Friday, June 7, 2013

Boot Camp Month - Week 1

I'm toward the end of week 1 of boot camp and this is what I've done so far

June Workouts
June 1 - 7 mile run/10:06 pace
June 2 - 3.5 mile run/11:00 pace (hills) and 90 minute CorePower Yoga 2 at CorePower
June 4 - Bootcamp at SWEAT
June 6 - Bootcamp at SWEAT & Run at Lake BP 3 miles
June 7 - 2 hour ride (later today w/Mik, Betty, and Seven. The crew rides AGAIN!)

June Weight
June 1  - 163.5
June 7 - 166

Here's what I've learned so far:
  1. I am sore. Adding in the bootcamp element is a completely necessary part of bootcamp month. I haven't done any weight/resistance training since I stopped working out with Kelly a couple months ago. I'm glad I'm doing it again.
  2. Doing yoga for the last two months is saving my ASS as far as the bootcamp workouts go. Nobody is more surprised that I like Hot or Corepower Yoga more than I am. You no doubt remember back to all my bitching and whining about haaaaaaaaaaating the heeeeeeeeet. I don't complain like that ONLY on the blog. I'm a real joy to be around in the heat in person as well.
  3. I did not do nearly enough cardio this week. Not enough cardio = not enough calories burned.
  4. Also related to #3 above - substituting crackers and chips for wine will NOT result in weight loss. I'd be better off consuming 100 "empty" calories drinking wine than consuming 500 "empty" calories by polishing off a bag of Cheez-its. 
So that's it for now. Now for a two hour ride... I haven't been on my bike in months. This should be interesting!



Sunday, June 2, 2013

Boot Camp Month

Oh, hello there blog-o-world! How are ya?

Is there a blog world any more? See...not only have I been a very, very, very bad blog-writer, I haven't even been a good blog reader lately. ((bows head in shame)).

In truth, I've composed MANY, MANY, mental blog entries in the last several months. Blogs in which I ponder the whether or not hot yoga will prepare me for running in the hot and humid SoCal summer, blogs in which I make witty commentary about being married to the same dude for 21 years, blogs in which I comment on the nutty things that regularly happen when one teaches at a two-year college, blogs in which I boast about the accomplishments of both my amazing kids, followed by additional blogs in which I question my ability to successfully parent two teenagers. 

I have an almost finished blog that I REALLY WROTE about the San Diego Half Marathon last March. For some reason, I never published it. I'm not sure why. It's not a bad race report. It certainly was a fabulous event... I'm sure I'll finish it and post it eventually. 

Here's one pre-race photo of Me, Betty, Mik and Tak (Kat's hefferblog name)
But lamenting on the myriad of reasons why I haven't written recently is NOT the reason I am writing today.

The real reason is that I'm making a BIG change in my life for the month of June. June is BOOT CAMP MONTH!

Here are the rules of BOOT CAMP MONTH
  • Workout at least twice a day five days a week, and at least once a day on the other two days.
  • Alternate between hot yoga, running, boot camp, spin class, or cycling.
  • Eat well
  • No alcohol
  • Be accountable
You read it right. A whole friggen month* with no mimosas, no margaritas, NO WINE. The whole focus will be to be on getting into the most kick-ass shape of my soon-to-be-51-year-old life.
I know... Scary

Why?

Well...I've been thinking about it for awhile. It started with my last doctor's visit last August (yes... it took me almost a year to do this. Don't judge.) Apparently when I turned 50, I became more interesting to my actual doctor, so for the first time in my 7 or 8 year relationship with this particular doctor's office, I had an appointment with THE doctor and not the physician's assistant (truth be told, I prefer the assistant).

There were a number of things that I didn't enjoy about that visit, most of them having to do with the doctor's manner. She was rather rude, abrupt, and made some judgements about me that I thought were unfair given that she'd only known me for, oh I don't know, about 10 minutes.

In short, she told me that I should lose some weight. I told her that I could run a half marathon (and wondered if she could) and that I really didn't focus on the scale.

Then she asked me about my eating and drinking habits. You know, the kinds of questions that doctors are supposed to ask, and when I honestly answered revealing how much and how often I drink, she said something like.

"You are consuming a lot of empty calories. You know if you stopped drinking, you'd probably lose 10 or 15 pounds without really trying, since you are so active. (and I swear to effing-god, she said that last part with a fair amount of snark...as if she didn't really believe that I ran 10-15 miles a week and at that point, I was training for a century, so I was also logging about 50 miles a week on a bike...grrrrrrrrr)

Needless to say, I'll be finding a new doctor, but her comment sorta stuck with me.

If I stopped drinking, I'd drop 10-15 pounds.

Then this happened.
Mik got me interested in CorePower Yoga, and suddenly I became addicted to it. I've been trying to go at least twice a week.

And this happened.
Elsie goes here...and it was such a good deal, so I bought it. Then Elsie broke her ankle, so we didn't go. The Groupon expires in July, so I need to start using the sessions I paid for. I HATE not using a Groupon.
But the final straw was this
I was going to personal trainer (Kelly)  last fall, but that became too costly to continue. Then Kelly started her own personal training business and is doing a June Boot Camp.
I figure the fitness-gods were conspiring, so June is officially BOOT CAMP month. I have a whole calendar worked out that includes Kelly's Boot Camp on Tuesday and Thursday. Spin classes on Monday and Wednesday. Yoga at least 3 days a week. Running at least 3 days a week. Weekend rides AND I'm taking up THE doctor on her challenge... No alcohol. Let's just say that I am testing her hypothesis.

And I decided to add some accountability by posting regularly about my workouts AND my weight.

June Workouts
June 1 - 7 mile run/10:06 pace
June 2 - 3.5 mile run/11:00 pace (hills) and Yoga

June Weight
June 1  - 163.5**

_____________________
* full disclosure. It's not really a full month. BOOT camp month starts today and goes to June 27, which is my and Walter's 21st anniversary. 

**Kelly took measurements, but I didn't write them down. I'll get them from her on Tuesday and post them as well.