Booty Wurk

"Hey Amanda, you spelled 'work' incorrectly."

Ummm obviously I know this- and I'll get to that in a minute. First, I want to let you all know that I hurt like a son of a holy woman.

Today I went for a run with one of my younger sisters. I won't lie, at first I thought she would be a hinderance because she isn't exactly one for physical activity. (When one is about 5'7" and has to WORK at gaining weight, you don't really get into working out as much as everyone else does.) However, this worked in my favor- having someone to bully that is.

Since Molly is so out of shape (who knew skinny minis could be out of shape??), it meant that I got to be the drill sergeant, if you will. Where I would ordinarily be struggling to make it to the next check point and crap out within meters of said check point, I found myself pushing harder to reach the pole/tree/garbage can in question, then screaming back to my sister to push harder and that our target had changed to the NEXT tree/pole/garbage can. She had to have hated me by the end of it, but she brought out a side of me I've never seen before: a side that wanted to push harder, despite the burning in my lungs and the sweat dripping into my eyes.

Seriously- What a great run!!

Check out that sweat!!

After our run, I did my 45 pushups, 60 squats, and a crap ton of various crunches. (I'm working on my core, could you tell??)

Back to the misspelled title!

I have found some great songs to workout to- which all happen to be "Booty" songs!! My top 3 are Booty Wurk by T-Pain, Bubble Butt by Major Lazer, and Bootylicious by Destiny's Child  (an oldie but a goodie!)

What tunes do you like to sweat to? Let us all know!! We could all use some fresh, upbeat music to get our blood flowing!

Until we sweat again!

Lungs Aflame

Please hold while I collect the fragments of my lungs which are now splattered all over State Center.

Holy. COW. Who knew I was so out of shape!? When I ride my bike, I can go all over town and feel a little burn in my thighs- and I thought THAT was bad.... I am so naive.

In order to prepare for the Color Me Rad 5k in October, I mapped out a plan to get my butt in gear and get my run on. Too bad I had no idea how completely horrible this first outing would turn out.

Clearly, I'm exaggerating. I wasn't chased by any animals (wild or domesticated), I didn't nearly get run over by a car, nor was I honked or screamed at, and I obviously made it back to my apartment without dying. However, my legs are shaking like a leaf. Other than that (and the searing pain in my lungs), I have come out of my first run unscathed.

See? No blood, no carnage- just some wonderful health benefits!!

For my first run, I went 1.26 miles (in about 17 minutes). Oops! So I need a little bit of work- who cares!? That's the whole point of me training for this 5K. Anyone who thinks they can go from their couch to a 5K in a day is out of their mind. I'm completely okay with seeming like a completely worthless crap bag for the first couple of weeks. I plan on sticking it out and getting this done.

In order to track my run, I downloaded an app onto my Galaxy S3 called RunKeeper. It lets you listen to whatever music app you choose to use during a run (I use Spotify), but will interrupt to tell you when your warmup is over, how long you've been running and how far you've gone, and will even track how many approximate calories you're burning. This little gadget even reminds you when your next workout is, so there's no "oh I forgot" excuse. It then gives you the option of posting to your Facebook or Twitter accounts so others can track your progress, and even lets you set goals! My first goal is to lose 8 pounds by my brother's wedding. (8 lbs. on a 5'1" girl shows up hard core.) Check it out!! (It's FREE!!!)

After my lungs stopped feeling like they were collapsing (its been 15 minutes and I still can't breathe correctly, but we'll ignore that), I proceeded to do 45 pushups, 45 crunches, and 45 reverse crunches, because hey- if my lungs feel like hell, I might as well feel like hell all over, right!?

Now, I will drink some Naked Juice and make some grilled chicken with onions and mushrooms for an early dinner.

Until we sweat again!

Color Me Rad

Hello, hello, hello!!

The time has come for this girl to put her money where her mouth is.

I keep on telling everyone that if they just stick to their training/workout schedule/what-have-you, that you'll all be able to shed those pounds, or get that toned look, or just be healthy...

Well, I am very pleased to announce that after floundering about looking for the perfect workout plan (and failing to stick with just one), I have decided to register with a team of girls (yet to be determined) for the Color Me Rad 5K in Des Moines!

The race takes place on the 5th of October, just one week after my brother and his lovely bride-to-be are to be married. This means that, should I stick with it and actually train for this darn thing, not only will I look rockin' in that bridesmaid dress, but I will also be in fit enough shape to take on my very first 5K!!

Now, what am I doing for my training, you might ask??

Let me break it down for you:

Week 1: Run 1 minute, walk 90 seconds; Repeat 8x
Week 2: Run 2 minutes, walk 1 minute; Repeat 7x
Week 3: Run 4 minutes, walk 1 minute; Repeat 6x
Week 4: Run 6 minutes, walk 2 minutes; Repeat 4x
Week 5: Run 9 minutes, walk 2 minutes; Repeat 3x
Week 6: Run 12 minutes, walk 1 minute; Repeat 3x
Week 7: Run 15 minutes, walk 1 minute; Repeat 2x
Week 8: Run 30 minutes!!

I'm trying to convince my friend, Cindy, to train with me so she can bring her fancy shmancy camera along and take some photos for her upcoming Photo Journalism course. If you or anyone you know would like to train along with us (either in person or via the interweb), please let me know and we can all keep each other posted on our progress!!

Now, with all of this running, it might mean my knee starting up with its "I'm a big baby- put ice on me and don't move for 2 days" routine. I'm going to try very hard to achieve this goal whilst also remaining SAFE. The last thing I want to do is permanently injure my leg in pursuit of a 5K. However, I would love to become an avid runner (or at the very least, jogger), so it would be great if I got to actually do this thing! (Considering I'm shelling out nearly $40 to even get signed up for it.)

Let me know if anyone is in any way interested in training with us, or joining our group for the 5K!

Happy sweating!

Brain Damage

Weird title, right? I'm in a Pink Floyd mood today. Don't judge me.

In fact, you should all be so proud of me today! I woke up BEFORE 11 a.m., and was dressed and out the door (on my bike) by about 9:15!!

I have just returned from my exhilarating ride. This is what I look like-

You're welcome, by the way. I don't think anyone can handle this much hot this early.

This morning's workout was.... exciting? I think that might be the word for it.

I started out and saw my friend, Christina, but she seemed mighty engrossed in her phone so I kept on riding- that and it was just too early in the ride to stop and chat. I got to ride by work, stop for a train (Trains in State Center?? No Way!), see Jesse driving in his work truck, go by my old apartment... but this isn't the exciting part of my ride.

As I was riding on the left hand side of the road (read SIDE of the road), as you are supposed to so you can see traffic coming and avoid it, some jerk face pulled into an intersection DIRECTLY in front of me. I'm assuming that he didn't bother looking right since he was turning that way and just checked out oncoming traffic from his left- Well, hello! I very narrowly avoided being schmucked by this schmuck.

As it was heating up and I could feel my heart pounding out of my chest (no thanks to the man in that vehicle), I decided to call it a workout and head home... The fact that my legs felt like jelly had absolutely nothing to do with it, right??

At least today I made it almost entirely around State Center! See? I'm already making progress and it's only day 2!!

I think later today I'll do some squats/push-ups/crunches and what have you. I'll keep you all updated!

Until we sweat again!

Burns So Good

Alright ladies (and maybe some guys) follow this link to listen to the track I feel best accompanies this blog.

Oh my, is it really July already??

Let's see... since I last blogged (March. Youch.) I have been trying to stay in shape by riding a bicycle around like a crazy person. A bicycle lent to me by my lovely friend, Amber. (This would be the first shout out of the blog today!)

I moved at the end of June and hadn't really found time to cycle since the move- which is just another way of saying "I'm a big ol' lazy lady."

Cest la vie.

Since the move, I put a halt to pretty much anything other than the frequent walk to my refrigerator. Amazingly, despite all of the bread, and bacon, and hashbrowns, (because these are my staple foods), I have LOST weight. Granted, I suspect this is because I have lost muscle and gained fat, but I apparently don't look like a giant slob, so there's that.

I have also (very) recently picked up walking with my good friend, Cindy. We're both pretty sure her husband enjoys that she has a gal pal to spend time with... or at least that's what we tell ourselves and hope it catches on. :)

Today-

I pulled on my poor, neglected sports bra, my old Nat'l Guard t-shirt, and some biking shorts, and put my tennis shoes to good use.

I won't lie, I didn't go very far. When I was at my peak, I was riding my bike around the perimeter of the town, then riding either North and South, or East and West, on every street. Today, I took several shortcuts and made it about halfway around the town. (Total. It was bad.)

I got home covered in sweat, chugged some Gatorade, and collapsed on my couch.. until I realized my fan was in the other room and immediately relocated myself to DIRECTLY in front of it.

I really want to get back into the swing of being obsessed with staying in shape and telling you all exactly how crappy it is, because I know a group of you ladies (and guys) that were definitely gaining some strength and confidence, and all through my smart mouth blog. If you'd be willing to continue reading as I try to get back into the swing of all of this, let me know and I'll continue blogging and sharing my awkward, embarrassingly hilarious tales of how I'm doing fitness-wise.

Until we sweat again!