Eat More Eggs Eat More Chicken Be More Sore

WOW! A lot has been going on in the past few days. I guess I'll start at the beginning. Four years ago I presented the idea to start a 5k for our district to our Education Foundation. With a small committee of two other people we started a tradition. This past Saturday was our fourth annual 5k. It takes a lot of planning, but is a great event. All of our walkers and runners came crossed the finish line in under and hour. Pretty good especially since this was our hilliest course.

Later on Saturday I went to a graduation party for the son of a very special friend. I remember going to the hospital the day this boy was born. He is now a graduate. It was great seeing friends and catching up a bit. I do have to say (and you all know how this is...eventually we have to talk about the food)those southwest chicken eggrolls....YUMMO! And the graduation cake??? DELISH!!! Don't worry I had talked in advance with trainer about this. It was approved.

Sunday was a hectic day. Running errands in the morning and then preparing for the graduation of a very special girl. In November of 1993 I became a nanny for Emily. She was six months old. When I took this job I thought it was just a job. I had no idea it would change my life. I stayed with the Emily until she was three and a half and I needed to decide what I was going to be when I grew up. However, I continued to have contact with Emily and her family. Emily and I went to the petting zoo and lunch, movies and lunch, the mall. I stayed with her when her parents took a rare opportunity to go out of town for a weekend. Even as she grew older and I figured she would want nothing more to do with me...we still spent time together. So imagine the emotion of going to graduation. I called her mom the night before and she had been crying as well. We both agreed we hadn't anticipated this emotion. Graduation was wonderful and emotional. I'm so proud of the person Emily has become. After some pics, Emily's mom, Ann gave me a hug and told me thanks. I can't even type this without crying. She said, "No I mean thanks for everything. She wouldn't be who she is had she not had you." Later, Emily's Dad, Dan reminded me that I am family. These people are such an important part of my life.

I returned home from graduation and an hour later the news hit that Joplin, Missouri had been hit by a tornado. The last I heard it was an F5. The latest death count was 122. I can't imagine what these people are going through, yet I can think of little else. Today we were expected to have a tornado outbreak over the Kansas City area. We did get a horrible thunderstorm around 1:00. And it's storming again. Tornado watch until 3:00 a.m. Now I'm sitting here typing in the dark while I have battery left.

Well...it's a day later...the power went out last night and I guess I don't have Internet in a power outage! A tornado outbreak did occur over Kansas City today with a touch down in Sedalia. We spent two hours in the bathroom as the sirens sounded. It was draining, but I have to say I am happy that I was with kids. I hope I helped them feel safe. It was unnerving. Trying to remain calm, imagining pics you've seen recently in the news, and hearing the sirens over head.

Tonight I had a conversation with a friend who is a police officer in Ozark. They have been sending crews to Joplin. I had no words. I feel like a failure little bit. He wasn't himself. He kept saying "Tammy it's the worst thing I've ever seen. You aren't seeing everything on the news. You can't imagine." I wish I would have known what to say. It feels hopeless. As he said, "Right now there is no light at the end of the tunnel for them." Very disheartening.

Let's talk about yesterday's workout and the pain I am still feeling. Trainer Mike started the workout different than we've ever started before. We started with crunches, rolled over into pushups, jumped into frog hoppers, lept into a sprint and finished with jumping jacks. We repeated this three times. Then there were some declined bench presses. I was lying upside down and had to bench press. Once I assured myself that I was not going to fall off the bench and onto my head it was all good. We also did some work with the leg press where I could never go as low as Trainer Mike wanted me to. He kept saying lower, lower, lower and I was trying I really was, but seriously. So then we did dead lifts in a slightly different manner. I stood on a bench with the weights in my hands and bent over to touch the floor with the weights. Trainer says this is a good exercise for girls and their rears. Two days later and my rear is still sore so evidently he is right on. As he had me grab the weights for floor presses and I was getting into position he said, "You are the only one of my clients that will do these." This caused me to chuckle and nearly knock myself in the head with the weight. I said, "Why am I the only one?" "They just tell me they aren't doing it. And it's one of my favorite exercises." I never knew it was an option to tell him no. I think I've only done that twice, but mostly I just do what he says cause he's the boss. For our last exercise of the evening Trainer picked up a 50 pound barbell and told me to follow him. We went to the end of the gym and he offered to help put the barbell on my neck. This is when I realized my trainer is brave. I always talk about how scary he is, but he put that on my neck and walked right beside me as I lunged down and back twice. Then he took it off of my neck. I told him it was brave based on my stability issues. He chuckled and said I'm no longer a baby ninja. Or a baby panda if you have watched that movie which I have not. Anyway, his point was that I am not skilled by any means, but I have made progress.

We had quite the discussion of my level of soreness and Trainer thinks I should be more sore. When you are sore it means the muscles are growing. So we increased my chicken and eggs the day of my workout with Trainer. There is some sort of acid in these two foods that is supposed to do something to the muscle fibers so that I will be sore and they will be growing. Moving on people...movin on...I have a weight loss goal to reach by the 40th birthday which is rapidly approaching. No time for cheating. No time for slacking. Got to hit it hard every day. No mercy!

Bunchy On Fire

It's the end of the school year. Tomorrow should be our last day. Due to the many snow days we had this year, we are going 6 and a half days in addition to tomorrow. Add to this the fact that my school is being added onto and remodeled. That construction crew has their own deadlines. They are behind because of the snow. They have completed the addition and are moving inside. Interior walls are being torn down, technology has been removed from classsrooms, teachers are having to be even more creative than normal, and kids are curious. I have decided as the counselor who is often called to put out fires, running shoes are the footwear for the rest of the year. I have no idea how many times I walked up and down the halls today. There were some pretty interesting circumstances to deal with. Sometimes it's a little stressful to remain calm on the outside with a smile for the kids. As I was running through the course of the day, I had fleeting thoughts of...I don't want to workout tonight!!! But there I went for my meeting with Trainer Mike.

Imagine my alarm when he said "You're going to be on the treadmill for the whole hour." You all know how I feel about running. Invoked by stress? Determination? I don't know, but I hit the treadmill and I didn't complain one time. We did intervals of the treadmill and weight lifting. I could have lasted longer. Seriously!!! I finished my workout with 5 sets of lunging down the gym and back with a sprint down and back. Please know, this might not seem like a big deal to you, but a couple of months ago...I couldn't do this without stopping and a lot of whining. I'm very proud of myself. During our end of workout discussion, Trainer Mike said "It's miraculous how far I've come and he can't wait to see what we can do this year." I am sooooo pumped and excited. I mean really excited. Tonight was a huge deal for me. I was tired, I was stressed, I was still sore from Tuesday's workout, I was a little scared and I did it and it felt great. Wow!

Muscle Mayhem May 2011

After working out with trainer Mike for a little over a year I finally got to see him in action tonight. AMAZING! I'm impressed. He won!!! He has been dieting and working out so hard. I am so proud of him. I had tears of joy and pride when they called his number. Way to go Mike. It's great to be able to know that I'm working out with one of the best!!!

It was really incredible to be in a place with so many dedicated athletes. The bodies on stage were unbelievable. Women and men. While I have no desire to compete in that way, it certainly inspires me to hit things even harder. If people can get their bodies to look like that then I have no excuses.

With that, let me tell you about a little incident that occured yesterday. I had someone say some things to me that were downright rude. The statements were an attack on my integrity. I am so angry about it. It must have been pretty obvious that I was angry because she then gave an insincere attempt at playing it off as a joke. Duh...you're talking to the counselor who reads body language and other non verbals such as facial expressions. That is not what a joking face looks like. I share this because obviously it's still eating at me and as a result, I've been an emotional eater today. I haven't eaten a lot because I spent the day doing yard work, but the choices I did make were not good for me. I wonder if it will always be this easy to fall off the wagon? This thought in and of itself makes me angry. I shouldn't be falling off the wagon for reasons such as this. So now I am mad at myself. UGH!

I've been emotional today overall. I had a nice little cry on the phone with my mom. My friend, Emily is graduating next week and turning 18 two weeks later. When Emily was six months old God blessed me with the opportunity to become part of her family as a nanny. When I started the job that's what I thought it was...a job. I was soooo wrong. It was a life changing experience. It was within a few weeks that this little girl had my heart. I remained her nanny until she was three and a half. To this day, she and I are very close as are her parents and I. I started working on her graduation present last night and was a sobbing mess. I tried to talk to my mom about it today and was sobbing again. Now I'm writing about it and sobbing again. WOW!

Are you ready for a funny? Last Saturday night Mike and I were working out. We had done some cardio in the parking lot courtesy of the beautiful weather and had moved inside to do some HIT with heavier weight than I had done before. Enter a 50 pound bar bell on my neck while I lunge across the gym and back. Drop that and move to bench presses. Don't get too comfortable because now it's time for deadlifts with a 60 pound dumb bell in each hand. Mike kept telling me I was overthinking the amount of weight and messing myself up. I kept telling him it was too heavy. Nevertheless, on the third round of this cirquit I went to pick those dumbbells up and the plate part came to rest on my wrist. Those of you who know me, understand that this was a Tammy moment most would need to see to believe. Those of you who don't know me, please understand I am a clutz. Even I wish I had a video of this happening so I could replay it for myself and for every person who has said to me "How? Do? You? Even? Do? That? With? A? Dumbbell? On? Your? Wrist?" It's me!!!! That's all I know. After it landed there I was mad. I bent over and picked those puppies up and Mike said it was my best deadlift ever. I completed the night with 200 crunches and a nice bruise. Made it through Mother's Day and it was about 3:00 the next morning that my wrist started hurting so bad, I became concerned. It was swollen and ugly. Well the doctor hadn't had his good Monday morning laugh yet. He certainly had it during my visit as I tried to explain it to him. Then there was the xray tech. No breaks. Just a bad bruise. I even managed to do a workout with Mike on Tuesday...pushups and all. It's still ugly, but I'm good.

Alright readers...no more emotional eating tomorrow...I promise you!

4 Day Marathon

Since I was sick and missed a couple of sessions my incredible trainer offered to make the sessions up. Saturday was strength training because I was worried about my lungs, Sunday was cardio, Monday was strength, and Tuesday was cardio again. Please do not be deceived...even when we do strength there is cardio involved. I start out running in some fashion to warm up. Today I have been so sore I could barely move. The cure? Go for a run and work it out. Whoever thought I would EVER consider doing that? NOT I!!!

Let me talk about an after shock of being on steroids for two weeks...
I was on straight Prednisone, a ZPac (as the first antibiotic), a steroid inhaler, and a few other things...I gained 6 pounds and I wasn't eating. Last Friday morning I start going to the bathroom like every 20 minutes. This continues throughout the day. I don't have time to go to the bathroom that many times in a day. If I could have bought some Depends I think I would have tried it. By Saturday morning I was down 4 pounds. Steroids continued to exit my body through Saturday evening. It became downright annoying, but there aren't many choices except to go with it...literally! It is a celebration that I have lost all of that weight and a couple more!

My first workout I was terrified. I felt sick to my stomach. It was like I was going to meet Mike for the first time. That feeling didn't last long. Within minutes I was running sprints again. Relief flooded through me when my lungs didn't burn and the chest pain I had experienced at our last workout didn't return. Should that ever happen again I will let Trainer know and cease immediately!

My second strength workout this week, Mike labelled a prison workout. We did the types of things prisoners do in the yard. It's how they can get so buff while serving time and works well for people who have limited time. Those squat presses...OUCH! I did get frustrated during the workout. The form on my pushups wasn't right and I was corrected. PLEASE know...the reason I pay Mike is to push me AND to teach me the right way to do things. However, it is hard for me to accept when I'm not doing it right sometimes. Especially, when it involves an exercise such as push ups where I have had to do so many. I was mad at myself.

I'm kind of in a funk right now with working out because it's been a year...
It's been a year of hard work. I've accomplished more than I ever imagined and I'm addicted. I LOVE being in the gym. I am so proud of the results. Yet, there's a long way to go and I know that. There is a lot more hard work ahead of me. Actually the work before me is harder than anything I've done so far. So now I'm starting to feel scared. I'm a counselor and I'm not sure I understand where this is coming from. Part of me suspects it's the number on the scale. Still, in my mind success is not measured by how many sprints I run, how much weight I lift, the fact that my lunges are deeper, or the fact that I can do so much that I never thought possible before. For me, success is still tied to the number on the scale.

Once again, I would like to publically thank my Trainer for pushing me and not giving up on me. A HUGE thank you for putting up with me for four days in a row and not quitting. It was really awesome to have that opportunity. A great way to get back on track.