Monday, December 20, 2010

Monday Monday

Visit to the Cardiologist was fine. See I was all stressed out for nothing. He's going to review the echo in depth and call me if there are any problem. But from the examine today he says he can't foresee any problems.

I did a 3 mile treadmill run this morning. OMG it felt so good. I could have gone on for another 3 miles but I'm sticking to the doctor's orders. I finished the run in 31:52/10:35 pace, I'll take it. My new mantra: Speed will come - Distance will come - be patience.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Full of nerves.....but I will be strong

I haven't mentioned it here but I have a heart condition, congestive heart failure is what they call it. I collect fluid around my heart and the left ventricle doesn't function at the proper rate. I go to the cardiologist twice a year and have an annual echo cardiograph. The last two times I had an echo the function rate has decreased. This is baffling my doctors because nothing in my lifestyle has really changed.

So I'm kind of nervous about the echo scheduled for tomorrow. I have this theory in my head (it's probably wrong) that my running has been the thing that keeps my illness in check. Well for the last month I haven't been running and I feel off. Rationally I know it's all in my head but I can't help thinking -- No Run = Being Sick.

What a piece of work I am. I'm such an alarmist but at least I can come here to vent. I really can't talk to anyone IRL about how I feel because I have to be the strong one. Just wanted to get that off my chest, it helped.

Friday, December 17, 2010

All Clear....sort of

I went to the Orthopedics specialist about my knee and shoulder yesterday.

Rant - I was in the waiting room for an hour and 15 minutes. It was like old home week. these people acted like they knew each other. Talking about everything from work to children to government services. Also everyone in there (and I know this because they said it) was there for a Workmen's Comp cases. Seemed strange. I also waited an additional 30 minutes in the exam room. GRRRRR

The doctor said that my knee cap was bruised from where I landed on it when I jumped off of the bike. He prescribed an anti-inflammatory and physical therapy. He clear me to run but only on the treadmill. I am also to cut my distance in half and increase as it feels comfortable. He felt the pounding on the pavement would aggravate the injury, so no outside running. I'm also supposed to stay away from lunges and squats. Glad I finished the challenge. He didn't say how long I'd be relegated to the treadmill but I see him again on 1/20.

The injury to my shoulder look like a strained rotator cup. He said I was lucky it wasn't torn and prescribed physical therapy for that too. I suppose to limit my lifting weights and use the resistant machines not free weights. I going to have to discuss this with Trainer Larry so I can get a new lifting program.

Well that's where I am. At least I can run. I am happy.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Warrior Princess

I DID IT!!!!!

I completed the warrior challenge at the gym. We started with 27 people and only 4 completed it. Challenge #6 and #1 were the toughest. I made my mistake by missing 2 and making them up at the end, back-to-back. And I did my regular early morning cardio too. I'm not crazy I'm just a little unwell.

The deadline for the challenge is next Monday and there is still 2 people trying to finish. I'm surely cheering them on, misery loves company.....I mean I really want them to join me in the winners circle.

So what does 24 days of warrior torture get me, A DAMN T-SHIRT. Trainer Larry says that it'll be special because only the elite members will have them. Whatever, is it solid gold. I deserve a whole track suit and matching sneakers for what I've been through. LOL

I am truly on cloud nine about this. I really pushed myself, even though I wanted to quit more than a few times. So pat myself on the back and move forward to the next set of challenges. I will be on a relay team for a triathlon in June. Going to do the run segment which is a 5K. I see a lot more races in my future, with clearance from the Dr. By the way the appointment for my knee is tomorrow hopefully he will tell me something good.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Warrior Challenge #6

I survived. First of all I did a treadmill run this morning. I know I haven't seen the doctor about my knee yet but I just could not take it anymore. I kept the pace slowish running 3 miles in 34 minutes which is around a 11:35 pace. It felt good to run and I only had a couple of twinges while I ran, I just adjusted my stride and kept going.

At lunchtime I went to the gym to do Warrior challenge #6. Gym buddy and I decided that we'd do the challenge at 11:30, which since a class was being held in the aerobic room we had to do the workout in the equipment room. IN FRONT OF EVERYBODY! Trainer Larry had 20 program written and you just choose a number and that's your workout. I selected 25 kettlebell jump squats with a 26lb bell and 25 squat/thrust and jumps for 10 rounds.

I tried to go as far in the back of the equipment room as possible but with all the mirrors I was still in full view and they were all watching. I ignored the people around me and just did it. Man by round 6 i felt like I was going to throw up but I kept going. At one point this one guy came up to me and asked if I was being punished for something, because that's the only he could see someone doing those exercises for that long. By time I got to round 8 I had people around me cheering for me and counting down. This was awesome, I got my second wind and knew I could do this. On the last 10 squat/thrust&jumps we all counted out loud. And it was done.

Now I have to look forward to tomorrow. I have a make up challenge #1, my understanding from other is it's pretty tough too but not like #6. I'm so sore now. Sitting at my desk all afternoon did not help. I've tiger balmed my shoulder and I'm icing both knees. Tomorrow morning I spending time with my Arc Trainer.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Up Again.

Oh surprise surprise, I'm up 8 pounds overnight. I know what this is, it happens every month, should have seen this coming I've been craving sweets for the last week. Just about getting sick of TOM causing me a weight gain every month. It's so frustrating to gain and loss the same 10 pounds over and over again. The stupid depression will set in next. I know I shouldn't get sad about this but I do.

I have a really tough workout week coming up. I've been told that the 6th card challenge is a killer and I'm up for that on Monday. I also have two make-up challenges to do and 3 more band levels. This on top of my regular classes at the gym and my strength training should keep me pretty busy.

Okay finished ranting about the weight. I will not be getting on the again to next week when the bloat should be gone. I also need to be mindful of my food intake and not give in to the cravings for sweets. I ready for this week.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

The Warrior Card Challenge

For the past couple of weeks I've been participating and a challenge at the work gym. The challenge is for 24 days/every 4 day we play the card game. The trainer pick 4 exercises, one for each suit in a deck of cards and we do the exercise however many times the face value. The Big Joker is 50 burpees and the little joker is 40 explosive pushups. Hold up I have to write this out because it's hard to explain.

Day 1 Jump Rope - 2 minutes, 1 Pullup
Day 2 Jump Rope - 4 minutes Squats - set x 25 reps
Day 3 Jump Rope - 6 minutes, Pushups - 1 set x 25 reps
Day 4 White Band Warrior Card Game #1 (30 min)
Day 5 Run .50 mile, Squats - 1 set x 50 reps
Day 6 Run .75 mile, 3 Pullups
Day 7 Run 1 mile, Pushups - 1 set x 50 reps
Day 8 Yellow Band Warrior Card Game #2 (30 min)
Day 9 Jump Rope - 4 minutes, 5 Pullups
Day 10 Jump Rope - 8 minutes, Squats - 1 set x 75 reps
Day 11 Jump Rope - 12 minutes, Pushups - 1 set x 75 reps
Day 12 Green Band Warrior Card Game #3 (30 min)
Day 13 Run 1.75 miles, Squats - 1 set x 100 reps
Day 14 Run 1.75 miles, Push-ups - 1 set x 100 reps
Day 15 Run 1.75 miles, 7 Pull-ups
Day 16 Orange Band Warrior Card Game #4 (30 min)
Day 17 Jump rope - 8 minutes, Squat, Thrust & Jump - 8 minutes
Day 18 Jump rope - 16 minutes, Squat, Thrust & Jump - 16 minutes
Day 19 Jump rope - 24 minutes, Squat, Thrust & Jump - 24 minutes
Day 20 Blue Band Warrior Card Game #5 (30 min)
Day 21 Run .25 mile & 10 Burpees - 5 sets
Day 22 Run .25 mile, & walking pushups - 5 sets
Day 23 Run .25 mile, rest 1 minute - 10 sets
Day 24 Black Band Warrior Card Game #6 (30 min)

When we started this challenge 20 people signed up, the trainers said that the people that weren't serious would be weeded out. Today we did Card Game #5 there were 4 people there. The reason I wrote the whole thing out is I want to remember this challenge and what I went thru for a damn tshirts. As on of the participates teenage kid told us "you know that sell tshirts at the store, right?" Smart kid.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

I suck.....

I suck at taking care of myself. I've been so concerned about my knee and when I will see the doctor so that I can run again. I seem to forget that I have a heart condition and really need to stay on top of medicine. I just remembered that I have an appointment sometime this month. I must call the doctor's office to find out when. Also I've been slacking on taking my medicine. So maybe that's the reason I'm so tired at the end of the day, I've been blaming my workouts.

I also suck because I hurt my gym buddies feelings today. It wasn't intentional see we were joking around as usual and I said something about her not coming to the gym lately. She was just the other day complaining about how she couldn't get out of the office to come to classes. Foot in mouth disease, I saw her whole face drop. Damn I wanted to cry, I try to be super supportive then I turn around and say something stupid. I hope she knows I there for her and I have her back, even though I can be a jerk.

Hopefully the suckitivity will go away and I'll be this really awesome person or at least normal.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

How to Act in the Gym or Not

I belong to two gyms. The work gym I've been going to for the past 5 years and the home gym for about 4 months. A few things have happened to me at both gym that make me question what gym etiquette is. Here's some example of the thing I experience:

- I had just finished doing leg raises with the stability ball at the work gym, older guy says something about them being good for my abs. I'm all like yeah I working on it and then he reaches over and touches my stomach. Inappropriate

- In the shower room after my morning workout getting dressed for work. Older lady starts to talk to me about department politics. I'm kind of in a rush but try to be polite, make my excuses and enter the shower. And she keeps talking while I'm trying to take my shower, dry off, get dressed and fix my hair. Arkward

- Going through my strength training workout on the cable machine. Guy has set up all four stations of the machine with his weight needs. When I good to use a station he just finished, he states that he's using it. I go to another station and he says he's using that one too. He suggests that I come back in 20 minutes when he'll be finished with the weights. Rude

- During my boxing I'm informed by a follow student how to perform a move, totally different from the way the instructor has told me. Confused

These are just some of the examples of things that happened to me at the gym. I try so hard practice gym etiquette: don't invade other's personal, no unsolicited advice, don't hog the machines you can only use one at a time and keep your hand to yourself (unless the other person wants you to touch them).

Did I miss anything?

Friday, December 3, 2010

Work It Out

That's what I've been trying to doing for the past couple of weeks/months/years. Where is is getting me, shoulder shrug. The same 10 lbs up and down the scale. Will I ever hit goal? Hell what am I doing wrong.

I tend to go from one extreme to another. I eat too little or I eat too much. I trying to remember how I lost the weight to begin with. Damn I should have been journalling from the beginning. Now I know why people say it's important to document. Hind sight IS 20/20 vision.

Portion control doesn't work if you eat the wrong types of food, I know.
Eating strictly healthy meals don't work if you skip most of them, I know.
Eating an only candy diet doesn't work, I KNOW.
I lucky I'm about to maintain.

So what next? I'm tired but I have to keep fighting the fight. I can't go back to where I was. So I keep pushing on, I'm gonna find my groove, my spot, what works for me. It's out there, I did it before and I'll do it again. Watch!