sexy back: week 2 of running program

when i first looked back at my week yesterday, i was discouraged. i felt like i didn't do enough, and i missed too many walk/runs. but now that i think about it, i did plenty. i think i was on the verge of overtraining, and the diarrhea early in the week didn't help. but shit happens. you just wipe your ass, flush, wash your hands, and move on. 

here is the breakdown of my week of training.

MONDAY

phase 2 workout (4 minutes walk, 1 minute run, repeated 5 times). at 6am when i first headed out, it was overcast and drizzling. within 5 minutes, it was POURING. but even though i sometimes couldn't see a thing, it was a warm rain and it felt AWESOME. when i was done, i stopped in on my mother and had a coffee with her. 
the rest of the day, i had SO MUCH fucking energy, it was unreal! I went for a 20 minute walk with my brother later in the day to go weigh myself again. i wouldn't have believed it if it hadn't happened once before... but in 1 WEEK, i lost 14.1lbs!! NO BULL. ok, so i know a lot of it would have been water weight, since i was bloated as hell and on my period last week.. but STILL, i know some of that was due to hard work, and a cleaned up diet. 
as soon as i got home from that, BF showed me a bit of muay thai kickboxing with the focus pads and mma gloves i got him for his birthday last month. that was fucking FUN!! got a good 40 minutes in, great workout!! 

TUESDAY
this day wasn't too good at all. first, my alarm didn't go off. dastardly thing. THEN, as if that wasn't enough, i had explosive diarrhea ALL.FUCKING.DAY. yeah, not exactly the best condition to be in to go running about. so i spent the majority of the day on the couch and in the bathroom. 

WEDNESDAY
tummy is still kind of gross. BF didn't think i should do anything today either, and i actually listened to his advice. went for my morning walk, but only for 15 minutes. after resting for the morning, i cleaned the floors and stuff. 

THURSDAY
feeling much better today.. tummy-wise at least. started out at 6:30am for a run, but my ankle and knee started paining right away. AGAIN, i had to cut it down to just a walk. decided to do the oxygen circuit later in the afternoon, but i modified it to lessen any impact on my ankle and knee. 


FRIDAY
i woke up very exhausted. it took me a good hour to come around enough to start my morning cleaning routine. i had meant to run today too, but i just feel so worn out. i was a little discouraged early in the day because i didn't do all of my runs this week. i feel better now though, and i will do the phase 2 workout again next week. i'm going to take the weekend off, but i will still be doing A LOT of stuff. i have a lot of yard work, re-organizing, and things to move around. 
i'm definitely looking forward to monday!! let's just hope my ankle and knee cooperate!

sexy back: week 1 of running program

i'm so fucking done with the everyday fitness blogs. it's too much. i mean, i liked it at first, but most days there is just not enough hours. and spring has finally showed its face up here in canada, so the less time i spend pounding away at the old keyboard when i could be enjoying the great outdoors, the better. 


that being said, i still want to document my journey. so i will be doing a weekly post rather than daily. easier for me, less for you to read. this will be the first, and it is for last week, which was week 1 of my new running program after coming back from the ankle injury. after this, you can look forward to a new post every friday or saturday. please, try to contain your excitement. i know these blogs must have you on the edge of your fucking seat. so here we go with week 1.

MONDAY
up at 6am for a 30 minute walk. it was gorgeous, and i had a hard time not running. but i don't want to aggravate my bitch of an ankle, so that kept me in check. 
i had intended to do the oxygen circuit later, but it turned out to be a crazy busy day. after i came back from my morning walk and the boys were off to school, i had to pack up baby and take her with me down to the health center to weigh myself. walking both ways, of course. it took about 40 minutes, there and back. after some relaxing at home, i was getting ready to work out. little bro showed up after school and wanted to take the boys to the store. of course, he asked them before asking ME, and all of a sudden it was 4 against 1. so i HAD to take them. no big deal, except that it took a couple hours and 3 or 4 tantrums from baby to get them all there, get their treats, and get them all back home. then of course, we had to play in the yard. i was totally exhausted by the end of the day. no circuit.


TUESDAY
dragging ass, but went for my morning walk anyway. after sending boys off to school, i had to make another journey to the health center with baby, but this time for needles. then to the store to console her with treats. again, i had every intention of doing my circuit today, as tired as i was, but it didn't happen. we had to go get groceries in the afternoon, and i got myself a new pair of running shoes. exhausted again, went to bed early.


WEDNESDAY
day off from walking. did absolutely nothing all day except for clean the house.


THURSDAY
was supposed to get up for a walk, but i was way too tired. i felt like all of the activity earlier in the week had caught up to me and i was exhausted. i didn't feel bad about missing though, because i think i did plenty for my first week. excited because with all of the walking and chasing kids around and shopping, i did not feel a single twinge of pain in my ankle. yay!!

FRIDAY
up at 6am for another walk. love love LOVE the new shoes and can't wait to take them for a real run!! they are so light and comfortable!! turns out, all these years, i've been wearing a size 9 when what i really needed was a 9.5. BF seems to think that ill-fitting shoes may have played a role in my ankle injury. interesting..
did the oxygen circuit in the afternoon. ankle started acting up a couple hours later. we think it is the jumping jacks, and next week, i will substitute something else for it. thankfully, the ankle pain went away after rest and ice. 

sexy back {16/04/2012}

last night, i set my alarm for 6am and set out my clothes. i had planned to get up before everyone else and go for a walk. but my alarm obviously hates me, because it didn't go off. nope, i DIDN'T do it wrong. NOPE. fuck off with that right now, it hates me. end. of. story. motherfucker.

anyway, all was not lost. i was so excited to start this new running program that i popped right up out of bed at 6:10am. not bad.

so i got my ass dressed, and slipped out of the house as quickly and quietly as i could. like a ninja. it was a beautiful spring morning, and i had my mp3 player blasting me into wakefulness with some metal. 

before i get into this any farther, i suppose i ought to explain why i was walking, if this is after all, a new *running* program. well, i am starting from scratch, even if it means that my progress will be slowed down, because under no circumstances whatsoever do i want to re-injure my ankle. that was a really shitty, depressing 2 weeks, yo.

so this program (i got it from a book that BF ordered me from runner's world. it's called "run your butt off") is geared towards helping a moderately sedentary person build up from walking to being able to run for 30 minutes straight. and while i as tempted to just kind of skip the first few weeks and start the program with the amount of running that i left off with, i know that i can't do that. my ankle is just starting to feel completely normal again, and it still gets a little twingy and weak at night. so i had to start from scratch with the phase 1 workout from my book: walk for 30 minutes, 3-4 times a week for 1 week.

so i took my walk. i really had a hard time stopping myself from running, especially with the kick ass playlist i was jamming to. but i restrained myself and kept it at a brisk walk.  it was nice, and it made me realize how much i missed having this time to myself, before everyone else was awake and needed me to cook something, clean something, kiss something better...

another part of the program that i like is that the book has a little workbook section in the back where you can track your progress. so  before the boys got home from school, i packed up baby and walked down to the health center to get on the scale. i don't keep a scale in the house because of my history of anorexia. i know enough about fitness and nutrition now that i really doubt that i will slip into those old, destructive habits again, but having a scale in the house would STILL mess with my head. i'd drive myself totally batshit insane. no doubt about it.

ahh... you see that?^^^

i'm stalling. because i really don't want to tell you what i weigh. fuck. but i will, even if the only purpose it serves is for documentation. i also recorded my other measurements. fun stuff.

Height: 5'10" {hell yes, i'm a big bitch!}

Weight: 212.3lbs

Chest: 41.25"

Waist: 40.5"
Hips: 44.7"

Thighs: 24.5"

stupid numbers, huh? i'll just forget all this shit right now. the whole point of all that {well the height/weight} was to calculate my BMR {basal metabolic rate, i.e. the calories my body needs daily for basic functions to keep my ass alive}. my BMR is currently 1782.

now i ain't about to go batshit insane and go counting my calories, but this book has some pretty cool formulas. for example, i used my BMR to calculate how many calories i need to maintain my current weight {not lose, not gain, just stay the same}. that number is 2450.25 calories. and that's not even taking into account any exercise. that's just if i did nothing but veg all day, i could remain at this weight as long as i didn't consume more than that. nifty, huh? 

anyway... enough of that. boring ass math bullshit, if i do say so myself. i had planned on doing my oxygen circuit sometime today. but then my little brother showed up and had the grand idea of taking the kids for a walk to the store. GRAND idea!! and of course, once they heard the word "store", they HAD.TO.GO.


the whole ordeal of getting them there, keeping baby from destroying the quaint little local business, and convincing them all to share a bag of chips was exhausting, to say the least. by the time we got back home, i had been on my feet for at least 2 hours. i was excited to see that BF was finally home, putting away groceries and cleaning up, and i planned to plop my ass on the front step, stick my toes in the sand, and watch him chase them around. but no. he was "busy cleaning the house." WTF? SERIOUSLY? motherfuckers heard it HERE first: the end times are upon us!! 

it was a beautiful day, and there were kids out playing all over the neighbourhood. but thanks to my exhausted ass, i could only take another hour and a half of lovely outdoors shenanigans like chasing baby as she tried to run headlong into traffic while dodging footballs, soccer balls, and the neighbour's psychotic, bike driving tikes. after that blessed hour and a half, i had to put on my "bad mommy" hat and say, "THAT'S ENOUGH!!" i brought the rugrats indoors, popped in a movie and put my damn feet up. 


so obviously, i am WAY too fucking tired for anything more strenuous than a hot bath with mr. stephen king and "the stand". up and at it again early tomorrow morning!!


XD

sexy back {13/04/2012}

yesterday was pretty awesome for my first day back. i did the oxygen circuit {not the higher intensity one, just the basic one i started with that's repeated only once}, and even though i have been doing fuck all for the past 2 weeks, i think i did pretty good. the only thing that suffered was my push-ups. they were definitely harder. in a way, i am still greatful for the injury though. when i was working out yesterday, i found myself paying extra close attention to form rather than just getting it done. i'm not saying that my form was bad before, but yesterday it was definitely my main concern. the last thing i need is another injury!!


after the workout, i felt good. my ankle didn't hurt, but still had that slight weak feeling. BF noticed later that it had swollen a bit, so it had to be elevated and iced. apparently, it would have been better if i had wrapped it for the workout, but BF wasn't around for me to ask, so i figured i was ok without wrapping. i feel kind of dumb now though, because i should have known better. 


my original plan for getting back into the swing of things was to stick with the circuit until saturday, since it is pretty low impact. but waking up this morning with a slighty twinge-y, slightly more weak feeling ankle makes me think that this might not be a good idea. i'm not sure what exactly it was that caused the cursed ankle to flare up again {probably the running in place or jumping jacks. derp}, but i have to try not to aggravate it farther today. i do have to go to my mother's in a bit, but it's only a 5 minute walk and shouldn't be a problem... especially since i am only bringing 1 kid out of the 3. 


as for today's workout, i will be scouring my oxygen magazines for a good arm workout. i have to do something, and something that will not put any extra stress on my ankle. BF suggested abs and arms, so that's what i'm going with. and of course, after all of this activity, i will try to find the time to sit and elevate/ice my ankle. 

sexy back!! UPDATE

two and a half weeks since my last work out. while i do wish i could say it was due to another bout of laziness accompanied by a case of the fuckits, it wasn't. motherfucking ankle injury, coming back to haunt me. evil ankle. 


my last workout was insanity's pure cardio. i felt fine afterwards, but the next morning as soon as i took a step down the stairs to grab the laundry, i felt a weird twinge and my ankle began to throb. it got worse and worse as the day went on. i wasn't particularly concerned at first, since it was my rest day, so i figured if i took some ibuprofen, iced it a couple times, and stayed off of it as much as i could, i would be good to go the next day.


well, the next day it was still hurting. obviously, i wasn't going to get my run in. and it sucked. despite BF's admonitions to stay the hell off my feet for another day, i ended up being a dumbass and taking the kids for a walk to the store. by the time we got there, it hurt so fucking bad. i'm just glad that my sister was at the store. she gave me a lift home, and i vowed to rest my ankle until it didn't hurt anymore.

resting is not always easy with three kids, three dogs, two cats, and a household to take care of. and to top it all off, i caught a nasty flu on my second day off. it hit me like a ton of bricks, and i was actually bedridden for 2 days. but maybe it was a blessing in disguise, since it kept me off of my feet. i recovered from this death flu just in time for easter. and of course, being the stubborn dumbass that i am, i ended up walking to my mother's for easter, even though i could have easily caught a ride with some relatives. i'm such an idiot sometimes. when i need to be active, i find myself hit with the fuckits and an intense desire to just flop on my bed and watch hours of daytime tv and drink endless coffee. on the other hand, if i am supposed to be taking it easy or if i am in any kind of discomfort, i essentially have to be physically restrained to sit still. it's definitely something i need to work on.


anyway, i eventually gave myself a swift mental kick in the ass and tried to concentrate on the fact that every time i was out walking around and overdoing it even though my ankle was throbbing and screaming out for me to stop, all i was accomplishing was increasing the time it would take for me to recover. which of course leads to less calories burned, and eventually, weight gain. to be honest, right now after not having done anything  for over two weeks, i feel like a big fat blob. i KNOW it's all in my head, i know that i didn't pack on any significant amount of weight in these 17 days, and this is reinforced by the fact that the compliments from friends and neighbours are still trickling in. my dear old auntie even told me that she didn't recognize me the other day; apparently, she had mistaken me for "one of those little teeny-boppers." WOOO!! i'll take that compliment, especially since it's been a few years since i've been asked for ID at the liquor store. BUT the thing is, when i'm home i don't think like that. i was seeing the days go by without any workouts, and psychologically at least, i was packing on the pounds. especially in the second week. man, i felt like shit. 

just when i thought that my ankle would never EVER heal, and i'd be confined to my couch and/or bed forever, eventually growing to the size of a walrus and needing to be washed by a hose and squeegee by my poor children, it happened. i had to go grocery shopping. i dreaded it, and looked at it as yet another thing that was going to set me back. but what in god's name would we end up being stuck eating if i sent BF?! so i wrapped my ankle and went. surprisingly, i was ok during and after the trip. my ankle didn't pain anymore, but it did feel weak. i made sure to keep up with my ice/ibuprofen/elevating regimen anyway, just to be on the safe side. 

yesterday, i was a bit more active. ok, well a lot more. i mopped all of the floors and was up and down the stairs eleventy bajillion times to and from the laundry room. halfway through all of  this activity, i stepped in puppy pee with my only ankle wrap. so of course, it had to come off and go into the wash. i was surprised that i really didn't need it anymore. the pain was gone, and even though my ankle felt kind of weak and i was a little nervous that i would be sore at the end of the day, i wasn't. 


today, it feels nearly 100%. i'm starting from scratch again though, since i really don't want to be injured again. i'm going to do my oxygen circuit today and see how i feel. if i have no pain, i will be doing the circuit until saturday. i plan to take sunday off, and start fresh on monday with a new running program. it's meant for beginners, and is geared towards people who are trying to transition from a completely sendentary lifestyle to an active one. i think this will be the best way to start in order to prevent injury. i don't dare start running right away, so i will just be walking for the rest of next week. also, i will not be doing any insanity workouts for at least 8 weeks.

just a few days ago, i was depressed. i looked at these two weeks off as time and progress lost. i felt fat, useless, and weak. i see it differently now. my body needed the break from all of the jumping, running, and other high impact punishments i had been putting it through. it has been a learning experience. i realize now that two weeks of rest does not equal failure. 


time to get shit done.