Tuesday September 7, 2010

Workout: 25:00 cross training + upper body
Weight: 126.4 (I think)


Went to the gym this morning.  I am hopping back on the horse.  All excuses are being thrown out and I am forging ahead with a renewed energy.  I got my kitchen and family room painted, my cabinets are in the process of being painted and I feel some major self-discipline coming back.  Seeing 129 on the scale may have had a little to do with it:)  But having that major painting project out of the way frees up space in my head for other goals and thoughts so that has a lot to do with it too.  


I did 25 minutes on the stationary bike and then upper body weights.  My heart rate was in the 130's, which I consider a good number for the bike.  I was not trying to kill it, but rather just doing some normal cross training.  Weights were also good.


I rejoined Weight Watchers because I could do so without paying the registration fee.  I rejoin mainly for the ability to use the recipe builder.  I have just slightly more than a month to get down a few pounds and I'm going to do it - there is no half-hearted feeling about it this time.  I will portion and count and get there.

Tuesday August 3, 2010

Workout: 30:00 cross training (stationary bike) + strength

Weight: 127.0 (what?!)

I hate cross training. It seems so pointless as it never seems like as good of a workout as running. I guess its a good thing to switch it up here and there, but I still hate it. A lot. And I really have to work hard to get to the gym to do it.

I have switched to lower weights with higher reps while I'm training, but I'm still nearing failure on most things.

I don't think that 127 is an accurate weight - I believe that is water retention. However, I do need to start thinking a little more about diet. I would still love to get to 115, but it will take a lot of motivation and hard work. I'm not sure its possible to do while I'm training, but I need to put some actual thought into this. I have not been eating well for quite some time - I don't eat horribly, but I haven't been eating as well as I should be. I think a lot has to do with it being summer and having no desire to go to the grocery store with the three kids - I can't focus or think about what I'm buying while I'm there with them. And I haven't had enough focus to put together menus or grocery lists, either, while I'm home. This summer, while busy and fun, has made me feel like my mind is in a complete fog. And I don't like that at all. 2 1/2 weeks until school begins and then I feel like I'll be able to think again.

Next year, I need to do something before school ends to prepare for this aspect of summer. I should be able to put together some general meal plans and grocery lists to get me through the summer - need to remember to do that, because this sucks.

Tuesday July 20, 2010

Workout: 30:00 cross training + strength

Weight: 124.0

Huh, not sure why I haven't been blogging as regularly in recent weeks... Saturday morning I ran a good 8 miles. I felt good for most of it - up until the last 2 miles when I had some digestive issues and needed to stop frequently to walk. The last mile was about where my body felt overrun, too. It was a good run - the best long run I've had in a while, I think.

Yesterday I ran 5 miles on the treadmill because we stayed up late on Sunday watching a movie and I did NOT feel like getting up at 5am to run. It was an easy run in the respect that it was on the treadmill, but I consider it a Pace run because I ran the whole thing at 9:30 pace, which I really hope I will run the race in.

This morning I went to the gym for the first time in a while (June 14th?) and did some cross training and hated it. I did 30 minutes on the stationary bike and purposely did not push myself to have a hardcore workout. I think my heart rate was in the 120's for most of the time. I feel like the time goes so slow in the gym, so it felt like the neverending workout. I also did upperbody strength machines. I decreased my weights by 10lbs and did 3 sets of 15 reps, which ended up being a nice strength workout.

Monday June 14, 2010

Workout: 2 mile warm up, upper body

Weight: 125.4

Two years ago

Running this morning was pretty difficult. I was having the same abdominal pain as I've had in the past. I also felt very labored for the entire 20 minutes even though I slowed my pace down to 5.7 for the first 10 minutes. Not sure if the pain is a result of not eating well over the weekend or having a beer last night or just random. I was having stomach pain last night after dinner, too, so maybe it is related. I'm also pretty dehydrated, which would explain my 2 pound weight gain and possibly the difficult running. Today I'm going to try to hammer the water - already pretty dehydrated + high humidity = bad news for me.

Went a little crazy over the weekend, but I did my best to count up all of my points. Basically I need to stick to my daily points and not go over at all because I think I ate all of my flex points and all of my anticipated activity points for the week. I had a moment of weakness on Saturday night and we got twisted frosty's. Not too bad at only 12 points, but add that to the couple of pieces of pizza I had and it wasn't good.

Monday June 7, 2010

Workout: 2 mile warm up + upper body

Weight: 123.4

I actually made it to the gym this morning. Its kind of nice going at 6 instead of 5:15ish since the girls are out of school and I don't have to be home in time to do my devotions AND make lunches and breakfast before 8:35. I think I can handle it.

And then the girls slept until 10. I can definitely handle that.

At any rate, I think I ran a tad bit over 2 miles in 20 minutes. I did the first 10 minutes at 5.8 which left me lagging behind the 10 minute/mile mark, so for the second 10 minutes I ran at 6.2 or 3 - don't remember. Caught up to the 10 min/mil mark at 16:00 and then went below the 10 minute mark. at 17:30 I jacked it up to 6.5, increased to 6.7 at 18:00, 6.8 (or 9) at 18:30 and 7.0 for the last minute. Don't remember my exact mileage, but it was slightly over 2 miles.

I was also pleased to see that my heart rate was in the 150's during the first 10 minutes and in the low 160's while I was running at 6.2 (or 3). This is a very measureable difference from when I started running at the first of the year and my heart rate was in the 180's while I was running at 5.8/6.0 on the treadmill. I can confidently say that I'm in great shape.

I also went on to do upper body weights. Ugh. Hate it. I think I mostly hate it because after doing 30 minutes of vigorous weight training, I only earned 1 activity point. Running 30 minutes = 3 APs, weight lifting for 30:00 = 1. Ugh. I'd rather run. But weight training is important so I will continue doing it. I almost failed most of my exercises on the last set. I'm working my back and shoulders particularly hard because a) I love toned arms and back and b) those muscles are pretty important to a running stride. So work them, I will. And then I will complain about how much I hate it:) And my arms were very jelly-like afterward which made washing my hair uncomfortable.

Didn't do bad with the diet over the weekend. I didn't count points, but I didn't eat terribly either. I'm glad to see my weight is down slightly from where it has been resting for the last few months. That is an encouraging sign. My official WW weigh in day is Friday so hopefully it is down even a slight bit more by the end of the week. I'm used to the eating/points again, so I'm again confident that I can handle it and not be so crabby and irritable about it. Once training starts up again, I'll reevaluate whether or not I want to continue, but I suspect it might not be so bad since my mileage and activity points will increase pretty dramatically at that point.

Still looking forward to the training - the structure and the actual workouts and the goal of the race on September 25th. I shall have much more motivation because of it.