chichitao's group - FULL! (Page 98)

I love seeing you guys posting your workouts!  It motivates me, too!

So, last weekend, I made the executive decision to do NO exercises last week (except appointments) and take it easy since it was hurting SO SO badly.  I'm really glad I did, because my knee feels great today!  Also, my MIL got me into her gym on Saturday morning, and I realize now how much I love being at a gym.  They had so much equipment, I was able to really make a nice 1hr workout that mixed up walking forwards and backwards, biking, arms, abs, and knee exercises.

Anyway, now that I'm feeling much better, I'm going to try to get to the pool tomorrow, Wednesday, and Friday to "jog" and swim for like 30 minutes.  I'm also going to keep walking at least a half-mile with the dog in the mornings, and I'm going to bike tonight, tomorrow, Thursday, and Saturday for about 30 minutes.  I hope this road to recovery is headed the right direction!

OH, and I'm doing a cleanse for the next 10 days, then after that a weight management plan-thing.  It's Advocare, and I actually got all the stuff for free, so I thought I'd give it a try to jumpstart the weightloss and reset my brain a bit to eat healthy again.  This should be interesting!

Have a good week, all! 

Good to see you so excited Erica!

I've known a few people who did the advocare thing and it worked for them.  And if you are getting it for free then definitely go for it!

Erica, good to see you soo excited and also for listening to your body and taking the time off.  You are definately on the path to full recovery and doing everything you can to make sure you are at the top of your game when you get there.  I don't know what Advocare is, I'll have to look that up, but free is always good

Whew, today's ride was supposed to be an easy day and the first day of the year for our club ride.  Ended up with a bunch of fast guys showing up and an all out hammerfest.  Guess I'll be doing my easy recovery day on Thur instead!

Meg-I have carpal tunnel. It is pregnancy induced for me. I still have to wear a brace at night. it doesn't bother me during the day, only at night. I haven't gone back to the doctor to talk about the nerve testing or anything else yet. I am just not at that point. I have more pressing issues with my pelvis to take care of first.

I did all of my workouts last week. Positive! I was in pain every night that I had worked out. Negative! I see the PT today to talk about next steps since it doesn't seem like I am healing. Who knows.

On a plus, I am down .4 this week. I was totally shocked since I ate like crap with the baptism and everyone being in town this weekend, so I will take it! Down a total of 10lbs.

Hope you are all doing good!

I have been wearing the brace, taking Naproxen, and vitamin B6 for a week and there is no change.  If anything, it is worse.  He wants to see me back in three weeks now and if no change we will do the nerve testing.  I have to call for the appointment next week and if there is still no relief, I am going to see what they want me to do.  I am not feeling very positive about it.  He said he was not even going to attempt predicting what would happen.  I started treatment quickly which is a good sign but it hit me hard and fast and treatment might do nothing.  Fun times!

How was the baptism?

Had some unexpected stuff come up yesterday and was not able to get any workouts in.  Brought running clothes to work for my long run today.

Glad so far to be getting in all my workouts this week.  Lungs are still not back to full working capacity, but that will come.  I thought I was really sucking wind last night in spin, but at the end of the class, several of the regular people said it was a killer class, so maybe I didn't suck as much as I thought I did:-)

Missed swim club last night because I fell asleep after dinner and woke up 15 minutes after it started.  Husband didn't wake me, so I'll have to set some sort of alarm in future to ensure it doesn't happen again.

My plan for the week:

Sunday - Legs, shoulders, and Core.  Maybe some cardio depending on how tired my legs are
Monday - session with my trainer.  I think we are doing a 4 month assessment so it won't be much of a workout.  I will do cardio after unless I get my butt out of bed and spin in the morning.
Tuesday - Chest/Tris and cardio - after boys are in bed
Wednesday - Back/Bis and cardio - hopefully in the evening while Joe has karate
Thursday - most likely nothing.  I have an EMG and nerve conduction study scheduled for 11:30.  I hear it is brutal so I am not planning on working out after that
Friday - Legs and cardio
Saturday - all depends if I have to work in the morning.

Managed to get all my workouts in last week, except the one swim club I slept through!  It was a good weekend with all kinds of weather including a lot of wind and some snow flurries.

This week I have:

Monday: spin

Tuesday: run / swim

Wed: spin & martini's

Thursday: Run / swim

Friday : Track

Saturday: swim, bike, run, short sessions 30-1-30

Sunday: run

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

So here is my plan for the week!

Monday-elliptical and strength

Tuesday-GOTR

Wed.-bike and strength

Thursday-off

Friday-elliptical and strength

Saturday-class

Sunday-off

We shall see what happens. I am hoping that the parent meeting I have set for after school doesn't go too long and I have time for my workout.

The PT seems a little concerned that my pubic bone still isn't lining up and is still bothering me so much. So I am still having to do the exercises daily and if in a month I am still in pain then off to the orthopedic dr. I go. I am hoping I don't have to, but we shall see. Not sure what the orthopedic will do.

Meggan, that is awesome!  well done!

Debbie, I hope they get your pelvic bone fixed up soon, I had mine dislocated in a car accident years ago and it was a long time healing, probably because of all the other injuries I had though.

A 6% body fat loss is awesome, Meggan!  Don't downplay your fitness level, you are doing great.

Great job everyone getting the workouts in and sticking to your plans.

I had a bit of a setback.  I had some unexpected life thingies pop up last week and pushed a few of my workouts back.  I ate a few bad meals and the floodgates opened.  I haven't worked out since last Tue and have not eaten well either.  This seems to be one of my downfalls and something I have been working on for years.  It seems like when I fall off the wagon I tend to do it to 100% of my capabilities. 

I am back to eating right today and have my group ride planned for tonight, but I feel really bad and guilty that I let myself go for basically 1 week and undo a lot of the good I had been working so hard to build.  I just hope I haven't lost too much fitness.

So here is my schedule for the week:

Tu: group ride

W: run and swim

Th: bike

F: swim

Sa: run

Su: bike

Guilt will serve no purpose to you, just accept that you got sidelined and pat yourself on the back for noticing and then get back at it. 

Do you you schedule cheat meals or a cheat day into your week or are you focused on eating well all of the time?  I find that if I schedule the cheater meal or cheater day, I am not as tempted to eat bad the rest of the week because I have something to look forward to.  If I deny myself everything I like, for too long, I will eventually break and eat badly for days on end.   

Thanks.  I usually allow myself 2 cheat meals a week, so I can use those up in one day or spread them out.  But it seems like I get the cheat meal and just want more.  I have been trying to work on actually eating more calories on my good days.  I think I tend to not eat enough and then end up tired and not fueled properly by the weekend.  Then that is when the binges occur.  When I am eating well I usually take in 1800-2000cal but I am trying to up that to 2100-2400 range.  I think that maybe that would help me not eat so bad on the weekends.

You are probably right and you are not eating enough, or maybe enough, but just not frequently enough.  I know when I get to that hungry place, I will pretty much eat everything in sight, good or bad, but mostly bad.  So I tend to eat like a hobbit, breakfast, second breakfast, elevenzies, etc. oatmeal, boiled egg, piece of fruit, a slice or two of toast, veggies, nuts, I eat all day long it seems. BUT, I have to be organized enough to have everything I need on hand, because if I don't, I start foraging and I work across the street from an italian grocery street, full of all the foods I should stay away from, but love oh so much!

Meggan - that is AWESOME weight loss.  You should be so excited about that!  I'm so happy for you.

I, too, fell off the bandwagon.  Not with the dieting though, with the exercise.  I totally dropped the ball, and I haven't made it to the pool once.  School has been overwhelming.  For example, in the next 2 weeks, I have two 10-page briefs due and my final comment for law review is due, plus in March I have my entire seminar paper due (20-25 pages), a presentation, an edit for law review which will likely take 20 hours, and my MPRE, which is an ethics exam that attorneys have to take to practice in certain states, on March 17th, and I still have to study for it.  From the 10th-15th, we are going to Florida with my parents, too.  

On top of that, I just got a job.  It's a good thing because we could really use an extra paycheck, but it'll be an additional 10-20 hours per week of work.  Luckily, I can do this whenever, wherever.  

Needless to say, I am going to be lucky to do much of anything in the next month.

However, I HAVE been sticking to my diet/sleep schedule/Advocare plan, and  I've lost 3.2 pounds in the last week.  My pants are still fitting a little tight though, and I still have about 10 pounds to go until I'm at my low point.  I'm just trying to focus on avoiding stress eating, now!

Wow, that is one busy schedule Erica.  I'd be curled up in a fetal position!   I think you have good reason on the workouts, but it's even better to see you continuing to eat right and lose weight.  Where in Florida will you be going?

Speaking of Florida, how'd was the vacation down there Pete?

I got my bike ride in yesterday.  And we had our weigh in at work today and I came in the same as last week.  Not sure how that happened as I thought for sure I would go up, but I am not complaining.  However, I did lose my overall lead.  Another person and I have now lost 11lbs overall, but she was a little lighter than I was so her % loss is greater right now.  I will get the lead back!

Well done on the overall weighloss Tim! Considering how bad you thought you were last week, you managed to maintain another reason to pat yourself on the back

Erica, I would be totally overwhelmed with that much going on, but you are nearing the end. Keep your eye on the prize and just take it one paper at a time!  You can do it. AND well done on staying on diet, these are the times that we tend to find it real easy to grab what ever is easiest or closest, so staying on track with your diet is a huge accomplishment!

I'm skipping my spin tonight, my body needs a night off and I'm just going to have a martini and kick back with some friends.

This evening is up in the air.  We got some news on a death in John's family yesterday and it hit him pretty hard.  I don't know if he is going to want to take Joe to karate.  If he is ok with taking karate, then I will hit the gym as planned.  If I do karate, then I will ride the trainer after bedtime.

Glad to see that most people are doing well! Busy, maybe not perfect, but everyone is conscious of mistakes they have made, and are working to fix them. You guys really are amazing, and I'm very impressed that we've stuck together for... 2 years now! Let's keep it going for another 2, and then take it from there

So I had a job interview on Monday. It was for a mining and energy company, for a position that is really in line with what I think I want to do long term, so I am hoping to hear back from them. They said that I'll hear back within 2 weeks. In the middle of next week, I'm going to call them back to see how things are going, if I don't hear back sooner. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

The vacation, though, was amazing. Exactly what I needed. It was a great 7 days away, got to meet the gf's mom for the first time, and just spend time in the sun with nothing really going on. Miami gets pretty hot, but I went for a bunch of runs, and went to the pool, as well. It was amazing, and it sucked to have to come back. I finally got some colour, too, which is awesome. Though my gf didn't do a great job applying sunscreen to my back, so that's a bit red, apparently it still is. It doesn't hurt, though, so that's good.

While I was down there, I read one book, and started a second. Anyone who read my blog yesterday knows that I read Skinny Bastard, which is a book from the authors of Skinny B*tch, basically a book promoting a cegan lifestyle. My gf read it a few years ago, and she went vegan cold turkey. She has since reintroduced dairy and seafood, but still doesn't eat meat. I can definitely understand why she did, though. The book is full of scare tactics about what goes into your food, what your body does with the food, slaughter and storage practices, drug and pesticide use, etc. It is pretty shocking. I have kinda decided to go semi-vegetarian based solely on the book. It was kind disgusting what really goes into your food... I'm not going to be the guy that needs to be catered to, because no one likes that guy, but I'm going to try to live as closely to vegetarian as I reasonably can. It really hit home, for some reason. I'll let you know how it goes in a few weeks, once I've really gotten into it.

Also, I started reading Iron War, the story of Dave Scott and Mark Allen's crazy battle at Kona. I just got to a part with the absolute best description of triathon I've ever heard. If anyone asks why you do it, this is the PERFECT response (for me, anyway...) Here it is:

In the hardest moments of a long race, the athlete's entire conscious experience of reality boils down to a desire to continue pitted against a desire to quit. Nothing else remains. The athlete is no longer a student or a teacher or a salesman. He is no longer a son or a father or a husband. He has no social roles or human connections whatsoever. He is utterly alone. He no longer has any possessions. There is no yesterday and no tomorrow, only now. The agony of extreme endurance fatigue crowds out every thought and feeling except one: the goal of reaching the finish line. The sensations within the body - burning lungs, screaming muscles, whole-body enervation - exist only as the substance of the desire to quit. What little of the external environment the athlete is aware of - the road ahead, the competitor behind, the urgings of onlookers - exists only as the substance of the desire to continue. The desire to continue versus the desire to quit - the athlete is this and this alone until he chooses one or the other. And when the choice is made he brieftly becomes either persevering or quitting until, after he has stopped at the finish line or, God forbid, short of it, the stripped-away layers are piled back on and he becomes his old self again. Only not quite. He is changed, for better or worse.

That really hit home for me, as it is probably the most poetic and apt description of why I do what I do. It will resonate for me for years to come, before and during all races. It is, for me, just... right.

Sorry for the wall of text. When I haven't been around for 2 weeks, I have a lot to talk about