The Vitals

My employer has been offering free health and wellness screenings for employees this month so I jumped on the chance to get everything checked out.  While I’ll never be a fan of the pin prick to the finger, it’s a necessary evil to really see where you’re at.

My weight, body fat and BMI should be no surprise since those get measured every week at the gym right now but here’s how the rest of the bloodwork came out…

Back In The Game!

Happy Friday everyone!  The weekend is finally upon us and I don’t know about you but it couldn’t have come at a better time!

Yesterday, I had maybe my best personal trainer session so far.  Have you ever had one of those workouts where you can feel you’ve got the “pump” going and you’re able to lift a little more weight, run a little bit faster and push a little bit harder?  I had one of those workouts yesterday and it was wonderful!  My warmup run done at the lower end of my normal running speed range even felt like a jog.  Weird but cool!

Michael Phelps I Am Not!

….but I am happy to report that yesterday’s trip to the pool for some lap swimming went better than expected!

After taking several minutes to get used to the water (yes, I’m a wuss about cold temperatures….getting the water level above the equator is always a long process for me), I ended up doing 750 meters total in 50 meter increments with about 12-15 breaths in between.  It’s a long ways to go to get to the 1500 meters for the Olympic distance triathlon but we’re getting there.

I Think The Yoga’s Working!

No fancy greetings this morning.  Today, we jump right into the good news.

I mentioned before that it was recommended I try yoga as a way to alleviate my knee pain.  After two days of using yoga, my IT Band brace and icing the knee, I’m happy to report that the triple whammy seems to be working!

I had success the first time using the IT Band brace during a gentle 5K run on Sunday.  During our warm ups for karate on Monday, we coincidentally got into a few yoga poses for stretching – butterfly, Warrior one, etc.  We focused on the hamstrings, quads and glutes and I honestly felt great afterwards (especially after the butterfly stretch which traditionally I’ve avoided due to my lack of flexibility).

Weigh-In Results – Week 9 (Hitting The Wall)

Hey everyone!  Another week.  Another weigh in.  Let’s jump right into it.

For last week’s weigh in, I came in at 195.8 lbs. and 18.6% body fat.  I made a prediction yesterday that I felt I would crack into the 194s based on how I felt the week went, periodic weigh ins at home and my eating log for the week.  Turns out I jinxed the whole operation.  This week?  195.8 lbs.  The same number for three straight weigh ins.  Body fat came in at 18.5% which was down 0.1% from last week.  I’m officially hitting the wall.

I’m guessing that my problem is 20% exercise / 80% diet.  I say that because I think I’ve been able to have better luck managing and dropping weight where I had regular running incorporated into my routine.  I think I’ve been able to do about four runs total in the last month or so that were longer than one mile due to my knee so that piece has definitely been lacking.  But the greatest cause has to be from diet.

Finally A Breakthrough?

Happy Monday morning all (if there even is such a thing).  I had an exciting weekend exercise-wise and want to get right into it.

I’ve beaten it like a dead horse around here lately but I’ve been having some issues with knee pain lately.  I’ve ended up running about once a week max in order to try to give my knee a chance to rest and because, well, it just doesn’t want to seem to run more than that.

I went to the gym like normal on Friday to try to run yet again only to find that all the treadmills were taken.  So instead I went to try out an alternative that I haven’t used in a while – the elliptical machine.  For some reason, I’d never even thought to consider jumping on the elliptical up until Friday.  It operates in something similar to a running motion.  It works with less strain and banging on the knee.  Maybe this is a halfway decent option.

To My Arsenal I Add Yoga

Happy Friday everyone!  Our favorite day of the week is finally here!  Except for maybe Saturday.

Had another great session with my personal trainer yesterday.  We (or I should say “I”, she didn’t do any damn work!) did another 7 minute spinning circuit (great workout if anybody was wondering), followed by ab circuits and arms/shoulders.  We seemed to really hit the legs and abs hard yesterday which I never complain about.  It’s probably the areas that will continue to need the most work in order to make through these future races.

Epic Fail

I started out yesterday with the greatest of intentions and things quickly went south.  My work day started out with a clear calendar and by about 9AM ended up having half the day filled up with meetings.  That included one meeting that went up until noon and another that went from 1PM to 3PM so I failed to get to the gym to do my normal lunchtime workout.  Not a happy camper!

I was looking forward to getting back on the treadmill and testing out the knee but didn’t get the chance.  I’m a little skeptical that my knee would have “survived” the run because it’s been very up and down as far as how it’s been feeling.  Yesterday around noon was a down period.  I’m really struggling to get my arms around this injury and what I can do to fix it.  It used to be that my knee would start hurting at the end of a workout or shortly thereafter once I slowed down but now it seems to be giving me trouble at completely random times.

Circuit City! (And Weigh-In Results – Week 8)

That’s what it felt like yesterday during my session with the personal trainer.  Instead of our normal work with the weights and the medicine balls, she leads me to the gym’s yoga studio.  Needless to say, I was intrigued with what was to follow.

I walked in to find all manner of exercise equipment laid out for me – bosu balls, dumbbells, barbells, steps.  There was no question about it.  We were doing circuits.  And probably a lot of them.

And circuits we did!  I’ll try not to be exhaustive in listing all the exercises we did but some of the more prominent ones included barbell curls on the bosu ball, burpees with push-ups, dumbbell military presses, barbell squats and push-up circuits.  Oh yeah, and there was running involved between each set just to “keep the heartrate up” as my trainer likes to remind me regularly.  Like the rest of the workout isn’t accomplishing that already!

The Winter Olympics Are Back!

Sorry, no real update today.  After another rough day we took our daughter to the doctor and they diagnosed her with pneumonia.  To make matters worse, it seems my wife might be coming down with it too.  That along with being about 6 months pregnant.  Needless to say, family has taken priority today.

Now, we’re on the couch watching the Winter Olympics.  So sad to hear about the guy from Georgia who died on the luge track.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!