Kate

Just as we did returning to elementary school many years ago, I feel the need to write about my summer. It was rather uneventful, consisting of many days of work, or days off doing little things around the house. I haven’t accomplished much, but I intended to. Isn’t that enough?

In June, I began a training program to become a figure competitor (read: sometimes extreme dieting with intense lifting while little running and removing anything fun or social about life, especially if it includes eating food that is not chicken or protein powder, god forbid you enjoy a glass of wine) in part due to my knee pain stopping my running .

While I have 100% respect for figure competitors and body builders, it’s just not a lifestyle for me. They have perfect discipline, which I do not. They also don’t mind going on and off diets, taking fat burners, cleansing, etc… Eating disorders are rampant on the message boards and the extremeness of it all wasn’t something I’m willing to do to my body right now. I would love to look the way they do, but I would also love to look like an elite marathoner (once again, I’m completely looking at opposite ends of the spectrum and want both, but I do always tend to lean towards the marathoner look).

A positive side-effect was that my eating habits have improved and my knee pain has all but disappeared. I still really feel that Michael Pollan’s got the best advice for healthful eating.

In August, I gave up that dream… but I found the more intense lifting strengthened my legs and my knee stopped hurting.  This was a big deal for me, because I love to run (I wonder why I say this, because during the act of running, I absolutely hate it!).

During the summer my weight went up and down continually. I am not happy with the added 7lbs I’ve been carrying for a year now (131+7=138), since my wedding last September. Luckily, I was 132lbs all last summer, but the week of my wedding I went up to be 137lbs on my wedding day. So, I haven’t “gained” weight, but if I lose weight I can always say, “I weigh less than I did on my wedding day!”. What a consolation prize!

Here I am, the summer is coming to a close. My goal of looking like a muscle-bound woman has vanished, but in it’s place a new found future of stronger running, healthier eating and a positive outlook with a great plan to get started… um, on Monday?  It wasn’t a bad summer, I tried something new, it didn’t work out. I try things all the time and then give up on them. I guess I’m just destined to be me, whoever that is.

I’m still going to attend the show I wanted to compete in, but as a spectator. It’s okay, because I’m more excited that I mailed the check to sign-up for the same Half Marathon I ran in 2007… and my sister-in-law is going to do it again with me!I took off most of 2008 from running, but I think that break brought me back to the sport with more knowledge, interest and fascination. This fall, I’m preparing myself to reach further goals than ever before when I compete again in 2009.

The biggest lesson I learned is that I need to see results on paper. While lifting, writing down or logging my workouts wasn’t enough motivation and changes were slow to appear. While running, I see my distance numbers rack up after every run. Watching my weekly, yearly or lifetime mileage tick up is the greatest satisfaction for me. It has been stagnate this year, but no longer…

The difference between a jogger and a runner is an entry blank.  ~George Sheehan

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.

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…

Logbook Activity

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

I realize that if I want my dreams to come true, my goals to be realized… I will need to ignore everyone I love.

Well, maybe not that extreme, but I will have to ignore the remarks, comments, sarcasm or guilt trips from family and friends. Over the past month, I’ve heard such things as, “you can take a day off eating your protein” ~ “I know you are in training, but it won’t kill you to have a brownie” ~ “eww, you eat that protein stuff for dessert” or I especially like ~ “have a beer, it’s good for you“.

I want to become a female natural figure competitor. I was a runner and most people came to understand that after 6 years of beating it into their heads. Although, some still didn’t understand. I miss running; I miss a lot of things. I want to keep running while attempting a new goal.

I never had to follow careful eating habits with running. I ate whatever, but tried to keep it healthy. Everyone knew me to be a health-nut, but I still could have some wine or party like the rest of them. Bodybuilding goals take more patience and stricter changes to achieve real results. I want to be different, therefore, I cannot eat or workout like everyone else… then I’ll just be everyone else ~ which is not my goal.

So, the next time someone questions me, or more importantly when I question myself… I’m going to think “if I want to eat like everyone else, then I’ll look like everyone else and that’s not my goal“.

I tend to question myself more than anyone else does. I always worry how I’m going to eat at a BBQ or a party, or will people think I’m crazy. I am crazy, I just have to accept that fact The second a comment is made, I feel like shrinking away and hiding. Why is that? I was such a confident, strong-willed crazy person… over the past year or two I’ve felt more like hiding away and hope to reemerge with huge changes. I have to stand tall and make a change for myself, not hide and hope someone will do it for me. This just isn’t a reality… where are my guts?!
I will not be ready for a show in September, as I wanted to do originally. I have decided to go see that show to see how things work. The next show is in April 2009, so then I’ll have a lot of time to prepare and work even harder than I am now.

Summer BBQ’s, parties, birthdays and all sorts of things could be used as my excuse for not making this goal a reality this fall. These are all just excuses, because I could have kept to a strict plan throughout the summer. I just didn’t realize the amount of thought and preparation that came with this type of thing and let myself off the hook. I feel my change on the horizon. I feel similar to how I felt when the switch flipped in 2002 and I went from the couch to running races for the first time. My mind is made up and I’m not stopping this time.

This is my shot to do something for myself and feel proud that I can achieve what I set my mind to. And to show all those haters that I can do it, well the haters in my mind, I’m not quite sure I have any ‘real’ haters. But if I did, you’d be sure that I’d show ‘em!

I am prepared now though to make some tough strides, further than I went in the first month, to change. It’ll have to be in little steps, but it will be… starting now… starting now… no really, right now!

What a workout! I skipped my Wednesday night lower body workout, so I combined both days yesterday. It wasn’t easy, but I made it through.

This week has been a little off in my workouts and eating. I think I’ve skipped/pushed back two workouts, which led me to a long weight session yesterday. If I didn’t do that, I’d be shot for the week. Today, no clothes to hit the gym after work, but I’m hoping for sunshine and a nice bike ride with Bambi later. I’m sure she’ll like it!

Next week I need to keep working on adding more cardio to my routine, as well as not giving in to the ease of just eating like everyone else. I did well last week doing 1/2 hour cardio in 15 minute spurts before/after lifting. That helped me get my cardio in without feeling bored. I think I’ve come to like lifting (some days, not all) because it takes constant thought. I haven’t run much and worry about the monotony. I do miss the solitude of a good run… maybe I’ll bike and run later?

My mind has just been a garbled confused mess lately. Nothing major happening, but some things juggling around in my head. I haven’t felt like I have time to sit with my thoughts. I’ve got to work on more YOGA this and next week too.

So… what isn’t there for me to work on?

I’m always a work in progress and I’m okay with that.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Strength Training
• Date: 07/17/2008
• Time: 12:00:00
• Total Time: 1:20:00.00

So far, in the past 4 1/2 weeks since tackling bodybuilding as a new passion I’ve lost 5lbs (138 to 133 lbs), I’ve increased my weights and have made my goal of 6+ hours of exercise a week. In addition, I’ve fine tuned my eating habits and have felt wonderful from doing so. I’ve changed them to something I can live with forever. I understand many bodybuilders ‘cut’ before shows, but I want to be able to find a lifestyle that I can stay steady with. I might change a few things weeks ahead of a show, but right now I want to concentrate on just eating well to enhance my workouts, not go against them.

This week I’ve already complete 7 hours of exercise and have another bike ride ahead of me tomorrow. For some extremists, this isn’t as much as them, but for me = awesome! It’s always great to see some results and start to achieve your goals!

Today begins my journey. So far, I’ve learned I’m doing it all wrong! Well, not everything, but some things.  Here’s what I’ve learned:

I need to run shorter distance races, because the longer the distance the more the body eats its muscle. This isn’t optimum for weight building. So, I’m glad I didn’t pay for the 10-miler yet and I’ll look to do 5-mile races instead.

I need to have about .75g per lb of body weight in carbs & protein, 30% fat. Also, my friend suggested taking in more carbs earlier in the day and finishing off with protein (with protein still being evenly spread throughout the day). I had a lot of protein for breakfast and few carbs in the form of a banana.

Today I’m going to come up with various meal plans to get myself into the right groove. I hate keeping track of food, so if I can come up with some solid meal plans, I can stick with those and hope to skip the food journal. I will need to keep a log of measurements, weight and also of my workouts. I’ve already got a few weeks covered of how I’m going to workout.

Lessons are always there to be learned. I’m sure I’ll learn A LOT more throughout this journey. Right now though, I need some more water!

I hope! I have been talking with the college friend, through email, whom I wrote about yesterday. She has inspired me greatly to take strides toward figure competitions. I cannot afford a trainer right now, so I’m going to do it alone. I have taken many courses in physical fitness, strength training and also nutrition. It’s a whole new world with body building, but hey ~ I learned the “running” world of terminology and how to train for races, avoid injury, etc… Why can’t I learn this? See, I can

Everything we learn practically comes from a book and I’m a librarian! Great combination

I’ve found a competition I’d like to be in; in September. My friend suggests giving myself at least 12 weeks to prepare the first time around. This one gives me 13 weeks which is perfect. Also, I still plan to run, which fits into this lifting plan as high-impact cardio 1x a week for the long run and 2x a week for shorter easier runs. It’ll work out, because I’ll make it. My main issue is going to be figuring out the right nutrition choices to keep my energy levels up for this.

My goals have been focused:
Run longer, slower races =  ability to Body Build/Compete

I don’t mind running slower (10-11min/mile). I enjoy taking my time and would rather spend $20 on a 10-mile race than $35 on a 5k. I am not fast and don’t find much enjoyment out of 5k’s or even less than 10-mile races since I know I can accomplish so much more. Also, I end up in the back of the pack, which is okay, but not for me. I don’t mind cruising through a 10-mile+ race, but sprinting and losing horribly in a 5k is no longer my bag.

When you lift a lot to gain muscle, obviously my running will slow. So, with my change and focused goals, I am still achieving things but I am able to work in both things I love to do!

…more to come in my world of constant change…