Shygurl's take on it all

I have been so well with staying consistant in the gym.  It has been four weeks now.  no prolonged absences.  I am struggling with diet though.  I know the things I should stay away from but it has been a struggle this week.  I am trying to limit or exclude processed foods and limiting my startch intake (breads, pasta etc) to three half cup servings a day and the rest is veggies and fruit.  The thing that is hardest to beat is the craving.  And over the past two days I have caved.  I have no idea what to do.  I tell myself that no I am going to stick with my meal plan and then I blow it.  I get a headache in the middle of the day which i think is withdrawl from all the chemicals that are in food.  Then I have carbs and of course no more headache.  I am just so frustrated with myself.  I am studying as well and all I want to do is eat junk food.  What am is supposed to snack on lol??!!!!  I am making the efforts in the gym but unless i get a lot of things in the kitchen under control I am never going to get where I want to be.  I also realize that habits take time to create and that there are healthy ones I have started.  Its the slowly filtering out the bad ones that is hard…..sigh.  Tomorrow is another day!

Well last week I was down in weight and now I am back up…..i dont understand.  Maybe I should stop obsessing about it? Like so many sources say the scale is just a number?  I think back to the week.  Stress and lack of sleep could definately have something to do with it.  Maxing 6 hours a night right now due to school.  The last think I want to do is hit the gym but I do it anyways.  And yet…..two pounds back on.  It could also be that I am eating infrequent meals.  I have been starving when I eat the last 4 days.  Which means more likely than not I am over eating…..damn.  When i am tired and stressed I eat carbs.  They are the devil.  I gotta find a different alternative and consciously work on doing something else instead of going to the fridge! There is a picture of dana torres on there for a reason.  It’s a minor set back, just details!! I can do it.  Gotta keep thinking like the little engine that could! "i think I can, I think I can, I think I can…"

:)

well the last two weeks have been great.  School started up again so I am trying to stay on  top of that without letting any other part of my life shift into neglect.  I hit the gym 6 days a week.  Weight train 4 and cardio all 6.  i am down 2 lbs so far which is freaking awesome.  the motivation is there.  i have to lose this weight and get in shape so it wont be so difficult down the road.  God Bless my husband.  Today he took a step towards a complete lifestyle change.  He is eating better and going start with a trainer! I am pretty stoked.  I look forward to the day when i dont have to worry about him having a heart attack.  I am hoping it will boost our relationship too.  More active means we can go for walks with the dog more often without being excessively tired.  Cant wait to see more fat drop off in the next few weeks!

While having a bbq in my backyard and sipping a caesar, my girlfriend excitedly suggests that we should do the sprint distance triathlon that is coming up in the next few weeks.  I chuckled and said well i would but i havent trained for it or anything i think i would die attempting it.  She says no no no! It’s easy! Come on lets do it!  So I sign myself up for it and she cant get a sitter for her kids which is fine.  I just have no idea what i am doing.  I figured well i better see if i can do this.  I swam for years and am an avid runner all i have to do is throw in the biking part and that shouldnt be to hard.  So i went out on monday and did the whole thing 750m swim 20km bike and 5 km run.  Well there were mishaps, my bike tires werent full to capacity and i was riding my husbands bike with the seat adjusted way wrong.  But i got through it and figured it should take me about two hours.  Friday i went for a 20km bike 5km run with my bikes fron brake grabbing the whole time.  That took me and hour and a half.  Which is fine.  I have to give myself the time for the bike….because its the longest and the hardest leg not only that but i gotta give myself the 45 min worse case scenerio to do the 5km. 

So race day comes and I use my girlfriends bike which is light as a feather.  I am told that the course should be fairly easy! I am nervous.  So i find a fellow comptetitor to show me the ropes.  If anyone out there has ever done a triathlon and your are ridiculously serious about it here is what not to do to someone just because you have the pre race jitters.  We are setting our bikes up and they hang off of a rack.  The girl who is helping me out says you can hang your bike there.  There was someones stuff underneath where i went to hang my bike and this guy looks at me and says " you cant put your bike there.  I am putting mine there.  He has his next to mine so there is no room for your bike"  I looked at him confused because there was no bike hanging in the spot just his **** on the ground underneath.  Unless he is riding one of the invisible bikes.  So i say ok.  I will just move it over here.  He says "nope there isnt enough room."  I said well it looks like the bikes are sitting inbetween the tape spots so i dont see how there isnt enough room.  A nice young man told me there was room down where he was and I thanked him and hung my bike up.  The girl who was helping me out suggested how to set up my gear so that it would be an easy transition.  Then i realize ****. I am wearing the shoes i need to run in.  SO i run back to my car switch shoes but the ones i had on under my bike and go to stretch out.  Well jerkface decides he wants to approach me so I avoid him but he catches up and says " look i am really sorry for jumping all over you back there." Now I heard "you must be nervous because of the race" and he very well could have meant that he was nervous because of the race but he seemed like a veteran so the later of the statements is probably not what he said.  I then politely tell him that this is actually my first race.  I understand that some people take it very seriously but rudeness and hostility are not needed.  If someone looks like they dont know what they are doing it is very likely that they actually could be new to the sport and have no idea what they are doing.  So to all you people out there who are like the dude i got to deal with right before a race lighen up and relax.  No one is trying to purposely sabotage your ****.  Life is better if you arent all doom and gloom all the time.  Whew well thank goodness that was over besides the oh i am sorry but it must be your fault attitude.  And as you all can see i am a little mad about it.

So the race comes.  I dont have a wet suit. I have my speedo and a pair of bike shorts on so i dont have to wrestle with pulling on dry clothes while i am all wet.  The swim was easy.  I came out of the water towards the front of the pack i think….who knows.  But man did the bike kick my butt.  It was all hills and it was tough.  The run was good.  The first have was tough but i picked up the pace on the last half and finished in 1 hour and 54 min.  Which is all i wanted to do was under 2 hours.  Not bad for not training in the slightest for the event. I do realize that being a strong swimmer does not help you out that much.  The swim is the shortest leg of the race and the bike is the longest.  I definately have to hone up my biking skills! But i think that i am addicted to this now! YAY something else to love!!!!

WOW did the busy weekend at work and the late night on saturday night leave me absolutely exhausted.  I sure cant stay up as late as i used to without feeling seriously affected by the lack of sleep.  I did hit the gym after work today.  Here is what it looked like.  I went with my husband he is a big man he weighs 350 and I am proud that he got out there today and worked out with me!

Warm up with a lap around the track its 220m around.

Squats on a bosu ball with a 24 lb body bar

wall sits until the other person is done their squats

push ups on the bosu ball

run a lap

do the whole sequence 2 times

walking lunges 15 reps with resistance tubing wrapped around your waist and the other person pulling back (if that makes any sense)x2

squats with a row.  Used the resistance tubing again one person is the anchor.  I jumped backwards into the squat as I did the row.  2×12

Ball curls 15

And then I threw in the towel.  There was really no rest in between anything.  But it was good!!  I am tired and it is bed time!

WOW.  I swam for 10 years competitively.  Nothing amazing, I never made it anywhere but none the less, it sucks when you have a workout planned that you know you used to be able to do in a breeze and then you go to do it and you cant even get through it all.  That was my swim workout today.  And it wasnt that I wasnt in the shape to do it, I am stronger than I was last year when I was still swimming masters.  It was my darn shoulder injury from 6 years ago.  And the fact that I did a tonne of pull ups the other day.  So backstroke was out, breaststroke hurt but not that bad and freestyle was ok as long as I made sure I didnt drop my elbow.  Well I got through 3/4 of the workout and then tossed in the towel.  I love to swim and it kills me that I can no longer do the simplest set without the utmost concentration on my arm and body position in the water.  I am trying to repair strokes that have been done wrong for years.  It wasnt until i got to swimming with the masters team a few years back that I noticed a difference in my stroke for the better.  But it is like relearning how to walk.  I am trying to reprogramme my body.  normally I would just switch to a kick set.  I suck at kick, I always have and always will.  I did the kick set I had planned in my workout and then put on the fins to give my shoulder a break. 

 I think I am going to have to start with the basics again and build back up to what I know I can do.  It is just hard to accept.  I know I didnt get the workout I wanted to today but I cant push the shoulder or I wont be able to lift my arm.  And that was the smart thing to do.  No point in being a martyr by destroying the one thing I am trying to make better.

ok well i have a swim workout planned for the morning as I am needed a cardio session.

12×25m drill, kick, swim

10×25m back/breast drill w 10s rest

5×100m back to breast @ 2:30-2:45

8×50m kick @ 1:20-1:30

8×25m sprint free @ 45s

8×25m sprint back @ 45s

100m ez

stretch

we will see how the ol shoulder holds out

Well I hit the gym pretty hard on sunday, took a rest on monday and went hard yesterday.  Sunday was back and abs. 

5×10,100lbs assisted pullups

3×10,50lbs lat pulldowns 3×10,50lbs seated rows did back to back with no rest

3×10 back exstensions

1×8, 45lb bent over row

3×10, 45lbs delt raise

ab machine 2×25, 80lbs

oblique machine 2×25, 50lbs

after the pull ups i was dead tired but i kept going!

Monday was a rest day.  I was dog tired.

Yesterday was legs and cardio.

Cardio was an hour hike into the Ancient Forest which is a rainforest close to where I live.  My dog was my workout partner. 

Leg exstensions i think this is called a drop set but i am not sure

3×8,10   120lbs, 105lbs

             120lbs, 90lbs

             120lbs, 90lbs

and just for kicks i did 180lbs 5 times…..some day i will do the stack once.

leg press 3×10, 180lbs

calf raises 2×50, 100lb

superset the next two

bosu ball squats 2×10, 24lb body bar

lunges 2×10, 24lb body bar

2×10 ball curls

And that was yesterday.  Today I am tired. But have a swim planned and chest and tris!!

Well today was a successful day.  I love successful days.  It means something went according to plans and really it means I accomplished something.  I did have a class tonight and I was tired after the class but I still hit the gym for a good hour.  I lifted for a half hour which was legs and abs and then did 22min HIIT on the stair master.  And those stairs got mastered.  I am fairly tired right now.  So those were all huge giant steps in the right direction.  I hate cardio with a passion.  I would rather do an hour of abs, which i also hate, than do cardio.  So the fact that my heart rate was jacked and I was sweating and huffing and puffing in a short amount of time made me happy.  Sure felt like longer that 22 minutes.  But hey some minutes are better than no minutes. 

 At least i didnt make and excuses to go home and scarf down whatever was in my fridge.  I still havent gone to my fridge and scarfed back anything.  The picture of Dara Torres is up there for a reason……she didnt get the way she is by scarfing back everything in her fridge.  And she is an amazing inspiration.  I am sure everyone has those people they admire.  The inspiration will hopefully instill the motivation when it is lacking.  That seems to be where I am stuck is in the motivation department.  Getting in shape is hard.  It is sacrifices and lifestyle changes.  Like my grandmother used to say "nothing good comes easy" and she had it right!!!!

It is amazing what literature can do.  Picking up a book and taking in what science and research has to offer cannot compete with anything.  I am half way through an amazing book all about our wonderful metabolism.  It is crazy why types of things can destroy it.  It is no joke that we all learn about hormones when we are in high school.  I dont remember learning their direct effect to our metabolism though that and years of unhealthy  yo yo dieting and preservatives and additives are a train  wreck waiting to happen.  It blew me away.  I realized that I have destroyed my metabolism through years of unhealthy nutrition practices.  I also realized that there are a lot of additives in our food.  That certain chemicals in foods combined together can create human carcinogens.  GA!!  Now i am not saying i never knew that there were additives and preservatives in food i just never realized that they were all so harmful.  When you are growing up you are being cared for most of the time.  I never ate crap food growing up.  It was whole food.  I grew up on a farm.  It wasnt until i was on my own and became so busy that I was looking for fast and easy foods where i got into trouble.  I have started to remove all the crap from my diet, even the crap that is hiding in my diet, stuff that i have to read labels to find.  My body is addicted to the chemicals in the foods we put into our bodies every single day.  two days so far without any of it and man was i craving the strangest things.  Things that my brain knows has all the chemicals in it.  Just have to stick to my guns and not give in.  Other battles is sicknes. I hate beings sick. Isnt the rule above the neck what the heck? HA HA HA.  I just cant seem to not feel guilty about not hitting the gym because some microscopic bug kicked my immune systems a**.  But i suppose that when you arent sprinting and your chest hurts like you were sprinting that it is ok to go easy for a bit.  Just means i have to go harder when i get back to it and stay eating clean while i am trying to kick this.  Chicken soup proves itself once again