Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Tuesday January 29, 2013

Workout: 1000 yards swim
Weight: 132.2

Did not workout yesterday.  I slept so horribly on Sunday night that I opted to sleep in a little yesterday morning... which means that I was awake from 4:45-6:00 and then dozed off until Nora woke me up at 6:30.  I really have to believe this is a gluten issue.  I was doing well last week and as the week went on the more days without gluten I had the better I was sleeping.  Then on Sunday - because I knew I was getting the blood test on Monday - I just gave in and had pancakes and a couple of pieces of pizza.  And then slept terribly again that night.  And my wrist and fingers of my right hand and my neck hurt a lot.  My weight has jumped 4 lbs in 2 days.  It has to be the issue.  I got the test yesterday and Dr. Steve said it takes about 3 weeks to get the results, but I am firmly committed to getting the gluten out of my system.  He said he had a lot of gluten issues - headaches were his primary complaint, but he also had recurring tendinitis that wouldn't heal.  After 3 months off of gluten he no longer had issues.  Hmmm - sounds familiar: tendinitis in my left ankle, my right knee, my right shoulder, my right forearm.

Joined the gym this morning and swam 1000 yards.  Takes me just slightly over 30 minutes to do 1000 yards.  I did:
300 yds breast

100 yds crawl
100 yds back
100 yds breast
100 yds crawl
alternate 25 back/25crawl for 200 yds
75 breast
25 crawl

Friday, January 25, 2013

Friday January 25, 2013

Workout: Deck of cards - 20:00
Weight: 129.0

Forgot to blog about yesterday - went swimming again.  I kind of lost count on how many total yards I swam.  It was at least 1000, but could have been as high as 1150.  I started with 300 yds of breast stroke and then tried to work on my front crawl.  It is hard work - I have no idea how people just do lap after lap after lap without resting after each 25yds to  catch their breath.  Maybe I'll get to that point some day.  

My body was tired last night.  It doesn't feel like a hard workout at the time, other than the breathing, but my body is wiped later in the day.

Today I got up and did another deck of cards workout - jumping jacks, crunches, deadlift squats, tricep dips/speed skaters.  I started out with the tricep dips, but I think my whole right upper arm is jacked up.  The first set was fine and then after 3 on the second set I couldn't do anymore because of my elbow, so I switched that suit to speed skaters.  It was a good workout.  Wasn't as good as Wednesdays but it was fine.

I'm going to do my best to rest my arm/shoulder for a couple of weeks.  I'm going to continue with swimming/running and the deck of cards workouts.  I had thought about doing yoga on my off days, but even that, I think, could strain my shoulder with the downward and upward dogs especially.  

Next week I'm going to try to go get the blood test.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Wednesday January 23, 2012

Workout: Deck of Cards - 25:00
Weight: 129.2

After doing a minimal amount of googling last night, I think I have a strain on my bicep tendon that attaches the tendon to the shoulder.  And quite possibly a strain to the tendon that connects the bicep to the elbow at the bottom end.  So on the diagram below it would a strain to #10 and #4.  Those are the exact places that I'm feeling pain and stress.  It could also be tendinitis in those places - I'm still unclear about the difference.  I don't believe it is a pull or a tear as I don't have bruising or irregular shaped muscles.  However, it is tender to the touch in both of those places and also painful when using my arm in certain ways.  #4 is painful when I do things like cut into a hard fruit/vegetable - using my arm as a lever basically.  So when I cut watermelon, or pineapple, or butternut squash (before any of them are peeled).  #10 is painful when I raise my arm laterally or out to the side and often starts aching when I've been doing a lot with the computer mouse.


source

Yesterday I accidentally broke my gluten fast by tasting a cookie bar that I had made for the girls.  I didn't realize it until I had eaten 1/2 of one.  And because I had already broken it, I had a flour tortilla at Dave's folk's for dinner, and realized today that I believe commercially made taco seasoning has gluten in it.  All of that has been enough for me to decide to go get the blood test.  I'm driving myself crazy over here and I want to just know something definitvely so I know what to avoid.  My hands and wrists are very achy.  My hips are achy.  My knees are achy.  I can't recover from any kind of tendinitis anywhere.  So I'm going to discontinue p90x, except for the legs workout and I'll omit the back exercises.  I think I'm also going to go back to doing more yoga, I just haven't gotten a dvd that I really love and feel like I've had a good workout with it.  But I think I need to just recognize and acknowledge that I need to stop the craziness - if something is hurting me, I need to stop doing it.  This is taking a big hit on my pride.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Tuesday January 22, 2013

Workout: 1000 yards - swimming
weight: 129.8

Went to The Core and swam this morning.  I got in the pool around 11:20 and had swum 1000 yards by 11:55.  I don't know what that means or if its good, but I felt like it was a good workout.  I did 250 yards breast, 50 yards crawl, 50 yards back, and then I don't remember.  I do know that I ended the workout with 250 yards breast stroke again.  I wasn't able to do much more than 100 yards of crawl at one time.  It was very tiring for me.  I worked hard at turning my hips, but I found that as I got toward the end of the lap and got more tired I started sinking and would have more difficulty with the hips and breathing.  Its going to take a lot of practice, but I'm excited that I can at least complete a couple of laps...  when I tried to swim at the high school last year I had no idea what I was doing and couldn't make it more than 2 strokes without giving up.  It is definitely tough for me - by the end of the 50 yds, I was wasted - every time.  Like upset stomach wasted.

Today my right shoulder/bicep, wrist and hand are hurting really bad.  I think because of the burpees I did yesterday - there is a plank position in them that caused me fits.  So I will eliminate those next time.

Thinking that I won't be able to do arms/shoulders tomorrow because of the pain issues I have right now.  I will do a deck of cards workout again in the morning.

Monday, January 21, 2013

Monday January 21, 2013

Workout: Deck of cards (30:00)
Weight: 131.0
One Year Ago

We went to Midland to visit Mike and Cara this weekend.  They have a membership to the community center and our whole family was able to go with them for the afternoon.  It is awesome - I'm sure its like a YMCA, but we have nothing like that by us... just expensive gyms.  The kids all did the rock climbing wall.  Mike and I swam laps, Dave ran on the indoor track, Cara played raquetball with Joseph and then the kids all swam in the leisure pool.  It was really cool and I'm definitely jealous of it.

I worked hard at trying to figure out the front crawl stroke and I enjoyed it.  I took my time and Mike also told me to turn my hips more, which helped a LOT.  It is a lot of mental work for me because there are so many things to think about while doing it, but I really liked it and now view it as a challenge - I need to keep doing it so I can get better and see improvement.  I'm going to find a place to go - very excited about it now.

Today the girls were off from school so I slept in and almost didn't get around to working out.  I was discouraged because I don't think I can do the push up/pull up workout with p90x anymore.  I have something seriously wrong with my right bicep/shoulder.  Just sitting here right now I feel pain and i'm not doing anything.  I did something to it (don't recall anything specific) during the last rounds of P90x I did last May and have stopped doing all pushups since then.  I would think that it would have healed in that 6 months, but it is back worse than before.  Muscle, not joint.

I was getting kind of upset about it and told Dave I didn't know what to do for a work out... he suggested I do a card of decks workout.  So I put one together:
Clubs - squats

Diamonds - burpees
Spades - side crunches
Hearts - barre lifts

It was a good workout.  I would replace some of the exercises next time, but it was good.  Burpees are hard - especially when pulling several diamonds right after another.

Cut out gluten entirely today and am keeping a food journal.  I need to get to the bottom of this.  My wrists ache, thumb aches, neck/lower back joints ache, hips ache.  Enough.

Friday, January 18, 2013

Friday January 18, 2013

Workout: P90x legs/back
Weight: 131.4
One Year Ago

Legs and back - my favorite workout of the series.  Nothing much to report.

I gave up on anything eating related.  I'm so discouraged by how I'm feeling - bloated, achy, unrested, weight is up.  I don't know what is going on or what is to blame, which is very frustrating.  I started a food journal yesterday.  I'm going to start keeping track of what I am eating every day and how I feel and perhaps I can get a better idea of what might be causing what.  

I'm also wondering if P90x is too much on my back - for some reason my back/neck/shoulder muscles get really clenched when I do these workouts now.  My neck joint is hurting a lot (arthritis) and my lower back is also very stiff and pained (herniated disks).  I also slept very poorly again last night.  I didn't eat anything that would scream gluten to me, but I wasn't careful either and there may have been some in some of the foods I ate.  So I'm just really discouraged and feeling gross and yuck right now.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Thursday January 17, 2013

Workout: Run 3.17 miles
Weight: ?
Two Years Ago


I did not blog yesterday... I did p90x shoulders/arms and it kicked my butt.  My body was so sore yesterday that I felt like I needed to take a bath in icy hot.  I iced and heated my shoulders and neck all morning and felt better as the day went on.

I was going to get up and do yogaX with Dave this morning, but I slept horribly again last night (more on that) and was awake from 4:15 - 5:45, so I went back to sleep until 7:30 and felt so much better because of it.  Decided to run outside today because the sun is out and it is gorgeous.  I had a really hard time settling in for the first mile - I was against the slight breeze, which at these temps makes everything feel icy.  The tips of my fingers were frozen and every breath into my nose felt like ice... so I had a hard time settling into a good rhythm with my breathing.  After 1.25 miles I stopped.  Stopped - not just walked, stopped, looked around, caught my breath and then continued.  It helped and the rest of the run was much better.  I ended up walking a little bit here and there but ended with an average of 10:14/mile.

I need new headphones - mine have a short so the music is only in my right ear.  Meh.

Had an interesting eating related thing happen - I believe it is eating related anyway.  I had some cornbread yesterday - which has gluten in it.  And I slept like crap again last night.  So I had gluten Sat/Sun - slept horribly.  No gluten M/T - slept well.  Gluten W - slept horribly.  This just seems way too coincidental.

So I think back throughout the last few years about my sleeping and gluten etc.  I'm not a huge gluten eater to begin with, but have never paid any attention to it.  I know, though, that there have been periods of time that I have had a lot of sleeping issues - in particular I remember feeling like I needed to start tracking my sleeping vs. cycle and see if it was cycle related.  I'm wondering now, if it hasn't been gluten related all along.  So I guess I will keep trying to keep track of it.  I feel like I should just go get the blood test because otherwise my extended family won't really believe it - suffice it to say none of them believe that food has an effect on the way a person feels other than digestive stuff (gas, bloating) - I'm pretty sure my parents think I'm a nut job with the way I eat or try to eat.  So I'm going to work on that - trying to figure out if I want to go to the chiropractor or my pcp.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Tuesday January 15, 2013

Workout: p90x CardioX
Weight: 130.2
Two Years Ago

Way too cold to run outside, even if it is sunny and beautiful.  So I thought about doing PlyometriX, but decided that I didn't want to die and opted for the shorter and somewhat easier CarioX.  It has been a really long time since I've done this workout.  It was good - I liked it.  

Whats up with that weight?  I was pretty pissed when I saw that, but I am still retaining a lot of water right now so I'm not concerned.  My jeans are fitting well, so based on that I'm good.  I can tell that my hands and wrists are feeling bloated, which is how I always know that I'm retaining a lot of water.

Not much to report... yesterday I felt nauseous all day.  Today I'm feeling good.  Slept much better last night than I did the previous two nights.  Finished eating at 7:30 and was fine with that even though I could have eaten for another hour or so.  I think ultimately, if I decide not to continue on with the 8/16 thing (haven't given up on it), at least it is getting me used to having a cut-off time every night, which is something that I always struggled with before this.  Not giving up on the 8/16 thing, just going to keep blogging and tracking and after a few weeks I'll reevaluate.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Monday January 14, 2013

Workout: P90x Chest/Back
Weight: ? 
One year ago

Workout was good this morning.  I increased my reps on a lot of the exercises and I didn't feel completely out of my league.  There are a few kinds of pushups that I really want to master, but I realize that even after 2 consecutive rounds of p90x last year I did not master them, so it is not likely to happen soon.

I did not workout on Saturday - I had planned to run, but when I woke up my legs were unbearably sore from Friday's workout and then as my day progressed I ran out of opportunity.  I was bummed, too, because it was warm enough to run outside and its getting colder and colder this week.

The last 2 nights I have slept terribly.  This morning I also woke up and realized that I was retaining water in a huge way - my rings are tight, I barely had to go to the bathroom when I got up - and I had drank 16 oz of water right before I got into bed.  While thinking about these 2 things, I realized that the only thing that I have done differently in the last 2 days is eat a significant amount of gluten.  Saturday I had cornbread and last night I had breadsticks and some more cornbread.  I had thought that if I had a sensitivity to anything it was probably dairy, but now I'm wondering if it might actually be gluten.  I should just go get the blood test and be done with it.

Friday, January 11, 2013

Friday January 11, 2013`

Workout: p90x back/legs
Weight: ?
One Year Ago
Two Years Ago

Back/Legs is one of my very favorite workout videos - soooo good.  This is the first time that I've included the back portion in quite a while, though.  It is a killer workout and my legs are incredibly tired this morning.  I hope to see improvement in my pullups next week already - I've lost so much since last May when we stopped doing P90x.

Not much more I can say about the 8/16 eating plan than what I've said before.  I like it and it has not been difficult.  Last night I was actually able to stop eating at 8pm, which is earlier than most nights this week.  Our evening schedule has not been conducive to stopping early, but hopefully next week I can get a little bit better of a handle on that.  With Dave having the flu this week + late eye doctor appointment it was pretty tough to stop much earlier than 8:30/8:45 most nights.  But I'm fine with that  - I would just prefer to eat my breakfast around 10 instead of 1 ;)

Last night I broke my gluten fast.  We went to Dave's folks' for dinner.  I made a big salad with lots of greens, quinoa, pecans, & cranberries - which was really good.  But they all ate lasagna casserole.  It looked soooo good, but I resisted.  I'm really thinking dairy may be the issue, so all of that cheese is killer - but it was killing me.  I finally gave in and had a roll, though, so there went the gluten.  

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Thursday January 10, 2013

Workout: P90x yoga
weight: ?
One Year Ago

Got up early to do p90x yoga and was kind of excited to do a lower key workout that would stretch me.  But I only made it 25 minutes out of the 45 I normally do.  My shoulders were so sore and every time I did a chataranga I wasn't sure if I'd be able to push myself back up.  

It will get better.

Saw a commercial last night for Rockin Body and it looks really fun.  Its only $20 so I'm thinking about getting it.  I want to continue with weight training and running, so I have to put some thought into what kind of workout schedule I would do if I added that one in.  Maybe I need to consider my workout schedule in 2 week chunks instead of 1 week chunks?  I'll have to think about this some more before I go ahead and order it.

Eating again was fine yesterday, but once again didn't finish until 8:30 because we didn't get home from piano lessons until 7:30.  It just is what it is.  Just a drag to not be able to eat until almost 1:00 in the afternoon, but obviously I've been able to work it out - not hungry really, just out of routine.  Still like this plan, though.  I should probably read the book to see why I'm doing what I'm doing ;)

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Wednesday January 9, 2013

Workout: P90x Shoulders/Arms
Weight: ?
Two Years Ago

Had intended to get up and do this workout in the morning, but really, really wanted to go back to bed.  So I did.

My arms/chest/back still hurt really badly from Monday's workout, plus my legs now hurt from running yesterday.  All because I took such a huge break.  I'll get it back in no time.  I just keep telling myself that I need to get through the first week and then it'll be better.


So this 8/16 diet is pretty cool, I think.  I don't know what kind of results I'm going to see in the first week, but I like it and think it is pretty easy.  My biggest problem is that we don't get around to eating dinner until later, which means I can't start eating until later.  That has always been the problem with me going with the idea of cutting off eating at a certain time at night... sometimes we don't get dinner until 8:30 - so if I say I'm not going to eat after 7, then I'm screwed.  This plan is nice because you just make sure you fast for 16 hours from the last time you ate.  I'm actually an hour overdue - and I don't feel starving at all.  And I like the fact that I don't have to count calories or worry about what I'm eating - not that I would be anyway since I went back to plant-based and gluten/dairy/sugar free, but it is nice to not be so concerned about all of that and trying to enter every recipe into mfp.  I like it.

I'm hoping that with the combination of all the things I'm doing, my arms will be ripped when we go to Dominican at the end of February ;)

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Tuesday January 8, 2013

Workout: Run 3.17 miles
Weight: 129.4

I was planning to swim today in the afternoon.  I didn't have to work in the morning so I checked out the pool schedule to see if I could go earlier - couldn't really go until 10:30ish and by that point I had decided that I'm just not into the swimming thing.  I could possibly get into it if it was closer or if I felt like I knew what I was doing.  And the fact that I have to work around swim team and aquatic aerobic schedules is frustrating to me.  So I ran instead.  I can run at any time - right outside my door and I can decide to do it on a whim.  I don't have to figure out where I'm going to find 1 1/2 - 2 hours to go to the gym and be home in time for the girls.  And the fact that I can't listen to music and its super boring is really the nail in the coffin for me.  So I'm glad I didn't spend more than $30 on a swimsuit and didn't pay for a membership.

Ran 3.17 - my normal route.  It was really, really hard.  I haven't run in probably 6 weeks or more, so it was rough.  I pushed myself to not stop to walk even if it meant I was running super slow.  I ran a full mile, walked a little, ran 1.15 miles, walked, and then ran .75 miles.  I'm proud of myself for working so hard and getting through it.  

Day 2 of this 8/16 diet.  Can't eat until 12:45 - I'm not hungry, I just really like my oatmeal breakfast, especially with a cup of coffee :)  Dave is home with day 2 of the flu - we're going to head out to get his car epa tested and then I can eat when I get home.  

Monday, January 7, 2013

January 7, 2013

Workout: P90x Back/Chest
Weight: 129.4
One Year Ago

And so...  I wish I wasn't such an idiot and hadn't given in to the detox over Christmas.  Oh well.

After not working out for 6 weeks I started up again with P90x.  Its a killer and I suck.  Bad.  But I did it.  I pressed play.  And thats the important thing at this point.  I had 1 scoop of protein powder mixed with water & 1/4c of almond milk immediately afterward - I'm hoping that having some sort of recovery drink will help me recover and not be so sore and useless.  Tomorrow I'm going to swim in the afternoon - it shall be interesting.

I'm back to gluten/dairy/sugar free as of today.  I haven't been achy in the last couple of weeks and have not had any of my previous issues, however, I'm already feeling a tweak in my right inner elbow/bicep and my right shoulder - in fact, I eliminated the reverse grip chinups altogether because it hurts my right arm too much.  I'm hoping that by eliminating these things I can put a stop to these recurring pain points.  Or lessen them.  I will take less pain, too.

I'm also going to start the whole eat for 8 hours / fast for 16 hours thing today.  This too, shall be interesting.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

January 2, 2013

Sooooo...

I did well with the elimination diet, I really did.  Until Christmas Eve and then I gave in to sugar and have not crawled back out of it.  And by Christmas when the cheese plate was set out before dinner I caved again with Dairy.  And then as long as I had already given in to 2/3 of my eliminated stuff I just gave in to gluten too to have it over with.  I can't say that I feel achy or much different, but I do feel as if I am retaining more water - which would make sense.  I haven't eaten a ton of dairy since then as I'm beginning to think that may be the issue.


I weighed myself this morning and was up to 129.6, which is not surprising with the amount of undiscipline I've had in the last week.

Today I got back to oatmeal for breakfast and trying to eat mainly plant based throughout the day.  I have not jumped back on the complete plant based wagon yet, but I will next week.  I have a hard time starting things in the middle of the week.  I will be better this week, but won't kick it in hard core until Monday.  

Now my biggest thing is trying to decide what to do for workouts.  I haven't worked out since mid-end of November.  It has been nice to not have the added thing in my day to figure out - especially while I've been busy with Christmas - but its time to get back to it.

I'm considering:
1) running 3x/week + body weight workouts & yoga
2) swimming 3x/week + body weight workouts & yoga
3) P90x + running 2x/week

If I begin p90x next week, then week 8 - a rest week - would fall right when we're in the Dominican Republic.  That would work out well.  I might do that - have to think about it some more.

Not sure about the running/swimming thing.  I miss running.  I don't want to not be a runner.  I'm just wondering if it causes me too much pain.  And I would like swimming except for the 15 minute drive to/from the gym. It doesn't seem like a lot, but it feels like a huge burden.  

I have 4 days to figure this out.  I'm thinking, though, that I may be in the mood for p90x.