Journey to Greatness: Some like it HOT…some just like to win

Miles: 28

HOT YOGA!  I love hot yoga!  It is my sunday thing.  Some people go to church on sunday…. I go to hot yoga, to sweat out the sins of the week before.  I mean I pass a church on the way, so that counts….right?   In yoga…. I can almost feel my muscles healing themselves….. stretching, lengthening all around my bones…. swelling and softening, succumbing to the heat. And it feels fantastic and I am so into the moment…. wait…. is that chick doing an arm balance..? I can do that!  WHY am I not doing THAT…. and I balance… wait… he is doing a headstand well… I can do that too…. and I headstand and I breathe and I am focused and is that a HANDSTAND.  WELL I SEE your handstand and raise you a handstand push up…. I mean this is F ing yoga WHY are all of these people doing all of this really hard muscle stuff and…. I can do all of that because any thing you can do I can do bet….. um…. right….yoga…..non competitive, relaxing, all about breathing…. I teach this stuff at my gym...yoga…. The yoking of the mind and the body…. being at peace with yourself and letting it all go on the mat… It is NOT a competition….. I am here to reset, recharge, clear the slate…. OMG I CAN DO A shoulder stand and hold it WAY LONGER than that girl over there!!!! and I can chaturanga back from crow without touching the floor and YOU KNOW WHAT I can FLY! That's right!   I can levitate on my freaking mat and float around the room!  BEAT THAT! Deep breath….. shannon worry about shannon…..this non competitive…… this relaxing yoga stuff is going all wrong in my head…….. oh who am I kidding.  Everything is a competition. It is all about winning.  It is time I own that part of myself.



In other news…….I just read this amazing article on being 39.  It was pretty cool… I was identifying and all.    It talked about fitness being the new mid life crises.  And I was like….well it's good that our generation is doing it RIGHT!  I mean a fitness midlife crises is so HEALTHY!  YAY us.  Well not me.  That is not me… I have been running forever… and the work out classes I take and the basement fitness well that is all to help my running…. yep.  I was a runner WAY before this midlife thing.  I mean really the average age is like 100 now, so I am not even close to mid life.  I am closer to infancy.  For sure…no way...Not me at all.   Is it?  I may or may not be pondering this….. and at the same time… if that is my mid life crisis…. Well… hell yes, here is to doing it right!  AGAIN!  I mean I did eat a cheeseburger yesterday so obviously I am not a total midlife crises fitness freak!

I am starting a new process with my clients this week.  Kind of a NYR thing.  Each client will have a notebook.  They are to take this notebook home for 1 week and write down their fitness goals for 2015.  Each week I will plan daily recommended workouts and in turn, they will  check off what that have done, record any additional workouts and feedback and also record their diet.  I want to see the big picture…. I want to see what works and what doesn't. I want my clients to see this too.  Writing is a very powerful form of motivation……. someday I really want to win a race.  Not an age division. A race.  The whole thing. I even want to beat the guy.  Yep, so motivating.

I am at about 8 minutes strong on my miles.  DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA how FAR that is from winning? Sure I can hit the 7s, but not with consistency or confidence…. I can dominate the 8s. WOW…so I am a dominating fierce snail to be reckoned with somewhere in the middle of the pack.  Leader of the snails! Eight is far from Great….. Let's face it….I am, at this point, not even in the back of the leader pack….. I don't even think I can see them from my 8 minute pace place…   I want to run 6 minute miles.  8 minutes seems so agonizingly slow.  No one is winning anything at an 8.  Ever. Period. I am discouraged.  How quickly I forget that when I started up again….. in my 30s…. I was happy running a 10 minute mile.  And in 4 years….. I have brought that to 8….. and I can run 13 of those miles in the 8s….. not a perfect 8 but an 8:30…… last spring….. and now I am at a good solid 8….. that seems so far from anything in the 6s……… And so I run some more.  And I work to get better.     Somewhere on the other side of all this hard work and discouragement is a 6…. is a good time….. is a first place….. is a win. I believe that.  And believing that makes me so happy.  I will love the process, because it is somewhere here, in the process, that I will find that WIN.  My friend just hit an impressive PR in a half.  I am so happy for her….. what if I never get there?  I am scared of my ambition, terrified of my goals……..what if I fail…… even scarier…..what if I don't fail…….what if….I…...succeed.


Basement workout
5 miles
50 pushups
50 pull over crunches w/20pds
50 bicep curls 15/20
50 dips.

Favorite lift today: Pullover crunches….I LOVE CORE

Post work out smoothie
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup cherries
1 banana
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup water


Favorite foods today……

 Steel cut oatmeal with 1/2 apple, 1 banana, 1/2 cup coconut milk

 1 cup frozen cherries with whipped cream…… as much whipped cream as possible and then a little bit more!

 coffee coffee coffee water water WATER!






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