Today I did a whole lotta’ kicking for my 43. I started with 43 x a right side kick and went right into 43 x right front kick, left back kick. Then I started over with 43 x a left side kick followed by 43 x left front kick, right back kick.
(side note – demo was after my workout was completely done – my legs were tired and sort of flailing!!!)
I did an old favorite today – Les Mills Combat – Combat 60, Extreme Cardio Fighter. I love this hour long workout full of punching, kicking and lots of cardio. The last segment (before the cool down) is some core work – always a bonus!!!
Charlotte @ Commitness to Fitness nominated me for the Sunshine Award. We already know that I don’t always participate correctly – I’m going to answer the questions because they are fun but I’m not tagging anyone because I would pick everyone!! Sorry, Charlotte!
1. What is your favorite dessert? I don’t eat desserts often but I LOVE hot brownies that are just a little gooey!
2. If you could only go to one website for the rest of your life, what would it be? Well, if I said BlogLovin is it cheating to clink on links from there?! I’m not sure I can pick one website – and I NEED to go to Amazon on lots of occasions!!
3. If you could live in any time period, when would it be? I think I would have enjoyed a lot of things about living in the early 1900s. I like the work ethic of so many people from long ago – the only thing I would hate is outdoor plumbing!!!
4. What’s your favorite motivational quote(s)? I like lots of quotes (and always pick different ones as my favorite!!) – You don’t have to be great to start, you have to start to be great. (Zig Zagler)
5. What’s your favorite type of food to get when you eat out? Mexican!!!
6. Describe yourself in 2 words. committed & determined
7. How many different states have you lived in? Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Alabama + Philippine Islands (born there) so 7
8. Who is your favorite athlete? Yikes, hard to pick just one!!! Jackie Joyner-Kersee is high on my list.
9. Would you rather read or watch TV? READ!!!
10. What type of shoes do you have on your feet right now? Mizuno Wave Creation 13
Today for my 43 I did incline push-ups. (probably not the best choice because I had already done lots of push-ups in my challenge workout but….)
startdown
Pretty basic today but push-ups are always good!!!!
This is the 6th (and final) week of Taylor’s challenge – and it is a good one for sure!!! I still have 2 more chances to try and lower my time!!!
I decided to run today – my Achilles has been sore for a long time now and I’m trying to make sure that it doesn’t get worse while still training. Anyway, I ran on my treadmill today – 1.5% incline – 6 miles 35:31. I did a progression type run – increasing my time every 30 seconds – a fun way to make the time go quickly and push myself at the same time.
Yesterday I read several articles and posts about the benefits of exercise on your brain. I’ve also read a lot of things about the importance of training your brain. And, since it is back to school (or close) I thought it would be fun to have some brain challenges today!!!
1. o t t f f – What are the next 3 letters in the sequence?
2. d n o s – What are the next 3 letters in this sequence?
3. What’s lighter than a feather but even the strongest person in the world can only hold it for a few minutes?
4. What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries?
5. I can run but not walk. Wherever I go, thought follows close behind. What am I?
6. What goes around the world but stays in a corner?
7. The man who invented it doesn’t want it. The man who bought it doesn’t need it. The man who needs it doesn’t know it. What is it?
8. What English word has three consecutive double letters?
9. Say my name and I disappear. What am I?
Can you solve these? Feel free to share a riddle – I love trying to figure them out!!!
Today for my 43 I did a plie squat with a curl to press.
downcurlup
43 of these really got my heart rate up and with 8 pound dumbbells, my shoulders were feeling the last few!!!
I decided to do a Cathe Friederech workout today – Cross Fire. This is an hour of lots of HIIT plus weight thrown in – awesome!!!
Today Chris celebrates his 45th birthday. I don’t think he plans to run 45 miles (weird, I thought everyone did that kind of thing!!!) or do 45 of any other exercise – so I decided that I would do a special 45 today for Chris.
45 Fun Facts about Chris:
1. His name is actually Thomas Christopher. He is the 3rd generation Thomas _______. We thought about naming Jordan – Thomas Jordan but I didn’t want him to do the whole middle name thing.
3 generations
2. He had a full beard in high school.
nice beard
3. When Chris was young he put an un-popped popcorn kernel in his ear. It popped (the kernel) and got stuck – lesson learned!!!
4. Chris has 4 sisters – 3 that are older than him and 1 younger. He always says that his parents tried 4 times to get it “right” and then they pushed their luck!! Of course he is joking because he loves all of his sisters.
5. Chris played football, wrestled and ran track in high school.
6. Chris was in lots of musicals in high school – often with the lead role.
7. He graduated 2nd out of about 77 students.
giving his speech
8. When Chris was 17, he went to San Antonio for Basic Training. He had on white jeans when he got there – big mistake – the instructors called him Don Johnson!!! Thankfully after they all had their heads shaved and had uniforms on he blended in and was no longer Don!!!
9. In 1989, Chris quit drinking soda (he used to drink more soda than anything else) cold turkey and hasn’t had any since.
10. When we first met he only ate chicken and rice – that didn’t last long!!!
11. Chris lived in Korea for a year when he was active duty in the Air Force – he was only 19-20 at the time.
12. He got his degree from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.
13. We don’t run together – we tried it when we first got married and it wasn’t the best plan. Chris is able to run 3 miles at pretty much any given time but he doesn’t really care about running fast or much further than 3 miles.
14. Chris worked as a trash man for awhile in high school!!
15. He taught himself to play the guitar.
16. He also taught himself to play golf.
17. When Chris was in Korea, he was the singer in a band. They mostly did Led Zepplin songs!!!
18. Chris is still best friends with one of his high school buddies – Matt.
Matt and Chris
19. Thanks to his job (pilot in the Air National Guard), he has been to over 50 countries!!!
20. When his mom was still alive he called her every Sunday no matter where he was at the time.
21. At one point he owned 3 Volkswagon Bugs – all old and in need of work.
22. When we buy new cars, Chris is always prepared. He knows what the car is worth and how much the dealer will make. He is good at negotiating and getting the exact price he wants.
23. Chris is a good cook. He will look up recipes (on the internet, for some reason he never uses any of my cookbooks!) and try new things!!!
24. Chris would rather be home with his family than just about anywhere else!!
my boys
25. He graduated from Pilot Training on May 24, 1996 (the day before we got married).
26. Every year when he takes the fitness test he sends me his results – usually prefaced with “I have the body of a 19 year old!”
27. Chris is the kind of guy that will always help out someone in need without them ever having to ask.
28. When we met, Chris didn’t really watch a lot of sports on TV. He started watching sports with me – especially college basketball.
29. He doesn’t say negative things about people – I could really learn a lot here!!!
30. Chris is good at looking at the big picture. He will ask himself, “will this matter in 10 year?”
31. He rarely cusses!!! Or gets mad! (we are sort-of opposites)
32. Chris is super handy – he has made built in shelves, tiled floors, installed wall ovens, built composite decks (2nd story ones!!) – pretty much anything that needs done he can figure out how to do it.
33. He is a very hands-on Dad.
34. An older man gave him some advice when we got married and he has applied it many times and shared it with other young men. The man said, “The 6 most important words in a marriage – You’re right, I’m wrong, I’m sorry!” Chris has always remembered that and he still says it (more often than he really has to but he does it to keep the peace!).
right after we got engaged
35. He sang to me at our wedding! Beautiful in my Eyes by Joshua Kadison
36. When the boys were little babies, Chris was the calm one. He said there are only a few things that could be wrong – hungry, tired, need to burp or need a diaper change.
37. The first few months of each of the boys lives (when they were waking up every few hours), Chris would get them when they cried, change their diapers, hand them to me to feed, then burp them and put them back to bed.
38. He used to hate getting rid of anything – garage sales caused him a bit of stress and he saved every empty box “just in case”. Now, he has gotten much better at getting rid of stuff and he throws away empty boxes.
39. One of his favorite movies is Ben Hur.
40. Chris is pretty much always happy, always whistling or humming or snapping his fingers as he walks around.
41. Chris is a doer and a server! He is always waiting on me or others. He is always willing to get up and wait on others – me, the boys, our friends.
42. The boys have the very best role model possible in Chris. He has taught them that they can do anything and also how to be caring, compassionate men. Things like opening doors, thanking people for a meal, offering to help carry stuff – they have learned many life lessons from Chris. They have also learned that men/dads/boys can cook, clean, do laundry, iron and any other task around the house.
43. Chris is the very best dad ever for our boys!!!
44. Chris is the my best friend!!
45. Chris has made me the luckiest person in the world because he picked me to marry and have a family with. He is the very best person I know!!!
Happy Birthday, Chris!!!! I love you!
Kim
PS – I know Chris will read this because he has read my blog every day since I started and almost always sends me a text after he reads it.
I put both feet in the same loop and held the other loop with both hands.
start
From the start position, I just did an upright row –
pull up
This was a fairly simple 43 but by the last 15 or so I was feeling it in my entire upper body.
Sometimes I get so wrapped up in the things going on in my little world that I don’t look beyond it to all of the other important events happening around me.
This past week has been a prime example of my extreme self-absorption. I have been so focused on school starting, band stuff, making crafts, planning a brunch (yesterday I had a jewelry party and hosted a brunch) that I have completely neglected a lot of things and more importantly, people!!
Yesterday was my sweet nephew Hays’ 2nd birthday and not only was I late in sending a gift – I didn’t even call. Epic Fail on my part!!!!
I have got to do a better job showing the people I love how much I care about them and not always be so wrapped up in my own stuff.
Do you ever struggle with self-absorption?
Happy Sunday!!! I’m off to apologize for being so selfish!!!
Today for my 43 I did a move that was inspired by the only Barre workout I’ve done – Cathe Friedrich’s Barre DVD. I used my “bar” –
Handy piece of work-out equipment!!
I did a 2-part leg lift.
start
First, I lifted my leg to the back –
back
I brought my leg down (without swinging it!!!) and without touching the floor I lifted it out to the side. I continued lifting back and side in a slow controlled manner until I finished all 43 reps.
lift to the side
And, because I don’t want my left leg to feel left out, I had to do 43 more with the left leg.
getting ready to go againbackside
I have been working on adding extra moves to strengthen my hips lately since I’m running more often and more miles right now – hoping to stay injury free at least for the next couple of months!!!!
I also did my 3rd round of Taylor’s challenge for the week – The Race Is On. I’m not gonna lie – this week’s workout was tough!!! Even though it took less than 15 minutes, it was very intense and hard-core! My time on Monday for the entire workout was 15:46 and today I did it in 12:55!!! No breaks, no rest – just high intensity for almost 13 minutes!!
Heather @ Run Like a G! nominated me for the Sunshine Award.
Because I’m super lame, I asked her if it would be OK if I answered the questions without doing the rest of the award requirements (picking 10 other people to answer questions from me). She said it would be fine – thanks, Heather for nominating me and letting me be a 1/2 participant!!!
Questions from Heather:
1. What is your favorite thing about running? I love how strong and free I feel when I run. Some runs are good and others not so much but I always feel alive after completing a run. And, my calves almost always look like I’m wearing heels!!!
2. What FRIENDS character are you more like? I’m probably the most like Monica – I am very type A and sometimes fairly obsessive!!!
3. If money wasn’t an option, what country/island/place would you explore for a week? Australia – my number one place that I want to visit and haven’t yet!!!
4. Bodybuilding – yay or nay? Not for me just because I don’t have the discipline required (especially as far as the nutrition goes!). But I love seeing how others can transform their bodies through hard-work and discipline.
5. What do you LOVE about your body? I’m happy with my body 95% of the time – mostly because I love how strong it is. I know that I can push myself harder now than I did 5 years ago and that makes me HAPPY!!!
6. Tell me your favorite season and give two reasons why it is your favorite season. Summer – always!!! I love the heat and days spent at the pool or beach with my family. I also love the slower pace that we enjoy during the summer when we aren’t tied down with a school schedule.
7. Do you believe in love at first sight? Yes! My husband and I met on a Tuesday night (at a bar). I didn’t see him again until the following Saturday when he picked me up and we drove 7 hours (each way) to go to a concert. He told me several months later that he knew on the way to Austin (for the concert) that I was the person he was going to marry.
8. If you could have an exotic animal as a pet, which would you choose? I’m not a huge pet person but I would probably go with some type of snake – maybe a dwarf boa.
9. Have you read Harry Potter? No. My oldest son (14 now) read all the books the summer after he finished 2nd grade!!! I have only seen the first 4 movies – I enjoyed them but sort of lost interest.
10. What is your favorite cereal? Ohs – no milk!!!
I would nominate all the blogs I read for a Sunshine Award so I’m not doing that part. Feel free to pick any (or all) of the questions and share your answer(s).
