This is post to comment on a horrible experience I had last night at the gym. Not the workout, but the smell of the individual next to me. I have never wanted to vomit all over myself during a workout (well, at least not from the smell of someone else). I had a guy who got on the treadmill next to me during my HIIT workout who reeked of cat piss, old and new cat piss. No one should ever be subjected to that pain and suffering that is induced by inhaling the smell of another human beings ammonia riddled body that has a undertone of BO. I seriously was on the verge of writing him a referral to see a doc and have some bloodwork done... poor guy, his kidneys were probably suffering while excreting all that protein from his body.
I'm glad to say that the remainder of my workout was much better. All in all the last few days have gone well, food/nutrition in particular have been a strong suit for me. Well, that was until today. A couple of homemade ginger cookies "took a sleigh ride" into my mouth and forced my jaw to snap shut. I tried to open my mouth and get them out but those cookies pulled my mouth closed. This went on for a few minutes, it looked like I was chewing but honestly I wasn't. Soon enough those cookies made a break away and took a ride down my esophagus like it was a slide eventually landing in my stomach. Damn those cookies... they won today, but they won't tomorrow.

Yesterday marked another legit workout. I did me some StepMill and a few leg exercises but daaaaannnnngggg! My legs were tired from the day before and I felt like my A$$ was made of sandbags! Heavy, heavy! I took a rest day today to get a little R&R in and hopefully be prepped for a workout tomorrow. I spent my evening eating some leftover African Sweet Potato and Red Bean soup I made Sunday. Hello YUM. So delicious and a healthy meal. *friends have encouraged me to blog about food/recipes also... that may be coming soon. Consider it version 2.0 of this blog :) *

The hubs bought me a new pair of running shoes yesterday, pretty excited to scoot around in those during workouts. For some reason I really been into the fluorescent yellow/green color that you sometimes see on running gear, don't ask why... just because. Well, my new kicks rock that color (pic will be provided soon). I'll spend a little time breaking them in tomorrow hopefully, unless I am nordic skiing, I mean running outside. The snow has started to fall tonight, so we'll see if an outdoor workout is "available" tomorrow (aka do I want to take my busted A$$ outside in the snow tomorrow?).

Signing off... until next time.

Today was a good day. I did a HIIT workout on the treadmill. I was shocked at the quality of workout I got in. I still feel like a little bit of a wooly mammoth running across the frozen tundra but these fat cells aren't going to surrender without a fight so I must subject the entire gym to the wilderbeast on the treadmill. Here is the treadmill workout I did today, 35 mins total;

5 minute walking warmup
8 rounds of HIIT (24 mins, 2 rounds of each listed below, 8 rounds total)

• 2 mins at 6.0 mph


• 1 min at 3.0 mph




• 2 mins at 6.3 mph


• 1 min at 3.0 mph




• 2 mins at 6.5 mph


• 1 min at 3.0 mph




• 2 mins at 6.8/7.0 mph


• 1 min at 3.0 mph

6 mins walking cooldown

While this is nothing compared to how I used to run, it was leaps and bounds more than I've been able to do and probably the first time since the accident where I didn't feel like the awkard PT patient in the gym, I felt like an athlete...

I also completed a strength workout, 2 sets of 12 reps of each of the following;

-Shoulder press
-Bicep curls
-Back ext
-Lat Pulldown
-Dips (yes, dips... my shoulder survived!)
-Seated row
-Reverse fly
-Bicycle crunch
-Oblique crunch

I will be pretty sore tomorrow... I am sure of that. BUT - this was the most "normal" workout I've had in a long long time. This bitch is comin' back!

A side note is that I have been drinking Amalaki juice as part of my new experimentation with Ayurvedia. I did the ayurvedic cleanse a couple of weeks ago and now I started drinking the Amalaki juice to help with inflammation and continued detox. I figured it couldn't hurt, so I thought I would give it a shot. I noticed after a couple of days that I no longer had sweets/candy cravings like normal. The only thing I could attribute it to was the juice and therefore, decided to do further research on the Amalaki juice. What I have discovered is that is has some effects on stabilizing blood sugar. I have honestly noticed a HUGE difference in the sugar craving. I no longer look for places to siphon sugar from. I'm going to continue this little experiment to see if the juice is really part of this lack of sugar obsession...

So I was looking through some pictures and I found this picture. I am looking for this friend - it is ME!!!! Holy shitballs! (pardon the typed language) This was a picture that was taken a few weeks out from the show I did and this is what I had looked like most of my life up until a few years ago (I know... isn't that the story of everyone's life?) Anyway, I really miss this old friend and am inviting her back into my life.

Hey ya'll...

It's Sunday night and I am nearing the end of my weekend (it was a great weekend might I add). I got to spend a lot of time with my husband and family and I got to relax, although I was still recovering from my head cold. I'm not 100% yet but I'm about 90%. If my title of this post was no sign, I had a little roudevouzs with sugar this weekend. I spent some time making cupcakes. Sour cream lemon with lemon buttercream frosting and a double chocolate with a chocolate cream frosting (these were made for someone in particular, not just because). I had my fair share of licks of the ol' wooden spoon smothered in frosting and batter. I had to sample the recipe! (both raw and cooked :). Generally I would find myself under a pile of cupcake wrappers after a weekend like this, however, I am actually proud to say I demonstrated self control. I had a couple of cupcakes, but nothing compared to what I usually would. Maybe something is shifting, maybe I am learning sugar portion control? Let's face it... sugar is NO GOOD. It isn't good for me, at least the types of sugar and the amount I like. It is definitely my Achilles heal, but maybe I am getting better at controlling my consumption of it.
I took the weekend off from working out because I was sick but I am planning on getting back to doing some workouts this week and will attempt to get up early and start my workout regimen again. I will afterall be in a bikini on Waikiki beach in less than 5 months...

I tried posting last night and something was not working properly... argh! So here we go again, today marks day two of my renewed vows to blogging! I am actually home from work today (left early yesterday too) because of a nasty head cold. I just woke up from napping and I am finally starting to feel a bit better, although it may just be the cold medicine "putting on a happy face". Regardless, I am trying to kick this cold so I can get back on my wellness track (aka getting my frumpy dumpy a$$ back in shape and feeling "my" normal).
Recovering from my accident has been harder than expected. The injuries to my back, neck, ribcage, shoulder, etc. were quite severe. Several doctors have repeatedly told me I was lucky to be alive and even more lucky to be walking. I had never experienced injuries like that before and I had always been able to deal with pain but things were too hard for me to deal with this time. I literally found myself in a place that had me feeling like I had lost part of my identity. I thought maybe I would never be the same. I am glad to say that I woke up one morning so tired of dealing with the chronic pain that I sought out a new doctor... one of the best in town. She has been helping me for the past 8 weeks and I am really enjoying getting back to 'normal'. I just finished a seven day Ayurvedic cleanse based on her recommendation to help rid my body of all the pharmaceuticals that I had consumed during the vicious pain cycle. The day after the cleanse I got this head cold - SO FRUSTRATING!
TJ and I will be headed to Hawaii again this year, I have a little less than five months to be bikini ready! This is great timing and great motivation to get improve my body composition. I actually purchased a scale for the first time in my life. I felt as though there would be no denying the numbers. While I don't entirely believe your weight number reflects health I do believe that body fat percentage does. The scale I purchased measures both, it may not be as valid as a clinical measure of bodyfat it will at least help me assess the change over the next several months. Stepping on the scale for the first time certainly left me with "that feeling in my stomach". The feeling that you get when you hear some news that you don't want to. I wasn't exactly impressed with what flashed on the scale but I am energized enough to do something about it.
One of the major things I am going to focus on nutrition. This morning I FAILED. I woke up around 11:30 (don't gasp... remember I am sick today). I had purchased instant oatmeal yesterday when I was at the store getting cold medicine, Kleenex, etc. Let's just stop right here. Why, the heck would I purchase this type of oatmeal?!?!? I don't know. I usually don't, but for some reason I did because I was hungry and the flavors sounded good. I didn't eat any yesterday, but I woke up this morning and had three packets! I actually was only going to eat two but I put too much water in and had to add a third packet to get the consistency right. I could have just added regular oatmeal but I didn't. This was obviously a bad choice, but I am human so I make mistakes. Hopefully the rest of my day will result in better nutritional decision making!

Signing off... hopefully next time I will be typing without the germ laden fingers and sniffly nose.

Its been a long long while since my fingers have danced over my keyboard to create a post on here. I have actually wanted to make a post for quite some time, but for one reason or another just decided not to. I feel like I need to catch up with a long lost friend, its gonna take some time to rekindle the flame... but today marks the day that I try to resurrect my relationship with my blog. Maybe I am actually feeling like my old self, just maybe. My old self, the one who would stay up late with twinkling eyes looking into the computer screen as I poured my thoughts, emotions and humility out with a blog post. The "old" me was a good me and for some reason I've haven't truly felt like the "old" me in a long time. Lately I have gotten glimmers that the old me was back, that the old me was peeling back the layers of this "recent" me. These moments of the "old" me are seeming to happen more and more frequently, this is something I like.

I guess it's time to get reacquainted. How do I start by outlining why my life has gotten so crazy? Well, let me summarize it for you (some of this has been blogged about before);

• Ruby, my dear black lab/best friend, lost her life to cancer a little over a year ago


• We sold our house


• We moved in with my grandparents for 6 months


• We built a new beautiful house


• TJ became and Engineer for the railroad


• I trained for and competed in my first Ironman Triathlon


• I got in a really bad bicycle accident that could have killed me or left me paralyzed

So, as you can see, lots has happened (I've left lots of little things out too, so I don't bore you with the details). The main thing that has been the struggle over the past several months has been recovering from my accident. I really did a number on myself. I've spent months trying to rehab two broken vertebrae, five broken ribs, a dislocated rib, a shifted sternum, a separated AC joint, both lungs being punctured, bruised internal organs, and torn muscles and tendons in my back. As you can imagine, this has been trying. Trying, not just physically but mentally and emotionally. The pain has been unimaginable, the headaches haunting. As of late I am actually doing much better as I have been working with a new doctor who has done wonders for me. She has been my partner in "operation regain control". I honestly felt like my identity was lost as I found myself in a pattern of hourly pain management each day. I understand those who fall into that chronic pain cycle and how utterly exhausting it is. Luckily, I have started to break free. I AM regaining control (something I tend to like to have over my life). I have been able to start working out over the past several weeks and I am regaining control over the pain, my sleep and my diet. For months on end I didn't get sleep, the only sleep I was able to get was the kind where you are in a pain killer induced sleep coma, which isn't quite healthy or rejuvenating.

However, I now have more control. I've really enjoyed getting back in my rhythm. I feel like I am making a positive difference in my health again and that feeling is something I don't ever want to loose again. Blogging is a great way to document my journey and thus you find me back here ...