Fitness Blog
Sep. 22nd, 2010 03:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threadwalkerI've been rockin' my work outs. Nutrition has been a little rocky - trying to find the right mix.
What's been unexpectedly encouraging is that I got some compliments at work and gym. At work some unlikely (i.e. normally confrontational with me) people asked me if I was losing weight. I don't know why, but it feels good when it's noticed by people who typically don't pay attention and who are even less likely to talk to me about anything other than work issues. But I'll take it. Even more unlikley, though, at the gym near work where I don't talk to anyone and don't know anyone's name and only go infrequently bewteen 4:30 am and 7am, one of the trainers called out to me while I was exiting this morning and said that I was looking good and like I'd lost weight. That's really cooler. I used those compliments to fend off the impulse to eat cookies or get an iced mocha today while hanging out with a friend in Peet's Coffee. And let me add, they were darn fine looking cookies.
Last week my workouts were essentially recovery. Moving forward I've come up with a few specific goals:
Goal:
Long term: finish a triathlon in 3 hours next September
Between now and X-mas:
1. Lose 10 lb of fat and gain 2-5 lb of muscle
2. Run 10K at 9:00 pace (speeding up from 9:40/mi)
3. Be able to do one unassisted pull-up
Strategy:
1. work out per fitness plan in Triathlon book, swapping "swims" for weight training and runs
2. Do Zone-based training (based on lactatic threshold)
3. Track food. I think I may use the "sticker" method like I do with the kids. Everytime I get 10 stickers for continuous tracking, I get a reward like a song for my iPod.
4. Continue to keep white carbs at a low and keep alcohol mostly out, e.g. 1 celebratory glass on special occasions.
The grit of recent workouts
Workouts over last week
Wednesday, Recovery Session with trainer (mostly core)
Thursday, run 30 minutes, lift weights 60 minutes (upper body, abs, shoulders)
Friday, run 30 minutes, lift weights 45 minutes (legs, back, abs)
Saturday, run 60 minutes. (very tired afterwards, so no addition core work)
Sunday - rest
Monday, sprint intervals for 30 minutes; stationary bike intervals for 45 minutes (90 RPM for 5 min; 100 RPM for 3 min; 110 RPM for 2 min; 120 RPM for 1 min; repeat)
Tuesday, Session with Trainer. He called it "300". Supposedly this is what those guys in the movie "300" did to get ripped. I did the "light" version, which was:
25 pull-ups (assisted)
50 dead lifts
50 push ups (I did 35, so I had to hold plank position for 15*2=30 seconds)
50 box jumps
50 floor wipers *
50 squat cleans**
25 assisted pull ups
followed by half mile on the treadmill at 5% incline.
(Apparently the "non-light" version has no assistance on the pull-ups, no switching to plank during push ups and they run a full mile.)
Wednesday (today), Warm up hard run for 10 min; 45 min of weight lifting (I over slept, so it was abbreviated. squats, curls, abs, lower back, lats) Today was a victory workout because while the alarm was going off and I was groggy, I convinced myself to NOT work out. Half an hour later I did the math on my commute and reconsidered, hauling my tired booty to the gym near work and going for it. Hurrah! Victory.
I'm really really sore right now, though. The muscles between my shoulder blades are killing me. They are totally on fire. And when I tried to do my ab routine this morning, the deep aches from last night were horrendous. I'm totally cool with the ab ache, but my back is not happy. Going home and sitting in hot tub ASAP!
*Floor Wipers =lay on back, legs and arms straight up in air, hold barbell with hands, pivot legs from one side to the other, touching floor. (CORE and HIPS! OMG!)
**Squat Cleans =from squat position, one 12# dumbell in one hand touching floor between feet. Power up into standing position and pop weight straight up over head. 25 per side.
Nutrition: still working on getting the formula right.
I weighed in today at the same weight as post race almost 2 weeks ago. Yay. So no loss, but no gain. Given that I had some wine and cake at the wedding on Saturday and followed that up with pizza at our place around 11pm, I'm pleased.
I love food. I'm a nutrition felon. Glad my will is strong against cookies right now.
However, I did some calorie counting last night and discovered I've been eating a lot more than I thought I was. It's more of the "right" stuff, which probably accounts for not gaining, but too much of the right stuff, which is why no loss. Consuming protein 30-90 minutes after working out is key to muscle recovery, but I noticed when I do the smoothies from my magazines, I wake up feeling full and bloated in my stomach. I think the juice/fruit based ones where I toss in a scoop of whey are too sugary. I was thinking that perhaps I should cut the portions in half. However, last night I made a small bowl of oatmeal, added whey, chopped nuts and yogurt instead of noodling around with the smoothies. I felt fine this morning (other than achey from last nights work out). I'm thinking of writing in to Oxygen and seeing what they make of it.
Anyway, I'm chugging along, listening to my body, tweaking what I'm eating. I'm avoiding the "bad foods" that make me feel aweful (pasta, bread, baked goods, candy, potato).
What's been unexpectedly encouraging is that I got some compliments at work and gym. At work some unlikely (i.e. normally confrontational with me) people asked me if I was losing weight. I don't know why, but it feels good when it's noticed by people who typically don't pay attention and who are even less likely to talk to me about anything other than work issues. But I'll take it. Even more unlikley, though, at the gym near work where I don't talk to anyone and don't know anyone's name and only go infrequently bewteen 4:30 am and 7am, one of the trainers called out to me while I was exiting this morning and said that I was looking good and like I'd lost weight. That's really cooler. I used those compliments to fend off the impulse to eat cookies or get an iced mocha today while hanging out with a friend in Peet's Coffee. And let me add, they were darn fine looking cookies.
Last week my workouts were essentially recovery. Moving forward I've come up with a few specific goals:
Goal:
Long term: finish a triathlon in 3 hours next September
Between now and X-mas:
1. Lose 10 lb of fat and gain 2-5 lb of muscle
2. Run 10K at 9:00 pace (speeding up from 9:40/mi)
3. Be able to do one unassisted pull-up
Strategy:
1. work out per fitness plan in Triathlon book, swapping "swims" for weight training and runs
2. Do Zone-based training (based on lactatic threshold)
3. Track food. I think I may use the "sticker" method like I do with the kids. Everytime I get 10 stickers for continuous tracking, I get a reward like a song for my iPod.
4. Continue to keep white carbs at a low and keep alcohol mostly out, e.g. 1 celebratory glass on special occasions.
The grit of recent workouts
Workouts over last week
Wednesday, Recovery Session with trainer (mostly core)
Thursday, run 30 minutes, lift weights 60 minutes (upper body, abs, shoulders)
Friday, run 30 minutes, lift weights 45 minutes (legs, back, abs)
Saturday, run 60 minutes. (very tired afterwards, so no addition core work)
Sunday - rest
Monday, sprint intervals for 30 minutes; stationary bike intervals for 45 minutes (90 RPM for 5 min; 100 RPM for 3 min; 110 RPM for 2 min; 120 RPM for 1 min; repeat)
Tuesday, Session with Trainer. He called it "300". Supposedly this is what those guys in the movie "300" did to get ripped. I did the "light" version, which was:
25 pull-ups (assisted)
50 dead lifts
50 push ups (I did 35, so I had to hold plank position for 15*2=30 seconds)
50 box jumps
50 floor wipers *
50 squat cleans**
25 assisted pull ups
followed by half mile on the treadmill at 5% incline.
(Apparently the "non-light" version has no assistance on the pull-ups, no switching to plank during push ups and they run a full mile.)
Wednesday (today), Warm up hard run for 10 min; 45 min of weight lifting (I over slept, so it was abbreviated. squats, curls, abs, lower back, lats) Today was a victory workout because while the alarm was going off and I was groggy, I convinced myself to NOT work out. Half an hour later I did the math on my commute and reconsidered, hauling my tired booty to the gym near work and going for it. Hurrah! Victory.
I'm really really sore right now, though. The muscles between my shoulder blades are killing me. They are totally on fire. And when I tried to do my ab routine this morning, the deep aches from last night were horrendous. I'm totally cool with the ab ache, but my back is not happy. Going home and sitting in hot tub ASAP!
*Floor Wipers =lay on back, legs and arms straight up in air, hold barbell with hands, pivot legs from one side to the other, touching floor. (CORE and HIPS! OMG!)
**Squat Cleans =from squat position, one 12# dumbell in one hand touching floor between feet. Power up into standing position and pop weight straight up over head. 25 per side.
Nutrition: still working on getting the formula right.
I weighed in today at the same weight as post race almost 2 weeks ago. Yay. So no loss, but no gain. Given that I had some wine and cake at the wedding on Saturday and followed that up with pizza at our place around 11pm, I'm pleased.
I love food. I'm a nutrition felon. Glad my will is strong against cookies right now.
However, I did some calorie counting last night and discovered I've been eating a lot more than I thought I was. It's more of the "right" stuff, which probably accounts for not gaining, but too much of the right stuff, which is why no loss. Consuming protein 30-90 minutes after working out is key to muscle recovery, but I noticed when I do the smoothies from my magazines, I wake up feeling full and bloated in my stomach. I think the juice/fruit based ones where I toss in a scoop of whey are too sugary. I was thinking that perhaps I should cut the portions in half. However, last night I made a small bowl of oatmeal, added whey, chopped nuts and yogurt instead of noodling around with the smoothies. I felt fine this morning (other than achey from last nights work out). I'm thinking of writing in to Oxygen and seeing what they make of it.
Anyway, I'm chugging along, listening to my body, tweaking what I'm eating. I'm avoiding the "bad foods" that make me feel aweful (pasta, bread, baked goods, candy, potato).
