Saturday, January 16, 2010

Training Day 9 (Friday)

Rest Day Yippy!

I forgot to mention yesterday that when I got home from Tri Training, I took an Ice Bath to help my legs recover from the week.  It took me 10 min to get in, and I used Lamaze breathing to get me through it.  After the first 2 minutes, it wasn’t to bad.  It felt like needles in my ankles and feet, then that went away.  It started to feel good, I know that is crazy but it did.  I got out after about 5 minutes, then took a really hot shower and stretched.  Pantea our running coach recommended this, she said I would feel better.  And YES I did.  I am actually looking forward to running on Saturday and then plunging in the ice again.  Anything that will make the recovery faster and more effective.

We made Clean Eating Turkey burgers from dinner tonight and they were yummy the entire family enjoyed them.  They were so juicy and we put chopped garlic in them for that extra yummy flavor.  So good.

Training Day 8 (Thursday)

Ok, I am just plain exhausted.  My legs are killing me and my spirit is a little down.  I was excited to start training again today, but smiling not so much.

Thursday is a great group.  It a lot smaller than Tuesday night so there is a lot of time to actually talk with the trainer.  We were doing much of the same on Tuesday night so I wouldn’t really be timed on my mile.  But I would love to see what I thought was my slow time on the mile.  Boy I was still having a hard time with the run.  My legs where just not having it.  I was really discourage now.  Wondering how long it would take for them to get back there energy.  What should I do? I ran to mile 2, stopped got myself together striped down before we started, which I learned from last time.  When the whistle blew I was off, ugh, so slow so tired.  Geez legs get with the program.  The rest of the body wanted to run.  I struggled so much even more than on Wednesday.  I finally pushed through.  I made it at 10:46 are you kidding seriously?  Even my crappy run was still under 11 min.  I just didn’t know what to say.

On to drills which I really enjoyed because it gave me sometime to work the pesky heavy legs.

At the end I was glad it was over and I was looking forward to a rest day.  And I was going to rest a lot!

Training Day 7

Ok so I love Wednesday mornings too!  Who am I kidding, I love all my Training days with Mama Bootcamp.  This morning was Bootcamp.  The sun was shining and birds were out, the rain as much I enjoy it was gone.  It wasn’t too cold, so I hydrated and ate a quick but effective breakfast (protein shake with a banana) grabbed a cliff bar and water and I was out the door.

I dropped the girls off at school, and headed to the park.  I was still pumped from the night before and ready to put my body in gear. Mentally I was ready, but physically not so much.

The machine was not super excited to be put through another workout so fast.  Warming up I took it easy.  I didn’t push myself just easing along.  I was tired and a little disappointed.  When I want my body to work and it doesn’t I get really down. After the warm up, I was told to take it easy with my run.  I told Holly that wouldn’t be a problem because I wasn’t sure if my legs would actually move any faster than slow.

Off I went, Yikes!  It felt like I had 80lb bricks attached at the ankles, ugh.  I was a lot distracted by it and irritated.  I wanted to fly by like the other Tri trainer who worked out with me the night before.  But my machine wouldn’t let me. I pushed and pushed and finally made it to mile 2.  I then decided to walk a little while thinking that would help and also thinking about what Lorri Ann said once “don’t underestimate the power of walking”.  I think as someone who loves to run and loves what running does for me mentally and physically, I often forget that.

I finally made my way back feeling discouraged, but happy that it was over and then on to workout.  I had to take it really easy at one point I almost started crying, my legs where just so tired. I found my happy place and just did what I could. I realized I was no longer smiling, I was no longer happy to be there.  But another thing I realized.  I didn’t make an excuse or try to find a way out of staying.  I wasn’t looking to leave.  That is a huge breakthrough for me.  I usually play scenarios in my mind about how to get out of exercising, i.e. there is always something more important to do or I  just convince myself that I am not feeling well.  Not this time though.  I pushed right through it and was happy when it was over and really proud of myself. Yea Me.

Tomorrow….Thursday Tri Training…..Woo Hoo.

 

Training Day 6

I love Tuesday training days.  Because, I get to train in the dark.  It sound funny I know but, there is something about running at night.  There is no distractions, it’s quite I don’t really notice all the other ladies and I am not looking at anything but straight ahead. I love it.

When I pulled up to the park it was raining like crazy.  And the training will go on in the rain. So we headed to the under covered soccer field and did warm ups by the bleachers.  I am tall, so there was little room.  My head was under the bleachers. But I warmed up and I was excited to start our run.  We were going to be timed on a mile, I was really excited.  I haven’t been timed on a run outside in almost 10 years.  I wanted to know what my speed really was while running outside.  I run about a 11 minute mile on the treadmill and I feel like I go so much slower outside. I was a little disappointed that the mile that we were being time on was the 2nd mile we run.  The first mile we run has hills and really puts me over the edge sometimes.  I always feel like I do better on the first.

Thankfully the ran stopped just in time for our run.  I did a slower pace warm up and then when we reached the top of the hill we cooled down just a tad and then got ready for the mile.  I chose the wrong time to take off my layers, hat and gloves, I ran while doing it.  I could have ran a tad faster if I did that before starting.  I was a little disappointed with my decision to strip down. I have learned my lesson.  I was unable to catch up with another runner who I had been pacing with.  oh well. I finally made it to the end, and I heard 10:26 WHAT?  are you kidding i thought, oh my gosh.  I was so happy.  I ran a mile in 10:26.  That is huge for me.  On of the last races I ran 11 Years ago I ran just under 10 min mile and I was in really good shape and had been running for a while.  I am really happy.

After our run we did push ups, bicycles and drills.  We did some really good leg exercises.  My legs felt good and I was pumped.  On the way home I was really excited and happy.  I couldn’t wait until tomorrow for Bootcamp.

 

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Training Day 5

Ah, Monday the Training week begins.  Monday is the first official workout day of the week.  It starts the week off and doesn’t stop until Friday (rest day).

I am suppose to Spin today.  Well, I didn’t.  I know, the day started out really bad.  The car wouldn’t start the girls were late to school and I was still all gassy from yesterday.  Probably the lack of water and the unmentionable food I ate.  Again Clean Eating is the way to go.  I happen to think that hibernation is the best when the day starts out like that.  I did a lot of journaling and house work, listening to music on my ipod and reflecting on my mood.  Working through it. 

I did work through it and I will be ready to face the world tomorrow. Until then…….

Training Day 4

Another Rest day!  I did rest.  I slept in really late thanks to my wonderful children.  I did splurge today on my food.  And I have been paying for it since.  My stomach is a little upset and full of air.? Not sure what that is about but I will have to look at my food log and make sure I don’t make that mistake again.

I didn’t drink hardly any water today, I will feel that tomorrow.

I think I will take the rest of the day to rest.

see you tomorrow.

Training Day 3

Today I run (I sound like a cave man) along with Arm work.  Since I had a close call with a Chin Splint.  I was told to only run for 15 min, at a slower pace.  Ugh. Really, I am back there again (over the summer I hurt my Achilles tendon and it was so painful to even walk).  So I got on that treadmill but had decided that if the chins did not bother me I would run 20 min.

I started slow just pushing my cold legs along.  At first they (the chins) were tight, as they loosened up it became easier.  I increased my speed, and then I could feel there retaliation.  They did not like the speed as to which I WANTED to run. So I slowed the speed again.  I ran those 20 min. not fully getting that running high I usually get, but I was happy.  The blood was running through my body full of oxygen, sweat was dripping down my face.  I was happy and pain free as long as I ran at a slow pace. Which is fine.

Off to arm work, we have at Mama Bootcamp BFAS! Big Fat Arm Set, sometimes they are a Bigger Fat Arm Set.  However I just did the original.  3 sets of 15 of each exercise. 

I have been paying attention to how foods affect the way I feel when I exercise.  I beginning to understand why that is important.  I have been pushing my body more than I have in 7 years.  In order for my body not to give up or my mind and spirit not to give up I have to make sure that I eat the foods that are going to allow me to get the best performance from my body.

I have switched to Soy Milk, I do not eat eggs on the training days, I drink protein shakes with a banana instead.  Also on the Training days with Mama Bootcamp I usually have a cereal high in protein and fiber with low sugar and of course the Soy Milk.  For lunch I have a salad and a sandwich or a wrap.  Because my Training with Mama Bootcamp varies (tues @ 6p, Wed @ 8:30 am and Thurs. @ 11am) what I eat and when is different everyday.  That has been a challenge.  I have given up coffee, diet soda, and juice.  I do drink tea every afternoon.

This week will be the first week that I am fully involved in training. Yippee.

I will be posting recipes from Clean Eating with pictures next week.

Training Day 2

Today was my off day.  I know, does that really count as a training day?  YES!  Don’t ever think that your rest day does nothing for training.  It is my day of reflection of how my body is working.  It is also a day where I focus more on my nutrition.  I spent the day doing easy things.  Trying not to push and making sure that I was drinking all my water and getting in my vegetables. I am finding that water and food do really effect my mood.

I have been trying out a lot of meals from Clean Eating.  I love this cook book.  It has really pushed me to use veggies in a way that I never have.  In two meals I can get almost by whole days worth of veggies.

For Christmas Eve I made our entire meal from the Clean Eating magazine. Here is a picture of our Turkey.

DSC09679 

I also made stuffing, sweet potatoes and green beans.  It was so good. 

I haven’t felt this good in a long time.  The water, exercise, and eating clean is really working to make me feel so good. 

Friday, January 8, 2010

Training Day 1

It was sooo cold.  I think maybe it got to under 40 degrees by 6pm.  Stephen had taken me shopping for some appropriate cold weather workout clothes.  I am so glad he did.  I was jumping in place for the first 10 minutes waiting for the fun to begin. Lets back up a few minutes though.  It took me a good 15 min. to actually get the courage to get out of the car.  I am just plain shy and have a love/hate relationship with new things when I don’t have a buddy to keep me company.  Thankfully there were a lot of women who came alone too.  Good for them (us)!

When training started, it started slow for me.  I don’t usually workout in the evening, I am usually drinking an adult beverage by then (maybe two)!  But soon I started to warm up and it didn’t feel so cold anymore.  The more I moved the warmer I got. Planking and ab work OUCH! If I don’t do another crunch in the next few days I won’t be sad.

After warm-up, we then talked about running groups, I started to panick.  Ok, I am not a walker hoping to become a jogger or a jogger/walker or a runner I am a jogger that wants to be a runner (or you could call me a very very slow small stride runner).  There were three groups.  I didn’t fit in perfectly with any of them.  So I kind of made an in between group with a few other women.  I was no longer panicking.  I actually was just like those few other women and I started to feel more comfortable.  I had made myself a “running” playlist for my ipod, so I would have music that would push me to run.  I ran and ran and ran.  I ran faster then I had ran in a long time.  And it felt so natural and like I had been doing it for years.  I caught myself actually smiling at times.  I was giving my self a pat on the back!

After the run and a little bit of stretching and a potty break  (I wish they made diapers for people who ran) we did many, many, many sets of pushups and bicycles, I was anxiously waiting for the final final final from Lorri Ann. As that came I pushed my upper body up for the last time, and moved onto drills.  We have a running coach (I am super excited about this) she had us doing really funny looking (but very effective) drills for posture and conditioning.  I haven’t decided if I will be doing them in the front yard yet!

All in all it was a fantastic night.  I left feeling really great.  I was happy, my body was tired but exhilarated from being pushed so hard and I was looking forward to my Epsom Salt bath and tea. 

The amazing thing is that after I got in the car, I realized I was no longer cold, and could not remember feeling cold during or after the run.  Weather appropriate clothing is a must!  I will be getting pants, underwear and socks next!!!

Friday’s are my off days, so no training just stretching for 20 minutes.  Back on Saturday when I do my 35 minute run, which quite possibly be a 15 min run, depending on how the chin feels.

happy exercising.

Tami

Thursday, January 7, 2010

The Training Begins

I have decided that my word for the year is Move (Movement to be exact).  So I signed up to do Tri Training with Mama BootCamp.  I have been with Mama Bootcamp since last April.  But took the summer and beginning of Fall off, and came back in October.  Since Oct. I have lost 28 inches!!!!! and 8 lbs., which means that I lost a total of 8 FAT lbs.  and gained some lean muscle.  Fantastic!

I love Mama Bootcamp, I love the trainers the women and being outside.  So when Lorri Ann announced that they were starting the Tri Training again for the Tri for Fun on June 5 at Rancho Saco, I thought about it and couldn’t find a REAL reason not to do it. So I committed. Yicks, but I am super excited.

So today with be my first Tri Training session.  My session will be Tues at 6pm, and Thurs at 11 am.  Then in between I have a bootcamp session on Wed. and then Monday I spin and do weight exercises and Saturdays are my running and core strengthening days.  Friday and Sunday I have off.

Sounds like a lot but I am really excited. I have to get the nutrition part down and make sure that I am eating to fuel my body so it performs like a machine.

Wish me luck!!!