Friday, November 21, 2014

A Great Week

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I had a bunch of stuff I meant to write about but now that it's Friday night at 10pm....

Anyway, I've had a good great week so far. I hit my goal of exercising 4x during the workweek. I glanced through my workout log and noticed I've hit that goal for four weeks now. Working out four days a week is important to me for several reasons. There's the obvious calorie-burn type reason but that's not the most important. For me it's about stress management and maintaining fitness. I like the level of fitness I reach when I regularly hit that goal. And I feel so much better too.

Once I feel like I'm completely back to my former fitness level I can ease up a bit, miss a day here or there, without much consequence. But for now, staying very focused on the objective at hand. Which reminds me, it might be time for a recovery week. I've kind of forgotten about the concept, which is every 4th week I cut back on everything. Less time/intensity in the cardio and lower weights/reps in the weight training. But I'm hesitant to do that right now, I feel so focused on building my strength and endurance up that I don't want to back down. We'll see. Might be a smart thing.

Speaking of smart things...I signed up for a half-marathon! The Rock n Roll Half Marathon San Francisco, March 2015. I ran the inaugural version of this race in 2013 (with Laurie, who's also signed up). The route has changed since then, which has me so excited to run a slightly different course. A lot of SF races run a very similar course and while this race has some of those same parts in it, some are also new (for me). But I just noticed, the race starts at 6:30am. Holy early race time! Might have to stay in the city that night.

Eating is going ok. I went out to dinner last night. I made a very good choice, a grilled skirt steak that came served with white rice, grilled asparagus and an asian slaw (made w/o mayo). I skipped wine and fortunately they didn't put any bread down in front of me. After dinner I was headed home when a mom-friend texted about meeting up for a drink. Eh, why not? So I added a martini to my Points fort the day. And when I got home...I wanted something salty and started in on a bag of Garden of Eatin' Red Hot Blues. Yum! I think I ate maybe half the bag. 15 Points. It was a big bag.

Between that and the martini, and a larger-than-normal homemade dinner Wednesday night, I wiped out all my weekly Points and even went into the red by a couple Points. Today's workout (30 min run + weight lifting) got me back in the black but I will have to be want to be careful with my choices from here on out if I want to remain in the black. I'm not too worried about it though. I'm planning a long run tomorrow, which will give me a good chunk of APs to work with. And besides, why worry? I ultimately do whatever I want anyway. Just gotta stay focused on what it is I want :-)

And sleep, sleep is one thing I want. Night all!




4 comments:

  1. so glad you're back in the swing of things and that it's going well for you again! congrats on signing up for RNRSF! i'll be doing RNR Portland May 2015 while visiting family. i just hope that their Portland race is better than their San Antonio race.

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  2. Michelle, I know you've talked about your workout log before, but I'm curious about exactly what logbook you use - it is a hand-written notebook or a calendar-style log that one can purchase? I've been using a commercial runner's log but would be really interested in using something that allows for other types of workouts. Do you keep it in a gym bag or in your car or do you use your smartphone? Do you update during your workout or after? (Or before? Sorry - I don't usually ask uch specific questions but I'm super-interested in logistics today.)

    Especially as the calendar-year comes to a close, I'm re-thinking my current approach and I'd be interested to hear your thoughts about pros / cons of the system you use.

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    1. Hi, The book I use is called My Workout Log (there's a pic of it on My Workout Page (http://www.diaryofanaspiringloser.com/p/my-current-workout.html)). I order it from Amazon. My routine is, when I get to the gym I walk on the treadmill for 2-3 minutes as a warmup and while I do that, I write down my workout plan for the day (copied from the last time I did that routine), here's a post where I included a picture: http://www.diaryofanaspiringloser.com/2012/01/workout-log-and-fried-chicken.html

      And then as I go through my workout I put a check by things that are done. I write down the total time and calories burned (according to my Polar) if I know it. Sometimes I make notes if something is sore, hurts, etc. And sometimes I make notes patting myself on the back, like "kick ass!" :-)

      I keep the book in my gym bag. Hope that helps.

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    2. Thank you so much! I knew it must be on here somewhere. Have a great holiday weekend!

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