"Only" kettlebell today

My kids have been on vacation, and so we were unable to run together this morning. I'm hoping we'll be able to run tomorrow, so I decided that today I'd only do my kettlebell class. I LOVE kettlebell class! It's just a half hour workout, but it's the most satisfying half hour workout I have ever had!

As I've mentioned, my sister Tracy is my teacher. She is a huge inspiration to me. Having lost more than 120lbs a few years ago, she has not only kept it off, but has become an amazing kettlebell teacher in the meantime. I've always looked up to my sister. She's smart, she's a fabulous cook (healthy food, too) and has a great style. And when she went from being more overweight than me, to about my weight, then to far surpassing my fitness, I was probably a bit intimidated by what she was able to accomplish. I didn't follow her lead, rather I just thought of her as the expert in weight loss and fitness.

Finally, when the new year came and I was coming up with ideas for what I wanted to do, I mentioned to Tracy that I was thinking of taking a kickboxing class. "Kickboxing, hah..." was how she responded. "Why don't you just take my intro to kettlebell class?" Well, that was my invitation and I went for it. Since then, I've taken her class every Saturday since the beginning of the year (5 weeks) and have become hooked. As I mentioned in my post a couple of days ago, I've also purchased my own kettlebell for home workouts.

Right now I'm only at the beginning (swinging) and I know there's much more to learn, so I am really looking forward my progression as I definitely plan on keeping this up for awhile!

So today, I had the best half hour workout ever. As I write this, I'm still waiting to cool down so I can take a shower. No other working out is needed for the day - only kettlebell. What a great feeling!

Again, hopefully I'll get a run in with the kids tomorrow. Ohhhh, and to update yesterday's post, I did run (with a little walking) the 6 miles on the treadmill last night. Just to put a period onto my goal setting point, as I was about to get on the treadmill last night I got a call from a friend I used to go out with from time to time. He called to say that he was in my neighborhood having a drink. I seriously considered blowing off the run to go see him, but I remembered my goal... I stayed at the gym and did what I set out for myself. I'm soooo proud :)

Goals

I'm not a big "goal" person. I don't usually make goals and then try to reach them. Rather, I would say I'm more of an "inspired" person. When I want to achieve something and I'm inspired, I simply head in that direction. While I have much to say about inspiration and why I believe it's one of the most essential things to living a great life (that's what I do in my coaching career anyway), this post is more about goals combined with inspiration and how I've come to understand how important setting goals are for this particular journey I'm on at the moment.

Last night at the gym I had set a goal for myself to run on the treadmill for 4 miles. I knew I could do it because I've done it a couple of times before. However, I had already taken a pilates class and didn't know if I'd have enough energy to do a run of that length. (As a reminder, I've only been running for a month so 4 miles is definitely an effort for me.) Anyway, I wasn't able to run the entire distance. However, I had a goal in mind. I set the expectation for myself and knew that I was going to make it, even if I had to walk some of it. And so, I did end up walking some.

During my walk/run I noticed another woman in the gym who was at one of the weight machines. She was sitting there, noticeably uninterested in what she was doing. As I watched her sit at the machine, she lazily did a couple of reps and then simply stopped, seemingly without a bit of energy. It was as though she was oblivious as to why she was at the gym at all. I have no judgment about the woman because maybe she was just there to hang out. It doesn't matter to me. But what it did remind me is that I've tried before to lose weight by working out and have been much less successful than I've been during this past month of intentional commitment. I've made a goal for myself, not only to just workout and lose weight, but I have also committed myself to completing a half marathon in about three months. There's no moving that date. There's no waiting to cram in my training until the last minute. I have to be ready. And since I've never been a runner, I have even more motivation to reach my goals. So each night when I'm working out, my goals help me push myself just that much more. And my feeling is that it's been a great help.

Tonight, I'm writing this post before I go to the gym. My goal is to run 6 miles tonight. I haven't attempted that before, but tonight I'm not doing any other workout other than the treadmill. So I'm committed to achieving the goal I'm setting for myself tonight.

This month's effort has shown me something important about myself. I've realized that I can do anything that I want to do. It's not so much that I have to work really, really hard. More so, I think that whenever I decide what it is that I want, set an intention, set the goal and work towards it, I can simply achieve it.

I will let you know tomorrow if I was able to do the 6 miles...

I don't have time for that...

Aside from the losing weight thing, another reason I decided to go on this journey was to refocus some of my time. Late last year I had some drama in my personal life. I handled it well, and while I am no means gun shy, I decided I really wanted to take a break from dating and any potential personal relationships to focus only on myself. It seems whenever I say I'm going to take a break though, inevitably someone new shows up in my life. Well, that has happened again, but with my new goals and my very full workout/training schedule, I don't really have any time that I want to devote to another person. So while it's always nice to get attention from a good guy, I am happy with keeping it in the background of my life for now.

As for all the other areas of my life, I have quite a few more goals that I wanted to work on for myself in the new year as well, such as financial goals as well as some focus regarding my career. But my current schedule simply doesn't allow for much more than what I'm already doing. Even my friendships have been quite neglected lately.

Then today, I found it humorous as I realized that my even job seems to be getting in the way of my working out! As it is, most days I leave work to go directly to workout, usually a yoga class or a kettlebell workout with my sister. I also like pilates class, but I don't get a chance to go as often because it's on Thursday's at 4:30pm. Either I cannot get there in time or my Women's Empowerment Group falls on that night (every other Thursday). But as my momentum for working out builds, I find myself wanting to do as much as I can.

Having arrived at work late today (because I stayed up doing laundry until 1am last night and was too tired to get up on time), I had planned on working later. But as the day progressed, I just kept thinking about going to pilates class. My boss was planning on leaving the office before 4pm, so I thought to myself that the moment he's out the door, I will leave as well. But he wasn't leaving and it was getting late. Finally, my desire to go to class got the best of me and I told him that I wanted to leave and go to pilates class. It was fine with him, but as I rushed out the door I just thought about how funny that now even my job seems to be interfering in my workout schedule!

Anyway, here's today's accomplishment... 1 hour pilates class and 1 hour on the treadmill for a walk/run of 4 miles. I'm satisfied!

So, while I would love to have more time to do many of the other things I am not currently doing, including working more (because I do enjoy it), I remind myself that I intentionally chose this path for myself for the moment. And while I suppose I'm soon going to have to find some time for the things that really cannot wait much longer, such as the groceries I need, the clean house I'd like to live in, the bills that need to get paid, and even a pedicure that I desperately want, I have to say that I am very much enjoying my life these days and happy to be working on becoming a better me!

Oh goodie, something new to buy

At a workshop I once attended, the speaker discussed how people get upset whenever something of theirs breaks or gets lost. I agree, the immediate reaction is usually negative. However, this speaker said that when something like that happens to her, she says, "Oh goodie, something new to buy!" Well, that's definitely a different and positive perspective!

Although I'm just as typical as most by having a negative response to something of mine that breaks or gets lost, I do always recall what that speaker had said and try to look at it from that positive perspective as well.

On Monday, as I was getting out of my car to go to yoga class and went to grab for my yoga mat, I was oddly surprised at how it wasn't there. Hmmm? Where was my mat? It was a weird feeling actually, because the mat only goes from my car to class and from class to my car. I don't take it out of my car. I have a big car, but really, it had to be either next to me or in the back seat. And it wasn't. Weird.

Fortunately, I had my pilates mat in the car as well. And since I needed to get to class, although the mat is not ideal (it's about 5x thicker), I used it anyway. When I got to class I scanned the extra mats that the gym has for people who don't bring their own, thinking maybe I simply forgot my mat last time I left. But I only saw blue and purple mats. My mat was bright green, so it obviously wasn't there. After class, I asked the guy at the front desk if there was a lost and found. He showed me what was there and no green mat there either. Really, what had happened to my mat?

Tuesday, I again used my pilates mat for yoga class. It's actually a bit dangerous to use that mat for yoga as I almost slipped a couple of times. So, although I usually go to my sisters for a kettlebell workout on Wednesday's after work, I decided instead to buy a new yoga mat before class tonight. So off to Target I go...

While at Target, my sister called to ask why I hadn't shown up at her house. It was a misunderstanding because I didn't realize she expected me since we hadn't confirmed this week. But she was ok with it and agreed that it would be a good idea if I bought a kettlebell also, since I was already at the store getting a mat. Great idea!

So leaving Target I felt really happy! I had wanted a new yoga mat for awhile. Mine is about 5 years old anyway, and whenever I see people with one of the new cool colored mats, I want to buy one. However, nothing was wrong with mine and I couldn't justify to myself spending the money on another one. Now though, having lost mine, I was able to get a brand new one! I was also able to buy my very own kettlebell. I was excited!

When I got home I was able to get in a 20 minute kettlebell workout. Not much more is needed to build up a good sweat. Then I was off to yoga with my new mat. As I walked into class, the class before mine was heading out. And what do I see??? I see a woman putting a bright green mat in with the blue and purple ones. My mat! Although I don't know how I could have forgotten it, the mystery seemed solved. I must have left it in class last Wednesday.

Well, although I know it's ridiculous, I didn't have a very peaceful yoga class, thinking about that stupid mat all during class. A lady, who was right next to me, and who was there for her very first time tonight, was using the (my) green mat. I was frustrated with myself for even thinking about it, but I couldn't seem to help myself! Even though I had a brand new mat and don't really need two, after realizing that my distraction was getting the best of me and would probably notice that mat every time I went to class, I decided to just take my mat back. So, at the end of class, I walked out with two mats... one brand new one and one used by other people that I now really need to clean!

Uhhh, what was the point of this story? Oh yeah, to remember how fun it was to buy something new. Oh goodie! Ha!

Lastly, real quick, I also ran 2.5 miles on the treadmill after class tonight. So my workout time today totaled two hours--kettlebell workout, yoga class and running. I know, that is the real point of this blog, but that would have only been a few lines anyway. Even so, sorry for getting off track with my crazy story. I just write about what's on my mind! I promise to get back to more of my workout progress tomorrow. Maybe :)

The Biggest Loser night

While I had already decided around Christmastime to join Weight Watchers in the new year, I hadn't yet realized all the inspiration that would help me stay motivated. As I've been mentioning, my kids are a big inspiration to me. But it was on New Years Day when I actually had one of my first biggest boosts of inspiration. On tv... The Biggest Loser marathon. I had been aware of the show and had caught parts of it here and there, but I had never really watched an entire episode, much less a season. However, just having joined Weight Watchers (actually a few days before the beginning of the year) the show marathon caught my attention. So I watched the show (rather, many shows) for the very first time. I was hooked, simply blown away by the transformation of those people!

Fortunately, I don't have nearly as much weight to lose as most of the people on that show, but to see them so fit and trim and the end of the seasons was just amazing to me. If I hadn't seen how they looked at the beginning of the seasons, I would have never guessed they had ever been overweight. I was truly inspired and even more ready to begin my journey!

Since then, I've made a point to watch the newest season of The Biggest Loser every week. It happens to come on Tuesday nights, right after I go to Weight Watchers for my weekly weigh-in and meeting. So it's perfect, making this is one of my favorite nights of my week!

As for my own progress, today was a good one! I had yoga class, as usual. With a little time in-between the end of the class and before Weight Watchers I got a chance to walk a mile on the treadmill. It's somewhat insignificant compared to what I need to do, but I got a chance to chat with Dana (who was on the treadmill next to me) and so I had a good time :) Then we went to get weighed in. Wow, this is my best week yet! I've been losing each week, but this week I lost 3 lbs, making my total-to-date a loss of 8.2 lbs! I am soooo excited! While I still have a way to go, I am proud of the progress I've already made. In the beginning, my goals seemed to be so far away, but in just a short time the progress feels so good. I'm happy :)

On the other hand, I am really going to miss the rest of my team over the next few days. David and Dana are taking a mini-vacation and won't be back until late Saturday. So, I'm on my own for a bit, and will hopefully get to run with them on Sunday. I definitely look forward to then!

Well, since it's The Biggest Loser night, and I've done my part for the day/week, it's time to get back to the show... Later!

Easing back into the week

My back was still slightly sore from Saturday's kettlebell class, so I decided to take it easy today. My upcoming Team in Training running coach (who I happened to meet when buying my running shoes) had said that people often get excited when training for marathon's, tend to work too hard right away, and then sometimes hurt themselves. He also said that he actually preferred for people to wait to begin training until the official training starts at the beginning of February. But, my "team" is probably typical, getting excited and wanting to train hard now.

However, I am keeping in mind what the coach said. So, with my back still a bit sore, I decided not to run today. Instead I simply went to yoga class (missed Dana :( because she had an evening meeting at her work, but David was there.)

Personally, I was happy to have our regular Monday yoga teacher back from her yoga retreat. Although she's not the favorite of the two teachers we have, the substitute we've had for the last three Monday's was definitely not ideal for me. So, in addition to appreciating this teacher's return, I was also happy that she came back with new poses for us to do. None of them bothered my back at all and the class seemed to fly by, since I had to pay such close attention to what we needed to do. It was not only nice to mix-it-up, it was much better for me to have the easier flow today as our Tuesday/Wednesday yoga teacher usually kicks our butts!

After yoga class was over I felt pretty good. As I said, I didn't want to run, but did decide to walk on the treadmill for awhile, just to get some miles in. So I walked an easy two miles. I then came home and had some soup.

Tonight I feel really good. I'm not feeling any pain and thinking I will be good for tomorrow's more intense yoga class. I won't be running tomorrow either, because we have our Weight Watchers weigh-in and meeting after class. Fingers crossed, my weight will be down a little :) Until later...

Sunday is rest day

Although this blog is new, I've actually been working on my resolutions for nearly four weeks now. At the intro meeting for Team in Training, they emphasized the importance of taking one day off a week for rest. So far, my team (David, Dana and I) have found that Sunday is the best day for rest.

However, we weren't planning on resting on this Sunday. We missed our usual Saturday morning run yesterday and decided to reschedule it for today. But that won't be happening after all. My body is screaming in all sorts of ways and so I have decided to stick with my rest day. There's always tomorrow!

I think I abused my body a bit too much yesterday. First, I progressed to a heavier weight in kettlebell class. A kettlebell is swung, so if I don't tighten my butt as I swing, there's a lot of pressure on my lower back. I already began feeling the pain in my lower back yesterday, and today it's not much better. So I need to rest my back right now. In addition, before going to the movies with my friend Charlene last night, we went out for dinner at PF Chang's. It was very good. However, since I have been eating milder and healthier food over the last four weeks, my stomach did not appreciate the richness of that dinner! I slept so uncomfortably and am still feeling the effects of it today. Back to eating better today!!

So, although I wanted to skip rest day, I think it's better to just stick with it. I can relax, watch tv and blog more about what I'm doing. It's all good!

Ok, so I wanted to explain about my team and the half marathon...

David and Dana have already been blogging about their experience and are further ahead of me in regards to their fundraising pages and fundraising ideas needed in order to help raise their share needed to be part of Team in Training. I have been training as long as they have, but joined TNT later, so I am only at the beginning stages of what I need to do for the organization. I'm proud of their excitement as it definitely helps keep me motivated, so it won't be much longer until I'm up to speed as well.

As for my version of how we got ourselves into this (you can read their versions on their blogs), I had about as much interest in running a marathon as I do in skydiving. Um, that would be none! But as 2008 was ending and I began thinking about the weight loss, learning a new sport, and all the other resolutions I wanted to accomplish, I continued to hear the Team in Training commercials on the radio. As I said, I wasn't interested, but there's the power of repeated commercials, you know. Anyway, David, Dana and I had already decided to go to Weight Watchers together as well as take yoga classes three times a week. So we were already spending a lot of time together discussing our physical goals. Although I don't recall exactly why I brought this up, I mentioned to Dana about the marathon in Hawaii that I had heard about on the radio. She was immediately interested. I thought to myself, yeah, that's nice, but Hawaii is for a vacation. No marathon for me!

Within the next day or two Dana had looked up the information online. She called to let me know that the marathon in Hawaii is a tri-athalon (uh, definitely no way!), but that there is a half marathon on May 3rd (also Dana's 23rd birthday) in Humbolt County. She said that she wanted to do it and told me about the info meeting that was being held that very evening. Suddenly a half marathon seemed doable. I don't know why. I don't run. But 13.1 miles simply seemed possible. So the three of us went to the meeting.

The organizers do a good job of inspiring you to join. They explain how they even train people for marathon's who had never run before in their lives. And as for the fundraising, $2,400 needed for our particular half marathon, they help with many ideas and support. They also discussed the true purpose for raising that money and how valuable it is for the patients of Leukemia and Lymphoma. So it's for a very good cause.

Well, suddenly there was no question once the meeting was over that the three of us would join.

Since then, our journey for training for this half marathon began...

The three of us are now a team, taking yoga three times a week, going to Weight Watchers every Tuesday, and running a little more each day (with Saturday mornings the day we run out at the park). Separately, I've been doing kettlebell training as well as a pilates class. David and Dana ride their bikes for their extra training. Overall, we're doing quite well. We're seeing the progress, especially since the first day we tried to run, Dana and I couldn't even run a mile! Now we're up to more than 4 miles!

The official TNT training starts in a couple of weeks, but we've gotten a head start and that gives me much more optimism that we can do this.

So rest is on the schedule for today, then back to yoga and running tomorrow. More to come...

Tired of black every day!

This is the picture that did it - the one that broke the camel's back! My friend Michelle was doing something sweet when she posted a picture she had taken of me and her boyfriend Brandon. The only thing is that she posted it directly to my facebook wall. Nice... a picture I could not crop before it was out there for the world to see!

While I deleted the picture from my wall, I did not delete it from my profile. Instead, I kept it there - for inspiration!

I have been overweight much of my adult life - anywhere from 20 lbs to as much as 45 lbs at one time. I've lost a significant amount of it a couple of times, only to gain it back again and then some. I'm not even a big eater actually. I simply have bad eating habits. I'm lazy, usually eating one meal a day and then having sweets to make it through the rest of the day. I'm not a good cook and rarely plan what to eat, so it's always just been more convenient for me to get something quickly whenever I'm hungry.

As for exercising, I've been much better over the last couple of years than I had ever been in my life before then. Aside from the times I made the effort to lose weight, I never exercised. But having joined a gym a couple of years ago, I'm proud to say that I go fairly often. And if I take a break from the gym for a bit, I make sure to go for long walks. I don't enjoy exercising, but I do make much more effort these days to do it.

However, exercising alone has not kept me from gaining back some weight over the last couple of years. Of course, I could tell I was gaining - my clothes were getting tighter and whenever I did see a picture of myself, if I couldn't crop it, I wouldn't even dream of putting in online. (Cannot stop those friends from doing it though, ha!) Then eventually, my other solution for staying in denial about my weight became wearing black nearly every day. I know I looked cool, but really, every day? If for some reason I actually did wear a color, I would simply cover it up with a black sweater. Even for the warmer days, I have a black lightweight cardigan with short sleeves.

Now though, at this weight, the black tops don't even help hide anything anymore, as proven by the picture above. At the beginning of this year, I realized that I would need to lose about 35 lbs. These days, with so many people overweight, I may even look fairly average. However, whenever I see someone fit, I think to myself, I could look that way if I want. So why don't I? Finally, I realized I have a choice - to accept being overweight or to do something about it.

Well, I'm 42 years old now, and feel really good about who I am as a person. I've worked hard at becoming happy and living a life that I love. Now though, it's time to do something about how I look and feel about myself physically!

While making my resolutions for this new year, I decided to be intentional about what I would do. I joined Weight Watchers as a way to learn how to eat, started taking yoga classes on a regular basis (because I enjoy it), began learning kettlebell (my sister Tracy offered to teach me) and joined the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training in order to run a half marathon! Yes, a half marathon!! This is whole other story in itself, and so I will explain more in my next post.

For now, I simply wanted to share one of the reasons (I really have about three reasons) for this next journey of mine. My kids, my daughter Dana and son-in-law David are a big part of much of what I'm doing. I'll share more about our "team" later as well. In the meantime, I'm already feeling much better (lost 5.2 lbs in three weeks), very optimistic about my year, and grateful to already be having those mornings when I'm getting dressed and considering wearing something other than black... well, considering!!

p.s. There's no guarantee that I won't gain back what I'm working on losing right now, but today is all that matters. Whenever I'm working on becoming a better me, I feel good. So thankfully, I am feeling great today!