Tuesday Swimming 1 hour

10 minutes breaststroke
10 minutes freestyle
10 minutes backstroke
5 minutes freestyle
10 minutes backstroke
5 minutes freestyle
10 minutes kick board

Also-Walked with the kids while pushing the double stroller 1 hour total. I also played with the kids at the park for 1 1/2 hours. Another freaking gorgeous day! Loving it!

Tuesday

I'm still at it. The diet is feeling a bit easier. I've stayed well in a decent range for two whole days in a row without feeling like I was killing myself.

Today I ran hills with the group. I got there a little bit late, so I had to drive to catch everybody else. They were about 1/2 mile into the run when I got there. We got a cool new Garmin (for Christmas), so here is the read out of our hill run - well all of it except the first and last 1/2 miles, because I missed that part getting there late.

Check it out! The green line is the elevation and the yellow line is the grade. Now you can see why this run SUCKS!

Monday Weigh-In

Okay, so last week's diet didn't go as well as the week before. I think I'm about to go into my girlie time, so I'm craving carbs and chocolate and salt. Anyway, so I had not much hope for my weigh-in this morning, but I was pleasantly surprised! I lost two pounds! I'm sub one-fifty, woot!! I'm hoping to work out tonight, but for some reason I've been really really tired lately. Like, falling asleep at eight o'clock and sleeping twelve hours tired. Weeeeeeird....
Did get out and get a little sun today. GREAT freaking weather!!!
Oh, also, Erik is sick. The doctor is not sure if it's strep, or an abscess in/behind one of his tonsils. It's the biggest tonsil I've EVER seen, and Erik gets strep a lot, so I know me some big tonsils!! Even the doctor today was impressed. He has no fever, and very little other strep symptoms, but we are giving antibiotics just in case. (and me too) If he's not better in a couple of days (by which I mean if his tonsil is not shrinking), the doc wants us back in, and ct-scans and possibly surgery will ensue. I never thought I'd HOPE for it to be strep, lol! Anyway, the point is, exercise for this week might be dicey depending on how Erik is doing. :P
The Almighty Liz

Monday Running 1 hour (4 miles or so while pushing the jogging stroller)

I hope I got at least 4 miles, but I felt like I got more since I did not have to stop as much as usual. I rigged the jogging stroller so S could sit up a lot more and she liked that MUCH better. Plus, she seems to like the wooded Watershed trail as compared to the Lock and Dam trail that goes by the river. Either way, I only had to stop twice to give her things to make her happy, as opposed to stopping like 20 times last Monday when she was a major crank. It was so nice out today too! Yay for sunshine and warmth!

ETA- Plus, 30 minutes big shovel yard work double digging in my garden.

Monday

I just finished yet another session with Jillian. Ripped in 30 week 3. I'm afraid I'm going to have to advance to week 4 soon. I DON'T WANNA! Here is the question: What do I do once I'm through all the Ripped in 30s? I guess I'm in the market for a new routine. I'll have to find a few favorites and rotate through them. I think I'll start looking at Insanity or P90X. I don't know if I can afford either one of those. I wonder if I can find a used copy cheap.

The diet is still hanging in there. I'm down to 155.5 today (which is still a couple of lbs over what I was BEFORE I started working out again after my 2 month sabbatical.) Still, progress is progress. That is 2.5 lbs down from 2 weeks ago. I'm off to hit the shower.

I think I might buy some kettlebells and try that route. Any input? I saw some at Aldi. I have no money at present, but maybe by the time I'm done with Ripped in 30 week 4?

Saturday

Well after thinking about it, I decided that I just didn't care about the diet yesterday. I was planning on doing a 13 mile run today. From past experience, I can tell you that dieting + being on your period + running 13 miles for the first time in several months = BAD THINGS. So I gave up and ate.

I did do a 13 mile run this morning, and it was hard. I'm off to take a hot shower and then to sit and be lazy for a while.

p.s. I just entered my run at spark people. According to their calculations, I burned 1521 calories. I wonder how accurate that is. So HA on the diet! Take THAT!!

Friday Trail Running 55 minutes

Big E took the day off, so I decided to get TWO trail runs in one week. It was fun, but it hurt towards the end as I was pushing myself. I think I pushed myself too hard. I went swimming with the kids tonight for 1 1/2 hours, and while I was in the deep end, I got a massive charley horse in my right calf. I was at the very bottom of the 11 foot water showing V how I can touch the bottom when it decided to cramp too! I was thinking, really? Could there be a worse place to get a horrible leg cramp? I made it out okay, but
I think this was my body's way of telling me to take a few days off exercise!

I also might take Liz's advice and take a few days off dieting to try and re-set my metabolism. I've been really tired this week too :P

Friday

Well, I over did it a little with the food yesterday, but I'm not terribly worried. I was hungry! According to the computer brain in the sky, my input did not exceed my output, so I'm calling it a wash. Besides, I went to bed feeling hungry, so that's got to count for something, right?

I just finished JM Ripped in 30 week 3. It's feeling slightly less horrific, but still quite rough.

Diet and Dr. Appt.

So, saw my Doc this morning, and as I expected he was awesome. Even gave me a super good pep talk, lol!! Despite the weight gain (*shakes fist*) and the lack of consistent workouts, he's still happy with my overall heart health. He is also very supportive and encouraging about my goals for weight loss and exercise. He has absolute and sincere certainty that I can and will do these things. Isn't he the coolest?! He makes me feel so freaking good about myself. :D
Diet's going okay this week. I'm a little off kilter, but I haven't used all my flex points yet, and I only have three days after today left, so not too bad. Did I tell you guys I lost 5 lbs last week? Because I lost FIVE POUNDS last week. ;)
The Almighty Liz

Thursday Jilliam MIchaels 30 Day Shred Workout 1 (25 minutes)

With 10 lb free weights again. To strengths in one week! Raawwrr! It was significantly harder this week with having done yoga last night. I forget sometimes that yoga is actually a mild strength workout too, and not just a lot of feel good stretching stuff ;)

Thursday

Well, so far this week, I haven't done anything terribly bad in the diet arena - AND I made monster cookies. SO FAR I have mostly abstained. I'm knocking on wood, because Thursday is usually about when I fall off. But so far, I don't feel particularly rebellious. I know I've just jinxed myself.

I just finished 40 minutes on the bike downstairs. I'm glad it's over.

Wednesday Yoga 1 hour

I needed to work out those kinks. I used my Total Yoga tape. I was finally able to do this posture:



Which is called fish posture. Yay! I just had to put a small pillow under my head ;)

Wednesday Trail running 35 minutes

I had to cut my run short because it started raining hard. I'll run in the rain, but not in 30 degrees. Anything above 40 though ;) I only got 35 minutes of trail running in before it started to rain in earnest. I got a little wet on the last 5 minutes, but I did ok getting out FAST. It's hard to sprint on a trail with a tree root obstacle course!

Then, I came back and helped my mom de-clutter her house for an hour. Some heavy lifting involved. I definitely need to do yoga tonight. Kinks galore all over my body!

Wednesday

Am I allowed to say that I hate Jillian? Week 3 Ripped in 30. Diet? so-so. Weight loss? Not really.

Diet

When did I post last? I totally can't remember.
So, little Griffin finally got to come home this past Monday. Last week was a bad week for working out for me because I spent most of my available time at the hospital. Then, on Sunday night, I ended up in the hospital myself! Because I'm an idiot. I think you guys saw my post on facebook, so I'm not going to relive the shame here. Monday, due to being in the hospital and getting about 45 minutes of sleep in 36 hours (and that's actually not an exaggeration), I went totally off-book on my diet. I just didn't even care. But since Monday is a weigh day, and I missed it, I weighed in yesterday, thinking I probably hadn't lost anything because of the abysmal way I conducted my diet on Monday. I lost five pounds!! Go me!! I did do much better with my diet last week. :D
So, not feeling *quite* up to working out today, but I do plan on doing some housework, so I'll count that. I've got a cardiologist appt tomorrow, and I am NOT looking forward to that!! It's been such a horrible year work-out wise, I just know he's going to be unhappy. :( Plus all the weight gain, and yeah, we've got a good recipe for a bad appt. Boo!
The Almighty Liz

Tuesday Running 1 hour (4 miles while pushing the jogging stroller)

I might have to do yoga tonight too to pull out all the kinks from working out twice yesterday ;)

Saturday and Tuesday

Okay, so I completely fell off on the diet thing. I'm not actually sure if this is a good thing for me. It's like I feel rebellious after a few days and just EAT. Well as of yesterday, I'm back on it. I did pretty good yesterday. We'll see if it gets better this week.

I took a day off on Friday, because my poor legs were so fetching sore on Thursday that I just felt like I needed it. Saturday my van was broken, so I couldn't run with either group. I stayed home and did JM Ripped in 30. I went ahead and advanced myself to week 3. SO HARD!! It'll be a while till I'm ready for week 4.

Monday I turned off my alarm thinking I was awake and woke up an hour later. No work out.

Today I got up and ran with my group. A few of the faster girls in the group seem to have formed a little sub-group thing. In my normal state, I usually run with those girls (and they usually hand my booty to me in a bag), so I decided to join them in their renegade run. Apparently the guys have not been showing up the past couple of weeks for the hill route (two of the main ones having done a marathon just a week ago or so). The hill route is not in a good part of town, so the girls didn't really want to run it by themselves, so they did this kind of half hill / half regular route run, and I tagged along. I got 7.5 miles in with a couple of NASTY hills thrown in just for the fun of it. We averaged 9:30 minute miles. I feel encouraged because while they made me work HARD, I didn't get completely left in the dust. Of course they may have just been being nice to me. I love running with my girls! The best part is that I'm really finding new friends. When Corrine started running with us, there were a few of the women who ... how to put it ... I wouldn't say dislike or anything particularly bad. It wasn't like that, but she always ran so fast that she was usually with the guys, plus she's a bit quiet, so I there were a few of the women who's take (at first) on that was a feeling kind of like snobbery on her part. I never really had that take on it, but I heard a murmur or two. I am very happy to say that Corrine is completely wonderful. Other than the fact that she kicks my butt on a regular basis, and I probably slow her down, she's becoming one of my very favorite people in the group. We actually have a lot in common. I really like her. It's nice to know that first impressions can be completely wrong.

Monday Swimming 1 hour

10 minutes breaststroke
10 minutes freestyle
10 minutes backstroke
5 minutes freestyle
10 minutes backstroke
5 minutes freestyle
10 minutes kick board

Also, about an hour of housework plus that other workout I did today ;)

Monday Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred Week 1 (25 minutes with 10 lb free weights)

I took Renae's advice and decided to use the 10 lb free weights. It worked pretty well this time since I'm more used to the movements. I may use JM for my next few strength workouts. I need to work in more strength workouts! I have had ONE in the last two weeks. I'm hoping to go swimming tonight too.

Saturday Running 1 hour 15 minutes (5 1/2 miles)

I ran along the lock and dam trail. The sun came out for about 1/3 of the run which made it extra nice.

I also ran past a huge flock of geese. I went to a college with a big geese population who would attack students all the time (and you couldn't touch them or you would get a $75 fine). I was pretty scared of all those geese, but apparently these were a kinder gentler breed of geese. I run right along the river on this paved trail all the time, but this is the first time I have seen geese. Maybe Canadian geese coming down for our milder winters?

Monday

So, I got done with my meds, and was going to make a fresh start with the working out on, like, Saturday. Then my brand-new nephew got admitted to the NICU at Children's, and that put a whole huge wrench in things. I did manage to work out on Monday, but only managed 8 minutes. This last thing, the sinus infection, really took it out of me, and I've been logging a lot of hours at the hospital helping Virginia out. I get home at night just totally exhausted. I haven't even been keeping up with this blog!! I did some back-skimming just now, and I hope to be able to keep up from Monday on. Hopefully he will get to come home on Saturday (fingers crossed!), and I will pick up on Monday. (I need a couple of days to recoup. ;P)
In the meantime, go Timpani! Especially on your Personal Best! And hang in there with the diet Renae! As long as you are being reasonable, and I totally agree with Timpani you should give yourself a diet free day a week, but fluctuate it so your body doesn't get used to that day, and adjust accordingly, you can do it! The first two weeks are the absolute hardest, because your tummy is stretched and telling you you are hungry when you really aren't.
I did start a diet last week, and I'm doing awful!! I've never had this problem before! Usually I make up my mind, and then just do it until it's done! I was talking to John about it, and he was like, well, your mind doesn't work the same anymore. Ugh!! He's totally right, so I've been adjusting to that this week, and doing better. Not perfect, but better. I weighed in last week at 155, and my goal is 125, but 135 by May. I've never had to lose more than twenty pounds before, so the original 35 that I gained just seemed insurmountable!! So I divided it into chunks to make it look more reasonable. I didn't weigh this week because I did so awful on the diet last week, I know I didn't lose any, and I don't want to depress myself, lol! Weigh days are Monday, so we'll see if I made any progress when I weigh in, because I did do incrementally better this week. Baby steps right? Erg.
The Almighty Liz

Thursday Trail Running 55 minutes

I ran 55 minutes on the single file dirt trail in my Vibrams this afternoon. It was nice to get back into my Vibrams after taking the week off last week (due to snow). I also added 5 more minutes to my previous trail running time. I found a new part of the trail that was kind of scary. Instead of running next to a 50 foot drop (right next to the trail, like I step one foot off and down I go) I was running next to a 100 foot drop. Scary, but exhilarating at the same time.

Thursday

I ran with the group this morning. I took Bruce's new Garmin (Christmas present). I took off with the fast group like normal, but either they are faster than usual, or more likely, I'm just not up to snuff yet. I stuck with them for about 1.5 before I had to fall back. We were running low 8 min. miles. I usually stick with the fast crowd for at least the first half. Today I averaged 9.09 minute miles for 6 miles. Good run.

P.S. I HATE dieting! I just can't do it! I totally fell off the wagon yesterday. Today is not having a great start either. Oh well, I'll just have to keep trying. It's bound to help that at least I'm aware of how much I'm eating.

On a totally different subject, but I guess kind of sort of health related, my hair has been looking... for lack of a better word... old for the past year or two. I can't discribe it, but the texture was just not the same. After our bout with headlice (HORRIBLE STUFF!) and having Bruce pick through my hair about a million times. I actually never had it. (Thank Goodness!) It was really only Ross. But still we had to keep checking everybody. ANYWAY, when Bruce was going through my hair, he kept complaining about my apparent bad case of dandruff. So I went to the store and bought myself a bottle of Selsun Blue. After using it only a couple of times, not only is my dandruff a TON better, but my hair just feels and looks a million times healthier. Who knew! I think I just took 5-10 years off my hair. The only draw back is that shampoo is EXPENSIVE! I've started using it every other time I wash my hair, instead of every time. I hope that works.

Dang, what's with me and the lengthy posts?!

Wednesday Running 35 minutes (Indoor Track)

I ran faster the last 1/4 mile and walked it off for 5 minutes.

This was my first time running on an indoor track. It was definitely different! I think I will continue to use this as my "fallback" workout when I'm in a pinch, but not one of my faves so far.

Also, cleaned house for about an hour.

Tuesday & Wednesday

Well that's 3 for 3 so far this week. I left the workout off till the evening and only by sheer will power did I do anything at all. I did stair running, but my heart just wasn't in it, and I gave up after 25 minutes rather than my usual 40 minutes. I was just out of gas. Maybe just because I've still got some coming back to do after two months of being out of things, or maybe because it was evening? Or maybe I'm just lazy.

Today I got up early and put in 40 minutes on the bike in the basement. "Diet" going okay.

Tuesday Swimming 1 hour

Actually it was a little over an hour. I ended up doing kick board for almost 15 minutes because I wanted to try several different things. There were a ton of people there for a late lap swimming session! I would say 3 times as many as usual.

10 minutes breaststroke
10 minutes freestyle
10 minutes backstroke
5 minutes freestyle
10 minutes backstroke
5 minutes freestyle
10 minutes kick board

Also- grocery shopping with the baby for almost an hour.

Monday

I did Ripped in 30 week 2 again. I'm actually starting to feel like I can do most of it. I think another time or two and I'll be ready to move on to week 3.

As for my "diet," I'm doing so so. I've had two good days, one okay day and yesterday I just gave up at the end of the day and ate chocolate cake and drank soda. Still, I was better than I usually am. My complete giving up at the end of the day only landed me into 2224 calories or something like that. I forget the actual number. But considering that I'm going to burn off 680ish calories with my running later on today, I'm not too overly worried about it. Today I'm going back to good. I just need to resist that chocolate cake taunting me in there! Yesterday I weighed in at 154. That makes me feel better. I screwed myself up for the run this morning by waking up at 2:00 and then starting the dishwasher and the washing machine. By the time I laid back down, my brain was already going, and I couldn't shut it off. I had to reset the alarm. But it might have been raining at 5:00 anyway, so I might not have gone. I'll just have to make it up later today. Okay, I'm officially shutting up!

Monday Running 33 minutes (3 miles)

I was trying to run faster for a shorter amount of time. Woot! Another personal best beaten! I think the Jillian Michaels DVDs help me realize that breathing/working hard for long periods of time will not actually kill me ;)

Things

I ran 6 miles on Saturday with Bruce. I still am not up to my usual speed, but I felt good (and I made Bruce work, which is the best part). All in all, I'm happy with my progress back to normalcy.

I think I like spark people mostly. It's just a good tool for me to keep track of what I'm putting into my body. What I don't like is that they said that I didn't burn any calories with the weight training. (I couldn't figure out how to in put exactly what a Jillian video is, so I just input that I did their standard strength training thing.) That is just stupid. Also they didn't adjust my calorie intake at all after I did a six mile run. They told me to go out and burn 340 calories, and when I over doubled what they asked for, it changed nothing on what I was allowed to eat. I'll keep at it and see if it takes in to account a pattern for long work outs. But either way, it is helping me keep track of what I eat, so that is good. They have a much lower calorie count set than I usually eat, so even if I go over what they told me I'm allowed, even by nearly 200, I figure I ought to be good.

Saturday Running 1 hour 20 minutes

Woot! That's the longest I've ever ran before!

Plus, we are going swimming tonight with 3 kids for at least an hour (usually 1 1/2 hours though).

Friday Exercise Bike + Arm Strength Workout 40 minutes

I used the 10 lb free weight and mixed up 25 push ups in there too. I did the exercise bike for 30 minutes total, in 10 minute clips. I was trying something different (using JM's model for her DVD's).

Also- grocery shopped with a grumpy 20 month old for an hour and cleaned closets for another hour. I found bunches of clothes though so it was worth it!

There, I Joined Spark People

http://www.sparkpeople.com/myspark/start-now.asp

I'm too lazy to even make a proper link. But I joined spark people just so I can keep track of what I eat and do. We'll see if this helps.

Not Fair, Not Fair, NOT#@ing FAIR!

So explain to me how I can go for 10 weeks with little to no working out, and stay at 153, but the week I start working out again, I put on 5 lbs!

I did week two of Jillian today.

I'm so mad! 158!!!! Pissed off!

Thursday Trail Running 45 minutes (in the snow!!!)

It was so much fun to run on the cross country trail in the snow! I hit a paved over train tracks trail at some point too that turned into gravel. It was so beautiful, and I saw a family of deer again. I swear it felt warmer at 20 with snow than 30 without!

Thursday

I got up at 4:25 to go run with the group, got dressed and headed out the door only to change my mind (because of the weather), and stay home and ride the bike in the basement for 35 minutes.

P.S. I've GOT to start eating right because I keep putting weight on, and not off. Why the heck can't I stick to a sensible diet??? I did a silly thing and bought myself a goal dress. It was cute and half off. It is a bit form fitting, and while it actually looks not too bad right now, I don't want to wear it until I lose a few lbs. Team Godzilla's annual banquet is coming up in 6 weeks + 2 days. My goal is to wear that dress to the banquet and be anywhere from 6-12 lbs less. My weigh in today was 156. NOT GOOD! What would I ideally like to weigh? 140. Will I ever see that number again?? It's not looking too good at this point. I like to eat too much. Maybe Jillian will be the boost I need. We'll see.

Jillian Michaels Banish Fat Boost Metabolism DVD (50 minutes)

If you take out the warm ups and cool downs, it's still 45 minutes. WITH the warm up and cool down, it is 53 minutes. I'm counting it as a 50 minute workout since her warm ups are hard.

I was a little sore from Yoga so the upper body stuff was tough on this one today.

Also- took down Christmas and cleaned up pine needles for 1 1/2 hours.

Tuesday Yoga 45 minutes

Had some neck and shoulder tension I was trying to work out.

Tuesday Running 1 hour (4 miles while pushing the jogging stroller)

I was running on the lock and dam trail along the river. I was worried about wind, but the air was so still the river looked like blue glass. I could see the L & C bridge reflected in it and everything. Very pretty and sunny run today!

My left foot was hurting towards the end of the run. Stupid left foot. My right ankle feels better though, ha ha.

My stomach feels much better today. I'm guessing it was just this sinus infection putting "stuff" on my stomach making me feel like something was trying to eat it's way out.

Tuesday

I ran with the group. I think I went about 5.5 miles. I don't know my pace, but I ran with a slower group than I normally do, plus I skipped the hill at the turn around. But I felt like I could have done it just fine.

Monday Swimming 1 hour

Got my hour of swimming back despite having a bad stomachache all day! Woot!

10 minutes breaststroke
10 minutes freestyle
10 minutes backstroke
5 minutes freestyle
10 minutes backstroke
5 minutes freestyle
10 minutes kick board

I did some light cleaning for about an hour because the missionaries came over for dinner.

Okay Timpani, I'm Oficially Back, You Are No Longer Alone

Unlike Liz, I can't say that I've read your posts everyday, but I did read the last several. So you are into Jillian Michaels? I just went ahead and bought Ripped in 30 because I was sick of trying to borrow it from the library over and over.

I walked several times during my down time, but not NEARLY as much as I wanted to. Life was just to insanely busy for me to be able to fit in 1:30 of walking very often.

So I'm pushing my doctor imposed timeline, but I feel fine, and I just can't take it anymore!!

So I'M BACK!!

I ran the hardest (and slowest) five miles that I've run in quite a while on Saturday. It's crazy how clumsy I felt! It's been 9 1/2 weeks since I was able to run consistently. I'm so glad to be back!! I'm planning on hitting it hard too. Give me a month or two and I'll be killing it again!

I did week one of Ripped in 30 today. You are right, it was longer than she said. But did that include the warm up and cool down? Maybe the actual work out is 20 minutes. I'll have to pay better attention.

Alright Liz, it's your turn to rejoin the gang. You can do it!

Kudos for Timpani for always being the most consistent! You rock! (And your running is coming right along isn't it! Holy frick! 1 hour with a jogging stroller is awesome! I guess I shouldn't say "coming along" you are there baby!)

Saturday Running 1 hour (while pushing jogging stroller)

Also, took care of kids while hubbie played D&D.

Friday Running 1 hour (while pushing the jogging stroller)

I'm hoping I got 4 miles out of that.

Also- walking with the kids while pushing the double stroller for 45 minutes. I will also be swimming with the kids tonight.

Thursday Exercise Bike 30 minutes

Hoping to be able to run tomorrow!

Thursday Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 (25 minutes)

Once again, she says it's a "20 minute workout" but it was 28 minutes. I rounded down to 25.

I also walked for about 45 minutes while pushing the double stroller.

Wednesday Jillian Michaelds Banish Fat Boost Metabolism 50 minutes

Once again, she says it's a 40 minute workout, but it is actually 50 minutes! How stupid do you think we are lady? It was pretty hard. It has very little strength and is almost all cardio. I like all the ab work. I need more ab work.

Plus, shopping with kids for 30 minutes.

Tuesday Swimming 50 minutes

I felt like extra crappy crap today :p
10 minutes breast stroke
10 minutes freestyle
10 minutes backstroke
5 minutes freestyle
5 minutes backstroke
5 minutes freestyle
5 minutes kick board

Plus, 30 minutes of yard work during a short period of time today when I felt not so crappy.

Monday Yoga 40 minutes

My legs were really tight so I decided to do my Total Yoga tape too.

Monday Trail Running 50 minutes

I ran the single file dirt trail on the college land off the soccer fields road.

Plus 1 hour of grocery shopping with the kids.