Training Session 1 – in the Books!

Posted on by keepingupwithkate91

In my last post I shared that I caved to ‘peer pressure’ and I’m doing the Beauty and the Beach 5 mile race on November 3rd in Long Branch.  It is a walk / run.  I have a lot of my boot camp friends joining me and my college roommate and her daughter in for the fun too.  I’m really looking forward to it.

Last Friday over lunch, I bought some new kicks.  A nice pair of Asics (reminds my of college – my sneaker of choice back in the day).  See – aren’t they pretty?  And my friend, Tracy, pointed out that they are PSU colors too (totally pulled that off by accident)!New Kicks

I didn’t make it to boot camp today so I thought it would be a great time to start my training program.  My trainer suggested I start out slow – which is exactly what I did – 2 minutes of walking; 20 seconds jogging.  I used the gymboss on my i-Phone (although the alarm was almost impossible to hear over my music) for 10 rounds and I completed 2 sets so 40 (-) minutes of walking and about 6+ minutes of jogging (near the end I added on longer running segments) so maybe it turned into 30 minutes of walking and 10 minutes of jogging (total time:  52 minutes, 5,218 steps, 2.907 miles and avg HR 141 / Max 167).  What was the verdict?  I didn’t hate it.  I really loved the countdown/switching to walking / jogging and liked when I pushed myself to run a little bit more.  My knee seemed to hold up pretty good – my arches not so much.  They were definitely bothering me.  Seemed to get a bit better as I went.  I did a short cool down and stretched – taking off my sneakers was killer.  I just got done icing my arches and I think the golf ball will be my new best friend for a while (note to self – warm up and stretch the arches more).

So in the end, I’m glad I’m doing this event in November.  I think it is something I need to do for me and I’m glad the first training session is in the books! 🙂

Peer Pressure Can Be a Good Thing

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Back in May I agreed to do a 1/2 Marathon.  If you read the post you knew that I was scared but had finally come around to reality that I was going to do it.  The friend of mine I was to wog (walk / jog) the 1/2 Marathon with got excellent news – she is expecting – so it has been postponed a year.  I will tell you I was a bit relieved that it was postponed.

Now fastforward to Wednesday night – I’m out with some friends from Bootcamp.  We were talking about some of our Bootcamp peers who are training for a tri and about a mud run some of them have done in the past.  Somehow we got talking about runs in the fall and I remember our trainer talking about Beauty and the Beach (and rumor has it they have a great swag bag) in Long Branch, NJ.  At first we thought it was a 5K and low and behold it is a 5 mile all ladies walk/run.  I checked my schedule and PSU doesn’t have a home game – and we all agreed that we would try it.

I went to bootcamp today and checked with everyone to make sure they were still in and the answer was YES.  I registered when I got home this morning and then sent them all links to register.  I know at least 3 of us are now registered (and if you are reading this blog – you know who you are – don’t forget to register – http://tiny.cc/brpuiw) for the event.  I’m so excited!!

So I jokingly put in the subject line about Peer Pressure and don’t get me wrong that definately helped; however, my mindset has changed a lot since May.  I’ve been much more focused on my workouts and what I eat/drink.

Thank You Ladies for pushing me at each and every bootcamp – I love the camraderie and letting peer pressure be a good thing!

Loving forward to November 3, 2012!! 🙂

My New Favorite – HIIT Workout

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July is a very busy month with vacation and travel so I won’t be attending my normal bootcamp. Two days this week while on vacation I re-discovered HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workouts.  I’ve known about them for since the first BodyProject Transformation, but I’ll be honest I never really embraced them.  I dislike cardio – all kinds – it is just not enjoyable to me – never has been.

The mantra for HIIT is “no long cardio” – and this is not a long cardio at all.  The gym I joined while on vacation has a 30 minute time limit for the treadmill and elliptical machines.  I select the elliptical and have gotten 23 and 24 minutes of HIIT workouts for the past two days with 7 and 6 minute warm-up/cool-down.  This hits the mark for me!  I love the sense of accomplishment!

Here is the work-out I did today (I did the 10 rounds x 2):

  1. Work Hard – 15 seconds; Rest:  45 seconds
  2. Work Hard – 15 seconds; Rest:  45 seconds
  3. Work Hard – 30 seconds; Rest:  60 seconds
  4. Work Hard – 30 seconds; Rest:  60 seconds
  5. Work Hard – 15 seconds; Rest:  30 seconds
  6. Work Hard – 15 seconds; Rest:  30 seconds
  7. Work Hard – 30 seconds; Rest:  60 seconds
  8. Work Hard – 30 seconds; Rest:  60 seconds
  9. Work Hard – 15 seconds; Rest:  45 seconds
  10. Work Hard – 15 seconds; Rest:  45 seconds

For more information about HIIT workouts check out this link:  http://tiny.cc/5zv0gw

Here was the rest of my workout this morning:

5 Times x 5 Rounds

  1. Overhead Press – 8 lbs
  2. Bicep Curls – 10 lbs
  3. Tricep Kickbacks – 8 lbs
  4. Chest Flye – 8 lbs
  5. Back Row – 10 lbs

And lastly 4 30 second low planks and finally a nice stretch.  I’m ready to start the day.  Have a fantastic Friday!!

PS:  This will be my go to workout when I’m traveling for work next week! 🙂

Happy Day – June 11th!

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I started this blog almost a year ago to document changes when on the Clean program for 21 days – to see if I could find my X factor. Although I learned a lot during the process – it just didn’t work for me. The blog has morphed into both my personal journey and self-discovery as well as random fun and observations in general.

I’m hopefully that I’ve found my X factor – almost a year after I started this journey.  During the Spring Transformation at Bootcamp there was seminar with a Nutrionist that I went to see (and was encouraged by my trainer to attend).  I listened, took notes and even made changes starting the next day – moving from small meals throughout the day to 3 meals per day.  I promised myself I would make an appointment to go see the Nutrionist.  It probably took me a month to finally make the call and he is in high demand so it took a few weeks to get an appointment.  My first appointment was May 7th.  I weighed in at my heaviest ever (maybe someday I’ll share).  He gave me simple things to focus on:  Hydration, 3 meals a day (and make them things I enjoyed – ‘no dirt and grass’ – things to chew), have at each meal – protein, carbs (30 mg) and veggies and no fruit (he was treating me as a diabetic) and if I was hungry between meals go for protein first.  He also wanted me to find an exercise I enjoyed.  That was easy – I had bootcamp.

The first two weeks I did pretty well – well balanced for all three meals, getting at least 2 bootcamps in a week.  I even got a workout in while traveling (historically I take my workout clothes and sneakers and never use them – the workout is the lugging of the suitcase in the airport 🙂 ).  Then I had a challenge – weekend leadership conference – I did pretty well with my food selections and still enjoyed some libations with friends in Happy Valley.  I was hit with a stomach bug that derailed me for a few days and took me awhile to get back on track.  I started noticing major fatigue in the afternoon that I just couldn’t explain – that was really starting to worry me.

Fastforward to yesterday – my appointment and review of the past month.  We talked about how I was feeling – especially the fatigue.  We discussed what I had changed in my diet – I had added bread back to my diet as I love a sandwich for lunch – think that is what is driving my fatigue.  For the next month, I’m going to experiment – either selecting lower carb bread or bread type items for lunch or swap my lunch / dinner options – dinner for lunch and lunch for dinner.  We’ll see how it goes.  The end of the appointment is the weigh-in – I’m pleased to announce that I dropped 6 lbs!!  We were both very pleased with the results.  I will never see that ugly unnamed number from above.  I’m still on a HIGH from it.  I’ve tried many things in the past (JC, WW, SB, Clean, NS, etc – it may have worked for the short-term – but always felt I was missing something).  I can honestly say I didn’t feel that this passed month.  I went out to dinner, I shared dessert, had cocktails, enjoyed a BBQ over Memorial Day, had a hot dog and beer at a Phillies game.  I enjoyed life and I’m enjoying this lifestyle change that seems to be working for me.

I go back for my next follow-up mid-July – stay tuned for updates.

Have a fabulous day!!

The Weight of The Nation – HBO Documentary

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Have you heard of The Weight of The Nation?  Have you had a chance to watch it on HBO?  If you haven’t, I highly recommend it whether you are struggling with your weight, have kids or know someone who is struggling and you want to support them.  I personally think it is a wake-up call for all of us.  Here is the link:  http://tiny.cc/kajffw.

I remember seeing something on Facebook about a week or so ago, but brushed past it.  Then last Monday one of my teammates from our SprintGetFit challenge mentioned the series to me and suggested that I watch it.  She said it was eye opening.  She said it changed her view on things that while exercise is important – what we eat is really the key to weight loss.  Then a couple hours later one of my trainers posted a link on FB to all to watch it.  I had already decided to start watching it last Monday night.  There are four episodes – a little over an hour each.  I figured I would watch an episode a night.  I’m happy to say I watched all four episodes last Monday night.

I can tell you I experienced a lot of emotions while watching – anger at watching the kids who had to play in a parking lot as they didn’t have any parks near them (and sadness), sadness as I listened to some of the stories, jealousy – over the bravery of all the people in the documentary – I don’t think I could’ve been that open while being interviewed.

I learned that it is never too late to make a change (which I’ve been working on) and making even the slightest changes can help reduce my risk for so many chronic diseases.

If you’ve watched it what are your thoughts?  If not, watch it and come back to the page and share your observations.

Names I’ve been called lately – all in good fun!

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At work for the past year they launch a SprintGetFit challenge. It gets the competitive juices flowing plus it is great as we all become healthier. This time around, I’m the team captain. You can have a team of up to 11 people (we have 9) and they ask you to track weight, steps walked and minutes exercise – you have to compete in at least on category (and everything is private).  The program runs from May 14th – July 8th.

One part of the program allows everyone to issue daily challenges.  A challenge could be to walk or run for 30 minutes, yoga, drink 64 ozs of water, complete your favorite exercise and even record your results (and yes that is a challenge) (and there are prizes for this program).  I decided this time around, I would take this a lot more seriously – especially since I’m a team captain.  I’ve leveraged some of my boot camp experience to issue a little more challenging ‘challenges’.  Here is an example of one of them:  30 minutes of exercise, 10 push-ups, 10 sit-ups and 2 30 second planks.  Here are some of the comments from my team (and btw I love it):  ‘Taskmaster’, ‘Are you crazy?’, ‘Always up for a ‘D’ Challenge’, ‘I hate planks, but I will do them’, ‘Fun for all’.  At least they are reviewing the challenges right?  And even doing them.  It helps me hold myself accountable and provides additional motivation! (I shared the comments with my trainer and she loved it – she even volunteered to help me with challenges – some of my team reads this blog too – hmmmm – maybe I’ll take her up on her offer 🙂 )!

I’ve even put out some easier challenges as well – here was Friday’s:  Drink at least 64 ozs of water (not ice tea or crystal light – pure water) and 30 minutes of your favorite exercise.  Even got some people not in our group to accept the challenge.  I think the team was glad to see I went a little easy on Friday.

Then I posted Saturday’s challenge (which I didn’t get to until tonight):  Set the clock for 15 minutes and do the following (record your rounds):  5 bicep curls, 5 tricep kickbacks, 5 walking lunges (I had to do high knees), 10 Jumping Jacks (modified mine), 10 full sit-ups (with a weight) and 10 squats.  Rest/Hydrate as needed.  All exercises requiring weights I used 8 lbs weights – I just got 6 rounds in!  Whew – and worked up a great sweat!

Have a fantastic week!!

PS:  Hope you enjoy the two posts in 1 day!

Another Milestone – Post #55

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Happy Sunday evening – I had a great weekend. I hope you did as well.  Spent yesterday doing a little spring cleaning – really trying to get rid of stuff (Memorial Day weekend I got rid of 6 contractor bags and 1 large garbage bag). Looking to meet or exceed that by June 20th. I never really got a chance on any of my last moves (from Dallas in 2001 and Edison in 2005 – so I’m due). And today I got to see my niece play soccer locally – and they got it in before the storms hit. They were 1-1 and they ended their season on a high note. And the bonus was hanging with my Aunt and Uncle most of the day.  We always have a great time and spend most of it laughing!  Here’s to the start of a new week!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Couch to …

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1/2 Marathon or ???

Over the weekend I received a text from one of my BFF’s from college (TBG) that said the following, “What would you say if I thought we should do the Disney Princess Half Marathon next February??  We could make it a girls weekend!!”  My first reaction was to laugh and it took me awhile to even respond so guess I was a bit speechless too (and special note:  girls weekend <> running).  I finally responded with a “Who are you?  And what have you done with Tracy?”  I never responded No at any point though (which is important as I dislike, loathe, hate running – you get the picture).  At some point in the afternoon we spoke – and I agreed to do it with a couple of caveats – I have a knee injury and need to lose some weight (which I believe is also contributing to my knee injury) before I could completely commit.  I also found out the TBG shared with her husband that the two of us were doing the 1/2 Marathon – he wanted to know if I knew it yet – which I didn’t 🙂  This still makes me laugh!

So then reality started to set in – will my knee be able to handle, will I lose some of the extra weight that I’m carrying around before I start training (which I believe is part of the knee problem), what would my time per mile be? – then I did the math – 2 hours + probably running for me – I’m just not mentally there yet – nor do I truly believe Couch to 1/2 Marathon is a smart thing to do from a training perspective.

Today, TBG and I agreed to the following:

  • Complete the Disney Princess 5K next year with a girls trip (either weekend / maybe week)!
  • Complete the Disney 1/2 Marathon the year we turn 45!

I’m looking forward to the challenges of completing each goal!

A little extra GREEN on this lovely day

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Today is Tuesday and Tuesday means a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workout for me. They are short, but for some reason I’ve always had a challenge getting them completed (a mental thing for me). Well I finished my HIIT workout after work today! Yeah ME!!  I didn’t feel like eating a hot dinner as it is quite warm and I have errands to run later tonight.

I decided to make a protein shake that I love in my Vitamix – but I wanted it to be cold (and I’m not known for having ice at my house – small freezer).  So I added a handful of frozen spinach!  The shake isn’t the prettiest of colors – kind of an ugly green (and I love green).  It is delicious with some added veggie!  Guess I’ll call it my Mini Green Smoothie (since only one veggie in it)!  Here is the recipe (if you have a Vitamix put in this order):

  • 1 Cup of Almond Milk (unsweetened)
  • 1 Scoop of PlantFusion Chocolate Protein Mix
  • 1 Squeeze of FlaxOil
  • 2 Tbsp Justin’s Almond Butter
  • 1 tsp of Raw Cocoa
  • Handful of frozen chopped spinach

Blend together until the smooth (and you don’t see any pieces of spinach in the shake).  I started on the low variable and worked it up and of course hit the power button as well.  Enjoy!!

Mora na maidine dhuit (aka Top of the Morning to You)

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day.  If you haven’t guessed, I’m just a little bit Irish.  Lots of traditional Irish names in our family from Carroll, Fitzgerald, Shields and of course Dunn – and many others.  I still have the Irish map on my face even after all these years (aka my freckles – which I’m very proud of…I’ve never tried to cover them up)!

So as everyone is Irish for a day…enjoy and I’ll leave you with the following….

Irish Blessing

May luck be our companion
May friends stand by our side
May history remind us all
Of Ireland’s faith and pride.
May God bless us with happiness
May love and faith abide.
~Irish Blessing