Week Three

Can check the box--down another pound!  Over the last few days, I have been even less than where I'm at now, but it's after a run, or the occasional morning when I'm down further, but since a pound a week is my goal, I'll officially list the one pound and hope that this means I'll definitely be down another next week.

So humid.  I am tired and draggy, but perhaps after coffee I'll be able to force myself to get out for a long run. May go over the CNC or something different.  Once I'm out I'll be fine, but no waiting too long--90%+ humidity and record-breaking temps in the mid 90s expected. :(  Even now, humidity at around 60%.

Done:
Sunday, May  27--Bleh!  Hot and sticky out there and it's not even noon.  Long walk (~75 min) including about 20-25 minutes of intermittent running. Tired, but glad that's done . . . . .A long hot shower will feel good (sweaty as I am, I'm getting chilled in my air conditioned condo).
Mon, May 28--Zumba was cancelled--20 minute Balance Ball and walking with my dad (i.e., pushing his wheelchair).  I heard from my competitor (decades younger than me) that I have a ways to go to beat him, so I'd better stay on track and at least not get behind!  Slowly . . . slowly . . . or maybe that should be More quickly . . . more quickly . . .
Tu., May 29--Kickboxing--this was cool! will try it again.  (30 min vigorous cardio--really revved things up--ended at 7:15 and it was hard getting to sleep; I don't think I'm a good evening exerciser!)
Wed., May 30--25 min run with about 5 minutes T. of walking on either side--felt good for solid running, and not too slow (at least not all the time!)
Th. May 31--1 hour walk with a few minutes of running--a LONG busy day.  Good, but tiring.
Fri. June 1--strength training (1 hour)
Sat. June 2--1.5 hr yoga class (a.m.) (this is a butt-kicking class where I am really challenged, and really sweat, and really look forward to the meditation at the end! I just realized it's not 1 hr long; no wonder I feel like we do a lot!) PLUS 50 minute walk/run (alt. starting with waking as: 5/22/13/5/5) (p.m.)

Week Two of New Challenge

Officially down one pound!  It feels as though at this rate it will take me forever, and yet I know that this is exactly the rate I was counting on.  Why does it feel so terribly glacial?  On the other hand, at this pace by the time of Padre IS I will be back where I was in fall, having lost what I have gained, and that's what I'm hoping for--that plus the continued weight loss until school starts again.

Was checking into training for a half marathon.  I have a schedule that I know I can bump in terms of which days I do what, but it has longer runs on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday.  Since I teach now on Tu/Th and would like to get in the habit of running early in the day with the heat and humidity starting to kick in (and I can't do that on my teaching days when I'm teaching (and, I think, I need those days in between), I will start when I get back from Padre IS and into fall when I will be teaching on MW.  I'm excited about the idea and have found out that there are half-marathons in late October both in Cinti and Houston.  Nice to have a goal to look forward to!!

This week's exercise:
Sunday May 20:  1+ hr of walking hills with spurts of running slow then fast. No particular pace or regularity, but I realize that sometimes I actually feel better when I'm running faster than slower.
Monday, May 21--honestly cannot remember if I worked out Monday a.m which is sad since this is Wed.
Tuesday, May 22--not feeling well--walked a lot around campus both Mon and Tu, but no specific exercise. My challenger is also sick--is this plan contagious?
Wed. May 23-- 5./20/3/3/3 (starting with walk)--the 20 minutes was faster running--felt good! (my post-run weigh-in was lower than it's been in months!!  Hope the Sunday weigh in will reflect another loss!)
Th. May 24 20-30 min walk at UC; 20 minute upper body workout
Fri May 25:  50 min wak/run (5/15/15/8/7)--felt like I was running relatively fast and walking very fast--passing even tall guys with long legs--so the pace was good.
Sat. May 26:  1 hr advanced yoga.  Whew!  What a workout!  This is a fast-paced/flow/intense workout that I've gone to once before. I like it a lot and thanks to Andrew's gift, I was able to try this place out. Will definitely keep going even once my subscription is over.  Love it!!

Rookie Mistake and This Week's Workouts

Otherwise known as "damned metabolism."  I need to remember that my metabolism is either running in idle or going 180.  I ran last night at close to 7 and ran for at least 30 minutes, which for me is a lot.  Wanted to listen to my book on tape for longer, so walked an additional 30 minutes or so; it was 8 p.m. before I was done.  I'd also had a long day so I was ready to get to bed at 9:30, which I did, but I was also up at 2:30 and 4:30 and . . . . bleh.  Good news is two days of substantial exercise in a row and the run was relatively easy and felt good.
I'll start posting my exercise here for the rest of this month to keep on track:
Sunday May 13:  1 hour strength training video
Monday May 14: 1 hr run/walk
Tuesday, May 15: 1/2 hr pilates; 50 min walk/run (not the sustained run yesterday was)--thanks to my challenger for inspiring me to come home and run tonight.
Wed. May 16:  45 minutes (my "challenger" told me he worked out 1 hour) doing a step aerobic video (fast forwarded through about 10+ minutes of it when I was about ready to die--gives me something to work up to!)
Th. May 17--Only two days ago, and I can't recall if I did anything--I think I snuck in 1/ hr of pilates, but I can't be sure--it was one of those 7 a.m. - 9 p.m. kind of days (boo hoo, I know).
Fri. May 18--55 min cardio.  Felt good running and feels less onerous to run longer:  5 walk/25 run/5 walk/15 run/5 walk.
NOTE:  Though I wasn't doing substantial exercise over this academic year that was cardio, I was walking and doing yoga pretty regularly.  I'm finding that having done that, though it didn't help with losing weight, makes me move into more intense work and feel stronger doing it.  What I hope is that once I lose more weight, I can "idle" with a combination of walking plusless frequent cardio (e.g., 3x/week)--we'll see (it's just hard to fit in all the cardio I need on a daily basis!--that or I need to change jobs to road construction).
Sat, May 19--1 hour of mixed running and walking.  Tried to keep pulse rate at 120 at least with brisk walking (which is  the top end of my fat burning range), but couldn't sustain running very well--felt tired and sluggish. Max. running time was 15 minutes with shorter (and lackluster) bursts later.

Once More With Feeling

I'm back to my weight loss challenge to myself.  I've been continuing to exercise for quite awhile and so have held in check the rise in weight that started to creep up on me.  At this point, I've got to up the exercise and keep count of what I'm eating--the only way for me to tell myself to literally stop adding calories to my day. 

Also challenged a certain someone to lose weight with me--he wants to anyway, but I really would like it if someone was working with me.  Last year, it was Lisa B. and that helped a lot to feel motivated; so I'm awaiting his response.  If he doesn't, then I'll have to go it alone--but go it I will!!

New goal:  1 lb per week through August 26th, the day before school starts again.  At that rate, I will have hit my ideal weight, though I'll see if any more weight loss will be in my future (and it will mean a drop of 15 pounds from where I'm at now).

Yee-hah!!  May the losing begin!!