I'm Back.

Good MORNING Kittens! I feel like I've been out of Blog-Land forever! Dang! I will say this, the title of this post is true. I'm BACK. For all of you that have been emailing me, thank you. It appears that everyone has 'turned the corner' sickness-wise. My poor niece broke her fever on Friday, after 6 straight days of a HIGH fever in the hundreds. I was SO worried about her! ;-( Anyway, she was happy that she got to go see "Tangled" over this weekend, so it's all good! AMEN!!

I'm so thinking of Amy at the Vegas Rock n Run right now. I can't wait to hear how she kicked butt, I just know she did. I'm disappointed I am not there, in a big way, but I know I did the right thing. I don't regret staying here one bit. I just got my latest Runner's World magazine and plan to pick my next first (ha ha!) 1/2 Marathon for 1Q2011. I think there is one in Miami!!! Yummy. 

So I had to feature my girl crush Jessica Biel today because she's just killer badass chick. I love her workout approach, you can see that she mixes it up all the time, which is what I love to do, or I have found I love to do. I LOVE running now and can't wait to really be back at that on a regular schedule of some sorts, whether I'm training for 1/2 marathons or not. I love heavy isolation training in the gym, and I also love kickboxing, kettlebells, yoga, bootcamp and SOON.....TRX and Crossfit.! WOOT! That's me. What works for me and what I love may not excite YOU- and that is the key!! YOU have to find what you LOVE to do- because that is the training program that will be most ideal.

Granted, if you only like to sit on the couch and do curls with your Cheetos and Bud Light, you aren't gonna end up looking like this:

*Ahem*

And if your idea of staying active means twiddling your toes around while you sit at your desk drinking Frappuccinos with whipped cream and reading People.com, you probably won't end up looking like this:

So, be realistic. You want to lean? You gotta move. You want fantastic muscle? That doesn't come without moving some serious weight. Ladies, do we really need to get into the whole "I don't want to be bulky..." whine fest? I don't think so. 

I've learned some GREAT (yet difficult) lessons in 2011. I've learned to conquer my psycho-diet mentality and have a more reasonable approach to food. (Yes, for those of you that have asked I will shoot a vlog about the ESE approach and how it helped me and what I'm doing now....) I've learned to stop adjusting MY training whenever I hear some advice, unsolicited or not, about what's the "best" cardio or the "most ideal" way to train in the gym. 

Eat Less, Eat Good. Move More. Lift Heavy. 

That's how I roll now. 

I'm not obsessing over training in a Heart Rate zone and flipping out if I went to 161 instead of training at 155. I'm not losing my mind if I'm on the road and have to have Arby's for lunch instead of that ideal salad with tuna that I'd really like. I'm not pissed off if I only get in 45 minutes of working out instead of 90, when I'm at a conference that keeps me busy from 8am to 11pm. 

I will run when I want to and not listen to ridiculous advice like (cough cough JNL) "No one that trains in the gym EVER runs!! We laugh at those people and call them skinny fat!" #FAIL. 

Jessica Biel is my girl crush because she is buff and isn't trying to look like everyone else in Hollywood. She trains hard and it is clearly a lifestyle choice. I finally feel like that's where I have arrived....this is all part of my life, I'm comfortable with what I'm doing, I'm seeing MAJOR RESULTS now (fat loss AND muscle conditioning and growth plus cardio capacity that blows my mind) and I'm making no apologies.

 

I've read some questions sent in to fitness magazines about "waaah I'm bored with my workouts". Seriously? There are like 100,000 things to do to get/stay fit. My Gosh, I am at the point that if I wanted to, I could do a different routine every day for 5 years. Really. Get creative! Who is going to take the time to write in a letter to a fitness magazine instead of going online and reading some killer blogs and checking out YouTube and getting off you DUFF??? 

  

 Do you see what she's using here? Those are the lovely ValBands from Valerie Waters that I've told you about in the past. AWESOME. I use these when I do Butts N Guts by Cathe. Holy Crap. (Firewalkers!!)

I've also told you about Valerie's Valslides. Seriously, if you want to invest under $50 for two little tools that travel well and have about 200 different moves for your core, your butt and your legs, BUY THESE. I have one set for at home and one set for travel. Best investment ever. I've provided the link HERE and no I don't earn a dime from sending you there. Val is my BFF and she is awesome. 

This really is just a peek. I find that the more I vary my workouts, the more fun it is. It becomes more of a choice in my mind of "What do I GET TO DO TODAY?" as opposed to "What do I HAVE TO DO TODAY?"

Success is all in your head. The only way to FAIL is to QUIT. 

So, the QUESTION OF THE DAY IS: How do you plan to kick it up a notch this month so you have a head start on 2011???

Focus on the Future.

KAPOW! Were you wondering if I crushed it today? Um, YES I DID. Although today was not a running day, I gotta tell you kids, I enjoy running more every single time I do it. Of course I'd love it even more if I had Hunk-O-Licious Bodyguard (like above) running with me. I could run for hours. 

I'm getting packed for my trip tomorrow so I don't have a WHOLE lotta time, but here I am giving you some bloggy love. What's up with that?? I'm a giver. 

Today was feeling a little LOW, I had a little post-MENS-Stress going on and felt big as a house. Wanted to throw in the towel and whine. But I had that inner conversation with my Lame Self. I'm starting to view this Ms. Lame Self as a person, in fact, per the suggestion of Amy, I've imagined this Lame Self to be someone I hold a lot of say, (trying to be positive here) DISTASTE for in my real life. So, now when I start to doubt myself or get pissed at a part of my body, I imagine that this Lame Self is this person in the real world that I would throw over a bridge stick my tongue out at, and I act as if THEY are saying those words to me. Why? Because guess what? If some jag were to say, "OMG Kelly, you may as well give up now, you're NEVER gonna get more fit, LOOK AT YOU, you look GROSS", I would roundhouse kick his a** and then step on his face as he lies on the ground quivering. I'd say, "I'm sorry, WHAT did you say I cannot do?? I didn't HEAR YOU!!". 

So if I wouldn't let another person talk to me that way or ruin my attitude, why do it to myself?? 

I am ELIMINATING the negative messages in my life.

• I am focused 100% on the FUTURE. 
• I am focused on what I CAN DO not what I think I cannot do.
• I am focused on the victories I already have, not what I have yet to accomplish.
• I will not pick myself apart in the mirror every day, looking for what is still sucky on my body. I will review my progress ONCE per week. PERIOD.
• I will speak positivity to myself every single day, because I CAN DO ANYTHING.
• God gave me this body and this mind with unlimited potential and I will not take that for granted.
• AMEN.
• Can I get an AMEN???

I am heading to Lake Tahoe for a conference tomorrow morning. I am there for 5 days and the HIGH temp will be 55 degrees. I am PSYCHED. I really have to find a solution for shooting/uploading video on the road. The challenge at present is that I shoot the vlog but my "high speed" connection is not high enough for file sizes of 350mb. I wonder if I get a flip-cam and shoot shorter vlogs on the road if that will work- THOUGHTS? Deep thoughts only please. Cuz I'm deep. hahahah

Question of the Day: What is your biggest excuse for missing a workout? 

Game Face ON!

What's UP kids? How was your weekend? I'm just gonna go ahead and say it. Call me crazy, but I'm ready for Fall weather. I know, I know. I am not sure why, but I really only ENJOY hot weather when I'm on vacation, laying out on the beach, with a Cabana boy named Juan bringing me cocktails that look like this: 

Oh Hot DANG!!! I'm counting down to my Miami trip NOW!! (6 weeks!! WOOT!)

So, anyway, yes, I'm ready for Fall. And then for several vacation escapes that will include the above adult beverages and a LOT of shopping. Amen. 

My BFF and her daughter left today, and sadly we forgot to vlog and get them to join me. OOPS. But I was pretty proud of myself that I worked out each day that they were here, as you know! See, you CAN fit in your workouts even with a busy schedule, with kids around, with out-of-town guests, you name the excuse, I will knock it DOWN!!

Um Day #2 of no soda!! and no artificial sweeteners!! KAPOW!! I mention in my vlog below how happy I was to "re-discover" my Arbonne NRG Fizzy Tablets, to add to plain water to make it taste good and fizzy and "control appetite" (not that this is why I'm adding them but hey, I'm down with that.) If you are interested in getting some, you can order from my Arbonne website by CLICKING HERE. 

Week #1 of my Running Training is DONE and I feel GREAT. So loving it, and as I mention in my vlog below, I now want to focus on of course continuing my training and planning for a 5K and then a 1/2 marathon and a REAL marathon eventually, but also balance with my weight training and such. 

ALSO CONGRATS TO MY BFF @AmyLBurford who ran her first 1/2 marathon today!! WOOT!!! DANG girl, she just started running end of April!!! 

Have you noticed I am no longer asking questions about cramping with running?? It's gone! See what a difference it made that I have FRIENDS both here IRL and in my bloggysphere to help guide me.....that my body just needed to adjust to the high impact and such. When I was just "winging it" alone (prior to when I was blogging) I gave up too soon. I am SO glad I faced my fears of not being able to run and did it.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What (fitness-wise) have you conquered as far as fears or doubts?? Is there still something out there that you want to conquer/try?

I have a second question of the day too, now that I think about it. Who is like a major motivation for you? For me, with running, and perhaps in general, it is these two kick butt chicks: 

Jessica Biel and Rene Zellweger. Oh crap. One more question of the day, for you runners: What brand running shoes do you love and why?

Who's Your Daddy?

I'm feeling pretty much like a bada** right now. Yes, I went for a kick butt run-session again! WOOT!

So, as you'll see in my sweaty vlog below, I had an even better session than yesterday. I have SO many questions about running y'all, so chime in! Lurkers! Come out of the shadows and make yourself heard! Comment away!! 

Today I drove to the high school track area. (I wish I could find someone that had the key to the track, but oh well, the parking lot seems to work fine.) I measured one lap of the parking lot and it's about 1/3 of a mile. So, today, I walked 2 laps, then ran 2 laps! (Yesterday I walked 2 and ran 1), then I did that again. Then I did 25 walking lunges and a 1/2 "court" sprint. Then I walked 1 lap, ran 2 laps. Then I hit these bad boys:

Do these look hard to you? Let me tell you. Running up these stairs gets my heart rate up to 178 every time. I had to remember the 2nd time to bring my water bottle with me because I was gasping. I did this running workout at around 11am and it was already getting up to about 87 degrees. There was a small part of me worried that I was pushing it too hard with the heat and being that out of breath.....so after 3 times up and down the stairs (the last time I did power steps, every other step), I came down, did 25 more walking lunges, stretched, and headed home. Once I got home, I did some bicep work and stretched some more and I ended up at 850 calories burned. I always take pictures of my Polar HRM readout on my Posterous feed if you want to subscribe to that. 

So, here is my feedback after 2 days:

• I love it. Not sure why, but conquering running for me (even though I'm just starting) is a huge deal. 
• Today I am definitely feeling my GLUTES, followed by my calves and lastly my quads. I feel areas of my legs/glutes that I don't normally feel as far as DOMS so that's a good thing, it tells me that running is using muscles that I don't normally use or normally push that hard.
• The Saucony shoes are the ones I ran in today. Definitely great shoes, although the ASICs are far more "airy" and comfortable feeling. They both are wonderful but I'm loving the ASICs a bit more. 

Here are my questions so far:

• If it is a really hot day out like today at close to 90 degrees, should I try to run in the mornings, is heat "exhaustion" a threat?
• I have no idea how to pace myself, how fast I'm running. I THINK that I am tending to try to run too fast. Is it better as I'm just starting to run to focus on going LONGER amounts of time vs. going FASTER? It just feels slower when you aren't on a treadmill, and yet I think when I am going really too fast is when I cramp up easier. The cramping was less today than yesterday for sure, because when I felt it coming on I went slower. 
• Do you stretch before you run or only after?
• Do you eat before you run?
• Do you run every day?
• How long do you run each time? 1/2 hour? 1 hour?

Would love your tips. It was a help to me today to have my water bottle with me. And I have to get an arm band for my iPod for sure. Also the Under Armour bras KICK BUTT. Big time. Totally. 

Enjoy the sweaty goodness below: