Category Archives: Fitness

Feeling So Much Love (or Embarrassed By People Complimenting Me)

Posted on May 15, 2015 | 1 comment

On Monday after my workout, I posted the following photo.

I took it because during my workout I realized that I did a horrible job of taking of my mascara from the night before and thought it was pretty bad that I had mascara smudges and sweat marks on my face. I’m usually much better about removing makeup pre-workout. I was also pretty proud of the workout I had just done, but I’ll share more about that in my Monday post where I recap my workout week.

Right after I shared that picture online, I started to get lot of really sweet comments from friends of mine. Some shared them publicly and some shared them in a private message. But they were all pretty positive and made me feel pretty great.

Then that evening, I shared this photo online.

I was celebrating having my new mattress in my house. It was a crazy morning having it delivered and the first time I got to lay down on the mattress was at bedtime. It felt like a hotel mattress and I felt so spoiled. So that’s why I shared that picture (also to thank my parents and Grandma for letting me have the mattress). I really didn’t think much about it when I posted it.

Again, I got lots of positive comments on the photos.

I love all the love that I got from everyone, but sometimes I feel like a fraud when people tell me that they are inspired by me or how they are so proud with how well I’ve been doing. I question if I deserve that positivity or if I’m not sharing my true self online (I hate when people only share the good of their lives and not the good, bad, and ugly).

I’m still struggling every day with my eating disorder. In fact, I feel like I’m struggling more than before because I feel like the Vyvanse should be doing more than it is. I wonder if I’m doing something wrong that is making the medication not effective for me. I wonder why I can’t have it work for me the way that the drug tests claim that it worked. Because of this, I’m harder on myself every time that I have an episode.

Sometimes I think that I don’t deserve people to be inspired by me or proud of me. People should be looking up to people who have conquered their struggles, not are in the battle with them.

And I’m sure I’m being too hard on myself. I know that I look up to people who are public with their struggles. But I usually look at them as someone who is done with the struggle, not in the middle of it.

But maybe I do need to look at myself the way that others look at me. I should be proud of myself for working out 3-4 times a week (a lot of people don’t do that), for continuing to battle my eating disorder (and not just give into it), and for just trying to do everything I try to do.

I’m going to work on seeing myself the way that my friends do. Using them as the mirror to see myself in and hopefully not being as hard on myself in the future.

1 Comment

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

Tagged binge eating, eating disorder, friends, photos, positivity, tough

Getting My Rowing In (or Burning Lots Of Calories)

Posted on May 11, 2015 | Comments Off

It had been a while since I had a run/row day at Orangetheory and I kept asking if we could have one on one of my workout days. I guess this week was the payback for asking for that.

Monday was a pretty normal day. Or at least as normal as a workout could be after going to the dentist in the morning. To be honest, because I was coming down from my panic meds I don’t remember too much about this workout. I know that I got through it just fine and I had moments were I started to wonder if I should increase my weights again. That’s a good sign and I’m hoping to start thinking about which movements I can do with a heavier weight and start doing that this week.

Wednesday was a run/row day. It was a pretty typical run/row set up and I was happy about that. Since rowing is one of my weaker things, I’m always happy to get to have some time to work on improving it. I still struggled with the longer rows, but I’m definitely much better at sprint rows (200 meters and under are sprints in my mind).

I did learn one thing about run/row days that I didn’t think about before. I’ve been averaging 3,000-4,000 steps in my workouts. So I know that I can get those added to my goal of 10,000 steps on my Fitbit on any of my workout days. On run/row days, I still will get some steps in, but it’s much less than compared to a usual workout day. So I can’t keep depending on my workouts as being a big chunk of my steps for the day. I need to get more done at home before working out.

Friday was one of the hardest row days since Hell Week. I don’t even know if you could call it a run/row day. It was just a crazy day.

To explain this the best I can, I will call one half of the class the weights section and the other half the rowing section. But you’ll see that that isn’t quite how it split up.

I started on the weights section. We had about 6 different things to do (mainly ab work) on the floor. After getting through those 6 movements, we then had to head to the treadmill. We then had a 90 second push (I did this at 10% incline) followed by a 60 second all-out (I did this at 15% incline). Once we finished on the treadmill, we headed back to the floor to repeat the cycle. I think I got about 3 1/2 rounds down before the 22 minutes were up.

Next was the rowing section. First, we had to do a 1,000 meter row. I managed to do it without resting, but it was so hard and I needed time to catch my breath after that. Once that rowing was done, we used a medicine ball to do 15 shoulder press squats followed by 30 static squat presses. Then we had to do an 800 meter row. Followed by the same medicine ball routine. Then 600 meter row and medicine ball routine. At the end of this 22 minute section, I just finished the 400 meter row.

That is a lot of rowing to do in one workout! Fortunately the vertigo I had been experiencing recently had ended and my sunburn is almost completely healed so I was able to really feel like I did my best during all 3 workouts. Now reflecting on last week I really wish I had added a 4th workout to my week, but since the past 2 weeks were tough on me I was scared to push it. But for this week, I currently have 4 workouts scheduled so I’ll be back on track to reaching my 2015 workout goal.

If anyone from Orangetheory is reading this, I got my rowing fix in this past week. Hopefully this week will be less rowing!

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Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Weight Loss

Tagged fitness, Orangetheory, rowing, workout

Working Out Burnt (or No Excuses)

Posted on May 4, 2015 | 1 comment

With having a killer sunburn this week, my workouts weren’t going to be easy. Not only was my skin hurting, I was exhausted from not sleeping well and once the peeling started my skin was getting really bad.

But I wasn’t going to let a little (or big) sunburn stop me from doing my 3 workouts this week.

On Monday, I really didn’t realize how bad a workout was going to be. In the past, I would have looked at a sunburn like this as a reason to take it easy for the week. To be honest, I doubt I’ve ever really worked out with a sunburn (I’ve never really had a regular workout routine until I started at Orangetheory).

I went into my Monday workout thinking that I could do everything like normal. I then discovered that sweat on my sunburned skin felt like acid. And I couldn’t wipe my sweat like normal with my towel because wiping my skin hurt too much. So I turned the fan on my treadmill on high and took breaks to dab the sweat from my skin (I felt really dainty doing that).

The only weights that caused me issues were upper body movement where I was working my chest, shoulders, or back. Basically any part of my body that was burnt. I went down on my weights a bit for those movements but for regular arm movements I went back up to my usual weight.

I discovered after my Monday workout that I needed to take better care of my skin both in general and before workouts. I was already putting coconut oil on my skin to help moisturize my skin as well as dabbing vinegar on at night to help with the stinging. But after my Monday workout, I realized that I needed something on my skin right before a workout to protect my skin from my sweat.

So I started to do a layer of aloe vera followed by a layer of coconut oil. That seemed to make a nice barrier on my skin for me to protect myself from sweat (seriously, why does sweat hurt so much on sunburned skin?).

Wednesday was much easier on me. My skin wasn’t hurting nearly as bad and it was looking much better (so nobody was commenting on how much it must be hurting me). I was able to get back to my usual weights for my shoulders, back, and chest but I definitely struggled with them. Not sure if the struggle was due to lack of strength or the sunburn, but I pushed through.

Friday was much more like normal. The only weird thing was that my heart rate was staying pretty low. I was struggling to get it up to the orange zone but I managed to get it up enough to get the 12 minutes that we are supposed to do. I’m not sure why my heart rate has been much lower than usual, but having to push more to get it in the right zone isn’t a bad thing.

Now, I’m finally almost recovered from the sunburn. So hopefully this week of workouts will be with only hip pain and not skin pain. And I now know that even with a pretty nasty sunburn I can still get through workouts. It makes me think about all the excuses I’ve used in the past when I wasn’t feeling well to not go and work out. I really should have just gone and done my best. It’s better than nothing.

1 Comment

Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Tough Stuff

Tagged Orangetheory, pain, struggle, workout

TIU Beach Morning (or Sunscreen Failure)

Posted on April 28, 2015 | 2 comments

This past Sunday was the Tone It Up Regional Meeting for Southern California. There was going to be women from LA to San Diego coming to hang out at the event and I knew that I wanted to be there.

I carpooled with a couple of other LA ladies to the event which was held in Newport (about an hour away). The location where the event was going to be held was awesome and it was a gorgeous day!

The plan for the event was pretty simple. There was going to be a 5K run/walk followed by brunch. And everyone brought their own meals, so brunch was going to be pretty casual.

The car I was in was actually the first group there, but pretty quickly other ladies were arriving. I knew a couple of people from some of other events I’ve done with TIU, but most of them were new to me. It was really awesome getting to meet so many other women who are dedicated to eating better and working out. It was so inspiring.

When the 5K started, I stepped away. I had woken up with a bad hip day and didn’t want to risk more pain. So while everyone else did the run/walk, I walked up and down the beach. I got about a mile of walking done before the pain was getting too bad, but that’s better than nothing. Plus, I got to watch everyone cross the finish line!

After the 5K, people started to settle down in various areas to eat the food that they brought with them.

I had brought a banana, peanut butter, a rice cake, and a protein bar; but I wasn’t feeling hungry at all. So I just hung out and caught up with some of the women who did the 5K with me recently.

Of course, before anyone was allowed to leave, we had to take a group picture. In the event invite we were all asked to wear black bottoms and pink tops if we had them. Most of us did and we looked pretty coordinated as a group.

The drive home was pretty quick (Sunday mornings don’t usually have too bad of traffic) and when I got home I changed in to some junky clothes so I could do my laundry.

Only when I changed did I realize that my skin looked like this.

Before getting dressed, I had covered myself head to toe in SPF 70. But I guess either it rubbed off of my clothes or some other sort of sunscreen failure happened. Since taking that picture my sunburn seems to have gotten worse. My chest is even redder and my forehead and nose are pretty burnt too.

I hate getting sunburnt. I’m so good about wearing sunscreen and everything, but my skin just doesn’t like the sun. I know that maybe I should have worn a hat, but that wouldn’t have protected my chest. And maybe I should have reapplied the sunscreen a few times, but I don’t usually reapply within 4 hours unless I’ve been in the water (which I didn’t do).

So now I’m spending time helping my skin recover. I’m trying something new because I’m out of aloe. I’m using coconut oil on my skin to help keep it moisturized. I used it the night of the sunburn and while I’m skin red now, it is helping bring down some of the redness and the itchiness of my skin. So hopefully in a few days, my skin will look normal again.

Even with the bad sunburn, I’m so happy that I was able to make it to the meetup. Every time I meet up with women through Tone It Up I get more and more inspired. They are all such a supportive community and I’m lucky to have them in my life!

2 Comments

Posted in Fitness, Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged 5K, beach, brunch, fun, meeting, Tone It Up

Not Being So Hard On Myself (or Missing A Workout Goal This Month)

Posted on April 27, 2015 | Comments Off

This past week of workouts weren’t my best, but I tried. Last week wasn’t my best week either, and I don’t like that these bad weeks are becoming a trend.

I’m pretty sure that a lot of this pain is coming from the fact that I cannot take my strong painkillers right now. I don’t take them that often, but I probably take them a couple of times a month when I have really bad hip pain. But now, I just have to make my mild painkillers and push through the pain.

I’m also continuing to make sure that I’m getting 10,000 steps in every day, and when I’m having a bad hip day (and not able to take my usual painkillers), that makes my bad hip days last longer.

Even with the bad days, I still managed to get in my 3 workouts (what I consider to be my minimum number of workouts in a week) and I managed to still make progress.

I’m now always at 3.4 miles an hour on the treadmill (except for when we have walking recoveries which are supposed to be at 3.0 miles an hour). I’m doing that same speed even if I’m at 15% incline. Considering that when I started less than a year ago I was at 3.0 miles an hour, I’m pretty darn happy with myself. I’m still hoping to be .2 or .3 miles an hour faster by my next 5K (which will be in November), so I’m trying to figure out when I should bump up my speed another .1.

I’m also pushing myself with my weights more. I don’t always get to use the 15 pound weights, but that’s usually because I can’t find them (those aren’t at all the weight stations so sometimes all the 15 pound sets are being used). But I have noticed that the 12 pound weights are feeling too light now. Just a month or two ago, I was struggling with those weights!

And I’m continuing to improve on my wattage on my rowing. I can sometimes get it up to where we are supposed to be, but my hips have a tough time maintaining that for more that 100 meters. For the longer rows, I just try to stay above 100 watts and most of the time I’m getting that done.

While I am making progress even during my bad days, this past weekend I did realize that I am going to miss a workout goal for the month of April. I had a goal at the beginning of the year that I would do 175 workouts for the year. I have an app on my phone that helps me track my progress and to let me know when I’m getting what I need done each month.

This month (after I work out on Monday and Wednesday) I will have gotten 96% of what I needed to do this month done. I can’t add an extra workout in this week, so I’ll have to be ok with 96%. There were weeks when I wanted to add a 4th workout in, but it just wasn’t possible.

But I know that I’ve got plenty of months left this year to make up for what I didn’t do this month. I can do more than 100% in May to make up for it and I feel confident in being able to reach my goal by the end of this year.

So here’s to hoping that while I might have another bad hip week this week, I still can make progress and continue to kick butt in my workouts.

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

Tagged fitness, goals, hip issues, Orangetheory, progress, workout

Tough Workout Week (or I Made It Through My 4 Workouts)

Posted on April 20, 2015 | 1 comment

Even though I was on a high from my PR from my 5K, that didn’t help me get through one of the toughest workout weeks I’ve had in a while.

I’m pretty sure I narrowed down my workout problems to 2 different things.

First of all, ever since I started on Vyvanse, I haven’t been allowed to take my stronger painkillers. Vyvanse is a stimulant and my painkillers are depressants. So taking both would cancel each other out (or so I was told by my doctor). I don’t usually take my strong painkillers that often, but I have taken them prior to or right after a 5K many times in the past. So while I did take a mild painkiller before the 5K, I didn’t take the stronger one that I’m used to. So that’s making me have a bit more pain after the race.

The other thing that was making my workouts tough this week is how competitive I’m getting with my Fitbit. This is a good thing. In the past, I probably didn’t hit 10,000 steps most days. But now, I’m making sure that I do that every day. Even if that means marching in place in my house a lot. But since I’m not used to getting in all those steps each day, my legs are more sore than I’m used to. But on the positive side, on days where I do a Orangetheory workout plus get extra walking in, my Fitbit chart looks like this.

With the Fitbit soreness, I know that I’ll get used to that eventually. I have to remind myself that my first Orangetheory workout made me so sore that it hurt to walk for a few days. Now I’m doing 3-4 workouts a week without many issues.

I’m finally starting to get used to having my Monday workout be in the mornings instead of the afternoons. I still have some issues getting my heart rate as high as it does in the afternoon, but it’s more where it should be now.

To be honest, I don’t remember a ton of specifics from my workouts this week since I found each workout to be difficult.

More specifically, I was having a lot of pain and other issues on the treadmill this week. It seemed like every workout this week was all hills on the treadmill. And while I’m doing a lot better than I used to, those hills were killing me! I had to take so many breaks to let the pain decrease a little before continuing. I’m not used to so much pain. And it frustrates me because this isn’t “I’m tired” pain but “my hips bones are grinding against my leg bones” pain. So if I wasn’t having that problem, I know that I could push more because the rest of my body and my mind is in it. My hips just aren’t agreeing with me.

But I was pretty darn proud of myself with my rowing. Rowing has always been tough for me because of my hips. I have a hard time getting the wattage up to where the coaches want it to be.

But in my rowing this week I was getting higher wattage than I’m used to (I’m used to being around 80 and I was staying around the 100 mark). There were even a few moments where I got my wattage to be at my body weight, which is something that we are constantly told to push for.

Just because I had a bad week of workouts doesn’t mean that it was for nothing. 4 workouts in a week is still pretty awesome! And I know that even if my cardio was suffering a bit that my strength work was getting better. I’m continuing to use the heavier weights that I recently moved to, even for my arms now! Before, my arms and shoulders weren’t strong enough all the time and I had to keep downgrading my weights partway through the sets. But I’m sticking with it now and I feel like in no time I’ll be increasing the weights again!

I have no idea if my workouts this week will be much better. The pain that I’m in is still much more than normal and it doesn’t seem to be going away. But I’m going to focus on doing what I can and not stressing out about what I’m struggling with.

1 Comment

Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Tough Stuff

Tagged 5K, hip issues, Orangetheory, strength, struggle, treadmill, workout

Giving Fitbit Another Chance (or Doing Laps Around My Living Room)

Posted on April 15, 2015 | Comments Off

I’ve previously written about Fitbit on here. I had a pretty bad experience with them and I returned the Fitbit I bought then almost right away.

I was ok not having a Fitbit for a while. I had used a pedometer in the past and it wasn’t something that really excited me.

But lately, more and more of my friends have been talking about competing against each other on Fitbit. I learned that I could use the Fitbit app and have my steps counted by my phone. So since that was free, I did it.

But I realized that all the steps I take at Orangetheory didn’t count since I wasn’t holding my phone while I worked out. So I started looking into getting a Fitbit device again.

I looked at the ones you wear on your wrist, but it didn’t seem right for me. First, I already wear a watch so I didn’t want something else on my wrist. And secondly, it probably wouldn’t count my steps on the treadmill at Orangetheory because I have to hold onto the treadmill (balance issues).

So I decided on the Fitbit One. It’s pretty small and I can either wear it on my pants on in the middle of my bra (I’ve been going with the middle of the bra choice since it’s totally out-of-the-way).

During my workouts at Orangetheory, I’ve been putting it on my pants since my sports bra goes up much higher than a normal bra.

It’s nice to count all my steps during the day. And the app on my iPhone is super easy to use and read.

But what I’ve been loving the most about Fitbit this time (besides the fact that it’s working and syncing perfectly) is the social and competitive aspect of it.

You can be friends with different people on there and see how you rank against each other over the past 7 days. Since I just started using the Fitbit, I’m pretty low in the rankings but I’m moving up.

And through the app they also have a bunch of different challenges that you can do with your friends. Right now, I’m doing a weekday challenge with 9 other people (including my agent). But over the weekend, we did a weekend challenge.

I didn’t win that one (and I don’t think I’ll win the weekday one either), but I had a lot of fun doing it. And it’s really motivating me to get as many steps during the day that I can. I’ve been doing laps around my house between customers at work or while I’m watching tv shows that don’t need that much attention. And since I live in such a tiny house, my laps are only like 5 steps each way.

But every step adds up and since Saturday (when I got the Fitbit), I’ve hit my target of 10,000 steps each day! And all of those steps equal more calories burned, so it will be helping me to reach more goals. This is all wins for me.

Are any of you on Fitbit? I’d love to have more friends to compete against!

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Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Weight Loss

Tagged challenge, fitbit, fitness, friends, technology, walking, weight loss

I Can’t Believe My Race Time (or A 5K With My TIU Friends)

Posted on April 14, 2015 | 3 comments

This past Saturday was the Hollywood Half 5K. This was my third year doing this race, and you might remember that last year the race didn’t go so well for me.

Even though I’ve been doing lots of treadmill training (and it showed in my last 5K), I was still so nervous going into this race. I knew that the hills that were added last year would still be there and those hills were the worst part of the race for me last year.

But I tried to stay positive. Lots of my new friends from my Tone It Up group were doing the race as well and we had plans to meet up before and after the race.

The day before the race, I went to go pick up my race number and other race things. I did meet up with one TIU friend, so that make the craziness of the expo a bit more fun. And as I always do, I took a selfie in my car with my race number.

With an early wake up time in the morning (4am), I made sure I put together my race bag the night before. I don’t think I’ve shared what’s in my race bag in the past, so here it is.

I attach my race number to the hip pack. In one pocket, I have my sunglasses, house/car keys, chapstick, and ID/money/credit card. In the other pocket, I have my headphones and phone (the phone isn’t in the picture since I used it to take a picture). I’m looking into upgrading to a race belt, but right now they are all too small for me.

As soon as my alarm went off at 4am, I was up and ready to go. I carpooled to the race with a TIU friend and we met a bunch of our other TIU friends near the start line.

A few minutes before the race was supposed to start, we split up to go into our corrals. There was 1 friend in a corral with me, so I got her to take a quick pre-race photo for me.

Since the race starts in waves and we were in corral 10, we had about 20 minutes between when the race started and when we actually started. By the time we got up to the start line, the sun was coming out.

My friend in my corral with me had planned to stick with me during the race. It was her first 5K and she wasn’t sure how fast she would go. But she was really fast! We were only together for the first half of a block and then I didn’t see her again until we met up at the finish line!

The race started pretty ok for me. The first part of the race has a slight decline and then you turn around and go up a slight hill. My hips were feeling it right away, but I kept on going. And I noticed that while I was getting passed a lot, I was also doing some of the passing.

I had set my phone to track my race time and it gave me a little notification when it claimed I had gone a mile (it’s a bit off so I was about 40 feet from the first mile marker). But even with the app being a bit off, my mile time was a lot faster than I expected it to be. I tried to not get too excited and kept focusing on the race.

Toward the halfway point of the race, there was the big hill of the race. This hill was one that I was swearing under my breath during last year. But this year there was a distinct different. I’m guessing it’s because of my treadmill training at Orangetheory. I’m used to doing crazy inclines on the treadmill without being allowed to slow down. So on the big hill, most walkers around me were slowing down but I was maintaining my pace (and passing them!).

Before I knew it, I was getting ready to take the final turn before the finish line. I grabbed my phone out of my bag so I could stop the clock on my phone to see my unofficial time. And I glanced at the phone and all I remembered was that it was saying 53 minutes and some number of seconds.

I crossed the finish line, stopped my clock on my phone, and something happened because the time was erased from my phone!

I couldn’t do anything to bring the time back on the app, so I knew I’d have to wait until the official times were posted. So I walked to where my group was meeting so we could take a post race photo.

And of course I needed a photo with my new race bling!

After taking our photos and chatting about how our races went, we went over to the timing board to see the official times. Everyone in my group had a PR! And when I looked at my time, I thought I was imagining things.

My time was 53:52.8! My time at the Hard Rock Cafe 5K (my previous PR) was 56:52.9! I can’t believe that I had a 3 minute improvement over the past few months! Honestly, I still can’t believe I did that.

My ultimate 5K goal is to get below a 16 minute mile. That’s the requirement for races at Disneyland. And while I don’t know if I will ever do a 10K or a half marathon, I’d love to do a 5K at Disneyland one day.

After we all celebrated our PRs, the TIU ladies and I went out to breakfast. I figured such an awesome race meant that I could splurge a little on breakfast.

Over breakfast, I just kept thinking how grateful I am that I have these awesome ladies in my life. They are such great motivators and I know that they will help push me to my next 5K goal. I’m hoping a bunch of them will do the Hard Rock Cafe 5K with me this fall.

And as soon as I got home, I had to add my latest addition to my medal wall.

My wall is starting to look full now, but I bet I can fit at least 4 or 5 more medals on there before I need to build an extension (or more likely, have my dad build an extension).

Overall, I’m so glad that I didn’t let my nerves get in the way of me having an amazing race. And now that I have my new PR in my head, I can focus on the steps I need to take to get another PR in the fall!

3 Comments

Posted in Celebrations, Fitness, Fun Stuff

Tagged 5K, Hollywood, medals, progress, race, walking

Fitting In My Workouts No Matter What (or Last Workouts Before The 5K)

Posted on April 13, 2015 | 3 comments

It was not easy to get my 3 workouts in this week, but I did it.

I knew that it was going to be an odd week of workouts even before having to go down to San Diego. I had the Hollywood Half 5K on Saturday and knew that I would not be working out on Friday. And there was a chance that I was going to be at Disneyland on Monday with a family friend.

So the original plan was to work out Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons.

Then my grandpa passed away and my schedule got crazy.

I cancelled my Disneyland plans right away. Then I started to wonder how I could get 3 workouts in during the week.

It’s probably stupid that I was worried about my workouts when there was a death in the family, but I guess that is how I was coping.

I started to think about what time I would have and how late I would be getting back from San Diego on Tuesday to see if I could do a Tuesday evening workout. But after debating it all for a few minutes, I figured out a schedule.

I would do my Wednesday and Thursday workouts as planned and add an early Sunday workout before driving to be with my family.

Sunday morning was not a great workout for me. Again, I had issues with getting my heart rate high enough (I guess the side effect of a speedy heart rate with my new medication went away). I was also pretty stressed out about going to San Diego. It didn’t feel real that my grandpa died, so I was worried that as soon as I got to San Diego it would all hit me (it did, but not in the way I was expecting it to). I tried my best to get through the workout, but I know that I wasn’t doing my best.

Wednesday was a pretty good one for me. I was worried that I would feel a bit out of shape from the lack of exercise and the good food from the past few days, but it didn’t affect me nearly as much as I thought. The biggest challenge I had in my workout on Wednesday was the 800 meter row.

We had to do this 2 different times in the workout. We had to write down our first time and then try to beat it the second time. And for every second longer our second time took, we had to do a burpee. I pushed myself like crazy on that rower. My goal was to be under 4 minutes, and I did it!

My name is toward the bottom of the board. And you can see that my second time was exactly 1 second slower than the first. So I owed 1 burpee. But considering that my goal was to be under 4 minutes, both my rows were pretty amazing!

After that exhausting workout, I was feeling a bit sore for my Thursday workout. But since it was my final workout before the 5K, I wanted to push myself as much as I could on the treadmill. I wanted to see if I could get a new PR on the 5K, and treadmill training is what will get me there.

The treadmill workout was all hills. I usually hate the hills, but I was grateful for them on Thursday. A majority of the 5K is on a flat road (there are a few hills), so since I’m used to training at an incline the 5K should almost feel like a downhill race.

Besides going hard on the treadmill, I’m still working on upping my weights when I’m doing the floor work. I’m finally starting to see (and feel) the results of the heavier weights. Even though the scale isn’t going down that much, I feel much lighter. And I have some pretty decent sized muscles now (they are just covered up by fat). Hopefully when the scale starts dropping again, the visually results will be seen more because I have more muscle to show off.

I’m so glad I got my 3 workouts in even though I was dealing with so much. I know I say this again and again, but it just proves to me how much of a priority working out is for me now. I never felt like that prior to Orangetheory and it makes me so proud that I’m dedicated to my workouts now.

In tomorrow’s post, I’ll be recapping the Hollywood Half 5K!

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

Tagged 5K, fitness, Orangetheory, rowing, training, treadmill, workout

Lots Of Morning Workouts (or Maybe I Can Be A Morning Person)

Posted on April 6, 2015 | Comments Off

This past week, I had 3 workouts. And 2 of those 3 were in the morning.

I haven’t been a huge fan of morning workouts. Sometimes I have trouble pushing myself or getting my heart rate up high enough.

But I’m definitely getting better at them.

I’m pretty much doing my Monday workouts at 9:30am instead of 4pm now. Like I’ve said before, there’s no reason for me to have an afternoon workout on a day that I don’t have to work. So that 9:30am class is starting to feel more normal to me.

This past Monday my focus was on continuing my speed and heavier weight training. I’m getting more comfortable with both and that’s making me happy. I’m seeing a transformation in how I feel during and after my workouts. And since I’m not seeing a lot of transformation on how I’m looking physically, having some transformation makes me feel like all my hard work isn’t for nothing. And I can’t help but smile at that.

On Wednesday, since I had the podcast dinner in the evening, I had to do a before work workout. Before work workouts are always early for me (7:30am). It also requires me to wake up an hour earlier than I’m used to. I think that those are going to continue to be tough for me since I’m working out when I’m used to waking up. And I have no desire to wake up an hour earlier every day (I wake up the same time every day because that’s supposed to be better for you).

That workout wasn’t that great for me, but I was there and I did it. I was having a lot of trouble on the treadmill because it was almost all hills, but I took breaks when I had to and got through it.

Friday’s workout was a bit weird for me. I found out bad news on Thursday (more about that tomorrow) and I was just feeling off. It was a run/row day and I’m very grateful for that. It made me have to focus on the workout (since the coach wasn’t telling us during cardio when to transition) and not think about things outside of the workout.

But during the strength section, I had to do down in how heavy the weights were. I think part of that was because I was exhausted. I didn’t get a ton of sleep the night before and I know that being tired affects my workouts a lot.

This week, I’ll do another 3 Orangetheory workouts and then I have my 5K on Saturday. I’m starting to get really nervous about the 5K, but I guess I’ll see how it goes this weekend. And as long as I finish (and don’t finish in last place), I’ll be happy.

Comments Off on Lots Of Morning Workouts (or Maybe I Can Be A Morning Person)

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

Tagged fitness, Orangetheory, strength, struggle, treadmill, workout

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