I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike... :)

Actually, to be quite honest - it may be a while before I get on my bike again... maybe not, but that was thought process while doing this ride... my other thoughts were along the line of thinking I'm crazy and wondering if anyone would come pick us up.... :)

It was a great ride - it rained on us a couple of times and I wanted to tear my arm off and try the rest of the ride without my whole right side of my body... It was great, though, don't let my ramblings fool you... Laura, John & Jaclyn all pulled away from Tara and I early on in the ride - but they were unaware that they had done so, and they ended up being pretty far ahead of us... Tara and I also took advantage of the rest areas to the fullest... went to the bathroom, re-filled water bottles and both ate lots of rice krispie treats... i think it was the salt in those things - all of a sudden, they were the best snack EVER!! :) They also had cliff blocks at the rest station, that = margarita lime with salt flavored and they ended up being very tasty :)

My legs never cramped - nor did any other part of my body (cramp) - [Thanks, Catherine, for the coconut water suggestion with all the potassium!!!] My right shoulder was very much in pain and that started to really bother me in the last 20 miles, and my right knee bothered me of and on... oh, and my seat wasn't nearly as comfy as I hoped for - BUT my legs could have continued for miles! So maybe I'll do the 70 mile sojourn next year! :)

It took us about 4.5 hours to do the 50 miles - we're thinking we burned a little over 2,000 calories (holy crow!!) there was a lot of wind - in the wrong direction - and rain - and parts of my body were in pain - but I am very happy that I finished it and am very proud of myself and am very thankful for my friends doing it with me - especially Tara, who kept saying, "okay, this is our next goal, ____." and coming up with great ideas to keep us both motivated and going strong!! I may seem a little down, now - but I think that's the exhaustion talking - and now that I've done this - I'm ready to train for my next adventure!! :)

Down, Down, Down :)

I worked out this week on Monday (Taebo), Tuesday (1 hr. cardio/burned 420 cal's), Wednesday (Spinning/ burned ~ 400 - but I worked really hard, so I'm hoping it's more like 450 or 500 :) ), and this morning I did 40 minutes of cardio and burned 420 cal.'s.

I weighed-in this morning at the gym (for the official sign-in/weigh-in) = 6 week post HCC weigh-in program for accountability. I lost 1.8 lbs for a total of 22.2 lbs!!! :)

So, here's to another week! Tara, Laura and John are coming down to do the century ride with me on Sunday - 50 miles!! Here we come - ready or NOT... :)
And Kimberly's coming down to do the bridge run! Go Kimberly!! We couldn't handle the crowds, so we're going to get our butt's kicked the next day!! Some of my closest gal pals are coming in and I'm pumped!! (Oh, and John - unfortunately for you, you get included as a gal pal.. :) and since John doesn't read this, maybe Laura shouldn't tell him about it...

Reg & Barb - good luck running the bridge barefoot and PLEASE BE CAREFUL!! :)

Will talk later - everyone have a GREAT weekend - drink lots of water and be healthy :)

Mom & Dad

I would like to do a special post and shout out for my parents, who have been unbelievable supportive during this oh-so-stressful time!! Not that I necessarily expected anything less - but when times are rough and things seem to be falling apart and those you love step up and care for you and do amazing acts of love, that you realize how blessed you are!! I almost didn't come last night (to M&D's) because I didn't get finished with my draft until late and I didn't want them to wait for me for dinner, but they did! And we had great conversation and I was able to really relax into the comfort of my home (my home home) and the love of my parents - who have done much more than offer me a night at home home, but I am very appreciative of last night. And I don't know what it is about my bed here or my bedroom or what, but I sleep better here than I do ANYWHERE else - including my own bed at the purple house, which is very comfy. So thanks, Mom & Dad for a great evening :) I love you!!!

"New" Clothes

So, it's been a while - I probably would continue to write everyday if I didn't have thesis stuff looming - I just can't justify writing on here when I have a lot to write and do with the thesis!! I, unfortunately, have not exercised since Thursday morning - I AM NOT falling off the band wagon, I assure you!! I've stayed within calories and am continuing to eat only good for me food... but with the rough draft due Wed. then Friday, and my not turning it in until yesterday, I didn't feel like I had enough hours in the day to exercise and was CONSTANTLY stressed!! But I'm heading to the gym today and will make up for it with a long workout - maybe 1.5 - 2 hours of intense cardio? :)

I spent the night at my parent's house last night - had a wonderful salmon, veggie and salad dinner :) (Thanks, Mom!!) and was able to relax with a glass of wine and we watched a movie... good times... and a great break - so I now I can start fresh this morning (in a couple of minutes) and feel good about digging back in!

This morning, while getting ready, I thought I might try on some clothes in my old closet - one of my ongoing projects and M&D's house is to clean my room out - and I've purposefully left clothes there that I love but can't fit in yet... so I felt like I was clothes shopping - but it was for all the clothes I LOVE and couldn't part with. There are still some clothes in there that I look forward to fitting into - and it will be soon, I can tell! But I DID fit into a pair of jeans (THANK GOODNESS - the jeans I have now should have been recycled months ago!!), 2 pairs of khaki pants - one is a really nice pair from AT Loft, a khaki/dark green skirt I love and forgot I have (is like cargo pants, but a skirt), and several 'going out' tops! If I have time before I leave, I'm going to try on the dresses - I'd love to fit into one of them for Carol's wedding this coming weekend!!

So, Liz, we my have to wait to go shopping until I get to the 30 or 35 lbs mark, because I have A LOT more clothes than I thought I had... and they're all in remarkably good shape! And they're all nice clothes :) so my wear-around-the-house clothes I can keep wearing and I have all of these great pairs of pants, skirts, and tops to wear now and to look forward to!

YAY!!! :)

This is not the end - it is only the BEGINNING!! :)

This past week, I lost 1.8 lbs, for a GRAND TOTAL of 20.4 lbs in 10 WEEKS!!!

Yay, me!!! :) I'm ready to continue losing... but right now I'm ready for sleep :) I'm going to bed in minutes and am allowing myself to sleep 8 hours before getting up and continuing the grind... I don't think I did very good work when I stayed up so late - so I'm sleeping now and working tomorrow early :) (It's 10:30pm now... that time stamp is SO weird...)

Barbara - thank you for talking me away from the cliff earlier this evening when I was on the way to having a full fledge panic attack - reminding me that there is life after thesis - and for helping me decide that sleep is good :)

Hopefully, when I sign on next, the rough draft will be turned in and I will have been to the gym - I miss it :( And it's only been a day... wow, some things have changed :)

So much for the ZZZ's ;)

I was up until 4am this morning (it is now 9) -- I got a good 5 hours of sleep - that's okay, right? Needless to say, I didn't go to the group workout this morning - which I'm sad about because it was our last group workout :( BUT - I'm pretty sure I would have passed out if I got up at 5:30 after 1.5 hours of sleep... and my thesis is more important! I'm about to go and do CAGE fitness 9:30-10 and then I'll go do a bike ride mid-afternoon to break up the hours of thesis. My results, discussion, conclusion and abstract are due today - I have half of my results turned in and my abstract... so I'll be doing another grueling day today.

I'll take a break for the last HCC meeting tonight and then probably stay up pretty late tonight as well. Unfortunately, though I've been keeping up with my calories and work outs, I have not gotten a lot of sleep (obviously) which I'm afraid will affect my weigh-in... but at the same time, this is just a phase in my life that will pass so that I can get back to a healthier me :)

Have a great day!!

Burning those Calories!!

This morning for the 20 minutes pre-spinning, I burned 150 calories and 'ran' 1.5 miles... I was booking it... Then during spinning, I pushed really hard and burned probably ~ 400 calories... Catherine has said that you burn ~ 400 calories/class - so that's what I'm basing it on... so 550 calories burned today? I'll take it :)

The ZZZZZZ's

I went to bed at 11pm last night and just got up (7:45am) which is the most sleep I've had in 2 weeks... Janis sent out an email that said if we weren't getting enough sleep that that can definitely lead to weight gain... too bad my rough draft due date and the end of the program are coinciding on the same week because I haven't slept well for at least the last 5 days in a row (staying up late ~ 12/1am and getting up early ~4/5 am to go workout. So last night's sleep did wonders (I'm hoping). I'm getting up now to go to spin class, and I'm going to try and fit in 20-30 minutes before the class on the elliptical. I will report back later! :) Happy St. Patty's Day!! :)

Rise & Shine!

& Give God your glory, glory...

It is not even 8AM, and I have been to the gym, burned 440 calories (was there for an hour), eaten a glorious oatmeal (made with milk = the best!!), blueberries & cinnamon breakfast (post workout), and have taken a shower. I am READY for the day - I know I have a lot to do - and I know I should be intimidated - but I say BRING IT.

Today's goal: finish Results - section 1 (there are 2 very large sections) and turn in this evening (after meeting with my advisor again). (Wednesday's goal = results, section 2 & discussion & conclusion) Everything gets turned in on Thursday a.m. And for those who don't know - I've already turned in the Intro, Lit Review & Methodology :)

This morning Shawn worked us out (Sarah didn't come - not sure what happened - but it's the last week! Come on!!) and Shawn did a fabulous job - she gave Tasia, Sara D and I a work out to do on the elliptical machines (interval work out) for an hour - and she did the same with everyone else upstairs running the track (vs. running on the elliptical). I had arrived at the gym at 5:35 to do 30 minutes of cardio prior to Sarah's workout - so I actually got to do 5:40-6:40 am with Shawn's workout and get out of there sooner....

What we did on the elliptical:

0-5 mins = warm up walk (I did level 2)

5-10 mins = stretch legs, glutes, shoulders and neck (I stretched everything else, too)

10-12 mins = slow jog (level 4)

12-15 mins = hard pace/sucking wind/maintain entire time (level 12)

15-35 mins = run (2 mins), sprint (1 min), run, sprint... elliptical sprint = the hardest resistance as possible for us (run = 7, sprint = 14)

35-40 mins = jog (2 mins), sprint (1 min), jog, sprint... (jog = 6, sprint = 12)

40-45 mins = 'easy peasy' cool down (level 3)

45-50 mins = stretch and hold longer

I'm keeping this sheet she gave me and going to do this - upping my levels each time - each week - maybe 2 x / week before doing weights... we didn't do weights this morning because it's the last week and the idea is to burn those calories with Cardio!!

I hope everyone has a great day!! (It's just now 8AM! Wowsers!!)

Y'all should see me swim - HILARIOUS

Sunday I took a day off - which I know I'm not technically supposed to do - especially in the last week - but I couldn't tear myself away from the work - FEAR has set in... but I did a lot of riding - both morning and evening on Saturday, so it's okay, I think - well, it has to be okay - I can't repeat yesterday now...

This morning Jennelle and I swam again :) It was ridiculous though - we were going to swim at 6:30AM, but then decided by text this morning (both of us still in bed) to swim at 7 because there are never any lanes open from 6-7, especially if Master's swim is going on. So I got there at 7, left my goggles and the list of exercises in the car... didn't realize it until right before we were going to get in.. Jennelle went to warm up, and I put clothes back on and went back out to my car to get the forgotten items... then I met her at the pool, where she was sitting in a chair waiting for a lane to open up - we didn't start swimming until 7:15 and we both had to leave right at 8 = ridiculous.

I did a slightly different routine than Jennelle did - she swims faster than I do, so in order to keep up with her, I shaved some laps off - with the hopes of going for a ride this afternoon, but this is my one break (writing the blog) before I go and dive in again... I may go for a run this evening to get it out of my system...

Anyway, I did a variety of different kinds of laps which I believe was close to 0.6 miles... so not my 1 mile 'norm' - but I was wiped afterwards...

Jennelle and I started off in one lane together, and then the one next to us opened up and she was able to move over - JUST in time for the lateral kick thingies... we lay on one side and do the freestyle kick sideways, while breathing small little breaths as we go down - then switch sides to come back up... I ran into the wall the WHOLE time - imagine if I had moved over one lane?? I would have been in everyone's lane... with that stroke, you sink down a little if you slow down, and I would have skimmed underneath all the lanes had I my back to the lane side... as it was, I was just hitting the wall...

Then, with the pulls - I do this everytime, but I never think to write about it - the pulls are when you have the float between your legs and you just use your arms = a great time to work on your stroke and to relax your legs after doing the kickboard laps. I'm usually okay with all of these exercises for the first length (1/2 a lap), but then on the way back is when it goes haywire... for the pull, I kept forgetting not to kick, so I would start to kick with the float thingy and would be zig-zagging back and forth within the lane and then to correct it, I get wiped out using my arms... I had to look like I was drowning - I was cracking myself up while swimming and then choking on the water... sad, really :)

AMAZING Friends!!!

Last night, my friend Sarah H. made dinner for me and we watched (I slept) BSG :) Sarah found out from me ahead of time what I could and couldn't eat on my program and made me dinner :) I made us salad to accompany her awesome curry/cinnamon/tomato/red onion mixture that she mixed with lean pork chops... YUMMY (I'm currently eating those leftovers over brown rice :) )

Sarah and I used to do this a lot - but I've been so busy that there has been no time for it - we also alternate who makes things - but she provided most of the yummy-ness last night, which was perfect, because I was running low on groceries/food.

Heyns and I went on a bike ride this morning. We left my house with the intent of doing the West Ashley Greenway that is 10 miles - or 20 there and back - which is what we were going to do.. I was on my mountain bike with hybrid tires and he on his hybrid. But it has rained for the past 2 days so the hybrid tires were not making the journey well... I was getting a work out fighting that mud! When we got to Wappoo road, we took that over Hwy 17 and hopped onto the West Ashley Bike way (paved) and made much better progress - we took it to the end and then cut over back to my house... We biked from 9:30-11:30 - and no part of that ride was leisurely - so it was a decent work out - and I was pleased that he had asked me to go... we're planning some more rides = longer rides for when I'm done with my thesis :)

What made my day: Matt Hasse (gets the full name shout out because of his awesome gift) called me this afternoon and wanted to bring over some groceries... a couple of weeks ago he had asked what he could do to help - I was so stressed out (still am, a little) about taking 2-3 weeks off work to grind out my thesis - so he asked for my list of foods I could eat so that he could make me a meal that wouldn't derail me while on this program... He made the decision to bring me groceries instead, which is actually SEVERAL meals and absolutely wonderful. On this list, I included the 8 foods I am supposed to have daily along with some personal faves - at the time, I thought he was going to make me a meal, so I was trying to give him as much variety as possible, because I know it can be hard to put my list into a meal...

One of the BEST things about what Matt brought me is he bought stuff that, though my faves, I wouldn't normally buy because I don't have the money for it. So opening those bags after he left was like Christmas morning. I can't even put into words how I feel about this gift - I can eat - and eat well - for the next week and not have to worry about $ - how amazing. What he got me that I'm SO EXCITED ABOUT: Beets (fresh) with greens intact (guess what kind of salad I'm having tonight :) :) :) ), mangoes (4 of them - I haven't had mangoes in years - absolutely LOVE them), leeks (!!), greek yogurt, raw almonds and raw walnuts (!!), KALE!!!, grapefruit (!!), spinach :), raw steel cut oatmeal (was about to run out!), 6 BAGS OF DRIED BEANS - 3 pinto, 3 black bean - I'm going to be eating off those beans forever :) :), almond butter (I just got some almond butter that I detest - or rather is not my fave - and he bought my favorite!!), strawberries and blueberries :) :) There may have been more, but that's what I can remember. CHRISTMAS DAY - no lie. My absolute faves: beets (fresh), mangoes, leeks, walnuts, kale & grapefruit. HOLY COW. I am still reeling from this - and he came by an hour ago...

SO I just have to say - that all of you are amazing - and I am reminded daily that I am SO blessed by my friends and to have the friends that I do. And I am humbled - humbled by your kindness and the genuine people you all are. I don't think I deserve you sometimes - I definitely don't think I deserved the gift that Matt gave me. How precious life is - and more so - my friends who surround me and lift me up. I'm getting teary eyed, so we'll just leave it at that.

GET OUTSIDE - it's AMAZING today - while I'm inside getting my thesis groove on - go outside and enjoy the sunshine and breeze!!

Procrastination...

I'm officially using this blog to type about something else ANYTHING ELSE than stormwater runoff... I can't take too long a break - because I'm trying to have the rough draft in by 2pm... but I'm really close... and the closer I get, the harder it is to make it happen, strange, I know...

Today is Jenelle's birthday, so we met at 8:30 am instead of 6:30 am to do our swimming routine. Today was different and satisfying. We warmed up with 2 easy laps, 2 kick, 2 pull (see earlier posts for explanation of those). And then we did some different exercises that were less about length. We worked on breathing on both sides vs. only breathing on the right side (for me - Jenelle only breathes on the left side). We worked on our arm strokes and did several laps concentrating on pulling in a way that had us breathing on both sides, but we pushed hard with the pulls (while kicking)... this is actually really hard to describe and put into words... we did a stroke that had us on our side, one arm out with our head resting on that arm, the other arm trailing behind, freestyle kicking but on our side, and we were concentrating on breathing and having our head positioned in the water so that the surface hit at our nose (1/2 head in, 1/2 head out) and we breathed out and tilted our heads slightly to breath in - this exercise demonstrated how we're supposed to position our head in the water for normal freestyle... anyway, lots of exercises to help improve our breathing, stamina, and style.

I swam a little less than a mile and I feel stronger in the water. I know how to do it correctly and I am - and I take fewer breaks between each lap or length. I still swallow large portions of the pool and stand up coughing half-way through a lap when I breathe in water - but overall MUCh improvement has been made :) We swam continuously from 8:30-10 am!

Tonight I do Taebo with (hopefully) some team members, but if not, just me and that's fine!

If anyone out there would like to join me, feel free, but a visitor price is $10 - which is steep... but if you don't think it's steep and you would like to join me, I'd love to have you come with!

Saturday & Sunday = long bike rides

Monday = Swim in AM, possible spin in PM

Tuesday = 5:30-6 cardio, 6-7 workout with team, 7-7:30 cardio :)

Wednesday = Spin in AM, Taebo in PM

Thursday = 6-7 workout with team, 7-8 intense cardio

And then back to today's schedule!

:)

"Great beginnings are not as important as the way one finishes." -- Dr. James Dobson

I have on more week of HCC, and the rest of my life to finish STRONG!!

I LOST 3 LBS THIS WEEK - FOR A TOTAL OF 18.6 LBS - YIPEE!!! I am 1.4 LBS away from the 20 LBS mark!! Who'd have thunk it?? (family phrase - for those of you wondering about my grammar skills)

We had a great meeting tonight - No on on our team gained weight :) Louie's Kids has made it's way up to 6th place out of 11 teams! And Leslie is still in the top 5 women for both % weight loss and total lbs - GO LESLIE!!

I Love my team, but I am ready to spread my wings and try this out by myself - eventhough I won't be by myself completely - I know Janis will always be there for me :) And I still have my team's phone numbers, etc. And trainers like Catherine and Sarah G. - I bet they'll still be there for me - and of course all of you - my family and friends who have been so supportive! Thanks Again for reading this and supporting me on this crazy trip that is FAR from over!! I would like to lose 40 more lbs - and I know that I can do it! (Although, I haven't really checked with anyone to see if I should lose that much... but I still know I can do it... ) :)

I have one more week to rock it out with HCC and then they still weigh me for 6 weeks after that (news to me) - so as published earlier on this blog - I will keep this up for a while longer - hopefully til I reach my goal :)

Great Cardio :)

This morning, our team got together for a 10 minute warm-up and then Shawn took Leslie, Betty, & Jenelle upstairs to the Crow's Nest to do intense circuit training. And Tasia, Sara D. and I did weights on our own until Sarah G. got there. Then we did some pilates and stretching. We pushed ourselves - but overall it wasn't the most rewarding work out ever. SO I stayed afterwards and did 50 minutes on the elliptical machine - I burned 424 calories and "ran" 4 miles :) Now THAT was rewarding... I was sweating buckets and jamming out to 92.5-style music (Rihanna, Lady Gaga, etc.) - the faster the beat, the more I pushed myself - which makes me love working out to that stuff :) I was constantly waving to my compadres upstairs with Shawn and I was/am in a great mood!! I'm not always going to be able to stay for almost an hour afterwards, so Janis suggested doing 30 minutes before weights with Sarah G. and then 30 minutes elliptical afterwards...

I ate a hard boiled egg at 5am before going to in to workout at 6am and that's been the best pre-workout morning 'snack' so far. Afterwards, I had an AWESOME bowl of oatmeal :) = whole grain oats, milk, blueberries, cinnamon & 1 tsp agave... I think I can leave the agave out next time because the blueberries were so sweet!!

Alrighty, I'm heading back to doing thesis work! I'll log in tonight or tomorrow early to tell you how the weigh in goes! :)

Furiously Writing!!

Hey all - I am furiously writing my thesis, chugging water, and trying to choke down the monstrosity of a lunch I made (I threw things together that I need to have but taste horrible together...ugh). I have a brief moment to blog and then I'm diving back in... I had a great spin class this morning - it was REALLY hard - but everyone I talked to agreed, so I guess it wasn't just me. I met Catherine's fiance - who is really nice and was very helpful with stretches for my hamstring that is in PAIN. Catherine gave me some great stretches, too. Every time I get up to go the bathroom (which is almost every hour with all this water I'm chugging), I stretch so that I will be able to walk tomorrow. I think I hurt it while swimming Monday, but either way, I have no time for injuries!! I need my work out time in the morning to think, clear my mind, and prepare for the work ahead!! None of this injury b.s.!!

Great workout this morning followed by frantic work... as I've told many others, I'm going to crawl in a hole now and work... I'll come out okay on the other side... I'm only making time for eating, sleeping, drinking/aka chugging water, and working out... oh, and tonight I'm working at T99, but I've got to get some inflow of $ at some point...

So I'll check back in and write a few words tomorrow, but it may be slim blogs between now and Friday afternoon!!

Blog after HCC?

Today our group warmed up briefly before hitting the weights. Tasia, Sara D., Carole (mentor) and I did a circuit work out of abs, nautilus weights (hamstring, abductor/adductor, & arms), and calve lifts then we did the bike in between another circuit of the above. Jenelle, Betty, Leslie, and Allison (mentor) did a circuit of sorts - they seemed to be switching out between ab work outs and the stair machine (ick). Shawn was keeping them going - she's great :) and encouraging :) (and is the one who puts together the great swimming routines for Jenelle and I on Fridays). Afterwards, our group did intense abs, while the stair machine ladies had to run more stairs (real stairs) (double ick). Then we all stretched out together. Overall - my muscles are hurting - but not as badly as last week... I may need to increase those weights...

Some of you wonderful followers and fans have asked if the blog will continue post HCC - And I think I will continue to blog, but it won't be a daily event. I will most definitely blog and update you once a week as I continue to weigh-in, though I will probably start weighing in on Thursday mornings vs. evenings. I will continue to work out - and I'm going to try and still work out daily - I may take a break once a week, but we'll see - I'm not sure what the advice is for those of us continuing on this crazy journey... I will be getting a gym membership before the end of March - so I will continue to be at the Wellness Center, which means SWIMMING and SPINNING with Catherine!! :) I may even get a trainer once I get a real job under my belt and can pay said trainer. I probably will blog a couple of times a week post HCC, so feel free to check in and check it out!!

I have two more weeks of this program, though, so please don't tune out now! The last weigh-in is Thursday, 3/18 - and we continue our membership through 4/1. The daily blogs will continue through 3/19 - and then I'll ease off a bit. You all have been so positive and supportive - I love the comments on the blogs, the weekly up beat emails after I post my weigh-ins (Liz :) ) and the texts, calls, and FB words of encouragement, tips and cheer. I have my own cheering section and I love it - it keeps me going and helps me push harder :) Thank you.

Have a great day!

SHOUT OUT!!

Shout out to Laura G. who suggested I try the cocoa almonds by Emerald Nuts - they really do the trick for helping with the chocolate craving!! Unfortunately she told me this a WHILE ago on this blog, but I just remembered yesterday to get them at the store... 1/4 cup is approximately 28 almonds and is 150 calories, 3 g fiber, 6 g protein... the sugars are only 1 gram and the ingredients = almonds, natural & artificial flavors, cocoa powder and salt... oh and salt is 25 mg/ serving... I mix them with regular almonds... anyway - great suggestion, Laura!! I eat a couple after lunch and some for my mid-afternoon snack and I don't feel the choco cravings at all!! Way to go!! :) Funny thing though, you know how on foods that contain nuts, companies are required to say, 'CONTAINS NUTS' ? Well at the end of the ingredient list for Cocoa Almonds it says, 'CONTAINS ALMONDS.' I'm glad they cleared that up...

Great Morning Work outs!!

It is amazing how great I feel when I work out in the morning! I feel good after an afternoon work out - but it's not the same - the morning work outs really shape my day! :)

This morning, Jenelle and I did the same swimming routine that we did on Friday - it only took us 45 minutes instead of an hour - there were definitely less breaks between each lap... I thought I was going to die in the pool, but I feel great now :) I swam 21 laps (=0.6 miles)... and when we did the sprints, my times were: 25 seconds (5 breaths) & 27 seconds (5 breaths) - which overall, I think is much better than Friday's times/breaths...

I don't have too much to say except that I feel great! I'm about to head to campus to get some GIS help and then I believe I will be writing all day :) Tomorrow = group work out 6-7am, but I will probably get there at 5:45 for a little extra cardio

Sunday, Funday

Today it is BEAUTIFUL outside!!! I would much rather be outside than inside working :( - but I did have fun at the HCC required workout at 2:30... My trainer Sarah was 'in charge' and taught everyone Nia (for 30 minutes), Yoga (15 min), and Pilates (15 min). It was good to stretch out - I haven't done Nia or Yoga in a while :) Pilates isn't my favorite - we do it every Tues/Thurs anyway with Sarah - but I suppose my core is getting stronger, so that's not a complaint per se... I didn't feel that this Sunday's workout was the hardest ever but the Nia was a lot of fun - and Sarah played music from the CD that I gave everyone at the beginning of the program - so it was fun to listen and dance to *my* music :) Some Jurassic 5, some Black Eyed Peas some Mute Math... good stuff :)

Tomorrow Jenelle and I are hitting the pool again! Yay!

More nutrition info since my above entry isn't very long...

Notes from HCC meeting on 3/4/10:

Protein, Grains, & Fat

Protein

- Each person should eat 0.8-1.2 grams protein per kg of your body weight (divide your body weight by 2.2 to get your kg)

- Don't eat more than 35mg of protein/meal - more than that and it very well could be stored as fat...

- You probably don't need protein supplements - you can get the right amount of proteins from the food you eat (beans, quinoa = complete protein, lean meat, greek yogurt = 15g protein!)

- Some light protein choices: boneless, skinless chicken breast; light tuna (water packed); fish (salmon, sea bass, halibut); egg whites or eggs; shrimp; extra lean ground ____ (beef, turkey, chicken...)

Grains

- Need 6 servings or 6 oz/day of whole grains!

- Whole Grain choices: barley, brown rice, buckwheat, bulgur (cracked wheat), millet, oatmeal, popcorn, whole wheat pasta, wild rice, quinoa, whole grain couscous (100% whole grain)

Fat

- You need 6 tsp of oils/day

- Healthy fat choices: natural style peanut butter or almond butter, olive oil, canola oil, safflower oil, flax seed oil, raw nuts (walnuts, peanuts, or almonds)

- Be careful when cooking with oils, some hydrogenate when heated (flax seed oil and safflower oil) - also the greener the olive oil, the less it should be cooked with - use these oils as home made salad dressings... veggie oil, sesame oil, and 'yellow' olive oil are good for cooking - but be careful with the olive oil

That's it - more later :)

I didn't actually do any exercise today... I got up from working on GIS (maps/thesis) every hour as Janis instructed us to move every hour and not to 'just sit there.' I planned on going biking, but I couldn't make myself get up and go - it wasn't for lack of motivation to do activity because it was gorgeous today... it was because today was a big writing/making maps day and it was a long time to work uninterrupted - no distractions - and I've been freaking out so much about chunks of time to work on this stuff - deadlines are fast approaching - I just couldn't make myself do any activity that would take me away from the paper. Tomorrow I'll do the HCC workout at 2:30 - and then I'll start the week fresh with plenty of gym-time :)

So, in lieu of some great adventure, activity or story of how my day went, I'll share some more interesting facts that I've learned with HCC :) - this bit of information is from the meeting on 2/25/10

Health Facts

- A multivitamin = 'your' insurance plan against the burden of eating perfectly every day. Judith (Nutritionist/Dietician) suggest Women's (and Men's) Once a Day vitamins.

- The average adult needs 1200mg Ca & Vit D/day - 1 cup milk = 300mg, 1 cup yogurt = 400mg, 1 calcium supplement = 500mg

- 1 soda (diet or regular)/day puts you at a 83.2% chance of getting Type II diabetes (Thank God I've never craved sodas... and thanks, Mom & Dad, for never giving us sodas when we were little!!)

- It's important to get 2 servings/week of a fatty fish like salmon for your omega 3's (if you take a supplement, make sure it's a good quality fish oil pill or you will smelly fishy - really)

Emotional Eating (questions to answer now to help ourselves later...)

- What emotions are associated with eating for you?

- What function does eating serve in these situations?

- Generate healthier alternatives that serve the same functions

- Write down the alternatives when the emotion/mood strikes

- Eating doesn't help the stress, it worsens it

- It takes 15-20 minutes for your brain to register that you ate... so slow down while eating :)

Legs & Arms = all a quivery :)

Pretty sure I just made up the word 'quivery.' Swimming was harder today - but I'm not too surprised - my quads hate me right now - and since I have been kicking the correct way, my quads got yet another tough work out. Shawn had a GREAT workout planned for us:
Warm up: 2 laps easy
Main Set: (1) 1 lap kick board, 1 lap 'pull' (just arms - floatie between legs), 2 laps moderate
(2) 2 laps kick, 2 laps pull, 2 laps easy
(3) 4 laps with fins on feet, 1 lap easy
(4) 2 X 1 lap sprint (hypoxic)
Cool down: 2 laps easy
Total = 21 laps, 1050 meters, or 0.65 miles
[sprint/hypoxic = swimming as fast as you can and taking as few breaths as you can]
For the sprint laps, you sprint for 1 length and then can do whatever stroke on the way back... and all of these laps - minus the recovery from the sprint = freestyle.

My first sprint length = 27 seconds and 4 breaths and my second sprint length = 30 seconds and 4 breaths... need to work on that time, but the amount of breaths is good :)

And believe it or not, Jenelle and I are talking about increasing this fun workout to twice a week - Monday & Friday mornings! I think this would balance out my week nicely - Wednesdays I spin, Saturdays I do a 'real' ride for a LONG journey to train... and Tues & Thurs, I do light cardio with weights... not too shabby... Sunday is always a wild card - this Sunday it's Nia and Yoga with our trainer (teaching all of HCC!) Thursday's circuit work out had me sore all day - my arms quivered when driving (holding the steering wheel!!) and my legs - well, as you know, they've been sore all week... It was nice to use my arms and legs this morning - but I got a cramp in my right quad - I wouldn't wish that on anyone - OUCH!!

I've decided NOT to do the bridge run... I know it's required and all - but Laura G. and I have been planning our century ride since August-ish and the past couple of times I've done the bridge, I've ended up running (because who really wants to be left behind???) which has made me so sore the following day that it's been hard to walk. Laura, John, and ?? are coming down for that weekend just for us to do the ride, so I'm focusing on training for that and working on that versus trying to do both. I'm in this for the longhaul - there will be PLENTY of races in the future!!

I've decided to join the MUSC Wellness Ctr for after the program - if I sign up before HCC is over, I get 1 free month (yay!!), so I'll get to swim with or without Jenelle (who has a membership), spin with Catherine, and do Taebo with James & Janis all I want!! And the majority of my team is a member already, so I'lll get to see them throughout the week as well :)

Great breakfast I had after swimming... it's going to sound strange - but it was SOO tasty!! 1/2 pear sauteed with cinnamon & nutmet and 1/4 cup quinoa mixed in... with 2 chicken/apple sausage links :) all mixed in together - YUM!!

I LOST 2.6 lbs for a TOTAL of 15.6 lbs!!! I was just telling Liz yesterday that my initial minimum goal was 15 lbs - yay me :) I told my group since I had accomplished my first goal, that I would just eat a bunch of chocolate on Friday - clearly kidding - but Sarah didn't think it was that funny... I suppose that would have been the old me, though... that's why WW's wasn't a good program for me... So, my next goal is 20 lbs - no time limit, just 20 lbs - "no time limit" = more serious commitment and better chance that it'll stay off :) and this goal = only 4.4 lbs away!!

Tomorrow I swim with Shawn and Jenelle @ 7AM - I get to sleep in 30 minutes!!

LEGS on FIRE

Yesterday my Mom came to spinning with me (Johnny W. & Jane H. were there as well - not Jane Horton...) and she really rocked it out. She is going to give it another chance next week - yay!! In fact, she was already talking about how she's going to rearrange her schedule to incorporate this class :) It makes me happy - more people loving spinning... Of course this week, it seemed like more of a love/hate relationship... maybe hate is too strong, but after working out for 1.5 hours on Tuesday night, Wednesday's spinning class was harder than normal... my quads were hurting!!

Overall, Wednesday was an off day - it started out great, but then I had a meeting with my internship advisor who believes it's going to take me longer than I think to finish the maps - followed by a meeting with my committee/primary advisor who wants my rough draft into her by next Friday - a week from tomorrow... then we un-installed the GIS program to install a better one and the computer stopped working which ALL led to a moment of hyperventalating followed by being physically ill... apparently my body doesn't process stress like it used to... I used to function very well during stress, but yesterday I imploded... or exploded... I suppose either of those terms are accurate...

Today I feel a little better... it's a weigh-in day - I had a great work out this morning - I got to the gym at 5:40 and worked out for 30 minutes before my trainer got there and then we did circuit 'training' - legs (that are now permanently on fire), arms, and core - over and over again and then stretched and was done... we did the circuit for 45 minutes - so LOTS of arms, legs and core :) My muscles were quivering when I turned the steering wheel :) My legs have gotten QUITE the workout, though, over the past several days... Taebo, 1.5 hours elliptical, spinning, squats and lunges today, swimming tomorrow... ouchie!!!

Stay tuned for tonight's update on my weigh-in!! :)

Insomnia (but not really) - Part III

I am absolutely exhausted and my body is READY for some REAL rest!!! So I guess the brief insomnia bout is over :) I went to the gym this afternoon with the intent of doing cardio and weights and decided against the weights - Janis (head of the program) told me yesterday that right now we really needed cardio workouts more than weights - coupled with circuit type activities (like what the team did with Matt on one of those first workouts. So I started on the treadmill (only because none of the elliptical machines were open - it was 5pm - I should have known...) - I did 10 minutes warm up on the treadmill, then noticed an elliptical was free and did 15 minutes on that elliptical, but it wasn't my favorite type of elliptical machine (this gym has at least 4 different ellip. machines) so I jumped on my fave type and did 60 minutes - I really pushed myself hard. I worked out for 1.5 hours total and couldn't walk when I got off the machine, or at least I was really wobbly.

I watched Lost with some great friends and after working my brain on the many puzzlers of Lost, I'm ready to fully relax and get some real ZZZ's - I've got to rest up - another big long day tomorrow!!

Insomnia - Part II

Just as a little update on last night... I'm fairly certain I didn't fall asleep until 2:30 - I read organic chemistry for a while (that usually really does the trick), I listened to Iron&Wine (low key music), Brahms, and an acoustic mix - NADA. I couldn't believe it!! When I did fall asleep, it clearly wasn't the best sleep ever because I dreamed that the fan was going to fall from the ceiling (surely there was more to it than that, or my subconscious mind is slow on the reality of things...) so I got out of bed and moved everything out from under the fan... which could be good - I was actually cleaning in my sleep, so at least I was productive - but these were not the Z's I was looking for... I think I need to eat dinner earlier, and start getting ready for bed earlier to relax the mind, because it has been working overtime with my thesis and this cannot happen every night this week - I love sleep too much!!! As a result, I only got about 3 hours of sleep before I had to get up and head to the gym - so I texted my trainer and begged for some more sleeping time. Later today (probably around 4), I'm going to go to the gym and do cardio and nautilus weights. I was going to do cage fitness - but that's from 7-7:30 and I think after last night I should aim to get home and eat before 8... If there is an interesting class that I want to do after my work out, I may add that in as well, since I won't be biking today in the rain.

Tomorrow, my Mom is going to join me for spinning at 9AM (YAY!!) and then weather and thesis permitting, I'm going to go biking in the late afternoon! :)

Insomnia

Before the program, I was really good at not sleeping - or atleast not sleeping soundly... I talk in my sleep - have been known to have night terrors (not my fave) and oh yes, sleep walking. After the program started I stopped the frequency of all of those, which has been nice - I actually get a 'normal' night's rest with strange dreams. Tonight I get the grand prize of not sleeping at all... which doesn't really make a whole lot of sense - I ate very well today, I worked all day on my thesis and was wiped earlier today... I then went to Taebo and Janis did an amazing job of kicking our rear ends... and here it is 11:30 PM and I have to get up at 5AM (at the latest!) and I'm wired. Dinner was lentil soup and some salad - that I ate later than I normally do because of a late class of Taebo, but still, done with food at 8.... so here I am musing about my no sleep. Maybe I can't get my brain to quiet down

Anyway, today was a hard day in that I worked on GIS all day in my parents FRIGID house - but I am thankful for the company and the use of house that is great for studying in. I ate my lunch outside on the front porch and soaked in some Vitamin D and warmed up a little before heading back into the freezer. I'll give M/D's house this - I stayed wide awake while working and wasn't distracted, I think part of it was the mentality that once completed with this portion of the project, I can move to a warmer locale. Now I am snug in my bed underneath down comforter, surrounded by lots of pillows in a really comfy bed AND I CAN"T SLEEP. I suppose I can go grab my ipod and listen to some Brahms; that usually does it. Good night all and I will check back in tomorrow.