Sad Day

Hi Java Followers,
 Today has been a sad day for me. My sweet Beanie puppy left to go to his knew forever home. (insert sobbing & tissues)
 Some of you may know, he has recently started biting my 3 year old son. As a mom, sometimes we have to make decisions that are tough. Beanie has been a part of our family for almost 3 years. It is hard to see him go. The kids are all pretty attached to him as well. As many times as Isaiah was bit, he still loved & adored Beanie. Now I must point out that Beanie was not just some crazed biting dog, he was 90% of the time provoked. Isaiah would just follow him around & bother him. For instance he would pull his tail, pull his ears, tug on him, poke him.... etc. We know this was expected & while Isaiah may have deserved it, we feel a dog should understand that it is NOT ok to bite. We have another little coming up that will do the same thing I am sure. So, to be safe, we found a new home for him. His new home is where he will be loved & spoiled. He is with his sister, from a litter before him & his mom! This is just absolutely fabulous to me. It did make it so much easier to part with him. While this did make it easier, I still have tears to be shed. I loved that dog.  We would snuggle on the couch in the evening & watch TV, in the mornings he would curl up in my lap while I sipped my coffee & read Facebook, he would follow me everywhere I went in the house. This may have gotten on my nerves sometimes, but when he isn't here to do it I miss him terribly. He was always so excited when Faith would get off the buss & he would paw at the door & cry until she would come through the door & greet him. He loved to wag his tail & jump up & down with excitement when we would get home. If you would, just please say a prayer for us. It's so strange not having Beanie. He has been in our home as long as we've had the house. We will miss him so. Also, please pray he adjusts well in his new home & doesn't feel I have abandoned him.

Gonna have an extra cup of java for my Beanie Weenie.......

Week 2 Update

Good morning bloggers!

So, I have made it a full week. I've had a couple rest days, I've run several miles, I have cross trained, been remembering to take my vitamins & I feel so energized & great!

I love to run what I call the 4 mile loop at the lake. It is full of hill training & it's a beautiful run. I enjoy running by the lake. Last night I had a goose open it wings up at me & opened its beak like it was going to bite me. I told it to not even think about it. LOL

I find that it is hard to get the time to cross train at home. With little ones, they tend to need a lot of attention, so I have just done what I can to incorporate my kids into the workout. My older boy likes to just join me in the workouts. He usually just plays while I workout but once I start grunting & yelling, he comes & joins me. It is super cute to see him sit in the floor & do some exercises with me. Jeremiah, my 10 month old 23 pound baby however is what I "use" in my workouts. I like to hold him for weight when I do squats. He loves it & smiles the whole time like it is a game. Then I like to lift him in the air above me & bring him down for a kiss then lift him back in the air again. I do as many reps as I can. If my arms become tired I stop, I don't want to chance dropping him. Next I lay in the floor, knees bent & feet planted a little ways out from my butt. I sit Jeremiah on my belly facing me & I do crunches. I make faces at him as I come up (not always on purpose) & he just laughs & giggles. It makes the workout seem more like playtime & I am not taking my time away from the kids when I do this. I love it & they seem to as well.

The other day the weather called for storms in the evening. Sadly it always seems to start about the time I have plans to run with my friends in the running club, so that particular morning I decided to take the boys for a walk. I planned to walk right down the road to see the lake & back.  I put the boys in the wagon & off we went. On our way I thought, lets got over to the Yacht Club which is about 2.5 miles away. So That's what I did. It is all HILLS the whole way there & back. I had 55 pounds of little boy in a wagon, while I was wearing flip flops! But we did it!! I was so proud of myself. And very soar when we got home. Needless to say, it did not storm that evening & off I went with my running buddies & ran the 4 mile loop around the lake! I had a lot of cardio that day. I took a day of rest & went out for that same 4 mile loop last night. That run felt great! I got just enough of a workout without feeling I over did it.

This morning I concentrated on my belly. I did different types of crunches, burpees, bicycle twists etc. I've got to work off the little muffin top I have. I may be small but 3 kids leaves some extra skin/fat. I just want to take care of that before it gets any bigger. HAHA! Aside from my being slightly vain in wanting to look good, you do use those core ab muscles when you run so it's important to work all other muscles when you aren't running. The stronger my core gets, the better my running form & less I ache while running.

I love to follow-up my workouts with a protein smoothie. I asked a guy at a nutrition store about the best type of protein for me based on what I am doing. He suggested a Whey Protein Isolate. The Isolate he said was key because it is a faster absorbing to help build those muscles & strength.  Protein mixes can really add up. I personally have never spent a lot of money on mine. I just buy mine at WalMart.

 I also prefer the chocolate flavored. You can either mix it with just milk (not the best taste) or you can make a smoothie. I like to use ice cubes, fresh strawberries or raspberries, 1 scoop of the protein mix, add milk & blend well in a blender. I don't have the measurements, I just do it by sight & go from there. If I had to guess:

1/2C ice cubes
1C milk
1 scoop protein mix
1 handful berries
Blend well & enjoy.

Another smoothie I like:

1/2C ice cubes
1C milk
1 scoop protein
1/2 banana
2-3 TBS peanut butter(optional)
Blend well & enjoy


It's fun to experiment with the smoothies.


Hope you get off the couch & get moving (after you've poked around my blogs of course) :) Don't forget to check out my photography blog here.

Happy blogging!
Going to finish this smoothie & drink some coffee! :)

Keep Me Accountable

Hey fellow bloggers,

 Today I have decided something. I am lazy. I had been doing so good at running 3 times a week & increasing my distance & after my 10K had come & gone I began to taper my distance & it's been 3 1/2 weeks since I ran last. I am daily telling myself to jump on the treadmill & go or to do my cross training. And with each passing day I get lazy & just think, maybe later. Later comes & later goes. I never start. So, here I am. Challenging myself to get fit & stop making excuses. So, I come to you all to hold me accountable.  I had been running every Tuesday & Thursday evening with our local running club. Saturdays I would either run a race or just casually. Sometimes Sunday afternoons. So I've decided. Today is not a running day, so I will cross train. I do not desire losing weight. For me, it's about being fit. I used to have abs of steel. I haven't seen my abs for over a year. So, lets journey on & find them. I will post pics, before, during & after. I will blog about some of the training I am doing & let you know where I find my workout routines or if I just make it up as I go. I am no fitness expert, I don't know what I am doing most days. But any moving has to be better than not. Right?

Now that I have shared my plan with you, it's your job to keep me accountable. Comment on my post asking if I lived up to it or how it's going. It's out here for the whole world to see so I better stick to it!

Here's a pics of day 1:

 

 

I began my workout with some brick training. I ran for approx. 12 minutes (3/4mile) then biked for 15minutes (not sure distance since the hubby's computer on the bike isn't working) then finished with almost a 1/2 mile run in 7minutes. I am beat. Note to self: DO NOT EVER TAKE A BREAK FROM TRAINING EVER AGAIN!!!

 

on a side note, I discovered that if I hold my posture while running & get my pace just right, my ponytail swings from side to side causing it fan my back off which feels most excellent! :)