There are few things worse than a gym-bag full of frozen athletic wear.
This was my thought as I headed to the gym on Tuesday this week. It was snowing (AGAIN!) and my gym bag had been in the trunk of the car all day!
Highlights of this week's Cross-Training: 20 minutes on the bike, interval training, level 5 (still hard but getting easier) = 5.5 miles, max heart-rate 150. Weight training: arms, shoulders, core.
Core work was where it got interesting. Here is what the iPersonalTrainer had in mind this week:
Swiss Ball Plank Rotation - harder than it looks! Three sets of this, 5 rotations in each direction.
Swiss Ball Plank - Feet on Bench - difficult to get in position; VERY difficult to STAY in position for 30 seconds... three times.
Well with the new job I'm struggling a little with making some time for blogging but I'm still doing my thing over here. It was a great week at work - I'm totally loving the new job. SO glad I decided to make this change! So... workout rundown for the week:
Monday: pouring down rain. Of course, it was clear but cold all day, right up until I got off work and headed home for a 3-mile run! It started pouring down while I was getting changed into running clothes. I actually had to talk Coty into going for a walk. That's how bad it was. Completely insane. Do you have any idea what it takes to make that dog LAY DOWN when you suggest going for a walk??? So we did get in one mile... one very fast mile and got completely soaked through in under 15 minutes. :-D
Tuesday was a long day - I had to go out of town for work, so up at 5am, on the road at 6:15am, worked 8am - 5pm at a client, then the 1 1/2-hour drive home. No workout for me. I call that a "rest day."
Wednesday was the first night for Ride the Wave! I've been so excited for this, and made sure to eat "clean" all day - a really healthy lunch (one i was so pleased with, I took a picture!) and hefty afternoon snack to fuel up, and left work early so I could change clothes and be there right on time, at 5:15pm. There was some socializing and introductions, some discussion of what the program is about, etc. and then a 2-mile assessment run. We had an opportunity to warm up with about a 1-mile jaunt to the "starting line" so I did an easy 2-minute walk / 2-minute jog to warm up on that distance. I was hoping to run the entire 2 miles and average about a 11:30-min pace. It was dark, so although I had my Garmin on, I didn't have much opportunity to monitor my pace, and the point is to run at a "comfortable" speed, and as I said, a speed I can maintain for the full 2-mile run. As expected, I was one of the last to complete the assessment (compared to the 50-odd other participants, I'm definitely one of the slowest!) but I'm happy to report I came in at 22:54 - RIGHT ON PACE with my goal. Awesome.
Thursday was a gym day and I started with 20 minutes of interval training on the stationary bike on Level 5. That one is still pretty tough but it may be time to consider trying Level 6. Got in 5 miles before the timer went off. Then I did a "full-body" strength training workout - three sets each of 11 different exercises, hitting all muscle groups. Highlights: I bumped up my barbell curls from 20 lbs / 10 reps to 30 lbs / 6 reps. That was tougher than I expected. Will have to work on that. Another new Bosu Ball Exercise: squats on that wobbly thing! Pretty self-explanatory, but I found a video for you anyway. That was challenging - think I worked on balance more than glutes with those squats - but MUCH easier than the side-to-side lunges from two weeks ago! Another new exercise: "Fireflies" - this is awkward and I don't like to think what it looks like if you're a fellow gym-goer and have to watch me do this, but it feels good, works practically the whole body, and it's difficult! Check out the video below. Oh and this will be relevant later on... we had a snowstorm Thursday night. Started around 4pm and it was fun looking out the gym windows and seeing all that snow dumping out of the sky! (Didn't hurt that the weather kept the gym attendance low that night!!)
Friday I was a bit sore (the good kind) from the gym workout but feeling fantastic. As always, Friday is a rest day so after work, just chilled out till Jason got home and we headed out for an evening together. Burger baskets, beer, and oh yeah, something in the basement of the bar CAUGHT FIRE. That pretty much cleared the joint out, but of course, we finished our beer and made sure to settle our tab before we headed home. In all honesty, it was really more of a smolder than a fire but it's more fun to say the place was in flames, don'tcha think?? The fire department never even showed up but they located the source of the smoke and took care of it inside of maybe 20 minutes or so. All's well that ends well - Jason had to work today anyway so we had planned to make an early night of it.
So today I planned a 3-4 mile group run. The roads were relatively clear of all that snow but there are still patches of ice and packed snow here & there. Well, wouldn't you know it, I found the ice! About 4 minutes into our run, my left foot hit a bit of (what appeared to be) wet pavement (but which was in fact, wet ice) and went sliding at freaky-fast speed directly to my right. I went sprawling. UGH when will I learn not to fall down all the damn time?!?!?! I landed HARD on the outside of my left knee and the outside of my thigh, tweaked my ankle just a bit, and my face hit the curb. (I had a nightmarish flash-forward of how I was about to lose my teeth. Thank goodness I just hit my chin on the curb. My teeth remain intact.) I'm SO GLAD Meg was running with me, she encouraged me to stay still, evaluate my condition and then we walked for several minutes, tried some more running, and finished the run. We just took care, took our time, ran some, walked some, and chatted. Got about 3 miles in after all, just slowly - about 54 minutes (including my time on the ground). There was a stretching demo set for after the run so I stuck around for that and gave my very unhappy leg/knee/thigh muscle some solid stretching. Once my body began to cool off, it REALLY started to tighten up. I'm taking it easy for the rest of the day, RICE (Meg taught me this great acronym) Rest, Ice, Compress, and Elevate.
So now I'm limping. I took a bunch of Advil & I'm RICEing it. We'll see how it feels tomorrow. I don't think I have a serious injury. Just some bruising and, apparently, some balance issues!
Tonight is our friend John's Big Fortieth Birthday so I'm planning to wear Extremely Un-Sensible Shoes, have dinner out, and party like a 40-year-old rock star later. Hope my leg holds up to the abuse! And as always, tomorrow will be another weigh-in day. Have fun out there!
Last thought for the day: found this on Facebook this week and I loved it. I love the thought that "Your mind becomes calloused to effort." We can train our minds the same way we train our bodies, and at the same time.
BTW, here is where I found it: Not sure the source, it was on my friend's wall.
Since my last post, I've still been thinking a lot about my experience with the Bosu Ball Alternating Side Lunges. Seems I haven't posted all I have to say on the subject, so I'm starting off today with a little Epilogue, if you will.
I don't know about anyone else, but for me, I try to focus only on myself when I'm at the gym. I'm always very conscious of the fact that, let's say, "I don't look my best" in gym clothes. I'm sweaty (if I'm doing it right). I'm wearing clothes that are functional, not flattering. My hair isn't done. I may have makeup on if I stop in after work, but once I'm all red in the face and sweating with effort, I'm not sure that's doing me any favors in the looks department. That's all fine, and as it should be, but it doesn't make that bit of self-consciousness go away. In my everyday life, I wear things that are flattering to my body, no matter what size I am, and I pretty much go through my days feeling good about how I look, so no scolding me for being down on myself, please... I'm just saying in this situation at the gym, it's a little hurdle I have to get over. I cope by focusing inward. I don't spend much, if any, time socializing, and I don't really know many people that use the same gym I do, so this all works out pretty well for my state of mind when working out.
When I went & picked up the Bosu Ball to do my first set of Glute Squeezes, a woman was stretching and doing some core work nearby. She looked at the ball, asked me about it a little. I explained I'm just learning to use it, but was really excited to find it was available. And kept myself from jokingly asking her not to laugh at me while I figured it out. We talked for a couple of minutes about the different exercises we've seen people doing with the ball, and laughed a bit about the awkward balance between trying to watch someone do something we've never tried, without staring at them like a creepy gym stalker.
Later when I started trying to figure out how to do the Alternating Side Lunges, feeling awkward and uncoordinated on that Bosu Ball, one thing I didn't fully explore in my previous post is the INTENSE feeling of self-consciousness I was battling. It was almost as if I thought, if I stop what I'm doing right now and look around, I'll see everyone in the gym gaping at me, maybe even pointing and laughing! I mean, clearly this is irrational and I didn't REALLY think that, but... well maybe a little part of my brain thought it could happen.
So if you're reading this and you've ever had that same feeling when trying something new and feeling uncomfortable, here's what ACTUALLY happened when I looked up:
There was a big muscle-y guy lifting weights on a bench a few feet from me, and when I stopped to catch my breath and glanced around, he caught my eye and said "Man, I couldn't do what you're doing!"
My first thought was Dude, right now, neither can I!But no, Chris, negative self-talk is one thing, it's even worse when you say it out loud. I stopped myself from saying that, and the first thing that popped out of my mouth in response was, "Yeah, I am WAY outside of my comfort zone right now!" (I gotta give myself a little pat on the back for turning that negative into a positive. That was a good one.)
And he said, "That's what it's all about - you gotta get out of that comfort zone to make progress. Keep it up!"
How about that? NOT pointing and laughing. Encouraging. Yeah, this is where I'm SUPPOSED to be: OUTSIDE of the comfort zone. Getting it done. Maybe I should talk to people more often at the gym. Maybe there's a little something to the idea of interacting with people in that context. I gotta say, I like my gym more and more.
One more word on this: I came across a great quote on the subject in my random Internet browsing tonight: “You only ever grow as a human being if you’re outside your comfort zone.” -Percy Cerutty I found it here: http://runnersfeed.com/top-20-running-quotes/
Yesterday was my last day at what will henceforth be referred to as My Old Job.
The new gig starts Monday and I'm hoping to make the most of my four days off between jobs. Today is mainly a spa day but I kicked it off with a trip to the gym. After a 20-minute warm-up on the stationary bike, I started a Circuit Training / Strength workout. I tried two new exercises this morning - Bosu Lying Glute Squeeze and Bosu Ball Alternating Side Lunges. I've done Glute squeezes in various forms before, so that was pretty straightforward, but this side lunge thing was a whole other matter.
Yes, I've done lunges before, but this involves keeping one foot on this completely unstable surface, doing your side lunge, then "hopping" across the ball to do the lunge on the other side. Seriously, this was more akin to a cardio workout than strength training. I was supposed to do ten of these (each side, of course). My first attempt essentially consisted of me repeatedly falling sideways into a vaguely lunge-like position. Completely unstable, uncontrolled movement. Not a purposeful motion. I became concerned that I might injure myself due to a complete lack of coordination! This is about the time I determined I needed a professional for some assistance. Luckily, my gym has several personal trainers on hand and I was able to catch one of them and ask for some tips.
Here's his advice:
Set up one of those aerobic steps and do some alternating lunges using that.
Do NOT try to match the speed of this sample video. Concentrate on making your movement smooooth and controlled.
I did both of those things and on my next set, I maybe did 5 properly. (maybe not that many.) My third set, I simplified it a bit more and did all of the actual lunges on the step and just practiced going across the ball in a smooth, controlled motion. Guess I have a new project for the gym: I have to make that Bosu Ball my bitch.
The remainder of the day was spent doing some shopping, mall-walking, mani-pedi, fresh hair cut and a trip to Sam's Club for provisions. Tomorrow: clean the house. And the car. And put the laundry away. (Won't be as much fun as today.) Plus, a run!
I've gotten back to the gym this week and I am really enjoying my workouts. My "training schedule", ideally, is to get a workout in 4 weekdays each week, plus one on either Saturday or Sunday. For me, "workout" means either a run, walk/run interval training, or doing an iPersonalTrainer program at the gym. It isn't always how it works out with the schedule, but that's the goal.
I'm doing pretty well this week - I got my Monday night run in with the HEAT WAVE group - about 45 minute walk/run and got in about 3 miles. Tuesday AND Wednesday I got to the gym - basically a miracle the way things have been working the past few weeks!! Tomorrow (Thursday) I take Coty to the last meeting of the TNAM group. I'll get my finisher's certificate and shirt, and do one more run. Though with temperatures predicted to top 103 degrees, I expect it will be a short walk and not a 4.37-mile run.
I thought this might be an opportune time to give a rundown on what a "typical" workout looks like for me when I hit the gym.
I think I've mentioned this before, but I use an app on my iPhone called iPersonalTrainer. There are several options for setting up your workouts, but I like to use the Circuit Training program. With this option, the app selects a set of 5 muscle groups and designs 2 exercises for each muscle group. You do 1 exercise for each group, repeat that set twice, then do the other 5 exercises and repeat that set twice. In the end, you do a total of 10 exercises, three times each.
[Side note: I recently discovered I could rearrange the order of the exercises to make it so the order makes more sense logistically - in other words, if there are three exercises using the cables, do those together rather than cables, mats, bench, cables bench, etc. (This way I'm not running all over the gym wasting time getting from one exercise to the next all over the place - big improvement!)]
I've been wanting to do some speed work when I'm at the gym, where I can workout on the treadmill and really lock in my speed, see what it feels like to "comfortably" run at one speed or another. So to warm up yesterday, I started out with a 5-minute walk and then did some interval training: 2 minutes running followed by 1 minute of walking (strictly enforced!) and to make it a speed workout I amped up the speed for each running interval. I started a 5.0 mph, then 5.2, 5.4 etc... and ended with two intervals at 6.0. I'd like to make this a weekly part of my routine - it was fun and I really felt like I was pushing.
Wednesday's workout focused on Triceps, Quads, Calves and Core. (three sets each)
Leg Press: 45 lbs, 10 reps
Calf Raise on Leg Press: 45 lbs, 15 reps
Cable Lawnmowers: 10 lbs, 10 reps
Cable Triceps Extension: 20 lbs, 20 reps
Bowing Crunch: 10 reps
Step
Up: 10 reps each side (stepping up on the weight bench. I'm too short
(or the bench is too tall) and have to bring a 3-inch aerobic-step over
to give me a boost. Otherwise, it hurts my hip something fierce, and
my form and control goes all to shit.)
Rope Cable Row: 30 lbs, 10 reps
Wall Jumps (exactly what it sounds like): 30 seconds
Single
Dumbbell Kickback (bent over the weight bench, working your triceps by
extending backward with gravity and the dumbbell as resistance): 5 lbs,
10 reps
Reverse Crunch: 10 reps - this was something I've
never tried before and the first set was hard. I suspect I was using
poor form. Once I figured out how to do it, I really liked it. Here's a video demonstration (obviously not me).
And the best part of every workout: my gym's tanning booth! Every workout earns me a tanning session. You know I'm really rules-oriented, and the rule is, I don't get to tan unless I've done a workout. I imagine I could allow tanning after a road run, but I'm afraid that would lead to tanning "when I'm planning" a run, so that's a non-starter. We'll have none of that.
So that's what a "typical" gym workout looks like for me. Thank goodness you don't have to see what I look like all sweaty and puffy and red in the face when I'm done!
