Step Away From the Cake

After my last post, I just got up off my butt and went to work out. I had put off doing weight earlier in the week so that was first on the agenda. Also, I've been slacking on my running and I have a race in 2 weeks so I figured I'd better get back to it. So weights and running was the program. The weights kind of kicked my butt. I've been really upping the weight I use and by the end of the session I'm breathing hard and muscles are shaking. As I was getting ready for my run I was mentally debating how far to go. I haven't run in a few days so I should keep it low, but I have an 8.25 mile race in 2 weeks so I should kick it up....What to do, what to do.... I settled on 5 miles. That seemed to be kind of a midway between killing myself and cruising. So I strapped up and headed out. Sidebar: I wonder what the running gurus would say about all this crap we run with? Can you imagine Jim Fixx or Bob Bowerman putting on the Garmin, getting the iPod, putting th...

I'm not sure exactly what happened but somehow I totally lost control of this week. Oh well, it's Saturday - my day!!! Okay, I've just sat here for the last 10 minutes trying to think of something to write. I have nothing. Absolutely nothing. It is very rare when I have nothing to say. So instead of writing I think I'll head off and workout. Maybe after that I'll have more to say. Hope everyone has a good Saturday. BTW, it's much warmer here today :)

69°F Mostly Cloudy Wind: NE at 13 mph Humidity: 68% Today 74° | 69° Thu 72° | 68° Fri 75° | 69° Sat 75° | 69° Look at these temps. It's 69 right now. No wonder I'm freezing my tail off.

Wow!! Was I sick!!! I apparently ingested something that wasn't good and it started reacting about 1 am. I was up and down all night. About 9 am things seemed to be calming down some. I then slept till almost 2:30. I then spent the last couple of hours curled up on the couch with my pile of books , reading. Some of those books have to go. I wonder why I bought them to begin with. I'm just now getting up and moving around and starting to feel human again. I'm hungry but afraid of eating. I got some great answers to my question yesterday. Thank you all. I've got some great ideas. Having battled my weight so much of my life I try not to focus on food too much. As a result I get into a rut with meals. So I got some great ideas of what to eat before working out. I do notice that when I eat a little bit before I have more energy. So, I thank you for all your input. It helped a lot. Okay, I've been up about 1/2 hour. I need to go rest. Actually, I need ...

Do you guys eat before your morning workout? If so, what? And how much before?? This is a topic I've been struggling with for some time now and I still don't have a good answer. When I was huge and had just started moving, I didn't eat before working out. I did it first thing in the morning, still do, and basically just didn't have time to eat first. So I would work out and then eat after. I lost 75 lbs that way. I also wasn't exercising more than an hour at a time, usually it was 30-45 minutes. As I got fitter and was working out more, I would be hungry when I woke up. I started eating 1/2 a banana as soon as I got up and then worked out. That seemed to work out well for a while. Then I started reading. I got all caught up in the eat or don't eat debate. I read a lot of experts saying you have to eat before working out or you body won't burn fat. Others said if you worked out less than an hour it wasn't necessary to eat first, unless you wer...

This morning began with swimming. I'm trying to take it slow with the swimming, but this morning I couldn't help myself. I had to do a little time trial to see where I am with it. I did 100 yds in 2:18. That's not too bad for me. I haven't fallen off that far. I did 500 yds in 7:02. Wow. I really thought I was incredibly slow but I'm not that bad. I still have a ways to go but I'm happy to start here. Tonight was weight training. I have been doing weights for awhile now but I couldn't seem to get the kind of workout they talk about. Finally, I read an article that explained I was not using enough weight. So I upped it. A. Lot. I usually do squats with 15 lb weights, tonight - 30 lbs. Killer. For rows I usually use 10 lbs. Tonight. 15. Owww. For step-ups I usually just use bodyweight. Tonight. 15. Tough. By the time I was done I was breathing really hard and sweating like a dog. Ohhhhh, I see how this works now. I'm guessing I'...

This morning was cycling. After last Thursday I was a little apprehensive but I decided to give them one more chance. Turns out they knew something was wrong Thursday night and have come up with a way to make sure it doesn't happen again. So that was good. We are working on hills and I have to say - WOW!!! Just doing the hills Thursday and today, I can already feel more comfortable on them. Not that I'm going all that fast or speeding up them, but definitely it's better yea!!! We ended up doing 25 miles in 2.5 hours. We did a lot of stopping and regrouping. But it was fun and I really enjoyed myself. I was beat when we were done - I like that :) That was really it today. I had planned to run after but I was too wiped out, so the run will have to wait until Tuesday. Hope everyone had as good a weekend as I did.

it's very early, 6 am. I've been up for over an hour getting ready to go biking. I clearly am rested and ready to start back in training since I woke before the alarm all ready to get up and get going. I'm ready. I'm going biking then I'm going for a short run. I need to get my butt running. After a week off and then all this activity, I'll need shower chairs so I don't collapse from exhaustion in the shower :) Last night I was working on my shopping list (I have to go grocery shopping after biking) and planning my meals for next week, when it suddenly dawned on me - diets don't work. I was thinking about when I joined Weight Watchers how well it worked and maybe I should try it again. But then I realized, I've run that course. I think Weight Watchers works so well because you're taking a pretty lousy diet and cleaning it up. My diet is no longer lousy. I eat pretty well, I just get into this mindset of eat less to lose weight. That ...