Huh.

First off, since my last post, I've actually been on the workout wagon (again. i know.) I ended up taking two days off after the race, starting back up on that Wednesday ... and my next off day wasn't until yesterday.

I'm not entirely sure how this happened. Maybe it's because I've been feeling productive - Wednesday was super-productive-cleaning-day for me and I scheduled in a long run and that newfound motivation carried on through. Maybe because summer's starting to turn into autumn (my favorite season) and I'm determined because of that. Whatever it is, though, I'm happy for it.

Anyway, this is what I've done:

8.19 - Ran 3.19 mi in 34:08 - 10:42.01/mi
8.20 - Ran 1.36 mi in 13:13 - 9:43.09/mi
8.21 - Ran random park sprints (almost an off day; didn't keep track of any distance or time)
8.22 - Swam 400m in 11:00 - 44:15.42/mi; lifted core and legs
8.23 - Ran 1.04 mi in 10:10 - 9:46.54/mi
8.24 - Swam 1000m in 25:00 - 40:14.02/mi; lifted arms (and am STILL FREAKING SORE)
8.25 - Ran 3.35 mi in 35:30 - 10:35.82/mi
8.26 - OFF DAY!!!!
8.27 - Ran 1.36 mi in 13:21 - 9:48.97/mi

Of note: I never walked anytime I ran (wooo!) and all swimming (except for like 50m on the 22nd) is done breaststroke (i know, i know).

However, one thing I've noticed happening - and I don't know if it's because it's starting to be fall or what - is that I've FINALLY been able to get my run times under 10 minutes/mile. FINALLY. It has taken all damn summer and look. Granted, it's only on my shorter runs, but that right there is a HUGE victory for me.

Granted, I know that in theory, my times should drop if I keep running enough, but that hasn't happened all summer. The fact that it finally is happening makes me giddy. I'm not down to the 8:30/mi that I managed to get down to in 2007, but maybe it'll happen by Autumn Color. Maybe.

Here's to my running FINALLY getting better, here's to all of you in hopes that you've had similar breakthroughs with training/life lately and here's to a whole crazy FOUR DAYS OFF from work ... two and a half of which will be spent in Minnesota. State Fair, downtown Minneapolis, the Mall of America, a Twins game and much fun will be had this Friday and Saturday. Woo!

Rocking and Rolling

It's been a week (well, almost) since I had my revelation-type thing and training's gone well.

I told you all about my run on Monday and since then ...

- I swam on Tuesday. 1000m total (100m warmup; 900m continuous) AND tested out awesome new goggles - AquaSphere Kayennes. $25 and worth every penny.

- Took Wednesday off. Walked around a bit, splashed in the neighborhood pool a bit ... and had date afternoon. Worth it.

- Cycled and lifted on Thursday. Got back on the C-470 trail in seriously like the first time in almost a year and still hate it. Hilly and windy, it KILLS your speed times. However, I'm slowly starting to get the hang of that whole "make the bike do the work" in regards to shifting, so that's good. Brandon and I also managed to put in a quick, small upper body lifting session that night. I was worried about it since I ate something that didn't agree with me and I ended up skipping sushi, one of my FAVORITE meals, in favor of trying to puke up whatever didn't agree with me. Once I did, though, I DID feel better.*

- Ran and played softball on Friday. Friday's run was a 1.92 mile loop that took me up that same damn trail hill I mostly ran up on Monday. Friday I actually made it up the hill and the whole loop took 19:18 for a 10:03.12/mi. The softball game (on a team through work), however, went crappily and I totally SUCKED and took a ball of the inside of my foot so I'm nice and bruised now. Ow.

- Took yesterday off. Was only going to do a light lifting day anyway, but really, sometimes sleep is more important.

Which brings us to today. I did the same 1.92 mile loop as Friday, but I went the other way ... which took me down the trail and up Lone Tree parkway. Which makes me think that long, gradual hills are worse than short, steep ones, as I did the same distance in 19:37 for a 10:13.02/mi. A whole 10 seconds slower per mile thanks to that other stupid-ass hill.

I'm skipping dinner with the family tonight in order to eat some fruits and veggies and have a very plant-based meal as I feel my diet's been lacking in those lately and then SWIMMING!!!!! tonight before I have to sleep and go back to work again for the sixth day in a row (of a ten day stretch).



* Okay, so I'm sure reading about vomit isn't pleasant, but at least it's not poop. :-p

Groovin'

I don't know whether it's the imminence of the Cherry Creek Sneak (SUNDAY!!!!) or the tri (END OF JULY!!!!) or the good weather (!!!!) after the giant snowstorm we had out here, but Brandon and I have been motivated lately.

Don't get me wrong, we've had our struggles - including the lifting session Tuesday that STILL renders walking painful - but for the most part, we've pushed onward and upward.

I posted last Wednesday that we ran, which we did. But, I didn't manage another workout until Sunday the 19th, when I swam. It wasn't a good swim workout given that I've been weak and out of shape and sick for what seems like forever, but I managed.

4x25m free
4x100m breast
2x25m kickboard

Monday, it was treadmill sprints, and murderous ones at that. I was on the treadmill for 11 minutes and was dead after those 11 minutes. Walked for two minutes easy, then did the following:

2:00-2:15 run 8.0mph
3:00-3:30 run 8.5mph
4:00-4:45 run 8.5mph
5:00-6:00 run 8.5mph
7:00-7:15 run 8.0mph
8:00-8:30 run 8.0mph
9:00-9:45 run 8.0mph
10:00-11:00 run 8.0mph

Basically, it was a variation of a bike sprint workout I did for hockey in college. 15 on, 45 off. 30 on, 30 off. 45 on, 15 off. Minute on, minute off. Rinse, repeat. I maybe could have pushed myself another set at 7.5mph, but honestly, I don't know if I could have. Still, one hell of an interval workout.

Tuesday, Brandon and I lifted for the first time in forever as well. We did some squats at the squat rack and I was basically reduced to tears knowing how far I've fallen in strength from two years ago. Then, it was most of some Men's Health workout he found ... which we've decided is seriously only for people who already lift a ton and are looking for variation. Anyway, it was wide-grip deadlifts, reverse lunges while holding a weight above our heads and then some YTWLI lifts on a ball. What that means is you're balanced on a stability ball just below your chest holding dumbbells and you make each letter doing some specific lift.

It. Was. A. Bitch. 8-10 reps of each letter, do each five letters without stopping, rest? HA. RIGHT. It was so hard. We kept dropping our weight just to get through it, but we managed.

That workout killed us to the point where walking - hell, MOVING - hurts. Still, we managed another swim workout last night.

50m breast warm up
4x25m free
2x200m breast
1x100m breast sprint
50m back cool down

That brings us to today. Brandon, due to his flying schedule, is taking today off. I might, but I'm thinking more likely that I'll go for a run. We'll see, though. I do need an off day eventually ...

Still FailBlogging

I did forget to blog last Tuesday as I did actually work out before going to Minnesota - we lifted! For like the first time in forever!

3/10/10 db curls; 2/10/15 bent over rows; 3/10/15 two-handed tri extensions; 1/10/25, 2/10/30 cable cross

But, since then .... nothing until today. Went for the trail loop run (as i've unceremoniously dubbed it) - 2.14 mi in 22:44 for a 10:37.38 mile. Not great, but given that the weather is schizophrenic right now as it usually is in Colorado this time of year (sunny and warmish with a cold-ass wind) AND I haven't done crapola lately ... I'll take it.

But, two other things of note on this run:

- I recently bought these in red/black and today was the first time I've been able to test it out. I've worn other stuff by Skirt Sports and enjoy it and this was one of the first pairs of "pants" that haven't been running tights that I've actually liked. It may have admittedly been a little too warm for them today, but still, two thumbs up from me.

- I also recently picked up a pair of Drymax socks, always featured and pimped out by blogger Steve Stenzel from Steve in a Speedo. Since he swears by them and I'm always on the lookout for new running crap, I decided to give them a try. My verdict? Okay. My feet started overheating by the end of my run (though i will admit that might partially because the rest of me started to overheat) plus my feet were as sweaty as usual. Running in the socks was also a little weird as they're thicker than what I'm used to. I think I need to get in a few more runs in them, maybe some longer distances before I definitively say whether or not I like them.

Ski Prep and (maybe) a Backhanded Compliment

So even though I forgot to blog yesterday (oops), Brandon and I went to the gym to do an upper body lift. It was short since we were both super tired, but we managed a warm up, dumbbell curls, military presses and dumbbell fly(e?)s ... which killed.

Though my legs are still somewhat sore from Monday, I went back to the gym by myself tonight (boy's in kansas) for another lower body lift. Warmed up with some stepmill intervals which reminded me that my cardiovascular endurance is either a.) still crap or b.) crappy because I'm still sick. Neither is good, but I'm thinking the former is the most preferable as I really don't still want to be sick.

Anyway, after that and stretching, I went straight into this one move that I don't know the name of, but it's basically a ball bridge: lie on ground with heels on a stability ball. Raise butt in air. Roll ball towards butt and back, all while keeping butt in air. After that, I did wall sits, calf raises and a whole hell of a lot of walking lunges - plain lunges and lunges with a rear leg extension. Those killed after a while. Ow. Still, it felt good, you know?

The other thing I wanted to blog about happened at Starbucks work today. I was on the bar (yay!) and during a slow period, went to replenish our milk fridge. The fridge holds 12 gallons - six 2% and six non-fat. Some of the guys can manage to carry out eight gallons (four per hand), but as a.) I'm not that strong and b.) my hands just aren't physically that big, I don't. Instead, I can manage to fill the fridge in two trips as I can manage three gallons per hand. It's a little tough, but not bad.

Anyway, I was carrying out six gallons of milk and one of my coworkers on a break (female) saw me and exclaimed, "Wow! Six gallons? I couldn't do that," (or something along those lines) before adding, "What are you, a man?"

Now admittedly, I am one of the stronger females that works at the store, if not the strongest. I can bring out six gallons of milk and don't have that much of an issue emptying the coffee filter trash (trash can nearest the coffee brewers. wet coffee grounds are heavy, yo). I also shrugged off her remark.

Still, did she really need to make some comment about me being more masculine just because I can lift some heavy shit? I'm proud that I can more efficiently fill the milk fridge. I may never look uber-cute in spaghetti strap tank tops given my broad shoulders, but you know what? I'd rather have that strength as it helps me get through my work days.

I dunno. Thoughts? Was that even meant to be a compliment? I took it as a backhanded one, but reflecting on it now, I guess it could be seen otherwise.

Body Lifts

When I got to El Paso today, I intended to do a 2-a day workout. I started it off with body weight lifting. This inculded squats, wall sits, planks, calf raises, situps, and leg lifts.

Unfortunately, my stomach is really bothering me tonight, so I don't think a run is in the cards. It will be tomorrow night though.

Squashing It In Again

This morning, I had every intention of going to the gym this evening to do some cardio and lifting. However, I realized later in the day (that is, around super crowded gym time) that oh right, I have to wake up at 3am tomorrow.

I knew I couldn't go without a workout ESPECIALLY with our ski trip coming up on Sunday. So, I improvised in the room doing a quick, intense lower body workout. I tossed together body-weight squats (slow down, explode up), lunges, calf raises, rear leg lifts and side bends. My hamstrings started to hurt a bit, so I knew it was a good, quick workout.

Now, off to try to sleep a bit as, I mentioned earlier, I gotta be up uber-early.

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.

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?

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.

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?

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!

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.

Ummm....

So...I really don't know what to say here...

Over the past two months, my fitness has simply gone down the drain. I went from working out multiple times a week and starting to look pretty good to watching my weight climb rapidly, my overall feeling good-ness take a huge dive and worst of all, my endurance take a nosedive.

I am trying to pinpoint where this happened, but I really can't find a specific time, place, or thing that set these wheels in motion. The bottom line is, it has to stop. And it has to stop now. The slacking, the excuses, they have to go. I was doing really good this year, and in two short months, threw it all away. Time to get back on the horse. Now.

We went to the gym today, a little later than planned, but still made it and did some intense lifting. I wanted us to walk out of there in pain, and I know I did.

Tomorrow it's supposed to be nice, so we're planning on going for a run. It's time to get back into an everyday routine, instead of just talking about it. Dammit.

Need: Motivation

So. I know ideally we'd like to be all about the healthy living over here, but damnit, I'm young and vain and I hate that I looked fat in all photos over thanksgiving except for the race ones because I was wearing about five layers of clothing.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - as miserable as I was on the bodybugg, I didn't look too bad on it. If it weren't for the all-encompassing depression, I may have actually been confident in my looks.

I'm not saying that I'm going to go back on the bugg or do anything crazy (though a teenytinyminiscule voice in the back of my head says why not), but I know I need to rein in some of the bad habits I've fallen back into - like eating like crap - and get back to working out more regularly and just being more active.

The gym today was step one. I (well, we) really should have gone Saturday. We technically had time in between waking up and looking at townhomes and work. Sunday afternoon in between jobs I could have gone as well. But I didn't. That can't happen anymore. So, we went today.

After the typical warmup we were going to do cardio, but the gym was getting crazy so we just decided on a hard, intense lifting session. The session was mostly upper body, doing 2/10s of every exercise - dumbbell chest press, dumbbell curls, incline dumbbell shoulder presses, standing bent-over dumbbell rows (after my two sets, i did five reps of the one-legged variety on each leg). After that, we did weighted walking lunges across the group exercise room. No cardio, but we're going to go for a nice walk after dinner (after which i won't blog because really, no need).

I need to work out more, I need to post more, I need more discipline.