Actually went running today!

I ran ~ 1/3mi in the middle of a bunch of fast walking. It felt good to get outside again. I've been doing minimal workouts lately, like 10-15min KBell stuff: cleans, swings.

I saw a video recently on SUAR's blog (in her comments) that talked about running efficiency, longer strides actually rather than shorter ones BUT with low bounce and still keeping the landing foot under you, basically midfoot striking, though it didn't specifically say that. It talked a lot about angles: stride angle as you step out, knee angle as you land, etc. So I was trying to step out farther but still not land on my heels. It reminds me of jazz running.

Merry Christmas

Well, first to catch up. I went running twice last week in Albuquerque. It was really nice the first evening; the weather Sunday through Wednesday was highs in the 50s. Thursday though a cold front came through. It rained ALL day; that's not common in Abq. Friday there was snow. I went running the second time on Friday evening. It was rather chilly. Actually, I didn't know when I started out if I'd actually run. I was walking fast (to get warm!) for about 1/2 an hour. My right knee had suddenly started hurting the day before, under/below the kneecap. After the 1/2 hour warm-up I jogged for about 20 more minutes. I felt really good and wanted to go longer, but my ears were hurting from the cold.

This week I didn't do much. Monday I did KB cleans for 10 minutes: 80 each side for a total of 160, then some lunges, crunches, etc.

My right ankle, or foot below the ankle, on the outside has been hurting more and more. I noticed it first in the shower when I scrubbed it. It hurt more the day after I got back from my trip. I thought it was just from my boot pressing on that spot, but now it hurts to have any pressure on it at all. Tonight I was feeling it, & I seem to have found a spot that is more tender than the rest. I should probably go to the dr about it. My right knee is feeling better, but my left one still bothers me--feels "full" inside the back of the knee.

The kids all enjoyed their Christmas presents: Nerf guns, Lincoln Logs, a keyboard...
I thought about going for a run today, but I got a late start baking cookies. I had a huge can of pumpkin pulp which amounted to a triple batch of pumpkin cookies. Then we went to some friends' and watched Despicable Me. The guy was mean, but I expected him to be meaner. Now I just need to see MegaMind.

Well, hope you had a good Christmas.

Went running Monday, walking today

Monday I ran at the gym. I walked almost 1/2mi, ran a mile, then walked the rest of that 1st mile. The running mile was in 13:12min. Pleased with that. :~)  The overall pace was less than 15min/mi. By the end of the mile run, my head was feeling tight & I could feel a slight headache coming on. So I didn't do any push-ups or sit-ups. My quads were sore the next two days!

Today I had to go over to another building a couple of times for work. It takes all of 1 minute to drive there, so unless the weather's really bad, I walk. There was a pretty chilly breeze on my face, but the rest of me was warm. There's a big hill to walk up to get to the other building, so I got a bit of a workout in. Traveling next week, plan to run daily.

My shin has not been hurting but my right knee was hurting toward the end of the run. My left knee has been hurting the last couple of weeks when I sit on my left foot or rotate my leg outward with my knee bent (like sitting on the floor cross-legged). It hurts in the back.

I *have* been working out

On Saturday I posted Friday's workout, but I didn't post Saturday's. I went for a run/walk: 3.4mi in 53min. It was good.

Monday I went out again.I was going to go to the gym, but the weather's been so nice lately that I decided I had to take advantage of being able to be outside. There was a strong wind out of the south. I've been getting so little sleep lately that I didn't even feel like running till after I'd been walking for over 40 min! What running I did, however, was mostly uphill. Totals: time 1:06:13, distance 3.89 mi. I have a new long run distance! I used the iMapMyRun app for my phone. It plotted out 5+miles but it was very ... zigzaggy, and I knew it was giving me a longer distance than I'd actually run. Once I straightened out my route, though, I was a little disappointed to lose more than a whole mile. But it was a good workout.

I need to do core work.

Diet-wise I've been muching and snacking again. And the holidays are nearly here. More cookies!
I almost signed J & me up for the local CrossFit "on ramp" course but then realized I couldn't say for certain that I'd be here for all the days. They only take 10 people at a time for that course, so if I don't make it (it *we* don't make it) that's 1 (2) other people who could have gone instead.

Day 2 this week

Last night I did
KB
swings: 2 handed, right, left 10 swings x 4
LC: 3x10
snatch: 2x10 1x20

Lunges: forward, side, back 10 ea

10 more swings (2-handed)

New goals

3x workout/week (so what's new there really) & Reindeer Run 5K Dec 18th (with the boys ideally).

Did manage 3 workouts last week. 1 so far this week: KB swings--20 2-handed, 10 ea LR; crunches--20 forward, 10 each side; plank--3x10sec; bridge--2x15sec; 20 forward lunges.

I've been having cramps in my left calf lately, right by my shin.

Finally ran again

Hope you had some time this Veteran's Day to stop and contemplate and appreciate military members and veterans. My kids' school put on a Veteran's Day program and parade with a little help from the local AFROTC color guard and the HS marching band.

After taking my daughter to school this morning I passed out on the couch for a couple of hours until time to get ready to go the Veteran's Day program. Afterward, my daughter and I checked out the school book fair for a while in order to let DH get a nap too. (He'd lain down around the same time the parade ended.)

Finally, as the boys were cleaning up the kitchen & DH was cooking dinner, I went for a run. First run since my fitness test since my shin has been hurting again. I did a long (slow) walking warm-up, almost 15 [12] minutes for only 1/2 a mile. Then I started running and took lots of walk breaks. I actually wore my HRM for this workout; my target zone was 150-170, so once my HR hit 170 (or higher if I didn't notice right away, no alarm on), I walked until it got back down to around 150. Total distance was 2.87mi per mapmyrun. I don't know the time really, >40min I think. [45min total, 33min run/walk.] I've already saved the workout in my watch. I kept accidently hitting the start button. In the house I did some sit-ups and then some twists holding my KB--kind of like passing a medicine ball around only it was just me. Used the ultrasound/bone stimulator since my shin hurt some during the run. Actually, I've been trying to use it after every run lately since I don't use it daily anymore.

I was going to run/walk longer but 1) my left knee's been hurting too the last few days, a hard to localize achiness under the kneecap and in back; and 2) my right knee started hurting along the outside at the end of the run there, something felt tight or something.

...and I just found all the WYSIWYG editor icons. For whatever reason, posting had defaulted to "Edit HTML" instead of "Compose" but I was reading the tabs/colors backwards. OK. good enough. Good night.

Not dead, just slackin'

I have done a few workouts since my fitness test. I just haven't been wearing my HRM, so I haven't had anything to upload, so I haven't been over here much either.

Yesterday I did swing sets 15sec on, 15 sec rest: R,L,R,L,both,R,L,both and maybe another RLboth. about 9 swings per set. Then I did 23(R) & 25(L) snatches. On the R side, I had to stop once mid-swing to let a 2yo go past and stop again at the top for even longer. Last night when I got home, my SS was out running and had left the pull-up bar in the garage doorway, so I did some (assisted) pull-ups too.

This morning I just did 10 presses/jerks each side with the KB followed by 20 twists holding it. So see, I'm not totally slacking. Plus I walk my daughter to school every morning. (Nice to see you again Mr. Sunshine.)

Just stopping by

I barely get logged in when I have to log off again. I haven't done much since my fitness test. My left shin has been hurting again. I took the dog for a walk a couple of times and rose a stationary bike at the gym last Friday.

How's that for gratitude?

I had my fitness test today and did better than I expected! Then I saw how close I was to an even better score and got a little disappointed that I didn't get it. Then I slapped myself and said, "Hey! You did a lot better than you expected! Getting those extra couple of points on that part is hardly anything compared to running almost a whole minute faster that you thought you could--at best."

Run time: 1.5 miles, 15:33min!!!
Much thanks to a couple of friends who joined me on the last lap. :~)

Oh hello,

Tomorow's my fitness test. I had tried to schedule it for last week, but something went awry & it didn't happen. So I had an extra week to try to prepare. It's going to be close I think. I haven't been working on the running. I feel like I could help someone else buil up in running, but for some reason I can't do it for myself. Too much self-doubt & fear of reinjury I guess. I could also have some passive-aggressiveness going on: the Dr said to go slow and take it easy, so I will--very slow and very easy. Also, once the new quarter started again, if not sooner, my stress level went up and my shin started hurting again. I went back to using the bone stimulator ultrasound. But I also hate push-ups, & it's hard to get good sit-ups in when your kids think that your being on the floor is an invitation for them to sit and climb on you. I should just go to the gym.

I had to pick up some more protein powder for the 15yo, & while I was there I decided to see if they had something I'd like. The guy recommended Be-buff for women. OK. It definitely tasted better than the stuff DH & SS have been using. It's almost too sweet--I'm drinking some right now in a yogurt/milk/berry smoothie. Not too bad.

I went back to the Polar site and created a running plan (I think I mentioned that already). This is week 3. Hmm. Need to update it.

Yesterday was almost a complete waste of time--at least school-wise. I got nothing done. Even at home I only did 1 load of laundry and fixed dinner (which took me around 2 hours). I set up a schedule for myself on Monday and have yet to meet any of the targets.

I have been running more and even got in 2 hill sprint workouts. The 2nd one was Tuesday & I'd only gotten ~5hrs of sleep the night before. 9yo has been having trouble at school lately & that was on my mind. Before running the sprints I did a mile on the track and tracked it on my phone (using My Tracks), so now I actually have the map for it. I still need to update my fitness tracker(s) from my watch (& phone).

Where are all my WYSIWYG options?

What you see is what you get
The only options showing are bold, italics, strikethrough, link, and quote. How do I insert a picture? I finally got some from the tri.

I should be sleeping. (& a bit of Polar vs Timex)

Correction to my last post: my fitness test was 3 weeks from that date, now it's only 2, and my speed still sucks. DH was out of the house most of yesterday & had our built-in babysitter with him for 1/2 of it. I should've taken advantage of time in the morning to go run again. The best I did was a "bunch" of sit-ups and push-ups (a bunch for me).

I really need to 1) get to bed at a reasonable hour (12:05am is not a reasonable hour), 2) eat "better"; mostly missing the fruits and veggies, of course, 3) workout more often and harder. Despite the fitness test being imminent and stressing about failing it, I'm having trouble being motivated to get my butt out and running like I should. I feel tired &/or sleepy a lot lately (Sudaphed helps, the good stuff). When I wake up in the mornings, in addition to the lovely sinus pressure sleepiness, I feel weak and even shaky. My husband keeps shoving 5 Hour Energy in my face every morning, but I need food with it. And I have to brush my teeth before eating or drinking anything--morning breath, yuck!

OK, so I went back to Polarpersonaltrainer.com and got a running plan. It's free. Unlike @ the Timex trainingpeaks site. And I can enter workouts ahead of time on my own, unlike the Timex site which requires a paid subscription for that little privilege. A year's subscription is ~$100, about what we saved by buying Timex instead of Polar. Oh and my watch still loses contact with the strap; tried a different strap, no change. The Indiglo isn't working now either; tried a new battery, no dice. Guess a call to Timex is in order. I do hear their customer service is better than Polar's...

Good night.

Sick on my days off

Day before yesterday I came down with a cold. I did an hour of WiiFit b/c all that moving around kept my nosed from getting all stuffed up. Now my calves are stiff and sore but only the top parts; I really feel it when I do a straight leg calf stretch.

Yesterday I got back from taking my daughter to school only to see my DH putting his and the neighbor's bikes on the bike rack of the Jeep. (We were going to ride yesterday, but I wasn't the only one hit with that cold.) So I complained ;) and he added my bike and the trailer (for the tot). The guys were planning on doing some geocaching along the way.

We got the the rail trail and unloaded the car, hooked up the trailer to DH's bike, and headed out--oh yeah, 1st cache right there at the trail station. The first cache we got to turned out to be a puzzle cache and would've taken too long. DH was beat pulling the trailer, so I switched it to my bike. This was somewhere between miles 3 and 5. 2nd cache also a puzzle, skip it.

As we reached our turn-around point, there was a 3rd cache. DH was going to stop at the bottom of a hill and then go to it, but I didn't want to start the way home by having to pull 50lbs of kid and trailer UP HILL. So I waited at the top and let Monkey Boy out to walk around while the guys went and found their cache. Also around this time my Sudaphed started wearing off, and my nose started running. nice.

Not long after we started heading back, DH noticed an odd sound coming from his bike, kind of a pfft, fft sound. He had to change his inner tube out. Riding again, DH started getting dizzy (again), and he was out of water. :( Our neighbor went back to ride with him (did he share a snack? I don't know); DH walked a while. I rode on (I did have the car keys after all. If worse came to worst, I could meet the guys at an intersection).

We came to the spot of the first cache and refilled our water bottles/hydration packs. DH was still having trouble though. I went ahead to a new station and got a sport drink (and blew my really runny nose). I was about to head back toward the guys when they got there. We rested and DH drank the sport drink and ate some gummys. We talked about whether to leave him there and pick him up in the car or if he could ride the last 2 miles back. There was a nice downhill "on ramp" to the trail from the station, but then he STOPPED up ahead! WT? Something about a white squirrel. OK, so he had to walk some more. I rode ahead to try to get the car ready by the time he got there.

The neighbor and I got the car opened up, sleeping Monkey Boy into his carseat (which of course woke him up), found some pistachios, got the trailer broken down & on top of the car. DH arrived to make sure the bikes were racked properly, and I drove us home.

The guys clocked 12.8 miles including their last cache detour, so I claim 12. I pullled the trailer for more than 1/2 of that. Thank goodness for Sudaphed (so that my nose was runny for only half of the ride). I was shaky by the time we got back. If I'd had any idea before jumping in the car that we'd go so long, I'd've something to eat along the way. At least Monkey Boy had a baggie of cereal.

Shortly after we got home I had to walk over and pick up my daughter from school. Walking was fine at least. (another 0.8mi).

DH is very stiff and sore. He can't take ibuprofen (tears up his stomach) and doesn't have anything equivalent. :( My calves are sore, my quads are too, though mostly from yesterday's lunges and squats. My nose is stuffed up. My fitness test is in 4 weeks. I need to be able to do a mile and a half in <= 16min. Lately, that's how long it's been taking me to do 1 mile. :(

WiiFit

A couple of weeks ago my husband bought a Wii. A few days later he bought WiiFit. A few days ago I set up my profile & today I actually tried out some exercises besides just 2 or 3 yoga poses. Not bad!

When I set up my profile, I chose a target calorie burn of a piece of toast (still not quite sure what I was doing there), and today I burned (according to WiiFit's calorie counter) 169 calories, a couple dozen or so shy of my goal. But I plan to do some kettlebell stuff later today.

My sinues have been bothering me more lately, and I seem to have developed a full-blown cold. Either that or there's *really* something in the air.

I'd hoped to do more running on my trip last week. My fitness test is in about 3 weeks, and I am SO not ready. :( I'm actually getting scared about it now.

New Mexico run

After 4 1/2 days in NM, I finally got to go for a run. Another one of those run-walk combos (as usual). Sadly it was dark by the time I got out, and I'd heard coyotes, so I was hoping not to run into any. We lived in that part of NM a few years ago & I had the oppportunity to run in my old neighborhood. There are these path sidewalks that are well-lit, but the main along-the-road sidewalks aren't as well lit. Seeing as it was around 9pm on a school night, the streets were deserted. It was an interesting run, a little creepy in the darker spots; would've been nice to have had someone to run with. I haven't mapped it out yet, so I'm not sure how far I went. But it took me around 1/2 an hour. At my latest paces, that's about 2 miles.

Well, I was going to add a photo, but I'm not seeing that option right now.

Yay, the quarter's over!

I finished and submitted my last report Friday at 9pm. Done.
Next quarter is strictly thesis work, then 1 more quarter with defense and 2 classes.

Wednesday I worked out. Yes, finally, a real workout. First I went running. It was a W2R sort of thing with 2+ min of running at a time with 1+ min of walking in between. That was around 25 min. Then I did push-ups, sit-ups, and pulled out my kettlebell for swings and jerks. My legs were quite sore 2 days later! Felt like I'd been horseback riding.

Today, while I was waiting for a turn on the Wii (my husband bought one yesterday), I fell asleep and slept for about 3 hours.

Next week I'll be running in NM.

It has come to my attention recently that, every day, I consume about a large meal's worth of calories more than I burn. That explains it.

Found a fitness tracking app for my phone

I was looking through apps for a gym boss-type timer for my phone and ran across the myfitnesspal app. I hadn't yet found anything easy for tracking food/calories, so I decided to try it out. So far so good; nice and easy.


This morning I logged on to the website to see what else they have and learned...

Will beat 101,167 times, pump 1,484 gallons of blood, and push that blood nearly 9,173 miles throughout my body!
Created by MyFitnessPal.com

Pretty cool, huh?

Apparently I have to keep my phone posts short.

What I was trying to say below was that I've been so tired lately, that when I have run, it felt like I was back at square 1 in the walk-to-run program.

Still alive

I haven't posted lately because there's not been much to post, & I've been really busy with school. When I did run lately, I was so tired

Beautiful cool morning run

I was up early enough this morning to catch the really cool weather (supposed to have had a low of 55deg last night!) and couldn't resist going for a run...again...finally. I don't know what the temp was when I started (between 7:30 and 7:45), not cold at all, but the atmospheric conditions were such that I could see my breath, and my glasses got fogged up a bit! I did a warm-up lap, ~1.3mi, and a cool-down lap. I had ~ 1/4c yogurt and a piece of toast a little before going out. I was starting to worry about it's effect on my stomach, but it resolved by the time I finished my warm-up lap, which wasn't really quite enough of a warm-up. It took the first lap of my mile to finish warming up. I was running just a couple minutes at a time for a bit there. Managed to stretch it out, but still walked part of each running lap (4).

Afterwards, stretch, pet the dog (she gets so lonely), chocolate milk and a turkey cheese sandwich. Before getting in the shower I eeked out 15 sit-ups (nothing holding my feet) and used my KB to do shoulder presses: 7 each side (20lb).

(pink Asics, noted for tracking purposes)

Testing blogging via phone

? Test
My new Timex HRM is cool and all, but I miss mapmyrun: the colors, the set-up, being able to plan work outs ahead of time. Not that I did, but that I could.

Apparently the photo upload from the phone part doesn't work. I keep getting replies that my "device" is not registered. Ah well, the texting in mostly worked. I can at least get a draft in and then finish it later.

Race pic

Currently I only have 1. The rest are on someone else's camera. This is as I crossed the finish line; the girls there asked for my race #, so I was pulling up my sleeve so she could see it (I couldn't remember by then).

I finished in 1:11:07 (143rd). R finished in 59:26 (135th). M finished in 57:50 (61st). S finished in 57:29 (125th), and A finished in a blazing 53:36 (37th, & she has a 2 month old baby!!). 

Girls Tri Too at Caesar Creek

Last night at 9:30 my husband and two older kids got home from the movie (Despicable Me, they loved it). My husband took one look at the clock and said "Why are you still up?? Go to bed! I went upstairs with the baby to put him to bed, but he turned on the shower. He did need a shower, so I let him get in. Shortly after that, the other two got sent upstairs to "go to bed" but it's never that simple. Needless to say it was well after 10 before I got to go to bed. Then I lay there awake with my mind wandering and listening to my husband talk to his oldest, who's in another state, via computer. I think I finally fell asleep between 12:30 and 1am. Not long after that, my 5yo woke me up climbing into my bed. She gets this weird idea sometimes that she's incapable of sleeping through the night in her own bed even though she's done it plenty of times.

At 4:45am my alarm went off. I hit snooze. Twice before waking up enough to remember why I was getting up so early. Oh yeah, triathlon, and M's supposed to pick me up between 5:30 and 5:45. Oh yeah. So I got ready; M tested that she was running late; she got here around 6, and we drove down to Caesar Creek State Park.

We met up with S, R, and A, checked in and all that stuff. Set up in transition, checked out the lake--the water was fairly warm. Finally around 8 the race started. We went into the water in 1s and 2s, so there was no crowding or getting kicked in the face. The water was only about 4' deep the whole swim (250y).  I was so tired after such little sleep the night before that I had to keep changing strokes. At one point I was passed by a woman walking. Yep, walking the swim part. For some reason, for me, swimming farther than 25m feels never ending. Then when I finally finish the distance and check the time I find out that it wasn't long at all. I walked out of the water in under 8 1/2 minutes! (This time I was keeping my eye on the corner bouys and making sure to stay on course.)  It still took me another couple of minutes to get up the hill to transition--wet sandy feet, rough concrete,   :-(  Threw on some shorts and slip on shoes and headed out. Race results aren't posted yet, but I hit the lap button on my watch as I left transition: lap 1 11:58.

The bike portion started with an uphill. Ugh! right after the swimming. After that hill though it was pretty decent: slightly rollolling hills, out and back. I got passed by an older woman on an old beater of a bike. It only had 1 set of gears. Wow. It seemed like so much downhill on the out portion, that I though coming back would be hard, but it wasn't. The hills weren't that steep. And then of course, at the end was the reverse of that uphill on the way out. M said her little speed/distance gadget clocked her at 23mph! I maxed out my gears and still ended up just coasting down that hill--I was flying! I had to slow down more than I wanted as I approached transition again b/c there was a fairly sharp right turn.

There were lots of bikes already back in trasition by the time I got there. Changed into my running shoes and threw on a shirt and visor and headed out for the run by 34:27. Again with an uphill! But it didn't feel too bad. My heart rate was in the upper 170s and I was quite out of breath so I walked the rest of the 1st mile...or however far it was. My clock read ~12:30min at the turn around and I did NOT feel like I was walking that fast. By this time I was wishing I'd found my Propel powder to put in my water bottle; I was getting tired of plain water. I had a really nice stretch by myself on the way back, narrow dirt/mud trail, lots of shade, quiet. I was doing some running and some walking. There was this one girl (volunteer) out on the trail with a radio and a cowbell. Man, that cowbell was annoying. Got back down to the park area; there was a girl with a plastic clapper thingy (also annoying) but she did point out how much farther there was to go, so I figured I could manage to run all of it. As I started going around the pavilion I saw M, S, A, and R...and their husbands and kids who'd come out to cheer them on...cheering me on, S's husband with the camera, and he went behind the pavilion as I went around it and got more picture(s) as I finished. (That last loop of a race always seems deceptive--oh, just around the pavilion--but not actually close to it, more like twice the distance of around it. Of course, I've only done 3 races.)  24:51 for the 2-mile run. Was it really 2 whole miles???  Total time, give or take a few seconds, 1:11:15. I believe I placed 144th overall (per the score sheet they posted there--still waiting for official results).

It's TOMORROW!! 8-O

The triathlon that is. Ever since having to change to a different race, it hasn't quite felt real. I still stay up till after 11 and sleep in till 8am. Tomorrow I have to leave home at like 0530. sigh.

I'm such a slacker,

about blogging that is. I have to cram in so much into my home computer time, but I usually end up on some tangent reading instead.

DH and I got new HRMs--Timex ones, so I've been using the Timex TrainingPeaks site to log workouts instead of mapmyrun. I wish I could upload to mapmyrun because I like it better, although the Timex one has food tracking too which isn't too tedious.

Monday we tried day 1 on P90X, DH couldn't get very far. His shoulder was hurting, plus he's just not ready for that intensity. I did the whole workout and the next day the fronts of my shoulders hurt from the push-ups and pull-ups. If I do unassisted pull-ups I can only do like 0.2; assisted (foot on step stool) I did 8.

Yesterday, M, S, A, & A(?) and I did a tri rehearsal. We swam 100m, biked 4.5 mi, and ran 1 mi. Well, I walked most of the mile. The ride kicked my butt! I couldn't get my hr down to even 170 during the "run"! When I finally got back to start, M and S told me they'd decided no more workouts for me this week. :~)  I also have been feeling pretty tired. Talking to a classmate today & he said to make sure I get enough complex carbs and a good multi-vit. I really should be sleeping already, esp since I'm not doing homework. So much for that tonight--I came home for dinner and DH passed out on the couch when I took the kids upstairs for baths. DD fell aslepp by 8:30! She's going to be up early tomorrow! Hope DH gets more sleep tonight. 8-|

Listening to Ray Lynch and Enya. Need to buy some music. ;~)

Catching up again

Well I thought of several things to write about over the last week, but now I don't remember any of them. I kept doing the 1-lb Slimdown well until Saturday; I took 3 days off instead of 2--unless I do yoga tonight., I might, I might not.

I have to get my stuff ready to go back to school tomorrow. Oops, I was going to go up there yesterday and switch a class that I'm auditing. Guess I'll have to remember to do it first thing tomorrow. I don't want to go up there on a Sunday. yuck.

So...Monday I did yoga, Tuesday I did the "total body blast"; Wed I ran (good run--it was at 10pm, still pretty warm and muggy, but my legs felt strong. I ran almost 2 minutes before my first walk break. I decided not to look at my watch much and just go by how I felt. My aerobic capability is not equal to my leg strength now.) Thursday--off; Friday upper and lower body workouts. This was the first time I actually did the SD lower body workout, and it kicked my butt! I had to stop several times. I figured it would be hard to take the stairs on Saturday, but I haven't been sore. Yay for small miracles.

The next 16 days of the plan only have 1 day off/week instead of 2. My, well I can't really use the word "goal" yet, idea is to workout before going to school. That's what DH wants to do too. He's planning on starting P90X on July 1st. He also bought us both new HR monitors, Timex this time. They cost a lot less than Polar and do everything I want still.

I did lose 1 lb. ! :~)  I probably gained it back again this weekend though: brownies, cookies, frosting, brownies. Still not eating enough fruits and veggies.

So how's that workin' for ya?

11:18 pm and I'm starting a new post. Well, there's still a fair chance I'll get to bed by midnight. I'm almost not sore anymore. Mostly it's been in my neck today b/c I had to use a different pillow than usual last night. My 2yo sprayed mine down with Shout yesterday, and I haven't gotten it washed yet. So I'm not sure what I'll use tonight. Heck, I'm not sure where I'll sleep tonight. My 9yo fell asleep in my bed again, and he always sweats. yuck.

I worked out everyday this week till today. Yesterday I went swimming with M & S. It was tough because my arms had that deep ache. I rode my bike to the pool, and my quads had trouble getting me home b/c they were so tired and sore too. So 2 days off this week (per the schedule) and back to it on Monday. The only thing about this 10lb Slimdown program is that there's only 1 workout for each target area: 1 core workout, 1 lower body workout, etc. I think I'll hook up the PS2 and see if I can get Yourself!Fitness working too. Then I can have more variety.

I've been forgetting to use my ultrasound bone stimulator this last week or so. Ironic, since I'm home all day right now. I've had some shin achiness, but, last time at least, it was higher up, and it only sporadically correlates with running--haven't been doing much of that lately either. In fact, I've been pretty physically tired. I really need to go to bed earlier. So....good night.

Man I'm sore!

My workouts have been rather spotty the last couple of weeks; I've had finals and end-of-quarter assignments to deal with. But it paid off grade-wise: B, B+, B+!! Yay!!! I was afraid the B was going to be a B-. I've been slowly and painfully working to bring my gpa up after a bad 1st quarter (C, B-, B-). I almost have a 3.0 now (2.92)--so close! This next quarter I have 2 graded classes plus research hours, and a class I'm auditing since I'm weak in math/stats these days.

So then why am I sore? Yesterday I pulled up ExerciseTV On Demand and did about an hour of workouts. The one that killed my legs had squat-thrust/burpies (jumps at the end) and lots of rope jumping (but without the rope). My calves are very tight now. The other workout (besides the 10 min arms workout) was nearly 30 minutes of yoga. I haven't done that in a looonnnggg time, and I think that's why my quads are a little sore.

At the beginning of the yoga workout was an ad for a 10 Pound Slimdown. Since I have 10 pounds to lose, I went online and downloaded the workout schedule. I'll get the workouts from On Demand (rather than pay to download them) and do them in addition to my tri training workouts. Now I just need to work on my diet. Today I did a SD (slimdown) upper body workout and then went for a short run. Yesterday I wore my old Asics, and my feet kind of hurt. Today I wore my new ones (with thin socks) and they felt fine.

Speaking of tri-ing, the Tri for the Cure, along with all of Fat Rabbit Racing's events this season, was canceled. So I used the refund to register for a Girls Tri Too event in the area. It's on July 10th, so I have a little more time to prepare. It's also a little shorter. It's the tri I mentioned last month that only had 9 people registered. Now it has 40+. I was the 3rd in my age group to register in the age group category (vs athena or mtn bike. My bike is a mtn bike, but I have street tires on it, so I can't compete in that division).

OK, so tomorrow I have lower body and core for 10lb SD + swimming or something with M & S. My first week of break is almost over, and I still am not accomplishing anywhere near the things I wanted to. I really need to go to bed before 1am! Bad habit I got into over the last couple of weeks.

W2R, same ol' same ol' only it felt harder

Wow, my lower legs were really burning today! Calves, shins, especially the right side. Result of single calf raises? I don’t know. I was more fueled today, so that helped, and better rested. W10, R1-W1 x6, W11. 2.2mi. Note: last time I wore my new Asics; today I wore my old ones.
I went ahead and walked a 6th lap, going over 30min instead of under. By the end my legs finally felt better, but I could tell, if I ran again, I’d feel “the burn” again. I definitely need to improve my nutrition, good thing all the brownies are gone! ;~)

My maternity clothes, the ones that I kept, are getting tight. Nope, not pregnant. I just REALLY need to start going to Crossfit again. And eat less fatty stuff. I also need to do more tri-related workouts. I didn't swim at all last week, and I have yet to get my bike out of the garage or even use a stationary bike at the gym. That hill is going to kill. I've been rethinking that July tri; I've been so tired, stressed out, and busy that I'm not sure I want that on my plate right now.  Maybe I'll feel differently after a break.

W2R Repeat (again) on 05/29/2010

MapMyRun.com - Brisk Walk: W2R Repeat (again) on 05/29/2010

Been doing morning workouts this week, they're harder. I'm not fueld up and I haven't been sleeping as much this week.

W10, R1-W1 6 times; W a few more, R 1 more, walk. A little under 30 minutes. 1.8mi

At least it was cooler this morning when I started than the other day! By 9:30 it's getting hot.

I have been doing a little more than I've posted. On random mornings I've done a little KB stuff, weights or stability exercises.

W2R again on 05/27/2010

W2R again on 05/27/2010

Slower today, 3rd day of < 7hrs sleep at night. Only the 1st night was a valid reason for staying up. I just realized I need to plan my mornings more specifically (as opposed to "better"), for example, what time will I get up in the morning? Then it will be easier to be motivated to go to bed when I should.

Walking...running...

W2R W1 D 1/2 on 05/24/2010

10 min walk
1 min run, 1.5 min walk
(missed looking at my watch in time after the first 1 min walk; decided to keep that ratio the whole 5 cycles. Been pretty tired lately, and very physically tired yesterday.)
9 min walk.

Saw a butterfly and, it reminded me of a Newbie Chronicles story in Runner's World when whatshisname did the 5 mile run on his own. Couldn't find a link to it.

Wednesday Swimming

Aack--mapmy run is messed up. I couldn't log this workout.

M and I swam yesterday for ~1/2 hour. S couldn't make it b/c she didn't have anyone to watch her baby at that time. M's shoulder is hurting, so we didn't do the same workout; we just shared a lane.

Warm-up was 2x 50 crawls, 1x50 kicks.
Workout was (if I can remember correctly) 4x100 crawl, another 50 in kicks, a fair amount of talking at the end of the lane ;~)
M brought fins to play with--wow! those DO make you go fast! another lap of kicks and 1 more lap of crawls--with fins. That was different; you can't kick as fast, so you have to find a different rhythm.

My left leg is still achy, so I haven't tried running again yet.

6 tgu's 5lb dumbells
5x clean, lc, clean & press, snatch
2x10 clean, lc
1x15 snatch
1 set 8 forward lunges w/weight
1 set 10 bird-dog
1 set 10 "step-ups" (RW  1 leg at a time form practice)
2x20 ct bridge
10 supermans w/baby on back
A long 30 min made longer by pausing to get a kid a drink.
Stretch
My hands hurt. DH says he'll file down that ridge on my KB handle today.
Inside of left shin achy after Thursday's run. : (

Walk-to-Run...for real this time

YAY! I got to run!


10min walk, for 10min alternate run 1min & walk 1m, walk 11min (somehow got an extra minute in the middle), but I ran a total of 5 minutes (lol). The weather was chilly and foggy; I finally wore those arm warmers I got for Christmas for running! :P I've worn them to work when I didn't have a long-sleeve T-shirt available, but this was their first exercise wear. ha ha. I wore my new Asics; they felt a little weird at first b/c they're not as wide, soft and comfortable as my old ones, but after I got going they felt fine.

I really have to watch what I think about when I run. If I start remembering the times that caused all this mess, then my stress level goes up and my shin starts to ache again. So I have to switch gears and "think happy thoughts." Today I was looking ahead to the triathlon. Speaking of which, there's another one in the general vicinity a couple of weeks later. It's really small, have I told you this already? 9 people signed up so far, only 2 in my age group....

LOL, I accidently just posted this on my husband's blog. I was using Firefox, and he stays logged in. I didn't realize it till I "view[ed]  blog."  :P

Swimming

MapMyRun.com - Laps / Swimming Pool: Swimming on 05/12/2010
WU: 1x50 back stroke, 2x50 crawl;
WO: 3x100 crawl (2 earlier, 1 after the sidestroke lap), 1x50 back, 1x50 side, 2?x50 kicks.
I actually passed the guy sharing a lane with me, but he had a lot more endurance, plodding along.
I was working on my form, trying to glide, not taking the next stroke until my hand was in front with the other.
I have trouble with my breathing; it just doesn't feel quite right. And I can't swim "slow" because of it.

I've gotta get my endurance up for that open water swim--no pool sides to push off of every 25-50m.
M was supposed to meet me there. At first I thought she was already in the pool because I was running late, but it turns out she got caught up at work. We came up with some ideas of how to get her out of the office in time to swim.

Notice I didn't put any units for the length of the laps. That's 'cause I'm not sure if it's yards or meters. I think the indoor pool (today) might be 25m long (but I"m counting it as yards), the small outdoor pool 25y long (for the lap lanes, I seem to recall that it felt shorter last year than the indoor pool), and the big outdoor pool 50m long.

Also, I found out about a little bitty Tri in the area in July. Currently there are only 9 participants, 2 in my age group. If that holds, I'd actually place! :P

Short, quick workout

DH and I were going to go to the gym this morning--new routine--but since I still had homework due today we postponed it so I could get to school and work on it. Ha ha. I got there in time to remember about the blood drive. I got the paperwork started but then had to go to class. I went back and finished the donation after class. THEN I finally got those last 3 HW problems done--or close enough. Prof gives us credit for at least "attacking" all of them, then picks random ones to grade. A classmate and I had a question about the last problem, so we went to see him. Even looking at his solutions, HE couldn't remember how he did the problem, so he said he'd give us credit for what we got and not pick that problem to grade. ! :~) 

Oh but anyway, the workout. I pulled up the Prevention Workout for Weight Loss again (the one linked to the "work out like a guy" article) and did the arms/shoulders/chest/triceps workout. Took, I don't know, 10, 15 minutes? Maybe?

For Mother's Day, but not necessarily on Mother's Day, I got a gift certificate for a massage (still have to schedule it) from DH, pretty pink flowers from my Princess (she painted the pot), and ... well Spiderboy said he was making something at school, but I don't remember getting it. Princess also brought me lunch in bed yesterday after church. I was eating pizza in the kitchen, and she told me to go to my bed for my surprise. I said, "OK, just let me finish eating." She said, "OK."  10 minutes later she was brining me more pizza! LOL. Too sweet and cute! The baby gives me lots of kisses...anytime I want.

OK, gotta go to bed now. DH has a dental appt in the morning, getting a crown put on. I'm most likely going to have to ask the neighbor to watch the kids toward the end of his appt, so I can get to class. I meant to do it today and forgot. Bummer. (It's just the sort of thing I hate doing--bugging someone.)

Walking on 05/05/2010

Wednesday I took a wake-up break from studying to go walking. I spent 48 min doing 2.9 miles, two big uphills and two big downhills and windy. Now the muscles on top of my shins are sore. Also my left foot's been hurting about 2/3 of the way up on the outside. Yesterday it stopped mostly, apparantly suddenly. I'm not sure when, b/c I didn't notice at first. The neuroma has been bothering me more lately too, stress? It doesn't help that my new running shoes are narrow, although the side of my foot didn't hurt when I was walking.

I was about to go to the gym when...

...I was reminded about company coming over for dinner. So I went home with the intention of only staying for dinner, then going to the gym and then studying for tomorrow's test. Company came and went well over two hours ago, and I 'm still at home. I put the net up on the trampoline so the kids could jump. I found an ice-cream recipe for our newly repaired ice-cream maker. It kept getting later and later. I went for a walk and took the trash to the curb.

Finally I came upstairs to study but felt so sleeeeeepy. So I exercised. And I just realized I forgot to refill the cat's litterbox. BRB.         OK. So exercise: I adapted a couple of Diana's workout again, doing snatches (just the first ladder) and swings (4 sets this time, one weight). (I've really got to file down the inside of my kettlebell handle; it's got a lip that is tearing up my hands.)  I followed that up with 2 sets of Crossfit sit-ups and 4 sets of 4-way standing leg lifts. The KB part took 16:13min; I didn't time the rest.

Now that I'm awake, I should study. :~|

Sore today!

...which I honestly did not expect. I need to do swings more often, or more specifically, lots of swings more often. My quads, lower back, even my neck! were all sore today. Or perhaps I should say yesterday as it's after midnight.

I just finished 3 sets of 20 long cycles (clean and jerk) each hand, going straight from 1st hand to 2nd, then resting (kinda long). ~4min per set. I need to get chalk. Now I can't even find my little resin bag. I carelessly tosses it aside at the beginning of my last set, and now I can't find it. I was going to do snatches, but as soon as I started, I realized my hands would get too torn up.

P.S. Anyone out there know how to use Davinci for semiconductor modeling? I was at school till 11 tonight trying to figure it out.

not doing homework...

Monday I went to the gym again to use the elliptical. It was almost 9pm by the time I started. The gym was nearly empty, which I really liked. I had my pick of ellipticals. I went back to the LifeFitness ones; they seem to have a more running-like stride, at least for me. I did about 2.3 miles, 30 min: W5, R12, W3, R5, W5. Then I did some arm/shoulder weights etc.

Today I came home from school "early" b/c I was hungry (those McD Southwest chicken salads are good but don't last very long), so I didn't get to the gym. I was hoping to go walking but all of a sudden it was time to get the kids bathed and to bed. When you get home at 6:30, and bedtime's 8, well...
I did do some KBs this morning. I borrrowed from Diana's post yesterday and did swings for about 20 minutes till my computer did an auto restart and diskcheck on me. By then it was time to get ready for school anyway. I really need to get some chalk. I asked DH to look for some when I was out and about 1 day, but all he could find was resin and picked up a little resin bag. But now I know what to get. I'll have to add it to DH's wishlist on Amazon so he can buy it next time he orders something. :~)  ...or maybe I'll do it myself...one of these days.  I did do some walking this evening, very slow walking, with the 2yo and 5yo past the mailbox and back.

Workout:
3x10 swings: 2 handed; 1 handed (ea); transfers; 1 handed. Started feeling pain at the top inside of my forearms, technique? or just muscle use?
Walk-to-Run-elliptical version--6 'sessions' left and 2 weeks more before I can start running again. allmmoossttt tthheerrreeeee.

Friday's W2R

I tried out a different elliptical: the Star Trac with the floating pedals. It felt quite different with shorter strides. It seemed like more of my weight went straight down, like running on toes more. It was also slower for me, though it felt as fast--probably because of the shorter stride.  I went barely 1.5 miles in 30 min. I did like that it gave more of a workout summary than the LifeFitness or whatever they are. I usually just get time, distance, and calories burned. The Star Trac also gave my avg HR, even though I wasn't wearing a HRM or holding the sensors the whole time. I would like to get a new HRM (lost mine at the gym last year). DH says he'll get me one for my birthday. I need to take a little notebook or something to write down the stats as I usually forget the details by the time I go to log my workouts. HRavg ~153, max ~172. speeds ~3-5mph Oh and my right foot didn't get that numb spot like it always does on the other elliptical, though my left foot started to get a numb spot. Not nearly as bad as the other, though.

M's back from her cruise, so Tri training will soon kick in to gear. Yay, I could use some variety and company!

Recommited

I had a follow-up appt with the phys therapist last week and had to confess to not following the W2R program he gave me, not following as in not doing. He gave me another copy of it and pleaded with me to finish it this time. I said I would. When I looked at it again, I realized I was farther ahead than I'd thought, because I'd skipped the first couple of workouts (walk 1 min, run 1 min). My husband started Family Fit Time where we all go for a walk in the evening, so for a couple of the workouts I slow/fast walked instead of "walking" and "running" on the elliptical.

Today I had a follow-up with the orthopaedist and more x-rays. Yay, the bone's mending as it should, but I still have another month of not running. And still using the bone stimulator. Around the time I wrap up the W2R elliptical program I can start over on it only actually walking and running.  Slow, slow, slow. So today I went to the gym and did 8:1 min fast (~6mph) to slow (~3.5mph) for 27 minutes, abt 2.7 miles according to the machine.

Friday I had a fitness test. For the cardio part I did a 3-mi walk and did it in 43:27min! WooHoo! Twice, at the same part of the track, the wind blew grit into my eye; not cool!

OK, so now I need to work on going to sleep at a more reasonable hour than 11:30. I need my 8 hrs!

Log

Last Tuesday went swimming. Was supposed to meet C at the pool but she forgot and overslept. But I didn't know that until much later, so I swam by myself: 100s each crawl, backstroke, sidestroke, kicks (actually 2x50 that).

Friday: Had a physical therapy follow-up. Had to admit to not getting past week 1 of the "walk" to "run" program, AND had to get another copy of it b/c I lost my 1st one. So I recommitted to doing the program and went straight from the therapist's office to the gym and did 5:2 min x 4 on the elliptical. I was still a bit sore from Crossfit (& swimming?) and tired.

Today: After friends over for dinner (hamburgers) I went to the gym and did a repeat of Friday's elliptical workout. I went better, and I "ran" faster. My "running" averaged 5.2mph, and the "walking" ranged between 3.2 and 3.7mph. This morning before school I also did some kettlebell: 15 2-handed overhead swings, 15 jerks ea, 10 snatches ea, 15 long cycles ea. I didn't check the time to see how long it took.

Got My Butt Kicked Today

Yep, went to Crossfit today. The warm-up alone was tougher than usual: 400m jog (or in my case, row), and 2 sets of 10 push-ups, 10 sit-ups, 10 squats, 5 pull-ups.

The workout was (including my scaling):
5 burpies
7 step-ups (each foot)
10 pull-ups (with band, kipping)
for 20 minutes.

Yeah, it doesn't look like much. I got in 6 sets and had to use both hands to lift my water bottle to my lips before I was done. My hands were shaky for 2 hours! Afterward I went to Burger King and got a Whopper and a Sprite.

Tomorrow: swimming.

Next race

I signed up to do the Tri for the Cure again this year. I may be doing a 2-mile walk after swimming and biking, but I'm doing it. M also has signed up again and has gotten several other ladies to commit too. I've told a couple of classmates about it, and one of them is interested. She just doesn't know yet what she'll have going on that weekend, so she's holding off on signing up. But she's totally cool with working out towards it at least until she figures out her plans. Tuesday we're going swimming.  Monday...I'm going to Crossfit again. 8-|  ;~)

Oops! Forgot the title!

Well, I didn't get to sleep before midnight the other night, but I did make it to bed before midnight. Next night I actually went to bed before 11 (!) but then the baby woke me up way too early. (My husband says I shouldn't call him (the baby) a "baby" anymore since he's 2 now, but he's still a baby to me. :~P )  So last night I figured I may as well stay up late, since I don't get any more sleep by going to bed early. Today I'm really tired.

So anyway...I made it to the gym Tuesday. Boy was it hot upstairs! That's where the track and ellipticals and treadmills are. The ellipticalls were full, so I found a treadmill and did a 3min "run" (walk @ 4mph--felt faster than I expected) and a 1min walk (@ 3.4mph) x 5 plus 7min warm-up and 3min cool-down. Then I did some sit-ups and push-ups, etc.

Wed: rest day

Today was really nice outside: ~75degress (20 deg above average!) I probably should've done elliptical today, but I knew it would be swealtering in the gym, so I went walking outside. I did a 4:1 minute "run"-walk ratio. I did two miles, and it took 36min (no particular wu or cd). I know I wasn't walking 4mph on the "running" part, but there was a good headwind 1/2-way through each lap around the loop. This morning before class I did some weight exercises--arms/shoulders.

I have a fitness test coming up. I can't do the run, but I can walk, so my choices are (if it is my choice) to do a 3mi timed walk or a cycle ergometry test (stationary bike w/heart rate monitor). My heart rate runs high, and I've had trouble passing the "bike test" before, so I'm leaning toward 3mi walk, but I haven't done a fast 3mi walk yet either. And I don't yet know how fast I'd need to do it. If I could get by with just doing push-ups and sit-ups, I'd get a great score! :~D

Well, I can't seem to get rid of this headache right between my eyes, so I should probably get to bed. Good Night! Happy April!

Why does spring break always have lousy weather?

Maybe not "always" but the majority of my spring breaks seem to be overcast, chilly if not downright cold, and rainy, or at least damp. Wednesday and Saturday were the only two sunny days in the last week. And Wednesday I spent the better part of the afternoon in a big windowless room helping to set up chairs in nice neat rows for a graduation ceremony.

Of course I stayed up till midnight nearly every night but still had to get up early b/c my school-age son was not on break too. His is sometime next month (when the weather is likely to be warmer and hopefully sunnier). I guess I still haven't quite adjusted to daylight-saving time and thought I was only staying up till 11 (and getting up at 6?). Ha ha. I hardly even exercised in the last two weeks, certainly not enough to bother logging in mapmyrun. I started to plan going to the gym and going to Crossfit not once but twice, but it just didn't get there. And it's so hard for me to feel really awake when I can't get even a clue as to what time it is when I look outside. Seriously, 7am, noon, 7pm...it all looked the same! I did end up getting most of my to-do list accomplished toward the end of the week. And I did pick up the kettlebell and do a few swings &/or cleans &/or jerks occasionally as the week wore on.

Last night I found a "workout for weight loss" thing on Prevention.com, talking about how women should workout more like men (and a few other things) if they really want to lose weight: cut back on chocolate therapy, forgive yourself when you screw up, and lift heavier weights to build more fat-burning muscle. Basically you gotta get off the lower-weight, higher-reps plateau. So today I did 2 of the 4 sample workouts, 12 KB long cycles (clean and jerk) each hand and 10 snatches, again each hand. Then this evening we went on a family walk--1 mile. (That's far when you're 5 and wearing snow boots (because of the rain), even if you're on a scooter.) 1/2-way through, after telling me again to keep up, my husband passed me the stroller; like that won't slow me down at all. uh huh. Anyway, it was a nice walk once we got warmed up.

Started the 3rd quarter of my master's program today. My classes are in a nice solid block in the middle of the day. That should make it easier to plan when to workout...once I figure out when I'm going to eat lunch that is. But at least I don't have an awkward hour-long break between each class this time; that pretty much ended up as a social hour last quarter as an hour isn't quite long enough to really get into studying or homework, especially when you have to move to another classroom and get something to eat too.

My shin hasn't been hurting the last few days. My stress level has been lower too. Coincidence? I think not. I've been bad about the physical therapy. I just realized I should be starting week 4 of the "walk" to "run" program, and I never got past week 1. In fact, I can't even find the paper with the plan on it. I thought it was in my backpack (since I couldn't find it in my gym bag). Hmm. I'll go to the gym tomorrow and do something along those lines.

OK, I'm going to bed. I WILL be asleep by midnight! :~)

Break Time!

Spring break, quarter break, whatever you want to call it. I finished my last final yesterday at 5:30pm. Today I stayed in my PJs till 4:30! yes, pm. Little Monkey Boy ran out front, and I had to go catch him; I felt rather silly still being in my PJs that late in the day, so I finally got dressed--in sweats and a big t-shirt. Hey, I didn't want to sacrifice comfort.

Today's plan, as of last night, originally included going to Crossfit. Then that was downgraded to another elliptical workout at the gym, but that didn't happen either. Today I figured I'd get in some walking, but I was reading comments on some blog, and, well you know...inertia. THEN I thought, "well, I finally found my Yourself!Fitness cd the other day, I can do some yoga after the kids go to bed." Well, guess what? I had a totally, perfectly lazy day today. I slept late, folded a little bit of laundry, fed the cat, watched TV, and just "chilled" all day long. Felt good. I should be asleep by now, but, as usual, I'm not. Inertia. It's just so easy to stay here, in front of the computer or TV as opposed to climbing the stairs and clearing off my bed (more laundry).

I did go to the gym Tuesday and did another "walk" to "run" workout. This time I was able to get one of those Precor ellipticals that I like. They have more of a knee-up motion than a running motion, but I like how they don't make my toes go numb by the end of 30 minutes.

OK, well I've got a kid who's decided to camp out in the living room tonight, and he's still awake because of me (and TV, yes, we watch a lot of TV, but we also routinely kick the kids outside too; at least this way I'LL be waking HIM up in the morning instead of the other way around. :~P )  Good night, and happy Spring!

I'm up WAY too late

I'm really sleepy but just don't feel like getting up to go to bed. And somebody's gotta get up early to take Spiderboy to a Scouting for Food drive by 8am. yay. At first, my husband said he'd take him; more recently he said whoever's up first takes him. Hmm, wonder who that will be....

I made it to the gym again yesterday, woo hoo twice in 1 week! I got the 2nd to last available elliptical. Given Monday's Crossfit workout and the fact that I have been doing some elliptical/walking, I jumped right to day 3 of week 1 of my "walk" to "run" program. That was 10min warm-up, 2min "run" 1 min "walk" for 15 minutes, 5 min cool-down. I did at least 2 miles, I forgot to look before stopping. My legs were actually feeling it some what with Monday's rowing and KB swinging; even today going up the stairs at school was harder than usual. I wore my old Asics yesterday to the gym, tired of narrow shoes!

OK, goodnight.

Crossfit & a compliment

So I FINALLY made it back to Crossfit yesterday. It was a quick but particularly demanding workout. Warm up was 2x10 push-ups, sit-ups, and squats. The workout of the day was 3 circuits: 400m run, or in my case row, 21 2-handed overhead kettlebell swings (35lb in my case), and 12 kipping pull-ups. After I finished the first set of pull-ups, the instructor asked me "Where'd you learn to kip like that? ... That's AWESOME!"

I'm really sore today and looking forward to being even more sore tomorrow! 8-| ok, not really, but it did feel pretty good to have done such a strenuous workout (after I caught my breath and ate something) after 3 weeks of walking and elliptical.

Almost spring, almost finals.

Either I didn't work out for two weeks, or I forgot to log a workout. Yeah, just 1. I've been swamped with homework and lab reports. I'm reasonably sure I worked out at home last Saturday. I'd check my planner, but I already took out February (to minimize weight and space in my backpack, I switched to using the cover of my old weekly, spiral bound planner and a 1/2" set of rings, so I only keep 1 month at a time in there). Anyway, I'm pretty sure I did abt 25min of kettlebells: 10 2-handed swings, 10 cleans (each hand), 10 long cycle (each hand), and 10 snatches (each hand) -- x3. Then I did some lunges, squats, situps and pushups, and a couple other exercises. 3 sets of 10.


Monday I packed my gym bag for swimming, but ended up not going. There was just too much homework to get done in too short a time. I've been up till 1am a lot--usually directly related to being at school late (as late as 1130 even) doing hw. So I finally got to where I have a little time before the next thing is due and went to the gym yesterday.  I met a friend there. She went running outside while I started walking around the indoor track. I was going to try an elliptical, but the only ones available were the ones that make my foot numb after a while. At 1.5 miles, I saw my friend back in the gym, and she walked the last 1/2 mile with me. She walks fast! knocked 30 seconds off my 1st mile's time! Then we went and did some push ups and sit ups.

I BOUGHT NEW RUNNING SHOES! I ordered a new pair of Asics 1140s online. They feel narrower than my old ones, and the laces are a lot shorter! They feel comfortable enough after I've had them on for a bit, but they're another reason I didn't want to use the foot-numbing ellipticals. My neuroma is making itself felt more lately. (That's such a weird word: neuroma.) My old shoes are over a year old but only have about 200 miles on them. I'm not a high-mileage runner; especially now with these stress fractures.

Don't remember if I mentioned this year's Tri4Cure in June. Ran into A at the gym a couple of weeks ago, and she was telling me about the people she's convinced to do it this year. I said if it fell during the quarter break I could do it. And she said that since I can't run I could focus on the swimming and biking, but the other day, the physical therapist gave me a 4-day-a-week "walk" to "run" program to do on the elliptical for the next 5  weeks. I think I can substitute 1 day on a bike, but I don't know about the swimming. And that's assuming I can get to the gym 4 days a week to begin with! I haven't been to Crossfit in 3 weeks, and my waistline is noticing. (As I 'patiently' wait for the Ghirardelli brownies to cool in the kitchen, mmmm, they smell heavenly. Eh, what's that? DH is cutting them, and getting out the milk! Share!) At least
there are only 2 weeks left in this quarter, yay. (DUDE, he took THREE brownies!!)

Stress fractures suck. Thursday was a gorgeous day, above 40, sunny, and on my way home I thought "what a great day for a run! ...oh yeah. I can't run. Well maybe I can get DH to go out for a walk while I make food." He wouldn't go, and I realized I was wanting to live vicariously through him, being able to go out. At least he helped me with the food I was making (for a dinner at church, that I couldn't stay for, because I had to study for a test). I'm going to do my best to maximize the physical and minimize the mental during this next quarter break to give my brain as much rest as possible.

Saturday

My son was going to have a choir performance early this morning at a Community Breakfast at the middle school. Fortunately for my sleep-deprived self, it was canceled due to potential bad weather, so I was able to sleep in. Yay. (I've been up till 1am the last 3 nights in a row thanks to homework.) I got up just in time to remember about the kids' church activity at 10 and actually shower before going. :~) Got home ~10, ate and took a nice long nap. It was such a pretty day to day that I hated to spend the best part of it sleeping...ok, I would've hated it if I hadn't been so tired. zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

After my nap, I was getting ready to go walking when my husband remembered we had plans this evening--going to friends' for dinner. I wrangled an extra 1/2 hour before needing to leave and went walking. It was nice outside, I didn't need a jacket, just long sleeves (finally got to wear the armwarmers I got for Christmas while exercising). It was around 40 degress today! and sunny (or partly sunny by the time I got outside, but still nice)!

I walked around the block five times (1.95mi) in about 34min. A little slow, but it's been a while and, well, I already mentioned the sleep thing. Come to think of it, I don't remember eating lunch... ...oh, yeah, I had a bowl of cereal. There's fuel for ya. :~)

My husband bought me some Milano cookies while he was out grocery shopping and sneaked them into my school backpack. My daughter told me there was a surprise and dragged that 30 lb backpack up the stairs to show me. She's 5 and weighs about 35lbs! I was impressed. So of course I shared a cookie with her.

This was only my second workout this week (Monday I did a Lean and Fit + kettlebell workout). Lab report, homework, lab, etc. Just didn't make it to the gym. I'm aiming for Crossfit on Monday, but it is dependent on finishing my chem take-home midterm by then, and sleep. :P

No running for 3 months!!

Went to the dr on Thursday for another follow-up, to see how the bone stimulator was working. Well, I've still been having pain, and it's been more frequent what with all the extra stress. I've been seeing a resident, so, when I said my leg still hurts, he went and got "the boss." "The boss" said to x-ray again, and if there's no sign of fractures to get an MRI. He said it takes 3-8 months for bones to heal (! I always thought it was just 6 weeks), but that they're easy to fix: "We just stick a rod in it." If the issue is a soft tissue problem, then it's harder. So I went and got x-rayed, and the doc (resident) looked at them right away. He compared them to last November's. The bump on the bone on November's x-rays that indicated bone activity (stress fractures) had grown to twice the size (28mm length vs 12mm), so no running (or jumping, etc.). He specifically mentioned elliptical, biking, and swimming as approved activities. I did say I wanted to start swimming again.

I had a midterm this week and a lab assignment due, so my workouts were sparse:

Monday: Crossfit. Wow! I tried to take it a little easy, didn't work! Let's see, Abmat sit-ups, supermans, knees to elbows (chest or however high), stiff legged dead lift: 30, 20, 15, 10, 5 reps. Where's the 25? I could only do 20 knees to chest the 1st time through, so I skipped 25. After I was done, I did some kettlebell stuff: 2x5 cleans, 1x5 jerks, 12kg bell (it's what I did my deadlifts with.

Friday: Lifecycle elliptical 30 min, sit-ups, side planks, stretches.

Crossfit: Squats (w/weight) and a circuit workout on 01/28/2010

We were supposed to find out max then do 7 sets of 1 rep each. 2 other girls and I had to practice our squats before starting with the weights. The ladies we joined were doing 7 reps at each weight--starting w/a 35lb bar and going up by 5lbs at a time. Fortunately we joined in early and slowed that down . ;~) I would say I did an average of 3-4 squats each time (more early on, fewer at the end). I maxed at 70 lbs!

After about 30 minutes of squats, the trainer suddenly announced more workout! 2 laps around the gym (2 basketball courts), 10 jump (or step)-ups, 10 push-ups, 10 wall balls (squat, throw 8lb ball up as high as you can, catch it going back down into a full squat) x 3. I did step ups and knee push-ups and finished in 11:04! Woo-hoo! My first two times were around 18 minutes. I liked Thur's group. The guys were really cheering us on as we finished ('cause of course they finished first. Most of them were finishing their first set of laps as I was going into my 2nd lap). My legs are pretty sore today (2nd day after) but I can manage stairs fairly easily.

My still somewhat tentative workout plan is Crossfit M&Th, rest Tu & probably Fri, run Wed &, I guess, Sat. Hmm. Needs work, but it's a start. And Cross fit is good b/c I'm not very good at coming up with my own workouts, pushing hard like that on my own, I don't really like going to the gym by myself, etc. I'd also like to throw swimming in there, but there are only so many days in a week! Mentally, I could really use a good workout every day. Today I spent about 4 hours on one homework problem. Once I finally got it straight (I was doing it the wrong way and not exactly doing the right problem either), it took maybe 45 minutes. ! 8-|  Oh, and yoga! I was just reminded by reading Shut Up and Run's latest post. But yoga at regular room temperatures is fine with me. :)

Gym Monday

I wasn't sure how to log this workout in mapmyrun b/c I did some gym stuff as well as some "running" stuff. ("Running" is in quotes b/c there was twice as much walking (distance) as running.) My right calf was a solid mass of soreness from Friday's rope jumping workout; I still limped as I walked. I'd hoped to find an elliptical to use, but the 2 people ahead of me as I went to that part of the gym got the last two ellipticals available. I found a rowing machine and did 10 minutes on that. I could feel my calf muscle getting warmed up and stretched out as I rowed, so after 10 minutes I moved to the track. I went 1 mile, walking 2 laps and jogging 1. It took me 16 minutes, mostly because of my own speed, but some also because of other slow pokes. :~)

I was originally planning on going to the gym again today, but the last two nights the baby woke up @ 1:30am, interrupting my sleep for at least an hour. These nights were coincidentally (?) the same nights I didn't get home till after he went to bed. I've been so tired I didn't get up early enough to use my ultrasound "Bone Healing System" before school.

OK, well it's getting late again. YAWN!
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Yes, I've been working out...some.

Crossfit: pull-ups, push-ups, kettlebell swings on 01/14/2010

Knees to chest, 2-handed overhead kettlebell swings, push-ups all x5. Some warm-up: kipping pull-ups (w/rubber band), and I don't remember what else. I was really sore for 2 days, and my neck and shoulders were sore for 4 days! Even my pecs were sore! They haven't been sore in 8 years! And this is only the 2nd time.

Walk-to-Run on 1/18/2010
Elliptical 15 min ~1.5mi. Run 1 lap, walk 1 for 2 miles. WFFC track. 28:16min.

Crossfit: Jumping rope and Back extensions on 1/22/2010
Warm up in gym: 1 lap each around basketball court--jog, butt-kicks, sidesteps, skipping, 1 more jogging lap.
Workout: 3 x circuit\r\n150 jumping rope, 50 back extensions/Supermans. I did one set of extensions on a bench, then did Supermans for the next two sets. My calves are really tight today; my shins were feeling a bit less than "outstanding" last night and this morning.

School has been really busy this quarter. I have a lab class. My lab is on Tuesdays, supposedly from 1-4, but we haven't gotten out before 5 yet.

Running at the gym

Yesterday I went to the gym. It was really busy again what with the continued subfreezing temps.

Walked 1 mi <15min (darn watch won\'t store more than 1 lap + total time). Then I ran 2 laps, walked 1 for 2 miles: 1st mile >12 min; 2nd mile 12:15min
Really got that HR up (200)! Felt good, though my face was quite red by the time I got done--pushed a bit too hard.
Shin didn't hurt while running :~) though it's a bit achy today :~(
I used the ultrasound "bone healing system" on both legs this morning as the right shin was a little 'iffy' too (sympathy pain?)
Anyway, clearly I increased my running by more than 10%. It felt good...and I had been feeling really stressed out after a class. That makes it alright doesn't it? I know, I know, it doesn't. My legs are tired today, but at least they're not sore like last time.

Running! Yay!

I went to the gym yesterday (finally). It was really busy even after 5! Guess that's what freezing temps and snow will do (though there's a group of guys that runs past my building every day ~11, including snowy today!). My clothes were SO COLD from being in the car all day!

I did 2 miles on the indoor track. 1st mile walking ~ 16.5 min. 2nd mile running a lap then walking a lap, a little under 15 minutes. It felt great! Gotta do that more often, even my shin muscles are sore today (not to be confused with the shin splint/stress fracture pain). I get to use the "good run" tag again, woohoo! :P

Wow, the snow is really coming down!

Wow, it's been a while since my last post! I have been working out. I've been doing the Lean and Sore, I mean Lean and Fit, in 7 Minutes workout from Womenshealthmag.com. It takes me 10-12 min to go through it once, then I do some kettlebell exercises, push-ups and sit-ups, and stretch for a total of 30-45 minutes depending on how many reps of stuff I did. I did this every 3 days (did I mention the sore part?) for just over a week. Then, the last time I was really tired. I'd slept a lot, so I couldn't figure it out; I felt physically drained.  That night (Monday the 28th) my daughter, my husband and I all came down with the stomach "flu." No wonder I was tired! I was getting sick!

We spent the 1st half of the night running to the bathroom, and the 2nd half trying to sleep. My daughter kept groaning about her stomach hurting (I don't remember having stomach cramps last time I had this), so I couldn't sleep as much. I kept diving for the bowl in case she threw up. My husband actually managed not to throw up. He took some Nexium which quelled the nausea that night, but the next day he had to add a lot of willpower to keep his food down. The baby was sick last Sunday but not nearly as bad, thank Goodness. And my oldest seems to have skipped it altogether. (So far so good, anyway.)  The sad thing is, the day after we let our daughter go out and play, her friend got sick. :(  Hopefully everybody's done in time for school to start this coming Monday.  My exercise for today was cleaning up the living room.

Oh and Wednesday I got (as in borrowed from the ortho clinic) an "ultrasound bone healing system" due to the shin pain coming back during finals. 20min/day for at least 4 weeks I get to stimulate that area of my leg to heal. It's pretty cool. It's small, and I just strap it to my leg, push a button and read, study or whatever for 20min.