Like girlfriend, haven't really worked out lately...been very bad. I did some Wii Fit on Friday and Saturday, which I guess is good, but 2 days of nothingness = bad. But anyway, we did some good hiking today in Rocky Mountain.
We went up to 12,000+ feet and probably hiked over 3 miles total. Not too bad.
Reviewing September goals tomorrow as well as my October goals.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
T = Fail
So I haven't blogged in forever. Yes, I fail here. I just haven't made it to the gym yet.
However, boyfriend and I did make it up to Rocky Mountain National Park today and hiked around for a few miles and some steep inclines and at ass-high altitude.
More from me tomorrow including:
- a recap of my September goals
- the October goals
- a photo or two from our adventures today
- hopefully an actual freaking workout blog
But for now, sleep 'cause I have to be at work at 4:15am. Boo.
However, boyfriend and I did make it up to Rocky Mountain National Park today and hiked around for a few miles and some steep inclines and at ass-high altitude.
More from me tomorrow including:
- a recap of my September goals
- the October goals
- a photo or two from our adventures today
- hopefully an actual freaking workout blog
But for now, sleep 'cause I have to be at work at 4:15am. Boo.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Frustrating Math
New job (up early + late lunch) * dinner issues ((food anxiety * late hour)/lack of decent protein in house) + early wake up tomorrow for said job - workout buddy = no gym time for me today. :(
We've discussed how life is not good for me if I take more than two days off from working out. Hopefully I can get back on track tomorrow after training day two. Hopefully. *siiiiigh*
In other news, I am now supporting my ill-paying hockey watching career by becoming a barista at Starbucks. I feel so disloyal to my favorite coffee shop EVER (colorado local what what), but T needs money and the world's most humongous coffee shop happened to be hiring and can work with my scorekeeping AND writing jobs (in that i can work mornings/early afternoons only). I'll put the upsides only, as I'm trying to stay positive over here ...
1. I'm making money. This is good, as my bank account is the lowest it's been since ... forever. Boo.
2. If I even maintain just 20 hours a week, I can get health and dental insurance that will undoubtedly be cheaper than the $156/mo I'm paying now.
3. I get a pound of coffee or box of tea free ... per week. This means that I could in theory hook all five of you readers up with coffee/tea at some point. Or a pound/box to give away to your respective zillions of readers. What what.
Sadly, I can also think of a few negatives, but I'm restraining so as not to post them. Trying.
We've discussed how life is not good for me if I take more than two days off from working out. Hopefully I can get back on track tomorrow after training day two. Hopefully. *siiiiigh*
In other news, I am now supporting my ill-paying hockey watching career by becoming a barista at Starbucks. I feel so disloyal to my favorite coffee shop EVER (colorado local what what), but T needs money and the world's most humongous coffee shop happened to be hiring and can work with my scorekeeping AND writing jobs (in that i can work mornings/early afternoons only). I'll put the upsides only, as I'm trying to stay positive over here ...
1. I'm making money. This is good, as my bank account is the lowest it's been since ... forever. Boo.
2. If I even maintain just 20 hours a week, I can get health and dental insurance that will undoubtedly be cheaper than the $156/mo I'm paying now.
3. I get a pound of coffee or box of tea free ... per week. This means that I could in theory hook all five of you readers up with coffee/tea at some point. Or a pound/box to give away to your respective zillions of readers. What what.
Sadly, I can also think of a few negatives, but I'm restraining so as not to post them. Trying.
Running in Wichita
Just went running along the river in Wichita. It was really nice although ridiculously humid. I hate humidity. I hate it.
Anyway, ran pretty well for a distance of 1.64 in 14:08. I felt really good throughout the whole thing, sometimes taking some stairs along the path.
More tomorrow, hopefully.
Anyway, ran pretty well for a distance of 1.64 in 14:08. I felt really good throughout the whole thing, sometimes taking some stairs along the path.
More tomorrow, hopefully.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Running...
Nothing too special today, except I ran pretty well. We took a slightly new course today that totaled out to be 1.94 miles. I ran it in 18:17 for a pace of 9:25. Not bad. It was hilly as hell, but that should be expected in Colorado.
Start a 2 day trip tomorrow. Hope I get some time to work out. Then I go home to Minny!
Start a 2 day trip tomorrow. Hope I get some time to work out. Then I go home to Minny!
And I Ran ...
... I ran so far away ... Gotta get away ...
And now since you have that earworm, the blog post.
Since we didn't end up running later yesterday, we went for a run this afternoon in the time between What Not to Wear and Jeopardy! We mapped out a 1.93 mile course (that includes that bitch of a hill, arrowhead way) and ran it. That course actually is really hilly - it sucks.
Regardless, I ran it in 18:24 for a 9:32.02 mile. What what.
And now since you have that earworm, the blog post.
Since we didn't end up running later yesterday, we went for a run this afternoon in the time between What Not to Wear and Jeopardy! We mapped out a 1.93 mile course (that includes that bitch of a hill, arrowhead way) and ran it. That course actually is really hilly - it sucks.
Regardless, I ran it in 18:24 for a 9:32.02 mile. What what.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Nice workouts today
I was in a lifting mood today...not sure why.
In any event, girlfriend and I headed over to the gym. Later than we wanted, but still got there. And of course, parking lot started filling up, so we decided rather than have a long session of mediocre lifting, we decided to up the intensity of our lifting.
Read girlfriends blog for what we did.
Then we went for a walk after delicious sushi lunch and decided to play a little softball at the park. I miss doing that.
Run for tomorrow.
In any event, girlfriend and I headed over to the gym. Later than we wanted, but still got there. And of course, parking lot started filling up, so we decided rather than have a long session of mediocre lifting, we decided to up the intensity of our lifting.
Read girlfriends blog for what we did.
Then we went for a walk after delicious sushi lunch and decided to play a little softball at the park. I miss doing that.
Run for tomorrow.
Random Gym Day
So this post probably should have been a little earlier today, but Brandon and I were still unsure if we were going to run or do another gym session or not. However, we ultimately decided no. So, he's down watching CSI: Miami and I'm starting season previews and watching The Hills. And yes, I'm marginally embarassed because of it, don't worry.
Anyway, I realized I hadn't blogged yet so decided to get on that.
We went to the gym early today - around 10:45am which was almost too "late" if you consider the crazy times at the gym. Silly lunch rush. Because of the crowds, we ended up having to do some higher weight than normal so we did the smarter thing and dropped the reps. So, we did:
- 2/8, 1/6 dumbbell bicep curls
- 2/10, 1/8 standing, bent over rows
- 2/10, 1/6 tricep extensions (using the rope on the cable machine)
- 2/10, 1/6 seated rows
- 1/10 turkish steamrollers (or turkish sit-ups or whatever. someone around the fitosphere talked about these a while back but i forget whom)
A little while after we had lunch (mmm, $1 sushi!), we decided to go for a walk to the park. For a change, we brought our baseball gloves, a softball and a bat so we messed around with that for a while, tossing the ball, hitting each other fly balls, etc.
See, two workouts and we were even pondering a third. We're crazy, I know.
Anyway, I realized I hadn't blogged yet so decided to get on that.
We went to the gym early today - around 10:45am which was almost too "late" if you consider the crazy times at the gym. Silly lunch rush. Because of the crowds, we ended up having to do some higher weight than normal so we did the smarter thing and dropped the reps. So, we did:
- 2/8, 1/6 dumbbell bicep curls
- 2/10, 1/8 standing, bent over rows
- 2/10, 1/6 tricep extensions (using the rope on the cable machine)
- 2/10, 1/6 seated rows
- 1/10 turkish steamrollers (or turkish sit-ups or whatever. someone around the fitosphere talked about these a while back but i forget whom)
A little while after we had lunch (mmm, $1 sushi!), we decided to go for a walk to the park. For a change, we brought our baseball gloves, a softball and a bat so we messed around with that for a while, tossing the ball, hitting each other fly balls, etc.
See, two workouts and we were even pondering a third. We're crazy, I know.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
5K #7 of the Season
And yes, technically this was #8, but yeah yeah. Whatevs.
So. We drove up to Buena Vista, Colo., yesterday to pick up our packets for the Autumn Color Run. This was my last run of the season last year and PRed with a 26:27, still my fastest race to date. I really liked this race last year so Brandon and I decided to do it this year. It's a great course - yeah, it's at 8,000 feet, but it's a nice straight line for 3.1 miles and slowly drops a few hundred feet over the course. Awesome? Yes.
After battling our food anxiety issues for dinner and some pre-race hot tub soaking, we spent the night in Salida which is about 30 miles south of Buena. It wasn't the best night's sleep and I definitely didn't want to get out of bed, but get out of bed I did. We packed up our stuff, loaded the car and went back inside for the hot breakfast (go holiday inn express, man). Some watery yet dry (how that happens, i don't know) eggs, papery bacon, instant oatmeal (at least it was quaker), bruised banana, crappy orange juice and coffee-milk, we were on the road back to Buena.
We got to Buena, parked and walked to this one park. The park was the race end and where we warmed up.
Brandon getting his warm-up playlist going on the ol' iPod.
Us pre-warm up.
We started to think we needed to poop, but the line at the port-o-potties was RIDICULOUSLY long. Luckily, the race director told us about another bathroom in another part of the park. A permanent bathroom.
Yay for actual restrooms at a race!
Sadly, I couldn't really poo, so I decided to try and warm up some instead. After some dynamic stretching (not plyometrics ... but kind of. i forget the name of them. did them for hockey all the time), some jumping jacks and some regular stretching, I decided to try and poo again. I was only marginally successful.
Since my bowels were not going to cooperate, I said a quick prayer to the running gods and asked if they did anything for me that race, they'd let any urges to go to wait until AFTER I crossed the finish line. I said this while we were walking back to the race central part of the park ... passing the port-o-potties. We saw people getting on the bus already, but I snapped a quick shot:
Only two port-o-potties for this race. Yeah, it's a small one.
We hopped on the bus (almost late! oops) and were driven 3.1 miles away to the race start which was officially outside of the city limits in random unincorporated Chaffee County.
Getting off the buses. Yes, that's Brandon in black.
Start was at an abandoned drive-in. How cool is that?
Pretty! View from the start.
The race people who were at the start got word of the time (or something) on their walkie-talkies, some Boy Scout shouted "GO" and we were off. As everyone was on the right side of the street, I was smart and immediately headed to the LEFT side so I was running against traffic, not with it. I also made sure I was in the margin as the county road we were running down wasn't closed to cars. I almost took a few pictures of the cars, but didn't feel like taking the time to do so.
Being on that side of the road meant I could see the spray painted mile markers on the street. Because of those, I'm pretty damn convinced that NO RACE has proper mileage signs. Or at least no race in Colorado. I saw the one mile marker painted on the ground and then, at least a good five minutes later (judging by the songs on my ipod), a sandwich board saying that there was two miles to go. A tenth of a mile in five minutes? Yeah, I'm not that slow, thanks.
Regardless, I kept running. The conditions were almost ideal - high-40s, but a little sunnier than I'd like. I passed a few people along the road which is always nice, but not too many. Once I got a bit more into town, I saw the stop light that's near the park. However, I kept my pace as I know distances can be deceiving. I didn't start to get really excited until I saw my car which was parked about three blocks away. Still, I didn't start my kick until right about the turn into the park for the finish. At that point, I saw Brandon coming back toward the course to try and get a picture of me finishing, but I told him no and just sprinted onward.
My time? There's a reason I love this race - 27:45. Nine minutes faster than my first 5K this year. 15 minutes faster than the 5K portion of the tri, but I'm not counting that. :-p It's kind of upsetting because had I finished in the same time I did last year, I would have placed second in my age group. *sigh* Still, I'm proud that I pulled that time out of my ass because I haven't done under a 9:00 mile yet this year and still have issues getting under 10:00 at times.
Even though Brandon had some issues with his time (he so finished before me though the official time won't say that due to some mishap. sucks, but i guess it's an unfortunate result of it being a VERY small race), we were still both happy about our races.
Though the Autumn Color Run is tentatively our last race of the season (*tear*), we still have possibilities on the horizon. For me, the biggest thing will be keeping up with running because I kind of stopped last year (partly because of ditching the bodybugg and just eating lots of crappy food without exercising) and it's been a total bitch getting back into it. It especially sucks because it's been a year and I'm still not back to the point I once was.
Oh well, someday, right?
So. We drove up to Buena Vista, Colo., yesterday to pick up our packets for the Autumn Color Run. This was my last run of the season last year and PRed with a 26:27, still my fastest race to date. I really liked this race last year so Brandon and I decided to do it this year. It's a great course - yeah, it's at 8,000 feet, but it's a nice straight line for 3.1 miles and slowly drops a few hundred feet over the course. Awesome? Yes.
After battling our food anxiety issues for dinner and some pre-race hot tub soaking, we spent the night in Salida which is about 30 miles south of Buena. It wasn't the best night's sleep and I definitely didn't want to get out of bed, but get out of bed I did. We packed up our stuff, loaded the car and went back inside for the hot breakfast (go holiday inn express, man). Some watery yet dry (how that happens, i don't know) eggs, papery bacon, instant oatmeal (at least it was quaker), bruised banana, crappy orange juice and coffee-milk, we were on the road back to Buena.
We got to Buena, parked and walked to this one park. The park was the race end and where we warmed up.
Brandon getting his warm-up playlist going on the ol' iPod.
Us pre-warm up.
We started to think we needed to poop, but the line at the port-o-potties was RIDICULOUSLY long. Luckily, the race director told us about another bathroom in another part of the park. A permanent bathroom.
Yay for actual restrooms at a race!
Sadly, I couldn't really poo, so I decided to try and warm up some instead. After some dynamic stretching (not plyometrics ... but kind of. i forget the name of them. did them for hockey all the time), some jumping jacks and some regular stretching, I decided to try and poo again. I was only marginally successful.
Since my bowels were not going to cooperate, I said a quick prayer to the running gods and asked if they did anything for me that race, they'd let any urges to go to wait until AFTER I crossed the finish line. I said this while we were walking back to the race central part of the park ... passing the port-o-potties. We saw people getting on the bus already, but I snapped a quick shot:
Only two port-o-potties for this race. Yeah, it's a small one.
We hopped on the bus (almost late! oops) and were driven 3.1 miles away to the race start which was officially outside of the city limits in random unincorporated Chaffee County.
Getting off the buses. Yes, that's Brandon in black.
Start was at an abandoned drive-in. How cool is that?
Pretty! View from the start.
The race people who were at the start got word of the time (or something) on their walkie-talkies, some Boy Scout shouted "GO" and we were off. As everyone was on the right side of the street, I was smart and immediately headed to the LEFT side so I was running against traffic, not with it. I also made sure I was in the margin as the county road we were running down wasn't closed to cars. I almost took a few pictures of the cars, but didn't feel like taking the time to do so.
Being on that side of the road meant I could see the spray painted mile markers on the street. Because of those, I'm pretty damn convinced that NO RACE has proper mileage signs. Or at least no race in Colorado. I saw the one mile marker painted on the ground and then, at least a good five minutes later (judging by the songs on my ipod), a sandwich board saying that there was two miles to go. A tenth of a mile in five minutes? Yeah, I'm not that slow, thanks.
Regardless, I kept running. The conditions were almost ideal - high-40s, but a little sunnier than I'd like. I passed a few people along the road which is always nice, but not too many. Once I got a bit more into town, I saw the stop light that's near the park. However, I kept my pace as I know distances can be deceiving. I didn't start to get really excited until I saw my car which was parked about three blocks away. Still, I didn't start my kick until right about the turn into the park for the finish. At that point, I saw Brandon coming back toward the course to try and get a picture of me finishing, but I told him no and just sprinted onward.
My time? There's a reason I love this race - 27:45. Nine minutes faster than my first 5K this year. 15 minutes faster than the 5K portion of the tri, but I'm not counting that. :-p It's kind of upsetting because had I finished in the same time I did last year, I would have placed second in my age group. *sigh* Still, I'm proud that I pulled that time out of my ass because I haven't done under a 9:00 mile yet this year and still have issues getting under 10:00 at times.
Even though Brandon had some issues with his time (he so finished before me though the official time won't say that due to some mishap. sucks, but i guess it's an unfortunate result of it being a VERY small race), we were still both happy about our races.
Though the Autumn Color Run is tentatively our last race of the season (*tear*), we still have possibilities on the horizon. For me, the biggest thing will be keeping up with running because I kind of stopped last year (partly because of ditching the bodybugg and just eating lots of crappy food without exercising) and it's been a total bitch getting back into it. It especially sucks because it's been a year and I'm still not back to the point I once was.
Oh well, someday, right?
7th 5K of the Season
Hooray, the 7th 5K of the season, quite possibly the last one I will be doing for the year 2008. *tear*
This 5K was called the Autumn Color 5K. Since it would be like a 3 hour drive to get there, we overnighted in Salida last night. Attempting to find good food was not easy and I ended up ordering some crappy ravioli. However, a nice relaxing soak in the hot tub helped me out. We then retreated to the room and chilled out. I played some poker and had some amazing hands, which I figured would be a good omen for the race.
Slept like shit though. There were a lot of weird noises in the hotel that woke me up, which is surprising, since I am usually a ridiculously sound sleeper. This I figured was a bad omen for the race. When we dropped our stuff off at the car, there was a fire truck and an ambulance outside. I immediately knew there was a heart attack or something in the hotel, and sure enough, I hold the door open for two paramedics who were wheeling out Old Man River on a stretcher. He was breathing, luckily.
We ate some Holiday Inn Express breakfast, which wasn't too appetizing, actually. I had some eggs, bacon, yogurt, banana, and oatmeal. We then took off for the drive up to Buena and the race.
We got there and immediately headed for the porta-potties, as we tend to do. Time was a little shorter, but we managed to stretch and get on the bus to get dropped off at the start. This race is unlike any I have done to date. There is no starting line; just a Boy Scout volunteer that says "go". The course is also a straight line; they bus you to the start and you run to the finish line where the bus picked you up.
So anyway, the bus dropped us off and after a minute or two of dinking around, we heard go and were off. I was so startled by it I couldn't even get my Nike+ thing going, which didn't matter anyway, because again it wasn't working. *tear*
I juggled with my iPod still and was able to get my running playlist on. And I was finally in the groove. Shortly after the race started my shoe came untied so I had to tie that, goddammit. Got knocked out of the groove of course, but settled in quickly.
When I saw the 2 mile to go sign, I was in disbelief. I didn't feel like I was running that spectacular, but I had an idea, and when I'm 13 minutes deep into my running playlist, I knew I wasn't running a 13 minute mile. Then something happened to me that really hasn't since the Rockies 5K. I settled into a consistent pace. I was able to hold a steady pace through pretty much the whole rest of the race. It was awesome!
I saw the finish and picked up my speed. I crossed the finish line not knowing my time, but hearing about 10 seconds after that people were in the 27 minute. I tried to go back for girlfriend to get her camera, but she was pretty much right behind me and she crossed the finish line in 27:45. We were both pretty happy about our times and went to get some post-race goodies and wait for the official times to get posted.
Unfortunately, something happened. Girlfriend's time got posted,but mine wasn't on the board. We then finally found it, and it said 28:17. The endorphines that I felt were gone. I was downcast and sad, because in my mind, nothing matters other than the official time that is posted. To make matters worse, when we tried to talk to someone about possibly getting my time changed, they balked at the idea, even though it was obvious that I finished in front of girlfriend.
We determined that I finished in between 27:00 and 27:30, roughly 30 seconds ahead of the girl. We called it 27:17. I ran the time of my playlist and it added up. So I'm ok with that. It's a PR obviously, which feels amazing. And it is a good feeling knowing how well I actually ran. I can keep working at it and keep improving.
This 5K was called the Autumn Color 5K. Since it would be like a 3 hour drive to get there, we overnighted in Salida last night. Attempting to find good food was not easy and I ended up ordering some crappy ravioli. However, a nice relaxing soak in the hot tub helped me out. We then retreated to the room and chilled out. I played some poker and had some amazing hands, which I figured would be a good omen for the race.
Slept like shit though. There were a lot of weird noises in the hotel that woke me up, which is surprising, since I am usually a ridiculously sound sleeper. This I figured was a bad omen for the race. When we dropped our stuff off at the car, there was a fire truck and an ambulance outside. I immediately knew there was a heart attack or something in the hotel, and sure enough, I hold the door open for two paramedics who were wheeling out Old Man River on a stretcher. He was breathing, luckily.
We ate some Holiday Inn Express breakfast, which wasn't too appetizing, actually. I had some eggs, bacon, yogurt, banana, and oatmeal. We then took off for the drive up to Buena and the race.
We got there and immediately headed for the porta-potties, as we tend to do. Time was a little shorter, but we managed to stretch and get on the bus to get dropped off at the start. This race is unlike any I have done to date. There is no starting line; just a Boy Scout volunteer that says "go". The course is also a straight line; they bus you to the start and you run to the finish line where the bus picked you up.
So anyway, the bus dropped us off and after a minute or two of dinking around, we heard go and were off. I was so startled by it I couldn't even get my Nike+ thing going, which didn't matter anyway, because again it wasn't working. *tear*
I juggled with my iPod still and was able to get my running playlist on. And I was finally in the groove. Shortly after the race started my shoe came untied so I had to tie that, goddammit. Got knocked out of the groove of course, but settled in quickly.
When I saw the 2 mile to go sign, I was in disbelief. I didn't feel like I was running that spectacular, but I had an idea, and when I'm 13 minutes deep into my running playlist, I knew I wasn't running a 13 minute mile. Then something happened to me that really hasn't since the Rockies 5K. I settled into a consistent pace. I was able to hold a steady pace through pretty much the whole rest of the race. It was awesome!
I saw the finish and picked up my speed. I crossed the finish line not knowing my time, but hearing about 10 seconds after that people were in the 27 minute. I tried to go back for girlfriend to get her camera, but she was pretty much right behind me and she crossed the finish line in 27:45. We were both pretty happy about our times and went to get some post-race goodies and wait for the official times to get posted.
Unfortunately, something happened. Girlfriend's time got posted,but mine wasn't on the board. We then finally found it, and it said 28:17. The endorphines that I felt were gone. I was downcast and sad, because in my mind, nothing matters other than the official time that is posted. To make matters worse, when we tried to talk to someone about possibly getting my time changed, they balked at the idea, even though it was obvious that I finished in front of girlfriend.
We determined that I finished in between 27:00 and 27:30, roughly 30 seconds ahead of the girl. We called it 27:17. I ran the time of my playlist and it added up. So I'm ok with that. It's a PR obviously, which feels amazing. And it is a good feeling knowing how well I actually ran. I can keep working at it and keep improving.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Post blog workout
After I wrote an ass-long blog earlier, I just went for a quick run. 2.11 miles in 19:38 for 9:18 minute mile. Not too bad.
Hopefully ready for that 5K on Saturday...
Hopefully ready for that 5K on Saturday...
Post-Run (and blog) Blah
After an ass-long blog post and an ass-hot 2.11 mile run (in 21:25 for a 10:09 mile), I'm pretty exhausted and don't feel like expounding much on a hilly-ass run and a blister that wants to appear three days before a race.
So, I'll just ask you kindly to read the afore-linked post and Brandon's before it. It feels weird exposing one's self to the community at large, but honestly, it felt pretty damn good to get all of that out.
So, I'll just ask you kindly to read the afore-linked post and Brandon's before it. It feels weird exposing one's self to the community at large, but honestly, it felt pretty damn good to get all of that out.
Overdue: The bodybugg Discussion
I know in past posts I've referenced a time when I was on the bodybugg. If you watch NBC's The Biggest Loser, you may have seen the little armband device on its contestants the past few seasons.
I've been putting off writing about my time on it because it was, honestly, a miserable time. That, and I wanted to give you more of my exercise/fitness backstory first. However, what happened with Brandon last night (read his entry), made me revisit my time on the bodybugg and why I went on the damn thing in the first place.
Though I've never had the best body image ever (hellloooooo, i'm female; it's in my genes to hate my body at some point or another), self-loathing never got bad until I started working at 24 Hour Fitness.
Crazy, I know.
I started working at 24 in December 2006. I needed a job and I figured one where I'd get a free gym membership would be awesome. So, I started working as a front desk receptionist (later: service representative), working the front desk, checking people in, stocking shit, cleaning shit (sometimes literally). I worked out often, but never crazily.
In March 2007, I got my body fat tested. 29.something%. Hasn't been that high since who knows when. I drank the Kool-aid and got some of the fat burn pills ... stupid idea since the start of March is the start of college hockey playoffs which means road trips for me, a lot of work and not a lot of time to work out and/or eat healthy.
Once hockey ended, I started a food and exercise diary - something I'd done off and on throughout college - on May 21, 2007. I don't remember much of why I started it, but I knew I wasn't happy.
On May 27, 2007, I snapped somehow. I refer to it as a nervous breakdown, though when Brandon looked his incident up, it was more like a panic attack. In any case, something happened. At 3:15pm, I went for a bike ride that lasted about a mile. I went down to the park, took a path I'd never taken before. I don't even remember seeing the parked trailer, but I pedaled right into the back of it. It shook me some. I felt like I had to get out, wander. But, since I just cycled into the back of a trailer, I didn't trust myself on a bike, much less behind the wheel of a car.
So, I turned around, went home, put my bike back in the garage and started walking. I walked to Target.
4:15pm: SNACK: 20 squares raw sugar cookie dough (circled later because it was bad food), 1 roma tomato, 3/4 mini cheese pizza (circled), 10 oz Dr. Pepper (circled)
I kept walking. And walking. And walking. I walked halfway to a friend's house but didn't continue because some voice inside me said not to. I turned around. I took a few pictures. Eventually, I made it back home. Six or seven miles later, I made it back home.
7:45pm: SNACK: 1 large slice cantaloupe, 24 oz H2O (none of it circled).
Not too much was circled after that, though the circles came back in early-mid June.
We had an intern trainer at the gym that summer. He bugged and bugged me to do a free session with him, to work whatever I wanted. Finally, I caved; said I wanted to work on core. That was on June 29, 2007.
2:30pm: GYM: plank 3 min, side plank 1 min, 20 ball hamstring things, 5 min bosu balance tosses w/ 4lb med ball-exercise ball, butt bridges w/ leg raises on ball (~ 2 min), bridged butt raises (10) on ball
I might also mention that was the first of three workout sessions that day. Another later at 5pm and hockey that night at 9pm.
I don't remember the exact day I started it, but less than a week later, I was on the bodybugg. It was my birthday gift to myself.
One that later ended up being worth three and a half months of misery.
The plan laid out for me on the bodybugg was to burn 3500 calories a day (remember, i was training for my first tri at that point - or trying) and eat about 750 fewer calories than that (so, what, 2800ish? my math sucks). I also needed to try and aim for a 60/20/20 breakdown - have 60 percent of my calories come from carbohydrates, 20 percent from protein and 20 percent from fat (so about 40g a day).
Those of you reading probably know what the "typical" "average" American diet is - you can easily get 40g of fat in a meal, much less a day.
However, in the early going, I didn't care too much about that. Didn't care ... until my weight wasn't going down like it should. My body fat was slowly edging down about according to plan (got my fat pinched every two weeks), but the weight wasn't budging.
I know part of that now was probably muscle weight as I tend to put on muscle fairly easily. That, and my brother is convinced that our family just has denser bones. I weighed 152 pounds senior year of high school. No way could you say I was fat. But, at 5'9", that's technically a tad higher than the experts say I should weigh.
In any case, I started watching my food more closely. Cutting out more and more things. Switching from regular bacon to turkey bacon. Regular eggs to Egg Beaters. Cutting out butter/margarine (or, in my family's case, brummel and brown) for no spread or just Simply Fruit strawberry spread on my whole wheat toast. Unless I went for sushi, I pretty much quit eating out. Even at sushi I cut out one of my favorites - the shrimp tempura roll. I bought a food scale and measured out everything I ate. I frustrated the hell out of my mom trying to get a recipe for foods she'd been making from pure memory for years just because I needed to log it into the bodybugg. I spent hours in the gym and running in the backyard and going for walks to meet and beat my step goals and make sure I burned at least a 1000 calories more than I was taking in so I could make that number go down.
I tried my damndest to get to and adhere to that 60/20/20 breakdown. It'd be 7pm, I'd need dinner and need x amount of protein, x amount of carbs ... but it could only have 2 grams of fat.
I pretty much stopped eating what my family ate. I joke a bit about it now, but I was basically down to eating Egg Beaters and oatmeal (and apex bars and some vegetables).
The number on the scale still really wasn't moving.
Did I look good near the end? I'll let you decide:
August 25, 2007. Still had two months to go on the bodybugg.
I looked good enough to feel confident about pulling off a hoochie top like that for going out dancing with my friends.
But look at my face. It's completely joyless.
Part of it, I'm sure, was due to eating like total shit the night before thanks to a friend's 30th birthday party. But then I went out the next night, danced as best I could (hard due to how miserable I was) and didn't touch a drop of alcohol even though everyone else I was out with was enjoying a drink.
I never fully recovered from that day in May. I had one day of happiness after that - August 5, 2007 - the day of my first tri. The endorphins were high enough that I felt good. However, it is important to note that I didn't treat myself for finishing the tri.
8:20am: GYM: 1/2 mi swim in 21 min, 11.4 mi bike in 43 min, 3.1 mi run in 32 min -> tri in 1:47:22
10:50am: SNACK: 1 banana, 1 cinnamon-raisin bagel, 1 Apex apple pie fruit fuel bar
~ 10 oz fruit punch Powerade, 14 oz H2O
2:30pm: LUNCH: 1/2 slice orange, 16 grapes, 1 16oz Jamba Juice protein berry pizzaz smoothie
5:00pm: SNACK: 3/4 c bran flakes w/ 1 packet Splenda + 1/4 c 1% milk
7:30pm: DINNER: 1 turkey mignon, 1 1/4 c green beans, 2 c mashed potatoes
~ 12 oz H2O
The depression, or funk, or whatever I was in never went away. It became harder and harder to plaster a smile on my face at work. The trainers whom I was friendly with knew something was up and said, "we're pulling for you." Same with the members I was friendly with. My direct manager knew something was up, but except for the smiling and a bit more bite toward rude customers, I still performed my job duties to the best of my ability.
The club manager, however, was mad I wasn't smiling (let's not go into how i never get greeted with a smile when i go to that club now ... unless someone i know is working the front desk) and greeting customers. I started working more and more shifts in Kids Club since, supposedly, CM was getting complaints about me.
Eventually, I was in a meeting with CM and DM. CM basically told me to get happy or I was fired.
Then expected a week turnaround. Ha. Right.
I knew the end was coming. The job had sucked the soul out of me and ruined my body image.
I turned in my two weeks and shitcanned the bodybugg. $200 still sitting in a box in my closet.
Another picture of me from that year doesn't exist until October 13, 2007 - two days after I quit the food diary. Probably two days after I quit the bodybugg - I don't honestly remember.
I do remember the day I quit the bodybugg. I took it off my arm at work - it had been giving me a weird rash-thing for about a month at that point - and said I was taking a break. I walked to the gas station, bought a Bon Appetit cheese croissant, coffee and hell, maybe even some Hostess chocolate donettes. I don't think I worked out for a month.
Basically, three and a half months of hard work went down the toilet in three weeks. Almost all my hard work - gone.
I don't think I fully recovered until mid-December, 2007. It was at that point I went on tInvasion - a college hockey trip up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (and also the weekend where brandon and i hooked up for the first time ... and started dating two days later). I almost didn't go since I thought I wouldn't have fun - I hadn't been having much fun in any of my social outings - but I did.
As you know (or do now!), I started this blog in January 2008. It was a way to get back on track.
But, as Brandon's panic attack/nervous breakdown attests, we haven't really been getting back on track. For me, at least, I had started back down the same path.
Oh sure, it wasn't to the same extent, but the signs started coming back, and none so great as last Saturday.
Brandon and I got back from Aspen and agreed with my parents to go out to lunch. They suggested Chick-Fil-A (which i love but haven't eaten in forever since the grease is starting to not agree with the ol' internal plumbing). I agreed at first, but then quickly amended to make it the mall food court (where a chick-fil-a exists). Brandon got Subway.
I had basically an anxiety attack. I looked at all the food options, walked around the food court and couldn't decide on anything. I had a sugar cookie in my hand at Subway (to make it part of brandon's combo) and put it down. I couldn't get a salad or deli sandwich at Paradise. A fruit smoothie at Squeeze seemed out of the question. My breathing got heavier and I almost started to cry. The food court seemed to be closing in on me.
We walked out and left.
A little later that week, after a dinner at home that also didn't happen to agree with me, I smuggled a Drumstick upstairs (ice cream one, peoples) in the pouch of my sweatshirt to eat upstairs lest my parents see it and make a crack at me (as they're wont to do).
Yeah. Because behavior like sneaking an ice cream treat is healthy and normal.
Then came last night. I tennis ball-ed (okay, more like baseball-ed) my shoulder (thanks, mark!) and we went to the gym. I foam rolled (brandon stretched), we did five minutes on the recumbent, stretched (brandon stretched again) and got on the stationary bike.
The plan was to do 20 minutes on the bike, maybe some elliptical and lift. At that point, I knew Brandon was feeling detached and out of it. But then, 3:41 into the bike, Brandon got off. Said he couldn't do it anymore. I didn't know what was going on, so I got off my bike. Ran into Brandon. He said he had to get out. Told him to wait two minutes while I grabbed my stuff. He wanted to walk home. Told him no, we live seven minutes away; we'd drive. Got home, had him grab a sweatshirt (i grabbed one as well as my wallet, phone, keys and a flashlight) and we went for a walk. Didn't even get that far before Brandon sat on the sidewalk, on a curb under a streetlight and started to think. And talk.
After a bit, we walked again. Eventually, he snapped back out of it. Realized that the food anxieties he'd been going through were his own fault (same over here, really). Drove around, trying to find ... something. Eventually came back to 7-11, grabbed an ice cream bar, and, with great hesitation, ate it. It was hard, but we did it.
Ultimately, I think in a weird, roundabout way, we were almost heading close to Charlotte's orthorexia (don't mean to pick on you charlotte; you're just, well, the best example out in ze ol' fitosphere). In any case, it was disordered eating of some type.
Hopefully things will get better from here, but as I told Brandon last night at some point - there is a fine, fine line one toes in trying to be healthy without being obsessive.
I've been putting off writing about my time on it because it was, honestly, a miserable time. That, and I wanted to give you more of my exercise/fitness backstory first. However, what happened with Brandon last night (read his entry), made me revisit my time on the bodybugg and why I went on the damn thing in the first place.
Though I've never had the best body image ever (hellloooooo, i'm female; it's in my genes to hate my body at some point or another), self-loathing never got bad until I started working at 24 Hour Fitness.
Crazy, I know.
I started working at 24 in December 2006. I needed a job and I figured one where I'd get a free gym membership would be awesome. So, I started working as a front desk receptionist (later: service representative), working the front desk, checking people in, stocking shit, cleaning shit (sometimes literally). I worked out often, but never crazily.
In March 2007, I got my body fat tested. 29.something%. Hasn't been that high since who knows when. I drank the Kool-aid and got some of the fat burn pills ... stupid idea since the start of March is the start of college hockey playoffs which means road trips for me, a lot of work and not a lot of time to work out and/or eat healthy.
Once hockey ended, I started a food and exercise diary - something I'd done off and on throughout college - on May 21, 2007. I don't remember much of why I started it, but I knew I wasn't happy.
On May 27, 2007, I snapped somehow. I refer to it as a nervous breakdown, though when Brandon looked his incident up, it was more like a panic attack. In any case, something happened. At 3:15pm, I went for a bike ride that lasted about a mile. I went down to the park, took a path I'd never taken before. I don't even remember seeing the parked trailer, but I pedaled right into the back of it. It shook me some. I felt like I had to get out, wander. But, since I just cycled into the back of a trailer, I didn't trust myself on a bike, much less behind the wheel of a car.
So, I turned around, went home, put my bike back in the garage and started walking. I walked to Target.
4:15pm: SNACK: 20 squares raw sugar cookie dough (circled later because it was bad food), 1 roma tomato, 3/4 mini cheese pizza (circled), 10 oz Dr. Pepper (circled)
I kept walking. And walking. And walking. I walked halfway to a friend's house but didn't continue because some voice inside me said not to. I turned around. I took a few pictures. Eventually, I made it back home. Six or seven miles later, I made it back home.
7:45pm: SNACK: 1 large slice cantaloupe, 24 oz H2O (none of it circled).
Not too much was circled after that, though the circles came back in early-mid June.
We had an intern trainer at the gym that summer. He bugged and bugged me to do a free session with him, to work whatever I wanted. Finally, I caved; said I wanted to work on core. That was on June 29, 2007.
2:30pm: GYM: plank 3 min, side plank 1 min, 20 ball hamstring things, 5 min bosu balance tosses w/ 4lb med ball-exercise ball, butt bridges w/ leg raises on ball (~ 2 min), bridged butt raises (10) on ball
I might also mention that was the first of three workout sessions that day. Another later at 5pm and hockey that night at 9pm.
I don't remember the exact day I started it, but less than a week later, I was on the bodybugg. It was my birthday gift to myself.
One that later ended up being worth three and a half months of misery.
The plan laid out for me on the bodybugg was to burn 3500 calories a day (remember, i was training for my first tri at that point - or trying) and eat about 750 fewer calories than that (so, what, 2800ish? my math sucks). I also needed to try and aim for a 60/20/20 breakdown - have 60 percent of my calories come from carbohydrates, 20 percent from protein and 20 percent from fat (so about 40g a day).
Those of you reading probably know what the "typical" "average" American diet is - you can easily get 40g of fat in a meal, much less a day.
However, in the early going, I didn't care too much about that. Didn't care ... until my weight wasn't going down like it should. My body fat was slowly edging down about according to plan (got my fat pinched every two weeks), but the weight wasn't budging.
I know part of that now was probably muscle weight as I tend to put on muscle fairly easily. That, and my brother is convinced that our family just has denser bones. I weighed 152 pounds senior year of high school. No way could you say I was fat. But, at 5'9", that's technically a tad higher than the experts say I should weigh.
In any case, I started watching my food more closely. Cutting out more and more things. Switching from regular bacon to turkey bacon. Regular eggs to Egg Beaters. Cutting out butter/margarine (or, in my family's case, brummel and brown) for no spread or just Simply Fruit strawberry spread on my whole wheat toast. Unless I went for sushi, I pretty much quit eating out. Even at sushi I cut out one of my favorites - the shrimp tempura roll. I bought a food scale and measured out everything I ate. I frustrated the hell out of my mom trying to get a recipe for foods she'd been making from pure memory for years just because I needed to log it into the bodybugg. I spent hours in the gym and running in the backyard and going for walks to meet and beat my step goals and make sure I burned at least a 1000 calories more than I was taking in so I could make that number go down.
I tried my damndest to get to and adhere to that 60/20/20 breakdown. It'd be 7pm, I'd need dinner and need x amount of protein, x amount of carbs ... but it could only have 2 grams of fat.
I pretty much stopped eating what my family ate. I joke a bit about it now, but I was basically down to eating Egg Beaters and oatmeal (and apex bars and some vegetables).
The number on the scale still really wasn't moving.
Did I look good near the end? I'll let you decide:
August 25, 2007. Still had two months to go on the bodybugg.
I looked good enough to feel confident about pulling off a hoochie top like that for going out dancing with my friends.
But look at my face. It's completely joyless.
Part of it, I'm sure, was due to eating like total shit the night before thanks to a friend's 30th birthday party. But then I went out the next night, danced as best I could (hard due to how miserable I was) and didn't touch a drop of alcohol even though everyone else I was out with was enjoying a drink.
I never fully recovered from that day in May. I had one day of happiness after that - August 5, 2007 - the day of my first tri. The endorphins were high enough that I felt good. However, it is important to note that I didn't treat myself for finishing the tri.
8:20am: GYM: 1/2 mi swim in 21 min, 11.4 mi bike in 43 min, 3.1 mi run in 32 min -> tri in 1:47:22
10:50am: SNACK: 1 banana, 1 cinnamon-raisin bagel, 1 Apex apple pie fruit fuel bar
~ 10 oz fruit punch Powerade, 14 oz H2O
2:30pm: LUNCH: 1/2 slice orange, 16 grapes, 1 16oz Jamba Juice protein berry pizzaz smoothie
5:00pm: SNACK: 3/4 c bran flakes w/ 1 packet Splenda + 1/4 c 1% milk
7:30pm: DINNER: 1 turkey mignon, 1 1/4 c green beans, 2 c mashed potatoes
~ 12 oz H2O
The depression, or funk, or whatever I was in never went away. It became harder and harder to plaster a smile on my face at work. The trainers whom I was friendly with knew something was up and said, "we're pulling for you." Same with the members I was friendly with. My direct manager knew something was up, but except for the smiling and a bit more bite toward rude customers, I still performed my job duties to the best of my ability.
The club manager, however, was mad I wasn't smiling (let's not go into how i never get greeted with a smile when i go to that club now ... unless someone i know is working the front desk) and greeting customers. I started working more and more shifts in Kids Club since, supposedly, CM was getting complaints about me.
Eventually, I was in a meeting with CM and DM. CM basically told me to get happy or I was fired.
Then expected a week turnaround. Ha. Right.
I knew the end was coming. The job had sucked the soul out of me and ruined my body image.
I turned in my two weeks and shitcanned the bodybugg. $200 still sitting in a box in my closet.
Another picture of me from that year doesn't exist until October 13, 2007 - two days after I quit the food diary. Probably two days after I quit the bodybugg - I don't honestly remember.
I do remember the day I quit the bodybugg. I took it off my arm at work - it had been giving me a weird rash-thing for about a month at that point - and said I was taking a break. I walked to the gas station, bought a Bon Appetit cheese croissant, coffee and hell, maybe even some Hostess chocolate donettes. I don't think I worked out for a month.
Basically, three and a half months of hard work went down the toilet in three weeks. Almost all my hard work - gone.
I don't think I fully recovered until mid-December, 2007. It was at that point I went on tInvasion - a college hockey trip up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (and also the weekend where brandon and i hooked up for the first time ... and started dating two days later). I almost didn't go since I thought I wouldn't have fun - I hadn't been having much fun in any of my social outings - but I did.
As you know (or do now!), I started this blog in January 2008. It was a way to get back on track.
But, as Brandon's panic attack/nervous breakdown attests, we haven't really been getting back on track. For me, at least, I had started back down the same path.
Oh sure, it wasn't to the same extent, but the signs started coming back, and none so great as last Saturday.
Brandon and I got back from Aspen and agreed with my parents to go out to lunch. They suggested Chick-Fil-A (which i love but haven't eaten in forever since the grease is starting to not agree with the ol' internal plumbing). I agreed at first, but then quickly amended to make it the mall food court (where a chick-fil-a exists). Brandon got Subway.
I had basically an anxiety attack. I looked at all the food options, walked around the food court and couldn't decide on anything. I had a sugar cookie in my hand at Subway (to make it part of brandon's combo) and put it down. I couldn't get a salad or deli sandwich at Paradise. A fruit smoothie at Squeeze seemed out of the question. My breathing got heavier and I almost started to cry. The food court seemed to be closing in on me.
We walked out and left.
A little later that week, after a dinner at home that also didn't happen to agree with me, I smuggled a Drumstick upstairs (ice cream one, peoples) in the pouch of my sweatshirt to eat upstairs lest my parents see it and make a crack at me (as they're wont to do).
Yeah. Because behavior like sneaking an ice cream treat is healthy and normal.
Then came last night. I tennis ball-ed (okay, more like baseball-ed) my shoulder (thanks, mark!) and we went to the gym. I foam rolled (brandon stretched), we did five minutes on the recumbent, stretched (brandon stretched again) and got on the stationary bike.
The plan was to do 20 minutes on the bike, maybe some elliptical and lift. At that point, I knew Brandon was feeling detached and out of it. But then, 3:41 into the bike, Brandon got off. Said he couldn't do it anymore. I didn't know what was going on, so I got off my bike. Ran into Brandon. He said he had to get out. Told him to wait two minutes while I grabbed my stuff. He wanted to walk home. Told him no, we live seven minutes away; we'd drive. Got home, had him grab a sweatshirt (i grabbed one as well as my wallet, phone, keys and a flashlight) and we went for a walk. Didn't even get that far before Brandon sat on the sidewalk, on a curb under a streetlight and started to think. And talk.
After a bit, we walked again. Eventually, he snapped back out of it. Realized that the food anxieties he'd been going through were his own fault (same over here, really). Drove around, trying to find ... something. Eventually came back to 7-11, grabbed an ice cream bar, and, with great hesitation, ate it. It was hard, but we did it.
Ultimately, I think in a weird, roundabout way, we were almost heading close to Charlotte's orthorexia (don't mean to pick on you charlotte; you're just, well, the best example out in ze ol' fitosphere). In any case, it was disordered eating of some type.
Hopefully things will get better from here, but as I told Brandon last night at some point - there is a fine, fine line one toes in trying to be healthy without being obsessive.
A serious entry
Most of our posts up to this point have been humorous, or at the very least, non-serious. Yesterday, something happened to me that made me literally snap.
I woke up not feeling myself. Don't know how to describe it, but I just was not myself. We went to the food court in the mall to decide on something for lunch. For those who haven't been keeping track of our goals, one of mine is to not eat any fast food other than Taco Bell or Subway. Well, we were doing a loop of the food court and something came over me. It was like I was there, but wasn't. As girlfriend put it, I was detached from myself. And the oddest thing is, I don't remember much about it. I came back down to earth shortly thereafter.
But as the day was pressing on, I was definitely drifting in and out of reality. Even during Jeopardy I was not there. Theresa was noticing something but couldn't put her finger on it. Later in the evening before we went to the gym, we were discussing the economy, which put both of us in a pretty depressed mood. Driving to the gym was a little weird, and walking in was weird as well. I put my stuff in the locker room, and while girlfriend foam rolled I stretched. We then warmed up for 5 minutes and stretched out more, and this is where I lose track of things. I remember we started on the stationary bikes and I had to get out of the gym. I just had to. I was not in my body.
We left the gym and drove home. My senses were on high alert; I could hear things and see things I never knew were there. We went for a walk and I just had to sit down and talk. And things came spilling out. My lord. Work, money, not letting go of things that happened in the past, and most surprising, my new lifestyle change. I mentioned how the stories in Mens Health about the guys that lose 90 lbs don't mention how hard it actually is. That these guys never have setbacks, or feel insecure at any point. One day they wake up, look in the mirror, and switch their lifestyle over and now they are running marathons. I have one thing to say to all of that. FUCK YOU. Seriously. This change that I have made over the past year has not been easy. In fact, it's been damn near impossible at times. I've cut out a ridiculous amount of things from my diet that I used to love. I've resorted to beating myself up internally if I slip a little bit. It's gotten to the point that I don't even want to have one alcoholic drink for all the empty calories it contains. I am at the stage where if I take one bite of bad food, it will blow me up to 208 pounds. Just like that. That is what is in my mind right now.
Of course, this all came spilling out last night at 11:00 on the street. I looked up online what happened and it turns out it was an anxiety attack. The feeling of just having to get out all at once.
The big question obviously was, how do we prevent this sort of thing from happening in the future? I mean, I guess it was hard to admit but I have a form of an eating disorder. The term is orthorexia, where a person focuses so hard on eating healthy that it turns into a fixation. I wouldn't say that mine is serious; it's not like I eat ridiculously healthy for sure. But I do really want to take care of myself. And after evaltualing last night, it appears that this has taken over my life.
A perfect point Theresa brought up to me. Oreos are in the top 10 of my favorite foods. Delicious Double Stuffed Oreos. There is a box of them sitting under my bed. Right under where I sleep. And it's been sitting there for nearly a month. I have eaten less than 1/2 a dozen. No joke. These are just sitting there. Is this showing an amazing ability of willpower? Maybe. But I think what it is realistically showing is that I am depriving myself of things that I love and internally that is hurting me.
So the question is, where do we go from here? The line that we are toeing between being healthy and hurting ourselves is very fine. Obviously we are trying to be healthy, because ultimately it's a better way to live. The benefits of having a healthy body far outweigh a non-healthy body. The question is, how do we find that fine balance? We beat ourselves up pretty bad over what we eat, moreso than we should. I think we've both gotten to a point where anything we put in our bodies negatively affects us.
Unfortunately, there isn't a simple solution. I'm not going to allow myself to suddenly scarf down whatever the hell I want because that would just throw it all away. I'm not going to let back in everything that I have cut out, because that would just throw it all away. What I think I'm going to do is every now and then allow myself a treat. Not just a piece of dark chocolate, but a few Oreos, a couple slices of pizza, a regular pop, a beer, a Crown and diet,. By not prohibiting these things and instead allowing them in my life, it will remind me that eating them is not instant death or huge weight gain.
Off for a run. Will keep everyone updated.
I woke up not feeling myself. Don't know how to describe it, but I just was not myself. We went to the food court in the mall to decide on something for lunch. For those who haven't been keeping track of our goals, one of mine is to not eat any fast food other than Taco Bell or Subway. Well, we were doing a loop of the food court and something came over me. It was like I was there, but wasn't. As girlfriend put it, I was detached from myself. And the oddest thing is, I don't remember much about it. I came back down to earth shortly thereafter.
But as the day was pressing on, I was definitely drifting in and out of reality. Even during Jeopardy I was not there. Theresa was noticing something but couldn't put her finger on it. Later in the evening before we went to the gym, we were discussing the economy, which put both of us in a pretty depressed mood. Driving to the gym was a little weird, and walking in was weird as well. I put my stuff in the locker room, and while girlfriend foam rolled I stretched. We then warmed up for 5 minutes and stretched out more, and this is where I lose track of things. I remember we started on the stationary bikes and I had to get out of the gym. I just had to. I was not in my body.
We left the gym and drove home. My senses were on high alert; I could hear things and see things I never knew were there. We went for a walk and I just had to sit down and talk. And things came spilling out. My lord. Work, money, not letting go of things that happened in the past, and most surprising, my new lifestyle change. I mentioned how the stories in Mens Health about the guys that lose 90 lbs don't mention how hard it actually is. That these guys never have setbacks, or feel insecure at any point. One day they wake up, look in the mirror, and switch their lifestyle over and now they are running marathons. I have one thing to say to all of that. FUCK YOU. Seriously. This change that I have made over the past year has not been easy. In fact, it's been damn near impossible at times. I've cut out a ridiculous amount of things from my diet that I used to love. I've resorted to beating myself up internally if I slip a little bit. It's gotten to the point that I don't even want to have one alcoholic drink for all the empty calories it contains. I am at the stage where if I take one bite of bad food, it will blow me up to 208 pounds. Just like that. That is what is in my mind right now.
Of course, this all came spilling out last night at 11:00 on the street. I looked up online what happened and it turns out it was an anxiety attack. The feeling of just having to get out all at once.
The big question obviously was, how do we prevent this sort of thing from happening in the future? I mean, I guess it was hard to admit but I have a form of an eating disorder. The term is orthorexia, where a person focuses so hard on eating healthy that it turns into a fixation. I wouldn't say that mine is serious; it's not like I eat ridiculously healthy for sure. But I do really want to take care of myself. And after evaltualing last night, it appears that this has taken over my life.
A perfect point Theresa brought up to me. Oreos are in the top 10 of my favorite foods. Delicious Double Stuffed Oreos. There is a box of them sitting under my bed. Right under where I sleep. And it's been sitting there for nearly a month. I have eaten less than 1/2 a dozen. No joke. These are just sitting there. Is this showing an amazing ability of willpower? Maybe. But I think what it is realistically showing is that I am depriving myself of things that I love and internally that is hurting me.
So the question is, where do we go from here? The line that we are toeing between being healthy and hurting ourselves is very fine. Obviously we are trying to be healthy, because ultimately it's a better way to live. The benefits of having a healthy body far outweigh a non-healthy body. The question is, how do we find that fine balance? We beat ourselves up pretty bad over what we eat, moreso than we should. I think we've both gotten to a point where anything we put in our bodies negatively affects us.
Unfortunately, there isn't a simple solution. I'm not going to allow myself to suddenly scarf down whatever the hell I want because that would just throw it all away. I'm not going to let back in everything that I have cut out, because that would just throw it all away. What I think I'm going to do is every now and then allow myself a treat. Not just a piece of dark chocolate, but a few Oreos, a couple slices of pizza, a regular pop, a beer, a Crown and diet,. By not prohibiting these things and instead allowing them in my life, it will remind me that eating them is not instant death or huge weight gain.
Off for a run. Will keep everyone updated.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
H.I.I.T., I Hate You (when i have a cold)
Not expounding much - READ THE POST BEFORE THIS ONE. It is more important.
*ahem*
Did treadmill sprints today like the boy ... but shorter and I'm retarded because I forgot to warm-up and stretch. Oops.
Anyway, did all my walking at 3.5mph ... and 3.5 incline. Which is fairly hefty. Then, the sprints.
First Sprint: 6.0 mph
Second Sprint: 6.2 mph
Third Sprint: 6.5 mph ...
... At this point, my lungs (which had been hating me before), REALLY started to hate me. Damn cold. So, I decided to chop up my last three minutes ...
12:00-13:30: 6.5 mph, 3.5 incline
13:30-14:30: 7.0 mph, 3.5 incline
14:30-15:00: 7.0 mph, 5.0 incline
That was ouchy. I walked for a minute to cool down (warm down? is there a difference?), stretched out a bit and went home.
READ THE NEXT POST AND COMMENT, plzkthx.
*ahem*
Did treadmill sprints today like the boy ... but shorter and I'm retarded because I forgot to warm-up and stretch. Oops.
Anyway, did all my walking at 3.5mph ... and 3.5 incline. Which is fairly hefty. Then, the sprints.
First Sprint: 6.0 mph
Second Sprint: 6.2 mph
Third Sprint: 6.5 mph ...
... At this point, my lungs (which had been hating me before), REALLY started to hate me. Damn cold. So, I decided to chop up my last three minutes ...
12:00-13:30: 6.5 mph, 3.5 incline
13:30-14:30: 7.0 mph, 3.5 incline
14:30-15:00: 7.0 mph, 5.0 incline
That was ouchy. I walked for a minute to cool down (warm down? is there a difference?), stretched out a bit and went home.
READ THE NEXT POST AND COMMENT, plzkthx.
WANTED: Advice from the Fitosphere
So. Brandon and I post on this college hockey message board ... a board that is actually part of the reason why we met. Anyway, on this board, there's a diet and exercise thread. One of the posters posted the following:
"I have started in the regimen of working out. Short term, I have concluded that I will not be able to maintain a workout schedule as I would like but something is better than nothing. 2 kids and a schedule that is about as full as it can be are the main culprits.
Long term, the community in which I live is in the process of building a kick ass YMCA. My wife and I plan on making visits to the Y a daily thing with all the family once it is open next September. Within the next year I will be stepping back from many of my commitments to free up my schedule.
Here's my situation.
Both my wife and I were in tip top shape just few years ago and now not so much. My wife has recently dedicated herself to Weight Watchers. I am not sold on it. Not that it doesn't or may not work but to me it seems to be complicated. It is important to her for me to get on board with it. If I am unwilling to be supportive it will more than likely make it difficult for her to be successful. Any ideas/feedback/opinions?
Thanks!"
So, few readers that I may have, I guess I ask you the following:
1.) Any of you tried WW? Is it actually that complicated?
2.) I know he can be supportive of her without actually doing WW, but what if his wife is adamant about him doing the program - what then?
3.) How else could he "get on board with it" without necessarily actually joining WW with her?
Thanks, everybody!
Oh, and tell your friends to hop on over here to help, too. ;)
"I have started in the regimen of working out. Short term, I have concluded that I will not be able to maintain a workout schedule as I would like but something is better than nothing. 2 kids and a schedule that is about as full as it can be are the main culprits.
Long term, the community in which I live is in the process of building a kick ass YMCA. My wife and I plan on making visits to the Y a daily thing with all the family once it is open next September. Within the next year I will be stepping back from many of my commitments to free up my schedule.
Here's my situation.
Both my wife and I were in tip top shape just few years ago and now not so much. My wife has recently dedicated herself to Weight Watchers. I am not sold on it. Not that it doesn't or may not work but to me it seems to be complicated. It is important to her for me to get on board with it. If I am unwilling to be supportive it will more than likely make it difficult for her to be successful. Any ideas/feedback/opinions?
Thanks!"
So, few readers that I may have, I guess I ask you the following:
1.) Any of you tried WW? Is it actually that complicated?
2.) I know he can be supportive of her without actually doing WW, but what if his wife is adamant about him doing the program - what then?
3.) How else could he "get on board with it" without necessarily actually joining WW with her?
Thanks, everybody!
Oh, and tell your friends to hop on over here to help, too. ;)
Hooray for the treadmill workout
Woke up this morning feeling motivated, although working out without my workout buddy is really hard. :-(
When I went downstairs it didn't look like the workout room was open, which really made me mad. I wasn't going to go running around El Paso. But luckily it was open. I decided due to time I would just do a 25 minute treadmill workout, but would definitely push myself for those 25 minutes. And I did.
Set the incline to 3 and started. First run was at 6.1. Second run was at 6.5. I started to feel really good even though I was sweating like crazy cause the room was really hot. Third run was 6.8. For the 4th, I backed it down to 6.5, then for the final sprint, I went nuts. 30 seconds at 6.0, 30 seconds at 6.4, 30 seconds at 7.0, 30 seconds at 7.4, 30 seconds at 8.0, and for the final 30 seconds went at 11.0
A good workout, and more tonight
When I went downstairs it didn't look like the workout room was open, which really made me mad. I wasn't going to go running around El Paso. But luckily it was open. I decided due to time I would just do a 25 minute treadmill workout, but would definitely push myself for those 25 minutes. And I did.
Set the incline to 3 and started. First run was at 6.1. Second run was at 6.5. I started to feel really good even though I was sweating like crazy cause the room was really hot. Third run was 6.8. For the 4th, I backed it down to 6.5, then for the final sprint, I went nuts. 30 seconds at 6.0, 30 seconds at 6.4, 30 seconds at 7.0, 30 seconds at 7.4, 30 seconds at 8.0, and for the final 30 seconds went at 11.0
A good workout, and more tonight
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Rest = Good
After two well-deserved days off (so ... sore ...) and more of an adventure than we really wanted in Aspen (ran into creepy guy at campsite; ended up spending the night - still in my car, but in a parking garage. yeah.), we got back into working out tonight.
The original plan we came up with yesterday was to run Red Rocks and lift, but Red Rocks is closed this weekend for some music festival, so we came up with plan b - lifting and a nice little swim.
Too bad neither of us really had anything in us.
After the typical warm up, we stretched out and decided what to do. We decided that, instead of sets, we'd just do as many reps as possible to failure. So, we did that with arms since they were the only things really not still kind of achy.
Started off with legs - lunged across the group x room and then did body weight squats until we could squat no more (well, squat no more keeping good form). We moved to core - a few supermans and then held a plank. Our cores were still really sore, but I was able to hold my plank for a minute and probably could have gone longer. Then ... arms.
Brandon made my arms cry out in pain. We started doing one-arm dumbbell curls. Curled until failure. Then dropped the weight - rinse, repeat. Did the same thing with lat pulldowns. I swear I was doing lat pulldowns for a freaking half-hour. Arms = dead.
After that lifting session that made it seem like we did so much more than we actually did, it was time for the pool. Probably managed 350 meters total - 200 continuous breaststroke, 50m with a kickboard, 50m backstroke, 50m freestyle crawl. My crawl still sucks, by the way. Must get that better before my next tri which will be sometime next summer.
Not sure what's going on tomorrow morning before Brandon leaves on a trip, but it will probably be running as we have our 7th official 5K of the season coming up on Saturday!
And while I mentioned that neither of us really had it today, I think it was for different reasons. Not sure why Brandon didn't, but me? I learned that my favorite professor from college who was a friend and mentor passed away. It hit me as a shock. If you like well-written (hockey) books, check out Home Ice. Or, if you like fiction mixed with some hockey, check out Saved, which I actually have an acknowledgement in.
Rest in peace, Jack Falla. You will be missed.
The original plan we came up with yesterday was to run Red Rocks and lift, but Red Rocks is closed this weekend for some music festival, so we came up with plan b - lifting and a nice little swim.
Too bad neither of us really had anything in us.
After the typical warm up, we stretched out and decided what to do. We decided that, instead of sets, we'd just do as many reps as possible to failure. So, we did that with arms since they were the only things really not still kind of achy.
Started off with legs - lunged across the group x room and then did body weight squats until we could squat no more (well, squat no more keeping good form). We moved to core - a few supermans and then held a plank. Our cores were still really sore, but I was able to hold my plank for a minute and probably could have gone longer. Then ... arms.
Brandon made my arms cry out in pain. We started doing one-arm dumbbell curls. Curled until failure. Then dropped the weight - rinse, repeat. Did the same thing with lat pulldowns. I swear I was doing lat pulldowns for a freaking half-hour. Arms = dead.
After that lifting session that made it seem like we did so much more than we actually did, it was time for the pool. Probably managed 350 meters total - 200 continuous breaststroke, 50m with a kickboard, 50m backstroke, 50m freestyle crawl. My crawl still sucks, by the way. Must get that better before my next tri which will be sometime next summer.
Not sure what's going on tomorrow morning before Brandon leaves on a trip, but it will probably be running as we have our 7th official 5K of the season coming up on Saturday!
And while I mentioned that neither of us really had it today, I think it was for different reasons. Not sure why Brandon didn't, but me? I learned that my favorite professor from college who was a friend and mentor passed away. It hit me as a shock. If you like well-written (hockey) books, check out Home Ice. Or, if you like fiction mixed with some hockey, check out Saved, which I actually have an acknowledgement in.
Rest in peace, Jack Falla. You will be missed.
Haven't felt this way in awhile...
Before you all get your hopes up about the title of this blog and think, "wow, I bet Brandon is feeling amazing! He probably has achieved something even better than before!" Yeah, not so much. Instead, today I went to the gym feeling like I was not going to have a good workout. More on that in a bit.
First, the workout. Got to the gym and warmed up as usual. Did one round of lunges. Then did body squats until we couldn't do them anymore.Then we did some planks and Supermans. I decided for lifting we would do curls and lat pull-downs until we couldn't do them anymore. This went well, even though my arms screamed at me the whole time.
We then hit the pool for some laps. Nothing too exciting about that. I think I did 400 meters, but not sure.
Anyway, getting to what I hinted at earlier. I don't know what it was about today, but like I said, when we were driving to the gym, I just knew in my head it wasn't going to be a good workout. And that's a feeling I haven't had in a long time. I mean, there's been workouts that haven't gone as I hoped or planned, but this was different. And before anyone jumps on me about mental attitude and whatnot, it wasn't this type of situation. I wasn't telling myself that I couldn't do it. I was telling myself, you'll be able to do it, but you're not going to be too satisfied after.
I don't think I've hit a wall, per se, because there is a lot that I am training towards and for. Right now, I'm not just hitting the gym to stay healthy. Maybe when I'm 80 and not dead yet, that will be why I work out. But there are goals. You all have seen my goals. I know my goals, and there will continue to be new goals that pop up year after year. So I don't think this is a htting a wall issue. And I don't think it's a plateauing issue either. My times in my 5K's are getting better every time + I have upped the bar by running a 10K. A sprint triathlon is around the corner and after that eyeing a 1/2 marathon and an Olympic triathlon.
I'm hoping that the weekend, which was a good weekend yet very draining on my body, is the culprit. I guess I'll find out tomorrow. I have a 2 day trip but still planning on working out in the morning before I leave and also planning on squeezing a workout in El Paso. 5K on Saturday as well.
Will keep everyone updated.
First, the workout. Got to the gym and warmed up as usual. Did one round of lunges. Then did body squats until we couldn't do them anymore.Then we did some planks and Supermans. I decided for lifting we would do curls and lat pull-downs until we couldn't do them anymore. This went well, even though my arms screamed at me the whole time.
We then hit the pool for some laps. Nothing too exciting about that. I think I did 400 meters, but not sure.
Anyway, getting to what I hinted at earlier. I don't know what it was about today, but like I said, when we were driving to the gym, I just knew in my head it wasn't going to be a good workout. And that's a feeling I haven't had in a long time. I mean, there's been workouts that haven't gone as I hoped or planned, but this was different. And before anyone jumps on me about mental attitude and whatnot, it wasn't this type of situation. I wasn't telling myself that I couldn't do it. I was telling myself, you'll be able to do it, but you're not going to be too satisfied after.
I don't think I've hit a wall, per se, because there is a lot that I am training towards and for. Right now, I'm not just hitting the gym to stay healthy. Maybe when I'm 80 and not dead yet, that will be why I work out. But there are goals. You all have seen my goals. I know my goals, and there will continue to be new goals that pop up year after year. So I don't think this is a htting a wall issue. And I don't think it's a plateauing issue either. My times in my 5K's are getting better every time + I have upped the bar by running a 10K. A sprint triathlon is around the corner and after that eyeing a 1/2 marathon and an Olympic triathlon.
I'm hoping that the weekend, which was a good weekend yet very draining on my body, is the culprit. I guess I'll find out tomorrow. I have a 2 day trip but still planning on working out in the morning before I leave and also planning on squeezing a workout in El Paso. 5K on Saturday as well.
Will keep everyone updated.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Run + Lifting today
So I guess the laziness has left the building...marginally. We went for a short run before dinner. First I'll write about that.
It was just a short run, one that would test my endurance. And I passed. I started off easy and kept building speed as the run went on. Even going up Lone Tree Parkway, which is a bitch, was relatively easy. I completed the 1.4 mile run in 12:12, which was a 9:04 pace. Not too shabby. :)
Then to the gym tonight for a good lift session. It's been awhile since I've done a good session and my shoulders have been suffering lately, so we wanted to work hard. + my core strength is one of my goals this month...blah blah blah.
Warmed up for 5 minutes as usual and stretched. Read girlfriend's blog post for what we did tonight. Sorry, I'm lazy and really want to eat an Oreo. But I won't. :-p
Thanks to Kelly at groundedfitness.com for the information regarding the yoga. I will be trying that soon. :-)
It was just a short run, one that would test my endurance. And I passed. I started off easy and kept building speed as the run went on. Even going up Lone Tree Parkway, which is a bitch, was relatively easy. I completed the 1.4 mile run in 12:12, which was a 9:04 pace. Not too shabby. :)
Then to the gym tonight for a good lift session. It's been awhile since I've done a good session and my shoulders have been suffering lately, so we wanted to work hard. + my core strength is one of my goals this month...blah blah blah.
Warmed up for 5 minutes as usual and stretched. Read girlfriend's blog post for what we did tonight. Sorry, I'm lazy and really want to eat an Oreo. But I won't. :-p
Thanks to Kelly at groundedfitness.com for the information regarding the yoga. I will be trying that soon. :-)
Short Lifting Blog (with shout-outs!)
No deep insight here, folks. Partially because I'm tired and cranky thanks to coming home to a sink and counter full of nasty dishes. I know my mom will "get to it later," but later always happens to be a few days down the road when someone gets fed up. So I (and/or brandon) do it.
Sorry. This blog is not the place for that.
Anyway, typical warm-up for us at the gym (read basically any other gym post to find out what that is) then off to lift only:
- lunges with bar across the group x room (i added a back leg extension)
- 2/12 body weight squats with a swiss ball
- 2/10 hamstring ball thingys (lie on back with feet on swiss ball. raise butt in air. curl back toward body)
- 2/15 swiss ball crunches
- 2/10 each side decline medicine ball sit-up twisty things (i seriously need to smuggle a camera in)
- 2/:15 v crunch holds (get into v position, balancing on your ass. hold.)
- 2/10 each side freemotion machine downward ax (using the cable machines mentioned on grounded fitness the other day)
- 2/10 cable cross thingys (kinda like a standing flye)
- 2/10 tricep extensions (still on the cable freemotion machine)
- 2/10 seated row
Then, just to mess around, we did MizFit's one-legged rows, which, I might add, I rocked. On the right leg. For five reps. The left leg? Did five reps a bit more shakily.
Sorry. This blog is not the place for that.
Anyway, typical warm-up for us at the gym (read basically any other gym post to find out what that is) then off to lift only:
- lunges with bar across the group x room (i added a back leg extension)
- 2/12 body weight squats with a swiss ball
- 2/10 hamstring ball thingys (lie on back with feet on swiss ball. raise butt in air. curl back toward body)
- 2/15 swiss ball crunches
- 2/10 each side decline medicine ball sit-up twisty things (i seriously need to smuggle a camera in)
- 2/:15 v crunch holds (get into v position, balancing on your ass. hold.)
- 2/10 each side freemotion machine downward ax (using the cable machines mentioned on grounded fitness the other day)
- 2/10 cable cross thingys (kinda like a standing flye)
- 2/10 tricep extensions (still on the cable freemotion machine)
- 2/10 seated row
Then, just to mess around, we did MizFit's one-legged rows, which, I might add, I rocked. On the right leg. For five reps. The left leg? Did five reps a bit more shakily.
I Hate Arrowhead Way
Before I expound on my title - taken off of my run - I want to mention that Brandon and I are super awesome and WALKED the mile downhill to the haircut place so Brandon could get his head groomed. That also included a nice detour at the park to go play on playground equipment because we're really five-years-old, not 25.
However, the wonderfully cute loafers that I recently bought apparently don't like my feet (go figure). Apparently I'm now a 10.5 shoe more often than not. Stupid feet. We tried calling my mom to have her pick us up, but her phone wasn't on. Well, my feet hurt but I wasn't going to stay, so off went the shoes and trouser socks and I trod barefoot (possible shout out to ms. charlotte, maybe?) .4 miles until Mom actually managed to pick us up.
Anyway, today's cardio was a run (not a bike ride like we thought. silly reserve). We were thinking of doing a longer run, but then I reminded the ol' boyfriend that we need to lift today so we decided to go a bit shorter. We ended up doing separate runs - mine was 1.5 miles.
1.5 miles with one BIG ASS HILL. Brandon will agree with me that this one hill (arrowhead way in the ol' neighborhood) is a giant pain in the posterior. It's steep and evil and ... well ... great for training. The hill is about a half-mile into the run and the entire length of it really isn't actually all that bad, but dear sweet jeebus is it steep.
Still, I did it in 14:41 for a 9:47 mile - 6 seconds shorter on average than the SkirtChaser ... though over half the distance.
Another post for me later after lifting.
However, the wonderfully cute loafers that I recently bought apparently don't like my feet (go figure). Apparently I'm now a 10.5 shoe more often than not. Stupid feet. We tried calling my mom to have her pick us up, but her phone wasn't on. Well, my feet hurt but I wasn't going to stay, so off went the shoes and trouser socks and I trod barefoot (possible shout out to ms. charlotte, maybe?) .4 miles until Mom actually managed to pick us up.
Anyway, today's cardio was a run (not a bike ride like we thought. silly reserve). We were thinking of doing a longer run, but then I reminded the ol' boyfriend that we need to lift today so we decided to go a bit shorter. We ended up doing separate runs - mine was 1.5 miles.
1.5 miles with one BIG ASS HILL. Brandon will agree with me that this one hill (arrowhead way in the ol' neighborhood) is a giant pain in the posterior. It's steep and evil and ... well ... great for training. The hill is about a half-mile into the run and the entire length of it really isn't actually all that bad, but dear sweet jeebus is it steep.
Still, I did it in 14:41 for a 9:47 mile - 6 seconds shorter on average than the SkirtChaser ... though over half the distance.
Another post for me later after lifting.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Different form of cardio
As girlfriend mentioned in her blog entry below, laziness is rampant here. I think the 10K on the 31st plus the 5K last weekend has kind of turned us lazy. I dunno. But whatever is causing it, we need to tell it to go away.
In any event, I am doing well so far on my goals, at least as far as I can tell. I have already knocked off the Skirtchaser 5K, the Autumn Color 5K is a go, I am working my core quite a bit, and the general cardio is going well. I still have to run Red Rocks (and I will, don't worry), and my cycling, well.......at least I am also being consistent.
Hit the gym, warmed up, stretched, and did 20 minutes of (da da dada) ELLIPTICAL! It's been a LONG time since I have done that, but I remember why I like it. Low impact. :)
Also, in honor of our very good workout friend Mizfit, we did 5 minutes of rowing for a distance of roughly 1000 meters. My arms are tired already. I know, I'm a pansy. :(
Hit the steam room for a shave and was good to go. Some lifting hardcore tomorrow. I'm staying motivated, dammit!
SEPTEMBER GENERAL GOALS
- Skirt Chaser 5K and maybe Autumn Color 5K
- Core, cycling, and general cardio
- Run Red Rocks
SEPTEMBER PERSONAL GOALS (MINE)
- Endurance for cardio (treadmill workout, hill sprints, etc)
- Core strengthening
- CONSISTENCY (week to week)
In any event, I am doing well so far on my goals, at least as far as I can tell. I have already knocked off the Skirtchaser 5K, the Autumn Color 5K is a go, I am working my core quite a bit, and the general cardio is going well. I still have to run Red Rocks (and I will, don't worry), and my cycling, well.......at least I am also being consistent.
Hit the gym, warmed up, stretched, and did 20 minutes of (da da dada) ELLIPTICAL! It's been a LONG time since I have done that, but I remember why I like it. Low impact. :)
Also, in honor of our very good workout friend Mizfit, we did 5 minutes of rowing for a distance of roughly 1000 meters. My arms are tired already. I know, I'm a pansy. :(
Hit the steam room for a shave and was good to go. Some lifting hardcore tomorrow. I'm staying motivated, dammit!
SEPTEMBER GENERAL GOALS
- Skirt Chaser 5K and maybe Autumn Color 5K
- Core, cycling, and general cardio
- Run Red Rocks
SEPTEMBER PERSONAL GOALS (MINE)
- Endurance for cardio (treadmill workout, hill sprints, etc)
- Core strengthening
- CONSISTENCY (week to week)
Cardioooooo
Laziness abounds over here at ISDreams.
Seriously.
We were all gung-ho about going to the gym today. But, due to the erratic schedule of my family, dinner got delayed a bit and then took a while (not that i cared TOO much since it was yummy yummy sushi). THEN we got lazy after digesting (but did walk home from my brother's) and sidetracked a bit ... but we finally made it to the gym.
Did the typical 5 minutes on the recumbent and stretched out to start. I'm pretty happy because it looks like my flexibility is slooooooowly coming back - yay for me starting to attain one of my monthly goals!
Then, it was 20 minutes of intervals on the elliptical and, in the spirit of MizFit (who i keep giving a whole lotta link love over here), five minutes (1000 meters about) on the ol' ergometer/rowing machine.
Yay for sweat, man.
Then, the plan WAS to lift, but boyfriend wanted to hit up the steam room before it closed (which was, at that point, in like five minutes) so he could shave, so none of that.
Which means ... lifting tomorrow. Hopefully. As well as a bike ride. Maybe.
Seriously.
We were all gung-ho about going to the gym today. But, due to the erratic schedule of my family, dinner got delayed a bit and then took a while (not that i cared TOO much since it was yummy yummy sushi). THEN we got lazy after digesting (but did walk home from my brother's) and sidetracked a bit ... but we finally made it to the gym.
Did the typical 5 minutes on the recumbent and stretched out to start. I'm pretty happy because it looks like my flexibility is slooooooowly coming back - yay for me starting to attain one of my monthly goals!
Then, it was 20 minutes of intervals on the elliptical and, in the spirit of MizFit (who i keep giving a whole lotta link love over here), five minutes (1000 meters about) on the ol' ergometer/rowing machine.
Yay for sweat, man.
Then, the plan WAS to lift, but boyfriend wanted to hit up the steam room before it closed (which was, at that point, in like five minutes) so he could shave, so none of that.
Which means ... lifting tomorrow. Hopefully. As well as a bike ride. Maybe.
For the MizFit
I read quite a few health and fitness blogs out there on the ol' interwebs (and will get a blogroll going eventually) and one I (and seemingly everyone else out there) love is MizFit. Well, her Friday Link Love post linked to a crafty little project I just had to try:
CD Dumbbells.
I figured, "Hey, I have 2384703874 CDs lying around for some future art project thanks to years of collecting free AOL CDs and saving CDs that failed to burn for me, so why not?"
The following are the result:
The finished project. Obviously I had a lot of left over threaded rod.
What it will look like when I get a hold of a metal saw and chop off the extra rod.
Brandon lifting the dumb/barbell.
Rawr!
I'm not sure how heavy the dumbbell actually is since the scale in the house is a broken piece of crap. I also want to take some fabric or foam and tape it on to where you'd actually grasp the bar as that threaded rod? Kinda hurts.
Given that I have some dumbbells lying around as well as a gym membership, I think I'm going to give this to my friend Gen as a Christmas gift since she's been trying to find a good way to work out at home.
CD Dumbbells.
I figured, "Hey, I have 2384703874 CDs lying around for some future art project thanks to years of collecting free AOL CDs and saving CDs that failed to burn for me, so why not?"
The following are the result:
The finished project. Obviously I had a lot of left over threaded rod.
What it will look like when I get a hold of a metal saw and chop off the extra rod.
Brandon lifting the dumb/barbell.
Rawr!
I'm not sure how heavy the dumbbell actually is since the scale in the house is a broken piece of crap. I also want to take some fabric or foam and tape it on to where you'd actually grasp the bar as that threaded rod? Kinda hurts.
Given that I have some dumbbells lying around as well as a gym membership, I think I'm going to give this to my friend Gen as a Christmas gift since she's been trying to find a good way to work out at home.
Played some puck
Nice to be playing puck a little more consistently. Although tonight's game was nothing spectacular.
Basically after a good first shift in which I scored a goal, it was pretty much downhill from there, with mediocre plays and some just downright stupid ones.
Oh well.
Basically after a good first shift in which I scored a goal, it was pretty much downhill from there, with mediocre plays and some just downright stupid ones.
Oh well.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Yay for Hockey
After a nice actual day off yesterday, we were back at it today by playing a little puck down at DU. This is the most often I've played in a while (two week streak baby) which is kinda scary, but super nice.
For some reason, my ears were freezing (and still are) at Magness tonight ... which meant cold air for the lungs which aggravates the ol' sports asthma. Still, didn't let it bother me too much until near the end of the night.
In any case, I'm tired, stinky (really stinky), a little hungry and marginally cold, so that's all you're getting out of me tonight.
HOWEVER, I will say to be prepared - the crafty side of me is coming out to attempt something linked to on the ever-so-awesome MizFit blog the other day ... hopefully tomorrow ...
For some reason, my ears were freezing (and still are) at Magness tonight ... which meant cold air for the lungs which aggravates the ol' sports asthma. Still, didn't let it bother me too much until near the end of the night.
In any case, I'm tired, stinky (really stinky), a little hungry and marginally cold, so that's all you're getting out of me tonight.
HOWEVER, I will say to be prepared - the crafty side of me is coming out to attempt something linked to on the ever-so-awesome MizFit blog the other day ... hopefully tomorrow ...
Sunday, September 7, 2008
A Stationary Spin
Thanks to the race yesterday, the boy and I decided to take it easy today. We walked to Starbucks and back this morning*, which was about three miles round trip (in ... a while). The continuation of breakfast when we got home didn't really agree with me, so most of the rest of the day was spent being a lazy slug flopped in bed.
However, we both agreed to at least ride the bike a bit tonight on our own, so I slogged through 30 minutes (10.08 mi) on the stationary bike, making sure to keep my cadence/rpms around 90. And not be bored to death, since the stationary bike BORES ME.
Something tomorrow night ... I'm hoping for lifting and random cardio.
* their new "perfect oatmeal," i might add, isn't bad. a little soupier than i like my oatmeal, but other than that ... better than instant. i still have yet to try adding protein into my coffee ... which i probably WON'T do.
However, we both agreed to at least ride the bike a bit tonight on our own, so I slogged through 30 minutes (10.08 mi) on the stationary bike, making sure to keep my cadence/rpms around 90. And not be bored to death, since the stationary bike BORES ME.
Something tomorrow night ... I'm hoping for lifting and random cardio.
* their new "perfect oatmeal," i might add, isn't bad. a little soupier than i like my oatmeal, but other than that ... better than instant. i still have yet to try adding protein into my coffee ... which i probably WON'T do.
Still working out on an "off day"
After running yesterday in the Skirtchaser, girlfriend and I went for a walk this morning to regroup and whatnot. It was fun to get a little exercise and nice to walk with girlfriend.
In Bozeman on a trip tonight. I hit the stationary bike for 1/2 an hour. Not too bad, just easy. Nothing too much to blog about, other than that.
In Bozeman on a trip tonight. I hit the stationary bike for 1/2 an hour. Not too bad, just easy. Nothing too much to blog about, other than that.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
5K #6 of the Season ...
... technically. Technically this is 5K #7 if you count the one with the tri, but for argument's (and blog) sake, we'll call the SkirtChaser #6.
Brandon and I in our get ups.
We left the house fairly early so we could stop and pick up a small pre-race snack of a bagel and cream cheese (split between us), banana and string cheese. That got finished by 4pm (race was at 5/5:03pm) and we hit our parking spot by 4:15ish. We wandered over to the race area, used the port-o-potties (unsuccessfully, i might add - racers like Steve in a Speedo know the value of a good pre-race poop) and started stretching out.
During our warm-up, I realized that while my camera may fit in the nifty little pocket on my hip, it was way too heavy to stay in there bouncing along (and slightly tugging my skirt down) for an entire race. Too late to go back to the car, so I carried it along with me. After stretching and warming up, we were ready to go.
Us!
The craziness.
My personal Skirt Chaser. ;)
Ready except for a pre-race poop. Which Brandon managed ... but I didn't. BOO. This would come back to bite me later on.
Anyway, I was off at 5:00pm and Brandon followed at 5:03. I felt pretty good on the course for the first half of it. Though one thinks Cherry Creek North is nice and flat, the surrounding neighborhoods and area actually have some hill action going on, once again helping to prove my theory that NO race in this state is on a flat course. That, or no race I choose to do at least.
Saw Brandon for the first time after I started looping back (the race was an out-and-back). My feet felt pretty good as did my lungs except for a bit of scratchiness (getting a cold. stupid colds). HOWEVER, around Mile 2 tragedy started sinking in.
Remember the possible chub rub I talked about yesterday? Yeah. Came. With a vengeance. So needed my UnderArmour shorts. Never thought I'd say "I LOVE SPANDEX" but while running? Yeah, I think I do. The two miles had also apparently jarred my bowels enough to finally make my body realize, "Hey T? You need to poop." Thanks, self. You could have realized this 20 minutes ago.
Needless to say, the last 1.1 miles were awkward. I had to pause a few times to try and adjust the mini shorts under the otherwise-comfortable skirt (unsuccessfully) a few times. I also started tinkering with my stride to try and make the thigh rub pain lessen. Part of me reeeeeally wanted to walk, but I knew ultimately I shouldn't because other than the rub and the need to poo, I was feeling fine.
I managed to sprint across the finish line, ignoring the pain in about 30:44, which I believe is my fastest time this year. Sadly, the line for the volunteers to take off the race tab thingy was ass-long, so I couldn't get a picture of Brandon crossing the finish line. Instead, the closest I got was him waiting in the ass-long line.
Brandon on far right.
We grabbed water and I headed to the port-o-potty. Thankfully I wear a liner in ze ol' underoos, because the need to poop? Yeeeah. Marginally bad. There was also no toilet paper in the port-o-potty (FIGURES), but some guy was nice enough to see my hand frantically waving through my cracked open door and me calling for someone to get me some toilet paper ... and found me some toilet paper. So whoever you are, dude, THANK YOU.
After that was taken care of, I went looking for a first-aid tent or something ... and found only some volunteers with a first-aid kit. Marginally sketchy and scary when I realized that the only help on the course had I fainted or something would have been the traffic-controlling cops, I took it anyway and taped some gauze on the thighs to help alleviate further chub rub (which was already in mega ouchy pain).
We grabbed some more PowerAde and a bit of the salad and bread - the free part of the post-race food spread - but decided we didn't want to pay $5 for a barbecue sandwich. I like my BBQ, man, as well as my salad, but after a race? Give me bagels and bananas (and maybe a squishy) any day.
As a result, we bugged out and decided to pick up dinner elsewhere. On the way home, we saw the Bonnie Brae Ice Cream Parlour and said, "Ah screw it" and picked up some ice cream.
Planning on taking tomorrow somewhat easy. A walk in the morning to get some Starbucks (pumpkin spice latte season!!!!!) and then, separately, perhaps a nice easy spin on the stationary bike.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend, peoples.
Brandon and I in our get ups.
We left the house fairly early so we could stop and pick up a small pre-race snack of a bagel and cream cheese (split between us), banana and string cheese. That got finished by 4pm (race was at 5/5:03pm) and we hit our parking spot by 4:15ish. We wandered over to the race area, used the port-o-potties (unsuccessfully, i might add - racers like Steve in a Speedo know the value of a good pre-race poop) and started stretching out.
During our warm-up, I realized that while my camera may fit in the nifty little pocket on my hip, it was way too heavy to stay in there bouncing along (and slightly tugging my skirt down) for an entire race. Too late to go back to the car, so I carried it along with me. After stretching and warming up, we were ready to go.
Us!
The craziness.
My personal Skirt Chaser. ;)
Ready except for a pre-race poop. Which Brandon managed ... but I didn't. BOO. This would come back to bite me later on.
Anyway, I was off at 5:00pm and Brandon followed at 5:03. I felt pretty good on the course for the first half of it. Though one thinks Cherry Creek North is nice and flat, the surrounding neighborhoods and area actually have some hill action going on, once again helping to prove my theory that NO race in this state is on a flat course. That, or no race I choose to do at least.
Saw Brandon for the first time after I started looping back (the race was an out-and-back). My feet felt pretty good as did my lungs except for a bit of scratchiness (getting a cold. stupid colds). HOWEVER, around Mile 2 tragedy started sinking in.
Remember the possible chub rub I talked about yesterday? Yeah. Came. With a vengeance. So needed my UnderArmour shorts. Never thought I'd say "I LOVE SPANDEX" but while running? Yeah, I think I do. The two miles had also apparently jarred my bowels enough to finally make my body realize, "Hey T? You need to poop." Thanks, self. You could have realized this 20 minutes ago.
Needless to say, the last 1.1 miles were awkward. I had to pause a few times to try and adjust the mini shorts under the otherwise-comfortable skirt (unsuccessfully) a few times. I also started tinkering with my stride to try and make the thigh rub pain lessen. Part of me reeeeeally wanted to walk, but I knew ultimately I shouldn't because other than the rub and the need to poo, I was feeling fine.
I managed to sprint across the finish line, ignoring the pain in about 30:44, which I believe is my fastest time this year. Sadly, the line for the volunteers to take off the race tab thingy was ass-long, so I couldn't get a picture of Brandon crossing the finish line. Instead, the closest I got was him waiting in the ass-long line.
Brandon on far right.
We grabbed water and I headed to the port-o-potty. Thankfully I wear a liner in ze ol' underoos, because the need to poop? Yeeeah. Marginally bad. There was also no toilet paper in the port-o-potty (FIGURES), but some guy was nice enough to see my hand frantically waving through my cracked open door and me calling for someone to get me some toilet paper ... and found me some toilet paper. So whoever you are, dude, THANK YOU.
After that was taken care of, I went looking for a first-aid tent or something ... and found only some volunteers with a first-aid kit. Marginally sketchy and scary when I realized that the only help on the course had I fainted or something would have been the traffic-controlling cops, I took it anyway and taped some gauze on the thighs to help alleviate further chub rub (which was already in mega ouchy pain).
We grabbed some more PowerAde and a bit of the salad and bread - the free part of the post-race food spread - but decided we didn't want to pay $5 for a barbecue sandwich. I like my BBQ, man, as well as my salad, but after a race? Give me bagels and bananas (and maybe a squishy) any day.
As a result, we bugged out and decided to pick up dinner elsewhere. On the way home, we saw the Bonnie Brae Ice Cream Parlour and said, "Ah screw it" and picked up some ice cream.
Planning on taking tomorrow somewhat easy. A walk in the morning to get some Starbucks (pumpkin spice latte season!!!!!) and then, separately, perhaps a nice easy spin on the stationary bike.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend, peoples.
6th 5K of the season
As has been eluded to in numerous posts, today was the Skirtchaser 5K. This is going to be a loooong blog, so deal with it, or go read someone elses. :-p
Today we made sure to eat well. Granted we woke up WAY later than we should have, which kind of threw us off in terms of our gameplan, but we dealt with it. Ate a good breakfast of oatmeal, eggs, turkey sausage, and milk and orange juice. Ate that around 11:00 am. At 2:15 or so, went to Jamba Juice for a smoothie. I got a peach smoothie, but probably one size too big. Future mental note. On the way to the race, we stopped at Target for a bagel and cream cheese, string cheese, and a banana.
We got to the mall near the start of the course and parked the car. Changed into our shoes and made our way to the start of the race course. When we got there, I immediately grabbed a bottle of Powerade and hit the porta-potty. Then girlfriend and I stretched out. There really wasn't much of a place to stretch, so we found a patch of grass and did our thing. Then did a little bit of jogging and some calisthenics to really warm up.
Girlfriend got to the start of the race, and after hearing some speech from the woman who started skirtsports, the girls started running. Us guys then got to the start and waited 3 minutes, then we were off. I was up towards the front, which I wasn't a big fan of, but got pushed towards there and didn't have much choice.
The race started and immediately I was trying to keep up with all the crazy dudes running next to me. I was like this is stupid though, and slowed it down. Through the first half mile, I had the feeling that this was going to be a great run.
Unfortunately, I never saw the Mile 1 marker, and seriously, it's amazing how that can drag down your spirit. And it shows on my Nike+ thing. However, I pushed myself to the turnaround.
At the turn around, my speed picked up a bit and I knew I was going to crack 30 in the race. It's funny actually; there was never a point during this 5K where I was in massive pain; there was never a point where I was dying; there was never a point where I really slowed my pace down.
When I rounded the corner for the final turn, I could see the finish line. And the best part was, the course was designed so the final run was downhill. My pace steadily picked up and I was passing people! I started my final sprint WAAAAAAAAAAY too early, but still crossed the finish line feeling good. I shattered my best time of the year with a 28:42.
Post race, girlfriend was in pain, so we really didn't participate in the post-race festivities. Not only that, but the post race food was TERRIBLE!! No bananas, no bagels, no gels, juices, etc. Mizfit, if you are going to do this, bring your own post-race food. Trust me, you will not regret it.
I am very happy though. Best 5K of the season, something to build on, and finally, finally, I am feeling like a runner.
Today we made sure to eat well. Granted we woke up WAY later than we should have, which kind of threw us off in terms of our gameplan, but we dealt with it. Ate a good breakfast of oatmeal, eggs, turkey sausage, and milk and orange juice. Ate that around 11:00 am. At 2:15 or so, went to Jamba Juice for a smoothie. I got a peach smoothie, but probably one size too big. Future mental note. On the way to the race, we stopped at Target for a bagel and cream cheese, string cheese, and a banana.
We got to the mall near the start of the course and parked the car. Changed into our shoes and made our way to the start of the race course. When we got there, I immediately grabbed a bottle of Powerade and hit the porta-potty. Then girlfriend and I stretched out. There really wasn't much of a place to stretch, so we found a patch of grass and did our thing. Then did a little bit of jogging and some calisthenics to really warm up.
Girlfriend got to the start of the race, and after hearing some speech from the woman who started skirtsports, the girls started running. Us guys then got to the start and waited 3 minutes, then we were off. I was up towards the front, which I wasn't a big fan of, but got pushed towards there and didn't have much choice.
The race started and immediately I was trying to keep up with all the crazy dudes running next to me. I was like this is stupid though, and slowed it down. Through the first half mile, I had the feeling that this was going to be a great run.
Unfortunately, I never saw the Mile 1 marker, and seriously, it's amazing how that can drag down your spirit. And it shows on my Nike+ thing. However, I pushed myself to the turnaround.
At the turn around, my speed picked up a bit and I knew I was going to crack 30 in the race. It's funny actually; there was never a point during this 5K where I was in massive pain; there was never a point where I was dying; there was never a point where I really slowed my pace down.
When I rounded the corner for the final turn, I could see the finish line. And the best part was, the course was designed so the final run was downhill. My pace steadily picked up and I was passing people! I started my final sprint WAAAAAAAAAAY too early, but still crossed the finish line feeling good. I shattered my best time of the year with a 28:42.
Post race, girlfriend was in pain, so we really didn't participate in the post-race festivities. Not only that, but the post race food was TERRIBLE!! No bananas, no bagels, no gels, juices, etc. Mizfit, if you are going to do this, bring your own post-race food. Trust me, you will not regret it.
I am very happy though. Best 5K of the season, something to build on, and finally, finally, I am feeling like a runner.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Skirtchaser tomorrow!!!!
As weird as it might seem, I am more excited for tomorrow's 5K than I have been for any of the other ones I have done all season. Maybe it's cause this one has a fun underlying theme to it; maybe cause I have trained very well recently and am anticipating doing the bestest in this one..I dunno. But whatever it is, I'm pumped.
Today was a take-it-easy day. Girl and I spent some of the afternoon walking around Cherry Creek Mall and whatnot, and also over to Outdoor Diva's to pick up our race packets. Tonight we swam, nothing major, probably around 250 meters, and I relaxed in the steam room for a few minutes.
I'm pumped for tomorrow. We have a game plan for the day; hopefully it works out!
Today was a take-it-easy day. Girl and I spent some of the afternoon walking around Cherry Creek Mall and whatnot, and also over to Outdoor Diva's to pick up our race packets. Tonight we swam, nothing major, probably around 250 meters, and I relaxed in the steam room for a few minutes.
I'm pumped for tomorrow. We have a game plan for the day; hopefully it works out!
Splish Splash
Today was a wee little workout - about 250 meters (maybe) in the pool, some breaststroke, some freestyle ... all fun. Then a little rest in the hot tub and good to go.
Brandon and I also walked around Cherry Creek North; a.k.a. race central tomorrow night.
SKIRTCHASER 5K TOMORROW!!!! I'm excited. We picked up our packets today and I tried on my new shirt and skirt. The skirt? SO COMFY. I am uber-excited. It was chilly today (50s!), but should be back up in the 70s tomorrow (go crazy colorado weather).
I also plan on seeing if I can squoosh my camera in the pocket on the shorts that are attached to the skirt* so we can get some pictures ...
* the shorts, i might add, i'm a tad worried about. i have tree-trunk legs (expansive ass is genetic; so are large thighs ... relatively muscular or not) and i prefer longer spandex to prevent, what's the popular term these days? chub rub? regardless, that shit. boo. but i don't feel like wearing the ol' underarmour shorts under ze skirt. seems a bit like overkill methinks ...
Brandon and I also walked around Cherry Creek North; a.k.a. race central tomorrow night.
SKIRTCHASER 5K TOMORROW!!!! I'm excited. We picked up our packets today and I tried on my new shirt and skirt. The skirt? SO COMFY. I am uber-excited. It was chilly today (50s!), but should be back up in the 70s tomorrow (go crazy colorado weather).
I also plan on seeing if I can squoosh my camera in the pocket on the shorts that are attached to the skirt* so we can get some pictures ...
* the shorts, i might add, i'm a tad worried about. i have tree-trunk legs (expansive ass is genetic; so are large thighs ... relatively muscular or not) and i prefer longer spandex to prevent, what's the popular term these days? chub rub? regardless, that shit. boo. but i don't feel like wearing the ol' underarmour shorts under ze skirt. seems a bit like overkill methinks ...
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Treadmill Sprints
A couple days before our 5K, and still sticking to the September goals of consistency and endurance, we went to the gym for some treadmill sprints. I think Gray (my former personal trainer) needs to be nominated for a Nobel Prize for these. It's amazing how I feel after I get off the treadmill.
Anyway, went for more intense today by increasing the incline and speed. I started off with walking 3.5 and then running at an incline of 1.5 and 6.6 speed. On the next set, upped the incline to 2.0. The next set, 2.5. The next set, 4.0. The final set, I tinkered with both the incline and the speed and for the final 25 seconds, was at an incline of 8.0 and a speed of 11.0.
I pushed myself quite a bit tonight, but it was SO worth it.
Pretty much a day of rest tomorrow.
Anyway, went for more intense today by increasing the incline and speed. I started off with walking 3.5 and then running at an incline of 1.5 and 6.6 speed. On the next set, upped the incline to 2.0. The next set, 2.5. The next set, 4.0. The final set, I tinkered with both the incline and the speed and for the final 25 seconds, was at an incline of 8.0 and a speed of 11.0.
I pushed myself quite a bit tonight, but it was SO worth it.
Pretty much a day of rest tomorrow.
H.I.I.T.ing It Up
Gym was actually BUSY tonight at 8pm. It usually starts to die down at 7:30 ... I was kind of surprised.
Anyway, as Brandon and I are starting to wind down and prepare for the SkirtChaser on Saturday (packet pick up tomorrow!), we wanted today to be our last run day before the race. So, it was off to do treadmill sprints. Short warm-up on the recumbent (3 minutes) and not as long of a stretching session as I'd like so we could nab two treadmills next to each other (we share water and a towel).
We did the 2/3 treadmill sprints ... but I added in a twist. I walked at a 1.0 incline and 3.5 mph. I ran at 5.7 mph (not fast) ... but upped up the incline to a 4.0. I tried doing it at 5.9 mph, but that was a bit much. I did that 3.5/5.7 through 15 minutes. Plan was to originally do 30 minutes of sprints instead of the usual 45 but since I was upping the intensity even more than usual, I figured it would be better to cut the time down a bit given what I'd been reading a bit around the fitosphere thanks to tokaiangel's H.I.I.T. challenge-thingy.
SO. For the last sprint interval (minutes 17-20), I started upping it up. Minute 17: incline 4.5 mph. Minute 18: speed 5.9mph. Minute 19:00: incline 5.0. Minute 19:30: speed 6.0 mph.
I wasn't crazy as le boyfriend (seriously, i wish i could force myself to push it to the limit like he does), but still tired. Walked for five minutes after (taking the workout to 25 minutes total) to cool/warm down.
Oh, also went for a walk this afternoon, spending time playing on the playground (we're dorks). Hoping for another walk tomorrow as well as maybe a nice relaxing swim.
Anyway, as Brandon and I are starting to wind down and prepare for the SkirtChaser on Saturday (packet pick up tomorrow!), we wanted today to be our last run day before the race. So, it was off to do treadmill sprints. Short warm-up on the recumbent (3 minutes) and not as long of a stretching session as I'd like so we could nab two treadmills next to each other (we share water and a towel).
We did the 2/3 treadmill sprints ... but I added in a twist. I walked at a 1.0 incline and 3.5 mph. I ran at 5.7 mph (not fast) ... but upped up the incline to a 4.0. I tried doing it at 5.9 mph, but that was a bit much. I did that 3.5/5.7 through 15 minutes. Plan was to originally do 30 minutes of sprints instead of the usual 45 but since I was upping the intensity even more than usual, I figured it would be better to cut the time down a bit given what I'd been reading a bit around the fitosphere thanks to tokaiangel's H.I.I.T. challenge-thingy.
SO. For the last sprint interval (minutes 17-20), I started upping it up. Minute 17: incline 4.5 mph. Minute 18: speed 5.9mph. Minute 19:00: incline 5.0. Minute 19:30: speed 6.0 mph.
I wasn't crazy as le boyfriend (seriously, i wish i could force myself to push it to the limit like he does), but still tired. Walked for five minutes after (taking the workout to 25 minutes total) to cool/warm down.
Oh, also went for a walk this afternoon, spending time playing on the playground (we're dorks). Hoping for another walk tomorrow as well as maybe a nice relaxing swim.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Workout
Go me.
Read girlfriend's blog for what we did, cause my brain is hungry and can't really recall right now. I will say, however, that I am on the right course for achieving my goals in September. Granted, there's a LOOOOOONG way to go, but it's an uphill battle that my workout buddy is helping me achieve.
Oh, and I didn't do intervals on the step-mill. Just 1 level of 7.
Read girlfriend's blog for what we did, cause my brain is hungry and can't really recall right now. I will say, however, that I am on the right course for achieving my goals in September. Granted, there's a LOOOOOONG way to go, but it's an uphill battle that my workout buddy is helping me achieve.
Oh, and I didn't do intervals on the step-mill. Just 1 level of 7.
Screw You, Legs
Despite the fact that my legs (okay, hip flexors) and rotator cuffs feel sore thanks to working out yesterday (mostly hockey), I said, "fie, body!" and went to the gym.
Typical warm up of the recumbent bike (7 minutes today) and LOTS O' STRETCHING. I WILL get my flexibility back. I may even *gasp* go do yoga at some point this month to keep with my flexibility goal. After that, it was 10 minutes of evil, evil intervals on the stepmill (not quite really high intensity, but i'm working on it).
Then, since core is the goal this month, it was off to do some "lifting" that was mostly core work:
- lunges with an empty bar back and forth across the group x room
- 3/10 crab walk thingys on the ball
- 3/:30 planks
- 2/:15, 1/:20 side planks (both sides)
- 2/:15, 1/:30 bicycle kick crunches
- 3/10 back extensions on the ball
- 3/10 dumbbell bicep curls
Good enough for today - quick, in and out, we're good. Would have liked to do more arms, but Brandon said no thanks to my stupid sore rotator cuffs. *pouts*
Typical warm up of the recumbent bike (7 minutes today) and LOTS O' STRETCHING. I WILL get my flexibility back. I may even *gasp* go do yoga at some point this month to keep with my flexibility goal. After that, it was 10 minutes of evil, evil intervals on the stepmill (not quite really high intensity, but i'm working on it).
Then, since core is the goal this month, it was off to do some "lifting" that was mostly core work:
- lunges with an empty bar back and forth across the group x room
- 3/10 crab walk thingys on the ball
- 3/:30 planks
- 2/:15, 1/:20 side planks (both sides)
- 2/:15, 1/:30 bicycle kick crunches
- 3/10 back extensions on the ball
- 3/10 dumbbell bicep curls
Good enough for today - quick, in and out, we're good. Would have liked to do more arms, but Brandon said no thanks to my stupid sore rotator cuffs. *pouts*
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Yeah, two workouts in one day
I mentioned in my last blog that I was going to be doing another workout tonight, in the form of delicious hockey. And I followed through on that. Yay.
When I got in the ice, I felt just a step off. Probably because I haven't played in a month; maybe because I went running beforehand. I dunno. But it took me a little while to get into a rhythm. I eventually made some good passes and I think by the game's end logged 4 assists. I also scored a decent goal that made me proud. Still, being me, I always want to do more and feel that I could have played better.
That being said, I won't beat myself up over this (see goals) and hit the gym tomorrow.
Oh, and my toe hurts. :-(
When I got in the ice, I felt just a step off. Probably because I haven't played in a month; maybe because I went running beforehand. I dunno. But it took me a little while to get into a rhythm. I eventually made some good passes and I think by the game's end logged 4 assists. I also scored a decent goal that made me proud. Still, being me, I always want to do more and feel that I could have played better.
That being said, I won't beat myself up over this (see goals) and hit the gym tomorrow.
Oh, and my toe hurts. :-(
Awesomeness Continues
As mentioned in our last posts, tonight was hockey time. Right now, both of us play about once a month. Yeah, ideally we'd like to play MORE than that, but sometimes it just doesn't happen. Mostly due to Brandon's job. ;)
Anyway, it was actually a fairly good skate tonight. Skated some laps to warm up and stretched out before starting. I got lucky as I usually do in getting to play defense on every shift (yay!). There was one really fast guy on the other team that I had no hope of catching once he kicked in the afterburners. There was also one guy, dubbed Douchey McDoucherson*, who liked to add in another shove or another elbow after every play. Dude was seriously like 6'3", 220lbs. HUGE. I had one altercation with him in the corner. I'm strong on my skates, but he took his stick and shoveled me aside and there really wasn't much I could do. Obviously I kept fighting, but he won that puck battle.
All in all though, good skate. Got a few shots off - a couple actually on net! - and got two assists thanks to tips. What what.
Now, a shower and SLEEP.
*if you read this here blog, you realize that i like taking a word, adding a "y" after it, and then taking it again and adding an "erson". examples include: sprinty mcsprinterson, lifty mclifterson, etc.
Anyway, it was actually a fairly good skate tonight. Skated some laps to warm up and stretched out before starting. I got lucky as I usually do in getting to play defense on every shift (yay!). There was one really fast guy on the other team that I had no hope of catching once he kicked in the afterburners. There was also one guy, dubbed Douchey McDoucherson*, who liked to add in another shove or another elbow after every play. Dude was seriously like 6'3", 220lbs. HUGE. I had one altercation with him in the corner. I'm strong on my skates, but he took his stick and shoveled me aside and there really wasn't much I could do. Obviously I kept fighting, but he won that puck battle.
All in all though, good skate. Got a few shots off - a couple actually on net! - and got two assists thanks to tips. What what.
Now, a shower and SLEEP.
*if you read this here blog, you realize that i like taking a word, adding a "y" after it, and then taking it again and adding an "erson". examples include: sprinty mcsprinterson, lifty mclifterson, etc.
September has begun
Yeah, that's right.
I had to take yesterday off being that I had a 21 hour day of work. Yeah. So today was an extra big day of working out. As we mentioned earlier in our blog, we have created some goals for September and October. I am posting the September goals below:
SEPTEMBER GENERAL GOALS
- Skirt Chaser 5K and maybe Autumn Color 5K
- Core, cycling, and general cardio
- Run Red Rocks
SEPTEMBER PERSONAL GOALS (MINE)
- Endurance for cardio (treadmill workout, hill sprints, etc)
- Core strengthening
- CONSISTENCY (week to week)
Today I incorporated two of my goals into my workouts. The endurance and the consistency. For the endurance I am playing hockey later and also ran 1.87 miles. Nike Plus said I ran 2.06. I like Nike+ better, but oh well. I could have definitely gone faster but I still think I am recovering from my 10k a couple days ago. The time wasn't too good...18:39 but I definitely wasn't pushing myself and hadn't exactly eaten properly. I mean, not bad, but not really any food that was going to energize me throughout the day.
The running weather was nice. Low 60's, not a lot of wind, and overcast. Probably ideal, actually. And I got to pull out a new running shirt, which always makes me happy. :-)
Tomorrow will be a gym day. It's strange, but I just feel energized lately. I think a lot of things go into that, including that I am done with training and actually have a job, that my job is looking more and more secure, that I am training better, but whatever it is, this fall is going to be good in terms of getting in even better shape.
More working out tonight, cause we're cool. HOCKEY!!!! Go us.
Oh, and Mizfit, if you have any core exercises you could send me, you would be my hero...even moreso than you already are. ;-)
I had to take yesterday off being that I had a 21 hour day of work. Yeah. So today was an extra big day of working out. As we mentioned earlier in our blog, we have created some goals for September and October. I am posting the September goals below:
SEPTEMBER GENERAL GOALS
- Skirt Chaser 5K and maybe Autumn Color 5K
- Core, cycling, and general cardio
- Run Red Rocks
SEPTEMBER PERSONAL GOALS (MINE)
- Endurance for cardio (treadmill workout, hill sprints, etc)
- Core strengthening
- CONSISTENCY (week to week)
Today I incorporated two of my goals into my workouts. The endurance and the consistency. For the endurance I am playing hockey later and also ran 1.87 miles. Nike Plus said I ran 2.06. I like Nike+ better, but oh well. I could have definitely gone faster but I still think I am recovering from my 10k a couple days ago. The time wasn't too good...18:39 but I definitely wasn't pushing myself and hadn't exactly eaten properly. I mean, not bad, but not really any food that was going to energize me throughout the day.
The running weather was nice. Low 60's, not a lot of wind, and overcast. Probably ideal, actually. And I got to pull out a new running shirt, which always makes me happy. :-)
Tomorrow will be a gym day. It's strange, but I just feel energized lately. I think a lot of things go into that, including that I am done with training and actually have a job, that my job is looking more and more secure, that I am training better, but whatever it is, this fall is going to be good in terms of getting in even better shape.
More working out tonight, cause we're cool. HOCKEY!!!! Go us.
Oh, and Mizfit, if you have any core exercises you could send me, you would be my hero...even moreso than you already are. ;-)
September Goals and a Run
As it's near the beginning of September (was gonna work out yesterday, but an ass-early wake-up call, work and feeling like poo stopped that), I'm going to revisit my September goals for you so you can keep me (and us!) on track.
General Goals:
- SkirtChaser 5K and the Autumn Color Run (no longer a possibility!)
- core, cycling and general cardio
- MAYBE looking into hockey leagues
- run Red Rocks
Personally:
- H.I.I.T. (or crabby's s.h.i.i.t.) training for cardio
- general focus on upping the strength training
- flexibility
Today, we technically did one general goal (cardio!) and I technically did two of my personal goals. Given that we have the SkirtChaser race on Saturday (!), we decided to go for a run. Something not quite so long given that we're a.) back at altitude and b.) in hill land.
The weather was actually nice for a run - high-50s, low-60s and breezy. We ended up running in long sleeves - how crazy is that?! Yay for fall! (*ahem*) Started off with a nice warm-up - I did 40 jumping jacks and five 25 yard(ish) sprints in the backyard. Then it was stretch stretch stretch which I SO need to do everyday. Then we ran to Target.
Yes, Target. The neighborhood Target is close by (1.85 miles) and I needed greeting cards, so we decided to run there. I kept pace with Brandon for the most part which kind of surprised me. Anyway, did the 1.85 mi. in 18:28 which was a little slower than I'd like (mmrrraaaa). However, we were running into the wind which I've noticed plays havoc on the ol' sports asthma. I'm trying to count my breathing and nature is trying to make me take in more air than I want. Stupid nature.
Of course, we were awesome and walked back home and felt good.
And, because we're even MORE awesome than THAT, we're playing hockey later tonight too ... which will obviously garner its own blog post then.
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