Getting back on the horse . . . Kinda . . .

Last week was tough.  I had a really hard time getting back on the healthy eating and exercise wagon while also trying to acclimate to a normal work schedule and commute into the office.  I love that my job is different every week, and I think that variety is in fact the spice of life.  I wouldn't change this part of my life - I consider it a big perk.  UNTIL I have to suffer through full weeks in my cube and infuriating traffic.  About the time I get used to being in the office I'll be back on the road.  This certainly makes healthy living more challenging, but not unattainable.

Monday 4/15
Today's workout is courtesy of a travel WOD website that is pretty brutal.  As many reps as possible:

2 minutes push ups - 45
2 minutes rest
2 minutes situps - 27
2 minutes rest
2 minutes squats - 62
2 minutes rest
2 minutes burpees - 14

Death.  Such a good workout ;)

Tuesday 4/16
Dan bought a fancy jump rope a while back, and I decided that it shouldn't sit around unused.  After what seemed like a two hour process to shorten the thing for me, I gave it a whirl.  I did 100 single unders, which was far harder than it seemed like it should be.  Jump rope is definitely in the rotation now.  Wow!  That's probably not enough to count for a workout moving forward, but after my wreck of a day it seemed good enough.  Oh, and did I mention that dinner was done and smelling awesome?  Yeah, tough to prolong a workout :)

Wednesday 4/17
It was difficult to come up with something for this workout.  I don't feel comfortable determining reps or what goes together yet.  I need to get a few more weeks of guidance from Coach Amie and then I feel like I can recycle some of these workouts.  This one was pretty tough, though I am glad that I added a little weight.  Talk about leg day!

3 rounds for time: 8 Lunges(5#), 10 squats, 12 jumping jacks.

The result?  Well I don't know.  Dan didn't write down my time :)

Thursday 4/18
My house was robbed.  While I was in it.  So yeah, I didn't work out.  Definitely not beating myself up about that one.  The jerks took our Wii!!!

Friday 4/19
It was really strange to absorb the fact that my house was robbed.  We stayed home from work to reinforce the back door and the windows, and also just because neither of us felt comfortable leaving our fortress undefended.  I started to get antsy in the afternoon, and I knew I needed to get out and enjoy the nice weather for a run.  I'd also been waiting all week to show some support for Boston in a small runner's way.

Running

3.18 km

00:25:24

Started out feeling crampy and tired. Just glad I got out and did it anyway.

I didn't feel the best while I was running.  I was pretty surprised to find that I shaved a full minute off my time.  Amazing!  Imagine what I could do if I felt good!  Pretty much the minute I walked in the door I started sneezing my head off.  Of  course there was a man edging his lawn on my route, and if there's one thing that will set me off it's fresh cut grass.  This allergy attack had me down for the count.  I spent the rest of the day and night medicating and running through a whole box of tissues.  I wanted to get a post run pic, but that wasn't happening with all of the snot.  Here's what I thought was a good substitute.

2 miles for Boston - 4/19/13

Saturday & Sunday 4/20-4/21
I gave myself the weekend off to recover from the crazy allergy attack on Friday.  It took 48 full hours to get myself back to normal.  There were some near OD levels of antihistamines required to get to a point where I could stop sneezing, and that spells medicine head and sleep.  I still got 4 days in this week, and I will count that as success on the workout front.  Eating was pretty terrible over the weekend, but I did convince Dan to go grocery shopping on Sunday.

Thus begins a new week!

xo
R

OKC

The week of 4/8-4/14 really got away from me, but that's something that I am going to have to learn to cope with.  Work travel is all consuming.  It's my job.  I have to learn to work hard and eat the best I can when showsite travel gets crazy, and then bounce right back to my routine the minute the schedule lightens up.  I can do this.  I am currently doing this.  It's going to happen! :)

Monday 4/8
I worked from home on Monday and wanted to bust out a good workout.  I took the opportunity to get out on another run.  I want to concentrate on getting faster before I get more distance this time, as I don't feel that 12 minute miles are the most fun way to get from point A to point B.

Running

3.16 km

00:26:20

Windy. Purple shoes, got numb toes. 5pm = lots of exhaust

Tuesday 4/9
I had to get up super crazy early on a travel day to stop by the office to do a teleprompter rehearsal for a client today.  Yucky.  Then I drove to OKC for my show.  The drive wasn't bad, but between getting up early and sitting all day I really had no energy for a workout.  I went for it anyway, and I'm really glad I did.

5 Rounds for Time: 6 push up, 9 sit up, 12 air squat - 5:30

That's right, I crushed my previous 7 minute time for 5 rounds of this workout.  AWESOME!  I felt like a million bucks for doing so much better!

Wednesday 4/10 - Sunday 4/14
This is where it all fell apart.  I ate restaurant pork loin on Tuesday night and I got pretty sick, followed by late night work calls on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  Saturday morning was a 6:30 am call for a breakfast session followed by strike.  Then the 4 hour journey home.  No working out on those days.  I really wanted to get with it on Sunday and get a session in, but I slept 16 out of 24 hours once I was home.  Apparently OKC really took it out of me.  I don't even want to talk about what I ate while I was there.  Here's the great part - I get to put that behind me and turn it around right away.  I'm home for four weeks, and that's a nice long time to get into a routine.

Onward!

xo
R

Where was I?

I've been working out, but recording it on the blog has been way more challenging than I ever dreamed!  I think maybe once a week will suffice for a recap, unless I do something spectacular or take a bunch of fun pictures.  Since I don't normally lean toward the spectacular, and I'm pretty lame at picture taking, I'm not getting my hopes up!

Monday 4/1
This was an unexpected rest day.  I never would have dreamed that the gym at the Tropicana would be closed at 8pm.  I avoided all heavy food and WINE at happy hour just so I could go back to the hotel and get a workout in.  You can imagine how bummed I was after getting all geared up for a treadmill workout, walking across the darn casino in workout gear, then having to turn around without any sweat!  Oh well, Mondays are a great rest day - probably my first choice.

Tuesday 4/2
Coach Amie came up with a CrossFit style workout for this day.  AMRAP - 3 burpee, 6 v-up, 9 lunge - 6 minutes.  I completed 5 rounds and almost died.  It's amazing how much exercise really happens in that 6 minutes!

Wednesday 4/3
Treadmill intervals!  I did a warm up walk for 5 minutes, then alternated jogging at 5.5-6 mph for 2.5 minutes and walking at 3.5 mph for 2.5 minutes.  I finished it off with a 5 minute cool down walk.  Sweat - y! This was the first real running workout in my crazy pink shoes, and they were really good.  I was worried that they might be too tight, but they were tight in all the right places.  I had a feeling I loved the Brooks Pure Cadence.  I was right!

My pretties!

I am extra proud of myself for getting this workout done, cause I wedged it in between a conference call in the hotel room and checkout time.  Go me!

Thursday 4/4
Dan is working through P90X and he asked me to do yoga Thursday with him.  I LOVE this yoga workout, it is seriously the best video I've ever come across.  But an hour and a half does NOT fit in with my plan of taking it slow.  Not to mention that every time I've done this video in the past my hammies have ended up shredded.  I did exactly 30 minutes of the workout and then snuggled with Suki.  Perfection!  Enough to feel it, not enough to suffer.

Friday 4/5
Coach Amie was at it again.  She's a tough taskmaster!  3 Rounds for time - 4 lateral jump, 8 one arm thrusters, 12 kettlebell swings.  I used a 10# dumbbell, and finished in 2:20.  Short and sweet!

More exciting - this dinner.  Dan made steak and mushrooms, I roasted potatoes and threw together a Greek salad with the most amaze-balls dressing.  Not a food blogger, but it sure was tasty!  And kinda pretty with the always amazing La Crema pinot noir.

Friday's dinner.  Yummo!

Saturday 4/6
On Saturday it was time to face the music and get back out on my neighborhood sidewalks.  I am trying to be super careful so that I don't re-injure my shin.  I am keeping it to jogging 2 miles maximum until I get to a better level of fitness.  With that said, it felt good to be back out there!  My new pink shoes were amazing!  No numb toes, no sore shins at all.  I walked/ jogged every other block, and my 2 mile time was 27:44.

rachel beaver

Running

3.18 km

00:27:44

Windy!

Sunday 4/7
To finish out the week, Dan, Suki and I went on a leisurely 2 mile walk in our neighborhood.  I had the urge to really work, but decided to hold back and just move.  It was a nice day, and I love spending time with my little family.

Whew!  That's a good looking week!  I think I'll keep going!

xo
R

Red Rock Canyon

Stuck alone on Easter Sunday in Las Vegas, I was on the hunt for something healthy and creative to do.  On a normal work trip I might search out decadent food, or indulge in daytime drinks outside.  On this beautiful Sunday I decided to spend time outdoors moving.

Red Rock Canyon is just a thirty minute drive from the strip.  You pay $7 for all day car access to the park, and there is a thirteen mile scenic drive that takes you to each peak and trailhead.  I chose the last turn off due to the amount of people in the park.  This turned out to be a really great choice.  My trail was very solitary, just what I needed for my solo Sunday.  

The Trailhead

I chose to do a trail that was one mile out and one mile back due to extremely sore quads from the previous day's workout.  Don't want to overdo it at the beginning! 

Beautiful Landscape

The established trail ends in the valley ahead

The weather and the light were both perfect, cool breeze, bright sunshine, and enough rocks in the way to really have to pay attention.

Self portrait at the halfway mark

I think now every (non-summertime) trip to Las Vegas should include a trip to Red Rock Canyon. :)

xo
R