purpleklipse’s BodyBlog

Wahoo! I upped all my weights for legs yesterday and today I totally feel it. Love the stairs in my house now - it’s a constant reminder!!!

After my shoulders/upper body tonight I had the motivation to run for 10 extra minutes on the treadmill….

I found that if I put an ice cube or two in my NO Explode  it’s like a blue ICEE from back in the day. Sweet!!!

Interval training isn’t new to most people but what HAS worked really well for me over the last couple weeks are coached interval audio files. They have music that matches the speed of the intervals which is super helpful. The different tracks even change up the interval levels, order in which they cycle through, and duration of each interval. They are general enough to work for any kind of cardio but specific enough to be helpful. I love how the BPM actually match up with the level of intensity and there is no guesswork or jumping around from song to song on my mp3 player.

Also, "Santa" brought me something I am pretty stoked about… The boyfriend found a Motorola "converter" thing for my phone/mp3 player where it plugs into my phone (the weird motorola connector thing) and then has a spot to plug in traditional headphones. It’s such a difference and I have gone back to my cool headphones with rubber that fit in my small ears. Now I can HEAR my music and run with headphones in! (Just can’t answer the phone with them, but that’s a distration anyway, right??)

So I make it a goal to change up my cardio for variety and to challenge my body in new ways.

But if the calories are always highest for running on the treadmill and going hard/fast on the elliptical, how do you prioritize still doing the bike, stairmill, stepper, rowing machine?

if it works your body in a new way and is still worth it, that gives me hope…. but that calorie counter doesn’t even come close to running/elliptical. And the intensity is really up!

What gives? What do you do?

Nowdays we’ve all heard stories about guys (ok, "people"… whatever) racing on the street and totaling cars… killing people, etc. A week or so ago there was even a whole show in Dr. Phil about it and this woman in a wheelchair was hit and killed. Maybe we have personal stories too.

But what really shocked me was on Saturday my BF and I were in his car driving to a grandma’s birthday party an hour away… on I-5 and highway 16 (over the Narrows Bridge) and this kid in an old, old civic wanted to race us. It’s such a weird thing to me how one guy "asks" the other and the other "declines" or whatever. I so don’t know the lingo but it’s just WEIRD! Anyway, my BF declined and when I finally caught on what was going on we just really ignored the guy. He challenged about a good 5 or 6 times before coming up on the other side and doing a thumbs down sign, etc. etc. to piss my BF off enough to do it.

This is so incredibly odd to me.

• it’s pouring down rain
• we are getting onto a BRIDGE!!!!!!!! (you can’t change lanes on the bridge either)
• there is a ton of traffic - a ‘race’ wouldn’t work anyway ??
• the cars were no match for one another (his was really old and not even fixed up)
• my bf doesn’t race and is in law enforcement

But the part that bothers me the most is that I am a GIRL! and the kid/guy couldn’t have cared less. I was not smiling, not laughing, not egging him on. I just think it’s such a weird state of society that he would even try so many times to race us and that I would be okay with that.

If a guy raced someone with me in the car I would completely flip out. Is this what happens on dates? Is this the norm?  WHO DOES THIS?!?!?!

I am completely baffled by this. And I’m sure immature racers don’t care if a woman OR CHILDREN are in the car.

It would be a safer world if people that want to do this would (a) spend the money and go to a track and/or (b) take that testosterone or adrenaline to the GYM.

I also know really good motorcycle racers that compete in the state and Laguna Seca and they have 2-3 very nice bikes apiece and are sponsored, etc. and they do not race on the streets.

apparently Richard is the bodyspace blog traffic cop and noticed I haven’t posted in a little bit. I’m sure the email I got is an automatic email from a server but I shall pretend like it was a personal invitation.

On to the update. My nutrition has been AWESOME! Who’d have thunk I could make much of a difference in 9 days… or cut out even more foods than I did before! haha, it’s so awesome, though! Phil Valenti has me under his special spell and let me tell you, it is working! (www.physiquesbyvalenti.com)

I also got hit on (I think??) at the gym yesterday which hasn’t happened in a while. That was really nice! But I lost a new friend the moment I mentioned the "B" word. (boyfriend).

Workouts are going great! Hams and bootie are sore already from today!!!! MMMMMWWWWWWWUHAHAAH it’s going to be great!

Getting more sleep is working and it’s also…. GREAT! I’m loving it. Besides getting enough hours, I am sleeping in the bed which really makes a difference.   (vs. the couch)

With the new eating and workout plan I actually got up and worked from 4:45 am until 3pm the other day. I was totally roaring to go all day!

PLUS I have officially kicked Starbucks/Forza coffee due to some sensible restrictions in my new nutrition plan. Saturday I get one of my old coffees (still not THAT bad) but it’s a total treat! YUM! Not going on a coffee run also makes me more productive during my workday and saves mney too!

I’ve had no work trips which is great for my fear of flying and keeps my eating/working out a heck of a lot easier to keep on track. But I kind of miss going places!

My new mp3 cell phone is still awesome to me! I also tried some coached cardio sessions which is great for my time on the treadmill. Soon I will need to upgrade for more storage

And I’ve checked out LA Fitness since my friend and her hubby just joined. Surprisingly they have some new/different/cool things. Some of the machines make it really exciting to go there since my whole thing is to try as many machines as I can. Keeps it exciting and changes things up.