Van Der Werf Fitness Journal

I didn't make much time to exercise over the weekend, but this week I've been keeping up with my new running regime.

Tuesday:
5 min walk; 5 min run; 3 min walk; 5 min run; 3 min walk; 5 min run; 5 min walk
I also did ball crunches and two sets of arm exercises with 7 pound weights

Thursday:
5 min walk; 8 min run; 3 min walk; 8 min run; 5 min walk
And more ball crunches and arm exercises with 7 and 10 pound weights.

My new motivation technique is to promise myself a new iTunes song download for each workout. Then I get double the motivation, as the new music gets me going in the next workout too. I'm finding that techno is particularly inspiring to me in running/moving.

How is everyone else doing?

Monday:
2200 calories, no exercise (but we finished our Christmas shopping!)
I have to remember how icky cheap Chinese food makes me feel. Both Bob and I felt off after lunch at the place near my office.

Tuesday:
1600 calories, 30 min walking.

Wednesday:
1700 calories.
I re-started the Couch-to-5K plan in the hopes of renewing my running floon. I chose to start in week 5, so my workout was:
Walk 5 min; Run 1/2 mile; Walk 1/4 mile; Run 1/2 mile; Walk 1/4 mile; Run 1/2 mile; Cooldown walk. I also did 75 ball crunches.
I felt pretty good about the running, as I was able to maintain a good 6mph pace most of the time. I'm having a lot of trouble keeping track of my loops around the tiny track though, so I may end up returning to a minutes-based system.

Keep up the good work everyone! 40 minutes on the elliptical sounds like a tough workout, Dave!

Thursday
1600 Calories
20 min brisk walking (~3.5 MPH) at the gym
20 min very brisk walking (~4.5 MPH) at the gym
60 Ball crunches

Friday:
1800 Calories; no exercise

Saturday:
1800 Calories; 1 hour hike in the woods.

Sunday:
2000 Calories; 1.5 hour hike in the woods.

I thought about going to the gym this weekend, but the weather was comparitively warm, and everything was covered in ice from Friday's storm, and it seemed a crime to spend any time inside that I didn't have to. So we did a lot of hiking around Vaughn woods instead, and it was great.

I hope the rest of you are doing well and staying active!

Tuesday:
35 min walk (in the freezing cold) at lunch
1750 Calories (24%F/56%C/20%P)

Wednesday:
35 min walk (again, in the cold - I need better gloves!) at lunch
1914 Calories (26%F/57%C/19%P)

Dave - I hope your shoulder feels better! Good work keeping up the weightlifting.

Mom - I'm impressed you can get out there and walk for so long in the snow. I'm glad you have good boots and Molly to keep you company. Keep up the good work!

This weekend involved lots of tasty and indulgent food, and only casual walking around during our mini-vacation away. I tried to jump back on the bandwagon Monday, however.

I wasn't that enthused about going to the gym (I miss being addicted to exercise, but I know I just need to re-establish the habit). I decided the best thing would be to do a variety of things to keep my attention:

Walked 15 min
Ran .25 mile fast
Walked .25 mile
(then repeated the quarter mile intervals for a total of four)
Rowing Machine 5 minutes (my first time - it was tough!)
Elliptical 12 min (1 mile)
50 Crunches
Stretching

I feel much better today having gotten exercise. I hope everyone else is doing well and keeping up the activity!

Good going Mom! I'm impressed you can keep up the walking in this colder weather. Great work!

Tuesday
Exercise: 30 min walk (in the freezing cold, eek!)
Food: 1880 Calories

Wednesday
Exercise: None
Food: 1874 Calories

Thursday
Exercise: 45 min walking @4MPH at the Y
Food: 1695 Calories

Those ball crunches I did on Monday really kicked in on Wednesday - it's the most sore I've been in a long time. It's painful but in the good way that tells you your body is getting stronger.

Good luck to everyone this weekend. I will be travelling so I may not get a lot of activity, but we'll see what can be squeezed in!

Monday's Exercise:
About 40 minutes total of alternating running and walking (more walking) around the track.
50 ball crunches (and I can tell I haven't done situps in a while!)

Monday's Food:
1838 Calories (42%Fat, 41%Carb, 17%Protein)

Sunday's Exercise:
40 min walk around the town (up and down some steep hills)

Sunday's Food:
2062 Calories (30% Fat 54% Carb 16% Protein)

Friday
No exercise
1890 Calories (32% Fat/47% Carb/21% Protein)

Saturday
3 miles @ 6mph
1 mile walking
Stretching
1883 Calories (27% Fat 63% Carb 10% Protein)

We visited the Y again. This time I warmed up by walking around the track, then ran one mile as fast as I could (that's about 20 times around the small track according to the posted conversion), then walked for about 5 minutes, then repeated twice for a total of three miles run (and probably one more with all the walking). I did all three miles at around a 6mph pace, which was challenging but not impossible. I did the third mile on the treadmill, just to see how it compared, and boy was it boring and maddening. I just keep staring at the numbers on the screen and time seems to slow down to an agonizing crawl. In the future I will try to stick to the track - I just need a better way to keep track of my loops around so I don't keep forgetting how many I've done! I did start to get a bit of a queasy feeling in my stomach in the last fifth of a mile, each time, but it went away as soon as I stopped and drank water. I can definitely feel the muscles in my legs this morning!

Good work Mom and Dave! It's nice to see you guys posting here again too! Keep up the good work!

Bob and I finally de-slugified ourselves and acchieved physical activity yesterday, after what feels like three months of being couch potatoes. In other words, we joined the local YMCA!

It's a pretty good deal, and we get to visit either of two facilities (one has a pool, the other has an indoor track). I was pleasantly surprised that running after my hiatus felt relatively easy, and my cardio fitness had not completely deserted me. I'm very excited about there being an indoor track, even though it takes 21 laps to make a mile. But there will never be any waiting for a treadmill to keep me from running. I suspect I will still go on the mill sometimes for speed workouts and that sort of thing, but I much prefer solid ground.

I'm hoping to add some weight training into my routine, as well as core training (they have fitness balls, and I have one at home) and stretching. There is a class called "Yogalates" that sounds interesting, which I might try some night.

We'll probably aim to go three or four times a week. If I could do three or four miles each time and get in a short (15-20 min) weight/core workout, I would be very happy. I need to do some research on what the best machines/exercises would be to serve my purposes.

Thursday's Activity:
45 min walk
15 min run (varrying between 5.5 and 6 mph on the treadmill)

Thursday's Food:
1622 Calories (26 Fat/57 Carb/18 Protein)