Red Bell Peppers

Red Bell Peppers are a key ingredient in the Turkey Sloppy Joe recipe that I make. I was putting the mix together tonight and I ate a slice of the Red Bell Pepper. It was like a taste explosion. I was going to put 2 red bell peppers in the Turkey Sloppy Joe recipe that I was making, but then I really thought that not eating half of one of them myself would really be wasteful because they tasted so good. So I put 1.5 Red Bell Peppers in the mix and ate the last half plain, no dressing.

I think it's kind of amazing when you would rather eat vegetables plain instead of adding them to something else and covering up their natural flavor.

Mental Blocks

I have a mental block on the amount of time that I can hold plank. When I get to a minute and 30 seconds, there is a click in my brain and I convince myself that I can't hold on any longer. Even though I totally can. I got 2 minutes and 4 seconds a week ago. Haven't come close to it since. I'll have to figure out what was going on in my head that day and get back there, because it must have been a great mental state.

I've come to realize that holding plank is all about the mental state. I was thinking about why I let go of plank too early and realized that I do many things that are much more physically demanding than holding plank. I have no reason for not being able to hold plank for 2 minutes all the time.

So tonight I tried something to see if I could break the timer in my brain that seems to be set on 1 minute and 30 seconds. Between my second and third plank of the night, I did an exercise that my trainer calls inchworms. Inchworms used to be my most feared exercise. I even added a negative anchor right before I did the exercise that would guarantee its failure. Negative anchor: I shook out my hands by my sides - an act of complete nervousness. As soon as I recognized it and got rid of it, inchworms were fine. And that's a good thing because inchworms are the basis of so many exercises. Anyway...I went back to something that used to be difficult (inchworms), then decided to try holding plank again. The plank after I did an inchworm exercise was the best one of the whole night. (My third plank is rarely the best one. It's usually the worst.) The last plank of the night was 1 minute 40 seconds.

Breaking my mental blocks - one plank at a time.

Are You a Runner?

So tonight I went to the Apple Store because I wanted a new set of earphones for my iPod (misplaced my other earphones somewhere a few months ago, so I'll probably find them tomorrow). I chose some earphones that I thought would work well for running or walking or elliptical. The sales clerk looked at my earphones and said, "Are you a runner?" And I said, "Yes." The sales clerk went on to say that the earphones I chose were the favorite earphones of his running coach. But what I thought was interesting about the conversation was that it was the first time that anybody ever asked me if I was a runner.

The whole point of going to the Apple Store was because I wanted to have something to listen to on my run tonight at the gym, since I don't really like to run at night. I prefer running in the morning. Since I had already stated that I was a runner earlier in the evening, I figured I would commit to running for my evening workout. My Couch to 5K (C25K) running plan said I should run 25 minutes today.

About 10 minutes into my run, I started thinking that I was feeling pretty strong, and pondered running for 30 minutes, the end goal of the C25K program. That would be skipping about 3 weeks of the program. At 20 minutes, I decided to see if I could get 30 minutes. When 25 minutes passed, I decided I could definitely get 30. And when I got to 30 minutes, I did a few seconds of running like Rocky at the top of the stairs at the Philadelphia Art Gallery.

This is just to say take THAT C25K! Yeah.

Goal - Plank

“People are not lazy. They simply have impotent goals – that is, goals that do not inspire them.” -Anthony Robbins

On March 1, I set a goal to hold plank for 2 minutes. I thought it would probably take me a whole month to accomplish. I reached my goal on Friday morning, just 9 days later. I held plank for 2 minutes and 4 seconds. I love reaching my fitness goals. My goals inspire me to reach further. I like the sense of accomplishment when they are completed.

I still have several other goals to accomplish this month, but with an early achievement, I am well on my way.

Pineapple

I was a little surprised this morning when I read the label of my Del Monte Pineapple Tidbits: "Naturally Fat free and Gluten free." It wouldn't have occurred to me that this needed to be on the label.

Weigh in this week was just about the same as last week.

Quote

“Happiness does not come from doing easy work but from the afterglow of satisfaction that comes after the achievement of a difficult task that demanded our best."— Theodore Rubin

Stomach Bug

Well, if there's anything good about having a stomach bug for a few days, it's the weigh in for that week. I lost 4 pounds this week, so I have exactly 9 pounds to go to reach my goal weight. The goal is actually in sight. I'm hoping to get to my goal weight by the time my personal trainer certification course starts on April 2.

Here are a few goals that want to complete by April that I think will help me get to my goal weight:

1. Hold plank for 2 minutes.
2. Finish my running program...since I didn't finish it before I ran a 5K. Oops.
3. 12 pull-ups using the 70 lb. offset on the weight machine. (Currently at 6 with the 70 lb. offset. I started out last summer using the 150 lb. offset.)
4. Hot yoga on Saturdays (minimum)

I'm planning to get myself to the gym tonight since I haven't been to the gym since previously mentioned stomach bug attacked me right after my Tuesday morning workout.