Rip:60, an awesome husband, and other random stuff

The plan for Saturday was to run 14 miles with my running buddy, Priscilla.  Friday night a storm started to roll in with winds of 20 miles per hour.  I texted Priscilla and told her that I was too big of a wimp for that.  When I woke up on Saturday, it was snowing and blowing (as you can see from the picture that I took from my front porch).  Of course, Priscilla is tougher than me, so she still ran out in this blizzard.  I, however, slept in and went to the gym 2 hours later.  Although I felt like a huge slacker and I felt bad that Priscilla had to run alone, I had ran 15 miles the week before so I didn't feel like I was missing my long run.  I ended up running 3 miles on the treadmill instead.  I wanted to make it quick and just get it over with, so I started out at 6 mph and then as I increased speed, I also decreased the incline.  My last 1/2 mile was ran at a -3 incline at 8 mph.

I think that anyone with a gym membership has their favorite "spot" where they tend to spend a lot of their gym time.  I like this corner in the cardio area at Gold's Gym.  It is upstairs in the back corner, so I'm able to look down from my treadmill and watch the TVs and people.  Yeah, I guess that makes me sound a little bit creepy.  The rowing machines are also over there.  I usually start my day at the gym on the rowing machines for a least 5 minutes. I do this even if I'm going to go to a class or just run on the treadmill.  I love the rowing machine.  Seriously, it works my hamstrings, chest, back, lats, and Monica showed me how to rotate side to side to work my core.  Behind the treadmills and rowing machines is this big contraption (see picture-this is a larger version than the one at Gold's).  I just found out that it is called Rip:60.  I have seen people using it, but I didn't want to look like an idiot trying to figure it out on my own.  I told Monica (my friend who also happens to be a fitness instructor at Gold's Gym) that I was interested in trying it out.  On Thursday she quickly showed me some basics and gave me an outline for an hour workout on it.  Since I didn't end up doing a long run on Saturday, she ran me through the entire circuit.  I started out sweating from my run and I kept sweating for the next hour.  It was really fun!  I found out that the Rip:60 can be used for everything - squat jumps, lunges, core work and mountain climbers just to name a few of the things that we did.  We also did some swings with the kettle bells and she attempted to help me improve my form.  I'm still bruising my arms when I do cleans.  The bruises make me look tough, though!

I have stated this many times before-clean eating and fitness are a lifestyle.  In order for it to become your lifestyle, you have to have support systems.  My support system is becoming larger all the time, but at the foundation of it is 3 people: Mike, Priscilla and Monica.  Monica and Priscilla are my work out and clean eating buddies.  I draw a lot of knowledge and strength from them. They are just as fanatical about fitness as I am.  I am also fortunate to have a husband that values fitness (clean eating not so much).  On my days off  I usually spend over two hours at the gym.  Since I don't like lifting weights at the gym, I sometimes will lift at home in the morning and then go to the gym after I take the kids to school.  Recently I have started going to Monica's tabata class in the morning and then her kettlebell class in the evening.  He never complains about my time at the gym.  Training for marathons and half marathons takes a lot of time and support. He has always encouraged my to run them and to take the time to train for them.  He also likes to spend hours working out, especially during the biking season.  This is a picture of Mike last September when he rode 206 miles in a bike race called Lotoja (Logan, UT to Jackson, WY).  He is pretty much just awesome!  Had I not married someone so active, I'm not sure that I would be on this journey right now.  I'm so glad that we found each other and that we are able to live these active lifestyles.  I think that it is really good for our kids to see their parents taking time for themselves and making fitness important in our lives.

If you have read through this entire post, first of all I would like to thank you.  I know that I can be long winded!  When I started this blog back in September, I did it mostly for accountability.  I felt like if I put this out there then I would have to do it and stick with it.  I knew that I needed a change.  My weight was starting to creep up into the 140 range and running was not keeping it off.   Starting up a facebook page and letting my friends know about it was huge for me.  I put a lot of personal stuff in here.  Sometimes too personal.  It's a little bit scary to put my journal of sorts out there for strangers and friends alike to read.  I just hope that there is someone that reads this and thinks "if she can do it, I can do it!"  One of my friends from way back when, Chris, messaged me that I was an inspiration (which made it feel pretty darn good) and that he had recently lost 45 pounds.  That is so awesome!  So please, leave me some feedback about your journey, like my facebook page and follow my blog.  I would love to form a little community of people that want to become the best version of themselves!