BreakAway Sport

I’ve been asked for the past two months over and over how I am feeling. The answer has always been pretty good. I have felt pretty darn good. The girls were in the NICU and they put them on a schedule so that made life a lot easier for sure in the beginning. I’ve also had a lot of helping hands which has been awesome too. I’ve had multiple meals made (and pretty delicious might I add), Gordon has had rides to and from school and even his hockey coach picks him up from school on Monday’s and hangs with his son who is on the team (Gordon’s new buddy-Noah) until practice at night. We have a nanny and my mom is over almost every day. I have some beers on the weekends to relax too. So yeah….it’s been pretty good.

Then something happened this past week. Call it a mid life crisis, hormonal changes or maybe I am just freaking over tired, but I was down this week. My 40th is a month away and I’ve thought to myself WTF am I doing at 40 with two newborns? Don’t get me wrong-they are freaking cute (I mean look at them and that is at 2 AM!) and I love them so very much, but I had some moments of selfishness this week. People also working my nerves and damn it I just want to drink some regular coffee or put cheese on my sandwich without thinking is this going to bother the girls? Yes, I’ve cried! I put that into the hormonal craziness of having babies because sometimes I just cry because I think about crying. It’s ridiculous and I know this when it is happening, but those of you who know-just know-YOU JUST CAN’T STOP IT!

Then Tuesday morning it happened. Olympia our sweet 12 year old pit bull (the brindle one) who already can barely walk, see or hear was eating and tried to walk back to her bed. Then couldn’t make it…we think she may have had a stroke and we monitored her for 24 hours and decided it was time to say goodbye. Her life was already very limited and she was at least generally happy but she cried a lot and barely moved for those 24 hours and we knew we couldn’t let her go on like that. Talk about crying especially when I told Gordon to say his goodbyes. He said it would be okay that he would pray for her everyday while she is in heaven and we are not even practicing Greek Orthodox. What a sweet kid! 4 years ago we said goodbye to our other dog Kilo and this is my favorite picture of them in their bed. They were great family dogs and we miss them. Olympia the last two months had sat by those two girls protecting them all day even in her condition. Really, it is the end of an era for me and Jeff because in less than a two year span (starting in 2001) we started our business, got Kilo, then Olympia and bought our first house. Now we have 3 kids, no dogs, 3 business locations and a newly built house where the old one was. It is not only sad, but just feels weird around the house.

I went on a lot of bike rides again this week and no craziness of crashing. I’ve tried to get more rest but that isn’t that great. Better, but not great. These girls need to drop the 2 AM. I got a few lifts in and even tried some modified plyometrics. I did a little quick circuit at home (the nanny was out a few days here and there so didn’t have too much time to go to the gym). I did ring rows, KB swings, push ups (still not textbook, but at least I am off my knees), KB Figure 8 Lift and Squat Jumps. I did it 5 times-you can watch it here: IMG_0185  It did get me huffing and puffing and it felt good. I also went on a run finally. Used the old Adidas-much better!! Just goes to show you NEVER BUY SHOES FOR RUNNING BECAUSE THEY LOOK COOL!!!

It’s Friday now and I am doing much better. I am sure it will come and go, but it is part of the game. This weekend is our very first 5K and I am pumped about it. I’ve decided that this blog is too much of a good thing for all the readers out there so don’t get too sad when I don’t post weekly. I promise to post a couple of times per month…I mean you have to see the end result, right?!?!?!?

FENUGREEK! Yeah, that’s right…basically telling me F.U. Greek. Ha. Ha. I can’t make this stuff up. I had my final 6 week check up at the docs and received the all clear for everything as long as I listen to my body. He was concerned when I told him my milk production had slowed down and so he made me meet with the lactation consultant. She suggested Fenugreek. It’s an herb and it smells and tastes like crap. You know what though-I think it is helping. It’s probably because it has the Greek name in it. Let’s not bore you with more milk stories. For those without children-well it is probably good birth control and for those with children then you are the ones who know that even despite all the sucky things you can never understand a serious deep love for someone until you have your own children. Yes, still other peoples children are generally annoying especially the ones that are running around restaurants like crazy while their parents don’t pay attention to them.

Wednesday’s are supposed to be my running days at soccer practice, but I opted for mountain biking in the morning. I bit it so hard!!! All I remember is thinking if I take Gordon to this part of the trail then I need to make sure he goes slow and the next thing I know I face plant and nail my shoulder. Good thing my boobs are so big as they acted like airbags when I hit the ground. I am glad Jeff was there to document it…uh…help me when I went down. I must have been flying for sure! I also proceeded to hit a tree later on, but I wasn’t going as fast. I really think my mind isn’t working right due to lack of sleep and I can’t concentrate very well mountain biking. I did 4 mountain bike rides this past week and I just love mountain biking. It is so fun!!! You should try it if you haven’t. 

Yes, that is me swinging the bat. How does my swing look? Do I still have it? I am clearly late at contact, but not bad for an old retired softball player. It was my George Mason University alumni game and we honored our teammate Nakoma Sours on the 20th anniversary of her passing. That was very special.

The old farts then proceeded to play the young guns that are still in college and I only had time for one up at bat. Oh yeah…I made the most of it! If you want a good laugh, then please look at this video-I really can’t make this stuff up. IMG_5148 At least I made contact, but I don’t know what happened running to first. However, from one up at bat I did manage to pull my muscles in between my ribs on my left side. I could barely move for 24 hours. Ridiculous and a problem when you are trying to take care of two newborns. I really can’t make this stuff up. Maybe hitting softballs wasn’t such a good idea 6 weeks after giving birth to twins? Of course I couldn’t work out the next day either because I was in so much pain and running the rest of the week was out of the question. So if you are wondering how I am doing with running I don’t know because I didn’t run at all this week. 

I did get a few good lifts in and I was going to go a little harder, but crashing on my bike, falling running to first and pulling my rib muscles I thought it may be best to still take it a little easier and slower before I really hurt myself. I am tired and I am just not right from my mind telling my body what to do. I literally feel as if I am not moving my body sometimes. As Jeff said I should just be happy that I am doing all of this and don’t worry how awesome I am. It’s hard not to when I was doing all these things and then some less than a year ago. 

I hope to have some exciting work outs this week-maybe something intense that will make me look awesome that I can share without killing myself. I have 3 more weeks until I do my body fat again so that should be interesting. I did weigh in this week and I am down to 136, but I am afraid I still don’t have a lot of muscle. The body fat test will let me know. 

In the meantime though…if you haven’t worked out this week (I know a lot of you told me you were going to start doing something after reading this blog), then get off your butt and go do something. It is always better than nothing. 

If the pictures are still sideways, then I don’t know what I am doing wrong. I have tried to fix it each week but it does whatever it wants to when I click publish.

Aaannnddddd just because here is a recent picture of the girls….

No STRIKEOUTS this week-it was filled with a lot of hits except for the fact that I had to tap into my milk reserves. I can’t figure this out-some days production is good and some days it is not. For those of you who know me well know that I worry excessively over things I can not control.Tapping into my reserves put me emotionally way down. I feel like I am letting the girls down in a way. People LOOOVVVEEE breastfeeding. Let me tell you something-it is stressful. Not enough milk, OMG they spit up: must be something I ate, did they eat enough….the list goes on and on. I can say I HATE breastfeeding, but we know breast is best and I hope to make it to my goal of 4 months.

Enough about the kids-this is about me and working out, right?!?!? Let’s focus on my work outs then.

Day 1 is always Wednesday and that is soccer day which means running. I did 30 minutes this time and ventured off the field to the neighborhood. I actually had to go pretty far because my pace has picked up. When the pace picked up though the DD boobs didn’t like it. I don’t know how all you big breasted women do it. It’s painful!!! I feel like I have to double bag em’. Another issue with breastfeeding. Another downer with running right now is that my knees are killing me. I’ve never had this issue. It’s either
my shoes, too old, doing too much too fast or just no muscle tone to support them right now. I went running the next day as well and still the same thing with the old knees. I will try different shoes next run as I am usually an Adidas girl, but while I was pregnant I bought Brooks because they looked cool. (Yeah, don’t ever buy shoes for running because they look cool-it is usually a bad idea)

I had a couple of two-a-days. Meaning I lifted and did cardio on the same day so that is progress. My lift on Saturday was nice except my chest was so sore I couldn’t push myself off the bed. It was my first time doing barbell bench press and I added a second back and chest exercise as well. Ouffa! The boys; Jeff and Gordon were in charge at home and this is what I come home to: fast asleep on the couch while football was on. Good thing they are in charge of the girls. LOL! I also hit some pull ups for the first time on Monday. Gordon apparently is my new trainer. Watch this: IMG_0129  I asked him months ago if he would help me get back into shape and be my trainer he said no that he didn’t know how to do that yet, but he would babysit the girls instead. I think he realized the girls are pretty boring right now and dirty diapers are gross and he would figure out training faster and it would be a bit more enjoyable. Back before I was pregnant with Gordon I used to be able to do 3 sets of 10 of my own body weight pull ups. Pull ups are hard and I don’t really enjoy them so I never got back to doing that. Maybe that should be a good goal????

I hit a couple of mountain bike rides this past week. I am still huffing and puffing but getting better. My skills are still not that great, but it will come with time. I just need to get my confidence back on the bike. Jeff is being very patient with me out there even though I am holding him up on the trails. He is THE most patient person in the world as you know. 

I had a nice off day on Sunday and took the girls on their first real walk around the hood. We took Gordon to the park so he could show the girls all his cool moves like he is on American Ninja Warrior. The girls bar
ely fit in the stroller properly-it’s probably not that safe if I was to go any faster, but they need fresh air as well as I do. They need to be ready to run, bike and be outside as soon as possible. No
pressure of course from this family!

HELL WEEK! Oh no, not what you are thinking…that I put myself through the paces and it was hell. It was more like a week of someone out to get me or some secret committee trying to get me not to work out.

It all started pretty standard. Woke up, fed babies, pumped every 3 hours. I threw in a nap here and there. Usually I go to bed at 9 so I can sleep a little before the 11 PM feed. I also am sleeping in the basement with the girls since I have access to a sink and fridge and easy to pump. It’s a great set up but there are spiders that come and go. So before I go to bed I check the room out for these guys and sure enough this past week there was one by the window and I went over there to get ’em and the window was totally leaking through with water because we were getting that heavy rain. The window well had filled up with water!!! WTF?!?!? Jeff went out there to dig it out and I was cleaning up inside. What a nightmare?!?!?! The good news is we had our gutters cleaned two months ago and it is also the bad news because the water was flowing fast, but the extender to the drain was pointing right in the window well and filled it up. So the moral to the story is the spider saved our basement because I wouldn’t have seen the water, but still get ’em because they will bite your ass when you are sleeping. Anyway, I didn’t get adequate sleep that night and this was the start to my week. Strike 1!

Next day was okay and yes I got my second run in at the soccer field. I actually held a pace that was faster than speed walking and I ventured off the field a little. I bumped the time to 25 minutes. I still felt crappy, but not as bad. My uterus stayed in but wanted to  still come out. This next week I will go through a neighborhood and hit 30 minutes. Look out!

Then the big day came-I was heading out to the gym to get my lift on. Yippee!! I needed to get a couple of things done there
anyway so it was the perfect day. I jumped in my car all pumped up and my car didn’t start! Are we for real right now? My battery died-ugh! So, I only had time to get the battery replaced at NTB near the gym and get the paperwork done I needed to do because I had to get back home and you guessed it-PUMP! Strike 2!

That same day production was back down again. Look the first 3 weeks I had stored over 100 ounces. Now the girls are eating more and if production goes down I have to tap into the reserves. I don’t want to do that yet. So Thursday morning I ate oatmeal and that evening I had a beer (both good for production) and at the 11 PM feed put Zephera on the breast to “stimulate”. I pulled out all the tricks. Two AM feeding I pumped after and then get back into bed by 3 and then I can’t stop shivering. I put a sweatshirt on and two comforters and still shivering. 4:30 rolled around and my right boob felt like it is going to explode. I hadn’t slept and I got online and searched breast infection. All symptoms pointed to yes because I had also the aches. Boys, you want to know what it feels like-think of the worst case of the flu but in addition to that your testicles feel like there is a bomb in there and at any moment is will go off. “They” said to take hot shower and then pump, pump, pump it up (I am already pumping 7 times per day and adding to that is a full time job). Relief came slowly, but the entire day I had a low grade fever as well. Doc said since it cleared on it’s own then it was probably a blocked duct. So freakin awesome being a woman! This lasted through Saturday so no work outs for me for two more days. Strike 3!

I finally had the chance to go to the gym on Sunday. I was all by myself and cranked the music and did all 3 sets of 10 reps of the following and I felt great (don’t judge my weights-they are baby weights, but at least no one was around)! Lat Pull, DB Bench, Back Squats, Curls for the girls, Push Down Rope, DB RDL, DB Shoulder Press and Core. I need my muscle tone back. I look at my legs and hate it that there are no muscles. I would rather be heavier and muscular than skinny fat. My last weigh in at the doc before the girls came I went up to 170lbs. I started at 135. I weighed myself on Sunday and I am 140. Oh, that’s easy you think because I only have 5 more pounds to go….oh no…I’m 29% body fat remember. I need to at least get to 18% so I need to build muscle and loose fat so my weight will probably go up a bit and then down. It’s a lot, but doable.

Monday and Wednesday I have had to work with the Southland crew (an off site in Sterling) so I didn’t work out on Monday. Strike 4! Tuesday was a gorgeous day and I went on a bike ride. Did 14 mph on my own without sitting on Jeff’s wheel so I am getting a bit faster. I decided to wear my heart rate monitor to see how hard I am working. What I thought was happening is true-my legs can’t handle pushing yet so my heart rate doesn’t get up that high. I did manage to get a max of 162 (pretty low for me) but I was going up this huge hill by my house and only going 4mph. Pathetic.

I go to the doctors next week sometime (I have CRS so I don’t know the day) and hopefully I will get the all clear to go hard. I will start doing intervals and maybe more intense lifting. Until then let’s hope for no strikes just hits…stay tuned…..

RUNNING!!! OMG-I did that this past week. I thought while Gordon is at soccer practice I will run around the field for 20 minutes and see how it goes. It was miserable! When you are totally out of shape running feels like you are going into cardiac arrest and never mind my joints and ligaments were killing me and I thought my uterus was going to fall out. All at an “awesome” pace that I could have technically walked. Hey-I did it and I plan to try again at this week’s practice…hopefully with better results. Running is the most efficient way to burn calories so I will keep at it especially as winter is approaching.

In other news I took the girls to the doctor at the same time for a weight in/check up and I did the farmers carry with them. Two car seats plus approximately 6 lbs each was tough when I had to walk about 100 meters each way. There were lots of offers to help, but I declined thinking I could use a little extra. Kept the core tight, shoulders back and a steady pace. I give myself a pat on the back.

It’s only been two weeks and I am sick of working out in the basement with weights because I am so limited right now. It has been the same old stuff and until I can fully do kettle bell activity I think I may venture to BREAKAWAY tomorrow and pump some iron-you know get huge. Ha Ha.

I’ve gone on a couple more bike rides and I’ve gotten faster as I am averaging in the 14’s now. I’ve been riding with the hubby (Jeff) which is good because I can sit on his wheel and get a draft, but also not good he makes me work harder as he rides much faster.

I had a few moments of panic this week as milk production was low for a day or two. Then it hit me I’ve been working out more and I must be actually sweating for once in the last year. I literally drink almost two gallons of water per day-production is back up. Whoa!

AAANNNNDDD the moment you have all tuned in for this week…..I went mountain biking with Gordon to see if he would smoke me. I didn’t get smoked, but damn he was fast and I actually had to pedal hard to keep up. I am technically a better rider, but I’m competing against a 6 year old and in a year or two I will be toast. It’s worth a look especially at the end for some laughs (oh this is blackmail when he gets older). He did ask if I was actually going to use it.

Thank you all for the support this week. Knowing that you all are reading this is even more motivation to get a booming body at 40 after twins. Going to keep it up!!!

We were done! When I say we were done I mean we were done having children. We have a son named Gordon who is 6 and is pretty awesome if I must say so myself. We tried to have another child but between two miscarriages and literally years of trying we said no to alternative methods (we have an awesome son and multiples didn’t seem like a good option for our age) and in October of 2014 said no to more trying.
Fast forward 3 months and boom a positive pregnancy test in January. Since I am high risk (I’m almost 40 and with two miscarriages) I went in for a sonogram right away at 6 weeks. The technician says “you see that dot right there-that is your baby”.
Fast forward 6 weeks at 12 weeks and the technician is shaking her head and flipping through slides of images. I say “is there something wrong?” She says “yes”. I say “what”. She says “I am sorry, but I missed it the first time that you are having twins.” I say “HOLY SH!T! You have got to be #%@^&#&!* kidding me.”
Okay-so what? Why is this a fitness blog about some older lady having twins you may ask? It’s because twins are no joke!!!! I mean of all the things I was worried about my fitness and body were the last on the list. I mean I do this for a living and I was rocking it with my son Gordon on my bike, running and lifting. The twins knocked me on my ass-I could barely lift weights, running was out of the question for sure and sitting on the bike felt awful. So I just kept walking and doing very light weight
training.
On September 1, 2015 two baby girls arrived 5 weeks and 1 day early. They are adorable, but me not so much anymore. Don’t get me wrong it is worth it, but I need to get some Greek Goddess status back and at 40 come November it will not be an easy task. At two weeks after delivery with a C-section I was cleared by my doctor to work out easy and listen to my body. I took my body fat-whoa!!!! 29%! I told you twins are no joke. I am usually around 15-18% so I have some work to do. I will also take my metabolic rate once I stop breastfeeding to figure out caloric intake, but right now if you want to produce milk then eat and drink everything. I am a milk machine baby! TMI for all you sally’s reading this.
The next day we decided to go on a family bike ride. How hard could riding with a 6 year old be? Well check him out BMX racing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3OpTzJiuHM I will tell you that 30 minute ride around the neighborhood had my heart pumping, legs burning and butt sore because he is pretty darn fast damn it!! We are going mountain biking next week and I am scared he will drop me on the bike-wouldn’t that be something getting dropped by a 6 year old?!??!!? Talk about crushing your ego.
The next day I got on my road bike and went easy where I averaged a pathetic 13 miles an hour (I usually am around 18) and road 11 miles. Everything including my hands were killing me, but I have to start somewhere. This baby belly isn’t going to go down itself.
The next day was weight training day at the house. I will hit the gym soon. I did ring rows, push ups (modified because I can’t do multiple legit ones right now) and body weight squats all 3X15. Then ring curls, bench dips and back lunges all 3X15 except the lunges as I was afraid my legs would cramp up. Oh, don’t forget the 30 second plank X3 that just about made me throw up.
Road bike ride #2 went a little better 12.5 miles at 13.8 miles per hour, but I almost think it was because it was windy and when I had a tail wind I was “flying”. I could barely sit on the bike, but that is a whole different story.
Lifting day #2 was a little more challenging. Kettle bell one arm row, Kettlebell one arm floor press and kettle bell squats all 3X25lbsX10. Then kettle bell curls, tri extension and good mornings. Added some kettle bell swings, the dreaded plank, glute bridges and crunches. Last work out of the week was another bike ride-got up to 13.9 mph. Making progress. I am feeling okay! So far so good-baby steps right? I will get back to a Greek Goddess…it will just take some time.

The video says it all on our new YouTube Channel….

Everyone has their eating mishaps-Jeff Teach is not a saint with his eating and he would be the first one to tell you that. However, he does say “that you can’t eat like crap all the time and expect results. Don’t judge me when I eat badly because I am human, but I will make up for it in the weight room or with exercise or eat clean for all my other meals.” It is super-bowl Sunday-you can’t pass up a cold one!

Jeff went snowboarding this weekend with his family and his eating was sub-par. He did however snowboard all day long for the entire two days. Click on the video to check out Jeff snowboarding this past weekend-what’s scarier? Jeff snowboarding so soon after surgery or video taping it while skiing? IMG_0315

Jeff doesn’t follow a certain diet-no Zone, Continue reading…

That is the question!

It’s Jeff Teach’s favorite lift. It’s the ultimate lift that measures power and explosiveness. It’s also the lift that put Jeff under the knife. Check out the video of him back in March 2013 winning the competition and hurting himself in the snatch. 

When Jeff was asked the pros and cons of starting to snatch again Continue reading…

Jeff Teach stretches – a lot! He has always had a very good ROM (range of motion).

Jeff at Jr Worlds 1992 – clean & jerk

Most Olympic Lifters do have very good ROM in every joint. Jeff says, “being big doesn’t make you inflexible. Not stretching makes you inflexible.”

Jeff has always warmed up dynamically and always has finished off his workouts with stretching. During rehab he stretched even more. “Every free moment I had I would stretch my shoulder. I wanted to regain as much ROM before I could start lifting again.”

Part of Jeff’s regular warm-up routine.

Jeff still stretches after every workout religiously. “I never skip out on my stretches. Especially for my shoulder. I stretch, I stretch and I stretch some more.” Continue reading…