Week 1: Completed!

I finished my first week of workouts on Saturday! I was supposed to do three days of the circuit I posted earlier, plus a workout video of some sort in between (I chose a half hour of yoga, since it is relaxing and stretches me out). Yay for me!

Now the real work begins. Tonight (my last day before my gym membership starts) I have to do the following:

• 20 push-ups


• 35 stomach crunches


• 25 jumping jacks


• 20 lunges with each leg


• Run in place for 1 minute


• March in place for 1 minute


• Rest for 30 seconds (drink some water)


• Repeat this circuit twice, for a total of three times

This one intimidates me a little more than the previous, since many things are doubled. But I'm going to suck it up and do it this afternoon, hopefully. One of the challenges for me this week is going to be scheduling in workouts, because I volunteered to be on stage crew for Andrew's show (he's stage managing), and I'll be busy every night this week except Friday. Regardless, I have to fit in three circuit workouts (besides tonight's), along with another exercise video. Here's the gym circuit for this week:

• Treadmill--15 minutes (alternate 3 min. walking and 30 sec. jogging repeatedly until 15 minutes has passed)


• Rowing machine--4 minutes on a setting of 3


• Bicycle--5 minutes at level 5


• Elliptical--5 minutes on cardio setting


• 20 push-ups


• 30 stomach crunches


• STRETCH

So that's my assignment for the week...I might not have much time to keep you updated this week, but I'll recap at some point. :)

New Shoes!

Hear me out, this is actually a great story. Yesterday, my boyfriend Andrew and I went to New York to see the "Meet the Oscars" exhibit at Grand Central and review an Off-Broadway show for work. While we were on the train from New Haven, a woman sat down next to us and we started talking about movies and wedding bands and other miscellaneous things. After a while she started doing something on her phone and I started telling Andrew about how I needed good running shoes if I was going to start training for my 5k. All of a sudden the woman (I never did get her name) interrupted us and said that I had to go to this place called Paragon Sports if I wanted to get a good pair of shoes to start, since the wrong shoes can cause injury.

So, after we got our pictures taken with a real live Oscar, we realized that we had about two hours to kill and decided to check out the store our train buddy had recommended. When we got there, I found someone to help, and she told me to take off my shoes, roll up my pants and get on the treadmill, running naturally. She then analyzed my gait, using a video taken of the backs of my legs. It was really cool and interesting...I found out I'm a front striker (the balls of my feet hit the ground first) and my legs basically stay straight (instead of my feet rolling in), both of which are actually really good habits to have, especially naturally, since it makes running more efficient and faster. I'll admit, I got a tiny ego boost even though I didn't have much to do with it. :)

I had no idea the gait analysis thing even existed before that, so it was pretty awesome. After she figured out what kind of runner I was, she brought out pairs of shoes for me to try on, and long story short, I bought a $100 pair of running shoes, which will be totally worth it if it makes my training easier; having a comfy pair of shoes will mean I have one less thing to worry about or distract me from my goal.

Update

Workout #2: not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Of course, I had my friend Charity here rocking out to 90s music and cheering me on. But somehow doing the same exercises as the other day did not hurt my muscles nearly as much as, say, walking down the stairs today. Why is that?

So...I'm doing a 5k in April

Tuesday started out innocently enough. Got to work, said hello to everyone, decided I should try and set a workout goal for the Biggest Loser competition at my company. So I sparked (our internal work version of IM) the Biggest Loser "coach" at my building, Natalie, to see if she could help me set a reasonable goal for myself.

Somehow, 10 minutes later, I had been talked into training for a 5k and already registered for one in Bloomfield, CT, on April 9.

You have to understand that I have never been able to keep to a workout schedule in my life. I have always been fairly good at watching what I eat when I want to lose weight, but I am TERRIBLE at adding exercise. So just trying to go to the gym a few times a week seemed a little daunting, not to mention running 3.1 miles in a row. I think the longest I've run before is, oh, 300 feet or so.

But I digress. The gist of the story is, I have 6 1/2 weeks to get myself into shape. I don't have any time goals set, I just want to have the endurance to run (not walk) the entire 5k without stopping. Natalie has been kind enough to make me a detailed workout calendar, which I'm much more likely to stick to than just a general "I should go to the gym sometime." If you're curious, here is this week's assignment:

Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - Sunday, February 27, 2011

To Do 3 Times This Week:

• 10 push-ups


• 25 stomach crunches


• 20 jumping jacks


• 10 lunges with each leg


• Run in place for 30 seconds


• March in place for 30 seconds


• Rest for 30 seconds (drink some water)


• Repeat this circuit twice, for a total of 3 times

I did my first workout Tuesday night. I was a little winded at the end, but it seemed totally doable, and yesterday I wasn't in that much pain when I woke up. "Piece of cake," my foolish brain thought. But as the day went on, my muscles started whining, and so tonight I have my first workout after my first workout, which will be rough.

I'll keep you posted.