Mommy In The World

This weekend I spent some time focusing on my swimming technique. I did plenty of warm up exercises on my bed again and I nearly fell off the bed each time again! You all remember the embarrassing story of me falling off my bed in front of my husband so I thought that I would practice my ‘bed strokes’ a little not only to not look like an idiot if my husband happened to walk in on me but to practice my balance and grace for the water.

My trainer’s help last week was so influential that it inspired me to truly push myself in the pool. Before I was just taking it slow and not really pushing myself like I should have been partly because I did not have the lung capacity for 15 laps of consecutive swimming and partly because I was embarrassed about my technique in the pool.

So… I practiced and I pushed and got plenty of water in my ears! Swimming is truly the perfect all-body workout and while I would love to do it everyday I don’t know if I can handle the complete drowsyness feeling you get once out of the pool and on a comfy surface such as a couch or a bed. After a good swim I always want to take a nap, which is not always convenient with a beginner walker in my house!

I’m still trying to find the perfect time to swim as well because if I go in the morning then I can come home and shower for the day… but then I’m drowsy the rest of the day and don’t get as much done. If I go in the afternoon then I usually don’t shower right away when I get home because I have to get dinner ready and I end up looking like a bum when my husband gets home (which can get old not only for my husband but me too!), and I never seem to get myself to go swimming at night, although it would be the perfect sleep aid, because I want to enjoy time with my husband! Workouts including swimming just happen to be easiest to plan on a day-by-day basis.

I’m really looking forward to the triathlon that is now only a few weeks away (and by few I mean 5 weeks away). I’m excited to complete a goal and be able to feel a sense of accomplishment for myself. Yesterday while I was getting ready for church I decided to put on a Relief Society CD that included some inspirational music specifically target for Relief Society sisters. I have listened to this CD plenty of times in my life but this is the first time I have listened to it while being a wife and a mother. It was exactly what I needed.

A lot of the songs on there were extremely relatable to me and my current life circumstance and one song stuck out in particular to me. It was about a woman who had to put aside her dreams and wants for her family but she did it not because she had to but because she wanted to and that someday she would return to those dreams. This is kind of what I’m feeling like right now because I am ‘comfortable’ enough in my life right now to be able to achieve some of those dreams… problem is… I don’t necessarily know where to start.

I feel like I’m starting this journey of life all over again and now as a wife and mother am starting to see clearly, even more clearly than when I was single, who I am as a person and my place and purpose in life. I am the kind of person who believes everything happens for a reason and it is our life experiences that truly shape who we are and not the other way around as the world tends to view it. The world tells us that we need to find ourselves before we make life decisions when in reality it is exactly the opposite. I found myself in motherhood and wifehood just as I’m still finding myself through this triathlon training!

Yesterday I had a great workout with my trainer! She was sweet enough to meet me across town for a swimming lesson… and hold my baby the whole time!

When we arrived at the gym for our swimming lesson I met my trainer and then headed off to the children’s daycare to leave Sophia… problem was… the day care was closed for lunch! I panicked trying to come up with every scenario in my head about what to do with Sophie and my trainer popped in and offered to hold her! I was extremely relieved and thankful but yet felt extremely bad that she had to do it!

So there I was in the pool with my trainer over head of me on the sides holding my baby! It was a lot of fun and I think a good expreience for Sophia because not only did she get to see Mommy in funny goggles but she got to put her feet in the warm water too! She even threw a fit when we tried to take her out! It was also a neat thing to have her there because there was so much humidity in the pool area that I think it helped with Sophia’s stuffy nose and sour personality. She needed that fun atmosphere… and so did I.

I did great! I swam exactly how my trainer explained it to me and she said I did great! It felt good to finally figure out the correct swimming technique and to be able to gain some self confidence along the way while doing it!

If you have a trainer of your own, or you are just looking to switch up your workout routine, then I highly advise you to jump in the pool! It was a great full-body workout while gentle on your joints. I have a bad knee so the pool is a perfect alternative to harmful treadmills. And don’t be afraid to ask your trainer to help you out in the pool as well. I was afraid to ask mine but once I did I was thankful that I had done so!

Can you believe that it has already been 23 days since I started my journey! I’m over 1/3 of the way there! And I think of come aways since I first started but I also think that I have aways to go!

I’m so unbelievably sore from yesterdays workout! My whole upper body is sensitive to the touch… and I just found out that my classes that I wanted to go to again at 9:30 is BodyPump, which is supposed to be the most intense class that Gold’s offers! Great! And… it is taught by the same super intense teacher who taught BodyCombat from yesterday. She is kinda scary although I can tell she can help people achieve results!

For my second workout yesterday the gym day care told me I only had 30 min. of my 2 hours a day for day care so I decided that I would use the elliptical for 20 min. and then stretch and be down there in town to keep the girls happy! It was great! I somehow always forget the wonderful world of ellipticals and wonder why I don’t use them as often. You all know that I am not a runner so taking a break from the treadmill and still getting a cardio workout is a great think for me! I burned 200 calories in 20 min! Plus, I heard from The Biggest Loser show last night that if you are wanting to burn more calories in less time to set an incline on the treadmill and if possible on the elliptical.

Well, that’s what happened yesterday and I’m sure there will be quite a story for tomorrow about my death-sentence of a class today!

Yesterday was a looong day for me! It was supposed to be the grand opening to my mother’s new salon, which of course means that everything ’sort of’ works and that it wasn’t entirely her fault. These things just happen and the result of this caused quite a bit of stress on top of my mother’s shoulders. I felt bad and the reason was because every one of us has gone through a stressful situation that was beyond our controlling and there was nothing to do about it. This is exactly how she was feeling yesterday when I decided that I would skip a few steps and help her sand/paint/build the rest of her ’stations’ for hair supplies.

Without revealing my secret idea to help her on her stations I got as much information as I could and learned that they were at her house ready to work on in the garage. So… I drove to the other side of town, left Sophie with her uncle and got to work on the stations. I remembered a few things that she was planning on doing with the stations and noticed that they had already gotten everything ready for them to finish later that night. I sanded, I cut (with an oldschool hand saw may I add), and I built one of the stations as beautiful as I could make it. Then my brother informed me of her coming home to get the stations when I hurried to finish nailing in the beat board to the sides.

She opened the garage, pulled her car in, and cried in relief as she realized what I had done! I was also just as relieved because I was worried that I might not being doing it right! She loved it and I was glad to devote my day (whole entire day) to helping my mom with a dilemma in her business. Another day that I didn’t make it to the gym but at least I didn’t sit on my butt all day or something! I did some old fashioned hard work yesterday!

I did make up for everything that I missed out on yesterday, and the last few days, today in my workout! I went to my first ever ‘body combat’ class that the Gold’s Gym offers to its members. It was hard but awesome! I have taken a few kickboxing classes, which is essentially what it was, and I have loved this type of class the most. Following my class I did my upper body strengthening and jumped on the bike for 1 mile. It was a good work out and I’m going to try to go again tonight for my first-ever 2 -a-day training!

Stay tuned for the details of my 2-a-day training tomorrow!

I had a great weekend! It has been a while since my husband and I have taken the time just to our selves and kind of shut our selves out from the world…and we loved it! We went on walks, we tried new restaurants, we rented a few movies, and just plain ‘hung out’. Sometime you really need lazy days like these not only in your personal lives but in your marriage life. My husband and I needed that time to recuperate from the world so that we could connect and remember that we are in love still… not that we fight or anything it’s just when you are sometimes extremely busy you can forget that you are married and in love. I love how Julie Powell from Julie and Julia puts it when she says, ‘too busy to be married.’ I sometimes feel this way and I need a refresher sometimes.

If you haven’t already guess… yes, I was bad and did not go to the gym on Saturday. But while I may have missed an intense weight lifting session I would have put on my self I still believe I got some great aerobic activity in there walking in and out of stores all day long! Plus there should be an olympic medal for carrying 2 bags of groceries on each arm while struggling to hold a baby up a steep flight of stairs to your apartment! I think I raised my heart level plenty going back and forth for groceries a few times!

I had been planning on going to check out the race course in the north end park of Camel’s Back but unfortunately it rained all day Saturday and I wasn’t about to push a stroller through the mud. So I postponed my ‘viewing’ until next Saturday and I will give the gory details of my ferocious contender.

On Sunday it was beautiful here! After church we loaded up Sophie in the stroller and took a nice long walk for the afternoon. Before we moved and we lived in our house we would take long walks all over the place, which was on the one hand superbly fun and necessary for our conversations of connecting as a couple, and on the other hand extremely miserable from my allergy to sagebrush. Our old house was surrounded by nothing but sagebrush and on most of our outings I was usually heavy medicated!

….Which brings me to my next point of concern…my allergies!!! I am pretty darn allergic to almost everything outside and am usually a victim of sinus headaches. I’m hoping that this will not have a huge affect on me considering I will be biking and running for at least an hour or two. But not only do I get sinus headaches but I sometimes get super dizzy from it all… not exactly a good formula for a successful triathlon and I am super nervous because of it.

I have tried lots of allergy medications but none of them seem to help. What is my problem? Does anyone know the big secret fror my symptoms?

… I just entered this ’set’ of my favorite clothes from Piperlime.com.  What do you think?

Untitled by haileyerickson featuring BB Dakota dresses

My trainer kicked my butt yesterday! Since I have had a track record of bad knees she thought it would be best to really focus my training on strengthening the muscles around my knees… what does that mean… about a million squats! She had me do 2 sets of 15 squats, plank, side plank, triceps, biceps, shoulders, back, and abs! It was super tough and my only motivation is that if I was able to push out a baby all naturally then I can do anything! And I lived through it all!

We also talked a lot about my sleep schedule and that if I get up earlier then I will eat earlier, fill full longer, and increase my metabolism to help me have not only the inner ability to quickly burn off calories but a desire to complete my work outs. I didn’t get up at 5am again (9am) but that was only because my husband didn’t wake me. I would have gotten up no problem but I must have been completely out and he already tried! It was nice waking up early to get things done, which I did, but the problem was I finished everything I needed to that by 7am I was completely bored! So what did I do… I went back to bed! I’m one of those people who truly enjoy the value of a good rest and probably the only reason that I can do that is I only have 1 child… and she loves to sleep too!

I have really been struggling lately, if you couldn’t already tell, about what my passion truly is. Since my December graduation I have started 3 book ideas that are very slowly moving along, took ice skating lessons, and am now training for a triathlon. I have come to learn that I am not a fiction writer because I am way too sarcastic and literal to write anything imaginary, I now have a fear of ice since slamming my face on it a few weeks ago, and while I’m excited to compete in a triathlon I fear that my reasons are not where they should be. I want to compete in a triathlon simply to say, ‘I have competed in a triathlon’. Nothing to extreme and I’m sure plenty of people out there do the same sorts of things but I have come to realize that I honestly and truly don’t have a passion for running, swimming, or biking in a triathlon! Sorry for the blunt delivery!

I am still competing in 7 weeks, don’t worry all your reading hasn’t been a waist, but now I have a better understanding of what I truly want and what truly makes me happy. I am so thankful for this training because it also has really been able to help me put my priorities in the right place… know what I mean, Vern? I am still a musician by heart and while I have always wanted to be the active girl who runs to get away from her problems I have come to accept that that is just not me. Playing the piano is my escape from the world and I think I am finally, after years of denial, am ready to cope with the fact that I am a nerdy, not cool, band geek that needs her music to live!

Back to my brutal workout… my trainer taught me the Body for Life idea on running and that is to run at certain ‘levels’ that challenge our bodies for a specific time period. It’s basically about running/walking at a comfortable pace for 2 minutes, increases that comfort by 1 increment (whatever that is for you ex. 3.0 -3.5) for another minute and then increasing it again 3 more times using the 1 minutes interval. After those challenging 4 minutes go back to a recovery speed for another minute. Repeat these steps until 20 min. have gone by and you will be amazed at how easy a challenging workout can be!

My trainer even offered to help me out in the pool! Apparently she swam on her college swim team and is a pro! What a sweetheart! I’m so excited to finally get the help that I need in the pool even though it is not until next week!… which reminds me… I haven’t been to the pool yet! I better go tomorrow because today I won’t be able to make it to the other side of town where the pool is!

Well, that’s it for today. I hope you can understand my ‘passion’ epiphany and can find your very own thing in the world that you are truly passionate about. For some good reading check out Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuck. It will change your life and it is a quick read! I will make a link available on the site in the sidebar for easy access to purchase it from Amazon.com.

I woke up this morning before 9am! That is a break through for me! I got up at 5 am with my husband and made him breakfast. He goes to school and work for 12 hours a day so it was nice to see him in the morning! I felt so motivated I cleaned the whole house before 6 am!

Last night I went to the gym at 9:30 and have discovered the beauty of late-night hours at the gym. The daycare opens at 4pm so I usually arrive around then when it is pretty busy but last night I tried something different and left Sophie with Daddy. It was great! There was hardly anyone there and I didn’t have to fight to the death for a treadmill! I was the only one in the Women’s Only gym and it was nice not to feel like that fattest person in the room when normally it is filled with women who look like models!

Today I am meeting with my trainer again and I am excited to train with her. I wish that I could afford a trainer everyday and was feeling particularly sorry for myself when I realized… I can! In a way… the gym offers plenty of classes throughout the day and I finally realized that I could train with a professional everyday for just the cost of my gym membership!

When you sign up for a new gym be sure to check out the classes that they offer because they can be a huge advantage to you and your weight loss goals!

So yesterday I spent most of my day trying to clean the house and dream for my husband and my first ever beach vacation together that takes place 2 weeks before my triathlon. I’m so super excited I can’t even begin to describe it! My husband even told me that it was ok to buy a few new cute outfits to wear while we are gone so of course as soon as I could I made my way to the mall for a shopping spree adventure!

Sophie was a good helper and would come stand in the mirror of the dressing room and bang hangers on it. Not exactly her best moment but it was better than having her climb underneath all the other dressing stalls because she throws a fit to stay in her stroller! This time she just played and talked to me while I was changing!

When we got home from the long day (not just of shopping!) I hurried to my closet to change into my clothes for the gym. The day care would only be open for another hour or so which meant that I would need to hurry! Sophie quickly followed me in the closet and did something that did not go unnoticed… she stood up tall without any help and took a few steps towards me to give me a big hug with a big smile!

My heart melted as I realized she just wanted to play with her mommy and I began feeling guilty for having one self-obsorbed day that I just took her along for. She is a person too with feelings and needs and all the poor little girl was some positive attention from her mommy! She didn’t want a bottle to go to sleep with, she didn’t need a diaper change and she didn’t need help pushing her ball-machine upright like she usually does. Not only did she take some of her first real steps to me but together we took some important first steps together.

I realized that it is wonderful to have dream and goals for just myself but I also need to remember how important it is to recognize those around me who I love and need just as much attention as doing the dishes or finishing my 5 miles on the bike. I chose to have a baby and I need to remember that she truly comes first in my life over everything else…. because I want her to be!

So… we didn’t make it to the gym once again but instead spent some quality out-of-the-car-seat time together as mommy and baby. I felt better knowing that I was bonding with my daughter  at home than leaving her in a day care at the gym. We laughed and played peek-a-boo and I knew that I was making the right choice! Someone wise once said, “A man would never say as his dying words ‘I wish I  had spent more time at the office than being with my family at home’”. This is exactly how I felt at that moment… as if I were never to get it back.

Don’t worry I still trained for my triathlon but I waited for her to fall asleep to begin. We live on the second story of an apartment building so I used my time unloading the remaining stragglers of my car from the move upstairs to our house. It took my quite a few trips to get it all and I could feel my heart racing as I run up and down the stairs as fast as I could. It may not have been the 3 miles that my triathlon requires but at least I got my heart rate up! I also did some ad workouts while watching the olympics that night… what’s a greater way to stay motivated to train than watching the olympics!

Yesterday was a pretty good day for me. I got plenty done: went to the gym and did 1 mile on the treadmill and 1 mile on the bike then lifted for a while. I’m still trying to work up to that 3 mile run that I have in 7 weeks so you can imagine how I am taking my time to build the endurance up for that…ha! Overall, my first triathlon shouldn’t be too hard but the perfect first challenge for me to do.

I still haven’t practiced on a real road bike yet and am wondering what bike I should use. Of course it would be the smartest choice to use my road bike but it actually isn’t really mine. It’s my husband’s and I’m worried it might be a little too big for me. Don’t worry my husband is not that much taller than me so I am not a complete idiot when it comes to sizing myself up for an appropriate bike. But to be honest I kind of just want to use my mountain bike because it is my perfect size and I’m used to riding it. Plus I don’t think we can afford to buy a new road bike that is my size. I guess we will just see…

Swimming wise I’m still extremely nervous about not only competing but just practicing itself. I always feel out of place in the pool and embarrassed by my lack of skills. I really wish I had a personal pool of my own to practice in but that is not happening any time soon unless somehow this blog of mine takes off and affords me enough money to purchase one!

I want to thank all of your readers out there for being supportive and helping me stay focused. I am always grateful for support and words of encouragement, yes from you too mom, and sincerely hope that in some way my first triathlon training story can be of some encouragement to you as well!