Morning Get Up And Go To The Gym Person

This morning we woke up like usual and got ready for the gym. In the elevator on the way downstairs, Drew looked at me and said, "You've really become a morning get up and go to the gym person." I responded in my sleepy haze, "I am definitely not a morning person!". He then clarified and called me simply a "get up and go to the gym person." I can agree with that.

Today I had more supersets of weight lifting to do and then filled up the rest of the morning with some cardio.

These were today's lifts:

A) Deadlifts: 3 sets of 15 reps @ 45 lbs
B) Leg Curls (double leg): 1 set of 12 reps @ 50 lbs / 2 sets of 10 reps @ 50 lbs
*****
A) Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 2 sets of 15 reps @ 10 lbs (per arm) / 1 set of 12 reps @ 10 lbs
B) Side Lateral Raises: 1 set of 15 reps @ 5 lbs (per arm) / 1 set of 10 reps @ 5 lbs / 1 set of 8 reps @ 5 lbs
*****
A) Barbell Curls: 1 set of 15 reps @ 30 lbs / 2 sets of 12 reps @ 30 lbs
B) Lat Pulldown (Underhand): 1 set of 15 reps @ 60 lbs / 2 sets of 10 reps @ 60 lbs
*****
A) Crunches: 3 sets of 20 reps
B) Ab Bench Crunches: 3 sets of 15 reps

I really, really tried to do a better job on the deadlifts today. I think it worked a bit more because I could feel my hamstrings more than I could last time, but that could also be because they're still sore from last time I did hamstring lifts. Also, since they were supersets and it seemed like I needed to have tired out legs for the leg curls, I opted to do the double-leg version instead of the single leg version so that one leg wouldn't get more recovery time than the other. I'm not really a fan of that machine, but luckily they moved it off to the side of the gym. Before it was smack dab in the middle of the weight room where everyone could look at your rear end up in the air.

The crunches that I did really should have been reverse crunches, however there is no bench at the gym that will really allow me to do reverse crunches and keep my head flat on the bench. I'm not sure how to remedy this problem, but I'm going to be researching what to do or a good alternative exercise. I still think that although doing regular crunches isn't the same, it's still an okay substitute in the interim.

After the weight lifting, I headed over and hopped on the stair mill. I decided to go for it and up the level, so I did Speed Intervals on Level 11, which is a new record for me. I survived and I was really, really sweaty at the end. I was starving by the time I got off the stairs, so I rushed through my stretching in order to get home and get some calories in my belly in the form of Muscle Milk Light (vanilla flavor, of course!).

Weight Lifting
Time: 38:02
Calories: 207
Maximum HR: 138
Average HR: 112

Stair Mill
Time: 30:09
Distance: 3.12 miles
Pace: 9:39/mile
Calories: 327
Maximum HR: 168
Average HR: 157

New Shirt, New Shoes, New Service?

This morning was a bit of a repeat of yesterday. We slept in again and then headed to the gym for another long session of working out. This probably makes up for the fact that we skipped out on the gym on both Thursday and Friday! Plus, it's just a really great way to start off the week. I know I'm going to have to get into the habit sooner than I'd like of getting in longer workouts, so I figure I might as well squeeze them in whenever I can.

I do need to back up for a minute. Yesterday afternoon Drew and I went to the NYC Marathon Expo in the hopes of scoring some free samples of energy bars, drinks, etc. However, all we did was spend money. There were hardly any free samples, which was pretty much the exact opposite of the NYC Triathlon Expo that we went to over the summer. I guess we now know not to waste our time with the Marathon. So, we left with some new socks for Drew (I got one pair too), running gloves for both of us, two new technical shirts for me, and one free coconut water each. Here's our booty:


I colored in the "M" in Mizuno on my running gloves so that we could tell them apart easily. The gloves were originally $20 and we got them for $5 each. I got both shirts for 50% off, so even though we were hoping for a bunch of free stuff, we still got great deals on the stuff that we did get. I had really been wanting some new running gloves and Drew asked if we really needed fancy ones or if we could just get by with cheap ones. However, reading Brie's blog about her recent run with the cheapie gloves, I think I'm hoping that these will be a bit more breathable and worth the extra couple of bucks.

So, long story short, of course I had to try out one of my new shirts at the gymnasium today! I chose the one on the left. I actually really liked it although the sides are completely see-through, which is sort-of funny to me. Kind of like a sexy workout top!

I also took my bike shoes to the gym with me for the first time today. Obviously the shoes aren't new, but taking them to the gym was a new thing for me. I have been wanting to see for some time if they would clip into the spin bike clips. And they do! That meant that I had to give the computerized spin bike another shot today.

For the new service, I decided to do one of the spin class programs and see how that went. I put in all the relevant data (weight, age, etc.) and started. The only thing I apparently forgot to set was the level. I realized that I was on Level 7 (out of 10). Yesterday when I was messing around I did Level 4, which I thought was a bit of a challenge, so I really wasn't sure I was going to make it through 30 minutes on Level 7.

I did the "Race Day" program, which I actually really liked. There were lots of hills to climb (some seated and some standing). I just pedaled as hard as I could. The one thing that I still don't love about this machine is that when I'm standing it will pick up my heart rate monitor but when I'm seated it must be too far from the sensor, so it doesn't. When I looked at my stats, it looked a bit like I had been shocked by a defibrulator since my heart rate was at zero for quite a while and then would jump up once I was standing.

I will say that I think the shoes actually made it more enjoyable. Wearing the cages over my feet just isn't that great once you've been wearing cycling shoes and I'd 100% recommend wearing these shoes instead. Even though I was a little nervous that I'd forget one of my pairs of shoes at the gym, it's probably worth the worrying.

After the bike, I did some stretching and foam rolling. I tried to roll out my hamstring and I'm still working on foam rolling my shins. It is interesting to me how much easier it is on my shins. It is still not comfortable, but it's not painful like it was before when it made me want to yell out curse words. Then I decided that I would do some more cardio and I hit the elliptical machine.

While I was at the gym today, I was watching the NYC Marathon, which was sort-of inspirational. I decided to do an hour on the elliptical but after about 40 minutes I had really had enough. But I figured if I could watch all of those people on TV running 26.2 miles, I could hang in there for another 20. So, I did. I'm really glad that I did. The thing about working out is that it's not always 100% enjoyable, but I'm always really happy that I got up and did it. Although I do believe in listening to my body, but sometimes when I'm still half alseep, I'm not really recognizing that I'll feel better in the end.

I finished up with some more streching before heading home to start my day. Drew and I had some errands we wanted to run and we also decided to go and get lunch downtown on our way to the errands. I decided that I wanted to wear my heart rate monitor and just see how many calories I burned while not working out. I know that this isn't a perfect test and I do plan on wearing it again on a work day where I'm mostly sitting throughout the day, but I thought this would be a good weekend estimate.

It turns out that I burned 230.4 calories per hour, which I actually think is pretty good, given that I didn't do any cardio. The spike in my heart rate came right at the end of the test period when I was carrying about 20 cans of fruit up the steps from the subway. I'm not going to lie, I definitely slowed down when I reached the top of the steps. I think my legs were a little tired from earlier today! I'm now really curious to see what a regular work day looks like in terms of calorie burning, so stay tuned for that!

Computerized Spin Bike
Time: 33:08
Distance: 11.50 miles
Pace: 20.82 MPH
Calories: 393
Maximum HR: 176
Average HR: 163

Elliptical
Time: 1:00:00
Distance: 5.50 miles
Pace: 10:54/mile
Calories: 635
Maximum HR: 170
Average HR: 155

5 Hours Non-Workout Calorie Counting
Time: 5:00:02
Calories: 1152
Average Calories: 230.4/hour
Maximum HR: 153
Average HR: 101

Super Set Me!

This morning Drew and I slept in a little bit, had breakfast in bed, and then headed off to the gymnasium. We had a big day of workouts planned, so it was good that we had breakfast beforehand.

I started a new week of Weight Lifting (Week 5 already!). This week is all about Super Sets. That means that you should perform 1 set of the first exercise (Exercise A) and immediately perform a set of the second exercise (Exercise B). Then you can take a rest interval. The book explains that, "Your body can adapt to a certain training routine in approximately 2 weeks. This means that you will get little or no results if you do the same workout longer than 2 weeks in a row." So, as a result, you have to switch things up a little bit.

Here is the workout from today:

A) Leg Extensions: 2 sets of 15 reps @ 60 lbs / 1 set of 13 reps @ 60 lbs
B) Leg Press: 2 sets of 15 reps @ 115 lbs / 1 set of 12 reps @ 115 lbs
*****
A) Dumbbell Pullovers: 3 sets of 15 reps @ 20 lbs
B) Lat Pulldown (triangle bar): 3 sets of 15 reps @ 60 lbs
*****
A) Dumbbell Flys: 1 set of 15 reps @ 10 lbs (per arm) / 1 set of 12 reps @ 10 lbs / 1 set of 10 reps @ 10 lbs
B) Dumbbell Bench Press: 1 set of 12 reps @ 20 lbs (per arm) / 1 set of 8 reps @ 20 lbs / 1 set of 6 reps @ 20 lbs
*****
A) Crunches: 3 sets of 15 reps
B) Ab Bench Crunches: 3 sets of 15 reps

On my first leg press, I realized that my left hamstring still hasn't recovered from last week. I'm thinking that maybe next time I'll lower the weight slightly on the leg curls in order to have a shorter recovery period. I think I'll still get a good benefit even if I lift 5 pounds less each time.

Everything went pretty well. Luckily, the weight room was pretty quiet so it wasn't a big deal to be using two pieces of equipment at essentially the same time. I was always a little worried that someone would sneak in and take the machines that I was using, but it all worked out.

After the weight lifting, I headed over to do some cardio. I happened to spy a new piece of equipment that I hadn't seen at the gym before! It was a computerized spin bike. As soon as I saw it, I felt like my entire winter just got a lot better. I know that the spin bikes are better than the cardio bikes, but I never really wanted to use them because I really like to know how far I've gone and I also like the fact that you can program the cardio bikes. Well, everything I liked in a cardio bike has now been delivered in a spin bike!

So, I hopped on. I didn't love it. I played around with a lot of the settings and tried to figure out which settings I thought I would like best. There are spin class programs that you can do or you can do a more customizable program. The internet says that there are about a million combinations you can do, so it seems like perhaps if I mess around with it a little bit more, I can find something that I like.

The thing that I don't really like is the part where you get out of the saddle (in the spin class program). Somehow that seems really unrealistic to me in my regular bike riding, but I can understand that it is making my legs stronger for training purposes. I also always feel like I should keep a 90+ cadence and having a lower cadence makes me feel weird too, like I'm cheating somehow.

After testing out the bike for a bit, Drew and I hit the pool again for another of our swimming lessons. Although this isn't much of a workout for me, I'm really enjoying it. Drew is definitely improving, but he definitely still has a long way to go. He gets tired really easily after swimming one length of the pool (18 yards). We did work a lot on kicking today, which I think was really helpful. It's definitely the case that he has a lot better form kicking or swimming when he's taking it a little bit slower than when he's racing and rushing.

We did a couple of races where I would give him a (huge) head start and then try and beat him down the pool. I beat him in the kicking races, but didn't quite make it (I was one stroke short) in the swimming competition. It's things like that that make it really fun to get in the pool with him. And I hope that he likes it too.

Weight Lifting
Time: 37:15
Calories: 299
Maximum HR: 162
Average HR: 132

Spin Bike
Time: 29:24
Distance: ~8.5 miles
Pace: 17.35 MPH
Calories: 357
Maximum HR: 180
Average HR: 167

Swimming
Time: 28:00
Calories: 181
Maximum HR: 159
Average HR: 119

Calories, Calories

I ended up taking today as a rest day for the week, so I thought I'd use today to write about something that I've been doing recently ... counting calories. First, I think I need to back up and start from the beginning. I'd say that about a year ago, I wasn't 100% happy with my body. I had gained a few pounds, I wasn't really utilizing my gym membership and knew that I should do something about it. I started going to the gym maybe around 3 times a week and started to feel a little bit better.

I started out at about 149 pounds (in my mind, 150 pounds is some magic threshold that I was hoping never to cross and although I wasn't completely comfortable being so close, I was happy that I hadn't gone over). My body fat percentage (according to Drew's scale) was nearly 26%. I think that was the most shocking number. I know that women are always fattier than men, but compared to Drew's body fat percentage, I felt fat. I'm 5'8" and never looked over weight (and in fact, I wasn't). I just noticed that my pants were a little tighter than they had been before. There was even a brief consideration of buying the next size up, but I told myself that I wouldn't give in.

It wasn't until sometime in February of this year when Laura asked me if I'd want to sign up for a triathlon with her that I really felt like I got into the groove of things. I then started becoming more consistent with my workouts (like working out 6 days a week). What helped me the most in becoming more consistent was the fear factor of signing up for a triathlon as well as having a plan when I went to the gym. I knew I had to do X number of hours / workouts each week. I didn't always do exactly what the plan said to do on any given day, but I always tried to match the number of hours I spent working out.

By May of this year, I had firmly lost 5 pounds. I waited a while before I really admitted it to myself because I was afraid that it was just a fluke each time I stepped on the scale. Turns out it wasn't. I should say that this was never really my goal when I signed up for the triathlon. It was just an added benefit. In fact, I never really thought about weight loss when I was considering signing up. My body fat percentage had also gone down to somewhere around 24%. By this point, I could tell that my clothes were back to fitting they way they were when I bought them. I also kept hoping that my body fat would go down, but I wasn't going to stress out about it.

I should say that I've never really struggled with my weight. There have been several points in my life where I thought maybe I could lose five pounds and so I did. Until two years ago, I never really exercised (other than sports in high school) or belonged to a gym. I just figured that by living in New York City and walking around a lot, that counted as enough exercise.

By September, I was down to 141 pounds, which is where I currently am now. And, the last time I weighed myself (last Saturday 10/24/2009), my body fat percentage was down to 20.7%. When that number popped up on the scale I literally yelled out "Ohmygod" several times because I just couldn't believe it. I can tell, especially doing this weight lifting book, that I am getting stronger and my muscles are getting bigger. It's just nice to know that the effort I've been putting in is paying off.

Which brings me back to where this post started ... counting calories. Drew had told me that he wanted to keep track of what he was eating and so I said I'd do it too (we've done this before where we just kept spreadsheets of what we ate, but didn't count calories). This time, he signed up for the Daily Burn website, which will keep track of your workouts and food and will also count calories. So, I signed up too and said that I would do this for two weeks with him. Tomorrow will be the end of the two weeks.

When I first signed up, I put in my current weight stats, said I'd like to lose 5 pounds (mainly because it seems like you need to have goals on this website), and that I was "moderately active - doing moderate exercise 3 to 5 times per week". That calculated that I should eat somewhere between 1669 and 1919 calories. Before this, I really had no idea how many calories I was eating. I felt like I ate pretty well during the week and a little less well on the weekends. I never really felt like I denied myself anything, but I also don't splurge too often on really big calorie meals.

Turns out that the calorie range of 1669-1919 wasn't really working for me. I really felt like I had to think about everything that I ate, which I hated. I would get to the end of the day and still be hungry, but be afraid to eat because I didn't want to go over my calories. Drew told me that if I hated it and it was making me unhappy, I should just stop. But, I felt like I had told him that I would do this with him and I wasn't about to just quit.

So, after the first week, which I found miserable and actually made me feel bad about myself, I decided that I had probably cheated myself on the exercise portion of the website. I changed it to "very active - hard exercise 6-7 times per week". This was still one step below "extremely active - marathon training, etc." I felt like "very active" was more realistic for me because I do go to the gym about 6 days a week and I spend at least an hour there. I'm not really training for anything yet, so "extremely active" seemed wrong. By switching to "very active" I got a new calorie window of 2371-2621.

This is so much better! I can eat and not have to worry about going over my calories or feeling bad if I want to eat a piece of (reduced fat) cheese on my sandwich at lunch. I can even splurge and still be within the range. The website does say that if I want to lose weight, I should eat slightly under that calorie range, but for maintaining my weight, that's the correct range. I'm still undecided about whether or not I will continue this. I think it has been good for me to see what I'm eating and what it adds up to, but I'm not sure I'm cut out to do this for the long run.

So, at the end of this long post, I guess I'd just like to summarize and say that I'm pretty proud of myself for overall making good choices with food. I really don't think that I have some of the food stigmas that it seems like lot of people have. Food doesn't make me feel happy or sad. It just makes me feel not hungry. I think that this calorie counting really taught me a lot. The funny thing is that I know I'm eating more than I did a year ago, but it's actually okay now because I'm also exercising on a regular basis. Overall, I'm really happy with where I'm at right now.

Forgetful Day At The Gym

This morning Drew and I got up and headed off to the gymnasium. Somehow, this is all becoming a bit routine. However, I'm actually really glad that we have each other to push the other to get up and out of bed. This morning I think that Drew wasn't exactly happy to wake up, but once we were walking to the gym, he said that he was glad that he had gotten up and was going. He's going to the World Series games tonight and tomorrow, so I'm not sure if he'll be too tired to go the rest of the week.

He had to leave for work a little bit early today, so we each did our own thing. I did a quick warm-up on the treadmill and then headed to the weight room. My hamstrings are a little bit tight (mainly my left one). I think it's mostly from the leg curls on Monday. Drew said that he'd like to think it was from the deadlifts, but since it's really mostly my left leg that is tight/hurt, he agrees that it's most likely from the leg curls. I thought that made the most sense because I sort-of knew when I was doing it that it was going to be bad the next day. I'm hoping that by tomorrow it'll be back to normal.

This was today's workout:

Leg Extensions: 1 set of 14 reps @ 60 lbs / 2 sets of 12 reps @ 65 lbs
Dumbbell Squats: 1 set of 15 reps @ 25 lbs (per arm) / 2 sets of 12 reps @ 25 lbs (per arm)
Incline Dumbbell Bench Press: 1 set of 12 reps @ 20 lbs (per arm) / 1 set of 10 reps @ 20 lbs (per arm) / 1 set of 8 reps @ 20 lbs (per arm)
Dumbbell Flys: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 10 lbs (per arm)
Dumbbell Curls: 2 sets of 12 reps @ 15 lbs (per arm) / 1 set of 10 reps @ 15 lbs (per arm)
Crunches: 3 sets of 20 reps

I knew right away that the leg extensions were going to be hard because of the aforementioned hamstring issue. Straightening out my left leg isn't easy at the moment and that made the exercise even more difficult. I think if my legs had been more rested I could have done a heavier weight, but that was all I was capable of today.

The dumbbell squats were actually supposed to be barbell squats, but I felt like I needed Drew's help in order to figure out how to do that and I couldn't find the neck support that I wanted to use, so I just figured that doing dumbbell squats would be similar enough for today.

The rest of the workout was pretty straight forward. The crunches, however, were supposed to be reverse crunches, but I couldn't really find the right kind of bench to use and my legs were so tired I wasn't sure that I could lift them up in the air. In the book it said to do 3 sets of 10 reverse crunches, so I did 3 sets of 20 regular crunches. In my mind, that makes up for it.

After I was done with the weight lifting, I headed over to do some cardio. I realized when I was leaving the weight lifting area that I had somehow lost my sack with my (reading) book and my water bottle. Turns out I left it at the treadmill that I did my warm-up on. I grabbed that and headed to the elliptical machines. I did a 30 minute cross-country workout that really wasn't that hard at all.

After finishing up the elliptical, I headed over to the stretching area. I did some foam rolling on my hamstrings to try and loosen them up a bit. I also did some rolling on my shins. Holy cow, did they feel 100 times better than the first few times that I did this. I guess it's working! After some stretching, I headed home for the day. When I got there, I realized that I left my water bottle on the elliptical machine! I'm usually not so forgetful like that. I'm going to blame the early hour of the morning and perhaps not enough sleep last night. Luckily, I called when I got home and they were going to check on my water bottle so I should be able to pick it up after work. It's not anything special, I just hate to lose things that I actually use.

Weight Lifting
Time: 34:10
Calories: 184
Maximum HR: 143
Average HR: 112

Elliptical
Time: 30:00
Distance: 2.50 miles
Pace:
Calories: 261
Maximum HR: 149
Average HR: 138

Nothing A Hot Shower Can't Fix

This morning I set my alarm for nice and early so that I could get myself up and finally go to a group run with Terrier. I haven't been in quite a while and I was really looking forward to it. It also wasn't too bad weather-wise. When I looked at the weather, my phone said that it was in the low 50s and cloudy and would be raining later on (cue ominous music).

I walked from the apartment to the bottom of the park, like I normally do. I actually was passed by one of my teammates who was running there. But, I just really like to walk along the city streets. Too much traffic and stopping and going to worry about (although less so before 6 AM!). Once I got to the park I started running as I was running a little bit late and wanted to make sure I got there on time. I ran to the meeting spot and then a few minutes later, we all headed over to do our drills.

We did our normal drills of strides, high knees, butt kicks, skips and then Coach Spencer had us do a couple that incorporated stretching. We would walk three steps, then do a quad stretch with one leg, walk three steps, stretch the other leg. We also did another one to stretch our hamstrings (hugging your knee to your chest). Definitely a nice way to end the drills.

Our main workout today was a 5-mile tempo run. The run started out just fine. I had probably run about a mile and a half and felt one little drop fall on me. At that moment, I wondered, do birds ever pee on you? Obviously they do the other thing, but I've never heard of anyone being peed on by a bird. (Yes, I'm weird and these are the kinds of things I'm thinking about while running).

About a minute later, it became clear that it wasn't bird pee or something else random that I felt. It was the rain that was supposed to happen today. All day. Somehow I missed that news bulletin. I don't know that it was miserable or even really that bad, but there were some things I would have done differently if I knew it was going to rain: (1) worn contacts instead of glasses (2) worn my old shoes (3) worn pants instead of shorts.

The only really bad part was that I got some sort of stomach cramp around the 2-mile mark and had to walk for a minute or so. It wouldn't have been so frustrating to have to walk if it wasn't raining! At some point I gave up on wearing my glasses and just put them in my pocket. I couldn't see through them anyway and since it was so dark outside, it didn't really make much difference if they were on or off.

The rest of the time running I spent thinking about getting home and taking a really hot shower. That thought was enough to get me through the rest of the run. When I got to the bottom of the park, I did think about the fact that I should really keep going and finish the whole 5 miles, but I was cold and wet enough and I didn't know what I'd really be proving at that point, so instead I just went home. I think that's okay given the circumstances.

And, just as a side note, it's true ... the shower fixed everything and made me feel much, much better. Almost made me think that it's not too bad to run in the rain, given that you had some forewarning.

Run To Meeting Point
Time: 7:30
Distance: 0.81 miles
Pace: 9:15/mile
Calories: 92
Maximum HR: 181
Average HR: 168

Running
Time: 43:58
Distance: 4.40 miles
Pace: 9:59/mile
Calories: 612
Maximum HR: 188
Average HR: 179

New Shoelaces

One of the errands that I didn't mention from yesterday was that Drew and I ran into Jack Rabbit just to take a quick look around and I picked up some new shoelaces! I had been complaining about wearing my regular shoelaces in my new sneakers but I'm not quite ready to give up on my old shoes (as they are good for days where I'm not running or the weather is bad), so I got myself a second pair of fancy bungee shoelaces! I wasted no time last night lacing them up for this morning. Here they are in all their glory:


I got to test them out for the first time at the gym this morning. I didn't have a ton of time at the gym today as I needed to be at work early, but Drew said that he would help me with my lifting today as there were a couple of new exercises included and one said that it would recommend having a spotter if available.

This was the workout:

Lat Pulldown (Underhand): 1 set of 12 reps at 70 lbs / 2 sets of 10 reps @ 80 lbs
Deadlifts: 1 set of 20 reps @ 45 lbs / 1 set of 25 reps @ 45 lbs / 1 set of 20 reps @ 55 lbs
Leg Curls (Right Leg): 1 set of 12 reps @ 30 lbs / 1 set of 10 reps @ 35 lbs / 1 set of 8 reps @ 35 lbs
Leg Curls (Left Leg): 1 set of 10 reps @ 30 lbs / 1 set of 8 reps @ 35 lbs / 1 set of 8 reps @ 35 lbs
Calf Raises: 1 set of 15 reps @ 125 lbs / 1 set of 20 reps @ 125 lbs / 1 set of 18 reps @ 135 lbs
Barbell Shoulder Press: 1 set of 12 reps @ 35 lbs / 2 sets of 10 reps @ 35 lbs

The lat pulldowns were fine, except that the bar that was there is the kind with the little metal bumps that makes your hand hurt from holding it. I'm wondering if perhaps I should get some of those weight lifting gloves? Except that I think that they're a little ridiculous and that I should just toughen up.

The deadlifts were another one that didn't go too well. I read the instructions in the book, watched Drew do them, had him tell me what to do, and I still am 99% certain that I wasn't doing them correctly. All it felt like I was doing was lifting a heavy bar up and down. And it really wasn't that hard. I quit doing them when I reached 20 or 25 reps because it clearly wasn't working that well since I was getting such a high rep number. Drew said that he was really surprised that I'd have to go to failure on a new exercise and I sort-of agree. I had no idea what weight to start with (the book does give guidelines, but it's not a guarantee) and that really meant that I really couldn't figure out what weight would give me failure after 10 reps.

The rest of the weight lifting was fine. I actually was pretty close to Drew on the calf raises, which I was excited about. He was lifting 150 lbs and I did 135. Secretly I really wanted to put some more on and see if I could do 150 too. Maybe next time I'll just see. The barbell shoulder presses were pretty hard. Drew had to help me with the last two reps on the third set. I do feel like my muscles are doing better and lifting more weight than they were 4 weeks ago, so I think the book is working!

After the weight lifting, which took a little longer than I was anticipating, I really didn't have too long to do cardio. I just did a quick mile on the elliptical before heading to the stretching area and then heading home for a shower and an earlier day at the office!

Weight Lifting
Time: 47:37
Calories: 284
Maximum HR: 149
Average HR: 116

Elliptical
Time: 11:15
Distance: 1.00 mile
Pace: 11:15/mile
Calories: 119
Maximum HR: 162
Average HR: 150

You're In The Wrong Lane

This morning Drew got up and headed to the gymnasium while I stayed in bed, finished up the Dan Brown book, and then dragged myself downstairs to sit on the couch and watch some TV until he came home. He then made us breakfast (I'm ridiculously lucky, I know) before we set off on an afternoon of errands.

Drew wanted to find some water-bottle type things for his Muscle Milk and other powdery drinks and after going to three stores, we ended up finding these cups at GNC. He said he doesn't think he will use the blender ball, which was a little bit disappointing to me. I wanted to know if they made everything better. We also headed over to Bed, Bath & Beyond to buy some new (protein) bars. They have the best prices in the city (along with a huge selection), so while it's not the most convenient place to get to, it's totally worth it! After going to Trader Joe's and buying lots of frozen fruit and lots of nuts, I headed home to get ready to go swimming.

When I got to the pool, there were several people milling about and no coach. I was worried it'd be a repeat of two weeks ago when no coach showed up, but luckily, the coach had sent someone a message and said that she was coming in from New Jersey and it was taking longer than expected and she'd be there, but would be late. She ended up being about 15 minutes late, which was a bit of a bummer for me.

We all got in the water and as soon as I jumped in the middle lane, one of the other swimmers, Heather, said, "You're in the wrong lane!" She tried to convince me to move over one lane as she said that I'm a faster swimmer than she is, but since I hadn't been to practice in a while, I was too nervous about being slow.

This was the workout:

Warm-Up
300 front crawl
100 kick (with board)

Main Set
100 front crawl
2 x 200 negative split 0:30 RI
3 x 100 race pace (on the 1:50s)
4 x 50 kick all out (on the 1:20s)

Warm-Down
2 x 50 drill
100 warm down

So, Heather was right. I should have switched into the faster lane. I definitely should have switched at some point during the workout, but I didn't feel like it. Or I should have led my lane, but that didn't happen either. The funny thing was that when we got out of the water, I really felt like I had a nice leisurely swim and everyone else was saying how hard the workout was. I'm guessing that maybe next time I should step it up and go in the faster lane so that I can feel like I got a good workout too. I definitely wouldn't say it was bad, I just wasn't really challenged at all.

It was really nice, however, to get back in the pool with the team. It's been at least a month since I've been swimming with Terrier and I was glad to be back. It's just a reminder how much I like these group workouts. I'm really going to have to remember that on Tuesday morning when my alarm goes off early for the group run!

Time: 49:55
Distance: 1600 meters / 0.99 miles
Pace: 50:25/mile
Calories: 510
Maximum HR: 172
Average HR: 152

You Workout On Saturdays?

This morning Drew and I got up for a long session at the gymnasium. He wanted to go swimming again, but because that isn't much of a workout for either of us, we both wanted to workout prior to the swimming. I figured I'd use today as a lifting day and also do some cardio before swimming.

When we got to the gym, the woman at the front desk looked at us and said, "You workout on Saturdays too?" She was impressed with our dedication, so it was nice that someone else noticed that we've been coming consistently. Although Drew probably will end up actually going to the gym more than me because I've now decided that for running, I'm going to be staying outside whenever possible.

I'm starting Week 4 of my weight training plan. This week all exercises are done to fatigue. Generally, I was supposed to be aiming to hit fatigue somewhere around 10-15 reps. The book had a good point in saying, "Your muscles do not count, they respond to stress. Do not do 10 reps and stop if you can do more." Drew and I did a quick 5 minutes on the treadmill and then headed over to the weight area.

This was the workout I did:

Dumbbell Squats: 1 set of 25 reps @ 15 lbs (per arm) / 1 set of 12 reps @ 25 lbs (per arm) / 1 set of 12 reps @ 25 lbs (per arm)
Dumbbell Rows (right arm): 1 set of 20 reps @ 15 lbs / 1 set of 15 reps @ 20 lbs / 1 set of 12 reps @ 20 lbs
Dumbbell Rows (left arm): 1 set of 15 reps @ 20 lbs / 2 sets of 12 reps @ 20 lbs
Barbell Curls: 2 sets of 10 reps @ 35 lbs / 1 set of 8 reps @ 35 lbs
Ab Bench Crunches: 3 sets of 15 reps
Crunches: 3 sets of 15 reps

Drew said that he would help me with my squat form so we did about 12 body weight squats so that I could get the feeling of the motion. He said that my form looked really good. I started with 15 lbs in each hand, but was able to do too many reps, so I decided to go with 25 lbs in each hand. Then I felt like the hardest part of the squat was holding the weight, not the actual squat itself. I still think that next time I could bump up the weight some more if my goal is to get to 10 reps.

I had a really hard time trying to figure out what weight to start out with. On the dumbbell rows, it was really hard for me to not just duplicate what I had done with my right arm, even though 15 lbs was clearly too light. I had to remind myself that my muscles would be just as stressed even though I didn't do as many reps. Good advice from the book!

After that I had about 25 minutes to do some cardio. I have seen people using this Nautilus machine at the gym that is essentially two treadmills next to each other (one for each foot). I decided that I would try it out. Um, yeah. It's practically impossible to figure out how to program that thing. I tried to program it, which involved about 25 steps, and gave up and did the 5 minute demo. Twice during the demo, my foot fell from one treadmill to the other, so I realized that is probably not the exercise equipment for me and I headed over to the stairs.

I hopped on the Stair Mill, set it for 20 minutes at Level 10 and climbed away! So much better. I didn't fall off, I understood how to work the machine, I was happy. After my 20 minutes, we headed up to the locker rooms to get changed for the swimming. I drank my Muscle Milk while I was changing in order to get some calories and protein in after my workout.

Then it was time to hit the pool. Drew is definitely looking better in general, but I still don't think he's going to win any contests. I had him do more of the same thing that we did last week - use a pull buoy and work on breathing and his stroke. We then did some kicking with a kick board for the first time and he's not so skilled at that. I wish I knew what the problem was, as I'd really like to try to fix it, but when he was kicking, he wasn't moving. At all. Of course, I wasn't helping matters, as I found the whole thing to be silly and was laughing. I'm going to have to research this a little bit further.

We then spent the rest of our time in the pool goofing off a little bit and seeing how long we could swim underwater while holding our breath. As much as Drew is a sinker while swimming the front crawl, he is a floater when trying to swim underwater and holding his breath. I definitely am better at holding my breath, but I'm not sure whether or not that's a good life skill?

All in all, I am glad that Drew is getting into the pool more. I find the whole thing to be a little bit of a challenge and am going to have to see if I can research some tips on kicking for beginners in swimming.

Weight Lifting
Time: 34:20
Calories: 256
Maximum HR: 162
Average HR: 127

Nautilus / Stair Mill
Time: 24:44
Distance: 2.00 miles
Calories: 272
Maximum HR: 170
Average HR: 159

Swimming
Time: 30:33
Calories: 166
Maximum HR: 156
Average HR: 113

You Don't Have To Get Up So Early

This morning Drew and I both set our alarms for somewhere around 5:30. We both pressed snooze and he got up a few minutes later. I dragged myself out of bed at about 5:40 and got all suited up for the gymnasium. Drew got himself a heart rate monitor (after his failed attempt last time), so we both were wearing them today, so I actually have real stats again!

When we were standing and waiting for the elevator, Drew looked at me and said, "You don't have to get up so early, you know." I replied that I did. I know myself too well to know that if I didn't get up when he was leaving for the gym, I'd talk myself into staying in bed. Part of the reason that he's been wanting to get to the gym earlier is because he's been doing cardio / weight lifting / cardio, but I generally don't like to do two sets of cardio, so I just do a quick warm-up and then lift and then do my cardio. So, even though we're at the gym together, we don't really workout together.

These are the lifts I did today:

Leg Press: 2 sets of 15 reps @ 110 lbs
Dumbbell Curls: 1 set of 15 reps @ 12.5 lbs (per arm) / 1 set of 15 reps of 15 lbs (per arm)
Lunges (Right Leg): 2 sets of 15 reps
Lunges (Left Leg): 2 sets of 15 reps
Tricep Pushdowns: 2 sets of 15 reps @ 30 lbs
Side Lateral Raises: 2 sets of 15 reps @ 5 lbs (per arm)
Ab Bench Crunches: 2 sets of 15 reps

I think it's a little funny that lunges are included in my weight lifting book, but I understand why. I'm actually not very good at them, so I found a spot by the mirror where I could have a good side-view of myself so that I could ensure that I was doing them properly. I think that with a lot of body weight exercises (lunges, crunches, push-ups, etc.) a lot of times people just rush through when they'd get more benefit by slowing down and using the proper technique. Just my two cents on the topic. I actually alternated right and left leg sets as it felt weird to do all right leg and then all left leg. Even doing 15 of my right leg in a row was funny.

Once I was done I headed over to the stair mill and hopped on for another session of Speed Intervals at Level 9. Man oh man does that machine make you sweaty! I felt like my towel was drenched by the time I had climbed up 132 flights of stairs (interesting fact: there are only 102 floors in the Empire State Building).

I then headed home, leaving Drew on the Arc Trainer, finishing up his second set of cardio. I'm not sure he is in love with his new heart rate monitor as the Arc Trainer machine was telling him a higher number of calories burned than his heart rate monitor does. I tend to have the opposite problem, where the machine doesn't give me enough credit. To be honest, I'd rather be in my position. When I got home, I had another taste of the Muscle Milk. Yum! It's just so delicious. I knew that it'd be a little while before Drew got home and then still longer before he made our breakfast smoothie, so I didn't feel bad having my post-recovery snack. They say that it's really important to get protein right after working out. I'm just following instructions!

Weight Lifting
Time: 26:51
Calories: 181
Maximum HR: 156
Average HR: 122

Stair Mill
Distance: 2.75 miles (132 floors)
Time: 30:52
Pace: 11:13/mile
Calories: 334 (machine said 280 calories)
Maximum HR: 174
Average HR: 165

I Found A Reason To Workout At Night

This morning I woke up early, checked the temperature for the day, and rolled over and went back to sleep. Because the weather was supposed to be almost 70 degrees, my plan was to wait until after work to get my workout in. Now, I know I just said that I like working out in the morning better, but I just had to take advantage of this warmer weather.

All day long I just had ants in my pants wanting the work day to be over so that I could head home and get outside! Finally, 5:30 rolled around and I headed home to get ready for my workout. Walking home was so nice, but I definitely hurried so that I could start working out before it got to be too dark.

I knew I wanted to go running in the park. It's really well lit and I knew that there would be a lot of people out since there are a lot of runners still getting ready for the marathon next weekend. At first I was thinking that I would run up to the 102nd Street Transverse and then back home, but that's about a 5 mile trip and I haven't been running that much recently, so I didn't want to press my luck by increasing the mileage too much. I knew I had to figure out another plan.

I headed off to the park wearing only a tank top & shorts. This seemed crazy to me since last weekend I was decked out in full winter gear with layers and the whole nine yards, but I'm not one to complain about warmer weather, so I was quite happy. Once I got to the park, I realized that I should run clockwise and head north first. Most people in the park run counter-clockwise (which, according to all the signs, is technically the wrong way) so I was definitely running against traffic. Part of my plan in going north was that I knew that there was that patch along the West Side where the lights are out and I figured I'd rather run there while it wasn't quite all the way dark yet.

I headed north and decided that I'd cut across the bridle path at 86th Street to cross over to the East Side and head back towards home. On my way there, I did take one 10 second walking break after running for a little over 10 minutes. I didn't feel too bad about it. I knew I just needed to catch my breath and then I'd be fine. Once I got closer to the bridle path, I realized that the bridle path wasn't the best plan. It's not covered with street lights like the other main paths and there are a lot of ruts in the path, so I ended up running along the bottom of the reservoir instead.

Somewhere along the reservoir path (about 15 minutes in), I really started to get into the groove of running. I haven't felt like that in a long time. I knew I wasn't going that fast, but I felt really good running. I was reminded how hateful the treadmill is and how I really should make sure I'm running outside where I actually enjoy it instead of on the treadmill. Because I'm doing this weight lifting book right now, it's a lot easier to just do my cardio at the gymnasium, but I think on the off days, I might try running outside more.

By the time I had been running for 25 minutes, I felt like I could run forever and I actually considered making the run longer. But, I knew I should stick to my original plan of not going too far too soon, especially since I haven't been running recently (although that has been on the treadmill). I finished up strong and walked home.

When I got home, I tried out something new that we bought: Muscle Milk Light! I had tried it before at the NYC Triathlon Expo and then I bought some of the ready-made stuff while I was on vacation in August, but I had never had the powder before. It's delicious. It is an awesome post-workout treat in my opinion. I had my treat, hit the shower, and then made dinner. I probably would have been happy to have 4 more glasses of Muscle Milk instead, but that doesn't make for the most balanced meal.

Time: 35:28
Distance: 3.40 miles
Pace: 10:25/mile
Calories: 474
Maximum HR: 189
Average HR: 176

I Guess They Really Meant New Exercises

This morning I set my alarm in order to get up and go running with Terrier. But somehow the idea of getting up at 5:15 and going running outside in the cold wasn't that appealing. I know I should have taken advantage of today as it was actually warmer than it has been previously, but somehow I just wasn't in the mood. I did, however, manage to get up and head off to the gymnasium with Drew a little bit later on in the morning.

This week's weight lifting is called "Adding New Exercises". I wrongly assumed on Sunday that I had learned the new exercises for the week. When I opened the book this morning, you can imagine my surprise that there were in fact other new exercises for me to learn. I guess they weren't kidding when they said that we'd be adding new exercises.

This is what I did:

Dumbbell Curls: 1 set of 15 reps @ 10 lbs (per arm) / 1 set of 15 reps @ 12.5 lbs (per arm)
Side Lateral Raises: 2 sets of 15 reps @ 5 lbs (per arm)
Dumbbell Bench Press: 2 sets of 15 reps @ 15 lbs (per arm)
Calf Raises: 2 sets of 15 reps @ 100 lbs
Leg Extensions: 1 set of 15 reps @ 60 lbs / 1 set of 15 reps @ 65 lbs
Leg Curls: 2 sets of 15 reps @ 20 lbs (per leg)
Ab Bench Crunches: 2 sets of 20 reps

Luckily, the new exercises for today: dumbbell curls, side lateral raises and calf raises weren't anything too new, but I did look at the book's instructions for all three to make sure I was using the proper form.

After finishing up my weight lifting, I headed over to the cardio area. I'm still on treadmill protest and I was really hoping to do the stair mill. I walked over there and saw that both the stair mills were occupied, so I set up on an elliptical. I had done about 3 minutes before I realized that one of the stair mills had been vacated, so I hurried over and jumped on before anyone else could! I'm reading the new Dan Brown book and while I don't think it's a classic, it certainly is entertaining, and kept me going at the gym today, which I think is the point.

I did a quick half an hour of stair climbing on speed interval level 9 before getting off to stretch and head home to get ready for work. I think that level 9 is a new record for me, so that's exciting! I was really sweaty when I was done, but I wasn't that tired, so that seems like a good sign. Drew really wants to compete in the Empire State Building Stair Climb in 2010. Maybe I should try it too?

Weight Lifting
Time: 30:03

Stair Mill
Distance: 2.73 miles
Time: 30:00
Pace: 10:59/mile
Calories: 277*

*Again, I forgot my HR monitor. Well, that's not 100% true. I remembered to wear the strap, but forgot to wear the watch that ties it all together and records the data! Oops!

Reading And Not Running

Today Drew and I were guilty of sleeping in this morning, which meant only one thing. That I'd have to workout after work. I actually always feel bad falling back asleep in the morning because I know that then the fact that I haven't worked out will be hanging over my head all day long. Luckily, I seem to be able to guilt myself into going to the gymnasium in the evening, so it's working out okay so far. I'd still rather get it done in the morning.

Drew left work really early today and headed to the gym. I headed home when I was done with work and changed quickly and then got myself to the gym. He was just finishing up his lifting and was about to do a second session of cardio, so we headed over to check out the machinery. I decided that the treadmill has left me really frustrated recently, so I avoided it today. Plus, Drew finally finished the new Dan Brown book, so I was anxious to start reading it, which I can't do while running.

We got elliptical machines next to each other and chatted about our days and read our books. We were on different machines, even though they were both Precor machines. I did the "cross country" setting and Drew did the "variety" setting. He then pushed up the resistance and the cross ramp to the maximum, so he didn't have too much variety. I really like going really hard for a while and then having an easier setting as a little break for my legs. It totally gives me something to strive for.

We finished up with some quick stretching. I think we were both anxious to get home and have dinner that we sort-of rushed through. My hamstrings are tighter than usual from my leg curls from yesterday and rushing through the stretching didn't help matters any. I'll try to make up for it later. I've been wanting to do more yoga and I'm thinking that I'm really going to commit myself to doing it more next week. Something to look forward to!

Time: 45:00
Distance: 4.74
Pace: 9:24/mile
Calories: 494*

*The calories for today are from the elliptical machine. I forgot to wear my HR monitor again, so I'm just going to use these numbers even though it's probably a little skewed.

I Saw My Tricep

This morning I headed off to the gym to start Week 3 of my Weight Training Program. I'm really enjoying it so far. This week introduced some new exercises, so I wanted to start on the weekend so that I would have more time to try out the new exercises.

This is what I did:

Lat Pulldown (triangle bar): 1 set of 15 @ 60 lbs / 1 set of 12 @ 70 lbs
Tricep Pushdowns: 1 set of 12 @ 35 lbs / 1 set of 15 @ 30 lbs
Leg Extensions: 1 set of 15 @ 60 lbs / 1 set of 15 @ 65 lbs
Leg Curls: 1 set of 15 @ 20 lbs / 1 set of 15 @ 25 lbs
Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 1 set of 15 @ 12.5 lbs (per arm) / 1 set of 12 @ 12.5 lbs
Ab Bench Crunches: 2 sets of 15

The lat pulldowns that I was doing before were the traditional wide grip pulldowns and this one used the triangle bar. Not too different, although I guess this just must work a different part of my back (Drew says the middle). This week I am supposed to try to do shorter reps of more challenging weight for the two exercises I've done before: lat pulldowns and shoulder presses, which I tried to do.

The tricep pushdowns did not go well. I wanted to use the lat pulldown machine because that's what is illustrated in my book and I'm comfortable with it and Drew showed me a different machine to use. We did the first set using Drew's machine and I had a hard time keeping the correct form. I also didn't really understand the weights because I apparenly was lifting 35 pounds, but the weight plates said I was lifting 70 pounds. I am trying to be more comfortable in the boy area, but my discomfort with the unknown of this new machine and all of its complicated parts made me a little frustrated. We ended up doing the second set on the lat pulldown machine with a regular bar and that was a lot easier for me. Drew even showed me how my tricep looked in the mirror, which was pretty cool!

The rest of the workout was good. We used the single leg curl machine instead of the double leg curl machine, so the weight listed above is the weight for one leg only. Drew and I both like the single leg machine better, but I can see that if I was rushing, I'd want to do fewer sets and would probably use the double leg machine.

The ab bench crunches are done on the decline bench. I really concentrated on keeping my abs scooped like I learned from pilates while I was doing the crunches. When Drew got on the bench, I accused him of cheating because ususally core work is a little easier for me and he whipped right through those crunches!

I ended up not doing any cardio at the gym. I was originally thinking of going to the Terrier swim, but when the time rolled around, I wasn't in the mood to (a) wake up from my nap, (b) go outside in the rain, and (c) have the potential to have no coach again like last week. I forgot to wear my heart-rate monitor to the gym, so I don't have any fancy stats for the day, so it was just a bit of an old school day at the gymnasium.

Let's See What We're Working With

This morning Drew and I got up early and headed over to the NYSC to go swimming. While he knows how to swim I don't think he'd be too upset for me to say that he's not the best at it. He had told me that over the winter he'd really like to try to go swimming a few more times, so today was our first shot.

We got in the water and Drew just looked at me and said, "Okay, what do I do?" I told him that he should just swim a little ways so that I could see what we were working with. He swam about half-way down the lane before stopping, which was enough for me to see that he could be a decent water polo swimmer, but maybe isn't the best at putting his head into the water and breathing to the side.

I'd say that the biggest thing for him to work on is the fact that he likes to pull his head straight up and then roll to his side rather than just rolling to the side. He said that he feels like he doesn't get a big enough breath if he just rolls to the side. I tried explaining that he should stay rolled until he feels like he's gotten enough air, which he definitely tried, but I'm not sure he's quite got the hang of it yet. I also think that part of the problem might be that he's not exhaling enough, so I suggested that he blow out his nose, which I think he tried, but that's harder for me to see.

The entire time (other than the first little bit) I had Drew use a pull buoy because he's a bit of a sinker, so that helped keep his hips up and without kicking, it was one less thing for him to have to worry about. I do think that he got better by the end of our half an hour in the pool. I don't think that he'll win any races anytime soon, but in general, his arm form looks pretty good. If we could just tie in the breathing, I think he'd actually be good.

I didn't get much of a workout in (I spent a lot of time doggy paddling behind him watching his form), but I was 100% okay with that. Sometimes it's nice to just be able to have fun and share this whole triathlon thing with someone else.