Rearrangements

OK...so let's write about something new...running...

The Nike Women's half marathon is in about 10 weeks, so after a couple of weeks of kinda-sorta running on the mill and making a half-hearted effort to do some strength training (which I've decided is KEY to running hills...I'm sure I'm the first to make this discovery, no?), I decided this week to get back at it...kinda, sorta...

First, Walter and I rearranged some furniture in what we have, in the past, called the "office." Pretty much the "office" was a mishmash of a room with no particular purpose. It housed the computer, most of our books, and the treadmill....and at one point, a piano, which we have since gotten rid of since nobody played it, and any other random crap that needs a place to be.

The bad part of that is that the "office" is also the room adjacent to the pool, so it gets a fair amount of traffic.

But we did some rearranging of furniture, got rid of some of the random crap, and...TA DA.

Now it houses the computer and book shelves one one side of it, and a "workout room" complete with weight bench, hand weights, treadmill, and TRX on the other side.

Stylish. No?

How does IKEA photograph rooms and get everything to fit in? The rooms must be the size of postage stamps. This one is, decidedly, not. 

This all started with Walter. One of the things that he has wanted to do for about a year is move the weights out of the garage (we have a free-standing garage that is not attached to the house. It's pretty small for an alleged two car garage, and we have mostly used it as a storage shed), and into the house where, he would argue, we would be more likely to use them.

One of the "discussions" we have had is where to put said weight bench IN THE HOUSE. Walter wanted to put it in the front room (the first room guests walk into when they enter the house). I pointed out to him that we did not live in a bachelor-pad-frat-house, and weights in the living room is not very chic or Feng Shui. Walter, being rather pragmatic, claimed that we'd be more likely to actually USE the weights if there were in front of us every day.

Really? Right in FRONT? I think. No.

So, moving them into the "office" was a compromise. Walter moved the weights inside when I was "on the road" in Napa. When I returned, we started to rearrange the furniture. My goal has been to get the office/workout room to look stylish. Can this be done?

Truth is, since the weights have been moved into the house, I've used them three times. Care to guess how many times I lifted weights in the garage in the last year? I'd say, I've doubled the usage....maybe tripled.

Once I had the weights in the house, I realized I needed a weight lifting plan, so I started using an iPad Ap called "Fitness HD" (I think the HD is for High Def...which makes it an iPad Ap. I'm pretty sure the same Ap exists for an iPhone as well). The Exercise Base (database) has just about every strength training exercise you could think of...well, probably not every one, but it has lots.

I have not, as of yet, asked my "Personal Trainer" any questions...He doesn't seem to have a name, so I think I'll call him  Jethro.

I really have no idea how the food and body tracker works. I tried to figure it out (meaning: I looked at it for 60 seconds one day), but whatev's. I use Loseit to track calorie intake and outtake (is that a word) anyway.

Geez I use a lot of tracking devices.* I could use this to track workouts and meals, but mostly I just want someone/thing to give me a workout plan. I need that.

These are some of the workouts I've looked at. Mostly I've been using the "Fitness: Keep it Up" (watch it out there... I know what you are thinking) exercises because they include running and light weights.

So...what workouts have I done this past week?

Friday (last week) 10 minute uphill walk warmup - 40 minutes strength training, 3 mile run (mill)
Saturday - 15 minute uphill walk warmup, 30 minutes weights, 3.5 mile run (mill)
Tuesday - 10 mile uphill walk warmup - Then Betty texted me and so we went to run at Balboa Park where I ran 4.4 miles.

I'd say that moving the weights indoors was a good move...but I'll probably still be moving furniture around for about another week or so.

I'll be checking in on your blogs again soon. What the heck is going on out there?
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Overkill?
* Lose it (Calories in and out)
* Daily Mile (workouts and mileage)
* Garmin Connect (same purpose as Daily Mile, but I have to use this to sync workouts with Daily Mile)
* Hefferblog (duh)
* Nike+ (only occassionally...like on Tuesday when I forgot my Garmin. I do NOT like using this.