This picture explains how I felt after I left the gym yesterday. I was POOPED!  Holy moly, the workout kicked my butt….(not hard enough to take away my stupid butt muscle twitch though).  I had my inhaler so things were good in that department, but my muscles were shot by the end.  My legs were shaking so bad on the last two reps I couldn't believe it! 

Here's what we did:

As Many Reps Possible in 20 min
5 Burpees
10 Knees Touch Elbows (KTE)
15 Box Jumps

That was it. I ended up doing 9 reps and Dave ended with 10.  That means I did 45 burpees, 90 KTE's, and 135 box jumps in 20 minutes.  That is a lot of stuff.  I think it was harder for me to do the box jumps because I am much shorter than Dave, and his legs are much bouncier! It looked like he was jumping on a trampoline when he did his….it was kinda funny!

We did a 5 minute warm up running at 5.0, so with the warm up the workout was 25 minutes.  We stretched for another 10 minutes and then went home. We opted out on ABS since we had each done almost 100 KTE"s.  I'm just waiting for my stomach to start hurting today…it is usually a delayed reaction with my stomach muscles.

I'm not sure what we are doing about Today's workout.  We are headed to SLC right after work and I don't know if we are going to be able to fit it in.  We might have to skip today…..(GASP). In the past this would have ruined my day. I would have felt really guilty and probably ate unhealthy…I'm so glad this is not the case anymore.  It is not the end of the world if I skip today to spend quality time with my husband.  What is more important, obsessing about exercise and letting it interfere with life and relationships so that I can one day look perfect…or is it better to be realistic and remember that life is not about how we look, but who we are and what we do?  DUH! 

I'm so thankful for what I've learned and where I've come from.  If I hadn't experienced the bad, I would never be able to appreciate little things like I do now.  I am so thankful for so many things! I appreciate life and want more than anything to live it to the fullest!  I am so thankful for all of you who have committed to participating in Project Feed Me. Project Feed Me is a small way you can live your life to the fullest. It's all about others, it's about giving back and caring about more than just yourself. I am so excited about the Project and can't wait for it to get started.  As I mentioned 1000 times, if you haven't already REGISTERED please to do so ASAP.  I need your help and support!  If you have a second, please mention it on your blog, facebook, or twitter.  The more times we mention it the more it will get around and the more people we will help feed!!  Lets give back. Its so simple!!!! Let's make it happen!
(Please remember that you can help even if you have a tight budget.  There are several weeks where you won't even spend $1)

 xoxox have a great weekend!!!

Remember MONDAY OCTOBER 12 is the first day of Project Feed Me.  Check back HERE to find out what the recommended food item of the week is.  I can't wait to get started! Thanks for your support! love ya

Dave called me from work and told me he was going to do his workout on his lunch break so when we got home we could head straight to the movie.  Since he didn't give me much notice I didn't have time to go to the gym. Instead I did my work out at home in the back yard. The weather was PERFECT! Not to hot, not to cold.  I was able to find different ways to tweak the exercises so that I could still get a good work out without going to the gym. Here's what I did:

30 Push-ups
30 Box Jumps
30 Wall Balls
30yrds of Lunges

(3 sets of each)

I couldn't find my yoga mat so I used a door mat to cushion my hands a bit while doing push ups

I used the diving board for box  jumps and it worked great!

I don't own a medicine ball so I made do with what I had. I did the wall balls using an exercise ball.

The walk way next to the pool was perfect for lunges….15 down, and 15 back.

It only took me 23 minutes to finish all three sets. I decided I wanted a bit more, so I went for a 13 minute run around the neighborhood.  It was so lovely.  The trees are starting to change color and this week the mountains got a bit of snow on the tops.  It felt like I could have ran forever.  One thing that contributed a TON to me feeling like I could run forever is my inhaler.  I have been looking for that thing for two months and finally found it yesterday.  About a year ago I developed asthma and sometimes when I work out I have a really hard time breathing, making it that much harder to catch my breath.  I used two puffs of the inhaler at the first of my workout and I was set for the entire workout.

When Dave got home we headed straight to the movie.  "The Invention of Lying". It was cute. A lot different than I thought, but cute. Not my favorite, but entertaining, cute and fun.

Dave's mom has been asking us to send her pictures of the outside of the house we are hoping to buy so after the movie we headed over to the house to take a few pics.

View form the back yard

After taking the pics we went to eat at Famous Dave's tonight.  It was really good. This is only my second time eating there and I really like it!

We ended the night with an episode of The Office, The Hills and Cougar town.  Does anyone else HATE Kristin Cavalari?  I seriously can't stand her.  (and yes, my husband watches the hills…. he used to make fun of it but now he's hooked).

QA:
Do you have asthma or use an inhaler when you work out?
Do you watch the hills?

Bring it on.  Even though Fridays planned workout was super short, I had to work incredibly hard to even lift the weights  over my head and do the exercise.  We were finished with the workout in a little over 10 minutes.  We ran for a mile afterwards and then added on some sit-ups at the end.  We were there for about 35 minutes total.  The workout went as follows:

20 Dumbbell Snatches
Nat: 17.5lbs Dave: 35lbs
20 Push Ups
15 Dumbbell Snatches
Nat: 17.5lbs Dave: 30lbs
15 Push Ups
10 Dumbbell Snatches
Nat: 17.5lbs Dave: 35lbs
10 Push Ups
5 Dumbbell Snatches
Nat: 25lbs Dave: 40lbs
5 Push Ups

1 mile run @ 6.0-6.5 (10 minutes)

I love sweating. For some reason the more sweaty I am the better I feel. (only in regards to working out). I hate sweating any other time.

As we were streching I told Dave i'd really like to start running. I told him that i'd love doing some races to help us get stronger, faster, and in better overall shape. He has never been interested in doing any races, but this time he didn't object, so I continued. I asked him if he'd want to train to run a 1/2 marathon or something close to it…without hesitating he said yes.  YAY!!  This makes me really happy.  If my back can handle it, I would love to do this.

Good news, my back hasn't hurt that past two days we've ran. We have only ran a few miles though, but usually even a mile or two will cause it to act up.  I'm not really sure why my lower back hurts when I run but it does.  Someone recommended that I strengthen my core so I am going to really work on that and see if I see any improvements. I know a lot of you are runners, can you offer any advice?  I'd love to start training but I think I need to prepare my body to do this and figuring out how to make my lower back not hurt is KEY!  Please please please….any suggestions??

QA:
-What are some good core exercises for strengthening  your core for running?
-Did you or do you have lower back pain from running, and how did/do you solve it?
-Any other suggestions? ANY AT ALL??