Inspiration

Reading Joanna's post made me think of the people who inspire me to be fit and stay active all throughout my life.  One such person is my dad's friend and our former neighbor, Joe.  His birthday is the same as mine, and he just turned 67 this past year.  I looked forward to getting "happy mutual birthday" cards from him when I was just 10 years old, and playing tennis with him from the time I first learned at age 14.  He and my dad were my first opponents, and let me tell you, they taught me to be competitive and made me run more than anyone else ever has.

Now, I see him just a few times a year, but he always looks energetic and still talks of the long runs he takes on a regular basis.  As a kid, rarely a day went by when I didn't see him jogging down the street, smiling and waving as he passed.  Seeing someone so enthused and active makes me determined to be just as enthusiastically fit 40 years from now.  I can hope as much as I want, but I know all the hope in the world won't strengthen my muscles.  So on days when I would rather take a nap or do something non-active, I need to remember Joe and others like him and remind myself that the time I invest in fitness now will pay off when I need it most.

Going to Milwaukee for some motivation!

This weekend my husband and I are going to Milwaukee to visit his Godmother/Aunt and many of his cousins.  His Godmother is one of the most in-shape women I've ever seen in my life and she's at least 60 years old.  She could honestly pass for 40.  Part of the reason that she looks so good is because she always has so much energy, triggered by good nutrition and workout habits.  I've never seen her even appear tired, and she has raised 5 (ish) children and now has 12 grandchildren, most of whom live near her and she takes care of on a regular basis. 

Maic told me that the last time he was in Milwaukee visiting her, they speed-walked to church in the morning and his legs couldn't move as fast as hers and he was sore the next day. 

Anyway, the reason for making my praise into a blog entry is that I wanted to tell you that I'm going to ask her for some motivation and a few tips this weekend to get into a more consistent workout and nutrition routine.  Let's see how this goes!

As an update for how I've been doing . . . let's just say I suck. 

Success!!

I've worked out for 3 days in a row now.  I know that seems small, but to me, it's huge since I haven't done that for months.  Here's the breakdown:

Tuesday: Recumbent bike for 40 minutes

Wednesday: Elliptical for 40 minutes, then 75 crunches using the weighted ball (in sets of 20, 25, 30), then about 30 lunges

Thursday: Tennis for an hour (mostly groundstroke and volley drills), then a few weight machines (seated leg press, compound row, and the tricep one with the name I can never remember).  Also 10 minutes on the rowing machine (in 5 minute spurts).

I'll probably be sore tomorrow in my shoulders and arms, but that's okay.  I love a healthy muscle soreness following a heavy workout.  I miss that feeling, and I'll welcome it even as I complain about it.

Let's see how long I can keep up this streak!

Also, I've been making an effort to eat fruits and veggies every day.  Fruit is never a problem because I'm obsessed with it, but veggies I'm slowly starting to like.  I always liked carrots and corn, but so do 5 year olds.  I'm further embracing my love for zucchini and yellow squash and also eating peppers on more of a regular basis.  I feel quite fondly about red bell peppers right now, mainly because they're sweet and thus can be enjoyed raw or cooked (I love eating them raw, either with a homemade dill dip or  just plain).  They're also great in a veggie pasta sauce.  Here's the recipe for the sauce.  It's really simple, and based on what Kevin made for me about a month ago (but no matter how many times I make it, it's never quite the same as his):

1. Chop up 1 red pepper, 2 small tomatoes (or 1 large one), and about 1/3 of a sweet onion. Keep separate.
2. Heat some olive oil in a large pan over medium heat; while it's warming up, add basil, oregano, garlic powder, and pepper (just eye-ball it; I never measure).
3. Once the oil seems hot enough and is starting to sizzle, add the onions.
4. Once the onions are partially soft (but not so cooked that they're brown), add the peppers.
5. Once the peppers are partially soft, add the tomatoes.
6. Simmer on medium-low, covered, for about 10 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, bring water to a boil and begin cooking pasta (rotini is my favorite, and I think it goes well with this sauce).
8. Once the veggies all seem soft (but not mushy), add 1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce.  I like Prego's Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic (it also goes perfectly with these veggies).
9. Mix the sauce in with the veggies and simmer for about 10-15 minutes. The longer they simmer, the flavors all seem to mix in well together.
10. By that time, the pasta should be cooked.  Time to eat!


I'm hungry now.

Exercising for two!

Sorry everybody!  I'm back now.  I even had trouble remembering how to sign in and post an entry.  I'm going to try really hard to update more regularly.  :)

I guess what pulled me away from here, in addition to the holidays and my intense month-long Hebrew grammar course at Eden, is the newly discovered bun in my oven.  That's right!  My husband and I are expecting a little one in late August. 

But, you know, it's kind of funny that that's what pulled me away from here because it is also what has allowed my nutritional habits and workout habits to improve by leaps and bounds.  Well, okay, the workout habits I'm still working on.  But, I've been eating really well.  I've been blessed and I really don't have morning sickness-- just an unbearable and constant hunger.  I mean, I have an old plastic whipped cream container that I fill with animal crackers, oyster crackers, fruit snacks, nuts, etc. at the beginning of every day and carry with me throughout the day because I'm hungry every 30 seconds. 

This is a good thing for me, because I need to gain weight and develop better nutritional habits.  And by "better nutritional habits" I mean that I need to eat more than the amount required for a human to survive, like I did before I was pregnant. 

The other thing I've been doing is drinking a lot of water, which is really good whether you are pregnant or not.  I encourage all of you to up your water intake!  I drink about 64 ounces a day-- 8 8-ounce glasses.  Or, two water bottles! :) My energy is up (well, still down from what it was pre-pregnancy, but I can tell the water is helping), my skin is healthier (well, again, still down from pre-pregnancy, but I know it's helping), I feel much more flexible, etc.  I pee more, but that's okay.  Anyway, my point is that I think water intake is hugely important to fitness and health!  Do it!!

Okay so I mentioned that I'm still working on the workout habits.  That's very true.  What I really want to do is yoga at least once a day.  I've been doing it about every other day lately.  I feel so much better when I do it, so I don't know why it's so hard for me to get motivated to do it.  After I finish this entry, I'm going to do the "Yoga Mama" workout on Netflix, which is actually for pregnant women.  I really like it, and it makes me feel less fat because all the women are in my boat.  I've also been really enjoying this guy who does a lot of yoga videos-- Rodney Yee.  Check him out.  He is kind of silly looking so he makes it that much more fun.  He has DVDs all the way from beginner to advanced.  If you are considering yoga but don't have any DVDs, Netflix has about 6 or 7 streaming.  If you don't have Netflix, get it. 

New goals? 
--Dog walking, still.  It's new because I'm still horrible at initiating it. 
--Yoga once a day.
--Maintain high water intake and healthy eating habits.
--Post pregnancy progress photos for you all.  I don't think I'm the type to post the size of my belly on Facebook for the world to see, but I would like to post some for you all if I don't get too self-conscious about it.  It seems like they might fit in here. For now, I just look bloated, so I'll wait a month or so.

Thanks everybody for the motivation and the accountability!  Let's keep it up!

Disappearing

Where is everyone??  I include myself in that appeal.  I've neglected this poor blog, but I pledge to do so no longer.

Goals for the winter/spring:

1. Increase readership of this blog.
2. Increase publication to this blog (let's go, ladies. Marissa has been carrying it solo recently!).
3. Strengthen my core muscles and legs.

My arms also need strengthening, but I feel like it's harder to get my legs where I want them to be.  I'm not sure why.  So I want to focus more on core and lower body and incorporate upper body but not as intensively.  Tennis will give me work in all those areas, so I will be playing once per week at minimum.

I also really, REALLY, want to train for a 5k this spring.  I did one last year but I ended up walking/running (mostly walking).  This year, I'd like to reverse the ratio.  I think I can do it. Do you?

Tips? Advice? Encouragement?

Swim!

I see that some of my co-contributors are missing in action. That's cool. The holidays happened and we're starting a new year of shenanigans. I can only assume that all the other ladies are hitting the gym so hard that they scarcely have time to write about it. Right?

I've added a new element to my workouts: water. I used to be a very strong swimmer (and I think I'm still pretty great at it, even if the technical aspects of my strokes and my lung capacity have suffered over the years). My mom bought me a cute competitive swimsuit as an early birthday gift. I've wanted to start swimming laps again since I bought my YMCA membership, but I only had a bikini, and doing kick turns in a bikini is no fun (well, it might be fun for male lifeguards or any straight man with an aerial view, but not for the topless girl in the pool).

So far it's going well. I swam for an hour on Sunday and did two half-hour sessions yesterday, which were broken up by a lifeguard break. I hope to swim two or three days a week and supplement my routine with some weights and core work. Swimming is a sufficient aerobic workout for me, and it doesn't put any strain on my joints, which proved a problem for me on the treadmill and climbing machine.

I'm yammering on. What I really meant to do in this entry was post an awesome workout mix to revitalize and bring even more energy to your routine. As with all of the mixes that I meticulously craft, this is meant to be played in order. If you don't, it may affect warmup, cooldown, and the middle part of your workout, which is ass-kicking time:

1. Spoon "Don't You Evah" (3:39)
2. Spank Rock "Backyard Betty" (3:29)
3. Heartless Bastards "Out At Sea" (3:24)
4. LCD Soundsystem "Daft Punk is Playing At My House" (5:17)
5. Janelle Monae feat. Big Boi "Tightrope" (4:23)
6. Freeway & Jake One "Throw Your Hands Up" (3:43)
7. Los Campesinos! "Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats" (3:33)
8. Raphael Saadiq "Keep Marchin'" (2:38)
9. Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears "Boogie" (3:43)
10. Gogol Bordello "Think Locally, Fuck Globally" (4:23)
11. The Hold Steady "Massive Nights" (2:57)
12. The Wombats "Let's Dance to Joy Division" (3:11)
13. The Thermals "Now We Can See" (3:30)
14. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists "Walking To Do" (3:37)
15. The Roots "Adrenaline" (4:28)
16. Passion Pit "Little Secrets" (3:59)
17. Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Heads Will Roll" (3:42)

Total: 1 Hour. I know that's how long I usually keep my workouts.

Row Row Row Your Butt

Rowing machine. Yeah, I got seduced by it. But like any other tawdry affair, it came back to bite me in the butt. Literally.

Feet strapped in, knees flexed, pulling the bow to my chest in great heaves, I reached a speed of about 40 miles per hour. Then I slid off the front of the seat. I don't know if it was the strength of my thrust that did it, the fact that the seat is hard slippery plastic, or that extending my short legs too far makes my whole body hiccup and lift a little bit on the machine. Probably a combination of all three. Regardless of the cause, I flew forward off the seat and landed on the bar that the seat slides back and forth on. Right on my tailbone. I cursed, audibly. Thankfully, there was no one else with me in the small private room. Nobody to laugh nervously at my misfortune, nobody to offend with my kneejerk (pun most certainly intended) cursing.

I couldn't walk around the track without limping. Running was out of the question, as were most stretches. I could not lean on the fitness ball. I spent the rest of my workout "recovering" while James finished running. It was awful. So, for the rest of that week I went to the gym and had very limited workouts. Elliptical for thirty minutes, graduating to a climbing machine, then eventually a few sit-ups, with the fitness ball positioned under my lower back and my legs planted on the ground.

I still experience a little bit of discomfort when I sit down. My workouts are finally fulfilling again, but I feel like I'm building back up to where I was now, and with my holiday schedule getting so nutso, I'm nervous that I won't have the time to get back to that four or five day fitness regimen. Here's hoping...

And please. Talk to your kids about the dangers of rowing machines.