Fit with Ruthie

Just finished a GREAT weight workout :).... broke into a major sweat! sweeeeet! and had veins a popping out !!! :) woowhoo! Heres what I did. I did 4 sets of chest flies, bi curls, shoulder press.... 12 reps each.... did all those right after each other. and repeated 4 times... increasing weight each time... going up to 20lbs on chest and curls and 15 on shoulder press (still gotta be careful of my shoulder you know) ...... then i did burnouts for those three muscle groups :)... chest flies, hammer curls and shoulder flies. then I did tri extensions :)... 3 sets of 12 then... PUSHUPS!... 2 sets of 10!!!! mens pushups with feet close together :) then abwork.... lots of ab work.... leg lifts and hipups for 6 minutes atleast.... then more to Queens bohemian rapsody...(ha)... then I did some standing ab work... focusing on obliques.... with the Police song sincronicity.... then I did a few more leg lifts and crunches.. prob a total of 15 mins of ab work.. :) woowhooo! now .. I am SHOT. bu...

ran 4 miles in the snow..

Here is our group this afternoon up on campus :) This is after they did 3 mile long walk-run. Everyone did GREAT! I was excited to see we had 2 husbands show up too!!! :) We do have a few gals out of town so once the holidays are over I am hoping our group will be even bigger :) I did about 2.5 miles with the group and after stretching them etc and visiting afterward I headed home to get a bite to eat. I was hungry and I knew I wouldnt make it if I was hungry :) I did 6.5 miles around campus.. funny thing was ... I really wasnt in the mood to run. I knew I had to get it done if i wanted to not DIE this friday :) I continued to talk myself into continuing. hahha ... After about 2 miles I was feeling GREAT and felt like I could run forever!... about 4.5 miles I needed to go potty.... Sunday and no restroom but I kept going until 6.5 cause I really wanted to finish... I gave up and headed home to finish the last mile on the treadmill.. I ended up chatting with Jessica (my friend in Chin...

have decided to put off the 10 miler until tomorrow... let the snow and ice melt a bit more and hopefully my allergies will be better after a round of medicine :) More tomorrow after

Above is before (November 22nd) After :) (today) maybe a bit of difference ... I wasnt as good at getting the weights in as I should have... so.. I think I will issue ANOTHER challenge :) ... After pictures being taken on Jan 22nd! :) I ran 5 miles today... 2 and half with Su and then the rest by myself :).... I ran 7 sprints on the last mile... oh i was tired!... came home stretched, abwork and 10 pushups. :) ... it was amazing outside :) 70 degrees and sunny! just awesome!... My long run on Saturday and the first long run for our half marathon group will be in the 30s :).... it will be a burrrrrrrun.

I just finished watching Julie and Julia ... you know the movie about the girl who blogs as she cooks her way through Julia Childs cookbook? Interesting how some of the lines hit me like "writing and total strangers read it" and "it is all so self absorbed" etc.... makes me think... why DO I do this? My simple answer... because it is what I found that finally worked. I know some people think i am a bit nuts.. I mean, this is all so "out there" for people to read and see photos of me and hear my ups and downs.... but .... I was never one to worry a lot about what other people think... and more than anything I keep coming back to the memories I have of seeing THIS woman and her website and how I emailed her.. and she emailed me back and how she gave me the courage to start again and believe I could change. ------- So.. yet again is another post :) today I did do just a little bit of jogging at track practice. about 5pm I did upper body.... chest, tris, bis ...

Amazing to me that a run can be just the pill I need for a splitting headache! I have had sinus issue this past week.. today i woke up with a headache and it wouldnt go away. I decided to leave early for track practice and get a quick 2 miler in to see if that would get rid of it and sure enough it DID! after about 1/2 a mile it slowly went away! (arent our bodies amazing!) I ran 2 miles and then coached track practice (we had 32 kids there at the noon practice... AWESOME!) I am ready to be totally back to normal soooooooon :) it wont be long i know :) Guess what?? The half marathon group i started is up to 22 ladies! Cant you believe that! I am sooooo thrilled! Its is EVERYONES first time toooooo! so cool. Some walkers, some combos and some runners! We will have our first long run together this Saturday (they will be doing 3 miles)! let me know if you wanna join us! There are 5 virtual participants! sweeeet. Ok.. I am off to chill and watch a movie with the hubby :) plan on a bit of w...

How much sugar does it take to make Ruthie a sick little girl? NOT MUCH Yesterday I caved (again) and had two homebaked sugar cookies with some frozen blue berries....and 5 chocolate covered pretzels .... and today... yes today i am paying the price... Its just a shame that food that tastes that good can be so horrible on my tummy :( .. .slowly but surely I am learning my lesson.... Eat the sugar.. pay the price.... its that simple for me. I am fixing to head out on my long run (hopefully) and its just an amazing day out so I am hoping to really enjoy it. Just finished watching Food Inc .......oh the things it makes me ponder. (more on that later) see ya after a few miles are behind me :) (UPDATE) a FEW miles is right. I could only manage 3.5 miles :(... at three mile mark my stomach started hurting (again) so i turned around and came home... It is so interesting how one weekend I could have the best run of my life and the next feel like I couldnt run 2 miles. I guess that is why I lik...

well...I caved. chocolate covered pretzels were my downfall. Its ok though, still no sugar in my tea and no real cravings for the sweet stuff. good news is I made it through our Co-op Christmas party with no sweets! I took some peanut butter protein balls and an apple just in case I was feeling tempted to dive into a cupcake :) I didnt dive into a pretzel until after I got home :) I know its all about progress anyway so i am not upset :) I am trying to decide if I should run or not. I have been fighting allergies the last 4 days. Last night was a bad night with lots of coughing. I am a bit concerned that my allergy induced asthma is the culprit. I have no fever, and no congestion... just dry coughing and a little bit of a tickle in my throat. I slept till 11am this morning (after being up in the middle of the night) and I just can decide if a run would make me feel better or worse. I think I will just wait until tomorrow and see how i feel. so.. for now I will just rest and try not to ...

I have been having a bit of allergy issues the last two days.. no fever or anything just a bit of drainage that makes me sound like I smoke a 2 pack of cigs everyday LOL... yesterday i was feeling "worse" around three oclock ... i was a bit worried.... then at supper last night I realized I had been drinking DECAF tea all day LOL... I am such the dingbat sometimes :) feeling good today and my voice is on the comeback :) I have track pactice at noon.... then about 115 i will head out for my run.. planning on 4 miles :).. it cold (in the 40s) but NO WIND and beautiful out! I cant wait to get out there! :) I have been doing great still on no sugar... but its funny the things that "trigger" us... I had a few episodes yesterday where those durn M&Ms were calling my name... but I made myself get fruit instead :) .... all a part of the emotions of eating.... feels good to be breaking yet another one of those habits. I STILL want something sweet after my supper... but n...

Size 4 ladies! YES... size 4. Its been a LONG LONG time since i have been able to wear these jeans.... I got back in them in June of 07 as posted here. I was in them over a year ago right before my back injury......... ever since then they have been hanging quietly in my closet reminding me of how fit and strong i USE to be. Its been a long long time and this feels sooooo good! wooowhooo! And the best part is... I FEEL GREAT! I wish I could bottle this up and let someone else know what it feel like.... being mostly sugar free is an amazing feeling! I cannot begin to explain the difference! Had a Christmas Party to attend last night. My daughter made the famous from scratch chocolate cake... the dessert table was FULL of amazing sweets.... I went over.. got a plate and went back to the "food" table and got the last bit of madrine oranges and grapes they had. I successfully refused to eat white sugar laden treats! All I had to do was look at them and remember how bad they wou...

What an amazing amazing run! heres the lowdown: mile and half or so to warm up... (easy pace)... then stopped to stretch ran 4 miles after that with no stopping to walk walked 2 mins and then ran 2 miles walked another 2 mins and ran another 2.5 ish miles stopped at the light to push the button to cross the street.. and traffic was so busy i couldn't go.. so i turned around and ran another half mile then came back and pushed the button again.. crossed the street and ran home. :) I cannot tell you how great i felt! I was pretty much in shock with how wonderful it was! Probably the best run of my life! I felt like I could run forever! Was it the chicken spaghetti I had an hour and a half before I left? Was it the fact I have been off table sugar and getting my sweet fix from fruits and sweet potatoes? :) Was it the perfect weather? I dont know.. but I LOVED IT! I must tell you the joy I felt when after passing this college guy 7 times (we were running opposite of each other) an...

no run yesterday. Beautiful day today! in the 70s... will run later this afternoon.. 9 miler :) still sugar free and feeling GREAT! could it be this is IT? the battle is over? I keep thinking that training our taste buds is a LOT like training our body.... its not fun at first and we dont like it but eventually its normal :) now I am on the hunt for no sugar added recipes (esp desserts)... I want to take something to co-op this week for our christmas party that is like a fruit pie.. but all the recipes I find have a sugary "sauce"... thinking I could take blue berries, etc and drizzle it on top? ... hum.. would love to hear ideas or links to help me :)

I am so happy to report to you that I am still doing great on no table sugar, no hfcs, and no other sweets! I have been feeling sooooooo good! I wake up in the morning with energy, and even during the day I dont have those down times where I would feel drained or tired until I grabbed some sweet tea :) I have still been using stevia in my tea and sprinkling it on fruit every now and then but last night before bed I drank my decaf hot tea with NO sweetener and liked it! (weird huh) I can already tell after just 5 days I am feeling better and getting leaner! One thing that is very interesting is that I had NO PMS symptoms this time around! I usually get really cranky, feel like i have gained atleast 10 pounds, and have NO energy for a day or two before... this time... I feel totally normal! no bloated feeling, no crankiness.... just feeling GREAT! On the exercise front.. I have been doing workouts with the track team, killer aerobics on Wednesday (an hour) and jogging etc.... last night ...

ok.. today : breakfast burrito (eggs only and tortilia) and hot tea with stevia lunch ham sandwich, lots of lettuce on it, tad of mayo and lots o mustard :), a few chips, strawberries and blue berries for dessert :) no cravings for sugar so far today :) I am just home from coop and hoping to get a quick apple and peanut butter before heading to track at 530 :) I need to run .. .... but when? urgh. busy day i am sooo happy i am feeling good and sticking with it :) yippeeee!

Today is going to be a great day! My eats are on target today and i am fixing to hit the gym (garage) to lift weights. breakfast: eggs, in a small tortilia, 5 grapes, hot tea with stevia snack: almonds and grapes ... water :) lunch: turkey taco meat lots of lettuce and a few corn chips, tea stevia water snack: taco meat corn chips snack grapes and almonds (not much variety today but i am on target) had a bit of a WAAAAAAAH moment earlier... cravings but worked through it... feeling great now... going to lift weights and head to track practice :) -more later Hi.. I am back :) sitting here watching the biggest loser finale... and oh my! its crazy! but before I sat down .. I just finished a GREAT upper body workout :) body for life style.. chest, tris, bis with burnouts :) then I did an ab workout :) feeling really really good :) as far as meals... supper was roast, gravy, slice of bread, and sweet potato slices.. water :) will have a protein shake in about 10 mins :) feeling good.... :...

Food. The good the bad and the ugly. Milk, Chips, Sugar, White flour, Ice Cream, Sodas, Candy, are all bad right? (well for me anyway) You see I have discovered my tummy doesnt like milk products... no matter how much I love ice cream or yogurt, they dont love me. It isnt hard anymore to stay away milk products.. they pretty much turn my stomach now because of how they make me feel. Chips? how do i feel about chips you ask... Well, I use to eat Cheetos's and Doritos many many times a week. I couldnt eat a sandwich if I didnt have a chip to go with it. You are talking to the girl who would go to the local 7 11 and buy a Slurpee , a bag of chips, and a roll of sweetarts and be the happiest gal around! :) I loved doing that! :) So over the past few years I have slowly lessened our chip supply on our house.. and for the past year pretty much only buy Corn chips (like tostitoes ) and plain Lays. Now .. when I do eat other chips (like I did Doritos's on Saturday night) it d...

wow.. THAT was tough...but it feels so good to be finished! yes... i did it. I think the problem started last night with pizza and doritos (its been probably a year since i had a dorito!) ... and no breakfast this morning cause we were running late for worship didnt help any either. I drank some OJ and ate a piece of bread and headed out the door... 2 blocks down.. I turned around.... BUT THEN I TURNED AROUND AGAIN and kept going... it was sooooooooo windy .... URGH>.. just wanted to not to this in the wind... I did 2 miles and just had no energy... I forced myself to do 2 more. ... and I did. So with 4 miles down I just couldnt see with how I was feeling that I could do another 4 ... so I headed home..... I grabbed a glass of water and a few handfuls of honey oats and got my computer set up so i could watch the biggest loser while I walked on the treadmill. I did 2 miles running on the mill and then my lack of energy hit again.. so i paused.. got some MORE water and ate a 3 vanill...

well.. I wanted to take my new shoes out for a run this morning.. but I will admit I let the 27 degree weather this morning keep me in ...I should never look to tomorrow cause tomorrow its in the 50s! so my plan was to run tomorrow ......but now that I am up .. have had breakfast and been cleaning house for a while I am feeling like I really want to go run.. we are having a big party at our small house tonight :) 20 kids coming over for homemade pizza, games and movie :) .. its gonna be fun ........if I can get all my stuff done (make 6 pizzas) then i will go for a run before they all come over :) dont know if i will have time for 8 miler but will do atleast 2 then run the 8 tomorrow :) until later... here is a post I did for my 13.1 group (we are up to 5 ladies... hoping for the 6th to decided YES too :) ......Inspiring story of a lady with MS who walks marathons and two good videos about how to dress for cold weather exercise :) later r UPDATE: Cooked from 2 until 5ish... (homemade...

OK. After teaching at co-op all day.. we came home and did chores :) My daughter comes to me and says.. "Piggie back" of course joking thinking I couldnt do it.. and I said ok.. I carried her around the house for a while and did a few squats :).. thought was funny so had to take a picture.. this is during squat #3 :) HA! Who said growing old meant growing weak??? (why its underlining i have no idea :) You see that drip of sweat? That is from after my run! IN 35 degree weather!!!!! WOOOOWHOOO! ME RUNNING IN 36 :) AFTER TEACHING ALLL DAY :) .... WHO HAVE I BECOME! I had a tank, a long sleeve, a short sleeve, a fleece and a jacket... this is after taking off the fleece its tied around my waist but you cant really see it in the photo.. thats why my jacket looks so funny :) Like my hat?? did 4 miles! FELT FANTASTIC! THANKS FOR THE INSPIRATION TO GET OUT THERE GOES TO THE FOLLOW BLOGGER FRIENDS AND THEIR POSTS! JOSHA leaving for Denver look at my dirtygirlgattors! SHUT UP AND RUN!...

sprints... lots of sprints.... lots of sweat...  lots of gasps for air ..... then abwork... lots of abwork, lots of wondering if i will be sore tomorrow.... i think i will :) OH.. and I did THIS today.. . wanna join us?