Category Archives: Fitness

Peak Performance Week (or Getting Closer To Some PRs)

Posted on January 25, 2016 | Comments Off

It was another Peak Performance Week at Orangetheory! The last Peak Performance Week was back in November and it was a bit tough for me. I had really wanted to beat what I had done in the previous Peak Performance Week, but since I had my calf tear I’ve been trying to work my way back to where I had been before. It’s tough to know that I had been doing things better/faster/stronger before, but I’m trying to thing of my pre-injury time and post-injury time as two different things (I also have separated my life into pre-hip surgery and post-hip surgery).

So this time, I wasn’t necessarily trying to beat my best time, but just beat what I had done last time. Also, some of the challenges I would be doing were different from last time, so it made it easier not to compare myself to my former self.

Peak Performance

Monday was the 500 meter row. This was going to be a lot easier than the 2000 meter row I did last time (I was going to be missing the 2000 meter row day this time), but just because it was going to be easier didn’t mean that I wasn’t going to push myself like crazy to do something awesome.

It was a 3G day, so we didn’t really have a lot of time at each station. We rotated around a bunch and when it was time for me to do my 500 meter row, I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted my goal time to be. You are supposed to do at least 100 meters every 30 seconds, so if I followed that I would do it in 2:30. As much as I wanted to see if I could do it under 2 minutes, I knew that wasn’t realistic for me right now. So after I had done about 250 meters, I decided I wanted to come in under 2:15.

500 Meters

It was close, but not quite there. I know I could have done it if the straps around my feet hadn’t loosened so much that I had to stop to tighten them, but I can’t let that get to me. It’s still a good time for me and I know that the next time I have to do 500 meters that I’ve got a good benchmark to try to beat.

Wednesday’s class got off to a bit of a tough start for me. There were so many accidents on the road while I was trying to get to class that I ended up being a few minutes late. Normally, I start my workout on the treadmill because that seems to be easier on my hips. But because I was late, I had to start on the rower first. Fortunately, we switched between blocks so I didn’t have to do 30 minutes on the treadmill at the end of class.

This day’s challenge was 1 minute of burpees. I definitely have a love/hate relationship with burpees, but they are getting easier for me to do. In my 1 minute, I was able to do 10 of them (and we had to go all the way down to the ground each time so it was like having to do a pushup with each one). I didn’t have a goal in mind for this challenge, so to me 10 sounds pretty awesome!

Besides the rough start to my Wednesday workout, the rest of the day went pretty well. My treadmill work was feeling easier than it had in a long time and I was using only 15 pound weights for my floor work (I’m working my way to using those 20 pound weights, but it’s a big jump).

Friday was the day that I had been waiting for. The 1 mile challenge. I think those of you who read this blog regularly know that this challenge is a big deal for me. I do use it as a benchmark for my progress. I’ve had mile times in the past that were over 20 minutes. My ultimate goal is to get down to a 15 minute mile. I know that my mile times on the treadmill versus on a race day aren’t always the same, but I still compare them against each other all the time. Sometimes I’m faster on the treadmill because it forces me to walk faster and sometimes I’m faster at a race because it’s a real flat road and I’ve got adrenaline going. So in my mind, they can be interchangeable.

I’ve had one 1 mile challenge since my calf injury. And while it was slower than my past 1 mile challenge, it was progress compared to my 5K mile time. So I was pretty happy. This time, I knew that it would be close to impossible to beat my 1 mile PR so I didn’t go into this with that mindset. I wanted to beat my last 1 mile challenge time (which was 17:08) and ideally be under 17 minutes.

Technically, at Orangetheory power walkers only have to do half the distance for any treadmill things. So I only had to do half a mile. But I wanted to do a mile no matter what, and I’m glad that my coach Bruce put all the treadmill blocks back to back so I would have enough time to complete it (otherwise, there would only be 14 minutes for me to finish).

When I started my mile, I was off to a great start. I was at 3.5 miles an hour for the first minute or so and then bumped it up to 3.6 miles an hour right after that. I hit the .25 mile mark and was going strong. But then, my shin splints came back. I slowed back down to 3.5 miles an hour hoping that maybe that would help make them feel a bit better. They didn’t and I started to hurt quite a bit.

At the half mile mark, I debated ending my treadmill challenge and just being ok with doing that half mile. But I knew that I would be regretting it later so I kept pushing on. It wasn’t an easy mile and I’m sure it didn’t look pretty. But I did it. And in the end I reached my goal.

1 Mile

My official time was 16:57, which is 11 seconds faster than what I did back in November. It’s 27 seconds slower than my PR, so I’m getting closer to being back there.

I’m so glad that I didn’t give up at the half mile. While I wished that the shin splints hadn’t come back during the challenge, they did and I did the best that I could in the circumstances. I’m sure that if my mile was pain free, I would have been maybe 15 seconds faster. But I met my goal and I’m proud of myself for that.

Since all the treadmill blocks were back to back and I took longer than everyone else to finish their mile (I’ve realized that I might have had the slowest mile of everyone at Orangetheory, but I’m ok with that), by the time that I had walked and recovered it was time to move from the treadmill to the floor work. I missed the run/row that everyone else got to do, but I was glad that the treadmill time was done because I didn’t know how much longer I was going to be able to stand the shin splint pain. I know that pushing through the pain isn’t always the right choice, but I knew it was right for me then.

Overall, I’m very happy with how I did during Peak Performance Week. I always tried my best no matter how I felt and I think that the results show that. I’m happy with all 3 of my challenges and I love that I have new challenges that I can track in the future.

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Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health

Tagged challenge, fitness, Orangetheory, pain, progress, rowing, strength, treadmill

Fit2Fat2Fit (or A Book and TV Show That Get It)

Posted on January 21, 2016 | Comments Off

I while ago, I heard of the book “Fit2Fat2Fit“. It was the story of a personal trainer named Drew who gained 75 pounds so he could understand what it was like for his overweight clients to lose weight. Immediately I was interested and got the book to read. I read it so fast and loved the message that the trainer shared.

Fit2Fat2Fit

So many trainers and coaches out there have never had to deal with a weight problem. They don’t understand the mental and physical toll excess weight puts on a person. They see someone overweight and think that the person is uneducated and just needs to be taught how to work out and eat better. They think it’s just as simple as that.

But that’s not the case at all.

Compared to most of my friends who have never had a weight issue, I’m possibly more educated about nutrition. I can guesstimate calories with the best of them. I know what is good, what is bad, and what is ok as a treat. Every bite I take I know if I should be ok eating it or if it’s something that I need to think of as an ok indulgence. I know the food pyramid, how many servings of each thing I should have each day/week, and how many calories my body takes to be alive. I might not be the most educated on what workout routines I should do, but I’ve got nutrition and food down. I may have an eating disorder, but I don’t have a lack of education.

Lack of education may be the issue for some people, but it isn’t for the majority. We know what we should and shouldn’t do, but there is something else in our bodies saying otherwise. And unless you have been there, you don’t get it. I try to explain it the best I can on here, but I know that the voice in my head is so much louder and more persuasive than I could ever explain.

That is why I loved the book so much. Drew didn’t understand at first that when you are heavy, you might not have the same motivation or energy to work out. Or if you are used to eating fatty foods that your body craves them and that eating healthy doesn’t give you the same joy that food has given you in the past (and you have depended on that joy from food). Once he gained the weight and tried to immediately get back to his old routine, he realized that it was not as easy as that. People don’t need to be educated, they need to be understood and guided to a healthy lifestyle.

I’ve been lucky at Orangetheory that none of my coaches have judged me or have tried to talk down to me because of my weight (that has happened with coaches/personal trainers in the past). They understand that I have an eating disorder and am working my way toward recovery. They get that I need support but not lectures. But I know that not everyone has that experience. As much as I think that all trainers should do this experiment to understand what their clients go through, I understand that it isn’t realistic. But I think reading the book can help them get it.

I’ve loved the book for a while, but I discovered last week that now there is a TV show on A&E with the same name about the same concept. A trainer takes 4 months to gain as much weight as they can and then work with an overweight client to take the weight off together. I’ve seen the first episode so far, and I really enjoyed it (and didn’t hate-watch it like I do with other weight loss shows). The trainer didn’t quite understand that things would be hard when he gained weight at first. But once it was time for him to get back into his regular routine and try to lose the weight, he got it. He understood the food withdrawal and the exhaustion of exercise. He became more empathic about what clients might be going through and saw the journey from the client side instead of the coach side.

I’m sure that all the episodes will follow a similar format, but I think that it is an amazing show to watch. I know that people will still judge me and other’s based on appearance, but hopefully they can understand the issues we face just a little bit more.

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Posted in Fitness, Food, Health, Tough Stuff, Weight Loss

Tagged binge eating, books, eating disorder, fitness, reality tv, training, TV, weight gain, weight loss, workout

Balancing My Workouts (or Doing Some Planning)

Posted on January 18, 2016 | 4 comments

It was another week of highs and lows in my workouts. I had to do some real thinking about how I can continue this lifestyle long-term and I think I’ve found some great ideas to help me.

Monday was a bit of an odd day for me. I went to an afternoon workout instead of a morning one because of filming my friend’s project. I do afternoon workouts most days, so it wasn’t too bad. But it seemed to throw my day off a bit and I had trouble with figuring out when I should eat because I ate breakfast so early and didn’t want to eat lunch too late and get sick in my workout. But I managed to figure out something that almost worked for me (I didn’t eat enough before my workout so I was getting a bit light-headed).

Monday was a run/row day (those really are my favorites) and because the run segments were short enough, I was able to do my push paces at 3.6 miles per hour for the entire class. I’m hoping that I can get my base pace up to 3.5 miles an hour, but that’s still a struggle for me. But I’m ok with getting my push paces up. And as I mentioned before, I’m focusing on my speed on the treadmill instead of increasing the incline. I feel like that is making things a bit easier on my hips and calf so I’m happy to continue doing that.

Wednesday was a bit of a tough day for me. I’m not sure if I was getting shin splints again, but my legs didn’t feel right. It wasn’t the same as the usual shin splint pain. It was more toward my ankles and didn’t start until the end of the treadmill segment, so I didn’t stress out about it too much. As soon as I got off the treadmill I focuses on my weight works and was successful in only using 15 pound weights (no 12 pound weights at all that day!). We also ended the day with a 3 minute row and I felt like my form was a bit straighter than it has been in a long time (when I bend my legs on the rower, they go more out like a butterfly than bending like a squat). I did take care of my legs after class, so I didn’t have any pain on Thursday like I have in the past with shin splints.

Friday was a crazy day for me. I wasn’t thinking that it was the start of a holiday weekend and I was late for class for the first time ever! Fortunately, my friend Dani was there and saved me a treadmill. I was only 3 minutes late, but it did throw me off. It was another run/row day, so I was pretty happy about that. I was mainly doing 3.6 miles an hour, but I tried to increase it to 3.7 for the last 30 seconds of each treadmill block. My legs were feeling fine, so that was a relief. And Friday marked the start of the Orangetheory weight loss challenge so I’m glad I got the challenge off to a good start with a great workout.

I also added in a 4th workout on Saturday. And this is where I’ve made a decision that I think will help me out. While I don’t love using the bike instead of the treadmill, I’m terrified of overdoing it on the treadmill. So I’ve decided that on weeks that I do 4 workouts, I’m going to do that 4th workout on the bike (or the 1st workout of the week on the bike if that’s on a Sunday). It’s hopefully going to help my hips take a bit of a break without having to take a break completely with the workout. So on Saturday this past week, I was on the bike. I wasn’t able to get my heart rate up as high as I’d like, but I’m wondering if that may be because of how I’m hunched over on the bike and how the heart rate monitor fits in that position. But I was pedaling a lot faster than I have in the past and that made me very happy.

My weight work on Saturday was great. I was doing deadlifts with 25 pound weights and my bicep work with 15 pound weights (although I’m thinking now that I could have done 20 pounds weights). I also had some great improvement on my form on the work on the TRX straps. I don’t know what clicked for me this week with form, but there was something that just made everything easier to do so I could push myself even more than I was before.

I’m not sure when my next week of 4 workouts will be (maybe in 2 weeks), but I’m liking the idea of taking a bit of a break with that 4th workout being on the bike. Knowing that is my plan, I might start doing more 4 workout weeks if my schedule allows. I’m hoping that one day, that will be what my normal weeks will be like. But for now, I’m happy with only sometimes doing that 4th workout.

4 Comments

Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health

Tagged bike, fitness, Orangetheory, pain, planning, treadmill, workout

Pushing Myself Enough (or Listening To My Body)

Posted on January 11, 2016 | Comments Off

I had some really great highs in my workout week and one kind of low. But the positives outweigh the negatives and I’m really excited about that.

The biggest thing that I accomplished this past week was continuing to increase my treadmill speed. I’m still sticking with 3.4 miles an hour for my base pace and when I’m starting out. As much as I’d love to increase that to 3.5 miles an hour (where I was before my calf tear), my body is not having it. I’m trying really hard to be ok with that, but I feel like I’ve been stuck at the same speed for a long time and I should be able to increase it. But I’m not going to push myself so hard that I hurt myself again.

But even though my base speed is the same, I’m been testing myself more and more with my push pace and all-out pace. For power walkers, you only have to increase the incline and not the speed. But I’ve been doing both for the past few weeks. I’m very comfortable with 3.5 miles an hour for both my push and all-out speeds so I’m going faster. I’m up to 3.7 miles an hour for my under a minute push and all-out paces (which is awesome!). If I’m in a push pace for over a minute, I’m at 3.6 miles an hour. For the really long pushes (like 3 minutes), I have to go back down to 3.5 miles an hour a bit. But those aren’t too common.

All 3 workouts I went to this week were 30 minutes on the treadmill straight. Those are the hardest for me and I made it through. And not only did I make it through, I pushed myself more and more on the treadmill and am getting closer to the speeds I want to be working at so I can PR on a 5K. So the progress I’m making, even if it seems minor, is really getting me close to where I’ve been wanting to be.

Besides my treadmill work, I was able to do some really great work on the floor. I was using 20 pound weights for a lot of my arm work and my chest presses. And I was using 25 pound weights for my squats (squats have always been a strong point for me). I had a bad day on Friday with my shoulder work and was only able to use 10 pound weights.

But I had a reason that Friday was bad. I had a horrible gallbladder attack on Thursday night/Friday morning. It kept me up most of the night and I was in incredible pain. I toyed with the idea of going to the hospital, but I’ve done that before and there isn’t much that they can do for me. They can give me painkillers (which I already have for my hip) and do an ultrasound to confirm that I’ve got gallstones (had that done before and I do have them). I know that the next step one day will be to have my gallbladder removed like most of the women in my family have, but I’m not close to being there yet. This was my first gallbladder attack in a long time. And when most people are close to having theirs taken out, they have attacks every month (sometimes every week). So this is just a minor inconvenience for me right now.

But this minor inconvenience did cause me to have a not-so-great workout on Friday due to being exhausted. I actually surprised myself by how well I did on the treadmill, but I had to take a bunch of breaks. But after pushing myself on the treadmill I was almost too tired to do the floor work. It really took a toll on me. And I had every intention of doing a workout on Saturday, but after feeling so tired on Friday I knew that the workout on Saturday wouldn’t be in my best interest. So I cancelled it and took that day to rest and recover from not sleeping Thursday night/Friday morning.

Like I said before, the positives really outweighed the negatives. I’m trying to keep focusing on what I did well and not what I wish I could have done better. I’m aware that it’s always baby steps to get to the goals I set for myself, but I’m so impatient! I just always reminding myself that when I started at Orangetheory I was at 3.0 miles an hour on the treadmill and was so excited to be at 3.1 miles an hour because that meant my 5K would be an hour and not over an hour. In about a year and a half I’m almost half a mile faster. So I just can imagine how much faster I’ll be in 4 months (when I have my next 5K), 10 months (when I’m thinking the 5K after my next 5K will be), or in year. It’s going to be great and I can’t try to rush my progress (no pun intended).

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Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff

Tagged 5K, Orangetheory, progress, treadmill, workout

Working Out Into The New Year (or The End of My 2015 Workouts And Beginning of My 2016 Workouts)

Posted on January 4, 2016 | 2 comments

I had a busy week of workouts this past week! I had my 2015 workout goal to reach by Thursday and I had to get 3 workouts in to complete that. And of course, I wanted to start off 2016 with a workout so I had 4 workouts for the week.

Even though I thought I had gotten over my shin splints the week before, they decided to come back this week. I started out on the treadmill on my Sunday workout and within a few minutes I was hurting. So I decided to jump off the treadmill and jump onto the bike for the rest of the cardio. I don’t know what I’ve been doing that caused the shin splints (being lazy on Christmas probably didn’t help), but I’m working on making sure that I do what I can to keep them from coming back again.

So since I’m worried about the shin splints returning for a long period of time, I also did the bike on Monday. It’s not my favorite cardio machine and I never feel like I’m working as tough as I can on the treadmill, but the bike is fine for when I need it. I try to get the resistance up higher each time I’m on the bike, but it’s never going to be the same as getting the speed and incline up on the treadmill. But I keep reminding myself that doing light cardio on the bike is better than doing no cardio at all.

Because I didn’t want to do too many workouts in a row and I knew I’d be working out on Thursday and Friday, I took Wednesday off. I worked on stretching and other things to help the shin splints on Tuesday and Wednesday, and I was feeling much better for my Thursday workout.

Fortunately, Thursday was a 3G class, so there was less treadmill time than usual. It was a good transition to go back onto the treadmill and the only pain I felt was my hip pain (it’s sad that having hip pain is my normal, but it is). I’m still very cautious about my inclines on the treadmill, but just being back on there makes me feel so much better and more like my usual self. I’m glad that the day was a shorter treadmill day because it was a great way to get back onto the treadmill. And of course, I was smiling because I made it to my workout goal for the year!

Last 2015 Workout

After going out for New Years Eve, I was back at Orangetheory in the morning for my first workout of 2016! It’s wasn’t too early, but it was still tough getting my butt in gear in the morning.

This class was also a 3G class so the treadmill was about 20 minutes of the workout, rowing another 20 minutes, and weights 20 minutes. This class really went the full 60 minutes (we actually went a bit over) and it was really tough. We were constantly moving and the time spent rotating between blocks was very limited. My heart rate stayed high for most of the class and I really felt it afterward.

But I did managed to be ok on the treadmill again. And not only was I ok, for the all-out portions of the block I chose to increase my speed instead of my incline and was able to get up to 3.8 miles per hour. It wasn’t easy going faster, but I really do want to focus on my speed training this year so upping the speed during the all-outs instead of the incline may be a more regular thing for me.

What was really nice about my New Years Day workout was that a bunch of my friends were in that class with me. My friend Polly used to be in the same class as me at least once a week or so, but her schedule doesn’t really work with that anymore. And my friend Erin is not a regular at Orangetheory (yet), so she went to this class just to join me. And my friend Dani is a regular with me, but it still made me happy to have her in class with me for New Years Day.

First 2016 Workout

I think this was a great way to end my 2015 workouts and start my 2016 workouts. Even though I’m still working through various modifications, I think my persistence is showing off and will help me reach my 2016 workout goal!

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Posted in Celebrations, Fitness, Fun Stuff

Tagged 2016, friends, goals, Orangetheory, workout

My 2016 Goals (or I’ve Got Some Big Ideas This Year)

Posted on January 1, 2016 | 2 comments

Happy New Year! I hope that you all got to spend New Years Eve last night with people you love and had a great time (and hopefully not feeling it too much today)! As I’ve done the past few years, I’m sharing what my goals are for this year and what I hope to accomplish.

First is my big workout goal. I want to do 180 workouts in 2016. It’s only 5 more workouts this year than I did last year, but I wanted to make the goal not too much of a stretch. I’d love to pass this goal and do closer to 190, but I also know that life can get in the way and I don’t want to stress out about reaching my goal like I did in 2015. I think it’s very doable and I’ll be tracking my workouts using the same app I did last year (it made this very easy for me). So hopefully in a year I’ll be telling you all how I got this done!

My next goal is to have a new PR for my 5K. This one is going to be difficult for me because I’m still dealing with calf pain, but I think that maybe I can do it. Right now, I have 2 5Ks that I’m planning on doing (the same ones as last year) but I might add another one in there. So there aren’t a ton of opportunities to get a PR, but I will have a ton of time on the treadmill at Orangetheory to work on my speed training. I still have an ultimate PR goal for my 5K (15 minute miles) so I can feel comfortable doing a Disney race, but I know that this goal is very possibly a few years away.

Next on the list is a money goal. Or more like money goals (but I’m combining it into one goal). I want to get my debt down farther, budget better, and even maybe start having more savings than just what I’m saving for my taxes (as a 1099 employee, I will probably owe a lot in taxes). This is not an easy goal. Money is tight and while I wouldn’t say that I have a spending problem, it’s hard to not spend like some of my friends do at times. And those friends sometimes make 4 or 5 times what I make. I’ve been using You Need A Budget for a budgeting app and I think I’ve gotten budgeting close to what I want it to be. However, YNAB just launched a new version and it’s a subscription payment model. I can still use the old version and not have to spend money on the app, but I’m also looking into new apps to use because I don’t want to spend $50/year on a budgeting app when that money could go to something better. I do have an amount in mind as far as reducing my debt goes, but that’s something that I’m going to keep to myself for now.

Next is a fun one. I want to travel more and find more ways to spend time with my friends. While I’m ok with saying no to going to parties and things, I like going on adventures and fun outings. So I want to work on figuring out adventures to go on with my friends so that we can have more fun. And for traveling, I’ve got one trip planned for February with my mom and I’m hoping to do a trip with my sister-in-law in March or April. So that’s a step in the right direction.

I’d also like to do another acting class this year. I think it will probably be the next level at UCB, but I’m open to acting classes that fit into my schedule and my budget. While it’s important for me to keep working on my acting skills, I want to be in another class for other reasons. It’s great meeting new actors, it makes me happy because I get an opportunity to act, and I feel like I’m making progress in my career even if I’m not auditioning. So I feel like this is important for me to do and I feel pretty confident that I’ll be able to get this done.

And finally, I want to be either in recovery from my eating disorder or on my way to recovery. I’m starting to look at my eating disorder as something to research and educate myself on instead of an emotional thing. I’ve been doing reading, listening to podcasts, and using apps for my eating disorder over the past week and I’ve already felt a difference. It’s still a battle that I lose sometimes, but I’m feeling much better about how I’m approaching things this time. And hopefully in a year I will be posting that I’m either in recovery or I’m getting very close to recovery. That would be such a wonderful thing I could accomplish in this year and if it happens I know that it will change my life.

So that’s it for my goals for this year! I think that I’ve got some good plans in mind. And while they won’t be easy to get done, they are not completely out of my reach. I’d love to hear some of the goals that you have for the coming year and hopefully we can keep each other on track!

Happy 2016!

2 Comments

Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Saving, Tough Stuff, Travel

Tagged 2016, 5K, acting, binge eating, eating disorder, friends, goals, New Years, Orangetheory, plan, resolutions, travel, UCB, workout

Some Holiday Workouts (or Back On The Treadmill This Week)

Posted on December 28, 2015 | 1 comment

For Christmas week, my workout schedule was a bit funky. This was due to my work schedule being weird (we unexpectedly got Christmas Eve off when we were told before we had to work) and Orangetheory not being open on Christmas (which I totally get). But even with the weird schedules, I still managed to get my 3 workouts in this week.

After being on the bike all week the week before, I decided to try to the treadmill and see how it felt. Fortunately for me Monday was an easy treadmill day. The treadmill time was very short and I think the warmup was actually the longest I spent on the treadmill without a break. That was a great way to ease back into the treadmill and I was so happy to not have the shin splint issues I was having before.

My Wednesday workout was a bit tough. The class did do the treadmill blocks back to back so I was on the treadmill for about 30 minutes straight. While between blocks we got to cool down a bit (3 miles an hour instead of 3.4), it was still a long time on the treadmill. I was terrified that the shin splints would come back then, but they never reappeared. I did take things a bit easy, but I was still pushing myself a bit because I’m so close to my pre-calf injury speed. I really want to be back to where I was, but I don’t want to hurt myself.

Since Orangetheory was going to be closed on Friday, I did a workout on Thursday. Originally I scheduled it to be after work, but since my work day was cancelled I got to go in the morning! Bruce was the coach for that class and he wore the Santa hat that I got for him last year.

OTF Christmas

It was a run/row day so the time on the treadmill wasn’t as bad as the day before. That was good because I was so tired from the workout on Wednesday. With the shorter treadmill blocks I didn’t have any issues with my shin splints or calf, but my hips were starting to bug me after a few rounds because of the incline we were using. So I lowered the incline and things felt much better.

With all the focus on the treadmill this past week, it would have been easy to ignore working on my floor work. But I tried really hard to focus on the floor when I was there and forget about the work I had done on the treadmill.

I was able to use the 20 pound weights for a lot of things this week. I was using them for squats (which I’m used to doing), triceps work, and hammer curls. The 20 pound weights are still a bit tough for me, but I’m starting to notice that a lot of the time the 15 pound weights don’t cut it for me anymore. They are feeling light at times and I know that if they are feeling easy it’s really time to push myself more and if I need to move down to the 15 pound weights partway through the block, I can do so then. But I’m working on starting higher on the weights and going down if needed.

I was originally planning on working out this past Saturday, but there were some things that were potentially going to be conflicts. So I just stuck with my 3 workouts for the week and was happy with that.

The end of the year is almost here and I’m almost to my workout goal for the year. My next workout blog post will be after I’ve hit my 2015 goal and after I’ve announced my 2016 goal (and have gotten a workout or 2 done with the new goal)!

1 Comment

Posted in Celebrations, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health

Tagged fitness, injury, Orangetheory, strength, treadmill, workout

There’s No Problem With Orangetheory (or My Side Of The Article)

Posted on December 22, 2015 | 4 comments

A little over a month ago, I got an email from a writer from Refinery 29. They were doing a story on Orangetheory and wanted to hear about my experience! I was so excited that someone wanted to talk to me about my workouts and agreed to a phone call with them later that day. I actually got the email while at Orangetheory so I mentioned something to the studio owner about how I was being interviewed and he seemed excited for me as well.

As soon as my phone interview started, I knew that this writer really didn’t want to hear about my Orangetheory experience. She saw my post about when I tore my calf and was asking questions about how the workout caused my injury and how they wouldn’t help me or offer me modifications. I think that any of you who are regular readers on here know that is not the case at all. Orangetheory is the first place that took my hip issues seriously and was willing to work with me to figure out how to still get in a great workout. I wasn’t happy about the interview and told some friends how I felt like she was reaching for a story that didn’t exist. But I figured that after the writer spoke to me that she wouldn’t include me in the article anymore because I was not injured because of my workouts.

Well, yesterday the article went live.

Refinery29

The article now has the click-bait title of “This Gym Chain NEEDS To Address This Important Issue”. But there really isn’t an issue that I can tell in the article. The writer went to one class and wasn’t happy with the modification options she got (she told me during our phone interview that they showed modifications but they weren’t exactly what she needed and she didn’t ask for any more help). She got the impression that nobody gets modifications and interviewed me about my injury and another member about their involvement in the weight loss challenge (I won’t be discussing what the other member talked about since I don’t know them).

The author made is seem like I had a white out of pain, complained, and my coach did nothing. That’s not how it happened at all. I’ve had white out pain issues since 2005 with my hips. Pre-surgery, I was having them dozens of times a day on average and on my bad days I’d have them with almost every step. I’m still having them 2-3 times a day, but that’s such a huge improvement over what it’s been. So the white outs don’t worry me too much.

When I tore my calf, I took a single step on the treadmill, felt a pop in my leg, and had a white out. I immediately went over to the bike because I knew I didn’t want to be on the treadmill anymore. The coach came over to me and asked if I was ok. I said that it was hurting to walk and I showed her the bruise on my leg (we had no way of knowing that was a sign of a torn calf because it looked like a normal bruise). My coach gave me modifications so I wouldn’t have to use my legs a ton for that workout and encouraged me to go to a doctor to get checked out before working out again.

While I didn’t go to a doctor, consulting with my parents helped me realize that it was a torn calf. All the things I was reading online said that doing low or no impact workouts can help fix the muscle sooner because it will keep blood flow going. I knew this from after my hip surgery because my surgeon told me that if I could go back to the gym as soon as possible, I’d have an easier recovery. And I was in the gym with my dad on the recumbent bike about 24 hours after my hip surgery. I did low impact workouts while I healed and shocked my surgeon about how fast I recovered. So why would I do anything different with a torn calf?

All the coaches gave me modifications if I asked and encouraged me to take it easy or rest if I needed to. They helped me figure out good stretches to do to help and encouraged me to do more foam rolling. They also helped me realize that getting calf sleeves would help my recovery and my future workouts.

But they were not the ones pushing me to be back in class right away. They understood that I wanted to be there because I had a routine and momentum and didn’t want to fall back into my old habits of only sporadically working out. In the past, I’ve used injuries as excuses to sit on my couch and do nothing. I’m not going to do that now.

From the comments on the article so far, it seems like most other members agree with me. Orangetheory is for everyone at every level. Yes, you might have to ask for specific modifications (as I’m quoted in the article, you have to be your own advocate and can’t depend on others to know what you need). But they have been the most flexible workout program I’ve ever been a part of. They are not scared by the fact that I’m heavy, not in the best shape, and have lots of physical issues.

I’ve dealt with trainers who don’t want to push me because I’m having a tough time, but I need to be pushed to be better. I’ve been in classes where they are so scared by my hip issues that they don’t give me a modification in fear that their modification will hurt me. And I’ve been in group workouts where I’m talked down to because the teacher assumes that I don’t understand what’s going on and need everything dumbed down for me.

At Orangetheory, they respect me for who I am and what my goals are. They will push me and if I say that I can’t do more because of a particular reason, they will back off then but push me in other parts of the workout. And there’s nothing wrong with that. We are all in the workout to be pushed because we don’t push ourselves on our own.

I know that my blog doesn’t get the attention that Refinery 29 gets. But I want to make sure that my side of the story is heard and not just the bits and pieces of the interview that the writer has decided to share. If she included my entire interview, it would have included much of what I said here. I praised Orangetheory for being for all levels and for not being scared to work with me. I said that it was a coincidence that my calf tore in class because it could have just as easily torn getting in or out of my car that day. And I said that I went back to class right away because I wanted to, not because I was pushed or tricked into it.

To my Orangetheory family, I hope you know that the article does not reflect how I feel about you at all. I love that you guys have become my workout family and that you all care about my well-being (as well as everyone else’s). You guys make sure that everyone working out has a great class and feels like they had the best workout ever. I don’t think that you caused my calf injury or didn’t give me all the help and support I could need. You guys really are the first people who make me feel like I’m an athlete and not just someone lumbering through a workout class. Thank you for being there for me, encouraging me, and making me realize how strong I truly am.

4 Comments

Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Tough Stuff

Tagged blogging, fitness, injury, Orangetheory, pain, workout

A Week On The Bike (or Ending My Year By Taking It A Bit Easy)

Posted on December 21, 2015 | 2 comments

Since the week before I started to have some horrible shin splint issues while working out, I decided to go a bit easier on myself this week. I didn’t want to hurt myself more by testing myself on the treadmill, so I did all my cardio this week on the bike.

The bike is fine. I used it for a while after my calf tear so it’s not too odd for me. But I’m not sure if my body position is affecting the heart rate monitor or if I’m really not getting my heart rate up as high as I should on the bike. I couldn’t worry too much about the heart rate this week since I knew the bike would be the best option for me.

We had some run/row work (so bike/row for me), and that helped to make the bike feel more normal. But despite the lack of increased heart rate on the bike, I still did as much as I could on all other aspects of my workout.

Rowing after being on the bike is a bit funny. My legs don’t feel right so I wasn’t able to get my wattage as high as I know I can. But I still successfully completed all my rows (most were sprints but there were some distance ones). The transition between the bike and row isn’t as smooth as the transition from treadmill to row, but since I don’t plan on being on the bike long-term I’m not allowing myself to focus on that too much.

Besides the odd cardio, I’m feeling really great about my workouts this week. I was really pushing myself a lot on my weights and I’m getting closer and closer to using the 20 pound weights for most of my work. I’m doing squats, deadlifts, pullovers, and bicep curls with that weight. But my lateral arm work is still a weak point so I was using 12 (or sometimes 10) pound weights.

It’s tough to know when I should push myself with the weights. When there are too many reps, it’s not easy to go with the heavier weights. And I know that I can have multiple sets of weights at my station so I can use what I need to, but I’m so focused on the workout that I don’t like to switch weights in the middle of a set. Just like how I was weirded out by upping my weights, I need to get over my issues with having a bunch of weights at my station.

On the straps, I was able to do some things that a few months ago would have been close to impossible. I did reverse lunges with front hops this week, and before I would have done a set of lunges followed by a set of front hops to make things easier on me. But I was able to do the set the way that we were supposed to without modifications. We also did a new move (called a golf swing) on the straps and I was feeling very successful at that move (I still feel it in my abs).

On the floor, I’m still struggling with several ab moves. If my legs have to be lifted or in the air, it can be extremely painful on my hips. So I’m doing a lot of boring regular sit-ups or crutches as my modifications. I was able to do a rotating hip dip from a plank this week (it was the first time that I had to do those) and it wasn’t as horrible as I thought it would be. Hopefully that means that my core strength is getting much better and that the stronger core is protecting my hips more (which it’s supposed to do).

I’ve got 2 more weeks of workouts to go before the end of the year and I’ve got 6 workouts before I hit my 2015 workout goal. I feel pretty confident that I will reach my goal this year (thanks to many weeks in a row of 4 workouts to make up for the lack of workouts earlier). I still can’t believe that by New Year’s Eve I will have done 175 workouts. That seems insane to me! Without a doubt, 2015 will be my most workout filled year so far (I’m not counting when I was in elementary/middle/high school with PE classes). But I’m looking forward to topping this record in 2016!

2 Comments

Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff

Tagged fitness, goals, Orangetheory, pain, workout

Finishing The 12 Days Of Fitness (or Some PRs and Some Setbacks)

Posted on December 14, 2015 | 3 comments

It was another 4 workout week for me this past week. It’s still tough to do that many workouts in a week, but I need to do it to hit my 2015 workout goal!

My Monday class was my final 7:30am workout due to my improv class. I still might have to do occasional 7:30am workouts, but they won’t be on a regular basis (unless my next improv class is at the same time). This week was the end of the 12 Days Of Fitness challenge. And even though I wasn’t there for all 12 days, I still wanted to do my best each of the days that I was there.

Monday was a 7 minute challenge on the treadmill. I’ve done these before and they always kick my butt because I push myself harder on the treadmill than I usually do (and maybe harder than I should at times). I try to keep photos of my PRs on my phone so I can always check to see what my past workout PR was. Lat time, my PR on the 7 minute challenge was .414 miles. I haven’t beaten a PR since my torn calf, so I didn’t really have any expectations for this 7 minute challenge.

For this 7 minute challenge, I did try to push the treadmill speed up as I went along. I kept the incline at 6% for the entire time, and I did get it to go pretty fast by the end. When I hit the stop button for the end of the challenge, I was very pleased by what I saw!

OTF 7 Minute Challenge

This was a .007 mile increase over my last PR. It’s not a huge different, but it’s a difference in the right direction! My goal one day is to be able to do half a mile in 7 minutes (although I don’t ever expect that to be how fast I can walk during a 5K). Baby steps toward my ultimate goal is the way I need to be! And having my first PR since my calf injury was really a great feeling for me. I felt like I was maybe finally at the end of my recovery (it’s been taking forever!).

Wednesday was another tough day, but part of that was due to me feeling a bit off. I started some new supplements this past week and I’m pretty sure I had a negative reaction to one of them. So I actually don’t remember a ton from my Wednesday workout because my head was so foggy that entire day.

Friday was another tough challenge. The plan was to do a mile on the treadmill during one segment and a mile on the rower during another segment. Since I’m a power walker, I only had to do a half mile (and since the time limit was 11 minutes I wasn’t going to push myself for the mile). I felt fine at first, but then I started to get horrible shin splints. I’m not quite sure what happened, but that half mile was one of the most painful half miles I’ve ever done. My row wasn’t fabulous, but I did get it done in just over 8 minutes (my goal was under 8 minutes but since it was at the end of my workout I was exhausted).

I thought that maybe the shin splints on Friday was a one day thing, but when I worked out on Saturday they returned. There was someone else on the bike for a while, so I had to stay on the treadmill until almost the end of the workout and then I moved. I’m not sure what I did to cause this pain, but I’m really going to be cautious now. I’m thinking maybe taking a break and being on the bike this week might be a good thing for me. I can still do decent cardio work on the bike, and maybe my legs just need a break from all the 4 workout weeks.

Overall, I’d say I had a very successful week at Orangetheory. It wasn’t the best week I’ve had, but at the same time I wasn’t as upset with myself with the setbacks as I have in the past.

3 Comments

Posted in Celebrations, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff

Tagged fitness, Orangetheory, pain, progress, setback, workout

Category Archives: Fitness

Peak Performance Week (or Getting Closer To Some PRs)

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Fit2Fat2Fit (or A Book and TV Show That Get It)

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Balancing My Workouts (or Doing Some Planning)

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Pushing Myself Enough (or Listening To My Body)

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Working Out Into The New Year (or The End of My 2015 Workouts And Beginning of My 2016 Workouts)

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My 2016 Goals (or I’ve Got Some Big Ideas This Year)

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Some Holiday Workouts (or Back On The Treadmill This Week)

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There’s No Problem With Orangetheory (or My Side Of The Article)

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A Week On The Bike (or Ending My Year By Taking It A Bit Easy)

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Finishing The 12 Days Of Fitness (or Some PRs and Some Setbacks)

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