Enjoy The Journey!

Long bike ride today, I leave as soon as the hubby gets back from his ride. 56 miles into Story and up the Foot Hills of The Big Horn Mountains. Not sure why this pic keeps loading sideways... oh well... this is what awaits me is just a short time! These days remind me of those bluebird powder days back when I lived in Crested Butte, Colorado. Its 65 degrees, not a breath of wind and blue sky as far as the eye can see. I do a lot of thinking on the bike, its a great time to focus my creative energies and come up with new workouts for clients and plans for the future. After watching footage from Ironman World Champs last night at dinner and I oddly excited for this bike ride today. Life  is what you make of it, today my life is beautiful and I am blessed, honored and so thankful for it.

Phew! It's been a while since I have written and it is time again. Though this time I am enjoying a totally new Journey. The hubby and I are in training for the Bozeman Triton Long Course Triathlon on July 29th and so far training is going really well.  Me and the Hubby with friends after the Bozeman Triton Sprint Triathlon 2011 To give you a little background... Back in 2000 I did my first triathlon. (The Kaneohe Bay Sprint Triathlon) when we were living on the beautiful island of Oahu. Did you know that Kaneohe Bay is one of the largest mating grounds of hammerhead sharks in the world? Neither did I, until the morning of the race. So much fun. I am pretty sure I touched a shark (might have been a turtle) during the swim portion of the race. I was hooked after that and ended up racing quite a bit in the 3 years we lived in Hawaii. My final race there was the Xterra World Championships on Maui. I had a 101 degree fever and walking pnuemonia, it was awesome! In an earlier blog...

I started working out  in 1995 after a few years of cigarettes, all day pizza fests and keg beer had taken its toll on my 19 year old body. I will never forget the day I was truly ashamed of how bad I had allowed it to get.   My roommate and I decided to go hiking with some guy friends that were avid bikers and rock climbers and it ended up being one of the most miserable days of my life. I remember one guy actually going up and down the hill (aka Mt Everest) and constantly cheering us on as he RAN past us up to the top and back down again. I also remember the pathetic looks from some of the other guys as they not so patiently waited for us throughout the hike. I remember that hike being at least 10 miles and about 4 hours to get to the top. Pretty sure it was 4 hours… and probably less than a mile. The reality was that I was overweight and miserable and those two always seemed to go hand in hand for me. I wasn’t comfortable because of what I looked like and I also ...

Today was better… My life has been kind of stressful lately. In a good way though. I could have worse problems than being stressed and busy about building and opening the business of our dreams in two weeks. My brain is on hyper-speed and I have so much on my “to do” list I don’t even know where to start some days. My food hasn’t exactly been great lately. I ate McDonalds on Saturday… twice. I also had a massive amount of sushi AND Cold Stone (though I did manage a healthier protein smoothie there). Ya know what? It was GOOOOOD. I did not regret it one bit. You know why? Because having a few days of emotional eating will not set me back. I have always had a relationship with food, sometimes it has been pretty great and sometimes it has been more on the abusive side. There were times in my life when I would let a few bad days turn into a bad week, throw off my workouts and ruin my entire attitude and self-worth. I found that it was the residual guilt and the actions it created tha...

I have learned some interesting things over the last 4 weeks of logging and thought I might share… Ever since I began logging my food in 2001 (no that is not a typo, I have actually been logging my food for 11 years.) I have always done it on my terms. I was able to tweak whatever I needed to do make the results happen. Counting my workouts as cardio, not counting housework or yard work as workouts, and taking a break from logging on the weekends were all things I learned to do that did not necessarily follow the rules. Regardless of my activity level, I was always pretty successful with my weight loss when I logged. There were times I was working a desk job, and right after pregnancy when I was up all night and still able to lose my baby weight (all 40 pounds of it) within the time I had given myself to lose. It didn’t matter how active or stressed or busy I was, I was able to make it happen. Obviously I am better at it now than I was when I first started.  I have learne...

 I am a 35 year old personal trainer. I am 5.4, 128 pounds, a mom, and a wife. I work my butt off for my health, my body and my life and I am proud of it.  I look great for having 1 child and once being a size 16 Marlboro Mediums lover.. My chest is less pretty  than I would like but I have my mom’s chest, I also have my mom’s legs which are killer so I will take them. I don't love my once broken nose or round cheeks, but when I smile they all work together so I wouldn't change a thing. I have been told by people that “I know what I want and that is rare.” It drives me crazy. Why is it rare? Doesn’t everyone know what they want? Shouldn’t everyone know what they want? I am realizing how rare it is as I read posts lately on curvy and skinny girls and the hatred from both “sides”.  I see people posting that "society" has created a completely unattainable image for women and I don't buy it. I highly doubt that all these angry posters are 16 years old and it...

The top 5 things you can do to improve your health permanently: Stay Hydrated: There was a study a few years ago that found that most overweight people have lost their ability to determine thirst from hunger. If you have the urge to put something in your mouth, think about how much water you have had to drink. You might just be thirsty! Keep some junk in the house: I cringe when I hear people clearing out their kitchens and buying only healthy food in order to “jumpstart” their diet. What happens when you are headed home from a long day at work and all you have to eat at home is fish, chicken, broccoli and berries? Well, if it was me I would probably hit the drive through! Getting healthier doesn’t mean being perfect. Any meal cooked at home (even most that can be microwaved) is a better choice than a #3 at the drive thru. Also keep some sweet stuff in the freezer (in our case it is the garage freezer so we have to work a little for it). Snack sized candy, breakfast cereals and salty...