Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Lucky Lady

Ugh, I was sitting here at my laptop at the kitchen table working on my paper due Saturday when I started to get a little weepy. You see, on Monday I have to return back to work full-time after 12 weeks of maternity leave. This leave was much different from my leave with the kiddo. Back then, I was part of a huge HR department. I had a back-up who took over everything and I probably had to answer 2 questions about work-related stuff during my entire leave (which was 15 weeks and fully paid!).

This time around I am working as a manager of a 2-person HR team. I call a lot of the shots, or I make recommendations to people who make the big decisions. Therefore, since the day after I arrived home from the hospital with the baby, I was receiving calls from work and answering e-mails. (I'm sure if I didn't leave the hospital on a Sunday, I'd be taking calls the day I left!) There was a pretty major employee relations issue and I was the one who had to handle it...

Anyway, as I look back at the past 12 weeks, I realize that I wasted a lot of precious family time stressing out about work issues. Now, I was also stressing about school, but that wasn't that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. Seriously people, life is too short. Don't get me wrong - there was some great quality time with the family in there...but there should have been more.

I don't know why I am writing this. I guess just to remind myself that school is going to be over in less than two weeks...I better take advantage of those free Saturdays to create some awesome memories with the hubby and kids. A few minutes ago I decided I needed to get up from my computer and stretch my legs. I decided to take a stroll around the 2nd floor, where the kiddo and muchkin's rooms are located. I snuck into the baby's room 1st and just stood there looking down at that cute little face. Of course that was after I placed my hand on his little chest to make sure he was breathing, lol! (When does that mommy paranoia stop?) Then, I headed over to the kiddo's room. I had to let out a quiet chuckle, because I could hardly see her buried in between about 15 of her favorite Disney princess dolls and stuffed animals.

Before I left only one thought entered my head - Man, oh Man, I am one lucky lady! Then I said a quick "thank you" to the big man upstairs.

Life.is.good.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Yes I'm still here!

I've been studying for a final and trying to enjoy the last couple of weeks of freedom with the family, so no time for blogging. I have been at least doing my P90X workouts...but I did miss two this week, Doh!

I'll be back with an update. Later taters!

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Kenpro X & other random stuff

First of all, I did get in my scheduled 20 minute run. Yay me. Afterwards, we closed on our old house. Woohoo! Can I just say we have the most awesome realtor??? Seriously, most of the homes in the same area have been on the market for 6 months - 1 year. Ours was sold in less than 2 months. If anyone out there needs a realtor, let me know and I'll give you her contact info.

Workout #1 - 20 minute run, 5/1 intervals, treadmill

Afterwards, we bought a few select pieces of furniture that we absolutely knew we wanted for our gameroom. Huge thanks to Noreen at Star Furniture for all her help!

Piece of advice:

Don't take 2 children furniture shopping...especially late in the day when they're getting tired. The baby had a diaper blowout like I've never seen before! I'm standing there talking to the salesperson when all of a sudden I feel a droplet on my foot. I practically sprinted to the ladies room with the baby in my arms and the diaper bag on my back. I won't go into details but it was nasty! LOL! To make matters worse, the kiddo got her second wind and was hopping around all over the place and wanted to jump onto all the couches. When I told her not to do that, she decided she wanted to go home and tried to pull me in the direction of the door. It was surely one of those "CALGON TAKE ME AWAY" moments!

Once the kiddo and munchkin were in bed, the hubby and I did our "Kenpro X" workout. This was probably the easiest and most fun workout so far. It was a lot like Tae Bo...very fast paced, lots of kicks, jabs and punches. Some of the combinations were difficult, but overall it was not bad!

Workout #2 - P90X - Kenpro X - 1 hour (we started at 9:30 pm!)

Saturday is back to school and a P90X rest day..thank God! By the way, the school projects are going well! If things continue to go this well, I should end my final semester with 2 A's. Wooohoooo!

Friday, July 18, 2008

More Workouts...

WEDNESDAY
I woke up early to get in a run. The Fit schedule called for 25 minutes. To be honest, I really didn't feel like running. The temps weren't too bad at 6:30 am, but the humidity was just plain nasty. It wasn't pretty, but with the help of the ipod and amphipod, I managed to finish. Afterwards, the kiddo and I had a movie date with my sister-in-law and nephew.

Workout #1 - 25 minutes running, 5/1 intervals, outdoors (6:30 am)

Later in the day, while the kiddo was entertaining herself with her toys and the munchkin was in the bouncy seat, the hubby and I decided to do our P90X workout. Yoga day! I was excited to have something low impact to do for a change. Ummm yeah. I did learn something new....

I HATE YOGA!

First of all, I was surprised to find that the workout was 1 1/2 hours long. I mean seriously, who has time for a 1 1/2 hour workout? Tony Horton obviously doesn't have kids. Especially not two under the age of 4. Second, holding poses for 30 seconds at a time and then doing them over and over again is just not for me. Can we say boring? My poor hubby, I think I grumbled the entire time. Plus, we had to stop the DVD about 40 times to tend to the kiddos. :-) Oh and the knee? It's still sore as heck!

Workout #2 - 1 1/2 hours of Yoga

THURSDAY
Okay, I should have woken up early to run! But, I wanted to "sleep in"....you know, until 6:10 am when the kiddo comes tiptoeing into the room and demands breakfast. Jeeze, I should have just gone running. If I had only known sleeping in would not be a realistic goal. I should know better. I had some errands to run - Dr's appointment for the munchkin, followed by a visit to the office so everyone there could see him. The kiddo came with me, so the hubby had a chance to do his P90X workout without interruption. When I made it home, I didn't have enough time to do the entire workout before the kiddo's swim class (and the hubby's hapkido class), but the hubby entertained the kiddos so I could at least get some of it done. After swim class, I did managed to finish the last 1/2, plus the ab ripper. The kiddo exercised with me - sort of...she did her own variation of a workout which consisted of jumping around on exercise mats, hopping on one foot and running to the front door and back. :-)

This time it was legs and back. Now I love lunges and squats, but once again P90X manages to take it up about 50 notches and makes these some killer exercises! I am surprised I can walk this morning. And then there was the ab ripper. Again. For some reason, it seemed harder today. Perhaps because I am still sore from the other 2 times I've done it this week???

Today I will get in a 20 minute run...even if it's on the dreadmill. Then, it's something called "Kenpro X", described as a "high intensity cardio workout". Sounds fun! Tomorrow is a "rest" day, which is good since it's my school day. However, if I really want to I can try the "X Stretch"....we'll see!

Workout - 1 hour, legs and back and 16 minutes of ab ripper

By the way, we're closing on the house in just a few hours! Wooohooo!!!!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Where to start?

Here are this week's workouts so far....

SUNDAY
The parents had the kiddo over for a sleepover, so I slept in and then did my run...man did it feel awesome to sleep until 8:30 am! Anything later than 6:15 is late these days. It's bad when your 2-month old sleeps better than your 3 year old.

Workout #1 - "long" run - 2 miles, outdoors (9 am), 5/1's - don't know what's going on with my knees, but they were both sore afterwards. That, and my right calf was cramping up.

The hubby and I are working out together for the 1st time ever. We've decided to try something new - P90X. Day 1 was chest and back, plus something appropriately titled "Ab Ripper". Now, I've done upper body workouts and ab workouts, but this is not just your average, run of the mill push ups and crunches.

This is push ups and crunches on CRACK.

True story.

Honestly, the upper body workout didn't seem horrible when I was doing it, but by the evening it hurt to pick up my 13 lbs munchkin.

Workout #2 - 56 minutes of chest and back, plus 16 minutes of 349 grueling ab exercises

MONDAY
I actually went into work for a 1/2 day for meetings (which I will be doing 2x per week until August). Since I also had to go to school for a group project meeting, I woke up at 5:00 am to feed the baby and do what else? Workout! Yes, I was a grumpy biotch, but I did it anyway. I was sore as hell from day 1 of P90X.

Workout - 1 hour of plyometrics

Plyometrics is basically an intense bunch of jumping exercises designed to improve endurance. It was pretty brutal. There was one exercise where you simply hop on one foot for a minute and then switch legs...I couldn't do it because it hurt the hell out of my knees.

TUESDAY
Back to work today for a training class. But, I had a 5 am P90X workout on the schedule - 1 hour of shoulders and arms, plus the good ol' ab ripper. Fun, fun!

I actually ran out of time and couldn't do the ab ripper until the evening after the kiddos were in bed. The goal was to also get in my 25 minute run around the neighborhood, but by the time I finished the ab ripper, I was pooped. I will have to get in my 3 runs on consecutive days - Wed, Thurs & Fri. School is Sat, so my "long" run will be on Sunday again. Lucky for me, the gate on the pool is fixed, so I am going to get in an early morning swim sometime soon!

Workout - 1 hour shoulders and arms, 16 minutes of ab ripper

Speaking of the pool, I did get to take the kiddo to her swim class this afternoon...she did awesome! Pretty soon she's going to be giving me pointers. LOL!

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Family Time

It occurred to me that this may very well be only time I will actually have an entire month off from work with the kiddos (especially during the summer). Therefore, quality family time has become priority #1! The baby is to young to know the difference, but I want the next few weeks to be fun for the kiddo.

This week we've done the neighborhood playground, the mall playground, storytime at the library, movie with the kiddo and Daddy, movie with the kiddo and me, playing in the backyard, making cookies, etc. We've gotten past the newborn parent paranoia and have been taking the munchkin out on these excursions. Working out has taken a backseat...no 2-a-days right now. I did manage to get in the scheduled 20-minute run on the Fit schedule yesterday. It was a treadmill run while the kiddo and the hubby were at the movies, and while the munchkin watched from the comfort of his bouncy seat. :-) I also got in a neighborhood mom's night out on Tuesday. Talk about fun...the moms here are crazy fun!

Depending on what time I get home from school on Sat, I may end up doing the Saturday "long" run on Sunday before my swim and my 3rd weekday run tomorrow.

Next week, I have to go into work for a couple of meetings. Ick. Monday was supposed to simply be a 1 hour meeting, but has turned into 5 1/2 hours of meetings. Fun.

Workout
Treadmill Run - 1.68 miles - 20 minutes

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Today we had a little family time at the playground. Then it was off to shop for playsets for the backyard. I know our backyard isn't huge, but MY GOD, it's not that small either. Why do all the cool playsets take up 2/3 of our backyard??? This is the one DH likes:





Ummm, there goes my idea about getting a pool! LOL!


Next, I headed to Sbux for a couple of hours to work on my portion of the Marketing project. That was followed with some watercoloring with the kiddo and then on to the workout. I decided to walk with the chicas from the hood for 40 minutes, then get in my 20 minute run that was on the Fit schedule.



Dumb idea.



By the time I started my run I was hot and tired. It was the longest 20 minute run I've ever done. I couldn't even make it through my 1st 5 minute interval. That's how bad it was. Damn. So, I ran for about three minutes at a time, then walked for about 30 seconds...lather, rinse, repeat. I has to get better, right?



Workout Stats

Walk with the peeps in the hood - 41 minutes

Run per the Woodlands Fit schedule - 20 minutes easy

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Whew!

* Update - 7/7/08 *

Wow! As of this afternoon, the Houston Marathon and 1/2 Marathon are both SOLD OUT! So glad I registered yesterday.

--------------------------------------------------------
I registered for the half marathon a few minutes ago. Good thing, since it's now 96% full! The Fit coaches warned us yesterday that waiting beyond this weekend to register would be risky.

I actually got out of the house for the bike ride a little later than I meant to, so I only had time for a 7 1/2 mile ride...that's 4 times around the neighborhood loop. At first, it felt downright cool outside. By the 2nd lap, I was noticing the humidity...ick! I tried to push myself a bit, since my latest rides have been the more leisurely, lets look at the neighborhood rides. It felt fast, but really wasn't :-) After the ride, I decided to go ahead and work in the yard since I was already sweaty. I followed that by taking the kiddo to the pool and pulled her in her floatie from one end of the pool to the other, over and over and over and over. By the time we finally sat down with our frosty evening beverages on the patio with the munchkin, so we could watch the kiddo play in the backyard, my legs were feeling the effect of all that activity. (Okay, that was a run-on sentence if I've ever seen one! LOL!)

Workout Stats
Bike
31 minutes
7.5 miles
14.01 mph

Saturday, July 05, 2008

Week 1 - Starting Over

Today was the 1st day of Woodland's Fit training. I've decided to stick to the 1/2 marathon. A few days ago, Sarah mentioned that internal struggle about whether to really train harder and work on getting faster...or to just take it easy and enjoy the workouts. I know that struggle all too well. Even this morning as I was waking up much earlier than I wanted to, I was debating in my head about whether or not I really wanted to do this training thing yet again.

Part of me just wants to workout how I want, when I want.
Part of me wants to seriously start training for a sprint tri.
Part of me misses the running.
Part of me doesn't give a rats ass about PRing.
Part of me enjoys competing against myself to do better and better.
Part of me needs that goal - the half marathon - to get my ass in gear each week and the support of the group to hold me accountable.

All of me wants to lose the rest of the baby weight (and then some)- that is my ultimate goal.

So, training for the 1/2 seems like a nice compromise - it's a good goal to shoot for (especially since I am really starting over) and the training is not so grueling that I can't find time to fit in some biking and swimming. While I'll miss the peeps in Houston Fit, it will be a good change of pace to run someplace new.

So how'd today go? You've seen my workout stats from the past two weeks. I've "run" 1/1 intervals, 2/1 intervals for 2 weeks now, but never for more than 20 minutes and always inside on the treadmill. I knew that today was going to be tough.

I wasn't sure how long it would take me to get to the Y, so I left ridiculously early. On the way over I just prayed that it wouldn't suck as badly as I thought it might. When I arrived, I immediately met some great people and I was instantly glad that pulled myself out of bed. I saw Coach Bill, who introduced me to running Goddess Kim Hagar. I also met someone who was starting over and doing 5/1 intervals...we stuck together all morning. I was thrilled to find out that the 1/2 marathoners were only doing 2 miles today - looks like someone was listening to those prayers this morning afterall. :-) I knew I could finish 2 miles.

We headed out and to my suprise, the 5/1's weren't too bad. It was great to have some new scenery to look at and my new found friend gave me the lowdown on the area schools, which is great when you have a kid starting school in another year. When we first started, I looked behind me and thought that yours truly was bringing up the rear. But, as we kept on we passed people here and there. Before I knew it, we were at the water stop that the coaches told us about - 1 mile down! Woohoo!

The 5's seemed a little longer on the 2nd mile, but before I knew it we were back at the Y. It has been a long time since I've run in warmer weather, so my head felt like it was going to explode and I was dripping with sweat...but I survived! Never in a million years would I have thought finishing 2 miles would be such a big accomplishment for me. :-)

This starting over thing sucks, but for now it's okay. Tomorrow, I am riding 10 miles on the bike...another thing I'm starting over. (Since I still can't get early morning access to the pool for my Sunday swim...thanks RealManage!) But, every day is a step in the right direction I suppose.

I wasn't going to post today's time, because to be honest, it's a bit embarrassing. But, I figure I'm not the only person in the world to start over. It's not easy, but it can be done.

Workout Stats
Woodland's Fit group run
2 miles
24:44:47

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Pre-July 4th

Great day with the kiddos today. We headed to my parents to dry all the clothes that I washed. 4 days till the new dryer arrives. What sucks is that my wardrobe is pretty limited thanks to the new body my pregnancy got me. :-) The good news is that when I weighed at my parent's house (where I've been weighing every week for Viv's challenge,because I don't own a scale), I was down another 2 pounds! That's a total of 6 lbs down since the challenge began and 5 more to go to get to my pre-pregnancy weight. Then another 7 to get to my WW goal weight. Hmmmm, it may have been even better if the in-laws weren't here last weekend...it's so hard to say no to homemade tortillas and yumy t-bones!!!

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

?

I've had a couple of Cape Cods so my brain isn't coming up with a title for this post. LOL! Viv, this is why, even though I have been eating well (except for this week), my weight loss is slow! Alcohol.


Workouts

Monday

Slim in Six - 24 minutes


Tuesday

Slim in Six - 24 minutes

Treadmill - 2/1 intervals, 20 minutes


Today was the munchkin's 2-month check-up, so that was what I spent most of the morning doing. Well, I spent the 1st part of the morning cussing and freaking out, because all of my clothes that were drying in the dryer when I went to sleep last night were still wet. Then, they were still wet after an additional hour in the dryer....damn, time for a new freakin' dryer! Ummm, it would have been nice if the dryer broke anytime other than during my UNPAID maternity leave. Thank God we've been vigilant about saving money. Our new dryer will be here on Monday. Not soon enough if you ask me...too bad there isn't a "Mattress Mack" of appliances with the whole TODAY delivery thing.



Anywho, the munchkin is up to 13.65 lbs and 25 1/4 inches! That's the 99th and 95th percentiles. If you're not a baby person, that means that he is pretty darn big for a 2-month old. The doctor was suprised to see that he was wearing a 0-3 month outfit. She was impressed with his tummy-time skills, his ability to follow her pen with his eyes and his cooing. :-) He's right on track. He did have 5 shots though, it was painful to watch his wailing!
Afterwards, I took the kiddo to lunch with some girlfriends who have daughters her age. We went to a local restaurant with a big sandbox, which she absolutely loved. I am really loving maternity leave...even if it doesn't leave me with much time to workout. I would have had plenty of time to workout had it not been for the hours of dryer shopping in the afternoon. Ugh!


As for the house, the option period is over and we're waiting to see what the appaiser said. We're supposed to be closing in 2 weeks, so hopefully everything will go well!
Tomorrow the hubby is going fishing for the 1st time in months and I am heading over to my parents to use their dryer. Chances are the hubby will be back late and once again, there will be no workouts...unless the baby takes a nice nap and the kiddo can entertain herself for a bit. We'll see.....


Saturday is the 1st weekend of Woodland's Fit. I am super nervous, because for the 1st time I am not even sure I am capable of finishing 3 miles even at a super slow pace. I predict that I will manage, but it will not be pretty.