Happy Weekend

I love holiday weekends.  And this holiday weekend is one of the best holidays of the year!!!  I have a whole bunch of nothing planned.  Which is ok with me.  I ran with my sister yesterday.  It was so hot out and felt so nice just to sweat.  We ran into the town where we both grew up and did a major stair workout. It was great.  We took tons of pictures so stay tuned.  But for now I just want to kick back.. sit by the pool... eat food.. and play with my kids.

Hope you all have a great weekend.
-Heather

Plenty of both

One way to remove guilt from a vacation is to be sure to keep moving. For us, working out is an essential part of the vacation experience.  BUT, you just need to keep it in perspective.  Don't try to follow some strenuous training plan. Don't try to keep up with what you usually do because it is still a vacation.  

Below we found a basketball court and did triceps push-up and frog hops. Sarah also led us in some of her Tracy Anderson stuff.  Felt good =)

Then after we were finished, we recovered doing this! =)

On another day we hit the treadmill.  Which was very interesting.  Try doing 10x400's fast while the boat is moving up and down.  The workout facility was located on floor 9 in the front of the ship. So every time there was any "motion in the ocean", which was always.... you for sure felt it in the gym.   So I ended up using new muscles to try to keep myself balanced on the treadmill at fast speeds.  It was a BLAST and kinda scary, but totally worth it. My quads and hamstrings were slightly sore the next day. =)

Then of course, after our run we recovered doing this....

Food, Food, Food! We LOVE food. (I realize there isn't much food in the picture, but I assure you that is because we had just finished a few trips to the buffet and polished off our desserts, Yum)

Moral of the story is, while on vacation working in little workouts will make the lazy sleeping, eating times that much funner.  I LOVE VACATION!

Taco Bell is my weakness

Today I really struggled to make a healthy choice.  I love Taco Bell.  I know it is horrible for you and most of the food isn't even actually food but I do not care.  I just love it.  So for lunch I was just not in the mood to stay home.  My kitchen was still messy from yesterday, I had only few choices for lunch, my son was whining and not thinking any of my options tasted good and I was burned out.  I had some spare cash in my purse and thought, lets just go to Taco Bell.  It is quick, cheap and easy.  I have been doing so well at not eating out that I just figured, "oh what the hell."

But then I remembered an article I recently read that talked about how food is fuel and that once you start to eat healthy you will realize the benefits.  Your body will work better, you will feel better and you will have more energy.  I thought to myself, "This is true! I have noticed that I am able to work harder and recover quicker. So literally, although this was NOT easy for me, I forced myself to make an even bigger mess in the kitchen.  I made my son some Organic Macaroni and was I thinking of what my sister Heather had done with the eggs on a previous post. So I scrambled mine right up but instead of on top of Arugula I put them into corn tortillas with green salsa and parmesan cheese.  Lunch was a success!

I think sometimes it might appear that people who exercise and typically eat well or at least try to live a healthy lifestyle don't struggle with making these choices.  But I am here to tell you they do.  I struggle and it is hard.  Today when making my lunch I felt like I was a zombie and almost grouchy because I was actually doing what I should.  I dunno, maybe that sounds stupid but it is true. It was that hard for me, you'd think I was giving up a cigarette or something!

I also have another major weakness.... Diet Pepsi.  I have limited myself to one 12oz can a day unless it is a weekend.  So far it is going OK but once again, it has been difficult.  Does anyone have any ideas on how to make these choices easier????

Whatever Works =)

So lately I have been thinking about all the different things that keep me motivated. And then I started to wonder what keeps other people motivated? I have lots of friends who enjoy doing the same things I do. So I started to kind of listen to people talk after a run or workout to see what differents sorts of things motivate different people. Here are a few:

One girlfriend of mine said this after doing 4 x 1 Mile Hill Repeats:

"Now we get to eat go home and eat Bon Bons!!"

Another friend of mine said this after running on the dreadmill:

"I was watching the biggest Loser and seeing all of those people work really hard made me want to finish my workout although it was horrible and on the treadmill!"

And:

"I love a runners high and now I get to have one all day!"

Another Food Item:

"Now I get a Protein Shake."

So, some of them are motivation to eat more, some are because they enjoy the feeling they get when completing a workout, and others seem to find inspiration from watching other people work hard as well. The whole idea of, "If they can do it, I can do it"

So I ask all of you, what motivates you?

P.S. These cute pics were made by my girlfriend Susan who is currently training for the Ragnar SoCal. Go SUSAN! Sarah and I were privileged enough to run with this team last year for the Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back but couldn't fit it in this year! GOOD LUCK LADIES =)