Feeling like a Rock Star

Anyone that knows me and trains with me could tell you that 2009 was a really tough year for me. I struggled beyond belief to train with any kind of intensity or purpose (#3 on my list). I seriously thought that I was falling out of love with training. I wanted to break-up with lifting weights, running, riding my bike and running bleachers. I was starting to really hate it all. Me, Miss Gym Ratt of the world not feeling the love for training. Please Baby Jesus say it ain't so. This my peeps started to scare me and scare me good. I am glad to say that with alot of shear strength, tears, will power and just down right getting pissed off I now have a crush on training again. I know that my reconciliation with training is very multi-faceted. The work I have done with my balancing my hormones, the decision to postpone school for now and the total overhaul of my diet have all helped tremendously. But I did want to add one more thing. I have started using some supplemental products from a company called Ascential Bioscience and let me just say they are awesome. I wanted to continue to tell you about all the goodness I am seeing from using these products.
The products that I wanted to talk about today are E2, Pro Arginine and Lean. Every morning about 45 minutes before I train I am mixing up the most wonderful cocktail of E2 and Pro Arginine and with that beverage I am taking 1 Ascential Lean. By the time I make the 30 minute drive to the gym I am ready for duty. I feel like a ROCK STAR. Not just any rock star I am talking Angus Young (ACDC) with a little bit of Joe Perry (Aerosmith) and just for kicks a little Mick Jagger (The Stones) all mixed together. My energy has gone through the roof. I am lifting heavier, running harder and just lasting longer through the work-outs then I could ever have imagined. I am in love with training again. It is so sweeeeet to train with intensity and purpose again.
Please know that I have plenty of samples and would love to sell you truck loads of this stuff. But my main goal in writing this is to tell you that I feel great using these products. I am 42 and am training as though I were 20 or at least I feel that way.
Check out the links above and read about the products. Let me know if you want to try some samples as I have plenty. Who knows we might get enough ROCK STARS together that we could just go on tour.
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Be Better

This blog post was inspired by one of my teammates clients Alysia. She has been training with me since late August and is doing awesome. She is a little powerhouse and has to be one of the sweetest most genuine people I have ever met. I feel truly blessed to have her as one of my clients.

We were talking during her last session and the conversation led to the discussion of supplementation of the diet. I have started using some new supplements over the past several months and I will have to say they are helping me tremendously. I have given Alysia several samples, but she has been somewhat reluctant to try them. She stated to me that her husband believes that if you already feel good in general then why supplement. This statement got me to thinking and my answer to her was this. "Alysia with these supplements I have found that you can BE BETTER!" Her husband is a runner and I am thinking if I could just get him to try some of this stuff he will go from good to GREAT! I know how good Alysia is doing and I do believe she could go from really good to really GREAT! Girl power you know.

I thought I would just discuss what I am using and take it a step at a time. I decided to talk about what I feel I am getting the most benefit from and then just take it item to item in other blog posts. I would have to say that my most favorite item I am using right now is the Ascential Hydration. This stuff is awesome. I have been trying not to eat much past 6 PM at night so about 9 PM I am drinking one of these bad boys and man I wake up the next day feeling like a rockstar. It is a fruit punch flavored powder mixed with about 6 to 8 ounces of water. It is full of lots of the good stuff that rehydrates my body overnight so that I am ready to go again in the morning. If you don't really believe that you need supplementation I would encourage you to at least give this try. I firmly believe most people walk around dehydrated most of the time. This little simple beverage can help you get back going and make you feel great.

Go here to check out Ascential Hydration as well as all of the other offerings from this great company. I am a distributor of their products and would be happy to provide you a sample or order some product for you. Just give me a shout.

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Sticking to the list

I am not ashamed to admit it, but it did take 4 calculators to get me through my math class at TWU. It was a beast of a class and I am soooo glad that I made it through. It was a bittersweet accomplishment for sure. I will go on the record to say that I hate math. It stresses me like nothing else can and I will not miss the course one bit. I will however miss the instructor. She was awesome and I could not have done it without her help. Thanks Jena I will forever be thankful to you. You rock girl!

My main reason for writing today is not about math or chemistry or TWU. My goal today was to share with you some of the things that I learned over the past 16 weeks. My main lesson is that going back to school at 42 with children and a husband that travels is not the best idea I have had in awhile. It was a challenge and I am somewhat sad and somewhat happy to say that I will be putting TWU back on my bucket list. I just can't do it right now. It was just way too much to ask of myself. I realized back in late September as I was going to drop my Chemistry and Chemistry lab class that I had met my match at TWU. Yes I felt tremendous guilt as I had just blown 1,000.00 for a couple of classes and yes I had been pretty much ignoring my family for 3 weeks. I felt defeat like I hadn't felt in a long time. But in this defeat I felt compelled to make a list. This wasn't just any list. This list was 5 things that I would do if I only had one week to live. This list is the nitty gritty of life. I wanted it to be a short amount of time with a small amount of choices. Hard core list making was the goal. This my peeps was the list that I came up with at that time.

If I could do or be anything for one week what would it be?

1. My body, mind and spirit would be totally free and able to be totally present both physically and mentally for my beloved Joe.
2. My body, mind and spirit would be totally free and able to be totally present both physically and mentally for my girls Alex and Carly Jo.
3. I would train each day with intensity and purpose.
4. I would train my favorite clients each day with intensity and purpose.
5. I would learn something new each day about something I enjoy.

That is it in a nutshell. When I do these 5 things I feel free as a bird. In all the turmoil of going back to school I realized that sometimes when you are trying to figure out where you are supposed to be going you realize you just might already be there.

I challenge you to make a list. Figure out what makes you most at peace and do it.

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Lovin' my new toy!

My new heavy punching bag is finally installed and I love, love, love it! It is the funnest thing to just beat the crud out of it. Stress be gone for sure baby! Thanks to my beloved Joe for installing it and trust me it ain't going' nowhere.

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Welcome to my new addiction!

I did my first triathlon this weekend and I am totally in love with this sport. It was a mix of everything that I love all wrapped up in one. The beauty of the tri is that when you start getting sick of one element it is usually time to switch to the next element.

The first section is the swim and it was a distance of 250 meters. I was not excited about this at all as I just learned to swim 8 weeks ago. I managed to do 25 meters freestyle and then I rolled on to my back and did the back stroke the rest of the way. Better to be warmed up when you get out of the pool than dead tired. I didn't drown and I think I might have passed a couple of people. Thanks go to my friend Tanna who followed me lane by lane and kept me focused.

The next was the bike and it was a beating for me. Lots of hills and a cold north wind in my face all the way for the first 8 miles. Did I mention that I just got out of the pool and jumped on my bike and was still wet. It was 45 degrees no less! Not fun!

The final leg was the run and it was tough getting my legs going from being on the bike. I did a combo walk/run and by this time I had totally checked out mentally. I was just ready to get done. Thanks to my sweet friend Erin who taught me to swim and ended up running with me for the last 200 yards or so.

All in all this was a wonderful experience. I am pumped and can't wait for the spring so that I can tackle another one. I will train harder because I know in my heart that I didn't train as I should have for this one. I know that I can get to where I can swim freestyle the entire distance, I know that I can get that bike moving faster, and I know that I can run faster. Some things you just know and I know I can do better.

I would like to thank my sweet beloved Joe for getting up with me at 4 AM and for lugging my stuff uphill and for videoing and photographing this special day. He was such a sport and I know that he could so train and so do one of these events as well.

I only had one negative thing and I feel the need to write about it. I arrived at 5:30 and was the 3rd person in the transition area racking my bike. I wanted to be on the end so that I could have plenty of room to change shoes, etc. So I wanted to give a shout out to the jerk jacka** rider number 186 who moved my bike over and planted his bike and back wheel right in the middle of my gear. You know buddy I could so totally report your cocky a**, but I won't because I believe what comes around goes around. If you chose to treat people with disrespect like that then you deserve what you get in life. Just walking around acting like that is punishment enough. Just be glad my big redneck husband wasn't able to get in the transition area near your bike, because trust me you would not have been able to recognize it when he was done with it! Just sayin'!!!

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No longer afraid of the monster

Completed my first triathlon and this is the video at the finish. My beloved Joe somehow magically made me go really fast. For those of you who know me well you know that this is trick editing, but I will take it. Thanks Joe for being such a great photographer and videographer. I love you dearly!

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7 Minutes 49 Seconds

I went to the pool yesterday for one last swim before the Monster Triathlon tomorrow. It was a great day to go because I was totally inspired by one of the other swimmers there. No it wasn't the lady that was obviously training for her next Iron Man event or the guy who swims like a fish wearing his Speedo. What inspired me most was this little old man. I swear this guy had to be in his late 80's. He shuffled up to the pool with assistance from both his nurse and the LISD supervisor and an additional lifeguard. He wasn't able to jump in the pool or lower himself in by using the ladder. No this guy had to be lowered into the water using the automated chair lift. With tremendous effort he was loaded into the chair, strapped in and lowered into the pool. He was then unstrapped and assisted to the side of the pool. He started his pool work-out from the side complete with his 1972 flippers. No he didn't swim a million laps, he just did his work-out by staying on the side of the pool. His work-out was just the simple act of getting INTO the pool and moving. Plain and simple.

I had one of those moments in life where you just have to get a grip and suck it up. I thought to myself if this little old man can go to that much trouble just to get into the pool then I can most certainly suck it up tomorrow. I will admit that I am totally doubtful about tomorrow and the triathlon. I so want to just finish and not be dying along the way. I hate the pool with a passion. I am dreading getting in the water with lots of other swimmers who are going to be swimming over me. I am totally dreading getting out of that pool and hopping on that bike, cold and wet and riding in the cold wind for 16 miles. Then I still have to run for 3 more miles. I feel totally in over my head. I am fearful of being the last one finished. I am fearful of drowning in the pool, wreaking on my bike and tripping on the run. People who know me KNOW that all of these are possible if not probable. I am fearful that my hamstrings will bunch up and that my lower back will be killing me.

I am fearful of all of these things, but I keep thinking of that little old man. He went to all of that effort, just to get INTO the pool. I am going to go tomorrow and participate in this triathlon for HIM not me.

By the way, I did get into the pool yesterday and managed to swim the 250 meters in 7 minutes and 49 seconds. You can do anything for 7 minutes and 49 seconds!

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