"She's CHEATING!!!!"

Wow. ZTT *totally* switched things up today! Lifetime is having this Workout/Weigh-In Competition and SURPRISE! all of the TEAM classes were entered against our will. Here's how it works. You team up (my partner is Stephanie, a woman who was in my last TEAM class, but happened to be there tonight--apparently we are now in it to win it together) and share a treadmill. This is the "home treadmill" where the official time and distance are measured. While one team member is on the treadmill (trying to go as far as possible in two minutes), the other is on an exercise mat doing the dictated exercise. Then you switch. The intervals are two minutes each with an active recovery two minutes after each round. There are five rounds. Winners will be selected by: furthest total distance, most reps and most weight lost.

Here's how it went down for us:

Round 1: incline of 6.0 (I went at a 3.5 pace), squats (I did 60)
Round 2: incline of 8.0 (I went at a 3.5 pace), sit-ups (I did 80)
Round 3: incline of 10.0 (I went at a 3.2 pace), push-ups (I did 35, modified--that was the rule)
Round 4: incline of 12.0 (I went at a 3.2 pace), lunges (I did 40)
Round 5: incline of 15.0 (I went at a 3.0 pace), mountain men (I did 65)

Total Calories Burned: 473 (HR monitor)
Ending HR: 129

I feel like this is great because I have a baseline. The gym will be doing this for 3 months, once a month. I am considering trying to do this regularly (maybe once a week) to 1) prep for the next time; and 2) track my progress.

The active recovery portion was on the treadmills at an incline of 0.0 and speed of 2.0 for 2 minutes. Everyone had to do this to keep the mileage gain identical (as to not skew the furthest distance competition). Two of the people were going faster. So I called them out. First, I called out Larry. Zak the Trainer told him to slow down so he did. Then I called out the woman next to Larry (her name is complicated...I have no idea what it is). She heard me and put a towel over the readout on the treadmill. REALLY!??! I don't think so. So after yelling, "Zak! She's cheating!" and pointing, I yelled out, "Just because you cover it with a towel doesn't make it NOT CHEATING!!!!" Yeah, she must hate me. Am I jerk? I just believe in integrity in competitions involving prizes.

Oh! And for the first day, my team won most reps. No prize. Just street cred...

Oh! And! Fitness FTW!

I was so distraught by Dr. Roseborough's devastating news that I forgot to mention this.

At the vascular surgeon they took vitals. My blood pressure is the lowest it has been in a while 11os/80s (don't remember the specifics) and it has been in the 140s/90s range for years, and my pulse was lower, 68 I believe, and my pulse has always been high, like in the 90s!!!

Being healthy FTW!!!!

I Stumped Zak the Trainer!

Today is Wednesday, a.k.a. food journal day! I may or may not have intentionally left out the fact that I have been seriously slacking in the food journal department all summer. BUT! Recall that I'm back--and this means that I had a completely filled out food journal for this week! Woot! Complete with comments. Comments are designed to 1) inform Zak the Trainer of things pertaining to my food choices; and 2) make me (and maybe him) laugh. On Friday evening, I had attended the Emmaus gathering where we took communion. Well, I did consume it so I felt like it should go in the food journal. In the comments section, I wrote:

Tonight I took communion. How exactly do I count the body and blood of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ???

He died laughing. As did I. I had to hold onto the treadmill to keep from falling off. He told me he was stumped and would have to ask Melissa. :) I look forward to the answer...

So, for my stats today:

Calories Burned: 579 (Treadmill)/555 (HR Monitor)
Total Miles: 2.90
Total Time: 58:45 (including cool down)
Ending Heart Rate: 131

Also! I bought new shoes and tried them out today. It is always scary to try out new shoes on a TEAM day, since I have to walk for an hour! But these were amazing! I am talking DAY ONE, Break-In Day, no pain! They the Softspots Maryla in dark brown. I now ::heart:: Softspots brand. My feet ::heart:: them too.

Swimming in the Sunshine!

Today, between appointments, I swam laps in my community pool! I love swimming in the sunshine! I did the same this as last Thursday: 30 minutes, swim 1 minute, rest 30 seconds, repeat. And, yes, Filly, I did reenact various scenes from the Little Mermaid. Ok. I didn't. But I totally should have. I walked in past a sleeping lifeguard/id checker to a pool all to myself. If ever there were a time to belt out Part of your World, this was it. ::sigh:: I missed it.

Also, on a devastating note, I had an appointment with my vascular surgeon today, aka the best doctor ever, aka the doctor I listen to over all other doctors, is moving to Oregon. So sad. I may have called him a jerk. But I think it was clear it was from my pain. I need to check in with *a* vascular surgeon once a year (so next August) and asked if I could fly to Oregon to do that. He said sure. I was joking, but maybe I was onto something (could I use sick leave for the flights???). He did recommend another doctor at Johns Hopkins: Dr. James Black. I will contact him next year...I suppose. I said bye and thanked him for saving my life..and then he was gone... ::sigh:: Something interesting is that he thinks I only need to be on Coumadin for 2 years (i.e. 1.5 more years). I am going to look into this cause that would be AWESOME.

Zak the Trainer Said I'm No Fun...

Today was weigh-in day! I lost 3 pounds! For a net total of 37 pounds...oh, 40 pounds, I can taste ya! Next week? I hope so... We'll see... During the weigh-in Zak the Trainer asked me if I stuck to the food plan over the weekend. I informed him that I did not, because, yes, Saturday (in PA for jeep competition), Sunday (in PA off-roading) AND Monday (forgot my lunch at home, 'doh!) I was unable to, but I did make good food choices and did the best I could. He then told me that I was no fun because he always *wants* to give me a hard time when I miss the diet plan, but I always lose pounds, so he can't. That's right, Zak the Trainer. I am that good.

I'm still making friends in class *sarcasm*. Per usual, ZTT asked if we had anything fun planned this week (he really needs to get some new things to small talk about...) and I said that tomorrow I am watching the original Star Wars trilogy, as I had never seen it before. He reacted as most do with shock and judgment and asked how old I was. With a smile I said, 28. He then asked how I had never seen Star Wars in 28 years. I told him (and the class) what I tell everyone: Because I am not a loser. ZTT then told me I was probably making enemies in the class with that line and I won't be able to make friends if I keep this up. I told him that that ship sailed a while ago. :)

The workout was good today. But it was short because of weigh-in I did not get on the treadmill until after 6pm, so class was done and I was only 51 minutes into my 60 minute (plus 5 minute cool-down allocation) session. I was feeling good and had been jogging for 30 seconds to a minute at this point, so I stayed on and ran until the 60 minutes was up. I felt great and could have even maybe kept going! Rock on, me!

The Stats:

Calories Burned: 637 (Treadmill)/552 (HR Monitor)
Total Miles: 3.33
Total Time: 63:00 (including cool down)
Ending Heart Rate: 126

WEEKEND!

Due to my crazy social schedule, here is the post from Friday's workout. Speaking of my social life. Zak the Trainer routinely asks the class if we have anything "fun" going on. I typically do. What can I say? I'm popular. It's hard, but *someone's* got to do it. Last Friday when ZTT asked, I told him about the party I was going to. He informed me (and the class) that he used to feel pretty good about his social life...until he met me. I apparently shame him.

So this week when he asked about weekend plans, my hand shot up in the air with fervor. I told him I had a party to go to Friday night, a jeep competition on Saturday day, then a DC United game on Saturday night. Sunday was wide open. He laughed and announced to the class that I should be in charge of planning social events for the class. I instinctive replied with an insult, "Like I would wanna hang out with these loooo-zas!" No one else was laughing. Hmm.. I then said, " I mean, I'd really love...to hang out...with...them." Making friends...fast.

Surprisingly, after that insult I did manage to make friends with the woman next to me who was visiting from the 6am class. She's awesome. But I didn't get her name or contact info!!!! I may have to ask Melissa. We chatted it up for the last 20 minutes of class and I like her lots.

Also, Zak the Trainer weighed me since I had done so well all week and I was convinced I lost weight. I am down 3 pounds from Monday!!! But I told him it was unofficial since it was not Monday and he deleted the records from the system! Here's to hoping I am still down 3 Monday..or maybe even 4!!!

Ok. My Stats:

Calories Burned: 582 (Treadmill)/570 (HR Monitor)
Total Miles: 3.02
Total Time: 61:36 (including cool down)
Ending Heart Rate: 131

My weekend plans have changed. We didn't go to the DC United game because it was pouring...game wasn't postponed. :( Also, tomorrow I plan on going back up to PA to go off-roading in one of the competition jeeps! Sweet!

Park View Trails Pool Time

I decided to swim at the community pool today. I went armed with a book in case it was overtaken by children...which to some degree it was at first. So I read a chapter in Captivating--excellent book!

Then, it cleared up a bit so I swam laps at the far end of the pool. I swam for a total of 30 minutes in 1:30 intervals. So I swam for a minute, rested for 30 seconds, repeat. This gave me roughly 20 minutes of swimming and 10 minutes of resting. No too bad a workout, at least according to my shoulders...they are sore. :)