Doing okay

This week, I missed Zumba thanks to a funeral luncheon. I followed that up by missing my usual Wednesday afternoon swim because I wanted to see who was chosen as pope, live. So Thursday morning, even though I was not feeling it, I dragged myself to the pool for a good swim.

I swam for an hour straight, with no interruptions. I recently read that one can burn over 500 calories by swimming for an hour. It seems to be that one (I) should burn so much more than that. Anyway, I also did some water treading as well as some leg and arm exercises. All in all, a good workout.

Friday I did only a few laps, but I did manage to tread water for 15 minutes and then jog in the deep end (using a noodle) also for about 10 to 15 minutes. I also played with the kid to get in a good workout.

Yesterday we headed back to the pool, where I swam 20 laps and did some water treading, playing with the kid, and a few arm exercises.

I had high hopes to run today, but the weather is so crappy--freezing rain this morning and just rain now, though at 33 degrees, it is quite chilly.

Until next time...

Steps, walking, swimming and other things

This past week continuing through today, I have had various forms of exercise.

Today I ran the 65ish steps 20 times, for grand total of 16:01. Not my best time ever, but one of my better times. The temps were in the low 60s, and it was cloudy, so I was a bit chilly. Not that I am complaining! I think I was relatively pain-free, so yeah.

Yesterday and Saturday, I walked around my mom's neighborhood in Indiana County with her and my kid. Not a fast pace, but some exercise nonetheless. We walked between 30 and 45 minutes each day. The temps were in the upper 50s, maybe even 60 on Saturday and definitely in the 60s on Sunday. Sunny both days. Great walking weather.

On Friday, I started off with about seven minutes on the stepper. I used the weight machine to do some upper and lower body. Then I moved to the stationary bike and rode for 10 minutes. I followed that up with about 18 minutes on the treadmill where I started off walking for a few minutes then I alternated between short bursts of speed and walking and finished with a couple minutes of walking. Finally, I swam about 15 laps in the pool at a steady pace, throwing in a couple of faster laps for good measure.

Thursday I pretty much did nothing, other than a little bit of walking with the kids in the after-school program I volunteer for.

Wednesday the kid and I spent about three hours playing the snow and sun-filled sky. I probably shoveled for about 20 minutes. I was planning to swim but decided we had done enough.

Tuesday I did Zumba.

I think I gave myself the day off on Monday, but I don't really remember.

I feel pretty good about the level of activity. Unfortunately tomorrow I won't get to do my usual Zumba because I am going to an afternoon funeral, but presumably I will be back in the pool on Wednesday.

Moving on!

I might be ready for the swim team.

Saturday afternoon, the kid read a a book while I swam. For one hour straight, not including her telling me her name was in the book she was reading, which interrupted me for about 10 seconds or her telling me her stomach hurt, which interrupted me for about 40 more seconds (apparently it was not that bad) a few minutes later.

I don't know exactly how many laps I did, somewhere between 45 and just under 60, I would guess. I was going at a pretty good pace for most of it. But for once it was not about quantity and keeping track of laps. I just knew I wanted to swim for an hour if possible. And it was.

I am certain I could have swum for longer, at least another 15 to 20 minutes. In fact, when I was done swimming, I did some leg and arm exercises as well as a little jogging. Still I find it amazing that kids on the swim team often swim for two hours at a time. When I went back to the pool the next day, I did not have it in me to swim too many laps. Instead I jogged, tread water, raced my kid a few times, and just moved around the pool before ending with a couple of laps. I was definitely tired from the day before.

Not sure when I will do that again. But it is nice to know that I can do it.

I may be slacking, but I want credit for this.

I cannot believe that I last updated this blog over 1.5 months ago. In that blog post, I complained that it had been a month prior to that post since I had last blogged, and that I hoped it would wait so long again. Um, oops.

I think I kept up with exercise pretty decently the first third of December, but just before Christmas arrived, I was so busy, that for several weeks, all I did was walk a little once or twice. As a result, I gained a few pounds (though I think the bigger culprit there was the volume of sweets I have been eating for weeks).

We had let our pool membership lapse for a few weeks as I just did not feel like paying to renew or all that much like swimming. But when the kid and I walked around the mall on Sunday, that made me feel like a senior citizen (no offense to any of those, not that anyone reads this blog anyway). So I decided enough was enough, and this past Wednesday, we headed back to the pool. I eased into in, swimming just over 10 laps and jogging for a bit, and my legs bothered me a bit, which was something I was not used to when swimming. But I got back in there, and that is what counted.

Since I am often in competition with myself, I decided to go back again Thursday, sans kid, to see if I could really get in a workout. And that I did. I swam 15 laps, jogged for 10 minutes, swam 15 more laps, jogged for 10 more minutes, swam 15 final laps, and jogged another 10 minutes. I took one bathroom break in there somewhere and stopped to catch my breath only one other time. I also did some arm and leg exercises and then ended up five minutes of treading water. I felt really good when I was done, and, best of all, I did not devour a huge amount of food when I came home. I took it easy on myself when I went back the next day, jogging for about 15 or 20 minutes. Yesterday, we took a 15-minute walk. This coming Tuesday, I should finally get back to my weekly Zumba class.

I have no idea when I will run again (when the temps are 55 degrees at 9 a.m. before you reach mid January, you don't have much of an excuse not to), but I am pretty sure my knees are thankful for that lack thereof.

Here's to hoping I can keep up with staying in shape, however that ends up happening. Until next time, whenever that may be.

My feet hurt

There are so many thing I want to cover in this post, so expect something quite disjointed.

I will start off listing what physical activity I have done since I last posted a week and a half ago:

• Zumba the last two Tuesdays
• Swimming last Wednesday, Saturday, Monday, and yesterday (Wednesday)
• Running on Monday and Wednesday of this week
• Short (just over 15 minutes round trip) walk on Monday
• Lunch duty two days both last week and this week

Although I am satisfied with the amount of exercise I have gotten, I don't feel as if I am making the gains I want to. Normally, I would not care, but on Saturday, I am planning to run in the Race for Pace. As it stands now, I am not sure that I will be able to finish it in around 30 minutes. When I ran this race two years ago, I did it in 27 minutes. There is no possible way I could come close to that considering how my times have dropped off in the last year or so. :-(

On Monday, I had a really good run, and based on that I would think I could finish Saturday's race in under 30 minutes. But I have a bigger problem, which is impeding me greatly: my feet. Unfortunately, my latest pair of Asics Gel Enduros have proven to be worse than my previous pair. My feet were so uncomfortable during Monday's almost three miles (after I did my normal two miles, I ran around the outside of the gym and up the steps a handful of times), I ended up buying Dr Scholl's athletic foot insoles to try to help. Those babies cost an insane $19.99, which is more than half of what my running shoes were on sale (yes, the fact that I paid less than $40 should be a good indicator that I am not buying good shoes!). Anyway, the insoles were little help. They feel good on my feet when I walk, but the bottoms of my feet, particular the balls of my feet, continue to hurt once I hit the pavement. I won't completely blame my Asics; as it turns out the Gel Enduro 7 shoes are apparently trail shoes and I run on pavement. But the Gel Enduro 5 was awesome, and I would assume it was also a trail shoe. Anyway, on both Monday with the old insoles (three miles) and Wednesday with the new ones (two miles), I got through the runs, so I am pretty sure I will make it on Saturday. Just not sure how I will end up. Hopefully, there is not some other issue going on...

I am taking a break today, other than a brief (five minutes one way) walk I have to do as part of a volunteer thing. And if I swim on Friday, I will take it easy and try to swim no more than 10 laps (I swam 18 on Monday and 15 on Wednesday, which is pretty good after a run on those days).

Monday's run
Mile one: somewhere over 9 minutes and under 11 (I forgot to turn on the stopwatch); it was a pretty good run, so I am thinking and hoping it was around 10:30)
Mile two: 8:30

Wednesday's run
Mile one: 10:55
Mile two: 9:17

No idea why Monday's run was better, but it was. Hopefully, I can get back to better times soon. And, more importantly, here's hoping the feet feel better soon. Those babies still hurt a little today.

But wait, it gets worse

For three days this week, I was pretty crazy with exercise. I basically crammed five days of working out into three. And I am suffering for it. My aching body.

After Monday's over-abundance of physical activity, I (comparatively) took it easy on Tuesday with an hour of Zumba. But Wednesday I went for another marathon of activity.

I stared off doing lunch duty. The school has three lunches, each lasting 40 minutes. As a monitor, I walk up and down the aisles making sure kids are doing what they are supposed to. After about 25 to 35 minutes, I walk the kids up a few steps and down a bunch more to go outside, where I again walk up and down the playground many times. Then we bring them back in and do it two more times. Although I cannot call that working out, it seems pretty reasonable to "count" it as exercise.

About an hour after I finished that, I went for a run. My stomach was probably a little too full to do it well, but I wanted to get that run in, since the weather was nice. Turns out the 60 degrees kind of felt too cold during the first mile; in fact, my ears actually briefly "burned" as they do in the winter. Crazy.

I don't have much to say about the run, other than I struggled a bit. But when I remind myself that I had already walked, ran steps, swam, did Zumba, stood on my feet for three hours for three mornings in row while subbing, and did a lunch duty within a 54-hour period, finishing the two miles is an accomplishment in itself. Let's go with that.

Mile 1: 10:57
Mile 2: 8:58

An hour later, I swam almost 15 laps and tread water for a bit.

I sort of took the day off today, other than a couple hours of standing while subbing and another two hours of lunch duty.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring. But I am pretty sure my feet, thighs, and ankles wish it would be lying completely still. 

Slacking a bit

Since I last blogged, I have not been as physically active as I had hoped. I did Zumba on Thursday. I pretty much just sweated for hours on Friday, thanks to the oppressive heat and humidity. Saturday, I swam, though I don't recall how many laps. Sunday I did very little, other than running some errands. Monday was a bit fat nothing (besides lunch duty). Tuesday was Zumba, and yesterday was swimming. Only three laps but much treading water and moving.

I have been so busy lately that I have not had as much time to workout. Today was the first day I had almost five hours to myself. I really should have gone back to the pool or went running, but I was just so happy to have no meetings, appointments, volunteer work, or errands, plus I am down on sleep so feeling lazy (which is a great reason to exercise, I know!). Unfortunately, I have to pick my kid up from school early before taking my dad to a doc's appointment, so I won't be able to run (i.e., get sweaty). Tomorrow, if all goes well, I should be able to run after lunch duty and before I go swimming. I vow to at least get some steps in.

After all, I have lots of eating to make up for.

Oh, and a little part of me wants to run in the Race for Pace in four weeks. Not sure if that will happen, though.

Continuing to blame it on the heat

This afternoon, I finally tackled my "usual" two-mile round trip school run. I had well over an hour to get it in, so I figured even if I had to crawl the last mile, I should be able to make it back in time for pickup.

Most of the run was without pain, so there is that. I do recall feeling some ankle pain (I forget which foot) early on, but it subsided quickly. Or, the constant panting took over, "drowning" out any other suffering.

The temps were around 80-couple degrees, but, once again, the humidity was pretty high, or so it felt to me. But I was determined not to let the heat, my age, and my inconsistent/rare running keep me from doing what I set out to do. Part of me really wanted to get a longer run in since I had the time, but wanting to know where I stood time-wise for my usual run won out.

Here are the stats:

Mile 1: 10:43
Mile 2: 9:00

Looking back at previous posts, this is definitely one of my worst runs, and I fought to get the first mile under 11 minutes! But between the heat and my running so little this year (probably six to eight times the first eight months of the year), I won't beat myself up about it too much. Besides, once I got my almost 20 minutes in, I jogged around the outside of the gym and up the outside steps over a half dozen times, for about eight or nine minutes. On top of that, my heart rate gets up pretty high when I am running uphill or up steps (between 160 and 180 bpm), which I know is not good, so I feel a little limited.

I also swam about 25 laps on Sunday and 30 laps yesterday, with some pool jogging and leg and arm work thrown in for good measure. If I can round the week out with Zumba and another swim, then yee-haw for me!

I don't know how Olympians swim that many laps

When I went swimming on Thursday (which, by the way, was only my second day of exercise for the week), I felt pretty good doing laps. I did about 25 total, broken into 15 and then two smaller sets. A number of my laps came at a good speed. In fact, for about three or four laps I felt challenged by a boy swimming next to me who appeared to be about 10. I was not about to let that kid swim faster than I could, so I swam pretty quickly.

When I went swimming again today, the laps did not come as easily. I felt slow and sluggish almost the entire time. I started off with 15 again, then did a few smaller sets, eventually ending up with 30. I also jogged in the water a few times, probably for about 20 minutes total. And I did some lunges, squats, push-ups, and dips while in the water. I definitely had a good workout, but I was just not "feeling it." I pushed myself to swim fast a few times, but it was a struggle. I could barely do two fast laps in a row.

I am blaming this on the four to five pounds I have gained the past three weeks, which is related to my poor eating, which probably hinders me even more. Hopefully I can get on the right track soon...

Swimming and the knee

Other than a brisk 15-minute walk both Friday morning and Sunday afternoon, I had not done anything in the way of exercise since Zumba last Thursday. But because, for whatever reason, my left knee hurt Sunday evening and most of Monday, I was considering skipping my planned swimming yesterday. Fortunately, I thought better.

I ended up swimming, at a pretty good pace, 25 laps in about 30 minutes. I followed that up with about 15 minutes of jogging in the pool and some arm and leg water exercises. I did not notice the discomfort, which can best be likened to having twisted my knee, at all during my 55 minutes in the pool. It came back once I was home, but I will take what I can get. I hardly notice it now.

I have really been slacking off swimming lately, only one day last week, so I was glad to get in that workout at the beginning of the week. Most likely we will swim again on Wednesday unless the predicted 60-degree weather beckons us to the park. I do hope to either run my two-mile jaunt or hit the steps on Wednesday unless it rains. I think I will give my knee the day off today.

Until next time.

Slacking off

Because I subbed three days the week before and all five days last week, I have been a little lax with my exercise. I cannot even recall what I did the week before last; I know I did Zumba, but I have no idea how many times I went swimming. Since I subbed for gym that week, I guess I can count the many laps I did that day!

Last week, I did Zumba on Monday and then swam on Wednesday. And that was it for the week. I'd like to think my dancing around with the kids in various music classes also counted for something, but that was only a few minutes per class and I was hardly moving. But at least it was most days.

Today, despite my sore throat, I headed to the pool. I started off jogging for 15 minutes and eventually did 15 laps. It was not an intense workout, but at least I got there.

Here's hoping that the temps will warm up enough to melt the snow so I can get a run in again. It has been too long.

Nothing much new

I have not run since I last posted about it. I had things to do this week, including three days of subbing, finishing up my taxes, and attending a volunteer service, which prevented me from getting a run in. Fortunately, I did sub one day for gym class, and I ended up doing some laps with most of the classes.

On Thursday I did a really high impact version of Zumba. I really felt it (and pain in my stupid right knee when I did some knee bends), but it was a good workout. I am getting better and better at it, though I still can't follow all the moves or completely master the hip shaking.

I went to the pool two other days, and I swam about 20 laps one day and 30 yesterday. I also got in some jogging at the pool as well as some arm and leg things.

This week that is just ending had two really nice days (one in the upper 50s and the other about 60 degrees), as well as some sun on one or two of the other chilly days. Most of the days would have been great for a run. Oh, well.

Since I am subbing every day next week, running is out. I may only get to swim two days as well. But come the following week, I am determined to get back on track.

A lot of swimming and some boredom

Since I last blogged, I have gone swimming three times. I swam 25 consecutive laps on Wednesday, about 30 laps on Sunday, and then yesterday, I swam about 15 laps and threw in some jogging for good measure. For some reason, my laps were sluggish yesterday. Whereas on Sunday, I did my 30 laps in about 35 minutes, yesterday it took me well over 20 minutes to get in 15 laps. I was okay going slowly, since my speed was pretty good the day before. But I was not sure what was causing me to languish, if you will.

Nonetheless, with this crazy weather, I am glad I have the indoor pool option. Right now it is about 50 degrees, but it has been raining all morning, so running is out. That means no exercise for me today; I definitely do not feel like getting in the pool three days in a row. Tomorrow, probably.

A great day at the pool

Before I blog about today's run, I wanted to document my morning at the pool yesterday.

Much like I did a few weeks ago, I swam 20 laps, jogged for 20 minutes, swam 20 more laps, and jogged for 20 more minutes.

I was not feeling it at first, but I pushed myself a little because I know I need to get in better shape and burn off those holiday pounds. I was pretty pleased with my timing of the 20 laps; it took me about 27 minutes for the first 20 laps and about 25 for the second 20 laps. I kept my pool jogging pretty moderate, save for trying to run as best as I could the last few minutes.

My feet did not cramp up as they have been doing lately, so it was a good workout. Probably won't work that hard at the pool the rest of the week!

Resistance is futile!

I was not my usual exercising self over the past few weeks. I think I swam only three times between the days leading up to Christmas through New Year's Eve. As for running, I had not run at all for almost three weeks, back when I fought with the treadmill. And my last run outside was over a month ago, way back when I was still in my 30s!

But yesterday, not really feeling like swimming lap after lap as I had done on Saturday and Monday, I decided to jog in the pool instead. To save my knees some, I would jog up a lane and then over, and then I would jog backwards three lanes from where I started. When I am in 3', I can actually pump my arms and get some speed going. But when I get into 4' and beyond (I usually turn just before I get to 5'), it feels as if I am going through molasses, not that I have had first-hand experience.

For the last few minutes of my 30 minute "jog," I tried to run as fast as I could, perpendicular to the lanes, while in 3'. I never feel as if I get a great workout when I jog in the pool, mostly, I presume, because I am not doing it that fast. So hopefully with the speed at the end, I challenged myself enough. And I did manage to swim five laps after that, just because it would seem almost pathetic not to get in some laps.

It has been cold the past few days and crazy snowy on Tuesday, so running has been out this week. But maybe, just maybe, I can bring myself to run a couple miles on Friday, when it is supposed to hit the upper 40s. I won't have much of an excuse then.

I swear, I have been exercising!

Between Christmas-related stuff and subbing, I have been pretty busy. Too busy to post about my exercising, but fortunately not too busy to do said exercising.

For the past few weeks, I have consistently managed to swim three times a week. Unfortunately, other than a run on the treadmill, which I will blog about next, I have done nothing other than swim, unless you count running around Christmas shopping, which, when you think about it, is really kind of a sport.

I don't know if it is my age or the repetition, but I have noticed some leg pain lately when I have been swimming. It is almost starting to feel like running!

Yesterday was my most productive swim of the past two weeks. I manged to swim 40 laps (20 + 20) and jog about 30 minutes (20 + 10). It was a bit of a struggle for the first 20 laps as my left hamstring was bothering me. But I refused to stop, not so much because I am being dumb (at least I hope not), but because my leg pain pretty much always goes away when I am done swimming, so I reason it can't be serious. When I did my second set of 20 laps, I did not notice the leg pain as much or maybe at all. But I was swimming fast as there was a guy in the pool, and I am all about looking as if I am athletic!

I still contend that swimming is great exercise, and I am going to try to keep with it. Maybe I just need to switch it up a bit. We'll see.

The holidays and the weather break my stride.

After my short run on Friday, I did absolutely no exercise for the next couple of days. I was exhausted from lack of sleep and excess of children. On Monday, as much as I just wanted to stay in my PJs and do nothing, I thought better of it and hit the pool.

As I have been trying to do, I mixed it up a bit. This time around, I swam 10 laps, followed by 10 or 11 minutes of jogging in the water, followed by another 10 laps, proceeded by another 10 or 11 minutes of jogging, followed by a final 10 laps and 15 minutes of jogging. I managed to get in some leg and arm water work as well.

I was not feeling it very much; perhaps it was all the food I had consumed over the holidays. My guess is my sugary breakfast did not help. But I got my swimming in, and that is what counts.

Yesterday, I headed back to the pool with the kid, and only got in about 16 laps, though I was swimming around on a noodle with the kid for awhile. I also tread water for a few minutes. I still was not feeling it.

Today, I will either run or take a Zumba class. The cold weather may make the latter more palatable, but my lack of coordination and not wanting to look like an idiot in front of people may tip the scales in the run's favor. We'll see.

My legs hurt

After a great stretch of exercising, I kind of slacked off. I had that really good swim last Thursday, and then I did nothing until yesterday (Tuesday), other than walking the streets of Indiana for their Light-Up Night last Friday.

It has rained the past few days, and because I prefer to run in no more than a light drizzle, running has been pretty much out for me. So yesterday, I headed back to the pool, determined to get a solid, strenuous workout in.

This time around, I swam 20 laps, which took me around 23 minutes. Then I jogged in the pool for about 30 minutes, a new record for me. I followed that up with another 20 laps, though for some reason that set took me about 30 minutes. I finished up with almost 30 more minutes of jogging in the pool, before I did some leg and arm exercises for about 10 minutes.

It was definitely a good workout, if not a slightly annoying one during my second set of laps. For some reason a woman at the pool does her laps around the perimeter, and she does not really pay attention to where she is going. I don't mind when I am swimming a front stroke; I can move out of my lane/her way. But it becomes rather bothersome when I am on a backstroke, and I have to stop and turn around to make sure I don't hit her. Not a big deal, though.

My legs are hurting a little today, so I am definitely going to take it easy. I would love to get up and run on Thanksgiving, taking my Indiana County route, but not sure if that will happen. We'll see.

One thing I am pretty sure that I will be running towards is the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and pies tomorrow!

20 + 20 + 20 + 20 + 10 = exhaustion

When I swim laps, I have a hard time keeping track of which number I am on. I tend to swim four or five laps of the same stroke before switching to another, but my mind wanders so easily that I often lose count. Recently, I decided to swim only two laps per stroke before moving on to the next. That has helped immensely, though at least once today, I actually could not remember if I was on my first or second trip for that stroke. Crazy!

Anyway, this morning, to mix it up a bit, I decided to jog in the pool first. Since jogging for 15 minutes has been pretty easy for me, I decided to up my time to 20 minutes. In the interest of helping the balls of my feet and working some different muscles, I decided to jog backwards for the last five minutes. Then I swam about 20 laps (which takes me about 23 minutes). I next got in another 20 minutes of jogging, again including the backwards jogging for the final five minutes. I followed that up with 20 more laps (which may have been 19 or 21). Finally, I jogged backwards for about 10 more minutes before rounding out my workout with some push-ups and leg exercises in the water. And that is where my title comes from.

All told, it took me almost two hours to get everything in, and I was (and still am) pretty darn tired. But it is a fulfilling tired. Throughout my workout, I felt good. Admittedly, during some of the laps, I was not sure I could keep going. But always competing with myself and wanting to do what I set out to, I pressed on.

As I was, per usual, struggling with the butterfly stroke, I realized that it is a lot like that first killer hill when I run. In both cases, I keep doing it, yet the task almost never seems any easier.

The other thing I find interesting is that when I run, even though I typically complete only two miles, I think I have achieved this great workout. Yet when I swim, if I end up doing only 15 laps, which typically takes me about the same amount of time as it does to run two miles, then I feel as if I barely did anything. I guess a big part of it has to do with the intensity; I tend to run harder than I swim, which leaves me sweaty and out of breath; it just feels as if I have run for an hour, even though I never do.

Regardless, I am glad when I can get a really long swim in. I am quite certain, however, even if I jog super slow, I won't be running for an hour anytime soon. Or probably ever.

Maybe I need running shoes for the pool?

I was able to get in only about a dozen laps at the pool yesterday, so I went back this morning, not really feeling it. I knew from the get-go there was no way I was going to be doing 40 or 50 laps; I decided to shoot for around 25 or 30. As I have done before, I broke things up a bit.

First I did 13 laps, which took just over 15 minutes. Then I followed it up with 15 minutes of jogging in the pool. When I am jogging in 3', I can get a pretty good pace going, but as soon as I get into 4' and especially 5', it is like running through molasses (not that I have ever done that). I never realized how much I used my arms or at least how important they are when it comes to pool jogging. Considering the water is almost up to the top of my shoulders in 5', my arms are not moving fast with all that water. On top of that, I realized that when I am in the pool, I run on the balls of my feet. I need to look into that to see if this is going to hurt my feet (beyond the irritation I feel).

After I did the 15 minutes of jogging, I swam 17 more laps (technically it was 16.5), and then I jogged for another 10 minutes. I rounded out the workout with about seven or eight minutes of leg and arm exercises.

The slight foot pain aside, it went pretty well. I was also a bit tired, so it took my longer to swim the second 13 laps than it did the first, but what can you do. Keep swimming, I guess!