Today started early, too early.  6:45 a.m. swim workout with Lisa.  It always surprises me how busy the pool is early in the morning.  As much as I enjoy a good swim, it’s not something I could get myself to get up and do at -15 degrees, if I didn’t have someone waiting for me. Lisa came in right before us, looking groggy but determined.  Sure enough, twenty laps later, I was tired.  We were still feeling the ab workout from Wednesday, and the run yesterday, so every lap I kept thinking my abs can’t do one more, but then when we got to the end, she said we had only done 19 laps and I figured I needed to finish on a nice round number.

I stepped on the scale this morning before going in, and you would think all that exercise and eating right would count for something, but no such luck.  Hope the rest of you had a better week.  I do know my pants are fitting looser, so even if the scale is not moving, I’ll get to buy new clothes eventually.

After a couple hours of errands, I came home exhausted and the computer screen kept bouncing around in front of me and I just couldn’t get warm, so I curled up in a couple blankets and caught up on some of my missing sleep from the last week.  I guess there has to be some benefits to owning your own business, and taking a nap when you really need one is definitely a plus.  But then here it is 10:52 p.m. and I haven’t really finished for the day, so I guess it works both ways.

Anyway, I woke up much more energized and ready to finish the computer projects I was working on.

One of the things I have noticed is that the more tired I am the more munchie I get.  Not really hungry, but needing to keep eating anyway.  Suggestions?  I’d chew gum, but I’m not really a gum chewer. I keep healthy choices around,  but still the cravings linger on.  It’s your turn.  What’s your best cure for the munchies, that doesn’t destroy all of our progress?

Speaking of shoes, I ran TWO MILES in 24 minutes, no stopping, slowing down, or dying!  That’s my accomplishment for the day. Now, for you SICK running types,  that is no major accomplishment, but for me, who has never run more than one and half miles without feeling the inside of my stomach coming up through my lungs, it was Huge.  So, I get to say, “Yeah, Me!” tonight.   Afterwards, I did 15 min. on the stairmaster and 10 min of abs, and came out all sweaty, but feeling better than when I started.

I think the winter blues were setting in pretty rough today.  The sun was out, but it is cold.  Currently, -10 degrees, and dropping, and for whatever reason, the more the temperature was dropping so was my mood.  No excuses,  but I definitely didn’t feel my normal cheerful attack-the-world self.  I made myself a cup of tea, put the flourescent spectrum light on and watched Dr. Oz, who, of course, had suggestions for beating winter blues.  Besides the flourescent lamp, he suggested peppermint oil to soothe you, chili peppers to excite you, ginger tea to boost your metabolism and also as an appetite suppressant, and gingko balboa to keep you alert.  I’m thinking I could do peppermint and ginger tea all day if it gets me through this cold weather faster.

Ok, so, new game.  Don’t forget to weigh in tomorrow, plus remember to vote for Black Studios as the best fitness challenge team, but ALSO, Aaron Walters announced a new challenge for us today.  The cc has teamed up with Soles4Souls to provide shoes for Haiti survivors and we can help. The cc is trying to gather 1000 pairs of shoes, so bring in your new or gently used shoes and help someone who really needs our help.  Now, here’s what I’ve learned about all you crazy runner people.  You love your athletic shoes and you want them to fit well.  I just gave Lisa and Desiree a bad time about how many pairs of tennis shoes each of them come up with, and I know from personal experience, that my training shoes that live inside the cc never get ugly before they get done running,  plus, then there’s all those shoes we girls have buried at the back of the closet that we had to have and then wore once and couldn’t wear again because they just weren’t comfortable enough to wear a whole day.  Plus, then Rachel and Dacey have change sizes  every 6 mos, so I know their shoes never get enough wear, especially during boot season.

There you go: Suggestion for the day:  Get those unused shoes out of your house and get them to the cc. Stop by for a little run while you’re there.

Great Job, Team! We are still going the right direction.  I know last week was a really hard week, between the weather keeping us inside, and the kids and other schedules keeping us out of routine.  Now that the weather is cooperating a little, let’s get back to everyday workouts, eating right, and feeling better.  On average, our team has lost 2.6 lbs, exactly the same as the average of all the participants in the challenge.  Of course, I’m convinced we can do better so make sure you kick it up for the rest of the week.

And in other news, this week the cc asks us to vote for our favorite team.  Well, of course, that would be Black Studios! So, when you weigh in this week make sure you add Vote: Black Studios to your weigh in.  If you are just cheering us on, here’s your chance to participate, send in your vote to weighins@yahoo.com.  Again, let them know you are voting for Black Studios.  Truthfully, I’m not sure what we win — maybe t-shirts, but bragging rights are always good.  So, this is where all you spouses and cheerleaders who wouldn’t commit comes in, send your emails in for us, or stop by the cc and drop your vote in the box.  GO, Black Studios!

Finally, after not being able to leave the house for two days, I was able to get in and get a good workout in.  I ran 1 mi, did ten sets of stairs with 8 lbs weights, walked another mile with Mike on the track, rode on the spin bikes for 6 mi, and then finished up with 8 laps in the pool.  It actually felt great, and my muscles loosened up, and I came home full of energy.  On top of that, the kids went back to school and all of their activities, so I could actually stop cooking and doing dishes nonstop.

Unfortunately, the loose muscles didn’t last, and once again, I had a fitful sleep and woke up all achy, so I am going to see my favorite chiropractor, Dr. Joe, and see if he can help me sleep better.

Suggestion for the Day:  Dr. Oz was talking about anti-aging activities today.  His suggestion for everything from skin aging to keeping the cholesterol down, to improving libido is to eat foods with color.  Red grapes and apples, tomatoes, red and yellow peppers, spinach and edamame.  So, when shopping this week, avoid the potatoes and white pasta, and buy pretty foods with lots of color.  Umm, but this doesn’t mean the gummy bear aisle!  Look, on the other side of the aisle, and treat yourself to a little red wine instead.

Another Blizzard.  Another Day stuck in the house.  Another Day of too much eating and not enough exercise.

The wedding went off without a hitch on Saturday.  The weather stayed warm so the ice didn’t build up and, other than a little bit of fog and a whole lot of slush, Amanda and Brian had a beautiful day.  With one fussy little one, and two overly excited other children, I definitely got my exercise.  Thank you, little Hyde, for all the weightlifting.  Amanda was  beautiful and as radiant as I’ve ever seen her.  It was fun to be at a wedding where we probably knew 80% of the people there, and we were even able to stay late enough for my husband to dance one dance with me.

Unfortunately, Rachel was sick on Saturday and Mike was achy on Sunday, so we stayed home in what was our little opportunity to get out and about.  Then the temperatures dropped and the snow started falling and the wind started blowing, and no one was going anywhere.  Today the wind has been blowing between 30- 50 mph all day long.  Frequently, we can’t see between the house and the church, and the one dash Dacey made to the store for caffeine taught him how people get lost in storms.  His footprints were already gone by the time he came back.

I think all the sitting around has made me achier than when I exercise, because my back and shoulders feel like I’ve biked fifty miles today.  Lisa called to see when we would come to workout, and I laughed and said not today.  Not much point to even try shoveling today.  And, the lack of sun makes doing anything seem like more of an effort than I really want to put into it.  I will try to get motivated to at least put the Biggest Loser DVD in before the day is over.

Suggestion for the Day:  Get enough sunlight.  Boy, that’s a hard one with weather so uncooperative, but I definitely feel the difference when I get sunlight.  It gives me energy, lightens my mood, and helps me get more done.  I do have a full spectrum light in the studio.  I’ve always had it on the other desk, but for now, I will turn it around and see if the extra artificial light helps to replace what I need until I can go outside again.

No workout today.  It’s a wedding day! Usually weddings take a lot out of us, energy wise and physically.  Lots of running around, chasing kids, hard floors.  We’re usually shot on Sunday.  Today, however I am sore enough still from the workouts this week, I think the wedding activity will be a nice change of routine and rest to my tired glutes.  I did get up and make a big breakfast  –waffles (with flax), bacon, frozen berries instead of syrup.  This will be our main meal for the day, since the rest of the day is packed with wedding frenzy.  The couples are always polite enough to offer food at the reception, but we have so little time, we usually don’t bother and then eat after we are done.

I will pack snacks for the car.  Yogurt, rice crispy squares (a staple in my life, ) extra water bottles.  Then we will at least have that energy boost, and we then avoid convenience store snacking and binging on mints at the reception.

The ice storm seems to be falling apart making our day a little easier.  It never got below freezing, so the precipitation which was suppose to be ice or snow stayed rain and didn’t freeze to the power lines as much as was expected.  We had a short power blip over night and that was about it.  The weather is suppose to redevelop tonight but hopefully, we will be safe at home before anything significant happens.

Rachel ended up sick over night.  Probably the same stomach bug I had last week, and Dacey’s activities were all rescheduled so they should be safe at home today too. For everyone else, travel carefully.

Suggestion for the day:  If you’ve been working hard for the last week, take today off. Relax your muscles, treat yourself a little.  It’s said it helps your body  to keep from plateauing if you take a day off now and then.  Then we’ll hit it hard again next week.

Kids are out of school early again in anticipation of lots of ice and snow.  This week, they had Monday as a planned off.  Tuesday they had school regular hours. Wednesday they had no school due to bad weather. Thursday they had a late start and they rescheduled the DVC tourney taking most of the kids out of school early and today, they released at 2:00 pm.  Not sure how the teachers are finding time to teach in amongst all the ice storms and basketball games.

We made it to town for our noon workout with Lisa, but was blasted with wind, ice and snow, when we came back out at 1:30.  Tomorrow with prediction of lots more of the same, we have a wedding in Nunda, reception following in Brookings.  It’s frustrating and depressing to keep fighting this kind of weather, especially from a business standpoint, but thankfully, we are all safe and warm and blessed with so much. As I always tell my couples, all the bad things help us remember the good events.  Otherwise, they seem to slip by unnoticed.

So, back to the workout.  I am still hurting from Lisa’s torture yesterday and the day before.  My glutes and my thighs are screaming everytime I sit down or stand up.  On top of that the scale wasn’t great to me today.  I lost 1 lb this week, which I guess is something, but as much as my thighs hurt, it would be nice if it showed on the scale.  On the other hand, my clothes are fitting looser, and my jeans are baggy again.  All good.

Lisa has been pressured into joining us in the Triathalon in April, so she has decided to train with us.  Today, she joined us in the pool.  She had Mike work on trying different strokes so he can keep going longer.  Mike hates swimming so he struggles each time with breathing and keeping going.  She had me switch up how often I breathed with each stroke.  It messed me up.  Try it! I breath with each turn of my left arm always tilting my head to the right.  Lisa had me breathe every third stroke switching directions of my head.  She thinks it will help me breathe better.  Maybe, with practice.  Right now, it makes me think a lot — not that I am ever really good at thinking,  so then I run out of breathe and panic and stop swimming.  I’ll have to practice, and see what happens.

We threw in a few push ups and ab work out, and a little water jogging and we ended up with a pretty good workout.  Afterwards, Aaron Walters, cc director, and Mike and I all ended up at our favorite after-workout location, Subway.  I just wish I could find some nutritional application for the cookies I keep eating there.

Suggestion for the Day: 1)Today Dr. Oz suggested adding seeds to your diet.  My kids love sunflower seeds in the summer time at ball games.  Me, I don’t like the shells, so maybe I can get the pre-shelled and add them to salads, or maybe some homemade bread.  FM Cafe used to make sunflower seed cookies — Ahh, back to cookies again.  Another seed I do use all the time is Flax seed.  You can buy it fresh or ground, but Dr. Oz says it needs to be ground for best absorption.  Flax is full of Omega 3 oils plus helps with digestion.  I throw it in my muffins and banana bread and don’t tell the kids.  Dr. Oz also suggested Hemp and Poppy seeds.  I’ve never tried hemp.  I guess that will be a new challenge for me.

2) The other suggestion that came across my desk today might help with all this winter blues.  An article I was reading suggested keeping a journal every day of 5 positive attributes about yourself to help improve your self-image. I would suggest taking it one step further and add five positive things you did today to make your life better.  It might be as little as finally getting that closet cleaned, or sharing cuddle time with your favorite pet.  Then some days it will be the big things that help change our world into a better place as well.  My math isn’t very good but 5 positive baby steps everyday and you’ll have 1825 footprints by the end of 2010.  What a legacy for 2010!

Erika, Mike and Megan all said they wanted to go work out with me today, so I signed us up for a GET active session, even though I definitely was feeling the leg workout from yesterday.  Then, one by one, they all bailed on me.  So, there I was stuck working out with Lisa again.  Gotta love her! After I ran/walked a mile on a very busy track, the rest of our group was ready and she started two of us on the spin bikes, while the others ran on the ellipticals.  Kristine, who was riding next to me, hadn’t used the bikes before.  Make sure when you start to reset your seat and handle bars to a comfortable position; it will be easier on your legs and back.  Anyway, Lisa had us do several sets of standing pedaling.  My sore quads were seriously complaining.

Then we went into the aerobics room and worked with the TRX: Those are those torture straps you’ll find hanging in the aerobics room.  Generally, you use your body as weight against the straps to do all sorts of exercises.  Anything standing up isn’t too bad– bicep curls, triceps, even push ups can be adjusted to how difficult you want to make it.  However, Lisa was into upside down exercises again.  Put your feet in the straps and do push ups, planks, knee ups–generally stand on your head.  The college students standing around all had their chins on the floor — not sure whether they were laughing at the exercises, or the difficulty of which us three 30 to 40 somethings were struggling to accomplish each task.  We did a couple rounds of each of these with sets of stairs in between.  In the end, I was tired, and my hope was that the workout would loosen up the tight rear end muscles–It didn’t.

So,  I decided to check out the hot tub.  Much better, although a little crowded when I got there.  At 5:00, there is a water aerobics class.  It wasn’t well attended but looked like a fun class.  Maybe a good starter class for those looking for a low impact workout.  Besides, the aerobics class, the pool keeps one lane open for lap swimming.  Jason was there doing his crazy multitudes of laps, but he did share one side so I did 10 or so nice slow easy laps.  It was actually relaxing tonight, as I didn’t have to hurry to get to the rest of the workout and I didn’t have any little people grabbing my attention. After the laps, I finally felt a little looser and ready to go home.

On the way home, I received the message from Erika that she got caught up at work, so I guess I’ll have to forgive her for ditching me. The ice and fog truly are  scary , so I don’t really blame anyone for not wanting to drive too far.  I came home to an empty house so I was able to have veggies for supper, with no one begging me to cook.  All in all a good end to this week.  Hopefully, it will pay off on the scale tomorrow morning.

Suggestion for the day: Boost the fruit.  Mom just sent me an email about all the benefits of bananas- Everything from curing indigestion to curing warts with the peelings (who knew?)  I did know bananas are full of potassium and are highly recommended if you struggle with leg cramps. We’ve been eating fresh pineapple– It’s so sweet and juicy– add a little lemon yogurt for a sweet breakfast or end of the day snack.  Of course, my favorites are berries, blueberries, strawberries, even cranberries are great antioxidant boosts and a great sweet treat.  Anyway, trade out the chocolate this week for a fruity treat.

The results from last week’s weighin are in and we are off to a great start:  We have 17 members, starting with a total weight of 2976 lbs.  Last week we weighed in at 2950.5 lbs. A total weight loss of 25.5 lbs.  For you “Biggest Loser” fans, that’s 0.86% of our total weight.  Way to go, Team!

Funny thing, though.  Mike was worried that we would all lose too much weight and he would lose too much money for the United Way.  Today, he said he thought we all need to kick it up a notch, since he lost the most last week.  All right, Mike.  Team,  help me out, this week.  Use the next couple days to really kick up the workout and keep away from the leftover birthday cake.  I really need some of you to help out this week,  because, besides the birthday bash,  the bug Mike shared with me kept me cuddled in yesterday so one less workout for me.

We did work out with Lisa today, and she really pushed working legs and back, plus, we did some crazy upside down things on the ball.  Anything where my head is lower than my feet makes me nervous.  My balance is not that good.  Tomorrow, if the ice cooperates, we will do a GET active workout, and Friday will be Mike’s favorite, swimming.

Team, don’t forget to send this week’s weight in before Friday.  Have a great week!

Yes, I know I haven’t posted for a couple days, so I better update on how things have been going.  Friday, I went in to work out before I did anything else for the day.  I ran into Debbie starting her own workout, so after I ran a mile and I rode bike for 20 minutes, she and I were able to walk the track for 15 minutes or so.  It’s so easy for time to get away from you when you have a distraction.  Walking with a friend, turning on the tv, or turning up the music,  and all of a sudden an hour has gone and you haven’t even thought about it.  Unfortunately, I needed to be on the run, so I had to leave Debbie and run off to Sioux Falls.

Rachel’s birthday is today.  11 years old.  After I walked with Debbie, I went shopping in Sioux Falls for Rachel’s birthday present and party.  I was on the hunt for Peace Signs — the theme for this year’s party.  I’m not a shopper, so I guarantee I find walking the mall to be a really big workout. By the time, I was done in Sioux Falls five hours, a mall, Best Buy, Walmart, Target, Hobby Lobby and the grocery store later, I was exhausted and my feet and back hurt more than when I walked up Crazy Horse carrying an 18 mos. old.  On the way home, I stopped at Colman to watch the boys play another winning basketball game against the C-E Hawks.  By the time I made it home and put all the groceries away, it was after 11:00 pm.

Saturday, Rachel had a basketball game in the morning. Then Dacey had play practice, then he stopped home for lunch, and turned around and went to a double-header in Estelline.  Besides keeping up with the kids, I had Saturday to get my house cleaned for Rachel’s sleepover birthday party on Sunday night.  I still hadn’t put Christmas away and all the give-aways from the closets we cleaned in the last snow storm were sitting in my living room. Plus, we needed to make cupcakes and food for two parties for Rachel, and since the sleepover was going to be in the studio, we needed to get that ready as well.  It was a lot for Rachel and me to do by ourselves.  Once again I felt like cleaning was enough of a workout, especially with all of the up and downs of taking down the Christmas tree and hauling boxes and lifting furniture to get all the ornaments that the cat chased all over the house, and have you ever noticed that laundry seems to grow out of every room in your house.   Midnight came and went and I finally was able to sit on all the furniture in my living room, the cupcakes were frosted and all the presents were wrapped.

Sunday, everyone got up early and helped to finish decorating, made barbecue for the family party in town, went to church and worked nursery duty.  Then we went to the cc and all of Rachel’s grandparents and Aunt Linda came to have bbq’s and wish Rachel a happy birthday.  When that was done, Rachel, Linda and I took  a half an hour and walked laps upstairs.  I didn’t work up a sweat, but it was nice to visit with Linda, and to relax and regroup my thinking in the middle of all the family and birthday chaos.  When we came home Dacey had play practice and then his debut performance of  the school one-act play.  Family came, Rachel’s friends met us there, and Dacey, along with the entire crew, did an awesome performance.  We were so proud and impressed with them all.

Then Rachel’s five female classmates came over and spent the night.  Dacey set up a dj system for Rachel and her friends in the studio and they ran black lights and strobes and danced until midnight.  I can understand why kids can eat anything.  They move non-stop.  The more they get tired, the more they move and the more they eat.  At 12:30, I made popcorn, put a movie in and fell asleep. The girls, although restless, fell asleep not too much later.  By 7:00 am, they were all up and moving.

Dacey had another big day with his regional performance of the one-act play in Watertown, and then the beginning of the DVC tournaments in Colman.  He was literally home for 30 min. before he came home that night at 11:30.  Rachel’s friends slowly made their way home by 1:00 pm and then I finally was able to clean up and go back to my paying job in the studio.  By this time, I knew I had caught Mike’s cold from last week, and I could hardly keep my eyes open, they were watering so bad.  Rachel had crashed in the house, and I joined her as soon as I was able.

I finally had a full night’s sleep and woke up this morning feeling almost human again — although a little sniffly.  So what I learned from this marathon of kids’ craziness:

1) I’m getting old.  I can’t keep up with my kids’ schedule even if I try.  I need my sleep.

2) I can’t and don’t want to eat like they do.  Dacey said they had a contest at Pizza Ranch to see which team could eat the most and his team won, with 26 plates of food split between seven boys.  Remember, guys, when you could do that in high school.  Mike does.

The girls ate candy, and cake, and banana splits and chips all night long, and I am sure with all the dancing and sledding and cartwheels and giggling they did,   all that sugar made them more active.  Me, one piece of cake and a little ice cream and I feel sluggish and ready for a nap.  Today I went back to regular meals and healthy choices and I already feel better.

3) I’m thankful for all the coaches and parents and teachers who keep up with my kids’ craziness and come up with more, because most of you are my age or older, and have to be as tired as I am.

So, my suggestion for the day:  Get enough sleep–7 to 8 hours a night, and a  20 minute nap when you  need it.  Lack of sleep will wear your system down faster than anything else.  It will also trigger your brain into eating higher sugared carbohydrates to keep stimulating your body to keep in motion.  Then for me, my suggestion is to go back to my routine in the studio –enough partying with my kids.  It’s too much work!