I ::Heart:: Weigh-In Days!

Down 3 more pounds! That makes 21 total! I am very excited to break the twenty pound mark. Yay me.

The workout was ok. I liked the format, Zak the Trainer changed it up a bit. We did interval training, which I like because it seems like less at the high intervals. And I was able to go faster, which I like. At the end we went for speed on an incline of 1.0. I started with a very light jog at 4 miles per hour, then gradually upped it to 4.5 then to 5. It was a pretty decent run I had going and when Zak the Trainer said to cool down. I kept going for another 30-45 seconds, because I wasn't tired at all. That made me happy and feel good. Yessssssssss.

My stats:

Calories Burned: 510 (Treadmill)/537 (HR Monitor)
Total Miles: 2.41
Total Time: 51:44 (including cool down)
Ending Heart Rate: 123

Didn't want to work out today, but didn't want to work out tomorrow more...

Strength training fun:

Held 10 planks for 15 seconds each;
Did 20 lunge and twists (10 regular, 10 with balance added in between);
Balanced on the Bosu ball with both feet for 60 seconds and on each foot for 15 seconds;
Did 2 sets, 12 reps each, at 20 pounds on the Chest Press;
Did 2 sets, 12 reps each, at 20 pounds on the Chest Fly;
Did 2 sets, 12 reps each, at 55 pounds on the Lat Pulldown;
Did 2 sets, 12 reps each, at 45 pounds on the Two Arm Row;
Did 2 sets, 12 reps each, at 10 pounds doing Lat Raises with the 10 lb dumbbells;
Did 2 sets, 12 reps each, at 15 pounds on the Shoulder Press; and
Did 2 sets, 12 reps each, at 70 pounds on the Leg Press.

Then I swam for ~20 minutes. I shaved another 5 seconds off of my average lap time! I *love* these kind of tangible results. Also, I finally learned the length of the lap pool--it is 25 M. So, each lap is 50 M. Good to know for goal setting and such.

I will say that it feels good to know that I didn't want to go today and did. I feel like it was another small victory! Yay me!

Be the Resistance Band.

Thanks to some encouragement from my dear friend, Lynn, I have decided to try to embrace the resistance band and the chest presses that come with it. Today was a good day. It may have also had something to do with the fact that I had protein one hour before by workout (which i haven't done all week) or that I took yesterday off and my body had a rest. Anyways, the chest presses were manageable. Thanks, Lynn!

Also, I cannot believe that I forgot to mention this in any of my earlier posts this week but on Monday I officially signed up for the next T.E.A.M. Weight Loss session. So this one ends on June 26th and the next one goes June 29th-September 18th. Here's to hoping I will have enough success to not have to do a third!

Ok, today's stats:

Calories Burned: 558 (Treadmill)
Total Miles: 2.56
Total Time: 56:56 (including cool down)
Ending Heart Rate: 133

One final point quite unrelated to the purpose of this blog. Some of you know that I have been fighting worker's comp for about ten months now and had an oral hearing to appeal the decision. It was approved! I am so happy I cannot contain it. A little less stress in my life has got to be healthy, right???

Dunce Cap.

Zak the Trainer gave me the invisible dunce cap today. I suppose I was being a *tad* fiesty.

It began during the chest presses. I hate chest presses. With a passion. I don't mind them on the machines, but with the resistance band, it just stinks. After what felt like a long time, Zak the Trainer said we had 30 more seconds. My natural response was to roll my eyes in disgust. Zak the Trainer happened to see said eye-roll. Then said, "Make that 35 seconds because of Erin's eye roll." Awesome.

Next incident was when he was telling Nelly to eat carrots with salsa instead of chips. What was your reaction to reading that? Exactly. So when I made a pretend vomit noise, he rolled his eyes at me and then told everyone they could reduce their incline from 12.0 to 4.0 except for me. So I lowered my incline. When he asked why my treadmill was lowering, I point-blank told him that it was because I was not listening to him. Last time I checked I was paying him.

Then (yes, it is not over yet) he was asking who used the stair machine and said some hub-bub-a-lub about it being a 'great Zone 3 workout!' I simply stated that I hated stairs when I have to do them, why on earth would I do them for fun??!?!?!

It was at this point he awarded me with the invisible dunce cap for the day. I defend myself as simply being honest, but in restrospect, I may see where he was coming from... Maybe.

So the stats:

Calories Burned: 530 (Treadmill); 567 (HR Monitor)
Total Miles: 2.46
Total Time: 57:27 (including cool down)
Ending Heart Rate: 126

Typical Tuesday Workout

Today Zak the Trainer saw me whilst I was working out on an off day. He actually made eye contact and smiled at me. I think I am starting to grow on him...

Strength training. It was a little rough taking last week off, but not too bad... I did the usual:

Held 10 planks for 15 seconds each;
Did 20 lunge and twists (10 regular, 10 with balance added in between);
Balanced on the Bosu ball with both feet for 60 seconds and on each foot for 15 seconds;
Did 2 sets, 12 reps each, at 20 pounds on the Chest Press;
Did 2 sets, 12 reps each, at 20 pounds on the Chest Fly;
Did 2 sets, 12 reps each, at 55 pounds on the Lat Pulldown;
Did 2 sets, 12 reps each, at 45 pounds on the Two Arm Row;
Did 2 sets, 12 reps each, at 10 pounds doing Lat Raises with the 10 lb dumbbells;
Did 2 sets, 12 reps each, at 15 pounds on the Shoulder Press; and
Did 2 sets, 12 reps each, at 70 pounds on the Leg Press.

Then I did cardio. I went 30 minutes at 3 mph:

Calories Burned: 276 (HR Monitor)
Total Miles: 1.68
Total Time: 35:00 (including cool down)
Ending Heart Rate: 113

Zero!

Back-from-Vacation-Exercise-Day is never good. Today was no exception. I mean, it wasn't THAT bad, but it was rough. And my sore body from the 5K yesterday did not help! However, I started the class with some good news. Despite my vacation, I maintained my weight...YESSSSSSSSS! The following conversation *did* happen, however between me and Zak the Trainer during class:

Me: Aren't you so excited that I maintained this week?
ZTT: Yes.
Me: And I ate, like, what-EVER I wanted.
ZTT: <eyes roll>
Me: I had dessert THREE nights in a row!
ZTT: <head shaking>
Other Class Member: Why are you telling Zak this?
Me: Because...I MAINTAINED!
::pause::
Me: And the bread, I ate so much bread. It was amazing!
ZTT: If I see bread or dessert in anyone's food journal Wednesday, Erin will pay for it.
Me: <silence/innocent look on my face>

Here are my stats:

Calories Burned: 548 (treadmill); 606 (hr monitor)
Total Miles: 2.37
Total Time: 55:56 (including cool down)
Ending Heart Rate: 133

England and some 5Ks!

I got home from England yesterday. I will be honest, the plan was not followed 100%. Or even really 50%. But, here are some good highlights. I walked for one hour on Monday, 45 minutes on Tuesday, about 30 minutes on Thursday and 45 minutes on Friday. So I did get some walks in. I did no strength training. My schedule was so full, I just didn't make the time. I chose sleep. :) As for food, I enjoyed the local fare. Today I will do my massive grocery shop and the plan begins again tomorrow morning.

The trip was great BTW. Pictures are on my facebook. Here is one of me in front of a beautiful sunset:



In other exciting news, today I participated in the Bel Air Town Run with Andrea, Crystal, Lois, Julie, Mary-Theresa, and several other lovely ladies I met who are friends of some of these women! My goal was to walk it with Lois. She walked ~58 minutes last time she did it and I was shooting for under one hour. I ended up ditching Lois and Dina (her friend) to run/walk with Crystal. Here were our times according to my watch:

4:59 - walk
1:59 - run
5:00 - walk
2:00 - run
5:21 - walk
2:00 - run
5:00 - walk
2:00 - run
3:21 - walk
2:00 - run
9:53 - walk
1:17 - run
0:56 - walk
0:44 - run

Total - 46:35, Official 46:28!!!

I crushed my one-hour goal!!! YAY ME! And I also registered for the Baltimore Women's Classic on June 28th! Cannot wait!!!