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Fitness Update Feb 2nd

February 2, 2017 by Zucchini Runner in Fitness, Running | 2 Comments

There are 31 days in January, and I somehow managed to workout 27 of them. And guess what? I didn’t feel like I was overexerting or torturing myself either! hahaha I think in our society there is still the whole “no pain, no gain” mentality… but that is just not the case. It’s more about “slow and steady wins the race”. The race, being your own personal goal of course.

In 2017 I started marking the days off the calendar in the bathroom each morning, as I record my weight. In the corner of each square on the calendar day, I put 5/365 or 10/365 or today, I did 33/365. I use it as a reminder to not waste a single day. Not wasting a single day, is going to mean something different to everyone, but for me currently it means; have a positive outlook, get a workout in, and focus on putting good food into my body. That’s really about it. That is my own personal goal/race. I’m plugging away at it slow and steady. I don’t kill myself with each workout, I balance them out so I have mostly moderate effort and one or two hard effort, and a sprinkling of yoga.

Below are the workouts I did over the past week:

Friday – Upper Body Weights + Indoor Spin (morning)
Saturday – Long Run (12 miles; morning)
Sunday – Yoga (evening; 21 Day Yoga Retreat – Stretch Wk. 1)
Monday – 3 mile evening run; joined by family on bikes and roller blades
Tuesday – Fitness Blender – Kettle Bell HIIT (evening)
Wednesday – 5 mile tempo run (morning)
Thursday – Yoga (morning; Ted’s Yoga | Muscle Recovery)

The past 7 days are a total WIN in my book. Not only was I able to stick to 95% of my workouts, despite a somewhat hectic schedule, I also had my weigh-in and measurement day Monday.

Drumroll please…

I lost 4 lbs. and 3.5″ total between my arms, chest, waist and hips. I was STOKED! I mean, I knew about the weight, cause clearly I just mentioned I weigh myself each morning — but I don’t put a whole lot of stock into weight. But the measurements were exciting! That means I’m toning up and turning some of my fatty parts into toned muscle. That was part of my GOAL! Would a smaller number on the scale be nice? Sure, but I’m more interested in tightening up some things. I am not getting any younger people… the big 4-0 is fast approaching!

Also, I hit 102 miles in January, which is about 46 miles more than December — another number that surprised me! I feel really good right now too. I started to feel some twinges here and there, due to the new strain on my body. But I am making a huge effort to get 7 hours minimum of sleep each night; 8 hours if I can. I also try to allow myself one day where I just sleep in, without an alarm. (But, that only adds an additional 20-30 minutes usually!)

I also started seeing Mr. Zucchini Runner’s massage therapist. She is amazing. Every week, I go in for a visit and it helps to loosen up the tight spots I can’t get with stretching alone. (If you are in the Tempe/Chandler/Ahwatukee area, you should give her a try. Just click the link to shoot her an email, let her know I sent ya!) I should also mention, that I see a chiropractor every 2-4 weeks as well. It occurred to me there are things I take for granted in my every day routine, that are second nature to me, so I never think to share them. But the chiro and massages, and good sleep make a huge impact on my ability to workout so regularly — especially at this stage where it is a new routine. It’s important to reward your body with the necessary sleep and extra care when you implement any new physical activity. Which leads us to the nutrition segment.

I am still using my Be Well Fitness Log daily, and it is REALLY helping me to stay on track. Well, almost. haha As you can see, Tuesday night we made some homemade cookies. They were very low sugar (banana, a little honey, a little maple syrup and very little coconut sugar), gluten-free and vegan so I may have had more than a couple. As you can also see, I ate SUCH a huge (and late) lunch, that I only had hummus, crackers and a grapefruit for “dinner” Tuesday. That might explain the cookies later that night. But as I mentioned last week, I do not aim to be “perfect”, just to focus on plants first and eating high nutrition 80% of the time. This is my life. This is real.

Lastly, I wanted to update you on the Garmin 235. It turns out, I can use my old heart rate monitor chest strap, to ensure I have more accurate HR readings on my runs. BOOM! Besides the watch freezing up a couple times since the purchase, and having to do a force restart, I am loving it! I feel like that is par for the course, for all electronics these days… but maybe I’m wrong. Has anyone else experienced that with their Garmin watch — particularly the 235?

Until next week!
Sleep hard.
Get moving.
Trust Your Gut.

 

Fitness Update

January 25, 2017 by Zucchini Runner in Fitness, Running | Comments Off on Fitness Update

Ok, so I’m going to try something new this week and do TWO posts in one week. I may regret this idea, but we’ll see how it goes. Since readers are split down the middle — between running/fitness posts and recipe posts — I want to appeal to both equally. I’m going to try posting a recipe on Wednesday and a fitness update on Thursday. What do you think??

It’s been about two weeks since my initial fitness update, so I wanted to let you know how the past two weeks have been.

I didn’t follow my plan to a T… and that’s perfectly fine and normal in my book. I have a BASIC plan, so I have something on paper to help move me along. But life happens, and we need to listen to our bodies. For instance, a workout didn’t happen on Thursday the 19th due to a family emergency, and I decided not to run yesterday morning, because I could tell I needed a break. My right hamstring was extra tight and my morning heart rate was elevated (I’ve been taking it every morning since Jan 1st). So instead, I walked on the treadmill for 30 minutes, at my normal workout time. This helps me to stay in my workout routine, still get some blood flowing, yet not overdue it. Keeping the pattern going really helps me to stay on track.

Sunday’s long run was my first 11 miler where I incorporated some planned speed work, which is why I think I’m feeling more tired than normal.

If you can decipher this mess below, you can see what I’ve completed so far of my 12 week workout plan. I cross off and add arrows and make changes where needed. This is not an exact science, I am not a professional athlete, I’m just trying to stay healthy and offset the amount of time I spend sitting in front of my computer, designing. 🙂 Not to mention I enjoy running and sweating out the everyday stresses.

I can’t forget to mention, I got a new Garmin! My Garmin 610 has been dropping satellite reception A LOT lately, so sad to see it go — it served me well for 3.5 years! My new one is the Garmin 235 and it does way more than the 610 ever did; GPS watches have come a loooong way in 3.5 years! In just one little watch, I can get text and phone call alerts, social media alerts (if I want), track my sleep patterns and sleep quality, track my ongoing heart rate, track my heart rate during workouts without a chest strap (which I’m still on the fence about the accuracy – more to come later), track daily steps, sync with My Fitness Pal to see calories in/calories out, syncs with my iPhone calendar so I can see my day at a glance from my wrist, syncs with local weather, and I can ping my iPhone if I lost or misplaced it… just to name the top level things. 🙂 I’ll keep you posted on how it holds up on additional runs and workouts.

Lastly, food tracking has been going well. I still haven’t tracked specific calories, I’ve just been focusing on eating as many plants as possible… and sometimes beer makes its way in there. Beer is a plant, right?

Seriously though. I’m just trying to keep it real. I know that sometimes people think I have this “perfect” (<– what IS that anyway) way of eating and are shocked when they see me eat a treat or drink a beer in person. I don’t post about those things on my blog, because that is not my focus here. Those times are the exception, not the rule. I want to set a good example as well, so posting about it never made sense to me. I’ve realized that sometimes it gives people the wrong impression that I NEVER eat “off track” so to speak. That was never my intention.

Food is not my religion, life is too damn short and our bodies are incredibly resilient if we treat them right the majority of the time.

If you eat healthy 80-90% of the time, you can have a beer here or a cupcake there IF THAT IS WHAT YOU WANT. As you can see below, I have dark chocolate covered almonds to curb sweet cravings and I had a beer when I was out for a night of bar trivia with my parents and Mr. ZR. Writing food down, without tracking numbers (which is exhausting and takes all the fun out of food for me), is a way for me to hold myself accountable. I can look back and see how often I’ve had a single beer or a few chocolate chips and realize, oh hey! Maybe that is too much. LOL Then I can adjust moving forward.

So as a whole, I’m REALLY enjoying this little Be Well Fitness Log I bought. It has definitely helped me to stay on track and not feel stressed about my fitness goals. By next week’s update, I will have completed 30 days on this plan so it will be interesting to see if any of my stats/measurements have changed.

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