30 day shred, day 22

Time: 10:30am

Weight: +1.4 lbs

Level: 3

I came home from my 5 mile run, thinking I was just going to get into the shower and start my day of binging on delicious food, but when I walked in the door my son grabbed his 2 lb weights that I had given them for Christmas (we celebrated yesterday) and told me he wanted to do the weight exercises with me.  Doh!  

We turned on Jillian with Level 3, and him and my youngest son both grabbed their weights.  They made it about 80% through!  After that, my middle son decided to do exercises that he learned in school (table tops, he said he counted up to 900, maybe we need to work on counting) and my youngest sat down on the couch and told me I was doing good.

I can feel soreness in my body, but I'm not sure if it's from Level 3 in the past or from the workouts that I've done this week at Optimal Performance Specialists (along with the strength exercises, we took a few minutes to work on my running form.  Boy have I had it wrong!).  Either way, I'm excited because I'm down .3 lbs (from my 1.7 lb increase, so it's still increase, but just not so much).  

I didn't do the work out yesterday because, as I mentioned earlier, we celebrated our family Christmas and I didn't feel like it :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

30 day shred, day 21

Time: 10:30am

Calories burned:  160 (155 was what I burned at Level 2)

Weight: +1.7 lbs

Level: 3

Level 3 certainly kicks my butt.  I can't do all of the advanced moves, but I can do a lot more than I could when I first tried Level 3 (I guess this is only my 3rd time, so I've come along way!).  Before I started the workout, I would have said my abs might have been a little sore, but when I started to do the ab moves, I could definitely tell!  My shoulders are sore too, but I think that was from yesterday's strength training at Optimal Performance Specialists.  We did a lot of jumping, lunges, and squats yesterday.  

I like the moves in Level 3.  They are usually 2 part moves, so the exercises goes pretty quickly.  For example, instead of doing pushups, you do walking pushups.  You move your hands to the side, do a push up, walk your hands to the other side, do another pushup and repeat.  It makes the time go by much faster.  One of the last strength exercises you are in plank position with the weights under your hands.  You lift your leg straight up, lower it, and then you pick up a weight (while still in plank position) for a back exercise (I think it's a form of a 'row').  I feel pretty cool doing it (even though I can't do them all).  I need to remember to start counting the exercises, because I'd really like to see how far I've come.

Even though I'm on the plus side of the weight, I do not plan on doing any running today.  Today is dedicated to getting caught up at work!

30 day shred, day 20

Apparently I skipped out on this yesterday.  I didn't notice until just now.  Have no idea what I did last night after the 5 mile run...  Oh yea.  I had to finish up some work for this morning!  Oops, I remember now.  I didn't plan that day very good.  Should have done it earlier in the day.  Will try harder!

I've got another wrench to throw in the mix.  I've decided to go, twice a week, to Optimal Performance Specialists (they work with Orthopedic Rehab here in town) to get my knee exercises in.  I went there last week for an evaluation on my knee and they figured out exactly what was going on.  Wish I could speak their language, but I translate it to the fact that one muscle is taking over in my leg when it shouldn't.  I got a set of exercises that I need to do twice a week to get my knee to behave correctly (oddly enough it's squats and lunges, the things that I was avoiding!).  I have to pay special attention when I'm doing them so that I'm doing them correctly and allowing the right muscle to do it's work.  In 12 weeks time, I should be as good as new!  Ok, maybe not that good, but not having my knees hurt or feel sore would be a start.  When I was doing the squats correctly, sometimes my knees wouldn't even crack and make crackling sounds! 

Why do I bring that up?  Because, also with the knee exercises, I get strength exercises and tons of cool stuff in these sessions.  I'm pretty certain that all equals to a lot of soreness.  The two days a week that I'll go there, I won't be doing Jillian, because that's way too much.  If Jillian can't make me shredded, maybe training for another marathon (YES, you heard that correctly!  Memorial Day weekend three friends and I will be running a delightful 26.2 miles along Traverse City bay) and getting in some kick butt strength training will do the trick!  

Today, I did Level 3 (9:30pm, way too late), and did part hard exercises, and part easy.  I know that in 10 days, I'll be able to do all of the hard moves and I'm excited.  I'm ready!!

30 day shred, day 19, LEVEL 3

After a great 3 mile run, I decided I better get my Jillian workout in before the day gets away from me.  Level 3, here I come!


I followed Anita (the 'easy' one) and I didn't think it was too bad, but I noticed that there is quite a bit of difference between 'easy' and what Jillian's expecting.  She kind of makes you feel like a cheater by following Anita but I told myself it was ok because I was just getting my feelers out for it.  You definitely use Level 1's and Level 2's workouts to build up to this.  It's no longer black and white, strength and cardio.  Everything is mixed together.  


Jillian also talks about her diet plan, which did NOT come with this DVD.  She doesn't mention this until Level 3 and then says "With this 30 day shred DVD and my diet plan, you'll be shredded in no time."  Well, I had expected to be shredded with just the exercises.  The diet plan should have been mentioned before this.  I wouldn't have followed it anyways, but it would have given me more realistic goals.


Tomorrow I'll get more organized and get the list of exercises going.  11 more days! 

30 day shred, day 17 & 18

I did Level 2 last night around 9pm, and then got up early to do it this morning (5:50am) because today and tonight will be busy.  But I think I'm ready for Level 3!

Last night I did most of the strength exercises, so this morning I did a lot of them without weights.  I'm ready to shake things up, so tomorrow or this weekend I'll try Level 3.  I'm kind of nervous.

 

I looked at myself in the mirror while getting ready this morning, and I'm definitley not shredded.  My husband kind of laughed when I told him I expected more.  "You can't expect to be shredded in 30 days honey."  Well, Jillian said I would!  He then said "You did say you lost 1/2 a pound!"  I didn't have the heart to tell him I had gained it back.

 

I do see more definition in my arms, perhaps a little in my abs, but that's about it.  I'm able to do 20 girl pushups, without a problem, so I know I've got more muscle, I just can't see it.  And the rest of my body looks the same.  Kind of disappointing.  I know you are all thinking "But muscle weighs more than fat, so you lost fat and gained muscle!  I'm sure you look a ton better!"  Really, I don't.  I still had to jump into the jeans I wore yesterday (seriously, I was in my bedroom jumping to get them pulled up).  They certainly weren't loose and they almost became shredded!

30 day shred, day 16

Cheater cheater brownie eater!  I can hear you chanting that, because some how you KNOW!  You KNOW that I skipped yesterday.  What'd I do?  Had a little pity party for myself, which didn't end until 9pm tonight.  Kept on eating all day, but pulled myself out of the slump after 2ish brownies and a big sugar cookie.  But after eating that, I decided I needed to jump back on the wagon.
My sugar filled, bloated belly could only handle level 1 today, and I did feel like puking a few times, but I got through it (not real puking MOM, just being funny).  


I'm hoping to get a run in tomorrow, to run further from this slump!

30 day shred, day 15

HALF WAY THERE!!!  WHoot Whoot!!!

Level: 2

Date: December 11, 2011

Time of exercise: 5:15pm

Qty (each strength is done twice):

walking pushups:  5, 4  

squat and row:  14, 14*
medium grip row w/

static lunge:    23, 16
pendulum lunges w/ 

hammer curl**:  31, 28

military press w/

leg extension:  15 ,7*

chair squat w/

v fly lift  :     23, 15

weight: -.5 lbs 

* - didn't complete the strength for the whole time allotted 

** - due to my bad, crackling knees, I won't do the lunges.

Notes:  I'm half way there!  In 15 days I'm going to have abs!!  :)

My husband must have known it was my halfway point because he had sugar cookies waiting when I got home from my 4 mile run.  I ate one before these exercises, which wasn't probably the best idea, but it sure was good!  

It's a bit early to be thinking about this, but I think for my maintenance (after these next 15 days), I'll do these exercises on my days I don't run.  I've signed up for a marathon in May, so it would be hard to be doing this after or before a 20 mile training run!

30 day shred, day 14

Level: 2

Date: December 10, 2011

Time of exercise: 6:45am

Qty (each strength is done twice):

walking pushups:  5, 4  

squat and row:  14, 14* - only 2 more on this second set to finish
medium grip row w/

static lunge:    23, 16
pendulum lunges w/ 

hammer curl**:  31, 28

military press w/

leg extension:  15 ,13* - only 3 left on this second set to finish

chair squat w/

v fly lift  :     23, 15*

weight: -.5 lbs 

* - didn't complete the strength for the whole time allotted 

** - due to my bad, crackling knees, I won't do the lunges.

Notes:  I burned 155 calories today doing this 25 minute exercise DVD.  Not bad!  I wasn't too far off with what I thought.  My kids were up all throughout the night, and I finally gave up lying in bed at 6am, so I managed to get in 3.1 miles of running before this.  It seemed tiring to do these exercises, but I also did them last night around 9pm, so it was less than 12 hours ago!  I need to be more consistent when I do these so I'm not doing them so close together.
Lots to do today (we're cutting down our Christmas tree!), so I'm signing off.

Allison

30 day shred, day 11, 12 & 13!

I'm back!!
I took a little over a week off (because even after 7 days, I could still feel a little twinge in my ab muscle, so I played it safe).  I felt in great shape to start this up again (2 days at Level 1 to ease into it, and then today at Level 2).  Apparently ALL my exercises comes in waves because I only ran once during my 10 day Jillian Michaels hiatus.
The good news is that I lost a half pound during that time! No idea how because that covered Thanksgiving and eating out for three days straight while I was in Cali.

I couldn't start blogging 2 days ago when I started this up because my internet was down and just came up today.  I never realized how much we used the internet.  Way too much really, but it's hard to finish up Christmas shopping without it (last year I probably did 85% of my Christmas shopping online, this year I'm closer to 60%).

But I have really exciting news!  Exciting for me anyways.  While in California, some parts of Michigan got a great big covering of snow.  My cell is on the phone list, so I got a call at 3am telling me that my kids didn't have school.  Doh!  I tried to get back to bed, but I couldn't.  I started surfing the internet and I came across the product from BodyMedia.  It's a band that you put on your left arm (I'm sure you can use your right) and you wear it 23 hours of the day.  It measures how many calories you burn a day, how many steps you've taken, how much moderate and vigorous activity you've done, and how many hours you've slept (and how many hours you laid down).  You can also use it to input your calories for the day.  I bought the LINK, which has Bluetooth technology built into it so I can press a button and it will update an app on my phone.  (BodyMedia Link: BodyMedia page , I bought mine online from Costco: Costco's BodyMedia Link  (I'm not a Costco member, so I had to pay an additional $9, but that was a steal compared to what other places were selling it.  I got mine for $179 (plus $9) and it included a year of the website subscription.  My sister-in-law is a member at Costco, but I didn't think she would have enjoyed a phone call that early.)).  Apparently these things are just expensive paper weights if you don't get the subscription to see your activity.  The subscription runs $6.95/month (if you pay for a year) or $12.95 if you pay monthly.

Above is an example of what I see on my iPhone.  The 6 minutes of vigorous activity was the 6 minutes of cardio in Jillian's workout.  Not surprised with how much sleep I get (the website will show when you lay down and when you are sleeping and when you are just laying in bed), but I was surprised with how many steps I took in a day and what they consider Moderate Activity (must be the walking).  I thought I burned roughly 2,000 calories a day, so I was pretty close to that.  Now I just need to eat less!

So that's it for today!  I'll be back to my regular template style tomorrow.  Happy Holidays!!

Allison

P.S.  If I remember tomorrow, I'd be interested in seeing how many calories I burn while doing the Jillian Micheals workout.  I estimated 120 calories for the 25 minutes.

Pausing...

There is a lot to be thankful for this year.  A wonderful, caring husband, great kids, a job I love.  But there is one thing that gets me agitated.  My body is like the body of a 70 year old.  My knees crack, I have sciatic nerve pain, and now, I have a pulled ab muscle.  Never had this problem when I didn't have abs.  Now that I'm trying to get some, they decide that walking pushups are too much for them and they go on strike.  On the bright side (I'm stretching here because I really am upset about it), it's a good time for it.  I'm heading out to California tomorrow morning, so instead of packing the DVD and weights like I planned, I'll leave them here and give my ab a few days to heal.  I haven't tried running yet (was thinking about getting out today, but I may just have another rest day), and hopefully won't have an issue with it when I try in CA.

Keep your up exercises!  And be sure to warm up good!

No JM today

I hope I'm not disappointing anyone, but there will be no Jillian Michaels today.  It's been a busy day, and I'm stuffed with pizza.  My mom probably doesn't want me to puke the pizza on her floor.

I'll get the workout and a run (I hope) in tomorrow!

30 day shred, day 10

Level: 2

Date: November 24, 2011 (turkey day!)

Time of exercise: 9:30am

Qty (each strength is done twice):

walking pushups:    

squat and row: 
dumbbell row w/

static lunge:      
pendulum lunges w/ 

hammer curl**:  

military press w/

leg extension: 

chair squat w/

v fly lift  :     

weight: +2.5 lbs 

* - didn't complete the strength for the whole time allotted 

** - due to my bad, crackling knees, I won't do the lunges.

Notes:  There was no counting exercises today!  I did my workout with my 3 kids, a niece and a nephew.  There was barely enough room to do anything, but we made it through it!  Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

30 day shred, day 9

Level: 2

Date: November 23, 2011

Time of exercise: 5:00pm

Qty (each strength is done twice):

walking pushups:     5, 4

squat and row:   17*, 15*

dumbbell row w/

static lunge:        23, 16

pendulum lunges w/ 

hammer curl**:   31, 28

military press w/

leg extension:  16, 10*

chair squat w/

v fly lift  :      23, 5*

weight: +1.5 lbs 

* - didn't complete the strength for the whole time allotted 

** - due to my bad, crackling knees, I won't do the lunges.

Notes:  Just a real quick note today because I'm ready to start my Thanksgiving vacation!   Even though I only did about 1/2 of the plank exercises yesterday, my abs were still sore today! Hopefully I'll be able to see some abs soon.

Even though I've got crummy knees, I'm thankful for my body and all that it can do.  I ran 2 miles before this at a 8:19 per mile pace!  I felt great.

Happy Turkey Day!

30 day shred, day 8 and level 2!

Level: 2  Oh wow....

Date: November 22, 2011

Time of exercise: 6:05am

Qty (each strength is done twice):

walking pushups:     5, 4

squat and row:   27, 19

dumbbell row w/

static lunge:

pendulum lunges w/ 

hammer curl**:

chair squat w/

v fly lift  :

weight: +1.5 lbs 

* - didn't complete the strength for the whole time allotted 

** - due to my bad, crackling knees, I won't do the lunges.

Notes:  You might notice that, after the first two exercises, I don't have any quantities filled in above.  I did do them, but I was flabbergasted on how much harder this level was, that I forgot to count!  If levels were named by how hard they were, this would be level 250!  This is not a step up from level 1, it's a run, a hop, a skip, a spider man swing, and a superman jump over a building away from level 1.  Wow, is all I can say.

This level has a ton of planks in it.  I hate planks.  I've done yoga and pilates a time or two, but have never stuck with it.  Mainly because it is filled with planks.  I am unable to do them!  I blame it on my three kids and the toll they took on my abs (I guess the real reason is that I've never really worked on my abs so I have no foundation).  I'm looking forward to next week when I will think these are easier!  For the walking pushups, I watched twice and I think I went down about 2 inches into the pushup.  Maybe I can make it 3 inches in a few days :)

In addition to all of the moves involving planking, this also has a lot of strength and cardio that may hurt my knees.  I'm going to take it easy the first few times to see if my knees can do it, otherwise I'll start modifying more than just removing the lunges.  The cardio from level 1 I thought was pretty easy.  I thought it was because, cardio wise, I was in shape.  What a slap in the face it was that I had to rest during cardio this level!

The only thing that made me giggle and pay attention was that Natalie (the person you watch if you want harder exercises) cheated a couple times and it made me laugh.  Jillian caught her one time.

I got up early this morning to do the exercises and I like that.  I didn't have to worry about it later in the day.  Except for I didn't carve enough time out for blogging about this and I forgot to do it last night!  Hence the 5:30am bog this morning.  Stay tuned for my level 2 trek this afternoon!

30 day shred, day 7!

Holy cow!  It's been a week!

Level: 1

Date: November 21, 2011

Time of exercise: 10:00am

Qty (each strength is done twice):

pushups: (girl)     18, 14

squat and press:  15*, 7*

dumbbell row:    15  , 15

static lunge w/ 

bicep curl:           26 , 25

chest Y's:            completed all (didn't count these because I knew I could finish them)

anterior raises w/

static lunge**:        22, 16

weight: +1.5 lbs 

* - didn't complete the strength for the whole time allotted 

** - due to my bad, crackling knees, I won't do the lunges.

Notes:  I got up with the kids this morning (I usually lay in bed until they start yelling for me on Mondays :) and weighed myself.  I was up 1.5 pounds.  Pretty discouraging!  I decided, instead of throwing the Wii remote at the tv (I weigh myself using the Wii Fit scale), I'd just try harder this week.  When I looked at the overall calories burnt last week, I was a few hundred calories below my goal (I try to burn 2,000 calories a week).  I felt like I was exercising a lot, but I guess it wasn't enough.  So I started off the week with Zumba!  What a fun activity to do with friends.  I made up some moves of my own.  I didn't do any of the lunges (my tiny way of saving my knees).  My arms were tired from Zumba, so I really had to focus on getting the reps in this morning.

I enjoy getting these exercises done in the morning because I feel like I've accomplished something and I don't have to think about it later in the day.

Before shredding today, I did Zumba.

30 day shred, day 6

Level: 1

Date: November 20, 2011

Time of exercise: 8:30pm

Qty (each strength is done twice):

pushups: (girl)     18, 14

squat and press:  14*, 10*

dumbbell row:    15  , 15

static lunge w/ 

bicep curl:           26 , 25

chest Y's:            completed all (didn't count these because I knew I could finish them)

anterior raises w/

static lunge**:        23, 18* 

* - didn't complete the strength for the whole time allotted 

** - due to my bad, crackling knees, I won't do the lunges.

Notes:  Are you noticing my '*'s going down?  I am!!  (The * represent the strength exercises that I wasn't able to do the whole time.)  I wish I could say that I feel stronger and more energized, but I really don't notice much of a difference.  I struggled to do pushups for the whole time, but I knew I was only one away last time, so that pushed me through today.  I was wondering if I could do all of the strengths exercises today, but my form started to go bad in my presses, and I don't want to count those.
Tomorrow will be 7 days of Jillian Michaels, so I'll weigh myself and see if I've shredded anything!  I think I'll do a day or two more of Level 1, but I think I'm ready for something new in Level 2.

I plan on doing this every day (I was only home for 5 hours yesterday, with 3 of those hours sleeping, so I didn't have a minute to put towards this), unless I have another day away, or something comes up. I have training next week in California and I plan on bringing the DVDs and weights (I don't think they weight carry ons).  That's dedication :)

Before shredding today, I got in my long run of 6 miles (59 minutes).  That was at 2:30, so I did wait a long time to do these exercises.  I didn't stretch after the run today, so it was nice to get a second chance to do that.
   

30 day shred, day 5

Level: 1

Date: November 18, 2011

Time of exercise: 2:30pm

Qty (each strength is done twice):

pushups: (girl)     18*, 14

squat and press:  14, 5*

dumbbell row:    15  , 15

static lunge w/ 

bicep curl:           26 , 25

chest Y's:            completed all (didn't count these because I knew I could finish them)

anterior raises w/

static lunge**:        18*, 14* 

* - didn't complete the strength for the whole time allotted 

** - due to my bad, crackling knees, I won't do the lunges.

Notes:  Maybe you've noticed (but probably not), but I completed a full set of pushups!  The first set (I did 18), I didn't realize if I did one more I would have done pushups for the time allotted. But the second set I did pushups the whole time!  I'm pretty proud of myself.  Even just after 5 days, they feel easier.
One thing I forgot to note yesterday, was that the presses (squat and press, minus the squat) without the weights were hard.  I thought that was weird.  I wonder if I'll ever be able to both sets if it's hard without weights?

I enjoy working out earlier in the day, because my evenings can now be filled with wine and good company (hi mom and Rachelle!).  I may be on my 3rd....or 4th glass, so I better cut this short now!

One last thing.  I am leaving for Chicago for all day tomorrow.  I won't be back until after 11pm, so I know I'm not going to get a workout in (Meredith, please don't cry!).  I don't plan on having day 6 without exercise, so my day 6 will be on Sunday.  Stay tuned until then (and thanks for reading :)

30 day shred, day 4

1. I'm so tired
2. I ate McDonalds and now I feel sluggish
3. I think I'm getting a headache
4. I can barely keep my eyes open
5. I started my period
6. Just a quick nap first
7. I'm already in my pjs
8. I'm still a little sore
9. The kids are still up

Level:  1

Weights: none today

Date: November 17, 2011

Time of exercise: 8:30pm 

Qty (each strength is done twice):

pushups: (girl)     15*, 10*

squat and press:  -, -

dumbbell row:    -,-

static lunge w/ 

bicep curl**:       -, -

chest Y's:            -

anterior raises w/

static lunge**:        -, - 

* - didn't complete the strength for the whole time allotted 

** - due to my bad, crackling knees, I won't be doing the lunges

Notes:  Above are all of the excuses that went through my head after dinner.  So what did I do?  I went upstairs and reluctantly put on my sports bra (tho I was still wearing my pajamas, "You're shredding in your pajamas?" asked my husband).  I can rest later. (though this decision looks easy here, it was a hard one to come by!  I didn't want to become a failure on day 4)

I don't think I have ever worked out 4 days in a row, so I shouldn't have been surprised when my mind was like "What?!?!"  But now that it's done, I'm glad I did it.  Guess what I would have been doing instead of exercising?  Sitting on the couch with the rest of my children's halloween candy I'm sure.  There may be more silver lining in this daily exercise than I thought!

Like I mentioned yesterday, I decided not to use weights today.  I'm not nearly as sore today as I had been, so a nice, lightweight workout was what I needed.

30 day shred, day 3

OUCH!!  It's been a long time since I've been sore.

Level:  1

Weights: 4 lbs

Date: November 16, 2011 (Happy Birthday Eli!)

Time of exercise: 7:50pm 

Qty (each strength is done twice):

pushups: (girl)     10*, 9*

squat and press:  8*, 5*

dumbbell row:    15  , 15

static lung w/ 

bicep curl**:       26 , 25

chest Y's:            completed all (didn't count these because I knew I could finish them)

anterior raises w/

static lunge**:        15*, 5* 

* - didn't complete the strength for the whole time allotted 

** - due to my bad, crackling knees, I won't be doing the lunges

Notes:  First of all, working out last night at 9:30 was not a good idea.  I looked at the clock the last time at 12:19am.  So, of course, 6:20 came too early this morning.  I could also feel my chest being sore while lying in bed.  There will definitely be an early bed time tonight!

Picture a tube top with cap sleeves on it.  That is where I'm sore.  I barely made it past the warm up today!  Jillian says "If you feel like you are doing to die, follow Anita."  I followed Anita the whole session.  I think tomorrow I may do it without any weights to give my muscles a little rest.  I love feeling my abs sore though!  I'm kind of considering taking a before and after picture of my mid section to see if I can tell a difference.  I'm scared I'll be disappointed if I don't see any results though. 

Unfortunately, I could feel more pain in my knees, so I took out all the lunges.  I need to find a way to work my butt now.  Any suggestions?

Before shredding today, I had to get in a weekly run (I usually try for 3 times a week to run).  I ran 4 miles in 36:34, ate dinner, helped put the kids to bed, and then started the shred. 

Thank you all for following me!  I wouldn't have done this workout today if it wasn't for you! So THANK YOU!

30 day shred, day 2

Day 2:  A little sore in my pecs. Guess even  a few pushups count!  Decided to let my stomach rest after dinner by watching Glee and then shredding afterwards. When I told my husband about this, he says "That should be easy."  Easy never crossed my mind!

Let's get this official!  Here's my template for the next 30 days.

Level: (Jillian has three levels) 1

Date: November 15, 2011

Time of exercise: 9:30pm - this was way to late, cuz now I'm wide awake; started running at 9pm

(there's probably some way to put a table in here, but I can't find it real quick right now)

Qty (each strength is done twice):

pushups: (girl)     15*, 13*

squat and press:  15*, 10*

dumbbell row:    15  , 15

static lung w/ 

bicep curl:           26 , 25

chest Y's:            completed all (didn't count these because I knew I could finish them)

anterior raises w/

static lunge**:        15*, 10* 

* - didn't complete the strength for the whole time allotted 

** - due to my bad, crackling knees, I can't do the lunge.  This is the exercise that was the straw that broke the camels back, but in this case, the lunge that broke my knee and sent me to physical therapy for 6 weeks.

Notes:  All weights today were done with a 2 - 4 lb weights (one for each hand).  I know!  I'm a weakling!  I hadn't felt my abs at all today, but when I started doing the crunches, they felt a little sore.  Good for me!  Before doing the shred today, I walked 5 minutes, ran 15, and then walked 5 for a total of 2.2 miles.  Felt a little sore when doing the push ups and maybe that was the reason I let myself stop.

Background:  I'm a runner, and have always been a runner.  Occasionally I have done kickboxing or step aerobics, or some other hot-off-the-press aerobics fad (P90x), but have never stuck with it.  I've stuck with running (for most of the time anyways).  About 2 years after my third son was born, I had to go to physical therapy for my knee (see Notes above).  I took some time off of running, and my knee stopped crackling when I walked up and down the stairs.  As soon as I started up again, the crackling came back.  Now, within the last 2 months, my knee kind of pops when it's extended (think walking stairs, but not running because I must not fully extend my leg when I run).  This doesn't hurt at all when all of these noises are going on, but today I noticed a little bit of a very, very slight pain.  I didn't think much of it, but when I started doing the lunges again today, it made me wonder if that little, slight pain was from the lunges that I did yesterday.  When I was doing the lunges again today, I felt that slight pain again, so I may have to take lunges out of the mix all together.  I'd rather save my knees for the few years of running that I have left :(

Anything you want to do for 30 days?  Tell me about it and let's do it together!

30 day shred

Jillian Michaels promises "dramatic weight loss and body definition in only 30 days" with her 30 Day Shred DVD  (http://30dayshreddvd.com).  Jillian Michaels and I have a love/hate relationship.  Pretty much I hate her DVD.  I love that it is only 20 minutes.  I dusted off the DVD case yesterday and wondered if I could really do it 30 days in a row.
Her DVD consists of warm up, then 3-2-1 intervals (3 minutes strength, 2 minutes cardio, and 1 minute abs, repeated 3 times), finally cool down.

I decided why not give it a try and blog about it while I'm doing it!
I've got my weight measured, so let's see how "dramatic" this is.

Day 1:  Fit in 20 minutes while Bryson was napping.  Hud joined me for awhile.  It was actually fun.  I did 15 push ups (on my knees!) the first round and only 8 the next (pretended that Hudson needed help with something).

Conference #1

Since we had Carson's conference first, I'll dedicate this blog to the start of his 2nd grade year.  Next week, we'll see about Hudson!

Carson started off the school year a little resistant.  He had told me all year how he wanted Mrs. R for 2nd grade.  After talking with a few parents, I was told all 2nd grade teachers were wonderful this year, so I left it up to the school to decide.  His two best friends were in Mrs. R's class, as well as a ton of other names I recognized.  After reading him his class list, he quietly went and sat back in the car.  From that moment on (this was about 2 weeks before school started), he never talked about school (and for Carson not to talk, you know that's odd!).  We went and met his teacher, which ended up being kind of quick because she was talking with a talkative parent.
Why in the world was I worried?  After the first week, he had stories about all of the kids that he was playing with, and he was able to see his two BFFs at recess.
It got me thinking to his 1st grade year and how we had his teacher look up her recess schedule to see if theirs overlapped with his BFF from kindergarten who was in another class.  He ended up with different BFFs in his class at the end of the year and it couldn't have gone any smoother.
How could I forget what an easy going, play with everyone type of boy I am raising? And based on his conference a couple of days ago, his teacher couldn't agree more!

Here's C with his best class friend who, coincidentally, had the same costume!

Mrs. N said that Carson is always the first one done with his work, always keeps his desk clean (they take time out on Fridays to clean their desks, if they are clean, they get to go play), and has the highest points in the reading comprehension tests (the kids take tests after reading the books and you get .5 - 1 point for each book).  My conclusion?  Carson likes to play.  Why not learn the material so you can get done faster?  Why not keep your desk clean all of the time so you can play for the time that is allotted for others to clean their desk?  Why not read little kid books so you can get more points?  Oh. Wait.  He's a little sneaky too!  At the beginning of the year, he started reading kindergarten & first grade level books, which he could read a couple during library time and take the tests to get the points (it made me wonder why he had checked out a book that we already had at home).  The teacher caught on quickly enough and made him take a week off of the tests and is making him read grade level or higher books.  He now enjoys reading chapter books ("MOM!  The hamster was in the closet!") which is wonderful.

His kryptonite?  Music class.  Not so good of a review.  How do you not even get satisfactory in music class?  Ta ta tee tee ta.  The teacher even said that all you had to do was move your lips and pretend to sing.  So I've got to follow up with her.

I've very proud of my oldest son and the young man he is becoming.  I'd totally buy him a "Plays Well with Others" shirt and maybe a "Mom is so Proud of Me" shirt.  :)

Ten

Ten things you may not know about me (in no particular order):

1. I hate removing fingernail polish, so...
2. ...my toes are almost always painted.  My pedicures last MONTHS!
3. I wholeheartedly enjoy having only boys.  I can't even figure out how to do my own hair most days.
4. I sleep with my comforter over my head.  I sometimes only have a small spot opening for my mouth/nose to breath.
5. I am SO jealous of the average height women who can go to almost any department store and buy a fabulous outfit.  Even corporations that have tall sizes, don't have them in the store!  Apparently they think tall women are hermits and not allowed out of their houses.
6. My favorite color used to be blue.  But now that my house is overflowing with blue (and testosterone), it has switched to purple.  In the past, I never liked to wear purple, only admired it, but now I even have some purple shirts.
7. (this may not surprise you) I grew up as a tomboy: riding motorcycles, sprees, lawn mowers, go carts, building forts in the woods, flinging kids off the back of snowmobiles, washing cars, doing oil changes, and I wouldn't have it any other way.  The first time I went to an oil change place was when I started my job at Consumers and bought my Grand Prix GTP (yes, I paid extra for the bigger horsepower!).
8. I LOVE dancing!!
9. I despise gardening.
10. I don't have Facebook on my phone. 

Basford Lake and other summer fun

Mike and I realize that our children are small and don't want to be running from one attraction to another, so, each year, we like to take a week on a lake and just relax.  This summer we took the family to Basford Lake, a non-motorized lake in Baldwin.  Across the road was Big Star Lake, which is a motorized lake, so we had the best of both worlds.
We spent the week going on bike rides, eating ice cream, fishing, sea dooing, rowing, paddle boating...

Not a dock that I would want to walk out onto!  

Lots of hooks flying.

The kids had a blast.  Carson wanted to stay there forever, until I reminded him that he would still need to go to school, we would still need to work, etc.  Then he was ok with leaving at the end of the trip.  The hardest part of the week for me was no cell service!  I managed  tho :)

Let's see.  What else have we done this summer.

Most recently I brought the boys to the Coast Guard Festival in Grand Haven.  It was my sister's birthday and she likes to do this each year.  This year we didn't last long.  After the picture above was taken and after we ate our corn dogs, it started POURING!  Mom, dad, and Rachelle decided to stay and check out the sale goods, while I booked it back to the car with the kids.
Later that week, we spent the day with Rachelle at a waterpark in Madison Heights. It was cloudy and sprinkle filled day, but the kids didn't notice (Rachelle and I were freezing at times).

We went to the Jackson Hot Air Jubilee, caught fireflies, and had sack races.  It has been a very eventful summer!!  While I'm sad that the dog days of summer have ended, I'm excited for the start of the school year and the kids meeting their teachers.  I'm excited for the new opportunities!

Chi town, here we come!

I have a few friends in Chicago, but this visit was dedicated to seeing Jessica!  Jessica was my favorite college roommate.  We roomed (with 4 other girls!) for 2 years together.  We did all sorts of fun stuff, including dancing to music in front of our apartment to celebrate the end of school, hysterically baking a cake for another roommate, and making tacos once a week.  About a year and a half ago, she moved to Chicago (used to live on East side of Michigan so it was a lot easier to get together), and I was over due for a visit.  Carson had never been on a train before, so I decided to take him with me on the Amtrak. Theoretically it sounded good.

Jessica and I at Navy Pier (great picture taken by Carson)

Carson doesn't need a car seat any more; doesn't throw fits (much) when he's tired or hungry; and is a great listener.  Exactly what I needed for a traveling companion.  We left Friday afternoon, thinking we were going to arrive in Chicago around 4pm.  For some reasons or another, we ended up in Chicago at 6:15 (Chicago time).  It was a LONG train ride.  We were stopped multiple times and there are apparently new speed restrictions on part of the track.  We then boarded the Metra train (Carson was adamant about sitting on top of this double decker train, so a lot of passengers got their legs hit by our luggage) and ended up in our finally destination at 7:30.

My traveling buddy Carson

We spent Saturday site seeing Chicago (Millennium Park, Lego store, Hershey store, Cheesecake factory, Navy Pier, McDonalds!) and getting plenty of exercise (so, of course, we had to counteract the exercise with ice cream and cheesecake).  Jessica and Brian were great tour guides.  James, their toddler, had plenty of play time with Carson.
I'm definitely not going to let another year and a half go by before I see Jessica again.  This weekend reminded me again about what a great friend she is and how fun she is to be around.

No Words Wednesday