Training Day 10

Today's accomplishment. Yay!

Hello Friends!

I've been remiss in keeping you updated with how my training has been going, but let me tell you, I'm doing awesome!

I've been running in excess of a mile, up to 4 miles now..... and got in trouble for it. Yep, not only did my body protest, but my trainer daughter also told me I was over doing it.

True, my will was ahead of my body, and it hurt. So much so, it put me out of commission for four days straight. I was so disappointed.  This happened nearly two weeks ago.

Since then, I've been paying attention to my muscles and joints and not so much my brain. My brain is months ahead of my body.... In fact it's ready to do a Mudder event NOW, but this body is not ready or able, so I'm definitely paying attention. If it hurts or too painful, take it down a notch.

So far I've been comfortable within the range of 1.5 miles and 2.5 miles. However, there have been occasions when along with my playlist and a sense of  "can-do" attitude, ibuprofen and majicdust aka  L-Glutamine Powder, I'm rocking! AND there is NO PAIN! So I keep going, and I get 4 miles. Not bad for a 9-year couch-potato as of four weeks ago. Yay!

Oh, what's L-Glutamine? Well, let me show you....

So the reason I take this is for "recuperative" purposes. After lovingly being chewed out by my trainer daughter (see above), she told me to start taking L-G. She's been using it for years and has helped her tremendously.  I take it the same way she does, a tsp in the morning (with juice for me) when I get up along with my vitamins, etc, then again after I workout, and again before I go to bed.  This body's 9 year lack of activity needs all the recuperative assistance I can get.

I also worked out with my daughter-in-law Tiffany earlier this week. She invited me to her gym while I visited, so off we went and it was a great work out. Got a 3-day gym pass out of that.

Tiff is planning a half marathon sometime in the fall, that's just awesome! Maybe I can talk her into doing Tough Mudder with me. Mmm....

And now, Vegas has opened up for registration. This is exciting! I pre-registered about 10 days ago maybe and received my email this morning that I could register now. Since I'll be joining the Las Vegas City Athletic Club Team where my daughter Sara works, we're gonna be pumped!!! Good for me, they'll be carrying me everywhere.... HAHAHA! Okay, not really, but good to know, they have my back, and everyone doing ToughMudder.

Well I'm outta here. Dinner is cooking and I'm starving. But before I go I want to leave you with something that brought a smile to face, and the WILL TO KEEP MOVING! Till next time friends...

Training Day 3

So we did train on Tuesday, Training Day 2.

We did upper body. Worked on chest and arms and did abdomen.

First I warmed up with ten minutes on.the treadmill. Then I did 3 sets of triceps pull downs, 3 sets of lat pull downs and 3 sets of bench press. Then I finished off with 20 crunches.

Today we went back out to our muddy trail. It was great.  Training Day 3.

And this time I actually ran. For real. I ran. Nearly half a mile! I know, WOW! HAHAHA!

My #2 took off as soon as we hit the gate, mind you he's 6'3" so once he starts it doesn't take long for him to be gone. But his knees have been giving him problems these last few years. So when he took off and I started my power walking I suddenly started running as well.  I don't know.  I hand't planned it, but there I was, running.  Actually more like jogging.

Next thing I know I see my #2 walking and slowing down, then stop to wait for me. All this time he hasn't looked behind him so he doesn't know I've been running too. And as I get closer he turns around and is surprised to see me running.  I had to chuckle because I was just as surprised as he was.  So I passed him and yell  "I DON'T KNOW HOW!" and kept going.

Next thing I know here he comes running next to me. Cool! I have to tell you I was starting to feel pain. The one thing that kept me going was this:

"I wanna be an Airborne Ranger
  Live the life of sex and danger....."

And there was this one also that I remember:

"C-130 rollin' down the strip,
  Airborne daddy gonna take a little trip.
  Stand-up, hook-up, shuffle to the door,
  Jump right out and count to four...."

If you haven't guessed they are military cadence verses. I was in the Army once upon a time, and stationed with a Ranger unit in Georgia. These all came back to me when I needed them the most. The cadences kept me going. I kept repeating for as long as I could in my head.

At nearly the half mile point where the "muddy stairs" start I couldn't keep going and had to stop. So close.  That's okay, I did more than I expected and I'm proud of myself.  After resting for a few minutes we went up the "muddy steps", from there I chose to go down the muddy incline, it's good practice for tough mudder.

From there we headed back. My #2 ran back, I chose to power walk instead. Once we arrived at the park I did 20 modified push ups and those felt good.   I'm really happy with how our training has been working out so far.

If I keep this up I may actually have to buy a new wardrobe. Oh the sacrifice!

Till next time friends, stay motivated and remember, LIFE IS FOR LIVING!

Training Day 1 - End of Day

So here it is, we're done with our first day's training.

We're good and sweaty and tired and I'm exhilarated! My #2 got home from work, we changed into our grubbies and we where off. Down the street and off to the park and down the creek behind our apartment complex.

There's a trail that runs for miles, but we weren't doing "miles", we where just doing the berms and the "muddy steps". We needed to get the heart pumping, break a sweat and get motivated. I wasn't running, not yet, I was power walking. My #2 was running, well more like jogging.

It was great, we where so motivated. About the time we reached the "muddy steps" my cell goes off, and because you never know if it's an emergency I answer it. Mind you, I'm still moving. Hello? It's my daughter-in-law. Yay! We're chatting away like we always do, and I'm still moving, why not, right!

She's telling me all about my grandaughter and how she's going to be enrolled in dance class, and I'm still moving, and we're still talking, and I'm still moving. Kisses, love you! I click off and WOW! What did I do? All the time I was talking with her I had climbed up these "muddy steps" walked around and came down a muddy hill and never broke my stride. YES! I am a ROCKSTAR!

I was so stoked. My #2 was ready to go, but was lagging behind. Let's get a move on, I'm yelling, me and my power walking self, and off he goes with his running, and me and my power walking we go!! I'm liking this working out.

I never saw my #2 until I reached the end of the trail which ends at the park - Memorial Park. By the time I had arrived he had already done push up, and it was my turn. Mind you I haven't done push ups in ages, so I started small, I did table push up. What are those? I'll show you.

Yeah, I'm starting small. But it's something. I'll be doing real push ups by the time March comes along. In the mean time I took off up the muddy hill that's in the park and we where off up into the street.

So now we're home. Finishing up with this update, got dinner taken care off and satisfied with our first day of Mudder Training. Tomorrow, well we're doing weights. So it's going to be an indoor workout. But for now we're chilling with what turns out to be coincidentally..... 

Training Day 1

Good Morning!  Been up for a few hours and can't wait for #2 to get home from work so we can start our training.

Interestingly it's raining and I'm not having an issue with that at all. The way I see it at Tough Mudder we're going to be hit with ice water, mud, cold, fire, more water, more ice, more water.....  It's going to be brutal, might as well get used to the WET now.... (insert laugh track!)

So I waltz over to toughmudder.com to check out any new videos and came across some really cool stuff.  Georgia just wrapped their event and AZ had their event in January.  I really enjoy watching those.  They're very inspirational, and right now I need all the inspiration I can muster. Specially since I'm going to will myself to jump out in the rain later this afternoon and run in the mud, up and down the hill and street to get fit to run up and down obstacle courses that can very well give me some Owies!!! Here's a video I found that took the Whine right out of me -



Now while I was perusing twitter, I follow @MudRunHQ and they posted a link to their page regarding the 6 Toughest Obstacles at Tough Mudder. They include images of these obstacles and these pretty much give you an idea of how brutal these obstacles can be, but for sure they are doable.

The one obstacle that I'm dreading and look forward to the most is EVEREST.

I know I can do it and at the same time I know it's going to take all my strength to get up to It and over It.  I'll have help, but much will depend on me, and I'll be ready for it.

The obstacle I'm not looking forward to at all is the Chernobyl Jacuzzi, I'm so dreading jumping into that ice bath.  If I had testicles I know those puppies would freeze, and shatter.... Dudes, I feel for you.  My boobs are so not going to enjoy this!

Okay, I need to get some nutrition in my bod and get moving. Daylight is burning! I'll come back later this evening and give an update on the soggy training me and my #2 went through. I'll attempt some pictures, but no promises, it looks like it's going to rain all day.

Until then I'll leave you with some words of wisdom - "Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." - John Wooden

Am I "Tough Enough"

I decided shortly after February 4th of this year that I would attempt a Tough Mudder event (toughmudder.com), this is after my daughter Sara told me that she was going to do the event in October that would come to Las Vegas. I was so excited for her. She sent me the link and I devoured every video on their website. I knew she could do this. I knew she was going to finish it. I knew she was going to succeed. And I knew that I wanted to be involved.
                                                                           
I let her know that I'd fly to Vegas and root for her. I would be in the sidelines taking pictures/video of her. I would be there with water if she needed it. I would be there if she needed me to encourage her. I would be there to yell at her, YOU CAN DO THIS!!  GET UP!!  MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!!!!

Then it struck me. I wanted to do this. I could do this. I should do this. Something inside me was stirring and yelling "MOVE!!!! Move Kim, Move!!!" The more I watched the videos of past events, the more I wanted to be a part of it "MOVE KIM, MOVE!"

Why can't I do this? Why shouldn't I do this? Who said I couldn't do this? "MOVE KIM, MOVE!"

And then it happened, I became emotional. I'm that way. Yes, I started to cry..... I knew.

I knew I had just committed myself to the same rigorous event that my very fit and very healthy daughter had just decided to do, I just hadn't said the words. So as I sat on my favorite spot on the couch, I look over to my husband, who's sitting in his favorite chair and I said "I want to do Tough Mudder!"..... There I said it! The words where out. And I cried like a baby. Conviction. Commitment. Fear. Joy. FEAR. OH MY GOD!!! I couldn't take it back, and I didn't want to.

So, my husband said as he's chuckling that I didn't need to cry, after all, I had been in the Army and I could do this. And he would do this with me. Yay! We are in soooo much trouble..... CRAP!!

So the degree of difficulty for us is insane, why? well, my husband has a bit of an advantage, he actually works out weekly. I don't. There was a time when I had a love affair with The Gym, over a decade ago. Not sure why or how that changed, but "we broke up".  I'm 53 years young and I live a sedentary and unhealthy lifestyle that has caused me medical problems.  I know I can rectify these issues by simply MOVING. So the degree of difficulty is mine to bear. But I'm okay with that, I will overcome and succeed.

Our training started yesterday. We bought new cross trainers.  COMMITMENT! We try not spend money unless it gets put to good use. I intend to shred these shoes in the next 10 months before we participate in our Tough Mudder event.  We figured it would take 10 months to get in shape to finish the 10 - 12 mile obstacle course. So we'll be ready for 2013.

I will be blogging about our training, our struggles and successes as we move forward to MUDDER-DOM.  You're welcome to share your own path of positive energy with me. Just know I'm in it to finish it. Oh and one more thing, in my world the glass is always half full.

Am I Tough Enough....   Just getting off the couch is an accomplishment!
Am I Tough Enough....   Don't pay attention to the detractors, they want you to fail!
Am I Tough Enough....   I want my grandkids to know that yes it can be done, even by ME!
Am I Tough Enough....   It's not IF, but WHEN
Am I Tough Enough....   Yes, Maddevil, Yes, I am!