23 December 2006

Just sitting around killing time.

Hubby had to work for a couple of hours this morning, so I'm waiting for him to come home and we are off to do some final Christmas stuff.

I have used this time alone to work out my training schedule and my "diet" for next month. Note: I'm starting the "diet" today but the training doesn't really begin till next Monday. I'll just be continuing my workouts this week. Note 2: the word "diet" is being used as in the way I will eat. I will not be dieting in the traditional definition of the word as I don't believe dieting works.

I've been focusing on eating whole foods for the past few months and I've got my daily diet into a state where there is very little processed foods at all. Basically only my cereal in the morning could be considered processed. Oh yeah, and the laughing cow cheese that I snack on (god, I love that stuff). Everything else is fruit, veggies, and lean animal products.

When I started this I initially dropped a couple of pounds and was real excited thinking I was on to something. Ummm, yeah, not so much. For the past 2 weeks my weight has been holding steady or inching up slightly. Bummer. But this morning I sat down and analyzed what I was eating and came to the sad realization that I'm just eating too much. Granted it's all good food, but too much is too much, whether it's twinkies or grapes. So I sat and tweaked my diet just a little to get the calories down and get the protein/fat/carb ratios where I want them. Luckily it wasn't hard, a little more of this a little less of that and boom, there it is!!!

As for my workouts, I'm working on a 4 week rotation plan so I've only planned out January. At the end of January I will reevaluate how my plan worked, change what needs to be changed and move on to February. As it stands I've got 3 swims a week, 3 weight training sessions a week, 2 runs, and 1 bike. Saturday and Sunday will be double workout days so during the week there is only 1 workout per day, none lasting longer than 1 hour.

I think in February I'll cut the swimming back to 2x a week and increase the running and biking. I think this will work out well and I'm looking forward to it. I'll post my weekly schedule on the sidebar as well as what I actually accomplish. I'm shooting for 90% compliance rate.

Note: I would start the training this week but my tattoo is still healing. You're not supposed to soak it in water for 10 days after you get it. The way my schedule is set up I'll be swimming 18 days after it was done. It should be all nice and healed by then.

I guess that's all I have to say for now. Hubby should be home soon and we'll be heading out. If I don't get back, I hope everyone has a safe, and happy Christmas...

22 December 2006

Small rant and some random thoughts.

First, my rant. I was watching Larry King last night (I know, that will amaze some of you) and he had Dr. Oz and Dr. Weil on. Well, he also had the Biggest Loser, Eric, and they were talking about weight loss, fat, blah, blah, blah.......

One thing that struck me, and kind of pissed me off, is their differing views. Dr. Oz's view is that obesity is basically self-inflicted. Dr. Weil seems to thinks it's a great conspiracy between the government (telling farmers how to use their land), the companies (making things that are no good for us) and the advertising agencies (tricking us into buying and eating these things). Basically his view is, it's not your fault you're obese. It's not??? Does the government force you to eat those things??? NO!!! Do the companies not make healthy things?? NO!!!

Let me say I HATE the victim attitude in anything, but especially in obesity because yeah, it is your fault. No one made you sit in front of that TV and stuff your face with Cheetos for the past 10 years. I know exactly why I have 30 lbs to lose and it has nothing to do with the government or food manufactures or even ad agencies. It's ALL due to choices I made. Bottom line, end of story.

Dr. Weil says that many people can't afford to eat well. Well, let's examine that for a moment. I eat very well, whole grains, lean protein, lots and lots of fruits and veggies. I spend approximately $20.00 a week on the perishables and once a month I spend maybe $100 for meat, pasta, rice, etc. That's less than $200 a month for me and hubby to eat. I should add that I do not shop sales (not that patient) and I will pay more for prepared stuff (frozen chopped veggies; skinless, boneless; packaged salad stuff; etc.). I also shop at the health food store for some of my stuff which is expensive. Now, if someone was willing to put a little more effort into grocery shopping they could easily feed a family of 4 healthy food on what I spend. AND, as Dr. Weil himself notes, eating this way reduces your risk of disease and illness. Isn't that a big savings in the long run????

Dr. Oz on the other hand has very simple, easy to follow rules you should live by. Walk!! Strength train!!! NO trans fats!!! Nothing with more than 4 grams of sugar!!! That is basically it. You don't need to buy any special vitamins (Dr. Weil!!!!) or have any fancy equipment or eat anything exotic. Just pay attention to what goes in your mouth and move your butt.

This of course plays into the larger problem with people. No one wants to take responsibility for themselves. 'I can't get promoted because the boss is sexist.' Did it ever occur to you that you can't get promoted because you're not that good?? 'You wouldn't say that if I was white.' No, the color of your skin has nothing to do with you being an idiot. 'I get treated this way because I'm an immigrant' No, you get treated that way because you're a lazy, fat idiot.

People, grow up. Take responsibility for yourselves. Quit whining and trying to find someone to blame.

Okay, I'll stop now.
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I just read a blog and he said,
"it doesn't matter what you eat or how you exercise between Christmas and New Years.
It matters how you eat and exercise between New Year's and Christmas !"
I love that!!!
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You know, I consider myself to be pretty smart, but I wasn't smart enough to get today off :(
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Our lab is located near the freeway and there is a real problem with the homeless living underneath the overpasses. We frequently see some really weird people walking by. Hell, we have really weird people come in the lab!! Anyway, the whole time I've been writing this there have been these 2 homeless folks with, what appears to be, all their worldly possessions fighting like hell across the street. There was screaming, yelling, throwing of things, walking off in a huff, everything. It appears now that they have made up. It's good to see happy endings. :)
Well, I think that's it. As long as I'm here I should get some dishes done.

21 December 2006

So There!!

Well, Nancy threw one of my favorite quotes right back at me - Ouch!!! (Thanks Nancy, I needed that).

But it made me realize what the real, underlying problem is (at least in my head). It's that 70.3!! You have no idea how that scares me. I think, deep down, I was looking for a way to put off doing this.

Well, no more. I'm going to give it a real shot. Over the next week or so I'm going to work up a solid plan for weight loss and Honu training. I will face my fear and I will conquer it. As my tattoo says; Do or do not. There is no try. So I will succeed, I have no choice.

TriFeist had a post a few days ago about skills she uses to get her workouts done, she calls it Let's make a deal. I have a couple of those tricks that I'm going to have to sharpen when I begin this challenge.

One thing I do is the 10 minute rule. I'll tell myself I'll just do it for 10 minutes then stop. Well, if I can get through 10 minutes I can get through the whole workout.

Another thing I do is put my workout clothes on as soon as I get up before I even think what I'm doing. I've tried that sleeping in your workout clothes but that just weirds me out.

Oh yeah, my favorite trick is to run it through my mind continuously the night before. So if I've got a swim in the morning I'll tell myself, my hubby, the dogs, the bird constantly; I'm swimming in the morning, I'm swimming in the morning, I'm swimming in the morning..... till the dogs put their little paws over their ears. This is works the best for me. By the time morning comes it is set in stone in my brain that I'm going swimming. No questions, no arguments, no farting around.

Okay, I'm just doing some mental work here. I have a lot to accomplish in a week and I have to make sure my arsenal if full and ready for action.

Oh right, I have a New Years Day 10K too. I've got to be ready for that. Guess that means a run in the garden this weekend.

Okay, I've got some work to do.

20 December 2006

Well...

Okay, Linae and Sharon, you got me thinking. Can I do both???

I know myself and my immediate reaction is to say no, I can't. But the more I think about it the more I think maybe I can.

That 70.3 is such a huge thing to me that I continue to think I need at least 6 months of training in order to even finish such a thing. I can't imagine trying to accomplish something like that with only 12 weeks of training.

The weight training I plan on doing is a circuit routine. It starts off deceptively simple but gradually increases over time so by the end of 12 weeks an hour work out completely wipes me out.

But now I'm starting to think maybe.....

What if I did just blast the weight loss for 3 months then move into training? I've been planning on using running and biking for my cardio work, all I need is to squeeze some swimming in.

So here's what I'm thinking:

Monday: Running or biking
Tuesday: Weight training
Wednesday: Swimming
Thursday: Weight training
Friday: Running or biking
Saturday: Weight training
Sunday: Biking and ocean swimming

Wow, why couldn't that work?? Wednesdays would be my "rest" day by only swimming. Sundays I could head over to Waikiki and get some good hills in and an ocean swim. Hmmm....

This is something I will definitely have to tweak till I get a program I can live with for 12 weeks.

Then I will switch things up and hit the swimming harder and be ready of Honu. This could work.

I'm in a quandary.

I'm not sure what to do.

I love the new year. I love the promise of new things, new adventures, new challenges. I love starting a new month. Hell, I love starting a new week. I'm all about looking towards the future.

For 2007 I have some definite things I want to accomplish. Most of them revolve around health and fitness; or at least the ones that require the most out of me. A couple of these however, come into conflict with each other.

I really had my heart set on doing Honu 70.3 in June. However, I was extremely concerned about it because of my weight. I know if I could drop these last 30 lbs I'd be able to handle 70.3 a whole lot better than I can now.

And that's the other goal, I want to drop these last 30 lbs. I know me and I know my body. I need to weight train in order to drop weight. Weight training and hard cardio are what I need to do.

Now, since I only have X amount of hours available for workouts (I would like to have a life outside this) what do I do?? If I focus on Honu there's not enough time to weight train so I'll go in pretty much at this weight and dragging 30 extra lbs 70.3 miles is exponentially harder than not. If I weight train I won't be able to put the time into the pool, running, and biking that I need in order to do Honu. So I'm torn.

I'm leaning towards the weight loss. Mainly because I've been trying to lose weight for so long it's time to just get where I want to be and because once I lose the weight tris will be that much better (I almost said easier - ha).

My Honu training starts on Dec 31 and I would start my serious weight loss on Jan 1 so I do have some time.

During the weight loss stage I would definitely continue to run so I would keep that up. What would suffer most is my swimming which needs the most work.

So I'm thinking of devoting the first 3-4 months to an all out blitz weight loss. Weight training, strict eating (not much different than I'm eating now just no ice cream/candy/beer). If I could lose the weight in 3 months that would only leave me 3 months to train for Honu. If it took me 4 that would only leave 2 months for Honu. If it takes longer......

On the other hand I was really looking forward to a couple of tris early in the season......

Ugh, I don't know. I flip back and forth. I try to think which is most important to me at this point, unfortunately that can change depending on how I'm feeling. UGH!!!!!!!

Of course, if I devote the early part of this year to weight loss it will have a number of benefits for tris. I will weight less therefore be able to bike and run faster (I know this is true from experience). I will be stronger and it may well help my swimming. I will undoubtedly have greater muscle endurance. I will look way better in a tri suit ;)

Also, I live in Hawaii. We have tris through November. So I miss the early season ones, there are plenty later in the season. Then I'll be ready for the early seasons one in 2008 and I'll be in great shape for Honu 2008.

Oh, I don't know. Clearly I have to think this out more and figure out what I really want.

17 December 2006

Botanical Garden Part Deux

If this is Sunday it must be time for our journey through the botanical garden again.

This adventure actually began last Thursday. We have a large piece of lab equipment (a stomacher or homogenizer for the other labsters) that broke and we needed to send it off to the mainland for repair. It weighs 85 lbs and I had to move it from the tabletop, about chest high, down to the floor and into a box. While I was doing that I pulled a muscle in my back; not really bad but I felt it.

The rain caused me to sleep in on Thursday (ha ha) and by the time I got home from work my back was hurting a little so I didn't run. I woke up Friday morning and could really feel the muscles in my back so I skipped my workout. Yesterday the back was still aching so I figured 1 more day was a good idea.

Well, today I was going no matter what. When I woke the back felt fine but the rest of the body was sore from 3 days off. I hate how that works!!!!

So off to the gardens I drag my butt. Now when you enter the gardens there is an immediate uphill. What I normally do is walk this and use it as my warm-up. So I did that and got to the top and began to run.

Ummmm, yeah, that hurt!!! The back was killing me.

Okay, that's okay. Let's walk for a while. Walking was fine but as soon as I started to run the back hurt.

Plan B, let's walk the botanical garden today. So that's what I did.

It was still beautiful and I had a great time so it was worth it. Because I was walking and moving slower I got to see some things I don't normally see. I also headed down some trails that I won't run on cause I'm a chicken. So here is my day in photos.





I found this bird's nest on the ground. I'm thinking that they were done with it and not that it fell out of the tree and killed the babies.
















This is a charcoal kiln from the early 1900's. It sometimes is hard to remember that it wasn't that long ago that the native Hawaiians lived in huts and farmed. While the US was being born and the constitution written, the Hawaiians didn't have metal. Amazing!!!











Okay, I have 2 more pictures to put up but blogger won't let me. The whole process goes through like it's working but the pictures never show up on my post. Do you know what I think of blogger lately???? B*st*rds!!!!!!

Conversation with Hubby

 So yesterday morning I presented my idea of working out at home to the Hubby. Once I presented it to him, he said he was in. I told him I h...