Running to Lunch

I'm mostly better, but still a little sick. As a result, my working out has been very inconsistent lately.

Still, it's 60 degrees out today (before it's supposed to drop like 30 degrees tonight and be cold tomorrow), so I really wanted to take advantage of the warm weather and go for a run outside.

Problem was, I didn't/don't have a lot of time today. Got off work at 12:15, had to meet a friend for lunch at 1:15 and have to work later tonight. But, since I was meeting said friend at a restaurant nearby (mmm, panera), I decided to go ahead and run to lunch. So I did ... and made it on time, too. 1.6 miles and 16:45 later (had to wait at two lights. kept jogging, per se, but it still killed my time), I was at Panera. It helps that a good chunk of the run is downhill with one uphill stretch (very few flats) ... but I really wish there wasn't the one super busy intersection I had to deal with. Stupid lights.

Anyway, it'll go in the books as a 10:28.12 mile, but I know it was actually shorter than that, so ha.

I will also add, in full disclosure, I got a ride back home due to time reasons. I know, I know. I would have rather walked home, but I didn't. No way I was running back on a full stomach, though.

Wii Fitting, and swimming!

Since girlfriend has been sick and work has been a cluster over the past few days, working out has kind of taken a backseat. I have however been doing Wii Fit pretty regularly and my weight has maintained, according to that.

tonight, however, we made it to the gym for some swimming. I swam 500 meters without stopping in about 10 minutes which I am pretty happy about. I can do better of course and will, but for now, I am pretty satisfied with that.

Lift tomorrow.

Giving It Another Go

Since today is the first day since Sunday that I woke up NOT sounding like death, Brandon finally let me work out again today. Yay!

So, after a day of not really eating well (my eating habits go to hell when i get sick. seriously, i crave sugar, fat and carbs. no idea why.), we headed off to the gym for some swimming. I managed 550m, but in chunks. 150m, 150m, 100m, 100m breaststroke and then 50m crawl. Gotta get that stupid crawl in now and then if I have any hope of using it in my tri(s) this year. Boo.

I had to take pauses for my lungs (they've still got some mucus in them) and breathe, but I managed okay.

Hopefully I'm over this cold. That's all I've got to say.

Benched

I woke up this morning sounding like death.

I managed to go work both jobs today, but Brandon's "benching" me and keeping me from working out until I get better. I've been arguing with him about this (butbutbutidon'twaannnnnnnaaaaaa), but ultimately, I think I probably should try to get better.

Seriously, I've been fighting this cold for what, two weeks now? Now that it finally caught up with me, I should probably just accept it and wait for it to pass.

Maybe. If Brandon makes me.

Stepping it up a bit

Forgot to blog yesterday...

In Fargo, I decided to step up the treadmill workout by increasing the time. I went for 25 minutes, sprinting on the last 3 minutes. Surprisingly, it felt good and somewhat easy.

It's time to revamp the workouts and make them more challenging.

Gym Time

So, still fighting off a cold here. In the immortal words of the Critic, "It Stinks!"

Anyway, went to the gym after work (well, to be entirely accurate, in between jobs). Since I still need to get the ol' bike in for a tune-up, today was a boring 20 minutes on the stationary bike. I actually had time to warm up (recumbent) and stretch, though.

But after that, 20 minutes, level 8, sport-specific, tryingtokeepitaround90rpms of stationary bike. The display went black because I pressed the wrong button right after I finished, but I figure I did somewhere between six and seven miles, but again, who knows.

I think it's lifting and swimming on the slate for tomorrow, but my planner isn't near me, so I can't say definitively.

Oh, and that job crap I was hinting about a post or two ago? Decision was taken care of for me. While I'm somewhat happier about the course of events, I'm also not given how everything went down.

Yes, I'm cryptic. Deal.

Tired...wearing down...

I can feel it. My body is not doing what I need it to do.

I ran the treadmill workout tonight, but struggled. 15 minutes worth. And I struggled.

I think the stress of this month has taken its toll on IS Dreams.

Making Time

Really had no time for a workout today, but I managed to squash in 15 minutes of intervals on the stepmill anyway. Didn't warm up or stretch (sure that's going to bite me in the ass later), but eh.

Given my lack of time, today was originally scheduled as an off day, but due to the massive amounts of stress AND me starting to become sick (ohpleaseno) ... yesterday became the off day for both Brandon and I.

One of these days I'll have better blog entries ...

Sprinting and a Note

We decided to take advantage of another 60 degree day here and run outside. Since neither of us really wanted to do a regular run, we decided to do some sprints, instead. So, we walked to the park and ran.

There's a soccer/football field set up in the grass, so we did two 100yd sprints, two 50yd sprints and then another two 100yd sprints for a total of 500yds.

And I was dead. Lungs hurt, ears hurt (still that winter crisp in the air), ankle hurt a little.

Still, it was a nice change of pace.

Sorry you haven't been getting a lot of out me lately. Trying to figure out if I want to take this job that I really have no experience for and would be the equivalent of throwing a person who's not sure if s/he can swim or not into the middle of the ocean and saying "good luck."

There are some upsides, but I'm not sure if they're enough to conquer the voices in my head as well as the overwhelming fear that I won't be able to handle the job and that I'll be miserable for the next three years doing it as it really isn't a "try it and see" position.

Needless to say, various entities and voices in my head are locked in a battle for the ages.

Yes, we did it

It wasn't much, but hey, we got it in. And that's what matters.

Honestly, when you're tired, you're tired. The key is still being able to squeeze enough in to make a difference.

Read girlfriends blog for details.

Improvisational Lift

So I think when Brandon and I come up with our workout schedule for next month, I need to not schedule out what I'm doing the whole month and work my off days around days I open.

Because seriously, waking up at 3:30am so I can be at work at 4:15am makes me have no motivation to work out the rest of the day.

Despite getting a killer forearm workout playing Guitar Hero (i kid, i kid) and despite being ass tired, we knew we had to lift today.

However, given that we're ass tired, we had not motivation to go to the gym.

So, we improvised with a workout at home. We did windmills, body weight squats, calf raises, tricep dips (off a chair), push-ups, dumbbell chest presses to failure (8lb dbs) and these ab things which are almost a weird form of a reverse crunch:

1. Lie down on floor. Have friend behind you. If needed, hold their legs.
2. Raise legs in air.
3. Have friend push down on your legs; don't let them hit the floor.
4. Control your legs, lifting them back up to starting position.
5. Rinse.
6. Repeat.

While it sounds like it's just the momentum carrying your legs down and up, you actually get one hell of an ab workout. We did them for hockey freshman year in college and they SUCKED.

So while it wasn't much, we still squashed in a workout and, I might add, my arms are sore.

Good enough for me.

Another run

Went on another run today...not the best idea since I was very very dehydrated + had only eaten breakfast up to that point. Still, I somehow pushed myself and fell into a rhythm.

It was only 1.37 miles, but still...thought I did pretty good.

Damn Sports Asthma

Ran 1.35 miles in 13.21 for a 9:53ish mile. Did it improperly hydrated and without having eaten in several hours.

Therefore, it's no surprise I had my first asthma attack in quite some time. Boo.

Picking myself up

Girlfriend spent a lot of time working on my sore hammy today, and to be honest it feels a lot better. I went to the gym, foamrolled, then spent 15 minutes on the stepmill doing intervals. They kicked my ass but I feel good.

I then took a nice long steam.

Basically I hope I'm back and recovered.

A Bright Spot

I swam today ... and I did 500m breaststroke without stopping!* The first 150-200m were tough, but I fought through it and kept going.

Given that I stopped after 100m last time ... I consider this a victory.

All in all for my swim tonight, I did 500m breaststroke, 4x25m crawl (gotta start working on that), 100m breaststroke, 50m back for a total of 750m. Not a bad workout at all.

If it's 60 again tomorrow like today, going for another run. But we'll see.

Now, since it's after midnight and I'm tiiiiiiiiiired ... sleep.


*of course, since I can't do flip turns, "stopping" is a relative term as I have to change directions at the wall above the water. Y'know.

Setbacks

The year started out great, both mentally and physically. Now I'm having setbacks already...after two weeks only. :-(

First off, I'm really bummed today for various reasons. Not going to get into it. The other problem is the Shape workout has left my left hammy and calf very sore, which is making me even more sad and frustrated. I squeezed in a 1.35 mile run with girlfriend but yeah.

I need a way to pick myself up. :-(

Running Literally and Figuratively

Today has been a busy, busy day.

Work 8-3:30. Including mostly at front register which makes me just want to shoot others or myself.

Then home. Ran 1.35 miles in 13:27 which is just under a 10:00 mile. Probably pushed myself too much.

Then a shower and down to Air Force where I currently sit about to work a hockey game.

I need a break. Srsly.

Exhausted

A long day at work + problems at work = no motivation to lift.

I did, but not much.

*sigh*

Opened again at work today.

Didn't want to work out today.

Was supposed to do a total body lift (ideally the shape workout) and cardio.

Ended up barely making it through some light lifting - bicep curls, shoulder raises (with probably more weight than i should have done) and squats.

Not much, but it's better than nothing, right?

Unexpected Off Day

I don't know what it was yesterday - probably a combination of:

1. Waking up at 3:30am after not much sleep to work
2. Having food times spread out way more than I like
3. Not being hydrated enough

but whatever it was, it made me nauseous with a gigantic headache yesterday starting from about the time I got off work and continuing until I went to bed. So, I took yesterday off and will instead work out on my original off day, Saturday.

Sucks, but there was no way I was making my miserable ass go to the gym as I probably would have passed out.

However, I did make it today. Recumbent warmup, stretching and 15 minutes of stepmill intervals.

I'm also hoping that the same combination of the three above things doesn't happen tomorrow as I once again have to open at work. Mmmmmrrraaaaa.

Made it again!

Before I get started, I just want to express how much I can't stand the Billings workout facilities. I think I have accomplished one quality workout in my time here. One. Out of like 10 times overnighting here and wanting to work out. It's either:

A: too hot to run
B: too cold to run
C: the workout room is closed
D: there are dirty hookers in the workout room plodding along on the treadmill

Today it's a combo of B and C. The workout room was closed, and of course it's too cold to go outside. So instead, I called up girlfriend and she told me to go run stairs. So that's what I did.

Sprinted up a flight, then jogged back down, followed by 10 jumping jacks. Repeated 6 times. Then I ran all the way to the top, jogged it back down, and repeated. It took maybe 15 minutes, but was not easy.

Nonetheless, I have hit my workout goals AGAIN so I have to decide if I actually want my treat. I don't think I do.

I figured this belongs here

The majority of posts on Inspiration Stardust Dreams are workout related. Because I guess it's a workout blog. But I like to think of it as a health blog, and this is more of a mental health thing than anything.

Today I signed up on mint.com to track my finances. Basically I use my checking and savings account on here to track what I am spending my money on. I will be able to set various budgets and stick with them. It will even send me e-mail and mobile alerts to when I am screwing up.

I also made the decision to re-activate my E-trade savings account. 20 bucks from each paycheck will go into this high-yield savings account. It won't be much, but it will add up.

I'm tackling a lot of problems this year, but I will succeed in my goals.

Wow, my butt got kicked

Did that Shape workout that has been talked about a few times on our blog. Let's just say it is not nice to me, Brandon. It's hard. I don't see how some 110 pound hooker can just get up and say oh I feel like doing that workout. It's hard!

Anyway, I made it through though and feel good. Food time.

Again ...

... that SHAPE workout kicked my ass. Gd.

Wii Fit-ing later. For balance stuff. Maybe.

Oh, and I didn't treat myself on Saturday because the slippers that I wanted to get apparently no longer exist and I couldn't think of anything else that WASN'T food-related. Still trying to think of treats but it is HARD. Brandon thinks it might be because, somewhere deep in my subconscious, I believe that I don't deserve treats for working out; that it's something I should be doing anyway. Which makes sense, but still, weird.

Minor setback...mentally

Went snowshoeing yesterday on the golf course, which was fun, but last night due to a few circumstances I was mentally drained and didn't feel like lifting my upper body, so we pushed that to today to do a total body lift.

Financial concerns.

Mrrf.

Snowshoe-d on the golf course near the house for probably about 40 minutes. Found out my pants split, which obviously wasn't a nice surprise.

Was going to do an upper body lift, but am tired, ate dinner late due to the rest of the family (long story) and, to top it off, am now basically depressed due to financial concerns.

So, instead of doing a lower body/core lift tomorrow, am now going to do a total body lift.

Stepping it up a bit

I mentioned in my last workout post about how I've been pushing myself but feel like I could do more. I'm a little concerned about it, because I know how hard I want to work. And yes, I would like to be at a level like I was last year where longer runs and sprint workouts were not that difficult. However, I think that the best course right now is gradually stepping everything up. I think I am kidding myself when I say a 45 minute treadmill series will not be difficult.

In any event, last night we took turns going to the gym from scorekeeping. I went, stretched, warmed up, and hit the treadmill for my standard 2/3 workout. I did however push myself to 20 minutes instead of what has become the standard 15. I also found a method to take away from the monotony that is this workout and stop looking at the time every 20 seconds. I move my towel over the time when I am doing the running and check it about 2 minutes or so into the song I am currently listening to. That way, I don't glance down all the time and get frustrated.

I also steamed after my workout. It felt great to relax in the steam room and sweat a lot.

Snowshoeing today!!!!!

Good Cardio Day

I'm blogging about yesterday's workout now because Brandon and I didn't get back home from scorekeeping until after midnight and really, all we wanted to do was sleep. So we did.

Anyway, we split up my four game shift two and two so both of us could work out. I worked the first two games while Brandon worked out and vice versa.

For me, I had wanted to either swim or bike. I ended up doing both. Warmed up on the stepmill, stretched and hopped on the stationary bike for 15 minutes for - I guess - a cadence ride. I've decided that until the weather gets better and I get my actual bike in for a tune, I'll just do cadence rides on the stationary. Once I start cycling outside, I'll use the stationary for sprint rides since, for some odd reason, I don't like doing sprints on an actual bike.

Anyway, since I really didn't feel like I accomplished much after the bike, I checked out the pool, noticed there was an open lane, quickly changed and hopped in. My original thought was to see how far I could go ... but my arms were still sore from lifting on Friday so I only managed 100m.

So, I had the genius idea to turn it into a "sprint" workout - 4x100m, 4x50m and 4x25m (all breaststroke) and did it in about 20 minutes. I also did try to sprint the latter halves of the 50m's as well as the 25m's.

All in all, a good workout. Up for today: upper body lift and SNOWSHOEING!

Yes, I'm Blogging About Orange Juice

First off, I have enjoyed my day off. I ALMOST walked to Target to get my prescription (over 2mi round trip) ... but Brandon said that really wouldn't be a day off then, so I didn't.

Also, I was going to have an apple fritter (= bad, technically) last night when I stopped at Starbucks before hockey writing work and even ordered it ... when it got stolen for someone in the drive thru. *sigh* I guess that fritter and I were just not meant to be.

That, or it's just the universe's way of saying, "You've been AWESOME so far. Don't screw it up, mmmkay?" Either way.

Anyway, yes, the rest of this blog will be about orange juice. As Brandon can attest, I am one picky girl when it comes to my oj. Tropicana Pure Premium, no pulp, with calcium is pretty much all I'll drink. The only time I like pulp in my oj is when it's fresh squeezed (also amazing). But other than that ...

Oh, and whatever the stuff they served in the dorms at BU, but that stuff (on ice) was damn good somehow.

ANYWAY, Tropicana has a similar oj to the stuff I drink but the "light and healthy" version. While I was on the bodybugg, I'll admit I looked into it as it was fewer calories and yadda yadda yadda, but the problem was it was an orange juice BEVERAGE. Not pure oj, but an oj imposter. Therefore, I stuck to my regular old calorific oj.

Until this past week, that is, when Mom accidentally bought the light and healthy stuff. She said it was the only calciumed Tropicana at first ... and then she said she just grabbed one of the cartons.

Not to pick on her, but there's a bit of a difference between the two:

See? 100% pure DELICIOUS orange juice on the left; light orange juice BEVERAGE on the right.

Still, since it was the only orange juice in the house (until this morning), I tried it. So did Brandon. The consensus?

Brandon hated it.
I thought it was weird ... like a non-carbonated Orangina almost. Still, it was better if I treated my morning orange juice like a shot and just downed it. A little too weird for me.

I first thought there was a color difference, but then I compared the two:

Regular oj again, on the left. Crappy oj, on the right.

According to this shot ... you can't really tell the difference. I guess the light stuff is a little lighter, but that's it.

So now that I've yammered on for whoknowshowlong on orange juice, I leave you with this:

If you like Tropicana orange juice and like the calcium-fortified stuff and have been thinking about going to the light and healthy stuff ... do it if you're on the Weight Watchers points system or if you really, reeeealllly care about those extra 60 or so calories.





Besides, wasn't it nice to get a non-workout-related post from me? You know it was ...

Back on it

After a much-deserved day off yesterday, I had to get back on the horse today, in Wichita. It was a scheduled total body lift day, so I did that, but kind of neglected the legs. I need some better leg exercises that I can do in a hotel. Anyone have advice, that would be great.

Anyway, I did 3/10/25 shoulder presses, 3/10/25 curls, 3/10 decline pushups, 3/10 bicycle crunches, and 45 second planks and 45 second wallsits.

Not bad...not bad.

I Feel ... Not As Strong

First of all, I am SO GLAD TOMORROW'S MY OFF DAY.

On the slate for today's workout for me was a total body lift. So, I decided to do the aforementioned Shape workout (head over to Charlotte's to see it ... too lazy to link ... read down a few posts).

Since I picked up the actual magazine (wanted to add said workout to the ol' files), I read it more indepth than what I skimmed previously. I caught (that i didn't before) that one is supposed to do said circuit three to four times through.

Ha.

Me? I did it once through (after the stepmill warmup and stretching, of course) and had to take random breaks to regain my breathing.

Now I don't know if my lungs were giving me crap because ... a.) it's cold out today and my sports asthma gives me more crap when the ambient air is cold; b.) I'm still fighting off a random cold; or c.) my cardiovascular endurance really has gone to hell worse than I originally thought.

It's probably a combination of the three, but damn was it humbling. ESPECIALLY doing the four-count push-ups while on my knees.

Back in college when I played club ice hockey (for the team: on the ice 4-5 days a week about 2hrs at a time), after running my warm-up laps (occasionally with stairs) and stretching, I'd do some crunches and three sets of 10 push-ups. NORMAL push-ups, not assisted push-ups or whatever the ones on the knees are called. Sure, the final few were a bit tricky, but I could still do it. Not so much anymore.

The thing that's weird is, I never thought I was in that great of shape back then. Maybe it was because I was still pudgy (of course, i ate like crap half the time) or maybe it was because I was still the slowest kid on the team and felt out of shape compared to some of the rest of the super athletes on my team, but I never felt like it.

It makes me regret not eating smarter back then and not utilizing the wonderful, FREE workout facilities we had. I mean, sure, I tried half-assed-ly, but never truly stuck to making the best decisions.

If I had ate better and maybe worked out a little more, I wonder how my fitness base would be now, whether I'd be entrenched in a healthy lifestyle.

Or, conversely ... I wonder if nothing would have ultimately changed and, when I had gone back home, without a gym membership and a family that doesn't eat all that wonderfully well, would I have gone back to my oldOLD habits and be either worse off or still where I am today?

First goal achieved

To those that are following our blog, you know that we have come up with workout plans that include "treats". Well to get my first treat, which was a DVD, I had to work out every day from the 2nd to the 8th. And I did. So I got my treat! :-)

This morning in Bozeman, I did 15 minutes of stationary bike. I made sure ESPN was turned up loud so I could concentrate on something other than the monotony that is the bike. Another pilot from Northwest came in and we got to talking which was nice as well. But the bottom line, people, is we're off to a good start.

Off day tomorrow. And oh how I need it.

Quick Blog

Not much out of me tonight as I have to be at work in 30 minutes.

Anyway, I just got back from squashing in a workout. Stepmill warmup, stretch, 15 minutes of intervals on the elliptical.

Thinking on it as I was driving back home from the gym, back in October, today was a day that I would have taken off back then. I'm still sore from lifting (ow my core) and I had a busy day due to getting a column in on deadline, dinner and, now, a scorekeeping shift. But you know what? I said no, I have to go, went, and feel so much better for doing so.

Also, the fam went to Chili's tonight for dinner. I don't like the place that much, but their Guiltless Salmon (usually) isn't too bad. It was tonight. BUT, the point of me mentioning this whole thing was that my mom and brother ordered cheese fries. That had bacon on them. And ranch to dip them in.

And I didn't eat a one and I looooove cheese fries. I figured that since I hate Chili's's (?) french fries to begin with, eating them covered in cheese was NOT a good idea and not a reason to go off the proverbial wagon.

So I didn't. And I'm okay with that.

Of Resolutions and Retrospect

I promised I'd get around to my resolution/retrospective ... and here it is!

Hey, I actually followed through with a promise on this here blog. Crazy, I know.

Anyway, I figure I'll do this post in three parts. If I knew how to do a blog cut, I would, but since I don't ... this is going to be long.

First of all ... The Top ISDreams Posts of 2008 According to T

In other words, the posts I thought were the most notable, thought-provoking ... and generally, the most worthy of your time. Mostly. These will be in chronological order, not order of importance. Too lazy to rank.

- I start the blog
- Brandon hops on board
- We both go skiing for the first time in forever
- Sports help us figure out our relationship
- Brandon's first 5K in FOREVER
- Charlotte gives us our first non-spam comment!
- MizFit finds us!
- Resolution half-way point
- I debut pictures
- I discuss my crappy tri performance
- I create a CD dumbbell thanks to an idea yanked from MizFit's blog
- Brandon realizes he's gone too far
- I talk about my time on the bodybugg

There you have it, the milestones and whatnot of ISDreams's first year in blogland.

Next up, I'll review last year's fitness-related resolutions ...

Get back in shape. Not so much. Okay, okay, I was doing well with this for a while, but, as in 2007, I fell back off the wagon. Le sigh.
Compete in at least five races again and possibly add others in - includes tri. Success! I competed in seven 5Ks, one 4miler and one sprint triathlon.
Finally learn to kayak. Failboat. This is something I SO SO SO want to do, but am going to have to put off for a while.
Play more hockey. Fail. Due to a lot of random factors, I think I actually played LESS hockey in 2008 than in 2007.

Finally, I give you ... T's 2009 Resolutions. These are not all health and fitness related ... so the ones that aren't, I'm not going into grand detail.

My overarching goal this year is to GET ORGANIZED. This means financially, mentally, emotionally, physically, technically, whathaveyouly.

From there ...
1. Find a job that will help me be more financially stable, whether it be in my field or not and whether I have to swallow my pride to take it or not.
2. Develop a healthy lifestyle that I can actually STICK TO, not something that is inflexible with the demands of life. I feel so much better when I'm well-hydrated and well-nutrified (yes, i know it's a fake word) that it's really a wonder why I don't adhere to eating well and working out on a consistent basis.
3. Embrace frugality.
4. Continue racing, and expand beyond the 5K. I started this in November by doing the Mile High United Way Turkey Trot (the aforementioned 4miler) and actually almost ran the whole thing. To that point, it had been the longest distance I'd ever run. There's a 5miler I'd like to do in late April and I'd ideally like to be able to do the Bolder Boulder (a 10k) at the end of May. I have a lot of work to get there, but I think I can do it. I might also do more than one tri this year or, at the very least, add in a duathlon.
5. Consolidate my crap and cut down.
6. SEE PEOPLE.
7. Write more often.

Point seven deals with my other, more social-type online journals that I rarely update, but it goes along with here, too. I started this blog as a workout blog (and it even says what it is right there at the top), but I'd like to expand on to other things, as well. Add in more exercise history so y'all can get a feel for who Brandon and I are and why we are the way we are when it comes to exercise and working out. The above linked bodybugg post is somewhat of a start, but I'd like to go so much further.

I'd also like to post about other topics within the realm of health and fitness (yes, i'm stealing my ideas from the rest of the fitosphere), although I doubt I'll ever get myself/ISDreams to the stage of information that, to give a few random examples, Crabby and Merry, Mizfit and Charlotte do.

Is that something our small but awesome readership would be interested in? Let me know ... but I may just do it anyway.

Happy 2009, everyone. Thanks for stumbling upon this here blog and hope you've enjoyed what you've seen so far!

Consistency is key right now

I am really proud of myself. Shocking, I know. But it's true. I've worked really hard over the past week and I am already feeling better. That's the most important thing, right?

Today was a simple cardio session at the gym. A warm up, stretch, and 15 minutes on the treadmill, doing my usual 2/3 routine. I like this especially since I'm not doing it every day. It's something different so that I'm not getting bored.

Going to Bozeman tonight, planning on working out up there.

Of Snowshoeing and Running

Okay, I uploaded snowshoeing pictures so I'll toss those in at the end. But, I already did my workout for today, so go me.

Brandon's got a trip later today, so we decided to go to the gym before he left. Did the recumbent bike warmup, stretched ... and cursed the New Years Resolutioners (of which we technicallykindaare) for there were NO good treadmills available - only two of the crappy ones. I managed to snag a good one in the midst of stretching and finished stretching out on said treadmill before doing the 2/3 sprint workout for 15 minutes. I didn't go too crazy ... that's for later this spring. Brandon did about half his workout on a crappy treadmill and half on a good one.

ANYWAY, the fun part of the post - snowshoeing pictures! As mentioned a few times already, we got each other snowshoes for Christmas and yesterday was the first chance we've had to go try them out. So, we headed up to a cold, windy Rocky Mountain National Park, strapped them on and clomped around for a mile or so (again, COLD. so going earlier in the day next time).


Brandon fall down, go boom.


Me messing around.


Brandon trying ... something.


Hooray for snowshoes!

As you can see, we had a TON of fun and plan on going again next week. We hope. *crosses fingers*

Also, I read in some local sports magazine that there are actually snowshoe running races. I tried running a bit in mine - it worked out okay, but I don't think I could go that far right now. Still, something I may have to look into in the future as that would be AWESOME.

For the curious, we have (probably) basic snowshoes - Tubbs Sojourn 25/30s. (i've got the 25s, he's got the 30s). Still, we loves them.

Happy Birthday, ISDreams!

Happy Birthday, blog! In honor of Cranky Fitness, I give you cupcakes!

Yes, I started this here blog exactly ONE YEAR ago today. I was planning on doing a whole retrospective, seeing where I was with resolutions from last year, putting down this year's ... and then today ended up being the best day for Brandon and I to use the snowshoes we got each other for Christmas. So obviously that didn't work out.

Instead, I'll do it tomorrow (along with the official snowshoeing post with pictures!) when I a.) have time and b.) upload pictures off the ol' camera.

HOWEVER, I will talk about today's scheduled workout which was a total body lift. We were talking over dinner about what we wanted to do when I remembered Charlotte's post about her January experiment and thought that the workout would be a fun one to try. So, we did, adding in one from his Men's Health as well.

We did three of the four parts of the MH workout which was a dumbbell total body workout. You didn't count reps - just did as many as you could for 45 seconds, rested for a minute and repeated one or two times. We went through it twice. We did single db woodchops, an "arms out squat" - squat down while holding the db out in front of you ... as you squat, you press in on the ends of the db for resistance - and the "standing press out" - stand, holding ends of db - press db out while pressing in on ends of db.

The last one which looked the easiest was actually the toughest. From there, we moved to the Shape circuit which seriously? Kicked. Our. Asses. We ended up doing it only once and not completely. The squat thrust with a row, once we figured it out, was a bitch, but doable. The dead lift to hip opener ... well, neither of us did the hip opener twist and Brandon struggled hard with it. :( The four count push-ups were fine, the single leg squats with the ball were ridiculously hard (probably because we're both out of our top hockey shapes) and the scissor lunges were okay. The sprinter (basically a variation on a bicycle crunch) killed us and we finished off with the plyo plank (weird). We figured if we hadn't done the squats from the MH wokout, we would have done the Tabata squats, but eh. Our quads were already sorepants by that point.

Still, a good workout for both of us.

LOTS MORE BLOGGING OUT OF ME TOMORROW.

Good workout tonight...and earlier today!

Earlier today, well...like at 2 in the afternoon, we were in Rocky Mountain NP doing a bit of hiking around...in snowshoes! Those were our Christmas presents to each other and we figured we would try them out today. Hiking in snow, even in showshoes = tough. I tell you, I think of it like swimming. The extra force on your body and whatnot. What fun and what a good workout.

Then tonight we went to the gym to do a total body workout. We took a combo from Mens Health and Shape, and we basically crawled out of the gym. I'm not kidding. You can read girlfriend's post for what the workouts were, but the long story short is that we were hurting.

Oh well, it feels good. Snowshoeing is fun!

Where I'm at

So far, so good into the new year. I've stuck with my workout schedule and eaten well. It's gotten off the exact way I wanted it to.

That being said, there's already some areas that I'm looking to improve on. As the girl said, last night, we went to the gym but due to being short on time + easing back into our workouts, we only did 15 minutes. I did 15 on the elliptical, which may not seem like much, but doing intervals on that thing are killers! But I'm already feeling like only 15 minute cardio sessions aren't really going to cut it, even if that was my plan for pretty much the entire month of January. I may need to re-evaluate what I'm doing and come up with a new game plan here in the next week or so.

But the important thing right now is I've been consistent in the fitness area of life so far this year. Sure, one week is easy. I've got 51 more to go!

Wanting More

In keeping with the idea of easing back into working out (for, as we've mentioned a zillion times over, we were total slackers in the last quarter of 2008), today was a short cardio day at the gym.

Crazily enough, I actually changed my warmup from five minutes on the recumbent bike to 2:30 on the stepmill ... and I think I got more warmed up that way. Go figure. Anyway, stretched out and headed over the stationary bikes (a.k.a. BOREDOM) while Brandon hopped on an elliptical.

Since we were sort of crunched for time (ze boy is off scorekeeping right now), we only squashed in 15 minutes of cardio. I went for the sport-specific setting, punched in a level, hid the time and the progress chart with my towel and started pedaling away.

Oh, and if you're wondering why I cover said crap with my towel it's because watching it will make me go crazy. While I love me a good bike ride in the great outdoors, the stationary bike drives me crazy due to its boring nature. So, if I forbid myself from looking at the time just counting down the minutes and seconds until my workout is over ... things go smoother.

So, the only thing I kept an eye on was my cadence/rpms. I was aiming for 90 and I'm guessing I probably averaged around 87 or 88 rpms, so yay.

Eventually, I did look at my clock though and realized I had less than a minute left and almost felt sad that my workout was ending. I probably could have pushed myself a lot harder than I did today - not going to lie - but at the same time, it was nice to get into a rhythm on the bike and actually enjoy myself on the damn thing for once.

Besides, I figure it's always better to be wanting more than wanting to never go back again.

3 in a row???

Yes, 3 in a row. Go me.

Keeping it short since I'm sad the Vikings lost and really I want to turn to cake right now to feel better, but I won't. I worked out at the gym tonight. Warmed up in the steam room (literally, since my body was freezing since it's ass cold out here tonight) then stretched and did 15 minutes of the stepmill. I did various intervals, so it was definitely challenging. We then lifted a bit. 3 sets of incline shoulder presses 10 reps at 25 lbs and then curls...the same sets, reps, and weights. (I'm lazy and hungry).

More tomorrow. Go us.

Two Second Blog

Okay, since it's 10pm and I have to be at work in 8.5 hours, I'm going to keep this short.

Went to gym. Warmed up, stretched, did stepmill intervals (ooooowwwwwwwww), did dumbbell incline shoulder presses and dumbbell bicep curls.

Yay for working out. Yay for still attempting to make good food decisions. Boo for not hydrating as well as I should have today.

More from me later as I haven't eaten in almost five hours and something to be determined from the fridge is calling my name.

2 in a row? Alright!!!

So again last night my job decides to throw me another curve ball...this time a drunk passenger. Not good, as you can imagine. Luckily before the flight left we got him thrown off and arrested. Go us pilots! But anyway, this led to us being late into Billings, and therefore, a short overnight. Boo. But I woke up at 8, determined to work out.

When I got downstairs to the fitness center, there's two people on the two treadmills. And of course, they aren't really pushing themselves. More just walking slow and talking. I decided not to wait and instead hopped on the stepmill. After 10 minutes, they finally left so I used the final 5 minutes of my workout to do the 2-3 run thing on the treadmill. It worked out pretty well.

I think I'm making good food choices too...even though I am in an airport and it's not easy. Bah humbug.

So Far, So Good

One thing I wanted to be good about this year was making sure I got in a workout if it was scheduled despite any possible bumps that might be thrown into the proverbial road.

Take today. Today, the plan for my workout today was to go to the gym and do cardio - whether it be the elliptical or the stepmill. Well, due to me catching up on sleep and sleeping in, lunch, errands and realizing ohcrapIhavetobeatDUin90minutes, I figured it would be best for me to stay home and go for a run instead.

So I did. I did the same loop as yesterday, but did it a little quicker - 1.35 miles in 13:40 ... which means, I went down to a 10:07 mile instead of a 10:27 mile. While the time was good, I could tell I pushed myself just a little more than yesterday as I felt crappier. Still, I'm glad I got out there.

Besides, I figured I may as well take advantage of the glorious 60 degree Denver day before it (supposedly) drops into the mid-30s tomorrow.

Happy New Year and a fresh start

As girlfriend alluded to in her post below, the end of last year was not pretty in terms of working out. It's scary to think about how far we fell. But we have our game plan in store for the year. As T said, we're gonna get our schedules figured out for each month and pencil in when we are working out and what we are doing that day. We are also scheduling "off days" which are important as well. And as she also mentioned, if we hit our workout goals, we are going to reward ourselves with a "treat". I have never treated myself before for completing a workout, so I think this will be fun and rewarding.

That being said, today was my first day to be scheduled for a workout. Yesterday was a crazy day as an airline pilot...blah. Today I was scheduled for cardio. As much as I want to push myself, I know it's not the best idea. The best idea, IMO, is to ease back into the workouts, especially the cardio side of things. Being that it's -20 in Fargo today (that's cold, even for me!) I decided on a 15 minute treadmill workout. Yes, the classic 2-3 treadmill workout. 3.5 walk for 2, 6.0 run for 3. In the final interval, with 45 seconds left, I kicked up the speed so I was sprinting by the end. And amazingly, I feel good. It feels good to get back into working out.

I know T said we'll post the New Years Resolutions later, but I figure I'll say a few things of my own that I will focus on this year:

- not beat myself up for missing a workout. Circumstances can happen, especially with my job.
- know there will be setbacks
- realize that it's not a short-term thing we're shooting for here
- keep track of everything in a notebook (food and working out)

This year you will see a new Brandon. A more focused Brandon. Life threw me a lot of curve balls in 2008 and probably will in 2009. But I am determined to hit them this year, instead of fouling them off like I did last year.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone! Was your NYE celebration quiet? Crazy? Non-existent? Brandon and I had a nice dinner date downtown, rode the light rail back home (free!) ... and barely made it to midnight. We're party animals these days I tell ya.

Anyway, since we've let ourselves go a ridiculous amount, we're resolving that 2009 be different. We've set up an overarching plan for the year, broken down the month of January to know which days we're working out and which days we're not, and will figure out exactly what we're doing week-by-week as we know our schedules (okay, as i know mine as brandon already has his). We've worked in off days to our workout plan - off days that, if we've done x workouts or x this, we get a treat. We're also working out a treat schedule as we think it's going to be good to reward ourselves. I'm personally looking forward to this as I've never really rewarded myself for workouts or what have you.

I'm still working out the official Resolution Post and will probably post it in a few days on the *gasp* one year anniversary of this here blog. So, look forward to that - especially because one of the resolutions will concern this here bloggity blog.

Anyway, to start off the year right, I've made pretty good food decisions so far today and have gone for a run - 1.35 miles in 14:06 for a 10:27 mile. It's not a pretty time, but I know I did that to myself. However, I actually felt good during most of the run, so that's an encouraging plus. :)