Slow and Steady

I'm another pound down.  138.6.  I briefly flirted with the 137's at the end of last week and I was pretty excited about it, but no matter... it'll come eventually.

I'm thinking I've reached the first plateau, which was expected.  I know my body was responding to the sheer shock of daily exercise and restricted calories.  Now is when the real work begins.

As for last week's exercise, it looked like this, starting Sunday:
Tae Bo
P90X: Arms & Shoulders
Tae Bo
Bike
Tae Bo
Booty Barre
Saturday I was nicely sore and I did a ton of work on both the old house and new, so no exercise.
Sunday was a true day of rest.

This week I'm going to try to add a few double days, on Tuesday and Thursday... we'll see if that takes it up a notch!  I am not doing My Fit Foods this week, and actually for the past 2 days I haven't done prepackaged foods at all, but I am counting.

I can already see a slight difference in my clothes.  Most of my work pants had become uncomfortably tight.  They still aren't loose, but they are far more wearable now, which is really the goal.

I can also feel the difference.  I don't know if I said it in this blog, but back when I started in 2007, I can remember after a few weeks, walking down the hallway at work and feeling different.  I felt like there was a cobra in my belly, coiled and ready to strike.  It is a very vivid memory for me - the day I found my power.  I am beginning to feel that way again.  And I love it.

Firmly on the wagon

I finally found a My Fit Foods meal that I loooooove: Besto Pesto.  Nom freaking nom.

I managed to eat cleanly through to dinner Friday night, when we went to our favorite burger joint and oh, it was soooooo goooooood.  At that point I wanted to eat ALL THE FOOD, so, you know, it was good.  Saturday I went back on the wagon and was a good girl.  Sunday I had a small smoothie at the Globetrotters show, but otherwise I stuck with the plan.

For the first time in a looooooong time, I started Monday morning weighing the same as I did on Friday morning!  139.6.  Oh, yes, and I finally saw a drop!

I'm also doing a really good job of getting my 4 bottles of water per day, even over the weekend when I usually lose a bottle.

As for exercise, I started last Monday and it looked like this:
Bike
Bike
Tae Bo
Boot Camp
P90X Arms & Shoulders
Off
Tae Bo
P90X Arms & Shoulders

I am veeeeeeery pleased with this as well!  Booty Barre was canceled due to weather, but I still got my workout in.  WIN!  And I was disappointed when Grasshopper dropped by to tell me that our 5K had been moved to April (APRIL - BOOOOO!), and I did take Saturday off, but I was back at it on Sunday, and that is also a huge win for me, since I really struggle to get off my duff on the weekends.

We also did a lot of moving work from the old house to the new one on both Friday and Saturday, which tangentally counts.

I may need to be flexible with the rest of this week, as I already know I must miss Boot Camp on Thursday, and there is the possibility of another Ice Day tomorrow.  But I made it work last week, and I'm finally seeing results, so I know I can make it work again.  And I will.

Abs Abs Abs

So, day 1 of February plan complete.  No ice cream.  And I've told P not to give me any, either.

And when I swam yesterday morning, I tried to think about engaging my abs.  It must have worked, because when I went to do my 100 crunches that evening, they were already sore!!

It was 70 yesterday morning when I left for the Y, and by the time I got to work it was 40.  This morning it was 20!  I'm patting myself on the back for the brilliance of going to the Y yesterday, because there is no way I'm leaving the house to exercise in this cold.  This morning I did Tae Bo (trying to think about my abs), and tomorrow morning I'll probably do a spin on the bike.

In baby news, I'm worried about my milk supply.  It seemed to take a bit of a dive over the weekend, Sunday specifically, and it hasn't really gone back up.  I don't know if nursing exclusively on the weekend actually adjusted my supply down (as I was over producing before) to closer to what Z actually needs, or if the 5K screwed me up (don't really think so), or what... yesterday I pumped exactly what she ate, and that worries me!  I tried eating oatmeal yesterday morning, but it seems to have a 12 hour delayed onset, so I filled up as I was going home.  Might try eating some tonight so I'm nice and full tomorrow at work.  I am also vaguely considering supplementary pumping on the weekends.  Before I'd do my morning pump but then exclusively nurse through the day.  It is nice to have a break from the machine!  But if I have to, I can try to pump more on the weekend to try and up my supply.  I know that I shouldn't really be freaking out yet, but it is just that when you go from oversupply to exact supply, another dive could mean you aren't making enough, you know?  I want to nip this in the bud!

I'm tired.  5-7 hours of sleep each day... I'm built for 8!

What else?  Oh, work has been frustrating.  That's all I'm going to say about that.

142.0 yesterday and also today.  Been floating around 142 for a week or so, hopefully I'll be looking at another drop soon.

What to say??

So... I'm having a mild freak out this morning.

But I wanted to document another crappy run yesterday. Correction. It felt seriously crappy. But it was pretty fast. Make of that what you will: 30 minutes running with a 2 minute walk break after 25 minutes, because I felt just that crappy. But I ran 3 miles (and that is after subtracting the walk break) for 10 minute miles. On a training run. After it was light outside.

Actually, I ran my 1.1 mile loop in 10:55. Then I tried to slow it down.

Guess that didn't work. Go figure.

Tae bo this morning and again on Weds. Hope to run Tuesday, Thursday, and one weekend day. Goal is to bike in the evenings on Tuesday and Thursday as well. No missing workouts this week!!

Tae Blarg

I'm still plagued with an exhausted lethargy. I didn't swim last night (raining, AGAIN). I didn't want to get up this morning, and it is possible that I half-assed parts of my tae bo this morning. I don't even give a shit. All I want to do is sleep. The holiday weekend can't get here fast enough. I've gotta snap out of this - I don't even like me when I'm like this. There must be a pattern... there must be something I can do to avoid these valleys.

Sore throat

My throat is all sore today. Red. Pissed.

But damned if it didn't bother me at all during my 90 minute tae bo.

Rats!!

There is a rat running around here. But I'm the only one who has seen it. Twice. Despite what my colleagues may think, I'm not nuts and there is a rat in here. Damnit.

Biked last night.

One of the long tae bos this morning... I'm thinking that maybe I should make the 4:20ish wake up a bi or triweekly event... that leaves not much exercising left for the evenings. Like this:
M: run 1 hour morning, bike 30 min evening
T: tae bo 1 hour morning, swim 30 min evening
W: run 30 min morning, lift 1 hour evening
R: tae bo 1 hour morning, bike 30 min evening
Then if I could just get off my ass on Friday mornings... and afternoons for that matter, and of course also on Sunday mornings, we'd be good.

Swimming tonight.

Maybe a little rat-hunting at intervals throughout the day today...

We Now Resume Our Regularly Scheduled Posting

Now that I've got the Big Bend blogging out of the way (except the plan to go back and edit in some pics) and the lost cat fiasco out of the way, I can get back to my normal blogging.

Last Saturday, I *finally* convinced Preston to go to the gym to lift with me. I've always enjoyed lifting. I actually did it quite regularly when I was in college. (I think the enjoyment is directly related to the lack of aerobic-ness of lifting that coexists with it being good for me.) Anyways, my husband (*ahem* - first use of that word on this blog) works a hard job and I understand why he hasn't wanted to go with me, but I really wanted him to go with me for the first time to make sure I didn't get all nervous and flake and that I knew how to use all of the machines (yes, I know they are easy to use, but I'm a spaz about new stuff). Anyways, it was awesome! I only intend on lifting twice a week, so I'm going to do full body each time (though the concentration will always be heavier on the arms and abs since the rest of my working out is leg-heavy). I know this isn't ideal, but it is the plan for now. I was really surprised that it didn't seem harder, and pleased at the variety of machines available, and pleased at some of the weight I was lifting at 3 sets of 10 reps.

Perhaps I need to invest in a new *warning - system overload* light for my brain, because it is now 4 days later and I am still killer-sore. Well, really my only my biceps are still killer-sore. But still!! 4 days!! As soon as the soreness wears off, though, I'm going in to do it again. Since that doesn't appear to be today, I'd like to swim tonight. Couldn't swim last night because of a thunderstorm.

So on Monday and Tuesday I did Tae Bo, and then this morning: my first run in 3 weeks. Not proud that it has been that long (although there is *no way* I could have run while I was in BBNP: I'd have keeled over or injured myself on the trails), but totally psyched that I got through the whole 30 minutes for 2.8 miles this morning!!!!

I started out telling myself to just get through the first mile and then I could quit if I wanted. But I was listening to Ullrey's podcast for the C25KW3, and I knew that he had a 15 minute marker, so then I convinced myself that I could go at least that far. Then at that point I thought that I might as well make it to 2 miles. And by the 2 mile marker I was actually feeling good, so I ran it out. Whodathunkit??

Now the question is should I pick up OHR at Week 1, or Week 4? I had originally planned Week 4, as I've been running 30 minutes (before the wedding) regularly. But then with the hiatus I thought perhaps I should just start back with Week 1. The first 3 weeks are just 30 minute runs 3x per week to solidify ability at that distance/time. Because I've been at 30 minutes for some time now, and after this morning's success, I'm leaning towards going ahead with Week 4. It is 30 min., 29 min., and then 35 min. I could always repeat it if Sunday's "long" run kicks my butt. But I don't think it will. How's that for confidence!?!

Now Interrupting Our Regularly Scheduled Run...

It was raining this morning. I didn't run. I can run in the rain. I will run in the rain. On weekends. But not during the week.

Since I got up early to run, though, I decided to do a long tae bo from the amped series that I haven't tried yet. My arms surely feel it. The amped series is great for the arms, where as all of the other tae bos are better for legs. I'm liking it because I can mix it all up and feel like I'm getting a total body workout across two days.

But the real news? The pool at the Gym. Wow. I'm so totally impressed with the pool environment itself that I'll just skip the part where I swam one lap and huffed and puffed at the wall for a few minutes to rave about the pool. The designated lap lane was open when we arrived at 6:15ish, and Preston and I were the only people using it for the 30 minutes we were there. There were a number of kids and families at the pool, but they totally stayed out of the lap lane. I couldn't believe it!! It's like I was transported into a world where people are totally polite and raising their kids to have manners!! Very impressed. I even heard one lady say (while I tried to get my HR down below 200), "No, let's not go over there right now, they're swimming laps." Awesome!!!

Yeah, so about those laps... ass-kickers. I did not expect how incredibly difficult that would be. I've been swimming all my life. I'm quite a decent swimmer. I'm even a bilateral breather. I'm in the best cardiovascular and muscular shape of my life (when trying, at least), so I kind of thought I'd hop in and swim some laps and get a good workout and go home. What actually happened was I hopped in, swam a lap and then panted for a long time while my heart beat out of control, and repeated. A lot. I swam two laps of breast stroke and then two of freestyle and repeated the combo 5 times. To be fair to myself, by about midway through I was breaking only after every two laps, and by the end I was using the breast stroke to "break" and trying to minimize my time on the wall. Still. I followed those twenty laps with 2 more of breast stroke, 1 of arms-only freestyle (ass-kicker), and 1 timed lap of freestyle (:36.98). I spent 30 minutes swimming, and if that timed lap was relatively accurate, that means that I spent approximately half of that time clutching the wall and panting. Nice.

But at least I have a baseline, and at least 2 (but hopefully 3) months more of the pool being open. I'd like to be swimming 30 minutes straight, and 50-60 laps in that time by the time the pool closes. Aiming at at least 3 swims per week.

P.S. I guess the pool is 25 something long. Meters or yards, how can I tell??

Once a Drummer...

Always a Drummer?

In high school I was a drummer in the marching band. Bass drum. I freaking loved it.

After a fast or hard-hitting piece, my forearms would be swollen and painful in the good exercise-induced pain way.

Drumming really builds your forearms.

You know, almost everyone has a dominent hand. In drumming, this is a problem because it can cause unequal sounds from one hand to the next.

Mostly guys on the drumline.

I actually had an instructor once tell the guys that they needed to whack off with their non-dominant hand in order to strengthen it.

I am so totally not kidding here.

Anyways, the point is that my Tae Bo this morning killed my forearms. Like drumming.

And so it begins...

again. Like every Monday.

This morning Tae Bo Amped Jump Start. I think I like this amped series. The bar really makes me feel it in my shoulders and upper body more. I'm still having some problems doing the moves as fast as necessary, but that will come, I've learned from Tae Bo in the past.

Still trying to figure out how to get my perfect 6-7 hour week this week. And next week. Before a joyful recovery week where I really want to target 4 hours only. (Yeah, last post I thought it was next week, but I was wrong.)

Been having a weight-loss stall lately. Hit the 136's 2 weeks ago, then drifted into the 137's last week. Going to hit it hard this week with a 1200-1500 calorie target to re-jump start things. I've been being lax with the counting since my birthday was coming. But no more!!

Blog Block

I actually don't feel like I have much to say... something new.

I'm trying to get Preston on the diet bandwagon. Not a big diet, since he works a very physical job. Maybe just enough to drop a few pounds and hold. He's always said that he'd like to get below 200 (he's 6'3" and about 210), but he never does anything about it! Then he bitches when the number on the scale goes up. Let me tell you, from the number of Little Debbie products I've been having to buy of late, it is no wonder. Before Little Debbie he was actually slowly losing weight. *sigh* I'll still be jealous of all the food he gets to eat!

My birthday is coming up this weekend. That's what I want. Food. Lots of it. At restaurants.

Then after that we're talking about doing a month of eating-out deprivation. Both for our wallets and our waistlines. But mostly for our wallets. In a perfect world we wouldn't be spending about $50/week on non-grocery food. Eating out once a week should be enough. We'll see how it goes. We've talked about this several times and never followed through... so this could be a bunch of smoke.

Anyways, Tae Bo Amped Jump Start this morning. Man, that Amp bar thingy really makes a difference in my arms/shoulders. Hopefully will start seeing some results from that soon.

Amber out.

My First "Brick"

A brick is usually described by triathletes as a back-to-back workout of two tri disciplines (swim, bike, run). I don't know if it is technically correct to call it a brick, since one of my "disciplines" was Tae Bo, but this morning I did my first Tae Bo/Run brick. I didn't begin my workout intending to do my Tae Bo and run back-to-back. Normally Fridays are two workout days for me with a long (1hr) Tae Bo in the morning and C25K in the evening. However, since I am supposed to be slowly easing my way back into my exercise I decided to do Tae Bo Strength, which is only 45 minutes. I sweated and worked hard, but at the end I still had energy. So I finally decided to just tack my run on the end and get everything out of the way this morning. It was both a good and a bad idea. Good because I finished everything I wanted to accomplish today before noon and because I was thoroughly warmed up for my run and because I worked my butt off on the run. Bad because I had only eaten a Nutrigrain bar a couple of hours before I started, so by the end of the run I think I was starting to bonk. Note to self: get up on Fridays when Preston leaves and eat a full breakfast, then fall back asleep, then get up and exercise if I'm planning on more than 1 hour.