Pause

Decided to solve the "what will I forget to bring to the gym today" cycle by not going to the gym at all this morning.  So there!

Because yesterday I forgot my bra.  Seriously.  So I had to wander over to Wal-Mart and pick up a "forgot my bra bra".  Luckily, I got a nice pretty one with purple polka dots. :D

Rainy walk

Distance: 6.18mi
Time: 2hrs 5min
Calories: 463

Took a long walk around the neighborhood since the weather is so mild. It started raining about halfway through, which kind of sucked, but I made it.

More obnoxious: my bra strap somehow managed to unhook itself about twenty minutes in, so my back was kind of sore by the end of it. My bosoms, they are mighty.

One interesting thing was that I got some of the same pain in my right leg that I used to, but it stopped right above the ankle, right where the muscle was removed. Very strange, but eventually the pain went away and it never interfered with my walking the way it used to. So I guess the surgery can officially be declared a success. :)

Let's go ride bikes!

Today my friend introduced me to Capital Bike Share and we went for a ride. The last time I was on a bicycle was probably about a decade ago. It was so much fun. I'd forgotten! We spent most of our time on the Mount Vernon Trail but we also wandered around a bit in DC, passing by the Lincoln Memorial and the Kennedy Center, among other things. I had such a wonderful time. MapMyRide tells me we traveled 7.24 miles and burned 542 calories over the course of our two hour journey. Not bad for my first time in so many years. And I honestly had fun, not feeling tired (or even all that cold) until toward the end. I guess I'm in better shape than I thought I was. Or maybe it was just an easy ride. :)

Gym Recap

I had my first session with Jeev, my new personal trainer, today. He's pretty awesome. This was just an introductory thing, not a real session, so we chatted a bit so he could learn about my goals and current fitness. Afterward he gave me an hour-long cardio "homework assignment" which I went ahead and did since we hadn't worked out and I don't know when I'll next be able to get to the gym. It nearly killed me, I think, but in a good way. I guess. This is what I did:

20 minutes on the Arc Trainer, changing the resistance every two minutes. The clock restarted halfway through, but I'd estimate I burned about 300 calories there.

Then I moved to this treadmill with crazy inclines. I went thirty minutes, from 3.5mph to 2.0mph and back again, from 3-degree to 27-degree inclines and back again. I burned 360 calories.

The last thing was the stair climber. The routine called for 10 minutes at 65 steps per minute, but I only made it 5 minutes - including two pauses to catch my breath. Part of that was because my ankle isn't really ready for such things, and part of it was that my lungs felt like they were going to explode. I'm really feeling those five months off, man! Anyway, I burned almost 70 calories in those 5 minutes, so it was still worth it.

750 calories in 60 minutes? Not bad, not bad at all. Next time I'll hopefully remember to bring my little notepad so I can write down distances and stuff like that so I don't forget.

Also: The Chemical Brothers are some of the best workout music ever.

Oh yeah, and I'm restarting my progress chart. And including my weight this time around because anyone who matters doesn't care, and anyone who might care doesn't matter. Revel in my fatness! :D

New Gym!

To celebrate five months since screwing up my ankle (and two days out of the last brace), I bought new sneakers and joined a new gym: Gold's Gym this time around. While I really did like Sport & Health, this place is just over half the monthly fee. Sure, it doesn't have the pool I never used or the free shampoo/conditioner/body wash/lotion I will honestly miss, but it's got a lot of high-quality equipment. There is also a distinct lack of small children in the locker room, which is most likely related to the lack of a pool. Fine by me!

Anyway, I signed up yesterday and tried it out today. Not really in the mood to mess with the weight machines, I went into the Cardio Cinema, which is a darkened room with loads of cardio machines in front of a huge screen playing a movie. So I went in and got on the elliptical and watched a random half hour of Thor. I'm totally out of shape after these five months of idleness and pain, and I worked for every one of those minutes. Anyway, here's the stats:

elliptical machine
35 minutes
2.98 miles
431 calories

Sometimes I almost wish there was a way to measure the amount I sweat. I guess the technical term is "lots".

Oh yeah, I was recording victories! Today's victory: I did not stop by Burger King on my way to work this morning. I'd been doing it far more than I'd like to admit lately, but I've decided to turn over a new leaf. At least for now. :)

2011: An Ankle Odyssey

As of today it's been just about exactly one month since my ankle surgery and four months since the original injury. Long story short: the orthopedist put me in a boot for a month to see if that fixed me without surgery, but it didn't, so I had surgery to fix the teeny tear in my tendon.

But that wasn't all that was fixed. I think I've mentioned weird ankle pain when running or walking before; I can remember walking home from elementary school and pain shooting up my right ankle and not getting better until I sat down for a while. I've never had this sort of pain in my left ankle, only my right - which, coincidentally, was also the ankle I sprained back in April.

The surgeon made some vague reference to some kind of muscle issue discovered (and fixed) during surgery, and he clarified it when I went back for my first post-op appointment ten days later. The peroneal brevis muscle in your calf is supposed to end at your upper ankle, about where the top of a bobby sock would be. Mine extended all the way down and wrapped around the bottom of the ankle bone. The little space that runs behind the ankle bone really doesn't have much room: just enough for the two tendons that go through there. With the muscle there too, it means that whenever I worked it (like running or walking), it would expand with blood and thus cause pain and inflammation and probably wasn't helping the torn tendon any either. So he cut the extra muscle away to fix the problem. If I hadn't busted up my ankle, this lifelong issue may never have been spotted.

In short, I was too beefy for my own good.

I'm still in a walking boot for a couple more weeks, and have thus far have not been assigned physical therapy. Once I can walk normally again I'll start looking into another gym. My "big news" (which would have entailed moving halfway across the country) ended up falling through, so I'm staying in this area for the foreseeable future.

Which is fine. I just miss going to the gym. The other day I picked up the novel I'd been reading on the exercise bike and finally finished it. It felt weird to read it while lying in bed, but I knew if I didn't pick it back up I'd have to start over from the beginning, and I didn't want to do that. Oh well; I'll start another book when I finally get back into regular gym visits.

Running to Stand Still

Not literally running, of course. I'd considered titling this post "one step forward, one step back," but thought making a U2 reference was more snazzy. Or something.

Anyway, a couple things: first, I cancelled Nutrisystem. I've lost a fair amount of weight, but truth be told I have so much food left over that I'll technically still be on Nutrisystem for at least another month. Which is fine. My husband is looking forward to cooking more, and we've both learned a lot about portion control. My real issue will be lunch - I really suck at making decent lunches - but I think we'll be able to find some kind of reasonable substitute. There are plenty of, for example, single-serving soups out there. I'll find something I like.

Second, I cancelled my gym membership. I had mixed feelings about this, but in the end it just made sense. My main reason is because of my ankle. I got the results from my MRI last week and learned that I have tears in my lateral collateral ligament in two places, as well as multiple partial tears in the deep tissue of the deltoid ligament. I unfortunately couldn't get an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon until June 20, and if he decides surgery is the best route then I will be on crutches for the rest of the summer at least. It's not worth going to the gym just to do arms; I can use my kettle bells for that.

I could have just suspended my membership for a few months, but there's also the possibility of my life making a drastic change this summer, which would necessitate quitting this gym anyway. If things turn out not to happen the way I'm sort of expecting them to, I can always sign up with another gym in the area. I liked this one because it's comfortable and close to work, but it's also more expensive than other options.

I'd like to also mention that both Nutrisystem and my gym (Sport & Health) let me cancel easily and immediately. I had absolutely no trouble whatsoever.

Exercise Update

Under a lot of stress. Went for a walk around the neighborhood last night.

Distance: 3.29 miles
Time: 1hr 5min
Average speed: 3.04 mph
Calories burned: 246

I haven't been going to the gym (no time!) but this helped a bit, I think.

Hump Day Happies

Weight change this week: -1
Weight change so far in 2011: -8

I attended the goodbye luncheon for my former supervisor today. It was at T.G.I. Friday's. I thought long and hard about what to eat, and ended up with a half sandwich/half wedge salad, with water to drink. It was really tasty, and at the end of it I felt like I could have eaten more, but didn't need to. So that felt good. You can't imagine how hard it is for me to resist french fries!

I wasn't really in the mood to go to the gym tonight. I didn't feel like lifting weights and most of the cardio was off-limits while I recover from yesterday's fall on the ice. So I went up to the indoor track, loaded up one of the Podrunner mixes, and told myself that I didn't have to do anything in particular, but I wasn't allowed to leave that track for the entirety of the hour-long mix.

And you know what? I mostly walked, but I ran quite a bit too. I took it easy, careful to put most of the impact on my toes, not worrying about speed. And I kept moving for that entire hour.

And most importantly, my knee didn't hurt at all. Score! :D

Getting back up to speed

Last December I started the First Day to 5k program through Podrunner Intervals. I'd completed it once before, in 2007, but due to weather and asthma I didn't keep up with it after that. This past time I got halfway through week 3 and decided that since my knee pain had me about in tears by the end of the run, it was time to quit. Considering I'd been running on an indoor track (and was on concrete sidewalks in 2007), this sudden problem was unexpected, to say the least.

I have several theories as to what happened. The first may be that my form was off during the first week, causing minor injury that never healed properly, worsening every time I ran. The second is that I've exceeded the weight limit for my joints, and I need to just lose weight before I can run again.

I've always wanted to be a runner, not just for the fitness benefits but because I like the freedom of it. You can do it just about anywhere, no special equipment required. The best part of the Podrunner Intervals podcasts is that you don't have to constantly check your watch or your distance: the speed of the music changes when you need to change your pace, with a little chime in between so you know it's coming. And you know, a lot of the time running really sucks, but when it doesn't, it's awesome. And either way, at the end of each run I feel like I really accomplished something.

So I've decided to try again. I have an appointment to pick up new custom orthotics this coming Tuesday. After giving myself a couple weeks to fully break them in, I will begin the First Day to 5k program again, on February 21.

I told my coworker this, who then wrote it on his calendar. I'm not sure how I feel about such accountability, but I guess I'm in it for real now. Here's hoping my knee doesn't fail me again. I'll take it super slow, which isn't saying much considering I was never what you might call fast, but one thing I've learned about going to the gym: nobody's looking at you.

Wednesday Weakness

Weight change this week: +1
Weight change so far in 2011: -5

I fully expected to gain weight this week, and in fact I'm a little surprised I didn't gain more. I ate junk all weekend and didn't hold back at all. I skipped the gym on Friday because I had too much to get done (and indeed didn't get home until after midnight), Saturday and Sunday because I had people over all day to work on convention stuff (though I certainly got a workout lugging boxes of books all over the place), Monday because I was just insanely tired, and yesterday because we had an ice storm.

I went today, however, and tried out the BODYPUMP class. I'm not really one for group classes, but since they're included with my membership fee I figured I should at least try them out. The instructor was really nice, taking a few minutes before class to show me what kind of gear I needed and what sorts of moves we'd be doing.

And you know, it was really hard. But it was a good kind of hard, and the hour went by quickly. The instructor remembered my name and encouraged me to come back next week. I just might.

All-in-One 1/12/11

Got lots to report, so I figured I might as well put it all in one mega-post.

First: the weekly weigh-in. I've been dreading this.

Weight change this week: -1
Weight change so far in 2011: -6

Second: victories!

• There were two mostly-finished 2-liters of soda in the office kitchen up for grabs: one Diet Coke, one regular Coke. I really like regular Coke (and finishing it off would have meant I could keep the Coke Rewards points), but I only took the Diet Coke.
  
• I wanted a midmorning snack, preferably something in the pastry food group. I had coffee.
  
• I wanted a snack pretty much immediately after lunch, but instead waited until right before I left for the gym, when I had a packet of oatmeal to sustain me through my workout.

Third: gym recap.

Format: exercise - reps x sets - weight - notes (if applicable)

• pull-ups - 5x3 - 112lb counterweight - arms out - Oddly easy again. I dunno.
  
• dips - 12x3 - 112lb counterweight
  
• abdominal crunch machine - 50x2 - 35 lbs
  
• lower back machine - 50x2 - 35 lbs - this is basically a reverse crunch
  
• hip adduction - 15x3 - 90 lbs
  
• hip abduction - 15x3 - 90 lbs
  
• lat pull-downs - 12x3 - 62.5 lbs
  
• lawnmower pulls with free weights - 12x3/arm - 15lbs/arm - no idea what this is really called.
  
• calf machine - 12x3 - 100 lbs
  
• squat machine - 12x3 - 90lbs

The real challenge will be this weekend. My husband won't be around to cook nutritious meals for me, and I'm kind of helpless on my own. Will I be able to resist the siren song of fast food? Only time will tell.

Weekly Weigh-in and Gym Recap 1/5/11

I lost 5 pounds over the last week. I dunno how meaningful that is, but I have been far more mindful of what I've been eating.

And now for the gym recap.

Format: exercise - reps x sets - weight - notes (if applicable)

* abdominal crunch machine - 50x2 - 35lbs
* hip abduction - 12x3 - 90lbs
* hip adduction - 12x3 - 90lbs
* chin-ups - 5x3 - 112lb counterweight - all elbows out
* dips - 12x3 - 112lb counterweight
* lat pull-downs - 12x3 - 62.5lbs

I've been very tired all week, and I suspect it's because my body is fighting off my husband's cold. He's been sick for two weeks and I've had nary a sniffle, but I need to be careful that I don't get run-down. That's why I took it easy again at the gym. I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things starting Monday.

Gym Recap 1/3/11

Format: exercise - reps x sets - weight - notes (if applicable)

* abdominal crunch machine - 50x2 - 40lbs - this was pretty rough
* hip abduction - 12x3 - 90lbs
* hip adduction - 12x3 - 90lbs
* chin-ups - 5x3 - 112lb counterweight - 2 sets elbows out, 1 set elbows in
* dips - 12x3 - 112lb counterweight
* lat pull-downs - 12x3 - 62.5lbs
* squats - 12x3 - 90lbs
* incline press - 12x3 - 35lbs - very difficult, probably because my arms were tired

I went easy on my legs since they're still smarting from the hike on the 31st.

Last Hike of 2010

A friend and I spent New Year's Eve hiking along the Appalachian Trail. We started at Crampton Gap in Gathland State Park near Burkittsville, Maryland, and hiked to Harpers Ferry - a distance of about 10.2 miles. Map My Run tells me that over the course of the 6ish hours we hiked, we burned some 3120 calories. Not bad, not bad at all.


We actually hiked this backwards, from Crampton Gap to Harpers Ferry, but it's the same route.

Of course, we were a little stupid: we forgot to pack food. We grabbed breakfast on the way and had plenty of water, but by the time we arrived in Harpers Ferry we were ravenous. We also probably should have parked at Weverton rather than continuing along the long, flat, kind of boring stretch of road along the C&O Canal into Harpers Ferry. My legs were more than a little annoyed with me by the end of it.

But I'm glad we went. I got to see a trail shelter for the first time, I felt really accomplished at hiking so far, and the view from the top was just lovely.

The Futility of Exercise

Originally posted on The Hood on December 30, 2010 at 9:10am.

So I've joined this community, and subscribed to the blog.  The most recent post, Fitness: - Are You *Faking* It?, really struck a chord with me.  In particular, this sentence:

I joined a gym, hired a personal trainer and committed myself to exercising as much as possible.  I became a gym rat, practically going every day.

That was me in 2010.  I joined a gym last December, got a personal trainer, and was going to the gym 4-5 days a week most of the year.  Gym time is me-time, and I treasure it.  I breathe hard, sweat mightily, then treat myself to long showers afterward.

But.  This next sentence:

Over the next few months, the weight fell off, my body changed in positive ways, and I definitely liked what I saw in the mirror.

Doesn't apply to me in the slightest.  I gained about twenty pounds over the course of the year, and my clothes became tighter too.  My personal trainer was baffled, but I wasn't.  Exercise alone has never caused me to lose weight.  The extra energy spent leads me to consume more calories, whether I realize it or not.  I think I'm eating the same amount as before, but clearly I am not.  It's discouraging, but I've come to terms with it.  The simple truth is that if I want to lose weight, I have to focus more on my diet than my activity level.  I'm actually fairly fit, as these things go: I have pretty good endurance and I'm stronger than most women I know.  But I'm still fat.

One good thing about recognizing this in myself is that it changes my attitude toward exercise.  Instead of using the scale to measure my progress at the gym, I look at the amount of weight I'm lifting or the level I set on the stair-climber.  I like feeling strong, even if I don't feel thin.  The next step is to work out my issues with foods, but that's another post for another time.