[Girl♥Health]: Daily Workout Stats

Type of Workout: Walk around the neighborhood with Finn, and run/walk on the treadmill.
Duration: more than 35 min.
Calories Burned: no idea
Description: 1 mile walk with Finn, 1 mile run on treadmill.  Walk on treadmill.

Today's workout was a little uncharacteristic in that I forgot to keep track of anything, took a pretty big break between my walk with Finn and my run on the treadmill, and used my workout more for stress relief than because I actually wanted to work out.

Whatever works, right?

[Girl♥Health]: Daily Workout Stats

Type of Workout:  Walk around the neighborhood with Finn, and run on the treadmill.
Duration:  32 min
Calories Burned:  139 cal.
Description:  1 mile walk with Finn, .75 mile run on treadmill.  Stretch.

It's yet another slow start Monday (why is it impossible for me to begin the week with a strong workout?), and I only ran 3/4 of a mile.  But I did get a mile walk in with Finn before it started to rain, so there's a silver lining to it.

I spent a bit longer stretching today since, after the 2 mile walk Nate and I did yesterday (when I was wearing some less-than appropriate foot wear), my shins were a little tight.  It reminded me that I haven't yet begun to incorporate back stretches and strengthening into my workouts.  Maybe that's something I'll concentrate on this week.

All in all, a pretty standard morning.  Until my instant oatmeal exploded all over the microwave.  But that's another tale for another day.

[Girl♥Health]: Daily Workout Stats

Type of Workout:  Walk around the neighborhood with Finn, and run on the treadmill.
Duration:  35 min
Calories Burned:  184 cal.
Description:  1 mile walk with Finn 1 mile run on treadmill.

I don't know why, but today's run felt great.  My pace is getting quicker without me even realizing it, and I'm less exhausted after running a mile.  Plus, I've discovered the awesomeness of listening to audiobooks while running -- makes the time fly so fast.

Right now it's "The Hunger Games".  I tried to read it once before for my bookclub, but a bunch of stuff happened and I never got to finish it.  Now, because the movie is coming out next month (I think), I really do have to finish it.  But I've got a bunch of other stuff to read and free time when I'm running -- voila!

Best idea ever.

I'll take Finn on a second walk this afternoon, so I'll add that to these daily stats after it happens.

[Girl♥Health]: Daily Workout Stats

Type of Workout:  Walk and run on the treadmill.
Duration:  27 min
Calories Burned:  168 cal.
Description:  1 mile walk on treadmill, .5 mile run on treadmill.

I got sort of a late start on the day; woke up nearly an hour after I intended to.  And between all the things I have on my to-do list today -- Stratejoy work, grocery shopping, a conference call, errands, planning for my trip with my sister next month -- I cut my run short so I could get started.

I'll try to fit in a secondary workout (or I'll just take Finn for a walk) later this afternoon, but for now it's off to the shower and then getting to work!

[Girl♥Health]: Daily Workout Stats

Type of Workout:  Walk and run on the treadmill, and a walk around the neighborhood with Finn.
Duration:  54 min.
Calories Burned:  236 cal.
Description:  .5 mile walk on treadmill, 1 mile run on treadmill.  Then a 1.25 mile walk with Finn.

What I think I love most about running is that it's a form of instant gratification:  If what I want is to run a mile, than I can make that happen immediately.  In that way, running is such a positive cycle -- it's so easy to accomplish your goal if you just push yourself, and then when you do accomplish that goal, you want to do it even more.  Maybe it's like that with all things, but with running, it's just so much more obvious.

I didn't intend to run a mile today.  I was going to be lazy [again] and only run half of it -- especially since I'm working from home today and needed to get to it.  But then there was the music and the adrenaline and pace, and sooner or later, the mile was done.

Love it when that happens.

[Girl♥Health]: Daily Workout Stats

Type of Workout:  Walk around neighborhood with Finn, finished up on treadmill.  Followed by a run on the treadmill.
Duration:  48 min.
Calories Burned:  216 cal.
Description:  1 mile walk around the neighborhood, 1 mile walk on treadmill, half a mile run on treadmill.

My workout question today is this: how do you feel about doing less one day (i.e. not running as long or far) than you did the day before?  Is this okay, since you're ultimately in control of your own workouts and there's really no Exercise Police who're going to come around and scold you for not going as hard.  Or is this something you should try and avoid doing, simply because you should keep pushing yourself, especially if the doing less comes from a place of laziness.

I obviously already know the answer to this.

I'm just looking for someone to tell me I wasn't a lazy ass today for running only a half mile instead of the full mile I know I'm capable of.

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[Girl♥Health]: Daily Workout Stats

Type of Workout:  Walk around the neighborhood with Finn, then on the treadmill.  Pilates at home.
Duration:  1hr (and 2 min)
Calories Burned:  at least 174 cal. (not sure how much I burned during pilates)
Description: 1 mile walk with Finn, followed by a 1 mile walk on the treadmill.  Finished up with 20 min of the basic Malibu Pilates workout.

After about 10 days of not working out because of a cold Nate gave me, I started back today pretty easy -- I definitely decided to do Pilates instead of breaking myself back in with a run.  Unfortunately, a mile into my walk with Finn it started to drizzle, and since neither he nor I felt like a chilly walk in the rain this morning (actually, Finn never feels like a walk in the rain.  Poor guy hates it.), I cut it short, came home, and finished my 2 miles on the treadmill.  Pilates, as usual, followed.  And the great (read: really not great) thing about Pilates is that, if you stop doing it regularly, even just for a little while, getting back at it is like starting all over again.  Core-weakened, muscles flimsy. 

In other words, pathetic.

But it was nice to work out again, to get back to a healthy routine.  And speaking of, I know I haven't posted my January action plan and, since it's nearly the end of the month anyway, I'm not going to.  We'll pick it up again in February, kay?

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[Girl♥Health]: Daily Workout Stats

Type of Workout:  Walk around the neighborhood with Finn
Duration:  29 min.
Calories Burned:  100 cal.
Description: 1.3 mile walk.

This is just a bad morning all around.  There's no particular reason, except that I'm super irritable and I have shin splints.  So Finn's walk was cut pretty short today, and I'm sitting at my desk at home totally not in the mood to do pilates. 

Any suggestions for lifting yourself out of a moody funk?

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[Girl♥Health]: Daily Workout Stats

Type of Workout:  Walk and run on treadmill (at 7am)
Duration:  56 min.
Calories Burned:  at least 139 cal. (accidentally turned the treadmill off halfway through and restarted the calorie count
Description:  2 mile walk on the treadmill, followed by a 1 mile run on the treadmill. Stretch.

I was not feeling the run today and sort of dragged my butt through it.  Mornings are always tough for me.  Plus, when the workout is particularly blah, it's so much easier to cut corners, you know?  Especially when the alternative is sleeping in for an extra hour.

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[Girl♥Health]: Daily Workout Stats

Type of Workout:  Walk around the neighborhood with Finn, and pilates at home
Duration:  1 hr. (and 2 min)
Calories Burned:  at least 159 (not sure how much I burned during pilates)
Description: 2.1 mile walk, followed by 20 min of the basic Malibu Pilates workout.

Pretty standard work-out.  I find myself wondering if I'll ever be able to do all the pilates positions and reps without stopping because my arms or legs feel like they're going to fall off.  That's a nice little goal to set, I think.

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[Girl♥Health]: Daily Workout Stats

Type of Workout:  Walk with Finn around the neighborhood; run on treadmill
Duration:  59 min.
Calories Burned:  276 cal.
Description:  2.1 mile walk with Finn, followed by a 1 mile run on the treadmill.  Cool-down walk and stretch.

The one mile run is still kind of a beast for me, but I'm hoping that by next week I can move up to running (no walking, no stopping) 1.5 miles.  I'm still pretty psyched every time I run the mile, especially since for the first half of it, I'm thinking, "OK, so maybe I won't run a mile today because God this is tiring!"  But then I push through and it happens and I do a mini-celebration (read: singing and dancing in the shower) afterward.  I'm a happy gal these days.

In case anyone is wondering, for my walks around the neighborhood, I'm using the free iMapMyRun app on my iPhone to keep track of distance, time and calories.  Does anyone else use this app?  If you do, are you liking it?  I can't figure out if it's accurate or not, and I know for sure that my treadmill isn't 100% accurate -- every 4 seconds or so, it'll get stuck for about 3-4 seconds before moving on, so I'm definitely running more than I intend, but that's fine with me.  If you use another app and you're liking it more, I'd love to hear about it!

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[Girl♥Health]: Daily Workout Stats

Type of Workout:  Walk around the neighborhood with Finn, and pilates at home
Duration:  1 hr. and 10 min.
Calories Burned:  at least 171 (not sure how much I burned during pilates)
Description: 2.2 mile walk, followed by 20 min of the basic Malibu Pilates workout.

This was a nice way to ease into the week. In keeping with that theme, I followed pilates with the most amazing bowl of yogurt ever consumed in the history of the world.  If you don't currently eat Saint Benoit yogurt, you need to hurry up and get on this train.  Especially if you live in Northern California, since it's completely local, sustainably produced, and you get a deposit back when you return their jars to them through your grocery store or their stand at local farmers markets.  It's also just absolutely delicious, and this is coming from someone who traditionally hasn't cared for any yogurt ever.

Yummy yogurt.

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[Girl♥Health]: Daily Workout Stats

Type of Workout:  Walk and run on treadmill; hike with Nate and Finn
Duration:  1 hr and 36 min.
Calories Burned:  at least 367
Description:  .5 mile warm-up walk, followed by a 1 mile run and .1 mile cool-down walk.  Then a 2.7 mile hike with Nate and Finn at the Sunol Regional Wilderness Reserve.

A couple of things felt extra nice today: 1) Sticking to my work-out routine even though it's a Saturday and I usually use that as an excuse not to, and 2) Getting outdoors and seeing "Little Yosemite" at Sunol Regional Wilderness.

It's been a great day, so far.

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[Girl♥Health]: Daily Workout Stats

Type of Workout:  Walk around the neighborhood with Finn, and pilates at home
Duration:  1 hr (and 2 min)
Calories Burned:  at least 145 (not sure how much I burned during pilates)
Description:  2.1 mile walk, followed by 20 min of the basic Malibu Pilates workout.

As I mentioned, I definitely skipped the run today and substituted in a 20 min Malibu Pilates workout.  Nate's mom recently got the Malibu Pilates bench and a few DVDs, so I decided to give one a try.  It is such a workout!  I couldn't even finish all the reps for each position and I just know I'm gonna be sore all over tomorrow, but it was a lot of fun (I love pilates to begin with) so I'm gonna stick with it.  Has anyone else ever tried it?  Did you like it as much as I did?

Though I haven't gotten my January workout action plan together yet, I think I'm gonna do pilates three days a week and run three days a week, that way I'm working a variety of muscles and hopefully won't get bored doing the same old thing.

In other news, my blisters still hurt.  Bastards.

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[Girl♥Health]: Daily Workout Stats

Type of Workout:  Walk and run on treadmill (at 7am)
Duration:  56 min.
Calories Burned:  339 cal.
Description:  2 mile walk on the treadmill, followed by a 1 mile run on the treadmill.  .1 mile cool down walk and stretch.

Do you know what my word of the day is today?  PAIN.  Pain, pain, pain, pain, PAIN.  And it's really a toss up as to what hurts more: my muscles (thighs mostly, though abs are putting up a fight too) which have not experienced this much consistent exercise since the end of November, or the humongous blister I have on the side of my foot right below my big toe.

Really, can you imagine how I'm walking right now?  I'm hobbling.  And yet still, still I want to exercise tomorrow.  But I'm thinking of resting on the running for a day.  Definitely doing the walk, but then trying some pilates or something instead.  Or back strengthening exercises.  Whichever.  Anything but smashing on my foot some more.

The really craptastic part is that I'm thinking this means I need to consider investing in better shoes.  I'm hopeful it's a fluke blister (because why now?  why not when I was running more consistently back in October?) since it's not like I'm rolling in cash right now, but if I get any more of these suckers, new shoes it is.

Got any favorite running shoes?

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[Girl♥Health]: Daily Workout Stats

Type of Workout:  Walk with Finn around the neighborhood; run on treadmill
Duration:  1 hour (and 2 min)
Calories Burned:  290 cal.
Description:  2.2 mile walk with Finn, followed by a 1 mile run on the treadmill.  Cool-down walk and stretch.

So today is sort of a mini-celebration day.  For one thing, it's my first day back working out after over a month of lazy-assing around.  And for another, this is the first time in my life that I've been able to run a mile straight without stopping to walk for a bit.

Happy dance!

I know, it's doesn't seem like that big of a deal, right?  Because I've done a 10k and a 5k and my high school had the most nightmarish of P.E. programs ever (although to be honest, I miss it now), but I've just never gotten through that mile without stopping at least once to rest and walk and catch my breath.  It's like having a mental block -- it's been a hurdle I've just had the hardest time overcoming.  It just goes to show how out of shape and unhealthy I've been.

But it's also this crazy sort of accomplishment that feeds a desire to keep going, you know?  So I'm looking forward to sitting down and thinking of my January action plan over the next couple of days.  I'll post that as soon as it's ready!

How are your workouts shaping up in the new year?

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[Girl♥Health]: Daily Workout Stats

Type of Workout:  Walk around the neighborhood with Finn the Dog
Duration:  45 min
Description:  Took a slightly different route today, but still a flat walk done at a brisk pace.

I'm getting a little bored with the normal walking route Finn and I take around the neighborhood, so I'm starting to take some divergent paths, walking along streets I've never even driven on, seeing houses and people I've never seen before.  Each day we walk, we go a little farther.

I'm even starting to feel less guilty about substituting my normal runs for these casual meanderings.

And the walk today also gave me the opportunity to really appreciate the fall, an added benefit, even though it's pretty mild here in Northern California.

"Come on, mom!  What are you waiting for?"

[Girl♥Health]: Daily Workout Stats

Type of Workout:  Walk around the neighborhood with Finn the Dog and dancing around for 2 hours at the Jack's Mannequin show
Duration:  2.5 hrs
Description:  Again, a flat walk, but done at a brisk pace.  And then the dancing.  Ohhh, the dancing.

I think I've turned a corner in the way I talk to myself when it comes to exercise.  Maybe it's not a sharp corner -- more of a gentle one, really -- but I think it's important anyway.  What's been going on with me lately is that it's been hard to keep up the workout routine in the face of my back issues, a cold, and an Advocacy Training I've been helping the org I intern with plan for the better part of 6 months (said Training happened this past weekend and was inspiring).  I let my exhaustion, laziness, business, and lack of motivation get in the way.  And then I berate myself over it.

So I've been thinking about the way I talk to myself in my head.  I'm not crazy, we all do it (right?  right?!).  But when it comes to exercise and the fact that I haven't been running every day, the things I say to myself seem to run along the lines of "What's wrong with you?" and "You're a failure," and "You knew you weren't gonna be able to see this through."

I can be such a bitch sometimes.

But then I realized today that, though I wasn't running, I was doing something physical each day, mostly in the form of walking my dog.  But it's something, and that's really what my goal has been these past few months: to do something physical every day; to get in the groove of it all.  And so maybe I should be a little nicer to myself about it all, you know?  That's not to say that I'm going to stop running and pilates and do just the bare minimum.  But it does mean that I need to listen to my body and, if I'm just too tired to run the miles that day, it's okay that I just take my dog on a walk instead.

It's the little things, the little realizations, that are making the big differences for me today.

[Girl♥Health]: Daily Workout Stats

Type of Workout:  Walk around the neighborhood with Finn the Dog
Duration:  45 min.
Description:  Totally flat walk, but did it at a nice brisk pace with the added workout of having to control of medium size dog who likes to lunge at cats and squirrels and sniff at everything.

Sunshine.  Finn.  Music.  My neighborhood in the middle of the day.

Wonderful.

[Girl♥Health]: Daily Workout Stats

Type of Workout:  Treadmill - run/walk
Duration:  15 min.
Calories Burned:  112.9 cal.
Description:  5 min warm up walk, next 9 min alternate between 1 min walking and 2 min running, 1 min cool-down walk. 

So the flu I thought I was coming down with turned out to be a vicious chest cold instead.  The congestion made it nearly impossible to run without coughing, and I decided to just rest of up for the week instead of trying it.  I feel better now, but today was definitely a sloooooow start to getting in the running groove.  Hopefully I'll be able to pick it up this week and get back on track.

I feel like so much of October has been spent "getting back on track".  It's a little disappointing, but I'm trying to not let it get to me.  I'm going to focus instead on the fact that I'm still at it, still trying to get healthy, and still not giving up.