It’s Friday!!

Woohooo!  The weekend is almost here!

What a week we have had!  The blizzard on Sunday and Monday brought a lot of snow to play in, and my son and I took advantage of it.  We have over 4 1/2 feet of snow in our front yard.  My 7 year old can now touch the tree branches from the top of the snow in our yard!

 

I got in some great workouts and had fun teaching my Spinning classes.  My favorite workout was an upper body workout pyramid I came up with on Wednesday.  I’m still sore from it.  As you can see, Lady was on the couch behind me loudly snoring.  She is so great when it comes to encouraging me to work harder during my workouts.

Wednesday I got to go out for a much needed drink with friends.  I haven’t had a chance to go out with them in months, and I loved hearing their stories about getting chased by Girl Scouts trying to sell their cookies at the mall.

I just was selected as a Sweat Pink Ambassador a few weeks ago, and I couldn’t be more thrilled and honored to join such an inspiring group of women. My Sweat Pink gear came in the mail yesterday, and I’m already wearing it in pride.  I’m looking forward to working with Sweat Pink to inspire others through my blog and my stories as others have inspired me. Sweat Pink is a, “Movement where tough and girly come together at last. It’s all about sharing the joy that comes from living a healthy lifestyle. It’s a celebration of hard work and well-earned rewards. Our pink shoelaces are a proud demonstration of all we’ve achieved, and all we plan to become.”

We had a little change in our menu, so I’ll be making the Caprese Pasta from Aris Menu tonight.  I’m really looking forward to trying this new recipe out!

This morning I made my Power Protein Smoothie.  I’ll hit the elliptical before I teach my spinning class and here is what I’m doing.

How was your week?  Did you do anything special?

I’m On My Way!!

As you are sitting there reading this post I’m flying to Florida, and if you are reading this post after 2:30 pm EST I’ll already be in Florida hugging the first palm tree I see!  It should be gorgeous, sunny, and 80 degrees when I land.  Try not to be too jealous.  I’m sending warm thoughts your way.

I’m beyond excited for my next few days in Florida, but the feeling of guilt is starting to creep over me.  I have not gone anywhere on a trip for myself in 9 years.  I have always gone to Florida with my son the past few summers since we moved to North Dakota.  The amazing thing is, my son is totally fine with me going to Florida without him this time.  He is more focused on making his own plans for while I’m gone.  All I can say is that he is a better person than I am, because I would be throwing the mother of all temper tantrums if our rolls were reversed.

Still I feel a bit guilty leaving my husband and son behind while I head off to see friends, family, and learn aerial yoga and silks.  Honestly, it is bugging me that I feel this way.  My husband heads off for hunting trips all the time, and everything is great while he is gone and when he returns we are all happy (he never has an inkling of guilt before leaving).  So why is it I’m starting to feel guilty?  I know a few of my friends feel this way as mothers too.    Do any of you have these feelings when you are about to leave for a trip and leave your husband and/or children behind?

Alright, I’ll stop prattling on about guilt and be thankful that I’m getting to go to Florida, so we can get to Workout Wednesday.

Here is a 30 minute elliptical workout I found in one of my old fitness notebooks from 2007!  I love going through my old workouts and reviving them or tweaking them a bit to make them new!  Sorry about all the pink.  I kinda got carried away with the Valentines theme.  Hope you have a great Workout Wednesday, and remember to stretch when you are done!

New Years Eve and an Elliptical Workout

I have to share a few quick things from our weekend before the workout portion of this post.

On Saturday my husband and I were doing a TRX workout, and our son joined in too.  He always likes working out with one of us, and I couldn’t be happier about this.  I was floored the whole time he was working out with the TRX system.  The kid has some amazing body strength and core strength!  He was holding planks and doing some advanced moves that I was having a very hard time with, and he did them with ease!  A mother has to brag

It is not a normal weekend if some kind of mischief doesn’t occur, so of course, Hank and Tilly had to do something to get themselves into trouble on Sunday.  I looked outside after I had let them out 5 minutes earlier to see them both digging a mammoth hole in the frozen ground.  When I called them, they nonchalantly turned around, sat down, and gave me that, “What!?! We aren’t doing anything wrong” look.  Like they are completely innocent and an asteroid crashed in our backyard and made the hole.

Today is New Year’s Eve and that means that tomorrow is the new year, and there is so much for everyone to look forward to.  In my case, I’m looking forward to summer and the disappearance of –20 degree temperatures, snow, and ice.  All joking aside, I hope you have a lot to look forward to in 2013 and that you make the most of your year!  And, have a great New Year’s Eve!!  What are you looking forward to in 2013?

I’ll be starting off my New Year with the For the Love of the Kids Virtual 5K.  This will be my first race to kick off my 13 races in 2013!!!  What race are you looking forward to this year?

              

If you are looking for a bootcamp to help you get fit or continue staying fit, try Tina’s Best Body Bootcamp.  Registration closes for the next round (starts Jan 7th) today, so sign up now!!  There is also the 13 in 2013 running challenge that will begin on January 1st, so if you are a runner, walker, jogger, or beginner this is a great way to keep you fit and motivated all year, and the giveaways are already beginning.  The registration for 13 in 2013 also ends today!

I’m taking this New Year’s Eve day to relax and enjoy some time with my son.  We are heading out to see Rise of the Guardians today, and both of us have been looking forward to finally getting a chance to go see it, since we have been trying to for almost two months now.

Don’t forget about the Giveaway I have going on along with your opportunity to post questions for Jill Conyers to answer in her guest post on January 7th!

Here is a 30 Minute Elliptical Workout to help you ring in a healthy New Year!!  Remember to stretch afterwards!

Workout Wednesday

I hope everyone is having a great week!

I have had a great week except for the at-home exercise department.  My dear sweet dog Hank has been thwarting my workout efforts more than usual this week.  I had to spend about 15 extra minutes just moving him away from my workout zone yesterday.  Hank has never liked me exercising at home, and he has always felt the need to force me to stop.  If I’m on my spinning bike, he will bark at me.  If I’m doing push-ups or planks he will crawl underneath me and roll on his back.  If I’m doing an exercise while standing, he will lay on my feet.  And, if I’m doing concentration curls he will crawl under my legs and lay down, as you can see below.  He is not neglected either.  This boy gets a ton of cuddle and play time everyday.  I really have no idea why he hates me exercising so much.  Do any of you have furbutts that do not like it when you exercise at home, or am I the only one?

Since everyone was really getting into the virtual races after my last post, I figured I would continue to list others that I come across.  You can also check out my 13 Races in 2013 page…I will have the races posted that I have signed up for, and a big chunk of the winter ones will be virtual races.  Here is another virtual race with awesome medals:

FUNd Run 4 Bling is having a Princess or Fairy in Training Run starting in January.  Earn some PRINCESS bling – Princess In Training!! Or FAIRY in Training bling 🙂 The proceeds go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
INCLUDED WITH REGISTRATION IS:
the medal for the race you registered for
matching digital photo
run bib(s)
temporary tattoo – will run 4 bling
prizes
There is a 5/10km option or if you need motivation for a long run there is a 10 mile option!!
You can register for one, two or all 4 . Registration is limited to 50 of each. You will get an actual medal in the mail.

I’ve decided to post a new workout every Wednesday, making it Workout Wednesdays.  I will still post other workouts during the week, but Wednesday will always be a workout post day.  Today is the elliptical workout I will do this evening at the gym…This elliptical workout focuses on strength with a few sprints thrown in to give your endurance a boost!  Feel free to add an incline for an extra challenge!  Remember to stretch afterwards

Yonanas!!!

Boy do I have something fun to share with y’all today! It is Yonanas!! I just love saying the name.

This wonderful machine totally rocks when it comes to turning frozen fruit into soft serve. That’s right! It turns frozen fruit into the consistency of soft serve ice cream. So, if you are looking for a fun way to get your kids (or yourself ) to eat their fruit this is a great way! Plus it is super easy to use, pull apart, and is dishwasher safe (It doesn’t come into my house unless I can put it in the dishwasher).

All you need is some frozen fruit. You can freeze your own or buy some frozen fruit in the freezer section at your local grocery store. You then put the frozen fruit in the tube and use the plunger to push it through the machine. It is so easy! Even my 7 year old son can do it, and he had a ton of fun doing it too!

Then, the Yonanas machine blends the frozen fruit and turns it into soft serve! I was skeptical at first, but it came out perfect. For our first try my son wanted banana and strawberry swirl. He isn’t one for trying something easy first. We put frozen sliced strawberries and bananas through the machine, and we got our strawberry banana swirl!!

I was next!! Since blending worked so well for my son, I decided to blend some fruit together myself. My choice: blueberry, banana, pineapple swirl! It came out perfectly and I loved the combination. My bowl of swirled fruit had a total of 3 servings of fruit. My son ended up eating 6 servings of fruit by the time we were finished! Our next plan is to freeze Greek yogurt in an ice cube tray and put the frozen cubes of yogurt through the Yonanas machine along with the fruit. It doesn’t say that you can do this, but I love experimenting!

I honestly love this machine! It is such a great way to make eating fruit fun, and there are no added sweeteners at all! This is all 100% fruit and nothing else! I know it will be getting a lot of use in our household, and I bet you will love it too! Yonanas is available at your local Target, Walmart, and Bed Bath and Beyond.

Well, I can’t post without putting something workout related into it, so here is a 30 minute elliptical workout I did last week, but haven’t gotten around to posting yet (sorry). I tend to turn my elliptical time into a spinning routine, so there are some sprints thrown into this one. Enjoy!

Pre-Turkey Workout

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and with that comes a ton of food!  I just read a study that said the average American will consume 1 stick of butter on Thanksgiving (the amount of butter in the cooked food and added as a condiment).  How crazy is that!?!  Try to keep this in mind tomorrow, and when you are eating leftovers too!  Here is a chart of the amount of calories in one Thanksgiving meal and the exercises to burn it off.  My friend, Katie, found this, and I thought it was pretty neat.

Also, try to do a workout on Thanksgiving too!  I’ll be teaching a 60 minute “Burn the Bird” spinning class at our gym.  There are also a lot of 5Ks going on around the country on Thanksgiving too.  Get a group of friends together and go to one!  Don’t worry about not running it…just go do it!  You will be surprised at all the walkers out there doing 5Ks!

If you cannot get out of the house to workout, check out some of the workouts I have created that you can do at home on my Workouts page.  I also have a treadmill  and elliptical workouts page with great intervals that will make your time on these machines fly by!

Here is a new 30 minute Elliptical Workout that will really get those muscles burning!