I've come to the conclusion that......

I'm NOT so great at this BLOGGING THING! I seem to always, be 3-4 days behind. BAHAHAHA = ) Not exactly sure who's actually viewing my posts, but I have seen a lot of views and for those of you who are reading this, thank you for sticking around. This journal is primarily for me, but if it helps you or even motivates you in the slightest, well then by all means, continue to follow me on my journey.

Let's rewind: <<

Thursday-Felt pretty accomplished! Out of 13 ppl, 4 ppl did the rounds 5x and I was one of them!!!! I was pretty proud of myself. These workouts just get harder and harder, but everyday, I keep pushing myself and testing my potential.

 Friday- skipped Bootcamp and came home right after work and got ready to go Matt and Julia's BBQ that they were having at their house which is in the neighborhood next door to us (friends of ours from when we lived in Tennessee). We had a very healthy dinner: shrimp and beef kabobs with some veggies fresh off the grill. Enjoyed meeting some new ppl as well. Behind Julia and Matt's house their is a newly developed park that just finished up which has a 1mile track. Putting that on tomorrow's schedule.

Saturday- Easter egg hunt with Mark's company in the morning, grocery shopped and stopped by the Px and got a surprise gift from the hubby: iPad 3!! Late bday/vday gift but it was worth the wait.

My husband was on a roll today. Took me to lunch, bought me an iPad and even ran 3 miles at that new park. Did ok for a beginner, but I definitely need to shave off 4mins off my run before the race. Alright, alright, if you want to know how I did, I ran 3miles in 34mins. FREAKIN' SUCKS. Trust me, I'll be working on it.

Sunday- funday. just relaxed and enjoyed being lazy in our movie room.

Monday-CRAZZZZZZZYY at work. We have been extremely busy the last few weeks and today was THEE most stressful Monday yet! I had to blow off steam in the gym and this is how I did it:

800m
200 jumping jacks
--------------
25 of each
Ring pulls
Left Russian kb
Right Russian kb
Paralette pushups
Paralette dips

 I drink this right before bed and my body

feels like brand new the next morning.

Tuesday-Today, I went into work and worked only half a day. We have a leak at our house and I had to be there so that they could fix it. It felt weird going home so early, but it was kind of nice. This morning I made the tastiest meal. Right now I'm doing two shakes a day. One for breakfast and one for lunch. For breakfast, I made an almond shake. I took 2 scoops of Herbalife Vanilla Healthy Meal Formula 1, 1/2 a tsp of almond extract, ice and milk. One of my best creations.

 For lunch I drank Herbalife Cookies & Cream Healthy Meal Formula

Not to toot my own horn or anything ; ) , but today I came up on top!! Out of 10 ppl or so, I happen to do the most rounds in this workout we did:

"Jen-nay"

I go HARD

Thank you to my amazing coaches at Absolute Self Defense in Killeen. They push me harder than I think I can even go and that is why I have improved so much over the last few weeks. I'm seeing tremedous results and will continue to.

Recap.....

I know, it's been a full week since I've written anything. Work, bootcamp, husband's St. Patty's work party and family consumed my schedule this past week. BUSY BUSY BUSY.


last Thursday went like this:

Friday-My sister-in-law, husband and children came to visit us during their spring break, so I decided to skip class.
Saturday- since I missed Bootcamp the night before, I went for a run. My nephew decided to join me and I really enjoyed it. We went for a mile and a half and sprinted twice during.

Sunday- spent time with the familia and went to AustinPark. That was a ton of fun. 22 Acres of Indoor and Outdoor Fun and Attractions. It has a Huge indoor arcade, Laser Tag Room, Rock Climbing Wall,1All-You-Care-to-Eat-Pizza-Pasta-Salad-Buffet and Fountain Drinks,Go-Karts, Bumper Boats, Two 18 Hole Mini Golf…and Much More…!

 Monday- played hooky again, but came home and went for another run but this time with my niece. Since they were heading back home, I didn't feel like I needed to go to class. Besides, I needed to prepare for my race coming up in April. So it was a perfect opportunity to get some running in and also spending time before they left. Run went well. Just did a lil' jogging. Wind felt wonderful as I was running towards it.

Tuesday- First day back on the grind. I was actually nervous coming back because I hadn't been since Thursday. It was tough coming back. We got grouped into A, B, & C. Each group had 2 different excercises. When we were done with our own, we moved to the next letter.

       

Wednesday- this drill is called "The Murphy" and was developed by LT Murphy, a Navy Seal who died in combat in Afghanistan who typically would do a workout similar to this daily.

"The Murphy"

Warmup:

2laps (800m)

200 jump ropes

--------------------

Workout:

4laps (1mile)

100 squat thrusts

100 situps

100 squats

100 pushups

4laps (1mile)

***full body workout***

With today's workout, I realized I would be perfectly fine for my race in April. Today we ran 2 1/2 miles on top of all the squats we did in between. The most intense workout we've done THUS FAR!!!

it's Wobbly Wednesday! : )

I've been slacking a little bit at blogging. The only free time I actually get, is right before I go to bed. Sometimes it's just hard to get that in.

So let me back track........

Monday- Let's just say that I wasn't aware we had a time change! haha The night before, I had stayed up playing "Draw Something" with my friends in bed til' midnight (or so I thought). Little did I know,  I actually went to bed at 1am. I woke up, looked at my phone, and noticed the time was different then all the other clocks in the house. I put "two and two together", and of course I was hauling butt for work. HA! YUP, IT'S A MONDAY!!

I was exhausted all day. My friend that I worked with said I seemed sad and told her I just didn't have any energy in me. I WASN'T looking forward to that night's workout.

What do you know?! All of a sudden I have all this energy! ADRENALINE MUCH?!! Thanks to
"THE FRAN" workout:

4 different excercises: 21 times the first set, 15 the second set and last 9times. I finished at 13:45mins. Not too bad, considering there were 5 more people that were left after the last name you see above (ending hers at 15:35) that didn't get to post their time. I think the biggest thing I need to work on is getting my pushups faster.

Tuesday-Got a full night's rest. Last night's workout was fantastic. Feeling brand new. Today's workout was going to be more enjoyable because my co-worker Katie decided she was going to give bootcamp a shot also. I gotta say, today might have been an intimidating day for her to start because the one word you don't want to see on the board is SPRINTS. The workout is called "Creeping Death". Hmmmm.. I wonder, why?!

    Left to Right: Atomic Left Lift, Me and Katie resting on superman, and SPRINTS! GO GO GO! 

Wednesday-The title to this post says it all: "Wobbly Wednesday". When I say wobbly, I mean, I barely can walk from all the running we did and my legs feel like their about to collapse. Katie and I were absolutely positive that there would be no way we would run. Boy, were we WRONG!!!!!!! Guesst what we did to day. Run, run and well..... RUN!!!!

I was so worn out by today's workout, I didn't even take a photo of the workout or write it down. No worries, I have it memorized! You know why, because we had to repeat each excercise and continue to do the whole thing over and over again. LOVELY! Do you sense the sarcasm in my voice??!! = P

workout:

warm up: 200 jumpropes

          20 squat thrusts
________________

Partner UP

A: 800m run

    30 cone jumps

B: 15 burpees

   15 paralette shoots

We had to pair up with someone in the class. Katie started with excercise A and I did B. Partner B had to keep doing their excercises over and over until A was finished and then we switched. We continued this for a good 45 mins. I ended up doing about 1 1/2mile. UUUUuuuuuGHHHH! After all the burpees, sprints from last night and jumproping I'm not sure my poor legs can take anymore. Let's see what tomorrow's workout will be like! BRING IT!!!!!!!

the weekend has to come to an end....

Saturday-I took my first break from doing any kind of physical activity (and it felt DARN good). Didn't feel a bit of guilt! Mark and I enjoyed our day cleaning the house and I ran a couple of errands. So it was a productive day. Ended it with a delicious CHEAT MEAL at Sushi Zushi in Austin. Handsdown, the widest variety I have ever seen at a sushi restaurant! I ordered a Toreado Roll-Kankiama crab, serrano chilies and avocado rolled uramaki style with sesame seeds. Topped with your choice of scallops or crawfish baked in spicy mayo. Sprinkled with chives. Mark ordered this: 

Oaklawn Roll-Fried crawfish rolled uramaki style topped with your choice of spicy tunaor spicy salmon, wrapped in avocodo. Topped with four colorful caviar and drizzled w/wasabi cream sauce.

Then after dinner, we made our way to Cap City Comedy Club with some friends. Matt Bearden was the headliner. He's voted Austin's funniest comedian. The show was hilarious to say the least.

Sunday- On our way back from Austin to our place, we made a pit stop at the outlets in Round Rock. We went to the Nike store and bought Mark two new pairs of shoes and I got new running shorts. Slept all the way home and then came home and also took a nap! Haha I must have been exhausted from the weekend. I got up from my nap and had a sudden urge to go for a run. I knew I didn't want to run too long bc I wasn't sure what we the workout would be like for tomorrow. I just ran a little over a mile. I always take my iphone with me and listen to music on it while I run. Today, I used an app I downloaded called Runtastic. The app tracks your runs and activities, has mapping to see where exactly you ran through GPS, and it even cheers you on.This could be better (and will be), but at the same time it could be alot worse:

I SURVIVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday-I decided to take a break from blogging yesterday because I was pooped after our workout and just wanted to relax. The "Upside Down Murphy" rocked! I was feeling today's workout. Apparently, a few people from class couldn't hang. Three-quarters of the people that have been going everyday, couldn't make it on the 4th day. NOT THIS GIRL! BOOM! We even ran 3times more than we usually do during this workout and did IT IN THE RAIN!!! 

Ended the night with very sore muscles and a NICE HOT BATH with the jets on full blast.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday-I made it to the last day of the week!!!!!!!!!! BURN BABY BURN!!!!!!! Just when my arms are almost done healing from being sore, OF COURSE we do Push Presses w/Tires and Push ups on paralettes tonight. All I've done for the past two days is stretch my arms from Wednesday when we did more than 200 push ups. I find it to be a pretty big accomplishment to make it a full week in bootcamp. It was extremely challenging and I look forward to Monday and coming with my friend that will be joining me. I'm going to "try" to finish off another full week with her and then contiune for 3-4 times a week.

Hump Day.....

WEDNESDAY- HAPPY HUMP DAY! I've finally reached the middle of the week and on the third day of bootcamp! YIPEE! I'm halfway through the week. The workouts are getting tougher and my body is in severe pain, but I know I gotta keep pushing! CECE, YOU CAN MAKE IT THROUGH YOUR FIRST WEEK. On a side note, drinking my daily amount of water is becoming easier (which is more than 60oz.).

Photo courtesy of Absolute Self Defense and Fitness in Killeen, TX

Today's workout:

Class was tough. The number by our name is the time it took us to complete the workout in 4rounds/sets. Everyone had to do 45 each and I did 25. Don't kid yourself, it was extremely difficult. Today was the first day I took a break from running. After my third round of SAND BAG THRUSTERS, I headed for the door to go for a run and didn't even go 10ft and I was back in the building. LOL. At least I tried to make an effort, right? That should count for something. After the amout of squats and jumprope I did, there was no way I was going for a run.

I came across this photo on Pinterest and it's a March promise, but I want to be able to use it as motivation for the rest of my journey

 My dinner tonight- Mojito Lime Grilled Chicken

My husband and I are stocked up on lean meat and decided we were having grilled chicken (that was marinated over night) and a salad. Dinner was delicious.

The first couple of days .......

The past few weeks my self esteem has been getting the best of me. Running around naked in the house, looking in the mirror and getting on the scale isn't so sexy anymore. = / Everyone that knows me, knows I love to cook. My husband and I share a love for food and it's so hard to balance eating and staying fit. Dieting has never been in the cards for me.

There had to be some kind of breaking point, but when? I have to put a stop to it somehow.

Lately, shopping hasn't be as fun because I'm not the same size I use to be. I went shopping last Friday. There are so many cute clothes out for the upcoming season and I just had to try the new spring collections. I went into the dressing room with about 7 or 8 articles of clothing. Dresses, pants, rompers...etc. Dresses weren't looking too great on me, I think I made a whole new definition for "muffin tops" when I tried the jeans on, and rompers.... we DON'T want to go there! Have you heard of the phrase "camel toe?" In the dressing room, looking straight into that mirror, I had seen an overweight, unfit, unhealthy, out of shape girl. It was then, I knew I had to make a change.

I went online and researched some different programs locally I could join and came across one I was interested in.

The weekend had gone by and I had allowed myself to eat whatever I wanted this weekend because I knew Monday was going to be my very first day of BOOT CAMP. You know, chicken parmigiana, a whole row of the 100th anniversary birthday cake flavor oreos,  spinach artichoke dip at T.G.I.FRIDAYS, pizza, white wings from Las Casas(which is a huge staple in this area. If you don't know what they are, google it. You'll either hate me or thank me) etc.... the list can go on.

my first weigh in: 117lbs.........Ugh.... bleh...

Mind you, I'm 5ft and that is definitely over what I'm suppose to weigh for my heighth.

MONDAY-Not gonna lie, yesterday kicked my butt. I went into knowing I would be smoked, but didn't realize that I would work other areas of my body that wasn't really focused on. We mainly worked on arms.

Because I was new and it was my first week there. I was able to modify the workouts:

Warm up :
100 jumping jacks
100 jump ropes
100 squat thrusts
----------------------------
15 each of:
Push ups
Wide push ups
Close hand push ups
Run 400m
2nd set:
Floppy push ups
Clap push ups
Leg push ups
And the run again 400 m
AND THEN REPEAT as much as you can in 30mins.

Can you imagine this doubled? It'll be interesting to see in the following weeks or months that I'll be able to double these workouts. It almost sounds impossible, but I have to be optimistic and know that I CAN DO IT and will make it happen.

Photo courtesy of Absolute Self Defense and Fitness in Killeen, TX

TUESDAY-  My legs and arms are like jello today. My sweet husband rubbed my arms and shoulders when I got home last night. I had stretched all day and still feel like a bulldozer ran over me. My abs even hurt. We didn't even do any situps or anything abdominal related. Coach said because of all the pushups we did, we used alot of our core and in the process were tightening it and  actually using them without even noticing. I'm sure you are shaking your head reading this. But hey! I'm new to all of this and I have A WHOLE LOT TO LEARN. HERE'S TO NEW BEGINNINGS!!!

We got a FULL BODY WORKOUT TODAY: