I'm in Training.

I started training for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer this week. It's 24 weeks away, and the training is structured to get my mileage up by the walk, in October. I had been trying to walk and get to the gym in the mornings these past few weeks just to get myself disciplined. It was working. But adding mileage has made me feel exhausted. Here's the program for the first segment:

Monday - "Recovery Walk" 15 minutes (that's from the train to my office) - kind of like an off day
Tues - Brisk 3 miles (I did treadmill, 3.4 MPH brutal)
Wed - X-Train 20-30 min (I did 25 on eliptical, my jam)
Thurs - Moderate 3 miles (Outdoor, only had 45 minutes - probs 2.5+ miles)
Fri - X-Train 20-30 min (elip 27 min)
Sat - Endurance Walk 4 miles (done, outside)
Sunday - Endurance Walk 3 miles (TBC!)

Next week, repeat. My hope is to do as much mileage outside before it gets brutally hot. But using the treadmill with TV is an amazing escape from the pain and keeps me from being a lookey-loo as I walk.

If anyone's interested in the walk or sponsoring me, hit it

Massive Quads, Little Hammies

So in my effort to "mix it up" I went to Pilates class last Friday. There were only three of us and when I came in the teacher was scarfing some sushi before we started. I thought: "this is someone I can relate to!"  She proceeded to give us small squishy balls and told us to roll them under our feet to activate and massage those muscles, something I've never seen or done before. Makes sense right? We torture our feet in shoes that hurt and walk around without arch support and never really take care of them in response. It sometimes hurt like hell as she told me to "really press hard" but felt awesome. Gotta get one for the hizzy so I can do it while watching law and order!!

Since the class was so small she could really spend some time with each of us and help us with form. I've done a bunch of Pilates classes but usually phone some of the moves in when they get too hard. She came over to me and kept correcting me which is one of the things I sort of find annoying but at the same time I appreciated it. She noticed that my weakness seemed to be in my butt and definitely in my hamstrings. At the end of the class after we rolled our butts on the little ball to take care of the largest muscle in our body (and that hurt like hell BTW) she spent another few minutes with me and told me my hamstring to quad proportion was totally out of wack and if I don't get that more in balance knee injuries might recur. Now this is something I've always known about myself (referring to my legs as horselike etc.) but I figured it was genetic and there wasn't much to be done about it but Emily has given me hope!

So, my mission now is to keep mixing it up, but to really actively try to work on strengthening the hamstrings and smoothing out the quads. I'm going to try to go to Emily's class once a week and I'll report back of course...

You're never too old to be RAD!

On Wednesdays I try to go to a spin class at 1:30. The 12:30 is more popular and the fabulous gay instructor is FULL of energy (and sometimes showtunes).  I don't dislike him but when they started offering a class at 1:30 I decided to give it a try. This guy is sort of into trance, although today we had a slamming remix of "Toxic" by Britney Spears.

One of the bonuses of this class is that sometimes an incredible lady in her 70's joins. She is tiny, wears her red hair in a bun on the top of her hair in a style that reminds me of the 1800's, wears Reeboks and today was rocking leopard print tights under her red leotard.

The raddest thing though is that she is SUPER into it. She bounces along and sings and sometimes puts her fist in the air with absolute enthusiasm. It totally makes the experience 10x  more fun and inspiring.

Someday I'll summon the courage to ask her her name and what her story is.  I'd love to be her friend.

Boot Camp Blues

I think a few of you have done boot camp. It's basically a class/series of classes where you do drills and burn 'em up pretty fast. I have been trying to go once a week since it's one of the few places to really do squats and lunges and ab stuff in an efficient manner. The class I've gone to three times is pretty hilarious a) because it's brutal and b) because he for real makes us do army like chants.

This is one:

He says:

"Hit It"

The we yell:

"More PT (physical training) More PT
The More I Do, The Better I Feel
I Like It, I Love it, Give Me More Of It
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH"


It's absolutely ridiculous but there is something about it that I love.
Today I went back after having skipped a week and I felt like I was gonna barf. Can't wait for next Tuesday!

resolutions

I feel like a cliche but I'm totally doing the new years resolution thing. I have four things on my list. Number ONE: drink water. I have no idea why this is so hard for me. Number TWO: do some sort of workout every day, it can be an easy workout if pressed for time, but the goal is to just get something in. Number THREE: write down my foods. AND Number FOUR: eat more salad. I hate salads. is that weird?

there I said it. I've been pretty good so far. Except for the salad part.

Current Plan

So this is the current goal for "mixing it up"! We'll see huh?!

Sunday: Yoga (optional)
Monday: Pilates
Tuesday: Boot Camp
Wednesday: Spin
Thursday: flex day, some cardio if I don't have another appointment of some sort
Friday: Boxing/Total Body Conditioning (yikes)
Saturday: Spin

2009 a year fitness review

While most of my colleagues are reflecting on their favorite bands and records of the year and decade I'm mostly thinking about where I am with my health and fitness. This year has been one of real growth in the exercise department. I started off with an injury that sort of derailed my short term fitness goals. Through work with my physical therapist to get my knee back in shape I started to examine my dependence on my personal trainer and realized I needed a new plan. While I had gained a lot of strength through my nearly three years of work with Malcolm, I had definitely plateaued in certain areas (not doing enough cardio) and wasn't using enough common sense in my training which I think led me to push it and injure myself.

In May my office brought a new gym offer to the table which gave me more flexibility with times and locations of gym going. As sad as it was for me to leave the Y, I knew it was time and a good clean break from my old habits. I started going to the gym at lunchtime starting with low impact classes like Pilates and yoga to get me back in the game and slowly working up to trying some spin classes. I had only done one spin class before which I hated, so I was reluctant to try it. Nicole had recently started spinning at her new gym and through her example I found my motivation to give it a shot. Turns out, I LOVE IT. I take classes whenever I can and from all different teachers, some of whom I really don't feel, but the workout is really good for me and I get my serious sweat on and get to hear most of the recent hit songs which confirms my lack of interest in current popular music (although I did discover one of my favorite songs "Closer" by Ne-Yo).



In August, Carlos and I ran a 5K in Harlem which was cool since I only started running mostly on the treadmill in July. I was SLOW but we did it and it was fun to see the area and do it together and eat at Silvia's afterward!

I've started to think about exercise in a way that has motivated me a lot more, mainly that my generally sedentary lifestyle (one shared my most modern humans I think) needs to be challenged if I want to live a life that has quality and energy. I think of circulating my blood as one of the most crucial ways to keep my immune system strong and keep my body functioning well. I'm also motivated to sweat as a way to detoxify my system easily and consistently so I don't have to do something radical like a long juice fast or cleanse which requires a lot more time and energy than I can really afford given my other work and life commitments. For sure sometimes the time commitment to go to the gym (and especially to shower and look decent enough to come back to work) is hard and I have learned to give my self permission to not go when I really don't feel like it. But recently the desire to go and feel good has overruled the desire to stay home and watch one more episode of house hunters international.

My goal for next year is to try to vary my workouts more so I am gaining strength and keeping up with my cardio and to just stay motivated. Thanks to all of you friends for sharing your goals and struggles. Hopefully we can continue to do this next year.