New Week - Clean Slate

It is the beginning of a new week and I am in need of a fresh start, a clean slate, a new beginning. You get the drift. Since I am no longer training for a specific race it is hard to stay motivated to follow my triathlon plan that I had set to my race date. With that in mind I am going to switch gears and start anew on a couch to 5K plan since running is my weekest part of the triathlon breakdown. If I get in a bike or a swim then I will count that as bonus. In the Spring I will pick back up with my triathlon plan for a race in April or so once the race events start coming out. I am working on a training plan now but if anyone has a great plan they would like to send me I would love it. Also I have the P90X program and have been itching to do it. Anyone done this before? Did you have good results? What kind of shape do you need to be in to start? Also if you have any suggestions on other plans or programs that are good to do with a family I am interested.

I Swam!

Even with my crazy weekend of visitors and son's birthday I still managed to get in not one but two days of swimming. Nothing impressive but some activity is better than none at all. The swim on Saturday was nice. I got to swim with my sister. I miss the days when we used to swim for hours and hours. It just felt comfortable swimming next to her. We did that a lot growing up. It would have been better with some lane ropes in the pool but I am not complaining. Yesterday we had the pool to ourselves the whole time we were there. My son learned how to do a flip turn or should I say he is working on it. Not mastered yet but getting better. I love to watch my kids enjoy the water!

Hot Water Swimming

This weekend was a total blurr of activity. Saturday on our agenda we had flag football, two birthday parties to attend, and my mom and I went for an afternoon of Murder with Tea (Fun!). It rained Saturday morning so we didn't end up having flag football. The birthday parties were fun and the Murder with Tea was really cool and I will definitely go back. With all of this activity I ran out of time for my bike and swim I had planned but decided I would do better on Sunday. Woke up Sunday with a gnasty headache which kept me in bed most of the morning. My son had a karate tournament in the afternoon that I was not about to miss even with a headache. He did so well. I was so very proud of him. It was the best he has looked so far. After the tournament we decided to go take a dip in the community pool. It was nice at the pool when you first got in, but when I started to swim my laps I realized it was like swimming in a hot tub. It didn't feel good at all. I want to get back to swimming regularly. I swam competitively for 14 years. I stopped in college and have missed it ever since. My son has been improving his swimming all summer. He can almost swim across the 25 yard pool without stopping. My goal for him is once he can swim 2 laps without stopping he can enter some JR. Triathlons and maybe even join a swim team at some point. I am so glad that he and his sister seem to have the love for swimming that I have enjoyed. I am even trying to get my hubby in on the swimming bug. He has been working on his stroke as well. Last night he said to me, " You know when our daughter gets a little older and can seim farther we could do a family relay! Wouldn't that be fun!" I think I am winning him over.

I Conquered The Day

Early this morning I did a mile walk. It was a relatively nice morning and I wanted to get out and put in some milage before it got scorching hot. Check mark for the first part of my day. After I got everyone fed for dinner this evening we went out for a very quick bike ride. The whole family...It was awesome to ride all together. I can't wait to do more of it. I love when we all get active together. We did about 2.6 miles. Nothing spectacular distance wise but the sun was going down so we had to hurry. My two year was so excited to ride in her chariot again she did not want to get out once we got home. On my schedule for the day on the triathlon training plan was a 35 min run/walk, so after the family got home I put on my running gear and went back out. It was much muggier on the run than the ride. My weather app said it was 85° degrees outside but it felt like 95°. I can believe it. I have to be honest I haven't run since the mud run the first weekend in May. I was afraid that I wouldn't be up to the challenge tonight. It was a walk 4 min then jog 3 min day. I was doing pretty well when my phone ran out of juice so I had to end my run 5 minutes short of my 35 minute plan but I did 2 miles in 30 min. I know that is super slow for most of you but I am just getting back in to this and running is still a work in progress for me. I must say that at the end of my run when I was dripping in sweat I felt like a million bucks, so I took a picture so you could experience my post run glow. LOL

And the BEST part of the whole day is when i got home and my two year old daughter asked "Mommy where you been?" I replied "I was out running." She looks and me and says "Mommy I proud of you!" Melted my heart and is the reason why I am getting off my duff and giving this all another shot.
I hope each of you have a day like this one real soon and I look forward to even better ones to come.

Questions: What makes you feel accomplished? Do you run/walk? Do find listening to music makes the time fly in a workout?

First Time In The Trailer

We finally got our bikes all tuned up. My son got a new bike as an early birthday present since he was in desperate need of a new one. Since he learned how to ride without assistance this year he wants to ride all the time now. Bike riding has always been my second love after swimming. So he doesn't have to twist my arm to get me to ride. The only thing usually holding me back is what to do with my two year old daughter. We have a bike trailer that we used when my son was little but the tires were flat and it needed work. In part of our tune up we got the trailer ready to go as well.

Tonight was the big night to try it out. We pulled out the helmets, bikes and the trailer. I assembled the trailer and my daughter was excited to try it out. I was nervous that she wouldn't like it. If she didn't my plans for training while bringing the kids along for some of my rides would be ruined. She thought it was really cool. She asked if it was her bike too. She has a red tricycle. I told her it was not her bike but her carriage. She couldn't quite say the word but she tried. She did let me know when she thought I was going too fast though. She liked the slow leisurely pace best and to repeat everything I told her brother along the way. Overall the ride was a success. Brother was happy to get time on his new wheels and my little lady enjoyed her first ride in the carriage. We only went 2.2 miles but the sun was fading fast and I was worried the trailer and its occupant would turn into pumpkins.

Get the Family Involved

I find that I am more likely to get my exercise done if my family is involved. My son is in karate and this coming December he has to be able to do 50 push-ups and 50 sit-ups so we have started working on this now so by then it will be easy for him. To help keep him motivated I started doing them along with him. I need the workout and he needs the reminder to get them done. It has been fun doing this over the last two weeks. We are both getting better. I realized how far I have to go and he likes competing against me. It has been a win win for both of us. He has really enjoyed keeping a log of his progress as well. I need to start doing that too. MOTIVATION by watching the progress. Last night we tried something a little different. I have seen a lot of great lists of body weight exercises on Pinterest. We tried one out last night. This is what we did: 30 Jumping Jacks 5 push ups 25 High Knees 7 Burpees 10 Crunches 7 Squats 5 Push ups 10 Crunches 5 Push ups 7 Squats 30 Jumping Jacks 1 min Wall Sit 5 Push ups 25 High Knees We both made it through without too much huffing and puffing. The best part was watching my 2 year old daughter try to do it all along with us. After we finished my son asked what exercises we were going to do the next day. I think it was a hit! Make working out a family event. It is good for everyone. What types of things do you do to stay active? Any good family activity ideas?