Recipe'o the Month ~ Juicing

Ok so this month I tried something different and did some 'juicing'! I borrowed a girlfriends juicer and bought a bunch of fruit and veggies and told the kids we were going to make some juice. "Do we get to drink it too?!" is what they asked! LOL! we don't have juice in our house (poor children) so this was a treat for them. In fact juice and pop was the first thing that we stopped having in the house 3yrs ago. When I realized how many empty calories I was consuming by drinking juice I stopped. I use to drink a jug of juice to myself in 1-2 days!!! :/

So the kids and I tried all different kinds of combo's but in the end the winners were.....just straight carrot, carrot/apple mix, carrot/spinach mix and the all time winner was the orange/strawberry mix :P I know some people juice everyday but truthfully for me I don't think I will be able to do that because of two reasons, 1. it was pretty messy and 2. the cost to buy the extra food to juice.....I liked the experience and so did the kids. It's defiantly something that I will do in the future as a 'treat' again :)

Checking out CrossFit

So I have been hearing about CrossFit for awhile and been wanting to try it out....just another way to step it up and learn more fun things to do to stay active and fit. Bob Harper, the trainer from the Biggest Loser has really gotten into it this last year and I have learned some things from him about it to. I even took a WOD (work out of the day) that he did on a little YouTube video and did it at the park one time....it made me feel like I was going to puke it worked me SO hard!!...I of course LOVED IT!!!....not the wanting to puke part, but working through feeling uncomfortable and sticking to what I said I would do and finishing it...I like that part. I also find that, that feeling over flows into other parts of my life as well with other things that I am doing :) So CrossFit Altitude offered Momstown a free trail class and I jumped at the chance...it even ended up that day that I was not only going to have my 3yr but two other friends 3yrs as well with me...so I borrowed my moms car seat and off I went to CrossFit with 3 3 year olds in tow!! LOL!! That's how serious I was about wanting to try this (plus they had a kids area where someone played with them while I worked out!) So it was really cool...just as I thought it would be. The instructor was great and really into doing things the right way and with goos form....CorssFit has sometime gotten a bad rap because people have gotten hurt doing it, but that is because they aren't doing it right or are not being taught well. She went through some different moves and I learned some new things...which I love and got me excited about learning more, getting better and getting stronger at this....a new challenge!...YES PLEASE! Something that has come out of this whole journey for me is learning to live WITH fear and not IN it!...this means...before I would be scared about doing things so I wouldn't do them...fear has robbed me of many chances, experiences and goals that I could have had in my life. Today, the fear is still there but it doesn't stop me anymore, I still go and do it. This seems to also have given me confidence in myself and that I CAN do things I have never done before. I have learned to ask for help, admit that I need help or that I don't understand something and even ask questions until I do understand them...well who knew that, that was a good way to learn new things and have fun doing them!! LOL! So hear I am doing my first dead lift at CrossFit....hardcore baby!! LOL!!

And here I am doing what they call a knees to elbow...these are f'n hard and I did them during the workout for 30sec for 3 rounds and I didn't stop during those 30 sec...I wasn't sure if I could or not, thought I'd at least try and I DID IT!!! :-O

Something I really like about the CrossFit way is that I don't just Do it...like at a gym how you follow the teacher...instead I have to LEARN it, I take on the responsibility of what I am doing. They post the WOD and you have to go do it...they have classes as well, but in general I have to work my mind along with my body. I will leave you with the #1 mantra they have in CrossFit cause I really like it and it can apply to ALL areas of my life ~ I WILL PROMISE TO DO MY BEST. MY BEST WILL VARY FROM DAY TO DAY, FROM HOUR TO HOUR, FROM MINUTE TO MINUTE, I WILL DO THE VERY BEST I CAN!

It's time to start Tri-ing again :)

Woo Hoo! I am So excited for Triathlon training this summer! First off I do have to say that I am pretty sad that our Assistant Coach from the following years is not going to be able to join us this year :(.......I remember at the beginning of 2010 when Krista posted on the Momstown message board, "Who wants to train for a Triathlon with Mommy's in Motion!?".....I really liked the name of the group because that what I was becoming...a mommy in motion. So my brain said,"YES!", my body said,"OH DEAR!, then fear piped up and said, "No frigg'n way can you do THAT!" and then this new little voice in my head said, "Screw you all! We ARE doing this!!!" OMG! OMG! OMG!!! Krista was there every night with such a beautiful smile to show us, a confidence that it will be ok and that I could do it (something I didn't have yet) and an excitement and love for the sport that couldn't help but rub off on me :) She is one of me main 'people' that have been an important part of my journey. So our first get together for Mommy's & Babe's in Motion was last night and this year I will be trying to fill Krista's shoes as Assistant Coach! AHHHH! SO excited and honoured, I was almost in tears when I told my husband that I was going to be 'Coach Gail' for the team. His reply was, "No you are going to be Coach Awesome!" LOL!!! as a congrats he made me a jacket with iron on letters saying, "Coach Awesome" on the back and "Awesome" down the arm! How wicked is THAT!!!

So last night was SO fun! We had more newbies come out last night and that always makes me excited! I am excited for them on the journey they are about to embark on and the growth, learning and empowerment that comes with it. although they all look like I did on my first night...like a dear caught in headlights! LOL!....I feel their fear, their unknowing, their questioning themselves and the uncertainty...I feel it because I know it, that's what I had too. But now after going through it I now KNOW how ok and AWESOME it will be and I find myself telling these ladies, "TRUST me! It WILL be ok!...we will take this one week at a time together and it's going to be awesome!"

I feel free again!!

So I busted out my road bike today and it was awesome!!!....I had thought that it was going to be really tuff and it ended up being really good. I hadn't been on my bike since last year in Sept, so that was a nice surprise :) The sun was shining and the birds were tweeting and there was hardly any wind, as I was driving home from a clients house I saw other people out on their bike and I thought, " I'm going to go out too!" So I got hubby to help me pump up my bike and I hopped on and set out!...... My want was to go North where it is nice and quite on the side roads around the farm area. To get there I had to go up a few main streets, but they had bike lanes on them which I really like cause then the cars need to respect my space. At one point I was at a stop light and I had cars on both sides of me....I knew that the people in the cars where looking at me...cause that's what I do when I'm in the car and a biker pulls up beside me! LOL!...So as I'm standing there and my heart is beating from the hill I just did and from the nerves of people watching I keep saying to myself, "Stand your ground Gail, stand your ground".....it was cool that I didn't have to say to myself to have confidence...cause I felt good and confident out there all by my little self biking in this big big world and tat felt very empowering :) As soon as I turned onto the side ride and the noise of the traffic stopped and the quite started I thought, "Ahhh here we go! Hello God!"....I really like the quite out there, when I run I LOVE to blast the tunes in my head, but when I bike I like to get out where it's quite......so this side road has some small and big hills which was good! First for a good workout and second so I can get back on track with using my gears. One thing I got reminded of is that as I go up a hill I am so focused on peddling that I forget to breath!! so when I get to the top I feel like my heart is going to explode!! (going to have to work on that!) As I turned around to head back I was coming up to my biggest and hill of the day....so I sank back in my seat, gripped my handlebars and thought, " Ok mother-fucker, lets do this!!!"...LOL!! I'm not kidding, I don't make this shit up! It was at that point I knew I was having fun and it felt SO great! So 22k and 1hr later I got home and just in time since my poor crotch-o-la, shoulders, neck and arms needed a break. My body will have to get use to the position of the road bike again. But I gotta say I felt fan-frigg'n-tastic afterwards and really look forward to getting out there again :) OH!!! and I also remembered that I have to put on sunscreen!!! With my back flat up to the sun for an hour...oh baby!! I am hot hot hot (and I don't mean in a sexy way!) and red as a tomato! :s . . . . . . . . . . . 'Live in YOUR Awesome!'