it switched to "My Road to the RKC"......and now it's just "My Life with Kettlebells". I love spending hours sitting back and going through my past postings. I'm truly amazed at some of the things I've written over the last 4 years. It's been quite a chapter of my life. I've read about a person who's definitely changed over those 4 years. Even I can see that. I've gone through a lot of the same things we all do.....joy, sadness, fear, pride, pain, excitement, etc....the list goes on.
I've decided that it is time to put a end to this blog. No specific reason. Just, that it's time. The fact that I'm "excited" about writing this post reinforces to me that it's the right decision. I've thought about what would be a good way to end this. Then I realized that there's just no good way to say goodbye.
I definitely shed a tear as I write this post-for many reasons. One reason being that I actually hate goodbyes. Anyone who knows, really knows me knows this.

As I've looked back at some of my posts over the last few weeks, I'm very thankful to each and everyone of my followers/stalkers for your dedication and the comments that you've left. I've gotten a ton of support from you all. I will truly miss that. It's been fun to read some of the comments I've gotten over the years. They've uplifted my spirits when I was down and they've filled my heart with the love you've all sent my way.

I have but only one regret....that being that I've never been able to post a full marathon report. I know, it's silly to regret.... I'm truly thrilled to think back on the things I have posted about. From my favorite races, to getting tattoos, to getting through the hardest thing I've put my body/mind through, to jumping out of airplanes, to meeting inspirational people, to never wanting to eat a twizzlers again!

This blog was always meant to inspire and NOT to impress, I hope I pulled that off. I hope that you've been inspired to have a fearless love, a love of yourself. Not one of us is perfect. We all have hopes and dreams. We need to listen to the sounds inside our souls. Everyone around us has their little schemes.....listen to your heart and hold on to your dreams. Don't ever just "think" about taking that chance.........TAKE it! Make it yours! If I never would have taken "my" chance..........my chance on what's the most important thing in my life, me, I would never be able to keep showing you all this photo!

Of all the things I've done, I'm most proud of this picture! It says so much.....
much more than anyone could even imagine.

I hope for nothing less than pure happiness in all your lives. Please be kind to one another and especially to yourself. Make room for what's important to you. Take chances. Do what's right. Be proud of yourself. Raise your children with lots of love. Have fun, not just once in a while, but everyday. Love what you do-if you don't, change it to something you can love. Be kind to animals. Dance and sing as if no one can see you. Take Velvet Antler on a daily basis. Learn how to swing a kettlebell. Always be on the lookout to learn something new. Watch "I Love Lucy" at least once a day. When you don't feel like it.....do it anyways. Tell your family and friends how much they mean to you. Respect those that were here before you and made you what you are today. Embrace each day as if it were your last. Thank God-he makes no mistakes. Live by the Golden Rule. Remember that a smile goes a long way. Remember that sometimes it's better to just listen and not speak. We're all superstars. Love who you are-for you are perfect. Remember that "things" are just that....."things". Remember that all your problems will work out. Be the best person that you can be.

The next time a snake crosses your path or you see Lucy on TV or you hear ABBA on the radio or you spot a can of SPAM on your local grocery story shelf-give a little smile and wonder to yourself; "gee I wonder how Diana's doing" and then tell yourself; "I know she's just fine"..............

Thank you all for what you are......you're all an inspiration to me!

Race report x 2!

2011-12-04T11:57:00.027-06:00

What a fast paced last couple of days.....

Last Wednesday I did the 90 sets of MaxVo2 snatches followed by a 3 mile run....
Last Thursday I worked a busy 12 hours at the "hole" that pays most of my bills....
Last Friday I also worked another busy 12 hours, came home and changed into my winter running gear.....it was now time to run a 5K through Christmas lights which were set up at the County fair grounds just a mere 5 miles away from the house. It was the Enchantment in the Park 5k. The run started at 9:30 after the park closed for cars.

It's a drive or walk through Christmas lights that collects food and donations for local food pantries. It's really neat and it looks like this.....picture taken from the event's website.....

Sure, it's really cool the lights and all............BUT, do you notice how pitch black the darkness is???? Yeah, it really, really, really sucked for running. We ran around the parking lot and through the back of the park which is a very un-even gravel road then finally through the lights-we did this same route twice to make up the 3.1 miles. It was 26 degrees, which not too bad, but I didn't bring anything for my mouth, so my asthmatic airways were totally wheezing the 12 days of Christmas for the first mile or so until they somewhat acclimated themselves to the temperature! The worst part was the un-even gravel road in the pitch black of night-me and my feet were EXTREMELY nervous. I felt really old out there and not being able to judge depth of my running to the road, it was uncomfortable. It was not a timed race, no bibs, but they did have a timing clock at the end to see where people came in since there were gifts to the fastest ones! My time was around 42 minutes! Too damn dark to run with any speed! None the less, I got a rather cool looking shirt and the bragging rights of completing another race for the year!

Saturday Jeff and I were gone from 8:30-5 going here and there, doing this and that. I was fried by the end of the day. Friday was a very long day. After scarfing down some food-didn't eat all day since breakfast due to busy schedule, it was time to relax and watch the Badger Championship game. In case you're dead......they WON!!! Woo-hooo, Bucky's going back to Pasadena to smell some roses!!!!

Today.......Race #2!
The Milwaukee Santa 5k........what a great race! It was held downtown by the lakefront of Lake Michigan.

It was a lot of fun. Everyone got a Santa hat, a cool shirt that looked like a Santa jacket and a red/green colored race bib. I went a little different and wore my reindeer antlers! This way, I knew I'd stick out a little easier for my "personal" photographer (AKA: Jeff) to spot me amongst all the red.....plus I wore my Badger's shirt with a Green Bay Packer shirt under it. I definitely had red and green Christmas colors on and I represented the football teams!! Here's a pic of all the "goodies" I got for this race......the antler were mine!

More race photos thanks to the hubs........

Me and Santa at the start finish gate-he rang his bell for each runner as they came back and also had our names shouted out as we crossed!!

Lining up to start

Gettin' ready for the bell to ring the start!

And I'm off.... the one in antlers and Wisconsin shirt!

All the "Santa's" running up to the bridge

All the Santa's running up and over the bridge that crosses the main road which drives all along the lakefront. A lot of cars were honking and waving at us at this point! Can you imagine just driving along and then all of a sudden a couple of 100 Santa's are running on the side of the road!

And I'm back!

And so ends a busy stretch......it was fun and I'm glad to have pulled off 2 more 5k's which will more than likely end this years racing season, unless I come across something else real quick!

And to end this post..........can you say...........

12-0!!!

Holy crap, what a game......

Happy 8 Weeks and another fine MaxVo2

2011-11-30T12:51:00.005-06:00

I'm pleased to report that as of today, I'm now 8 weeks being "diet dew-less". I've quit before and the longest was for 4 months. Right now, I'm at half that time, but feel different about it this round. What does the Dt. Dew do for me? Pretty much, it just gave me that caffeine rush. What else? Well, to be honest it ripped my guts up when I slammed a lot of it in a given day. It made me feel bloated and it started to get my heart feeling like it was gonna thump out of my chest. I feel great that I've gotten this far. I don't really have any cravings. I'm saving lots of money by NOT dropping $1.75/bottle x 6-8 a day! Ugh, that makes me sick to think I was doing that. It feels great to NOT let "something" run my life.

Today, for the 2nd Wednesday in a row, I belted out a great MaxVo2 session.
Snatches w/12kg. 15 seconds work/15 seconds rest.
8 reps x 90 rounds for a total of 720 snatches
Total time: 45 minutes.
Time to move up again and get back on this with the 16kg. I was up to 45 sets with the 16kg not too long ago.......
MaxVo2 is a nice addition to the other jerks and press sessions I'm doing. I will eventually snatch for the 10 minutes like the other stuff to see where my baseline is.

After the MaxVo2, I went out for a 3 mile run. Not really sure why, but it was on my schedule to keep up with my every other day run plan. I picked a hilly 3 mile route which really showed me just how tired I was from the 45 minutes of snatching. Oh well, it's in the history books and I've recovered nicely with a ice cold chocolate milk and some great homemade beef/veggie soup. BTW.....on today's run, the temp was in the low 30's which made for my first successful snot-rocket for the season!! Woo-hoo, it's the little things that get us all excited isn't it?!!! LOL

From Christmas decorating to jerks......

2011-11-29T14:01:00.004-06:00

After taking Jared to school this morning, I came home washed up the dishes and put up our stockings. About 15 minutes later I crawled back into bed to snuggle with my cats. I couldn't get warm, I felt wiped, I felt completely drained and I knew all I could do was to succumb. From shortly before 9am until 1pm, I was covered up over my head with blankets and cats-still freezing, but managed to sleep most of that time. Now..........I've since showered, eaten and feel like a million bucks again! Sometimes you just have to let it be............

My training has been grueling these last few weeks. I've been doing lots of cleans, presses, snatches and running! Yes, that says running! I go no farther than 3 miles at a crack, but I go pretty much every other day unless work gets in the way! I love to run when it's in the 30's and 40's-perfect.
I hope to, possibly next week, increase from 3 miles just one day a week. This year, the running is going to be smarter-I can only pray the bones keep up!

Yesterday was Christmas decorating day. Pretty much everything except the tree. Plans for that are this weekend.....Jeff was told of a place where you can cut your own for a pretty decent price. Why does Christmas Vacation come to my mind?! This year will be a nice big tree, we have the room for it......just hope it lasts until Christmas Day! Today, I've been cleaning up cat puke with garland in it......hmmmm, no surprise there! Tis the season...pretty twinkling lights, ornaments dangling down, garland everywhere-a cat's dream come true! LOL.

Besides all the decorating and cleaning, I did a 3 mile run in the afternoon. After Jared got home from school, it was out to practice driving. After dinner it was Jeff and I off to Menards for some "house" stuff. After that it was down to the basement to do both my kettlebell training and Jared's.
Jared and I did........
2-handed swings, 10 reps x 25 rounds for a total of 250 swings. He used a 16kg and I used a 24kg.
Jared hit the shower while I did my session.....
10 minutes straight-long cycle jerks w/12kg. 49L/51R with one hand change.

I guess I can see now why my body needed to go back to bed...........

Hey Santa.....

2011-11-28T14:43:00.006-06:00

This past weekend was kind of slow at work-slow enough where we actually got to read the Sunday paper! Woo-hoo, checking out all the ads for Christmas. Now mind you, I've really not been much into the holidays these last few years, why, I'm not sure, but whatever, it just hasn't been there. This year seems to be a smidge different. I figured today I'd get the house decorated and surprise Jared when he comes home from school. I've been playing the "scrooge" all this past week since Thanksgiving intending to fool him, so he'll be surprised and happy to see the "stuff" up when he gets home today.

Now onto my Santa list...........
While looking at the Target ad, a beam of light came from the heavens above and shined on this item..........

Are you kidding me????? It was a really small ad too and my eyes fell right onto it. We have a 99inch theater screen in our basement where Jared's Wii is hooked up right now-good lord, if Santa brings this, I truly may NEVER leave our basement!! I am not into video games, maybe a little TETRIS here and there, but Dear Lord, I will become a video game junkie with this under my tree!!! Got that on your list Santa????

So decorating today went like this...........I have soooooooooo many ornaments of different things. Of course tons of Green Bay Packers, of course tons of Lucy, of course tons of Nascar, etc.....so, I thought what the hell........

A Green Bay Packer tree.....

How totally cool is that???? Can't wait to add another "Champions" ornament to it!!

And of course I MUST have a Lucy tree........

I have sooooo many Lucy ornaments, this doesn't even come close to all of them. These trees turned out really cute. Now just to keep the cats away!!!
We'll probably get our "main" tree this weekend. We ALWAYS go with a real one, so we wait a little bit therefore hoping it won't dry out before Christmas Day!!

Aside from laundry, dishes, cleaning and decorating, I did manage to get out for a nice 3 mile run. Tonight it's kettlebells by myself and with Jared!!

Have a great day wherever you are!

To give Thanks......

2011-11-23T10:58:00.007-06:00

I have to work tomorrow, so I'd like to take this opportunity today to give thanks for so many things......

First I'm thankful for today's kettlebell session! It was 45 minutes of snatches. I did MaxVo2 training.
15 seconds work/15 seconds rest.
8 reps per set x 90 sets. Total of 720 snatches.

I love these days when I crank this out. It gets those endorphins ripped!

Now in definitely NO particular order.....
I'm thankful for:

My family
My friends
My cats
The fact that I woke up everyday, so far, this year to see another day.
The beauty of a sunrise
The beauty of a sunset
The sound of my cat purring as he's snuggled against me in bed
The warmth of a sunny day on my face
The fact that my feet seem to be on the mend, slow mend, but a mend
New people that have come into my life this year
The view of my backyard
Having the health to do the things I never would have imagined doing
My bike
My kettlebells
Having a roof over my head
Having food on my table
Having clothes on my back
Having a job to go to
Being able to do something I love-make people breath easier and teach kb's
The sound of a nice gentle rain shower
The sound of all the birds that visit their feeders
The beauty of the deer that come and eat their corn
The smell of my husbands cologne
My new orthotics
The fact that I made it to the finish line of my 5th half marathon this year-broken feet and all.....
My devotion
My dedication
My strength
My will
My stubborness
Meeting a fellow blogger and someone I call my friend, Lindsay
Being now 7 weeks diet dew-less
Velvet Antler
All the military protecting my freedom
The first snow fall of the season-which came a few weeks ago
Twizzler lady-yes, she's a pain in the a$$, but she's come into my life for a reason.....
All the friends who came into my life and left a mark on my soul
Being a Mom
That I live in a free country
I am able to walk on my own
I am able to see and hear
I can breath on my own
My Sports Medicine doctor
My GI doctor
All the great people I work with
Padded bike shorts
I Love Lucy
SPAM
GU chomps
A ice cold chocolate milk at the end of a race
The feeling I get when a finisher's medal is hung around my neck
Disco
Having the best parents for as long as I was blessed to have them in my life
David Bowie
Knowing the difference between right and wrong
Seeing my husband at the finish line of all my races
My son's laugh
My husband's heated car seats
All the family that came before me and made me what I am today

I'm sure there's more I could come up with.....but this is a good start. May you all have a blessed and happy Thanksgiving! I will be spending mine with Twizzler lady!!

Doing things for time.......

2011-11-22T13:18:00.003-06:00

My kettlebell workout this morning started off with this song......she's quite the character, but I am starting to really like her songs. It was a good way to start things out.
I'm really digging doing my workouts for time lately. I love to run and of course we all keep track of how fast and how far we go. I love to bike and again, we keep track of how far and how fast we went. I love to swim, yup, I always time my laps. So.....time to "time" the kettlebell part of my life. Last week I did a couple of workouts where I set the timer and just went-NO rest. Loved it. It's great for building endurance without any "chance" of injuring the precious feet! Last week I did swings for 10 minutes and then the next day for 15 minutes. I also had one day where I did snatches for 10 minutes. I managed 190 reps for that workout. All of these were awesome. It's quite the sweat workout and some great music makes things go faster. I suppose some might ask; "well, isn't just standing there swinging for 10 or 15 minutes straight boring?" I respond; "well, isn't sitting there on the couch stuffing your face with whatever boring?". "Isn't feeling like shit from lack of good eating and exercise boring?" I could swing all frickin' day and never get bored. I guess it's just like someone who can run those amazing ultramarathons......are they bored? I doubt it for they're doing something they love to do and it makes them feel great!
Today's workout consisted of doing long cycle jerks for 10 minutes with a 16kg. Holy Mother of Mary....that was both hard and exciting! I managed 74 reps. I have no idea if that's good or what, but I don't really care since I'm not out to beat someone else-at least not at this time. Here's a video of a woman doing the 10 minute jerk competition for you to just get an idea of what I was doing this morning. Check out the chick next to her! Who says lifting heavy was not healthy???? Hello ladies.....pick up the bells!!

Seeing as how she got 122 reps with a 8kg, I guess my 74 with a 16kg is pretty good!!!

Another reason I'm liking workouts with my kettlebells for time is that then I have more "time" for whatever. I can easily do these even after a long 12hr shift at work. Sometimes it's a great stress reliever as well to do it after work!! Especially when dealing with the now famous "TWIZZLER LADY"!!!
These will be great for my endurance in whatever I chose to do. For instance....after my 10 minutes of jerks, I went for a 3 mile run. Nothing exciting about it-roughly the same time of 36-37 minute range. A few hours later however in the pool, I cranked out a 1/4 mile swim in 7:48. Not sure, but I think that's my fastest. No matter what, it felt easier to swim today. Now, if only I learn to (make that, stop being so fucking stubborn) put my head in the water, that should easily be a 4-5 minute swim for a 1/4 mile.......whatever!

After swimming, the hubs took me out for a nice lunch! Now it's time to get Jared from school and do some practice driving then off to train a new client!! Poor thing..........she has NO idea how great her life is going to be now that she's decided to put kettlebells into it!! LOL....

Just to rap up workout today....
10 minutes long cycle jerks w/16kg=74 reps
3 mile run
1/4 mile swim

Can't wait until tomorrow...........Have a great day wherever you are!

Around the World in 5K.......race report

2011-11-20T15:29:00.011-06:00

2 weekends in a row I get to blog a race report!! Woo-hoo I'm on a roll.....

Today's race: Around the World in 5K

This is a great little race that I've done before. I missed last years event because I had to work or I had stress fractures or both....my memory is not my finest attribute!
The reason I like it is you get to run on the oldest race track in the country. The famous Milwaukee Mile!! The track is the flattest oval so bonus....not a difficult race by any means! The race coincides with the Folk Fair festival which is a unique event that gives you an incite to all different kinds of countries and cultures. You're able to buy items and food from the different areas as well. I used to go to this fair as a high school spanish class field trip. The fair used to be held in downtown Milwaukee, but it's now been held on the Wisconsin State Fair grounds for quite some time which is connected to the Milwaukee Mile race track.

This is a pic of the start...by gunfire!

Jeff actually got a "full" shot of me this time! In my signature yellow jacket. If you look at the elderly gentleman to the very left with bib #82-he's a nice guy. I actually first met him at this same race 2 years ago and we exchanged a few words while out on the race track back then. This year, I seen him last weekend at the Warrior Sprint 5k and found out that he's a Vietnam Veteran. He's a cutey and I'm sure we'll see each other again at other events!

Here I am on the front stretch almost done with the 1 mile lap on the track (the track is 1 mile in length) and if you look at the gentleman with "the rock" on the back of his jacket, that's the fellow I spoke of in the last picture. I started in front of him but that never lasts.....you have to look very carefully to see me behind the pole...hint, hint....look for the yellow jacket!

Here I am coming out of the tunnel which goes down to the infield of the race track, just about 3/4 mile to go till the finish line.

And crossing the finish line!

Today's race stats:

bib number:	24
age:	49
gender:	F
location:	Slinger, WI
overall place:	125 out of 172
division place:	7 out of 13
gender place:	67 out of 108
time:	37:41
pace:	12:08

I'm really enjoying doing these 5k's.....they're definitely helping me to build my mileage base and get back into the swing of "competition". I hope to start working on knocking off some time, but then again, who cares. My mitral valve and I do just fine getting these done one race at a time!!!

Congratulations to all who raced this weekend.........and a HUGE shout out to my beloved Green Bay Packers......now with a record of 10-0. Yes, it was an ugly win, BUT none the less, it's still a win!!! Next stop.....Detroit on Thanksgiving!!

Lots of swinging.....

2011-11-17T11:08:00.006-06:00

Happy Great American Smoke-Out Day!!

Yup, that's me! I smoked. I smoked lots. I was a 2.5-3 pack a day smoker. On The Great American Smoke-Out Day of 1989 I smoked my last cigarette. The ONLY time I had one since that day was at my Dad's funeral in October of 1992 and it was only a few "drags" off it. It was completely disgusting. That's a habit I'm glad I don't have anymore.

Training stuff:
Monday-nothing
Tuesday: 2-handed swings w/24kg
15 sets of 10 reps. 15 seconds work/15 seconds rest.

Wednesday: MaxVo2 snatches. 35 sets of 8 reps w/16kg.
10 minutes of straight swings w/12kg. Set timer for 10 minutes and went at it. I started doing 2-handed swings, but then alternated L and R 1-arm swings. Total of 400 swings. I did 40 swings/minute.

Today: 15 minutes of straight swings w/12kg. Total of 600 swings at the 40 reps/minute pace. Yesterday's 10 minutes of straight swinging seemed rather easy for me, so today I decided to up the game some and set the timer for 15 minutes. To be honest, it was definitely more difficult, but it's just a huge mind game. It's just like running, you get to the zone, then "that" dark place and then before you know it, it's over! I left some gas in the tank-definitely know I could have probably gotten close to 20 minutes. Eh, something to work towards!
After running some errands, I donned my swimming suit and headed over to the pool. Holy crap I haven't done any swimming since September 1 and that was in the lake. I haven't been to the pool since April 20th. The sweet smell of chlorine! I put in a nice 1/2 mile and did it in under 20 minutes. 17:58 to be exact. Not bad-I'll take it. May have been a little faster, it was pretty crowded and I had 3 in my lane total-I got stuck with 2 "old" people!

Now I have 20 minutes to snuggle with my cats and then it's off again! I originally planned to do nothing but read today......LOL

Have a great day wherever you are!

Warrior Spirit 5K......race report!

2011-11-12T15:25:00.010-06:00

I sure hope I remember how to do a "race report"....it's been sooooo long!

In honor of all the veterans I did this "Warrior Spirit" 5K run this morning. It was the inaugural run of it and it turned out to be a nice little event! It's a organization which supports veterans, so a definite great cause. Not really sure how many people were there, quite possibly a couple hundred easily-not a bad turnout considering they just put this event together over the last 2 months. There was no timing clock and no bibs-which was actually nice. No pressure!! I ran into a co-worker who was supporting other runners and she actually said my time was roughly 38 minutes. I was happy with that, it's been a long time. It was a nice out and around downtown by Lake Michigan. It was really windy part of the way which was hard to run against and I definitely overdressed (as usual) for this. It was upper 40's when we got there and low 50's when we left. Here's a few pictures as seen through the eyes of my wonderful "sag man" the hubs, Jeff!

Here I am on the deck of the Milwaukee War Museum overlooking Lake Michigan

Here we all are taking off

Here are people coming back. If you notice in the background that cool looking building, that's the Milwaukee Art Museum which was used for last year's American Idol audition and also in the latest Transformers movie! Yup the gorgeous Steven Tyler and Patrick Dempsey have both been there!

Here's the beginning section which we just ran along the lake on a nice little out and back path

Then we took a slight right and ran around a lagoon that seen partially on the left side of this picture and then just came back to where we started.

And here I am coming back from my first race since May!! This time at least I do NOT have 2 broken feet!! Feels good to run.......

There were quite a few soldiers running as well, in fact some of them in full gear with full packs on their backs! Kudos to them. I passed one of the woman soldiers in full gear. I said; "looking fantastic, it's an honor to run with you"...she stated back; "thank-you Ma'am". It's amazing how much respect these people have for anyone, unlike that extremely mean and obviously unhappy "Twizzler" patient that barked at me the other day! Hmmm, amazing how making your body move to keep it happy also keeps the mind and spirit of one's soul happy!! Just saying.....
Hope you all enjoyed reading the race report as much as I enjoyed running it!

Have a great day wherever you are!!

May I have a Twizzler's please......

2011-11-08T11:14:00.006-06:00

Work this past weekend was a pleasant slow couple of days. Knowing how that rarely happens, we all took advantage of it and had a good time. Work gets harder and harder for me every time I'm there. For instance.....this past weekend I had so many, and because I'm just going to say the truth here, FAT patients. I'm truly tired of this crap. I used to really enjoy my job. I loved making people breath easier, but now I get called to make someone breath easier whom I'm not the one they need to get help from.
One patient in particular that I had was an easy 600lb female with a tracheotomy.
I went to her room for her scheduled (and not to mention, absolutely useless) treatment. She had a styrofoam cup full of Twizzlers sitting on her beside table which was position approximately 5 feet above the floor because that's how big her stomach was. She obviously couldn't reach the cup, so she asked me, and NOT at all in a nice way, to give her one. In fact, it sounded just like this; "hey, respiratory person, give me one of my Twizzlers". You have NO idea how much I wanted to shove that f****in' Twizzler down the trach and save us all some time and money. My response; "Why sure Mrs. So-n-so, I'd be happy to". OMG, I can't believe I am forced to do these things. Someone needs to go in her room, throw the Twizzlers away and tell her how it needs to be. My treatment isn't doing her any good. She's basically "TOO DAMN FAT TO BREATH". How frustrating that we have to be nice and "pussy-foot" around the real issues. The medical field is just not that enticing any more......I may NEVER eat a Twizzler again.

I don't mean to sound all high-n-mighty Miss Perfect and not give a damn. I do, in fact, I give a damn TOO MUCH. It's frustrating to care more about your patient than they care about themselves. It makes me wonder all the time. What's missing from your life, or what happened to you in your earlier days that has lead you down this path? Why are you so mean......most people are mean because something has scarred them terribly and they're unable to face/deal with it.

Okay, enough of that rant..............

Yesterday was a great day to be outside. It was sunny and in the mid to upper 50's. I was off by 8:30 for a great trail run. I accidentally made a wrong turn and ended up going 5 miles instead of 3. None the less, it was another great trail run. Right after getting home from the park, I had planned on showering, but I then thought, WTH.....take Steve for a ride you idiot for these days won't last long! So, I pumped up the tires and away I went. Put in a nice 22 miler. It's been a while since I've been in the saddle and it felt great. Then while riding, my friend text me and wanted to hit the trails for some hiking! I made it home with about 10 minutes to quick pee and change shoes/clothes. Off to the park again to hit the trails for a nice 3 mile "recovery" hike! What a great day!

Today, it's cold with heavy rain. That means either staying in pj's all day and doing nothing or kettlebells! Since, the "Twizzler" patient is still on my mind, I chose the later and did some grunt work with the bells!
Double cleans w/12kg's: 5 x 3
Double clean/press w/12kg's: 5 x 3
Double front squats w/12kg's: 5 x 3
Double swings w/12kg's: 10 x 3
Double cleans w/16kg's: 3 x 5
Double clean/press w/16kg's: 3 x 5
Double front squats w/16kg's: 3 x 5
Goblet squats w/20kg: 3 x 3
Goblet squats w/24kg: 3 x 3

Have a great day wherever you are!

Swinging everything....

2011-11-04T12:36:00.002-05:00

Yesterday after dropping my cat off at the vet for his teeth cleaning/teeth pulling appointment, I went to the park and pulled off a nice 3 mile trail run. It was super windy again with temps in the mid 40's but it felt like mid 30's out in the open, which is why I chose the trails-the trees kept me warm and safe from the wind! However, due to the heavy rains we've had in the past few days, the trail was super wet and slippery with the leaves. Made for some extremely cautious running!! As scared as I am every time I run the trails due to all the "fallen leaf" hiddin huge tree roots and rocks, I do really like running them. I'm going to have to really put this kind of running on my agenda once the snow melts and spring comes back!

Today's training session went like this:

2-handed swings: 15 seconds work/15 seconds rest
10 reps x 10 rounds w/12kg=100
10 reps x 10 rounds w/14kg=100
10 reps x 10 rounds w/16kg=100
10 reps x 10 rounds w/20kg=100
10 reps x 10 rounds w/24kg=100
10 reps x 10 rounds w/20kg=100
10 reps x 10 rounds w/16kg=100
10 reps x 10 rounds w/14kg=100
12 reps x 10 rounds w/12kg=120
Total swings: 920.
I took 30 seconds rest between each bell size, by the time I got up to the 24kg, the ticker was pounding pretty good! By the time I got back down to the 12kg, I felt like I was swinging nothing so decided to add 2 more reps to each of the last 10 rounds giving that set 12 reps for 10 rounds.

Now it's off to the trails for a nice long walk............

Have a great weekend wherever you are!

A few milestones......

2011-11-02T15:31:00.011-05:00

Today's workout gave me a few milestones that I guess are worth mentioning.

Here's today's session.....
Kettlebells:
2-handed swing ladders as follows:
10-20-30-40 x 5 rounds=500 swings
30 seconds rest between each rung and 2 minutes rest between each round.
40-30-20-10 x 5 rounds=500 swings
30 seconds rest between each rung and 2 minutes rest between each round.
Total swings: 1000

Snatch ladders as follows:
10L/10R-15L/15R-20L/20R-25L/25R x 2 rounds=280 snatches
1 minute rest between each rung and 2 minutes rest between each round.

Those numbers brought my "lifetime" totals of swings to over 100,000 and snatches to over 50,000. Exact totals: swings: 100,379 and snatches: 50,058. These numbers DO NOT include any of the swings/snatches done at the HKC and RKC or any of the workouts I do with clients. I wouldn't even want to try and count how many swings/snatches (not to mention all the other moves) I did at the certifications. These numbers also do not include any kb stuff done prior to November 2008 when I started keeping track. I started working with kb's in June of 2007.

Other milestones? Well, this past Saturday the hubs and I went to the Harley Davidson Museum to celebrate my (second) 10 years of service to my employer. I say "second" because I actually started on July 7th, 1989 and quit in 1999-that was my first 10 years. Came back in 2001 and have since done another 10 years. We've never been to the HD Museum, so what the hell, why not go for free and get a free dinner on top of it?! The museum was nice, definitely not enough time to take the tour like we'd like to. We were given a strict "agenda" for the evening's events.....check-in, pick up gift, tour the museum, eat, get recognized, pose for pics, blah, blah, blah......here's a pic of me and the "10" year group....

I'm third from the left in back row.

Here's a pic of me on one of the bikes they had the museum to sit on. I look good on this beast! It's a crappy pic, it was really dark in this area, and the hubs just used the cell phone, so not the best! Someday, I will learn how to ride..........

One more milestone....
On October 4th, I drank my last diet mountain dew. It has been 4 weeks since being dt dew-less! All has gone well up until this past week. It's been a rough one and it's only Wednesday....I actually went as far as buying one on Monday at work. I bought it at 0730 and then got pissed at myself for dropping that $1.75 to buy it.....how outrageous what they charge for my "crack"....it just sat there all day and it still sits there. I finally got tired of letting something so trivial run my life. I truly understand "addiction". It's real. It's hard. It sucks. The big thing is that it's so worth it every day to keep moving forward. I'm worth it!

Funny how this pic shows 8 cans.........that's pretty close to what I'd drink in a day, easily! I drank the 20oz bottles-shame on vending machine companies for changing from the basic can to the large 20oz bottles! At $1.75 a piece, I now am saving up to $14 a day.....that's incredible and yet very disgusting to think about.

Have a great wherever you are!

Snatch-tastic day!

2011-10-26T17:48:00.002-05:00

Emotional last couple of days at work, so it was nice to get my hands on my kettlebells to blow off some unnecessary stress.
This morning I was having some bad stomach pains and eating was not an option. I sat on the computer and caught up some on blogs, then figured I better get up soon or getting up itself may not happen at all....

This morning's workout:
Warm-ups....joint mobility and stretches followed by 100 2-handed swings.

Then: 30/30
30 seconds of snatches L
-rest x 30 seconds
30 seconds of snatches R
-rest x 30 seconds
30 seconds of jerks L
-rest x 30 seconds
30 seconds of jerks R
Total of 5 rounds per side. I maintained 14 snatches and 10 jerks per round. So my totals for this was 140 snatches and 100 jerks. All done w/12kg.

Then....5 minute snatch test w/16kg. Total 114 snatches.

Then....snatch ladders....NO rest.
10L/10R, 9L/9R, 8L/8R, 7L/7R, 6L/6R, 5L/5R, 4L/4R, 3L/3R, 2L/2R, 1L/1R
Total snatches: 110.
Done x 2 rounds, once with the 12kg which took 4 minutes and once with the 14kg which took 4:20 to complete.
Grand totals: 474 snatches, 100 jerks.

After my morning workout, I had a business meeting and then met a friend for a hike. We hiked for 4 miles. The colors are still awesome in some areas. We are definitely passed peak, but there are still "pockets" of sweetness. The smells of the trails are fantastic this time of year. The woods are very peaceful and quiet. It's very relaxing and comforting walking the trails. It eased my mind from the last few days of work. After completing that 4 miles, I made it home and mind you, with the exception of a "PowerBar" I picked up at a gas station, I still hadn't eaten anything. A different friend came over and we drove over to the state park and hit those trails putting on another 4 mile hike! A total of 8 miles on the trails....nice!
All in all even though it was cloudy, damp, dreary and cool with temps only around 45 degrees, it was a great day! It's just in how you look at things. Sure, it would have been great to park it on the couch with a blanket and keep toasty with my cats on my lap, but being outside moving my body and keeping my mind as calm as can be is way better!! Now, I can park it on the couch with a blanket and my cats!!
Tomorrow will more than likely be spent outside again......:-D

Have a great day wherever you are!

The last of autumn..

2011-10-23T14:08:00.002-05:00

This weekend will more than likely be the last nice one we have for a while. With the high winds of 30mph or more for like the last week and a half, the leaves are pretty much down for the count. Yesterday I seen the snowbirds are back, the deer are starting to come out looking for food and my cats have been sleeping with us to keep warm! All signs of winter coming up.....hooray!!

This was a fast weekend. My workouts....
Saturday:
AM: Run x 7 miles. This was my longest run since running the 1/2 way back in May. The feet are doing well.....hooray!
PM: Walking the trails x 3 miles at the state park with the hubs.

Sunday:
AM: Kettlebells.
3 rounds total.....
Round 1): No rest between moves
3 Get-ups per side (alternating arms)
Snatches: 10L/10R w/16kg
Clean to front squat: 5L/5R w/12kg
Transfers: 10 w/16kg
2-handed swings x 20 w/16kg
-3 minute rest
Round 2) No rest between moves
3 Windmills per side (alternating sides) w/12kg
Snatches: 10L/10R w/16kg
Clean to front squat: 5L/5R w/12kg
Transfers: 10 w/16kg
2-handed swings x 20 w/16kg
-3 minute rest
Round 3) No rest between moves
Exactly the same as round one.

Totals:
Get-ups: 12
Windmills: 6
Snatches: 60
Squats: 30
Swings: 90

PM:
Walk on trails at the state park x 3 miles.

Have a great day wherever you are!

Snatching, running and hiking.....

2011-10-19T10:21:00.007-05:00

Today's WOD:

Warm-up......Swings x 200
set 1: 1 minute of 2-handed swings=40 reps
-rest x 15 seconds
set 2: 1 minute of transfers=40 reps
-rest x 15 seconds
set 3: 1 minute of 1-arm swings 20L/20R=40 reps
-rest x 15 seconds
set 4: 1 minute of 1-arm swings 20L/20R=40 reps

Then......Snatches x 20 minutes, no rest
Total: 440. I was hoping to hit 500, next time!

Then.....Run on the suckmill x 3 miles.
1rst mile....easy jog
2nd mile....easy jog for 200meters, then "all-out" for 200 meters. Alternated this sequence of easy jog/all out for the entire 2nd mile.
3rd mile.....easy jog
I truly hate running on the suckmill, but again, we're experiencing up to 50mph winds here and I'm not going running (again) in it.....yes, even a mule can learn a lesson or two.

Yesterday, Jared and I went to Marinette for a Mother/Son road trip. Yes, I kept him out of school. Yes, think you want. Yes, I don't care.
We left here at 0730 and made it up around 10:15ish. First stop was our favorite hangout.....Seguin's Cheese. They have the best ice cream in Marinette! Yup, ice cream at 10:30am! Off to a good start! Don't care, it's our day!
Second stop was to check out the brand new Walmart they put up just down the road from the old one. The old one was a store in the mall that is slowly but surely dieing like the rest of the malls in the area. After Walmart, we headed over to Shopko. That's a local, Green Bay based store that is pretty much the same as Target. I love Shopko......we left there with Jared getting a couple pairs of new jeans and a shirt.
From there we had lunch and then eventually started to head home. On the way home we stopped in Appleton at their mall which seems to be booming.... unlike the rest. We stopped at Scheels. This is always a very dangerous move for me! I wish that money was absolutely no object in my life because I'd easily drop a few bucks in this store without even blinking an eye! It's a store for anyone who loves to do whatever. Hunting, sports, guns, etc.....it's my dream store. Thank goodness it's an hour away from my house. I do, however, have to say this one bad thing about the place........they carry this:

Some people just need to leave things to the real professionals!

Jared got himself a Texas Rangers Championship shirt and I picked up Jeff a Brewers central division champion shirt. I'm not a huge baseball fan, but it was nice to jump on the bandwagon for the Brewers this year. Jeff's shirt was a great buy, 1/2 price now that their season is over! I wondered over to the UnderArmour area-good lord, I LOVE that stuff.....I seen the sweetest blaze orange shirt, which would have totally matched Steve's new blaze orange handlebars, but it was only available in short sleeve.....damn! Hello, it's fall, this stuff should be long sleeves. Then around the corner was the NIKE area.....again, I'm in my own little "candy" store! Finally headed to the shoe area-there they were! It's like a light from God was beaming down on this one pair way over in the clearance rack. What can I say, my God likes bargains!! Anywhoo....I'm now the proud owner of these:

The green on these practically glows in the dark! I slipped them on in the store and new immediately that these would be coming home with me! This morning's run on the suckmill was done with these puppies on and let me tell ya-I know to NEVER, EVER wear anything else but NIKE! I switched over to the Brooks last year just before all the "issues" happened and they just haven't ever felt right. I've always worn NIKE's in the past, that should have just been the way to go but no, those pretty purple Brooks turned my head! These feel great and I'm anxious to get on with the training. To go completely "all-out" on part of today's run and feel absolutely NO pain was awesome. Look out Green Bay 2012.....

After the snatches and the run, I headed over to the state park to meet a fellow RKC for a hike on the trails-we ended up getting in a 5 miler before it started to rain! It's now 44 degrees, raining and strong north winds gusting up to 50mph at times! This stuff, I even gotta say it....SUCKS! It was a very productive hike and things are looking positive for us in the future!

Have a great day wherever you are!

Put shit in, get shit out......

2011-10-17T09:59:00.005-05:00

After a weekend of truly crappy eating.....I mean, crappy eating, it was time to get back on the workout train.
While I am happily succeeding at one change in my life, I'm disappointed in myself in regards to another....face it and move on.....

Today's workout:
For time....
9-15-21-15-9 (reps)
2-handed swings w/20kg
Double strict press w/12kg's
Over-head lunges w/8kg
Snatches w/12kg
Russian twists w/12kg
Renegade rows w/8kg's
My time: 21:30

First do everything for 9 reps, then 15, then 21, then 15, then back to 9. I did full lunges for the first 9 reps, then quickly felt "that" foot pain and lightened up the move to just a half lunge putting much less pressure on my feet. I did go back to the full (knee to floor) lunge for the last set of 9 reps.....mule.
I had a slightly hard time with this today, just goes to show when you put shit in your body you get shit out of it......face it and move on....

After the above workout, I headed over to the park again to run the trails. Hopefully this windy (25-35mph) pattern will break soon, but in the meantime, I am enjoying this new place to run! It's definitely harder to run these trails than on the road. Constant up, down, this way, that way, etc.....today was another beauty. The trail is now heavily covered in leaves that give off the best smell ever. The sound is almost rhythmic as I run through them. About 1/4 mile into the run on a downhill (which IMO are harder than uphill) my right foot hits a tree root. Twist....ouch, big time. I, immediately shout out some 4-letter words and instantly picture me going back to work wearing the "boot" again. I calm down, try and walk it off-crap, it still hurts-hurts bad actually. I take my shoe off, rub some, poke and prod but feel no "points" of localized pain. I'm a little happier feeling it's just been a good twist of the foot to the side. I put the shoe back on and walk some more-then start to run, shaking it off. Soon, pain is gone. But let me tell ya.....my eyes were glued to that trail looking for any kind of objects that I may misstep again on. A huge snake could have slithered past me and I wouldn't have cared-at least it wasn't a tree root or rock!
Today's run: 3 miles x 40 minutes.

Have a great day wherever you are!

400 and 4

2011-10-14T11:20:00.008-05:00

After baking (and "sampling") cookies all day yesterday, it was back in action today. I had originally planned to do some biking to get Steve closer to his 1,000 mile mark, but yesterday afternoon a pneumonia front came through and it's been like 35+ MPH winds ever since. I had to nix that idea, although don't think I didn't give it some real thought! Instead I did some swings followed up with a run.

Kettlebells: 2-handed swings w/16kg x 400
20 reps x 20 sets. 30 seconds work-30 seconds rest. Quick and easy.

Running: 4 miles
First 2 miles were on the road-I quickly learned that, not only was it a stupid idea to try to bike in this weather, it was also pretty stupid to try and run directly into it! I went to my usual "favorite" running hangout and figured that I would get the worst part (that being running head on into 35MPH) and then be able to finish strong with a tailwind. Hahahahahaha-what a freakin' moron I am! I was absolutely spent after that 2 miles. My chest was pounding, my body was wondering WTF was my brain thinking and I quickly felt like dieing on the side of the road. First mile out sucked the life out of me and even though I did have that tailwind on the mile back I knew I wouldn't make it on this road any longer. I got into my car and drove over to the state park and just like all the other smarter than I runners did-I ran the trails.
That was the best 2 miles I've done in ages. The wind was there, but being inside the forest-it was NO bother whatsoever. In fact, it just added to the ambiance of the run! I rarely run on the trails.....reason being is that I'm not the most graceful person and all I need to do is trip over some damn tree root or slip on the wet leaves and there ya go.....back in the boot again! But I ran this trail like I owned it! I was happy the entire time, I felt great and I'm looking forward to doing it again! Yipppeeee for trail runs! :D

After lunch I headed over to my favorite bike shop.....I had asked for a certain color handlebar tape and it was now in and ready for pick-up! I thought, WTH, bring Steve along just in case I play the "dumb blonde" role and maybe sweet talk them into putting in on for me right away!! Guess what.....it worked!!! They are the best......
So here's Steve all ready for hunting season!

Yup, that's blaze orange on them there handlebars. If only you could see it in person, it totally rocks. Then my good buddy at the shop, Mark calls me over (I was of course walking around looking and drooling at all the awesome triathlon bikes!) and as I turn to look, I see he added some on the aerobar as well....SWEEEEEET!!! I smiled like a kid in a candy store. Now, I'm really pissed that it's too windy to bike!

Unfortunately, I have to go back to the shit-hole that helps me pay my bills this weekend, but I want to mention some important topics which are definitely worth mentioning.

Saturday, October 15th......
This is the 60th anniversary of the debut of the "I Love Lucy" show!!! Seriously, has there been anything to top this show? Ummmm, that would be NO!!! Feel free to celebrate this special day in TV history by watching some of the best show ever produced!

Sunday, October 16th.....
The (defending Superbowl Champions) Green Bay Packers will be playing the St. Louis Rams.........I have a strong feeling by the end of the weekend, the Pack will be at a 6-0 record!!

Have a great weekend wherever you are!!

Baking up emotions....

2011-10-13T11:31:00.004-05:00

For the last 9 days, we've had sunny weather with temps in the 70's and 80's. That's very rare, in fact, this stretch has tied a record from 1953. Today, it's cloudy, raining and temps in the low 60's which after a cold front comes through later today will drop into the 50's.
This kind of weather makes me turn "domestic"......

I decided that "I Love Lucy" would be nice to watch and that I would make some home made cookies for the boys. It's absolutely dreary and surprisingly I'm not very tired. I thought after the last few days of workouts, especially yesterday snatching heavy that I'd be succumbed to the couch! I'm actually feeling rather good.

While baking the cookies, I got that "first" whiff of home made cookies smell flowing throughout the kitchen....who doesn't just love that????
Well, it took me back.....back to the late 60's early 70's when I would come home from school and my Mom would be in the kitchen all decked out in her silly looking hand made apron with oven mitts on her hands holding trays of freshly baked cookies!!! God, how I absolutely hate and love these moments. It's great to remember these awesome memories. Funny how such easy little tips can set them off, such as the smell of cookies baking.
While I won't be donning a apron of any kind, I know that Jared will be happy to see the big container full of home made chocolate chips cookies!

And so the oven timer is beeping.......another batch of cookies is done! :D

Have a great day wherever you are!

Winding up the fall season......

2011-10-08T15:16:00.014-05:00

When I turned in my schedule at work, I had taken off October 10th and 11th because I, at the time had planned on doing the Green Bay Duathlon on the 9th and love a few days off afterwards. I work the weekend of the 15th-16th, so I already have Wed, Thur and Fri off-so you got it, that gives me the entire week!

Vacation: I have always loved this song......

A week of workouts in my life....

Saturday, October 8:
AM: Kettlebells x 40 minutes
Snatch MaxVo2: 15 seconds work/15 seconds rest
8 reps x 80 sets
Total 640 snatches.

PM: Running
Run x 3 miles x 34 minutes
Very windy and way tooooo hot (for me) for the month of October-83 degrees.
Feet still seem to be holding up, I've lost a lot of my running "edge" since I've had to pretty much stop for a few months. Will take some time to grease the groove......but looking forward to it and doing it in the winter will be great since that's my favorite time of year to run!

Sunday, October 9:
AM: Bike
Biking x 40 miles.

PM: Hiking
Hiked 4 miles x 50 minutes over at the local state park. Here's a pic of part of my trail.....how can you not love it?

Monday:
REST DAY!!!
Kind of....I did some light housekeeping; dusting, vacuuming, dishes, laundry, toilets (ugh) and sweeping floors. Then I did some leave raking. So much for a "rest" day.
The hubs and I, after he got home from work, went over to Holy Hill and climbed the 178 steps to the top for the most perfect view in Wisconsin.

There's NO better place to enjoy the fall colors than from the top of the steeple!

Tuesday: Biking.
Biked with my friend over to (again) Holy Hill. The roads leading to Holy Hill are just that..........holy hills! It was only a 14 mile ride, but with the wind and the hills, it was a challenge! Still a great ride. Of course, we climbed the 178 steps to the top again! It was near 80 degrees again, but with the wind the last few days, the leaves are now falling fast! We started the ride from the state park and once we got back we hiked the trails for a quick 2 mile "recovery" hike. Felt good to get the legs back to normal.

Once again, I picked up the rake and raked for approximately an hour. My hands are sore.....

Today:
Kettlebells:
Swing/Snatch ladders.....1 swing + 1 snatch = 1 rep.
5L/5R, 4L/4R, 3L/3R, 2L/2R, 1L/1R x 3 rounds w/12kg. Totals: 90 swings/90 snatches, 45 per side.

5L/5R, 4L/4R, 3L/3R, 2L/2R, 1L/1R x 2 rounds w/16kg. Totals: 60 swings/60 snatches, 30 per side.

5L/5R, 15 second rest, 4L/4R, 15 second rest, 3L/3R, 15 second rest, 2L/2R, 15 second rest, 1L/1R x 1 round w/20kg. Totals: 30 swings/30 snatches, 15 per side.

2L/2R x 2 rounds w/24kg. Totals: 8 swings/8 snatches, 4 per side.

This was then followed up with a run x 3 miles.

I'm tired........If I would have actually taken a "real" rest day on Monday, I think I'd be feeling less drained. Some day I will learn...........

I still have tomorrow and Friday off before heading back to the place that helps me pay my bills. Hmmm, will I rest? I need only 80 more miles on Steve before his pedometer turns 1,000 for the season. I've hit that mark between both bikes, but I want to get Steve to his first 1,000 before parking him on the trainer for the winter! Mule............yup!

Me and my orthotic specialist....

2011-10-06T14:32:00.004-05:00

Weeks back my sports medicine doc told me I don't have enough "fat" in my foot and I should have orthotics made. UGH. Like I really want to throw hundreds of dollars away on some bullshit things to put into my shoes. For all I know, the doc has a connection with the orthotics company and gets a nice kick-back for the referral.....however, the pain in my feet could not be stood with any more. I finally called and asked how much these things would soak me for. For the initial appointment to have the "cast" made, the orthotics themselves, and the follow-up fitting appointment, the final cost would be $350. I was surprised actually at the cost, I thought for sure around $500. The appointment was made, the fitting was done and yesterday was the follow up/pick up appointment. This all took about 10 minutes, and here's how things went........

Orthotic specialist: Go ahead and take off both shoes.
He proceeds to rip out the original cushion from inside each one.

Me: I wondered if I was going to have to take those out.

Orthotic specialist: You will have to or else your foot won't fit.
My "inner brain" thinking to myself: NO shit sherlock, just making some small talk since you have the personality of a dead fish.

Orthotic specialist: Now here's how the "break-in" period is to go.

My inner thoughts: Break-in period? WTF, I plan to run as soon as I get home you foolish person.

Orthotic specialist: Today wear them for 2 hours, tomorrow 3 hours and on the third day for 4 hours, after that where them all the time.

Me: Can I expect any major issues these first few days?

Orthotic specialist: No, maybe just some slight pain in the arch area.

Me: Will I have to worry about any "sore" spots from rubbing or anything?

Orthotic specialist: Shouldn't be, but please don't hesitate to call me with any problems.

Me: When I can start to run?
My inner thoughts: Let me out of here so I can get my running bra on and check these bad boys out.

Orthotic specialist: Wait until after the "break-in" period and then see how they feel.

Me: Okay.

Orthotic specialist: Okay, all I need is a credit card for payment and we'll get you on your way.

Me: Here ya go, nice to meet you, thanks for everything, have a great rest of your day.

30 minutes later I was home and putting on my biking gear. I wanted to do a bike first because the colors here are spectacular and I wanted to ride the area roads to enjoy. Well, I took the hilliest ones around and 22 miles later I was absolutely spent. There was not going to be any run this day......

Fast forward to today......another gorgeous fall day. Temps expected in the upper 70's. Left here at 0830 to meet my biking buddy at 0900. We hit the trail and put in a nice 31 miler. Awesome, just awesome colors. It's great how when a breeze blows, a bunch of leaves come falling down on you! Just lovin' every minute of this season. Came home, did a quick switch of the orthotics from my everyday shoes to my running shoes. Slapped on the running bra and away I went. Within the first mile....a snake sighting. Son of a b......I've never seen one on this place I love to run. Oh well, one on the bike ride and now one on the run. I ended up doing a 5 miler with NO, NONE, ZERO, NADA pain in the feet. I haven't had any days with no pain in my feet for so long that it felt kind of weird. My original plan was to do 3, but 5 it was. I'm ecstatic over this. This just may have been the best $350 I've forked over in a long time!
This brings good feelings to me and my mood. This means the things I want to do in the near future are strong possibilities!
I'm getting to a good place. I'm getting "back" to where I was before menopause started! Haha-it's all good!

Now to figure out just what to do about this weekend.......

Perfect weekend!

2011-10-02T18:19:00.006-05:00

Yesterday was the KB Pentathlon and a run.....followed up in the afternoon with a ride to our favorite place, Shalom Wildlife Preserve. We kidnapped Jeff's Mom and took her with us to get her out of the house and enjoy the great fall weather. It was, as usual, a great time! Lots of nice Bucks this trip! This little albino sweetie was so happy to have her head scratched!

She was so friendly....I couldn't get away-she kept leaning her head into my hand wanting more rubs/pets/scratches! Finally, after about 10 minutes another cart of people came by with some little kids and they took over for me so I could get back to our cart. You get to take a golf cart for 90 minutes and hit the park. It's pretty big, each time you go you see different stuff. Right now the buffalo and elk are in their mating season, so we had to stay in the carts at their areas. Last year I got a great video of the elk fighting with their antlers....it's on YouTube somewhere...just type in "nice racks" and it should come up!!

Today was another fantastic fall day. I awoke to an awesome sight of frost all over the grass!! I'm sure I'm the only one who was excited about that! The sun came out and the frost soon disappeared. Jeff and I went out for breakfast, the company was good but the food sucked. It's just so "tasteless"....I know I can cook 10 times better than that. It's just once in a while you'd like to be "served", but I'll cook from now on! Went grocery shopping, came home and cooked a few meals for next week. Did a few loads of laundry, then off to the state park for a nice 3.5 mile hike. The smell of fall.........YUM! The sound of leaves crunching under my feet, the chipmunks still chirping really loud and all the sounds of the geese flying south for the winter that's about to show up! It was 65 degrees and sunny-not a cloud in the sky. I was going to just sit around until the Packer game started, but I just had to get Steve out there for a ride! These days won't be around much longer. Took a nice 20 mile ride and made it in the door just as the kickoff happened! I rode over to my friends house who has a bunch of huge walnut trees-I love to get the nuts that fall from them and feed our squirrels. I had a backpack on that I filled up and then finished my ride. Holy shit, 20 miles with a backpack full of walnuts was rough! My heart was beating like a rabbit on the hills! Great "extra" weight for my ride! I'll be sleeping GREAT tonight!

I must brag about Wisconsin now...........The Milwaukee Brewers are in the playoffs. Yesterday was day 1 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. We won that one. Right now game 2 is on and we're up 9-4 in the 7th inning. Fingers crossed we get this one too!
Last night the Wisconsin Badgers absolutely kicked Nebraska!! Primetime national TV game-way to represent WI. Today the Packers kicked Denver Broncos! Thank God we have an awesome offense because I'm not sure what the hell happened to our defense. No tackling out there at all....Vince would NOT be happy about this sloppy play! No matter what, a "W" is a "W" and in the end, that's all that counts. We are now 4-0 along with the only other NFL team to also be 4-0, the Detroit Lions! Who the hell would have ever guessed the Lions would be 4-0. Thanks to dumb-ass Dallas Cowboys who couldn't hold onto their lead today. I hate the Cowboys-always have, always will.
If, I mean, when the Packers get back to the Superbowl, I'm going to buy these Packer bibs I seen at a local store! I promise, I will post a picture of me "in" them!

You'd think I could crack a smile?

I'm completely exhausted right now, yet exhilarated as well. I love this time of year and I will always run myself ragged enjoying every single minute of this fall season because we all know what comes next.....

Actually, I love that time of year just as much! Time to get those snowshoes ready! But until then.......fall continues! Supposed to be in the 70's all week, you know what that means.............when not working, I'll be out and about enjoying it!

Have a great day wherever you are!

KB Pentathlon......loved it!

2011-10-01T13:31:00.011-05:00

I seen a link for a kettlebell pentathlon that looked like it would be fun to try. You can watch the video for a description of it and also seeing it being done.

If you get bored, you definitely NEED to fast forward it to the end of the video to see the athlete wring out his shirt which is just completely drenched with sweat! Sure it's gross, but it just goes to show what hard work kettlebells are! I actually think that part of the video is what made me want to do it.....I love a good, hard sweaty workout!

It's absolutely gorgeous out today, the sun is shining and the trees are really just a blaze of color...........here's what I got to look at for my entire workout this morning. Granted it was only 44 degrees outside when I did this and my bell was actually starting to feel cold, but yet it kept me from getting drenched in sweat as much as I would have being inside!

Unfortunately this picture doesn't do the tree any justice.....plus, too bad you can't smell the smell of it.......Love this time of year.

The Pentathlon goes like this:
5 exercises. Each one done for 6 minutes. Five minutes rest in between each exercise. You can switch hands at any time for as many times as you want.
Here's what I did...all done with the 16kg.
1) Clean.....125 reps (121)
2) Long cycle clean-press.....48 reps (60)
3) Long cycle one-arm jerk.....70 reps (108)
4) Snatch.....100 reps (108)
5) Push press.....74 reps (120)

The number in parenthesis is the maximum number you are allowed to get credit for, if you go over that's fine, but you only get credit for the allowed amount. I absolutely loved this.....it was hard as hell, but how great you feel afterwards! Talk about a runner's high........this was a huge kb high!
Speaking of runner's high, after I finished the pentathlon, I went for a 4 mile run! My adrenaline was all jacked up and a run in this weather is absolutely golden! My foot was sore to begin with from putting on at least 7 or so miles at work yesterday and running was probably not one of my best decisions, but.....

Hello.............remember me????

So anyways, it was a good run....just probably 4 miles too long!! Now it's time to enjoy all the big games this weekend! Milwaukee Brewers are playing the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first round of NBL playoffs here in Milwaukee! Tonight it's the Wisconsin Badgers playing the Nebraska Cornhuskers and tomorrow it's Green Bay Packers against the Denver Broncos. All teams are playing at "home" so it should be a great weekend!!! Great weekend to be in Wisconsin with all the sports and the autumn colors!

Have a great day wherever you are!

Marinette Triathlon

2011-09-29T04:03:00.006-05:00

I'm probably the only person who would drive 350 miles (round-trip) to do a triathlon that is not even a "actual" event.

I took my annual fall road trip yesterday to Marinette. Home of my ancestors. I was worried about the weather since we've been locked into this NON-moving low pressure crap which kept us in a cloudy/rainy pattern. I truly decided at the last minute whether it was a go....especially since I didn't pay for any "actual" event! I left my house in 55 degrees and rain. My bike, my bell and my running shoes along with all the other "gear" loaded in the car. The farther north I got, the less rain there was, then the clouds started to disappear and the temperature was going up! Yippeeee......I made a good decision. The tunes were rocking the rear view mirror and my mood was getting excited. I only stopped when necessary-just once to gas up and pee. At 10:10 I pulled into the parking lot of the local gas station which would be the starting/ending point of my event. Since sitting in the car for the last 2.5 hours, it was time to do some stretching.

By 10:20 it was time to get this party started. Since Lake Michigan is way to cold right now to swim in, I decided to change out swim for swings. My fastest time ever for the 1/4 mile swim is 8 minutes and the slowest is 12 so I decided to pick the number in between-10 minutes. I started this triathlon with 10 minutes of straight kettlebell swings. I'm pretty positive that was equivalent to a 1/4 mile swim if not more actually. Once the timer went off for the swings, it was Steve's turn to shine on the roads on Marinette. Shine, he did! I did the 15 miles in 50 minutes. Perfect weather, a slight head wind for about 5 miles and the rest was calm, sunny and warm AND bonus.....NO snakes! Off the bike and onto the run....3 miles later I nailed it! I did this tri in 1:35. That definitely could have possibly been a "gold medal" performance, but since Marinette YMCA decided to change their annual fall triathlon to a duathlon, we will never know. Oh well....

After the "event", it was time to hit all the cemeteries. I spent an hour driving around from each one-with a pit stop to Culver's for a pumpkin shake, YUM! I drove past the old homes that my ancestors once lived. I love genealogy and to be looking at the houses wondering and just picturing my family growing up in them makes me all warm and fuzzy. I noticed on my way to one of the cemeteries a pumpkin patch that was just loaded.....

There were a bunch of these farms all over the place up there-no shortage of pumpkins in this area! This was my last cemetery stop, then it was the "stinky" 2.5 hour drive home! Weather when I got home?? YUP, cloudy, cold and rain!

That's it........now time to get some rest, it's been a busy workout week!

Have a great day wherever you are!

4-8-4

2011-09-27T15:42:00.002-05:00

We've been stuck in this stubborn low pressure weather system here now for the last 5 days. It's been okay temperature wise-always in the upper 50's to low 60's, but the clouds and rain has been a constant. Yesterday, late in the afternoon, it was actually NOT raining so I went over to our local state park and walk the trails. It's a great time to be in the woods! I love the smells of autumn. Did a quick 2 mile hike. Great way to end the day.

Today's workout went like this....

Early start this morning with a run.
Run x 4 miles in the rain. I don't mind running in the rain-at least when the temperature is okay. It was in the low 50's, kind of windy and drizzle which at times alternated with heavy rain. I was soaked when I got home, but really how else can a person "my" age get away with running in puddles?!!! I actually had a blast. Imagine this.....I didn't see a single fellow runner out there!

After the run, it was a quick change into some dry clothes and then into the basement with my 16kg.
Set timer for 8 minutes. Snatched until the timer went off. I alternated hands whenever necessary, but never stopped snatching until the 8 minutes was up. Ended up with a total of 149. I know, I know....what bullshit to NOT do just one more frickin' rep to get an even 150. But, that just goes to show how "done" I was after 149.

I then met a friend for lunch and talked some business. Looking forward to the future.

After lunch, it was back to the trails for another hike. This time I did the trail for the 2 miles then turned around and did it backwards for a total of 4 miles. Once again it was a great hike enjoying the colors and smells of autumn. This season goes so damn fast, like basically 2 weeks, and then it all turns white!!

There ya have it....4-8-4!
Tomorrow promises to be another great day......

32 minutes.....

2011-09-26T12:01:00.003-05:00

I hate when folks say they don't have any "time" to workout. My workout this morning took a mere 32 minutes. Who doesn't have 1/2 hour to give. Who can't survive being away from their beloved Facebook for a lousy 1/2 hour? Who can't live without TV for 1/2 hour? Who "won't" take 1/2 hour to make themselves feel better? Whatever, people......

Today's session went like this...
Warm-up:
Joint mobility
200 2-handed swings
Then:
30 seconds of 2-handed swings
-rest x 30 seconds
30 seconds swings and 30 seconds snatch on L
-rest x 30 seconds
30 seconds swings, 30 seconds snatch L, and 30 seconds snatch R
-rest x 30 seconds
30 sec swings, 30 sec snatch L, 30 sec snatch R, and 30 sec clean L
-rest x 30 seconds
30 sec swings, 30 sec snatch L, 30 sec snatch R, 30 sec clean L, and 30 sec clean R
-rest x 30 seconds
30 sec swings, 30 sec snatch L, 30 sec snatch R, 30 sec clean L, 30 sec clean R and 30 sec goblet squats

Rest x 5 minutes and repeated.
Done.

Total swings: 240
Total snatches: 216
Total cleans: 120
Total squats: 20

It may not look like much on paper, but go bang this one out and get back to me. You start out at only 30 seconds of work, but by the time you're on the last section, you're working for 3.5 minutes straight. Each round took 13.5 minutes. So even you only a 15 minute window to workout in, doing this workout just for one round will certainly get the job done.

Make no excuse for living a better life!

Busy, busy, busy.....

2011-09-22T18:22:00.002-05:00

Yesterday's workout was great. A nice 5 mile run followed by 500 snatches. My kind of "brick"!
Later in the day I was working with a client and we did lots of swings and squats. Hello, remember me?? The one who HATES squats......ugh, I sucked the big one and decided to do them along with my client. It's actually only the first few squats that suck....once you're into the groove, they kind of grow on you!

Today was busy, busy, busy......
Dropped Jared off at school. Went right to it when I got home. I donned some "outside" clothes and hit the weeds. I am, lately, starting to hate pulling weeds. Especially now that there is that damn snake still lurking around out there just waiting for the right opportunity to wrap itself around my body squeezing all the air out of me....ugh! I know, whack job!
Anyhoo......I pulled weeds for 1/2 hour and then it starts to rain. First it's just a light drizzle which I can easily still work in, but then it starts to get heavier. How convenient that it's raining hard right at 8am-right when "I Love Lucy" is on for an hour! Guess what? YUP, rain lightens up at 9am! Back outside and finish the job. Once the weeds are pulled I was going to cut the grass, but it's just too wet. Instead I pull out the 12ft ladder and clean out the gutters. Up and down, up and down, up and down! I would much rather be doing a "snatch ladder", but such is life-things have to be done!
Last night I text my riding buddy to see if she was interested in riding today. Of course she was! By 12:30-we were on the road. It was very cloudy, black and grey clouds-almost "winter" looking clouds!! It was roughly 58 degrees and a pretty good north wind. Sounds horrible doesn't it?? Actually it was nice. We seen a crap-load of deer. One was, I swear on my Mother's grave, 10 feet away. She ran across the trail just as we were coming along. Of course I stopped and "chatted" with her.....I know, whack job! What can I say....I love animals. Her baby was on the other side of the trail which is more than likely why she didn't run off. We put in a 20 miler today and had a good time. I had ordered a couple of "finisher" medals for us for the Century ride we did back in August. Seeing as how that was her very first one ever-I felt she deserved a finisher's medal! She definitely "earned" it for how hot, humid and hilly that ride ended up being! It was nice to see her face when I gave it to her-all personalized with her name and everything!
After getting home from the ride, the grass was next in line! Fired up the lawnmower and I think this grass cutting episode was definitely a PR for me. I got it all done under 1.5 hours. Holy crap-I had the music cranking in my ears and it was all back and forth, back and forth, back and forth......done!

Tomorrow's agenda????

NOTHING!!

Five and Five Hundred....

2011-09-21T13:16:00.002-05:00

Today's workout.

Run x 5 miles. This is the first run more than 3 miles in a long time. It felt great mentally! The weather was good, a little windy, but good. Temps of 58 degrees, sun popping in and out of the clouds, winds straight out of the North! My favorite direction! After hitting the low 60's today, that's it till who knows. Highs predicted to be only in the mid 50's next couple of days! Lucky for me, I have the next couple of days off!!! I'll be out there-you can bank on that!

Right after the run, I picked up the 12kg and banged out 500 snatches. This is how I broke it down.....
First set:
10L/transfer/10R
rest x 15 seconds
10L/transfer/10R
rest x 15 seconds
10L/transfer/10R
rest x 15 seconds
10L/transfer/10R
rest x 15 seconds
10L/transfer/10R
100 snatches

2nd set:
20L/transfer/20R
rest x 15 seconds
20L/transfer/20R
rest x 15 seconds
10L/transfer/10R
100 snatches

3rd set:
25L/transfer/25R
rest x 30 seconds
25L/transfer/25R
100 snatches

4th set:
20L/transfer/20R
rest x 15 seconds
30L/transfer/30R
100 snatches

5th and final set:
10L/transfer/10R x 5 times, no breaks!
100 snatches

Fall has definitely arrived to Wisconsin. Temps are awesome-refreshing. Colors are coming in-the trees are starting to look they're on fire. Road trips to enjoy this beautiful state during the fall season are definitely on the calendar!

Have a great day wherever you are!

Weekend wrapup!

2011-09-18T07:58:00.004-05:00

Yesterday's workout went like this....

Kettlebells:
24kg:
2-handed swings....10 reps x 20 rounds=200 swings
16kg:
Snatches....10L/transfer/10R x 5 rounds=100 snatches
20kg:
Snatches.....5L/transfer/5R x 6 rounds=60 snatches

Later in the afternoon it was time to bike.....
Took Fred out for a 15 miler. I have gone over 1,000 miles for the season! While out riding, I passed a house that had a bike for sale. As I got closer I thought to myself.....gee, that looks like Helen's bike. I did see some people working outside on their yard and my gut told me to turn around to investigate my curiosity. I found out that it was in deed Helen's bike and that she had passed away a few weeks ago. Holy crap, that means she passed away just shortly after our encounter. Wow, freaky is all I can say. For someone whom I've only known for a mere 5 minutes, she sure left a huge mark on my soul. People come into our lives for many reasons-Helen was one of those special ones!

Today it was an early morning run. It was dark when my alarm went off at 5:30am. 15 minutes later I was running. I enjoyed this time of day. Knowing that most of the world was probably just starting to stretch while still in bed. Some reading the morning paper while their coffee is brewing. It's a great time to be out running. The morning sky was pretty-shades of orange, red and pink as the sun came up. Very quiet-I actually ran part without listening to any music. Then I cranked it up......managed a nice 3 mile run.
Jared has his buddies over this weekend......the basement is full of teenager stink! I will more than likely go down later after they leave to do some kettlebells stuff.....
Now it's time to get the dishes done and get ready for some Packer time! I love Sundays.....

Have a great day wherever you are!

So what?

2011-09-14T10:23:00.005-05:00

Monday.....
I took my son to school in my pj's (I used to work 2nd shift and this was a daily thing that has just pretty much stuck!) and I still had them on when he came home in the afternoon.
The 911 snatches Saturday night (late-did 'em at 7:30pm) followed by 911 swings early the next morning (at 5:00am) plus biking back to back both days (one day 30 miles, the next 20 miles) just sent me to the "need to energize" mode. That's exactly what I did. I spent Sunday night on the computer watching the Ironman-WI live stream waiting for my friend to cross that line. It's very inspiring (to say the very least) watching these people come across....in fact, I hate that I watch 'em because I know how it feels to cross the line after a sprint tri and I'd love to have that feeling x 10 times which is, I'm sure, what you feel after an IM.
Here's a pic of my friend Becca after crossing that Ironman line:

Monday was spent taking numerous "20-minute" naps, watching lots of Lucy, watching Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry and the Flintstones, watching some of the US Open tennis match. Hello......Rafeal Nadal-YUM! Make that OMG YUM!!

your welcome ladies!

Tuesday the pj's came off and I opted to take Fred for a ride today. I wanted to hit the trail from end to end which is a 50 mile ride. 40 of it is crushed limestone, so there was NO option of using my road bike, it was all me and Fred. It was 58 degrees with a strong (did I say it was strong? I mean "holy shit" strong) wind straight out of the north. This trail runs north and south-yup, you got it figured out! The first half went right into the wind. This first 25 miles took me 2.5 hours. Ouch-snails pace for sure! I felt, at times, like I was pedaling up hill for 25 miles. I can't even count how many times I wanted to throw in the towel on this part of the ride, but once my mind is made up with something, I can be pretty stubborn....Hello? Remember me, the one who runs a 1/2 mary with 2 broken feet?

Once I finally arrived at the end of the trail, I took about a 15 minute break and ate some food, drank some fluids, smoked a quick butt and took a pee. Hahaha, just kidding about the butt-just seeing if you're paying attention or if you're still thinking about Rafael! I climbed back aboard Fred and told him that "now" it's going to be fun!! And it sure was! There were times when I had Fred moving at 20mph (this helped to get me past all the snakes that decided to come out and see me).....NOT bad for a hybrid with fat tires riding on gravel! It took a mere 1-3/4 hours to make it back! Amazing how much a tail wind can do for your speed-not to mention my mood!

Today's workout:
Kettlebell snatches.......
I used every bell I own on this one....
12kg: 5L, transfer, 5R x 3 rounds=total 30
Double 8kg's: 5 reps x 3 rounds=total 15
14kg: 5L, transfer, 5R x 3 rounds=total 30
16kg: 5L, transfer, 5R x 3 rounds=total 30
20kg: 5L, transfer, 5L x 3 rounds=total 30
Double 12kg's: 5 reps x 3 rounds=total 15
24kg: 2L, rest, 2R x 3 rounds=total 12
Grand total: 162

I haven't used my 24kg (53lbs) for snatching in a long time and it felt great to do it today. It's truly amazing what this stuff does for one's soul. This leads me to my blog title; "so what?"
Today is my 1/2 birthday-that means I have exactly 6 months left of my 40's. I honestly can't wait until this year is over. This has been one complete year from hell. I know I truly don't have anything "concrete" to complain about. After all I do have a roof over my head, I have food on my table, I have a job, I have clothes on my back, I have a great family, I have great friends, I have no major medical issues.....I'm very fortunate.
I hate to throw out the "M" word again but.... This menopause shit actually in the long run really makes you grow up. I now understand what my parents went through at this stage in their lives. I now understand what "they" worried about at this age. I now understand what "they" felt at this age. It's so true how all things come around in cycles from generation to generation. I've let things plague me now for way too long-my weight, my fear of losing everything, my loved ones and their bad habits, etc....but have all my efforts worked? The obvious answer has to be NO otherwise all my issues would have been solved long ago! We all have 2 kinds of pain. "Clean" pain which is what we feel when something hurtful happens to us. "Dirty" pain is the result of our thoughts about how wrong this is, how it proves we-and life-are bad. One part of our brain simply registers the events, while another creates a continuous stream of thoughts about those events. The majority of all our unhappiness definitely comes from this secondary response-not from painful reality but from painful thoughts about reality.
All these "dirty" thoughts can lead to mental suicide. Resisting what we can not control removes us from reality, therefore making our emotions, circumstances and loved ones inaccessible. This results in a terrible emptiness. One which we usually blame on our failure to get what we want. Actually, it all comes from refusing to accept what we have. I truly feel like I've been living this way most of this past year. Most of us, including myself, see yielding as a ultimate failure, but that's truly absurd when the war is between us and reality.
So what to do? Surrender!
That's right..........I say it hear and now; "I surrender".
Surrender allows the truth to set us free. How do we surrender? Two words: "Observe compassionately".
Sure, I have turning 50 coming up quickly and my first response would be; "oh it's going to be horrible", or "I'm so old", etc.....but.....

The "fruits of acceptance".
There is a enormous relief in detaching from our mental stories. Surrendering leads directly to our right lives, our hearts' desires. It's amazing how when I release my scary stories and accept the truth of my life, I've found that I've actually stumbled into more happiness than I ever dreamed possible! When I stop trying to control my mind-that paranoiac storyteller-my thoughts become clearer and more intelligent. It's a delicious paradox to say the least.....By not trying to control the uncontrollable, we get what we thought we'd get if we were in control.
This though pleases me greatly.

A Weekend in Midwest America!

2011-09-11T21:51:00.002-05:00

Since my last post I haven't given "running" any thought. I've decided to put this on the back burner until I decide what I want to do, if anything.

In the meantime......

I worked Thursday and Friday. Friday night afterwards the "need" to move heavy shit around was strong. So...
Warm-up: 2-handed swings x 200 reps.
Bottoms-up w/12kg: 3L/3R x 2
Clean and strict press w/16kg: 3L/3R x 5
Double clean and strict press w/16kg's: 3 x 5
Clean and strict press w/20kg: 1L/1R
Cleans w/20kg: 5L/5R x 5

Saturday......
Bike x 30 miles
In honor of 9/11......911 snatches w/12kg
*this was done as 10L/10R x 45 rounds and 11L x 1 round.

Sunday......
Again in honor of 9/11.....911 Swings w/12kg
*this was done as ladders: 10-20-30-40 x 9 rounds, then 11 more swings.
Later in the afternoon: Bike x 20 miles.

In between the swings and the bike today, Jeff, myself and a good friend of ours went to a local community parade for 9/11 remembrance. It was a lot of fun-who doesn't LOVE a parade! Especially Midwest America parades...full of tractors and farm shit!
Then at the end of the parade in the local park was a "Early Farm Days" exhibit. It's way cool to see how things were in the past. It's easy to see why there was NO obesity issue back then. People had to WORK. Hard-ass work. Not like now-a-days when you can sit on your fat ass and collect unemployment checks for 2+years. How the hell did that ever happen? 2 years? Why WOULD anyone get a job when they can get "free" money from you and I who do work.
OK, I won't turn this into one of "those" posts.....but I think this is why the Kettlebell and I get a long so well.....those things are HARD-ASS work....and I love every minute of it. Makes you feel good about yourself.

I can't end this without sending out a huge CONGRATULATIONS to my good friend Becca for finishing the IM-Wisconsin today!!! This is her 3rd year of doing it and 2nd time finishing. I've been able to "feel" what it's like after completing a sprint triathlon and absolutely LOVE it, I can't even imagine the pride of an IM......

Have a great day wherever you are!

When a door shuts.....

2011-09-07T14:43:00.003-05:00

Today was just another fantastic day! Not only weather wise....although, let me brag a bit on it!! It's been consistently in the 60's or 70's. NO humidity. Low's in the 40's. Seriously......you all should be jealous, I'm getting a taste of heaven these days. I'm not a complete cold heart bitch.....my thoughts and prayers go to those in Texas battling the fires and those on the east coast battling floods. What a contrast of conditions just hundreds of miles apart. This planet of ours is definitely making some readjustments.

Today after taking Jared to school I came back home and started to clean. I was having some clients over to whom I was going to put kettlebells into their world! I did all that fun grunge work of dishes, scrubbing floors (yes, old fashioned hands and knees-the best IMO), scrubbing toilets...ugh I absolutely hate cleaning toilets. Etc....then I did my workout which was:

2H Swings w/16kg of 20 reps x 10 rounds, total 200 swings.
Clean and Press ladders w/20kg:
5L/5R, 4L/4R, 3L/3R, 2L/2R, 1L/1R x 1 round

Then after working with the clients for another bunch of swings, we did a nice little "workout" at the end of the session. One of my favorites: "Eleven".
10 2-handed swings and 1 Goblet squat
9 2-handed swings and 2 Goblet squats
8 2-handed swings and 3 Goblet squats
7 2-handed swings and 4 Goblet squats
6 2-handed swings and 5 Goblet squats
5 2-handed swings and 6 Goblet squats
4 2-handed swings and 7 Goblet squats
3 2-handed swings and 8 Goblet squats
2 2-handed swings and 9 Goblet squats
1 2-handed swing and 10 Goblet squats
Oh yeah, they are soooo going to feel this in the morning!!

After they left, I grabbed a bite to eat and then off for another bike ride. Day 3 of being in the saddle- yeah, she's getting a tad sore. Again, why is it NOT ever windy until I climb aboard the bike??? Today I did a short ride. Monday and Tuesday were both 25 milers, today was 15 miles. One thing I totally LOVE about biking this time of year, besides the weather of course, is how all those inclines and hills that were really tough to handle in the beginning of the season now are hardly even noticed! Love that feeling of conditioning and then reaping the benefits!

So you're probably wondering what all this has to do with the title of this post? Then again, maybe you forgot the title already!

Yesterday I was here......again.

It's been 3 months since my last 1/2 mary and I'm still feeling the fluid or whatever the hell it is in my foot so I made a follow up appointment to talk things over. Long story short this is what I was told. I do not have enough fat! Yeah, every woman's dream to hear this line!!! Apparently there are fat pads in our feet and as we age these can get smaller. Mine, I'm told are not enough to cushion my bones well enough to run, therefore the stress fractures could continue if I continue to run as is.....WTF?? Now what? Do I believe this crap? I don't honestly know what the f**k to think? I'm so disgruntled over it all. On my drive home from the appt. I was so pissed thinking about it. I was given a "script" for special made orthotics which will have a built in "cushion" to make up for the lack of fat. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!!!!! Holy shit, can't you just take the fat from my ass and call it a day???? Okay, I'm done. The door of my running world is shut. Maybe forever, I don't know. I'm not worrying about it right now because that's just wasted energy. Energy that can be put into something positive about all this. I lost the majority of my weight working with kettlebells. I love my bells. This will give me the time to put 100% effort into my training with them. It will force me to work on things I don't want to. It will force me to get it on with squats, lunges, swings, snatches, cleans, presses, get-ups, jerks and etc.....It was great to bring the bells outside again today. It's fun gripping the grass with bare feet and swinging that medal beast around.

For now, until I figure out what to do with the feet-get a orthotic or just fuck it-I have plenty of things to do. I lived many years without running, of course I got really fat too, but I don't think that will happen again-I've got this great all around workout tool to play with!

Sorry this babbled on and on.....have a great day wherever you are!

September rocks! So far!

2011-09-05T16:08:00.002-05:00

This is actually my 666th post......I hate how "numbers" rule my life! Lets get this post out of the way so we can move on to a better number!

September is off to a good start. September 1 brought my first "home-made" triathlon of the year.
Bike x 31 miles. Went with my friend who did the century ride with me. We hit the trail for a great ride. After the drive home from her house, I still had a boat-load of energy. I changed shoes, clothes and went for a run.
Run x 3.1 miles. My first 5K since I'm back to running! Woo-hoo.
Later in the day, which was a hot and humid ass day, my swimming buddy and I went over to the lake for what will be our last OW swim of the season.
Swim x .25 mile.
The water is just getting too damn cold to go anymore. Time to renew the membership at the pool.....ugh. I'm not a big fan of pools, but it's still swimming!

September 2-Jeff and I went up to Door County to visit my Aunt and Uncle before they leave their cabin for the summer and head back to Dallas. The weather sucked but that just made for some great "visiting" time! Nice day and glad we got to see them before they leave.

September 3-4 I worked the weekend. It sucked because, as usual, someone called in for the entire weekend on the previous Thursday. Who the hell calls in 2 days early for a holiday weekend? Thanks. Saturday I had the entire 26 bed ICU to myself. Thanks to all my great RN coworkers for helping me and knowing that I was busting my ass as much as I could. Sunday was a little better. Either way, the weekend is over and those days are just a blip in my memory!

Today-it's perfect. The weather has really cooled off. Down to the 40's last night! I'm soooooooo damn happy, there's no way you could possibly understand just how happy I am! September is my month.....
I got up early to get a nice run in. Another 3 miles. Nice cool temp of 41 degrees and a pretty strong northerly wind brought back some fond memories! I absolutely LOVE winter running and can't wait. After the run I made a nice breakfast for the hubs and I, did the dishes and then headed outside to play with my kettlebell.....sunny and temps now in the 50's definitely speaks kettlebells outside!! Cranked out a quick 200 swings and 150 snatches. Felt great to do it outside barefoot in the grass! Then it was time to take Steve for a nice ride. Holy shit.........talk about windy! I did a 25 miler. The first 3 were great, then I turned right. Ugh....right into that strong northern wind. After 6 miles I finally got to turn left and get off the direct line of wind. But...then I almost got blown off from the sidewind! Oh well, none the less, it was still a beautiful ride in beautiful weather!

One nice and hot shower later, it was off to the grocery store! I've got some great food planned for the week. Love cooking in this cooler weather! My 3rd load of laundry is finishing up. It's almost time for a great dinner, then on to the couch with my nice fuzzy blanket and 2 cats parked on my lap for a great night of TV with the hubs!

Hope your September is off to a great start!

August in a nut shell.......

2011-09-01T05:00:00.001-05:00

August was an "up and down" month. It went really fast. Jared turned 16. Jeff's Dad passed away. I had most of the month off due to funeral/vacation time. I did NO/NONE/NADA/ZERO races. I did accomplish my century ride in honor of Lucy's 100th birthday! I had my usual annual performance evaluation at work. Jeff and I attended his work, John Deere, for their 100th Anniversary of the Horicon, WI plant.

Pretty much your basic "midwest" summer month!

Training stats for the month:

Biking: 257 miles (July-248)
Swimming: 0.5 miles (July-6.25)
Running: 6.5 miles (July-Zero)
Walking: 51 miles (July-6)
KB snatches: 1084 (July-1966)
KB swings: 5805 (July-3439)

As you can see, my KB swings are way up there. Reason being is that I've been doing 300 a day, everyday since August 15th. Why? Because I like to do them. I know of people who run daily so why not swing daily? I see nothing wrong with it. I've never done the same routine twice either! I've used every bell I own to get to 300 total. Some days it's all with the same weight, some days it's a combo of different sizes. Some days it 10 reps x 30 rounds, some days it's 20 reps x 15 rounds or some days it's 30 reps x 10 rounds. Some days it's 100 reps x 3 rounds. Some days it's 1-arm swings, some it's 2-handed swings, or some it's high pulls. Some days it's all 3. Some days it's a ladder. Some days it's just a straight count. See my point? It's always different. I get asked; isn't that boring? Really? Isn't running boring? If you can run everyday, then I can swing everyday.
As you can also see, there is a change in the running category from zero to 6.5 miles. Woo-hoo. Yes, running can be boring-if you let it! I'm never bored at anything I do for a workout/training session. It's all in the mind people-all in the mind!
I also went way up on the mileage under walking. From 6 miles to 51 miles! I walk almost everyday. In the state parks, on the city streets, on the state trails, you name it-I walk it! Another great way to get the legs and feet back in shape to get my run on again!
Swimming went down big time-no worries. The OW temps are going down, it will be time to get back into the pool soon. Pool swims-those CAN be boring! Mental, it's all mental.
KB snatches are down some from last month. That's because I've been using a bigger bell. I've gotten fond of using the 20kg for them. My reps are down to get a nice foundation and build up some endurance. I'm thinking that September will be a bigger month for the snatches-back to the 12kg and 16kg for speed work.

So.....that's August.
September?
September 1-Jared goes back to school-Mr. Sophmore!
September 6-Appt. with Sports Medicine Doc to come up with a game plan to hopefully take care of the fluid in my foot.
Besides that.....nothing much but enjoying the spectacular fall season that comes to our area each September! That means road trips!!!! I'm pretty sure Marinette will be one and of course Holy Hill......

This needs to be seen every fall season. Oh Lindsay....if only you could have been here for this time of year I know I could have gotten you to go ALL the way up!!!

My biggest event of August? Meeting Helen!

Have a great day wherever you are!

Along comes Helen.......

2011-08-30T12:43:00.002-05:00

In my "almost" 50 years of life so many people have come and gone. Their faces fade as the years go by.
Through-out our school years we have friends who come and go. Through-out the years of different jobs and what not, we have people that come into our lives and give us just a little something of them to keep in our hearts forever. Some things are good, some are bad memories, and some are a few of the best memories or times we've ever had. Whatever the case may be-we've learned something or have been touched in some way by each person that has crossed our paths through out our lives.
I miss so many people who are not a part of my daily life anymore. From family members that have passed on to fellow co-workers who have left. They always say we're closer to our coworkers than our own families due to the amount of time we spend together. In the last 14 months alone, we've had 14 people move on to different a place of employment. That's insane and I won't really add too much to this section because blogs are public.....enough said!
Back to my original story....
Last week Wednesday I was out for a nice bike ride. The weather was picture perfect. Clear, blue skies. No humidity. Temps in the 70's. I'm about 7 miles from home and I'm now coming up an elderly lady biking as well. As I get near to her rear wheel, I shout out my usual biker safety phrase: "coming on your left". I get to her side and state: "beautiful weather for a ride hey?". She answers back; "Yup, and today's my 100th birthday". First I'm flabbergasted by her response that it's her 100th birthday because she didn't "look" 100 years old. I would have guessed 80's easily but not 100! Well because I love old people so much I had to ride along for awhile and chit-chat! I spoke of how I'm turning 50 (which right now doesn't seem that old considering that's only HALF her age!) and that I wasn't all that excited about it. Of course I asked what her secret was for reaching the century mark! Helen and I chatted about all kinds of stuff within a very short period of time! I swear it's like God sent my very own Angel to help me with my thoughts! I've lived in this area for 20 years now and I've been biking these roads for the last 4 years. Never have I seen this lady before. She said she bikes 1-3 miles a day, everyday! Helen ROCKS!! If she's not biking, she's walking. I can only hope I grow up to be just like Helen!!

I've had my "ups" and "downs" this year big time. I was afraid to post this story too early because I know that every time I get a little "pick-me-up" it doesn't last long and then I'm posting a downer again the very next day! Well, it's been a week now and my little chat with Helen has done me well. I'm not looking back to what was. I don't want to be who I was 4 years, 3 years, 2 years or even a year ago. I'm a new person. One who is very lucky and blessed and who knows it.

September 18th-Marinette Triathlon..........dropped out.
September 25th-Susan G. Komen 5K........dropped out.
October 7th-Green Bay Duathlon...............dropped out.

These are 3 big events I look forward to..........very, very, very much and I'm okay with the fact that they are not going to get done. My life doesn't depend on the fact of me participating in any of these. I know that my character is not dependent on it. Next year is a brand new year. It's a brand new chapter in my life. Hopefully, it's only "half-way" over!

God Bless You Helen...........ride on sister!

Keeping quiet

2011-08-23T22:12:00.010-05:00

There comes a time when it's best not to say anything.

I'm there.

I won't go into any details because, frankly, it's no one's business but mine. So instead of making you suffer through a bunch of verbal vomit.....I will provide you some pictures that will hopefully bring a smile to your face..........

Yeah, you usually can't go wrong with pics of kids and animals. This last one shouldn't make you laugh. In fact, click on it to make it bigger. Look at the boys face. Feel his pain. Realize the next time you piss or moan about something so damn trivial he now has to live without a Father or a Mother. Not all pictures we look at are to make us smile. Sometimes a picture can send off a million emotions in our souls.

I have a gazillion emotions right now.......all from hate to disgruntled to disbelief to despair to love to shame to fright to calm to fear to......

Hiatus is over.....

2011-08-17T12:40:00.002-05:00

3 months ago I was in some pretty uncomfortable pain. Fast forward to today...the feet seem to be holding up. I've been doing a lot of walking, both road and trail to give them tootsies a good testing. I enjoy walking....it's been fun getting back to it, especially now that I have another brand new MP3 player again! I gotta remember to keep electronics far away from water!! Last week on August 9th, I did my first run since finishing the Green Bay 1/2 Marathon back on May 15th. It was a 1/2 mile (yippee-frickin'-yippee)done over at the high school track. Yesterday, I walked over to the track again to do another run-unfortunately the high school marching band was on it practicing. The track is closed to the public when school activities are going on, so I had to just run on the sidewalk instead. I actually love listening to marching bands, so I turned my "ears" off and listened to them instead for my run! That was my first 1 miler in what seems like ages. Good Lord, nothing like starting over. You definitely lose it when you don't use it. Today I took my car down to the garage for some maintenance work. I walked home and picked up my 16kg kettlebell. Did 300 2-handed swings. Put on the cycling gear and biked 15 miles out and about ending up at....YUP, the high school track! Ran another 1 miler, did some bleacher runs afterwards and just in time because now the marching band is on their way out again! Biked another 3 miles out and about and headed home. Showered, walked down to pick up car. Later this afternoon I will be heading over to the state park and doing some major trail walking with a buddy of mine! Should be another 2-3 miles.
I did miss running, I miss the long times of thinking about good shit, and sometimes bad shit. I think of all crazy things when running. I'm sure we all have some pretty good stories of our "thoughts" while out running. I hope things continue well, I can still feel the fluid in my left foot, but it doesn't hurt. The bad fracture on my right is giving me no grief! Just not sure what running on this fluid will do......Hopefully nothing because my season is just about to start!

Have a great day wherever you are!

Kettlebells......WI style!

2011-08-15T13:20:00.002-05:00

Our grass really needed to be cut but I pretty much "swore" off ever doing it again because of how rough it is on my feet, I'm over that!!
Today I cut the grass just the way I like it.........Kettlebell style! That is cutting it while pulling a sled with a kb on it behind me. Talk about a ass kicker....it's hard as first, but you get used to it, then I know tomorrow I'm gonna really feel it. For whatever reason, the "tiredness" I get from any hard workout comes the next day!

Today's WOD:
Grass cutting x 2.5 hours. Not all was done with the sled/kb behind me. About 1.5 hours of it was. The rest of the yard is hills, so my workout was pulling, pushing and dragging a lawnmower up and down 'em.

Then.......with Jared....
2-handed swings w/20kg. Jared used 16kg
10 reps x 30 rounds at 15 second work/15 second rest pace.
Total swings: 300

Then.....just me....w/20kg:
1 snatch + 1 negative press = 1 rep.
1 rep L, transfer, 1 rep R.....repeat x 5 reps per side.
**30 second rest
1 rep L, transfer, 1 rep R.....repeat x 4 reps per side.
**30 second rest
1 rep L, transfer, 1 rep R.....repeat x 3 reps per side.
**30 second rest
1 rep L, transfer, 1 rep R.....repeat x 2 reps per side.
**30 second rest
1 rep L, transfer, 1 rep R.....repeat once per side.
Total snatches: 30
Total neg press: 30
Total transfers: 15
Nice workout with the 20kg!

Have a great day wherever you are!

Vacation is over......

2011-08-12T14:47:00.006-05:00

I have to go back to work this weekend after having 2 weeks off. UGH, UGH, UGH! Oh well, I know, for myself that I would never really enjoy my time off if it was always there! I'm ready to go back......okay, I just vomited in my mouth too!

The first week off was a bummer with Jeff's Dad passing away and dealing with all that stuff. This second week was great! Lots of great workouts done! I did my century ride! I was given "Comrade of the Week" status from the wonderful folks at Dragon Door! I went on a nice all-day road trip with the MIL across the state to the Mississippi River! Just an over-all good week.

Yesterday's workout consisted of many things......
First up was.....
1) Bike x 23 miles (1:30)
2) KB's with Jared. The basic 15 second work/15 second rest workout.
He did 2-handed swings, 30 sets of 10 reps with the 16kg for a total of 300
I did snatches: 30 sets of 8 reps for a total of 240 snatches
**That KB workout took all of 20 minutes......whom ever says they don't have enough time to workout is just fooling themselves and looking for ways to "avoid" doing something their body and mind so desperately want!
3) Jared and I went walking for 2.5 miles
4) Run x 1/2 mile. Another small run, but none the less...........a run! It's hard not to just go out and crank a 10 miler or so.....but I hope I've learned my lesson!

Today's WOD was a timed workout. It took me 42:28 to complete
25 box jumps
25 body-weight squats
25 body-weight lunges
25 see-saw presses with 12kg's (I did 25 per side)
25 snatches with 16kg (I did 25 per side)
25 2-handed swings with 24kg
25 Long-cycle clean/jerks with 12kg's (getting better at these)

Then a nice long walk to call it a day.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

My 30 seconds of fame.........

2011-08-10T20:31:00.003-05:00

Everyone gets their 30 seconds of fame right??? Well...........

It's really freaky to see this...........I'm honored!

Enjoy!

Kettlebells......gotta love 'em!

2011-08-08T14:55:00.003-05:00

I absolutely love working with my kettlebells. I truly wish I could get the entire world hooked on this cute, innocent looking ball with the built in handle!

Monday kb's:
2-handed swing ladder as follows.....
10 sets of 10 reps w/12kg=100 swings
10 sets of 10 reps w/16kg=100 swings
10 sets of 10 reps w/20kg=100 swings
5 sets of 10 reps w/24kg=50 swings
10 sets of 10 reps w/20kg=100 swings
10 sets of 10 reps w/16kg=100 swings
10 sets of 10 reps w/12kg=100 swings
Total: 650 swings
I really wanted to do 10 sets with the 24kg as well, but it's new to me, so can't rush things. Plus, one needs room to grow!

Tuesday: kb's
This is a killer workout........one I will have to make sure I keep!
Goes like this: *Each move was for 30 seconds*
2-handed swing
**total of 30 seconds work
-rest x 30 seconds
2-handed swing + Snatch L
**total of 1 minute work
-rest x 30 seconds
2-handed swing + Snatch L + Snatch R
**total of 1.5 minutes work
-rest x 30 seconds
2-handed swing + Snatch L + Snatch R + Clean/press L
**total of 2 minutes work
-rest x 30 seconds
2-handed swing + Snatch L + Snatch R + C/P L + C/P R
**total of 2.5 minutes work
-rest x 30 seconds
2-handed swings + Snatch L + Snatch R + C/P-L + C/P R + Squat/press L
**total of 3 minutes work
-rest x 30 seconds
2-handed swing + Snatch L + Snatch R + C/P-L + C/P R + SQ/P L + SQ/P R

This workout starts on the easy side, but once at the end you're working for 3.5 minutes straight!
Totals: First round done w/12kg
Swings: 20 reps/30 seconds=140
Snatches: 12 reps/30 seconds=132
Clean/Press: 6 reps/30 seconds=42
Squat/Press: 5 reps/30 seconds=15

I repeated the same thing this time with the 14kg. Holy crap, I should have quit while I was ahead! Just double those totals above and that will give you the actual count for the entire workout! This was hard. This was great!

After the kettlebells........I walked over to our Post Office which is roughly 1 mile away, mailed some crap, headed another 1/5 mile over to the High School track and YUP, I did it! I ran! First time since the Green Bay 1/2 Marathon back on May 15th!! I ran 1/2 mile! Yipppeeee! Then walked back home.

Tomorrow its a day off from working out.......except for walking!

Have a great day wherever you are!

Weekend of fun.....

2011-08-08T08:05:00.013-05:00

Friday we had a very private service at the cemetery for Jeff's Dad. Just the immediate family to see the ashes go into the vault. It was a rough week, but once the vault was sealed-it felt like now it's time to let the sadness heal and just bring the happy memories onto the front burner.

Saturday was the "big" day! Lucy's 100th birthday and my century ride to celebrate this big occasion! The Hallmark Channel played a "I Love Lucy" marathon all weekend which ended just this morning. I was up early Saturday morning, I think it was roughly 4am that I woke up. I decided that to lay there was just a waste of time, so I got up and watched a couple of episodes of Lucy, took my shower, ate a huge breakfast, got my "padded" shorts on, loaded up everything and once my fellow rider pulled in the driveway at 0645-we were off!

Here's a pic of Meg and myself getting ready to head out.......it was so humid, it took a view minutes to let the body "adjust" to the heaviness....ugh.

Here's my pedometer as we headed out.......398

Heading down the driveway.............

Using a big "down" hill to my advantage........this is with about 46 more miles to go!

And here we are 100 miles later-heading back "up" the driveway. I'm walking here because our driveway has a big bump at the end, not good for those skinny tires to fly up, so now I get off and walk it up...........

Here's the proof on the pedometer............

Here's Meg and I still with smiles on our faces! These are "pride" smiles!! This was Meg's first century ride, she told me she's always wanted to do one, so I'm glad she chose mine to make her first! Not only was it so humid, it also turned out to be a hilly one, but we're home and happy!

At the beginning of the ride, we started on a very hilly area. I was working so damn hard, I was really concerned that I was not going to make this day. At times, Meg was so far ahead of me that I thought I was going to cry! I was pedaling my ass off and getting no closer to her rear tire! We took our first big rest break at mile 23ish. I'm like, something just isn't right. After looking the bike over, we noticed both my brakes were riding ON the wheels......good lord, no wonder I was going no where, it was like pedaling and braking all at the same time for the last 23 miles!! After bathroom breaks, food chowing and hydration, we were off. Hmmm, pedaling is much easier now!! Thankfully neither one of us had any "mechanical" issues, no flats, no brakes, nothing. I got stung by something right under the front of my helmet on my forehead. I asked Jeff to look at it and instead he snaps my picture.....so here's a real "dork" picture if I ever seen one! Gotta love the shirt..........

I went through a total of.........
5 1-liter bottles of water
4 lg bottles of Gatorade
3 12-oz cans of Mt. Dew
3 bags of GU Chomps....watermelon and cranberry apple-YUM, my favorites
1 small bag of dried banana chips
1 small bag of dried cranberries
3 energy bars
1 small bag of Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies
1 Hershey with almonds bar
I think that's everything!

I felt pretty good through-out the ride. Granted the last 30 miles we were in the wide-open sun. The first half of the ride it was really cloudy-but it cleared up by the end. Felt a little "fried" from the sun. We seen deer, cranes, hawks, cats, dogs and of course....a ton of cows and horses.

Sunday I had my family reunion.........
It was my kind of a day. Just a lazy day at a lake with a bunch of cousins! It was in a small town called Burlington at Brown's Lake. This is a spot where my Dad's family spent many weekends while growing up. I've been here as a real little kid with my folks and numerous Aunt, Uncles, etc....

Here's a pic of our area and the lake in the background...........

Here's all the cousins lined up in order of age! I'm the one all the way on the right-the youngest!!!!! My sister is 4th one in from left and my brother is 3rd from the right. We were having fun....we all leaned to the left, then to the right-just acting goofing!

It was a great lake for swimming-I wanted to spend the entire time in the water! It was nice, warm and very sandy. We did the usual....eat, visit, eat, laugh at memories of the trouble we all used to get into, eat, talk about our kids, eat, swim, eat, talk about those who are no longer with us, eat and even had a cherry pit spitting contest! I lost!

Today is back to reality......for some! Jeff goes back to work, I took today and tomorrow off, plus I already had this Wed, Thur and Fri off-so YUP.....I'm off the ENTIRE week!!! I then work the weekend and it's 3 more off after that! I guess, I'm doing okay with having 12 hour shifts!

Time to end this "forever going on and on" post.......sorry for the length, but at least there's a lot of pics to break it up! Here's just one more video of the Queen at her finest.........this cracks me up big time.......okay, they all crack me up! If this doesn't make you laugh, there is something wrong with you!

Have a great day wherever you are!

Happy Birthday!

2011-08-06T04:00:00.000-05:00

Happy 100th Birthday to the QUEEN
of comedy!

There are sooooooo many funny moments from Lucy's career, I can't really say that any ONE of them is my favorite. They "all" are my favorites. Whenever I'm down about anything, watching a little "I Love Lucy" instantly makes it better!

Here's a clip of the longest laugh in television history, of course, it's from Lucy!

The closest I ever got to Lucy was when we were in California back in 1984 and we took one of those "geeky" tourist driving around looking at "movie star" homes and we drove past her house. I have the picture of her house tucked away in a photo album somewhere. Her newspaper was laying on the front yard and why the heck I didn't get out to take that paper to the front door, I still wonder to this day! I guess my balls weren't as big back then as they are now-I certainly would do it now!! Oh well......

Happy 100th Birthday Lucy!
August 6, 1911

Celebration and Sadness

2011-08-03T09:37:00.003-05:00

I've been kind of quiet lately, here on the blogs and on FB. This past Monday, Jeff's Dad passed away peacefully at the age of 85. While we all were expecting it, it still sucks when the "event" actually happens. I see people die routinely at work, it just never seems to get easier, especially when it's one of your family members.
My FIL's health had been dwindling over the last year. He made himself a DNR and wore the "bracelet" that if he was found down anywhere, no one is to revive him. He stayed at home in hospice care with Jeff's Mom as long as possible. Last week he stopped eating, then was doing the "hallucination" thing, then he just became to much for my MIL to handle on her own. The hospice RN came by and said it was time to transfer him to the hospice facility. The one which was near to their home was (sadly) filled to capacity so he ended up 45 minutes away in Milwaukee instead. It's hard to see a loved one "actively" dyeing. I've been there. They aren't the same anymore. They have no idea if you're there or not-or so we think, but can we be truly sure? He eventually passed Monday afternoon while Jeff and his Mom where on their way down to see him. Taking "that" walk, the one where you leave your loved one whom you will never see again, sucks. It's been hard for Jeff's Mom. They were married 62 years. Can you imagine what a huge loss that is in your heart? I don't even want to think about the fact that I at some point will be going through the same thing-however, I admit that with this menopause crap, I've already been thinking of stuff like this. No wonder women put on "stress" weight during menopause-the crap that goes through your mind over and over and over......

Today is my son Jared's 16th birthday! Yeah, for him. I feel like we've been living the "Sixteen Candles" movie. With the exception of instead of getting ready for a wedding, we are getting ready for a funeral. I'm trying to make his day as special as it should be-after all, you only get to turn 16 once! He's had his 3 friends over since early yesterday morning. They've got the basement looking like a giant video game conference! The big screen hooked up to Jared's flat screen that they carried down, then his laptop hooked up to another machine, etc......only those guys know what's going on with all the cords and controllers! They chowed numerous bags of Doritos, pizza, chocolate chip pancakes, and brownies. I'm keeping them teenage boys filled-I think! Holy crap, they can eat! Later today it's lunch and birthday cake......then after they leave, it's shopping time for Jared!

I've done no workouts until this morning. With all the arranging and things we had to do, it's been a crazy few days. Spending time with the MIL and going through the FIL things. What was once "fond" personal belongings just a few days ago is now considered "junk" that needs to go-these are the MIL's feelings. We're trying to keep her mind thinking straight, but like I said, after 62 years-who "would" be able to think straight?

Today's WOD:
Warm-up.....joint mobility and stretches.

16kg:
5 1-arm swings
5 snatches
5 clean and press
5 front squats
5 TRX reverse crunches
transfer to other side and repeat same sequence.
Did this for 3 (each arm) rounds.
30 swings, 30 snatches, 30 clean/press, 30 front squats and 30 crunches.
Then.....
Swing ladder w/16kg:
10-20-30 x 5 rounds
Total of 300 swings.

Felt good to burn off some stress...........

Here's a nice pic of Jeff's folks taken about 2 years ago-this was shortly after he made it through 10 hours of open heart surgery to replace a valve.

While we all are sad that he is no longer physically here with us, we do know that he is no longer suffering and is at peace.

Have a great day wherever you are!

One month closer to winter......

2011-07-31T14:18:00.002-05:00

As July comes (THANK-GOD) to an end, we are now that much closer to my time of year! Fall and Winter!!

This July our average temperature was 76. Highest was 98. Lowest was 59. We had 6 days with temperatures 90 or above. We had 3.53 inches of rain with 1.62 of that falling just a few days ago on the 27th and 28th. Things were hot and dry around here this July. I know there are places that have it a lot hotter than this, but I don't live there so I don't care about 'em! This was a hot month for us. The A/C ran hard.

My stats for the month of July are..........

Biking: 248 miles
Walking: 6 miles
Swimming: 6.25 miles
Running: 0

Kettlebells:
Swings: 3439
24kg...250
20kg...1194
16kg...1430
12kg...565
Snatches: 1966
20kg...136
16kg...430
14kg...1160

Obviously, I also do other kettlebell things besides swings and snatches. I just don't put it out there for a monthly total-most of you who read this wouldn't care anyways about cleans and presses and get-ups and etc......
I usually have a higher number for both swings and snatches, however, I've started to use the bigger bells way more. I would anticipate those numbers to keep creeping up, therefore, those grand totals should also creep up.

Yesterday's WOD was 1,000 snatches with the 14kg. 20 seconds of work/20 seconds of rest x 100 (50L/50R) rounds. 10 reps per round.
I love doing this because it's easy to get to 60 rounds, rounds 61-70 I'm usually in that "dark" place. Rounds 71-80 I start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Rounds 81-90 I start to get cocky and a little rejuvenated. Rounds 91-100 I am definitely tired, but I always make my last rounds my best rounds!

Today's WOD was a very early OW swim over at the park. Again, I had the lake all to myself. I enjoy the peace and quiet of the early morning swims.

Things are turning sad in our house.......once we are born, we start to die.

The right path........

2011-07-27T13:52:00.006-05:00

This may end up being one of my long, dragged out verbal vomit blogs, so I'll get to my workout right up front and then it's up to you whether you want to read on or blow the rest off.............

Woke up just a tad stiff from the grass cutting/weed pulling day I ended up having yesterday, but after a few joint mobility and stretching moves......all is good and ready to go.

Today's WOD:
Warm-up......16kg
1 clean-1 strict press-1 front squat x 3 on L, transfer and repeat on R x 3
3 rounds of 3 reps per side for total of 18 cleans, 18 presses, 18 squats.

MaxVo2 Snatches w/16kg:
15 seconds work/15 seconds rest
Reps per round: 7
Total rounds: 30
Total snatches: 210

That was a 15 minute workout, not including the warm-ups, and my arse was kicked. I had 2 seconds left over during the 15 seconds of work phase and probably could have gone up to 8 reps per round, but I liked 7.....so be it. I've cranked out 80 sets of this MVo2 with the 12kg and the 14kg, now it's time to build that with the 16kg.

Now......
I had a great conversation this morning with my friend from Meadow Creek Elk Farm. This is where I get all my elk meat and the elk velvet antler that I've spoken of before. We talked about menopause crap and other stuff going on. Recently, about 2 months ago-while reading other blogs and stuff, lots of info out there on "supplements". I was intrigued by some. I started to take 4 different new supplements. 1)Maca, 2)Strontium, 3)Flax seed, and 4)Super Green Formula. I know that I'm in a phase in my life that I can't stop, no matter how much I try! I know that what's happening to my mind and body are normal. No matter how much I try to fight them! I started to have some major GI issues. No need for details! Besides the GI, I just wasn't feeling "right". I try to eat what God has given us on this earth to feed our bodies with. Why should I need something that is man-made in a pharmaceutical company? I've taken Elk Velvet Antler since just before my first triathlon back in 2008. I've since stopped taking all the above new supplements and I'm feeling that "I'm" back.

Point is.......I take now just my multi-vitamin, Vitamin D and C, and the Elk Velvet Antler. I haven't taken anything for pain in years. I haven't been sick in years. I feel better since I've stopped the above stuff.
Velvet Antler is what's best for me. It's a great supplement and I highly recommend it, but it's up to you to try or not.
What's so great about it? There's a ton of literature out there. But what I can tell you is this. It is loaded with all kinds of "good" stuff. Natural stuff. Right from the animal-which btw, is not harmed in any way during the process of removing the velvet from the antler. It consists of 8 essential and 15 non-essential amino acids. Collagen. Growth hormones, both IGF-1 and EFG. The effects on the body are remarkable. A few of them are, anti-inflammatory effects, blood pressure control, bone and joint health, and it stimulates the immune system. I'm glad to be off the "other" stuff. I will just keep eating what is intended for us to eat-anything that can be picked, plucked, hunted, or whatever. No large-500,000 different item grocery stores for me. All I need is a farmer's market and a GREAT local butcher shop.
It's definitely hard to not eat some of the shit that's out there. The chips, the candy, the ice cream, etc......after all, I did weigh over 300lbs at one point-I didn't get that way eating all healthy! Sure, that crap (some days) tastes good. But the effects of healthy eating and the exercise are better. I like those feelings. I get all bummed when I do chow on a candy bar or eat a bowl of ice cream-I know that I just consumed about 300-400 extra shit calories that I don't need. The hard thing is figuring out "why" did I eat that? A-ha, back to the mental game!!! What's missing? What's bugging me? What's pissed me off? etc......
Life...........it's so much fun isn't it?!!!

Thank God for my little friends: my bitches-we get along sooooo well.....they are the perfect addition to my life.
They never blow a tire, they never need repair, they will never break, they will never wear out, I can always count on them sitting there when I show up in the morning to swing 'em around!

Have a great day wherever you are!

Some times you just have to roll with it......

2011-07-26T14:07:00.003-05:00

Today's agenda: Swim at the crack of dawn and then bike for a long ride. What happened? The swim-yes, the bike-not so much.

Today's WOD:
1/2 mile OW swim at 0600. What a perfect time to swim! No one, absolutely NO one else was there! The lake was calm. The air was (for others, not me) cool, it was 66 degrees when I pulled into the park. As I walked into the water, the mist rose above the water and gently moved across the lake as my legs walked in. The water was gorgeous. Nice and warm. Not like bath water, but a cool shower. It was way warmer than the air-hence the fog that rolled over it as I swam back and forth. It was so quiet, nothing but typical wildlife noises. I was going to do a mile again, but then figured why? I don't need to do a mile every time now. It was nice to just to a half mile and call it a success. After 20 minutes of peace and quiet, I was back in my car and on my way home.
I made Jared and his buddies some chocolate pancakes for breakfast. BTW....I'm known as the coolest Mom because I made their favorite pizza's, had the basement frig LOADED with all the Mt. Dew they could consume and then the pancakes! As they ate their pancakes, I made my usual breakfast. Scrambled eggs with SPAM and spinach. Yum-don't judge!

Next workout after breakfast was a long bike ride. Planned on around 40-ish. Got a half mile down the road and my back tire blows. I've had the road bike on the road now for 4 miles shy of 400 miles and already a blow! WTF. Did I fix it? Hell no, I can't remember shit, let alone the demonstration I was shown on how to fix a flat. I walked it home and shoved it in the back on the car-away we go to the bike shop! Ironic thing is after my ride I had planned to drop it off for it's free 3 month check up!! I was upset that my day wasn't going how I wanted it to. Yesterday, I blew off the weeds to ride and I tried again today. I decided to bite the big one and just get my ass out to tackle some "outside" work. I even started by firing up the lawn mower! I haven't cut the grass since 2009! I actually forgot how much I really ENJOY cutting the grass! It's a great workout, plus, the feeling of a hard days work is just the best! Even if I were loaded with all the money I could ever want, I'd still do most of my own work. Not sure why I said "most", I can't think of anything I wouldn't do, or at least tackle! Trust me, I don't have "ladies" looking hands, I have the hands of a person who's worked hard all her life and will continue until the dirt gets thrown over my grave!
After the grass cutting-I was pumped for more hard labor! So, yes I tackled the frickin' weeds. Working with kettlebells makes for great grip strength-there isn't a weed I can't pull out! Now, my house looks great again. I just wish we'd get some rain-the "yellow" parts of the grass suck and it's a bitch to walk on! NO, I did not do anything to the heavily weeded section on the side of the garage! I'm thinking that that section will be done by a professional.....I'm NOT touching that area! By now, I'm sure the snake has grown to God knows how long.

Tomorrow it's back to the kettlebells.........I'm thinking either a grunt day or a snatch day....I'll just wait and see what the mood feels like when I wake up! Later in the day I get to pick up the bike! Next ride probably Saturday-soon my century ride!

Time to kick back and relax-I've worked rather hard today!

Have a great day wherever you are!

A nice day to swing outside!

2011-07-25T17:24:00.005-05:00

Today the humidity finally took a break. Today it's in the mid 80's, bright sunshine and a nice breeze.............perfect for "outside" workouts!

AM's WOD:
2-handed swings w/16kg.
30 seconds work/30 seconds of rest.....
20 reps per round, 30 rounds completed......
Total swings: 600
Nice to take the bell outside and swing away. I was hoping to do more, planned for 1,000 swings, but I worked this past weekend and my head was really kind of up my you know what this morning-so it's only 600 swings today......

Jared's got his 3 friends over for an over-night stay, so once they showed up this afternoon and they all got settled in the basement for "video game time", I took off on the bike..........

Afternoon WOD:
Bike x 20 miles. 1:15
It was sunny, windy and hot........but not humid, so totally enjoyable! Sure, I hate hot weather, but I can handle it when there is NO humidity with it!

Tomorrow it's suppose to be just as nice, in fact, just a smidge cooler-low 80's!!
I'll be outside again all day..........I should be pulling weeds, but I've been informed from the hubs that he's pretty sure he saw one of these in the weeds on the side of our garage.....

Oh hell NO, I ain't going anywhere near the side of the garage! Screw the weeds, I'll buy a frickin' goat if I have to.......

Have a great day wherever you are!

"Jerk'n" the 20kg

2011-07-22T11:30:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I slipped on my running shoes. First time since May 15th. They felt like an old friend! Now, don't get all excited.....I didn't do any running. I'm still far from running. Granted the "boot" has been off for 2 weeks now, but I'm giving these feet the nice long rest they so desperately need. In other words, I'm finally doing something smart! I put them on to do a nice 3 mile walk. Later in the afternoon, it was back to the lake and I did what I wanted to do the other night! I did a 1 mile swim. Damn....back and forth, back and forth, being bounced around by the waves from others swimming, boats pulling water-skiers, and speedboats who like to cruise right up to the swimming area to "make" waves for us poor lonely swimmers! The last "leg" of the mile I couldn't feel my left arm from the elbow down, but with the buoy in sight, I finished it off. It's one thing to do a mile swim in the pool, but do a mile in the open water and it's a whole new ballgame folks! I'm very proud of myself to get it done.

Last night I figured that I would be "stuck" to the couch after the swim. This morning when I got up, I was somewhat tired, but after watching today's stage of the TourdeFrance, I ended up playing with my kettlebells!
Tried a new (to me) move. The "jerk". Here's a video of it......

Today's WOD:
Short and sweet......

Cleans w/20kg: 5L/5R x 5 rounds=total 50 reps.
Snatches w/20kg: 5L/5R x 5 rounds=total 50 reps.
Jerks w/20kg: 5L/5R x 3 rounds=total 30 reps.
Double Long-cycle clean and jerk (2)16kg's: 5 reps x 5 rounds=total 25 reps.

Here's a video of what a "long cycle" clean and jerk is.......

The long cycle is actually a incredible move. I'm so, so, so used to strict presses that it was hard for me to let my legs do some of the work. I can see myself doing these quite a bit. I kind of liked it. And once I become more comfortable with the move itself, it will be even more fun! Not to mention what they will do for my endurance in the water!!

Have a great day wherever you are!

Hot and Humid Kettlebells.....

2011-07-20T10:53:00.006-05:00

We here in Wisconsin, as well as most of the United States, have been stuck in a weather pattern I'd rather not be a part of.........the dreaded triple H's......

HAZY-HOT-HUMID

But.........that doesn't mean that I'm going to skip my workout! Oh hell no.....

Today's WOD:
warmup.....
16kg: 1-arm swing, 1-clean, 1-press, 1-front squat L x 5 reps each, transfer and repeat on R for 5 reps. Did each side for 3 rounds. Total of 30 1-arm swings, 30 cleans, 30 presses, and 30 front squats.
Then......
20kg:
10 2-hand swings, 15 seconds rest, 20 2-hand swings
Did this for 20 rounds for a total of 600 swings. I'm pretty confident I could have done more but this humidity makes it hard to do anything....including breath!

Last night after a brutal 12 hour shift, I headed over to the lake and did a 3/4 mile swim. Damn, I so wanted to push myself to do a full mile, but it just wasn't happening. Tonight, after it cools down some (maybe to 90ish!), I'm headed back to the lake! When it's the triple H's, all one can do is swim...........good thing I love to do it!

Pretty soon this will be back and I will be so HAPPY!!!!!!

Have a great day wherever you are.........and keep cool!

A new "and" fun workout with the 20kg

2011-07-18T19:39:00.003-05:00

One of the big things I love about working with kettlebells, besides the FACT that they are the best tool out there for overall body/cardio fitness, is how many ways they can be done. Truly, the routines are endless. When you think you've done all the routines you can possibly think of....either go up a bell size or use 2 bells and start all over again!
Tonight after work, Jared and I headed down to do our evening workout and I came up with this one for myself.
Jared sticks with the basic 2-handed swing. I'm okay with that. His autism is very tricky and I'm not interested in doing more-he's lost the most weight with 2 handed swings. He did do double swings for a short time because 1-arms are way to much for his already "complicated" brain to acquire, but they soon became too much for him to concentrate and then he just shuts down mentally. I'll stick with what works. Tonight he up'd his workout though by using the 20kg for the first time!

Jared's WOD:
2-handed swings w/20kg
15 sets of 10 reps=total 150 swings. He did 20 seconds work/20 seconds rest.

My WOD: All done with the 20kg
9 1-arm swings L and 1 snatch L
9 1-arm swings R and 1 snatch R
8 1-arm swings L and 2 snatch L
8 1-arm swings R and 2 snatch R
7 1-arm swings L and 3 snatch L
7 1-arm swings R and 3 snatch R
I also did 20 seconds work and 20 seconds rest for this. So I did the L side, then took 20 seconds rest and then R side and repeat......
I did this routine for 3 rounds. It turned out to be a fun workout. Just enough to give me a challenge by using the 20kg. I think I will keep doing this one, but go up on the number of snatches I do and down on the number of swings I do. Eventually getting to one 1-arm swing and 9 snatches per side. This is actually the first time I've done 1-arm swings with the 20kg. I'm not a big fan of them to begin with, but that's life. We do what we know we're not comfortable with so we do become comfortable with it........right?? At least I'm trying to!
Total swings: 144
Total snatches: 36

So........next year I turn 50. I've decided on some "BIG" things for next year! Now all I have to do is tell Jeff and my body!!! :)

Have a great day wherever you are!

Snatchin' Saturday!

2011-07-16T11:32:00.005-05:00

I've gotten a lot of swings in this month so far, but not a lot of snatches. Time to change that today!
First up......
Warm-up(s).....joint mobility and stretches.
10 sets of 10 reps of 2-handed swings w/24kg. Why I decided to grab the "24kg" for a warm up, I will never know but I did and it was fine!

Then I thought to myself.....haven't done the RKC snatch test for awhile....hmmm...time to give it a shot. I was feeling really drained from my IBS still giving me grief. But things "always" seem to go the best when you think they're gonna suck.....so away I went! RKC snatch test is to do 100 snatches within 5 minutes with a certain size kettlebell depending on your weight. For "Moi"....that is 100 snatches with a 16kg.
Timer set at 5 minutes...............it took me 4 minutes and 1 second to get it done. That's a great time. It actually seemed to be rather "easy" today. I'm not being cocky but that was a piece of cake. However, I'm still remembering the days when I couldn't even snatch an 8kg.........I love progress. Working with that 20kg is paying off. The 16kg is feeling, do I dare say it? "Light".

The rest of the workout after the "test" went like this:
Snatches w/16kg:
5L/5R x 10 rounds=100 snatches
Snatches w/14kg:
8L/8R x 10 rounds=160 snatches
Snatches w/12kg:
10L/10R x 10 rounds=200 snatches
Total snatches (including the test) 560
There was no rest from side to side and I took 20 second rest between each of the rounds.
That was a fun workout. I like using the "ladder" theme for majority of my workouts, it's fun to me.
I did this workout while watching the TdF on the big screen-OMG, I just can't get myself to turn it off!! What the heck will I do when it's over????

Now if your contemplating about doing a workout or not because you just don't "feel" like it.........DO IT, it just may be your best!

Have a great day wherever you are!

Le Tour de AARP!

2011-07-14T17:32:00.002-05:00

Today I rode 51 miles with my friend who is 59 years old. I am 49 years old and everyone we saw on the trail today was at least 50+. Which is why I call this ride the "Tour de AARP". Damn, even with padded riding shorts, that's hard on the crotch.

This was a pre-planned ride of between 40-50 miles. I was excited when I went to bed last night knowing that the weather was to be absolutely perfect. And it was! Nice temp of 74 degrees, partly cloudy skies.......AND.........wind. Damn, the last 26 miles home was ENTIRELY against the wind. UGH. My thighs were burning. But it's great to get it done and now I feel absolutely awesome! Better than when I first got up! I ate breakfast and shortly after the IBS kicked in. Damn, not today I have 50 miles to ride-I don't want a sore ass before I even start! After like 20 trips to the bathroom (NO, I'm NOT kidding), things finally seemed to quiet down. I had a quick haircut planned for 0930 and just before leaving to go to that I was really queasy and light headed. I went to the bathroom to puke and then got in the car to head over for my appt. My friend of 30+ years cuts my hair and has for 30+ years, once there and getting into the "hairdresser-client" talk, I started to feel somewhat better. I slammed a dt dew and ate some animal crackers. Then I arrived at my friends house to ride and by 1030-we were off. I ate a bag of cranberry-apple (YUM!) GU chomps and that was it for the rest of the day. Not good, but that's life. When IBS kicks in, there's no chance of food! But, now since being home, I've done well. Ate a nice dinner with the hubs and now it's time to kick back, relax and get ready for "eviction" night on Big Brother!! Love Big Brother!!!
Our ride turned out to be 51 miles! Not bad for two old broads!! LOL

Have a great day wherever you are!

Swinging the 20kg

2011-07-13T17:37:00.002-05:00

Last night I slept like a rock. I barely remember lying down. I remember sitting on the computer until around 10ish looking up some bullshit stuff and then hit the sheets. I awoke at 7. Nice sleep-I have to admit that even though I'm dealing with the big "M", I'm sleeping good which is usually everyone's biggest complaint. Maybe it's because I work out and I'm actually physically tired?? Who knows-I don't know it all by any means. I do know one thing........swinging the 20kg kicks your ass!

Today's WOD:
Warm-up......joint mobility and stretches.

Then......it's a real simple, basic workout.
2-handed swings. 30 seconds work/30 seconds rest. 20 sets of 20 reps. Total of 400 swings with the 20kg. My forearms were on fire-I love when my forearms are on fire!
Jared did the same workout-he used the 16kg. Another great Mother-Son bonding time!! ;)

After the swings, I changed outfits. Put on the biking gear......away for a quick 15 mile ride. Time: 55 minutes. Not bad, but not really looking for anything fast. Tomorrow I have a long ride on the agenda and the weather looks absolutely perfect. Supposed to be a high of mid-70's and no humidity!! Really?? In July such perfect weather?? I'm looking forward to a great ride!

Last night after work I made a last minute decision to swim. It was 72 degrees and cloudy with a pretty decent wind happening. I had such a shit day at work that I really wanted to just relax with a nice swim. It was very relaxing even though I was being bounced all over the place with waves and wind! The water temp was warmer than the air temp-but it was still fun. Like I said.....I love the water!

I'm already in my PJ's......looking forward to Big Brother (love it!) and another stage of the TdF........love those boys!

Have a great day wherever you are!

Vacation comes to an end....

2011-07-10T17:02:00.004-05:00

Dang, what a great stretch of days off from work which now comes to an end. Oh well, we wouldn't enjoy our days off as much if we had them "all" the time now would we?!!

I pretty much "played" all week......

Tuesday: Kettlebells in the morning, then again with Jared in the pm.
Wednesday: Biked x 20 miles in the am, then first OW swim of the year in the pm.
Thursday: Biked x 27 miles in the afternoon and then right to another OW swim.
Friday: Rope and kettlebell swings with Jared, then back to the lake for day 3 of swimming.
Saturday: Heavy kettlebell grunt workout day. Swings, snatches, squats, presses all done with the 20kg.
Today: Finished the week with another swim! If only I could spend everyday at the lake......I can so relate to Don Knotts in "The Incredible Mr. Limpet".

I've done 2 miles (or 3520 yd) of OW swimming this week. Today's swim there were lots of boats out and about today, had some pretty good waves going bouncing me around like a human washing machine.

I'm so happy that there are so many things to do for a workout. I'm not knocking anyone who sticks with one thing or another whether it be strictly running, biking, swimming, kettlebells, or anything else. That's not for me. I'm a huge fan of biking. I'm a huge fan of swimming. I'm a huge-huge fan of kettlebells. I'm going to be a huge fan of running again-when I'm allowed to do it! Yes, kettlebells got a "huge-huge" because they are what got me into the shape I want to be in to be able to perform the other things at a competitive level. I'm not saying "serious" competition.....just with myself! No matter what it is you do, enjoy it and do it to it's fullest......unless it's an elliptical-then you're just wasting your time! Haha-my blog, my rules!

Have a great day wherever you are!

Just me and my 20kg

2011-07-09T18:45:00.003-05:00

I'm gonna make this a short and sweet post because I have 15 minutes until the Tour de France starts! I'm completely hooked on it. There's just something about lots of (hot) guys wearing spandex and biking mile after mile after mile like it's nothing! Amazing what 'roids can do!! Oops did I just say that?

Today my workout consisted of just me and my 20kg kettlebell.....

Warm-up....joint mobility and stretches
Warm-up #2.....2-handed swings w/12kg (10 reps x 10 rounds)

Then:
Snatches w/20kg: 5L/5R x 5 rounds
2-handed swings w/20kg: 10 reps x 5 rounds
Goblet squats w/20kg: 5 reps x 5 rounds
Goblet squats to 2-handed OH press w/20kg: 5 reps x 5 rounds
Clean and Press w/20kg: 1L/1R x 3 rounds
Then I ended it with some ab work on the TRX suspension system. Ouch! :)
A nice short and sweet "grunt" workout!

I've swam the last 3 days over at our State Park that is just down the road. It's so great to be back in the lake! I took today off since we had lots of other little things to do. I met my cousins (from Dallas) for lunch-it was great to see them before they head back home. Jared has friends over for a sleep over, so it was off to the store to get a nice supply of "teenager-friendly" food!

Bring on the TdF.......

Have a great day wherever you are!

Great workouts......

2011-07-08T09:17:00.002-05:00

My workouts have been great lately. Since I had to work the entire 4th of July weekend including the holiday itself, I have now been off work ever since and don't have to go back until Monday-that's party time for me!

Workouts:
July 5th.....
It's a workout called "Eleven". All reps add up to 11.
Using a 12kg I did swings and clean/presses. First left side, then right side, then doubles.
Set one: L arm
10 1-arm swings-1 clean/press
9 1-arm swings-2 clean/press
8 1-arm swings-3 clean/press
7 1-arm swings-4 clean/press
6 1-arm swings-5 clean/press
5 1-arm swings-6 clean/press
4 1-arm swings-7 clean/press
3 1-arm swings-8 clean/press
2 1-arm swings-9 clean/press
1 1-arm swing-10 clean/press
Set two: R arm-same exact as above.
Set three: double bells (12kg's)
10 dbl swings-1 dbl clean/press
9 dbl swings-2 dbl clean/press
etc.......down to 1 on swings and up to 10 on clean/presses.
No rest in between any of the moves, but took 2 minutes rest between sets. Glad I decided against using the 16kg!
Later on this day, Jared and I did a swing workout together. He cranked out the most swings at one time he's ever done and I was really proud of him to keep it going even though he looked like he was going to pass out! Yes, I turned off the "Mother" mode and brought the "trainer" mode for this one!
We did this....all with the 16kg....
10 sets of 10 swings
10 sets of 20 swings
6 sets of 30 swings
11 sets of 20 swings
10 sets of 10 swings
Total of 800 swings!!! I wanted to do 10 sets of each move on this ladder, but quickly noticed his sets of 30 were draining him, so the Mother in me brought the number of sets down to a manageable number for him to continue the ladder!

July 6th........
Biking x 20 (hilly) miles. It was humid for this one! Took 1:30, not bad.
Later in the evening it was time for my first OW swim of the year. Hit the state park and it was like being in heaven. I am completely at home in the water. I may NOT be the best swimmer in the world, but I love it. I can easily spend the entire day in the water..........
Cranked out my first 1/2 mile swim of the year.

July 7th......
Bike x 27 miles. 2 hours. Again, hit the InterUrban trail which is a great trail a few counties to the east of me and at times you can see Lake Michigan from it! I seen a Momma doe and her triplet fawns standing right next to me-I even stopped to "chat" with 'em till they finally ran off-they were so damn cute. I'm such an animal freak-I talk to anything with legs! As soon as I got home and just showered, my friend sends me a text: "so r we swim n"..........YUP, quick put on suit and it's off to the lake again! Another awesome 1/2 mile swim in the history book!

Today? Who knows, we're going on a "family fun-filled roadtrip"...........if you've followed this blog for awhile, you're very much aware of how much fun these are!! Insert the sarcasm anywhere there!!! I do know that tonight it's back to the kettlebells with Jared!! I'll have him with his swings and I think I'll crank out some snatches tonight!! What a great way to start the weekend!

To all those racing this weekend: GOOD LUCK!!!!
Have a great day wherever you are!

Keeping my (hairy) chin up....

2011-07-06T10:38:00.005-05:00

It's been a few weeks since I've posted and to be honest, I wasn't really sure if I was ever coming back. The hubs has been bugging me to post, so since he pretty much brought up a subject, I'll do it for him!
In case you're dead and don't know this......I'm in the depth of menopause. One word for this condition: SUCKS. I'd rather.......oh never mind it's not worth going there!

I have 'em all. All the great things that go along with this "new change" in life. No need for me to list 'em, if you're that interested, feel free to "google" it. As you can tell by my severe, strong sarcastic tone-yes, irritability is one of them!
I'm trying my hardest to keep a sense of humor. Good thing I have a strong one! I can pretty much laugh at anything, but unfortunately, by having this sense of humor, my actual need for some serious help gets over looked. Sure, you may see me laugh at most times, but I'm usually crying deep inside. I have felt extremely "scattered" for such a long time now. I am hating this year tremendously. I'm hating my 49th year. I know there's nothing I can do that I'm not already doing. Trust me, I've gone over all this with professionals! I'm exercising. I'm eating "clean". I'm taking supplements. I'm drinking tons of water. I'm way off the dt dew addiction. blah, blah, blah.....

So back to the subject from the hubs..........
Last night sitting at the dinner table, Jeff says to me; "you're beard is really coming in nice".........
TO ALL THE HUSBANDS OF WOMEN GOING THROUGH MENOPAUSE: I strongly suggest you do not ever say these words to your wife. This morning before my bike ride-I shaved. I shaved my chin-can it get ANY worse than this???? I can hardly wait to see what comes next.........

What else is going on?? I was named Respiratory Therapist of the Month! Haha! That's all I have to say about that.
I'm doing lots of biking. Took the new road bike up to Marinette for the first time and checked out the triathlon route. Knocked 5 minutes off my time!
Wisconsin passed a "concealed weapon" law which I can hardly wait to sign up for and get my permit to "carry" a concealed weapon wherever I want to! Hahaha, I know what you're thinking........."great, a menopausal women packing a gun". Don't worry, my Momma didn't raise some low-life who would point a gun at any human.........that is unless they comment about my beard!

Jared is enjoying his summer vacation..........sleeps all day, up all night. He turns "sweet" 16 next month! He's swinging again-thanks to his Mom's suggestions! Last night we cranked out a great workout together. It brings a tear to my eye standing next to him and seeing our "bells" go up together over and over and over. He has NO idea how much these workouts are helping my emotional state! I'm being pulled in directions of my "soon to be gone" youth and my "soon to be" world of old-age wisdom! Back to that one word again: this SUCKS!

So there ya have it.........I'm still here. I'm still stalking all of you-I love to read how great everyone is doing. I'm going to be fine-from what I hear and read, this all passes..........I just hate turning into this whack job I've become....

From the bottom of my heart.......
I hope you all got a great laugh over this post, it was meant to bring a smile, it is meant to make myself smile. But, please don't let all this humor shadow over the depression that I am also in. All the emails and comments I got over my last post warmed my heart-and as much as it makes me feel like I'm a failure to admit this-I need to hear that. I'm a stubborn German, but I have a heart that needs tending to.

Have a great day wherever you are!

641???

2011-06-14T08:42:00.007-05:00

I started this blog in November of 2007. This post is my 640th. I've talked about a ton a stuff. Some good, some crap. Some, I hope inspirational, and some that went completely against your own beliefs. I spoke of weight loss. I spoke some of my family life. I spoke of my feelings, some good, some bad. I spoke of people who have left my life. I've cried over lots of my posts. I've laughed my ass off at others. I've posted videos of funny stuff. I've posted some videos of music. We all have different tastes in everything-but it's nice to be opened up to things we've never felt before.
I've posted many race reports. All of which I'm extremely proud of-no matter how they turned out. I've posted a crap load, unfortunately, of injuries. You've all seen my "boot" as much as I have!
I've posted a ton of my workouts. Are they great workouts? Who knows. Who's to say what's right or wrong. What's great or just a waste of time.
I've posted a whole hell of a bunch of stuff about kettlebells. My blog title says it all.......my life is a life with kettlebells.
You've been with me through highs and lows. You've all come with me to my first triathlon. My first 1/2 marathon. You were all on track to be with me for my first full marathon-we all know that ending! You were there for my weekend of the biggest thing I've ever done-the RKC.
I've completed numerous races. From 5K's to 1/2 marathons. I've done triathlons. I've done duathlons. I've done a Century ride. I've biked tons of miles. I've run tons of miles. I've swam many, many laps.
I've snatched just shy of 50,000 snatches. I've done over 75,000 swings. I've had a KB in my hand at least 5 times a week for the last 4 years. I now own 12 bells of sizes ranging from 8kg to 24kg. I have many, many, many options.
Right now, lately, I've been unable to find something. If I knew what that something was, all would be good. I do know that I'm fighting something. This seems to be the biggest fight of any fight I've faced so far in my life. Some days I've cried hard over this fight and some days I've laughed my ass off over it. Some days I've used this fight to dig a little deeper to fight it and some days I've used this fight to just succumb to the whole thing. There are times and days when I feel like the exact moment I felt squatting in that open door of the plane I skydived from-having NO control whatsoever over anything. I can only hope that eventually my "chute" will open and all will be calm and peaceful.
What does all this mean?? I have no idea. Am I saying goodbye here?? I have no idea. Will I be okay?? I have no idea. Do I believe in myself?? I have no idea. Do I believe in miracles?? I sure do. I only want every dream to come true that I've ever wanted. I'm fighting a good fight........I'm fighting for me. What better fight is there?

All-out snatches.........

2011-06-10T11:03:00.005-05:00

I had just one hour to get my workout in this morning. Jared's last day of his freshman year of high school was today and he only had to go for one class. I needed to be back to pick him up by 9. When I got back I knew what my workout would be.............MaxVo2!!!

Today's WOD:
Warm-up........joint mobility and stretches.
Then a quick 1-arm swing w/12kg warm-up:
10 swings L, transfer, 10 swings R with 15 second rest x 10 sets=200 swings.

MaxVo2:
15 seconds work/15 seconds rest.
8 reps per set
Total of 80 sets
Total snatches: 640
Bell used: 14kg
Total time worked: 20 minutes
Total time rest: 20 minutes

I haven't done this for a while either and since I've been doing a fair amount of heavy work lately, it felt good to just go "all out" explosive. Way to get the mitral valve working at it's max!! I left the basement completely dripping in sweat.....life is good!

Picked Jared up from school and seeing as how my Dad always used to embarrass me whenever possible, I've now picked up this trait and do it to Jared whenever I can! It's what is meant to be. We, whether we like it or not, turn into our parents!!! What did I do to Jared? I had my disco cranked in the car when I picked him up! ABBA of course............Jared just loves his "dancing queen" of a Mother!! Hahahahahahaha!

Back to work for the weekend. This Sunday is my 29th wedding anniversary!! Holy crap.......
Yup, that's a rainbow wedding!!! Jealous you all are!!! Why am I now talking like Yoda?!!

No, I am not "stoned" in this pic!

Damn, 29 years later and I still have that "same" look on my face! No, I'm not "stoned" here either! Look at Jeff-he's got the best smile ever! Lucky girl I am! There's that Yoda talk again, WTF?!!!

Have a great weekend wherever you are!

Down and dirty grunt workout......

2011-06-08T12:30:00.004-05:00

It's been a while since doing any grunt style workout. Shame on me. It's just so easy to NOT work on what we know we SHOULD be working on!! :)

Today's WOD:
Warm-ups....joint mobility and stretching.
A quick 100 swings: 2-handed swings, 10 sets of 15/15 w/12kg.

Then...
1-arm swing
1-snatch
1-negative press
1-front squat
3L, transfer, 3R x 3 rounds. Repeated same sequence with the 14kg and the 16kg. I did one round with the 20kg.
Totals: 55 swings, 55 snatch, 55 neg press, 55 front squats.

Then....
Goblet squat to a 2-handed overhead press with the 20kg.
5 reps x 3 rounds
Total: 15 squats and presses.

Then......on to some double kettlebell work....
Clean and press dbl 12kg's:
5 reps x 3
Clean and press dbl 16kg's:
3 reps x 3

Then.......
Renegade rows. I modified these and did them from my knees with feet up. Kind of like the "girly" style push-ups. Did this to protect the feet! As you can see in the video (if you watched) there's NO way in hell (right now) that I can put that kind of pressure on my feet that way!
5L/5R x 5 rounds
Total: 25 per side.

Finished off the workout with some windmills....I love doing windmills!
3L/3R w/16kg x 3 rounds.

Time for some lunch!
Have a great day wherever you are!

Swings and Alpacas.....

2011-06-05T18:03:00.006-05:00

Today was a better day than yesterday. Yesterday was a huge drain for me. Both physically and (mostly) mentally. I never do well on June 4th. It was a hot and very humid day. Anyone who knows me, knows I absolutely hate hot/humid. I went to a local high school with a friend of mine to watch her daughter in a swim meet. Damn, those little kids are awesome!! Definitely put my technique to shame big time!!! My heart/breathing do not care for humidity so I was completely shot for the rest of the day-nothing but sucking water, laying on couch and cranking the AC-which is now on until October!

Today it was in the cool basement with my kettlebells.
Today's WOD:
warm-up..........joint mobility and stretches.
Then....
2-handed swings as follows:
10 sets of 15 seconds work/15 seconds rest=100 swings.
10 sets of 30 seconds work/15 seconds rest=200 swings.
10 sets of 45 seconds work/30 seconds rest=300 swings.
10 sets of 1 minute work/30 seconds rest=400 swings.
Total swings: 1000
KB used: 16kg

Then.............On the bike to enjoy one of the best days (weather-wise) we've had in a long, long, long time! Low 80's and NO humidity! Time to grab the bike and work on my tan!
Bike x 20 miles. Done in 1:14-not bad considering I stopped for picture taking! Things were so beautiful, I had to snap a few photos......

I wish you could smell this one! I don't know the name of this stuff, but it blooms every spring along the sides of the roads-it's absolutely awesome. This pic was of one of the nice quiet country roads I took today. It was purple on both sides all the way up and smelt FANTASTIC!!!! Along with all the lilacs now in bloom as well, it was a great smelling ride!

Then just actually at the top of this road and after a left hand turn, there's this cool Alpaca farm that I love to ride past. They are so damn cute!!! They're almost as cute as that commercial with the mini-giraffes!!!!

I hate to say it, but I also had my first "sighting" of the year! YUP you guessed it..............

Damn thing was all curled up on the side of the road just waiting for me to come along and then start to slither across the road......ugh, makes my skin crawl just thinking and typing about it-damn thing-I hope it got run over as it crossed the road!

After the bike ride, Jeff and I went over to our friends to visit. Picked up some groceries on the way home, fired up the grill and cranked out some great brats and burgers! Perfect end to a perfect day!! Now the dishes are all done, the laundry is just about done and it's time to kick back, relax and take this damn boot off so my leg cools off.......back to work tomorrow......UGH!

Congrats to all those who raced this weekend! Big Congrats to Julie for bringing home first place in her AG!! Way to rock that tri sister!!!

Have a great day wherever you are!

With loving memories.....

2011-06-04T06:14:00.000-05:00

I find it so amazing that I can barely remember what I did yesterday, but my memory of this day eleven years ago is extremely vivid.
My Mom had been in the hospital for a few days already at this point. She had been living in a nursing home for a while getting rehab. She completely HATED that nursing home. In fact, she pushed herself just hard enough to make it look like she was "safe" enough to come back home living with my sister. On that ride home from the nursing home she told my sister and I that she wanted to borrow one of Jeff's guns to "end" it all. At this point, you just know when someone has hit rock bottom-but you internally deny it by laughing and smiling over the comment and saying; "oh she's just goofing around....." All the while inside, you're ripped up guts are squeezing tighter and tighter trying to think of just the right thing to say and do for someone who's reached this point.
A short time later she ended up back in the hospital with respiratory issues. My Mom had polio while she was pregnant with me and it effected her pulmonary system greatly. She was also very overweight most of her adult life. She was very depressed over the prior year or so at this point. Her and my Dad were supposed to be living in their retirement place up north. My Dad was diagnosed with lung cancer, which quickly spread to his liver and brain. He was deceased 9 months after that. He had just turned 60 years young. 2 years after his death I had Jared. With the crushing blow of my Dad's death to my Mom, having Jared was a happy time for her. She used to babysit him while I worked. Not only a great Mom, she was also a great Grandmother. Once Jared grew up and started school, she didn't have to babysit anymore. This left her lonely throughout the day. The only time she did anything was when my sister was home from work. So with all us growing up and doing our things in life-she grew more and more depressed being alone.
June 4th we got a phone call that Mom wasn't doing well. Looking at her lab values and stuff-it was pretty much over with. She didn't want to be hooked up to a ventilator again. She didn't want anything done. She was in room 236. Her name band was on her right wrist. My sister sat to her left and I sat to her right. She would occasionally squeeze our hands. She occasionally mumbled something or another not making any sense whatsoever. However, when we asked if she could see Dad-she squeezed our hands. When we asked if she wanted to be with him and leave us-she squeezed our hands. Roughly around 6pm-she passed peacefully with my sister and I at her bedside. We left the hospital with her belongings to now move on with our own lives-never to be the same again. As I type this, completely bawling, I wonder why I am still shedding these tears. They now seem so selfish. She's finally in a place of peace and yet I still have this huge emptiness.
Within the emptiness, however, lies also great memories. I used to love curling up on the couch putting my head on her lap. That was the safest feeling ever!
My Mom never worked. My Mom was always there when I got home from school. My Dad always had at least 2 or 3 jobs to bring home the food. We never were hungry. We may not have had steak everyday, but we had food. We had clothes. We had a roof. I have nothing but fond memories of my childhood. We spent summers together as a family camping. I went on numerous trips to Texas with my folks to visit my Grandparents. I remember my Mom not being very active. She was heavy all my life. I remember going to some of her TOPS (taking-off-pounds-sensibly, the early weight watchers of today!) meetings and watching her take weight off and then put it back on again. I enjoyed biking and swimming as a kid-she did like the water though. I do remember her swimming tons in the lake we camped on all summer. Her lungs worked great in the water-must be where I got my love of swimming from! Every school function-she took us. She did all the "Mom" stuff....and now it's been my turn. It's a hard job-for sure, but the most rewarding. I hope I can do as good a job on Jared as my Mom did with me.
Right now in our area the lilacs are blooming. Lilacs were my Mom's favorite flower. I love the smell of lilacs as they remind me of how happy they made her. I am very thankful for my upbringing. I realize that I have had a lucky life and that others are not as fortunate. I embrace all my memories. I will always shed a tear on this day....as well as other days, but they tears of loving memories.....

Jean De Mint
January 12, 1933-June 4, 2000

Thank you for allowing me to share my memories!
Have a great day wherever you are!

A rough 15.....

2011-06-02T12:16:00.005-05:00

There are days when your body says; "No.....I don't want to do anything". Usually, I ignore the hell out of it and do something anyways knowing that I will end up feeling a ton better. Today was one of those rare days when doing something just made me all that more dragged. After dropping Jared off at school, I grabbed my kettlebell.

Today's WOD:
Snatches.........
5L/5R with the 20kg x 3 rounds (total: 30)
Clean/press.......
1L/1R with the 20kg x 3 rounds (total: 6)

Those went just fine. I thought for sure they would be harder than they turned out to be. After all the heavy swings I did yesterday with the 20kg, I was kind of afraid to pick it up again. However, the 20kg and I have gotten to be good friends! I'm picking up my 24kg next week!! Woo-hoo, nothing better than the feeling of bringing home a new friend! Hahahahaha.....

Next was to hop on the bike and get Steve to turn his pedometer over his first 100 miles! Success!

I went for a 15 miler. A 15 miler from hell to be exact. Good Lord, I was just not into this at all......it was fair temperature wise, a balmy 60 degrees! Yesterday it was a beautiful 78 degrees with bright sunshine. It goes from one extreme to the other lately. Tomorrow it's back to the hot and humid with a high of 90's again. Gross. The ride had a wind from the NE that seemed to follow me no matter which way I turned. I felt my front wheel bob to the left and to the right like I wasn't even in any control of it. My cadence on the pedals sucked-I just never got into any kind of a rhythm. I found a GU in my jacket pocket and hoped it would "spunk" me up some-NOPE. I rode past the farm where the cow was giving birth because I was kind of excited to see if there was gonna be a cute little calf now. The damn herd was out in a farther pasture and I couldn't see any calf at all. I finally got home and put Steve back in the house safe and sound for what I hope will be a much more enjoyable ride next time!! Oh well, they can't all be our "best" rides, but at least he's no longer a virgin! (lol)

Total numbers for the month of May:
Bike: 71 miles
Snatch: 1938
Swing: 2100
Run: 13.1 miles (This will now be a big goose-egg for quite some time!)

Have a great day wherever you are!

Obladi.......Oblada.....

2011-06-01T11:08:00.003-05:00

Just like the fab 4 said; "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da, life goes on"......

And so does mine...........a life without running though! Work the last two days was long. As each hour past and each step I took, the pain level went through the roof. Luckily, I have a HUGE pain tolerance and having that strong 99% German background helps too!!!

Today's WOD:
Completely basic...........
2-handed swings w/20kg.
Set the timer for 20 minutes. Did sets of 10 swings until timer went off. Total sets done: 40. Total swings: 400
I tried to take no more than 15 seconds in between and I pretty much kept that up with maybe once or twice taking a smidge longer!
That's it......short, sweet AND effective!

Back to the boot and crutches.........BTW: "Happy National Running Day!"

Getting around....one way or another!

2011-05-29T17:01:00.005-05:00

Granted, I'm done running for "quite" some time, but that hasn't hindered any of my workouts.
Friday I biked for a quick 18 miles. During the last 4 mile stretch I biked past a farm (yeah, I know that's rare for Wisconsin to see a farm-insert sarcastic tone anywhere there!) and seen the weirdest thing. A cow laying on it's side with a head coming out of it's "hoha"! I kept going only to finally figuring out to myself; "damn, that cow is giving birth". I biked a few more feet and then I just had to turn around to go watch. It was so cool, gross in a small way-after all I do work in a hospital and have seen a TON worse than this, but I'm glad I turned back. The cow was not too happy to see me standing there, let alone taking a pic. Either she was "moo-ing" to show me she was pissed at me or that she was just in the giving birth "mood"! After all, I do remember somewhat screaming at the top of my lungs while I was in that situation!!

After taking this pic, I moved on and left her to do her "thing".....hope it all went okay!

Getting around on these suck big f***ing time:

At least I'm sporting somewhat of a smile in this pic!! My armpits hurt-not to mention are looking rather bruised-sorry no pic!

Yesterday was a kettlebell workout-swings and nothing but swings. Went like this:
2-handed swings w/14kg. 20 sets of 20 swings=400 swings.
2-handed swings w/16kg. 20 sets of 15 swings=300 swings.
2-handed swings w/20kg. 20 sets of 10 swings=200 swings.
Total: 900 swings.
I felt the most comfortable actually swinging the 20kg. Not sure why. The 14kg was "mentally" painful for me this time and I'm not understanding it. It was a mental game for both the 14kg and the 16kg. Next time, I may just stick to one size bell-who knows. I never know what I'm going to do until I pick up the bell...

Today I managed another bike ride before the rains came. It was a nice start, weather wise, in the beginning but it ended up rather muggy. Thankfully it was cloudy or else the temp would have skyrocketed and that would have really sucked. Hot AND humid. Not a fan-sorry, I'd rather bike in 40 degree weather! Plus I knew that it was getting dark and rain was not far away, when I seen the street lights come on, I knew I really had to get going to make it home before the skies opened up! And I did-phewwwww!
Managed a nice 30 mile ride! 10 hilly miles to the trail, 10 miles of flat while on the trail and then the 10 hilly miles back home!

As I try to keep off the feet as much as possible-Jeff wanted to go to Menards for a few "outdoor" things. Well, we all know how big Menard's are. Yup, I did it....

It's a little blurry, but either way, you get the idea. I totally grabbed the Menard's scooter! OMG-what a frickin' great idea those are! Although you do definitely get looked at! The basket is kind of empty here, but we stuffed it full by the end of the trip!
I've been told to wear the boot on the right foot and to keep the weight off the left foot! Great, that makes getting around a little rough to say the least.....but I've done my best these last few days!!!
Back to work tomorrow...........I honestly don't know how it's going to go-it's going to be rough since my wheelchair idea didn't go over to well with management!

To all those who get tomorrow off.......Happy Memorial Day! Put up your flag, thank a veteran and be happy you have Freedom! Never take it for granted for someone had/has to work hard to keep it for you.

Swings, presses, squats, fluid and fractures.....

2011-05-26T12:03:00.003-05:00

Just in case you were dead last night, here's the video of one of the best guys out there. We all know my favorite is Bowie, but Steven is a close second place!

OMG, the American Idol finales are always good. Last night we rocked out to Judas Priest! "breakin the law, breakin the law....". Then we had some Gospel stuff which does nothing for me-not that I have anything against it, Jacob sucked and I didn't care for his screaming, but Gladys Knight did help make it tolerable to listen to! Tony Bennett-God bless him and his 85 years! Another one of my favorites....Tom Jones! YES, that says favorites-you're not reading it wrong! I like Tom Jones and I'm not afraid to admit it!!!! Shit, if I can admit loving disco, I can admit this as too!!! Here's that video of Tom-he's pushing it, but it still sounds pretty good! Can ya say...."too much sun Tom?" LOL

Today's WOD was great......
Warm-up: TGU's (the best all-over warm-up!)
1L/1R x 2 w/8kg, 1L/1R x 2 w/12kg, 1L/1R x 2 w/14kg
These went well, but the heavier bells, obviously, didn't feel good on the feet.
Then to heavy swings.....
2-handed swings w/20kg. 10-20-30 x 5 rounds=300 swings.
Then to lifting......
Clean to strict press to negative press w/20kg.
1L/1R, 1L/1R, fail L/1R, 1L/1R, 1L/1R. Total of 9. As you can see, for whatever reason I failed the press on the 3rd attempt on L side. Which is rather interesting, I'm left handed and the L is usually the strongest, but today, it's the R side that kicked ass!
More lifting......
Clean to strict press w/double 16kg's. 3 reps x 3 rounds. Total of 9.
On to squats.......
Goblet squats w/20kg. 3 reps x 4 rounds. Total of 12.
Double front squats w/16kg. 3 reps x 3 rounds. Total of 9.
Double front squats w/12kg. 3 reps x 5 rounds. Total of 15.

I had my follow-up appointment with the sports medicine doc for my MRI results. First, kudos, kudos, kudos to the best sports medicine doc out there!!! I was not "bitched at" for doing the 1/2. I was not "fired" as a patient. I was actually congratulated on finishing the 1/2 marathon! I was told to have such a high motivation and drive is fascinating and rare. I was told that I will heal and all will be well again-my prognosis is GOOD!!!! The boot is now back on the R foot instead of the L. That poor boot.....lol. MRI showed 3 stress fractures on the L foot. They are a level 2 grade-4 being the worst, so they're minor, but they are there! They are also encapsulated by fluid. THIS is the explanation (finally!!!!) for that weird feeling of my 2nd toe falling asleep when I'd run, the fluid was cutting off the nerve to that toe! The fluid can either go away on it's own or be removed via surgery. We're choosing the "go away" option! How/why is there fluid in my foot? Told you I'm a freak of nature! It's like some people get that ganglion fluid cysts in their wrists..........same thing, only in my foot. What causes it? Who knows, I again just say......shit luck! Rest and time off of it will help. I may need at some point to have it drained, then again, may not. That's down the road. The R foot has a grade 3, almost 4 level fracture of the "little" toe. That sucker lit up like a firecracker on the 4th of july on that MRI-even I could spot that one! This is why Mr. Boot is back to the R foot and there he will stay for the next 6 weeks until I go back to the doctor. So, if you've been counting, I've got 4 stress fractures, NOT 6 like we originally thought! Woo-hoo!!! Life is good. My Doc took like 20 minutes to go through the MRI with me! It was way cool to see the fractures and the fluid-just wish I was looking at some other person's feet!!! Oh well, having the MRI was a great call.
She told me that the crutches she so strongly wanted me to use are a complete medical necessity at this time to get the weight off that L foot while the R is in the boot. But, she completely understands and agrees with me that there is NO way I can perform my job like that. I told her that I'm going the wheelchair route. I will ride in it from room to room and in the halls. We both agreed on it!!! There ya have it.......my next day to work is Memorial Day, I'll be getting my wheelchair and putting my name on it for the day! I'll try and get a pic!!

As race season is getting into high gear, I wish all those who are racing this holiday weekend "good luck". I'd also like to send a shout out to my cousin Mike DeMint who lost his fight this past week to colon CA. Cancer sucks. I also like to "THANK" all those who are and who have fought for my freedom. I understand freedom is never free.........I appreciate all you in the military do for my freedom. You're all fighting worse things than I could ever imagine.......Happy Memorial Day and God Bless You!!
Have a great weekend wherever you are!

Snatches, lots of snatches!

2011-05-24T17:38:00.002-05:00

Today was my appointment with my sports medicine doctor. It went well, as well as can be. I was congratulated, actually, on how well I did take care of things over the last few months in regards to stopping when pain came around, wearing the boot for a good amount of time and so on and so on.......it just came down to needing to go in and get it all checked out. So, I had 3 X-rays per foot and a MRI of both just an hour later. So far, pre-MRI final report-we're looking at 4 stress fractures on the L and 2 (maybe 3) on the R. The boot goes back to the left foot for (ever) a time being. She wanted to put me on crutches to get me off the right foot, but after talking it over some, we both came to the conclusion that I would not use them! Seriously? Hobble around a huge hospital for a 12 hour shift with a boot AND crutches? I don't think so.....

Today's WOD came late in the day. I hadn't planned on the MRI being done today, but she wanted it so we can get results back by my next appointment which is Thursday. None the less, it was a great snatch workout and it went like this............
Snatches:
3L, transfer, 3R w/20kg x 10 rounds=60 snatches
6L, transfer, 6R w/16kg x 10 rounds=120 snatches
10L, transfer, 10R w/14kg x 10 rounds=200 snatches
12L, transfer, 12R w/12kg x 10 rounds=240 snatches
Grand total: 620
Nice....kick ass. It was great to go heavy (and slow) in the beginning and then go fast at the end with a lighter bell.

Here's the video of me at the end of my Lambeau Field lap:

http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event_video.asp?EVENTID=75604&BIB=8418&VLOC=Lambeau+Field

And here's my video of me coming across the finish line. I was totally running all out here-the pain was now just plain numbness!

http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event_video.asp?EVENTID=75604&BIB=8418

Enjoy, it's going to be awhile before there's any more videos or pics of me running!

Have a great day wherever you are!

Can't allow the word "can't"....

2011-05-23T09:30:00.002-05:00

"Look, if you had one shot and one opportunity to cease everything you ever wanted for one moment, would you capture it or just let it slip?"
"Lose Yourself" by Eminem

I absolutely LOVE that first line to that song. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't hear someone use the word "can't". That includes moi. I've heard 'em all.
I "can't" breath, I "can't" lose weight, I "can't" run, I "can't" ride, I "can't" swing that thing, I "can't" swim, I "can't" fit that into my schedule, etc.......I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't. UGH.

Maybe you need to change that word to "won't" because that's what's REALLY happening. There isn't any "can't" that can not be changed into a "will"....it's all up to you! First look at the sentence and break it down. Let's use this one for example....since it's my specialty! "I can't breath". Why can't you breath? I had a patient with severe, end-stage emphysema this weekend at work. Even in her instance, the word can't can be changed to make the situation better. Granted her lungs are pretty much shit, she sits at the side of the bed leaning over gasping for air. First of all, if any of you smoke or knows someone, I wish I could have taken a picture of this lady-it would make you quit for sure! "I "can't" quit smoking-there's another one! Anywho....back to the story. She has breathing issues-YES, that's a gimme. BUT, her breathing can be better. She can sit up, she can use the breathing techniques I tell her to use every time I see her to slow things down. She "can't" breath better because she chooses not to. Now, I know that sounds cold-here's this poor lady who has crappy lungs and her breathing is like only 1/3 of what we can do, but what she has left can be better. Same with "I "can't" lose weight". BULLSHIT. You can't lose weight because you choose not to. Let me put myself in the limelight here........"I "can't" stop drinking dt dew". BULLSHIT. I just choose not to. Right now I'm saying "I "can't" run. That's 100% true, but I can re-word it. I'm "not allowed" to run right now! I hold on to my dream of running 26.2-I "will" train for it when the time is right. Right now, I "CAN" work on so many other things.
I get so tired of everyone relying on "outside" stimulus to make them make a change. Granted we all need a support system, but when you don't even make an effort to start with you being your own support, you've already failed. Sure, while running the streets of Green Bay during the 1/2 marathon it was awesome to have so many folks out and about shouting at you as you chugged on by. But, I have my own cheering section inside myself first that I listen to. It's me, it's my thoughts, it my soul. It's my drive, it's my dedication to myself. It's my vivid memory of being so overweight that I could only be jealous of seeing those doing what I now can do myself! Without any of that, I never would have made it to the finish line.
Stop playing foolish games with your life. This is it folks. This is not a dress rehearsal. Turn your life into a life without "can't"s.

Since I'm not "allowed" to run at this time-it's a kettlebell day.

Today's WOD:
Warm-up..........joint mobility and stretching.

1-arm swing, 1 snatch, 1 negative press, 1 front squat
transfer and repeat other side.
Each side done for 3 reps to equal 1 round
Done for 3 rounds with the 12kg, the 14kg, and the 16kg.
Totals:
1-arm swings: 54
Snatches: 54
Negative presses: 54
Front squats: 54
18 reps with each size bell.

That's it! Short and sweet. Done in 30 minutes. Now what? Well, watch me some "I Love Lucy" because I CAN!

Have a great day wherever you are!

A great ride......

2011-05-20T12:48:00.006-05:00

Yesterday I nailed a great kettlebell workout and today I nailed a great bike ride. Why did I wait so long to get a road bike??? Oh yeah, money. Duh! It was hard to give up the hybrid-but it's done. Now with the road bike-I'm in heaven. I was amazed when I looked down at my speedometer today and seen my numbers. Now the next thing to definitely do is get rid of those "cages" on my pedals and get me some clips! Those cages are driving me..............

While I'm getting the hang of the cages just fine, they just plain suck, period.
Today's WOD:
Warm-up.....joint mobility and stretching while watching "I Love Lucy". Might as well kill 2 birds with 1 stone I always say!
Then.....
Bike x 30 miles. Time: 1:54. Holy crap. 30 miles in under 2 hours-kick ass, for me, that is. That can only get better as the season goes on, it's still early in the year and that is my first 30 miler of this young season! I did some pretty good hills. I shy'd away from the real killers with the exception of one and my reason for staying away from them in the first place came out with a vengeance. I really had to push off with the feet on the climb and that killed (briefly) the feet! Damn.....but the rest of the time the feet were just fine. Thank God running is not the only thing, for me!
This weekend it's back to work after having 10 (glorious, fantastic, wish it wouldn't have to come an end) days off. It's gonna suck big time. I'm going to have to flip a coin to see which foot wins and gets to wear the boot! I'm thinking I'll confuse everyone and wear it on a different foot each day! Next week it's the "appointment"........with that in mind I have to ask you all...what color do you think I should get for my "Hoveround"???? I'm thinking for sure to get the model with the built in "tray" table! That's awesome, I can carry my kettlebells on it!!!!!

One last note...........don't forget about this tomorrow!

If this really comes true...................it's been great sharing my life with each and everyone of you!

Have a great day wherever you are!

Workout from the archives....

2011-05-19T09:07:00.003-05:00

This video speaks of my mood today! I love this song-I love this dude's look! It's so classic 1970's. I'm just hitting the "replay" button on this video over and over as I type!

Now that I've come to my conclusions of my issues during my 1/2 marathon last weekend, I can move on. It's great to "let-go" of what is just such wasted energy. I've been pulled upward to a better place. I will not be a hostage to my own disease.

Love is in the air when I'm swinging something heavy!!!!

Today's WOD:
I had this one packed away and forgotten about for quite some time, it's a great workout and it smoked my ass enough to change my mind about doing a bike ride after it! I will save my energy for a ride tomorrow-which now since I'm going to wait until tomorrow, it will be much longer than today's would have been after this............

Here's the run down......
Round one:
50 2-handed swings w/12kg
double snatches w/12kg's x 3 reps
50 2-handed swings w/14kg
double snatches w/12kg's x 3 reps
50 2-handed swings w/16kg
double snatches w/12kg's x 3 reps
50 2-handed swings w/20kg
double snatches w/12kg's x 3 reps
50 2-handed swings w/16kg
double snatches w/12kg's x 3 reps
50 2-handed swings w/14kg
double snatches w/12kg's x 3 reps
50 2-handed swings w/12kg
**I took 30 seconds rest in between each move.
**Total swings: 300. Total double snatches: 18
Round two:
50 2-handed swings w/12kg
double clean to strict press w/16kg's x 3 reps
50 2-handed swings w/14kg
double clean to strict press w/16kg's x 3 reps
50 2-handed swings w/16kg
double clean to strict press w/16kg's x 3 reps
50 2-handed swings w/20kg
double clean to strict press w/16kg's x 3 reps
50 2-handed swings w/16kg
double clean to strict press w/16kg's x 3 reps
50 2-handed swings w/14kg
double clean to strict press w/16kg's x 3 reps
50 2-handed swings w/12kg
**Again, took 30 seconds rest in between each move.
**Total swings: 300. Total double clean to strict press: 18.
**Grand total of swings: 700.
I love how the swings ladder up in size from the 12kg to the 20kg and then back down. Lets me use all my bells in one workout!

Today, I've never been more sure of what I am! A wife. A Mother. A Sister. A friend. A Respiratory Therapist. A RKC. A 1/2 marathoner. A triathlete. A Lucy fan. A music lover. A cat lover. I am unique. I am spontaneous. I am creative. I can "flow" with any issue. I will be in anyone's corner till the end.
There are times in our lives when we all wish we could just hit "control, alt, delete"......but that doesn't happen. There is no magic wand. We all just need to make the right choices, allow the weight of it all to just slide right off our shoulders. Put a little "love in your air"......

Have a great day wherever you are!

Back to my "thing".........

2011-05-18T11:58:00.004-05:00

Next week I have my appointment with my sports medicine doctor. She's the best and it will be nice to see her again, but I know she's going to have a word or two for me! I tell my patients who have asthma or some other lung disease not to smoke. I have busted up feet, yet I ran a 1/2 marathon. I can only say these 2 words: "fucking moron".
Would I do it again?? If it was the same, exact circumstances-HELL YES! That's not meant to sound like I'm showing off-I don't condone what I did in the least, it was rather dumb, pointless and could have caused permanent damage. The reason(s) I did it are completely mine. They were rock solid reasons in my mind and nothing was going to stop me from doing what I did. I got some things worked out and answered in my mind and soul while out there chugging along!

Today's workout was with my "thing". Besides being one of those cat people, one of those weird disco fans, one of the millions of Lucy fans and just an all around whack job, I'm also a freak kettlebell lady! It was awesome to get back to my beloved bitches......
Yesterday I was stuck on the couch-only getting up to pee. I'm not sure what it is, but day 2 after a big event I hit a complete brick wall and have nothing to give for that entire day. Oh well, I got lucky and came across I Love Lucy for an hour. Then found a classic looney tunes marathon. The good ones. Classic Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Foghorn Leghorn, etc....I even found myself laughing out loud at one or two of the episodes! That lasted a few hours, then I pried my ass off the couch to get ready for the boys to get home so we could go shopping and get some food in the house. Yippee, food shopping-hate it.
Today if felt great to move around more. Feet are hurting-I wish I had 2 boots. I just might after next week.
Today's WOD:
Warm-ups.......joint mobility and stretching.
Turkish Get-Ups (no weight used) x 3 per side. These were a little tricky with the feet-which is why I used no weight-just getting the body limbered up.
2-handed swings w/12kg: 10 rounds of 10 swings for 15 sec work/15 sec rest. A quick 100 swings.
1-arm cleans to press w/12kg: 5 reps per side x 3 rounds.
Repeated with the 16kg.
Goblet squats with a 5 second hold at the bottom w/12kg: 3 reps x 3 rounds
Repeated with the 16kg.
Took it easy on the squats as far as reps-hard on the bare feet.

Then......after getting all warmed up from above stuff:
1 swing + 1 snatch = 1 rep.
10 reps R, transfer, 10 reps L
*15 seconds rest
9 reps R, transfer, 9 reps L
*15 seconds rest
8 reps R, transfer, 8 reps L
*15 seconds rest
7 reps R, transfer, 7 reps L
*15 seconds rest
6 reps R, transfer, 6 reps L
5 reps R, transfer, 5 reps L
4 reps R, transfer, 4 reps L
3 reps R, transfer, 3 reps L
2 reps R, transfer, 2 reps L
1 rep R, transfer, 1 rep L
Total snatches: 110
Total swings (including transfers): 120
**I normally wouldn't have taken any rest during this, but I did today because I really needed to move the feet around during the higher rep rounds. Tingling sucks.
Here's to going back to my first love.....the kettlebell.

On a side note........I will run a 26.2 marathon. I don't know if it will be in Green Bay. I know that I will run through Lambeau Field again on May 20, 2012 and to whom ever out there that's reading this-you're more than welcome to join me!!!

Have a great day wherever you are!

Not my 1rst, but it is my 5th!

2011-05-16T07:39:00.013-05:00

Last fall I signed up for the Green Bay Marathon. No need to beat a dead horse, we all know how this turned out! While I'm somewhat disappointed that I didn't bring home my 1rst full marathon finisher's medal, I am very proud that I did bring home my 5th 1/2 marathon finisher's medal.

I wasn't able to transfer my full bib to anyone, so I did pick it up when I got my 1/2 marathon packet. Here's my bib:

When you add these 3 numbers up, they come to 13. Probably a good thing I didn't go through with this! My 1/2 bib added up to 21-much better number! I will just put this in my book with the rest of the bibs I've collected over the years. There is one other that I didn't get to use as well......it just so happens to be the Green Bay 1/2 marathon for 2009. Stress fractures kept me from my very first 1/2 marathon! But, when I did do my first one-it was that much more special to me! I'm sure that my first full marathon will also be special!
Topper for this weekend was that I got to play host to fellow blogger Lindsay! I had invited her to add Wisconsin to her "states I've done a marathon in" list on her blog. I was thrilled when she accepted my invite! Then the feet started to act up and my plan of doing my marathon was out. This was a total flashback to the 2009 1/2 when my cousin and her husband came up from Dallas to do my first 1/2 with me. Good lord.....not again. I immediately took care of the foot wearing the "boot" for a good 5-6 weeks. Things were looking up, boot was off and I was running again. Then to find a 1/2 marathon bib to buy-event was completely sold out-ugh. Got lucky and got a 1/2 bib of my very own. Yea! Game on. 4 days prior to Lindsay's arrival......the other foot is hurting. This is the foot I had the very first fractures on and it was same exact pain. You have got to be kidding me! Now my "bad" foot turned into my "good" foot. Sad that I can tell when I have a fracture "starting".......it is way on the outside of the foot, along the last little toe. Hmmm, I can still run-just push off the big toe more! Yea, I know what you're thinking........stupid, stubborn, pig-headed, moron, idiot, you're gonna be sorry, blah, blah, blah.......
Trust me..........all that went through my mind. Among other thoughts. There was no way I was going to sit on the "other" side of the fence again and watch all my friends come through to get their medals and shirts. Boot once again went on-this time the other foot! I gotta say this, I definitely have gotten my money's worth on this damn boot! Friday afternoon I picked Lindsay up at the airport. Saturday afternoon we headed up to Green Bay. Did the packet pick-up and race expo-took some pics by the "famous" Lombardi statue outside Lambeau field.

I know you're like.....where's Vince? Trust me....those are his feet!

Here we are with goody bags in hand! Time to head to hotel for check-in and warm up! The hotel experience was quite the experience! It ended up being harder on Jeff than anyone! Haha, inside joke! It was frickin' cold this day! Not a good impression on someone from South Carolina! 40 degrees, cloudy and raining! Oh well, Mother Nature always calls the shots!
After checking in, it was then off to eat. Texas Roadhouse it was. With the exception of sitting under a (rather long and large) snake skin, the food was good. Next on the agenda-shopping for warmer clothes for Lindsay! She found this totally "hot" bedazzled sweater!

Any runner knows that it's cold at the start, but then as the race goes on, clothes start to get peeled off and thrown to the curb-literally! Since these items are collected and donated to Goodwill, you really don't want to throw away your best stuff.......so the bedazzled sweater was a perfect buy! Not to mention the gardening clothes! You would think gloves would be easy to find here in Wisconsin.....not in May!
Jeff was great as our race day "bitch" by taking our gear back to the hotel, holding our stuff, and taking some "action" race shots! Here's Lindsay up in the "preferred pace" area! She's got the pink with white side shorts and the hot looking sweater!

This is me coming through Lambeau........

Last year Jeff got a great shot of just my arm through the crowd and this year it's just the top of my head as I go past him and Jared in the stands!

Here I am making the final turn to cross the finish line-right after this turn, my name was announced as a 1/2 marathon finisher!

I came in approximately 25 minutes ahead of Lindsay-so I hung around the finish line after getting my shirt, medal and complementary chocolate milk to watch her come across. My time was 3:13 and Lindsay kicked ass and got 3:59. The big difference? She ran the same race I ran......only twice!! Oh well, it's now about that....it's all about finishing. Finish I did! Tattered up feet and all, I came across. It was actually not as brutal as I had anticipated it would be! I felt just like I do when I have a super busy day at work! My time was actually only about 1/2 hour off what my best finish has been-so, I'm happy with it.

The finisher's and their medals.........

It's been a great weekend and I hate to see it come to an end. Later today I take Lindsay back to the airport and then it's time to let the healing begin.......

Thank-you Lindsay for being a part of my "5th" 1/2 marathon finish! I hope my dysfunctional family did Wisconsin proud! LOL

Snatch ladders

2011-05-12T08:33:00.000-05:00

This morning's workout went like this:
Snatch ladders.....
12kg
10L/transfer/10R
9L/transfer/9R
8L/transfer/8R
7L/transfer/7R
6L/transfer/6R
5L/transfer/5R
4L/transfer/4R
3L/transfer/3R
2L/transfer/2R
1L/transfer/1R
No break during this.....
Done x 5 rounds with 2 minutes rest between rounds. 4th round I used the 16kg-that made the last set with the 12kg feel light as a feather! During the round with the 16kg I had to put the bell down after the 7's for a quick lung pick-up!
Total snatches: 550/110 done with the 16kg.

Tomorrow kicks off the Green Bay Marathon weekend! I was supposed to do the entire marathon. I registered for the entire 26.2 back in October of 2010. My bib number for the full is #742. I had my miles up to 17 for my long runs, making great progress. Towards the end of February my 2nd toe on the left foot kept falling asleep as I ran. Waves of tingling and numbness went over the top of it as I ran. I immediately stopped running and put the boot on. Wore it for 5 weeks. Started back to running slowly-first 1 mile, then progressed. I was frantically trying to exchange my full bib for a 1/2 bib since the entire event is sold out. I got lucky and my friend's SIL signed up for the 1/2 but wouldn't be able to do it! Bummer to hear when someone can't do it, but absolute JOY for me! Race is back on......yippppeeeeee! I managed to get my miles up to 10 for a long run once. I know that I can yank this 13.1 miles out of my stubborn ass. Up until 3 days ago that is........
All I can say is I'm doing this 1/2 marathon on a complete wing and a prayer. My bib number (#8418)is in a bunch a friends cell phones to keep track of where I am. I'm crossing that finish line either upright or on my frickin' hands and knees. You think I'm kidding don'tcha??

Today it's some last minute cleaning and shopping. Tomorrow I head over to the airport to pick up Lindsay for the race. I'm so excited for this weekend........

Have a great day wherever you are!

Showin' Steve the 'hood......

2011-05-04T14:21:00.004-05:00

We have temps in the 60's today! That gets my inner energy level up and roaring to go. Jared had a late start to school today-that kind of threw me off a little, but not for long. Did the usual checking out FB and blogs and grabbing some breakfast. Took Jared to school and then the fun began...........

I first started with the kettlebell. MaxVo2 snatches with the 12kg. It's been a while since I've done this.
12kg:
15 seconds on/15 seconds rest. 8 reps per 15 seconds x 40 sets. Total of 320 snatches done in 20 minutes. 10 minutes of work and 10 minutes of rest!
Then I hit the rope......
20 seconds on/10 seconds off x 10 rounds. I need to come up with a name for my rope.......I'm kind of leaning towards "Randy". But then again, "Randy the rope" does sound kind of gay.....
After getting my ass kicked with the rope-I took my 2 8kg's and headed out for a walk! The road that I live on is basically a hill. We're fortunate to be at the bottom of the it or first in line depending on which way you look at it! Our neighbors have a hard time getting up the road in the winter-it's steep. I decided to use this road for some kettlebell walking!
Both 8kgs' for farmer walks on the way up and then OHLO on the way down. Holy shit-the way down was a bitch. First to walk down a steep road (btw, I did this barefoot! Love the feel of the world under my feet!) is a bitch and then add 35lbs over your head to make it interesting!! Loved it. I have to remember to use my own "backyard" for sure! I have everything I need right at my fingertips! Or in this case.....toes! Gyms suck.....
As soon as I finished the walking, I finished pulling the rest of my weeds on the side of our garage. That took about 20 minutes-then it was time to show Steve the hood! Went out for a fantastic bike ride of 23 miles. Got him out there on the "roads" of Slinger/Hartford and past all my favorite farms-saying "HI" to all the cows. Totally out riding a charging dog! Take that "bitch"......I love Steve. He's my new friend!!! I wanted to get in 25 miles, but I had a client coming over, so had to cut it short by just a few-next time!
Played some more with my client in the yard with the bells-today was a great day. Finally, I think winter may be over........
Next up on the agenda is taking Jared out driving for a while and then a nice walk with the hubs to end the day!

Have a great day wherever you are!

It's a lazy day in the neighborhood......

2011-05-03T12:56:00.004-05:00

I had every intention of doing other things then what I ended up doing today. I got stuck on YouTube for hours listening to some tunes that I know I have but it's great to "watch" em too.
Because I have no workout to share with you today, even though I planned on doing something, I totally went lazy today.......

I love music. Mostly from the '70's. The '80's were okay with all the "one-hit" wonders. I don't listen to anything that plays today. I'm a "oldies" station junkie!

Here's my top 5 favorite female singers.

1) Melissa Etheridge
NO one (in my opinion) is better than Melissa. Her songs are from the gut and from the heart. Her words are pure and true to your feelings. Her concerts are some of the best I've ever seen. She's got the best female voice out there. She's a fighter. She's a rocker. She's got great power in her songs.
This is a great video of one of her most famous songs. I know all her songs, not just the "hits"......

2)Stevie Nicks
I totally had a top hat and tambourine because I so wanted to be Stevie Nicks back in the '70's! I had planned "Stevie" as a girl name for when I was pregnant! Stevie is another of the best female voices out there. I've gotten to see her also live with Fleetwood Mac. We'll talk about Fleetwood Mac on a different post.
This is one of her awesome solo career tunes.....

3)Pat Benatar
Another awesome voice. Pat's been around for years and years. Who will ever forget her first hit-Heartbreaker?!! Everyone in the '80's had her short hairdo!!
Love this video and the song..........

4)Whitney Houston
I'm sure this one really surprised you to read this name! Granted, Whitney is now-a-days all stoned out, but you have to admit-her voice is incredible. This video I guarantee 100% will GET YOUR ASS OUT OF THE CHAIR YOU ARE SITTING IN TO DANCE AND SING ALONG!!!! So.....crank them speakers bitches.......

5)Annie Lennox
I know we're all sick and tired of winter and I hate to remind us of the snow and cold, but Annie singing Christmas music is great!

Now to get your mind off of winter time.........even if you didn't watch the videos posted above, please watch this one. It's one more from my favorite female voice of all........Melissa. It's the reason why "I" run. For life. For a healthy life. Don't ever let them take a part of your soul...........

I hope you enjoyed the music.........

Swings and Snatches....

2011-05-02T18:38:00.002-05:00

Today's workout went like this........

12kg kettlebell as follows:
1 swing-1 snatch, transfer, 1 swing-1 snatch x 1 minute
*rest x 1 minute
Snatch L, transfer, snatch R x 1 minute
*rest x 1 minute
Snatch L x 10, transfer, snatch R x 10 (done in 1 minute)
*rest x 1 minute
Snatch L x 14, transfer, snatch R x 14 (done in 1 minute)
*rest x 1 minute
Total time: 8 minutes. 4 work and 4 rest.
I then did the exact same routine but NO rest in between each item. So it was a continuous 4 minutes of swings and snatches.
Total of 5 rounds. First round done with the rest period, last 4 done with no rest. Only rest was 1 minute between each of the last 4 rounds.
Total time of workout: 27 minutes.
Total swings: 280 Total snatches: 320

After wards I headed out to do some spring weeding.......after 3 hours of pulling weeds, I came to the conclusion that weed pulling and snatches should be done on different days!

After dinner I headed out with some tunes in my ears for a nice 4 mile walk. Tomorrow I'm planning to hit the water, head down, of course!

Have a great day wherever you are!