Kate

I’ve been working on some new ideas to change the colors and header for the fall. I’m excited to have a refreshed look coming soon, with a little more of my sarcastic self thrown in for once.

I log my workouts with very general information on Google Calendars. This way I have a quick easy access to see what I’ve been up to for the month. I used to do this on a paper calendar, but I like that I can share my workouts/plans with friends and family if they are interested. I’ve embed the calendar into the blog on another page here (also the link is on my right sidebar: Workout Calendar). Usually I will put in what my goals are for the day without a set time, marked for “all day”. Once I’ve changed the time, I’ve actually completed the workout.

Maybe through refreshing my blog and adding a calendar for the world to see, might actually get me moving a bit more. I’ve been severely unmotivated this past month… worse than ever.

…but little was accomplished. I was watching US Open tennis last night, therefore I felt like I was exercising for hours! Gosh, after watching all those Olympic sports last week and mentally competing myself, I was sure I had lost some weight from exercising almost 24 hours a day… Sadly, I never physically moved a muscle and gained a few pounds. Impossible!

The Olympics and grand-slam tennis usually motivate me to exercise more, not less. Lately, they’ve had the opposite effect. When will they invent the ability to *think* about exercise and have that just be enough to keep in shape?! Yeah, I have been lazy, I have to find a way to motivate myself and get off the couch. So far, little has worked and I’ve been more tired as the days continue. I’m not sleeping well, which could be a reason for such a drag of my feet on this issue…

Instead of hitting the gym yesterday after work, I headed home to “exercise outdoors”. That never happened, but I squeaked out some forward and back lunges as well as 3 sets of squats and some shoulder lateral raises. Very lame! I really have to stop skipping the gym for the great outdoors, because I go home and sit down… never to make it outdoors anyway!

Do the Olympics motivate you to workout harder or just sit back and relax?
I wonder if the effect the elite athletes are having on me is me realizing I’ll never be that good, so unconsciously I’ve stopped trying at all. What I have to remind myself is that there are tons of people out there running who do it just because they can or love it, not to be the best. I’ve got to follow their lead… and get off the couch, as well as get better sleep!

Workout:

• Type: Strength Training
• Date: 08/26/2008
• Time: 18:00:00
• Total Time: 00:15:00.00

I have been off from work all week, which has been nice. Unfortunately, instead of working out like I had planned, I’ve spent all of one day at home this week. Just today. We’ve been out everywhere, to relatives and even to other states. I’m kind of upset, I’ve gained weight and I feel it and see it when I put on jeans, etc… I’m annoyed with myself. It’s my own fault.

Today I attempted a short run with new running shoes I just bought at the Adidas outlet. They are lightweight, so I’m going to have to take it easy in them until I build up foot/leg strength to keep my knee healthy. Chris rode by next to me on his bike, with Bambi in the basket.

Poor Bambi, she decided to jump from the bike (she’s never done that when I am riding) and landed on her side. She has a scrape on her butt which I have to wash. Luckily, she seems to be doing okay other than the scrape. This week has been a horrible week for her. She had some good tasty steak juices on her food on Monday… this led to two days of vomitting and diarhea. Then, she had to go get her nails cut, which she absolutely hates. I have to muzzle her and squeeze her tight to keep her still while they do it at the pet store. The next day, she had to see the vet for her yearly vaccines. Shots, blood taken, exams… She’s had a rough week and tomorrow she’s getting a bath I guess dogs have bad weeks too, but she sure seems to be bouncing back easily from it all.

Maybe I could learn something from Bambi. I’ve gained weight, I’m upset and feeling like I’m getting nowhere. I just have to live like her a pick myself back up. I’ve been eating out all week, eating junky and not on a schedule. Each day I just have to keep starting over and one of these days it’ll all stick.

Have a good night or morning…

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 08/22/2008
• Time: 19:00:00
• Total Time: 00:20:00.00
• Distance: 1 miles
• Average Pace: 20:00/mile

I love reading Non-runner Nancy’s Blog. She always comes up with these cool virtual races to get everyone excited about running. Her latest is 8 on the 8th! This is to get pumped for the olympics, which happen to start on 08-08-08… also my mom’s birthday!!

I’m going to do 8 on the 8th, but in two 4 mile splits. I’m not nearly close to doing 8 miles at all right now. So, I think 4 milers might be manageable, if not, I’ll do a few 2 milers too. I’m just going to try to get in 8 miles on the 8th! I’ve always wanted to participate in these races, so I’m just going to do it!!

I’ve even spent a few minutes creating a cool banner… will you run 8 on the 8th?

I’ve seen, read and heard a lot about the 100 Push-up Challenge lately on various blogs, more recently on Christie’s blog. I’m going to try it. I was thinking this week I need to start learning to do push-ups. They’ll increase my upper body strength and do wonders for my chest, back and arms. I’ve never been able to do a push-up and I even suck at the ‘girlie’ ones. So… I’m going to try out this challenge and see if I can make it all the way!

I am really happy about my new workout routine where I do four split-days a week and I’m starting out with 2 exercises per body part with 2 sets each. Sometimes I do more, depending on how I feel. The size of the weights are not important to share (whether it’s heavy weight/low rep or low weight/high rep) because everyone can do something different. After a few weeks, I’ll increase to 3 sets and so on. Eventually I’ll add in more isolation exercises, but that’s not my focus right now.

This workout works for me, because it takes the pressure off of writing everything down while I am in the gym and coming up with extensive routines ahead of time (this way I can concentrate on my workout more). I keep a written log of my workouts afterward. I show up with the body parts to work in my mind, then select the exercises for each. I am able to change it up to keep myself interested. I feel less pressure to stick with an exercise that I chose when not in the gym (from a book, etc…) where I find it just doesn’t work for me and be forced to do it for 4-6weeks.

This is working well for me. My legs haven’t been this sore in a long time even on my other routines the past two months. Two days later they are still a very healthy kind of sore! While some here or in my regular life may think I’m not doing enough, all workout routines are different. I also don’t post everything in detail as to what I do, because I have written logs for that. What I do know is that I’ve got things working well for me, which for every person that’s a different routine, exercise, etc…

You can learn from what others do, but in the end you have to figure out what works best for you. Some people exercise to extremes and believe that’s the only way to be the best, others workout more moderately and feel they’ve found the holy grail to exercise and yet some even achieve winning results in the least amount of work (which is appalling to those exercise extremists)! All bodies are different. I’m finding what works for me and hopefully you know what works for you or will soon!
On another note… I’m sick with some sort of cold. I got sick over the weekend and thought I would shake it off. I haven’t been feeling well and each day it’s been a little worse. Today I’m going home sick to rest after a morning meeting. Hopefully I can shake this feeling before the start of next week so I can enjoy my workouts.

How did Seashell know last night that I’d write some comments this morning about Batman: The Dark Knight?!

First off, the movie was the best Batman movie I’ve ever seen! Yes, it was better than any other, unless you compare it to Batman (1989) which is my favorite. Every time I see this old Batman movie, it reminds me of growing up, being a kid and having fun (I was 7 when it came out). Nobody beats Jack Nicholson as the Joker, nobody… but Heath Ledger sure as hell did an excellent job playing the character. It’s a shame he has passed and won’t be able to reprise the role, because he was really that good.
I am a big fan of the villain Joker, so this movie was the perfect story for me.  I don’t know much about any other villains aside from Penguin, the Riddler and well, I love Cat Woman. When Two-Face showed up in the movie, I wasn’t sure who he was until someone in the crowd mentioned his name… but I did understand his storyline and came to know a new character, to me.

My husband was shocked when I invited myself along with him, his brother and father to see the movie. Usually, when he mentions a superhero movie (he’s obsessed with Superman) I decline the invite. The only superhero I like is the Batman and really I only like him with the Joker or a familiar villain because those was my first experience with him in the movies. (I think it’s funny in the movie how everyone calls him “The Batman” and not just Batman like we do in normal conversation.)
The movie was not as funny, if they can be funny, as the first set of Batman movies I grew up with. This Batman didn’t have a huge sense of humor and didn’t joke much with the Joker. It was a darker time for Batman, as my husband has explained. The Joker though, was his usual self and really enjoying to watch. There were many twists and turns throughout the story. I didn’t find their use of computer graphics to be too much, but just right. Sometimes a movie can go overboard on the really fake stuff and become aggravating.

I don’t want to write too much, because I don’t want to give the story away. I did enjoy this movie though and would purchase it to have in my collection. I loved Batman (1989) and even liked Batman Returns (1992) and Batman Forever (1995), but the last one, Batman Begins (2005) with Katie Holmes… I barely remember nor did I enjoy the character Scarecrow (whoever that is). Maybe it’s my aversion to Katie Holmes since she married Tommy, but Maggie Gyllenhal was 100% better. She was beautiful to watch and in the position of replacing another person for the same role, did a fantastic job. Too bad she… opps… go see the movie!

I hate paying $10 to see a movie in a theater and usually don’t… Batman: The Dark Knight was worth every cent.

Rode my bike around my mom’s neighborhood. I have been totally slacking this week and have felt so tired. I’m staying at her house to watch her dogs for her (4 of them) and my Bambi is here too! They are insane, exhausting and keep me up at night. So, while I thought this would be a time to relax and catch up on sleep, I’m getting less here than at home! I hope I can get one good night of sleep before heading back home on Sunday night, otherwise I’m going to be one cranky person come Monday morning!

My weight loss has vanished it seems, I’m back up a few lbs, but I’m keeping positive. I’ll be on track starting on Monday and will not allow anyone, including myself, to get me off track… I just have to make sure I sleep well and long enough in order to keep up the intensity of workouts and healthy eating. Eventually, it’ll become a habit and my new lifestyle Still working out the kinks…

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 07/25/2008
• Time: 11:00:00
• Total Time: 00:30:00.00
• Distance: 5 miles
• Average Speed: 10 mph