My last post of 2014...

It's my last post for 2014.. a

2014 Goodbye....

I'll have to do a full year recap of my running, biking, cross ramp, skiing miles and total miles of 2014!

First I'm sharing my 2014 Highlights

Rugged Manaic with Steve. We volunteer and then run this messy, muddy race. 

Soccer, getting out of my comfort zone and trying something that looked like fun and working on my running speed. 

Volunteering with Celina at the Monster Dash 5K. Felt great to give back at a race. Next year we are going to run it!

Winter snow running with my new Yaktrax. Again, out of my comfort zone and running through winter outside!

My new found love of Greek Yogurt and Frozen Raspberries for a great ice cream substitute! Working on making healthier food choices.

Getting to spend my Mondays with this little guy, Evan and watching him grow this past year. A big one year old! 

Daily planks 6 minutes total in 2014.. 

My new Fitbit to use in the coming year. 

Cross country skiing.. Love getting out on the trails in the winter and skiing a few miles.

Mountain biking up north in the deep woods and on all the dirt roads around the house too. Steve and I had a great time biking all over this spring, summer and fall. 

Daily yoga- stretching.. My morning routine to get my day started right in 2014.. 

Wineries.. and wine tasting in Minnesota. 

Watching both Celina and Logan play soccer this year. 

Celina going to her first High School Home coming dance

Trail Running around the lakes this summer and fall.

Running in the early mornings, in the dark but being safe. 

Pool swimming.. training but not racing. 

Favorite new salad. I learned to love Blue Cheese this year. 

Great healthy treat of microwave popcorn. Better snacking. 

We had our share of fun too this past year.. Jet skiing on the St. Croix River and taking a country road ride on the motorcycle. 

Daily logging my fitness, and food. 

5K Race and took 3rd place in Age Group. 

Kayaking in lake Superior and in the BWCA

 Camping.. up North by Grand Marais, MN

There is a ton more things from this past year that we did as a family.. 

Total Miles, Running, Cross ramp, skiing, Elliptical, X-skiing = 2007.1 miles in 2014
Total rest days in 2014 out of 365 days of the year = 35 days no cardio 

December Miles
 Running  = 36.5 miles
Biking stationary = 5 miles
Cross Ramp = 61 Miles
X-Ski 10 Miles

Waiting is not fun

I really dislike waiting for any reason to go workout. When I'm ready to go.. I'm ready and need to workout ASAP. It's that feeling of Now or Never and I hate to get side tracked or have to forgo my workout altogether. If your going to run or go to the gym with me, you'd better be ready at the agreed time or I might get a little angry. I really don't get super angry.. Its more concern for my own workout. I want to be able to do what I set out to do when I woke up. That's complete the miles I had on my agenda. If I have to work, I have limited time and time is ticking.. there is only so much time I have to get my workout in. Please don't mess it up for me. 

Waiting for the family to join me working out today.. its been a test and I'm still waiting.. ugh!

Off to the gym and some newbie advice.

As a regular person who works out regularly for the last 4+ years.. I can see the future.. that is the future of newbies who start a new year resolution on January 1st, only to go out way to strong, too hard and do too much too soon and quit just 30 days later. My advice for newbies.. start off slow, go for time, rather then distance and go at it easy. Just do a little each day until you are ready to increase time and up the pace. Most importantly, keep going and don't quit.. yes it gets hard when your not as motivated.. but that's when you make the biggest progress.. 

Find an activity you like to do or at least can stand. Mix it up and keep challenging yourself to find new activities to keep you going. Variety is always more interesting then the same old.. Just don't let your mind talk your body into not moving. Don't use those bad knees, I'm too sore, I'm not feeling great or I don't have time excuses to take. I have days like that too and I just switch up my workout. 

This morning was one of those days where it's way too chilly-Cold to run out doors or ski. When its below zero, its time for me to stay indoors. I have plenty of options.. off to the gym to run on the cross ramp for an hour. I go by time.. and finish up 6 miles. 
I burned 700 calories to start my day off feeling great. I sure am grouchy when I don't workout first thing in the morning that's why afternoon just isn't as effective to wait and workout for me. I need that feel good right away in the morning. A good sweat and a good calorie burn right away to make my day great! It's all about attitude.. and I want to start off having a great day! 

I'm not sure my Fitbit is very accurate, only 8438 steps and it said only 4.5 miles. At least it give a rough idea of how much you move. Better then nothing to keep moving throughout the day. 

Two times in a row!

I like mixing up my workout with cross country skiing. Its been really nice waiting till afternoon to go get in my daily cardio workout. I still do my morning stretch and other daily exercises right away because if I don't do it in the early morning.. it probably wont happen. . Of course I'm dead tired now.. and will be working out first thing Monday morning inside the gym. That's why I had to really appreciate the outdoor cross country skiing the last two days. 

Its nice getting some fresh air and being outside skiing. 

It felt like a hard pace but when you compare to my running pace.. it's very slow. I could have done some speed walking instead of skiing to maintain this pace. 

Walking just isn't as fun, I'll stick to skiing. 

Time to start yet another fitness journal. I've been keeping track of my fitness and food intake since 2011. My very first entry was on 12/28/11! I was hoping to make it 3 more days in this journal before switching to my new one for 2015, but I'm out of pages.

I'm still figuring out my new Fitbit. Today I even received two badges for meeting my walking goals of over 10,000 steps and climbing up 32 or more stairs.

Tonight, I want to try the Fitbit sleep mode. Now that I know how to work the sleep mode for night time.. I'll be sure to set the fitbit to sleep and see just how much I'm awake at night. 

This Christmas week was not a great workout week. My lowest running of just 4.5 miles.  
10 miles cross country skiing
14+ work hours cleaning vigorously
6 days of planks (6 minutes total) and 6 days of my other exercises
7 days of Yoga/Stretching. 

I took Monday as a 100% rest day of working out since I had  my longest work day of 5+ hours. That tires me out enough!

Through the woods I go...

I love skiing through the woods. First time out this season. 

The trails weren't groomed, but there was a ski trail made earlier by other skiers. That made skiing a little easier, but it was still a challenge. 

The woods looked really pretty snow covered. I had to stop to take a few photos. 

I remembered to take my new Ipod, and fitbit, but forgot my GPS watch. Ugh!!! And of course, I have no clue how the fitbit works and something happened so it never recorded my distance. Well, so much for all the data results I love to look at. 

I also forgot to look at the time before leaving, but according to my family I was gone FOREVER! It kind of felt like I was trapped skiing lost in the woods for hours. As my ski season continues, it won't feel like I ski that long. I must just get use to the distance and my surroundings. 

I feel so much better for getting some exercise. It was nice to do something other then run. I still burned calories and got in a cardio workout. Skiing really hits my buns and works them like running doesn't. 

It did feel good to finally finish skiing and to make it out of the woods. I have a feeling I skied at least 4 to 5 miles. Next time I'll be sure to remember my GPS. 

I'm definitely going to do some more cross country skiing tomorrow. Another day of not running will be good. Maybe I'll even figure out this new Fitbit??? 

Start Track-in

I finally got a few minutes to set up my new Fitbit One tracker. Its been a very busy 2 days with Christmas, working the day after and then celebrating yet another birthday. 

I'm excited to have more data to add to my workouts. I'm starting to track my food calories too. Hoping this will help reach my weight loss goals and maybe just maybe get me to feel not so blah about my running. 

We had about 5 to 6" of snow last night. Its enough to go cross country ski. 

I have that on my must do today list. Skiing is taking the place of my morning run. I'm trying to mix up my exercise in hopes it will re-charge me because I sure do need to have it feel like fun.. and not work. I always panic a little and don't feel right unless I get in my 6 miles so I'm trying to relax about it. I will be shopping this morning.. and then doing my ski workout! 

The 26th is Tim's birthday (Steve's brother). We went out to Salute on Grand Ave to celebrate. 

Celina and I split a burger and fries. 

Its a good thing we shared because it was over the top salty! I didn't need to eat a fat meal after all the indulging over Christmas. 

The restaurant did make a really good chocolate mousse. We kind of all shared because we still had birthday cake to eat. 

Time to start moving... off to do some store returns and shop for Celina.