Walking Wednesdays

Still going strong on the 21 day challenge. I’ll post an update from that soon. But for now, here’s some more catch up pictures from the virtual walk site.

Mile 324 (elliptical)                                                Mile 324.6 (elliptical)

               

Mile 325 (elliptical)                                                Mile 325.6 (elliptical)

                

Mile 326 (elliptical)                                                Mile 327 (elliptical)

                

 

(photo credit - Copyright 2006 Lawrence Berkeley Lab)

Trudging Along On Tuesdays

With the backlog of pictures I have collected from the virtual walk site, I figured I need more than one day a week to get caught up. Mileage Mondays aren’t enough, so Trudging Along on Tuesdays is here. Trying to stick with 6 pictures a post so I don’t overload anyone.

Mile 320.6 (elliptical)                                                Mile 321 (elliptical)

                 

Mile 321.6 (elliptical)                                                Mile 322 (elliptical)

                 

Mile 322.6 (elliptical)                                               Mile 323.6 (elliptical)

                 

 

(photo credit - Copyright 2006 Lawrence Berkeley Lab)

Mileage Monday

Here’s more pictures from the site. More to come tomorrow. Keep moving!

Mile 317.6 (elliptical)                                            Mile 318 (elliptical)

              

Mile 318.6 (elliptical)                                            Mile 319 (elliptical)

               

Mile 319.6 (elliptical)                                             Mile 320 (elliptical)

                

 

(photo credit - Copyright 2006 Lawrence Berkeley Lab)

More to come very soon.

Leslie Sansone’s Schedule For Week 2

Here we go. The schedule for week two is up on Leslie’s blog. Check it out, she makes a cute comment for February 29. Day 8 starts tomorrow and it’s a doozy! I feel good though. The third and fourth days I was tired, but I’m raring to go. Who needs a day off? Not me…yet. Ask me after tomorrow’s 5 mile workout.

Day 8 - 2/25 - 5 mile walk
Day 9 - 2/26 - 2 mile walk
Day 10 - 2/27 - 4 mile walk
Day 11 - 2/28 - 3 mile walk
Day 12 - 2/29 - 2 mile walk
Day 13 - 3/1 - 2 mile walk
Day 14 - 3/2 - 3 mile walk

Let’s do this!

Leslie Sansone’s 21 Day Challenge

I’m still on track with Leslie Sansone’s 21 day challenge. The third day I was sore and tired. My feet hurt. My toes hurt. I wondered if she was going to have a day off. I thought “It wouldn’t be a 21 day challenge if there was a day off.” duh. I think I’ve gotten over that tired and sore hump though. I’m rolling with the daily miles.

Here's the run-down of the first week so far:

Day 1 - Feb. 18 - 3 miles - Missed the start day.
Day 2 - Feb. 19 - 2 miles - 5 miles done. DVD
Day 3 - Feb. 20 - 4 miles - 4 miles done. 3 miles from DVD and 1 on the elliptical.
Day 4 - Feb. 21 - 2 miles - 2 miles done. 2 miles from DVD.
Day 5 - Feb. 22 - 3 miles - 3 miles done. 2 miles from DVD and 1 on elliptical.
Day 6 - Feb. 23 - 3 miles - 3 miles done. 3 miles from DVD.
Day 7 - Feb. 24 - 2 miles - 2 miles done. 1 mile from DVD and 1 on the elliptical.

So, tomorrow is day 7 and it's an easy day with only 2 miles. She hasn't posted the mileage yet for week two, but I hope she does that tomorrow. My plan for tomorrow is to do 1 mile from the DVD and then 1 on the elliptical. The DVD miles are about 13 minutes each. I do a mile on the elliptical in about 33 minutes. I was planning to do the last mile today on the elliptical, but I couldn't "see" myself on there for 30 minutes, so I just the third mile on DVD.

I notice a pattern. I do the elliptical every other day. That’s fine for now. I’ll get to the point where I’ll do the elliptical every day. Before the challenge started, I was doing both every day, although I would take a rest day here and there.

Once the challenge is done, I plan on doing one mile on the DVD (at least) and one mile on the elliptical six days a week. I hope she does another challenge after this one. It helps me stay active and on track if I have a schedule to follow. Otherwise, I take more days off than I should.

Once she posts the mileage goals for week 2, I’ll put them up here. I’m looking forward to the “easy” day tomorrow. Plus I have strength training tomorrow too. As Leslie would say, “Come on feet!”

Keep moving!

Mileage Monday!

I’ll be getting caught up with the virtual walk mileage pictures on Mondays for a few weeks. I’ve been saving the pictures since my last post. I also plan on counting the miles from the Leslie Sansone DVD from now on too. So, my mileage is going to rack up a but faster.

So, let’s get to it. These are all from my elliptical.

Mile 314.6                                                                       Mile 315

           

Mile 315.6                                                                       Mile 316

           

Mile 316.6                                                                        Mile 317

            

 

(photo credit - Copyright 2006 Lawrence Berkeley Lab)

Got lots more to come!

Blast From The Past (after the fact)

Here’s an interesting little fact. Taking a video of yourself while dealing with anxiety helps to get rid of anxiety. So, yes, I have anxiety issues. You’re all well aware of that fact now. It pops up at random times, and I was getting frustrated that it was popping up as I get on the elliptical. I’m fine when I get on and once I get going, but it hits me as I’m getting situated. Ok, I get on the elliptical by holding onto the side rails. Then I move my hand to the pulse bar thingamajig. Then I push the button for the fan with my left thumb and put my left hand on the arm pole. No problem.

Problem starts happening when I move my right hand from the pulse bar to the arm pole. Why? No idea. I kind of do this funky “hesitate and jerk move” as I put my right hand on the bar. Once my hand is on the bar, I’m good to go. All sorts of anxiety shows up and it’s frustrating. So, I decided to take video of myself one day with my iPod (I’ll spare you the video) to show myself what happens.

Nothing happens. It feels like I’m going to fall, but there’s nothing there that’s pulling me, pushing me, or making me off balance. Nothing at all. So, by watching the video, it’s helped me gain more confidence. I still hesitate and do the “jerk move”, but the anxiety is going away. It’s not nearly as bad as it was. And, I do not, absolutely do not let the anxiety stop me from exercising. I want to stop when I have those moments of panic, sure, but I still do it.

Now, where does the “blast from the past” from the blog title fit it. I remembered that a long long long time ago, when I was in physical therapy as a little kid, my therapist had my mom take pictures of me as I did my exercises. I’m not sure why he had her do it. I think it was to demonstrate how certain exercises were done, so my parents could replicate them at home. But that thought popped into my head the other day. I remember the photo album those pictures were in also. Embarrassing, but they were taken for a purpose. Just like the video I took. Embarrassing, but it was taken for a reason.

And than reason proved to work. I’ll have to remind myself to take another video if I have more issues. I don’t like watching myself in a full body video (my avoidance of my cerebral palsy), but it must happen for things to get straightened out.

So if you’re having any sort of problem, physical, mental, or whatever, record yourself as it’s happening, so you can tell what exactly is going on, and how you can correct whatever it is that needs to be corrected.

Doing well today. My workout for the day was the full 5 miles of my Leslie Sansone DVD. Legs are tired, but in a good way. She’s got a 21 day challenge going on, and I’m going to see how I do. It started yesterday, so I missed that start. Yesterday we were supposed to walk 3 miles. Today was a 2 mile walk. So, I figured I’d catch up by doing 5 miles today. Tomorrow is supposed to be a 4 mile walk. We’ll see how my legs are, but I plan on doing 3 miles of the DVD and then the last mile on the elliptical. You can record your mileage on her FaceBook page.

Keep movin’!

Change In My Workout Routine

I updated my workout page a little bit. My workout is still basically the same, I just changed my workout days around. Instead of doing strength training three days a week, I now do it twice a week. Tuesdays and Fridays are my strength training days now. I plan on doing more sets starting Friday. I do one set of 15 reps using my 10 pound weights. I've been saying for a long time now that I've wanted to do two sets of 15. Friday's the day. Enough of me saying I'll do it next week. By doing strength training twice a week now instead of three days, it might be a bit easier to do more than one set. More time in between so my muscles can relax and recover.

Cardio days are Tuesdays through Sundays. Mondays are my days off. I tend to get a lot of housework done on Mondays and tend to skip my workouts. It's not always easy to work out on Saturdays and Sundays, but I'm working on it.

I still get on my elliptical each day, but I've added something new to my cardio routine. Back in November, I bought myself a DVD. These DVDs were recommended by several of my SparkPeople friends, but I always hesitated to get them. Leslie Sansone is an awesome lady.

“Leslie Sansone is a nationally recognized fitness expert, and creator of the Walk at Home program. Her philosophy is simple. She believes that our bodies were made to move and we can walk our way to health and wellness.” Quoted from http://www.walkathome.com/

When I first heard about her from people at Spark, I hesitated because I wasn't sure if I could do all of the moves. I also thought, “Oh, it's just marching in place”. I had done that before while watching TV almost five years ago when I first started losing weight. But it's more than just marching in place. You march to the beat of music. She adds moves into the walks to make it interesting. Back in October or November, I found a few of her videos on the On Demand channel, and decided to check them out.

I tried three of them, and enjoyed them a lot. I tried the moves, and was able to do them. The only move I have problems with is the “tap out” move. It's sort of like a “side step” only you don't bring the other foot to meet the foot that stepped out (if that makes sense). I am able to do the knee lifts, and the kicks.

Then one day, I couldn't find the videos on the TV anymore. So I decided to buy one. I decided on the 5 Mile Fat Burning Walk. You can customize the workout by doing one mile at a time, or all five miles at once. I tend to use her DVD as a warm up before I get on the elliptical. Warms up my legs so they're not tight when I get on. I have done all five miles at once...once. It's tough to do them all at once. It's about 65 minutes of walking in place. I take a break after every mile.

I like the fact that at the end of every mile there's a “boost” for two minutes. During these two minutes you boost the walk into a gentle jog. She does kicks and knee lifts during the boost, but I just continue to jog in place. She hops during the kicks and lifts, and...I don't hop. If I get tired during the boost (usually around mile 3) I go back to walking.

I feel like her DVDs are good for anyone, no matter what their activity level is. It's helped my balance I think somewhat. It's helps me have better posture on the elliptical I think.

So, yes, I've become a big fan of Leslie Sansone. I don't know if I'll get any more of her DVDs. Maybe one more, but I hear they're basically all pretty much the same. The conversations and commentary during the video can get a bit old, but that's OK. She's a bit perky, but not in an obnoxious way. And if you think you won't sweat with the DVDs, think again. I sweat just as much doing her DVD as I do on the elliptical.

So that's what I'm doing as far as my workouts go. I plan on working on endurance on the elliptical. I try to get one mile in when I get on, that's my goal. But if I do more than one mile of Leslie Sansone, I get tired pretty quick and do ½ mile. I still take a break after every tenth of a mile. But I'm extending that to 200 revolutions. A tenth of a mile is 160 revolutions, so I'm upping that to 200. I'm doing pretty well. I can go about .6 mile and then go back to doing 160 revolutions.

Tomorrow is Thursday, and my plan is to do 2 miles of Leslie and then try for one mile on the elliptical. I did 2 miles of the DVD today and only made it a half mile on the elliptical. Here's a link to a little intro to the 5 Mile Fat Burning Walk

5 Mile Fat Burning Walk

Have a good one.

Coming Back!!

I am indeed coming back. It's been quite a while since my last post, and I believe in that post I was dealing with a string of bad balance days. I got out of that string of days, but about a month later, I went through another string.

Still don't know what causes it. It can be tough to go through, and makes me feel like giving up. “What's the point of exercising and keeping in shape if my balance isn't going to cooperate?” That thought went through my head countless times, and honestly, it still does. But, I can't let a few days (weeks, months) of bad balance get me down. It's easy to get caught in the downward swirl of emotional junk. It's easier to let the negative thoughts take over rather than come up with positive thoughts to replace them.

Don't think that it's all doom and gloom over here. It's not. Just saying the negative thoughts find a way to win every now and then. And the anxiety of fighting a problem that can't really be fixed is annoying also. Never been diagnosed, but I'm pretty sure I've had general anxiety all my life. I can't really remember a time where I wasn't worried about something. Oral presentations, tests, walking in front of people when I left class 5 minutes early, every day conversations. I was worrying about it all. And I still do. Dumb stuff that nobody cares about. I have to keep reminding myself that people are thinking about what they need to do. They're not worrying about what I'm doing.

I do think some of the social anxiety has gotten better. It's not totally gone, but it's better than it was. I have rough days still when I talk to people, but I try not to let it bug me. Words just don't want to come out smoothly. The more I worry about that, the more the words don't want to get out. Getting frustrated only makes it worse too.

Anyway, I've been working on the whole anxiety thing. Not trying to “fix” it, but to learn to live with it. I've always said that I don't want to go on medication, and that still holds true. Although, if I could find a pill or something that makes me feel as relaxed as I do when I have an alcoholic drink (minus the brain fuzz), I'd take it. I walk easier, talk easier, and just feel relaxed overall when I have a drink. I don't drink often at all. I'll have a Mike's hard lemonade every other week or so, but that's it. Well, when I go back east for family vacations, I tend to drink more (one a night).

I'm going to get writing again with this blog. Even if only a handful of people read it. I don't care if anyone reads it really. It's a good outlet for my frustrations. I am mostly a positive person, I really am. I'm agreeable and I try to make other people happy. I do have to learn to stand up for myself sometimes though. If I don't want to do something, I don't have to do it.

I have a few interesting blog posts I'll be writing soon. And I'll be doing Mileage Mondays for a while. I have been saving the pictures from the virtual walk site, and there's quite a few. Not as many as I'd like. I slacked off for a bit because of the balance junk and anxiety from that, but I'm back at it. I'm doing more full miles now than I was. I take breaks after every tenth of a mile, but I get the whole mile in.

So for now, I'll shut up. I could ramble on if I really wanted to. But, that's enough for one post. I'll write more about what I've been up to exercise-wise in another entry. Which reminds me, I need to update my workout page.

Keep moving!