This week is dragging...

Will it ever end??

Workout today was kind of lame, but I still did something. My calves are really sore from the shred, so I opted to take break from that today. I focused on doing a lot of the ab movements from the shred since I don't feel the workout focuses enough on abs. I then did some brief cardio moves such as jumping jacks, running in place. I pretty much did about 20 minutes of random exercises that were in the shred, focusing on the abs today. I think this may come a good routine to adopt so I can get my midsection into shape quicker.

Keep it going

The exercising is still kicking my butt which is a good thing of course. I'm just glad I could get myself to do them today. It's been an icky day spent in my pj's...yes, I even went to the office in my pj's since I knew I wouldn't be seeing anyone this morning. Alas, now it's time to finally hit the showers and get on with life. I have totally screwed up my chore schedule this week. I need to get back into my morning routine again....

Whilst doing some sneaky investigating, I found out my ex is getting married. I am very glad for him of course since I was a bit worried at first that he wouldn't get out of the terrible funk he was in and move on. I won't lie and say I don't feel a little weirded out about it. I can't really put a finger on it as of why.

But it is what it is. I am in a much better place now with my wonderful husband and I wouldn't want it any other way. He is truly my soul mate and I love him with all my heart!!

So I say, best wishes to him and his fiance. I hope he can find the same everlasting happiness that I have with Jim. It is one of the greatest feelings in the world...

Nope, it's still kicking my butt!

So I thought Level 1 of the 30 day shred was going to be a breeze this time, being it's my second time around. I was wrong, haha. I woke up sore today. I just finished doing it again this afternoon and feel like jello. I'm glad it's working!

It's been a rough couple days. The weather is blah and there is some things going on that are pretty stressful. I'm not going into detail, but any good vibes and prayers you got, please send our way!!

And if you have some sunshine....you can send that over here as well!

Back in Gear

Alright, we are getting back in the workout saddle again. Saturday was the March of Dimes. It was a perfect day for a 6 mile walk (I think I previously said it was 8 miles, I was mistaken!). It went well and afterwards we got free hot dogs, so that was a nice bonus, lol. I got a huge blister on my foot, but other than that, it was a great event.

This morning, I decided to just do it. I am going to be late for work today, but luckily that is no big deal. I woke up later than I wanted to, but earlier than I usually do (around 7:20 or so). I lounged around, ate breakfast, and around 8:00, the urge hit me. I decided to get the heck up and do my workout again. I stuck with Level 1 still....and it went well! I think I will do maybe one or two more days of Level 1 and finally suck it up and move to Level 2. It's totally going to kick my butt, and I know it. But it will feel good to move forward.

Next month is Race for a Cure. 5K run/walk. I would love to be able to run the whole thing. So I need to really keep this going so I can have the strength and endurance to do it. This is the third year in a row. The first year I walked most, ran the last part and almost died (literally I felt like I couldn't breathe.) Last year I ran most, walked a bit and it was better....still was hard, but definitely better. I had started working out shortly before the race, so my endurance was up a bit.

So third times a charm right? This is the one I'm going to run the whole thing, right? Well, it's good to have a goal....

Update overdue!

So I'll try to make it short and sweet since I don't really like really long drawn out blogs! However, since I am covering a long span of time, it will probably still be long.....Basically here is a recap of the last couple weeks!!

1. We painted the kitchen as I mentioned and I will soon post pics! It turned out pretty well!

2. Had our families over for the Easter vigil service last saturday to celebrate my entrance into the catholic faith. We had a nice spread with cheese and crackers, chips, fruit, veggies and rolled sandwiches. Went really well and had a wonderful time! The service at church was amazing and it was overall a wonderful experience!

3. Went to Ohio for a few days while Jim was there working. I worked from the hotel. We just cuddled up at night and relaxed. One of the nights we spent geocaching. It was fun going around a completely different state to find them.

4. Went geocaching yesterday.....not as fun as before. Went to a nearby state park. It was rather warm, but we still had to wear long sleeved sweatshirts since we were trudging through the forest. We got poked and prodded non-stop by some stupid wild rose bushes or whatever they were. They were EVERYWHERE! Thorny plants = the devil. After 3 hours and only 5 caches....we were done. We hit the road and relaxed at home playing some Pokemon (yep, we're dorks.)

5. Yesterday night, we went and saw Death Cab for Cutie. I scored free tickets when I got an email from a poster on a knitting group I am signed up for looking to get rid of the tickets since she couldn't go. I was the first to respond, so I snatched them up. It was in East Lansing, which was about a 1 1/2 hr. drive. Not terrible for a free show. Opening bands ending up being "Ra Ra Riot" and "Cold War Kids" both of which we liked. Everyone put on a great show and we had a good time. We stopped for an awesome "Banana Split Shake" at Steak 'n Shake right before we got home....mmmmmm.

I have come to a conclusion about concerts however.....I just can't do concerts of bands that have slow, mellow music. Jim and I noticed that we both got tired and just a tad bored when we were just standing there listening. You can't dance to it, you can't really do anything but "sway" slightly. So, rock concerts only from now on. Good thing Nine Inch Nails is coming up next month!!! I need a good rock show.

6. Back to life as usual today. We skipped mass this morning since we got home super late and needed to sleep in a bit. But we made it to our RCIA class....we only have two left and then we are done. Did some house chores and went grocery shopping today. Bought more of the old liquid vitamins I was taking. Not sure of it completely, but I seemed to have felt a lot better when I was taking those vitamins compared to the ones I started taking after I ran out of the liquid. Pretty much as soon as I switched is when I started noticing my loss of energy which meant no workouts, all day fatigue, and unable to wake up early. So...back on the liquid regiment and we will see what happens.

Now it's practically 8:00 pm and time to start thinking about the humdrum of the work week all over again. Can't wait until next weekend....

Bad bad blogger

Yeah, I have been out of sorts for the last couple weeks. Lots of stuff going on (nothing terrible). I am feeling run down and tired a lot again, hence my lack of exercises. I might have pinned it down to a vitamin deficiency perhaps? I will definitely update this weekend, I promise!!!

The Weekend

I decided to keep the exercise posts separated just for the heck of it. So here is everything else from the weekend...

We starting painting our kitchen last week. We are having family over next Saturday for dinner before we head to church for my confirmation. I will be officially Catholic next Saturday night. It's been an interesting journey and a huge learning experience of little religious factoids. It sounds like it is going to be quite an event at the Saturday vigil. I am pretty excited! ANYWAYS....so we have to finish the kitchen by then of course.

So this Saturday was a beautiful day....there was no way we were going to stay indoors and paint!!! Instead, we went out for a day of Geocaching again. We headed to Seven Lakes State Park in Holly. We found every single geocache in the park. It was a beautiful park with great winding, hilly, hiking trails. We spent about 4 or 5 hours there. We then hit up one more geocache on our way home. So we got a total of 9 out of 9! It was defnitely a sucessful trip! So being that we galavanted all day Saturday, Sunday was the day to paint. So we kicked butt and got all the primer done and a full coat of color. I started round 2 of the color but stopped at around 8:30 or so. So today we have a church thing to go to and then we will come back home and paint the rest of it hopefully! I can't wait to have the kitchen back!!! I will post before and after pics when it's offically done.

Day 11

Well, I chickened out and stuck with Level 1 today. Considering I didn't work out ALL weekend...shame on me....I thought I would like a little refresher this morning. Well, I just breezed through it. So it really is time to move on. I broke a sweat and got winded....but barely. So time to push on. I may have to alternate or take more breaks this week, simply because I have a ton of plans this week for Easter and all that jazz, so I have to be able to function properly. We will play it by ear. I may end up just waiting until next Monday so I can fully embrace feeling like a blob of jello after I start Level 2.

Day 10

Well, yesterday was Day 10 of the 30 day shred. I was slightly disappointed that I didn't lose any inches and ended up gaining almost 1 pound. I'm hoping that at least I gained muscle. I skimmed through the level 2 workout and it looks tough. So perhaps I just need a harder workout to see any concrete results. Level 1 has definitely improved my overall stamina and I definitely did improve my form throughout. So I think it has done it's job.

I am supposed to move on to Level 2 today, but I am just really tired this morning and I think I need a break today. That and I need to come home from work and paint today, so being that I am already tired, I want to save any energy I have to take care of that. Depending on what the game plan is for tomorrow, I will either do Level 1 one last time, or go ahead and move to Level 2. I may end up waiting for Monday to start Level 2. I will definitely try to work out both Saturday and Sunday though. I don't want to skip more than one day in a row in fear that I will lose my routine that I seem to be sticking to fairly well.

Day 9

Phew! Another tough workout. Tried to push through some of my rough spots. Still not 100% there yet. When I was done, I decided to look over Level 2 just to see what I am in for. Holy crap, I'm scared, lol. Those girls were struggling, so I can only imagine what it will be like for me! Most likely I am going to have to do the modified version of EVERYTHING for awhile. I am going to go ahead and give it a go on Friday. If I am still alive after that I will update. Tomorrow is my "weigh in" and measurement reading. I really don't think I look any different, so we will see. My endurance has improved, but that seems to be about it for now. If I can conquer level two, perhaps I will see more improvement.