Work It

I hit the gym about 10:00 this morning and did an hour on the elliptical, whoo hoo! I tried reading on the elliptical this time. I am the Queen of Motion Sickness but I read the whole time with no queasiness. Awesome! I was reading a book about running and was so pumped to get on the treadmill after. My right knee was getting kind of tight so I went and stretched it out. There were still treadmills available when I went to stretch. And after I did, there were none. I thought maybe there was one but there was a sweaty towel on it. Someone had marked it as their own. I strolled down the treadmill lane, waiting. I saw one open up at the other end and before I could even start walking that way, some guy who had NOT been waiting, who had just walked up, took it. Hmph. Went and hung out at the end of the row. A girl got off her machine and puttered around, leaving her water bottle on it. I asked if she was done and she said no, picking up some weights and proceeding to do lunges down the lane. Sigh. I hung out a little longer and then gave up. Boo. Clearly tomorrow I need to go earlier. I guess I can’t say anything since I did use the elliptical for an hour. But in my defense, there were several other elliptical trainers available that entire time.

On the up-side, I DID do that hour on the elliptical! And started reading one of the books I ordered from Amazon. I’ll tell ya all about it when I’m done. It’s awesome and inspiring so far. But no more details until I can give you a real review!

Gym Again

Whoo hoo!  Another day of 1 hour on the elliptical trainer and then off to the treadmill to run a half mile.  Then situps and stretches.  I was a good girl today and stretched before my workout, too. 

I felt so good on the elliptical this morning that I wanted to bust out some dance moves, but stifled the urge.  First because I would fall off the machine, and second because then I would officially become a Gym Character: the Girl Who Boogies on the Elliptical.  Which would violate my personal policy of flying under the radar.  The urge faded after about 30 minutes into my workout; close call.

I entered a giveaway contest at Endurance Isn't Only Physical's blog.  It's for iFitness's sport-belt/waist-pack that looks like it is perfect to use when you're working out.  To enter the contest you have to post comments telling Endurance Isn't Only Physical which belt you would like to win, that you are a follower of her blog, that you have posted about the contest, and recommend some headphones/earbuds for her.  It looks like a pretty cool running accessory so wish me luck!  You might run over to her blog, too, and check the contest out for yourself.

Return to Running

I just got back from the gym and am so pumped!  I did an hour on the elliptical trainer and then thought what the hey, I was already more than warmed up.  I hopped on the treadmill and cranked out a leisurely half-mile.  Very leisurely; I'm talking a 15-minute-mile pace.  I've always been a slow runner by preference anyway, but I'm taking it extra easy since my last running streak was from February to July 2009, and before that I had not run since October 2008.  But I'm back, folks!

My heartrate was 167 when I finished the half-mile.  I like to keep it under 140 so I will probably not run more than a half-mile at a time for a while.  I figure seven or eight minutes at the higher heartrate will not hurt me. 

I will have to start stretching out before my workouts now.  I have only been stretching out afterwards since I started this latest stint of working out regularly.  But today after 20 minutes on the elliptical my left knee started feeling tight.  I will probably start taking glucosamine again, too, to protect my joints.  I find it really helps me when I take it regularly.

Snow in MO

The night before last we got hit by that snow storm that has been all over the news. It had been cold already, but hey, this is winter. And we already had a good amount of snow. But once again, it’s winter, people! And then the snow storm hit. Wow!

It is gorgeous; powdery and drifting. It is also dangerous. This year I have seen so much aggressive driving when the roads are bad. I don’t understand it. My rule of thumb when I’m driving on snowy or icy roads is if I have to brake right now, what will happen?  And I adjust my speed accordingly.

With all the snow hitting us I did not get to the gym yesterday morning as I had planned. So I am behind on She Wears a Red Sox Cap’s elliptical challenge this week. And I have a big family weekend coming up (the last Christmas event) with people in from out of town and there will be houseguests at multiple locations and sharing of cars to make sure everyone can get around. I am going to have to be extra extra dedicated to make sure I get up early enough to get to the gym without slowing down the holiday fun by hogging a car.

I also could not get to my Wednesday night Weight Watchers meeting. It’s the first one I have missed! I’m sure it was cancelled though, since that was the night of the big snow. I need to check the schedule and see if there’s another one I can get into today or tomorrow so I at least go to one.

How lucky am I that I have one more Christmas left? I love Christmas.

Gaining Muscle or Fat? 4 Pounds in a Week, Yikes!

I hereby declare Week 1 of the Mulligan officially over! I was at the gym by 5:30 a.m. every day this week, Monday through Friday. I drank 2 liters of water each of those days except Wednesday. I lifted Monday, Wednesday and Friday, doing 20 minutes of cardio on the elliptical trainer those days. I did 30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical on Tuesday and Thursday, and did 60 situps all five days. And I gained 4 lbs. Yeesh! Hopefully it's muscle, or water. Don't stressed muscles retain more water, then release it after a couple weeks when they're more accustomed to a new workout routine? Cross your fingers for me.

I had a couple rough spots... Friday I parked my car in front of the gym and seriously considered just going straight home again. And for no reason really except that I was tired of being in such a rush getting ready for work after the gym; not having time to get pretty, just having time to get clean and neat. Mid-week I walked into the restroom and saw alot more of someone than I would have preferred to see. C'mon, let's preserve a little mystery, thank you. There are plenty of semi-private areas in the locker room to dress in, no need to stand out in the middle of everything in your altogether while you try to find a matching pair of socks in your gym bag. Anyhoo, I recovered from both episodes and finished my workouts.

I have one more week committed to the morning workout. Hopefully after that it will become habit. I do enjoy the workout itself, and the drive home is pretty relaxing. Plus I feel virtuouos all day, having gotten in my exercise 1st thing in the morning. However, I am so tired in the evening that I take a nap after dinner, then go to bed early. I thought I would have more energy from working out regularly, not start napping like my grandma. I haven't gotten anything done around the house and have fallen behind in emailing or calling family and friends. My mani/pedi needs to be touched up (I do it myself and do a pretty nice job, if I do say so) and seriously, it would be so nice to have time to fix my hair before work, instead of just quickly blow-drying it with a little product in it and hoping for the best.

I will stick it out another week and see how I feel at the end of next week. I'm excited about the changes that are coming. Yesterday I crossed my arms while I was talking to someone and was surprised to feel my triceps! Whoo hoo!

Rock On!

I did it! Got up at 4:45 a.m., went to the gym and did 20 mins cardio on the elliptical trainer, then stretching, situps and upper body weight-lifting. There was a woman at the gym who was only on the tricep curl machine intermittently but left her towell proprietarily on the armrest between sets. She was doing some kind of routine involving that and 2 other machines. I could not believe that in the morning, when everyone was trying to get their workout in before work, she would hog 3 machines at once! Yeesh! Of course I would not cared if it weren't one of the machines I wanted to use.

I brought a salad to work for lunch. And I had 2 liters of water by the time I got home from work. Of course then I ate a huge dinner, but at least it was Subway, full of protein, iron and veggies. I almost went for cheeseburgers and fries.

All in all, I'm calling today a success. Rock on!

Preparing for the Mulligan

I hope everyone had a fab 4th! I went to two bbq's and saw lots of awesome fireworks and a friend's cutecutecute 3 month-old baby girl. Today I'm preparing for Week 1 of The Mulligan. Starting Monday I'll be getting up ultra early to work out and then it's straight to work, so I'll be pooped when I get home. I figure it will be nice to have worked out and come home after work to a clean house, so today is a big house-cleaning day and making sure all the laundry's done so I have gym clothes and work-clothes. Nothing like the old "I don't have a clean sports bra!" excuse when you don't want to go to the gym at the crack of dawn, so I'm making sure it's not an option!

My 1-liter water bottles are full and chilling in the fridge.... I drink one on the elliptical and I'm going to try to drink the other at work. So my main goals for this week are 5 cardio workout's and 3 upper-body weight-lifting sessions for the week, and 2 liters of water a day. And I almost forgot adding in more fruits and veggies... I have bananas and frozen cherries, so I need to freeze some 'nanners so I can make cherry-banana smoothies. I could not resist the big bag of ruby red grapefruit so that is on hand for evening snacks. And I bought 2 kinds of lettuce and made hard-boiled eggs, so if I do my prep-work today I can take a salad for lunch tomorrow. My to-do list is growing, sigh. But I'll be glad when everything is ready.

Ok, I'm off to rotate the laundry, continue dusting and cleaning, and prep some salad. Wish me luck!

Part II of the Plan of Fat-Attack: Move That Hiney

I love to run. Not competitively, not fast, just go out the door and set it on cruise and crank out a leisurely 2 or 3 miles. Right now I’m too heavy to really enjoy it; I need to take about 15 lbs off the load my poor abused joints will be carrying, and condition myself again, before it’s the effortless pleasure it used to be. Back when I ran regularly it was my alone-time, attitude-readjustment and analgesic, all wrapped up in 30 minutes on the blacktop. If I was cranky, or my back was sore and tight from sitting at a desk, or I was overwhelmed from a day of office chatter, all I had to do was put on my sneakers and head out the door. I miss that. I want it back.

I also used to do situps, girl-pushups, leg-lifts with ankle-weights and some work with small dumb-bells every day. Of course, my eating habits were atrocious; I ate once a day and barely made it to 1,000 calorie most days. So this time I’m trying to take the weight off and get fit and trim while still eating like a human being, not a bird.

But I digress. The subject at hand is exercise. I’ve taken some stabs at re-establishing a running routine over the last 2 or 3 years, but always get derailed by one thing or another… the weather, work schedule, etc. After I have established a good excuse, I got lazy and take some time off from the exercise routine. I tell myself “A runner does not lose conditioning until a break extends beyond two weeks.” Well, my break would not stop at two weeks. And then when I finally decided to get back on track I’d have to start getting in shape all over again.

Bf gave me a gym membership for Christmas. It’s awesome and I love going to the gym. And it removes the weather excuse from my repertoire of reasons not to move my hiney. So right now my plan is to use the elliptical trainer until I’ve knocked my weight down a little, then I can start adding in some running again. I started a weight-lifting routine this week; I’m doing an upper-body workout and plan to do it three times a week. I have lifted two times so far this week. I’m not nearly as sore after the second one as I was after the first. I also stretch and do situps each time I go to the gym.

This is my first week of being re-dedicated to the routine. I’ll post any weight-loss weekly and changes in measurements once a month. I’m excited about the possibilities…. WHOO HOO!

As usual, I’m going to finish my coffee, make a smoothie and then start work. Have a fab day!