Smartwater Fitness Challenge

On Monday I had the opportunity to personal train some contestants that were competing in a weight loss challenge sponsored by Smartwater. It was for the radio station, 790 The Zone and they showed up with a big entourage! There was the GM of the radio station, the cameraman, the woman asking questions while we trained, David Pollack (the host of the radio show and super cutie!), 3 representatives from Smartwater and the contestants. Talk about being under pressure!! The contestants were very overweight, over 400+ pounds, one was close to 450. I was SO nervous that they were going to pass out. I did make sure that I spent a good 45 minutes with them going over their past medical information and I took their blood pressure. Once the training got started they were wonderful, great attitudes and very serious about losing the weight! During their warm-up the host asked one contestant what his biggest obstacle was going to be to losing weight. He replied: "Ruffles Potato Chips. I just love 'em man!" It was quite funny!!


I scored some cases of Smartwater and a very comfy jacket, like REALLY comfortable (I slept in it Monday night that is how fuzzy and warm it is!)They filmed us for what felt like FOREVER because we had to repeat everything we said twice!

More info to come on when/where it will air. Or if it will air. It might be just a web video. I didn't ask questions just did my whole trainer thing!

Sad family news....

Early Saturday morning there was an explosion in the garage of my Aunt Linda and Uncle Jimmy's house in Kentucky. Very sadly the dog that I am pictured with above, Sparky, died in the explosion. Their house caught on fire and they lost everything.

It's such a horrible thing to lose everything you own, but I am thankful that they were uninjured. I am very sad about the loss of their dog, because I know how much she meant to my Aunt Linda. They have been married for 49 years and lived in this house for 40+ years, and it's sad to see so many memories gone with the house. My Aunt had my grandfather's purple heart and bronze star from WWII and I am pretty sure that the fire destroyed those along with other family mementos.

The strange thing about this is that this past summer my Uncle Johnny and Aunt Karen who live just minutes away had a fire that started in their attic and they lost everything as well. My mother is obviously upset and concerned about the fact that two of her siblings have had serious house fires. She wanted to know what my plans were in case my house caught on fire. Honestly, I have never even thought about it, so I called my friend Steve who is a firefighter and he gave me the following tips:

-Do not store things that are flammable close to things like your furnace or hot water heater (if you have gas) most fires/explosions start with something that has a fuse like your hot water heater. A lot of people will store things in their garage (gas cans, paint, etc, etc) that will cause a fire to spread quickly and become very dangerous.

- Make sure that your fire detectors are working and that you have a CO2 detector if you have gas.

- Openly discuss a fire plan with your family. It's important to talk about what you would do if a fire broke out upstairs or downstairs.

-Buy a fire escape rope ladder if you live in a multi-story home. Store it under your bed or close to the window you would use to escape if you couldn't make it downstairs.

-Unplug/ power off electrical devices when not using them.

- Don't leave your dryer running when you aren't home. Clean the lint filter and the hose regularly. Don't use fabric softner as it will cause the filter to be covered with a residue. If you use softner, regularly remove the lint filter and clean with soapy water.

You don't think much about things like this unless it affects someone in your life!

I'm BAAACCCKKKKK!!!!!

Apparently typing about how much technology sucks only makes technology mad at you and then it will retaliate. At least that is what happened to me because my computer broke. I never realized how awesome my computer was until I was no longer able to use it. I still had access to the essentials, e-mail and facebook on my Ipod but it wasn't the same. I love you computer. So sorry for the misunderstanding!

It's hard to believe that January is almost over! Where has the month gone? I am not complaining because the faster it goes, the closer that we get to warm weather. I heart warm weather. I ran on Saturday at the trails at Stone Mountain. It was 18 degrees. The first mile was miserable but after that I warmed up. I saw two huge deer being chased by a massive St. Bernard. I had to stop and walk a lot because I had enough sense to know NOT to try and run over the rocky parts that were iced over. Eventually the trail dumped me out to SNOW MOUNTAIN. So friggin' cool! It looked like a ski resort (but just with sledding!) I wanted so badly to sneak in there and play, three football fields of snow in Atlanta! Tickets are pricey, $20, but it may be worth it to wear your kids out for a day.

My 2009 race schedule is evolving daily and almost completed. I really want to do the Tundra Time Trial and trail half the following week, but I also want to be realistic about the fact that I am in horrible shape. Horrible. Or at least it feels that way. We'll see!!

Technology stinks!

Saturday I had a very specific workout on the trainer. It involved 5-minute intervals at 2-4 BPM below my lactate threshold. In order to do the intervals I needed one thing. My heartrate! The problem: NONE of my HR monitors would work! MY Garmin 305 and 201 weren't picking anything up. My Polar 625 was apparently dead as well. Keith said "maybe your hearts messed up". Um, probably not. But with four monitors at least one should work right? I decided to dig up my original Polar monitor, that was really cheap but didn't give me any problems. Old Polar watch with one button that only tell my heartrate and has a stop watch? That one works. I only wasted 20 minutes figuring everything out! Grrrr!

Technology failed me again on Sunday. I had the first brick of the season planned at Stone Mountain. It was miserably cold and I was under dressed for the occasion. I bought some hand warmers but they didn't get warm enough so my hands and feet were frozen solid. It's a weird feeling to get off the bike and start running and not be able to feel your feet at all. But it wasn't really awful, and at least I am able to look forward to warmer weather and blistering heat and humidity.

Next up on my list of things to conquer in 2009? Master's swimming. I am such a cold-weather pansy (they are swimming outside!) but I am considering starting tomorrow at 11 am. Or maybe I will just copy their workout and swim on the inside. We'll see!

Being lazy at work?

Are you tired of sitting at your office all day with no breaks, gaining weight by the nanosecond? Well then I have the solution for you! PINGFIT!!! Sign up and this super-hot chick (and a cute guy~!) will appear on your screen every few minutes prompting you to workout. It's simple and right now it's free! So take advantage!

Here's the link!