Yes, I have finally put mouth to microphone to podcast about what’s been going on for the last month – namely, my Quest to be an Ironwoman in 2010! It all started with Tony Robbins’ Unleash The Power Within…but if you want to hear more, I guess you should take a listen!

As promised, CLICK HERE for the link to my donation page – remember, all Donors go Straight to Heaven!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Tunes for today’s run:
Scar That Never Heals, Jeremy Fisher
My Sharona, The Knack
Pony, Far
She’s Got The Who-Hoo, Sugar Ray
Jerk It, Thunderheist
Single Ladies, Beyonce
Daniella, John Butler Trio
Get The Party Started, Pink
Mony Mony, Billy Idol
Fuego, Pitbull
HipHip ChinChin, Club des Belugas
In These Shoes?, Kirsty MacColl
U Can’t Touch This, MC Hammer
I Gotta Feeling, Black Eyed Peas
Let’s Get Loud, Jennifer Lopez

So today, the training calendar blithely says that what I had to do “should be” 5 miles. I did a 10 minute warmup that took me from my house to California Street (0.61 miles), then did the prescribed 4 min run, 1 min walk 8 times – I got to A Street (so that’s a total, from my house, of 1.87 miles) and turned around and came back – at the end of the 8th 4min/1min session I was at the foot of River Oaks where River Oaks meets 5th Avenue, so as a total I did 3.44 miles (not 5). Makes me a little insane that I’m so far behind the curve. This is the VERY beginning workouts and the “presumption” is that I should be able to do 5 miles in the time. Oy.

Took me an extra 6 minutes to get from 5th up River Oaks and home. When on the way home, I glanced at my heart rate monitor – I was WALKING and my bpm were 180. Sheesh at that rate I’m going to have a STROKE. My “average” during the 4/1 phase was 155 into the high 160s which is really, really not good. My average is supposed to be 142. I couldn’t run any slower – I’m already trudging along like Frankenstein. I guess the only way to make my heart rate come down would be to walk for longer – but of course, that’s not the “game plan.” Hmmmm.

Strength Training:
Single Leg Squat: Did this on my stairs in the hallway. I could just barely do it to squat to the lower stair and up. Had to hold the wall.
Push Ups: Nope. Not even on my knees. Just too exhausted
Split Squat: Again, had to hold onto the wall. Could bend my knee “a little.” A LOT of knee popping and cracking.
Standing Horizontal Cable Row: Did this with the ‘bungees’ that you use for workouts (the ones with the handles?) – red bungee – tied to doorknob
Overhead Squat: This sucked. Could bend knees maybe a micron. Did not feel very safe.
Single Leg Row: Did this again with the bungee tied to the doorknob.
Single Leg Rotations with Touch: Had to hold on with my opposite hand – couldn’t even get CLOSE to touching the ground, did get to the calf on one side, and nearly to ankle bone the 2nd set, on the other side. Was holding on though.
Hamstring Bridge: This is no big deal. Not sure what’s up with that. Probably doing it wrong! Had feet together, hips up, hands palms together above chest
Side Plank: 15 secs each side, x 2. WOW, totally shakey, etc. Did it on my knees. A bit afraid for my shoulder.
Plank: Did this on my knees, 30 seconds. Really really wiped.

Now I gotta take a shower – and get to pole dancing! Man, not sure that I’m going to be able to do anything there – been off for 2 weeks, first because couldn’t get there, 2nd because had to do a presentation for potential business (that came to nothing). Will do the 1st hour (strength/core) and not sure how I’m going to do on tricks and training. Just feel super wiped out. HOWEVER, this was the first time in 2 weeks (since I started “testing out running”) that I have run and my calves have not gone numb! I have no idea where that was coming from – but it didn’t happen today. YAY!

…couch potato time!!!

This is HOW I got on my “Ironman quest.”

Back in the summer, I went to Tony Robbins “Unleash The Power Within” (the “firewalk thing”) with my bff Maria. I was pretty depressed about the economy, my sorry state of health and fitness (haven’t really committed to working out since 2006), and the like. In doing some of the hypnosis-esque exercises (which are crazy powerful, whether you like Tony Robbins or not), I was concentrating on the “health and fitness” portion of what I wanted to accomplish, and something happened that I’d like to share today.

You do each area of your life – relationships, $, health/fitness, etc. Near the end of what is basically a guided meditation when concentrating on Health, the vision that came to me wasn’t just me getting my butt out of bed and getting to the gym or walking the dog. Ho, no. It was a full-on vision of being on the bike in the Kona Ironman. I know the course, because Maria’s condo literally looks down on the course. Obviously, I fought that. I struggled with this “stupid vision” until I had a real “a-ha moment.” I remembered that “way back when” I was doing triathlons and such, I had as a goal to do “The” Ironman before I was 50. (Back then, there weren’t a plethora of Ironmans – Ironmen? – this was 20 years ago -  it was really just Kona.) Back when I had this vision, “Olympic-distance” triathlons were all considered hardbody still – and so an Ironman was just completely out in the stratosphere insane.

One of the things Tony Robbins really talks about and gets back to your forebrain is what you have “given up on” in your life. It’s upsetting, breath-taking, sob-inducing…powerful. This was a big one that I had given up as “impossible.”

As I tried to dismiss it and concentrate on something actually “attainable,” my vision was poking me in the forehead, reminding me that “before 50″ meant NOW. I’m way on the end of the 40s, and if I had as a completely crazy dream of “doing” Kona, I would have to do an Ironman “qualifying race” beforehand, AND get in in qualifying time, AND win the Kona raffle. Hmmmmmm, that means – getting my butt of the couch bigtime! I kept trying to get my mind to re-focus on, oh, say, going to the gym (even the gym PARKING LOT) 3 times a week. It kept delivering up me on the bike in the lava fields. Off the couch. In the lava fields. Off the couch. In the lava fields. Poke, Poke, Poke. It wouldn’t let go.

I remember getting back to the room that night, and telling Maria that my “get fit” goal had somehow morphed into doing the Kona Ironman and that meant I had to get going NOW. She is such a good bff. Her response? Not “oh my GOD how are you going to do that Ms. Trufflebuns?” No, it was “oh, that’s perfect! I will have cocktails for you at the end, at the apartment!” (Who loves her? ME!)

So after UPW, I was still musing on how to get this vision OUT of my head. But it kept poking me. I knew about Team In Training from various folks who had done it before, looked it up, and saw there was an IronTeam. I signed up to go to the Mill Valley introduction right after UPW so I wouldn’t chicken out. I was still not really sure I was going to do it (I mean, COME ON, I am so out of shape that small children pass me…). Until I got there.

One of the head coaches was there, Couch Doug. He was a total hard body scary hottie guy, but super patient talking to me about it, and really kind. He made me feel it was actually, possibly, “do-able.” I had another meeting in Mill Valley about 2 hours later, so I sat in the atrium of the place we met, and read through ALL the paperwork. (As a lawyer, I guess that’s part of my curse.) It included the crazy amount of $ that I would need to raise. While I was still sitting there, contemplating, Coach Doug came over again (I didn’t realize he was still there) and chatted with me about it, again. Then I called my husband, and we went through the cons (a lot of them) and the pros (me doing something I had wanted to do since way before we got together). He said that thought he wasn’t really sure it was the smartest idea – and that it would take a LOT of time away from “us” which he guards jealously, that he knew that both of us always do better with some sort of “goal.” We did the Big Sur Marathon together in 2002, and hiked the length of the French Alps together in 2004. (And stopped exercising totally together in 2006, concentrating instead on our passion for cooking and wine – bad!) So anyway, he bought in, though as I have blogged, I kept saying “Ironman” and he kept hearing “triathlon.”

When we were at Unleash the Power Within, I got a necklace, one that Tony himself wears. It is a Chinese “protection” coin and has great juju. When I went to the T Harv Eker Millionaire Mind Intensive, at the “penny exercise” (I am not giving anything up here, but if you’ve been to MMI you know what I mean), I got my penny – and actually superglued it on the back of my Chinese coin to remind me of MMI. Then, on my first run training for the Ironman (I still can’t believe I just typed that), I was out running on an old railroad track here in San Rafael, and I came across ANOTHER penny. One of the things you learn in MMI is that you want to pick up ANY $ that comes across your path – because the Universe doesn’t work in “denominations,” so if it sees that you will “stop to pick up $” it will give you more if you celebrate it. I picked up that beat-to-crap penny and did the whole “MMI happy dance thing” with it (kiss kiss kiss) – and then glued THAT to the back of my coin, too. It represents starting out on this journey of Ironman – and also following up on MMI AND UPW, both of which are combined in that one coin to me.

I’m kinda procrastinating here (gotta actually get the dog out – it’s a “free” day on the IronTeam calendar so I will hike Jake up the hill). But the last thing I have to say is to remind anyone who has been to UPW what we all promised (and if you haven’t, just stand up and repeat after me):

NOW I AM THE VOICE!

I will lead, not follow

I will believe, not doubt

I will create, not destroy

I am a force for good

I am a Leader

DEFY THE ODDS

SET A NEW STANDARD

STEP UP!!!!

Thanks to Kelownagurl, here is a link to an article on Forefoot Running. I am posting it here because I will be able to find it again. Hey, a cluttered brain is next to godliness…because the devil would get STUCK in there sortin’ stuff out.

S

Before I signed up for the Louisville Ironman Triathlon in August 2010, I actually called and discussed it with my husband. We were on the phone for quite some time, discussing time commitment, work versus workout, and lots of things like that. I was actually trying to convince him to do it with me – he said no, but said he’d like to bike more, so he’d love to be part of the rides I need to do on my own, blah blah. Cool. Signed. A little scared, but signed.

I took my old tri bike (15 years “young”) to our local bike shop, and they worked it over. It was finished today, so I went to pick it up. Did like it when the little cutie-that-could-be-my-son (laugh) gushed about what a “classic” it was, and how he felt (I had actually voiced a concern) that he thought it could “totally tough it out” for an ironman. (As I have no dinero for another bike, that was good to hear.)

So I brought the bike home, and Hizzoner and I were talking about the training. I said something to him about wondering whether I would need to get broader handlebars (something I had considered a decade ago when I stopped doing tris, because my shoulders would get sore). The conversation went like this:

He: “Why are you worried? You’re not going to be on the bike all that long.”

Me: “Um, 100 miles is pretty doggone long.”

He: “What are you TALKING about? I mean all at once.”

Me: “Honey the race itself is over 100 miles, then you have to add training and stuff.”

He: “You’re doing a triathlon!”

Me: “Honey, I told you I was doing an IRONMAN triathlon. We went over this when I called you before I signed up.”

He: “WHAT? I thought you were just exaggerating!”

Me: “I’ve been talking about this and freaked out nonstop since I signed – I said I-ron-Man are you telling me you did not hear that?”

He: “Of course I did. But I thought you were just exchanging the word for triathlon. Or exaggerating. What the heck did you sign up for??”

Me: “You did, however, hear me and AGREE that I could do the I-ron-Man Tri-A-thlon in August next year, right? You heard that, right?”

He: “Well, yes, but I just thought you were mistaken.”

Me: “I’m signed up, you know. There isn’t any backing out now. I told you I wanted to do an Ironman before I turned 50. This is an Ironman. I’m approaching 50. I’m puzzled about what you were thinking…?”

He: “Well, yes, you’ve said that for the past 4 years. But I didn’t think you were really signing UP for it…”

Yeah. Really. He’s now a little spazzed out. Though I think he understands a bit more why ~I~ have been spazzed out. Funny though. Husbands hear weird.

I got out and swam today – and the fire is LIT! I haven’t been in a pool, really swimming, for about 3 years. Wow. I forgot how much I like it. OK, so I only did 10 lengths kicking, 16 lengths freestyle (one beat kick), 10 lengths kicking, and then 2 lengths going as fast as I could. It was actually kinda cold and windy. So what made it great?

My honey bought me a waterproof case and earplugs for my iPod . . . sadly, this was a YEAR ago, because I asked for it for my birthday/anniversary present in 2008. I hadn’t even USED IT. I thought it would be a great motivator, to really get into the pool again. Great plans, but no motivation.

Today, I swam to Elton John. Started with “Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Dreaming,” then it went to “Go Ask Alice,” and rounded up with “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting.” I could see that some of the folks in the chaises at the end of the lane were curious about my head “contraption” – but no one actually asked. One of the guys seemed to really dig that my kicking was obviously timed to what I was listening to (this was when I was kicking in the end to “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting” – you can imagine it, right? “SaturDAY, SaturDAY, SATurday…SaturDAY, SaturDAY, SATurday…” :-) ) And I have to say, I worked out a LOT harder than I otherwise would have done, especially in the kicking phase. It was actually a bit odd though, too, because the pool doesn’t use chlorine, it’s all saline-filtered somehow. So when I’d drink a little water in, it was lightly salted – and NOT itchy chlorinated. NICE.

I’m really pumped that the doggone case actually WORKED – it did take a bit to figure out where to “clip it” – armband slipped and didn’t work; band around the NECK wasn’t so great either, and finally I wound up clipping the case itself (sans band) to the front of my suit.

I wonder if they make little solar something-or-anothers so that your iPod charges when you’re on the bike or running – or even maybe a gizmo that charges it that’s tied somehow to the wheel of your bike? Anyone have any intel?

The new gym has a Steam Room – I actually had a Functional Fitness training session with the trainer, THEN swam, THEN took a steam. Okay so HOW great is that? Great, that’s how great. I texted H to tell him how wonderful he was for having bought me the waterproof case…and for having insisted we pool our “gym bucks” and go to this nicer gym.

HALLELUJAH!

I’m so excited. I can’t even believe it. I received my first donation towards the IRONMAN.

One of my teammates, Maria Afan, is an “old hand” at doing Team In Training. She has done two marathons through them – one in Rome (GO GRRL!) and one recently in San Francisco. Maria is actually a “real” acquaintance – her mom and I worked together at Robert Half International, and she and I met and really hit it off at a wedding a few years ago. Little did I know that Maria would inspire me to insanity!

I have been following Maria’s training on Facebook – and also another friend, Lizzie Duemig. Lizzie actually just joined Team In Training (she’s going to do the Half Marathon) – Lizzie is a Beachbody gal and also is in training for the police academy – these are serious grrls!

Anyway – Maria really inspired me to do Team In Training. I didn’t realize she had switched to the IRONMAN team – until I signed up, and sent her a “poke” through Facebook to tell her. Now, we are teammates! I am so jazzed!

She helped me to get my donation “button” up on the left side of my Facebook page, and then I switched my home page here on BeABondGirl.com to also have a link. (I’m sure there is a way to put one on the sidebar, but that’s too much for this grrl right now).

This morning – I had a DONATION! I am so excited I can barely contain myself! Yay! Only $7950 to go! :-)

I’ve decided to do a greeting card through SendOutCards for anyone who sends a donation. It will have (oh lordie lordie) photographs of me inside as I look now. It’s scary as Heck. Seriously. I had H take some photographs of me so I would have “before” pictures and we BOTH looked at them and said – “Yeah, that’s just not good.” But once I get the donors into the SOC Contact Manager system, I will be able to do updates, and hopefully everyone will share with my success!

I am SO EXCITED to have the donation. Thank you, Donna! You rocked my world this morning!

The Ironman is:

2.4 miles swimming: That’s like swimming from My House, down River Oaks, down 5th Avenue, all the way to Whole Foods. I guess I get to stop and stretch there. OR (thanks for this one, Maria A!), it’s 154 lengths (77 laps) in an Olympic-sized pool – and as most of us have 1/2 Olympic pools at our disposal unless we’re doggone lucky, that’s somewhere over 300 lengths in a regular “high school sized” pool. Or way more, if we’re talking condo pool here. Just keep swimming. Forever.

Get out of the water, shake the shark off your heel, then get on your iron warrior. 112 miles on the bike is like riding from San Francisco to Rocklin (thanks again to Maria A. I am HOPELESS with figuring this stuff out!) Yup, that’s waaaay past Sacramento:

And, once you’re NICE and warmed up, off the bike, calmly lace up your sneaks, and you have a marathon, or 26.2 miles running, next. That’s like running from San Francisco to Redwood City:

Way way WAY past the airport. OK. Yeah. No worries.

I think I’ll take a wee nap now…

Yup – I’ m at it again!

So. I’ve been complaining (b*tching and moaning basically) since 2006 about being out of shape – and doing nothing about it. Oh sure, I would rally for a while around swimsuit season (or if $ was on the line . . . we did a “Biggest Loser contest about a year ago), and then WHUMP, I would be back on the couch. Not that unhappy about it, either. So Sue Me.

So a while back, I did Tony Robbins Unleash The Power Within (UPW). During this experience, you look at things that are holding you back, things you would like to do before you die – before another year has passed, even.

I’ve never, ever been an athlete. When I was a kid, my dad (a doctor) could sometimes be cajoled into writing doctor’s notes to keep me out of whatever athletic endeavor they were trying to put me in. I would do extra music classes, extra cleaning of classrooms – nearly anything – to get out of gym. Not quite sure why. I was never, ever, the “fresh air and working out” type (which my parents, though both brainiacs, actually always have been).

Come college, I actually found out I was fairly coordinated (who knew?) and made varsity Fencing my Freshman year (we even made it to the NCAA Finals). I also took Shotokan Karate. I was never that good with “quick” stuff (tried Jazzercise – oy, I was a disaster), but very good at things like ballroom dancing, karate, fencing, etc. Sadly, of course, I had never had a “ball put in my hands” until college – so though 6’2″ and left-handed, any basketball/volleyball/etc. type game was really kinda “out.” (I still have very short gals who are VERY good at volleyball try to chat me up to join pickup volleyball games. ‘I must be good, I’m so tall,’ they always say. In eviler times, I would say ‘how’s your horsemanship?’ to the very short ones…I try to be better now…)

So. Anyway. After college I fell in with a fairly “fit-ish” crowd, and started doing triathlons when they were JUST getting started. Scott Tinley, then later Mike Pigg, folks like that (“dinosaurs” if you do tris now). I actually did quite a few of them – never did that well (came in 6th woman overall in the Bahamas Triathlon, but I think that’s because most of the participants had been drinking rum all night) – but did ok.

My husband and I did the Big Sur Marathon now back in…oh, something like 2002 or so – then we walked the length of the French Alps about 2 years later. I always need a ‘goal’ to work towards – and those were good ones.

So, at UPW, I walked in with a desire to “get fit.” I knew I really had to get something going – huffing and puffing and creaking was getting me down. I walked OUT of UPW with a completely insane goal – Ironman before I was 50. Yeah. From she who can’t run 30 minutes.

Then, I got a Team In Training email. So, I went. And talked to the very nice young hardbody who coaches part of the TNT training team (a little unclear how it works – I was late, no parking). Thought about it, called H, got a categorical “you cannot afford to do this, you’re going to have to make this work with your 10 year old bike, and how exactly did you say you were going to pay for this?” Yup – signed up.

So, November 7th is “kickoff.” I know one gal who is on the Ironman team – and she’s just finished a couple of marathons. I think starting with ONE discipline you know you can do might be smarter…but so it goes.

I actually bought my ticket today. Something like $550. That’s about 1/3 of my current monthly income. That really IS insane. Then I went to Kaiser (doctor’s appointment for an issue) and the nurse a propos of nothing started talking about her new $2000+ bike she had built for her by “this great guy in San Rafael” – when “bikes usually run about $7000 and up for a good one.” I think my clunker is going to have to make it.

So, am I insane? Yeah, likely. But as T Harv Eker once said, How you do one thing, is you how you do Everything. And this is pretty much me – jump in, feet first.

Hi-YAH!

…I am a huge HUGE hunk of blue cheese, baguette, bell pepper, tomatoes, meatballs, and a couple glasses of wine.

Sounds pretty good, eh? The problem is – this is what I ate when I returned home from a FABOO workshop (more on that in a second) – at 11:00 last night! And then SLEPT on it!

AND I had dinner, too, at a more “regular time.” So why did I eat this? Because my darlin’ husband was sitting on the couch, watching a new TV show (Warehouse 13, something like that) eating it, and it looked good. Noooo I was not “hungry.”

We’re not talkin’ a taste. We are talkin’ serious blue cheese hunkage.

Now that I signed up to be a BeachBody coach, I am being way more conscientous about getting out and doing SOMETHING to move my body every day (even if it’s walking the dog, instead of just “letting him outside”). I even did an “accountability partnership thang” with Sheila Stewart last night after her chat at Empower180 – we both have, as she lovingly put it, “pork chops” on our sides, and so we’re going to text each other to get movin’.

See, the thing is though, this just doesn’t keep me away from the food. Even when we were on that yoga retreat in Peru…my hubby is like James Bond in From Russia With Love. Remember the suitcase full of caviar, champagne, etc. that he snuck into the “Health Spa”? That’s my “James”! We went “over the wall” – dining on wine, beef, alpaca, cuy, you name it, while everyone else was having vegetarian. Yeah, bad. just SO BAD. Then we would sleep IN and not do the yoga in the morning…!!!

I start out really well in the mornings. I usually have a cup of Creme Caramel tea with a little stevia, and a Shakeology shake. The “Creme Caramel” tea is one of those Lipton teas that if you add a tiny bit of stevia (which doesn’t increase your insulin), tastes GREAT and has no calories. I have a sweet tooth, what can I say (heck, I have a FOOD tooth!), and I love starting my day out with one of these, especially if I can sip it when out walking the dog.

For lunch, I’m usually good too! I might have a snack in between breakfast and lunch of a chicken leg – then lunch a big salad, something like that. THEN….3:00 happens.

I turn into like Solitaire Jekyl. I will eat ANYTHING that’s in my way. And I don’t care. I have the “good Soli” in the back of my head saying “hello, get your HAND OUT OF THE CHOCOLATE CHIPS and WHAT are you doing with a glass of wine?” – but I don’t listen to her. I’m sure there is some chemical reason – brain dip, serotonin dip, avocado dip…whatever. I’m sure I should do something like work out at 3:00. But Evil Soli takes over and it’s OVER! I’m watching Bones reruns on TV and snacking on whatever I can find. Then I make dinner for my James, snacking all the while, and eat that, too!

Mind you, there isn’t that much “bad stuff” left in the house (the Evil Girl Scout Cookies and chocolate chips are gone now) - but my hubby loves to bring home things like baguettes and cheese. Somehow, he has no problem taking a small slice of cheese, and then a slice of bread, and munching on that, and calling it a day. Me? I’m like a freakin’ wolverine, I just wallow in the stuff. Bad ferret. Bad.

My brain says that I am working so hard on all other stuff – NOT spending $, 3 businesses, coaching, relationship, etc. – that it just doesn’t want to “deal with” this issue “too.” I have made a “deal” with my brain (scary how that happens, innit?) – that if I keep working out every day (yes, walking the dog counts as working out, because I wasn’t doing it before), I won’t bother it right now about the food rampages. Working out every day AND getting onto a more even keel foodwise makes my little brain stamp its tiny little feet in tantrum.

But I DO KNOW that the reason I don’t really want to work out – the reason that it’s hard for me to even walk uphill with the dog without huffing and puffing – is BECAUSE I’m doing things like eating hunks of Stilton on baguettes and drinking red wine and then going to bed right afterwards. I’m lucky I don’t wake up with a cheese-shaped hunk sticking out of my thigh. I DO KNOW that’s why I feel like crap. I do. I do.

And I can type this feeling all virtuous because it’s 9:00, I have done my walk, I have 2 hours of pole dancing class in an hour, and I have had tea and my Shakeology and feel TOTALLY FINE. My will power is HIGH.

Just waitin’ on 3:00…!!!

Yeah, ok, so FINE. I “admitted it.”

When we were on the 2nd 1/2 of our trip in Peru (you can see the photos at www.facebook.com/fempowerment), we were travelling with a group. In the group was a guy who works out constantly. He couldn’t BELIEVE that there just wasn’t SOMETHING that I LOVED to do with my body. Now, granted, this was a yoga-related retreat. Unfortunately as H got very very sick, I wound up doing yoga 4 times – out of about the 16 I “should have.” (Hard to get up at 6:00 in the morning when you’ve been kept awake all night by coughing and worrying about your husband.)

So, I tried to ‘splain (Lucy) that when I was a kid, working out or being outside or “playing” was pretty low on my priority list. No one seems to believe this. I remember being at another “women’s retreat” in Mexico, where we were all supposed to “release our inner child” – and to be true to my “inner child,” when all the gals were leaping and throwing water on each other and giggling and playing on swings, I read a book. They thought I was odd, and not “getting into the spirit,” and all sorts of negative things.

But see, this IS what I was like as a kid. Once I reached college, there was a wonderful gal in my dorm. Her name was Susan Lundin. Everyone loved her, and she was a wonderful, genuine gal. She played beach volleyball, a sunny disposition, and I adored her. So I decided to “become” her.

That sounds a bit odd – but I had NO IDEA really how to “be” a person like that. So I did what Susan did. It was a turning point in my life. If you “know me now,” then you really know Sandy-as-Susan. Because Sandy-as-Sandy – the girl who would rather lie in bed and read books than interact, go outside, “play games” – was put to bed my freshman year at UCSD.

But she’s still in there. Here I am, quite SERIOUSLY overweight for me. I’m nearly 180. That’s a huge freak-out, because my “comfortable weight” is 145. That sounds like nothing when you know how tall I am – but I am VERY “slight” of build. My wrist isn’t even 4″ around (that’s how they “tell”). And I have really packed the pounds on, let me tell you – it’s definitely not “water weight.”

So, I’m on the Beach Body plan (and have signed up to be a coach – heck, I need one, why not BE one)? I got out this morning to walk the dog…and YES, I really DO like to walk the dog in the morning. Not one of these ‘fast walks’ like H does when we walk – where I’m out of breath and cross to be outside. No, a dog-sniffing-the-flowers saunter for an hour. OK, so, fine, it’s not a “workout.” But see, that’s the problem here.

When I was a kid, I would do ANYTHING – and I mean ANY-THING – to get out of gym. I wound up getting very good at music, because IF you were very good at music in grade school you could ultimately play (and tour) with the grammar school/high school “band.” (If you can call recorders, handbells, etc. a “band” – hey, what can I say, this was the Dominicans.) I kissed up to teachers who I knew would have other things for me to do when, say, GYM was on. I’m lucky I learned to swim at all, frankly…and when I “had to” go to gym class, I was always picked last – because I didn’t have a lot of friends who would “call me over,” but also because people were so shocked to see me there, they weren’t “used to” me being on ANY team.

My stalking-of-Susan-Lundin changed all that. I actually took up fencing and karate as a freshman, because they were the only sports that someone like me (tall, left handed, coordinated but with NO history of gym) could even feel comfortable trying. Interestingly, I made Varsity my first year in fencing – and we even made it to the NCAA finals. I didn’t really like working out that much – though I did feel better not being out of breath – but heck, if that’s what Susan did, that’s what I was going to do, too.

So here I am, a girl-who-doesn’t-like-to-workout-and-who-used-to-have-a-roaring-metabolism, in a body 35 pounds too heavy. It feels weird. I’m upset that I can’t keep my mouth shut when ANYTHING I happen to like rolls around – a remnant from a voracious metabolism. My metabolism started slowing when I was in my 30s, but “back then” I was doing crazy things like marathons, triathlons (even training folks for triathlons)…HOW did I get my mind around doing that?? I really have no idea.

But here I am. I hate working out – and I know I “gotta.” But being a BeachBody Coach, I have read a number of the other Coaches’ bios, etc. – and they are all so RA RA RA we LOVE working out we are SO FIT come and JOIN us! And I just wanted to have a little, private rant here that NO, I am not like them. But I am a coach anyway. And I’m going to coach me, and if you want me to coach you (it’s free – www.BestLifestyleNow.com) I can do that. Maybe some of you are like me – lived a bit too much of the “good life,” KNOW that you need to get your groove on, but would really rather just read a book or, oh, have some more champagne :-) I would say I would be the coach for you, if so.

I’m gearing myself up to do a workout now – probably around noon. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.

So, I have had a few “pokes” and emails wondering where I have been! First of all, we just returned from a month in Peru – yes, practicing all those Chapter 1 Bond Girl packing skills! The plan is to post the photos on my facebook page which is www.facebook.com/fempowerment – I have sorted them out, now just figuring out how to get them off H’s laptop and onto Facebook. I’ve never been the most technical of grrls!

And why so little blogging? Twitter. I admit it. I have started Tweeting, and it’s so easy, that I have become a slacker here. Mea maxima culpa. I’m fempowerment on Twitter – so if you’re there, say HEY, I’d love to hear from you!

Lots of stuff going on since I last posted (besides the Peru trip). I’ve finally reached the highest total weight I have ever been in my LIFE – by pounds and pounds. How’d it happen? Stress, mainly. I’m a stress eater (and wine drinker). Money stress, trip stress, time stress, managing 3 businesses AND trying to do the work at the same time…you know the drill. I wish I was a stress RUNNER, but even as a kid, I was never much for exercise. We were raised that studying/books/reading/etc. were GOOD, and exercise was just something that you did in between. My folks are both VERY active – so what happens when you have a kid that isn’t attracted to exercise naturally??

I was lucky to have a great metabolism when I was younger (growing to be over 6′ probably helped!) Then when an adult, I found out I was fairly coordinated for a gal who never really had gym as a kid (thanks, private school), so I became part of the UC varsity fencing and karate teams. I luckily kept working out, finding usually karate dojos to join as I moved around the country, and then for a time my friend Leslie and I decided to do triathlons – which we did. I guess that once you get the rock rolling, it keeps rolling.

I was in the greatest shape of my LIFE for our wedding back in 2006. I was HOT HOT HOT! Unfortunately, we went on a 6 week honeymoon that incorporated a lot of driving, riding on barges, and eating, drinking, eating and drinking! Then I moved into a completely sedentary, high-stress job for nearly a year…rescued by my publisher telling me I HAD TO GET THE BOOK FINISHED (and H agreeing to pay me to stay home and do it – how’s THAT for a great husband?)

I just never really got back in the workout “groove.” My life had been completely taken over by working out to get into that tiny tiny wedding dress (I wore my mom’s – I’m 6’2″ she’s 5’7″ – don’t even ask!) I am now 35 lbs heavier than I was back then – and it’s some SERIOUS weight, the nasty kind – the kind that makes you look at clothes in your closet and say “WHAT? Who’s closet IS This?”

I don’t like being fat (no one does, I know). But it’s tough to get the rock “rolling” again. I have recently signed up to be a BeachBody coach (you can check it out at www.BestLifeStyleNow.com if you want) – and hope that this will help me get back in the groove. BeachBody has some great workout stuff – I already had a number of the DVDs – and this gives me a “Community” to report back into.

Interestingly, I came back from Peru and got an intestinal bug…I hope it’s not a “real” bug as in creepy crawly (my dad brought this possibility up – uck). Even with that, I am serious fat-packed at that 30+ extra pounds. I’m trying not to hate myself for being so “weak” – and I want it all to fall off like TOMORROW. Yeah yeah, where’s that magic wand???

Before we left for Peru, one of my best grrls Tweeted me – I was saying something about not fitting into the clothes that I wanted to bring (small wonder, last time we travelled I was at least 12 lbs less booty), and she wrote back basically “Yeah you’re fat but you’re happy, you have a great life and a man who loves you” blah blah. Of course what do I read? the “yeah you’re fat” part. (She didn’t really say that, but I think it was something like “Yeah, well, you have some to lose” or “Yeah, well, sure you’ve put on some pounds” or something.) This is a gal where we used to be mistaken for twins all the time – no issue now. And she just had a baby.

So, I’m here blogging, because I feel bad that I haven’t – and I thought I’d let ya’ll know that when you’re in the depths of whatever-it-is, we all get there. My publisher wants me to do a workbook based on my book – which I want to do, but right now, I can’t concentrate on that. Then again, my thought is to work THROUGH my book just like a newbie reader would – maybe that would help me with the workbook!

I’m off to a Tony Robbins 4-day “thang” end of this month, then the Dallas eWomenNetwork convention for 4, and all that jazz. I am meeting a friend in Dallas who has become my BeachBody coach – and I need to look hot by then! At least – hotter than THIS. So I’m working out…I’m on Day 2, but at least I got up this morning.

Peace, out!

Was out walking the dog today, and a neighbor stopped me – I’m featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, Datebook section, today. Let’s keep the Chron in biz – everyone go get a copy! :-) Go! Go! Shoo! :-)

Now, about a week ago, when I was in New Orleans (N’Yaw’lins), I went by a tealeaf reading shop called The Bottom of the Cup. I would put links in here, but I’m too lazy tonight. Anywho – I have called a guy there now and again over the years – name of Otis – and wanted to meet him in person. He was great! Looked NOTHING like I thought he would, which was fun, too.

While there, I saw some voodoo dolls. They were “good” voodoo dolls – to be used to help remake your life. One that jumped out at me was “Flambeau” – a gentleman in a top hat with a wily smile – and his “missin” was to “Fire You Up.” I thought – I could use that! His tag was even “singed” around the edges.

NOW, since Flambeau has come into my life – as mentioned below – I have been called out of the blue by ABC-TV to be part of their new show HOME, launching nationwide on their new HD channel some time end of this month. That was Monday – taped it, had a blast. Yesterday, I got a call from the San Francisco Chronicle. They want to do a sidebar on me for their “crazy things folks do for exercise” column – someone turned me in, no doubt! – and so I met them today at the S Factor and we did a photo shoot of me pole dancing.

Mind you, I think once they tell me when it’s going to run, I’m going to have to have everyone I know go out and raid all the newspaper boxes – because they made we wear THE TINIEST little frilly shorty short shorts known to man, and of course my 6″ heels! Yeah yeah, and I’m currently about 25 pounds overweight. Serves me right not to lose it all…but I guess Flambeau couldn’t wait on that!

So that’s what’s been up with me – pretty wild, huh?

SO, this year, after 2 years of just basically “letting it all hang out” (meaning – I have a James that loves champagne, foie gras, and all things lovely and fattening!) I am in a Biggest Loser contest. A few gals in my neighborhood and I decided that instead of spending the $ for Weight Watchers, etc., we would meet once a week, weigh in, and support each other on Facebook.

We each paid $100 – and we are paying it out 25% first month, 25%, and then 25% last month, with an extra 25% to the person who loses the biggest percentage overall. Each month, it “re-ratchets” so that anyone could win – your weigh at the beginning of the 2nd month (and the 3rd month) is your “zero.”

So, I won the first month! $225 to me – yay!! I have lost 7.46% of my body weight. My body fat since 1/5 has gone from 29.40% to 24.50%, my hydration from 50.10% to 54.60%, and my muscle from 34.30% to 37.30%.

I want to win the 2nd month, too! I am 1/2 way to where I want to be (weight at my wedding 2 years ago). And given that…time to get out and exercise!

How to Survive – And Thrive! – during the Holiday Season! In this first of the Emergency Holiday Podcasts, we return to Scott Smith, my Motivational Guru from MotivationToMove.com. Scott is one of my Secret Weapons, and I’m sharing him with YOU.

Are you having an issue with Will Power? Are you stressed out? Have you just tiptoed up to the precipice and looked over…into the abyss of Holiday Feasting Madness? Scott’s here to give you a lift – and a plan.

Here are the links that Scott mentions in the interview:

The MotivationToMove.com Holiday Survival Guide

Free Premium MotivationToMove.com Membership

 Enjoy and… Step AWAY from the marshmallow yams!!!

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Here is a great list from ZenHabits.net – if you don’t subscribe, I would recommend it.  This link compiles some of the best archived articles from the website on getting in shape. They run from Motivation, to Weight Loss, to How to Start (or how to get BACK on the Exercise “Wagon”), etc.

I would strongly suggest clicking on the link above – because that’s what I’m going to be doing for the next little while. I sure need some help in the Motivation/Get Back Started department!

This podcast is a recording of the new Thursday Night Fempowerment Lifestyle Training group’s Second Session. These Grrls have agreed to have their first meetings taped and made public, to instruct those of you who are curious about the process.

The second teleconference in each month is not based upon Curriculum. It is based upon what came up for each Bond Grrl during the previous 2 weeks, as a follow on from the first session of the month and the Weekly Update. If you are following along, you have heard Session One (based on the curriculum), then read the Weekly Update (and the Testimonials), and now we are to Session Two. It deals with setting Goals and Steps for accomplishment – because the Thursday group had some issues with respect to how exactly to do just that.

Each member uses her “Bond Grrl Name,” which I have found helps women really be truthful, honest, and forthright in what she discusses with the group.

My Bond Grrls were asked to post their weekly information and questions here in Comments to share their process, but it’s been a wee bit too private for that! So as you can see, most of the information on the Blog is just from Yours Truly. I am sure that you understand. But you can certainly hear their processes during the Teleconferences.

If you have comments or questions, please call my private line at +1 (206) 350-3537, or e-mail me at doubleohsandy [at] yahoo [dot] com. You can also leave a Comment below.

Enjoy… click on the button below to Play. It has about six seconds of silence at the beginning, so just wait a few counts, it will come on.

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I have received many emails and queries from Bond-Girls-To-Be regarding what fEmpowerment Lifestyle Training “is like.” This podcast is a recording of the first meeting of a new Thursday Night group. These Grrls have agreed to have their first two meetings taped and made public, to instruct those of you who are curious about the process.

Each of these women completed a Fast Start document that discussed her life, the energy she is putting towards her goals (or towards things that she ranks as actually unimportant)… it covers financial issues, relationship issues… the works. She filled it out as completely or as quickly as she found time for. Nothing is ever mandatory. Each woman also completed two items of Curricula. The first discussed how to turn Adversity to Opportunity; the second deals with changing languaging skills by uncovering ”Psycho-Euphoric and Psycho-Phobic” words used in your business or your daily life.

Each member uses her “Bond Grrl Name,” which I have found helps women really be truthful, honest, and forthright in what she discusses with the group.

For the next two weeks, I will be posting here the information that I would normally have in a private, password-encoded file for the group. I have also asked them to post Comments here instead of sharing their process in a private forum, so that any readers who are interested can see what a typical first two weeks entails.

The first meeting of a group is always a little different than the subsequent ones. Each meeting uses a breathing exercise as an opener, then usually discusses the Curriculum for the week, then moves on to the Mastermind sessions for 1-2 of the participants. As the ‘homework’ behind the first meeting includes not only the Fast Start documentation but also 2 items of Curricula, it is always a bit more general and less focussed than the subsequent meetings.

If you have comments or questions, please call my private line at +1 (206) 350-3537, or e-mail me at doubleohsandy [at] yahoo [dot] com. You can also leave a Comment below.

Enjoy… click on the button below to Play. It has a second or two of silence at the beginning, so just wait a few counts, it will come on.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download