Reef Flip Flops

I forgot to add in my post yesterday about my vacation, to talk about something else.

So,  a few years back, I went to Florida with some friends.  And at that time, I wore these Nike Sandals that sort of look like TEVA Sandals.  They were super comfortable and allowed me to walk around the parks for hours and hours and never got one blister or even felt the slightest bit of pain in my feet.  Those are the sandals that I packed in my suitcase with me this trip for the parks.

Well, apparently with all the lost weight, my feet have shrunk. The sandals were too big.  And of course, being on vacation at Disney World, it's not like I could pop over to the nearest store and find a new pair of shoes.  So, I soldiered through with the Nike Sandals.  I thought I'd be fine wearing them until the 90 degree heat made my feet sweat.  Once my feet started sweating. my feet slipped around in those shoes like ice cream on a hot spoon.  Resulting in some of the largest and nastiest blisters on my arches I have ever seen or experienced.

By the end of the first day at the park  I was in tears the pain was so bad.  We left Universal and outside in the City Walk was some kind of store that had a sign that said "Try our flip flops- The Most Comfortable shoe you'll ever own"  At that point I didn't care how comfortable it was, I just needed to get something else on my feet other than the too big Nike Sandals that were rubbing my arches incessantly.

The Reef Flip Flops were $21.95 at this shop on the City Walk.  I have no idea if that is the average price or the "You Stupid Tourists" - Price Gouge that is synonymous Orlando Florida.  I bought them and even while standing in line to pay for the I was already removing my sandals.

They are no lying, the most  comfortable flip flopI have ever owned.  I own a pair of Croc Flip Flops (which, I still swear by as your go to flip flop for the pool-  and they are still my 2nd favorite pair of flip flops behind these new ones)  but these Reef Flip Flops are even more comfortable than those.

It is like walking on a cloud especially designed for my foot.  I don't think I will ever go back to wearing any other flip flop other than these Reef ones.  They have a website with dozens of other styles which I have only had a chance to peruse briefly, but seriously.  Check them out.  I wore them for the rest of my vacation and did not have another problem with my feet.

Their website is www.reef.com

I *think* mine are the Reef Sweetwater-  but I'm not 100% sure because mine are black and Teal and I don't see anything on their website that are those colors (which its possible I paid premium price for last years shoe- in Orlando, it wouldn't surprise me)

Here's what mine look like- if someone knows which line they are.  I'm sure you can tell that I literally wore them all week-  they need to be washed lol.

Have you ever owned a pair of Reef Flip Flops?  Do you agree they are fab?  Or-  what is your go-to shoe that you just can not live without?

Flo- Rida

Harry Potter Ride- Universal Orlando
Photo Credit by Yours Truly :)

Ok, if you don't watch "Outsourced"  you will most likely be scratching your head at the title of the blog.  No, I'm not talking about the Rap guy... the topic of tonights blog:  My vacation.

So, as Ive already said-  I love the sun, the sun does not like me.  Seriously, Im the love child of Casper the Friendly Ghost, and a Cullen- I'm sure of it.   If the circus freakshows of yesteryear were still around, in my current state I could probably be a headliner in their shows.  I could be "Lobster/Lizard Girl" or "The Human Boil" -  sun poisoning-  all over my body.  I was in 100 proof sunblock too.  I just learned today though that apparently anti-biotics reduce the effectiveness of sunscreen- and as you know I have been sick and though my Zpack technically was "finished"  it stays in your body up to two weeks after you take it.  Good to know.  I guess that explains why I could probably get a job at Disney World right now as Sebastian the Lobster for the Little Mermaid exhibit.

We didn't actually do Disney though.  Being a Harry Potter fan, we decided this trip was ALL about Universal Studios.  Now before I had gone down, I had read on a lot of websites- and actually I follow this guys blog as well Banks Lee & Three Clicks-  and I knew already going down that I wouldn't be able to ride on the Harry Potter ride.  However, after reading up on a lot of the other rides, people who posted heavier weights and larger sizes than I am, said that they were able to ride the rest of the rides with "no problem"  so I figured Id be o.k. too.  Yeah-  not the case.  Our first day at Universal, my husband and I went on the Mummy ride.  Now there is a coaster outside of the ride that you can test to make sure that you "fit".  I tested it-  sat in it, and pulled the lap bar down no problem.  So I thought "oh thank goodness I won't have to be embarrassed for the entire day"    So we stand in line for the ride, get to the front of the line, sit in our row, I pull the lap bar down with no problem, when the teenager inspecting our belts raises his hand up just as he gets to me.  I'm thinking- what is he raising his hand for?  My lap belt is down, I'm in here just fine.  He informs me that the lap bar needs to engage 3 times to ride- mine had only engaged 2 clicks- not 3.  I was told that I couldn't ride the ride unless it clicked 3 times.
Well. I carry all my weight in my gut.  The lap bar wouldn't go to the damn third click- so shamefacedly I had to get off the ride.

As I was getting off, I had the worst urge to explain to the kid "You know, I've completed 2 Triathlons....  and I've lost 65 pounds already"  but I realized the kid doesn't care.  He just wants to punch in his time and move along.  There was a guy who was in the row behind- much, much heavier than I am, that was able to ride the ride by lifting up his roll, and placing it over the lap bar.  I guess, men, with beer guts can do that-  women however, have different anatomies (lol clearly) so "lifting up" doesn't quite work when it blends into your lower abdomen also.

I tried not to let it get me down, and kept telling myself how far Ive come- but the sad fact is that I am still a tub-  and according to the "safety standards" of most roller coaster companies- that means I am not eligible to ride most roller coasters now a days.  I knew going into it that Universal in general is very fat-unfriendly, so I shouldn't really be all that disappointed.  But, it just continues to highlight how much of life I am missing out on by being heavy.

I will make it back there, eventually, to ride the Harry Potter ride.  If Banks Lee worked hard enough to get to  three clicks-  I can, you can, we all can.

Until then, I just have to remind myself, that just because there was a setback in my journey and a knock to my ego- doesn't negate the hundreds of other positive strides that I have made.

While I was on vacation I realized that I have sorely neglected my "Loving Myself" exercises.  At this point, the month is almost over-  so I'm going to reset and start again on April 1st.

Have there been times in your own weight loss journey when all your positive strides seemed overshadowed by a setback?  How did you handle it?

Motivation Monday- Catherine

Morning all!  I am back from my vacation, and will post more about the past weeks goings-on later.  But, as promised, another installment of Motivation for you on this Monday Morning.  Today's guest blogger is my cousin Catherine.  She is a twenty-something student who recently completed the Race to the Top of the Rock for MS.  In her own words,  here is her inspiring story:

I participated in The Climb to the Top in NYC on February 27^th. When Millie asked me to do a write-up on my experience, I was totally for it. Actually, she helped motivate myself during my training, since this was my first race I have done like this, so I was more than happy to share my experience.

I heard about the event when I was dropping off my dry cleaning one day back in October. As I was putting down my clothes, I saw a bunch of pamphlets that said, Climb to the Top for MS (multiple sclerosis). I reached for the pamphlet right away and started to read. The event was a challenge to climb to the  Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Plaza.  The first thing that came to mind was “hey, 69 flights, I can do that – right?” Then I thought of my grandfather who had MS, and I was like “I’m going to do this for him.”

So, the next day I signed  at the gym. In the pamphlet it said that if someone was able to complete a 5k, that they could easily climb 69 flights.  Since I was new to the gym, I got a free evaluation from a trainer. Now, I am back in school and my schedule is crazy, and I will admit, I am pathetically out of shape AND I made that perfectly clear to the trainer when he was asking me all these questions. Now I would consider myself to be an athletic by nature type of girl. I played sports my whole life, but I will admit that I am in no way the shape I was like 15 years ago, when I was at my peak.

Back to the trainer,  I also told him about the event and how I would like to have him help me think of a regime I could do every day that would get me into shape for my climb. To make a longer story short, my hour long evaluation, was an evaluation from HELL. You would think that a typical eval. would have you on the treadmill, to see how well you can do at different speeds and inclines, as well as some flexibility and balance tests. NO, that is not what I got. I got all lunge, squats, jump up on the box thing, sit-ups, push-ups, ALL back to back to back, with no rest and no water breaks. Ummm, let’s just say I had to stop it at minute 45 because I felt dizzy, lightheaded, and nauseous. The trainer wanted me to continue, but I couldn’t. I was like, “I know my body, and I doesn’t feel right”. 

He brought me upstairs and was like, “I’m confused. We didn’t do anything intense, so there shouldn’t have been a reason for you to feel like that. At this rate, I don’t think you’ll be able to do the event and to be honest, I don’t train people that do half-a**.” Now, when he said that, I was still feeling the effects of what I had just done, so, I all I could muster up and say was, “yeah.” I left the session completely confused and was like, “crap, am I going to be able to do this?, maybe he was right.”

I told a few of my friends what the trainer had said and they were like, ummmm, hold up, no one tells you what you can or cannot do. He handled that completely wrong,  A) a trainer is suppose to motivate you, not put you down, B) he didn’t even have me do a warm-up routine and C) he didn’t have me stretch after I was done with my evaluation. Let’s just say I couldn’t move for  at least 5 days, that’s how sore I was AND it wasn’t even a good sore from a good workout. Thanks to my friends I  finally began feeling like myself again, I realized I can do this!

So, on November 1^st I started on a regular walking/running routine. I wanted to run for at least a month to build up my stamina before I started on any type of muscular endurance training. I started off by speed walking for one week every day for 45 minutes to an hour. For my 2^nd week, I added for every 5 minutes I walked, I would run 1 minute. The 3^rd week, I would increase the time I ran each day, by two minutes. So, by the time the end of week 4 came, I was running at least 20 minutes, if not more, a day. Which, I was pretty impressed with. I was starting to feel like I was on the right track and could move onto working on building up my leg muscles.

Well, hello stair climber. I have done the stair climber a few times before and it is one good workout. I was feeling pretty confident and decided to start out climbing for 5 minutes and a normal pace. At first, I was like, I could get the hang of this, but once minute 2:30 came along, that was a different story. It was slowly getting harder and harder. I was determined to go to 5 minutes and I did. Once the machine stopped and my feet were on the floor, they felt like jelly!!!  In those 5 minutes I accomplished 27 flights of stairs. Which to be honest, I don’t know how that was possible, but I’d take it.

I started to rotate from my climbing to every other day at this point, but, would continue to run every day.  Now, I didn’t think it would happen, but I got a killer sinus infection, that put me back the first two weeks or so in January, plus my student teaching started and by the time I got back from school, I’d be exhausted. Needless to say, my training was then only done on the weekends. The good thing was that I had a lot of stairs in the building I was teaching at, so each day, on any break I had, I would climb the stairs. I think I estimated a good 12 flights per day, give or take a few.

The week before the event, I was starting to get the jitters. I was so afraid that I wasn’t going to be able to physically do the event, and that since my training was lessened, that my outcome would be horrible. I realized that since this was my first big race, that to finish it would be such an accomplishment, and let me tell you, it was!

I got up at 6am on February 27^th and headed into the city to Rockefeller Plaza. When I got the main concourse for check in, I was overwhelmed. The amount of people there doing this race, was amazing. There was over 1,000 people partaking, and 25% had MS. My time was called at 8:30 and I lined up. While I was in line, I started to talk to a few people, one person’s father had MS, while another’s sister had MS. There were also people there who had MS and were climbing. That’s when it hit me and the adrenaline came on. 8:40 came and we were told to start heading to the stairwell. People were cheering, it was amazing. We got to the stairwell, each person was called a minute apart from each other, so the stairwell wouldn’t get jammed. At 8:45 my climb started.

The first few flights weren’t bad, but once flight 10 came, I was like “holy cow, this is going to be interesting.” The first rest stop wasn’t until the 27^th flight, so I had a while until I got there. All I kept thinking was, “one step at a time, one step at a time.” I just kept climbing and climbing. I got to the 27 floor in 10 minutes. Had some water, caught my breath and continued on my journey. There were 2 more rest stops along the way. I would take a break here and there on the stairwell to catch  my breath, but would continue on. I realized that by using the banister to help pull my body up, was a great trick.

The second rest stop was at flight 40. I made it there in like 8 minutes. I was told one last rest stop was going to be at flight 55. So, I continued on. One of the great things about this event is that they had volunteers at every flight cheering you on. When you checked in you could put on a bib that says who you are climbing for. I put Grandpa in big letters. As I was on flight 52, one of the volunteers yelled “that’s right, keep going for Grandpa.” That is exactly what I did. I got to flight 55, had some water, really caught my breath and went for the last leg, 14 flights to go!! I pushed and pushed. With 3 flights to go, I tried my best to really race to the top. I got to the top and got outside on the observation deck and my mom was waiting right at the finish line, cheering me on. The view was spectacular and really defined what you just did. I completed the race 26:25. I couldn’t believe it!!  I doubted myself so much at first, and to see that I could finish it, was amazing. They said the average time for people was 30 minutes, so to have finished below that was awesome.

This was definitely one of the greatest moments of my life. If I have one thing to share, it is never give up. Millie told me that the first time you do a race, it is all about finishing it the first time and proving to yourself that you can do it, regardless of the time!! I cannot wait to do the race again next year and I m looking forward to doing some 5k’s along the way. I can’t wait to share my experience a year from now, if Millie will let me.

Are you training for a race or did you recently complete one?  I'd love to have you share your inspiring story as a guest blogger on See Millie Tri.  Email me at Millie [at] See Millie Tri [dot] com and let me know when your race is.  I would love to share your success with everyone else!  

Pushing Past Your Perceived Limit

Art by Mark Bryan

Today was an interesting morning.  I woke up at 3 in the morning, head spinning with thoughts, and completely unable to get back to sleep.  I spent the next 2 hours and 45 minutes lying awake trying to will myself back to sleep- it didn't work.


So At 5:45 I got out of bed and headed to the gym.  Now, I know that I complain about this alot- and a lot of you are probably sick of hearing about it- but, seriously,Lifetime-  
:Begin Rant: 


if I wanted to know what it was like to swim in the artic, I'd book a cruise on the Titanic.  Warm up the effing pool already.  There is no worse feeling than jumping into a shockingly cold pool.  And I'm not even talking "oh boy that's cold what a wakeup!"  no, a "holy bloody *^#%#  that's teeth chattering cold" 

I'm ahead of myself though- because I get to the gym at 6ish (I think it was like 6:09) and the pool was PACKED.  I mean wall to wall people PACKED.  Ugh-  Tri season is in full swing.  I hate sharing lanes,  loathe it actually.  At the Y- as Ive said before, no big deal, because the lanes are a normal size, but at Lifetime, the laps are teensy weensy.  For example-  I am 5 feet 9 inches tall.  I don't know what that equates to inches wise in my wingspan, but I can touch both lap lanes standing in the middle of the lane.  Now, try sharing that tiny space with some gigundo Iron Man.  Or even with another woman.  And it's not even about sharing such a small space per se-  it's having to slow down and change your stroke every time the two of you pass each other - lest you hook arms (which Ive done numerous times- its painful)  not to mention that its impossible to get a good workout going when you're worrying about someone else in your lane (and I can't even entertain the thought of backstroking when someone else is in the lane.)

So-  I waited for a lane to open up- a solo lane.  By the time this happened it was ten to 7. So I only had roughly 45 minutes to do my workout.  I decided to just go, and do as much as I could and regardless of what that was I'd just have to be okay with it. 

And, amazingly, in roughly 50ish  minutes- I swam a mile and a half! Never in a million years did I think I could swim that far in that little of a time period. (Little for me anyway)-  olympians swim a mile in like 15 minutes. - obviously, I'm not an olympian teehee.


Mr Nice Guy Ironman was in the lane next to mine, and as we swam, I pushed myself to keep pace with him.  The old competative spirit kicked in full throttle, and for the most part I was able to stay neck and neck with him (Ok, sometimes it moved to head and shoulder.. and a few times it was shoulder and knee) but, I would touch the wall each pass within seconds of him.  Can I tell you how much I miss competing on a swim team?  One of these days, I'll join the Masters and swim at meets again.  


Typically though, when I swim, I swim in 400 meter passes (100 Free, 100 Back, 100 Breast, 100 kickboard- repeat 4 times [my workout consists of more than this, since this is only 1600m - the rest is a combo of sprints, and working with paddles or fins )  and I don't typically push past longer than 400 meter passes because my brain tells my body that Im too tired and incapable and I stop and take a rest.  But, the motivation of having someone beside me to pit myself against, enabled me to keep going, keep swimming, and I was able to swim 1000m before I even stopped the first time.  Keeping pace with an Iron man felt freaking phenomenal.  Of course, as I type this, my arms are on fire, and my shoulders are aching.  But of course in a good way. :)


The best part of this whole experience is proving to myself over and over again how much more capable I am than I ever think I am.  And I'm really starting to absorb that over the past few weeks.  I'm actually really bummed (exercise wise, - honestly Im counting the hours otherwise)  Im going on vacation and am going to miss exercising in the way that I'm used to.  I plan to still work out as I am able to, but it won't be anywhere near the intensity that I have been.


Alright-  I'm hitting a brick wall.  I think its going to be a fairly early night... as I said, I  was up at 3 and Im seriously nodding off as I write this.  So I'm wrapping it up now.  I hope this post makes sense!  :)

Hello Old Friend

From Picasa Web Album

I'm quite sure that I am still on an endorphin high from Saturday's butt kicking.  I still feel great.  Sore, but great.  I had told Brutus on Saturday that I wanted him to keep tabs of how often I swipe into the gym and if I am not there at least once a day, that he has full permission to beat the snot out of me on Saturday's.  With the newfound fear of Brutus to keep me motivated, I headed off to the pool this morning.  Lifetime apparently still hasn't gotten their ISH together, and the water in the pool is STILL(!!)  Frigid!  Now I remember what caused me to stop swimming in the first place - previous to getting sick and school getting in the way.  What the heck is the deal, why on earth has the pool gone from tolerable, to cold but tolerable enough, to slightly cold, to FRIGID.  It's ridiculous.  I jumped in and started swimming right away because, well, what better way to keep warm.  I was really nervous that I had lost a lot of ground, not being in the pool for a while, but to my surprise, I was still able to do a 1400 this morning. Which-  wow-  its amazing how far I've come.  At one point during this journey 1400 was on my "one day I'll be able to do that"  and now 1400 is a "light" day (or what I can usually do when I havent swam in a while)  -  a mile (or 1650) is my "medium" day and a "Hard" day is a 2000m.  I love that I have come so far in the pool.  Oh- which reminds me, I'm behind on loving myself!  I have to go and meet a friend for dinner, so I will love myself when I get home (wow three posts in one day, aren't you guys lucky!)

Anyhow, I realized today and I was doing my laps, that my stroking has changed over the past year or so.  I wasn't stroking incorrectly before, but, I was not engaging all of the muscles needed, which resulted in my body drooping under the water creating underwater drag to pull against.  But, with a stronger abdominal core and back muscles, I am able to skim just beneath the pools surface, creating less drag, and less effort per stroke!

We are really in the full swing of Triathlon training.  All of the Tris are back in the water from Ironmen all the way down to the sprinters.  (want to learn how to scope out your appropriate lane?  Check out my earlier post Public Lap Pools are Like High School Lunch Tables )  This created a very choppy morning of swimming.  Lots and lots of Ironmen in the pool today!

And, surprisingly-  one Ironman was actually a really nice guy!  We talked in the Hot Tub after the workout.  He was telling me about Ironman Wisconsin and how hard it is (He said, much harder than Kona because of all of the hills on the bike route- with no rest or reprieve) and that he's has a Half Iron man in about six weeks in California.  I was shocked.  If I keep meeting all these nice Ironmen, I'm really going to have to append my blanket "Iron Men Are Arrogant AHoles" statement.  Though, I must say, they really aren't *all *  aholes.  I have a friend George who did IM Wisconin, and he's a great guy.  Not arrogant at all.  But the ones that train at Lifetime-  the majority of them are definitely jerks.

Oh my, I'm running late! I'll post a bit more later and talk about loving myself!

Motivation Monday!

Photo From Picassa Web Albums

So, I've decided to start a new thing here at See Millie Tri.


Monday Morning Motivation!  

I want to use this new piece to demonstrate that no matter what your size, age, or ability, YOU are capbale of that 5k you've been considering, or the Aqua Bike that you're just not sure if you can complete..  perhaps you've done some 5ks or you've biked some and you want to foray into something else.  You can!  There are SO MANY people out there right now committing to running races for charity or their own personal satisfaction.  They took the first step.  They said-  ok, I'm doing this.  That first step is the hardest part.  Yes, the training is going to be hard, but once you get going, you'll be a steaming locomotive- destined for that finish line.  Today's motivator, is my friend Sarah.  Sarah is a mid-twenties professional, grad student, and soon to be bride.  With wedding day weight loss as her primary goal, Sarah decided to bite the bullet and sign up for her first 5k.  In her own words,  here is her experience...

I can’t remember a time where I haven’t been overweight. I was teased for being the fat kid growing up. As I got older, the teasing stopped. At least to my face…as far as I know. I started my weight loss journey in high school. My first try was the Atkins Diet. I lost weight. I felt great. But the second I got a carb in my mouth, it was over. Of course now we know that the Atkins Diet isn’t the best. In my early 20s, my best friend, Jeremy, and I started our own diet. And we lost weight. I was down about 40 pounds. I started dating! I got comfortable! The weight came back…with 10 more pounds of its friends.

In 2008, I ballooned to my highest. I joined Weight Watchers. I fell in love with Weight Watchers. I love 60 pounds. Then life got in the way. I had gained all but 13 of those pounds back. So…jump to January 12^th, 2011. I joined Weight Watchers for the second time in my life.  I’ve been doing great…I’m down 10 pounds. I plan to look fabulous at my June wedding :)

So when Mille asked me to write a guest entry on her blog…I was flattered. But why? Two weeks ago, I ran in my first 5k. Based on my history, it should not come as a surprise that the old me would not believe that the current me would have ran in a 5k. It was the “Save the Boobies – Steps for the Chest” 5k. I initially got involved in this when a co-worker pressured me in to signing up. This co-worker is a very good friend of mine. She is very much in to fitness, has run marathons and doesn’t have an extra ounce of fat on her body. “It’ll be fun!” she says. My response was “I’ll probably die.” I signed up for this 5k pretty closely to the time I joined Weight Watchers again. So, I hit the gym. I did not train like I should have for this 5k. I trained by using the elliptical, using the resistance training. I did not do any actual running to train…which seems kind of backward. Had I done that, I believe my time would have been better. But, despite my lack of running,  I had a great time. I actually got a high from it.

Since that 5k…I’ve been working very hard at the gym. I have even signed up for my next 5k on April 10^th – Broadway Bridge Run for Special Olympics in Kansas City. I’m very excited about it. My goal for this next 5k is to beat my time for my first 5k which was 43 minutes. This time, I have been going to the gym – about 4 times per week. I run on the treadmill for 30 minutes. Right now, I run for as long as I can, take a 2 minute break and then back to running. I can run well over a mile now without stopping. My goal is to get to 2 miles before the race. For the first time, I’m very excited about getting in shape. Running in 5ks. Going to the gym.

 I’ve never been a runner. When I did Weight Watchers in 2008, I did start running in my neighborhood. But I was never running miles and miles at a time. So, this new training that I’ve been doing hasn’t been too bad. I’m still about 50 pounds overweight but can outrun some of the skinny bitches at the gym :) Right now, I’m not doing any workouts outside of my running training. After this next 5K, I plan to incorporate weights to tone-up.

The motivation for getting in shape is not for superficial reason. Sure, it feels good to look good. But my main motivation is my health. Heart disease is a big problem in my family. I really don’t want that to affect me. I want to be around a long time to share my life with my future-husband. And I want to be around for my future children.  If Millie will let me, I will write about my experience at my next 5k.

So-  what is it that YOU want to do this week to push yourself.   Even if it's not signing up for a race.  Maybe it's starting a workout routine, or even cutting out pop?  This week, take that first step towards a healthier you.

Got My Butt Kicked by Brutus!

Image from Popshopology

So this morning was the first day with my new trainer.  :)

His real name is Will-  but Brutus is more fitting for someone whose sole responsibility is to whip me into crying sniveling submission.

No crying.... yet.  And I say yet, because I am quite sure that eventually he will push me further than *I* think I can go (and when I'm tired and uncomfortable- thats when the tears come-  after the swearing like a sailor ).

Our sessions will be an hour long.  The first twenty or thirty minutes were about what I've done up to now, what my eating schedule is, and what my goals are for the future.  Then it began...

With an evil laugh like Dastardly Dog, we set off to the torture chamber   personal training area.  I had told him my concerns about running on treadmills and the problem I have with my feet, and thankfully he is an anti-treadmill trainer - score-.  Since running is my, pardon the pun, achilles heel, we focused on that for the day.   Once I come back from vaca, he'll have my whole plan laid out for me.  Can I briefly just say how flipping excited I am to come back from vacation?  I seriously must be a glutton for punishment.

So, in order to have a strong and healthy run, according to Brutus, I need strong hamstrings, glutes, hip flexors and lower back, which will support my abdominal cage and help me with a more successful run - ie less effort more stamina.

He showed me how to do a proper squat.  Which in all honest, I have always flown a bit blind on the proper form.  Yeah you can watch people do it on workout videos or in an exercise class, but I highly suggest you have someone watch your mechanics so you really know what a squat should feel like.  From the very first correct squat that I did, I could immediately feel the difference between a correct squat and an incorrect squat.

In a correct squat there should be absolutely NO stress or ache or pressure on your knees.  If you are squatting correctly, all of the "burn" should be felt in the back of your thighs and your glutes (that's where I felt it anyway).  With my proper squat technique I was able to do SIXTY  yes, six zero squats today.  (Not all at once. Brutus had me doing circuits of 20 squats a circuit-  and by the third circuit oooohhhh lordy I felt the burn.. oh boy did I feel it)

 

Slow Fat Triathlete by Jayne Williams

I am getting a bit ahead of myself.  Last year when I trained the first time, I had read in Slow Fat Triathlete that she had joined a running club to get the most out of her running (  we all know how my foray with the run club went)  -  if you are new to my blog  here's my recap of my first run session with the run club  Gazelles of the Serengetti .  Anyhow, she mentioned in her section about running club that they had to do all of these warm up exercises in which she would swing her legs up, or out or do some combination of puppet-like movements and it made her feel like a total idiot.  Yes,  those very same movements, Brutus had me do to warm up.  I jogged.  I kicked my legs out in front of me.  I lifted my knees up like a drum major at homecoming.  And yes, I felt like a total idiot the entire time.  But- it's good for me.  So, looking like an idiot or not, I will high kick the heck out of my legs until the cows come home.

After my kick kick step - jazz hands-  routine,  we went into the meat of the torture  workout.  We did three circuits of squats, legs raises and something called a Burpee-  which is most certainly cruel and unusal punishment            athletically stimulating. If you haven't had the pleasure of experiencing a Burpee, perhaps I'll bring the ole' video camera to the next session and post a V-Blog.  Essentially, you put your hands on a flat surface, kick your legs back as far as you can (either singly or together) and bring them forward again.  I did it both ways,  the two legged jump began putting stress on my arches and balls of my feet, and was burning pretty bad, so we changed to the singular variety.

The words "Times Up" Never sounded sweeter.  And I'm not even gonna lie.  I had to "stretch out" (ie sit on the floor and stretch and then huff and puff and stare) for a good oh, five minutes after the workout just to get enough feeling back in my legs to tackle the stairs.  Yes, it was painful.  But it was sweet sweet pain.  And seriously I can't wait for more.  How sick is that  :)  I've become a glutton for punishment.

Anyhow,  I fully intend to at least do these few exercises while I'm on vacation.  I can't come back having completely fallen behind again.  I leave on Friday morning, but I intend fully to be in the gym every day this week until then.  I asked Brutus to monitor my gym activity, and that if he doesn't see me checked into the club every single day, I gave him full permission to kick the ever living snot out of me on Saturdays to make up for the missed days.  Oh man am I looking forward to this!  (Is it possible to still be high on endorphins twelve hours after a workout?)

Have a great weekend!  Go out there and do something challenging!