We're finally home after 11 days on the road. Dang! That felt like 11 months! What a crazy trip! I'm absolutely exhausted! But at least I didn't gain weight. I didn't lose any either... But considering how hard it is to eat well while you're traveling - especially in San Antonio, Texas, where in spite of our efforts we didn't find a single decent eating establishment - staying the same is fine.

Thank heavens for the Insanity Workout. Yes! I really did take the DVDs with me. And no, they didn't sit idle in my computer bag on the couch the entire time... I actually did four workouts at super high intensity, grunting and sweating and pushing myself to the point of nausea. It's hard to motivate sometimes. But MAN oh MAN, I'm seeing progress. My abs, glutes, quads, calves, shoulders, biceps and triceps are getting strong and defined. Of course, it's hard to see that under all this fluff... But once the fat goes, you'll see. Muscles of steal. I'm not joking!

I guess they mean it when they say you have to do the workouts AND eat a healthy, lower calorie diet if you want to see the best results. DARN! For me, it's easier to work myself to exhaustion than it is to step away from the cupcakes.

Speaking of cupcakes, Saturday Lynn, the originator of the idea to replace "fat" for "fluff," brought me red velvet cupcakes and orange cranberry scones. SABOTEUR!!! Lynn makes the BEST baked goodies. Those cupcakes ROCKED! Tell me you wouldn't drool over a red velvet cupcake with mini chocolate chips baked in! Heaven on Earth! I ate two and gave the others to Brian. But I didn't share either of the two scones, which are better than the best scones you ever had. Softer and yummier. Perfection! I ate all the treats that night! That way I only had to feel guilty once, and promise myself to get back on track the next day.

But the truth is, I didn't feel guilty. Not for one second.

I'm finally feeling like I'm getting back in shape. I went for a nice ride today, and noticed increased quad strength gained, no doubt, from the Insanity workouts. Feeling fit makes me feel like eating well, controlling my portions, and staying on track. So I'm very motivated at the moment.

I say "at the moment" because we're heading out on the road again tomorrow. I'm chip timing a 5k race in So Cal on Sunday morning, then joining Brian in San Antonio Sunday night for the Running USA Conference where we hope to bag some BIG clients... We return to So Cal Wednesday, pack and shop for our first Planet Ultra double of the season on Thursday, then host the event, also in So Cal, on Saturday. We'll likely drive home a week from Sunday.

During those ten days of traveling, meals are going to be a challenge. Eating in restaurants means I have to do one of three things:
1. Convince Brian to share (rarely happens)
2. Leave lots of food on the plate (makes me wonder about starving children in ...???)
3. Eat too much and sabotage the success of the last few weeks.

I'm hoping for #1 - but it's only a glimmer of hope.

The next issue is exercise. I'm bringing my laptop and my Insanity DVDs and plan to work out in the hotel room every morning. PLAN is the key word. It's going to take a huge amount of will power; and I'm starting NOW to summon that up...

When we're in So Cal I'll have a bike with me; and will hopefully squeeze in a ride this Friday, and maybe a week from Thursday, Friday and maybe Sunday. We'll see. I'll let you know how that goes...

In the meantime, I now have to pack (again). I'm making a super healthy and delicious home cooked meal tonight. It's going to be the last one for awhile - so I'll savor ever bite...

Insanity Workout #3

After a few days of cycling and getting the blood flowing outdoors, I hit the Insanity DVDs again, and did workout #3, "Cardio Power and Resistance." I must've gotten stronger from the first two workouts - cuz it felt a little easier this time. When I say easier, I mean not SO freakin' HARD - but hard enough that I got a great workout. I sweated, did lots of heavy breathing, and feel the heat in my calves, quads and butt. Time to take a shower, don the magic pants - and get back to my daily activities, which right now means office work and getting ready for a timing event this weekend.

Life feels really hectic. Sometimes stress and craziness makes me want to EAT, sometimes I just get too busy to remember to eat. I'm feeling the latter; which is fine. I'm down a couple of pounds as of yesterday. I didn't weigh in today because I ate Red Velvet cake for dessert last night and I didn't want to feel too depressed about that... And anyway, Sundays are free days, calorie-wise... Right?

PS
Only ONE person emailed me to inquire what I meant by "magic pants." So I'm super curious as to what everyone else thinks I'm talking about???

I slept in my magic pants... And still woke up completely wrecked! No joke, I limped to the bathroom and had to put my hands on the seat to help myself sit down. Yep. Feeling those calves and quads. You'd think I ran a marathon or something. Geez.

I'm feeling a little better this evening after a 14 mile, pretty flat bike ride. Yes, the temperature rose above freezing today - and it was nice to get outside. I had to force myself though. I really wanted to just lay in bed moaning and groaning about over doing my Insanity workout yesterday. But I knew that if I didn't at least do some exercise - warm up the muscles, get the blood flowing, spin out the lactic acid buildup, and then stretch it out - I'd probably be in way worse shape tomorrow. So I'm proud of myself for getting out there; because I DO feel better. I'm going to ride again tomorrow and save the Insanity #3 for Sunday. In spite all the pain, I AM going to complete the Insanity Challenge. No matter how long it takes. Because I want to be fit. And ripped. Like the pretty people in the infomercial.

On top of all that, it has been a very stressful couple of days, and it's all I can do to not run out for a bag of oreos and eat the whole thing and wash it down with some ice cream and cake. Good thing my legs are too tired to "run" out even as far as the car. Getting in and out of the car is hard right now. So my waistline is benefiting. Good thing too. Binging makes me feel guilty. Guilt and stress don't go so well together, do they???

Reason wins!

Insanity Workout #2

Holy Schmoley! INSANITY is really, and I mean REALLY an accurate assessment of the nature of these workout DVDs. Seriously! When I woke up this morning I was SORE from the fit test! My calves and hamstrings were worked!

OK, I'm supposed to dig deep, to fight through the pain... So I pop in DVD #2, the "plyometric cardio circuit."

YOWZA!!! 45 minutes of heart pounding, calf burning, quad aching, ab squeezing HELL! Dang! That was so so so HARD! But I did it. I felt a bit light-headed and nauseous when it was over. But I did it! Workout #2 done!

The Insanity Workout is supposed to be completed in 60 days straight with one rest day a week. I can say definitively, right now, there's not a chance in hell that I'm physically fit or strong enough to do that. I'm barely going to be able to walk tomorrow... unless my magic pants (which, yes, I'm wearing NOW) pull off a miracle and heal my weak calves before morning.

So we'll see how tomorrow goes. I might have to wait a day or two to tackle "cardio power & resistance." I'm going to be realistic about it and be careful not to injure myself. Anyway, tomorrow it's supposed to warm up and I'll go for a ride outside.

I've been very, very good, food-wise. All week I've had oatmeal with berries and bananas for breakfast, and kept fueled throughout the day with small meals of fruit or light cheese and crackers every few hours until dinner, which I've been super good about eating a reasonable portion. I'm using a small salad plate and filling that up so it LOOKS like a lot of food on the plate. And no seconds. That's hard. Especially if it's something really yummy.

I feel like I'm on track again. Let's see if I can stick with it.

Anyone up to join me for the Insanity workouts???

Insanity Workout - Day #1

I got on the scale yesterday after having been out of town for the past two weeks. Back to square one. I completely sabotaged myself with poor eating, lots of sweets, and very little exercise that entire time.

I got on my bike twice during our Planet Ultra King of the Mountains Training Camp. Friday I rode up a hill I've done countless times over the many years I've been cycling. No joke: I struggled up it like it was the very first time. I could barely turn the pedals on the steepest part. Crap. Very discouraging. But slightly motivating too. Realizing how out-of-shape I am made me want to get serious again about my fitness. So Saturday I was excited to ride, thinking "day two - go go go." Well I got about 15 miles, mostly downhill, when my rear derailleur cable broke. Ride over. I had to call Brian to come pick me up; and I sat on the side of the road shivering for about 45 minutes. Bummer. With the bike out of commission, I actually dragged my fat #$@ down to the hotel gym Sunday morning and did the eliptical trainer for 40 minutes then the treadmill for 10. Felt good. Great tunes on the Ipod Shuffle helps.

Sunday I took possession of my 1/2 price on craigslist, new in box, Insanity workout dvds - and spent most of the six plus hour drive from So Cal home thinking about how the heck I'm going to motivate myself to get back in shape. Yesterday, I THOUGHT about starting the workout; but went for a walk outside instead. I did open the box, look at the brochures, charts and other interesting included information and decide that I'd do everything in my power to make sure Tonia was WRONG when she told me I'd never stick with the workout. Starting tomorrow. Which is today...

So... INSANITY WORKOUT - Day #1: Fit Test.
Egads. I'm terribly UN-fit. That was freakin' HARD!!! I know this isn't going to mean anything to you, but here's how I fared in the test:
Switch Kicks - 20
Power Jacks - 38
Power Knees - 59
Power Jumps - 20
Globe Jumps - 4
Suicide Jumps - 8
Push-Up Jacks - 10
Low Plank Oblique - 26

I'm supposed to do the fit test every 2 weeks. I'll put the results up so you can see how I do. Honestly, I'm not planning on making myself to the workout every day for 60 days. That's not realistic given our travel schedule and everything else we've got going on. But I'm going to do it as often as possible and complete the entire workout series in the order suggested. To help accomplish this goal, I'm going to get up earlier than I have been getting up and workout first thing in the morning. Once my day gets going I'm not good at exercising. So that's the plan. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. So, Tonia... pfffffffffffffffffffffffffffft (that's me sticking my tongue out at you and making a silly noise)!