Continuing to Improve

I've done six days of at least 30 minutes of exercise now, and it feels good to be doing something regularly again.  The girls and I did Zumba together the other day, and we just finished yoga.
My knee is feeling better as well.  Only getting sore after sitting cross legged or standing for long periods.

Follow Up and Wii

After the appointment with the surgeon, xrays and an mri, it has been determined that there is nothing wrong with me.  The fact that my knee gives out without warning, hurts too bad to walk sometimes, and generally is a big pain in the you know what, there is nothing wrong with it.
The doctor wants me to do physical therapy.  I'm just going to work out gently and see what happens.  I've done the easiest form of exercise the last few days, Wii.  It was nice to get on the board and not have gained weight since the last time I played.  I've even lost a few pounds.  I did about 40 minutes yesterday of the rhythm kung fu and parade, with a bit of skateboarding.  I was sore in strange places today.  Today I did step aerobics, rhythm boxing and hula hooping.
I'm going to try to do at least 30 minutes of something everyday.  Wii, Pilates, etc.

Knee Surgeon

Tomorrow I have an appointment with my knee surgeon to find out why I’ve been having so much pain and been having trouble walking.

I had surgery 11 years ago and I was hoping not to have to do it again. 

Guess Who Went to the Gym

Me, that's right, ME!  I got in the pool for half an hour and stretched my poor aching body out.  My knee has been bothering me so bad since the weather changed, but a little swim and resistance walking in the pool made me feel so much better!

And whats even better than that?  The first hour of your workout is now free for the kids club!  So I don't have to pay for the girls to go while I work out!
Double Yeah!

We've decided we are going to go three times a week during the day, and a day or two with dad.  We'll see how that goes :).

2012 Girls Triathlon

This summer, I’ve been more of a coach than an athlete… here are the results :)

Hmmm.....

Still haven't done anything other than play with the kids in the pool.  Where has this summer gone?

Exercise??

So, after camping from July 5th to August  5th, with a short break in between, we are home.  And probably home for the rest of the summer.  In the short three days before we left for Oregon, I sprained my ankle, and had to use crutches!  For the first few days, the swelling was bad, but by the 5th day or so I could walk without wrapping it and without it swelling like a balloon.
My truck got broken into and my laptop got stolen, along with other more sentimental items.  I just got word that the journals and other papers were recovered by the Lincoln County Sheriff and would be returned after evidence processing.  No luck with the laptop as of yet, so I'm relegated to the basement office to use the computer to do work and blog.
We didn't do quite so much hiking on the Oregon trip, since my foot was out of commission and all.  Since we've been home we've been swimming for fun and that's about it.  I don't exercise when the temp outside is over 90!  Which means, I can maybe do something on Monday... ha ha!
The new school year is starting and I'm working on getting my lesson plans in order.  We are planning on studying dinosaurs as our next big theme, and I'm going to try to take the girls to the Museum of the Rockies again to see the dinosaur bones and displays.
Wow, this post has said nothing about tri training, except I'm not working out...  So, back on topic

I skipped all the local races this year.  I didn't get my bike off the trainer, in fact it hasn't been off the trainer since the last race of last year (over a year now).  I haven't swam race distance since February, haven't attempted to even jog 1 mile...  I feel terrible about the state of my fitness right now, I'm tired all the time, I feel exhausted after the least bit of effort, and I'm just plain lazy.  Once the weather cools off, I'm going to make more of an effort to be active.

Trip Hiking

Here we are on day 11 of our first camping adventure of the summer.  We've hiked to Sol Duc Falls and Cape Flattery, hiked at the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge, Shipwreck Point, Tongue Point, and Hollywood Beach.  We also hiked the Hall of Moses and Spruce Nature Trail in the Hoh Rainforest, walked along Rialto, Ruby, Kalaloch, Westport Light, and Grayland beaches.  At Mt. St. Helens we did a super short hike as well.  Here at our camp there is a nature trail, if it ever stops raining we may get to go for a walk.  We didn't use the trailer stroller once, but it was nice to know it was available.  If you want to read about our adventures, they are here at my homeschooling blog.  We didn't seem to get a whole lot of exercise, but we've been having fun!

Father's Day Swim

We took the kids to the YMCA to go swimming on Father's Day and I got to swim a few laps.  I was the only one in the lap pool and it was glass smooth!  After a few laps I could tell that I'm totally out of swimming shape.  Time to get back in the pool!
The girls and I are taking some long camping trips this summer and I'm trying to decide if we should take the bike.  I'm thinking just the trailer/stroller and do a lot of walking so I don't have to worry about finding a spot to lock the bike up everywhere.  We are super excited to visit the beach, tide pools, rain forest, mountains, and Mt. St. Helens!  Time to practice our hiking skills!  Over the last few years, the girls have been able to hike up to a 2 mile hike somewhat happily (depending on the scenery).  This year, I'm planning on 3 mile or less hikes, and only one per day (minus the walking on the beach fun).  I think they can manage!  We will have to take some practice hikes in the Dishman Hills or at Mt. Spokane.

Flag Day Bike Ride

Since we had so much fun on Monday, I decided to take us on another bike ride to the park.  This time WITH swimsuits!  The ride went much quicker this time and it felt pretty good!

6-11-12 Bike Ride

Today we took a 4 mile bike ride to the park.  It was a spur of the moment ride because the weather was just too nice to stay inside.  I was going to go on the Centennial Trail, but at the last minute I went straight instead of turning and went to the new Greenacres Park.  We've been there before, but this was the first warm day and boy was it crowded!  The water features were turned on and kids were having a blast (we didn't have changes of clothes since it wasn't planned :(  ).  All in all, for not working out nearly enough lately, I did a pretty good job with the ride and maybe we will do it again tomorrow if the weather cooperates!

May/June

Working out has really been limited to working in the garden and on the patio.  Not that that is easy work, but it isn't the same as a "workout." As soon as the weather turns dry and warm we will be riding bikes as often as time allows and walking/jogging too.

Pilates…

I’ve been terrible about getting to the gym, and I’m only sporadically doing anything from home.  Between yard work and redoing the patio, I’m getting some exercise, but not a lot.  I’m doing pilates on days that I have 20 minutes plus where the girls let me get some me time (and sometimes the 6 year old does it with me).  I just finished the Windsor Pilates Accelerated Body Slimming and I am TIRED!  I’ve been recovering from another sinus infection issue, with major pressure in my head.  I’m past the pressure thanks to my behind-the-counter-over-the-counter Advil, but now I’m in the exhausted body stage.  I’ll be glad when the I feel better, because the weather has improved and outside exercising is now possible!

Ugh.. So far behind!

We've been so busy will all kinds of excitement that I haven't had time to blog about it!  I HATE being behind! I'm going to try to get caught up tonight and tomorrow.  Maybe it would be easier if I didn't have 5 blogs?  Oh well, here goes!

UPDATE:  May 22nd... Just now getting around to updating this, also now there are 6 blogs to keep updated... HA!

1-30-12??

Really?  That was the last time I posted???  I worked out between 3 and 4 times per week for all of February and then so far in March we've been working on a project that has kept us from the gym, but we did go for a bike ride last weekend and a walk too.  Hmmm... I'm going to have to summarize up February.  But before I forget, I love this idea for a workout addition so I'm linking it here so I don't forget it!

http://www.active.com/triathlon/Articles/The-30-Minute-Triathlon.htm?cmp=17-1-2192

Now is the time to lay groundwork for the upcoming season. Spring racesare just around the corner and you don't want to spend the first few months of good weather trying to make up for lost time.

In short, don't let the cold temps and shorts days of winter scare you from a good workout. Head to the gym with this circuit workout and start prepping for those early events.

The circuit is called the 30 Minute Triathlon. It was originally designed as a quick and solid workout for when time is crucial and sparse. You can modify it to any length of time that suits your needs, but the important thing is to allocate the same amount of time for each of the three segments.

10 minutes on the rowing machineThe segments are:

• 10 minutes running on the treadmill
• 10 minutes on a stationary bicycle

These segments can be completed in any order, and by alternating the order of events, you can feel where you need improvement and adjust accordingly.

To add a bit more variety, this workout can be done as a stand-alone, or it can be moved around your weight training schedule. Try this circuit before your workout on one day, then at the end of your workout on another day.

You can also incorporate high-intensity interval training into this circuit for a real fat-burner. For example: Row easy for one minute, sprint row for one minute, etc. This can be applied to all three segments. Applying the HIIT method is especially useful if time is a factor and you really only have 30 or so minutes for your workout.

To gauge yourself, keep track of the distance traveled during each segment, total them up at the end, and use this record to compete against yourself the next time you incorporate this into your workout.

An example would be:

• 2100 meters on the Row, which is 6,889 ft, or 1.3 miles
• 1.2 miles on the run
• 4.5 miles on the Stationary Bike

This gives you 7 miles in 32 minutes. Note: to get the most benefit out of this circuit, keep your transition times to a minimum. Try shooting for a minute or less to get a drink of water and go from machine to machine. The next time you incorporate this circuit for this duration of time, try to bump each segment up 1/10 of a mile, for a total of 7.3 miles. Or, if you feel like you performed weakly on one segment, focus on building the muscles for that group.

Working out indoors isn't always fun, but there are things you can do to make it more lively. This is just one dynamic example of something you can do to spice up your workout, even if you're crunched for time, and make sure you stay fit and ready for those beautiful spring months.

Swim and Lift 1-30-12

When I got to the gym on Monday, I decided to go for race distance, freestyle only.  I would have done it too, if somehow on lap 9 I wouldn't have lapped twice.  I didn't realize I had done it till I got home and downloaded my splits.  I'll try again today (maybe, I'm tired and starving!).  After swimming we did a chest and triceps lifting day.

Split Time Summary 20:58.5 1 1:05.7 2 1:13.9 3 1:16.2 4 1:10.2 5 1:14.6 6 1:12.1 7 1:13.9 8 1:15.8 9 :06.8 10 1:07.9 11 1:14.9 12 1:16.0 13 1:19.7 14 1:17.9 15 1:16.9 16 1:15.1 17 1:15.6 18 1:04.6 19 :00.6

1-27-12 Aqua Zumba Take Two

I decided to try Aqua Zumba again.  I was pretty sore from the workouts earlier in the week, but thought it would be okay.  The regular instructor, Amber, was out and we had a sub.  The sub didn't have experience, so we did what she could remember, and what we could remember from previous classes... It wasn't much like the other class, but it was still a good workout!

1-26-12 Lift and Swim

Split Time Summary 17:37.1 1 1:04.5 2 1:15.0 3 1:14.5 4 1:13.4 5 1:17.7 6 1:14.6 7 1:20.7 8 1:23.0 9 1:25.1 10 1:09.1 11 1:11.8 12 1:14.8 13 1:16.1 14 1:16.9

Swimming, I was a little sore so at lap 7 I switched to breast stroke, then back to freestyle at 10.  No legs on any of the freestyle laps.
After swimming we did a Legs and Shoulders lift day.

1-25-12 Swim and Lift

Another day of forgetting to wear my watch, but I swam about 10 laps, in about 12 minutes or so.  Then we did back and bicept lifting.

Lift and Cardio 1-23-12

We did a chest and tricept lifting day and 15 minutes on the bike.  Not a lot to report, I was too late to get into the pool :(
I also forgot to wear my watch, so I don't have the record of it.  I'm getting stronger each week.  I'm up to free weight benching 35 pounds. We also did decline bench presses, which were very difficult!

Skiing!

On Sunday I got to go skiing for the first time in 3 years!  We went to visit my brothers family in Wenatchee, Washington and Jason took me skiing at Mission Ridge.  The snow wasn't that great, but I sure enjoyed my brother sister time!  I also got the opportunity to test out Sport Tracker on my phone.  Pretty neat!  The first graph is the first part of the day with me on skis and Jason on a snowboard, the second is both of us on skis.

Aqua Zumba!

On Friday  the thirteenth I tried Aqua Zumba and it was pretty fun.  It was easier than land Zumba {I think} and it felt like a workout.  I will probably try it again.  :)

1-12-12 Swim and Lift

Today I swam 10 laps then did lifting, a back and biceps day.   For the swimming I did all 10 laps freestyle and it felt pretty good.  my splits were: 1.05, 1.11, 1.15, 1.17, 1.18, 1.16, 1.19, 1.15, 1.16, 1.16 so pretty even.  I'm going to work up to 16 laps by the end of January (16 laps is 1/2 mile or race distance), and then work on speed.  I'd like to get up to 25 comfortable freestyle laps at one time.

1-11-12, Swim and Lifting

I swam 11 laps before we moved on to lifting weights, I split up my strokes, but I can't remember what order I did them... weights were good, we did a chest and triceps day.

Update... 1-7-12

Went to the gym on Thursday as was planned.  Then went back on Saturday for another lifting day.  Long story short, I tipped one of the weight plates over on my leg and it HURTS!
Also, FINALLY got my watch back working again and can upload my summaries.

Zumba

I'm getting a little better at the Kinect Zumba... it isn't as intimidating as it once was, although I still find myself laughing and having to stop to figure out what I'm doing wrong.
Anyways, that was yesterday and today I'm off to get in the pool to swim, really swim, for the first time since the race last July... and then do a little weights.

Happy 2012

Hmmm... it's the 3rd already!
Took a couple days off of working out to take down the Christmas decorations and play with the kiddos!  Today I did my Kinect Zumba and we may go to the gym later... It wasn't my idea to go today, I want to go tomorrow but due to scheduling conflicts...
On another note, I haven't made my list of resolutions for this year, or made my budget...  Lots to do!