I Swear I Will!

Yea. You guessed it. I'm on my way to Sin City again. Wow. I just can't wait. (Do you see me rolling my eyes over here? Seriously.)

I get excited about a trip to Vegas like I get excited when Aunt Flo drops by for the third time in a month. I kind of WINCE. I GRIMACE. I make odd uncomfortable gestures. Then, I realize that there are SOME very good things to be found in Vegas.

Like:

Copious amounts of sushi. And this:

Spa Service Available 24/7. Amen. God Bless Vegas. There is also usually a good hotel gym:

The hotel gyms in Vegas CAN actually be somewhat vacant, which is nice, you don't have to worry about uncomfortable socially awkward situations with Sweaty-Hairy-Man-With-Too-Much-Drugstore-Cologne-On-And-Desperately-Needing-Manscaping-Attention. Most men in Vegas are actually dialing the number for 1-900-FREE-SEXY-WOMEN and thinking they'll find love with this:

and what they'll end up with is something like THIS:

And it won't really matter to them, because they've had so much of THIS:

that their Beer Goggles are barely functioning. Overall, it's just a "Win-Win" for everyone involved.

I have my TWO yes TWO suitcases packed since I'm here in Sin City for 5 days. I packed my Nike Running Tops (that's what I call them, but they are basically Dri-Fit tops with a killer bra so the girls are harnessed nicely while I run. Keeping the Baywatch moments to a minimum if possible.), my Otomix pants, my running socks, my regular workout socks, my Body Glide, my Polar Heart Rate Monitor (new RSX300 BADASS!), my Champion outerwear, my iPod, my headphones, and yes, my deoderant. 

I packed my Valslides, my Valbands, my Insanity DVD (Plyometric Cardio Circuit) and my Cathe HIIT DVD plus a Tony You-Are-My-Future-Ex-Husband Horton DVD. That is some good times. 

Those are Valslides above. If you haven't gotten yourself some, you are missing out big time. These things ROCK for well, just about 5000 different moves. Talk about working your buns, your legs and your CORE! DANG! 

And here is my man:

A moment please. Wait, just another moment. Ok. 

WHAT?

Here is my BFF Val Waters doing some moves on those Valslides. Seriously, GET YOU SOME.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What's your favorite workout to do with minimal or no "equipment" i.e. something you can do on the road, in a hotel room, without a gym membership? 

And now, here is your Quickie Vlog from the Babble Queen, I did this just for you kids because I felt like Bad Blogger Queen yesterday with no vlogs for a WHILE! Naughty Kelly.

How To Get OUT of Your Comfort Zone

Do you want to win? THEN GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE.

It's not easy to get what you want in this fitness game. If it was, we'd all look like Gisele and be married to Tom-My-Hair-Looks-Like-A-Little-Girl-In-Nursery-School-Brady. WHAT?

I figured out where I was falling short in my fitness agenda. Nothing was at 100% recently. Whose fault is that?? NO ONE BUT MINE. I own it, and I delete it.

Game Face On. Goals In Place. I'm not just here for the heck of it. I'm here to KICK SERIOUS BUTT.

I said I will not end this year without reaching my goals, or at least the first phase of reaching my goals, because, this fitness lifestyle is a never-ending pursuit to always get better, right?? You don't STOP when you can fit in your jeans again. That's when you focus on what's next.

THAT'S HOW I LOOK AT IT.

We all have things in our lives that get in our way. Figure out what it is, what they are, and then- GET OVER IT. Or, figure out how to get over it. THERE ARE NO EXCUSES.

I work a trillion hours a week. Every second of my day is jam packed. I have to schedule phone calls with my friends! I just finished writing my first book and now I've been asked to do two more! I'm planning three huge conferences for 2011 that are going to be the most awesome For Women By Women conferences you've ever seen, and let me just tell you, this is not about sunshine and flowers and let's all talk and cry together. This is about top notch driven women at the top of their game personally, professionally and athletically. And this is about women that WANT TO GET THERE. 

Stay tuned if you want to attend because I am not opening this up to just anyone. 

I will also allow Tony Horton, Vin Diesel and Huge Jackman to attend. #justsayin

So, looking back at 2010 so far, what have YOU done? Have you made PROGRESS OR EXCUSES?

LOOK AT THIS:

Are you kidding me? Do you see what can happen when you stop selling yourself short?? I'm short, but that's why I wear platform heels. And I don't ACT SHORT. 

Did I get off track?

Don't quit before payday. You can do SO MUCH MORE THAN YOU THINK. If I have started running, run 20 minutes straight, run 30 minutes, run a 5k and now am training for a 1/2 Marathon= I can DO MORE. And I will do more. I don't want to spend my life looking back wondering WHAT IF. I want to look back when I'm 100 years old with my 50 year old cabana boy bringing me carrot juice, and say, "Wow, maybe I should cut back my P90X workouts to 4x a week instead of 6x...what do you think Julio??"

;-)

Serious Girl Crush Here. 

What's it gonna be for the last part of the year people?? Are you in it to win it?

QUESTION OF THE DAY: YES OR NO?? 

Lessons Learned.

“Mistakes are the portals of discovery.” James Joyce

Sometimes we get so focused on our goals, we allow ourselves to get sidetracked by mistakes. If we have an eating bender or we get sick and miss our workouts or any combination of the two, we can become so focused on the failure that it then affects the future.

Mistakes happen. Life happens. The most important thing is our inner attitude and determination to KEEP GOING. In a broader sense, mistakes or tough times in LIFE can either sidetrack us, or MAKE US BETTER.

I can tell you from personal experience that this much is true: mistakes or tough times can and should be something that you accept as a GIFT. If you face them head on, and understand that you can LEARN from them, you will become a stronger person. You will develop character, resilience and determination to excel. You will get BETTER not BITTER.

When I was going through my divorce a few years ago, I resolved that I would do just that. I would get BETTER not BITTER. To this day, I resolve in all areas of my life that I will focus on getting BETTER in every way that I can.

Of course I fall behind. Of course I mess up. But that said, I will always bounce back, stronger than before.

To apply this to fitness goals, I have realized that every mistake, every misstep or screw-up is indeed an opportunity for me to DISCOVER something new and get better. This morning, I went out for a run, so thankful to have my health back to normal and ready to make this 2^nd half of 2010 COUNT.  I had my usual cup of cappuccino in the morning, and then I had a banana, because I’d read about eating something like that prior to a long kick-butt running session for fuel. I thought I’d try it. Now I KNOW it isn’t the banana, but I was down with a tummy-ache. Just bloated. Like, when you know that you’ve eaten something your body doesn’t dig so much. I was TICKED OFF. Not only because it FEELS bad but because I was going into my workout assuming I wouldn’t be able to do it.

I had that inner conversation with myself and said, “Let’s just GO to the track and see what we CAN do. Worst case scenario, I’ll do non-jumping, non-running drills and then weights.” I went to the track and guess what, that bloated tummy-ache was still there reminding me “Helloooo!! I’m here!!” but I did my one lap warm-up followed by a 4-lap run, AND my time was better than before!! I was more like 5.5mph than 5mph. (NOT that speed is my main focus right now, but I’m just observing how I’m progressing)

After that, the tummy-ache DID impede my progress. I stuck to a ton of walking lunges, sideways Jenny-Lynn-style drills, straight legged front kicks and a little jump-rope (til I had way too much cramping).

I was NOT happy that I couldn’t run more and that my workout was only a 650 Calorie Burn. However, I see this as several good lessons learned.

Lessons:

• I am clearly more intolerant of dairy products now than before. I'm REALLY going to cut back, and even not have my morning cappuccinos this week to see if it helps. I seem to be ok having a bit of cheese but dairy at more than ONE meal a day makes me sooo sad, tummy-wise.
• I really, personally, do better working out on an empty tummy. My body takes forever to digest food and I'm going to stick to just hydration and then refueling post-workout as needed.

So!! Lessons Learned are good. Now I can ADJUST ACCORDINGLY and do better tomorrow. I’m not going to get down about today and whine. I’m going to LEARN.

Also the Nike tops I mention in my vlog are Nike Women's Pro-Core Sport Top. <--Link provided if you like. 

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What fitness “lessons” or mistakes have you embraced and learned from? How did it make your workouts better??