Always be prepared..

"The will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win. Everyone wants to win, but not everyone wants to prepare to win. Preparing to win is where the determination that you will win, is made.  So if you want to win, you must want to prepare to win. Once you prepare to win, winning is almost anti climatic."

-- Edward W. Smith





When it comes to being prepared I am still learning. Sometimes I'm prepared. Other times I'm not so much. When it comes to preparing meals for the day each person has their own way of doing things. I have a random way of doing things.



I like preparing as much of my food as I can in advance.

I prepare my breakfast(protein pancakes) on a weekly basis. I make 5 of them on a Sunday afternoon and stick them in foil wrap and store them in the fridge.

I cut up all of my veggies and place them in tupperware containers.

I cut up all of m fruit and do the same with it.

I portion out my protein.



That way when I need something fast-rather than looking to fast food, I can make my meal at home faster. It also helps me with organizing all food that I need to take to work with me. I prepare my lunch for the next day when I'm making my dinner for the night.



In a Euphoric world this is the work all week, 52 weeks out of the year. But things happen. Life happens. You get busy and sometimes nutrition gets put on the back burner.



Like last night. I went to the gym. I trained with TrainerBoy, then I went to 'walking' group then they invited me to go to a movie*anyone who knows me knows I have a weakness for chickflicks* so I went. Knowing full well that I needed to get home at a decent time, so I could make my meals for today. Well I got home at 11:30 and was exausted. I hadn't been home since 7:00am. I went to bed with every intention of making my food in the morning(and knowing my track record with waking up) I knew I wouldn't have any good food. So today I've eaten cranberries, oranges, and a turkey sandwhich. I set myself up to fail. I haven't had nearly the right amounts of any of my macro-nutrients today, and I can feel it.



I feel gross. I know that I feel this way because I was unprepared.



Moral of the story-always make time to prepare. Food, meal plans, workouts,etc.

If you're don't prepare to succeed, you're destined for failure.



Today. I failed. Tonight after spin I'm headed to the grocery store to stock up on fresh food, and make my meals for the rest of the week. I am not setting myself up to fail.



"By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail."

-- Ben Franklin



Lachele

This is US

This is Saren

This is Lachele..

We are best friends.

We like to sit in shopping carts on 16th Ave at midnight before going to bubble tea. One of our favorite dates. **Yes, we go on dates together**

We like to go to dinner together

We're queens of funny faces

See...told ya so

We also make pumpkins together, and pose as a family...My shirt was asking a guy to preference

Road trippin to salt lake

We love taking pictures of ourselves together.

Now that you've joined on a trip down memory lane, Join us on our journey to find our former skinny selves.

xoxo Lach/Sar

My speghetti squash LOVE

Let me tell you. I.love.spaghetti,squash!!!
I could probably eat it all day, everyday.
I make it alot for dinner ( probably more than adam would like) and I usually prepare it the same way everytime- cooked squash, with an organic tomatoe basil sauce, and sauteed mushrooms... boring? Yes.  Easy? Yes.  Tasty? Well yeah!
But today I decided to experiment a little.   I switched up my spaghetti squash regime! Im usually pretty fearful to try new recipes, because im scared to death that Adam will hate it and think im a bad wife... He always says he loves everything I cook, but I still think the day will come where I try something out of the ordinary, and he will be sick to his stomach for the rest of the night, and suddenly I am no longer a domestic wife... irrational fear I know.
Anyways, my dinner went a little like this. 

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup vegetable broth (made from scratch)
1 ear of corn (kernels cut from the cob)
1 whole spaghetti squash
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste

OK, im all about easy, quick meals. this is both those things.  The squash takes about an hour to cook, but you dont have to watch it, and it takes like 27 seconds to prepare.
So, I tried a new, super healthy recipe, and Adam loved it!! yay! Im always so happy when he legitimately likes my cooking :)

Iv been doing really good at eating healthy.  Iv always been a fairly healthy person, but I think im doing really well right now.  Im considering going 80% raw, but I have to look a little more into it because im still breastfeeding and I need to make sure I'll be getting enough calories.  My brother in law is a health NUT and such an inspiration.  He leads a raw food lifestyle and loves it so much.  Ill be hittin him up for tips very shortly.  Ill stay posted about how the raw diet goes or doesn't go...
Oh cheat! I had a 7-11 slurpee today and it was heavenly.


Saren xoxo

My deflated little ego

Is exactly how I feel right now.

I'm tired, I'm sweaty, and I'm wet from the rain.
.
 I had a gym date. I don't know if it's just the weather or if I'm doing a little too much but I couldn't run today. I tried. Several times. The longest I lasted was 24 seconds.

Quite the opposite of Tuesdays workout. I ran a 10 minute mile. I left Tuesdays training with TrainerBoy happy with my progression. I was proud. I was a rockstar<----TB calls me that to boost my ego.

Then today I seriously whined so much. Sorry Brett. But I did. I had to do real squats today, with a real bar. I complained.It was more scary than hard. But. I'm going to start doing them everyday until I stop complaining. That's my new rule. If I complain about something when I'm training I have to do it on my own until I start to love it. If this is the case. I should have a rad body in a few weeks.

I left the gym tonight feeling defeated, deflated, and my ego was bruised big time. I was having trouble with the timed 1 legged bosu ball exercise. Tuesday I was holding it for 1 minute each leg, tonight it was like 15seconds. That really frustrated me. TrainerBoy was telling me I get this look on my face when I'm pissed at myself. Yah. I had that look for over 45 minutes tonight. Sometimes I'm too hard on myself. However, I feel like I need to be hard on myself or else I'll fail.

I've seen myself come so far in such a short amount of time. I know that these things of frustration and defeat from this week-will be easy in a few weeks.

So why stress then Lachele?

Hm... good question. It's what I do. I was telling TB that I am worst case senario girl, mixed in with a little drama mama right now.

UGH. I'm going to bed.

L.

“When a man is pushed, tormented, defeated, he has a chance to learn something”

 -Ralph Waldo Emerson

On the bright side... I found out my gym boyfriend and his girlfriend broke up. YAY! No wonder I've seen BigRed lately and not Baseball boy. I'm happy about that. But good thing he wasn't there tonight to watch me choke!

Words of Wisdom

One of the best piece of advice I've ever received concerning this journey was:

Make it a  spiritual experience

Not a religious experience. But. A Spiritual one. There is a difference. I promise.


Be specific in what you want, and use specific words. Empower yourself, and become the person you dream about

Eleanor Roosevelt

To hot not to share!

One of my favorite cardio workouts is H.I.I.T (High intensity interval training)

*These speeds and inclines can be modified to suit each individual person.*

**Start out on a 0 incline, and increase accordingly**

5 minute warm up. 3.5rpm

1 min 4.0rpm
2 mins 6.0rpm
2 mins 7.0rpm

Complete this 4 times in total

5 minute cool down 3.5rpm

total time = 30 minutes.

This is great. Before you increase your speeds try adding a little incline.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now, this is the new one that I just learned of. And it.is.golden.

It's called Treading. I learned it from Laurel Christensen @ http://www.justaroundthiscorner.blogspot.com/ at a womens conference I went to last weekend

Pick your choice of cardio equiptment. Treadmill.Bike.Eliptical.

warm up for 5 minutes(you'll need the warm up)

5 minutes  hard level(9-10/10 on the scale) Something you can barely handle
5 minutes  recovery(where you can completely step off the treadmill, or bring it down to a slow walk)
4 minutes hard
4 minutes recovery
3 minutes hard
3 minutes recovery
2 minutes hard
2 minutes recovery
1 minute hard
1 minute recovery

5 minute cool down.

Total time = 40 minutes.

Let me know if you try either of these and how you felt before,during, and after. I'm curious to know how you handled it. I love doing this on my spin bike. It's an amazing spin workout. Add some music and hit it hard. I want to try the treadmill but I might have to wait until week 18-20 to try.


"There are no shortcuts to any place worth going."
- Beverly Sills

Lachele

First run in 9 months

**I was going to wait until Saren posted her first post to blog again... but I just couldn't I had to share**

Last night (May 9) I ran for the first time in 9 months.

I've been counting down this day for the last 12 weeks. I had been anticipating this day with the same enthusiasm as I had when I was ready to get back into the gym at 6 weeks.

It was a mental thing. I think I was physically more prepared for my run than I was mentally. Mentally I feel like I still have a torn ACL. Physically I am surpassing all protocol requirements. Everyone is beyond impressed with the leaps and bounds I've come.

I've had personal goals throughout this whole process. Since day 1 back in August. I've slipped a few times. Haven't met my goals in the timeline I had origionally set. But, instead of giving up. I re-adjusted my goal and have met every single one since them. @ 6 weeks I wanted to be back in the gym. Check. @ 12 weeks I wanted to be running. Check.

I'm queen of saying "I can't" or " I don't think I can do that" TrainerBoy always gets annoyed. I think I say outloud that I don't think I can. So that if I can't do it I don't look like a failure. I'm not doing myself any good by putting myself down. I can do hard things So the next time TrainerBoy asks me to do quad extensions with 90lbs on the bar I will do it, cause I can do hard things.

My next milestone is week 24. I will to be doing sport specific drills. *cutting, pivoting, planting, jumping, etc* I have no doubt in my mind that with the determination I have I will blow this out of the water.

You have to train your mind like you train your body.

~ Bruce Jenner

Lachele

A little background

Welcome to our blog!

Saren and I both have our own personal blogs.

We both have a common interest and similar goals. To get back to our former skinny selves.

A little about myself. I love being active. I'm a  bike rider, I spin 3x a week, I've been a scuba diver for over 12 years, I play basketball, volleyball and football and softball. I enjoy swimming and camping. I'm definitely not a girlie girl by any stretch of the imagination but I do clean up pretty nicely ;)

A little background on me, and how I got here. It started a few years after high school when I was in a car accident. it could have been tragic...but thankfully all of my major injuries healed. However this was the beginning of my 'excuses'. You know all the excuses you use when you don't want to do anything?

Well, I used my shoulder, hip, rib, and foot injuries to get as much sympathy as I could. I  stopped playing basketball, I stopped running, I stopped working out. But, I kept eating the way I did when I was very active. Which was H.O.R.R.I.B.L.E!

Then I gained 10lbs, 20lbs, a lot more lbs.

It was easier to use my car accident as an excuse. Til one day I'd had enough, I wanted to feel confident again, skinny, pretty, I wanted to play basketball and football again so, I got back into the groove of things... I was working out, eating healthy and I was losing a little weight, but toning TONS.

Until August 2010. I was playing in a touch football game. I was running for a pass and the next thing I knew I was flying thru the air...I heard something pop and I landed on the ground. My knee instantly started to throb. Two of the guys tried to help me up, and the minute I stood up and tried to walk on it, it popped again.

I tore my ACL, MCL and wrecked my medial meniscus.

I was beyond depressed. I was on crutches and in a zimmer brace for 3 weeks.I re-injured it in a slip and fall. After that, I had seen doctor after doctor... and they were all telling me the same thing. I would need surgery.
Ugh. However, I wasn't going to let this get me down. You should have seen all the weird looks I got from the trainers, and other people working out at the gym. Everyone thought I was nuts. Including my trainer, I was a girl working out in a knee brace, walking on inclines, riding a stationary bike and doing as much upper body strength as I could (pretty sure TrainerBoy thought I was beyond insane)

From Oct 2010 right up until 12 hours before my surgery I was in the gym every night. Working on gaining strength in my left leg, and in my upper body to help me endure the 4 weeks of being on crutches. I knew I was going to miss the gym that six weeks I was off-so I needed to take full advantage of it while I could.

And that is what I did.

Feb 18,2011 I had knee reconstruction. It was long. It was hard. It was painful.

I promised myself that I would be back in the gym at 6 weeks. That was my goal. I did anything and everything I could to keep myself motivated. The days drug on, but the weeks flew by (if that makes any sense at all). It was my saving grace.

I was back in the gym before I knew it. My trainer was happy to see me, all my friends were happy I was back. But most of all I was happy I was back.

The last 6 weeks have been hard. Real hard. I've left the gym in tears many times. Tears of frustration, tears of pain, and tears of joy because of the accomplishments I've had. It's been such a miracle to see my progression from day 1 back in the gym until now. Each week I'm able to do new things. I'm slowly becoming myself again.

Whatever your excuse is. Stop.right.now. Cause excuses don't fly with me. I was in the gym right until 12 hours before my surgery, and I was back exactly 6 weeks after. If I can do it-anyone can. You just need a little motivation.

I guess that brings me to right now. I am so motivated. If you've read my personal blog, some of this background info will sound familiar. I will probably be taking clips from there every now and again to help describe what  I am going thru. The things that have helped me, the people who've motivated me.

It's not all great times, and groovy tunes. Some days I'm down because I don't see results, I have more than one cheat day a week. But I've learned to find Joy in the journey. To make small goals that will eventually lead me to my ultimate goal.

What is my ultimate goal? I'm planning on becoming a spin instructor in December 2011, I'd like to run a half marathon(I've never been a runner, I was trying to train myself when I wrecked my knee), and maybe compete in some sort of fitness competition. So I have alot of work to do between now and then.

What are your fitness goals? What are the driving forces for these goals?



The best changes often start as single, simple thoughts. Think big, and discover how to make your dreams real.

 - Anonymous