Back on Track

Hello Fit Clubbers!!!
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Well I'm back from my hiatus.... sorry about that. Shortly after the Bahamas my son and I came down with a stomach bug that lasted for a week and then a week after that my son got a fever that wouldn't stay away so I've been busy getting him and myself back on track. It took a while but we're finally here, yay!

After a week with a stomach bug and hardly eating I made the mistake of having a couple of Oreo cookies and since then I've been barely able to control what I eat. Thankfully I'm maintaining my weight (5 lbs down from beginning of January, 2lbs since the Bahamas!!!). But it's like once I finally caved to a craving I can't stop eating (I haven't eliminated treats either, but a week of little solid food will force you to eliminate temporarily, which is why I don't follow the no treats except once a week because it's hard to control your eating after abstaining for so long).

So I had started a Get Toned beginner program through Nike Training Club but only got a few days into before my schedule fell apart. The beginner was a lot easier than the intermediate Get Lean program, but a lot of the difference is due to the increased cardio elements of the Get Lean program versus more muscle conditioning components in the Get Toned program. Because I have missed so many days (and I cannot adjust the schedule in the app) I have cancelled that program and started the intermediate Get Toned program. It includes running (I believe personally that a cardio component just helps you get a more complete workout and boosts the effectiveness of any training program focused on fat loss).

I made sure to specifically say fat loss in the previous paragraph, because a muscle building program would only benefit from a lot of cardio if you wanted more definition (i.e. lower body fat percentage), or if you wanted a conditioned cardiovascular system. You would keep cardio to a minimum in a muscle building program, though, and change your diet to exclude all carbs (except vegetables) and all sugars (including no juice).

This past week to get on track I have attended three classes and been doing some running 1-2 times per week. Doing something is better than nothing and it helped ease me back in to a more intense workout schedule. At the local gym I did a 30 minute Tabata class (was supposed to be a Jillian Michaels BodyShred class) on Wednesday, BodyCombat followed by CRX Worx (high intensity cardio using punches and kicks followed by core strengthening), and Saturday I did a BodyFlow class (Tai Chi, Yoga & Pilates mix class). I could hardly move yesterday, and normally I would be feeling worse today except that I think the BodyFlow class helped bring oxygenated blood to my muscles which speeds up the healing process. I still hurt in my core and shoulders, but it's pretty manageable.

I am debating whether to take today off or take advantage of my husband being home and doing a quick workout at the gym (Nike Training workout). Some of it depends on our tax return (fingers crossed). If we get some back we might go shopping. If not I think I will go to the gym (too cold to run outside today, but the forecast looks good for the rest of the week).

So with this in mind, I'll let you know what the final decision is and keep you updated this week on what I'm doing and how I'm feeling!

Happy Spring everyone! The warm weather is coming, I promise!

In The Meantime

Hey Fitness Buddies!

So I did my first run after our vacation to the Bahamas on Monday and guess what? I can still run for over 30 minutes without feeling winded or my lungs burning! What does this mean? That while your cardiovascular conditioning does revert really fast when you stop exercising (i.e. you quickly lose your cardio endurance) it takes longer than a week or two- this is great news.

It's really great because this is helping me to keep going this week. I plan to start another training program next week (one that is more manageable for a mom) but I wanted to easy my way back into normal living this week. So while I'm getting back into the swing of work and household chores, I'm still doing exercise on my own schedule. I went to the gym on Monday and today I'm planning to workout on my neighbour's treadmill while she watches my son (knowing your neighbours and having awesome ones is one of life's greatest gifts). The trade off is taking her with me to Walmart for groceries (which we both need anyway).

My throat is not liking this cold, dry weather at all (at least I hope this is what's bothering it). I was fine in the Bahamas, and my throat isn't getting worse, just not getting much better either. It's like having a mild sore throat that seems to get dry easily. I'm sure I'm just not drinking enough water (got up to almost 6 cups yesterday). My goal is 2 litres on exercise days by next week (minimum of 1 litre on non-exercise days). It's tough sometimes.

Anyway, just wanted to share quickly before my son and I have our morning nap (he decided to get up at 6:00 am). Then I will run, then shower and off to Walmart (a quick lunch somewhere in there).

To anyone who has taken time off (work, exercising, whatever). Please try to get back into things as quickly as you can. If you feel like working out, DO IT. Take it from me, when you let yourself be lazy for too long you will lose the feeling of wanting to workout and then you have to force yourself back into it (much, much harder to do).

Good luck and be healthy!

Post Vacation

Just got back from the Bahamas and I have to say I'm not feeling the home routine yet. It's hard because it's still winter and I decided to sleep in this morning instead of getting up. I had thought to go for a run on my neighbour's treadmill but instead surfed the Internet while my son and husband napped. Now I'm feeling sleepy again. I'm going to really try to run tomorrow. 

I'm happy to report no major weight gain while I vacation even though I was a little constipated (might be too much info I realize). No snacking either but I did have a daiquiri everyday and wine and beer so I assumed there would be some weight gain. Didn't eat a ton while travelling to the Bahamas though so maybe that had something to do with it. 

My left calf ended up feeling cramped the last day which was weird. I am wondering if it was dehydration (was not consuming as much water as usual) but I'm not sure. When I was training for a half marathon in 2010 I kept cramping in my side and finally realized after 2-3 weeks that it was due to dehydration (felt fine otherwise but when I started drinking water after work the cramping went away). 

The last couple of days I've been feeling hungrier and I have no idea why that is. Maybe I've been having too many carbs and while filling at the time maybe it just isn't long lasting. 

The vacation was excellent. Usually I feel sleepy when we are on vacation but this time I was actually energized. Maybe it was all the sunshine and the warmth without humidity. I have to say it was great and I wish we could have stayed longer. 

So now I'm back to reality and will be hopefully starting another exercise program this week. I'll let you know and start letting you know how it's going when I do!

Find the sun and re-energize if you can!

Plans vs Reality

So even the best of plans get derailed. I was doing really well following the Nike Training Club 4 week program. I had missed a couple of workouts, mostly running workouts that I was planning to make up for at the end. 

Aside from a couple of missed workouts the last week and a half was mostly (not entirely) missed because my sister came to visit and was watching my son while I was at work. Now my sister visiting wasn't a big deal (except it had been 6 months since I'd seen her). Turns out I wasn't used to leaving my son for so long during her visit and I was feeling guilty about leaving him. 

Guilt is a strong (de)motivator. This is when strict nutrition is important as it has helped keep me on track in losing weight. I'm also still nursing my son so my weight loss has to be slow and careful so that I don't stop producing breast milk suddenly. I want the weaning to be a more or less mutual decision not a forced outcome. 

At this point I won't have a chance to do another workout before we leave for the Bahamas but I have maintained my weight loss so far and we are planning to eat at local restaurants so there will be quite a but of walking I'm sure so I think I'll be OK and may even continue to lose weight while on vacation. Who knows?

I'll be MIA for the next week (vacation time!). Be good to yourself and don't let your good habits go for too long if you fall off track. 

Happy life balancing!

Fire Drill

So today's workout was a lot of legs. The focus was mostly muscle conditioning with a lot of cardio mixed in. There were quite a few exdrcises where I had to take breaks. There 180 flip jump squats, froggers, mountain climbers, and burpees- most of which I am not a fan of. It also had a lot of lunges and squats, very little abdonmial and arm work. It occurs to mecthat maybe fire drillcwas referring to the burning sensation in your legs that occurs somewhere close to the middlecand never really leaves.

The upside of this is that your legs and butt have the biggest muscles which will burn the most calories. I'm sure I will fee this workout all weekend. I missed doing the advanced yoga yesterday so I'm going to try to do it tomorrow and hopefully it won't be focused as much on the lower body.

Work those legs ladies! (And men). Have fun walking up and dow the stairs!

The shorter run

So I talked last time about how the long run wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, which was a huge relief. Well today the challenge was time, not distance, and it was harder than it should have been. I'm wondering if it's because it was so much shorter that I wanted it to be done that much sooner or if it was because I did it after the circuit workout and so the entire workout was long. I'm not sure.

I made myself do the whole 25 minutes. I'm glad because my son had a doctor's appointment and I had to go get my sister at the airport and was really tired after and never would have made it back out. I also had fastfood. Shame on me. 

Advice, try to do everything in the program so that if you need to eat fast food you won't hate yourself quite so much. 

Long Run

So yesterday I did what I have been dreading since I missed doing it last week... Running. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy running outside. Once you figure out your pace and your body gets use to this kind of endurance activity it's actually quite enjoyable, outside, where the scenery changes.

Three and a half years ago I trained for and ran in a half marathon to raise awareness and money for a charity I worked for. I started six months prior to the race (in the winter) and trained three to four times a week. I put a lot of miles on the treadmill which was O.K. at the time because I had a goal that I was determined to get to. I've got some tips for the next time or for anyone interested in training for a long distance run themselves. I'll save them for another time.

Anyway, I said that to say this; 85-90% of my training happened on a treadmill where the scenery never changed, listening to my mp3 player. Once I finished the race I actually mostly stopped running altogether and hated the thought of running on a treadmill. Physically the treadmill is much easier to run on than the road outside, but mentally all you start to think about it how much time has (or hasn't) passed and how much longer/further you have to go. That's tough. It used to take me about half an hour to run three miles, these days a little longer and I knew that five miles would take close to an hour. An hour of running and going nowhere (it is winter yet again and way too icy to run outside) is hard to face and go through with.

Yesterday I finally did it and.... surprise, surprise it wasn't quite as horrible as I was imagining. The great thing about my brain is when I'm mentally prepared for something, it's easier to get all the way through. Knowing that I had to plan for an hour meant that my half way point was going to be thirty minutes so if I could get that far I knew I'd be half done. It's actually easier in the long run to complete a long run than it is to always do short runs. During my half marathon training I was actually getting lazy with my short runs and cutting them short compared to my long runs about four months into my training. I'm not sure if I was just getting tired (I took a week off of running completely that July) or if the short distance didn't matter as much to me as the long distance (heck maybe I was actually trying to run too fast, I'm not sure).

Anyway, the point is that it's best to know what you're in for when you're getting into something challenging like an hour of running. I know that twenty to thirty minutes is pretty standard for me and I know how far I can run in that time (in miles and kilometres). I wouldn't say it's something you need to know to run once a week really far (this programs has two runs a week in it) but you should think about what will help you get through it mentally. A friend of mine will revert to 10:1 running (run ten minutes: walk one minute) when she hasn't run in a long time (sometimes she'll do 6:1 if it's been a really long time). Whatever works for you I don't believe it's essential to run the entire distance, so long as you try to run (or jog like me). It takes less time to run (bonus for me) and will probably make you feel more accomplished if you aim to run more than you walk (most treadmills will only do one hour at a time anyway, then you have to re-set it to continue- PAIN IN THE BUTT!!).

So I hope this insight helps you in your endeavour to find your life-health-work balance. If you have any questions please leave a comment, I would be more than happy to give you suggestions and more insights.

Keep running after your dreams!