Things That Leave Me Wordless Wednesday

Marissa had a great post today that made me think of this story.

Last weekend I was picking up my Bountiful Basket when I got talking to the lady behind me.  She mentioned that she was pretty new to getting baskets, but she was really loving them because for the first time she had fresh fruit in the house for the family to snack on.  She didn't usually think to buy them.  Her husband she stated was also loving having fresh veggies with dinner, he had grown up that way and was missing it.

I have to say I was at a loss about what to say about that, but it did in part explain her and her children's obesity.  If she wasn't thinking to have fresh fruits and veggies in the house before, what was in the house for snacks and meals?!

I guess it just goes to show some things I think are so basic really aren't.

I still feel a little speechless about it.  There's really people like that.

Babies, Nice weather, and Sock Decision Help

I think last week I promised a baby calf picture.  Check out this handsome little guy.

The little red calf was very curious about us and came up very close to the kids. 

Yesterday it warmed up to over 42 degrees and was sunny.  So nice out even my daughter wanted to run.  She ran up the hill to my grandma's house.

 I was a little worried about the MUD yesterday on the roads, especially since I had chosen a field route, but the snow up on top above my grandmother's house was pretty heavy still and I didn't have to worry.  The roads were packed snow, but not icy.  Made for great running.  It was even warm enough to run in my skirt and short sleeve shirt.   

I did some hills in the first two miles and was feeling a little puky by the end of the second mile..ugh  Luckily I came out of it and went on to a grand total of 8 easy miles that felt pretty awesome.

Tough decisions... I am trying to decide which sock to order for my half marathon
this on from Tough Chik which is not compression

 or this one from PRO Compression which is compression.

I kind of prefer to run in compression for a half, but the Tough Chik design is pretty cute as well as way cheaper.  I know once PRO Compression puts theirs out I will have to decide fast since they could sell out fast.


 Which sock do you like better?

Monday Motivation

 It is that day again..Monday!  So many people dread it, I usually have Mondays off so I kind of rather like Monday, and even when I did work Monday I didn't mind it so bad because then it meant I only had to work two more days that week.  There are benefits to working three days a week.  Lots of them really, but I   digress.

I found a couple motivational pictures this morning on Favorite Run on Facebook.

Love that.  It is so easy to get into a pattern of easy comfortable pace running, but if I want to get faster and go farther faster I know things have to get a little uncomfortable.  I am going to have to push my limits.  Luckily through the years I have learned that I can get uncomfortable and survive.

Every year I learn to push it a little more. I learn my body is capable of so much more than I thought it was.  I have learned to push through the pain and discomfort because I know I can handle it.

I found this picture on Favorite Run also

 Makes me think of some of the races I have done where it all just seemed to come together.

and finally this one my aunt sent my husband after a discussion with him about the women in our family.  They were talking about how well our Cola dog listens and obeys.  He wanted to know if there were any tricks to getting his wife (me) to listen and obey as well as Cola does.

I laughed really hard when I saw it.  My Aunt assured my husband there isn't much hope as I come from a long line of hard headed women.

Do you feel like you are able to step out of your comfort zone in running to push yourself harder more now than when you started or even a year ago or do you feel like you get stuck in the comfort zone all too often?

What a difference a day makes

Yesterday was long run day and the weather while not particularly cold at 35 degrees was overcast, windy and kept spitting snow at us.  My sister has been having problems with her back/hip so she cut out around mile 7 and I finished the last 6.2 by myself, well and Cola of course.  It took me 2 hours to run the 13.2 miles.

 

Here is what it looked like yesterday.

Happily today was a much different story right form the get go.  A little snowier road since it snowed all yesterday afternoon here.

 

  Today's run was supposed to be an easy 6 or 7 miles...  I kind of didn't follow the plan very well



 I don't know if it was the new playlist I was trying out for my upcoming half marathon, (I have been only listening to podcasts lately) the Starburst jellybeans, or the sunshine or maybe a combination of it all, but the legs felt the need to take it up a notch.  The first mile was the slowest at 8:40, after that I decided to just let my legs do what they wanted.

I might have to buy some more of these!

 Anyone else look forward to the jellybeans this time of year?

 

 

 

 

 

XTRAIN Hard Strikes workout review

I was sent the XTRAIN Hard Strikes Exercise DVD to review. 

I was excited it was a Cardio Boxing/Kickboxing DVD, I used to do kickboxing and loved it. 


Things I liked

• easy to follow
• not a lot if any time wasted explaining how to do moves
• fast paced
• not annoying to workout to
• minimal equipment

Things I didn't like

• I wish I could have tried this with the boxing gloves, I think I would have got more out of it.  I really tried hard to punch hard, but by the end of the workout they weren't tired at all.
• I didn't feel like the 30 minutes of warmup/Cardio Boxing/Kickboxing gave me a workout at all.  I wasn't breathing any harder than I would if I had gone for a 30 minute walk. 
• How long it was. 

Things I loved

• the almost 12 minutes of conditioning were my favorite 12 minutes of the whole thing.  My arms were burning! I will be doing this segment again and again.
• The Bonus Core set was also awesome, this part will also be repeated
• I really liked all the bonus sets really

I think I liked these parts better because I am used to doing HIIT workouts which work me really hard for 10-20 minutes and then I am done. Sweaty and worn out. I am not used to doing longer less intense workouts.  Time is an issue!

Here is a breakdown of the segment times

I like that there are so many different workout combinations, but as long as some of these premixes are, for me it is a bit of a turn off, but I would rather run and then do a shorter more intense workout. Here are some of the combinations with the bonuses.

  I do love all the options though.  I wish I had a Heavy Bag, hitting things is fun.

 I would try other DVDs in the series, especially if they all had great bonus sections and conditioning like this one did.  I haven't done a workout DVD in years because usually I hate how long they take to demonstrate moves and I start to find the instructor annoying.  Neither was true here.

I would love to hear from people who have done other DVDs in this series and what they thought.  My daughter is a huge fan and keeps requesting to do it.

There are 9 other DVDs in the XTRAIN series.  You can check them out here.

I was sent this DVD to review and was not required to give a positive review.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Three Things Thursday: Green

1.  things are much funner to own when they aren't constantly getting lost. I am starting to think my iPod has a life of its own.  I lost it for a week about a month ago and then found it a week later in the pocket of a coat, I was sure it was somewhere else.  Two weeks ago I lost it again and yesterday I found it under the passenger seat of my car.  I was sure I had checked there already several times.


When I know where it is I do really like this iPod, maybe it is a little on the small side for me since I keep losing it though.  I like it's small size, it fits really easily into the pocket on my Handful bra when I am running.  I also love that it has radio.  I think the earbuds it came with are pretty nice too. and I love the pretty green color.

I don't like that that charger port is a different size from my old iPod and iPad.  Really?  Did they have to go and mess with that after all these years?

2.  I had a pretty great run yesterday.  I did an easy 4 and then decided to kick it up a notch.  The next mile was at 7:01 which I found a little annoying and decided I wanted a mile in the 6s.  So the next one was 6:36.  and yes it did hurt a little! I finished with a couple of 400 intervals for a total of 7.5 miles.

There is a lot of snow on the ground here still, but I am starting to feel like soon it will be spring and things will start getting green again.  YAY

3. Speaking on green.  I think it is my favorite color right now. My lil sis and I found these great running shirts on Gap over the weekend, they were even on sale for President's Day.  YAY

Saucony also has some really great green shirts out right now and on sale for 50% off, so tempting to order one and make my running attire greener!  I am so tired of black, white, blue, and grey.  if I wore pink much I would be tired of that too.  Why is that all running clothes seem to come in.  BORING


Keeping with the green theme, I found these on runningskirts.com
so pretty and I love the heart.  has anyone else tried these socks?  How do they compare to PROcompression?  I know they have some neon green socks out right now, but I kind of like this clover green a little better.

What's your color obsession right now?  Do you get tired of seeing running clothes in all the same colors all the time?  I DO!

Confessions from a month of Paleo/Primal from a runner

I have been so good about eating Paleo/Primal for about a month.  Some things were easy like

• finding recipes online..so many great blogs/websites out there devoted to Paleo
• eating what I cooked

some things were harder

• finding recipes my whole family liked, the kids were very skeptical of a lot of the stuff
• finding quick snacking ideas
• giving up sugar!

There were some things I really liked about it

• how great I felt
• no/minimal bloating ever
• lots of veggies and meat
• healthy meals
• I felt like my muscles especially in my arms got more defined

What I didn't like

• I felt like I was spending a lot more time in the kitchen
• my running suffered
• I missed carbs, namely I missed grains.  I got a little tired of sweet potatoes and squash for carbs.

There I said it.  I missed grains and I felt like my running suffered. 

I felt validated yesterday when I found this article on Active.com.  I felt like some of my best runs lately were this last week when I experimented with adding carbs back in a little.  So this morning instead of eggs and fruit for breakfast like the last month, I ate a bowl of oatmeal with raisins, pecans, chia seeds, cinnamon and honey.  It was good. 

Here's part of my thing.  I want to be healthy.  I don't want to feel like a criminal for eating grains.  I like grains.  I think they are good, delicious and can be a part of a healthy diet.  and I really do think they help my running.

I do also think you can be very healthy on the Paleo plan but I just don't know that it is compatible with endurance type running and let's face it.  I am a runner.  I am not happy with having runs that feel craptastic, I want runs that feel amazing.  I am also kind of a competitive person, so I want to be as well fueled as I can to put out the best effort I can and feel good doing it. To do that I think maybe I need some grains.

It might be different if I had celiac disease or gluten intolerance, but I don't. 

So I am adding them back in and just in time for my half marathon next month too.
I do still want to keep the processed crap out though. 

Have you tried Paleo with distance running?

Sportline Weighted Resistance Ball Review

I was given the opportunity to review a couple of Sportline's products and the Weighted Resistance Ball is one of them.  I have wanted to try a weighted ball for awhile so I was really excited to try this out. It came with an instructional dvd, a poster with 10 exercises on it and a little hand pump to inflate the ball.

A little woodcutter action.  Side lunge and pick it up

stand up, lift the ball and twist over to the side.  Repeat.  Great exercise.

I don't belong to a gym and I haven't for almost 7 years.  I do all my workouts at home, I consider this a great addition to my home gym.  The weighted part of the ball is 5 pounds of sand that shifts around as you move it forcing you to work harder.  I love it.  I am always looking for ways to incorporate it into my workouts for a little added resistance. The size of the ball also makes storage easy.

Here are some of my other favorite moves with it.

Ball pass.  Great absercise.

Sumo squats with knee up and ball to the knee.  These really work the shoulders.

Lunge back and triceps

I find it really versatile.  The shifting sand makes me work extra hard to keep stabilized.  It is also great for doing planks on.

Do you use a weighted ball when you work out?  I never had before, but I do now.
If you do, what are your favorite moves with it?

I was sent the Weighted Resistance Ball to review free of charge but was in no other way compensated for this post.  Be looking for my reviews on their Quick Adjust Suspension X trainer and heartrate monitor as well.

Such a Proud Moment

I had such a proud mommy moment Saturday when my son did his first 4-H demonstration.  He did so good.  As a Cloverbud, which is basically pre 4-H he isn't judged as hard of course but he still got perfect scores from both judges.  He was a bit nervous but pulled it off like a champ.  I have to admit watching him do his demonstration was such an awesomely proud mommy moment. So I took him for ice cream afterwards.

My little sister and I couldn't sneak away for our long run until after 2 pm, but the weather was awesome so I couldn't complain.  I suppose I could have run without her, but what fun would that be. We did 12 miles and I am pretty sure the dogs did twice that.  We had to stick to the county roads due to mud.  The county road wasn't too bad but the lesser traveled field roads were mud bogs probably.

My sister wasn't really feeling it Saturday so we just took it nice and slow and did our 12 in 1:53, which really wast bad at all.  It was probably a really good pace, it felt comfortable for me the whole way and I felt like I could have kept rolling down the road.  makes me feel pretty good for the half marathon next month, at least I know I can finish!

We had three babies over the weekend so far, a heifer and two bulls.  Seriously love calves and their cute little faces.  Especially black baldy babies..a freaking dorable.  I promise a picture soon!

Sunday I was going to do an easy run, but the weather was not friendly.. so instead I took a nap and spent an hour on the elliptical.  Afterwards I talked my husband into doing a HIIT with me.  Fun.

Other people who thought napping was a great idea yesterday. Little Cowgirl and her babies.

and Rocky Ballerina Windshield One-Dot aka Puddy was also noted to have slept the whole afternoon away, he was a little annoyed I disturbed him for this picture.

The funny thing about our crazy snowy, cold super windy day yesterday was that 20 miles away in Billings it was sunny 41 and beautiful from what I heard. Here I think it only warmed up to 31 with winds in the 20s.  Yuck.

How was your weekend.  Did you get in a good nap and a good run?

Three Things Thursday

 1. My little sister and I are working on some St Patrick's Day costumes for the Run to the Pub half marathon next month. My little sister was crafty and made us a green sparkly skirt.  We have some other stuff but this is as much of a sneak peek as I am giving up right now.  For the life of me this picture would not upload rotated the way I wanted it.  Upload picture fail in a major way. Very annoying, but you still get the idea.

She did warn me I still need to trim off the extra threads.

2. Another fail I had was trying to take a picture with my Cola dog on my run this morning.  At least I am in it.

 He did have the nerve to look apologetic about it in this picture.

3. I did have a pretty good run today..finally after Monday's failed attempt at 1200 intervals.  So I did 4 one mile intervals today that with hills and wind still averaged 7:40ish.  I was happy with that and felt good doing it...except for the emergency bathroom break due to bad guts. (sorry TMI, but it is a runner problem and this is a runner blog!) At least I carry some emergency TP in my pocket.

also did you enter my StrideBox giveaway?  I will be picking a winner tomorrow!

Grandma Lil's Virtual Run 5k Recap and a Tiny Little Rant

I participated in a virtual run today in retrospect.  I had meant actually to do some 1200 intervals but I just had no mojo gojo juice flowing in me today.  UGH oh rama.  I hate that feeling.  Might have something to do with my husband really liking doing HIIT workouts with me and doing them the last three days in a row and a long run and an elliptical workout = tired legs for me!

I did a 1.25 mile warm up and then did my first 1200 and didn't felt it went too bad at a 7:19 pace but when I was done with it I felt wiped.  Done.  I started on the second and could hardly muster anything under 8.. so I called it at 800 meters and ran slowly until I hit a total of three miles.  At that point it was a little over three miles back to my starting point so I decided to run a progressive 5k back and just see how I felt.

The farther I ran the better I felt and I ended up doing it in 24:12.  I am pretty happy with that given how I felt at the start of my whole run. 

I came home and saw something about a virtual 5k for Grandma Lil HERE.  I did it last year and won some ZipFizz.  (I love winning prizes...who doesn't!)  so I decided to dedicate my impromptu 5k to Grandma Lil's virtual one.  Did you sign up?  You have until Feb 21st I think, so plenty of time... or don't..better chances of me gettting a prize that way.  MUahahahaha!

It was a cold one this morning at 10 degrees when I left the house.  Luckily the sun was shining and the wind wasn't too bad.  I, of course, over bundled because I dread being cold so bad and I had a serious lack of motivation.  I don't think it would have taken much to side track me from my run this morning.

Anyone watch the Grammy's last night.  Count me out, I am glad it finally happened so that I can quit seeing Grammy news everywhere I go.  I could really care less about all that.  Sure some of the music is great and fun and yay, but I think those people are way over celebrisized. I could really care less who wore what and did you see so and so's hair?! WFC?!   Okay rant done. See, I told you it was tiny.

I made baked eggplant chips with a pesto last night and found a new favorite way to eat eggplant. My husband loved it too.  You can find the recipe here.  The pesto was even home made from spinach cilantro, garlic and olive oil.  It was the first time I have ever made pesto, but I doubt the last. It was so good!

Source

What about you? 
What do you do when your mojo gojo juice is not flowing on a run?
Grammy watcher or not? 

Stridebox Review and Giveaway

 I was given the opportunity to review a StrideBox recently, and jumped at the chance.  StrideBox, like Bulubox is a monthly subscription box, but StrideBox is geared for RUNNERS!  YAY.

 Included in StrideBox is the Stride Guide which lists the products in the box as well as the product websites and most also have discount codes listed, so if you really like something you can get more of it for a discounted rate. 

Here is the loot that was inside.  I think I loved it all.

 There were a few things I knew I loved already like GU chomps, but in a flavor I had never tried before (bonus) and some new things I had never tried like mazambars and Lock Laces.

StrideBox costs $15 a month to subscribe to.  Let's check out the value on that.

Lock Laces $7.99
On-The-Go towels .99 each x3 $2.97
Mazamabar $1.80 (rough estimate)
Honey Stinger Gel Organic $1.35
Skratch exercise hydration mix 2 packets $2.76
GU Chomps $2.20
Hammer Energy Bar $2.50
Dr. Hoys Natural Pain Relief Gel ?  $1.00 ish
Total $22.57
Plus it came with a Bend a Bottle which was not on the Stride Guide .

I would say if you are looking to sample some new running products without having to go out and do the actual shopping yourself this is a great deal!

 In my opinion this was way better suited for me than Bulu Box and I will use everything in it except the scented On the Go towels for men, those my husband can have. 

AWESOME BOX!  Quick fact sheet from the box.

Want to try one for yourself for free?  Here is how.

My Baby is now 5!

 Hard to believe how fast 5 years can fly by.  I think I was a bit sleep deprived for the first year of her life. Her birthday was actually Sunday but I have been busy and finally got around to posting this.

What are you talking about Mom, I have been waiting FOREVER to turn 5, forever. I would like my own phone now.

 It took me forever to put all the little ringlets in her hair and her brother told her she looked like Heidi (Shirley Temple version).

 Of course the ringlets didn't last very long despite the bottle of hairspray I used.  She was too busy opening presents and playing with her best friend to care though.

I found her some really cute workout and running clothes at Target.  I think I was more excited about them than she was.  She was excited about the 5 Barbie dolls, and other toys of course.

After the party was over and everyone went home.  I put on my running shoes and headed out for a very wonderful 8.5 mile run.

I just really loved this.

I didn't watch much of the Superbowl.  I went for a run and when I came back it was the end of the first quarter.  I watched Beyonce do her catwalk performance in some sort of a leather or black plastic  looking teddy and while I admired her singing and great moves as a mother to two young impressionable kids, I didn't find it appropriate for the venue and was not impressed when my daughter started trying to dance like Beyonce.

I missed the Budweiser commercial and had to look it up later.  It was random happenstance that I sat down just as it started. I was captivated from the first still shot of the cow and the open country.  Paul Harvey's name flashed on the screen and I got excited.  I grew up on Paul three times a day in the summer.  7 am, noon, and 5 pm.  News and sometimes The Rest of the Story.  I was so bummed when he passed away in 2009.

The commercial that followed left me with tears in my eyes. If you follow me at all you know I am from Montana and grew up on a ranch.  My father has been my hero my whole life.  I have always been a daddy's girl.  I don't know anyone that I ever thought was stronger or more awesome than my dad.  This commercial is about my Dad who can do anything and works harder than anyone I have ever known.  It's about my Mom who married into it and embraced it.

 My Great grandmother who passed away when I was 11, who despite being crippled from polio put together my family's ranch. This was about her. It's about my Grandmother who despite being well into her 80s still gets on her horse every summer and helps with the cows. This commercial is about my husband who works so hard and loves nothing more than being on a horse working cows all day. This commercial was about me who loves this life more than anything and am so thankful I grew up this way.  It is about my brother whose dream was to follow in my fathers footsteps and is. It is about my family, my friends.  It is about all the people who work so hard so we can eat.

I love that.  Plus it has Paul Harvey and trucks in it. It was beautiful.  It wasn't crass or obnoxious.  It was family friendly and timeless.

I love the randomness of me actually seeing that commercial.  Dodge is making 2013 the year of the farmer and is supporting farmers and FFA this year.

the words from the speech.

And on the eighth day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, “I need a caretaker.” So God made a farmer.

God said, “I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the field, milk cows again, eat supper, then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board.” So God made a farmer.

God said, “I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt and watch it die, then dry his eyes and say,’Maybe next year,’ I need somebody who can shape an ax handle from an ash tree, shoe a horse with hunk of car tire, who can make a harness out hay wire, feed sacks and shoe scraps. Who, during planting time and harvest season will finish his 40-hour week by Tuesday noon and then, paining from tractor back, put in another 72 hours.” So God made the farmer.

God said, “I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bales, yet gentle enough to yean lambs and wean pigs and tend the pink-comb pullets, who will stop his mower for an hour to splint the leg of a meadowlark.”

It had to be somebody who’d plow deep and straight and not cut corners. Somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed, and brake, and disk, and plow, and plant, and tie the fleece and strain the milk, . Somebody who’d bale a family together with the soft, strong bonds of sharing, who would laugh, and then sigh and then reply with smiling eyes when his son says that he wants to spend his life doing what Dad does. “So God made a farmer.”

Four for Friday

1.  I had to go to the dentist yesterday after work. I chipped a tooth before Christmas and a molar sometime last year...yeah I know I should have addressed that sooner but it hasn't bothered me.  Clearly I was overdue for a cleaning. I was a little terrified of what he might tell me.

I sort of hate needles and drills in my mouth and have a bad habit of passing out..

 Luckily it will be all easy fixes and my teeth look great!  Yay no new cavities, I just have to go back to have the back molar fixed.

2.I just finished Lost on Netflix.  Now I need a new show to watch while cooking.  Any great suggestions?  Anyone else a little disappointed with the way Lost ended?

3.  Today is my third day of work in a row.  I know poor me.  I usually break it up a little during the week.  I also don't usually run on work days unless I get off work early.  When we have all the surgeries done and are ready for the next day, we get to leave. Pretty nice really.

I am hoping very much to get off work early so I am going to wear my running clothes to work.  I can do this since I change into scrubs (pajamas) once I get there.

4. I have been good about getting my HIIT workouts in this week and the best part is I have even been getting my husband to do them with me.  I am on ZCUT 5, we did it last night.  That was a tough one and on top of it I threw The newest ZWOW.  I let my husband think they were supposed to be done together.  We were both wiped when we were done.  Love it!