Well-Trained Bodies- August Edition

[Kim in Appalachia]

Back to the gym today! The last 7 days have been crazy. We moved my ds18 into college, which was so emotionally exhausting. My dd20 went back to college too.  So we are down to just 2 kids at home. It feels so weird.  The house is quiet.  We barely need any food. (I have kid, but the quantity is  a lot less).   We are finally a normal american household. ? ? 

My other 2 started school yesterday. I go back to school next Tuesday, so I have a few days off.  I cleaned that house like a crazy woman for 2 days, then carpet cleaners came and did all my carpets and my living room furniture.  I am now enjoying reading a book.  For pleasure.  Not for school. ? 

Anyway, for my workouts, I PR with my dumbbell snatches.  I did 32.5# My shoulder and elbow have been hurting, so I need to take time to work on that.  Lots of rolling on a hard ball to work out the knots. 

Hoping to run tomorrow, but darn, it's been so hot here.

[SKL]

I'm keeping steady this past week at about 4 miles per day.  Mostly walking at a good pace, but I added in a little running.  I've also been intentionally doing more stairs when I can.

I've been better about doing yoga most days.  I've also been better about eating fruits & vegetables.

Considering going to TKD tonight with my kids.  For some reason I am nervous about it.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

My diet has shaped up a lot this week.  I'm taking a planned break from low carb because I'm so sick of meat.  LOL.  My compromise is to do my best to eat clean, and do some regular intermittent fasting.  I've decided to attempt to make various bean recipes over the next few weeks and see how they go.  I made some great Southwestern "bowls" yesterday that surprisingly everyone seemed to like.  

But I think I need to skip the half I had planned for first weekend in Sept.  It just seems imprudent given how little I'm running in the heat.  I'm going to look for one in October instead.  I'm a bit ho-hum about the decision.  I'm in that messy period where my newbie gains are all gained, and now it'll just be slow gains from now on.  I had come up with the great excuse of not wanting to lift until after the half, but now that I'm taking that off the table, time to do some leg work.  

[wintermom]

I played doubles tennis last night and singles this morning. I've been biking shorter distances daily. Overall my wrist is feeling good! I've also been doing a lot of set painting at our community theatre. I'm not sure if the painting motions have been good in building strength in the little muscles of my wrist.  

Eating has been up and down. Some days I'm eating vacation-style, with salty snacks and chocolate; other days I'm eating lots of veggies. 

[mamaraby]

I made it in before August was over! Marathon training is cruising along. I have no idea what week of training I’m in, but Oct 7th is so much closer than seems possible. I was going to say less than two months to go, but maybe it’s more accurate to say just over one month. I ran my 20-mile long run last week. This week is a cut back week with slightly less running and the long run was 12-miles.

Dh and I are running a 5k with the kids this fall so on top of marathon training, I’m doing couch to 5k with them. It’s just plain fun. My middle child decided to break out the “infinite dab” during our walk segment. Never a dull moment.

I have become the proverbial “don’t have time for strength training” runner. I had such a groove going in February and March and feel like a bad runner for abandoning it. It’s also soccer season. I hate soccer season. I’m irritated with an adult on dd2’s team so it’s a darn good thing there’s running. Dh is helping coach so my plan for dealing with the adult in question is to put dh in charge of handling that team and that adult. I’ll be the adult for the two big kids teams. Now if only dh was around to handle taking her to practices and I’d have it made.

@soror - that all sounds super stressful! The realist in this partnership of mine (read: not me), would totally say taking a break is very good. He’s usually right, too. I hope things feel a bit more even keeled soon!

@wintermom - I’ve probably missed it, but did you injure your wrist? We paintd the house in July and I found that tougher on my hand than my wrist, but I could see how set painting would be more taxing on your wrist. If your diet evens out with more checks in the veggie column, maybe it’s not so bad on the whole.

@Monica_in_Switzerland - I don’t blame you for forgoing the planned half. Is the course time limit generous enough to give you enough buffer to stick some longer walk breaks in? October here is generally much cooler and less humid so I’m a big fan of October races, obvs. There’s a race I’ve really wanted to run for a couple of years now, but it’s in mid-August and almost always ridiculously hot and humid.

@SKL - Did you go to TKD? New stuff always makes me anxious so I don’t blame you for being nervous!

@Kim in Appalachia - It sounds like you’ve been busy! I’ve just about reached the point in the year when summer running is getting a little old. I will change my mind come January/February. It’s a thing. Will it get cooler for you come fall? Or maybe less humid? Those early fall gains from summer heat acclimation are pretty nice if fall is cool.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

@mamaraby Great job on your 20 miler!  The time limit is generous, but I'm more worried about injury.  I know I can technically cover the distance, and I know I can do it running the whole way, I just doubt that it's prudent!!!  So I'll aim for October instead.  That will give me a month of cooler weather to get my mileage back up to something where I don't feel the half is an injury risk.  

[hshibley]

I've been hitting my exercise goals this week.  My eating has been mixed. I've got to clean up my afternoon snacking. I'm camping and hiking this weekend with a state wide hiking group. Off to the mountains ?

[Soror]

I did go to the gym Tues & Thurs and have been doing little walks with the girls.

I feel better now that my 2 younger girls are home but there is still financial and job stress. 

Life feels like...

ugh

[SKL]

Well, I wimped out on going to TKD yesterday, but I did walk while they were in there ... I ended up doing about 5 miles yesterday all together.

Today I get some exercise cleaning the house for the maids ... later the kids have a lock-in at church, so I should be able to go somewhere and walk after I drop them off.

[Kim in Appalachia]

I ran yesterday and this morning I did some yoga.

It will cool off a little by mid October.  It's not normally humid here, which is good.  I don't think I could handle that. ?

Soror, glad the girls are home.  Is you dh currently taking classes? Are you? financial stress is horrible.  

[wintermom]

On 8/24/2018 at 1:05 AM, mamaraby said:

 

@wintermom - I’ve probably missed it, but did you injure your wrist? We painted the house in July and I found that tougher on my hand than my wrist, but I could see how set painting would be more taxing on your wrist. If your diet evens out with more checks in the veggie column, maybe it’s not so bad on the whole.

I didn't exactly injury my wrist. It's more of an over-use thing caused by playing singles tennis too frequently with hard-hitting men opponents. Now that I'm playing mostly mixed doubles and not daily, my wrist is a lot better. It doesn't hurt from cycling or painting. 

Re: balance of veggies vs snack; I think if I categorize potato chips and corn nachos as veggies I'm doing great! Chocolate could even be considered a plant product. ? 

[SKL]

Still keeping up the 4 miles per day of walking (sometimes a little running), and daily yoga.

Not sure what I'm going to do over the next two days.  I have to drive to & from Washington, DC and sit in a business conference there.  On breaks, clients want to talk to me.  I doubt I will get much walking in.  ?  

Tomorrow I have to go in front of the church with my kids.  I am pretty sure none of my church-worthy clothes fit me.  For that matter, neither do my conference-worthy clothes.  Still, it's better than it would be had I not been walking lately.

[mamaraby]

Finished out the week with a coulle of easy runs and one short interval run. Today’s easy run was hot and humid. I ended up walking the last five or so minutes to meep my heart rate down. I miss Friday - it was misty, cool, and low humidity.

[wintermom]

16 hours ago, peacelovehomeschooling said:

I remain amazed (and disheartened) at how long it takes to get on track with both eating and exercise, but how quickly it can all unravel which undoes all the hard work.  Sigh............

But I remain here, I persevere, and remember that tomorrow is a new day "with no mistakes in it"............

Try to look at a bigger picture than just a week or two. Think about exercise in terms of 1 year, 5 years, 20 years. It's a life-time journey. All the wonderful benefits of regular exercise do not get wiped out in one week of less activity. Just keep going and try to get back on track.

Mix things up a little if the routine seems boring or difficult to achieve due to scheduling challenges. Try different activities for different seasons. And maybe one season is the "main" season for loads of exercise because you have lots of time, while other seasons are "cross-training" or off-season, where you reduce activity and let your body recover in one area while working on a different area.

Even the pro athletes divide their year into pre-season build-up, main season, and off-season. It's not necessary or even recommended to work at a high intensity every day year in and year out.

Edited August 27, 2018 by wintermom

[lynn]

Good Monday morning all!

i completed week 4 of Hammer and Chisel,  I love seeing muscles pop and know that all the hard work pays off.  I am starting an hiit running program along with total body hammer and kettle bell work in preparation for my half training.  I plan a goal time closer to 2:30/2:40.

what are your fitness goals for fall or the rest of the year?

[Soror]

On 8/27/2018 at 7:45 AM, wintermom said:

Try to look at a bigger picture than just a week or two. Think about exercise in terms of 1 year, 5 years, 20 years. It's a life-time journey. All the wonderful benefits of regular exercise do not get wiped out in one week of less activity. Just keep going and try to get back on track.

Mix things up a little if the routine seems boring or difficult to achieve due to scheduling challenges. Try different activities for different seasons. And maybe one season is the "main" season for loads of exercise because you have lots of time, while other seasons are "cross-training" or off-season, where you reduce activity and let your body recover in one area while working on a different area.

Even the pro athletes divide their year into pre-season build-up, main season, and off-season. It's not necessary or even recommended to work at a high intensity every day year in and year out.

1

Very true! I'm always mixing things up, right now is my offseason I guess ?

On 8/26/2018 at 3:43 PM, peacelovehomeschooling said:

I have had more downs than ups the last few weeks.   However, I have managed to figure out (and follow through!) when to exercise now that school has started again.  It took weeks of trying to finally get it worked out, but was worth it!  Eating has been truly up and down.  So still working on that.  I remain amazed (and disheartened) at how long it takes to get on track with both eating and exercise, but how quickly it can all unravel which undoes all the hard work.  Sigh............

But I remain here, I persevere, and remember that tomorrow is a new day "with no mistakes in it"............

1

Focus on the positives, good work!

On 8/24/2018 at 12:49 PM, Kim in Appalachia said:

I ran yesterday and this morning I did some yoga.

It will cool off a little by mid October.  It's not normally humid here, which is good.  I don't think I could handle that. ?

Soror, glad the girls are home.  Is you dh currently taking classes? Are you? financial stress is horrible.  

4

Yes, dh is taking 2 classes at the CC. I'm not, I've thought about doing a 2 yr program but considering everything going on I don't think it is prudent right now, instead I'm working on jobs from home. 

[Soror]

I had a full night's sleep last night for the first time in a month maybe. I'm feeling some hope that things are calming down, I'm very busy this week but I don't have a lot of stuff going on outside the home so it feels much less frantic. I guess I'll just be keeping Tues/Thurs evening lifting and walking until things settle down and I have more mental and physical energy to give it. My health goals are: sleep!, good simple food, reduce/avoid stress, maintaining strength

[Soror]

Lifting done tonight. I did bench press, walking lunges, and t-bar rows. I've not done barbell presses regularly since June, maybe May? Strong had me doing them with dumbbells. So, I'm not as high as when I stopped, might have been with all the push-ups except the last month has been a rough one. But I did get back up to 70# for a set, previous high was 75# so that's not too bad. Squats last week were 30# off my previous high but we'll see how this week goes. I'm just doing my own thing right now, trying to balance w/ a push and pull and leg exercise. I was at the gym for 50 min. tonight my last several sessions have been 30 min at most but fingers crossed w/ some sleep and stressors going down maybe I can get back on track. I miss the gym! 

[mamaraby]

Ran on the treadmill on Monday. Dh and I did C25k with the kids today and then I went out for a tempo run. Humid is the bext way to describe today.

@peacelovehomeschooling - wintermom said it best. I have been working on this since 2014 and when I finally got it, it was because “keep on keeping on” became my overarching motto. Bad week? Keep on keeping on. Bad month? Well, it hapoens. Keep on keeping on. Tough run? Keep on keeping on. You get the picture.

And I have an off season - usually it’s a few mini ones and a larger one. My marathon training plan has a cut back week every third week. Just keep on doing what you do. ?

Edited August 29, 2018 by mamaraby

[Soror]

55 minutes ago, mamaraby said:

Ran on the treadmill on Monday. Dh and I did C25k with the kids today and then I went out for a tempo run. Humid is the bext way to describe today.

@peacelovehomeschooling - wintermom said it best. I have been working on this since 2014 and when I finally got it, it was because “keep on keeping on” became my overarching motto. Bad week? Keep on keeping on. Bad month? Well, it hapoens. Keep on keeping on. Tough run? Keep on keeping on. You get the picture.

And I have an off season - usually it’s a few mini ones and a larger one. My marathon training plan has a cut back week every third week. Just keep on doing what you do. ?

Yep, my saying is don't let perfect be the enemy of good. Make your goals ones you can meet, even if they seem to be so small it doesn't even matter. I've said it before but will say it again I've had the goal before to walk out of my front door every day, that's it. When I had been really sick for awhile and was working on recovering that is all I could manage. But we feel guilty that we aren't doing enough and we sometimes push ourselves too hard. 

[SKL]

As expected, I got messed up by my travel Sunday & Monday.  Here it is Tuesday and I have not recovered.  I will need to do a lot to get caught back up.  I haven't even done yoga in 3 days.  ?

[HollyDay]

remember I joined a gym??

Achilles tendonitis. 

Too much, too fast, too soon.  Now I'm out of a lot of action for 6 weeks.  Trying to reach my trainer to discuss core and upper body to let lower body heal.

[Kim in Appalachia]

School has me busy, and the all of the sudden, I'm having trouble sleeping again.  My dh was right, it's stress. ? 

I did do yoga Tuesday morning and this afternoon.  I'm going to attempt more yoga for the stress.  If I sleep tonight,  I plan on getting up and running. Fingers crossed. 

[lmrich]

@HollyDay so sorry about your injury. That is a tricky one. Some say to ice; others to heat. Some trainers say to stretch; others to not stretch. It just takes time. 

I had my food allergy testing done - dairy, wheat, rice, broccoli, peppers, cabbage, lobster... The rice and wheat make it tricky as most gluten free foods have rice flour. I will figure it out. And, seriously, broccoli! I hated brocoli as a kid, now it is (was) on my plate two times a week at least, and it is in my favorite vegan protein smoothie. 

My foot has been rather bad so I am not walking every morning. I have been lifting weights three times a week. 

 

[SKL]

Well I am going to credit myself at least one extra mile for chasing my kids with a broomstick (all in fun) a couple times today.

I was on my feet a lot today, but unfortunately mostly standing around in heels ....

[Kim in Appalachia]

Got up and ran today.  I'm debating a little yoga later, but I need to study.

[wintermom]

On 8/29/2018 at 9:54 AM, HollyDay said:

remember I joined a gym??

Achilles tendonitis. 

Too much, too fast, too soon.  Now I'm out of a lot of action for 6 weeks.  Trying to reach my trainer to discuss core and upper body to let lower body heal.

Ouch! That is too bad. BTDT. Definitely try some core and upper body work in the meantime! It will keep you in the routine and it's way more motivating than sitting around. 

Hope you feel better really soon!

[wintermom]

Last day of August!

I did a ton of painting on fake floor boards at the community theatre yesterday morning and my hamstring muscles on both legs are dead. I played tennis yesterday evening and picking up a tennis ball from the ground was murder. ?  No more floor painting for a while! I'm going to finish off some high-level beams.

More tennis tonight, mixed in with some biking.

[mamaraby]

Recovery run on Wednesday. Yesterday I did couch to 5k with the kids and then we got our long run in - 16 miles with 14 miles of what the plan called speed play. Dh hasn’t run much since our half marathon so I have way more long distance stamina than he does. I didn’t realize how much I relied on his stamina and ability to run circles around me to carry me through those challenging miles toward the end. Mile 12-16 were tough!

Today’s recovery run will bring this month’s mileage to 160 which is my highest mileage ever. My previous highest mileage was in the low 150s back in April of last year. I have mixed feelings because that was during half marathon training and training for a marathon feels like it should need greater running volume.

[Kim in Appalachia]

On 8/29/2018 at 8:19 PM, lmrich said:

@HollyDay so sorry about your injury. That is a tricky one. Some say to ice; others to heat. Some trainers say to stretch; others to not stretch. It just takes time. 

I had my food allergy testing done - dairy, wheat, rice, broccoli, peppers, cabbage, lobster... The rice and wheat make it tricky as most gluten free foods have rice flour. I will figure it out. And, seriously, broccoli! I hated brocoli as a kid, now it is (was) on my plate two times a week at least, and it is in my favorite vegan protein smoothie. 

My foot has been rather bad so I am not walking every morning. I have been lifting weights three times a week. 

 

 

That's too many things to be allergic to. ?  So sorry. 

[Kim in Appalachia]

I did run yesterday and it felt great.  It was 2.5 miles, nice and slow.  I also did some yoga in the afternoon before I started studying. I'm hoping to keep that up.  

This morning I went to the gym and did weights.  It was the last day of Stage 5. ? Since I'm running on my other days, I switched to kettlebell swings at the end of my workout.  I forgot how much I love those. 

 

 

[Soror]

Not yet, I'll post one now!

[lmrich]

@peacelovehomeschooling  I had the skin test on my back for my food allergies. I will go back and get the environmental ones done. The GI wants a blood test done for Celiac disease which she thinks I have since my stomach looked like a Celiac stomach - whatever that looks like (I had an endoscopy); I will see if my insurance will pay for it. But in the meantime, I will act like I have Celiac.  The skin test was not bad; I would recommend getting it done.