Losing weight in Northern Minnesota

Running with the boys September 1, 2009

Today was a better day.  I ate a bit more.  Egg white after I did my sprints this morning, a handful of crackers and trail mix this afternoon.  One thing that’s been missing out of my diet the last few days is fruit so I picked up some apples along with my carrots after work today.  Tonight instead of a salad I had a peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread.  Rested.  Then did a new workout.  It was a circuit training but with different exercises.  It also brought back an exercise that I had sworn off a while ago.  Burpies.  It’s where you squat down to your hands, thrust the legs back, jump to bring the legs forward, then jump in the air.  The last time I did this did not bring a good result.  It’s fun to look back and see how long it took to recover and what I was able to get back to for exercise.  I’m grateful that I have this written down to look back on just for myself.

Anyway, the workout really got to me.  I can feel new soreness with the new exercises and the squat thrust jumps really wore me out.  I followed the training with a trip on the treadmill.  First 4 minutes were a run and then I went into a walk with a steep incline.  Total was 15 minutes.  AND THEN…….

There was one boy left with my wife for daycare and he’s my oldest son’s age.  They’ve been talking up how they could be me in a running race so we had a race then.  I set up an 1/8th of a mile race on the gravel road back to our mailbox.  The first race I started with them and kinda jogged with them trying to keep them in it but also letting them know I could take off at any time.  I won.  Second race, I gave them a head start of 5 seconds, caught up with them and then cruised as my son passed me for the win.  THIRD RACE, gave them a 10 second lead and went all out.  The other boy beat us but I nearly caught up to them at the end.  That was 10 sprints total for the day.  Then we went for a little jog to watch the combines harvest until the mosquitos were just too much.

All in all a pretty good day.  My stomach feels better and I hope the weight keeps coming off.  I don’t think I’ll make it but you never know.

Yoga, yoga, yoga and a 5-miler August 4, 2009

By reading the title you might think I did the yoga in the morning and the 5-miler in the evening.  Not so.  I tried my new route this morning, running on the shoulder of the highway and decided to try for 5 miles.  Did the whole thing in a run and made a decent time.  Glad I was able to get it in with the 8 set circuit training last night to give me an indication of what my limits are.  I even met another couple running, in fact the same guy who asked me to think about running with him.  I might start paying more attention to my pace but I’m more concerned about my heart rate.  It amazes me how much wind can affect the heart rate.  My first 2.5 miles were with the wind and my heart rate stayed around 136.  Turned around and after a half a mile it was up to 142.  I think my pace was the same but this would give me a reason to keep better track of it.  When I came up to my cool down my feet felt so light.  I remember walking and it was like I was walking on air.  Never felt that before.  10 minutes later as I was standing around preparing my food for the day, I started to stiffen up pretty fast.

It kinda stayed with me for the rest of the day and I kept thinking about stretching out tonight with yoga.  We’re borrowing my sister-in-law’s Biggest Loser Yoga Workout DVD and I’ve gone through it a few times.  Every time I dread going through it but about halfway through I feel what it’s doing to my body, my muscles.  The stretching is great and the weight that is put on the muscle as it is being stretched gives such a great feeling of getting a good workout.  A fun addition to the workout was my 15 month old son walking between my legs or all over me as I was doing the poses and stretches.  That really pushed my balancing.  Now I’m relaxed, ready for bed and I need the sleep.  So far this new routine is working out pretty good although it feels like I may not see results this week.  We’ll have to see.

Bear tracks August 3, 2009

Well, if there was any motivation to run, that would be it.  As I was running to get ready for my sprints I started paying attention to the gravel roads and noticed the tracks…….claw marks in the road.  Now this was where the road was hard so I couldn’t really see the paw print, just the claw and how they went down an inch and a half.  This was a bear that had been moving!  It was a smaller bear but a bear nonetheless.  At this time I started realizing how alone I was on this road.  It’s a mile from the highway and not traveled much.  I didn’t turn around as I didn’t feel that threatened.  Mostly bears are afraid of humans and if you act like a raving lunatic (not a stretch for me), they run away.  I finished off my sprints but I’m thinking I’m going to run along the highway until it gets too cold.  I love, LOVE running outside.  I love the fresh air and the smell of the fields and a great time is about to come up with harvest around the corner.  So lucky I don’t have allergies so I can enjoy that smell.

Today was a good day all-together.  I got my circuit training in tonight after doing a little thing at church and now just cooling off.  Food was good but I’m still hungry all the time.  Same for yesterday.  I don’t know what I’m craving exactly but I’m pulling away from the chocolate things and try focusing on my water intake.

Funny thing happened at church yesterday.  A neighbor stopped me to talk and started suggesting that we run or bike together.  I was flattered that he thought I could keep up with him as he is training for several triathlons.  What I’ve learned about myself as an introvert is that I like to be alone with my thoughts and music when I’m working out.   I would dislike running with my marathon runner wife even if I could keep up with her pace.  I don’t want to talk.  I just want to get lost and focus on that next post, that next landmark, and just go.  I think people have a hard time believing that this is what I’m like because I’m still outgoing.  Just give me that workout time as MY TIME!