How I spent my Birthday

Hey y’all! I am up in Star Valley, Wyoming spending time with my family for the weekend!

Yesterday was my birthday! I turned the ripe old age of 26. My day started out with a workout with my husband at GPP! We did a workout called Leg Shredder. It is a benchmark workout, and every time it comes through I plan on not walking normal the next day. This workout is a bit sneaky, it doesn’t seem to bad while your doing it but the next day it sets in. I’m feeling those calf raises for sure today!

I spent the rest of the day cleaning/packing to head to the ranch for a quick get away with my family. We have a cabin that I consider my “happy place”. I grew up here at the ranch and have great memories with my cousins here. The zip line, carpet slide, hiking, swimming, late night games, spoon, and uno!

There is just something about walking out on the porch first thing in the morning to this amazing view!

I love to have my babies up here, in hopes that it can be their “happy place” too.

So far, I think they are loving it!

We pulled in late last night so we weren’t able to have the normal cake and candle, singing birthday dealio so I claimed today as a “Birthday Do-Over.”

This morning my sister Heather and I went for a bike ride, I was excited to ride to break in my new clips/shoes with my bike. I have been a little hesitate to clip-in ever since my first experience, which was an epic fail. I have been comfortable in my cages to long. It was time to actually get serious about this whole bike thing. We rode along the LOTAJA trail with a lovely head wind at the turn around. The ride went well and I’m happy to report there was no crashing/unclipping accidents! I felt comfortable with the clips and excited to get some more long distance rides with them!

Someone wants to be like mommy…

When we got back I did the quick GPP workout a bit modified with what I had on hand. Which was a jump rope, a 35 pound DB and a stump/log.. (yep, I used firewood)

It looked a little like this.

• 35 OH Press
• 300 jump rope
• 50 sit ups
• 35 Pushups
• 300 Jump rope
• 15 Bicep Curls right
• 15 Bicep Curls left
• 100 DB swings
• 300 Jump ropes mixed with so double under practice.

I did the whole thing once.

After the workout and the boys got done with the yard work we headed to lunch!

My dads uncle runs a drive-in restaurant in Afton, it is one of our favorite local joints to eat at.

The RED BARON!

 

I ordered a Chicken Filet salad. The salad was pretty simple with just olives and tomato but the  chicken on the salad was grilled chicken breast and it was hot and I could tell it was actually real chicken and not that fake, “make me gag” chicken that’s on some fast-food salads.

After lunch we drove the half marathon course that I have coming up in a few weeks! It was absolutely beautiful, and I can’t wait to run through these mountains. My quad better heal ASAP….

Tonight, we are going to a movie! It’s a toss up between Brave and Men and Black 3. The guys are really shooting for Brave…:

 

Then it will be time for some birthday pie and fireworks!

Toddler Tabata

While I was in Vegas last weekend, I still wanted to make sure to get moving each day. The very last day, I spent the morning packing and getting things ready to go but I knew we had a long day ahead of us and I was craving a good workout to get me going.

I decided to take a quick break and do a quick tabata workout. Bee was downstairs “helping” me, and so I figured we could workout together! No excuses for this momma!

A tabata is a form of “high-intensity training.” To do a tabata, simply pick 4 different movements, they can be anything you want!  Just set up a timer for 30 seconds of work with a 10 second rest, do 8 rounds of each movement before moving on to the next. (There are other variations of a tabata, this is just one of my favorites.) During the 30 seconds of work you push yourself to complete as many reps as possible of that movement.

Here is my version of the toddler tabata.

Toddler Tabata

• Squats (which I didn’t do to low to protect my injury)
• Sit-ups
• Push-ups
• Jump-rope

I had the Mr. take some pics today to show how to do the movements with a toddler!

Squats- I set the timer and told Bee to squat, She did the first 2 rounds all by herself then decided she wanted me to hold her. I put her up on my shoulders and finished the rounds with her 23lbs up top!

Sit-ups were next! I put Bee on my knees, so she was sitting/standing on my feet. This actually turned into a fun game of peek-a-boo. Every time I sat up I would say BOO! She thought it was pretty funny!

Push-ups- These were probably the toughest! Because Bee laid on my back and held on to my neck. I was able to complete 29+ pushups each round!

Jump-rope- this was probably Bees favorite part of the workout! My little girl has got some hops! I would count down during the rest, 3-2-1 GO! She loves to jump!

It was a quick workout, but it got the job done! I worked up a sweat and felt like I got a good workout in a short amount of time! I was able to get my workout in on a vacation, a busy day, and with a busy baby.

This mom has no excuses.

Question of the Day:

If you put together a tabata what movements would you include?

If your interested, here are some of my favorites!

Tabata Cardio

Tabata Repeater

Lower Tabata

Epic Tabata

Tabata Supersets (Long)

6 X Tabata 

Lake Mead 2012

After Ragnar, My little family flew to Las Vegas to meet up with Brents family to spend a little time on the lake. Lake Mead has become a yearly trip for the family and we always look forward to soaking up some sun and spending some quality time with family members that we haven’t seen since Christmas!
We spent the past 3 days on the lake or in the pool. Vegas is HOT right now, like blow-dryer to the face hot. I couldn’t be outside longer then 5 minutes without having to get in the water to cool off.

It was the first time that T and Bee actually tolerated swimming. They have been a little nervous about water lately, I think watching all their cousins jumping, splashing and swimming wore off on them, because after the first day, I couldn’t keep them out of the water!

We consumed quite a few protein smoothies to get us through each day. They hit the spot after coming in from a LONG, hot afternoon outside.

There was a small casualty ..

I left my phone on the top of the car while I was strapping in Bee in and we drove off.. I didn’t notice for about 15 minutes and we had to drive back to find it.. like that. I need some sort of Candice proof case. It wasn’t the only phone to break this weekend.. it seemed to of been the trend.. 3 others were either dropped and shattered or accidently went swimming.. Surprisingly, mine still works! Kind of…
We celebrated this little guys birthday!

He turned 5 and his parents decorated and set up lunch for all of us!

The spread included, Burgers, hot dogs, marinated Tongan chicken---;which was amazing, coleslaw, potato salad and of course a veggie tray.
We spent two days wakeboarding at Lake Mead. I love being out on the lake, it feels great to carve and jump through the water! We didn’t have the best water due to high winds and I didn’t stay out to long because of my injured quad. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity though..

We had a great time, but it feels good to be home!
Catch ya’ later!
Good Night!!

Wasatch Back Relay

Hey guys! Coming at you from Las Vegas! We arrived yesterday afternoon and met up with Brents family. More on that later though, I want to make sure I get my recap out there before it becomes a thing of the past.

Wasatch Back is one of the largest relay races in the nation. It seems to get bigger and bigger every year. This year there were 1200 teams.

Our team was called 3 legs=loose stool. If you have ever ran ragnar you have probably experienced this. TMI? My team consisted of 6 girls and 6 boys. Brent (my husband) was on our team as well, but we split up this year into a “girl” van and “boy” van. Girls were van #1 and Boys #2.

Anyway, Our van had a start time of 2pm. Which is the latest I have EVER started a relay race. We don’t really know why our team was selected to start that late. We may all be good runners but we started with some little high school cross country kids and a few crazy fast ultra teams that cruise 6 minute or less miles!

When we got to the safety demo/packet pickup, the place was a ghost town.

Not Cool.

I was runner one and as we were driving up there I contemplated taking on that mileage because of my quad. Running \downhill kills it, and flat hurt just as much.

Also, not cool.

After some shuffling we decided to switch a few legs. Chels took my leg like a champ. –> Chelsea just qualified for BOSTON! Woot!

She shot out of the gate, but within 3 miles she wasn’t feeling well. It was 2 pm and almost 90 degrees outside! This was rough… She had tackled the big climb and down hill, so I switched her back and decided I could finish this leg out and see how I feel. I used KT tape on my quad and I made it to the exchange but really hurt. I’m not one to complain and can fight through it but I didn’t want to risk it. Running is much more enjoyable injury free… just sayin’. I took some IBU and jumped in the car.

The rest of the girls in the van were amazing and completed their legs in the heat. It was very strange to be running this and not seeing ONE other van.. It seemed almost as if we were just doing this on our own. To bad, we even had costumes…

By the time my leg 2 came around 12:30 am.  It was scheduled as a 8.4 hard. It started at the Snow basin Ski Resort and took a pretty gnarly trail run up and lead to a crazy downhill (Trappers Loop) that I knew wouldn’t be to smart for my quad. This was a “no van support” leg and once I got started I knew why… I was all by myself in the forest in the pitch dark with nothing but my knuckle lights, following a rocky trail that was marked  with little red lights, which normally I would be fine if I had people out there with me, I really love trail running, but being by myself in the dark I kind of freaked myself out a little. I hit the road and started the descend, there were cars flying past me and glancing back I thought I recognized my vans lights so I flashed them down and it actually ended up being a sheriff. He asked if I was okay, and I told him I was but just nervous running by myself. So he gladly said he would follow behind me. Which made me feel better but what I really wanted was to just get in my van and be done. I literally had mixed emotions on that run and I wouldn’t admit it at the time but I was almost in tears. My leg hurt so bad and I was terrified of the dark and being alone right next to  forest. But at the same time I was so frustrated with myself because I have never NOT been able to finish my legs. Relays are supposed to be fun for me.  I had so many thoughts go through my head.

I felt defeated.

I was just not letting myself down, but letting my team down as well. I made it to a rest station and saw my van and just jumped in. They were all really supportive and understood. After talking to race officials we were given the okay to skip ahead to the next exchange in hopes to catch up with a few other teams anyway. They give you a paper you turn in at the finish with a given time penalty if you are unable to complete your leg due to injury, heat exhaustion etc.. I’m not exactly sure if we really turned it in or not? (We took off after Brents last leg to make it to a family wedding).

We made it to the next morning after a sleepless night to head off our last and final leg. We met up with the boys at the major exchange to switch off and Brent could tell I wasn’t doing well. He asked if I was going to run and I told him I was going to try and he just looked at me and said I was done. He reminded me it isn’t worth further injury if I want to be 100% for my half marathon I have coming up in a month. I agreed. This was NOT easy for me to do. I didn’t run my leg at all. I had a pretty could limp and was starting to feel pain not only in my quad but my hip again .  We moved to the next exchange and my team finished it off. I wanted to run a little bit with our last runner, which was a short 2.8 and I think I made it maybe a 1.5 before jumping back into the ship. Why I tried again? I don’t know.. realization? embarrassment? To get some sense of accomplishment?  I don’t know, but that was dumb.

After our last big exchange with the boys I jumped in the back of the truck to hang out with the boys and support Brent on his last run. It was about noon and pretty hot. He killed it!

And by support I mean I sit in the back of the truck and take pictures because I couldn’t jump out fast enough and run across the street to give him a drink.

Overall, I had a good experience just because of these amazing ladies in my van. They are all rock stars! This was my 5th Wasatch Back Ragnar and I think this was my last. Its fun and usually is something I think everyone needs to do. I recommend however, not starting at 2pm and don’t go into it injured. Relays to me are just plain fun. They are relaxed and everyone is just there to have a good time. No pressure, no stress, and no sleep .

 

This team was a blast to be with for 24+ hours. I admire each one of these ladies, I couldn’t ask for better friends.

WB Ragnar. Peace.

Happy Fathers Day!

 

Happy Fathers Day!

Hope you all had a great weekend! I’ll be doing a race re-cap soon of Wasatch back Ragnar soon. It was a crazy, fun weekend.

Right now, I want to give a special shout out to my dad today, for the amazing person he is. He has always been a light in my life. He is always working hard to make sure everyone is happy and healthy. The things I love about my dad is that he is willing to drop what he is doing to come help or be with his family. He always works hard to make sure our family is happy and he my on call fix it man. He has always made me feel important and has honored my own decisions and values. He raised me right. 

 

He loves being a “pa-pa” to little T & Bee and spoils them just like every grandpa does.

Brent's dad has been through a lot this past year but he keeps a positive outlook on his own life and he is willing to help anyone one of his children out whether it be financially, spiritually or emotionally. He is a great listener and is always looking for ways to serve those around him. He loves to spend time with T & Bee as well and will just call me on a whim and ask if he can come get them so momma can have a break.

Now, this man is all mine. He is my baby-daddy. Brent is an amazing father to our two little ones. He drops everything when he gets home from work to play with his kids. He is always thinking of fun activities to do with them and new things to teach/show them. They love their daddy to pieces.

Happy Fathers Day to all you Dads and Grandpas out there!

We are leaving today on a jet plane to spend time with Brent’s family in Lake Mead. Watch out Vegas!

Catch ya’ later friends!

Brinner

Today was one of those days that flew by!

I woke up pretty early.. My alarm went off at 5:20 and I was at GPP by 5:45. We did this workout today. I had to modify the run to a row due to my quad. I had a massage last night from my friend Stacy again. It was amazing in a “this hurts so bad, it better heal me, I’d rather go to the dentist” kind of way. This morning it was pretty sore in a good way. Stacy is very thorough. She knows exactly how and what to do to help heal my injury. She focused on my right quad for 45 minutes! Pushing, rubbing, pressing and seriously using her body weight trying to get a large knot to release. She was very attentive and knowledgeable in what she does. Tonight it is actually feeling good. I’m going back tomorrow for a little more before the race on Saturday!

This morning I decided I’m going to focus more on eating on plates since it is something I haven’t been very good at lately. I came home from the workout and made breakfast and put it a plate!

Nothing special, just eggs, green beans, and spinach, topped with some cherry tomatoes and half of a grapefruit.

We  spent the afternoon at the pool with some friends. It was my first time taking the twins by myself. They did good considering but like to go there own directions .  I didn’t have one extra hand to take a picture, but they actually got in the pool and splashed around! (T & B haven’t been exactly water babies..)

The twins both crashed on the way home from the pool, which left me to make a lunch, put it on a plate and actually sit down to eat it. All of it.  As a mom, that is a rare occasion.

I made some mahi mahi in a skillet with some olive oil, lemon juice and garlic with Mrs. Dash  lemon pepper seasoning. Roasted green beans served on the side, along with half a nectarine and half frozen banana that was snacked on while the fish and beans were cooking.

 

Mahi Mahi isn’t a fish I have to often but it was on sale so decided it was a good pick.

When it was time for dinner, I had committed earlier in the day to make a breakfast for a friend that is allergic to dairy, gluten and some nuts.

Brinner it was! Breakfast at dinner = brinner! 

I decided to make my own version of  eggo waffles. So I could freeze them and she could just pop them in the toaster! I use coconut flour in most of my baking and love it. It is kind of a tricky flour to use. It thickens quickly with just a small amount, so you don’t have to use a ton of it.

I found this recipe and adapted it to fit the needs of my friend.

Coconut Waffles

Grain-Free, Sugar-Free, Dairy-Free
Makes 8 waffles

• 6 whole eggs
• 1 1/2 C. Egg Whites
• 2 tbsp. coconut oil, melted (or bacon grease)
• 2 small, well-ripened bananas
• 2/3 cup Plain Coconut Milk (I used silk
• 4 tsp. vanilla
• 2 tsp. Agave nectar
• 2 tsp. Cinnamon
• 1/2  tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 cup coconut flour

Heat up waffle iron and just throw all ingredients into your blender and blend on medium/high until well combined.

That’s a lot of eggs. Just how I like it.

Pour into waffle iron until cooked.

These are Paleo friendly, gluten, dairy, nut free. Low carb, high protein, filling but light and fluffy just like the good stuff.

Top with favorite toppings. Our toppings of choice?

Raspberries & Plain greek yogurt with agave syrup.

 

Now it’s time to sign off for the night! I’m still working on that whole “sleep 8 hrs. a night” thing. I’d like to just refer my insomnia lately as Ragnar training.

 

Question of the day!

Are you ever sore after a massage the next day?

Do you have a favorite Gluten-free, nut-free, dairy free recipes? Feel free to link it up in the comments!

Something to think about-

“I am not my body.”

This really hits home to me. Sort of put my two cents in the comment section of the article.

Goodnight!