Category Archives: Fitness

BOSU, Cardio, Fitness, Push-Ups, Running, Treadmill

Jumbled Thoughts and a Bit of Stress

March 11, 2014 Kim 77 Comments

Today I combined the daily challenge for #happyfitmarch with my 44. The challenge today was to see how many burpees we could do in 2 minutes. I added in my BOSU to make the burpees more “fun.”

I got 25 in 2 minutes and then kept going until I finished all 44. These were hard – a push-up on the BOSU and then a jump while lifting the BOSU overhead!!!

I ran again today – if my Achilles will hold up, I’m going to try and get 5 days in a row!!! Today was 1.5% incline – 8 miles in 61:24 and then 0.8 miles nice and easy!!

I have so many things floating around in my head that I want to write about but I don’t even know how to put them all down. Just a few random thoughts:

* I’m happy that we had a nice 70+ degree day yesterday!! Almost beach season!!!

* Tonight we are “hosting” an event but the person in charge hasn’t even contacted me in weeks. I’m a bit stressed about set-up times and what she is planning since she is emailing all of the vendors that will be coming, yet she hasn’t touched base with me.

* Jordan leaves on a band trip in 2 days. I’m trying not to have a melt-down about it but it is hard to send my 15 year old across the country with 200+ kids.

* I’m struggling to fit in the time I really want to spend blogging and all the other things that are going on. It is hard for me to mark tons of blogs in my BlogLovin as read at the end of the day because I simply can’t get to all of them.

* I guess the underlying theme here is STRESS!!! Gotta work on letting that go a bit!!!

Thankfully next week is spring break and after Jordan gets home from his trip we have a fairly low key week planned!!!

What is causing you stress these days?

Happy Tuesday!

Kim

Core, Fitness, Lunges

Open or Closed?

March 10, 2014 Kim 80 Comments

Today’s 44 was a lunge but because I held a dumbbell overhead (15 pounds) I also got some nice core work.

I counted a right and left as 1 rep so it was a total of 88 lunges while holding the 15 pounds overhead!!!

I did The Biggest Loser 8 Minute DVD – this is actually an hour because there are 7 total sections. I like the format – each section is 8 minutes and you do 11 different moves for 30ish seconds followed by a 10 second rest. Plenty of strength work but you will also get your heart rate up!

I’m planning to go outside for a run later today – it is supposed to get into the mid-70s!!! Can’t wait!!!!

Curtains, blinds, shades – whatever window coverings you have – do you open them every day or keep them closed?

With the time change it is still dark outside right now but I have already opened up the house for the day. I love to have natural light and by the time I get back from taking the boys to school it will be light!!!

Lately, driving around, I’ve noticed that lots of people keep their house closed up during the day – every single window is covered.

If our blinds were down, I would miss scenes like this gorgeous sunset from the other night when it was too cold to be outside.

And, much as I’m not a fan of the snow and gray days, I still want to be able to see outside when I’m hibernating!!!

So, are you an open or closed kind of person???

Happy Monday!!!

Kim

BTW – Hunter got 2nd in his competition yesterday!!! (and it wasn’t just 7th grade – it was all middle school) His first cash prize!!!

Fitness, Push-Ups

A Big Day for my “Little” Boy

March 9, 2014 Kim 25 Comments

Today’s 44 was a fun push up move – using 2 small wobble balls and a medicine ball.

I put my hands on the small balls (out sort-of wide) and both feet on 1 medicine ball –

ready - hard to hold this position! — ready – hard to hold this position!

The daily challenge for #happyfitmarch was to do as many push-ups as you could in 2 minutes. I decided to combine my 44 with the challenge. I did a total of 58 push-ups in the 2 minutes!

Today is a day full of cello for Hunter.

He has his Philharmonic Orchestra concert this afternoon. This is a full orchestra made up of mostly middle school kids in Topeka and surrounding areas. Hunter has enjoyed this even though it is a big time commitment on top of his cello lessons, cello group and sports at school.

Tonight is the final for the Topeka Young Musician Awards. Hunter had to submit a video to enter this contest. He is one of four 7th grade stringed instruments competing in his category. (I’m not sure how many submitted videos but only 4 advanced to tonight’s performance.)

This will be Hunter’s first solo in front of a large group and I know he is nervous but he will do great. He has practiced and is ready!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAFhvJ32ElY

(Hunter’s submission video.)

Good luck, Hunter!!! I know that you will be awesome!!!

Happy Sunday!

Kim

Fitness, Running, Thighs, Treadmill

Smiles on a Saturday

March 8, 2014 Kim 34 Comments

Today’s 44 was great for working my hips/outer thighs – I should do this move several times a week!! I used my little green tubing again and got into a semi-squat then did a step out move.

I counted a right and left step as 1 rep and my thighs were burning for sure!!!!

Today was another running day. The daily challenge for #HappyFitMarch was to run a mile and compare it to last Saturday’s mile.

Last Saturday I ran my first mile (out of 5) in 7:23. Today I ended up doing a 10K.

I wasn’t sure how I would feel running this morning because yesterday I did a total of 14 miles – thankfully my legs felt strong today!!!

Saturday is a good day for smiling!!!

creep Talking Tom looking cat — creepy Talking Tom looking cat

The pictures of animals smiling crack me up!!!

I think that some days it is easy to get dragged down instead of being the one lifting people up!!

Are you smiling yet??

Happy Saturday!

Kim

Core, Fitness, Running

My New Happy Hour

March 7, 2014 Kim 66 Comments

Today’s 44 was similar to a move that Jody shared on Instagram recently. She did an oblique crunch on the stability ball – doing all reps to the same side before switching.

I changed up the move some and don’t look nearly as graceful as Jody but…..

You can sort of tell that I did more of a reach and I alternated sides. I did count a right and left as 1 rep so it was actually 88 crunches to complete the 44.

Today is more running – nice and easy to make sure that my Achilles is OK after the pain the other day. (chronic injury – have to baby it sometime!!) I’m trying to keep my mileage up because this month Taylor has a fun March challenge. The challenge is to get at least 31 miles of walking or running BUT if you already do that then it was to pick a number that would be a good challenge.

My goal for March is 150 miles of running. That isn’t much for a lot of people but for me that is a very high mileage month!!!

So……last night while making dinner, I also made this –

2 days in, did I already fail on giving up my Happy Hour???

Nope!!! Because that is actually….

It’s just Crystal Light in a fun glass!!

Part of why I enjoy my evening cocktail is because I love my fun glasses – I have a collection of Martini glasses all around my kitchen soffit and they are just fun to use. I decided that I can still use the glasses – just with a different type of drink.