Dream On

2008 Sheridan County Rodeo "Boots & Spurs" 5k

We dressed up like American Gladiators. We're awesome.

Me ("Thunder Chicken"), Kelly ("Viper"), Libby ("Liberator"), Georgia ("Bone Digger"), Pepper ("Methane")

2009 Sheridan Jaycees St. Patty's Day "Run Til You're Green" Fun Run

Me, Georgia, Libby, Pepper

I'm seeing a recurring pattern... And we've already decided costumes for this summer's rodeo 5K.

One of my (many) dreams: Gore-Tex TransRockies Run. Any takers? I've set the goal to run it no later than 2012. :)

Tues - feeling better, but the intestines were none-to-happy with the bouncing
1 mi run w/Gidget

Wed - Felt FANTASTIC!

5K

100 ft walking lunges, 21 assisted p/ups (pull-ups)

100 ft walking lunges, 18 "

100 ft walking lunges, 15 "

25 GH s/ups (glute-ham sit-ups)

Stomach bug = Mother Nature's crash diet?

Score: Bad Party Food = 1, Christina = 0

Saturday night was a fantastic night of a friend's going away party & playing Rock Band (game similar to Guitar Hero) at another friend's house until the wee hours of the morning. Sunday morning, awoke to beautiful weather and an impromptu cross-country ski trip for the day. On the way up the mountain, the fun began. I won't go into gruesome details, but let's just say something I ate on Saturday night put me down & out for the count. My GI tract reared a very ugly head. I was at work for only two hours on Monday morning before I cried uncle & spent the rest of the day in the safe confines of my home (more specifically, my couch). My previous encounter with a stomach bug gave me the wisdom to quickly realize my only hope was to lay off solid foods. Since Sunday afternoon, my only intake has been juice & broth with noodles. Much to my surprise, I never felt hungry. The human body is an amazing machine. Although I'm constantly battling the annoying effects of hypoglycemia (which does not allow me to go more than a few hours without nourishment), my stomach was smart enough to send my brain a very loud & clear message: Listen up homie, lay off the hunger pangs. If I receive solid food, I'm going to send you into a world of SERIOUS hurt. And just like that, my quick-to-catch-on brain stopped requesting food. Thank goodness...that would have been an ugly cycle.

As of this morning, I have yet to eat solid food. I'm feeling 100X better, but I'm not about to overload my GI tract & be sent back through "GI Tract Torture 101". Baby steps. Out of curiousity, I weighed myself this morning to see the effects - down about 2.5 lbs. I have been attempting to trim down a few pounds (don't freak out, just like everyone else I put on some "winter padding"), but I would NOT recommend a stomach bug as the course of action for weight loss. The cramps felt like someone stabbing me in the stomach with a hot poker. Yuck. (In reality, when you don't eat enough, your body goes into starvation mode & will begin to STORE fat to save itself, not to mention slow your metabolism.)

Needless to say, my workouts were derailed.

Friday
1 mi wu (warm-up)
4X 400 M run, 40# OHS (overhead squats)
Cycling class

Saturday
Tweaked something in my knee during OHS, time to take it easy (update: knee is back to normal, must work on OHS form)
30 min elliptical
10 min rower

Sunday
HOLY HELL STOMACH PAIN (code for "no workout")
While I managed to cross-country ski, I didn't attempt to turn it into a workout. I needed as much blood working on my GI tract as possible, I was not about to divert the blood to my legs.

Monday
I'd like to think I'm smart enough to stay away from a workout when the only sustenance I've had is juice & broth. Yes, yes I am.

Blog it & log it

As you can see, I have yet to post St. Paddy's Day beer tasting pictures. I only managed two snaps & am awaiting pictures from friends better at bringing out their cameras & actually taking pictures. In the meantime, I've posted two videos taken on my cell phone of the dogs & their snow antics. The top video is of Gidget when I took her on a walk on the bike path behind my house - it's quiet enough I can usually let her off leash & she can run around all she wants. Her favorite part of snow: burying her face deep down as if a small mouse is taunting her. The bottom video is of Brewer & Gidget entertaining themselves with a stick.

I've decided to begin using my blog as a workout log. I like to keep track of my workouts but find it difficult to write down my workouts on a regular basis. I would also like to blog more often. Thus, combine the two! I will be forced to blog more often & posting the workouts will keep me focused. No excuses when everyone & their mother can see your progress. To play catch-up, here's a quick rundown of this past week:

-Sunday: Thanks to the indoor gym at Casa Ramirez, Steve & I managed a workout before leaving the Black Hills to head home after a weekend of skiing. ~25 min on elliptical, ~20 min on stationary bike, creating my own "spinning class"

-Monday: SNOW DAY! But, ladies & gents, this did not stop my desire to workout. :) I created my own Crossfit workout: 100 step-ups using 10# db (dumbells) on 14 in. step (50 ea leg), 50 10# db swings, 50 walking lunges, 50 situps, 5o pushups, 50 supermen

-Tuesday: 3.6 mi run w/Gidget (snow one day, beautiful weather the next...welcome to WY), Strength training class (I teach this class but will also do the routine with the class), "endurance" 20 reps/machine

-Wednesday: Crossfit: 5X 30 GH (glute-ham situps), 25 back extensions (substituted GH situps on Swiss ball & supermen for back ext); ~10 min on rower; Cycling class

-Thursday: Much needed REST

-Friday (tentative): Crossfit: 5X Run 400M, 15 OH squats (overhead squats - # to be determined); Cycling class (not tentative...)

Future posts shouldn't be as lengthy - I hope to post, at a minimum, every 2-3 days (every day would be ideal).

Have a wonderful weekend ya'll!

My love affair with beer...

…began when I was a freshman in college. (Sorry Mom & Dad) Sadly, I wasted many of those early years on horribly watered-down “stuff” that can hardly be put in the same category as glorious, lip-smacking beer. We were college students. Poor college students. Luckily, a genius realized the need for unbelievably cheap beer. We drank it like it was an essential nutrient found on the food pyramid. Our specialty? Natural Light, a.k.a. Natty Light. Occasionally we branched out…to Keystone Light. “Splurging” meant buying Coors or Bud Light. Scary. Growing up, my parents kindly allowed me to try their occasional microbrew or glass of wine, but I could not bring myself to enjoy the microbrews. I drank the cheap stuff in college simply because it’s what was offered. It would be several years before I learned a new fondness for beer.

I digress. Back to my freshman year. I had an interesting friend who had already acquired a taste for good beer. One evening before going out, a few of us anxiously waited for him to finish his beer before we trotted off to a frat party. He was tired of the watery stuff & indulged his craving for decent beer. We couldn’t believe how much he had spent on a six-pack. It was Killian’s Red. He offered me a taste. I brought the bottle to my lips, took a nervous sip, & felt the angels on high sing down upon me. Glorious. What?!? Beer tastes GOOD?!? Time stopped. The fabulous fermented-grains liquid lingered in my mouth while my face froze with a look of dumb, unadulterated bliss. Seven years later & I can still recall the details of that moment. Of course I remained a poor college student for another 3 ½ years, so while Killian Red’s changed my life forever, basic economics prevented me from enjoying more quality brews.

Fast forward to present day. My fondness for awesome beer has grown exponentially. I’ve been to Great American Beer Festival (twice). I’m dating a homebrewer. Needless to say, all the pieces have fallen into place. It’s become tradition among our friends to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day (if it falls during the week, we celebrate on the appropriate weekend). I wanted to host a party at my house but could not decide how to make it creative. *Light bulb* Why not have a beer tasting?? The 1st Nectar of the Gods (Beer) Tasting will be taking place this Saturday at O’Ramirez Pub! As I told my friends, I refuse to call it “1st Annual Nectar of Gods (Beer) Tasting” because this event may, & should, take place more than once per year. I just may have to buy Killian’s Red this weekend. I’ll make sure to post pictures. After I’ve recovered.

Foot loose and fancy free

…No, I’m not listening to the latest Rod Stewart. I’m the proud owner of a new pair of Vibram Five Fingers, the latest craze for “barefoot” running/walking. Before you roll your eyes & think “here we go again” (*cough* mom & dad *cough*), let me describe my experience with these oh-so-weird-yet-oddly-intriguing shoes. Yes, they are considered shoes.

More & more people are arguing the benefits of barefoot walking/running. Essentially, they say, we have ruined our feet by cramming them in unnatural, stiff shoes. Our feet have 26 bones (the two feet contain a quarter of all the bones in the body), 33 joints, & more than 100 tendons/ muscles/ligaments (http://www.apma.org/). I’ve read varying reports on the number of nerve endings in our feet, but across the board it is determined our feet have a significant number of nerves. Remember the last time someone tried to touch your feet & you almost roundhouse kicked them in the face because it tickled so much? Our feet are our main contact with the ground below us & they must be able to feel everything. Before shoes, we used our bare feet to grip, move, & stabilize. Sorry folks, whether you believe in evolution or creation by God, we didn’t start out in this world with shoes on our feet. Evolution: no way did our ape-like ancestors take the time to fashion shoes. Creation: I don’t think Adam & Eve were hanging out in the garden wearing the latest style of Jimmy Choos, Crocs, or Birkenstocks. Don’t worry, I’m not going to start arguing that we started out sans clothing & should revert back to our full-fledged, glorified nakedness. *Shudder*

I’m not going to get in the middle of the argument nor do I want to force my opinion down your throat, but I’ve been captivated by their arguments (& frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn; this is my blog after all). :) You probably won’t find me walking barefoot because it simply grosses me out. However, the Vibram Five Fingers have offered me the opportunity to be “barefoot” without actually being barefoot. I have twice used my pretty amphibious-like shoes for running & I have to say, they teach you a whole new way to run (properly). Baby steps with these things – otherwise you’re apt to injure yourself. You learn to strike midfoot rather than heel strike, as you’ll completely wreck your heel with the impact. Similarly, you learn to land with your foot under your center of gravity (feet, knees, hips, & shoulders in line), so your body is aligned & the running is more natural. I could feel my core working to stabilize my body & my calves are sore as they learn to help the rest of the large muscles as you move.

BEST OF ALL…(drum roll please)…I am not feeling my latest aches & pains from who-knows-what joint/tendon/ligament inflammation. SERIOUSLY. This is not in my head. My two latest nagging injuries: pain in my left hip & arch of one of my feet. The Good Doctor helped me with an unofficial diagnosis of bursitis in the hip. I didn’t see anyone regarding the arch pain (no lectures, please), but from my relentless digging I believe I was looking at slight plantar fasciitis. Needless to say, after two encounters with the wild shoes, the pain has disappeared. Entirely. Trust me, the hip pain made me take notice. Now I’m prancing around the office like a 5 year old that just started dance class & is embarrassing her mom in the grocery store (*Note: personal experience, just ask my poor mother – I forgot the meaning of “walking” & danced everywhere I went).

I must admit, the shoes are quite fun & liberating to use – it almost feels naughty. :) I’ll keep you updated on my experience. I won’t wear the shoes for every run nor will I wear them for longer runs - my hope is to “relearn” proper running with these shoes. Meanwhile, if you see me out running, feel free to point & laugh, I’ll probably just run faster. The first time I wore them, I was worried my neighbors would have me institutionalized…

As for the long post, let’s just say it’s Friday, I’m stuck at work, & this is more fun than real work…

Race Season

With Spring weather making its way into our Wyoming winter (much to the chagrin of WY downhill skiers due to the lack of snowfall), the idea of race season is not far off. Registration has already commenced for three “big” races – Prickly Pear Land Trust 30K, Big Horn Mountain Trail Run 30K, & Leading Ladies Half-Marathon. I’m planning on these races:

March 14(?): Jaycee’s “Run Til Your Green” 10K
May 2: Beaver Creek Slide Half-Marathon
May 9: Prickly Pear Land Trust “Don’t Fence Me In” 30K
June 20: Big Horn Mountain Wild & Scenic 30K
Mid-July(?): Mystic Mountain Run (Black Hills)
Aug. 16: Leading Ladies Half-Marathon

Other than the “official” three mentioned above, this schedule may change. At the same time, a few races I have not placed on the schedule because they’re informal & I have yet to find out dates (Diabetes Dirt Duathlon, Paradise Ranch-HF Bar Ranch run, Peaks to Prairie Triathlon/Duathlon…which would require me to find a partner to do the bike part…).

I’m incredibly excited for the upcoming race season. I took the plunge & decided to use myself as a guinea pig to test out a new training program - Crossfit & Crossfit Endurance. More on these programs to come later…

Update

A few pictures for your enjoyment...

Brewer looks great in a white sparkly boa

Mom with Gidget

Mi novio

Cute picture of Bud & Linds

Papa with Guinness & Brewer

Gidget loves snow

Gidget & I during Thanksgiving