Bye 2017. It was fun racing in you.

I chose Cathe's PHA Training as my last workout of 2017.  And I feel this was a good choice, because this little low-impact heavy-ish weight gem gets your heart rate up and still kicks your sweet patootie.  I haven't done this one in a while, so it was a nice little surprise on this last day of 2017.

I bet you anything I will get a nice little surprise of sore glutes and arms tomorrow morning when I wake up, too.  That's just how Cathe rolls.  And here's how large dog rolls while I'm trying to do the ab workout on this DVD after all that weight lifting goodness:

He's just rubbing it in that dogs don't have
to work on their abs.  The jerk.

So that's how I'm ending my 2017-with a low-impact weight workout and a sleeping dog in my workout area mocking me with every snore.  But it wouldn't be an end-of-year post without a look back on my crazy year of running and cycling and love of my barbell now, would it?  So I took the liberty of making a small collage of my major races this year:

Here's the rundown for 2017 in terms of races:

• 6 marathons (Austin, Little Rock, Glass City (Toledo), Flying Pig (Cincinnati), Twin Cities, Chicago, Dallas)
• 3 half marathons (Christmas in July (Indianapolis), Schaumburg Half Marathon, and Batavia Half Madness Half Marathon)
• 2 duathlons (Freeport, IL and Muncieman Olympic Distance Duathlon)
• 4 Ragnar Relays (Tennessee, SoCal, Chicago, Great River)

And a smattering of 5Ks and 10Ks.

So what's on tap right now for 2018?  Well, I plan on doing a few less marathons and focusing on my training a bit more.  I am ultimately aiming for a sub-4 marathon, and that's going to require toning down the "OMG there's a marathon I MUST sign up for it" tendency I have.  I am also doing a half distance duathlon in June, so the cycling will add some much needed cross-training into my routine.

And if someone asks me to run on their Ragnar team, I will definitely not say no.

But I have to say that 2017 was a pretty good year for my running.  So even though I have to say goodbye to you, 2017, please remember that I had a lot of fun running in you.  So it's not you, it's me - I just have to move on to 2018 now.

And now for the final learnings of 2017:

• I am really going to buckle down and focus on my sub-4 marathon goal.  That not only means training, but also eating correctly so I can look like my fitness pipe dream.  Maybe.
• So of course I talk about eating correctly but guess who had red velvet cake for dessert tonight?
• In case you couldn't guess, it was me that had red velvet cake. I plan on eating lots of veggies tomorrow to cancel it out.
• But I did have a ton of running and fitness fun this year.  See everyone next year!

Tomorrow's workout: I have a New Year's Day race that is on the schedule, but they're calling for -21 wind chills.  So I may just stay home and do some mile repeats and eat lots of veggies instead.  Stay tuned for the resolution to that cliffhanger.

Two days of workouts amid way too many pictures in one post.

I really meant to post last night about my my weight workout (Cathe's Lift It, HiiT It: Chest, Triceps, and Shoulders) and how sore I was and how my triceps were literally crying every time I tried to do stupid things like "move" and "lift things with my arms," but I got about 3 sentences in and promptly fell asleep in my recliner at around 8 PM and that's where I stayed for the rest of the night.

I guess my exhaustion from my work week set my priorities for me last night. Here's the picture I was going to post from my workout, being diligently supervised as per usual.

Anyway, today's workout was a 10 mile run, seeing as how my marathon training cycle starts Monday and next Saturday I have a 13 miler on tap.  However, if you live in America right now, you'll notice that it's a tad chillier than normal in most areas.  In our area the high today was a scalding 2 degrees above zero with 15 mph winds, so the hubbs forbade me to run outside and I ended up getting that 10 miler done on my treadmill.  Not bad for my last run of 2017.

My Garmin recorded an extra half mile and my pace as way faster than it really was, mainly because I am lazy and have never calibrated the thing for the treadmill.  I ran an even 10 according to the treadmill, and to survive I ran three sets of 1 mile easy, 2 miles at marathon-ish pace.  I also watched a Star Trek Movie (one of the new ones) to get my mind off my suffering because Star Trek is awesome and I will not hear any other opinion on that matter.

Afterwards, the cat came for his usual post-treadmill visit, but he was apparently so disappointed in me and my run for some reason he couldn't even look me in the eye.

This could just be a cat game of "made you look."

Oh well.  I'll have to do better (at whatever I did wrong in his cat's eyes) next time.  At least he gave me some feedback; this is what small dog was doing the entire time I was running those 10 miles.

He's being exhausted for me.

So how was the eating over the past two days?  Pretty good.  I had some wins...and a few losses.  I may have lost a few battles, but I feel like I won the war.  If the war was only two days long and I slept through 9.5 hours of it, that is. Here are some highlights:

1) I managed to have carrots and water instead of eating all of the potato chips in the house.

Large dog approves.  And he also wants carrots.

2) I got tired of eating nothing but raw carrot sticks for my veggies and started sauteing a whole frying pan full of veggies at 10:30 AM this morning.

3) I ate more chocolate squares I got for Xmas because they were peppermint brownie flavored and how was I supposed to know if they were any good unless I ate some?

4) I tried out a new crock pot chili recipe that had nothing but recognizable ingredients in it and it was pretty freaking awesome.  And made my house smell amazing.

Like I said, overall the eating wins totaled more than my losses.  Cooking at home is a huge, huge thing for me, and I'm working on re-training my inner sugar addict.  Because the last time that addict was in charge, I looked like this:

And the moment you've been waiting for-the learnings:

Only one learning: It's hard to blog with large dog in your lap.  But I sucked it up, buttercup, for all of you guys and gals.

Tomorrow's workout:  A nice total body workout before the marathon training begins.

A post in four parts: some running, expensive cheese sandwiches, and cats on treadmills.

Part 1: This morning it was freaking cold outside (2 degrees) so I got dressed for summer and headed down to my treadmill.

Part 2: My goal was to do a 3 mile run with the last two at a 9:30 pace....so a small-ish marathon pace-ish tempo.  Since I always have a hard time running anything that looks like a tempo on a treadmill, the fact that I actually managed to do it was a win for me this morning.

ZOMG this run wasn't THAT big of a deal. Calm down.

Part 3: This cat jumped on my treadmill during my cool down while I was walking at 3.0 mph and it ended with the rest of my zoo checking to see if he was OK after he slid off the back end.

Hyooman.  No need to put this morning's incident on your blog.

Part 4: My eating today was pretty good; no second trip to Starbucks again today (two times in a row - woot) and when I went to Jimmy John's for dinner I didn't eat my usual bag of 300-calorie bag of chips.  Instead I had my usual veggie-no-avo on wheat, which is not really a veggie sandwich but a really expensive cheese sandwich.

Cheese + lots of mayo = give them all your money.

Learnings coming atcha:

• It's always summer on the treadmill.  Dress like it.
• Male cat likes to get rubs after the treadmill stops.  Apparently, today he just couldn't wait for that darn treadmill to come to a complete stop.
• I have 10 fingers.  You can fact-check that statement by counting them in the second picture.
• I also have man-sized hands.  It's my cross to bear.
• How does Jimmy John's get away with charging so much for a cheese sandwich?  Sheesh.

Tomorrow's workout: Probably an easy run.  Or maybe this little Cathe HiiT workout gem I've been saving for a while...we shall see.

A partially supervised workout and some small eating wins.

My post is a bit delayed tonight because I had things to do after work.  Like drive home and see this sign.

I take exception to this sign.

Anyway, let's go back to the start of the day, when I was doing Cathe's Lift It, HiiT It: Back, Biceps & Shoulders workout.  Remember, that's the same workout that left me almost incapacitated last week, so of course I decided to whip that sucker out again this morning.  This time I had supervisors.

They ditched me, however, by the time I got to my hammer curls.

Hammer curls are better with Texas on a t-shirt.

I am currently in the grip of back, bicep, and shoulder soreness, so I'm going to chalk up this morning's workout as a success.  My eating was better today, and I had a few wins that are noteworthy:

• I sucked down those carrots again at lunch even though I hated every minute of it
• I didn't eat all of the chocolate I found in my desk (surprise! I didn't even know that chocolate was there!)
• I managed to not go on my usual evening Starbucks run for my fruity sugar laden drink.  Instead I had a bottle of sparkling water to keep my company for those 65 minutes.  I know what you're thinking--is this for real?  Shockingly, it is. I even surprised myself with that one.  A journey of 1,000 miles starts with the first step, yo.

So I'm pretty jazzed about that last one.  With sugary stuff, I tend to get trapped into a lot of addict thinking where I convince myself I actually need to have that stuff and if I don't get it I will absolutely DIE.  But I won't die, and I didn't die tonight on my way home.  And I probably won't die tomorrow night, either.  I think I see a pattern forming.

And now for the pattern of "abruptly ending a post with learnings because she's really tired right now:"

• I, for one, cannot wait until I move into my new house and have a workout area I can call my own. 
• That workout area has a door to lock out workout supervisors, by the way.
• In that picture of me doing concentration curls, I am using a 20 lb weight, which I have never been able to do before this morning.  A strength-training win!
• I bet I can keep my "no dying" streak alive all week long by simply not detouring to Starbucks.  Yep.

Tomorrow's workout: A small-ish tempo.

Welcome to my fitness pipe dream.

I had to go to work today, so that meant it was Tuesday as per usual around our house: I got up at 3:45 AM, took the dogs outside so large dog could drag me around almost ripping my arm out of its socket, made breakfast and ate it, and then hopped on the treadmill while the hubbs was sleeping in the recliner nearby because I don't not treadmill for no man sleeping in a recliner when he should be upstairs in bed.  I only did 3 miles though, with the last two miles being one-minute pickups with 2 minute recovery jogs.

And there I am in all my treadmill glory.  With some righteous bed head to boot.  You're welcome.

It felt good to run fast, even if it was just a few minutes at a faster pace. My quads were still pretty sore, but that little workout loosened those suckers right up.

But I know you're way more interested in how my eating went today.  I know I am too, so let's look at the highlights:

1) My breakfast game is strong.  I make instant oatmeal and add a big scoop of PB, a mashed-up banana, and many dashes of cinnamon to it and I'm good to go for my morning workout.  That breakfast has served me well before all my workouts and a lot of my marathons.

2) Nutrisystem muffins as snacks.  They are filling, but beware the "high fiber" label on them.  You don't want to be in an enclosed meeting room with loads of innocent other people for a few hours after eating one of those, if you know what I mean.  And I think you do.

3) Begrudingly ate carrots and string cheese and my PB sandwich for lunch.  I was distracted during lunch from eating crap by an overwhelming pile of work that came in my email today because..you know..day after holiday and all.

4) My husband bought me chocolates for Christmas so I ate the serving size (3), gave them a dirty look, and dumped them in the break room for others to eat instead of me.

5) I wanted to eat the rest of the bag of those chocolates, but instead I ate some string cheese and was super duper proud of myself.  Until I caught myself wanting to go into the break room and have more chocolate.

6) Alas, my string cheese win over chocolate was cancelled out by my post-work trip to Starbucks for my fruity, sugary Starbucks referesher that keeps me company on my hour-long commute home. I just need to stop feeding that Starbucks habit to save pounds AND money.

As you can tell, I'm a bit of a sugar addict. And I suck at resisting the allure of the sweet stuff.  But I need to figure out what I'm going to do about it, because eating that crap isn't going to get me where I want to be.  And where I want to be is here:

I really want to look like this.  But I'm going to have to eat clean.  Like, perfectly clean.  And that means I'm gonna have to go here first:

I don't know if I'm going to make it.  

Learnings?  Sure, there's some right here:

• It did feel really good to run fast this morning.  I predict much joy during speed work for this nedxt training cycle...except for mile repeats.
• Sugar has always been my BFF.  It's time to end that friendship.
• I know that pic is a pipe dream for me...but I'm going for it.  Better to have tried to look totally ripped and fail than stay all soft in the middle.
• I think "going for it" will mean me eating a lot of veggies while crying.

Tomorrow's workout: Some upper body weight goodness.  Hopefully my eating will be better--going to try getting rid of a Starbucks run.

Merry Christmas! I ate like crap today!

I'd like to start this post by first saying Merry Christmas in my  "ex-high-school-science-teacher" kind of way:

And next I'd like to say how freaking sore my legs are from yesterday's workout.  I just may have overdid it.

I'm still deciding whether or not I want to run at all today; if I do it's going to be on my treadmill because a) it's cold b) it's dark and c) I miss my treadmill.  If I end up hopping on the machine to nowhere, it will be for an easy three miles just to keep the working out streak alive.

Until then, let's talk about the horror show that was my eating today.

Well, I guess it wasn't that bad.  But boy, could it have been better.  It started out OK with my oatmeal, my little health muffin, and my carrots + string cheese + PBJ for lunch, but after we started opening presents and I got all of the chocolate from the hubbs, it kind of went downhill from there.  I had way too much chocolate today, but I did manage to cook a meal that contained vegetables--a broccoli cheddar chicken bake.

So what if it had some Grands biscuits as a base.  Don't judge me.

Anyway, I also had some stuffing and then some of my PB pie, because Christmas.  Not exactly eating 80/20 as is recommended, but I fully plan on getting my act together tomorrow and the rest of the week, since I have to work and I will be far, far away from temptation.  Well, at least I will be when I'm at work.

Learnings:

• I'm fine about not working out today.  Really.  Maybe.
• Everything I ate today was really, really good.  And worth it.
• Tomorrow I will share my motivation never to ever eat like this again.

Tomorrow's workout: We'll try that speed work that was one tap for today tomorrow.

Winter, PB pie, and Large Dog makes a mockery of my weight workout

Remember how yesterday I was running with large dog and there was no snow on the ground?  Well, today is a little different.

Welcome to my front yard and all of the stuff the hubbs puts in it.

Hey Winter.  Nice of you to show up.

Because of the snow and because of the fact that I ran yesterday and a run wasn't on tap for today, I did a total body weight workout (my usual Cathe Total Body Giant Sets), where I found out that my hammies were more sore from yesterday's run than I realized.  But it was nice to get in some leg work, use a nice heavy barbell again, and get my bicep curls in whilst a dog snoozed in the background.

For my ab workout, I did something a little different--I did the second bonus abs workout on Cathe's Ripped with HiiT series workout DVDs.

This ab workout kicks you in the...well...abs right out of the gate and just doesn't let up.  I was burning by the fourth exercise, and I honestly don't know how I made it to the end.  She does do a bike maneuver with a twist that requires some coordination (which I lack), and I was worried at one point I would flail about and disturb the large dog snoozing next to me.  You can all rest easy knowing that it didn't happen, and that large dog continued to rest easy during the entire ab workout.

This woman is constantly working out in my napping area.

So, what about my eating?  Well, it was OK today.  It didn't help that it was (and still is as of the time I am writing this) Xmas Eve and hubbs was all "hey can you, like, do some Xmas baking before Xmas gets here or something?" so I had to make a peanut butter pie and, in the process, consume whatever was left of the pie filling (PB and cream cheese) in the mixing bowl because wasting food is a no-no.

However, I counteracted all that yummy goodness with food filled with something called "nutrition" during the rest of the day.

I had my usual oatmeal, Nutrisystem muffins (yum), those carrots and string cheese you see up there, a PB & J sandwich, and leftover beef and broccoli when not sucking down excess pie filling.  All that counteracts all that pie filling, right?  Right.


Post is over; learnings are coming:

• Gosh, I'm so looking forward to 15-20 mile runs in the snow and cold where I have to worry about frostbite.
• That Cathe workout I did today has a lot of one-legged squat variations and I fully expect glutes of incredible soreness tomorrow, seeing as I have not done this workout in about a month.
• I also expect abs of soreness.  That ab workout was no joke, kids.
• Large dog pretty much made a mockery of my workout by sleeping right through it.
• This eating thing will not get better until all of the junk is out of my house.
• Aren't you happy that this is the only set of bullet points in this post?  Merry Xmas.

Tomorrow's workout:  A 3-4 mile run, but I will probably do some 2-minute pickups in the middle miles to get back into the speedwork groove.

Eating lies I tell myself.

Even though I wanted to do at least 8 miles today, I ended up doing a solid 6 with large dog.  Gotta give some props to the hubbs for catching a snap of large dog and I out in the 20-degree weather.

Large dog: ZOMG I'M RUNNING ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG

I think that this might be the last nice day for large dog to hitch a ride with me on a run; it's supposed to get supercold for a while (like it's winter or something), so I hope he enjoyed himself.  Especially the parts where he kept trying to drag me into the ditch.

But let's rewind back to the start of the day today, before my nice pre-Xmas run.  Let's go back all the way to the beginning, when small dog slammed himself on top of me to wake me up and take him outside.  As I stumbled my way to the bathroom trying to get that one eye that won't ever open all the way in the morning open, I decided for no particular reason to do something I haven't done in about 6 months: get on the scale and weight myself.

What were the results?  Well, I have gained back 9 pounds.  9.4 pounds to be exact.  But I didn't have a meltdown like I normally would have right there on the scale.  And I think the reason is because my clothes all still fit--I haven't had to buy any larger clothes, which is usually one of the main reasons I get back on the scale.

However, just because my clothes still fit doesn't mean I don't need to make some changes.  My eating needs some overhauling (which I've mentioned recently), but I think the biggest thing I need to change is to stop telling myself lies about what I can and cannot eat.  Below are some of the eating lies I tend to tell myself when I'm training for a race:

• I'm training.  I can eat that bread and all of the bread left on the table when I'm out to dinner.
• It's OK to have <whatever junk food is sitting in front of me> because I'm doing a 20 miler three days from now so, you know, it'll just magically burn off.
• Potato chips are carbs, right?  I need those for fuel for my runs right?  Right.  This whole family size bag should do it.
• These chocolate candies are sugar, which is mainly glucose...which is the same thing that's in my energy gels, so it's all good.
• I know I've been sitting at my desk all day and I literally just ate a health bar so of course I also need to eat this cheese and another health bar, because, you know, healthy stuff doesn't count.

So it's out with the rationalizing and in with the accountability for my eating.  From now on, you lucky readers, you're getting an eating report along with a workout report.  Hopefully this will consist of pictures of yummy, nutritious food, just like the one below of the beef and broccoli I made in the slow cooker tonight:

Learnings starting.....now:

• Large dog and I have a New Year's Day race...I hope it's going to be warm enough for him to run with me.
• Now you get workout/running porn AND food porn.  So lucky.
• Hopefully talking about my eating will shame me into actually cooking my own food more often.
• And if I cook more often I can stop all that lying to myself (even though I'm really really good at it).
• I'm just going to assume those 9.4 pounds are all sitting in my arms and move on with my healthier eating.

Tomorrow's workout: Some sort of Cathe total body workout. More muscle, more fat burning, you know...

Welcome to my mornings filled with coffee, animals, and boot camp.

On days where I do strength training, here's what my mornings are typically like:

• Alarm goes off at 3:45 AM.
• Small dog sits on my chest while female cat touches me in the face with her claws until I get up.

Hyooman. Wake up or it's the claws.

• I take the dogs out in the dark with a headlamp on, letting the large dog drag me across the yard while I yell at small dog to get back over here because he keeps running away in the dark
• I feed the dogs breakfast so they will be busy while I eat my breakfast.
• I make my breakfast (which is always oatmeal with a banana and some PB and cinnamon) and eat it.
• I enjoy my morning coffee, along with my morning large dog sprawled across my lap.

Clearly that coffee is making me all
bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 4 AM.

• Convince the large dog to get off my lap so I can work out.
• Then convince the male cat, who jumped in my lap after large dog vacated the premises, to get off me so I can go work out.

Hyooman. I know large dog has been here.  Traitor.

• After the animals are done with me I set up for my workout (or go get in my running duds, if the workout happens to be a running workout).  This morning it was Cathe's Boot Camp workout from her Strong & Sweaty series.  
• Scream, "Will you two STOP playing in my workout area!!!?!?!?" at least 3 times as large and small dog roughhouse in my teeny tiny workout space.
• Fling sweat all over my living room, including the TV.
• Know that I don't have enough time to do abs but do an ab workout anyway.
• Put all my equipment away while fending off the male cat's attempts to get me to rub him.

• Scramble to get ready for work, for which I almost always have to dress up and wear make-up, which is SO UNFAIR

What have we learned, kids?

• I get up way too early.  
• But I also go to bed early.  That's kind of how this thing works.
• So many animals...so many ways to get in the way of my workout.
• Do you know what it's like to have a cat threading himself between your legs while you're trying to lift a heavy barbell above your head?  Well, I do.
• And for those of you that need a reminder, I don't workout in the evenings after work because after-work working out is a complete lie for me.

Tomorrow's workout: Going to get back into the long-ish runs and do between 8-10 miles before it actually becomes winter around here.

A lame post just to keep my blogging habit alive. And some race medals.

I took a rest day today.  It was forced upon me by my own body.  Here's how it went down:

1) Put Cathe circuit DVD in player and press "play."
2) Start workout, successfully completing the warmup.
3) Do the first upper body weight exercise and realize that all of your upper body muscles are all NOPE from the prior workouts this week
4) Shut off DVD and cry.

Well, there wasn't really any crying.  But I wanted to, though, especially when the pain hit on my back flys (flys? flies? ugh).  Since Thursdays are going to be an easy 3-mile run day anyway when I start training again, I wasn't especially upset.

Because today is such a boring workout day, I thought I would spice up this post by talking about some of my fave race medals again.  Some are repeats from my previous post, but they're so nice you can look at them twice.

Why are these medals special to me?  Let me count the ways:

• One of them is from a race in which I actually WON out of all of the women....so what if there were only 5 women in the race.
• One of them is SPACE-THEMED and allowed me to dip my feet in an ocean in late November.
• One of them is a huge Ohio.  Huge.
• One of them is a medal from a very hilly St. Louis marathon where I improved my time by over 20 minutes from the previous year, if I remember correctly.
• One of them is just a cool freaking belt buckle that I will never actually wear as a belt buckle.
• And one of them is from the second ultra marathon (a 50K) I ran that I did not train for yet got a better time than I thought I would.

People always ask me why I keep all my medals, seeing as they don't really do much after I get them except take up space.  Well, each medal is a memory and, seeing as how I'm not getting any younger, I gotta hang on to my memories as long as I can.

And plus, you know...bling.  It's all about the bling.  That's why we run, right?


No more bling pictures, just learnings below:

• Bling is why I run.  I don't know about anyone else.  Maybe for silly things like "health" and "fitness."
• This post is sadly short because the hubbs is demanding I go wrap his Xmas presents before Christmas Day.  So demanding.
• It's also short because it's way past my sadly early bedtime.
• Honesty time: I just slapped this post together to keep my blogging habit alive until my next training cycle.  

Tomorrow's workout: We're going to try that boot camp workout again, this time hopefully without my muscles mutinying.  

My small wins for the day, as told in pictures.

Small win #1: Actually getting up on time (3:45 AM) and slamming out my easy 3-miler even though I didn't get home until almost 10:30 PM.  Even the dogs were impressed, as you can see.

Woot woot!

Small win #2: Hubbs snapping a sneaky pic of me dressed like a real person just so you realize I don't walk around in running gear 24/7.  Plus super happy small bonus dog.

Small win #3: I had a flying pig on the back of my leg while running.

Small win #4: Carrots triumphed over delicious junk this afternoon.  Yay carrots!

So much learning from just a few pictures:

• Everyone deserves a woot woot for getting out there and getting the run done.
• Hubbs didn't get my awesome shoes in the pic of me dressed in normal clothes, which is a damn shame because they are super awesome maroon suede high heels.
• Instead of my cool high heels, you'll have to settle for the flying pig logo on my tights.  
• Ever seen a grown woman angrily eat carrots while wildly eyeing a plate of cookies?  Some of my so-workers did today.

Tomorrow's workout: Probably some Cathe Boot Camp just to let the soreness wear off in my upper body that's still there from all that weight lifting this week.

My strength training workout this morning: Here are the facts.

Here are the facts:

• I did Cathe's Lift It, HiiT It: Chest, Triceps, & Shoulders workout this morning, which is the sister workout to the back, biceps, and shoulders workout I did two days ago.
• This workout is set up exactly the same as the previous workout: Three sets of three exercises per body part, with a "finisher" exercise after each set of three for what can only be torture
• Well, there are finisher moves unless you pick a premix that excludes them, like I did (I had abs after each body part)
• So many chest presses.  So, so many.  WHY CATHE

I just...no more chest presses.

• But so, so much barbell.  Awesome.

• The shoulder exercises were much, much tougher than the sister workout.  Like "lift this heavy barbell over your head many many times" hard.
• When I went to do planks after the last set of triceps exercises, my arm was all "NOPE not going to be straight for you AT ALL"
• I still enjoyed the workout.  Except for the chest presses.

Learnings below:

• I don't have a ton of time to post to today, so you just get bullet points galore with some stupid pictures.
• I want to include these workouts in my marathon training cycle, but I also want to do total body two days a week.  I'm still working it all out.
• Oh, I'm going to run a little too in my next training cycle.  In case you think I forgot about that.
• Chest presses are better than push-ups.  But only by a little.
• Did you find the cat in that last picture?  I bet you did.

Tomorrow's workout: Some running.  Hoping for four miles with large dog if it's warm enough.

A facetious last-minute gift guide for that runner in your life.

Large dog and I headed out into the almost-40-degree weather we were having at 5:30 AM this morning for an easy 3 miler.  He was too busy getting his post-run snack to grab a selfie with me so small dog stepped in to fulfill large dog's post-run selfie obligation.

For those of you who keep asking, small dog does not run with me.  He refuses to leave the yard, even for a walk.  He is a complete and total chicken about the road, and that is why he is a bit of a chubster.  We're working on it.

Anyhoo, I feel as if I need to give you an update on how I'm feeling from my weight workout yesterday:

I kid you not, my shoulders and back hurt just to touch them.  I'm surprised I can even type this blog post with all of the soreness coursing through my upper body.  And I don't know how this happened, but my triceps are super sore...and if you remember all the way back to yesterday, you'll realize I did a back, biceps, and shoulders workout.  There goes Cathe, making you work muscles that aren't even listed on the front of the DVD.   I suspect the shoulders, chest and triceps workout I'm going to do tomorrow is going to be just a little tougher than I expected--just a wild guess.

Speaking of wild guesses, do you know what to give that special runner in your life?  Say, a special runner who writes really dumb blog posts (almost) every day for your entertainment, laughter, and sometimes derision and scorn?  Well, it's a week until Christmas (gasp!), so if you still haven't gotten that runner on your list a gift, here are some last minute facetious gift ideas for you:

1) Socks.  Remember when you were little and socks (and underwear) were the LAST thing you wanted to see under the tree?  Runners can't get enough of these former Christmas loser-gifts.  I love them as stocking stuffers, because I enjoy the irony of stuffing a large sock with smaller socks.  By the way, in case you needed to know, I prefer Swiftwick and Feetures.

2) Gels.  I mean, this is a good gift if your runner is the type to eat gels during training runs or races.  I know I am. (HINT) They come in a wide variety of flavors and brands-Gu, Chia, Clif, Hammer Gels, etc.  Again, in case you needed to know for any reason, I use Gu Roctane Sea Salt Chocolate during runs and races.  mainly because it's like having pudding at regular intervals.  Any runner will love you for getting them these, because this is pretty much kind of expensive flavored sugar in teeny tiny pouches.

3) Anti-chafing sticks or cream.  No runner digs chafing...unless they enjoy crying on the back half of a marathon or screaming in surpirsed agony in the shower after a long run.  Help the runner in your life wipe out the tragedy of chafing during a race with these little bars of slippery goodness.  And if you could shoot me a text before each race reminding me to put my anti-chafe stuff on, that would be awesome.

4) This cat that likes to tear up our nice oak stair railing and the carpet. Free delivery.  I hope the runner you're giving this to is not allergic to cats, though.  He won't run with them-FYI.

5) Gift cards to the sporting goods store of their choice.  Or Amazon.  Whatever.  If you're not into running but just like to hang out with runners (hopefully not while they're running...that would be hard and awkward) so you don't really know what to get them, a gift card is the way to go.  That way they can shop for themselves and, if they do it after a race, they can get in some nice post-race recovery to boot.

6) Running hats and/or gloves.  I'll be honest--my in-laws don't run, but they are always awesome enough to venture into a sporting goods store during this time of year and try and pick out something for me that's running related.  When they ask me what I want, I usually say a hat or a pair of gloves so they don't have to worry about picking out something that may be the wrong size.  Plus, I always needs hats and running gloves because large dog keeps stealing them out of the laundry so small dog can tear them to bits.  Anyway, what I'm saying is that a running beanie or cap or a pair of gloves are gear any runner can always use.  If it's not torn to bits, that is.

7) Hand or foot warmers.  Have you ever waited around for an hour in 30 degree weather for a marathon to start and then your toes/fingers go numb and then you run the first three miles with numb toes and/or fingers?  It sucks.  Just buy a big old pack of hand and/or toe warmers and make that winter runner you know the happiest little winter runner they can be.

8) Anything that is reflective or glow-in-the-dark.  If you know a runner this time of year, chances are they get to run un the dark because, you know, axial tilt of the Earth and its rotation around the Sun and all.  Show them that you care that they don't get hit by a car by getting them any type of blinky lighted running thing, a headlamp, or something that is reflective.  Testimonial:  One year I got reflective ankle bands as a Secret Santa gift, and I still wear them to this day when I run in the dark.  So obviously because I love them all runners will love them, right?


And it is obviously time for some learnings:

• Small dog won't go into the road, but he will be the first to dart behind your legs when you bring out wrapping paper to wrap presents.
• The free cat also likes to pounce on your scissors while present-wrapping is occurring.  He likes to live dangerously.
• I may have been facetious in my descriptions, but if your little runner finds any of these under the tree, they will be a happy runner.  
• I hope my husband is reading this post, because I know he hasn't done any Xmas shopping for me yet and these will be the only things left he can purchase because it will be too late to order what I really want online and get it here in time.

Tomorrow's workout:  I already let the cat out of the bag (ha!) and told you it's Cathe's chest, triceps, and shoulders workout from her Ripped with Hiit series.  Find out if I survive by tuning in tomorrow...