A Journey To Fitness

Oh December how did you get here so fast. And of course life comes and goes and passes way too quickly. As far as my journey to fitness it is going ok. I had a bit of a setback in October going away for a week and not being able to exercise. And the week of Thanksgiving also made it hard to go to the gym but I have been twice this week and should hit number 3 tomorrow.  I've been seeing a personal trainer 1-2 times per month. Eating wise has been a bit harder. Some days I do fine and other days not so much. I really need to plan my meals better and prep them the night before. As with normal end of the year things you think about is how I can do better next year. But it's really not about next year so much as how can I be better today and tomorrow. I have always tried to plan too far into the future when really I need to just take it day by day. And as far as New Years resolutions I have just one real one and that is to take each day as one day and not worry so much about the ...

A few weeks ago I noticed the lady who used to watch Maddie was in the middle of a squat challenge. As I've been working on my fitness I thought that a month long challenge would be a fun way to get in a little more activity and was hoping that she would have a new challenge for September. Well low and behold she mid August she posted about the challenge for September. It is the PLSS challenge or plank, lunge, squat, and superman challenge. It's not a full month but is 21 days with a rest day built in every 4th day or so ( so rest days are day 4, 8, 12, 16, and 19.  It starts out easy enough with a 15 second plank, 20 lunges (10 each leg), 25 squats, and 15 second superman. By the time the challenge is over we should be doing 2 min plank, 110 lunges, 125 squats, and 2 min superman.  I know that i can plank for 60 seconds already but it will be interesting to work my way up to the other numbers and to increase my plank time by doubling it. I'm hoping to post my progress o...

It's been a tough week and sometimes I get so frustrated with myself. I am constantly my own worse enemy. I have made it all too easy to not do what I am supposed to do or at least what I should do. I am making a promise to myself tonight that I will do better this week. I will put in the effort in both the gym and with my eating to do a better job. It is far too easy to be lazy but I want to be better than I am. I want to have more energy, I want to feel better. This journey was never about how my body looked and it still isn't about that. I want to be stronger, to be healthier, and to be a better role model for Maddie. If I am to lose weight in the process than that is fine, if I lose inches and gain muscle all the better, but I was ok with my body prior to this. What I wanted to do during this journey was to prove to myself that I could do it. I could become stronger and healthier and to stop making those same mistakes in and out each day. It's hard I won't lie an...

So as I mentioned in my last post I had scheduled to have some sessions with a personal trainer. I've had a few of those sessions (2 to be exact) and so far so good. The first session was basically to take measurements, write up a fitness plan and then go through the exercises on the fitness plan. The second session was to do one of the 3 days of sessions with the trainer to make sure I was using proper form and proper weight amounts. I'll be honest by the end of that session I was shaky and i could feel it for the next 3 days. However I have kept at it and been to the gym at least 2 times (mostly 3) a week and am doing resistance training and cardio (20+ minutes on the elliptical). Last night in between some meetings I had for work I went to the gym. I hadn't actually done any jogging on the treadmill so I figured i could spend some time there and then take a shower and head back to work. So I hopped on the machine and did my normal 5 minute workout. Then I moved it up t...

So in my last post I think I mentioned that I had gotten a few sessions with a personal trainer. The first was basically to go through the exercises that I'd be doing during my 3x a week sessions. This past week I did a session with him where I did one of the days exercises. He increased the weight and we did three sets instead of the normal two I get through during the week. Not bad but I can definitely feel it even two days later. I'll be going later today to do my day 2 session. I do have to say that each session at the gym (with or without a trainer) I am able to feel it a day later (although 3 days later for a trainer) and it motivates me to keep going. It's not easy but it feels good afterwards so I try to focus on that fact. While they won't do weight and measurements for another 4 weeks I do a weekly weigh in at home and that weight has gone down a little bit. I know that for me at least that I need to learn that the scale isn't an accurate measure of heal...

Well after a very crazy July in which I didn't do a lot of running I have signed up for a gym around the corner at work so that I could get in some actual workouts. I also signed up for a few sessions with a personal trainer. I am now 2 sessions into the plan laid out by my trainer and so far so good. I can feel it in certain areas the next day but not so bad I don't want to workout again. Today's workout was a core workout where majority of the time was spent on core activities. I can tell during the two sets that I did that I am definitely lacking in the core area. If I'm honest I'm lacking in strength in most areas. I'm hoping that as I progress and the workouts change up that I'll notice a difference. It's nice to know that I get measured/weighed every 4-6 weeks and at that time will probably change up the workout that I am doing. I definitely want to improve and I think adding the resistance training in is what I need to help with my level of fitn...

I often have to remind myself that I didn't put the weight on in two weeks its not going to come off in two weeks. That this whole process will take time. Still, reminding myself and actually knowing it are two different things and it's hard when you so want to see progress and you can't.  I got caught in a picture the other day and I was wearing a large shirt and I just didn't like what I saw. Perhaps it was the motivation I needed to really get my eating under control and to make sure I'm exercising at least 3 days a week. Last night I decided to try the 5 minute intervals again. I don't know why I seem to have such a hard time going from 4 to 5 but I do.  However I managed to make it through the workout and even did 6 minutes for my last interval which means in a 25 minute span I jogged 21 of those minutes. I'm hoping that on Saturday morning I can get on the treadmill and see what the difference would be between a night time run after a full day and ex...

So I am slowly but surely getting back into it. While I was going to get up early this morning that proved to be a bit harder than I wanted it to be and so I took the lazy way out and slept another 45 minutes. Eventually I'll get there. I have to just keep trying and get the motivation to get up. So while I didn't get the run in that I wanted this morning I did get it in this evening. Over a 25 minutes period I jogged for almost 21 minutes of it. I even surprised myself by doing just under 8 minutes at the very end. I still have quite a ways to go but I like to look back on where I was in April and see how far I've come. When I first started I was doing a just one to one ration and now I ran almost 8 minutes straight! The fact that I'm spending approximately 80% of my interval time actually jogging is pretty impressive. I know that it will get better in the coming weeks but I'm looking forward to seeing where I am 6 weeks from now. I've also just signed up f...

So it's been a week give or take since my last post. The bad news was that it's been a week since I did any running. My quads have been really tight and bothering me most of the week and so I tried to give them a bit of a rest. They were still bothering me today but I didn't want it to be too long in between my last workout so that it was easier to give up so I went down and while they still aren't great they are better than they were. I should have done it earlier. I only did 4 minute intervals and I figure I'll spend this week working my way back up to 5 and try for that again next week but didn't want to push myself too far and then be back at square one. Motivation for me this week has been tough. I've been feeling tired, very munchy, and just in general wanting a lot of food that is not good for you. I'm not sure what is at the root cause of it but I did give up caffeine starting last Saturday so I haven't had any coffee or chocolate for a wee...

Last week I hit a new milestone of running for more than 5 minutes. During two of my workouts last week I took my last 4 minute run and decided to run for a longer amount of time. The first workout I ran 6 minutes and the second 7 minutes. These are both pretty significant to me because I had never run for more than 5 minutes in one get go. Last night I started week 5 of my plan which is 5 minute jog/1 minute walk. I always do a 5 minute warm-up and 5 minute cool down. I won't say it wasn't hard because it was. I think there's a difference between doing 4 minutes and at the end adding a few extra minutes knowing the workout is almost over than adding a minute to every segment. I know the more I do it the easier it will get but jogging is still difficult for me. I do find that the further into the workout the better I feel. I think I need to find a better way to stretch/warm-up my legs because I find that I'm still pretty stiff till about halfway through my second jogg...

Well I got off track for about a week and a half both on the exercising and eating right track. I'm back on again after a good workout tonight. I'm hoping the slipups are done and the rest of the time I'll be able to keep up my motivation. I won't lie it's hard and sometimes it's just easier to sit on the couch or go to bed early or to eat the chocolate because it's there and it would be wasteful to throw it out. Excuses...excuses... and not very good ones at that. Despite taking off over a week and a half tonight's workout was actually pretty good. I did 4 minute jogging intervals and then for the 4th intverval I continued to run to see how much longer I could run. I ran for 6 minutes total and I probably could have done more but I didn't want to push it. I am going to try to do that each workout that the last jogging interval extend the time I jog by at least 1 minutes if not more. I decided since I really didn't do week 4 very well to redo t...

So today the temps outside were in the 80s. It was 84 degrees as I was coming home at 5:30pm. Now the weather doesn't affect my running too much based on the fact that I run inside. However both the heat and the AC have been off since mid april due to the weather mostly being in the mid 50's to mid 60s. Needless to say the house was a bit warm and the basement (where the treadmill is was warm as well). Because I can't seem to get my act together and get out of bed in the morning I am still doing my workout at night. Being in week 4 the workout goes something like this 5 minute warm up, 4 minute job, 1 minute walk, repeat 3 more times, 5 minute cool down. Last time I did this was Monday night. I did not intend to skip so many days in between. I was going to work out Tuesday evening but by the time Maddie was in bed and I was packed for my trip it was already 10:30pm. I packed my workout clothes so I could workout when I got into Milwaukee and got to the hotel. Unfortunately...

Well after a sucky week last week where I only got in two workouts I thought about redoing week three. The key word here is thought. In the end I decided that I would try week four and if I had issues than I would do week three again. I think sometimes going into a workout with a bit of optimism is helpful. It gets you over those bumps in the road and helps you to just keep going. So needless to say I made it through the first workout of week four. We'll see tomorrow night whether it was just a fluke. I'm beginning to get few things as I run more each week and each workout. Two months ago if you had asked me whether in a 20 minute period if I could run 16 of those minutes I would have said no way. But now after a few weeks of somewhat consistent workouts and increasing time/distance I am learning to do it. I know it will be a work in progress but I am committed to getting there if only to see the end result. I am learning that I can do more than I think I can, that my body ...

So we are on week three and so far so good. In 30 minutes I did 1.92 miles so obviously we are getting closer each week. I will say that while it is not getting easier it isn't as hard as it was 2 weeks ago. We are in week three which means the running segments are 3 minutes each with a 1 minute break in between. This is also the last week of 30 minute workouts. To get in a little more time of jogging I will be moving up to 35-45 minutes for the next few weeks. Workout 1 - 30 Minutes 1.92 miles Workout 2 - 30 minutes 1.90 miles (tough with side cramps) Unfortunately for last week I only did 2 of my planned 3-4 workouts. Knowing those weeks will happen doesn't make it any easier to swallow when they do happen, especially when it is so early in the workout cycle. But I am slowly learning to just move on. On the plus side Saturday did consist of quite a bit of walking and I just missed my 10k steps by about 400. Onward we go - I'll just strive for a better week next week.

I knew there would be hard workouts and tonight marked the first one. By hard I mean one of those workouts where you don't get to do what you had planned. Now I did finish the workout and I did do the full 30 minutes however this is the week I was supposed to do 3 minute runs with the 1 minute walk in between. During my first 3 minute segment I got bad side cramps. I finished the first 3 minute run portion and then had to add 30 seconds to my first in between walk. Then I ran 2 1/2 minutes the second segment. The cramps were still bad but I figured I would do the 1 minute regardless and run what i could. So tonight instead of 3,1,3,1,3,1,3,1 I did 3,1.5,2.5,1,2,1,2,1,3.5,1.5. All in all not bad and I was glad to see that I could do the 3.5 minutes at the end. In my opinion there are 2 reasons that tonight was difficult. The first being that because of some poor planning on my part I was unable to run for 3 nights. The second was that I didn't eat the best of food tonight. On ...

1. 30 Minutes - 1.82 2. 30 Minutes - 1.84 3. 30 Minutes - 1.86 4. 30 Minutes - 1.88 So as you can see there is an increase in distance at each day. I will also tell you that I increased my time at each stage of the jogging. This will probably be my last week of 30 minute exercises as I have a feeling that we will be moving to 40 or 45 minute workouts depending on how everything goes. I think it should be ok but we will see what happens over the next few weeks.

Some of the thoughts i have in my head while I'm jogging. - Am I done yet?  This one happens pretty consistently along with looking at the treadmill clock to see whether or not I'm close to the time where I can walk again. - Keep going you can do it. I seem to alternate between giving myself encouragement and checking the clock. - Keep at it and it will get easier... I hope.  Can you tell this is the beginning stages for me? I have never been a runner and this isn't easy. -  Thank goodness (or some variation). This is normally what is going through my head when I'm back at the walking portion of time. - Just one (or two) more jogging times.  This is used to tell myself that if I've done this much I might as well continue and finish up the workout. I'm sure there are more but for now this is all I remember. I try to think of motivational things but typically I have lots of different thoughts going through my head. Some about running, some about how I...

Saturday was my rest day and due to a laundry issue Sunday also ended up being a rest day. Tonight I knew  I was going to have to get back on the treadmill regardless. I've been feeling a little wonky the last few days not sure if I've caught something or if it's allergies but either way I was not feeling my best. Regardless though I got on the treadmill and did my first session of week 2.  Week two involves the normal 5 minute warm up and then alternating 1 minute of walking with 2 minutes of jogging/running for 15 minutes. Then I had another 5 minutes of walking and a 5 minute cool down. For the next few weeks regardless of the amount of time the workout should be I will be on the treadmill for 30 minutes so if I have to do a little extra walking that is fine. Tonight's stats are 1.82 miles in 30 minutes. While not as far as my last session of last week it was still further than the first two sessions and I don't really mind. As I keep telling myself this is a w...

I figure it will be easier to post as I feel and then post in review at the end of the week how everything went. As I'm going to start my weeks on a Sunday and I'm taking tomorrow as a rest day I figured I would do my review tonight. From my first post you saw that workout one consisted of 30 minutes and I did 1.75 miles. Workout 2 was also 30 minutes and I went 1.79 miles. Workout 3 for the week was also 30 minutes and I did 1.85 miles. So far my workouts have been at night as that is typically the only time I've been able to do it. I'd rather workout in the morning but as Maddie has not been the best of sleepers it is a bit hard to drag myself out of bed. Not that it is any easier to do it at night but there are no excuses because I can stay up another 45 minutes and it is not the end of the world. Hopefully over the next few months I'll be able to switch from night time runs on the treadmill to morning runs (my goal is by mid May). My goal is to do at least 3...

This week marked the 117th running of the Boston Marathon, however this year it was different. At the finish line only a few hours after the winners crossed while there were still many runners making their way two bombs exploded killing three people and injuring 170 more. It is the largest attack on american soil since 9/11 but for me it hits closer to home. For one; this journey I have begun to become a runner; the Boston Marathon is the race of races in my opinion for a runner, and two Boston is a mere 60 miles from where I grew up. I have been to Boston many times on field trips for school, with friends and with family, and even now I have family and friends who live and work there. Each day since the bombing I comb through the internet looking for more detail for information, for just that little bit that wasn't there the day before. Hoping that perhaps there is insight as to why this happened, whether they've caught the person responsible, and for the heartwarming storie...

Weight - 175 Distance: 1.75 miles Time: 30 minutes Pedometer steps: 10,501 by 9:30pm Thoughts - I often think "what am I doing?" as I am on the treadmill jogging. Some days are obviously easier than others but I know it won't get easier if i don't do it. All in all the workout wasn't bad, lots of sweating, a little bit of cramping (breath through it) but I did 1.75 miles.  The one problem I typically have about working out at night is that I have to make sure I wait a decent amount of time after eating so I don't get too many cramps but that I'm not working out at 10pm and not sleeping. Eventually my plan is to work out in the morning before work and before everyone gets up for the day however because Maddie still doesn't sleep real well I'm still getting up a few times during the night which does not bode well for getting up early. At least with the night workouts I'm already up and it hasn't seemed to affect my sleep yet (mind yo...

For most of my life I have been a bit on the overweight side. I've gone up and down in my weight and had times where I was close to being ok with where I was with my body. Then life would happen (ie complacency) and the weight that I had lost would creep back on. So what's different this time? Well for one there is a little girl 2 1/2 that I don't want to have the same body image issues I did growing up and second I want to do it for me. I have often given up before really giving the activity a chance but this time I will see it through to the end. Back at the end of January I signed up for a 5k (the color run!) and while it gives me almost 6 months to prepare (5.5 months now) it's a goal to work towards. I'm starting a running program (not the normal C25K but along the same lines) and I think it will stick. The weather is starting to get nice so I'm hoping to be able to do more outside and by the time I should be running consistently (at least a mile or so at...