Pump You Up: The Fitness Thread

[Foomatic]

Shel - It does suck, when a lot of effort produces small results. I've fought the urge to just abandon what I've been doing, but I'm trying to stay the course. Right now I am completely in love with Hope Solo, cause hello, she's gorgeous, but what I really want is a body like hers. I've got a wallpaper of her up on my desktop, and seeing it keeps me motivated.

I had my recovery week last week, which was mostly cardio, no weights, and now I'm on Phase II, which is a different set of weight training exercises. The cardio and yoga moves seem a lot easier this week, maybe cause my muscles have been well rested, but I definitely feel stronger. When I started I could only pump out 3 push ups, I'm up to 8, 10 if I really push myself.

I saw a little change in my before and after pics; my back fat rolls are gone, heh. Waist looks smaller and I don't think I can pass as pregnant anymore.

[Foomatic]

Holy crap. Tonight was shoulders, chest, and triceps. I don't think I've done that many push ups or variation of push ups ever. My arms are noodles.

[faolan228]

A lot of it is genetics, too. I'm a tiny Filipino, so weight loss has never really been much of a problem for me, except in certain areas. I do, however, have the suckiest endurance ever. I can't run for shit, which is awful because I'm 17 and that is sad, and I hope to start on that real soon. Other than that, I'm in pretty good shape.

Mondays - Elevated push-ups, bench presses, suspended crunches
Tuesdays - Squats, heel raises, 2 hour martial arts class
Wednesday - Pull-ups, suspended crunches, emphasis on back muscles
Thursday - Reverse crunches, weights, another martial arts class
Friday - Squats, heel raises, and Insanities
Saturday - Take a hike or something
Sunday - Carry the laundry up and down the stairs, depending on how many loads need to be done that day lol

My mother's Filipino genes mean that any weight I'll gain goes directly to my arms and upper back, hence the heavy emphasis on those areas. My dad's Israeli, but that has done little except prove that both races are insane and I was probably bred to kill something.

I've been fighting for about 10 years now. Karate, Aikido, Escrima, and I'm currently doing Krav Maga. Those are probably what have kept me the most in shape.

My goal: Run more than 2 miles before coughing up a lung.

[JustSkipIt]

faolan - Wow and wow. You sound like you're in incredible shape.

I've been slacking on my runs lately. Not terribly but basically running 1x a week plus the weekend one rather than 2x a week plus the weekend one. Also a walk or 2 a week but not enough running. Today I went back to bed. I just feel exhausted. R and I are sort of stressed/fighting or whatever and we went to Houston this weekend which was stressful and then driving back sat in a long traffic jam. Of course, since the traffic jam was created by traffic detoured or evacuated because of the fires, I can't complain about that. Anyway... tired.

I did do my 800m repeats this weekend and they went great. I did 10 and did them all in under my goal time. When I did 6 I could do 4 comfortably, when I did 8 I could do 6 comfortably... This time I had no real trouble with any of them. My HM is about 5 weeks away.

[faolan228]

Ran five miles yesterday. Only stopped like, twice. But since it's in the 90's over here, I'm gonna call that a technicality. Can't wait til it's winter and things cool down here. I can't jog at night, that's how horror movies happen.

Thinking about making the switch from white rice to brown rice. My other options are basmati, or that weird rice that turns purple when you cook it. Any advice?

[JustSkipIt]

faolan - Wow. You ran 5 miles without stopping but 2x? That's pretty fantastic. I actually follow a method that has all runners take regular walk breaks. Like even if you're a marathoner and trying to qualify for Boston, you'd take regular walk breaks. You basically run longer without walk breaks if you're faster and less if you're slower.

Anyway... I love brown rice. I make it in a vegetable steamer. I also throw in some lentils to add protein.

Where are you that it's 90s?

[faolan228]

I stop every mile and a half to die a little bit. My school's PE classes made us run about three miles a week, but I completed all my credits so my running this year is purely for training's sake. Walk breaks never occurred to me, so thanks for that.

I'm from California, where 60 degrees is considered cold and it'll be about 79 on Christmas.

[sweet satin lover]

I am going to the gym today havent been as recently as I would have liked as I usually go three or 4 times a week

[CrazyTaraWitch]

I ran for about 40 minutes today, not really a proper run cause it was just inside, mostly running in place, cause I spazzed this morning and couldn't get myself going before it was hot out. Based on my training schedule I'm not supposed to run on Saturdays (you're supposed to rest the day before a long run), but I've had so little running lately I felt like I really needed it. 40 minutes isn't long and I didn't feel it after, so I think I'll be fine to run tomorrow. Last Monday I ran a little over 5 miles in about an hour, which was pretty good speed for me but not nearly long enough as it was meant to be my long run for last weekend. Tomorrow I'm aiming for 9-10 miles, which will be the most I've done in weeks. With the half-marathon only 4 weeks away I'm starting to realize how behind I've gotten in my training the last month. Time to start catching up!

[JustSkipIt]

faolan - Jas, Shel, and I are in Texas so while I respect the weather in California, I don't think you have anything on us in terms of too damn hot.

SSL - Cool.

Jas - I'm so glad to hear that. I posted on your FB wall to ask if you were still planning to train and race but this is the first I heard. Woo hoo!

I did a 15 mile run today. Yes, 15 miles. The running was pretty good. Awesome even. Unfortunately last night I smashed my toe (on my right foot) on a plant and it's totally bruised up. Like fucking purple. Also, it bled it hit it so hard. And this morning while running, I actually fell. It was my first time to fall in the year and a half that I've been running. I hit a seam in the sidewalk and started to fall and tried to catch myself. When I realized I couldn't, I tried to aim for the grass. I hit both palms, skinned my knee, bruised below my knee, and hit my forearm on the edge of the sidewalk/grass. The forearm is the worst with a big gooseegg. The good news - that was 3.5 miles in and I kept going. Oh, also I got a blister on my left foot while running.

Anyway, I did the first 2 hours or more at a 90 second run/60 second walk. Then dropped to 60/60. I'm somewhat sore but the bruises and blisters are worse. It was awesome!

Again, anyone can friend me on daily mile to see all the boring details of all my runs...

[CrazyTaraWitch]

Deb- I replied to the post on my wall, but I guess it must have gotten lost in the land of facebook. That happens to me a lot. By the way, that run is incredible and I am deeply impressed.

As for me, I slept through all 3 of my alarms this morning (cause my sleep schedule has been extremely out of whack) and didn't wake up until nearly 10 by which time it was way too late for the 2 hour run I'd been planning, so I put it off until this evening. Due to a family thing I didn't get going as early as I'd hoped, and I wanted to be done by 10 so that I might be able to get to sleep at a reasonable hour, so I only ran for about an hour. 5.1 miles in all, at 12:53 with a 90/30 run/walk ratio. Pretty good run me on speed, but still not the long run I need. I'm hoping I can get running early enough Tuesday night to do the long run I had planned for today, but it's hard to have a 2-hour block during the week.

[Foomatic]

Stopped with the diet and exercise for two weeks. I had an intense ladder and pole climbing training session with some new hires on a crazy hot week (hence the facebook pics of my facial farmer's tan) that took a lot out of me so no energy for working out, and last week I was in Minnesota training all week, with a $50 food stipend a day and local brewco's all over the place that I just had to try. The kicker? I LOST 5 POUNDS. WTF?

I'm trying to get back in the swing of things this week. It's taking a bit more effort than before. I have to adjust to being back at work here and getting my classes in order for the week, and time constraints are affecting when I eat. I know, no excuses. Just felt like bitching a little here. I did, however, workout tonight, as much as I didn't want to.

[JustSkipIt]

Foo - I frequently find it like that. A week where you do everything right, no change and one with no effort, you lose. I guess it evens out...

[JustSkipIt]

I had a pretty lame workout week. The first part of the week I was sore from a blister from my long run, falling during said long run, and the toe that I smashed the night before the long run. More so, I was just tired every morning. Multiple days I got up and went back to bed. One day I actually dressed to run and then changed back into PJs and went back to bed.

Friday - when I realized that the family was still at a playdate, I got dressed very fast to go for a walk after work. My wife literally called as I hit the start button on RunKeeper so the walk ended up being about 12 minutes. Saturday the wife and I took an hour hike on my "birthday date". Then today I did my 800m repeats. It was 12 and I have to say that they have gotten easier every 2 weeks although they keep increasing. The goal was to do them in 5:50 apiece and I think they ranged from 5:06 to 5:30 with most of them around 5:10 or 5:15. It was a total of 8.5 miles today including the repeats, warm-up, warm-down etc. I want to make a better week of it this week.

[JustSkipIt]

I had a pretty good workout week this week. I walked 2 days and ran 2 days so I got up 4 out of 5 weekday mornings at 5:00 or before. Tomorrow my run is scheduled for 17 but I think I'm going to run between 13 and 14. I just can't see why I need to do a 17 mile run to get ready for a 13.1 mile run in 2 weeks. I figure if I run more than 13.5, I'm golden. The wife and I just finished ripping up the carpet in the art room and scraping paint for hours so hopefully I won't be too exhausted to run. Actually we did the master bedroom the weekend of my 13 mile run (4 weeks ago). it seems like a trend.

[JustSkipIt]

My half-marathon is this coming Sunday. Right now I'm in "taper" week which means light. I ran today only 45 minutes, I'll run Thursday, walk Friday, and then the race. My goal is to do it in 2:35 - 2:40 which would be a 10-15 minute improvement from my first and only HM last February. I feel relatively well prepared. I sort of convinced Jas to to it too back when Zozi was having a special so I think it will be her first HM. I'll pick her up on my way there so that will be the first time to meet that kitten.

I'm pretty sure that Watty will be running the Chicago Marathon the same day so go Watty!

[Zooeys_Bridge]

Ran 5.29 miles in an hour today! Took a small detour in the woods. Saw someone carve into a tree "and the forest will be filled with laughter" it made me smile. And the best part is, I could have kept going, still! While I was in the middle though, these two women popped out of nowhere. And while my pacing is like a hundred times better than it used to be, I couldn't keep up with them! They zip zoomed and I felt like a turtle with no more breath or speed. Still happy for my accomplishments, though. Got a Spibelt for my phone, tissues (its getting cold out!), and new FitBit! Cute little bugger. Going to miss running outside a lot when it gets too cold :(

[JustSkipIt]

Rach - That's awesome and awesome pace. Please join dailymile. It's a cool site to record your runs or other workouts and interact with people who care about that sort of thing (like me). Friend me on there if you join.

My half-marathon should have been today. I woke up about 4:30 and got up and showered and ate. The entire time I could hear rain and thunder. We have had no rain for months and months and months. But this was.... not like a little rain. Like I could not see my car from my front window. I got entirely ready and stood there trying to figure out if I should go or wimp out. I thought about waking up (my) Rachel but was worried about waking her at 5:30. As I was standing there she woke up on her own and said what was I doing. So we sat and tweeted with folks until the race was cancelled around 6:05. I had said that to make it down there I would have to leave home by 6:15 (7:00 start). I feel very disappointed about it but also very happy for the rain. I did the training and know I was ready. I wanted to run 12:00 miles or about 2:37 which would have been a big improvement. There was a lot of back and forth on e-mail, tweeting, fb with the organizers about why it was cancelled (by the police & EMS), why no refunds (always the policy that we agreed to when signing up) and why no medals (because we didn't finish - they were donated to an organization). The organizers actually organized a reception chocolate and campaign reception but I didn't head down there. People could go and eat and such and pick up their packets. I got everything but the T-shirt that I missed when I did packet pickup yesterday.

Anyway... waited for weather and eating and taking the kids to Target for some new clothes and then headed out this afternoon. I did a 10K (plus warm up/down). I pushed pretty hard for a normal run (in light lovely rain) for me and did it in 11:38 or 11:48 or something per mile so that's better than my HM target pace but I don't know that I could have maintained it for 13.1 miles rather than 6.2. I'm undecided on my next thing. I'm doing the Livestrong Austin Half in February but don't know if I want to do another.

[Füchsin]

I realised yesterday that i lost 14 kilo (that are 28 pound, right? ^^) in two years.
An hour power walking six times a week plus the low carb thingy.

So thanks to the lovely Kittens! 'Cause reading this thread helped me to keep up

[JustSkipIt]

Fuchsin - Wow! That's great. Congratulations. What defines power walking? Is that a physical walking style or more related to the effort and speed?

I'm in between training programs for my last (cancelled) half-marathon and my next (February 19th) half-marathon. I'll probably start a training program for the next one around the beginning of December. In the meantime, I'm running 3-4 days a week. I did 9 mile runs 2 of the last three weeks on the weekend but only 7 last weekend. This weekend I'm thinking of doing a 10 mile run. In October I did 84? 87? miles. Something like that.

Anyway...

My wife got very serious about her weight a few months ago. She downloaded this free Android app called Noom and has been religiously tracking her food and started hula hooping every day. As of today she's lost 23 pounds. She wants to lose 20 or 25 more but she is looking and feeling better so I'm really proud of her

[JustSkipIt]

Yesterday the family went on a long play date so I went running. I went to the hiking park and trail ran two hours. It was none miles which I think is equal to about 10 or 11 on the street. Wonderful.

[JustSkipIt]

I started in on my Half Marathon training plan today. I've just been doing maintenance runs (around 20-22 miles a week) until now but now my plan showed a 9 mile run for today. Since I've been doing 9-10 mile runs most weekends since my last race was cancelled, I just planned to step into the plan this week. So I did. Run Tuesday, run Thursday, and Long run today. I ended up going 9.5 miles and part of what amazes me is that 2 years ago I didn't run at all. Now between the experience and the fact that I'm doing a run/walk, doing a 9 mile run is basically a matter of getting dressed and telling my wife I'll be gone 2 hours. I didn't wonder if I could do it or if I would make it. I just did it. It was quite awesome. When I got back I posted on Facebook that I had run 9 miles and asked anyone who wanted to sponsor me for $9 ($1 per mile). I got one $25 donation (for Team Livestrong) from a friend.

[JustSkipIt]

I ran a mile in under 10:00 today for the first time ever. I know for a lot of people that wouldn't be a big deal but to me it was big. It took me 9:52 and I actually ran 1776 yards because the track was 444 yards rather than 440. So maybe the mile took me 9:45?

[JustSkipIt]

In 2011 I ran/walked a little over 960 miles including my first half-marathon.

In 2012 my goal is to run/walk 1100 miles and finish a half-marathon in 2:35.

[JustSkipIt]

I did my 13 mile long run on Sunday. Actually including walking warm up and down it was nearer to 14. It was the hardest 14 miles I've ever done (probably gone that long 4-5 times before). I did 1 minute running, 1 minute walking and was sore after 2 miles. Still, I kept with it. Even though it was hard, I realized that I finished 13.2 miles in 2:52. Last year when I did my half marathon on race day I did 13.1 miles in 2:50 so this was about the same pace and I wasn't racing.

[faolan228]

Welp, found the right incentive to keep up with the running!

Did a quite a bit of hiking and exploring over the winter break, so my legs and back have gotten just a tad bit stronger, I reckon. Had friendly sparring match with a friend today, and was good-sore afterwards. Looking to be another great year ladies!

[JustSkipIt]

I got hooked on the plankaday thing at the beginning of the year. I've missed two days just from forgetting and did an extra the next day for each of those days. I even remembered to plank before my run on Thursday since I was going to donate blood and knew I couldn't plank after. Today I am trying to do the plankanhour challenge - a 1 minute plank every hour from 8-8. I've done 5 so far so I still have 7 to go.

Katie is giving me shit but my core already feels stronger.

Running 800 repeats tomorrow!

[JustSkipIt]

I posted on FB yesterday that if I got a $25 donation for Team Livestrong, I would do the plankanhour challenge (see above) so I'm 4/12 through it today!

[CrazyTaraWitch]

The last couple months of 2011 I barely ran at all, so when the new year started I decided to start running more. I did well for about 2 weeks until I got sick, and today was my first run since. I only went about 2.75 miles, but it's a start. I'm hoping for another short run tomorrow and at least one during the week.

[JustSkipIt]

Jas - Way to go. If you want a forum to report your running and get and give motivation, join dailymile.com. It's very cool.