Tech Low-Down: My Personal Trainer

With all the traveling and training for races lately, I haven't made it to the gym in a couple of weeks.

Actually... maybe more than that.  It's really been a while.  The boys' schedules eased up this week so that one of them can walk the dog, so I was free to get some strength training in after work tonight.  I walked in and was greeted by the one guy that ALWAYS seems to be behind the counter - seriously, this guy must work 24-7, he is ALWAYS there! - and he gracefully refrained from scolding me for my lengthy absence.  He did say "Glad you're back!"  So I loaded up the "Personal Trainer" app on my phone and started in with a Circuit Training workout.

I really like the app I use for my gym workouts.  It's called iPersonalTrainer and it was free or really cheap through iTunes.  You can have the program design from several types of workouts - muscle building, circuit training, or design-your-own, and you can also choose to re-load a workout you previously completed.  It walks me through each exercise, tells me how many reps to do & how much weight to use, provides tips on maintaining proper form and each exercise has immediate video demo available.  There's an online companion for it, but I don't use it.

 

Anyway, I usually do the circuit training session.  In the circuit workout, the app gives me 5 exercises focusing on 2-3 muscle groups, then repeat those 5 exercises in 3 sets; then 5 more for the same muscle groups, repeat for 3 sets.  The one down-side is the exercises aren't necessarily in an order that's logistically practical - depending on my assigned program, I sometimes end up running all over the gym to do things in order.  One of the advantages is when the gym is busy, I can skip around the program and get things done as machines, benches, whatever, become available.  And I LOVE that it takes the guesswork out of weight lifting - I just do what the little man in the iPhone tells me to!

It also mixes up the intensity periodically, which is great.  Most days it gives me a solid workout - I'm working hard, but I don't feel like I'm gonna die or anything.  Then there are days when it decides to crank up the intensity, BIG time.  (Example:  sure, usually I tell you to do 40-45 lbs on the leg press, but today, just for kicks, I want you to do 75 lbs!)  Today, on the other hand, was a light workout - 25-30 lbs instead of 45.

Maybe the little man in the phone knows it's been a while and I might need to ease back into the swing of things??

Where to start? It was a big week!

When I left off my last post, I was headed out for a big day.  The 10K didn't go as well as I had hoped.  My goal was to finish in 1:15, and was very disappointed to finish in 1:18:26 - sadly, it took me one second LONGER to finish this year.  Ah well, it was a great race, and most importantly, I DID finish!  I was able to spend a little time with my long-lost college friend Liz before and after the race, and even saw a few friends from work and from my running group while I was there.  It was a great start to the weekend!

Next up we headed to Peoria to celebrate the sudden marriage of our good friends Roxy & Greg Haney, mix it up with about a hundred of our closest friends, dinner with Heather and Chuck and little Harold, WAY too much bourbon, and finished the night listening to the brilliant entertainment of Triple Charge Time, with our friends Jill, Joe, Dan, Steve, and some of my other former coworkers.  Made it home about 2:30am, utterly exhausted and feeling so amazed and blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life.

A couple of pics from the day:

Before the 10K - visit with Liz

After the race - my second 10K successfully completed!

Jason and our girl Heather

Sunday morning, after about 6 hours sleep, I headed to the airport and flew out to Cleveland to work for the week.  I won't bore you with the details of my day-to-day, but let's just say, my diet & exercise plan definitely took a hit all week.  I got NO training in!  No weight training, no running, nothing.  And I had several days when I ate a whole lotta junk food.  I made it back home on Friday afternoon after a nightmare at the airport that I do NOT want to discuss.  Let's just say I was VERY glad to be home.

The lack of training and the junk food, combined with my poor results in the 10K last week left me concerned with how I would perform in The Lake Run on Saturday morning.  Friday night before the race, I decided (with some encouragement from my husband) to relax and enjoy a nice evening out.  We had a very nice dinner at our favorite restaurant.  I did have a couple of drinks but we took it easy and made an early night of it.

Now for the good stuff:  The Lake Run went FANTASTICALLY well!  I got to the lake early to pick up my packet & shirt, stretched, and hooked up with several ladies from my weekly running group and took a 1-mile jog/ walk to warm up.  I finished the 4.38-mile inner loop course in 54:13 - a new personal record for me in a race I've run five years straight now!  I cut more than three full minutes off my previous best time!!

Lesson for the week:  I guess the 10K is just still a big stretch for me, distance-wise - I'll try it again next year and see if I can do better!

Seems like I spent the rest of the weekend doing yard work, pulling weeds, re-burying plastic barrier, buying new river rocks for the landscaping, and Jason hooked up a chain to his truck and we removed several stumps and old ugly bushes from the front yard, and I planted two new ones.  There is much work remaining to be done, but now that we've created a bunch of giant holes, I will just might get it done.  

Jason after our first successful "kill" - one dead bush removed from the ground!

One of the MANY enormous holes we created

Some day I will be a real bush but not ugly like the ones I'm replacing!

So here I am again, just about ready for bed and getting myself ready for a nice, normal work week.  (God, I hope so!)  I'm exhausted and sore and feeling terrific!