Today for my 43 I did jumping jacks. However, I thought (rather stupidly) that 43 jumping jacks wasn’t enough. So I turned it into my own little jumping jack party (or palooza!!).
I did 43 sets of 100 jumping jacks!!! That would be 4,300 jumping jacks!!!!
I feel quite sure that tomorrow I won’t be able to raise my arms above my head and my upper back will be sore!!! (I touched my hands at the top – straight arms – on each and every one!)
I know that some people think jumping jacks aren’t a real workout or that they are just part of the warm-up – but I’m here to tell you – they would be wrong!!!! This was no joke!!!
This may be TMI but the worst part of all those jumping jacks?? – I thought I was going to totally pee myself! (glad running doesn’t do that to me!!)
Chris was off Friday and we decided to get a dehydrator. I just got an inexpensive one (plus, it was at Bed Bath and Beyond so I had a coupon!!) to try it out.
Yesterday I used it for the first time – squash and zucchini chips. Super easy – slice the veggies and put them on the trays.
I sprinkled them with just a very small amount of seasoning salt and then let them dry for about 8 hours.
They made nice little chips!!! Much healthier than my regular potato chips!!! The only downside – 2 zucchini and 3 squash only made this much:
Better make some more!!! I think this will be a great way to wean myself off of potato chips!!! Gonna try out some mangos today.
Today I decided to do a circuit for my 43. I wanted to get some toning, cardio, plyo – basically some of everything in one quick round (well actually 43 rounds!). Looking at the circuit you might think it is no big deal – try a few!!!
The first 10 or so weren’t terrible – but the last 10 were brutal!!! A tough 43 for sure!!!
I think part of the challenge came from the fact that I kept going from floor moves to standing – constant up and down. It was a good workout for sure!!!
I’m not sure what is going on with Phil the groundhog – I think he was a little off this year.
On a happy note – I finally figured out how to make a picture collage!!! Thanks to Lindsay at The Lean Green Bean for sharing her favorite 30 Apps for the iPhone the other day – I learned about Diptic!!
Even though my Grandmother is no longer here, today would be her birthday – Happy Birthday, Mema!! I miss you every day!!!
aren’t they cute!!
(My Mema never looked at the camera – only at the people in the picture with her!)
Today’s 43 was quick and fun!!! I did a straddle jump on a bench. Start by straddling the bench with your hands on the front of the bench. Jump both feet up on bench then back to floor. Repeat (x 43).
This is one of my favorites!!! I think I will do more of these jumps soon!
For my run today I did a pyramid!
OK – not that pyramid but it sort-of felt like it on the way up!!!
You can see that I increased my speed every 2 minutes (until I finally got to the top!) and then I decreased every two minutes on the way back down – much better!!!
This was fun and different for me – I usually try to get my fastest miles at the end of my run instead of during the middle so this is a good change.
1.5 % incline – 44:11 = 7 miles + cool down of 20 minutes for a total of 64 minutes (8.4 total miles)
I like to do different things with my speed (or incline) while I run – probably why I don’t get bored on my treadmill very often!!!
I can’t believe how fast spring break has gone!! Even though we just stayed home, we had a great week together!!!
This weekend, we are all about basketball!! My bracket took several hard hits but I still have a chance to win and it’s fun to watch some of the underdogs do really well!!!
Today’s 43 was a quick cardio based one. I did a jump jack squat with a toe touch.
Start with feet together and both hands straight up. Jump to a squat and touch left toe with right hand while keeping left hand up – jump feet together – switch sides = 1 rep.
I guess I didn’t touch my toes in the video – downside of making the demo at the end of my workout!!! I did the 43 first thing but the boys are enjoying sleeping in since it’s spring break so the demo was after a couple sweaty hours of work!!!
I realized recently that I had been slacking off with weight training so I’m working on that! Today I did another Jari Love DVD – Get Ripped to the Core. This is one that is just strength training – I think there are about 8-9 different tracks and all are high reps!! I really like the fact that Jari incorporates multiple muscle groups into each track!!
After lifting I hopped on the treadmill for a quick run. 1.5% incline for the first 4 miles (24:19) then gradually higher incline for the next 2.5 miles (much slower pace for these).
Is it spring??? Yesterday morning about 11:00 it started snowing here! Where did that come from? The forecast was for a 30% chance of rain during the afternoon – Oops!! Thankfully it was about 34 so nothing was sticking. As the afternoon went on, the temperature dropped a little so by 3:00 it looked like this outside:
huge snowflakes (3:00 pm)
(If I knew how to use my camera better, maybe I could have gotten a picture of the actual snowflakes – they were enormous!!!) At least it was warm enough that nothing was sticking on the streets!
By 6:30 the area looked like this:
same view – same day 6:30 pm
Crazy!!! I like this look much better! Now, if it would just warm up!!!
I’m not sure if y’all all know this but yesterday the Hobbit was released on DVD.
This was a big deal in our house! Jordan loves Lord of the Rings and actually did his History Day project on J.R. Tolkien.
History Day Display – my sweet boy/man
So, to celebrate this event we planned an entire Hobbit themed meal/feast around the viewing!!
before the mess
(Yes, those are jelly beans – the Starburst ones that only come out during this time of year!!) The best part about this – the boys helped with all of the work!!!
rolling pins – not my strong suit!
We had lots of fun making everything and then enjoyed the feast.
Jordan helped pick out all of the recipes based on different aspects of the movie.
Dragon Breath Chili (hot as dragon’s fire) – as an appetizer (I put this in the crock pot) this was pretty spicy but had great flavor!
Lembas (Elvish) Bread – this was actually really good – no sugar in it because it uses honey
Mixed Vegetables Meduseld (this has something to do with the King of Rohan)
Balin’s Spiced Beef (also in a crock pot) – nice flavor – apple cider, cinnamon, cloves
Victorian Cherry Turnover – no picture of these – this was the hardest part of the meal to make – rolling out the dough was a struggle but the boys were all happy with the final product!
The picture doesn’t do it justice!! It was quite a Hobbit feast (because apparently that is a huge part of the movie)!
After the feast (and clean-up), Chris and the boys watched the movie. I did not – I haven’t seen any of the Lord of the Rings movies – so not my thing!!! (I got caught up on Dancing with the Stars instead.)
Anyone else turn the release of a new movie into an event??
Today I did a little bit of plyometrics (also known as jump training) for my 43. Years ago (over 20 now) when I ran college track, we used to do a little bit of plyo training. After college I pretty much quit that nonesense type of activity. However, several years ago when I realized I needed to do more than just run to maintain my hot body desired body size (and shape), I started Insanity! Hello, plyo!!!! Now, I actually enjoy the act of jumping a lot!!
All I had to do was repeat those 4 jumps 43 times! I was dying panting hard but I did it!! (Not sure why I have a hard time keeping my balance on tuck jumps but who cares? Just Jump!!!)
And…Great News! Today in Les Mills Combat it was time for Plyo HIIT – 30 more minutes of jumping!!! After that I decided to pull out a workout I haven’t done in a while – Jillian Michaels 6 Weeks to a Six Pack. Today I just did Level 1 – 35 minutes of both standing and floor core work. I think what I really like about all of Jillian’s programs are that she uses basic moves and just combines them in different ways! I always feel like I’ve worked hard after completing any of her workouts!
Another snow day here in Kansas! I’m beginning to feel like I live in the mountains! OK – maybe it’s not quite that bad but I’m having to work harder this week to be pleasant about the snow!!
One nice thing – the boys are home from school AGAIN!!! Hopefully they will want to hang out with me. Maybe a game of
