Move it!

Helping somebody move is sweet strength training. I'm figuring about two hours- nothing but stairs and boxes! Stairs and boxes!

Saturday Running 40 minutes (3 1/4 miles)

Running report-- I ran the whole way again!!! Except for the big hill, which I may never run since walking up and down the hill gives my legs a great 1/2 way stretch. Woooooooooooooot!!! First goal--DONE!

I've had an off week...

I blame the economy and George Bush! :P

Monday, I did 15 minutes of half-hearted "ground and pound" and 5 minutes of knees and low kicks.

Tuesday, was the day QQ was sick, so we were distracted. (Read the post.) I did walk 15ish minutes to go get ginger ale and unsalted crackers for "she whose name cannot be pronounced."

Wednesday, I stretched.

Thursday, I went to my martial arts class.

Friday, gaming, so no exercise, though I did stretch at work.

Saturday, nothing so far and my hamstring started hassling me Friday in the AM. :(

Friday Strength 30 minutes

I got re-addicted to caffeine while I was in the land of the infected. So, the last few days I've been getting off that again. Tomorrow is the first day without ANY caffeine. The weaning process went faster this time. Tired, really tired.

Thursday Running 35 minutes Abs 10 minutes

I ran the whole 2 1/4 miles!!! WOOT! No walking at all, and today was the hilly run too! Only a few days off antibiotics, and I'm doing great! 2 1/4 miles is the longest I've run without walking EVER!

Monday & Thursday

I ran about 5.5 miles Monday, I don't know my speed.

Today I got up insanely early (I'm sure I'll pay for it later); 3:39 am to be precise. I was planning to run with the group, and since I'd have had to get up at 4:00 to feed the baby, I decided just to go ahead and get up. So, I got up, started some home made bread, did a load of laundry, fed the baby, got myself ready, and met the running group at 5:00. I had been trying to decide whether to try to run with the fast group, or to meet the medium group, like I've been doing. Well, I went to the medium groups parking lot, and there was no one there. So, I went to Nautilus (where everyone else meets) and took off with everybody. There were only two fast people there today (both of them men), but I kept up with them. Well, I'm sure I slowed them down at least for the second half. When we were about 1.5 miles out, Greg looked at his Garmen and said that we were averaging 8.15 minute miles (7.36 mph). By the time we finished the six miles, we had averaged 9 minute miles (6.67 mph). I offered to fall back and run with the slower group twice, but Greg and Dan both said they were fine with my pace. Greg had hurt his foot last night, so he wasn't up for running his usual pace anyway. Now, I just need to decide if I should continue to try to run with them. I think as long as they don't mind, I will. It's much more of a motivation to go and run when it's a challenge.

Wednesday Swimming 1 hour Abs 10 minutes

I was doing great for the first 30 minutes, and then this flappy lumberjack shows up and has to share a lap lane with me (there were 4 other guys swimming again, yeah). This guy was so hard to share a lane with! I was hugging the lane divider trying to stay out of his way, and he still hit me twice. I was so glad when he left after 20 minutes. I actually got sympathetic looks from the other guy swimmers because they could see how hard this guy was to share a lane with. Also, still sore from yoga.

Same as Yesterday

Almost exactly. Five minutes on, five off, five on again. Went a little faster, so I covered 1.9 miles instead of 1.7. And for the first half of the first set, I bumped my tension up a notch. But I had to lower it because it was killing me.
The Almighty Liz

Tuesday Exercise Boke 45 minutes

Oooh, ow, my legs were sore from yoga, and now biking. I was going to do my abs before my daughter started puking every 15-20 minutes a few hours ago. It's still going on. Blech. I hope the boy and I do not get it as well.

Biking Today, Hurrah!

So I did five minutes on, five off, another five on, at around 11-13 mph. I'm bushed, lol! I can't remember my exact mileage covered, but I think it was 1.7 or so. I didn't do this on Saturday because I crashed. Literally. My body was like "That's it! I'm done and so are you!" I slept till like four Saturday and Sunday. Doing a little better now, but still super tired. Off to the showers!
The Almighty Liz

Monday- Yoga Class 1 Hour

This class is a good workout. I'm going to count it as strength and an ab workout. I was worried I was going to be the heaviest person in the class, but I saw a few other gals there my size, so I felt better.

At the lake...

So Thursday, I went with my friends to the lake to not fish, but play D & D until Sunday. It was great. Unfortunately, it left my last workout at Tuesday. I had much of Thursday to work out, but did not. I determined to do some serious walking to make up for it and succeeded. Friday and Saturday, I walked for 30 minutes. Yipee!

A funny side note, when I left Friday morning, I told my friend that I was going to walk for 30 minutes. He said, "Oh. Baby steps, huh." I'll be honest, I had some less charitable thoughts then. When I came back, I found out he heard "3 minutes"! We all felt bad.

I need to work out tonight. I will see how that goes. ;)

Park!

I took a walk to a park without playground equipment- just fields of grass. It was SO MUCH FUN! The girls and I just ran around, chasing balls, doing somersaults, etc. I found out I was much more flexible still than I had realized. I feel so refreshed- we're doing that again next week!

Unconventional

So, I haven't had a traditional workout per-se since my last post, but I cleaned my house in preparation for my extremely-to-the-point-of-ocd-neat mother-in-law coming to stay a few days while John and I went to fix another disaster in our extra house. Also, while fixing that disaster, I did a lot of hard manual labor. So much so, that I am sore to the point of weeping. So I'm going to count that. Not much cardio in there, but I'm taking today off anyway. I'll get on the bike tomorrow, since the pain is just too much to bear today. (melodrama anyone?)
The Almighty Liz

Thursday & Friday

I biked for 35 minutes on Thursday. I ran 5 very hilly miles on Friday.

Thursday Running/ Walking 50 minutes Abs 10 minutes

Running Report- I did the regular 3 miles (plus the big hill, which I guess is about 1/4 of a mile). I did good running the first 2 miles (a few small walking breaks), but then I pooped out and had to walk the last mile. My legs are pretty sore now.

Oooh! I found a cute swim suit at landsend.com in their overstock section. I got it today in the mail and it looks great! I went to land's end because most of their swimsuits have a special fabric that supposed to last longer in chlorinated pools. I hope this one lasts at least a year, instead of the 3-4 months the last TEN swimsuits I've bought have lasted.

Here's the TOP and here's the BOTTOM I got the bottom in coral rose to match the top.

Wednesday Exercise Bike 45 minutes Abs 10 minutes

My rear end just does not want to do over 45 minutes. It's bugging me! I was going to skip Wednesday, but Erik is going out of town tomorrow so I won't get to run Saturday :(

A Good Day

The weather worked with me! My friend and I went for quite the long walk- the kids thought it was too long. Now I feel amazing!
Why is there such a disconnect between feeling icky and not wanting to work out and feeling fantastic after a workout? I should want to do these things that make me feel good!

Real hard today

I was seriously tempted to not work out. No reason, just thought that I would bag it. I did not though. Yippee!

3 minutes- fighting from the guard, I sputtered out and switched to...
7 minutes- "ground and pound"
20 minutes- stationary bike

Tuesday Running 35 minutes, Strength 35 minutes

Running Report--It was a slow, short run. Only 2 1/4 miles, with hills. My lung capacity is great for the running, but my legs need to be stronger. I think the antibiotics slowed me down a bit.

I worked in the strength workout for later in the day. I still need to get back up to TWO strength workouts a week instead of just one. I want to get them legs stronger!

I'm Baaaaaack!

Hopefully for a good long run this time, lol! I've been over the bronchitis for a couple of weeks, but a week ago, while John and I were fixing a problem at our extra house, I fell down the basement stairs. This was not a feet slip and slide down on your bootie fall, it was a head over heels and all kinds of banging and bruising rolling kind of fall. It hurt, I had some injuries, though nothing was broken. A twisted ankle, and mangled wrist, and a wrenched shoulder (that was the worst) and lots of bruises. Just call me Bella Cullen.
So, but yesterday I got back on the horse (or bike) and boy, it was hard. Hopefully I can do the same again today, since we are headed back up to the extra house tomorrow to fix yet another disaster.
I did five minutes at 12-13 mph covering one mile. Then I rested for ten minutes, and did another five, only a bit slower this time at 11-12 mph covering .9 miles for a total of 1.9. Not too bad, although reading everyone else's stats for the bike is depressing. Especially their first times. *sigh* But I will persevere! I will WIN! No pity for me! I am an ANIMAL!
The Almighty Liz

Upped the ante a bit

Since I am actually doing this for martial arts training, I tried to do just bit more o' that today.

5 minutes of pounding from "the guard"- I was on my back holding the kicking shield with my legs while punching or elbowing the shield. I was roll to one side or the other and continue striking. I used the timer on the stationary bike and was surprised how quick it went.

5 minutes of "ground and pound" on the kicking shield.

20 minutes on the stationary bike- I used the timer and was surprise how insane the last 5 minutes made me. ;)

knees and kicks to cool down.

Monday- Swimming 1 Hour Abs 10 minutes

Still no lady swimmers at the pool. I was sluggish tonight too. Those dang antibiotics are slowing me down!

I Hate Indoor Workouts!

25 minutes on the stairs, 15 minutes on the bike. I stopped about a million times, and it felt like failure, but I am sweaty and disgusting, so I guess it's not totally useless.

Not today, failure! :)

I was way too busy Friday to work out due to the Valentine's day activities (dinner and a movie) and I almost did not do anything tonight. It was a calculated thought and effort to still do it. Stretched the necessaries, rode the stationary bike 25 minutes and did the requisite marching-like activity Timpani suggests (knees and round kicks for me to keep the MA flavor) for cool down.

As a follow up to my first post, talking to my wife made me realize it might be good to give examples of what I am doing.

This is a pretty good example of the shadowboxing that I will have to do.

This is a very good example of the "ground and pound" that I referenced. (This guy does it on a heavy bag. I use a kicking shield.)

And this is what I want to be able to do via the training.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qngO0_G4bM8&NR=1 (Ignore the French rap.)
http://www.kajukenboinfo.com/kaju_wko_training_preview1.wvx

Saturday- Running- 45 minutes

Running Report-- I did so much running! Woot! I ran the whole 1st mile, took a short walking break, ran almost the whole second mile, and then walked up the really big hill. Then, I ran some more, walked about 1/2 mile, and then ran the last 1/2 mile or so home. My lung capacity is great, I just need to strengthen up my legs some more I think if I want to run the whole 3 miles.

Bad news-- the doctor called and they found some really bad bacteria when they did a culture "down there" so I had to start oral antibiotics tonight (anyone heard of Septra DS?). It was kind of relief since I have been needing like 10-12 hours of sleep every night this week, and I did not really know why! Hopefully, this round of double potent antibiotics will clear things up for good and I can really get on the ball with exercise!

Slightly Better

Feeling ashamed of myself, I put in 16 minutes on the stairs, then I ran out of time.

Just Pathetic

I'm just not in the mood. I had Bruce bring up the bike. No go. Pathetic. 5 minutes on, 10 minutes off ... " Come on Renae, get with it." Another 5 minutes on, 10 minutes off "You're going to just have to start over." About 3 minutes on then another half hour off ... baby wakes up from nap, "workout" is over. PATHETIC!! (plus I've been eating bad stuff lately too). That last little bit of baby fat is NEVER going to come off.

Yet another reason why running is good. You have to get back home somehow.

Friday- Kickboxing with abs 45 minutes

Plus I vacuumed for like 15 more minutes. I only had a little blood taken this morning to run some hormone level blood tests, but I swear it made me tired all day! I am the WORST about the blood letting ;)

Liz let me in....

Howdy. For those who do not know me, I am Timpani's husband. I am supposed to test for a black belt in Kajukenbo in April so I am trying to up the fitness level.
Because my instructor did not want to see me doing- no offense- girl push-ups and the other guy testing is a youngster who blew out his shoulders, so he decided it would be great for us to do shadowboxing for 15 minutes straight instead. :P That will be coupled with the at least 5 rounds each of stand-up sparring, grappling and undisclosed activities.
I have done this week:
Monday- 25 minutes of aerobic activity (20 stationary biking, 5 minutes "ground and pound" on a kicking shield and a couple of non-counted minutes of knees and low kicks in the air.)
Tuesday- 20 minutes of stationary biking
Wednesday- 25 minutes of aerobic activity (5 minutes "ground and pound" and 20 stationary biking w/martial art hand techniques)
Thursday- taught the Kajukenbo (martial art) class tonight for an hour. Various activities, probably had 20 minutes+ in there somewhere.)
Except for today, I also stood in horse stance for 2-3 minutes at work.
("Ground and pound" is taking a kicking shield treating like a grappling opponent, striking it, switching positions, striking more, rinse, repeat.)

Thanks for having me.

Thursday- Strength 35 minutes Exercise Bike 30 minutes

Yep, that's about it. Mixed in the 200 abs too.

Running Thursday

I managed to get myself up early today (3:41 am, to be exact). I woke up and thought, "Well, if I just get up now, I might have just enough time to put together the game for Ross's class Valentine's party that I was supposed to do, then feed Clayton, then dress quickly and meet the group at 5:00 for running.

That's exactly what I did. I didn't take my Garmen with me, so I don't know precisely, but I ran for right at an hour, so I think it was probably 6-6.5 miles. (I ran most of the time with people who are slower than me. I think I'm ready to try running with the fast group. I'll have to figure out when & where they meet these days) Timpani, once you feel ready, I'd be happy to introduce you to whichever group you think you might want to run with, if you are interested. They run about 6 miles on an average day, so you'd have to work up to that distance. But on a plus side, the slow group is really slow! (Don't tell them I said that!)

The ultimate equation

Ok here is my sweet diet:

No breakfast
Four Lofthouse cookies for lunch
A reasonable dinner

...best diet ever. I've lost 3 lbs!

Biking Wednesday

Bruce put our spare bike on the trainer, over the weekend. I dragged it up the stairs and did some indoor biking. The thing about indoor biking is that your legs never get to pause, where as biking outside for real, you usually do coast just a bit. I guess I'm not used to biking anymore (if I ever was). It was hard. With running, my body is so used to it, that I just get into a groove, and I could just keep running and running. That's why switching things up is a good thing. I had intended to bike for 30 minutes, but I was watching Shine (one of my favorites) and I paused for a breather just when David is practicing for the big contest. That's my favorite part of the movie. I just love to watch all of the hard piano work. Makes me want to do some pounding done on the piano of my own. I really need to get back to my piano. I've been very bad since I quit my lessons after Clayton. I'm just not whole without my piano. Anyway, I got distracted and took an overly long break, with just 4 minutes to go, so I punished myself by adding an extra six minutes. 36 minutes total average speed 17.2 mph.

Walking Tuesday

The weather was so nice, I just wanted to enjoy it. I opted for a walk (maybe I should have run with the stroller, but I was more in the mood to walk) with the kiddos in the stroller. I covered 4 miles in slightly less than an hour. Oddly enough, my buns are well not sore exactly, but I can feel that I worked them. I did end up running just a tad with the stroller because I was afraid that the older kids' bus would beat me home.

Tuesday- Running 30 minutes (2 1/4 mile)

Running Report- 2 1/4 miles in 30 minutes, which was a great running time, but my body was telling me something (something not good) so I did not run the last 3/4 mile.

I also wanted to do my strength workout today, but my body is telling me noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Monday- Swimming 1 hour Abs 10 minutes

Too many guys in the pool again. I hope summer time will lure the female swimmers back to the lap lanes. I'm still sore from running Saturday, but it was a really good swim anyway.

Friday and Saturday

Friday: 5.5 miles running 6.5 mph average

Saturday, about the same.

Saturday- Running 45 minutes, abs 10 minutes

Running Report- Still doing well on the running. I ran the first mile, and then ran lots more after that. I did a little over the 3 miles of mostly flat, and then one humongous hill. The big hill really helped out this time (walking up and running down) with stretching out my legs and giving me energy. I guess the energy comes from different muscles being used but still getting a really good heart rate going?

Friday- Walking 1 hour

Sweet sun have I missed you! I had a splendiferous day walking in the sun with the kids in the double stroller. It was also great to get a light workout today since I plan to run tomorrow.

Thursday- Strength 35 minutes, Exercise Bike- 30 minutes

200 abs mixed into the strength workout. The exercise bike went better than expected as my bottom did not need "re-breaking" as I thought it would. Cheers to tough bottoms!

I took off Wednesday so that I could run on Saturday since it's supposed to get up into the 60's that day, so even if there is wind I should be able to bear it ;)

Different

Well, I am still doing pretty much the same stuff at the gymn whenever I get the chance. Two miles running, and about a half hour cycling and elliptical. I am definitely getting some pretty cool muscle definition, which makes me very happy. I also started a Middle Eastern Dance course in Saint Louis a couple of weeks ago. It is fun, but very different and challenging in ways you wouldn't necessarily expect. I just wish the class was closer to my house.

Wednesday

More jogging. Very tired. Need a nap.

Tuesday-- Running/ Walking 35 minutes Abs- 10 minutes

I was going to run this morning, and then fit in a strength workout in later today, but as the day went on, my arms started to feel like they had been torn out by the shoulder sockets and then glued back on with elmer's glue. So, not actually able to do a strength workout since I can barely lift my arms at this point. I'm actually sore from swimming! I could not believe it, until I realized that was the only thing it could be.

Running report---I ran 10 minutes, walked 1 minute, then ran almost another 10 minutes!!! What an awesome run. I ran almost 1 1/2 miles (with hills!) with only one walking break. It was too windy with the cold (below 20 degrees) to run the full 3 miles, so I just did 2 1/4 miles total today. I would have been fine with the cold, but the fierce winds kept robbing me of all warmth that I built up. Cursed wind!

Painting

I had better lose tons of weight from the last two days of painting! My body is soooo achy!

Blah

40 minutes stair running

Monday- Swimming 1 hour, Abs 10 minutes

My swim felt great tonight! Hopefully, my run tomorrow will turn out as good ;)
200 crunches mixed in with other ab work.

End of the month- I start an 8 week Yoga class with my sister at the e-ville YMCA. I'll let you guys know how that goes!