Road Blocks

It never fails. Every time I seem to get things on track--training, diet, work--the universe decides things are too orderly, I'm making too much progress, it must step in and derail me.

Actually, this time it was completely my own fault. Things had been going great. I'd been following a healthy, whole-foods diet. I'd been sticking to my new training plan. I had energy! I was productive! I was knocking things off the to-do with grace and stellar efficiency.

In fact, I was feeling so good, that I was dancing around while folding the laundry last Thursday evening. And, silly me, I'd left one of the laundry baskets in the middle of the room. As I was moon-walking backwards across the room while folding a towel, the inevitable happened. I tripped backwards over the basket, falling hard and knocking my head on the floor.

My first thought was: I'm such an IDIOT! My second thought, this is bad. Bad. Very bad. I was certain I was going to die from a brain hemorrhage. Caused by my poor moon walking. While folding a towel.

I did manage to crawl off the floor, grab an ice pack and slump into my lazy boy. There was no way I was getting in my workout after that. Friday, I was just thankful I woke up and didn't die in my sleep.

By Friday evening it was starting to set in: whip-lash. I had whip-lash last year, after a bad mountain biking accident. I could not believe how debilitating it was! I could hardly drive, move my head from side to side, in fact, I could barely lift my head. When I tried getting out of bed in the morning, I couldn't sit up, I had to roll over, slide onto the floor and shimmy onto my knees. It was agonizing and great fodder for an embarrassing youtube video.

4-5 Days of self-induced rest for me. Whip-lash is no fun and I don't want to make things worse. Better to rest and heal up than try to soldier on and create a bigger problem.

Ah, almost forgot. It's Valentine's Day! No special plans for us. I'll probably make something heart-shaped for the kiddos for dinner and write them little love-notes to stash under their pillows. Last but not least, there are some chocolate covered strawberries in the fridge for the adults to enjoy tonight.

Happy Valentine's Day

Somethin' Right

Most days I feel completely lost as a parent. Other days I feel like a failure. But, there's brief moments where I feel like maybe something, just something might be going okay.

For the last 2 years, the one pictured on the right would complain and cry and stomp over whatever was for dinner. It didn't matter if it was spaghetti or chicken or something she loved a week earlier: that day she hated it! Ugh.

Sick of being a made-to-order chef and dealing with the tantrums, I decided to put the responsibility back on the Kids. Hah! Hahahahahahahaha!

Now, every Sunday night the kids, yes, even the 2 year old, have to contribute to the meal planning. Everyone is responsible for planning one meal a week. To make it fair, we draw days of the week. The day you draw is the night of your meal. There is a structure to the meal planning that includes a main dish and two servings of veggies.

When I started this, I thought we'd end up eating Pizza and French Toast every night. Turns out I was wrong pleasantly surprised.

Two months in and the system is still going strong and very popular with the kids. One of my daughter's favorite meals is a Giant Salad topped with sunflower seeds and dijon vinaigrette and a half sandwich on the side.

My son alternates between Oviolees (ravioli), Sloppy O's (bbq sandwiches), or mac and cheese. For sides its either broccoli and cauliflower or green beans or even a small salad.

And in case you are wondering how we fit in our vegetables on a night the kids pick pancakes, chocolate oatmeal or french toast--we do Green Smoothies.

Happy Friday.

Quick and Effective Workouts

I'm a fortunate person in that I work from home most of the time. This gives me pockets of flexibility that I absolutely do not take for granted. I have an extra hour in the morning where the rest of the world is getting themselves presentable, packing lunches, and briefcases and scurrying to rush out the door.

Not me. I play with my kids, cuddle them, and gently coax them through their morning routine. Once I scootch them out the door with their dad, I do my taxing commute of descending a dozen stairs and sitting at my desk.

Lunch hour? I can go for a run, a bike ride, or both! No shower needed afterwards. There's no one here but the cats to impress. And lets face it, there's nothing I can do that will impress them.

This month, however, the trifecta of work emergencies/disasters has struck. I am finding myself working before the sun rises, through lunch, and the second my husband gets home from work, I descend the stairs and am at my desk for at least 3-4 more hours. There is no free hour to spare for training.

Which is adding to my anxiety! I have a race in 7 weeks . . . Now is not the time to be anchored to a desk. Fortunately, I have an arsenal of quickie workouts I do when I have 5, 10, or even just 15 minutes. I use those to get through a couple of days until I can get in an hour spin.

Here is my super-quickie workouts:

5-min: 50 kettlebell swings

10-min: 50 kettlebell swings, Turkish Get-Ups (6 ea. side), 50 Jumping Jacks

15-min: 50 kettlebell swings, Turkish Get-Ups, 50 Juming Jacks, Bulgarian Squats, 10 push-ups

20-min: 15 min of intervals on the exercise bike, Kettlebell swings, pushups

Getting involved in a project on the computer is great, but spending hours at my desk reaks havoc on my back. My other tip is to set the timer on my oven for 75 minutes. Every 1:15 minutes I have to get up, run up the stairs and reset the alarm. I usually do a couple of quick stretches before I sit back down at my desk. When I'm in the office, I do something similar. I keep a small cup of water to sip on while I work. As soon as its empty its time to get up, stretch, walk around and refill my cup.

And, if all else fails and I get to the end of the day realizing I didn't do a darn thing, I challenge the husband to a "Plank-off" before bed. We assume the Plank position and see who can hold the pose the longest. I always lose.

These mini-workouts mentally keep me moving forward. So I missed my 9-mile run this week, it's okay. And I missed my 90 minute trainer workout. That's going to happen. But I have not completely fallen off the wagon, I have successfully continued my losing streak in the Plank-Off last night.