And Now for Something Completely Different

I lifted weights today! Conclusion; I need some heavier weights. I'm stronger than I thought I was. I did triceps, and lats, 3 sets of 12 reps each, with five lbs. I did one set of 12 reps of 5 lbs for biceps, but it was ridiculous. I need something heavier, so I called it quits on that for today. I also did some biking, and I totally shocked myself here. I wasn't about to do the heavy biking workouts I've been doing right after weight lifting, so I thought to myself, I'll just do one set, at a nice easy pace for as long as I can stand it. I set my pace without looking at the speedometer, because I didn't want to bias myself, and my easy pace is 12 mph! That's awesome, considering I started at eight, and could barely do five minutes of it. I looked at the clock, and then didn't look at it again because, again, I didn't want to bias myself. The next time I looked, it had been twelve minutes, and I was barely feeling it! So I decided to kick it up to 15 mph, and quit at 15 minutes, which I did. I felt good, not nearly as worn out as I thought, and I maybe could have done more, but was leery of pushing it too hard.

Does that kick butt or WHAT?!

Look at that; I'm more SVELTE then I thought.

The Almighty Liz

ploop

I went to Branson for the Labor Day weekend. We left on Friday, and came back late Monday night. I ran on Saturday with Terry, my father-in-law. (For those of you who don't know, he is like Mr. Crazy Fitness, Die-hard runnin', bikin', weight-liftin', racquetball playin' machine.) If you've ever been to Branson, you know that the whole place looks like this: WWWWWWW. You would be extremely hard pressed to find a flat course to run there. We didn't try. I love running in Branson. You'd be an absolute animal if you trained there. I happened to have a good day, and made it 3 miles in 30 minutes, with some good and nasty hills. (Yes, a 10 minute mile is slow for a runner, but I'm still working on my post partum come back.) I didn't run on Sunday, religiously, I never do. Monday we were on our way home, and didn't make it back till 10:30 or 11:00 pm. No running that day either. Nothing yesterday, so I HAD to run today. I got my mom to watch the two pre-schoolers, and I ran 4 miles today. I had to stop and walk once, so my odometer was at about 4.5 miles when I quit. I think I'm going to try to get up and run with the slow sector of my running group tomorrow. I'll meet them about a mile out on the course, so that will cut off a mile in the beginning and a mile in the end. That will be a 4 mile run. We'll see how I do. Wish me luck.

DC's Weekend

I spent the weekend hiking at Arches & Canyonlands National Parks. I'd say we hiked at least 10 miles with a few very steep inclines.

I ate great this weekend too so I feel great about my choices. Yay! :)

Tuesday Walking 1 hour, Swimming 1 hour

The walking was really slow walking for at least the first 15 minutes as Vance did not want to ride in the stroller on the way to school, so there were frequent stops to let the boy catchup. As a bonus though, I only had one kid in the stroller the whole time so that was easier on my back.

Swimming went great! I thought it would be really hard after not swimming for three weeks in a row, and it was harder than usual, but I did not backslide. I did the breast stroke for 20 minutes because I was thinking that I would not be able to do the freestyle (the hardest stroke for me) for the full 15 minutes. I was almost ready to quit after 5 minutes of freestyle, but I got my second wind! Woot! And then the happy hormones kicked in, so I was able to jump right back into the full 15 of freestyle.

Then I did the backstroke for 15 minutes, and my arms started to feel trashed, so I decided to use the kick board. Wow! I will never call someone a wuss in my head who is just using the kick board. That is hard! I only lasted 5 minutes, and then I went back to backstroke and swimming under water, and goofing around. So, full hour of swimming (woot!) and full time on freestyle. Yeah me!

Also, I have discovered a glass of milk after I work out or a few bites of cottage cheese seems to make me feel better than water. The protein maybe? I will have to keep testing this theory.

Back on track...

Finally all, I've been able to walk two days in a row. Not like I was due to time constraints at the Y (it was closed yesterday and tonight I had to get to the pharmacy before it closed). But I feel great. Yesterday I walked around our neighborhood for about 30 minutes and today, I did just shy of a mile on the tread mill in 15 minutes.
I have a deal with myself that when I get to a straight 15 minute mile, I will start lifting weights. So YAY! I'm almost there!!

More of the Same

I did my bike today. Five sets of six min each with six rests in between at 15 mph covering 6 miles even.
Yesterday we went to Fisher Cavern, which is one cavern down from Meramak caverns. The tour was an hour and half long, so I didn't do it. Not up to that long a hike yet. So I was going to go swim at our pool since yesterday was the last day it will be open until next year, but when we got back from the cave, John's sister and her family dropped by on a whim, and we hung out with them instead. What's my point? My point is I took an unscheduled rest day, but I'm not slacking. I guess I feel guilty for resting too much. (yes yes, I know.)
But here's something cool; John put together my weight bench, hooray! So tomorrow, I'm going to lift. I think I will do mainly arms, since my legs have been getting pretty good workouts up to this point. (fun discovery for me today; my legs don't jiggle anymore. Or at least, not nearly so much. They are tight, well on their way to toned and muscular. *ROAR!*) I may do a little tiny bit of biking too, to keep up my cardio. We'll see how I feel.
The pool issue is shelved for now because my car broke, and so I have no way to get there currently. I'm putting all my resources into fixing that problem right now, but when it is, I will resume battle with the lack of indoor pools in my area.
The Almighty Liz

Monday-Marching in Place 1 Hour

I mixed it up with the marching in place by adding 10 minutes of running in place, with two 10 minute sets of knee lifting and arm windmills. It was great fun. Not really, but the light exercise does seem to make my back feel better. I did not exercise at all Saturday, and I was up half the night with my back hurting.

My pool opens tomorrow! Woot! I hope that swimming does not aggravate the back thing. Hope hope hope hope.

I also did some light gardening today, in the hopes that I will be able to do some heavy gardening later in the week. I miss gardening the most! I'm used to being out there 1-2 hours a day, and it calls me in my sleep. Ok, that last thing I made up, but I still miss it!