Welcome to May (it's actually raining here)

I'm weighing in at the same weight I did on April 1. No fooling. I'm a good maintainer, but I wanted to be 5 pounds down Injuries and feeling sorry for myself put a dent in that.

This is MY month!!!!

Have a good one..stop to smell the flowers.

Mel

Good morning Mel, everyone! This is OUR month!!

My goals:

- Get back to 145 by May 23. Thanks to TOM, that's 6 lbs to go as of this am
- Lift 4 x per week, no excuses
- Cardio 2 x week
- OP eating 90% of meals

The OP eating may be the biggest challenge. I have 3 work dinners and at least 2 work lunches this month. In addition, I'm traveling and staying with friends all of next week. Oh, and visiting my brother in SF, the foodie capital of the US...

Be strong,
Kim

May? For real? I saw the new calendar on my phone this am and nearly passed out. Should I finish putting away the Christmas stuff then?

I think I need to refigure my nutrition plan. I have been POP 5 days in a row and running and lifting, and then last night I ate a quesadilla and then 2 pieces of pizza and I had the best run ever this am. I think I need more evening carbs--last night was a little overboard, but still! So.....maybe adding a potato or beans or bread at dinner would be a good thing....I don't eat before my early morning runs.

Morning ladies!
So yesterday my therapist suggested I lay off the elliptical for a week because my foot is not healing as it should. They think I am not giving it enough of a break. Okaaaaaaaaaaaay, so I will get on the bike instead I promised.
Then in the evening I realized that there was no Pilates class (the schedule changed recently and I haven't memorized it yet) ... but .... there was Zumba. I knew I shouldn't but I did. LOL Then I iced my foot during the entire Grey's Anatomy (it didn't hurt, as a precaution). I feel it a bit this morning but not as bad as I expected. I must behave for the rest of the week.
My eating has been amazingly perfect for two weeks. Only 3 lbs over the weight I was at the end of January. I have to make it to the 150's before Cheryl does. LOL

We got some rain - it was lovely.
Shoulders and arms tonight - I am looking forward to it.

Alena

May came around so quickly!

I'm not sure how I feel about May. It is a good month, but is it my month? Possibly.

Food has been good the past couple days. I did do some exercise yesterday but I really was a bit drained. Hopefully today will be better.

Good morning, again. Just got back from the gym. It was deadly quiet in there: just me and one other "regular." Oh, yeah, that's right: it's the last day of classes, a traditional day of drunken debauchery among the undergraduates.

Today was chest / abs:
- flat bench: 4@145, 3@145+2@140; 4@135
- roman chair situps: 15@45 x3
- incline bench: 5@45s (each); [email protected]; [email protected]
- hanging leg raises: 15@0 x 3
- dips: 9,7,6 @ bodyweight
- planks: 1' x 3
- French press: 8,7,6@55

Felt OK, although I'm still down a few reps on everything.

Be strong,
Kim

Dang, Kim! I wish my upper body strength was all that! Nice numbers!

I got a new low on the scale again today. Seems like I've finally got the diet dialed in now. Enough energy for my workouts, everything "regular", the scale is going down and the waist seems a little smaller...all good signs! Today's weight was 171.8...woot!

Alena, I'm pretty sure you're safe from me beating you to the 150s...I'm still trying to make it out of the 170s, but thanks for the vote of confidence!

Today's workout was a good one. I got to try jumping on the big tire for the first time. I don't know how high it is, but the most I'd jumped before was about 9 inches, so this is at least double that. I totally chickened out on the first attempt...ready, set...no freaking way! My trainer laughed, and then said, "get up there!" So I tried again and did it...woot! Since it was my first time doing the tire jumps, my trainer scaled the workout for me, down to 15 reps, instead of 21 per round, and I can't do ring dips yet, so I did "jump to support" (JTS) instead, just jumping up and trying to hold myself steady for as long as I could, which was a few seconds each time, and did that 12 times per round.

The WOD today was:
Run 400 meters
21 Tire Jumps (my sub: 15 Tire Jumps)
12 Ring Dips (my sub: 12 JTS on the rings)
---
3 rounds for time.

I forget what my time was now...17 mins plus, I think, but I was happy with that, since I got better with my tire jumps after the first round, full hip extension at the top every time (had a few failures on the first round), and got better with holding myself up on the rings as the workout progressed.

My running is still pitifully slow, compared to everyone else. I asked my trainer afterward what I could do about it, and he suggested it would be good to put a 400 meter all-out sprint into my warm-up, and to time it occasionally to track my improvement. His idea is that it would get me over the "fear" of crashing during a workout, so I'd learn to go hard and not worry about what comes next, plus it should improve my speed. So, I will give that a try. I asked him if it was better to pace myself during the workout, or to sprint right off and risk having to walk some of it, and he said he'd rather see me sprint out and hit the wall, aka having to walk a few paces, than to jog the workouts. So, I'll try that, too, and see how it goes. We're supposed to work on improving our fitness, rather than "gaming" the workouts, though it's hard to remember that when everybody else is stronger, faster, and has better endurance.

G'day all! It IS my month, for I am the birthday queen tomorrow & meeting a mini-milestone number. Enough about that!!!

Midwife you are so right about what makes for a good run. I have the best w/o sessions after a free day or a meal out. What is it about those darn carbs and a full calorie load?

I'm finishing up my first challenge and will take my final weigh and measurements on Tuesday. Then start anew with C2 in 5/11. Yep, NO plans for bday cake this weekend. But that's ok - I don't normally do that each year anyway; there's no reason 4 people need a whole cake in the house! Hmm, but maybe.........maybe I'll have one on Tuesday!

Can't wait for the results, Fran!! I have to laugh though, cause the other reason I might have had a good run today was that yesterday was a rest day....but I want to give the credit to the carbs!

Cheryl, adding sprint intervals was key for me to get faster. How fun!!

Midwife, how long were the intervals you did, or were they timed intervals?

Fran, I'm excited to see your results, as well. You've worked really hard for this!

I've been nearly useless today, but had fun playing an online game with my boy. We're thinking of seeing a movie tonight, instead of the usual (skating).

I mix it up a lot.

Sometimes I go to the track and do thusly:

800 meter warm up
100 meter sprint*, 100 meter recovery X 2
200 meter sprint, 200 meter recovery X2
400 meter sprint, 400 meter recovery X 2
800 meter cool down

Other times I just do some speedwork around a park and I try to mix up the sprint/recovery lengths.

* My definition of sprint is go as fast as you possibly can but also try to maintain for the distance planned. My 400 meter sprint will be slower than my 100 meter sprint. It is faster and tougher than my usual steady state pace, however. Having to REALLY recover (barely jog) so as not to barf when I stop is kind of what I aim for. I try to burn out my legs for the distance.

I don't time cause I am not that organized.

<------ Hey guys, look what month it is! I'm almost at one year for cleaning up my diet from the liquid evils and almost to one year of not another Kidney Stone attack! :hooray: I just noticed, but I knew it was coming up! I'm sure it doesn't hurt that I'm down 30 lbs in the year since that surgery either. I clearly remembered what I told the anesthesiologist my weight was the morning of surgery. Unlike the DMV, that is really a place where you DON'T want to lie!

I survived my first spinning class this morning. I went easy on the tension as I am not used to it. I can see that it is a good core workout but I admit I found it a bit boring. I know some people say that running on the treadmill is boring but I never had that problem. I guessed I was always too busy pep-talking myself into pushing further and harder. Maybe it will come with the spinning as well.
But, eGawds!, the seat is NOT exactly comfortable! LOL

Shoulders, arms and back last night and I am not sore. THat's weird, I should feel it more today. Hmm.
Looks like a nice weekend, time to do some gardening (split hostas etc.).
Have a good one!

Alena, maybe you will feel it tomorrow. I usually don't feel any soreness from lifting until the second day, but maybe that's not normal for everyone?

Fran, congrats on the one year milestones! I'm glad you are feeling better this year.

Midwife, thanks for the ideas on the sprints. I like it! Today, I tried to do what my trainer said, and do the 400 meters, but I went too fast and gassed out. So, I walked a little, jogged 600, then sprinted the last 200 meters at my usual 100 meter pace. I did it without hitting the wall, so I will do that for a while, then try to add some more distance. I didn't try to time mine, either. I don't care so much about the time, myself, since I'll know if I'm sprinting farther than before, which is good enough for me.

I had a nice long warm-up and some skills practice time before the workout today (about 45 mins). I did the running, the usual stretching and sit-ups and such, then practiced climbing and descending the rope (only going partway up, since I'm working on coming down without losing control before I try to climb to the top), and worked on my push-ups. Those things are still a struggle, so if anyone has any tricks or advice on form or how to get stronger at push-ups (other than doing more push-ups, lol), I'd love to hear your ideas.

The WOD today was another metcon:
5 Broad Jumps (standing start, jumping the length of a stall mat, either 6 or 8 ft, I couldn't tell just eyeballing the things...I couldn't jump that far, so I just jumped as far as I could each time)
7 KTE (knees to elbows...I just had to raise my knees as high as possible, but I'm getting closer, about 4" from my elbows!)
9 DB thrusters (30# dbs men/20# women...I used the Rx'd weight for this one!)

AMRAP/20 mins (as many rounds as possible in 20 mins)

I got 6 rounds, plus all the way to 1 thruster in the 7th round. More typical numbers were 8-11 rounds.

Congratulations on so many one year milestones, Fran!

Alena- I find spinning boring, too, but a heck of a cardio workout. I use a gel seat AND gel shorts

Full body w/o this morning and about 15 minute on an expresso bike- they have a screen with a "ride" that you do. slightly less boring.

Clean eats, but a "hungry day"!

Mel