OUCH my hamstrings

I've been taking a lot of classes at the gym, and I'm loving it so much. I'm not losing tons of weight like I was at the beginning;I've plateaued a bit. I'm losing about a lb a week, though, although this week I gained half a pound in spite of my best efforts.

My running training is way off... I took up a couple of new aerobics classes -one known only as "Heart Pumpin'". What she should call the stupid thing is "Heart Explodin"

It's left me too sort to run. I don't mind. :) I'm getting a great workout, and I figure I'll start running when I get used to this level of exercise. I am working on an informal interval training thing when the other classes don't leave me so wiped out I can't function. Last week's was so bad Monday that after Monday's THIRTY MINUTE session, I didn't walk right until Thursday. It hurts So good. This trainer really knows what she's doing, and she knows what I can do... and she makes me DO it. I love it.

The only thing I don't like is when we go outside and it's cold. Getting your heartrate up that high in the cold HURTS your lungs.

Right now, after her class, my hamstrings and my butt hurts. I think abs might have given me some soreness, too. I picked up another great class Friday by another trainer. This one's for an hour, and it's a whole-body workout, including weight training and aerobics, core and everything. I love it! it's only once a week, though. Most of the whole-body stuff is in the evenings, and it's just so hard for me to get to the gym in the evenings, plus it's more crowded.

so even though I gained a half pound, this week, I still feel great. Noticed during a staff meeting last week that my neck looks thinner. I haven't measured anything since my first month back; I need to do that!

I haven't fallen off the wagon!

I bet you thought I'd abandoned you, since my 5k victory. :)

Hardly! I've just been so busy, I've been having a hard time finding the time to compose another blog post.

This week, I started two new things; I'm starting an informal cycling training on my interval days to cross train for running, to build up to riding my bike across the the Golden Gate Bridge when I go to San Francisco!

The other thing happened quite by accident, but has proven to be awesome. See, Monday, I got to the gym a little earlier than I usually do, and the trainer who does my ab class noticed me, and thought I was there for her 8:30 "Heart Pumpin'" class - something I didn't even know was on the schedule, and had never done. So she told me to come on in... even though I was the only one there! Well, I couldn't think of a good reason not to, and I had no idea what to expect.

Well, she spent the next 30 minutes attempting to kill me.

I ran, I jumped, I breathed so hard I thought my heart would explode.

But it felt GOOD. It was like having a real personal trainer (as in, paying the extra for one) because I was the only one in the class, but it was part of the gym membership, since it was a class!

Her ab class followed immediately after. She's REALLY good... once she has an idea what your fitness level is like, she pushes you to extend it, and even though you think you can't possibly go on another step... you do anyway, because she's there driving you along.

So after 30 minutes of hell, I did the ab class, which I've always loved. She watches each class member, and gives you weights based on your fitness level. She always shakes it up, and you NEVER know what muscle group you're going to work, nor what she's going to do.

I had no energy for my running plan after that, but she DID have me running during the first class, since I told her I was training for a 5k! I walked a mile and a half to cool down afterwards. All told, that was an hour and a half of intense workout!

I rested the next day, which hurt SO much... but today, I did it again. On purpose, this time. :) It was so hard, I turned absolutely crimson and was wheezing like an asthmatic monkey, and I had to take a little tylenol when I got home, but I feel SO good.

And the best part? I decided that since I started this new, intense workout with the gym, that I would go ahead and repeat week one on the Rookie Running Program on the treadmill. And I did it! AND I pushed on my intervals. Since I did 60 seconds last week, I pushed it to 75 seconds this week, and tried to walk shorter intervals by a few seconds. . That last run felt SO good, I was grinning like an idiot, talking to myself... the other people on the treadmills to either side of me probably thought I was nuts. ;)

I also came home and ate a HUGE breakfast... sausage and a toaster strudel, and I've been eyeballing that banana in the kitchen. I needed to refuel! Also drank three full water bottles of water while I was working out. So there's my 6 cup minimum, and I'm still drinking. ;)

Sesame Teryaki, 2 miles, & Calorie Counting

I'm going ot go ahead and warn you... this is going to get a bit rambly!

I'm on week two, day 3 of the 5k Your Way plan at Sparkpeople, and I happily walked 2.3 miles today. I really felt like I could do a lot more. I took the day off yesterday, pretty much from all exercise. I wasn't feeling well (my stomach kept randomly hurting. Not nausea, just hurting.) so I was lethargic and icky.

I woke up late this morning... I had a really hard time getting up. I think it's as much because I didn't exercise yesterday as because I was sleepy.

Anyway, I just felt... good. All morning, I've felt good. While I was walking on the treadmill, my usual 3.0 mph setting just didn't feel fast enough... I kept outrunning it! so I turned it up a couple of notches. 3.2 felt better. Honestly, I wanted to go even faster than that, but I figured that hurting myself would just be kinda stupid.

So I listened to music, and clocked just a bit of 37 minutes, and though I didn't actually want to stop on the 2 mi marker, I did anyway. :) Did a little bit on one of the weight machines, but I wasn't feeling that.

It's funny how that works; the harder you work, the better you feel. I can tell such a big difference in my energy level and breathing from a month ago.

I think my biggest challenge on this weight loss thing is going to be FOOD. I'm a snacker. Yesterday I was borderline on my calorie limit (I hit the 1,900 top mark.) I would have been fine... but I had to have that ONE big cookie before bed. I also had a lot of fast food, something I very rarely do. One of my favorite things in the world is to get breakfast at Burger King or Waffle house.. but I discovered much to my dismay that my beloved sausage and cheese croissanwich has 420 calories! That's just insane. That got me off to a bad start, and a trip to the hospital (appointment, not emergency) resulte in a trip to McDOnalds... that lovely southern chicken sandwich? 400 by itself. We won't even talk about those stupid fries.

Sigh.

Today, I'm off to a much better start. Instead of a trip to BK, I had a bowl of Special K. I made some Simply Asia sesame teriyaki noodles, and they were so fantastic, and filling. Surprisingly light on calories, too; a third of a package (which is almost more than you can eat) is only 300 calories. I spiced it up with some fresh sauteed mushrooms and broccoli to give it some nutritional oomph. It was REALLY fantastic, and super easy to cook. I wanted more, but much to my pleasure, I didn't eat more than my allotted serving. :) It's nice to know that a low-cal meal can be so filling. I've noticed that a lot about asian foods... they pack a lot of punch in the full belly department, without sacrificing your calorie count for the day.

I did learn something about caloric intake/calorie burning that I didn't really have solidified in my head. See, I had it in my mind that you need to work out at least as much as you eat... basically, you burn it off by moving. I guess it's the whole "you have to walk X amount of minutes to burn off that muffin" crap you see on shows like the Drs (I hate that show). What I realized (and please, don't make fun of me, I'm new to all this) is that you do have a substantial resting caloric burn rate. The personal trainer at the gym told me that, and Sparkpeople's mobile app tells me my basal metabolic rate is 2,069. That's with no activity, just sitting on my buns like usual.

So I suddenly feel better about those numbers on the treadmill at the gym! All I could see was that it said "140 calories burned" and get discouraged that it was so few.

Now I get it!

So what all this rambly-ness means is that I can do this!

I know, this is probably the most boring post ever, but I wanted to get all this down for future reference.

Today in fitness

So today is the first day I've really been pleased with my own workout.

The first time I went to the gym, I did okay. I was struggling with my couch to 5k running plan, specifically my shins and ankle (it's a two year old severe sprain, ankle still weak), so I made the decision to take it down a notch, and just WALK. I need to build up the strength in my legs before I try running again.

I did pretty well, I think. My goal was 1 mile, and 30 minutes. I set the treadmill for 3 MPH, because that is a good, challenging speed for me without exhausting me at the end of it.

At about 10 minutes in, though, I was starting to get angry, feeling tired, like this was just too much. So I made myself a challenge. Go to 15 minutes. You haven't completed a single 30 minute session on the treadmill since you started a week ago, you can do this.

And I did. So I aimed for 20 minutes. And did. Then 25. At that point, I'm encouraging myself under my breath, saying "You can do this, just 5 minutes. Just 2 minutes. 1 more minute. Come on, now, just 30 seconds."

At exactly 30:00, I spotted the 1.4 on my distance.

1.4? Really? Surely I can go for .1 more and make it a nice, even mile and a half.

So I did.

I'm proud of that.

I wanted to try my hand at the weight machines, so I hopped on a tricep machine of some kind and did about 10 reps. It was just an experimental, "Can I do this" sort of thing, but I think I can, and I'm pleased. I got a little burn there, and I'm happy with that.

Today, my goal is to plan a weight training workout. I'm back on Sparkpeople, and have decided to try their beginner's strength training plans, that are printable. one of the things the gym personal trainer I had a consultation with said was I need to have a plan, and he's right. It just takes a bit more work and motivation when you have to do it on your own than when you're paying for a personal trainer.

I'm toying around with the idea of going in tonight for some crosstraining on the stationary bike, and maybe check out a zumba class at 6. I haven't decided yet.

Either way, I feel more productive than I have in a while.