I am attempting to lower my 5k time more. I want to be under 35 min the next time I race in a month. So I have ran a mile the last three days in a row.. Might want to try to run a mile or more everyday now that the weather is much cooler after work. I get to do my last mud race this weekend called the Devil Dash! Im really excited for it, but the weather is supposed to be in the low 50's.. we have to go through a river multiple times as well! Gonna FREEZE! But the last obsticle is jumping through a flaming hoop! "Falling into a burning ring of fire" its all about the 7 deadly sins. Ill be sure to post about that!

I may have broken my plateau... I have been stuck at this weight all month so when I hopped on the scale this morning I prepaired for the same. Well its not the same! Its no where near where my low was on the plateau! I had been fluctuating between 2lbs.. but now I am down 4 from weight in this month! So I hopefully have over come this plateau FINALLY! What a frustrating month! UGH!! Hope to loose some more while I am at it! Bike rides here I come!

I got the urge to run! So I ran around campus, and then this last weekend ran around the neighborhood. It felt good. :) But now I am down and out for the rest of the week due to a surgery. boo. and I feel like I need to run because I have my GRE this week and need to release stress! I am also hoping to go backpacking this weekend, if I can with my surgery. Also tap is lowering my weight! Woo hoo!

If you ever get a chance to do a Mud run, do it! Just be CAREFUL! Mud Brigade was a BLAST! Except my boyfriend was not being careful and hurt his knee... Painful lesson. But boy did we get muddy! It was a 5k and it didnt even feel like it, and with the 10 min wait for the EMT's to come and help my boyfriend we still made it in 43 min.. CRAZY! Maybe my time is getting a lot lower! We will see, I need to find a 5k to run here soon. Yay football!!

I ate three oreos today. I didnt punish myself but I was sure motivated to workout! So I did the elliptical for the weightloss session of 40 min changing to really hard resistances, then took the dog for a 20 min walk, and am now off to tap dance off the oreos for an hour! This class is the one that will get me sweating and my heart racing! So those oreos should already be long gone, but hey its the last month!

OH and I went on an 8mile bike ride and a 15mile bike ride this weekend. It was great!

Been out on my new road bike, and it is amazing! Also got a lot of 5ks coming up this month, so going to be running a lot! :D

My new exercise is taking tap class again! :) It was so much fun last night and boy was I sweating!! yay! And now I am a sub teacher for tap to teach kids! :) Two times a week! So I will really get exercise in!

Backpacking was amazing. Except for the bugs. But positives were I was not out of breath at any point during our hiking. Last year I would hike for 5 min then have to rest to acclimate to the hike. This year nothing. :) The pack sure weighed a lot tho! But it was a great time getting out into nature. I havent worked out since monday because I have had a nasty cold that has had me down with a fever all week and I just cant get myself to feel even more hot while working out. I hope I get better soon, or at least drop the fever so I can go ride my bicycle and weight lift again!

One key word. Inspiration. Let me explain,
Last year I met Kari, as a personal trainer and she told me how she lost weight and I joined the weight loss competition and lost nothing. But she inspired me to do a triathlon, and she inspired me to loose weight. For me inspiration comes from the little (BIG) things. Completing a tri was a great challenge and made me feel powerful! Without Kari I would have had no inspiration to loose weight or even think about doing a tri.

Key word. Incentive.
My sister on the other hand had a baby six months ago and has still not dropped the weight and cant figure out how. I gave her the eat clean book, and my "fitness" magazines. I gave her the 90day supreme workout DVD's... Until last week she only used the book as a coaster, and tried the DVD's once. Last week she came to me for help to loose weight. I guess she wasnt inspired by watching me do my tri, or by all the 5ks... Last week she tried the 30 day shed by jilian Michaels. She did it for 3 days straight! And did a 5k with me that weekend. Last night I asked her how working out was going and she said bad. I asked her what her inspiration was, what her motivator was what her incentive was, and she said I have no money to spend, so nothing. So I stepped in. I gave her an incentive that I knew she wanted but didnt have the money for, a digital camera class. Needless to say she got off her butt and worked out. She now has an incentive other then loosing weight.

Its kinda funny how such a little thing to one person can mean so much to another. How loosing weight is not really an incentive, because its hard and you dont often see changes right away. But the second there is a different incentive, or different inspiration the game changes. For my change it was inspiration! For my sister her change will be from incentives. It would be nice to know other peoples words for change.

I lowered my 5k time another min!! AND my leg didnt hurt! These 100$ shoes are amazing!!! :)
I get to go back packing this week and I am attempting to clean up the meals I eat while out there because they are loaded with sodium. I baked cookies with quinoa, and oatmeal in them, and they are gluten free as well as organic, that I will be taking along. I am also going to take pancake mix and attempt those in the morning on a skillet. They have oats and are whole wheat (much better then poptarts) I am struggling with things to take for lunch because of the weight (yes things add up a lot and with all freeze dried food and only one change of clothes my backpack is usually around 40 pounds) So that being said I need to find some way to replace at least some of my cup o noodles that I take in. Still trying to figure out how because there are also bears up there and it will be a full moon!

I am really looking forward to all the hiking we will be doing! Around 15 miles or more!! I am also looking forward to the meteor shower! :) Until next time...

I have been doing the elliptical everyday this week, and wearing my heart rate monitor and I notice the amount on screen is half of what I get wearing the heart rate monitor for calorie burn. I guess because a heart rate monitor doesnt take into account the resistance factor? Well with that on top of the 30min of weight training wew! Last night doing legs I burned 220 calories in 20 min doing legs (according to the HRM) Go me!

Im off to run another 5k tomm! And I convinced my family to come do it again!! Yay for making healthy choices family! :)

With all this elliptical and weights I keep noticing a change in my body, like I dont feel fat when I pinch my skin, it has a different texture if you know what I mean. Like its tighter feeling. Which is a plus!

This weekend I will only ride the bike once due to the 5k. BUT I will make sure to make that once count!

If someone would have told me a year ago that I would have ran 10 5ks this year... I would have laughed in their face. And when they would have told me I would do my first Tri, I would have REALLY laughed. But Alas, I did my Tri, and I am on to 5k number 5 this Sat in Old Town. If you are in Fort Collins, Come Join ME! I am hoping to lower my time even more. As with August, bring it on! I have so many healthy events planned for you! We have 2 5ks, a three day backpacking trip, biking at least 6.5 miles every weekend, if not twice a weekend. And the elliptical at least 4 times a week!

elliptical... I hope it helps me get better at running since I do all the hard resistances. Biking, I need to work on doing the hills for my next triathlon next year. Running, oh running, we need to meet again before my next 5k which is in a week! Im not afraid of you anymore 5k! And if I could lower my time even more that would be fantastic! Swimming, I will start working with you again very soon. Oh and weights are taken care of everyday with my workout program. My thighs are strong and need to work on getting toned, my arms are getting closer and closer to what I would love for them to look like. Heading back to the gym to get on a bike and ride for an hour this weekend.

I get back from alaska and sat all I did was sleep due to the red eye flight kicking my butt. But sunday all I wanted to do waas exercise! And run and play! Needless to say I sure got a good workout yesterday and will get another good one today! Yay to wanting to work out! :)

In alaska, and this whole weight loss is a challege. I am here for work, but after work is playtime to get to see Alaska. My job doesnot mean we get to walk around AT ALL. The first week I was running a lot and doing my workout, since this weekend I have not sat down until 9pm and have not been sleeping so I cant find it in myself to wake up earlier to do the workouts. Today starts a new. Last night I hiked a difficult, yes it was difficult and so steep it needed stairs 2 miles one way. It was awesome and fun! So after I post this it is back to the workouts. Because hey I have another 5k the first weekend in August! And I want my time to get better! Not worse!!! P.S. the water challenge sucks out here, for some reason I cant drink the water I usually do at home. I dont know if it is because I am on a military base and I dont want to be running out of the room we are in every two hours, and we are technically not allowed water in the room we are in, or what could be the deal. But I have been freaking out about it because I usually drink TONS of water. Like enough that this challenge wouldnt be anything new to me. UGH!

I survived my cousins wedding weekend without gaining a pound! Woohoo! Now i just have to make it two weeks on the road without gaining, which should be fine. I slacked on the water challenge this last weekend because of the 7 hour drive to the wedding and back, and not wanting to stop every rest area. So now I am back to the challenge of drinking all the water!

Just got done with the firekracker 5k! I improved my time by over 2 mins!!! I am now down to 38:18. HORRAY! I accomplished my goal of getting it under 40 min too!! Im so happy and proud. Oh and I am already down for this month. I am officially at my 20lbs TOTAL weight loss since jan! :) I am finally back to the 150's!!! OMG! I cant believe it and it feels so good! I dont know where those 20lbs were hiding, and I dont know how much more I should loose. I know I need to get around or below 145 for a "healthy" BMI.. So we will aim for that. Here's to a great 4th of july! Esp since I just did a 5k!

This will be my last post until I get back from my work trip. I will be doing field work so I will be out walking around and will keep up with my exercise, I have to!! This is day 30 of 90 of it! :) 1/3 of the way done and I totally tell my thighs are so much stronger! :) My arms are getting more toned, my tummy is still a tummy, but there are abs under there! They are threatening to show! And I am going to have my chiropractor check out my knee to see what is going on in there. So hope for good news, cuz I am not going to stop running.. See you guys soon when we find out the results!

If I can knock off two more pounds this month that would be awesome. :) Yesterday I weighed myself and again was down :) I ran out of the bathroom and stood in front of my boyfriend and said I am officially down 18lbs. (I have been working on this since Jan of this year!, so not for this month! Dont worry!) Everyone in my family keeps saying how good I look. :)

Firekracker 5k!

Hey Everyone in the Fort Collins Area in this competition!! Here is a great way to get in some exercise! On July 4th at 8:00am there is a 5k race around city park. Come out, I will be there, and have fun and enjoy the beautiful day! You can sign up for this race at foot of the rockies, and if you go to their online site it has a link to where you can sign up online. Strollers are allowed! And you get a free T-shirt out of it, along with the pride of finishing a race. Let's start our 4th of July off on the right foot!