How’s everyone doing now that the weather is getting cooler?
Another session of Boot Camp. I think I’m doing pretty good for a lady who just turned 50!
Crap year for me, really.
Started off by recovering from injuries from last year. At the turn of the year, all I was doing was yoga. Then that kind of fell by the wayside, because I couldn’t believe that:
- yoga detoxifies me
- this post will help with my digestion
- some yogi somewhere stopped his breathing and heartbeat for 5 minutes
- all the other hooey.
Then I traveled for work for about 9 weeks in the late spring/early summer, and did a decent job of working out-ish, but having to eat out all the time and having plenty of time for beers before bed, I put on about 15 pounds.
My biggest problem with motivation though, is that (I realized a few nights ago) I’ll never really accomplish any physical goals again. I’m a crappy athlete anyway, so even my biggest accomplished goals are small potatoes to anyone who bothered to train as long as I did for them.
But I really don’t have a ‘thing’, you know? Like for a while, my thing was just adding miles. Then getting to 5 miles. Then doing a 10-mile trail race. Then doing a half-marathon. Then a trail half. Then doing a trail 25k. Then doing a marathon. Then doing a 50k. I accomplished all but the last, none of them in impressive times.
Then for a year I was working on training for a Spartan race, and all I did was injure about all of me, which left me where I am today. I just ran 4 miles on Sunday (with a stroller!) for the first time in probably a year. Plus I do have a stationary bike and some weights, pullup bar in the basement that I use. But it’s just not very motivating and there’s not a built-in goal. And the thing is, I don’t have time (I know, I know, everybody says that) anymore to re-train to much of what I’ve done above. Full time work, 3 kids (one shared), and I’ll be starting school again in the spring. I’ll never be in the shape I was in when I was single and angry, or only had my one kid half the time.
Fact is, I’m really jealous of my wife. Getting herself in shape after pregnancy and a C-section, she found Krav Maga and took to it like a fish to water. So she has something she loves to to, is motivated to do, and keeps her in shape. I want something like that, but I don’t know what that would be. ETA I shouldn’t say I’m jealous of her. I’m envious that she has something like that, and I’m happy, enthusiastic and supportive of her.
I am looking at this place, since it has yoga (without, it seems, the woo) plus fitness classes. And it’s right down the road from me. Power Life Yoga
I guess this was more of a rant than anything. Suppose I’m open to ideas.
Well I flaked out again for a while 
but once again I’m starting back on the path, having done 10,000k steps every day this week. Giving myself a particularly good pat on the back because the weather was wacko for September; the second half of the week was high 80’s to 90 with 85% humidity, but I fought through the excuses.
Just a matter of keeping focus and keeping it going long enough that doing it becomes the habit rather than the exception.
Last year I had a stupid/silly goal of doing a race every month. Well, a bad injury, requiring a boot for 7 weeks & being totally out for 5½ months quashed that. Going from doing something six days a week & being in the final stretch for an ultra (meaning lotsa miles) to quitting, cold turkey, for 5½ months did a number on me. Lack of endorphins & not being able to do what I love (run) caused major depression; lack of exercise caused almost 10% weight gain.
I started off the year being allowed to walk but not yet run. Progressing slowly, there was lots of walking, & eventually running was allowed, but pretty much all fitness is lost while sitting on your butt for 5½ months so I knew this year was going to be about getting back into shape, not doing anything ‘worthwhile’. In the first 2½ months of this year, w/o even trying, I managed to walk off the weight gained at the end of last year.
I decided that the one goal I really wanted for this year was the one I couldn’t complete last year; a race every month. Yeah, Jan was a walk/run 5k, with a horrifically emabarrassing slow time (for me); 10+ minutes slower than my last one. To be truthful, a lot of the races were more “running with a # on” than really racing, but hey, they count.
The one race I really did target in Spring I finally started to find some legs under me & did better than I had hoped for, & even respectable when compared to last year’s time.
Another (freak) injury to the opposite knee in June meant I could still walk but not run for a while. With no near-term goals & knowing I’d need to take it easy on the comeback has really sapped my motivation to run (I’m doing some, but not much). I have; however, continued to walk…a ton. I don’t know how much additional weight I’ve lost (I don’t own a scale) but I know the waist has gotten smaller. Shorts & jeans require a belt, as w/o one, I can pull them down w/o unbuttoning/unzipping. That old suit that I used to rock, yup, I wore it yesterday & got compliments on it. When I came home I reached into the deep, dark recesses of the closet, pulled out, & tried on my tux, which was purchased about 25 years ago - so who’s got a black tie event they want to invite me to? 
(How many people do you know who are the same size they were 25 years ago?)
Yesterday, I finished the month getting my insane step count goal. Today, I mananged to get month 10 of at least a race a month done. I didn’t even know about this race 36 hrs ago; a friend invited me. I didn’t do anything to prepare for it, not taper, not get a good night’s sleep, not eat well yesterday, I forgot to take stuff with me because I was so tired this morning. Whatever. I did it. Then I skedaddled as I had other places I committed to being. Then my friend sends me an email, with a picture of a medal…my medal. Granted it was a small race, but I still did well enough to get an age group medal.
All in all, a pretty @#$%& amazing weekend on the comeback trail! 
Weight Loss Goal #1 achieved today. Weight Loss Goal #2, another 50 pounds, set. We’ll see if I can get there by June, when we’re going to Disney World.
My anniversary was September 20th, so my wife and I rented a cabin in Ruidoso, NM for the weekend and had some us-time, without the kids. And unlike any vacation I’ve ever been on in the past, I hiked. We found an app called AllTrails, found some nearby trails, and went hiking in the woods, around lakes, and just around the neighborhood. Saw lots of wildlife. Up in the mountains, it was cool during the day and downright cold at night. A very nice vacation, and doing things I never thought I’d have the energy or inclination to do. Losing weight rocks.
I went to my friendly Nutrishop today and got my InBody scan. It said that my B.F. was 14.9%, down from 20.1% in June, while actually increasing my muscle mass by .7 lbs.
I’m training for the Ragnar Trail race on Nov 3/4, so that is helping get me leaner. Usually, that also kills my muscle mass, but I must be doing something right this time around.
Been keeping up with it well this time and finally broke through my 6-8 month wall of frustration on my main weight-loss metric. A new, smaller belt 
Well not new, but one from over ten years ago that I have been too fat for since then.
Reducing is always fun, especially when it’s been a while. “Why in the hell do my pants keep falling down?! What the f- oh! Hey! Right. Yay!”
Congrats to all who are being mindful of tomorrow. Your older selves are mighty proud.
I just got back from the Ragnar Trail run. Our team lost a member due to a migraine, so I ran an extra loop, for a total of just under 20 miles in 4 runs. I’m still a lousy runner, but I was pretty consistent in meeting my estimated pace.
I’m sore as hell right now.
Smashed thru that one in Nov & have 11 of 12 monthly races done; just December’s left.
Just wanted to share my success story. After 2 years of struggling, I’ve managed to lose 40 pounds so far this year. According to the BMI chart used by my health insurance, I am no longer extremely obese, I am just plain obese. I’ll take my win and keep working!
I am going to start a treadmill routine today now that I am eating healthier and my knees don’t hurt all the time.
Gah, the festive eating season is going to kill me. I’m about 10 pounds up and will be back on my crash diet in January if I don’t get it under control soon. The company party is this afternoon and I’ve still got Christmas with my brother in the law the pastry chef to get through.
Oh hey, this thread again!! Has anybody here done Insanity? I finished Month 1 of it yesterday, and I don’t understand why there’s no parade in my honor for that. It absolutely sucked! I’ve done Insanity before, so I know what’s coming in Month 2. I’m actually looking forward to it, purely because I’ve done the first three DVDs so many times that I can anticipate each exercise that’s coming, and I’m ready to change things up. The program is working, simply because I’ve been eating like shit lately and I haven’t gained weight. But man, every time I do an Insanity workout I always wonder to myself if it’d really be that awful to let myself go and just get fat. That’s how much Insanity both sucks and works.
A parade! :(:mad:
eek:
:dubious::rolleyes::):p:cool::D:smack:
Lol what a splendid parade!! Thank you!!
Not any more.
I completed my (2016) goal of doing a race a month. Was doing fine until an injury kiboshed the second half of last year. This 5k (3.1 miles) was only 12 mins faster than the one at the beginning of the year, a hilly run/walk just days after being cleared by PT. It’s not that this one was so fast, it’s just that that one was soooo slow because you lose any semblance of fitness after 5½ months off.