Song for the Moment: Sweet Dreams - Beyonce
So, my gym is still closed ( :( ) I've been doing strength training at home, which hasn't been as effective, but the gyms accepting our memberships are kind of out of the way. Fortunately I have my free weights, a stability ball, and some DVDs.
Other than that - last 17 days before the wedding... I'm 8lbs short of my goal - but that was my "stretch" goal. If I lose 3 more pounds I'll be somewhere I'm pretty happy with that. :) I've lost 24lbs to date - 7% body fat (sweeeet) and have discovered a brand new wardrobe that I had. Example - I have a beautiful wool gab black suit from J.Crew that I must have been fat girl in a little coat squeezed into that sucker. I wore it when I worked in my uncle's office a few weeks ago - not only could I button the jacket (something I was unable to do pretty much as long as I can remember) but the pants were big. It was the same when I wore my navy blue pin stripe suit!
I ran last night - I waited until night since it was 90 degrees yesterday and thought that would help. Yeah, no. Throw in I have been fighting a horrid cough/cold - that heat last night did not help. But, I finished, I ran a good portion of Cochran Road this time headed up towards Washington (that evil hill) I had to walk for about 90 seconds because I was coughing up a lung ;-) I'm definitely feeling stronger on my runs.
Finally - doing a 5k on the 30th. I'm pretty psyched. :)
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Sing For The Moment...
First - my thoughts go out to those families affected by the shootings at LA Fitness yesterday in Bridgeville. That's the gym I belong to and it's really scary to think that a place I considered safe and a place to relax and relieve stress - I may not be able to step foot in to. I'm sure I'm not alone..
I had a dream last night that I went there to lift and it was just awful... the whole thing was so senseless and so sad.. and so many friends and their family members had close calls last there. My friends parents had just left. My sister's friend almost went to that class but decided not to. Myself, I was getting ready to head to the gym around 730 when I decided to continue being lazy (for whatever reason) and went to make dinner instead. I had my gym shorts on and was packing up my gym bag. For whatever reason, I didn't go, and I'm so thankful for that. My friend texted me at 820 telling me not to go near the gym... that sick feeling you get in your stomach, ugh. So thankful none of my friends were hurt. So sorry for all of those there and who were involved.
For now, I'm going to go to the other LA Fitness in the area... I have to step foot in the Bridgeville one sometime to get my training log I left with my trainer last week. (Who is fortunately ok!) The next few days I'll try out that one, see how the commute is - and just do some free weights and abs at home...
I ran tonight, in the super muggy conditions that exist in Pittsburgh. Oh man. It was hard. Running up Cochran Road from Cedar was so hard. 1/2 mile up hill. Made it two minutes. Had to stop and catch my breath - then continued the trek up the hill...
It was great to clear my brain though...
I had a dream last night that I went there to lift and it was just awful... the whole thing was so senseless and so sad.. and so many friends and their family members had close calls last there. My friends parents had just left. My sister's friend almost went to that class but decided not to. Myself, I was getting ready to head to the gym around 730 when I decided to continue being lazy (for whatever reason) and went to make dinner instead. I had my gym shorts on and was packing up my gym bag. For whatever reason, I didn't go, and I'm so thankful for that. My friend texted me at 820 telling me not to go near the gym... that sick feeling you get in your stomach, ugh. So thankful none of my friends were hurt. So sorry for all of those there and who were involved.
For now, I'm going to go to the other LA Fitness in the area... I have to step foot in the Bridgeville one sometime to get my training log I left with my trainer last week. (Who is fortunately ok!) The next few days I'll try out that one, see how the commute is - and just do some free weights and abs at home...
I ran tonight, in the super muggy conditions that exist in Pittsburgh. Oh man. It was hard. Running up Cochran Road from Cedar was so hard. 1/2 mile up hill. Made it two minutes. Had to stop and catch my breath - then continued the trek up the hill...
It was great to clear my brain though...
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Work it harder... do it faster...
Favorite Gym Song of the Moment: Tribute - Tenacious D
Wow. I'm sore this week. Lifted uppers Tuesday - still felt it yesterday. Took yesterday off from lifting AND running (since walking was complicated for me) Had a really hard workout with my trainer today - did uppers. I couldn't tell you everything I did, because A- my book is still at the gym and B- I spent the last 5 minutes of my lift in a sleepy haze/sore haze. As I finished up my workout, I said I was going to walk because my legs were sore and I couldn't run...
WELL, since I still have that competitive spirit in me, I did my usual warm-up, walked for like 15 seconds and was bored, so I ran. Not only did I run a little, I ran 4 miles (the most I've done in a couple weeks)
It seems I hit the wall around 30 minutes. Need to work on that. After my run (and extended cool down) I laid in the sauna for 15 minutes and then headed over to GNC in desperate need of protein or something.
I'm really tired right now - so work should be interesting. Hopefully lifting legs tomorrow morning, work all day, and then off... running at the lake Saturday which should be nice for a road run - I'm just aiming for a 35 minute run. :)
Wow. I'm sore this week. Lifted uppers Tuesday - still felt it yesterday. Took yesterday off from lifting AND running (since walking was complicated for me) Had a really hard workout with my trainer today - did uppers. I couldn't tell you everything I did, because A- my book is still at the gym and B- I spent the last 5 minutes of my lift in a sleepy haze/sore haze. As I finished up my workout, I said I was going to walk because my legs were sore and I couldn't run...
WELL, since I still have that competitive spirit in me, I did my usual warm-up, walked for like 15 seconds and was bored, so I ran. Not only did I run a little, I ran 4 miles (the most I've done in a couple weeks)
It seems I hit the wall around 30 minutes. Need to work on that. After my run (and extended cool down) I laid in the sauna for 15 minutes and then headed over to GNC in desperate need of protein or something.
I'm really tired right now - so work should be interesting. Hopefully lifting legs tomorrow morning, work all day, and then off... running at the lake Saturday which should be nice for a road run - I'm just aiming for a 35 minute run. :)
Monday, July 27, 2009
Favorite Gym Song of the Moment: Baba O'Riley - The Who
Ok, what a day. Lifted hard lowers today - followed by a really tough abs workout. I started to slide on my sixth set of planks. It was not fun. On the angled leg press I did the most I've done - so we'll see how my knee feels tomorrow.
I followed it up with a 3.5 mile run. Man I was flying the last 2 minutes. It's definitely hard to run after a legs workout. I burned a nice 500+ calories on the treadmill today not including my lift. Depending how I'm feeling in 2 hours I may go for a leisurely bike ride, not sure yet. That may have to be tomorrow. I've beat my legs up already today. :)
Weight wise - I'm at the lowest I've been, pretty excited about that. Although I was pretty excited to step on the scale today and not see any gains after the past few days.
With only 6 weeks to go until I put on my bridesmaid dress - I have started mapping out my workout schedule. 1- so I have a plan 2- so I make myself go to the gym or go for a run.
My plug for the day - Powerade Zero. Frickin' love that stuff. Although I just bought some Propel packets to put in your water, they are pretty good. But for 75 cents I can get 32 ounces of red, blue, or purple electrolyte goodness. (me=nerd)
Ok, what a day. Lifted hard lowers today - followed by a really tough abs workout. I started to slide on my sixth set of planks. It was not fun. On the angled leg press I did the most I've done - so we'll see how my knee feels tomorrow.
I followed it up with a 3.5 mile run. Man I was flying the last 2 minutes. It's definitely hard to run after a legs workout. I burned a nice 500+ calories on the treadmill today not including my lift. Depending how I'm feeling in 2 hours I may go for a leisurely bike ride, not sure yet. That may have to be tomorrow. I've beat my legs up already today. :)
Weight wise - I'm at the lowest I've been, pretty excited about that. Although I was pretty excited to step on the scale today and not see any gains after the past few days.
With only 6 weeks to go until I put on my bridesmaid dress - I have started mapping out my workout schedule. 1- so I have a plan 2- so I make myself go to the gym or go for a run.
My plug for the day - Powerade Zero. Frickin' love that stuff. Although I just bought some Propel packets to put in your water, they are pretty good. But for 75 cents I can get 32 ounces of red, blue, or purple electrolyte goodness. (me=nerd)
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
All those mocha lattes...
Favorite Gym Song of the Moments: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Miley Cyrus (ok - it's great for running... don't make fun of me :))
So, yeah. Today was a tough day at the gym. I hadn't been in since Friday. I had every intention after getting my fitness evaluation to go lift - but then I had to work at BBW (didn't know this) So then I planned on going after work. After work I was too tired and didn't have enough time before the Pirates game. Saturday had me laid up with a migraine that somehow morphed into a sinus headache (sweeet) I hid under my pillow most of the day after work. I have no excuses for Sunday or Monday or Tuesday on why I didn't go. 6 weeks until the wedding, I've been working so hard, I cannot lapse now!
I was meeting with my trainer today, so of course I had to go. Yeah, he kicked my butt, again. I did drop sets on the decline press and the low row. 4 sets on each going down in weight then doing it all over again! Since I'm obviously not a body builder - it's not something I should do often, but it's good to mix it up every once and awhile (this I learned today)
THEN I got to run stairs. 4 sets of those. Then 4 sets of hopping up one flight on one leg. Then 2 sets of hopping on both all the way up. The guy on the elliptical at the top of the steps was definitely laughing at me. Oh well. :) Followed by 2 sets of 15 throwing the medicine ball against the wall and catching it then 2 sets of 15 throwing the medicine ball backwards over my head against the wall (squatting down to throw it) I was thoroughly whipped and slightly dizzy afterwards.
Since I couldn't relax quite yet - I was going for a 3.5 mile run - easy, I ended up running 3 because I was wiped from working out (I also did 45 minutes of yard work BEFORE going to the gym) For some reason I didn't want to listen to any of the songs on my play list. I kept skipping songs. It was one of those days.
Tomorrow is another day. Lowers. Run. Maybe a swim or bike.
Hamstring feels good - so that's good. Left knee (aka my "good knee") didn't like me today on my run.
As G.O.B. would say (for any of you Arrested Development fans) COME ON!
So, yeah. Today was a tough day at the gym. I hadn't been in since Friday. I had every intention after getting my fitness evaluation to go lift - but then I had to work at BBW (didn't know this) So then I planned on going after work. After work I was too tired and didn't have enough time before the Pirates game. Saturday had me laid up with a migraine that somehow morphed into a sinus headache (sweeet) I hid under my pillow most of the day after work. I have no excuses for Sunday or Monday or Tuesday on why I didn't go. 6 weeks until the wedding, I've been working so hard, I cannot lapse now!
I was meeting with my trainer today, so of course I had to go. Yeah, he kicked my butt, again. I did drop sets on the decline press and the low row. 4 sets on each going down in weight then doing it all over again! Since I'm obviously not a body builder - it's not something I should do often, but it's good to mix it up every once and awhile (this I learned today)
THEN I got to run stairs. 4 sets of those. Then 4 sets of hopping up one flight on one leg. Then 2 sets of hopping on both all the way up. The guy on the elliptical at the top of the steps was definitely laughing at me. Oh well. :) Followed by 2 sets of 15 throwing the medicine ball against the wall and catching it then 2 sets of 15 throwing the medicine ball backwards over my head against the wall (squatting down to throw it) I was thoroughly whipped and slightly dizzy afterwards.
Since I couldn't relax quite yet - I was going for a 3.5 mile run - easy, I ended up running 3 because I was wiped from working out (I also did 45 minutes of yard work BEFORE going to the gym) For some reason I didn't want to listen to any of the songs on my play list. I kept skipping songs. It was one of those days.
Tomorrow is another day. Lowers. Run. Maybe a swim or bike.
Hamstring feels good - so that's good. Left knee (aka my "good knee") didn't like me today on my run.
As G.O.B. would say (for any of you Arrested Development fans) COME ON!
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Send me on my way...
Favorite Gym Song of the Moment: I Gotta A Feeling - Black Eyed Peas
So I have been wanting to write this since Friday, but I just haven't had a chance. I have been lifting the past few days - but I tweaked my left hamstring so I've been giving it a few days rest. I'm looking to get back to running tomorrow since it feels 100x better. I also had a horrid migraine yesterday that eventually turned into a sinus headache - I spent my day (after working) hiding from lights under my pillow. :)
On Friday, I finally had my fitness evaluation done! Since my first evaluation - which was completed January 17, 2009 - to July 17, 2009 I have done the following (and remember - I didn't really start working hard until late April/Early May)
*Lost 5.5% body fat
*Lost 20lbs
*My heart rate on the 3 minute step test went down by 30bpm (although in January I had just had a turbo tea...aka lots of caffeine)
*Increased upper and lower body strength (increased the weigh by 10 on upper and leg pressed 250 15x - as opposed to 200 10x in January) I could have done a bit more but my knee was bothering me.
*Increased my flexibility from +2in on Vsit to +4in
*Went from being able to do 1 assisted pullup to 15+ (could have kept going)
*Dropped 5.5 inches off my waist
*5 inches off my hips
*And took a 1/2 inch to 1 inch off everything else - except my big calves, those suckers have always been big. I did take 3 inches off each of my thighs. Sweet.
I rewarded myself by eating a pretty awesome dessert Friday night at the Pirate game from the dessert cart... I don't know what was in it - but it was chocolate and amazing...
So, all in all I am SUPER happy about my results so far. :) Now if I can drop 10 more lbs for the wedding in 6 weeks...
So I have been wanting to write this since Friday, but I just haven't had a chance. I have been lifting the past few days - but I tweaked my left hamstring so I've been giving it a few days rest. I'm looking to get back to running tomorrow since it feels 100x better. I also had a horrid migraine yesterday that eventually turned into a sinus headache - I spent my day (after working) hiding from lights under my pillow. :)
On Friday, I finally had my fitness evaluation done! Since my first evaluation - which was completed January 17, 2009 - to July 17, 2009 I have done the following (and remember - I didn't really start working hard until late April/Early May)
*Lost 5.5% body fat
*Lost 20lbs
*My heart rate on the 3 minute step test went down by 30bpm (although in January I had just had a turbo tea...aka lots of caffeine)
*Increased upper and lower body strength (increased the weigh by 10 on upper and leg pressed 250 15x - as opposed to 200 10x in January) I could have done a bit more but my knee was bothering me.
*Increased my flexibility from +2in on Vsit to +4in
*Went from being able to do 1 assisted pullup to 15+ (could have kept going)
*Dropped 5.5 inches off my waist
*5 inches off my hips
*And took a 1/2 inch to 1 inch off everything else - except my big calves, those suckers have always been big. I did take 3 inches off each of my thighs. Sweet.
I rewarded myself by eating a pretty awesome dessert Friday night at the Pirate game from the dessert cart... I don't know what was in it - but it was chocolate and amazing...
So, all in all I am SUPER happy about my results so far. :) Now if I can drop 10 more lbs for the wedding in 6 weeks...
Monday, July 13, 2009
Beggin...Beggin' You..
Favorite Gym Song of the Moment: Britney Spears - Stronger
So, I took the weekend off (mistake) because of the shower and then laziness yesterday. I hit the gym tonight, lifted and ran. My lift was okay, it was really crowded and the machines/area I needed were packed. I had to modify my workout, which was annoying. I had a pretty good abs work out - 3 planks for 1 min, 3 side planks for 45 seconds with 8lbs weigh, then v-sit ups.
I then went for my run and it felt pretty good. It seems each run, I get bored/tired around 1.25 miles in and have to talk myself into finishing the run. Fortunately, I've never stopped. I had to pause today because I knocked my magazine off onto the treadmill and almost tripped on it. The good news, I didn't!
My funny story of the night (other than almost tripping on my magazine) I went in the sauna and there were these two women in there. I was in the sauna for 15 minutes and the one woman was still in there - I realized she was sound asleep and SNORING in the sauna. I think that's almost bad as the woman that spritzes herself in the dry sauna.
So that's that. Legs tomorrow and biking and swimming. Of course a little BBW mixed in during the day too, so, I won't beat myself up on the swim. Probably bike tomorrow night afterwards.
I found some races that I want to do - Pittsburgh has a half marathon November 1, I think I'm going to try and do that... if not there are a handful of 5ks along the way...
So, I took the weekend off (mistake) because of the shower and then laziness yesterday. I hit the gym tonight, lifted and ran. My lift was okay, it was really crowded and the machines/area I needed were packed. I had to modify my workout, which was annoying. I had a pretty good abs work out - 3 planks for 1 min, 3 side planks for 45 seconds with 8lbs weigh, then v-sit ups.
I then went for my run and it felt pretty good. It seems each run, I get bored/tired around 1.25 miles in and have to talk myself into finishing the run. Fortunately, I've never stopped. I had to pause today because I knocked my magazine off onto the treadmill and almost tripped on it. The good news, I didn't!
My funny story of the night (other than almost tripping on my magazine) I went in the sauna and there were these two women in there. I was in the sauna for 15 minutes and the one woman was still in there - I realized she was sound asleep and SNORING in the sauna. I think that's almost bad as the woman that spritzes herself in the dry sauna.
So that's that. Legs tomorrow and biking and swimming. Of course a little BBW mixed in during the day too, so, I won't beat myself up on the swim. Probably bike tomorrow night afterwards.
I found some races that I want to do - Pittsburgh has a half marathon November 1, I think I'm going to try and do that... if not there are a handful of 5ks along the way...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)