mwz: Day 123

Today, I swam 1/2 mile (22 laps) in an unknown amount of time. I almost didn't go because I'm starting to dread swimming. But I decided that I could get up 15 minutes later and still have enough time to swim.

It was a relatively eventful trip.

The pool was pretty full. One side had 3 people and they were swimming circles. When I got over there, one of them quit, so I took her spot. It was my first time swimming like that. I discovered that I'm a pretty slow swimmer.

About every 2 laps, the lead guy would catch me. I would then stop in the corner and let him pass. I also let the other lady pass because she was pretty consistently behind the guy. When they were past, I would swim again until I lost enough ground (or water?) that the guy would have to pass me again.

Eventually, the lady left and we change to swimming in lanes (which is a little less stressful for me but also less interesting). After a while, I noticed that my right ear plug wasn't doing a very good job. I finished that lap and put my hand up to adjust it but it was gone... Somebody stole my ear plug right from my ear... Okay, it just fell out. I didn't manage to find it and now I know why the package came with three.

On the way home, I saw a dear cross the road ahead of me. That is a little unusual since I live in a city but we have seen dear around there before. There was only one and it crossed without incident.

mwz

mwz: Day 122

(posted late)

Yesterday, I went to spin class. It was an hour. I didn't like the instructor very much (I didn't like her "program", I'm sure she's a fine person) but some of the others couldn't stop complementing her. I think that was because she was relatively young.

I didn't lift because there was a guy on the machine and I didn't want to deal with it.

mwz

Google Maps and Running Routes

I figured that there would be a tool on the internet to help plan running routes, since there are google maps mashups of just about anything you can think of. I've found one that's pretty cool.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/

Check it out. It almost makes me want to run more.

mwz

mwz: Day 121

I swam today. I only did 11 laps (1/4 mile) in 15 minutes, but at least I got into the pool. I've got to find a way to keep it interesting.

mwz

mwz: Day 119

Traditionally, I rest on Sunday. Today, I ran 7 miles in 1:24. Here's what I can tell you about running 7 miles, it chafes.

I wear two pairs of shorts to run, one to protect from chafing and the other so that people don't think I'm weird running in skin tight shorts. My anti-chafing shorts chose today to split a seam. So my fat legs hurt most of the run.

Other than that, the run went pretty well. I felt good for most of it. I was running a 2 mile course and at the end of each 2 miles, I would stop for a second to grab a drink of water and then take off.

At the end of six miles I stopped for a bathroom break. I would have just kept running but I had to go since 4.5 miles and I couldn't stand the thought of another mile without going. Besides, I'm likely to have to take a potty break over the course of a 3 hour race. I think it would have been fine but the warmth of the house really did something to my legs. The last mile was tough.

I still felt relatively good for about 20 minutes after the run, but then I started to feel "sick". I was weak and queasy. Arial's mom suggested that I take a nap. I thought that was silly. But a little bit later, I found myself laying on my bed. After about an hour and a half nap, I felt mostly better. My muscles are still tired but I don't feel like I have the flu.

Oh, and I have a bunch of blisters on my feet and I'm still chafed.

mwz

mwz: Day 118

(posted late)
Saturday, I lifted. It went well but I think Frances saw me walk by the child care room on the way to a different weight room. When I came back (~10 minutes later) she was standing at the gate with her arms stretched up to me. I still needed to shower but she didn't want me to put her down.

Finally, I told her that I would be right back. She looked like she was okay with that so I left and took a hurried shower. When I came back, she was crying in the arms of one of the workers. I guess she hadn't been crying that long but it was sad. She usually doesn't want to leave. One of the ladies said that nothing had happened to her. I suppose she just didn't feel like it that night.

Here is what I lifted:

Lying Dumbbell Tricep Extension: 15 lbs each hand (EH). 10x3
Dumbbell Flyers: 15 lbs EH 10x3
Side Lateral Raise: 15 lbs EH 10x3

Straight Arm Pulldown (lat machine): 37.5 lbs 20x3
Wide-Grip Pulldowns Behind the Neck (lat machine): 75 lbs 10x3
Wide-Grip Lat Pulldowns (lat machine): 75 lbs 10x3

Dumbbell Bicept Curl (but sitting): 20 lbs EH 10x3
Seated Dumbbell Palms-up Wrist curl: 20 lbs EH 10x3

Leg Extensions: 90 lbs 20x3
Seated Leg Curl: 80 lbs 20x3

Thigh Adductor: 60 lbs 20x3
Thigh Abductor: 70 lbs 20x3

Leg Press: 200 lbs 10x3
Calf Press On The Leg Press Machine: 200 lbs 10x3

Links from BodyBuilding.com.

mwz

mwz: Day 117

(posted late)
Friday, I did a spin class. I didn't do the run because I wasn't feeling the best. I also planned for a long run this weekend. I did the whole 45 minute class (it was actually a little longer than that).

The instructor was from Iowa City. I thought that was interesting.


mwz

mwz: Day 116

I skipped swimming today because I was up late last night. I also skipped swimming on Tuesday. I'm not as interested in the swimming as I once was.

I think I need to find some drills to keep it interesting and more than just a grind.

mwz

mwz: Day 115

(posted late)

Wednesday, I did the hour spin class.

I also lifted:

Thigh Adductor: 60 lbs 20x3
Thigh Abductor: 70 lbs 20x3

Links from BodyBuilding.com.

mwz

mwz: Day 113

(posted late)

Monday, I did the hour spin class.

I also lifted:

Thigh Adductor: 60 lbs 20x3
Thigh Abductor: 70 lbs 20x3

Links from BodyBuilding.com.

mwz

mwz: Day 111

(posted late)
Last saturday, I lifted.

Here is what I lifted:

Lying Dumbbell Tricep Extension: 15 lbs each hand (EH). 10x3
Dumbbell Flyers: 15 lbs EH 10x3
Side Lateral Raise: 15 lbs EH 10x3

Straight Arm Pulldown (lat machine): 37.5 lbs 20x3
Wide-Grip Pulldowns Behind the Neck (lat machine): 75 lbs 20x3

Dumbbell Bicept Curl (but sitting): 20 lbs EH 10x3
Seated Dumbbell Palms-up Wrist curl: 20 lbs EH 10x3

Leg Extensions: 90 lbs 20x3
Seated Leg Curl: 80 lbs 20x3

Thigh Adductor: 60 lbs 20x3
Thigh Abductor: 70 lbs 20x3

Leg Press: 180 lbs 10x3
Calf Press On The Leg Press Machine: 180 lbs 10x3

Links from BodyBuilding.com.

mwz

mwz: Day 110

Tonight, I did a 40 minute spin class (I skipped the cool down) and ran for 3.2 miles (in 35 minutes). I'm pretty tired.

I wasn't sure how much to run tonight, especially since I had a pretty tiring spin class. I decided that I would at least run 2 miles and that at the 1.5 mile mark I would decide if I wanted to go further.

At 1.5 miles, I decided I would go 2.5 because I felt pretty good. A little before 2.5, I decided to go three because it didn't seem that much further and I felt okay. Then as 3 approached, my spin instructor came over and talked to me. When she left, I was at 3.06. At that point I just figured I may as well get to the 5K mark. So I did.

I didn't take Frances with me tonight because she had a late nap and we couldn't get her to eat supper right after waking up. I didn't want to take her and have her be crabby from hunger. So I left her at home. That made everyone sad.

mwz

mwz: Day 109

(posted late because of blogger.com errors)

I swam an easy 1/2 mile today. There's nothing that kills your motivation like thinking about doing an "easy half mile". At 17 laps I had to stop and make the decision to keep going. I decided to finish my 22 laps. The whole thing took me 25 minutes.

I wore my swim cap for the first time. My first lap it made me feel like a shark, but that was just because I was fresh. By the middle of my second lap I just felt like I had a goofy looking hat on.

mwz

mwz: Day 108

1 hour spin class today. Nothing exciting, except that I was thinking about a work problem and figured out what to do during the workout.

I also lifted:

Thigh Adductor: 60 lbs 20x3
Thigh Abductor: 70 lbs 20x3

Links from BodyBuilding.com.

mwz

mwz: Day 107

I am 1/3 of my way to my goal for march.

Yesterday, my alarm didn't go off so I didn't spin. I thought that with the extra rest, today would be a good opportunity to do a mile swim. I was right.

I swam 44 laps (45 if you count the cool-down lap) in under 50 minutes. 44 laps is a mile. I'm a little sketchy on the time because the clock I used as my start time turns out to have stopped. I know that I hit the 1/4 mile mark at 6:20 and finished at 6:55.

I don't really feel that much worse for wear. My right arm is bothering me a bit but I think it'll be okay. When I finished I didn't exactly feel like hopping on a bike but I could have if I needed to (since it was my arms that were the most tired).


So, my goal (as proposed by Mtt at some point) is to be able to do each event individually by the end of March (I'm going to include the first weekend in April since it is so close).

One down. Now I need to buy a bike.

mwz

mwz: Day 104

Yesterday, I did a spin class (and ran) so today was just weights.

Here is what I lifted:

Lying Dumbbell Tricep Extension: 15 lbs each hand (EH). 10x3
Dumbbell Flyers: 15 lbs EH 10x3
Side Lateral Raise: 15 lbs EH 10x3

Straight Arm Pulldown (lat machine): 37.5 lbs 20x3
Wide-Grip Pulldowns Behind the Neck (lat machine): 75 lbs 20x3

Dumbbell Bicept Curl (but sitting): 20 lbs EH 10x3
Seated Dumbbell Palms-up Wrist curl: 20 lbs EH 10x3

Leg Extensions: 90 lbs 20x3
Seated Leg Curl: 80 lbs 20x3

Thigh Adductor: 60 lbs 20x3
Thigh Abductor: 70 lbs 20x3

Leg Press: 180 lbs 10x3
Calf Press On The Leg Press Machine: 180 lbs 10x3

Links from BodyBuilding.com.

mwz

mwz: Day 103

I did my first real "brick" tonight. I did a 45 minute spin class then ran 2 miles (on a tread mill). It was a very stationary brick.

I actually only did 40 minutes of spin. Once we hit cool down, I cleaned up my bike and went to the tread mill. I didn't want to cool down. That felt a little strange but at least I didn't have to wait in line for the paper towels.

When I started on the tread mill, I felt okay. At the tenth of a mile mark, I began to realize how very daunting running a 10 K will be after a 24 mile bike ride (not to mention the swimming). But after a mile, I found a rhythm and it went okay. I thought about doing three miles but since I only planned to do 2, I stuck with that.

The run took 22 minutes but that includes the time that I hit the stupid, safety cord and turned off the machine. I had to spend a while trying to figure out how to get the thing going again (it turned out that it was telling me on it's display).

My abdomen didn't really bother me while running. I think it helped that I was already warmed up. I think I might do most of my running in bricks.

mwz

mwz: Day 102

I swam 0.5 miles today. I felt pretty good. I only did the breast stroke for 1.5 laps and crawled the rest.

I probably could have done more but before I started I set the goal at half a mile. I didn't want to over do my first swim in a while.

Oh, I did it in like 26 minutes (which is pretty good for me).

mwz

mwz: Day 101

I spun today for an hour. My legs were quite soar from running yesterday. I thought that the spin classes would have helped some with the running but I guess there are some different muscles used.

I also lifted:

Thigh Adductor: 60 lbs 20x3
Thigh Abductor: 60 lbs 20x3

Links from BodyBuilding.com.

mwz

mwz: Day 100

I couldn't let day 100 pass without exercising. Since the pool wasn't an option (it was "cloudy" yesterday), I opted to run.

I ran outside for 2 miles. The weather was pretty nice, in the two directions that didn't have a head wind.

I felt pretty good, fitnes wise. But my abdomen felt tight. I don't know if that's real or my fear or if my fear is making it real...

mwz

mwz: Day 99

Today (whoo I caught up in the posting), I spun. It started at 6:00 am and that was early. I was thinking about work a lot and wasn't paying attention to the instructor as well as I should have. I may have "pushed my pace" for too long at times but I made up for it by having a slow pace to begin with...

I'm not going to swim tomorrow. The pool was closed today because the water was cloudy. I was told that it should be worked out by later today but I'm not going to risk it.

I'll either run or sleep in tomorrow. I don't know if I can do nothing on day 100,

mwz

mwz: Day 98

(posted late)

Sunday. Since I didn't get to lift on Saturday, I went in on Sunday to do the lifting.

I think I've decided that the weight on the thigh abduction machine is actually a factor of 10 larger than what I thought it was. I'm reasonably certain that I'm now doing 60 lbs and not 6.

Here is what I lifted:

Lying Dumbbell Tricep Extension: 15 lbs each hand (EH). 10x3
Dumbbell Flyers: 15 lbs EH 10x3

Straight Arm Pulldown (lat machine): 37.5 lbs 20x3
Wide-Grip Pulldowns Behind the Neck (lat machine): 75 lbs 20x3

Side Lateral Raise: 15 lbs EH 10x3
Dumbbell Bicept Curl (but sitting): 20 lbs EH 10x3
Seated Dumbbell Palms-up Wrist curl: 20 lbs EH 10x3

Leg Extensions: 80 lbs 20x3
Seated Leg Curl: 80 lbs 20x3

Thigh Adductor: 60 lbs 20x3
Thigh Abductor: 60 lbs 20x3

Leg Press: 160 lbs 10x3
Calf Press On The Leg Press Machine: 160 lbs 10x3

Links from BodyBuilding.com.

mwz

mwz: Day 97

(posted late)

On Saturday, I went to spin class. I took Frances and left her with the "child watch" people (a free little nanny service for children under 6). That was hard but she seemed to like it. I however had to fight off the urge to go "rescue" her while I was in class. As it turned out, she really seamed to enjoy it.

The only down side was that I can only leave her in there for an hour and a half which (if you include changing time) isn't enough to lift as well.

I'm going to readjust my schedual a bit.

mwz

mwz: Day 94 Nothing

This morning I couldn't get up at 5:20. I was up pretty late last night and I've got some sniffles. That's two days in a row that I've skipped exercising.

Tomorrow, I must swim.

mwz

mwz: Day 92

(posted late)
Monday, I spun. The next spin class will be 15 minutes earlier (6:00 am). That sucks so bad.

I also lifted:

Thigh Adductor: 5 lbs 20x3
Thigh Abductor: 5 lbs 20x3

Links from BodyBuilding.com.

mwz

mwz: Day 90

(posted late)
Saturday, I skipped spin class so that I could watch Frances and let Arial sleep in some. I did go lift later and added some exercises because I had a little extra time.

Here is what I lifted:

Lying Dumbbell Tricep Extension: 15 lbs each hand (EH). 10x3
Dumbbell Flyers: 15 lbs EH 10x3

Straight Arm Pulldown (lat machine): 37.5 lbs 20x3
Wide-Grip Pulldowns Behind the Neck (lat machine): 75 lbs 20x3

Side Lateral Raise: 15 lbs EH 10x3
Dumbbell Bicept Curl (but sitting): 20 lbs EH 10x3
Seated Dumbbell Palms-up Wrist curl: 20 lbs EH 10x3

Leg Extensions: 70 lbs 20x3
Seated Leg Curl: 70 lbs 20x3

Thigh Adductor: 5 lbs 20x3
Thigh Abductor: 5 lbs 20x3

Leg Press: 160 lbs 10x3
Calf Press On The Leg Press Machine: 160 lbs 10x3

Links from BodyBuilding.com.

mwz

mwz: Day 89

(posted late)

Last Friday, I swam a bit. I gave up after 10 laps because I'm lazy or something. I'm a little afraid of the swimming now that I've had a day where it bothered my abdomen.

mwz