Off to the gym

Monday:

After a really bad night I got up feeling tired and bleergy and not at all in the mood for exercise. And my gym voucher hadn't come through yet. But I got into my gym clothes anyway, determined to at least do some dance. Then I got a test message that they had sent my voucher and sure enough it was now in my inbox. So I could go to the gym after all. And can I say I am quite proud of myself that I was going to exercise even feeling how I felt, and even if I couldn't use the gym?

After I woke up a bit and my antihistamine kicked in I started to feel much better. I got the kids off to school, first day of term four. I wasn't planning on shopping today but we were out of fruit so I dropped into the shops on the way to the gym and got lots. I was kind of uncomfortable walking into the shops in my gym gear. A bit body-hugging. But it was the most convenient time in the day for me today, while I was out anyway but not sweaty yet, so I did it. And it was a cool rainy day so I didn't have to worry about the fruit going bad in the car.

Then onwards to the gym to fill in the paperwork and get my access pass, and work out how to use my access pass to open a locker, and go to the bathroom, and then back to my locker because I forgot to get out my iPhone for music, then looking for the equipment I wanted because it's all been moved since I was last there etc etc.

There is at least one class every day at 9:30 but I was too late for today's, and anyway it was a core and abs class which I am not ready for - may never be ready for! So the plan was to do 15 mins each on four different cardio machines. 5 mins easy, 5 mins hard, 5 mins moderate on each one. Resistance level 3 where relevant. I wanted to balance pushing myself with keeping my unfit body injury-free.

I started on the elliptical. I followed the plan, starting slow then pushing harder in the middle 5 mins. Felt quite tired by the end, the backs of my legs were burning. Then I moved on to the rowing machine. Elliptical and rowing are my two favourite cardio machines. I think the rower is good for my dodgy shoulders, it uses the muscles without twisting the joints. Got through that ok, with sweat dripping off my chin. Definitely a workout.

Then a stationary bike. I can't use spin bikes because they push my weight forward onto my injured shoulders (apparently this isn't supposed to happen but I have no core strength to support myself and stop it happening). Recumbent bikes are ok, but today I got onto a non-recumbent one that had me sitting very upright not leaning forward so it was ideal for me. Still very hard. I was fatigued by this stage and didn't really attempt to increase intensity in the middle. I just slogged through.

Finally the treadmill. I walked briskly for 5 mins then did two short jogging intervals in the middle. And on the second one my shins started to hurt. This is after not running for at least a year (so they were well rested from any previous damage) and as warmed up as it was possible for me to be. So it seems no matter what I do, I am going to get shin pain when running. I've tried numerous times over the past few years on various surfaces. I just have to accept that (at this weight, at least), as much as I would like to be a runner, I can't do it without damaging my body and causing a lot of pain. It's ok, there are lots of other things I can do. It's just one thing. I probably won't bother with the treadmill at all, unless I use it for a quick warm up or cool down. The elliptical is more fun and no impact.

I felt pretty wiped out after an hour of exercise. And hungry! And sore. Ow, my legs. It's nice to feel good-sore and know you've worked hard. I wonder how I'll feel tomorrow morning after I've stiffened up!

My plan is to go to the gym 4 or 5 days a week. I don't have the car on Wednesdays so can't go then, and I don't think I'll go Sundays. But I could go on Saturday morning while my kids have their swimming lesson there. I'll see how I feel come Saturday.

I had a banana when I got home but was still hungry so ate a big lunch even though it wasn't yet noon. I thought that was a better idea than snacking more before lunch. Then I had a short nap in front of the TV. Then finally got down to some writing. And a big afternoon tea. I basically had my whole day's calories before I even got to dinner. I hope the hunger is just a temporary reaction to exercise, I don't want to eat more extra calories than I burn off! And I assume it won't always exhaust me for the rest of the day. "They" say that exercise give you more energy!? My poor body is not used to exercise. This is all a bit of a shock to the system. I don't think I overdid it at all, I think I did just the right amount.

A good start.

Occasional 5K training

Saturday:

I'd had some thoughts, earlier in the week, about doing Parkrun today. They have a casual (but timed) 5K by the nearby lake every Saturday morning. I am totally not ready to run a 5K and haven't done any training for it for months, since it got hot, but I knew we were going to have one cool day in the middle of this heatwave and I could just walk most of the 5K. Then every subsequent time would be a new PB! But anyway I then forgot about it and slept in, but decided it was still good weather to do a training run.

I did Week 1 Day 2 of C25K -- it's only my second try at this program but I had done some of a different program before that -- and again I couldn't do the whole thing so I think I'll be on Week 1 for a while! Of the eight 60 second intervals, I did the full minute only on laps 1, 6 and 8. That last one was hard! I really pushed myself. The other laps I only did about 30 seconds of the running interval. You get 90 seconds recover in between and boy does that go quickly.

As well as having a voice in my ear I keep track of how many intervals I've done by changing which lane I'm in, I start in the outside lane and move in one each time. It also boosts my perception of how far I've run because each lap is a little bit shorter than the one before. Everything that helps me get through it is worth doing.

I find myself much tireder after running than I have been after dance.

Stupid bastard of a heart rate monitor

Tuesday:

We were away all weekend again so no exercise then, but I have calculated that I can still earn my November exercise charm if I exercise 9 days out of the final 10 (including yesterday and today, which I have). I'll just take Sunday off and exercise every other day. The weekend away was filled with party food and junk while travelling but my weight remains stable, 79.0 kg on Saturday and 79.2 kg on Monday -- no official Sunday weigh-in again. It is the last weekend away until Christmas, but we still have various parties coming up in Canberra so more food challanges there.

Yesterday I did BodyPump with my heavier weights and it went well. Today I took on the lake again. We'd had a heat wave at the end of last week but today it is cool and cloudy again despite being only a week until summer; it wasn't actually raining so great weather for a jog. My two goals were to beat last week's PB of 56 minutes and to run/jog 10 times, longer each time than last week. Previously each jog had been about 50 paces long or less -- I call a pace a step on each foot and guesstimate it to be about a metre but I would love to get an accurate measurement of this -- today I went for 70 paces each time. I found this really pushed me and I walked more slowly than I liked in between while I recovered. By number seven -- up the slope of the second bridge, with my shins starting to hurt (they weren't as bad as last Thursday) -- I seriously considered giving up at 50 paces but no! I kept going to 70.

I did my 10, then realised it was going to be a close thing as to whether I made it under 56 mins and beat my previous time. Up until that point I had been fairly sure I wasn't going to make it; but I had about 4 mins left and not far to go. My heart rate was still up but I pushed into a jog again. My body reacted much more than any previous jog; I could feel my face going red and hot, and my heart rate leaped up over 160. I made 70 paces and slowed again. Walked as fast as I could. With about 30 seconds to go I threw myself forward again. 40 paces and I was at the finish line. I stopped the timer in an unseeing haze of fatigue and the display immediately went back to time and date. Had I been just over or just under 56 minutes? I staggered up to the car and got out my notebook to write down my stats, before I had even had a drink.

And pressed the wrong button. It started timing me again. Muttering "no, no!" in horror, I stopped the timer. But too late. The monitor only shows you the last exercise session, which was now about 3 seconds of me standing there panicking.

I don't know my time. Or how many calories I burned. Or what percentage I spent in the cardio zone. Or anything. I wanted to cry.

I know it's silly, but it felt as though that hour of exercise, all that effort, had been wiped away with the loss of the stats. As though it was all wasted. Of course it wasn't. My body still got the exercise.

Whether I was just over or just under 56 mins, I presumably beat my previous PB by half a minute or so -- I didn't write down my exact time down to the second last time but it must have been over 56 mins. So a good effort. Especially since there was some work being done on the path and I had to go round and went the wrong way and had to double back. Another minute or so right there.

Stupid bastard heart rate monitor.

Personal Best

Thursday:

I decided to go for my 1 hour lap of the lake attempt today. I got there quite late after taking my husband to a doctor's appointment (more on that later) but it was a cool and cloudy morning so good conditions for a walk/jog. Do people even talk about jogging anymore? Or is it all running? What I do could possibly be called running, some of the time. Or lurching, when I get really tired. But I think jogging describes it best.

I parked at the library, started my HR monitor, and set off. From the first jog my shins hurt. They had hurt a bit on Tuesday, but much worse today. So as much as possible I jogged on the grass beside the path, which was better (although it did mean getting attacked by one duck daddy protecting his family). Going over the bridges was good too, I like running on the gentle upslope. By about halfway round my time was really good and I had done 10 jogs; all probably less than 50 metres. From there on, though, I started to slow down. I kept lurching into a jog regularly and ended up with 23 jogging "sprints" (or possibly more, I lost track a couple of times and was conservative with my calculations) but in between my walking pace was much slower than in the first half. The clouds cleared and it became quite hot, and I was getting very tired.

Crossing Commonwealth bridge, near the end, I saw lots of police standing along the roadside and realised that half of the road (the half I wanted to drive on to get home) was empty of cars. Obviously it had been cleared for American president Obama -- visiting Australia for a couple of days -- to drive on. Do they do this in America, everywhere he goes? That must get inconvenient. We don't do anything like that for our Prime Minister, but then probably not many people want to kill her. There were helicopters overhead too, and a few people were loitering to watch him drive past but it didn't happen while I was beside the road. I resolved to take another way home.

Nearing my starting/finishing point, I realised that I was getting close to the end of the hour. I jogged a bit more but right at the end I walked. I wanted to run that last bit but my body just wouldn't comply. I made it back and stopped the clock -- 56 mins! Yay! 7 mins less than Tuesday. Quick drink and then headed home, only to get caught in a traffic jam on a different road, we all sat still for about 20 mins while (I assume) Obama was driven through an abandoned city centre. I just read the book I had with me until we could go again. I was pretty hungry though. When I got home I loaded up with rice and tea with lots of sugar.

For comparison:

Tuesday Thursday

63 mins .................... 56 mins

zone 0: 73% ............. zone 0: 36%

zone 1: 21% ............. zone 1: 36%

zone 2: 5% ............... zone 2: 22%

zone 3: 1% ............... zone 3: 4%

zone 4: 0% .............. zone 4: 2%

160 cal ..................... 181 cal

average HR 104 ..... average HR 114

peak HR 172 ........... peak HR 176

I was really sore all afternoon on Tuesday so I am expecting that again today.

Tim's doctor's appointment was about his blood pressure, and he has finally been put on medication for it. Scary that his blood pressure is that bad, but good that he is doing something to address it. It seems to be from work stress, so I am hoping that will be reduced in the new year.

photo by The Happy Rower