Back in the game!

After 4 days off, I was so ready to get back to the gym today! The rest was great for my body! I felt great waking up this morning... but let me tell ya, I feel it again tonight!

I started out the day ready to hit the gym hard... Then I got there and realized that A LOT of my stamina was gone! All I wanted to do was sit on the bike and ride it out for a while...




Although I did get off my bike and jump on the elliptical for 40 minutes!


THANK GOD for Power Hour and Turbo Kick!!! I finally perked up for those and got a good calorie burn in! In fact, I burned over 4700 calories today! WOOP WOOP!

It was hard to take that long off of the gym! But it's even harder going back! I didn't feel 100%! It's crazy how fast you can lose your stamina! I was huffing and puffing just jogging around the track once! But hopefully, I'll be able to grab it back quickly! Tomorrow morning I'm hitting it hard, no matter WHAT! I've gotta take responsibility for my own calorie burn outside of trainings, Power Hours, and Turbo Kicks!

Please Don't Stop The Music!!

Music is part of my life... especially at the gym! It's what gets me going when nothing else can! It's my way to escape the reality that I'm on a treadmill and not actually running anywhere!

And of course, my favorite thing to do at the gym, TURBO KICK, is all about the music! I can hear a song on the radio and instantly my arms and legs start to punch and kick and go thru the Turbo routine that matches that song!

I don't think I could get thru running in general without my song playlist!

Here's my list of songs that gets me thru running and other random workouts:

Blah Blah Blah - Ke$ha
Bottoms Up - Trey Songz
F**k You! - Cee Lo Green (Not for my younger followers)
Shots - LMFAO and Lil Jon
Haven't Met You Yet - Michael Buble
Shut It Down - Pitbull
Drop It Low - Ester Dean and Chris Brown
Please Don't Stop the Music - DJ Dizzy
Whip My Hair - Willow Smith
Bulletproof - La Roux
Fly Like A G6 - Far East Movement
Fancy - Drake
Carry Out - Timbaland Ft. Justin Timberlake
Turn My Swag On - Soulja Boy Tell 'Em
All I Do Is Win - DJ Khaled

Yeah yeah... so Michael Buble snuck in there! It's a little bit upbeat, and it makes me happy! So I can run to it! But I'm the kind of girl that can listen to slow stuff and still be ok! (But not while running!)

If you find the right stuff to listen to, it will be able to lift your mood and energy!

Its a new week!!

I've got a super busy week coming up!! Well, I guess not that much busier than most weeks, but a couple extra things make it crazy!

So I've gotta have PLANS to not get off track!! Food plans (Every meal, every drink, every calorie!!) Workout plans (Hitting it hard in the mornings, Trainings, Power Hours, and of course, TURBO KICK!)

No cheat meals this week! I basically had 2 this weekend!

Tomorrow is another mandated rest day! I'm going a little stir crazy waiting for some gym time! But I know my body will love me for taking one more day!! BUT WATCH OUT TUESDAY... It's gonna be a sweaty mess!!!

Will run for Chocolate!!

I ran my first race today at the Hot Chocolate 5K in Chicago, IL! It was a LOT of fun! It was actually my first time running outside... I'm very much an in the gym, on the treadmill kind of girl! So, I was shooting for 17 minute mile pace, thinking that was a safe bet!

The race started out COLD!!! Temps were in the low 30s pretty much the whole race with the sun just showing up over the buildings by the 7:40 start! Luckily there wasn't much in the wind category (THANK GOD!)!!

We started pretty far back since it was broken up into pace per mile (Although, we just stopped walking thru the crowd around 13 min miles!) I think the most frustrating part of the whole race happened before we even started! The first people to finish the 5K were coming into the finish line before we were even close to the start line... Awesome! Made me feel GREAT! But I know I wasn't really racing anyone, just pushing myself as fast as I could go!

So when I finally reached the start line, we started running for a little bit... My muscles seemed to be FROZEN! They just did NOT want to move very fast! Whenever the road was at any decline, we made sure to run... or I'd just pick a start and stop point and run as fast as I could between the two points!

The race course was BEAUTIFUL!! We walked right around Soldier field, around the back side of Shedd Aquarium and up the shore of Lake Michigan and back into Grant Park for the finish line! I really could have slowed down and enjoyed the scenery, but I was on a mission.

I don't think I realized how fast I went until a little after I finished! I forgot to look at what time I crossed the start line, so I wasn't 100% sure what my pace was, except I knew I did about 17 minutes between miles 1-2 and 2-3! But when I got past the finish line, I remembered that my "finish" song had yet to start playing on my iPod! "All I do is Win" - DJ Khaled is possibly the best finishing song ever!! This just meant that I ran faster than the 55min long play list that I made!! YAY!

Official race results have me as the 11,837th person, 8,829th female, and 2,105th female ages 25-29 to cross the finish line!! But more importantly to me, I finished in 51:36 for a 16:37 minute/mile pace!

Gotta keep working to bring down my pace, but I think that was an OK start to what I can only hope is a good racing career! Thanks to everyone who was supporting me via texts and Facebook! It means a lot to know there are so many people out there wanting the best for me!

The day has come!!!

Well.. It's really tomorrow! But today, I leave for Chicago to run in the Hot Chocolate 15K/5K! 3.1 miles!! I'm hoping to be at 17 min miles or less! But we'll see how my body reacts to the conditions! Its supposed to be a crisp 30 degrees at race time!

WISH ME LUCK!! My next post will be after the race!!

Rest?!? What's that?

I know they say you should take at least 1 day of rest per week.... But I used to find that very hard! When I had Turbo Kick 5 days a week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday) and Power Hour or training Monday-Saturday... I very rarely took a day off! Sure my body didn't love me all the time, but I got thru it!

Now with Turbo Kick down to 4 days, no more Sunday classes :-( , I have begun to take Sundays off... but even now, my body seems to need more!

SO, with my first EVER race this Saturday (The Hot Chocolate 5K in Chicago), I decided to take Thursday afternoon-Monday off! The only exercise I will be doing is my 5K!

It's weird to think about NOT going into the gym at all! Its almost like I need it to feel normal! (Ok.. this is sounding more and more like the gym is a drug.. hahaha)

But for tomorrow, I'll focus on rest and preparing mentally for my 5K... and then its all about relaxing on Sunday and Monday! Yeah, I'll miss the gym and all my favorite gymmies, but they'll be there when I get back! This is SUSIE TIME!!

Its just one of those days!!

Yeah.. Today was just one of those days!! One of those days where I don't feel like doing anything, tho I know I need to!

A very sleepy morning turned into a great workout then a very sleepy afternoon and then SOMEHOW, another great workout!

Got in my 5K this morning (plus an extra 1/4 mile)! I'm still not sure where my motivation came from, cause all I could think about while warming up on the bike, was that I did NOT want to be there! BUT.. I got on the treadmill.. Ran a bunch.. and got my mile down to 15:48! WOOP WOOP! Finished the rest and had a 1/4 mile cool down!

Then the night time workout started with a great training session with Travis followed by a KILLER Turbo Kick (Round #42) with Amanda!! LOVE IT!

All said and done, I'll have burned over 5800 calories for today! And I feel every last one of them! I love how no matter what you mood going into a workout, you ALWAYS come out feeling soo much better.. and for today, so much more awake!