Really Moving Now!

One last post before the weekend gets away from me.  We are planning Myra's one year birthday party and I have a feeling I'm going to be busy,busy until then.  A quick gym report before I get to the good stuff.

Thursday I had to face the music with Week 5/Day 3, another 20 minute run.  When I got on the treadmill my stomach started growling and I realized it'd been 4 hours since I ate lunch.  Not good.  But, I had a day off on Wednesday and I did not do legs/shoulders in the days prior so I was hoping things would be better than last time, and they were.  Though it was still harder than I would have liked it wasn't a minute by minute personal hell.  I thought a lot during the run about how to describe the level of difficulty and came up with either medium-hard or 7 on a scale of 1-10.  My heart rate was fairly good, my legs ached and, well, it was the treadmill so I got bored too.  After the run I did legs & shoulders for weight training, core work and 5 minutes on the stair climber before stretching.  My entire workout was a challenge and I think it would have been a lot better if I had remembered to eat a snack!  I got irritated with myself, I don't need to be adding to the difficulty by not fueling my workouts.

On Thursday night I was lucky enough to go out with some friends for cocktails.  I needed a mom's night out.  We met up at a nice bar and I had vodka with soda water, the lowest calorie drink I can think of (besides beer that tastes like water).  I was struggling with what to eat but in the end I got a poached salmon salad with the dressing on the side. I also ate 3 pieces of fried calamari and a few french fries from what my friends ordered. All in all I think I did well.  Alcohol is always a challenge, add that to being in a restaurant and it's not easy to stay on track.

The best part though was definitely the girl talk. We all shared and listened and supported one another.  At one point I referred to myself as "plus sized" and they set me straight right away.  So I then re-qualified myself as an "xl girl".  Nope, they didn't want to let that go either, though I really am an xl right now.  Just the support, the encouragement, the positive outlook was so nice to hear.  I sometimes have a tendency to think of myself in terms of who I was years ago, and not just in reference to my body but also my personality.  I have changed.  A lot.  I am me now, and I am a good person.  Sometimes I just need to be reminded of that by some good friends and that's exactly what I got.  So thank you Monique, Erica, Laura, Deb - I'm grateful to have you gorgeous ladies in my life!

Today (Friday) I took a 1/2 day off so I was able to go to the gym only an hour or so after lunch.  I think it helped that I had eaten something recently.  I did 25 minutes on the bike, Level 5 - rocked it!  Then I did back and biceps.  My back has not hurt much lately and my abs feel a lot stronger so I decided to do one set of back extensions and see how that feels.  Doing them felt fine, we'll see if I hurt tomorrow or Sunday as a result.  After core work and the stair climber I stretched and hit the road.

Onward.  Good thing #1 - a mom in my club was giving away her old hard-tail mountain bike and I happened to be on the computer when the email went out.  Well I jumped on the chance and I am the proud new owner.  My beloved old Cannondale (pictured here) was stolen out of our garage a couple years ago (when we lived in our condo, I don't think I ever mentioned it here).  We don't know exactly when it was stolen, we just realized one day that it was gone.  I was so sad because Miguel helped me fix it up and turn it into what we called my "around town" bike.  He bought me a big cushy seat and I had a rack put on the back and a kickstand.  Well, now I have a new bike I can turn into an around town bike.  I just wish I loved it like I did my old bike.  That Cannondale was the first bike I ever purchased, I was living on the big island of Hawaii and I was getting into shape, I cried when I bought that bike because I knew it was a sign.  1995 - 200?  RIP Green Cannondale.

The other piece of good news is, it's weigh-in Friday!!  You know that means I lost or I wouldn't be acting like weigh-in Friday is a good thing.  I lost...ready for it?  TWO POUNDS!   Yippee!  I'm in the 180's with 189.4 pounds.  The hard work is continuing to pay off.  I am thisclose to the 10 pounds lost mark.  Hopefully next week but if not, that's ok too.

Well, that's it for me folks.  I'm headed into a busy weekend but hopefully I'll catch some down time to post. Not sure what my workout plans are, I hit 5x already this week so will probably take tomorrow (Sat) off.  Sunday is Myra's party so I might have to take that off (though her party is in the mid-morning/early afternoon so I might make it.  Monday is a holiday and I took Tuesday off so I know I'll get there those days at least.  I hate to start the week (Sun) with a day off so hopefully I can do Sun, Mon, Tue.

Now that's really it.  Bye for now!!  Hope you get out there and do something fun this weekend!!!

Darnit, I Want Some Chocolate!

Almost bad enough to drive to the store and buy some. I think I'll make some hot chocolate after I write this, hopefully that will fix my cravings.

So things are going well. I went to the gym on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday so far this week. [So much for waiting until I finished this post, I just made my hot chocolate] On Sunday I did c25k Week 5/Day 1 and was hoping for an easy run. It was fine, but not the "easy" I was hoping for. Afterward I did my strength training routine. On Monday I rode the bike, level 5, for 25 minutes, more strength training. On Tuesday I did c25k again, Week 5/Day 2 and unfortunately it still wasn't "easy". Bummer. Not feeling so optimistic about my 20 minute run tomorrow (W5/D3) but hoping it will be, at minimum, better than last time.

Today (Wednesday) was a day off from the gym. Food wise things have been going ok. I went out to lunch on Tuesday and instead of my normal grilled salmon sandwich with soup I got a Mediterranean salad with grilled salmon. I got the dressing on the side and used just a little of it. I don't have the calorie count but I think the salad was a better choice than the soup and sandwich and I felt better about the whole thing and that's probably more important in any case. I thought I had two social events this week but they are next week so I can relax a little. I had a whole scheme though for the food I would eat, etc. Next week I can put that into motion.

We are having a party for Myra this weekend - can you believe my little sweetheart is already turning 1 year old?? [Just finished the hot chocolate and it hit the spot] Time flies by so fast it's almost scary. I am looking forward to a party for my little love and to some fun times with our friends. Hopefully I'll be too busy to eat too much. This is a holiday weekend so I am taking an extra day off to really add to the fun. I bought one of those discount daily deal massages and I'm thinking about getting it on Tuesday. Should be a nice day.

I'm planning to hit the gym tomorrow (Thursday), and either Friday or Saturday depending on how things go. Friday is good so I can take Saturday off and start the week with three days in a row of gym time, which I like. I don't want to go to the gym more than 3 days in a row if I can help it. If I go Saturday then I can work out Sunday, Monday, and would have to skip Tuesday. No, don't like that, I definitely want to go on Tuesday since I'll be off work and can spend as long as I want. Thursday and Friday it is.

Oh! That reminds me. During my first training session with Ken he had recommended situps on a decline bench. I couldn't do even one at that time. I decided to try them again the other day and I could do eight! I have since done a bit of research and going all the way down might put strain on my back so if I can't do them without going all the way down I will skip them. Man, finding ab workouts that are not a strain on your back is not easy. Since weak abs mean your back will have to fill in to get the job done I will hopefully be able to return to some of these when my abs are stronger. My virtual coach suggested crunches on the stability ball, maybe it's time to give those a try.

That's it for me. I just got some good news, nothing huge but something I'm excited about - more on that another day. Night all!

Even When I'm Bad, I'm Good

I got on the scale Friday morning not sure what to expect. I'd had the camping where I knew I'd eaten a lot of snacks, including more chocolate dipped biscotti than I will disclose. Then there was the weak evening where I ate a packaged El Torrito chicken caesar salad (with out of control salad dressing) AND a piece of tres leches cake. A large piece. But I also knew my workouts were consistent so I had no sense of whether I'd be up, down or sideways. I was down! .4 pounds down, and happy with it. I am now 13 pounds from my intermediate goal of weighing what I did after Marek was born, 178.4 pounds. I'm moving in the right direction.

And my clothes are getting a little loose. I checked out Ann Taylor Loft the other day in case they had something decent on clearance. I don't want to spend a bunch on clothes that will hopefully also be loose soon. I found a pair of pants for $4.98 but they were a size 12. I'm wearing a size 14 now. I decided to try them on and, while they were a tiny bit snug, they are totally wearable! The sizes at the loft are a bit generous I think but I'll take it. I bought some 14 capri pants at macy's the other day and feel better with them un-bottoned so there you go, sizes are weird.

So I went to loft.com for a link to the site and I noticed the main page picture included women that actually look normal. I love it! Most of the time you see something more like this. Those loft.com ladies don't appear overweight but they don't look like size 0 mannequins either. My "like" for this store just went up a notch. Now if only they'd carry more pants in "big" sizes (i.e. 14, 12) in the petite section I'd be happier!

Oh, I should mention the gym since this isn't a blog about the portrayal of women in advertising (though I'd LOVE to follow a blog about that - don't get me started). I decided to go on Friday, which was good. I did the bike for 25 minutes on Level 5. I looked back in my gym journal and noticed I started a few months ago on level 1, shot up to level 2 pretty quickly and have steadily moved up since then. Back when I started level 4 was unthinkable, but I've already surpassed that. There's some tangible progress.

After the bike I did chest, triceps and core work. Afterward I did the stairs but instead of doing my normal 5 minutes I did 10 minutes to sort of make up for what I missed on Thursday (when I didn't have enough time). The 5 extra minutes were a challenge but not too bad. I won't be doing 10 minutes from now on though, I don't have the time and I don't enjoy those stairs that much. I stretched and man, I am still pretty tight on the inside of my upper thigh. I don't know what that's about but I'll keep doing the happy baby pose, despite feeling a bit funny when I do, and hope it gets better with time.

Today, Saturday, was a day off. And it's a good thing I didn't plan to exercise today because I didn't have time. We drove 2 hours to a baby shower of some good friends and then 2 hours home. It was a good day catching up with friends and there were a lot of kids there so our little ones had fun too.

Tomorrow is the start of a new week and I'm ready for it! I'm doing week 5 for the second time and feeling good about that too. Week 6 is the last week with walk breaks so I'm in no big hurry. Oh, I ordered some vitamin B complex yesterday and I think I'll take some iron before I go to bed. I'm not feeling tired like I was but I can use all the help I can get!

I hope this blog finds you in the midst of a fun, active weekend!!

Mind Games 2011

I got on the treadmill yesterday with high hopes. It seemed the circumstances were ideal, I'd been following c25k on the each-week-twice plan, I felt good in the week 5/day 2 run, I had a rest day the day before...and I was feeling good mentally. Everything seemed in place for a triumphant 20 minute run. Oh but it wasn't. It was a fight. Minute by minute, step by step, I had to fight to finish those 20 minutes. Here's a sort-of breakdown of what went through my head.

Warmup walk: Let's do it!
Minutes 1-3: Oh, that hurts, but it will get better, once I'm more warmed up it will get better. (I was having tightness and pain in my Achilles area)
Minutes 4-7: Not sure I'm going to be able to finish this one, this is really hard, but I have to at least make it to 8 minutes, the time I did the other day. Why isn't it getting easier?
Minutes 8-9: Ok, make it halfway, you can make it to 10 minutes, go, run, you are strong, you can do this. Maybe it's not getting easier because you did legs 2 days ago for strength training? it doesn't matter, just keep running.
Minute 10: halfway, don't stop. maybe I should stop? if it hurts I should stop, right?
Minute 11: does it really hurt? not that bad, now it's just a dull ache. at least my heart rate isn't too high. just run to minute 12.
Minute 12: 8 more minutes to go?! don't think about that, just run, just keep running, look out the window, look at the tv, make it one more minute, you can do one more minute.
Minutes 13-15: one more minute, you can run one more minute, some people are disabled and can't walk at all, you are fortunate, you can do this, remember running into the finish area at the tri, how exciting was that? my heart rate is climbing pretty high. if it gets to 170 I'm stopping.
Minute 16: YOU ARE SO CLOSE!!! 4 minutes to go, you can do it! It hurts, it's hard, but you must have the will, do not give up now. 168, 169, 167 - not 170 but even if it hits 170 i'm not stopping, i'm too close now.
Minutes 17-20: I am going to do this, I know I am, hard but not impossible.
Minute 21:00 - Whew. No celebrating here, too beat, just a quiet acknowledgement that I did it. I tested my will, I dug deep, and I used my mind to push myself.

Geez, you'd think I'd run a marathon! But it was hard, it really was, and I will not dismiss or belittle it. I struggled but I did it.

Like all the other weeks I am going to repeat Week 5 again. Let's hope my next 20 minute run goes something like this:

Minutes 1-20: la, la, la, I love running, isn't this fun?, I could do this all day, la, la, laaaaa.

I can either take today or tomorrow off from the gym and I'm very undecided. We are going to a baby shower 2 hours from home tomorrow so I might be smart to go today in case the trek interferes. I'm feeling ok today, a little tightness in my hips, but otherwise ok. And the tiredness seems to be going away too, hopefully it was just a mild virus (both kids have runny noses and I have a sore throat) dragging me down.

As always, thank you for your support.

A Penguin in Tri Clothes

I should not be blogging right now. I am tired, feeling down and just generally not in any sort of state to be writing and possibly infecting anyone with my mood. Why am I tired? Who knows, it's been ailing me since Tuesday. It could be related to my lingering sore throat, or to not enough vitamin B, or not enough Iron, or the weather, or the kids, or, or, or. I know it's not not getting enough sleep because I have been going to bed early every night. Miguel actually suggested I'm getting too much sleep and that's why I'm tired. !? I started to wonder if he was secretly giving me decaf in some twisted attempt to get us off caffeine. Whatever it is, I'm riding it out.

I have been hanging out a bit in the active.com community forums. There's a newbie running forum where a lot of people are doing c25k and so I've been following their progress. And that's where I was introduced to a new term: the penguin runner. Now picture a penguin...short, round, slow, tends to waddle. Sounds about right. So someone posted a quote by John Bingham on the active.com site:

If you run, you are a runner. It doesn't matter how fast or how far. It doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run.

I had to look up who this guy was - John Bingham, a former couch potato turned marathoner. He wrote a column called The Penguin Chronicles for Runner's World Magazine and eventually a book, The Courage to Start. Of course I love this guy now. And I found a new term to add to Athena (an overweight triathlete).

I am an Athena and a Penguin. Try dressing up like that for Halloween. Actually, that would be funny. I would have to get a penguin costume and then put triathlon clothes on top. That might be better for Bay to Breakers. Whoa, I'm getting off course here.

Is this a fitness blog? Yes, I do believe it is. On Monday I went to the gym and did c25k Week 5, Day 2. Two 8 minute runs with a 5 minute break in between. Did I do it? You know I did! Wow, I'm already feeling a lot better than when I started this post. Ok, so after my victorious jog run I hit the weights to do chest, triceps, core work and then 5 minutes on the stair climber before my stretching/cool down.

Tuesday was another gym day, this time I did the bike. The random route was sort of easy so I upped it to level 5. Things were going along fine until near then end when the bike tossed out 3 minutes of level 8 resistance. Ugh. I have this whole rpm scheme, looks like this:

Levels 1-2: 100+ rpm
Levels 3-4: 90+ or 100+ rpm depending
Levels 5-6: 90+ rpm
Level 7: 80+
and now, with the addition of level 8...
Level 8: just keep pedaling

I think I like the challenge. Maybe. Sort of. Anyway I'm probably going to stay at Level 5 because I don't like to go backwards. Unless I have to of course. After the bike it was legs, shoulders, core work and then 5 minutes on the stair climber before I cooled down and stretched. I did some fancy sideways climbing on the stairs (I wonder, is that bad for the knees?) and left the gym feeling content.

On to tri news. I asked my local tri club about renting wetsuits and got all sorts of tips, etc, even an offer to do a practice swim! Now there's a good idea being I've never swam in the bay. Someone also suggested I join North Bay Aquatics in one of their practice swims. One of them is described like this, "Boats take you out half way to Angel Island and you can practice swimming into the finish area." Ok, that sounds scary to me. I think I really need that practice swim. I'm going to look into wetsuit rental, rent one, and then follow up with the guy that offered to arrange a practice swim for me. Once again, thank you nice people of the world!!

Today I plan to go to the gym and do Week 5, Day 3. That's a 20 minute run people! It will go well, I will have plenty of air, strong legs, and a good mind. Oh, and I want to read The Courage to Start - anyone have it and feel like loaning it to me?