Walking and Rolling!

It's Wednesday, my day home with the kids. We're in the middle of a heat wave over here so we are headed to the park (with a water feature) soon to play in the water. I am wearing shorts and t-shirt and actually feeling ok about that. It's amazing how my mind has shifted in the last month or so. When bathing suit shopping a month or two ago I was feeling like wearing a bathing suit was a sacrifice I was willing to make for my kids. I was definitely not willing to have them miss out on summer fun because I was feeling crappy about my body. But now, even though I'm not feeling great about my body yet, knowing that I'm doing something about it already makes me feel so much more comfortable with myself. Of course I'd like to look, and feel, better. But knowing I'm getting there is a relief. So today, in my shorts and t-shirt, I feel alright. And even if, er when, I get all wet with the kids today I know I'll be less concerned about my t-shirt sticking to my fat :)

Ok, exercise update. On Monday evening I went on that walk after the kids went to bed. I wore my headphones and again enjoyed my music. I did a larger loop than last time and after coming home and mapping it out I found it was three miles. I was curious about my pace and since I walked an even 60 minutes it was easy-peasy - 20 minute miles, 3 miles per hour. That's the same pace I'm walking on the treadmill during walks for c25k so that's good. Toward the last 1/3 or so I had a chance to take a shortcut and probably cut off a little less than a mile. My legs were starting to complain a bit and I was tempted but ultimately decided I wanted to walk at least 45 minutes and that would have meant closer to 40 so I took the longer route. When I got home and found I walked three miles I was happy I didn't take the shortcut. I came home and stretched and hit the sack a happy girl.

Yesterday Miguel called me toward the end of the day and said he could pick up the kids if I wanted to go to the gym. It's so much easier having Miguel behind me on this! I went to the gym and did c25k week 1, day 3. This time I remembered to set my elevation 1. Things went pretty well. I felt good, my heart wasn't pounding too fast and my legs weren't hurting too badly. The most amazing bit of goodness is that I haven't had to deal with shin splints! Hopefully they will not make an appearance at all but I've had such issues with them in the past I'm psychologically ready to deal with them if I have to. So I almost feel like I could go on to Week 2 next week and I'm really tempted to give it a try. In Week 2 you up the jogging to 90 seconds but the walks get stretched out to 2 minutes. I probably could do that but I also don't want to push myself too fast and burn out. I'm leaning toward repeating Week 1 but we'll just have to see how I feel next time I hop on the treadmill. After c25k I did weight training, back and biceps.

I also got to chatting with some other gym-goers about spin class and cycling and I mentioned I'm looking for a nice, flat, paved bike route for a ride. One woman mentioned a paved trail in Mill Valley - that's exactly what I am looking for! I had forgotten about that trail. I rode on part of it when I did the paradise loop back in October of '08. Hopefully this Saturday morning we can head out with the kids in tow on our road bikes. I'm excited!

Did you catch that I mentioned spin class? I've always been too scared to take a spin class but my new gym has a 1/2 hour spin clinic that notes "beginners welcome!". It's on Thursdays and Miguel would have to pick up the kids for me to be able to go but sometimes he gets done early so I asked him to think of me if he finishes early on a Thursday so I can check it out. There's a spin class at the crack of dawn (7:15am) on Saturdays but I want to attend this clinic before I dive in to a full hour class. Since Myra wakes up at 6:30 in the friggin' morning like clockwork I should be able to make a 7:15 class.

Well, I'm off. I don't know if I'll go to the gym tonight or not. Sort of depends on how my day goes with the kids. So far I've gone to the gym twice and taken a good long walk once so I could take a day off if I'm feeling like it. That's always a nice thing to know.

Like Cardboard, but with Cheese

A quick post to share a new food find. During my blog hiatus I read The Omnivore's Dilemma as well as In Defense of Food. I'd been reading books along these lines for a while, Fast Food Nation, etc. Anyway, something that will likely be very different in my eating when/if I go back on any sort of food "plan", i.e. Weight Watchers, will be the amount of processed foods I eat. I still have my daily coffeemate, that's as fake as fake-food comes, and will likely still have my go-to processed foods but I'm generally moving away from that stuff. Anyway, all that said to share a cracker I happened upon in Whole Foods a week or so ago.

I stopped during a break in work and needed a cracker to go with my Laughing Cow Light Cheese wedges. On the bottom shelf was this Scandinavian Bran Crispbreads. Here are the ingredients and stats:

Ingredients: Unprocessed wheat bran, rye flour, salt
Serving size: 1 slice (10g)
Calories: 12g
Fat: 0g
Sodium: 30g
Carbs: 7g
Dietary Fiber: 5g
Sugar: 0g
Protein: 1g

So, Wow! I bought them and hoped for the best. Well, they definitely fell into the not bad category. Not great but what would you expect from that ingredient list? I spread my LC cheese on two of them, wouldn't want to even try them plain, and they were not only totally edible but they filled me up more than the other crackers I used to eat. Of course I had a very large glass of water along with them. They will be a go-to workday snack for a while I suspect.

One last thing, I'm tight and sore today. Not horribly so but enough that I think the gym is not a good idea. I'm going to take a walk at some point, either after work with the kids in the stroller, if it's not too hot, or after they go to bed.

Like Riding a Bike

First off, let's get the not-so-good news out of the way first. As you may have seen in the update to my last post I had a .5 gain last week. I wasn't happy but I got over it fairly quick. Incidentally, I started my menstrual cycle today so now I am wondering if that is part of the .5, or at least hoping that's the case. In any case it's all part and parcel for the journey.

Ok, now that the gain is out, let's move on to better things. I didn't get any exercise on Friday (but does the work day from hell count?), but the rest of the weekend was a big success!

On Saturday I was with the kids all morning while Miguel was in his triathlon. I didn't end up taking the kids to watch him, he was doing it with a friend so I knew he'd be alright without us. It would have been nice to cheer him on but the super early wake up and keeping the kids entertained during the event just didn't sound like fun. So the kids and I went to our regular playgroup and had some fun at the park. I had probably my biggest scare of not being able to find Marek though, thank goodness my mommy-friends stepped in and helped me find him fairly quickly. It was scary but glad to find him quickly. Later Miguel came home from his tri (he was VERY happy with how he did) and suggested I go to the gym while the kids nap. Perfect. I did c25k Week 1 (day 2) and felt oddly comfortable. I did have some tightness in my adductors (inner thigh) area. It was a strange feeling because I don't think I've ever felt tight in that area before. Anyway, it got better as the intervals went on. No twinges of pain in my feet and my endurance seemed better than last time. I did notice when I got done that I forgot to put my usual 1 degree elevation, could that have made a difference? I suppose. In any case I was very happy to be enjoying c25k, something I didn't expect to happen so soon. After that I did chest and triceps for weight training and left feeling quite pleased with myself.

Today I was with the kids all morning while Miguel played golf and then soccer. I will be taking notes for Mother's Day next year ;) I took the kids to the park to watch the last 20 minutes of his soccer game and we had some nice family time afterward. I planned from the start to go to the gym during their naps so as soon as they were tucked in I hit the road. I am realizing how important weekend workouts are because weekday ones are so much more challenging to squeeze in. Today I started with 20 minutes on the treadmill, doing a more than leisurely but not hard pace. I wanted to see how the upright bike would feel so I did the "random" program (seemed like what other bikes call "hills") on Level 4 (I think) for 25 minutes. This bike didn't cycle from level to level as fast as other bikes I've been on so when the resistance was up, there were a few times when I was really getting my butt kicked. But I powered through and felt good about how it went for my first time. Afterward I did legs and shoulders. Squats went ok, since I had time I did three sets of everything instead of two, which was probably a good thing. But the lunges, oh my!, I couldn't do them. I did one set, barely. I guess it was the bike? But I had no strength in whatever muscles you use to do lunges. Oh, I found something new that I really like! It was a square balance board that looked like this on the bottom:



You can stand on it to balance from left-to-right or from front-to-back depending on how you position it. So I got the bright idea to do my shoulder exercises on it, I've been doing triceps and biceps on the bosu so why not? I did lateral raises while balancing left-to-right and front raises while balancing front-to-back. I like that it adds a balance workout and also that it engages my core, balance comes from the core right? At least I think I read that somewhere.

After weights I had a nice long time to stretch, which I really needed, and left feeling good. While I was there I realized this is the first time in my life, I think, in which there is no cajoling, bargaining, convincing or any other tactics to get myself to the gym. I think it's because of the kids and the lack of time and just an appreciation for the time spent doing it that I never had before. And I really want this. I'm afraid I know this feeling won't last but I want to believe it will so let's just go with that reality for now.

When I came home Miguel had some friends over and asked me to run to the store for some grill fixings. After the upright bike at the gym I wanted to ride the real thing. Miguel got my bike down for me and pumped up the tires. I popped on the snap-on platforms over my clipless pedals, I'd purchased them way back when and this may be the first time I'm actually using them. I rode to the store and back taking the same loop route I did for my walk a couple weeks back. Funny how a bike will show you all the little grades you never noticed before. I felt fantastic riding the short distance to the store. The rest of the loop home was a little painful though it was less than 2 miles in total so I didn't suffer too badly but...IT FELT GREAT! to be on that bike. I felt like I was gliding along. I need to plan a nice (mostly flat) road ride asap!

Well, you're totally up to date. I have one gym-day in the bag for this week and I more than met my goal for last week. Ok, gotta hit the sack before I fall asleep on my laptop. Thank you for reading and, most especially, thank you for the supportive comments. I've been reading a lot of my old posts lately (I'm getting motivated seeing what I did before) and the comments are still so helpful. Thank you!!

Three Quick Things

1. In my post last night I forgot to mention that weigh-in Friday is nearly upon me! I have resisted the scale all week, despite it beckoning to me. It's been calling out to me, "Come, weigh yourself, get some validation, or motivation, or whatever I can give you, come on, you know you want to, weigh yourself, see the numbers!!". But nope, I have resisted. I think once a week is a good healthy amount and, for me, keeps things from getting too neurotic. I know there are a lot of daily weighers out there and I've heard about why it works for them, which made sense, just isn't the case for me right now. But who knows, maybe someday it will, I'm open.

2. My vgf (very good friend) Stacy told me my face is looking thinner. Of course I replied with a hearty, "Really!?" and a big smile on my face. I don't care if it's true or not - not that Stacy would lie about that sort of thing because she absolutely would not, do NOT ask Stacy if those pants make your butt look big unless you really want to know - I took the compliment happily. I guess I just made a very strong case for it being true so maybe it is!

3. I went to the gym at lunch today!! First time and I whipped myself around that gym so fast it was sort of crazy. I did 20 minutes on the elliptical. c25k says to take a break between days so I didn't want to "run" again. I was feeling very good and worked my butt off doing intervals and listening to some great tunes. I'm rediscovering my workout playlist, it's darned good if I don't say so myself. Then I did about 18 minutes of weight training, today was back and biceps. Two minutes of stretching, hit the locker room, wiped my face and armpits (tmi?), threw on some fresh deodorant, fresh undies (way TMI?!) and back to work. The whole thing took about 45 minutes so I even had a few minutes to eat some food really quick. I am new to this whole lunch gym workout, anyone have any insider tips??

So, that's it, I made it to the gym three times this week! I know I'll get another bit of exercise in, even if it's just an evening walk after the kids go to bed, but I'm feeling no pressure to get to the gym. It's funny I described it that way because for the time being I think the feeling I have is not like pressure, I think it's what they call motivation. I'm motivated folks!

4. Wait, I only had three things to share...ok, wish me luck for my weigh-in tomorrow. This time I think I will be down in the face if I don't lose something but I need to let that go now. I'm feeling good, my body seems to be responding well, I'm making this work despite having two kids, a full time job and friends and a husband that have some expectation of seeing me now and again :)

Update: Gained .5 pounds this week. I was bummed but it passed quickly. After all, I lost three pounds last week, I don't want to get greedy ;)

Blood, Sweat and Tears

I admit, that title is a little dramatic, but it popped into my head tonight when I was suffering on the treadmill so it has some legitimacy. I was definitely sweating at least. This is my second trip to the gym this week, the last time I went was Sunday. If I can squeeze in one more trip that will make three. Three gym trips a week would make me very happy.

Anyway, tonight, by the time I was able to leave the house, I made it to the gym at around 8:10pm. That gave me 45 minutes to do whatever I could. I decided to try c25k Week 1 with the idea that if I couldn't do it I would at least have an idea where I stood. Week 1 looks like this:

5 minute brisk warm-up walk
Eight intervals of 60 second run and 90 second walk
5 minute cool down walk

The warm-up walk went pretty well (hee-hee) and I was handling the runs okay too, though they were not easy. By the mid-point, during the runs, my legs would start hurting and I even felt a slight twinge or two in one of my knees. I reminded myself that I am carrying almost 45 pounds of extra weight and that idea somehow made me feel better about the whole thing. I pictured myself running with a huge military backpack on my back and agreed with myself that running with that on probably should be hard. Another good reason to lose this weight. I wore my heart rate monitor and was surprised that my heart rate didn't go too crazy and I recovered fairly well (I'll spare you all the detailed history on my heart rate). By the time I got to the 6th interval I knew I would be able to finish, that's always a good feeling. It wasn't easy but I did it and I was darned pleased with myself about it. I don't know how many weeks I'll have to repeat Week 1 but I really don't care. I just want to make progress.

After the treadmill I had about 15 minutes to do some weight training. I did two sets of 8 squats. Let's hope I won't be as sore in the next few days as I was last time. Then I did stationary lunges (so much better than walking lunges!) but couldn't get down very far. Those muscles are probably as weak as my ab muscles. Then I did a couple shoulder exercises, front and lateral raises. I mixed in some ab work, bent knee raises and...the plank! I was able to hold the plank twice for 30 seconds each time. I might be crazy but it already seems a tad easier. I had about 2 minutes to do a tiny bit of stretching. Bad, I know, but I did what I could and hit the road feeling very good that I'd gone.

So I was chatting with some mom friends today and somehow we ended up talking about doing a sprint tri in September. Well, I thought it was in September. I figured by then I might be in fair enough shape to at least finish without a near death experience. I came home and looked it up and it's actually in the third week of August. Hmmm, we'll just have to see. That reminds me...yesterday after work we went with the kids to the local pool and I swam a few laps just to see how it felt. Well, I'll tell you how it felt. Hard. Whew! I was breathing hard and trying for the life of me to remember all the stuff I learned in those swim classes I took. My endurance is not the greatest these days but again, I can't say that I'm all that upset about it. I haven't exactly sat on my butt for the past 2+ years but close enough so what should I expect?

Food...what can I say about that? I've been sort of just paying attention. No tracking or major cutbacks or anything but just by being more aware, making better choices when I can and skipping the check-out line candy bar I'm feeling pretty good about things. A perfect example is that we got take-out Chinese food and I didn't order anything fried. A colleague with whom I was discussing my foray back into exercising tried to sell me on an app that would count my calories. Nope, not ready for all that yet. Last thing I want to do right now is pile too much on and collapse a month from now in failure. That reminds me, someone left a half-bag of peanut butter filled pretzels (from Trader Joes) in my possession recently and I sat down with the bag and ate more than I probably should have. Afterward I took the bag straight to the garbage disposal. It's much easier to eat healthy when you don't have any major temptations around.

So Miguel, my husband, has very suddenly decided to do the sprint tri that's this weekend! No, he's done almost no training for it but he's gained way less than I did during this baby making period and is generally in better shape, he still plays soccer every once in a while and will walk a golf course now and then. I'm excited to see how it goes for him! I don't know yet if I'm going to get the kids up at the crack of dawn to watch him but if I do I'll definitely snap a few pictures.

Alright, that's it for me, I'm tired. I've realized since I'm exercising now sleep is even more important. I know you've probably also seen a million times like I have that researchers found people who don't get enough sleep tend to be overweight, or that sleep helps with weight loss, or something like that. Either way, I'm going to get some sleep right now. Night all!