Days 481-484

Per my trainer's instructions I took the break. Of course, I doubt he meant for me to eat 5 tons of food while lazing around, but...

Friday night I worked an event on campus that allowed for dancing - which I LOVE. And, followed it with Mexican food - which I also LOVE. :) Saturday I spent at the beach with my parents bobbing in the salt water.

So - though, I had planned to do my home routine on Saturday, I forgot to do it until Sunday at 10pm! The first part of Sunday was spent cleaning, shopping, baking the most amazing chocolate and caramel cookies, and making paella for dinner. It was my first attempt at paella and it was a SUCCESS :) My mom loved it so much that she ate the leftovers that were supposed to be for Dad. :)

Yeah - so at 10pm I got off my butt and did my home exercises. It is ridiculous how quickly I was huffing and puffing! The hip thurst thing was alright minus the fact that my stabalizer ball was rolling the whole time (I think I am going to try a chair instead next time). The squats and lunges were alright minus the quaking in my legs and the sweat rolling down my back. Even the hip raises were alright, minus the fact that I waited to do them until last and was shaking so bad I almost fell of the chair I was standing on. Overall, I was kind of impressed with myself. However, the ball pass V thing was a total failure! I did 10 of the 30 I was supposed to do and don't think I did any of them correctly. It is like doing a sit up and a leg lift at the same time and my body just does not move like that. So, I gave up and subsituted 30 sit ups instead. Hopefully, that will suffice for now. I went to bed TIRED, but not sore as I was expecting so that made me feel good.

Then - I woke up this morning and had to walk down 3 flights of stairs to leave my apartment. It was not until then did I notice the tightening of my bum and the shaking, jello feeling in my thighs. UGH! It doesn't hurt (in a bizarre way that would be better), but you can tell I used muscles I have not EVER used. I am definitely going to regret waiting until last night when I get out there with K today!

Day 480 - Personal Trainer Baby!

That's right people - I broke down and hired a personal trainer! K is a former student ambassador in my office and opened his own gym over the summer. Today he was nice to me - or so he says. After some warm up, he had me jog my steady slow pace while timing my laps. He said he wanted to get my base so that he knows where I am starting at. I did it in about 13mins. He has the specific number in his notebook. After that he jogged/walked a mile with me so I could talk to him. He said it was important to find my "conversational" pace. Apparently you are supposed to be able to talk without difficulty when you are jogging at your body's best pace. I didn't make it the whole mile though and had to walk some of it. The warm up stuff hit me harder than I thought it would and my chest felt like it was going to explode.

After jogging he showed me how to do the 5 moves he wants me to do on our off day. For now, I am supposed to meet with him Mondays & Wednesdays for jogging and then do the in home routine on either Friday or Saturday. It sounds easy, but I am quite sure it will HURT! And of course - this is just the beginning.

I am a bit nervous about not being able to keep up and make it through, but having someone to be responsible to is going to help me for sure. I hope.

Days 477 - 79

This week is busy as always. Sunday was spent with my friend before he left. Monday night I had dinner with my parents and went shopping for the perfect b-day gift for my best friend. Tuesday I had coffee with a friend. Geeze louise! I need time to do laundry, clean, and cook the amazing meal that I bought all of the supplies for on Sunday! OH yeah - and to jog!

Day 476

Today I dragged my friend that came to visit me to the park to jog. Last night we hung out with 16 of my nearest and dearest family members at our favorite Chinese place followed by dessert at my aunt's. As always - there were left overs, which I happily ate for breakfast. This was an awesome idea at the time, but two hours later when I decided to jog at noon in the summer, in Texas, during an almost record breaking heat wave it was most definitely NOT a good idea. Though I am realistic in knowing that I am out of shape and have a lot of work to do, I was not expecting to do as poorly as I did. I suppose considering the circumstances, I should be thankful that I didn't die and did finish jogging the full 5k. Which I am on both accounts.

1st mile - 13:44 mins
2nd mile - 28:43 mins
3rd mile - 43:52 mins
.1 mile - 45:20 mins

Oh - random bonus realization - Wild Strawberry Gatorade is NOT helpful and is gross. From now on I am sticking to the blue flavors.

Days 471 - 475

This was a long week at work and I honestly don't remember what other reasons/excuses I had for not jogging. Things (not just jogging, but everything) seem to be getting away from me while I sit on the couch. Who knows.....

Day 470

Today is the first day in 10 days that I don't have a headache! If it weren't for the persistent neck and shoulder aches I would say it was a miracle! Ugh - I will take what I can get though. And, without the headache I was able to go jogging. It has been way too long and I really need to work off the ridiculous amount of pizza I ate last night. I don't know if I made up for it completely, but I did at least put a small dent in it. :)

1st lap - 6:10 mins - j
2nd lap - 12:30 mins - j
3rd lap - 18:48 mins - j
4th lap - 26:44 mins - w
5th lap - 33:00 mins - j
6th lap - 40:22 mins - w 1/4, j 3/4

Days 465 - 469

UGH - I have felt bad all week! I am not sure what the deal is, but a headache for a week is NOT fun! That plus being crazy busy has led to a week of no exercise for me. Not even my work day routine has survived :(

This week though, I was reminded the necessity for health. I lost my Uncle Roy on Tuesday. Granted he was in his 80's and went peacefully in his sleep - which is the best any of us can ask for, but still it was unexpected. He was a good man and will be missed. The funeral was held on Friday in Rockport. I always love the opportunity to be with my family, but it is unfortunate that it had to be under these circumstances. :(

Days 463 - 464

On Sunday, we ate what I like to call "my last meal" at a great little Mexican place in San Antonio before heading back to Houston. I had every intention of walking when I got home, but a lack of sleep and the left overs from last week's massive headache (which combined with the swollen glands and sore throat left me home sick on Friday) kept me in once I finally got home. I did however, do a few arm exercises with my 3lb weights and 10 cowbell squat things while watching TV. So, it wasn't a total loss.

Monday at work I decided to start a new workout regiment to help me move more during the day. I read an article recently that said that people who have a very seditary job are at a higher risk for heart disease than those who are active throughout the day despite what they eat and the exercise they may do at home. This combined with my disgust at some of the pictures from our trip to Enchanted Rock (which clearly showed a not so cute tummy pooch)and the results of my weigh in at the doctor's on Friday (which shows that I have gained almost 5lbs since March) has inspired my new goals. Last week I had a meeting on the third floor of my building and realized sadly that I could not climb the stairs without getting winded. You would think that a person who lives on the 3rd floor could easily do stairs, but these are KILLER! 4 flights of steep, thigh and butt burning stairs. So - my goal is to climb the stairs three times, twice a day. I am hoping that in a realitively short time, I will get to the point at which I can climb this amount without breathing hard. :) I plan to do this EVERYDAY! I also went to the other building during my lunch hour and walked the 7 laps around the third floor (not including the stairs to get up there) required to make a mile. I did the mile in 20 minutes. This I aim to do 2-3 times a week. To keep me on track I created a chart that is housed on the inside of my desk cabinet. Yay me!

To further my healthy choices of the day - I said "NO" to all of the snacks that had been set out for our event and went with a grilled chicken and veggie dish instead of splitting pizza with my parents for dinner. Every ounce of food I ingest is a choice. The question is - is this food worth the embarrassing tummy pooch?! Most of the time the answer is "NO". :) Sadly, though - something did not sit well with me and was sick most of the evening. On the upside though, of the calories I ate today, very few were absorbed.

Day 462 - Enchanted Rock

Today, I think I made up for at least some of my recent laziness. I convinced my friends that we should hike Enchanted Rock which isn't the MOST strenuos hike in the world, but is still a pretty decent trek. And of course it seemed longer because we went at the height of a heat wave and in during the hottest part of the day. Thanfully there was a good breeze once you got up on the rock. We moved very slowly due a friend's ashma, but overall I did pretty well. I didn't panic and the steepness and was only a little bit winded. I would have loved to hike Turkey Peak as well, but.... heat, hunger, and fatigue got the better of some of my friends. So, instead we went back to town for a huge lunch/dinner. I don't know how that played out in the scheme of food intake vs. exercise, but I like to think we earned it. I am probably kidding myself though. Oh well - I got sherbert instead of ice cream for dessert and only ate half the pint. Victory in my eyes :)

Days 457-461

This week was a busy one. I went to a movie and to a wine bar with the ladies, got sick and went to the doctor, and then went out of town with friends. So - no exercise for me :( Unless you consider the small bit of dancing I did at Pat O'Brien's and the nice long walk down the Riverwalk, exercise - which I do :)