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.

Back in Black...

I've already mentioned that last week's run was painful...seriously, seriously painful.

The next few days afterwards, I started to get extremely sore...could barely move my legs...much less contemplate running...all of which I attribute to the fact that I didn't finish out my cool down and went straight from running to my car.

Tonight, I began again...well, not really "began again"...I took off on my second go round of W1D1, considering the last one more of a fitness trial.

This time around, though, I have several things to consider. I'm a big guy, so I don't exactly wear light colored clothes. Thus, all of my workout clothes are either black or navy blue. This worked well back when I lived at the apartment because I ran on the concrete sidewalk that was lit for miles. Now, however, there is very little lighting to speak of whatsoever.

Thus, I popped onto my old friend RoadID.com and purchased some new gear to help me be more visible running during the night: a green FireFly Supernova (this thing is freaking bright...I also got green because I didn't want to be mistaken for a firetruck or a police car), reflective shoelaces and this spiffy hat (actually, the hat makes me look a bit like a dork...but it's reflective and comfortable).

After putting everything on, I headed out the door tonight at 9:00 and just took off exploring side streets. The Supernova is essentially a miniature strobe light and it is bright. I know I've already said that, but I need to emphasize that it. is. bright. Like I could see living rooms light up when I ran by them and it would flash. There's a way to turn off the strobe and turn it into one constant beam...I may do that for my next run. However, I was certain that I was being seen. I saw two cars very specifically change lanes to move out of my way. Of course, I probably look a little crazy with a green strobe light on my wrist.

There are several huge differences in running in this neighborhood versus the old one. For starters, my run tonight was almost entirely flat. While I did have the option of taking a pretty steep hill, I remember there being some dogs up there that weren't in a fence, so I didn't want to chance that in the dark. The other thing is that it is dark out here. I'm used to running under a street light every 50 feet. At one point, I had to take down a trail between two little sections of our neighborhoods and had to use the SuperNova as a flashlight...and the strobe wasn't exactly comforting...which is yet another reason to turn it to just a constant light...or I could dig out my old Petzl headlamp. That might be an interesting look for someone who isn't an ultramarathoner.

The run itself went fine...the air was a little humid but not suffocating...as I mentioned, the terrain is mostly flat...instead of the sidewalks, however, I ran on the streets. I've noticed in 5ks that for some reason it's actually been tougher for me when I hit asphalt...so I figure I may as well make sure that I get plenty of it in.

All in all, it was a good real Week 1 Day 1. I didn't really run any sort of route...I just ran around...I know this neighborhood like the back of my hand and still managed to get slightly lost (I turned one street to early trying to come back)...that was a little bit fun and a little bit frustrating...but I'm just glad to know that I'm back.