What?!?! A picture!

One of the benefits of working out at 5am is that when I'm done I get to leave the Y and see this beautiful masterpiece. I know I won't get to see a beautiful sunrise like this one all year long, so I will soak it up while I can.

10,000 steps by 10am

It was hard to peel myself out of bed this morning. My alarm went off and I was certain that I had miss-set it. Unfortunately, it was correct, it was time to get up. For a second I considered staying in bed and not working out, but I reminded myself that I am never going to get to my goal of being healthy and fit if I flake out on workouts. So, I got up and headed to the Y. This morning I did the elliptical for 50 minutes and had an AWESOME workout. I was so please with my hard work today. I actually even managed to finish a book while I was working out today. I headed to work and realized sometime short of 10am that I wasn't terribly far from 10,000 steps for the day (based on my pedometer). Since my daily goal is 7,000 steps, and a friend recommended 10,000 steps as a more challenging goal, I was excited to have met that goal so early in the day. Now I can sit around and be a slug the rest of the day! Yeah right, not going to happen. I secretly (or maybe not so secretly) hope to get to 15,000 steps today. I guess we will see what happens. I was also excited this morning when one of the Y employees invited me to join a group of women who workout together Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. I have admired these women from afar for quite a while now. They are all very toned and look hot. I want to be them. I'm not sure how I will work out lifting with them and still getting my cardio in since I go to work at 7 and don't really want to adjust that, but I guess we will see. Jay and I have talked about meeting at the Y after he gets off work. They have child care during that time and although it is generally pretty busy right after work, it would be good incentive to get us both there for a workout. So maybe I lift in the morning and then do cardio in the evening with him. Ugh, I'm getting tired just thinking about it. I guess we will just have to see what happens. Ultimately, I was honored to be invited to join this group of women who I have no business trying to keep up with.

Groupon Love

I'm so excited! I just purchased two different Groupons. The first one is three training classes and five crossfit classes at a box not terribly far from my house. I have been wanting to try crossfit and am excited that I get to try it out for half-price. I also got a Groupon for a place that offers ballerobica classes. I've wanted to do this since I heard that Kelly Ripa does it to maintain her amazing body. I've have a pure barre workout video that I really like, but I am looking forward to doing this in a group setting. They also offer pilates (which I love) and Zumba (which I have never tried). I cannot wait to try out these two new forms of exercise. Have you ever done either of these before?

Who turned on the faucet?

I started my day with some stationary cycling. It was eh. I've had to blow my nose every 2.3 second this morning and it makes it hard to get a good workout in when you would rather be asleep or blowing your nose so it doesn't run down your face (sorry for the visual). But, I cycled for 15 minutes, did some push-ups and sit ups, cycled for 12 more minutes, did some dips and side planks, then finished off with 15 more minutes of cycling. The first 15 minutes of cycling I alternated between resistance 12 and 1 for 60 seconds at each level. The second 12 minutes of cycling I did 30 second bursts of sprinting with 30 second rests in between. The final 15 minutes of cycling was consistent, not sprinting, but not just cycling. I tried to keep my rpms (I think that is the right term) above 100 and my resistence was fairly low at 3. The thing I hate about cycling is that my pedometer doesn't track steps. Obviously because I'm not actually taking steps, but I feel like if my pedometer doesn't register it, then I must not have actually done the workout. I know, it's silly. Tomorrow it's back to the elliptical, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Not slowing down, on the exercise front that is.

I had a great workout on Friday morning, until my foot started killing me. I was most of the way through a 45 minute run/walk and all of the sudden my foot hurt so bad that I had to stop running. Then I had to hold the sides of the treadmill to finish off the last 4 minutes of my walk. It kind of hurt while I headed to the locker room, but twice while in the locker room I stepped in some way which caused excruciating pain. My foot had hurt since last Saturday, but never this bad. I iced it at work and took Aleve. After work we decided to take advantage of the unseasonable beautiful weather (70s instead of 90) and went to an Indianapolis Indians game. It turns out I was not the only one who had this great idea and by the time we got to the box office the only seats left were lawn seats. After quite a bit of searching we found a spot that wasn't too wet that would hold 4 adults and one toddler. We had a great time and Jay got a wonderful picture of his sister, her boyfriend, Aiden, and I. The next morning I got up and worked out. I decided to stick with the stationary bike after Friday morning's painful run. It caused me no pain during the workout. I headed to the local sports medicine walk-in clinic after my workout. I was the first patient in the door and didn't walk out until an hour later. It was a tad frustrating, but it was determined that I sprained my mid-foot. Not my ankle, no broken foot, sprained foot. I have to wear a boot until I see the Dr. The person I saw anticipated that I would be able to see the Dr within two weeks. I have an appointment for September 4th. Not two weeks. Oh, and I can do the elliptical and bicycle in the meantime. Yay! I was dreading going to the Dr because I didn't want to be sidelined. I just started this serious journey and I didn't want to have to stop already! So, this morning I got up and did my "run" on the elliptical. It was great. I haven't used the elliptical in quite a while and I forgot how many calories I can burn. I had a great 45 minute workout and burned 461 calories!!! I then proceeded to get a bagel thin breakfast sandwich from Einstein Bagels. It wasn't as tasty as I remember, but it was better for me than a bagel and schmear. I ate horribly this weekend and need to get back on track food wise. I ended up not workout out yesterday like I planned, but I got up this morning and have started my week well. I hope you are having a great Monday so far!

4:30 is early

I generally work 7-4 Monday through Friday. I like to try to fit workouts in during my lunch break, but then you get all sweaty and have to take a shower, then my hour lunch turns into a longer lunch, then I have to stay late, etc...... I still do lunchtime workouts, but not everyday. I like being a member of the YMCA because they have child care during certain hours which I try to take advantage of. So, sometimes I workout after work, but that throws off dinner or I wait until after dinner and then my son's sleep schedule is thrown off.                                                  

Soooo, I voluntarily get up at 4:30 in the morning to go workout at the Y.

Let me tell you, when that alarm goes off the last thing I want to do is get out of bed. But yesterday I had the best workout. I usually go to the Y and then back home to get ready for the day. Yesterday I took everything I needed to get ready for work. Oh. My. Gosh. I can't believe the difference it made! I was able to get in a quality workout that was 50 minutes long, shower, get ready, and I even got to work early! It felt great to get in such a good workout before starting my day.

What kind of workout did I do? The treadmill. Yippee! I am starting back at week three of a C25K program for some upcoming 5ks I have signed up for. It was a pretty simple run of 1.5 min running, 2 min walking, 2min running, 2 min walking intervals. I just extended it beyond the designated 26 minutes and alternated walking and running for 45 minutes. It was a great workout. It pushed me, but not too hard, plus I burned almost 400 calories in 50 minutes! I may actually have to consider this run/walking thing my sister is doing.

The only bad part was that my foot is hurting. It has hurt since the weekend and although it didn't bother me while I was running, walking is painful. I've been icing it and taking Aleve. It already feels better today, so I'll try to baby it a little bit longer. I brought my ice pack to work with me today, so that should help.
I was told to take it easy today, no running. So I am going to head to the Y during my lunch and do a cycle pump class. I love the intervals and intensity of this class. The instructor is great and very energetic. It looks like I will be working late today, but it will be worth it. :)

I hope you are having a great day!

Note to self....

Keep a bag with workout clothes in the car at all times. I had planned on working out before work today, but when my alarm went off, I could not get out of bed. Fail. I ended up being a clients house from 7am until 4pm with a break from 1-2:15. If I had kept a bag of workout clothes in my car I could have gotten a run/walk in during this break. Oh, well. Live and learn.

So, what did I do during this break instead? I went shopping, ate some lunch, and ate a cupcake.

                             

Yup, clearly a good use of my time. Now I'm getting ready to go help with the ice cream social at my son's daycare. While we wait for daddy to get home I'm trying to forget that there is some of the world's greatest fudge in the next room. :)

Tomorrow is a new day, and I will try to get up at 4:30 again tomorrow morning so I can work out before work.

I hope you are having a healthier day than I!

I start today!

I've been thinking about starting a fitness and healthy living blog for just over a week. I kept playing around with names but couldn't find anything that I loved. I wanted to start last week. I ate fairly well, but I didn't work out until Thursday. Then this past weekend we had a family reunion and I sat around and ate, and ate, and ate. So, today is the day. Today is the day I start to hold myself accountable. If am going to see the results I want to see, and live the healthy life I want to live, I have to start now. No one else is going to do it for me.

I hope to use this blog to share workout ideas, healthy recipes, and general healthy living ideas with my friends, family, and anyone who reads this blog. I also welcome input from others who are striving to live a healthy life. While I am sure that there will be days that I feel negative or upset about my choices or progress, I will try to remain as positive as possible. I hope you will join me on this journey.