Welcome mat

March 4, 2010

half-moon-pose-ardha-chandrasanaI tried a new yoga class today. My kids’ school added a class Thurs AM for parents. It was a bit slow for me but reminded me of the lack of balance I have in Half Moon pose. The teacher helped me roll my chest and shoulder out into a straight line, though.

After a full day at work making some attorney web sites I had karate class. We started a mat work unit. This means we have big gym mats to tumble on and - UGH! - we had to do forward rolls across the room. So you start standing, roll, stand, roll, stand, etc. And it’s not a somersault, because you skip your head and use your shoulder. It’s fun to watch the teacher flip black belts around and upside down to show why we need to learn forward rolls, though. Mat work is my least favorite unit in karate, and I hope it only lasts 3 wks.

Wed I did a full body workout at the gym. Treadmill, Stairmaster, abductor, lunges with medicine ball, upper body weight machines for 1st set, and hand weights with a big swiss ball for 2nd set. I did abs and stretched, and still had a little time, so I went back to the treadmill and jogged along side Richie for a while. His pace kept me going and when he stopped to answer his phone I promptly got off the treadmill and showered.

Brian’s birthday is Monday. (Hear that, arunnersblog readers?) So I made a rum cake to stick in the fridge and soak up some rum - thus it will be ready to enjoy all weekend. Saturday we need to work on the plumbing in the house, but we plan to go out to dinner in the evening. Hopefully we won’t need to do plumbing on Sunday.

Alice is at the Taylor Swift concert tonight. Some good friends got superb tix and took her for her birthday (coming March 23). Taylor Swift is the only celebrity she really seems to follow, and she has an autographed photo of her framed in her bedroom. I’m sure she’ll have a blast! I think my first concert was Richard Marx. Do you remember yours?

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Tuesday with a “Tea”

March 2, 2010

Hit the gym this morning. 19 mins on treadmill. Saw Steve’s wife (if you read www.arunnersblog.com, you know who Steve is.) She is pregnant out-to-there and speed walking on the treadmill. She said they are debating about the NYC marathon, but taking it slow and making it fun and socializing the whole way.

bridgerollThen I grabbed an 8 lb. hand weight and a Swiss ball and did bridge shoulder rolls. I also did crunches with 2 legs on the wall, and diagonal crunches with one leg on the wall. I did planks with a row and side planks with the 8lb weights.

I forgot to share a funny South Carolina story. The first night I was there I was sharing a hotel room, sleeping on the couch, and the bathroom was through the next bedroom. Rather than wake my suitemates, I used the hotel lobby bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth in the morning. I must have forgotten my face wash down there, because it was missing the rest of the trip.

Day 2 I was sharing a hotel room with another friend of the bride, and I mentioned I had lost my face wash. She said she had some potent Japanese stuff, and said I should just use one tiny dot.

After my shower I felt warm and flushed. I thought maybe I had the water too hot and turned the hotel room A/C on. Then I thought maybe I was getting a fever. The apples of my cheeks were red and hot, and my fingertips were red and hot, and my fingers were puffy, but everything else was fine.

Suddenly it occurred to me that I tried a new face wash. I asked the woman if it had cucumber in it, because I am allergic to cucumbers. And she said, “No, it’s like white tea.”

The other thing I’m allergic to is tea.

Luckily it was gone in about 2 hours and allowed me to not wear blush to dinner :)

When I say I am allergic to tea, everyone asks, “What would happen if you drank it?” And I always answer, “I don’t know, I don’t drink it.” Duh!

Tonight  Brian did something I thought he would never do. He did not have animal based protein with dinner. He ate beans. Yippee! I hope this opens future doors for Meatless Monday or some such thing in our house.

Do you purposely avoid meat every now and then?

2010 goal update: 2710 crunches, 67 minutes of plank remaining.

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Back from GSP

March 1, 2010
You don't find this in Florida!

You don't find this in Florida!

I had a great 4 days away to see a close high school friend walk down the aisle. It was my first time in South Carolina, and the people there were super sweet. So sweet it made some of the east-coasters suspicious (Leslie, this means you)!

While there, the groom-to-be took me up in a tiny 4-seater plane. I’ve never been so scared in my life. I was scared of how scared I was, because I have never reacted that way to anything - surgery, childbirth - perhaps a moment when my daughter was missing in a theme park… but this was different. I hope to have photos soon though. They are all on his camera, and who knows when a newlywed man goes through his Canon…

Exercise was totally on the back burner, but I moved a lot. Thurs night schlepping boxes, Fri 20 mins morning yoga, Friday 6 hours of cleaning a filthy hangar and making it a wedding venue, Fri night dancing with the Bachelorette girls & guy (although it was lesbian night. Ha!) , Sat night dancing at the wedding for a couple hours, Sun morning yoga.

Sat on the plane next to a tennis pro now on the senior circuit. We basically discussed nutrition. He said one better than chia seeds is hemp. 1/2 tsp in a smoothie and you’re ready to run all day! He introduced himself as “one of the best tennis players in the world” so I introduced myself as “one of the best mommies in the world.” Yes, we are humble folk.

Today I started the day with a juiced pear and carrot combo. Brian said to call it Parrot Juice. Ha! Add some tequila and Buffet himself might want some!

I hit the gym for the first time in a while. With a goal of much cardio, I hoped to catch the Zumba class, but the teacher didn’t show. So I ran 1.5 and then did an upper body workout, a bit of karate kick practice, then core on the mat with medicine ball and on the captain’s chair.

No karate Tues. It’s black belt testing night. I kind of want to watch, but I know it will be over 3 hours, and I have a lot to catch up on at home. Like a lack of hot water and a husband running a marathon leaving 4 days of dishes to wash. And a mountain of laundry that reminds me somewhat of Jaba the hutt. If he had colorful tattoos instead of a colorful tongue.

If you ran at Gasparilla, be sure to tell me about it!

2010 goal update: 2770 crunches, 69 minutes of plank remaining.

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My Last Workout

February 24, 2010

Not my last workout ever - just my last workout before mini-vaca. I’m going away without the family for a friend’s wedding for a few days.

Tues night was karate. I finally have penon 2 down, just in time for it to be the last night I work on forms for a couple months, so I hope I can remember it!

I showed Wendy the latest Youtube video I have of her doing penon 2, and how she kinda goes through the motions without OOMPH. In theatre they say “make it bigger!” and Wendy needs to make it bigger, deeper, stronger  - which then makes it harder and more tiring. She teeters on how much she wants to succeed vs. how much she wants to push herself - much like her mom. When she saw the video she felt poopy. (Her word)

Meanwhile - we were at Karate and Alice was PR’ing the mile with a 6:36.

But this pic is from her relay run...

But this pic is from the relay...

Today’s workout: Tried that 10-20-30 again without the PMS, thankuverymuch. Did 10 mins on treadmill, 20 tricep dips off a bench, 13 pushups against the bench (yah, not quite 30), 40 crunches (20 as alternate toe touches and 20 as oblique) and 50 lunges, which were really 25 back lunges and 25 side to side lateral lunges.

Round 2: 10 jumping jacks, 20 tricep dips, plank for 30 seconds, 40 clamshell crunches with a Swiss ball behind my heels, and 50 side-lying clamshells I learned in Pilates on Monday. (With feet raised)

Then some extra core stuff for good measure - like plank with straight arms walking feet in and out.

My Yoga Paws and Yoga deck will come with me on the trip. And I’m sure some crunches will be done on a hotel room floor (on a towel). But I would not be surprised if my only cardio is dancing at the wedding.

2010 goal update: 2820 crunches, 70 minutes of plank remaining.

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Blender Bender

February 23, 2010

beet-root-bspTo boost my immunity during this week of little sleep and lots of fun / travel, I am adding lots of veggies into my diet. Last night I tried something I’ve been wanting to do for a while - I juiced a beet.

I grew up in a family that ate beet borscht, but despite the fun, hot pink color (and despite my more recent love for the book Jitterbug Perfume) the soup never appealed to me. My mom served it warm with some big bone in it on some occasions, and cold with sour cream on others. There’s also a spinach based borscht called shav (sp?). Those Polish and Russian Jews must have been desperate for food in the cold 900 years ago!

Before juicing the beet I did some Googling, because I did not know if I should leave the greens on or cut them off. I found a note that told me to ALWAYS mix beet juice with other juices because straight beet juice can cause temporary paralysis of the vocal chords. Not that Brian would mind if I couldn’t talk for a few hours…

It also said I could use the root and / or greens. So I juiced 1 beet with most of the greens, 2 carrots, and added apple juice and cinnamon.

I learned that I like beet juice, but not beet green juice. The leaves were a little to grassy/dirt tasting for me. I’ll leave them out next time and save them for roasting.

But what about all that great stuff that shot out the back of the juicer? Do you use it for soup or stew? Are the nutrients now gone? I wasn’t sure so I threw it in the composter this time, and will read some more about that.

This morning I tried something else I’ve read a lot about online — adding kale to a green monster smoothie. I’ve used spinach many times, but I have never eaten kale. I learned 2 things from my kale / vanilla yogurt / raspberry smoothie:

  1. I do NOT like kale
  2. Never put a knife in a smoothie maker while it is on

I tried to shove the kale leaves down and thought the knife was far enough from the smoothie maker blades, but when a hunk of plastic shot out the side of the blender into my abdomen I knew I was wrong.

Luckily what I thought was blood was only raspberry juice, and I’m hoping I can just order a part replacement from my smoothie maker company to make up for my idiocy.

But the kale sucked. Much stronger leaf taste than spinach and much more rubbery. I finished making the smoothie in my mini food chopper, and even tried adding extra yogurt and some honey, but I was still eating spoonfuls of kale smoothie the way Survivor contestants eat at a food challenge. Gulp down the back of the throat real quickly. I decided I’d eat till I felt like I had enough and would spill the rest down the sink, despite the fact that I HATE wasting food.


I’m not even sure I’ll try the kale cooked.

Meanwhile I have a crazy headache and I don’t know if it is because I tried new food or because I didn’t get enough sleep last night. I’m going to try lots of water today to see if that helps.

Workouts: Monday AM Yoga at home for 30 mins was all I had time for, so Monday night I went to the gym for Pilates mat class. The only other time I went there was a sub, and I liked the sub much better. This teacher kind of spoke like a woman leading 4 year old girls through a fairy princess party. Maybe my headache is from not getting a good sweat in yesterday due to meek workouts. But tonight is karate and I’m learning penon 2 - which I learned might be spelled pyung ahn 2. But I’ll use transliteration because I don’t know any Asian languages except for how to count to 4 in Japanese. And whatever was used by Styx in Mr. Roboto.

2010 goal update: 2920 crunches, 72 minutes of plank remaining.

What do YOU do with the stuff that comes out of the back of your juicer?

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