It is one o clock

And yoga class is at 4pm. I am attending that and then 2 mile walk with .25 mile jog in there. I know, that is a tiny amount of jogging, this is forcing myself to increase slowly to avoid debilitating shinsplints. This week .25 mile run, next week .50 and so on. When I get to 2 miles in a row I will start playing with speed and incline. Building up slowly on strength and running is one of the hardest things I've done. It's so frustrating not to just go balls out to happy exhaustion but it sucks even more to be unable to train at all and I'm in this for the long haul.

Yesterday I trained next to two women in the Women on Weights class. They were kind of pathetic as far as lifting goes, not referring to the amount of weight but the effort and lousy form. Hell, lift the little bar but at least squat it all the way down, you know? One had run a half-marathon that weekend her friend informed me, and as a wanna-be runner I was mildly impressed. It's kind of mind-blowing that a human body can run 14 miles and yet be so incredibly weak. They started talking diet. One of the women whom I've seen in the gym many times, always running and doing cardio expressed dissatisfaction at her body and said it was obviously her diet as she trained like a fiend. The half-marathon friend was super-skinny, but in an unhealthy way that made you want to see if she was okay rather then the hot super-model way.

Super-skinny woman is on a really low-carb diet and not skinny woman was depressed that that might be the only way for her to reduce down to her desired shape. The thing about all of this was, that along with me there was another female weightlifter in the gym, who's figure they were admiring along with her strength. Wouldn't you think that might make the brain say, hey maybe getting stronger will help my body look more the way I want it to look? I would, hell that was part of the reason I started lifting in the first place (see title of this blog) along with stronger bones and increased lean mass. But no, the two women loved weightlifting girls body, said they could never be that strong, and made plans to take more cardio classes together. It was not the time to go into a full-blown lecture about increasing lean body mass through weightlifting to improve body shape and enable it to burn more calories instead of depriving oneself more and more while shrinking away into bone and skin. Or maybe it was and I'm just a coward.

In a way I can see where they were coming from, as the lifting they were doing was ineffective and they had paid for 6 weeks or so of the lifting classes without much result, so may as well give it up. Also, you are going to do what you like, thus my signing up for the trail run early in the year to force myself out of my comfort zone. On the other hand i wasn't exactly gung-ho about yoga in the beginning despite being aware of the benefits in stretching one's body, concentrating on the breath and meditating. It took a long time of muscle stiffness before I finally did something about it. I may never be particualrly good at yoga, but that does not matter, being able to walk around like a human should, to bend and stretch and turn and have full range of motion, to watch TV without begging for a leg rub makes it worth the schedule inconvienence. Evolving, slowly but surely.

Jumping!

Last night i took a mixed cardio/ weights class mostly as a chance to socialize with one of my gym buddies who hasn't been around in a while. Being aware of the idea that training with weights, especially barbells, makes one heavy and slow, I didn't know what to expect. Well, I did have an idea, so for the weights part of the class I choose the heaviest dumbbells offered, 7 and 8 lbs (the 7 lb ones were purple too!) and our multi-rep sets were not a problem. The surprise was during cardio. I was jumping, effortlessly and high, it seriously felt like i could do that all day, and this was after taking a Spin class immediately before. Love using Spin as a warmup. It was amazing. There was even the little exercise girl in the front doing everything just so, who ended up gassing out ha-ha-ha. To give an idea, I sport D-cups, so not the body type one expects to have an easy time leaping about but there you go.

Next training session tonight or tomorrow will be jump squats (my new best friend) 1x10xbar, 2x8x55, 2x8x60. Overhead press, going for 65lbs here, 3x5x65. Power cleans 3x5x80.

Monday heavy lifts

Friday's workout turned into Saturday. I did 3x5x95 squats which got a little ugly at the end, and 1x5x135 deadlifts. Plan for Monday is 3x5x100 squats and 1x5x140 deadlifts. Home behaving and eating protein today which should help make it happen. I may be watching the niece on Tues and Thursday nights, and considering taking the four pm yoga classes at those times. That makes it, Monday Spin and heavy lift, Tues yoga, Weds Zumba and power lift day (bench, overhead press, jump squat, hang cleans)Thurs yoga, Friday Zumba and lifting. Only three cardio days then unless I add some weekend work or exchange the yoga for Spin, which is offered at the same time. We will see.

Saturday procrastination

Some things are easy to do. Going to the gym, getting a pedicure, shopping, all easy. Some things I dread, and one of them, coloring my hair will not wait one more day unless I am going for 'distinguished' as a descriptor. Where the dislike of doing this comes from I'm not sure, ok it's messy and takes an hour but that includes lots of activities I engage in and some are my favorites. The last time I had it done professionally was not satisfactory, took three times as long and cost tons more, maybe keeping that in mind will help.

Lifting was a serious consideration today but the muscle soreness in my hamstrings from the Romanian deadlifts I added to the routine Thursday changed my mind, so I took a Spin class instead. Definitely adding the Romanian deads in regularly on non-deadlift days as they worked my hamstrings, next thing I need to add is ab work. Yes, I am possibly the only woman who works out regularly who avoids ab work and it is becoming an issue as in, I suspect weak abs are interfering with my squats. Blah! I'd rather do two hours of cardio every day then work abs but that won't make them any stronger.

Ahh Wednesday

Amazing how long the day can seem when you are keeping track of everything that into your mouth. I did get a lot done yesterday though. My upper back felt the effects of those overhead presses Monday, and last night was just weird, tossing and turning somehow hot and cold at the same time, but not sick. Maybe it's a central nervous system thing? Trying to find information or experiences of women my age who start training with relatively heavy weights and barbells is difficult. The women my age who do this all seem to have been training for years which is completely different. I want to learn about recovery times and rates of progression. Maybe this blog will help the next woman in my shoes, a former cardio addict finally getting around to training with weights and wanting to do it the most efficient way. After the discomfort of last night I am going to take this week off from lifting more seriously as suggested in The New Rules of Lifting, but with the calorie counting I am still doing cardio. Took the 6am Spin class this morning and may hit the gym again tonight. Hiking through the mountains in less then a month- I can't wait!

Time to shake things up

Summer marches on and faced with yet another week of 90 degree weather I need to get out of the doldrums and enjoy this. They are sunny hot days, lots of people yearn for weather like this. I'm looking back to the beginning of Summer, what do people get excited about? What can you do in the Summer that you can't otherwise? I need to revisit these activities. So, I am going to the beach this week- for a sunset, not going to get all crazy and actually get sun. The truck will be washed- that is definitely not fun to do when it's snowing.
What else? Swimming I guess, honestly tho swimming in pools is usually more trouble then its worth with the inevitable ear infection and sunburn that follow. Okay, no swimming unless it feels irresistible at the time. One thing to look forward to is deload week- yay! As gratifying as lifting big iron bars is, the rest weeks are necessary too. The changes I'm making in training include giving the 6am Spin classes a rest for a while. I miss the after-work crowd at the gym and sleeping until 7:30 or 8 like a civilized person. So, lifting my ass off this week, focusing on heavy deadlifts tomorrow and heavy squats Friday to get ready for rest week. Then, during rest week take the Ultimate Challenge classes and a Spin class or two. I'm also considering making it a no wine or chocolate week as a sort of soft detoxing/ clean eating/ whatever one would call it.

Lots of makeup goodies

The gift with purchase Estee Lauder is running at Macys that I referenced in an earlier blog is happening now, and my Macy's Estee lady was kind enough to call and remind me. I use the Advanced Night Repair Serum, and swear it makes my neck look softer and smoother but it is pricy stuff. The smallish size bottle is just under $50. That price does, however, easily clear the $28 minimum one needs to spend in order to receive the gift with purchase and having been out of the serum for months now and too cheap to replenish; this was a good time to do so. Also, I almost forgot, this time the serum came with two good sized samples along with it and since lotion is the over 40 y/o's friend, why say no?

The warm color palette was softer and more neutral and thus was the one I picked, which made my gift include a neutral day lipstick, soft shimmery lipgloss, small eyeshadow palette, travel mirror which stands up and is a good size, larger then expected. Then, to my surprise my counter lady also threw in the gift which was intended for customers spending $55 or over, which included a mascara and primer, black pencil eyeliner, and- makeup remover! Yes, so I can again put off buying the stuff. Everything happens for a reason.

I happily packed a small after shower at the gym makeup bag with eyebrow powder, the neutral lipstick and gloss, pore spackle (see below) and lotion. Ahhh. Speaking of the gym, today was a no-lifting day, so I went to 6am Spin and really got into it. On the way there I had half of a chocolate chip cookie and drank a Gatorade during class to keep an even glucose level as I was basically working out fasted and I have low blood pressure. Well, it didn't work. After class in my truck preparing to depart the gym parking lot I became totally light-headed and faint, and sweat beaded off me. It was bizarre and shouldn't have happened. Of course I didn't have my phone, so I just sat there for a little while with the air conditioner blowing on me and decided to take a quieter route home.

4am blog post

Sleeping through the night seemed like a strong possibility earlier but it didn't happen. It is raining alot which is nice (being inside and all) and the little cat is sleeping on the floor here keeping me company. Deload week has started! I didn't work out at all this past weekend, and in the boot-camp class today, instead of being pleasantly rested and stronger then ever, I was dragging. That is okay tho, gave it the best I had. Progressing to real push-ups is on the list, today one of the class members had her gym bag on the floor in such a way that I didn't have room to stretch out fully to even try to full-length push-ups, and when I relocated to where there was space we were done by the time I started. She is such a sour-puss too, ugh. So that class begins with 12 high intensity intervals interspersed by explosive movements and push-ups, and the second half is circuit training. My quads were shot out after the first half and I suspect running on an incline is to blame but hopefully they are recovering to be stronger.
In my quest for uninterupted sleep, I put cat-food in each bowl right before going to bed (the first time). Just before I began writing this Spooky stretched and wandered out of the room. How much do I want to bet that he is currently eating all of that food and both cats are going to wake me up at 5am to feed them again anyway?

Week Four

Starting the last week in my first cycle of lifting like a guy. So far, absolutely no bulky muscles. My arms have leaned out a bit, still bigger then I would like but the roundness to them is gone which is good. Posture is better, and my legs, which had some weird sagginess happening above my knees, are back to looking normal and toned. My lower back is stronger too, now I can Spin with perfect form throughout the whole class- meaning all legs no hips bouncing. It's hard to explain if you haven't done it. Also, I ran an interval at 8 miles per hour Saturday in the Ultimate Fitness class- personal best!

I'm looking forward to the deload week. That is very little lifting, just the weights in the Ultimate Challenge class, and lots of cardio. Then I'm going to pick a different program of lifting, so far it is between Rippetoes Starting Strength or the one laid out in the New Rules of Lifting. I have two weeks to decide on that. This week I am focusing on improving my form on bench presses and squats with the goal of a 95 lb deadlift to top off the week.