Taking my own advice

Week 4 is over - I missed not only Thursday's, but Saturday & Sunday's work outs on top of it! That puts me up to missing 7 out of 12 workouts in the last 2 weeks.

After being the girl that only missed 1 run and 1 cross-training day for the whole of the NCRC Running program last July-September (5 days/week)...it's really tough to see that life is finally catching up to me.

I keep telling C:
"Don't be so hard on herself, you can eat more than 1700 calories, you can gain a few pounds, you can miss a few workouts. Just don't let it derail your whole program...realize you're going to have these moments, days, or weeks. Just pick up and start again with renewed zeal."

OK, not that eliquent, but you know where I'm going with this...and it's OH SO HARD to take my own advice! Here we go - it's the beginning of week 5.
I'm going to work that much harder to lose the 3 lbs I gained over the past 2 weeks...I AM going to get my excitement for working out back! Tonight! :-)

Week 3 + Snow = Messing up my training!!

My training plan was screwed up a bit by the snow this past week (missed a 3 mile run, bike/run brick, and 1200m swim). Oh well, can't dwell on that too much! And I know I shouldn't try to "make it up" because I could cause more harm than good, but I really really want to try!

My personal & work schedule is making it so that I have to improvise and double up some nights...cycling class and then a swim are my favorites so far. I really need to try cycle class and then a run. I know that would be MUCH harder (and not half as relaxing), but it's just sooo hard to run on those stupid treadmills!

Speaking of which, I was invited by a friend of mine, "C" to go work out with her at her gym last night! We had a nice time talking and people watching - all while the treadmill tried (in multiple attempts) to kill me.

Reminder to self: don't put it on a program if you don't know what it's going to do. I'm warming up at an easy level 3.4, swift walk...next thing I know, it's jumped straight to 6.8!! WTF, mate?!? This happens a couple of times, and while I should've just canceled the program and started a manual one, I reeeally wanted to know how many calories I'd burned, etc. without trying to remember anything.

I also was able to check out my HR to see where I was at my peak running (180), when I felt good and was working pretty hard (165 or 170) and when I was relaxed and cooling down (140). I know that I should probably just get a HR monitor, but I don't want to spend the money and I have NO CLUE which ones are accurate, etc.


Of course, I would LOVE to have one with the great GPS, water proof, the whole 9, but these things are like $400!! Waaay out of my price range!

Garmin Forerunner 310XT ->

Does anyone have suggestions for a good HR monitor that's on the cheaper (but accurate) scale?

2 weeks down, 14 more to go!

I don't believe this 16 week training program is going to be as bad as I had originally thought! We've completed 2 weeks! Granted, we had to double up one day to make up for missing Tuesday and we've missed working out both Sundays, but overall it's going fairly well. I mean 5 out of 6 days is pretty awesome, right?

I'm going to go ahead and take the next 2 Sundays off of the schedule completely. Next Saturday I'm going to have to work at Dilly Dally for the last time (unless I choose to take a day here and there), so I will officially have my weekends to myself! To relax, work out, put my life back together, etc. I can't wait!

Until then, I think the working right after running on Saturday (and usually heading out to do some other activity directly after that) has caused some wear and tear on me mentally. So Sundays will now be known as rejuvenation days for a couple of weeks!

To date, we've:
RUN 10 miles in 2hrs, 14 min
BIKED 2 hrs, 10 min
SWAM 4125m in 2 hrs, 1 min

Tired!

I knew this, but it didn't exactly sink in until this week. As I work out more and harder, my body is going to need more rest at night. D and I have been falling asleep while trying to watch our TV shows earlier and earlier every night. Soon we'll be one of those that has to be in bed by 9pm! EEek!

When I was just running 3x week and MAYbe doing some crosstraining in between, I was more energetic, felt Grrrrrrrrreat (I'm channeling Tony the Tiger) all the time! Now we sleep more and more, feel more tired when we wake in the morning...ahh! So now not only do I need more time to work out, more time to plan meals so that I can eat in the midst of my job and working out, I also have to spend more time sleeping? This really is hitting home how little of a life we're going to have for the next few months.

But hey, it's keeping me away from going out to eat a bunch, keeping me from the fast food restaurants, and best of all, it's keeping me from having any time to spend money or go shopping!

On a side note, I did find a cycle instructor that I adore! He had us check our heart rates all through the class and instead of telling us how hard he wanted us to go (most cycling instructors want you at 90% for the majority of the 50-55 minutes it feels like), he actually told us where he wanted our HR to be at! It was fantastic! I didn't feel like I'd overdone it, I felt great afterwards, etc. Apparently I'm working myself too hard during the other cycling classes, so I'll have to work on that.

I must remember Baby steps, Alison!

Strength Training

Paige posed a good question about what types of things do we do for strength training. I am one that still isn't the most comfortable in the weight room (I have enough body weight to throw around already, plus I know just enough to get myself hurt!), so I looove the idea of using my weight and gravity to work out my muscles.

These are made to be done post work-out and you do each of the groupings 3x weekly (so you're basically doing 6 days of strength training). I can't remember where I found this, probably on one of the MANY tri websites out there that I've purused over the past couple of months.

Week 1

• 10 push-ups, 20 crunch sit ups, 10 body weight squats, and 10 lunges, each leg. Keep good form do ONE set!
• 2 minutes jump rope, 10 steps up, 10 reverse lunges, 10 dips and 15 crunch sit ups – do ONE set!

Week 2

• 10 push-ups, 20 crunch sit ups, 10 body weight squats, and 10 lunges, each leg. Keep good form, do TWO sets!
• 2 minutes jump rope, 10 steps up, 10 reverse lunges, 10 dips and 15 crunch sit ups – do TWO sets!

Week 3

• 2 SETS: 15 push-ups, 25 crunch sit ups, 15 body weight squats, and 12 lunges, each leg. Keep good form and if you feel good, do THREE sets!
• 2 SETS: 2 minutes jump rope, 15 steps up, 12 reverse lunges, 12 dips and 20 crunch sit ups – if you feel good, do THREE sets!

Week 4

• 2 SETS: 15 push-ups, 30 crunch sit ups, 15 body weight squats, and 15 lunges, each leg. Keep good form and if you feel good, do THREE sets!
• 2 SETS: 3 minutes jump rope, 20 steps up, 15 reverse lunges, 15 dips and 25 crunch sit ups – if you feel good, do THREE sets!

Working out and more working out!

Monday saw us starting our training plan for the Sprint Tri!
The basic Plan:
Swim 2x/week
Bike 2x/week
Run 2x/week
Strength Training 6x/week (this is really simple strength training and only takes around 10 min)

Until this 8k training program is over, I'll be doing the following:
Mon - Swim
Tues - Bike
Wed - Run
Thurs - Swim
Fri - OFF!!
Sat - Run
Sun - Bike

Monday was great because we did a couple of jogs around the Y's indoor track to warm up our muscles before doing a bit of strength training. I thought that 10 push-ups wouldn't be so bad, but DAYUM my arm muscles didn't agree with me later that night! My swim was good, but I felt like I need to keep the down time between sets shorter so I get a better workout (this was my first and I was helping D out a bit as well...and didn't exactly want to lap him for the 4th time).

And last night...strength training SHOULD NOT be done before cycling class.
I forgot how brutal cycling class can be! Not only were our butts sore from the saddle, my toes fell asleep in one leg and I thought my legs would fall off by the end. Our instructor was CRAZY hard (40 min into the hard workout when I thought we were going to cool down, he tells us to put the dial at level 7 and cycle for 15 MINUTES at the same pace...ummm...EXCUSE ME?!). But it was fantastic to see a few "real" bikers do the workout like it was a piece of cake. Will have to work on AT LEAST looking like I'm not about to die. LOL!

Favorite Workout/Food Links

Wednesday night officially kicked off the Fleet Feet 8k training - it was a really good run (only 2 miles...12.5 min/mile pace at a 4:2 interval). The only downfall of this program is that it just isn't going to be as warm and fuzzy as the NCRR Women's Only program. No holding your hand and making sure you're comfortable. No making sure you don't fall behind the pack. You better make sure you keep up -- and watch out for cars!

Saturday morning was a fabulous run because we ran with the 11-13 min/mile group (instead of the run/walk group)! I think it's a good fit (even though we were at the back of the group) - it'll keep me challenged instead of us getting bored. I know I can run 3 flat miles without stopping, because J and I did this the week of New Years.

I was planning on waiting until my list was significantly longer than this, but I read this fantastic article tonight that I just can't pass up sending out to anyone that will listen!http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/editorials/0000021.shtml

• http://exercisefatgirl.blogspot.com
• http://realisticnutrition.blogspot.com
• http://runleangreen.com
  
• http://www.priorfatgirl.com/
• http://movingthescale.blogspot.com/