Arthur's Transformation (Extended Cut) - Never, Ever Give Up!!

CerebRun Mid-Atlantic Challenge

This sounds like fun:
CerebRun Mid-Atlantic Challenge

31AUG12

I am so tired of waiting to do any kind of training for my Spartan Sprint. The appointment w/ the Orthopedic is not until the 5th & being a "couch potato" sucks. So I think I am going to start using hand weight and low weights (to minimize any possible damage to already injured back) and do some upper body strength training.

I tried doing modified push ups today and it went well. Doing them on a table or desk edge allows me to not use the injured left leg and still have proper form. So, I will be able to do my 3000 push ups for the "Your" Push-up Challenge,I excited. This will test not only my physical toughness, but my mental toughness as well. And the best part is Bree wants to join me.

I got some pics of the ParCourse FitCircuit that I will be using to help me get in shape. Best part is that it is most kid friendly so i can take them w/ me.

This is the Welcome Board

28AUG12

I meant to write this at the end of last week after I did my 1st walk with the WE PLAY WOMEN Meetup.com group on Wednesday evening. Which by the way I did really good, I set a personal best for walking a 5 K . . . 56 minutes (around a 20 minute mile)!! Damn, I was proud of myself. I had earned that red face.

As I went to start the laptop up Friday evening my knee gave out & I fell to floor. Mind you not just a straight fall . . .  NO, I had 2 do it in the most hurtful manner I have yet to figure out. All I remember is that my left knee just suddenly gave out & as I fell that same knee slammed into the corner of the desk, my tailbone landed on the edge of the hard, plastic office chair, which in turn dumped my tukiss unceramonisly onto the floor.

I remember laying there trying to figure out why everything hurt so bad. As I lay there taking stock of all the aches, my 4 y/o came running out of her room to see what had happened. When she saw me laying to the floor she asked, "Mommy did you fall down?" To which I replied,"Yes." She then asked if I hurt myself & when I said my knee and my butt she ran out to the kitchen, yelling for me to stay put she was getting me ice for my Boo-Boo's.

She came back with 2 little freezer packs that we use to keep the baby bottles cold with & a little tea-towel to wrap one in. Since I was still laying on my side because I hurt so bad, she proceeded to try & put one of the ice packs on my butt, but it wouldn't stay. After several more attempts she started to pull the waist band of my sweats down. I asked her whats she thought she was going to do and her reply was stuff it in my underwear so it would stay in place. Needless to say I quickly assured her that my back hurt MUCH worse than my butt & we should put it there. 

So my little nurse wrapped the ice pack & put it on my back. She then placed the second pack on my knee which by this time was throbbing. As I'm sitting there I have her bring my cell phone so I can call my BF, who had just gotten off work. When I told him what happened, he started laughing at me, until he realized that I was serious. He then asked if I was OK and when I told him I was in so much pain I couldn't get myself off the floor, he told me to stay put' he would be right home to help me.

So now about 10 minutes have passed since this all started & my butt & back are really starting to bother me so I try to change positions only to notice that I can't feel my left foot, I figure it has fallen asleep. I glance down at my foot & see that the foot is swollen to almost TWICE the size of my right foot. Now I start to think maybe a trip to the ER is called for. When my BF gets home he helps me up and on the arm of the couch. We decide that the damage does warrant a trip to the hospital & so I go.

They take x-rays, & tell me nothing is broke, but I sprained my ankle & that my knee, tailbone and lower back are all badly bruised. They give me Vicadon for pain and tell me to follow up w/ my PCP & an Orthopedic Specialist. I saw my PCP today and he said that my knee is sprained as well & agreed with the recommendation of an Orthopedic. So I am to continue to wear the gel splint (that the hospital gave me) on my ankle & he wants me to take it as easy as I can until I see the Orthopedic next Tuesday.

This now puts my training on a slight hold while they figure out what to do. Luckily I have the PUSH UP CHALLENGE starting on the 1st of September & since I'm not quite up to standard push-ups  will be doing modified's on the wall at 1st which don't necessarily mean I need both feet. For nor I work on upper body strength & nutrition.

You're Training For What?: Obstacle Specific Training...

You're Training For What?: Obstacle Specific Training...: ... on a college student's budget. I suppose I should consider myself lucky in that, as a college student, I have access to a pretty decen...

18AUG12

After most of the rain stopped last night, I gathered the kids & had the BF drop us off @ the 7/11 while he went to grab our supper. We were going to start walking to meet him & see how far we could get.

Since it was a "timed" walk, my 4 y/o & I pushed ourselves to see what we could do. We walked .6 miles in 23 minutes with one pit stop cause "we" got thirsty. I guess now I need to figure out if that is a good time for us or not. According to Google map the walk should have taken only about 12 minutes. Those times are providing that we walk at approximately 3 mph. I don't normally walk that fast even by myself.

Later this afternoon we are attending a wedding (my nephew's) and then on the way home we will probably stop at the carnival and walk around for a while. I think I am going to use my Moby wrap for the baby and pretend he is a weighted vest.

05AUG12

Just wanted to share some of the pics my BF took of my daughter & I during my workout. My BF isn't always available to take pics so I have none of me using the baby as a weight. 

Once I can perform 10 of these, I plan to move this to my stability ball.

So I took the kids and BF for a walk on Riverfront last night. It was close to dusk and we figured we could do the 4.2 mile walk in under 2 hrs. We probably could have if we had remembered water. So when we turned around to go back we decided to stop for a drink. Maybe we should have waited, we ended up stopping at the SANDWICH MAN (AWESOME SUB & SANDWICHES) and eating. total walk time was just under 3 hrs. My finished the walk while keeping my heart-rate in the target range (YEA ME!!) and my 4 y/o walked all but 4 blocks of it. 
It gave me a realistic view of where I am compared to where I want to be. I now know that if I want to do the FITCIRCUIT as well I need to do that mile of the walk 1st

 

So if I combine the FitCircuit with my 4 mile walk I will have totaled 5 miles. That is the goal. Then I work on improving my speed.

04AUG12

It has been a little since I last wrote. The last week has been rough for me to get outside, if it's not extremely humid, its pouring. With all this rain you would think the humidity would. I really shouldn't limit outside activity due to weather, but I can't see dragging my 5 month old son and 4 y/o daughter out in bad storm. If it was just a little ran i wouldn't really care. I have a cover to protect him and his stroller from the rain and my daughter loves playing in the rain.
I have been doing stuff inside to help keel me active. My daughter works out w/ me during my videos and since I have limited funds I can't use a gym or buy new equipment. SO . . .  I am using my kids for strength training. They are always available and the weight goes up consistently so I have to keep up w/ them. Just for fun I think I'll have my BF take pics of my workouts w/ the kids so i can keep a Fun Journal for us.

23July12

So the weekend is over and it went well. Since the weather was way less humid my kids & I went for a morning and an evening walk both days. Not long walks but still it is more than we had been doing. At 30 minutes at a time I figure we covered about a mile each time. I have to admit that I actually felt good after each of the walks. The humidity was back up today and I had some things to catch up so we didn't walk. But since I did continuous house work for over 2 hours I did burn some calories.
Over the weekend I found a site called Bodybuilders.com that I can use to work on the strength part and it has a section that's all about obstacle racing (Even mentions Spartan by name.) So tomorrow i go back and check it out and see where that takes me.
I know I need to start watching my nutrition as well but I want to make the exercise part of it habit 1st. I will start the nutrition no later than the 1st of September.

Tale of Two Races – Spartan Race PA – Day 2

Tale of Two Races – Spartan Race PA – Day 2