Row, Noob! Row!

Rowing is exhausting. Let me start with that.

Tonight marked my realization 6th trip to the gym in 7 days...that in and of itself is a small accomplishment.

I walked in, popped on the rower and set forth on my 2000m course. The other day, I finished in about 12:30, but I really didn't know what I was doing. I had a little more knowledge today, but started out very, very fast...it was sort of like starting out a run at a sprint...I knew I couldn't keep the pace, but it was fun while I did...and I clocked a 9:44.9 while burning 111 calories. Not too bad. Plus, when I got off, I was absolutely drenched in sweat...it was definitely an awesome 10 minute workout.

For my next magic trick, I went to the old trusty recumbent bike. For some reason, tonight some guy decided to plop right in the middle one. Maybe it's me, but I like for there to be a buffer machine if at all possible. Of course, if three people are using the machines, then absolutely - all three will be used. But if you're the only one there and all three machines are the exact same...take the one on the end. Don't be all up in my hula hoop. And don't be looking at my time trying to race me...I'm not doing the same workout you are.

Anyway, I hopped on to the bike, set it at Alpine Pass level 8 and just booked it for 30 minutes while watching Wipeout (which I'm fairly certain is the only thing that comes on TV in the summer). I made excellent time and finished with 11.59 miles. I might have been able to have 12...but I probably would have thrown up or passed out if I went any harder. Now that I've significantly passed my goal for the week, I'm probably going to take it a little easier on the recumbent bike tomorrow...perhaps going down to a level 6 or perhaps doing a non-Alpine Pass route as sort of a rest day. Alpine Pass, however, is a quality program on the recumbent bike.

Finally, I made my second round on the rower. This one was going to be more of a cool down, just get reps in 2000m. I wasn't in any shape or form trying to race my previous time...until I realized that I was pulling at a slightly more consistent rate and could come close to hitting my previous time. As the clock wound down on what I intended to be an easy 12-15 minute row, I realized I had a shot to break 10 minutes again, so I pushed for it...and nailed it. Second row was 9:48.5 and I burned 110 calories. My new goal for the remainder of the week is to knock the time under 9:40.

Tomorrow, we're back to the "easy" day...recumbent bike and elliptical. I'm starting to dig this.

Day Five!

I have been to the gym on 5 of the last 6 days!

 

Last night didn't add anything too wonderful or exciting to the repertoire other than my realization that a C25K on an elliptical is next to impossible due to a) the fact that I'm already pretty exhausted just doing the elliptical normally and b) the fact that the elliptical is best suited for interval training. Thus, if I train to go for 30 minutes on all high intensity, I'm not exactly getting the benefit of the elliptical. So, instead, I did 20 minutes of the interval course.

 

First, however, I went to the reliable recumbent bike. Actually, I went to a different one since mine was in use. That's right - mine. There's a row of three and I had been using the far left one every day...last night, I had to use the far right. Again, I did the Alpine Pass route for 30 minutes at level 8 intensity. After a 10.55 mile and a 10.62 mile day, I really picked it up last night, clocking 10.90 miles in 30 minutes...my goal for this week is to pass 11 miles in thirty minutes.

 

As I mentioned already, I then headed over to the elliptical for 20 minutes of interval training...I'm very, very careful not to rest on the rails when I do it...I know that takes away some of the calorie burn.

 

I'm actually starting to look forward to going each day. Tonight, as I mentioned yesterday, I'll be doing the rower again. After doing a little research, I discovered that there are actually indoor rowing competitions (?!?!?!) and that they always row at 2000m. That's also the distance that they travel during the Olympics on the water. Thus, I'll stick to two 2000m routes - one before the recumbent bike and one after. I didn't pay all that much attention to my time the other day, it was around 12:30, but I will definitely start tracking my time. If I can get down to 6:15, I might actually enter one of those competitions...who knows?

Row Row Row Your Boat...

Made it to the gym for the fourth time in the last five days...that's definitely not bad at all...

The only downside to working out on Sunday is that the Y I have decided to frequent is only open from 1-6 on Sunday...the other one the same driving distance away isn't even open on Sunday and most of the others either have the same hours or open at 12. The only one that actually does open at 8 am is also the busiest YMCA in all of the Middle Tennessee area...compound the fact that for four hours on Sunday mornings, it's also the only Y open in the Middle Tennessee area...and it makes for something that I really really don't want to go through...at least not for now.

So I waited until the 1 o'clock opening bell and headed into the Y...the good thing I've found about this Y is that it's not really that crowded...at the Y that I used to frequent (the Green Hills Family YMCA), virtually the only time you could find parking was after 8 o'clock PM. Even then, getting an exercise machine was hit-or-miss.

With the Franklin Family Y, I have been 4 times this week at 3 different times of day - 10:30 am, 1:00 pm and 7:00 pm. Not once have I had an issue with parking or with finding an available machine.

But...as usual...I digress.

When I rolled into the Y, I had a plan for once...today, the plan was another 30 minutes on the Alpine Hill on the recumbent bike and to try out the rowing machine.

I hopped on the bike, turned on the IRL race and started rolling up the Alps on level 10 (yesterday I went at level 8)...however, about halfway through, I realized that this was actually too much...I was bordering on the edge of quitting...so I backed it down again to level 8. I figure that I will climb my ways through the levels, spending the rest of this week at level 8 before moving onto level 9 this week. Today, I completed 10.55 miles in 30 minutes and - according to the monitor - burned 254 calories.

After hopping off the bike, I found the rowing machine. I turned on an audiobook on my iPod (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson) and selected a program called "Fish Game". Unfortunately, I had no idea how to play the fish game and after rowing for 5 minutes, I had a score of 0 and I had paid absolutely no attention to my audiobook, so I started over.

This time, I turned on M. Ward's Hold Time and selected a 2000 meter course on the machine...it took me approximately 13 minutes to finish it, but every muscle in my body was sore due to the fact that I was essentially doing squats and resistance training for almost 20 minutes. On Tuesday (which will be the next rowing day), I think I will try the 5000 meter course and finish with the recumbent bike...this definitely seems to be the machine that will work me the hardest...at least right now.

Tomorrow, I will begin the C25K on the crossfit elliptical thingy...after looking at it again, I think "crossfit" might be a brand name, but I'm not positive, so we'll call it a C25K on the elliptical instead. I recognize it's no substitute for the real thing, but probably when I'm done, I'm guessing it will make the real thing that much easier. Basically, the plan is to up my intensity during the running intervals and kind of recover during the non-running intervals. I can actually see this working with the bike, too, but let's do one thing at a time.

Finally, the Y has this program where you get points with every swipe...it's called "My Y Rewards"...you get 20 points with every swipe and there is a website full of "rewards" that you can buy with your points. Most of the stuff isn't too bad...books that you would actually read, DVDs that you would actually watch, some exercise things...I even saw an iPod shuffle. However, every 12 times you swipe, you get to spin a little fake prize wheel that they have. When I started going on Wednesday, I had 32 visits, which meant that I had 2 spins (both just got me 15 more points)...I've been 4 times since, which means I've accumulated another spin on the prize wheel, which I'll be taking tonight. In case your curious, I'm saving up my points to get the new Hank Aaron biography...I have about 20 more visits to go!

Until tomorrow!

This is new...

So last night, didn't get a run in due to Joe Biden visiting town and practically shutting off all routes South (aka: home) from work. Once I got home...rain started falling...and then thunder...and then then a big blob of red on the radar came right over the house.

Well, all of this completely ruined my plans for Week 1 Day 2 last night...considering that by the time the rain finally got to a point that I felt comfortable driving in, it was time for me to go to my friends' house for game night.

While we're sitting around...I look down at my feet...and notice that my left foot is huge...like HUGE. It's very, very swollen...no idea why.

Fast forward to this morning...we're still swollen...but I still need to work out.

Needless to say, I didn't run today...instead got on the recumbent bike and rode a route called "Alpine Pass" at a level 8 out of 20 for 30 minutes. According to the monitor, I covered 10.62 miles and burned 222 calories.

Then I moved over to the crossfit machine and worked there for about 15 minutes before I felt that I could not go any further...I'm going to have to keep working at this one...

Due to the swelling, not really sure I should run until I cut down on my weight quite a bit...it seems like the impact is putting too much weight down on my feet and my feet are fighting back...so I'm going to try to do a fake one on the crossfit first...plus, once I finish that, I should have my weight down enough to where maybe running won't cause me such an issue.

Since I did it today, however, I'm going to stay off it tomorrow and do the rowing machine (yes, they had one) and more recumbent bike. Monday should prove to be interesting, since it will be crossfit C25K Week 1 Day 1.

So far so good...

Well, I made it to the gym for the second night in a row...unfortunately, I didn't really have a plan in mind of what to do, so I just kind of haphazardly went about it while watching Wipeout on the gym televisions.

 

For 31 minutes, I walked on the treadmill generally between a 2.8 and 3.0 MPH pace. I recognize that's not remotely fast, but I didn't want to tire myself out for tonight's run. Also, instead of doing a flat course like the run, I did a program called "Pike's Peak" which obviously features a lot of inclines.

 

After the treadmill, I hopped onto a crossfit machine for 20 minutes...and after 20 minutes, I realized that it's what I should have been doing instead of the treadmill, as it clearly works different muscles in my legs.

 

Not sure if they have a rowing machine in there or not, but I'll be on the lookout for it tonight when I go for my run...gotta build up my 6 pack!

One. More. Time.

Here's hoping it's the last time...

 

Actually, my goal isn't to promote that I've updated the blog once I've completed all of Week 1 this time. But I have to update it anyway to document if I fail again.

 

I'd say it's getting ridiculous, but the more I read about it, the more common this is...people will get excited, start a routine, go out for one or two days...and then quit and start making excuses.

 

I tell myself no excuses. I tell myself I won't quit. And yet...I keep doing it. The worst part is that I'm not even meaning to quit when I quit...I just make an excuse ("Oh, 'The Bachelorette' is on tonight.") and then do it again the next day and the next day...and then before you know it, I haven't worked out in over a month.

 

I feel fatter than before...I would wager that if I stepped on a scale, I'd be close to 300 pounds again. It's frustrating...a lot of these blogs are about success, but for the most part, mine is about failure after failure after failure...and I want to stop that.

 

Last night, I started C25K yet again. This time, however, I'm going about it a little differently - on a treadmill with no incline. I figure that once I can run 30 minutes, then I can start throwing terrain at me. The good part of the treadmill is that it tells me exactly how far I've gone so I can mark definitive progress.

 

I recently discovered when the YMCA took a debit out of my checking account that I was still a member there, so I dug up my pass and headed over to the Franklin Family YMCA. I've determined a smaller goal of mine is to go to every Y in Middle Tennessee and review them...I mean Y not? Bwahahahaha. But I digress.

 

I went to the Y, walked in and quickly found the Wellness Center (the doors are marked with signs above them and it was on my left as soon as I walked in). The treadmills were at the front of the room in front of a big glass wall...I wasn't a fan of that, considering I kind of don't like to be seen when I run. Preferably, I'd be at a treadmill tucked away in a corner somewhere away from wandering eyes. Yes, I'm self-conscious. Instead, I felt like I was essentialy on stage at the front of the room. The windows, however, provided a different experience because they made me actually feel like I was going somewhere instead of just standing on a treadmill. There was also a television in front of each treadmill. Unfortunately, mine did not have a remote control and was stuck on Fox News. Luckily my iPod and Jack Johnson's En Concert were there to save me.

 

The run itself wasn't really anything to write home about...but look at me, writing home about it. It was the typical C25K Week 1 Day 1 (W1D1) workout - 5 minute warmup, eight 90 second walking intervals, nine 60 second running intervals, 5 minute cooldown. On my first interval, I tried to run at 5 MPH, but realized there was no comfortable way I could do that, so I backed it down to 4.5. The rest of my intervals were run at 4.3-4.5 MPH (although I think I had a 4.2 in there) and most of my walking intervals were done between 2.8-3.0 MPH. I was a little disappointed by how slow I could comfortably run, but I had to keep reminding myself that it was only the first day - endurance first, speed later.

 

When I finished, I had completed 1.68 miles in 31 minutes, a snail-like average speed of 3.2 MPH, meaning I ran a penguin-esque pace of 18:45.