I’m still working out, but the enthusiasm I had a few months ago has started to fizzle. I’m not sticking to my schedule as close as I once did. Each week I start fudging near humpday. This week, I worked out Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. I was planning on my 4th today, but work called and I’m been totally consumed with other problems. I’ll plan on getting that 4th workout done tomorrow. Naturally, the workout I’m lacking is my lower body. There’s got to be something psychological there. It seems to me that I am more likely to postpone my lowerbody workouts.
My eating stinks! I’m good about eating breakfast on my workout days. But if I’m not working out, I’ve been skipping breakfast. I’m also eating much more fats than I probably should be.
To top off my southward turn, I’m about 2 weeks behind with my workout logs.
I actually thought about coming up with some excuses, but it wouldn’t really matter. The bottom line is.. I’ve been slacking! Slacking on the workouts, slacking on my diet, slacking on my workout logs and slacking on my blogs.
My gosh, I can’t believe how quickly a day.. week goes by! Along with the new year, I have a new program. I’m starting to build muscle instead of toning. That means I get to do heavier weights and <whispers> less cardio.
Of course I have to admit it’s been pretty amazing watching the effects of the cardio. When I first started working out with Terri, my heart rate would hit 160 before 2 minutes on the treadmill at 2.5 mph. Now I’m moving at 3.0 mph and it takes me ten minutes to barely touch 140!! I had never realized there would a noticeable change from the cardio. Guess I was a little naive.
I’ve been pretty steady with my workouts. Although my schedule is a little off this week, I’ll still get in four. My diet could be better. I’m pretty much eating 3 meals a day now, but I keep finding cookies in my hand. Go figure?
I can honestly say I may have the silliest excuse Terri has ever heard for not working out. I woke up this morning with every intention of getting in my 4th day workout. But I woke with a throbbing thumb! I’m pretty sure there is a splinter between my finger and the nail. Something is definitely there! I spent an hour trying to find it. But I gotta tell ya.. poking a needle deep between the finger and nail is a very scary thing. While I was not able to locate the source of my pain and swollen thumb, I poked a couple of holes in it and relieved some pressure.
So.. I ran out of time this morning and missed the workout. The funny thing is that I was actually up and dressed and heading to the kitchen for breakfast when I let my self get side tracked.
Fortunately, I still have another day this week to slip the workout in.
Changing the subject.. Last week my husband and I found a city park with various workout stations sprinkled around the jogging track. Amongst them was a pull-up bar! I’ve been wanting to find out if I could do pull-ups, so this was a great opportunity. Amazingly I was able to do 5 pull-ups!! Of course.. I didn’t do them consecutively. I rested about 45 seconds between each one. But that’s still pretty good. :-)
I wish I could cook! I started looking through old cookbooks given to me through the years, thinking I should be able to pick something out and cook it. It sounds easy enough, right? It’s NOT! Almost every single recipe calls for an ingredients I’ve never heard of.. or it want me to do some type of preparation for which I am clueless. And.. even if I _can_ figure out where to buy the ingredients, how on earth am I supposed to be able to identify fresh or good stuff?
Heck.. when Terri answered my breakfast survey, saying she had clementines for breakfast.. I had no idea she was talking about fruit! I thought it was something she had cooked. After I googled clementines and discovered it was a mini-type orange, I started noticing those little things displayed all over the place in the grocery store. I had never even seen them before. Naturally, I bought some. That night my husband peeled one for me, and it was really good. I’m now proud to say that a few days later I actually… for the first time in my life.. peeled an orange-type fruit myself!!
I tried to make another smoothie. This one was a little better but still way too tart.
<sigh>
I started my new workout programs this week. These are full body workouts, not the upper-lower program I have been doing. I was a bit skeptical at first. Most of the exercises are new to me and I wasn’t too sure they would really give me a good workout. Well, I was wrong. I am completely surprised! It will take me a week or two to get the form down.
I bought a blender yesterday. I want to start making my own smoothies. My first attempt was this morning. I gotta admit, it didn’t work very well. I used regular plain yogurt instead of the low-fat stuff, added some frozen strawberries and a banana.. and a couple of ice cubes. The smoothie turned out a little tart. I’m not sure what to do to make it sweeter. Perhaps I’ll use less yogurt next time.
Well, not much else to say.. the years is about to end and I can say I feel quite satisfied with my achievements this past year. I’m looking forward to this next year.
Today I was feeling all guilty and bad because I still have worked out since my “week off”.
Then at our our office Christmas party this afternoon, one of the men I work with asked me how my workouts were going. I lowered my head and sadly told him I’d been slacking. Then I opened my mouth and said “I haven’t worked out in… um.. five days.” Suddenly I realized how silly it sounded. We both started laughing and my spirits were lifted. It’s funny how quick we can let slip into a black hole and lose perspective on all this.
This morning was the first time since I’ve been working out that I actually overslept. Honest! As a matter of fact, when I woke up one hour late (too late to fix breakfast and workout), instead of rolling over and going back to sleep I decided to go to the office an hour early. This way I could try to come home an hour early and workout this evening. Unfortunately, I’m willing to bet that doesn’t happen. If there is one thing I hate more than waking up in the mornings it is working out in the evenings. I workout at home and in the evenings there are too many interuptions.. plus I’m exhausted after work. I just don’t have the energy to do my best.
The good thing of course is that all is not lost. I normally workout 4 days a week, Monday through Thursday. This gives me three days off. Thie schedule works well when I have to miss a day because I can move everything down one day. I can still get all the workouts in and take two rest days before my next week. I’ll most likely do that.
I’ve been eating pretty good the last few days. Yesterday I had a really big breakfast with pancakes, turkey bacon and scrambled eggs. Um.. I skipped breakfast this morning, but ate 2 chicken tacos for lunch. I’ve come to realize I have a much more difficult time eating breakfast on days I don’t workout.
I have a link on my blog to a page at bodybuilders.com. They select a weekly body builder award for people over the age of 40. I was just looking at them and there is one man I really need to point out. His name is Ed Cook and he only started working out 4 years ago. Also, he has a bodyspace (blogging type site) page with his before pictures.
The reason I find this so motivating is because I have discovered the majority of “in-shape” people over 40 have been working out most of their life. For people like me (who started 4 years ago at age 44) this doesn’t help my motivation factor.