I wish I'd been tracking my heart rate all along but I haven't. I was reading an article today that got me to wondering what my resting heart rate is. I'd been sitting on the couch long enough to watch Pan Am so I figure that's resting. I took it twice. The first time it was 60, the second time 62. That's pretty darn good! I think that means my heart is "conditioned". I love it! For me this is just about as important as losing weight. You can't get much better than some strong heart muscles.
And now for a little catch-up since Saturday. I took Sunday off to rest, mostly because it seemed like a good idea. My body felt pretty good, though my triceps were really sore. Monday was a holiday for me. I spent the morning fixing my kids breakfast and enjoying their company and then took them to daycare so I could go to the gym and pick up my bike (I'd dropped it off for a tune-up).
I decided to run intervals on the treadmill even though it was nice enough to run outside. I guess that means the intervals have made the treadmill less hated. They make it a challenge and I like the idea that I might get a little faster doing them. Here's the breakdown of what I do:
Start with a 3 minute warm-up walk at 3.0mph
0-5: 4.5mph
5-10: 4.8
10-12: 5.0
12-17: 4.8
17-19: 5.1
19-24: 4.8
24-26: 5.0
So it's 26 minutes of running and I push past my "natural" 4.8mph pace. My goal for running is to maintain a 12 minute mile (5mph) for the 5k distance. When will I reach that goal? Who the heck knows. That's the beauty of making your own goals, you decide if there's a time pressure or not. And in this case, there isn't. At least not for now. Anyway, I did my strength training, chest and triceps (those triceps HURT), core work and 5 minutes on the stair climber. I burned a whopping 587 calories and left feeling good but I knew a cold was coming on.
By the middle of the night I was full-on sick. Stuffed head, runny nose, etc. One of my most of my MOST favorite things about not being pregnant is being able to take cold medicine. NyQuil is the best! I got back to sleep and didn't miss a thing until morning. I was groggy and still sickly though so I took the day off. I sat around watching TV and feeling like a slug for most of the day. I finally took a shower and some DayQuil and started feeling like I could go to the gym. Most of the advice I've read about excercising when you're sick is that if it's in your chest, skip it, but if not, go for it.
So I went for it. I did the bike for 25 minutes and then dove into legs and shoulders. Everything went really well, especially the lunges. I felt strong and was able to take even, stable strides without too much wobble. I mixed in core work and felt strong enough to give the plank a try. I did one, held it for 40 seconds, and decided to do another one. At the 20 second mark my back hurt a tad but I held on and held the second one for 40 seconds too. I felt really good about that. Two 40-second planks were what I was doing pre-backache so it's nice to know I still have the strength. I wrapped it up with 5 minutes on the stair climber. I had enough gas in the tank to do 50 steps per minute for the whole 5 minutes.
On to today, Wednesday. My cold is still holding steady. I had a plan to go to the gym when Miguel got home from work, still feeling like as long as my chest is clear, well, the coast is clear to exercise. When Miguel got home and mentioned that I was leaving soon Marek started crying, "Don't go mommy." Aww, shucks. Miguel gave me a little lecture about letting my body rest and that when people are sick they sometimes take an extra day off. He actually said, "You're not lazy, you're just sick." Funny, I probably really needed to hear that. So between Marek pleading for me to stay (and my really wanting to stay home with my family for dinner) and my being sick I decided to skip the gym. It's not easy. I can go the next three days in a row so I can hit my 5x a week goal but I'm not going to. I'll probably go tomorrow and either Friday or Saturday.
My only worry now is if this sickness moves into my chest and I'm down for the count for days on end. Fingers crossed that doesn't happen.
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Bummer on getting sick. Often when you up your exercise your immune system can become more susceptible for a few hours afterwards, or even a few days if recovery doesn't happen...anyway, lots of water, vitamin c and d, lemon juice tea and...a crushed bulb of raw garlic in a spoon of honey (gross but works for me as garlic is a natural antibiotic and antiviral) can help...yeah, there's drugs but often they can delay the disappearance of the cold in the long run...your day off from exercise is likely very helpful, I hope it makes the cold disappear quickly!
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