Training Thursdays

Ok all, we've decided hijack Thursdays and make them all about TRAINING!!!  For the next few weeks (at least) I will be focusing on my triathlon training.  In case you  missed my post, I'm doing a Sprint Triathlon on July 28th.  I'm a much stronger cyclist than I was when I competed in my first triathlon, so I'm not worried about that part of it.  Swimming, doesn't concern me too bad, but running might be my demise.  All that being said, most sprint training schedules are 8 weeks.  Since I only have 4 weeks to train, I've taken an 8 week schedule and modified it to what I need... I'm still going to train in all 3 events and we will see what happens.

You might notice that on my training plan, Tuesdays are strength training days, and Fridays are my "rest" days.  Let me just stop right here and point out how important it is to have both of those days in your training.

Strength Training
Strength training days help you focus on muscles and areas of your body that aren't being worked out in bike rides, runs or swims... It can help increase your speed and endurance while decreasing the risk of injury!  I know you all probably think that running, swimming and biking works all of your muscles, but the reality is, those specific sports only target the large muscles and maybe some smaller muscle groups, but strength training, you can focus on those smaller muscle groups, thus helping to have much better overall health.  Now, there is much more to strength training than just weights, but I'll cover that in another post. :)

Rest
Um... you've been working your body out really hard, it's time to REST!!!!  Your muscles (and mind) need a little time to recover!  If you work and work and work, with no rest, you will burn out mentally and physically, and you also increase your risk for injury!  I'm a huge fan of rest days... not because I don't have to work out, but because I know that if I rest, then my workouts will actually be much stronger!!

Brick workouts
Another thing you will notice about my training plan is that many days it says "Swim 45 Run 30" or something like that.  Since triathlons are multisport, we must train with that mentality.  Some days you only train in one area of endurance, but ultimately you will want to train in multiple areas so you build your endurance!  Again, I'll probably write an entire post on this as well, at a later point in time.

All that said, here is my training schedule.  I don't recommed doing this one if you aren't already somewhat fit.  If you are training for your first tri, I highly reccommend doing an 8 week training program.  My favorite is Hal Higdeon, and you can find his training schedule here.  He has a whole bunch of training schedules for different events (click here to see an entire list of training programs)

Enjoy this and happy training!  I'll "see ya on the road"

Week	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
1	Run 30	Strength	Bike 45, Strength	Swim 30 Run 25	Rest	Run 30 Min	Swim 30 Run 30
2	Bike 40 Run 15	Strength	Swim 15 Run 30	Run 30 Strength	Rest	Run 35	Swim 30 Bike 60
3	Run 35	Strength	Bike 40 Strength	Swim 30 Run 30	Rest	Run 40	Swim 30 Run 40
4	Bike 30 Run 30	Strength	Swim 30 Run 30	Run 30	Rest	Rest	Triathlon

Happy 1st official day of summer

Well, on this first day of summer, I did something that now I'm going to be held accountable for... I signed up for my 2nd Triathlon!!!  I did my first triathlon in 2010, i had never really ridden a road bike, I couldn't run to save my life, and I hadn't swam really since high school.  Now, 3 years later, I am a cyclist, still can't run to save my life, and I can swim so much better!  Training for my first triathlon is what got me started in cycling.  I LOVE IT!!!

So, I signed up for the Music City Triathlon on July 28th.  It's a 400 yard swim, 12 mile bike and 5K.  I'm currently dealing with a quad injury, but I know I'll be able train for this (even though it's 5 weeks away)... really, the only part that worries me is the 5K... I know that my partner in crime Annie, will give me tips and tricks for running, now that she's a half-marathon runner!

My first triathlon, I didn't have a goal for time.... I just wanted to finish!  and I finished in 2:16... This time, I do have a timeframe I'd like to finish in, and I think I can do it... of course I'll blog about it after the fact.

So, some of my posts over the next few weeks will be focused on training for this triathlon..

Never done one before?  you should TRI!!!! (see what I did there?)

Stacee

Annie's Journey, Part 3: Becoming A Beach Babe!

Hello my friends!

It's been a few months since my last full post and during that time I have gone through a huuuge transformation not only physically but mentally.

In recent posts (Part 1 & Part 2) I've shared a lot about how I have physically transformed myself into becoming a better me.  I've worked hard to lose weight and I've worked hard to gain endurance and mileage in my Half Marathon training.  BOTH of those are a huge part of who I am today, what I know about my "limits" and what can happen when I push them.  (I'll be doing a future post about my last Half Marathon and how I killed it!)

This 3rd section of my journey, which brings us to where I am today, actually started waaaaay back in November of 2012.  Like many of us, I was feeling the effects of too much holiday grub and being at Grandma's house! (treats everywhere!) I was feeling mushy and hadn't really been working out hard since the Half Marathon at the beginning of the month.  Granted, I was involved with a Christmas show, Beauty and the Beast, so I was active and working but not taking the time to build and train new muscle.

I had been following 2 girls on twitter for a while but hadn't really looked into what they did until one week right after Thanksgiving.  All of a sudden, Twitter "blew up" with tweets about a special Black Friday offer they had released.  Curiosity got the better of me and I checked it out.  It was an offer to join a team of women across the world and have life time access to a Nutrition plan that genuinely looked great! It was geared towards fueling your body to not only burn fat but also how to gain lean strong muscle.  With the deal came their own workout DVD, a water bottle (we all need more of those!), stickers, a hat, a journal, and a sample packet of a protein powder they had developed themselves.  These girls looked legit! But priced at $150, it was out of my range.  I sat on the offer for a couple days but as the deadline loomed near, I got anxious I was missing out on something incredible.  That night I went to the parents....

"Mom... Dad... there's these two girls who have this nutrition plan and they're having a special deal with extra goodies.... Can I have this be my one Christmas present?"

After showing them some videos and more information, I got my wish.  Santa came early!

I joined Karena & Katrina and the rest of the Tone it Up! family!!

I officially started the Nutrition plan on Jan 1st 2013 and there was a lot of trial and error on which recipes worked for me, exactly what things were, and when you were supposed to eat them.  Slowly but surely I started feeling better about what I was eating and my body was showing results through how it was feeling.  I had more energy and I felt better all around.

One of the things I really appreciate about the TIU program, is they are constantly bringing new things to the table.  It's just, buy the plan, here are some workouts, GO!  They have challenges throughout the year to keep you motivated.  The first challenge I was a part of was the Love Your Body Challenge gearing up towards Valentine's Day.  It was a great way to "up" my workouts and really start building muscle with a set workout schedule and help along the way.  I did have to sway away from it towards the end, as my next Half Marathon loomed closer and I needed to bring up my mileage.  But that race was a turning point in my own personal race goals because I had been doing so much strength training with the girls.

Fast forward to Spring of 2013.

Karena and Katrina announced the start of their 3rd annual Bikini Series Challenge! Who doesn't want to look amazing in a bikini??
I signed up the first day and was so excited for the next 8 weeks of workouts and challenges.  Lemme tell you..  it flew by fast!! It was tough, for sure.  There were a lot of days I could barely move my arms or pick up my legs to get me to work, but it was so worth it.  There were also days, I didn't make good choices on food and the last week of school was killer with all the parties happening in the classes and break rooms.  BUT I do know that I have made an incredible difference in my body since finding TIU.  I have muscles in my arms that have NEVER been visible before!  There are also times during a workout where I'll glance down at my legs and be utterly amazed at the muscle tone I've built up.  I've leaned my legs out with running but as far as muscle building, TIU has improved my strength by leaps and bounds.

I still have work to do as far as becoming confident in wearing a bikini but I know that I am literally a stronger person since signing up with these ladies.  The Bikini Series has officially come to an end today but I intend to continue the workouts and keep my goals in place.  I owe it to myself and to my body to treat it the best I can and I've gained confidence in knowing my good choices are affecting the rest of my life.   I'm incredibly thankful to Karena and Katrina for starting the Tone it Up program and bringing it to all of us.  Through it, I've met so many amazing women from around the world and am now lucky enough to call them friends.

If you want to know more about the Tone it Up program and the Nutrition plan check them out at Toneitup.com  They also have a community site where you can check in, blog your progress, share recipes, and meet new people. Both of these are FREE to sign up with! The $150 price I talked about was for lifetime access to the Nutrition plan which is updated and added to very often.  I think I have about 6 additional bundles plus the newest version of the entire plan.  It's worth every penny!

I hope that you guys all have an excellent rest of your week.  Get out and do something active! 

Your Beach Babe,

Good Bye Spring, Hello Summer!

Hey everyone! 

Long time, no see! I've been gearing up to wind down the school year and have officially finished my 2nd year teaching 4th, 5th, and 6th graders! (I teach music, art, and sometimes drama) It's flown by and this year held many new opportunities that wouldn't have been available had I not been living an active lifestyle.  Not only was I able to be the main event coach for one of my schools (had some of the kids advance pretty far in the district meets!), but I was also able to pick up a PE position for next year!  I'll be doing double duty teaching Music/Art and then I get to run out to the field to switch gears and teach outdoor activities. It's going to busy but it should also be really fun :) 

Now that I'm on summer vacation I have many, many posts I want to share with you guys on what I've been doing since my intro. Not a whole lot has changed per say but it has definitely been charged up!! It's been great, especially the last 8 weeks! But you have to wait for that haha 

I hope everyone is enjoying their last week of spring, Summer is almost here!! 

I'll leave you with a shot I took of my morning run today. Gorgeous view of Morro Rock about halfway through our 3 miles, of course the running was in between stopping to dig up huge sand dollars that were EVERYWHERE! Haha it was a great way to wake up. 

Have a great week ahead! 

Push through - find your motivation!

As I write this, I'm craving some foods that I haven't craved in a long time.  Today was a day of tougher choices- I had 2 things in front of me for breakfast- cereal or egg... 2 things for a snack - M&Ms or an orange.  It was hard today to choose the orange, but I did.  Why?  because I know it is worth it!

This past week, I bought pants in a size that I haven't seen since junior high.  TALK ABOUT MOTIVATION!  As I did that, I realized that I needed to re-visit my motivations.  I'm motivated by the Word of the Lord, my friends, purchasing smaller clothes, faster times when exercising, reaching levels in exercise that I've never reached before (I squatted more weight this week than ever before too...)


As I stood on the scale last week, and again this week, I have not seen it go down in number, and while I had a moment of discouragement, but then I looked at my mirror and saw a quote from a book called Made to Crave by Lysa TerKeurst (if you haven't read this book, I highly recommend it).  The phrase I have written on my mirror is this: "Define your week by obedience, not by a number on the scale."  This basically means - did I stick to what I'm supposed to do this week?  If so, this week was a success, regardless of the number on the scale.  So, even though I haven't lost any weight these past 2 weeks, I have stuck to my diet, and (for the most part) diligent to exercise (could have done this more), but I purchased pants in a size smaller and squatted more weight than ever- therefore, it was a successful couple of weeks.

Let me encourage you, don't stress over the number on the scale.  "We can step on the scale and accept the numbers for what they are - an indication of how much our body weighs - and not an indication of our worth." (Made to Crave)

Motivation comes from much more than just seeing the scale go down (don't get me wrong, that is encouraging but it isn't what we should "hang our hat on"), it comes from reaching new milestones in your health journey.

It's worth it!

Find the "why" behind your "what", and the the "how" will come.

Hey guys-

Stacee here-

I've been racking my brain trying to decide what to post first, and while I am going to cover a lot of things, including gluten, I felt like I needed to start with 2 passions of mine- cycling and Jesus. Please don't stop reading just because of the name of Jesus. He is a major part of my health story. As I wrote in my first post, I was almost 200 lbs in high school. I was able to drop some of that through my college years, but I still was never happy. I lost my "why". This past year, I've started the journey again on finding it...

Weight-loss starts in the mind and spirit. You must get to a place where you are determined beyond all doubt that you will stick to it. I never, truly, had that determination. It wasn't until my mindset was changed that i started losing the weight. For years, I told people that I was giving my weight-loss/health journey to The Lord, but that was a lie. I never really thought that God cared about the small things in my life like health. Here's the thing... HE DOES!!!! He has created our bodies to function at a certain weight and way. When I finally realized that, and asked God what weight HE wanted me to be at, the journey became so much easier! And, knowing that "number", actually freed me from the scale! It became a journey towards health, not just a nice body. Now, don't get me wrong, I am still concerned about the number and what I look like, but it doesn't consume my thoughts. Honestly, I'm still struggling through this, but I am trusting The Lord to help me with this.

The other thing that really helped to kick start my journey is finding something that I loved that would give me a good cardio workout... CYCLING!!!! Y'all, I'm obsessed with it. In 2010 I participated in my first triathlon, and when training in the cycling portion, i got sucked in!! It has sucked living in the south where it is could during the winter (unlike so cal), so I haven't been able to ride all winter, but, I just rode for the first time this spring! My heart is so happy! I did 5.5 miles and it was great fun! I could tell that I got a little it of shape this winter, because hills were way harder than I remembers in the fall... :) cycling provides a time for me to spend some good time with Jesus. I take to the back country roads of Tennessee, iPod in my ears and I just ride. It's glorious, and sometimes, I forget I am working out. The great thing about cycling is that there is so much to learn about it and how to improve (sorry-another bunny trail, I'll save that for another post).

I guess the point of this post is this: you have to find the "why" behind the "what", and the "how" will follow. Far too often, we jump straight to the "how will I accomplish this" instead, we need to first figure out they "why" behind our journey to health. For me, it is about way more than just getting to a "good number" or fitting into a certain size; it is about complete whole-ness (mind, body, spirit). I'm finding out my "why" even now. I've been going through a small period of time where I have had practically no motivation, but The Lord is gracious in helping me, I've been able to identify quite a few mindsets that have been preventing me from attaining the health .. (I'll cover all my "how's" in another post). Over the past 3 weekends, I've run two 5k races and the weather finally started cooperating and I was able to get out on my bike this past weekend and did 21 miles!!! These past 3 weeks (and nice weather) has kick-started a flame within me again to get out and exercise!!

Here's the deal-
God loves you so much, so much that He became man in Jesus Christ, He lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died, in our place. Three days later, He rose from the dead, proving that He is the Son of God and offering the gift of salvation for all who repent and believe the gospel.

Because of that, if we accept Jesus and submit our lives to Him, then we will succeed. I'm not promising a life of ease when you accept The Lord, but I am promising that you will never be alone, no matter what journey you are on. This journey towards health has not been easy but I have comfort in knowing that I am not alone in it. Not only do I have The Lord but He has also brought great friends, like Annie, along side of me to walk (or run) this journey with me.

Be encouraged though. You are not on this journey alone... Please contact us if we can help you in any way (mind, body or spirit).

Annie's Journey, Part 2: How I became a Runner

Hi Guys!

Hope you all have had a fabulous week so far, it's Friday!!!

Today I'm going to go into how I became a runner. As I'm sure you've picked up from previous posts, I have no Athletic background. In fact, I'd classify myself as a band geek and theater nerd LOL but that's another story.

If there's one thing you figure out about me, it's that I LOVE Disney! Yup, I'm that girl. I will do anything if it has some tie in to Disney... including running.

I'm going to back up a bit and tell u a little of my running background before all this.
But wait! You just said you weren't athletic!
You're right, I'm not. Haha but I did for one year in high school decide that I was going to join Track and Field.
I actually "trained" for Track and Field by joining a club cross country team that my friend's dad coached. I definitely got in shape but I gave out minimal effort and was always the last to finish. Everything. When T&F season hit, I was pretty much over it after a coach (specifically my high jump coach at the school) showed little effort in helping me or anyone else actually succeed in the event. He had more interest in being on the phone with his business during practice than dealing with us. After the school year ended I said good bye to sports and advanced in my music, theater, and art classes.

Fast forward to January 2012. My cousin who's an avid runner had asked me numerous times before if I wanted to ever go running with her. Usually my answer was a laugh and a polite no. By this time I had lost the weight and was feeling pretty good, but I had also noticed that I didn't have any muscle definition. The diet had melted away a lot of my muscle mass with the fat. This is a normal reaction when your body drops weight, which is why it's important to combine BOTH diet and exercise.
One day i got a text from her saying that she needed a driving buddy down to Orange County. She had signed up for the inaugural Tinkerbell Half Marathon! Promising me that it wasn't a trick to get me to run she asked if I would go down with her and check out the expo at the hotel before her other running buddy arrived. All the while full well knowing I'd have a hard time passing up a chance to experience something new at Disneyland. She hooked me.

If you want to see photos from the Tinkerbell Half, I have a similar post on my Disney blog here

Long story short, I was completely sucked in to the whole RunDisney movement that weekend.  Even though I wasn't running, everything, including the expo, was extremely exciting and all the merchandise... all the merchandise!  Did I mention the medals?!

The morning of the race my cousin had to be at the start line suuuuuuuper early in the morning.  With Disney races, the entire race route in the parks has to be cleared and cleaned before the parks open to the public.  Disneyland opens at 8am.   Disneyland park is not the start line.  This means crazy early call times!
We had set up a system where she would text me when she got within a couple miles of the finish.  Standing there watching all the runners come through the finish line before her was so inspiring! I saw a lot of people that looked like my level of fitness finishing the race! Not only were they finishing at a great time, they were finishing with huge smiles on their faces!

It was at that point I said to myself.... "If they can do it.... why couldn't I?"


That was all it took.


The next month the 2012 Disneyland Half Marathon registration opened up and I was among the 17,000 runners who signed up.  A few weeks later, I joined a local running club, got my feet fitted for the right shoes, and worked my booty off training for my upcoming Half Marathon which was months away in September.

It was one of the most fulfilling days of my life when I crossed that finish line.  It changed me.  It changed the way I feel about myself, the way I fuel my body with food for training, and the way my body works and feels now.  I honestly can say that Disney - RunDisney specifically - changed my life.

I wrote up a post on that day.  You can check it out here: Disneyland Half Marathon 2012

I hope that this post inspired some of you on getting into shape or finding something that you're passionate about.  Fitness doesn't have to be going to the gym and facing miles on a treadmill in the same 4 x 4 square all year long.  Find something that you enjoy doing and work your fitness into that!

I think I'm stuck on RunDisney races for the rest of my life LOL My same cousin and I are planning a year's worth of Disney races for 2013! It includes the Coast to Coast challenge (Disneyland and WDW) and hopefully the Dumbo Double Dare challenge at Disneyland. Can't wait!!


Hope you all have a great week and let's work to stay inspired!

What got you started getting in shape?