Exercise

Things Are Going Swimmingly

11/06/2009

Well not really. I’m still under the microscope with the IRS, but to counteract the stress of this whole audit process, I chose swimming as my exercise of choice last night. And I got a pleasant surprise! My gym has switched the indoor pool over to a salt water filtering system! Yay! Because I didn’t know this at first, when I swallowed water on my first lap, I thought “Hmmm. That’s odd. The water tastes salty.” I crossed my fingers for the next 49 laps (figuratively of course because actually crossing my fingers would have made swimming difficult) that they had switched to a salt water system rather than something being horribly wrong in what was previously a heavily chlorinated pool. There were little kids getting swimming lessons and a lifeguard on duty, so I figured it was unlikely something was horribly wrong with the system. Besides, the water...

Trainer Tuesday: The Ab Killer

11/03/2009

I’ve started working out with a friend/trainer on Monday nights, and I thought having a Trainer Tuesday post to talk about those workouts might be a good feature. While these workouts aren’t directly related to triathlon training, we are doing a lot of core, balance and strength training, which can only help my performance in future races, right? Besides I feel less jiggly after Monday’s training night. Jen, my friend and now personal trainer, will be referred to in the rest of this post and going forward as The Ab Killer. ‘Cause that’s what she does best. She kills my abs. And secretly works in all kinds of other toning exercises in the process. And when we’re concentrating on other toning exercises, like arms, she’s sneaking in ab work. The Ab Killer’s primary tool of torture is that benign-looking medicine ball on the left there. Pretty colors… round and...

Thinking About Triathlon? Start Training Now

11/02/2009

This week will mark my year anniversary with the gym I go to. I never thought I would join a gym, much less actually use it for a full year. Throw my money at it, sure. Go? This is something new for me. It is also a year since I set my sights on becoming a triathlete. I joined the gym to begin winter training. Considering the physical condition I was in when I made this decision, I really surprised myself when I completed my first race in April. It was a small duathlon (1 mile run, 6 mile bike, 1 mile run), but as I’d never run a mile in my entire life, it was a feat. Starting training 6 months prior was a good idea. It was still a really tough race for me. And the one in August was tough too. It wasn’t until my third...

Setting Weight Loss and Fitness Goals

10/26/2009

These last couple of weeks on my fitness journey have been a slippery slope. The change in weather/daylight has thrown off my exercise routine. And after 15 months of being in control of my food intake, recently, that’s been slipping too. Not measuring here, a little extra there, and really, how bad can that fun-size candy bar or handful of candy corn be in the overall grand scheme of things? Apparently pretty bad if I’m not accouting for it because inevitably one turns into two turns into too many to count. Not that I haven’t allowed myself candy or other goodies before. And not that I haven’t had days where I’ve eaten whatever I wanted. I do. It’s the way I’ve been able to stay in control this time. But, I was in control. Those days where I’d allow myself whatever I felt like eating were planned. And the...

Fessing Up

10/20/2009

You may have noticed my absence from the blog world and even twitter this week. Well, not only did I fall off the edge of the virtual world, I more or less fell off of the “watching what I eat, exercising regularly” wagon as well. I can’t really pinpoint what did me in. A change in the weather (which I had hoped to conquer per my last post)? Stress? Hormones? I’ve been married for 25 years and I deserved a reward? An unrelenting urge for brownies? Whatever the cause, it derailed me big-time. From Tuesday through Friday, there was no exercise. And while I would start the days off eating healthfully, by lunchtime, I was throwing my food out of whack too. The result? I gained 5 pounds in a week. I got back on the exercise train on Saturday with a really strong 3-mile run. The clouds broke...

A Change in the Weather

10/14/2009

Our weather here shifted this week. It’s been getting more and more fall-like all along, but this week, it’s cold. And it promises to be rainy by the end of the week. Until now, I’ve been still getting my runs in outside. First in the morning, and more recently after work, while it’s still light out. But it seems like even the light is fading quickly. Although today that may have just been the effect of the clouds that are bringing the impending rain. As a result, I haven’t run since Sunday. I do best when I can work out in the morning and now it’s too dark. The gray, windy afternoons haven’t been too conducive to getting outside to run either. I worked out with my trainer on Monday night, but two days of inactivity have me jonesing for some movement. I never thought I would crave movement...

Powering Through

10/09/2009

Yesterday I had a day off from work. “Yippee!!!!” you might say. “A day off, oh how I could use a day off from work,” you might think, feeling slightly jealous that I actually had a coveted day off from work. However, when you hear WHY I was off from work, you will definitely cringe and maybe even feel sorry for me. I’m being audited by the IRS. Yesterday’s day off was set so I could go sit with my accountant and go over all of the paperwork I had and will still need for the audit. I am one of the lucky ones. I have audit protection. I don’t have to sit across from the scary IRS people, explaining why and what I did in 2007 (which is at this point a faded memory). Nope. I don’t have to go. My accountant does that. But I do still...

Keep Your Eye on the Ball

10/06/2009

Last week, I started working with a fitness trainer. I’ve got the cardio thing down pretty well, but now, since race season is over, it’s time for toning and strength training combined with the cardio to get even better at this triathlon thing for next race season. My target areas for strength training are my core and upper arms although toning all over is obviously the ultimate goal. Along comes Jen, my personal trainer. You can find her at ActivPersonalTraining. Jen doesn’t train with traditional weights. Instead, she lets me play (in controlled movements). We use a rebounder (little trampoline), yoga balls (really big beach ball) and medicine balls (I never did quite get what these were for when we threw them to each other in elementary school), balancy things. foam rollers and resistance bands. It’s fun. I mean, it’s hard work, yes, but I get to roll around...

A Note Of Thanks To My Body

10/05/2009

At my heaviest weight, I was 267 pounds. That was 15 years ago. Through the years, I dieted, stopped, exercised, stopped, dieted some more, and stopped again. Any of us who has a substantial amount of weight to lose can probably say the same thing. We rarely get it right the first time, or the second or the third time. When I started on my latest and last fitness journey in 2008, I weighed 230.2 pounds the day I stepped on the Weight Watchers scale. I happen to know that I’d managed to drop about 5 pounds before then. I weighed 167.2 this morning. That’s 100 pounds from my heaviest weight to now. Yesterday I ran 4 miles. Running 4 miles is something that I wouldn’t have attempted or believed I could do….ever. Certainly not when I was 267 pounds or 230 pounds. Not even when I was 18...

Running On Empty

10/01/2009

Dark mornings. Crazy work days. Night-time meetings and obligations. There’s a shift that happens at this time of year that requires a shift in the old exercise routine too. And shifts can be tough. As a result, I haven’t done any exercise since Monday night, when I went running after work and then to a personal training session. I have no excuse for not doing ANYTHING. I can do resistance training at home. I can put my bike on the trainer and cycle my little heart out in the dark, in the cold…in the comfort of my living room. I can do jumping jacks or go out on the back deck and jump rope. But what I’ve wanted to do is run. Outside. In the bright sunshine and crisp weather. I plan to go running tonight after work tonight provided I escape my cubicle before it gets too dark....

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