confessions of an exercise junkie

I'm not really an exercise junkie...I just liked that for a title. In any event, my sister has been bugging me to post on my blog again, and I thought to entertain, and perhaps inspire her, I would post about the training I have been doing for this half marathon that I find myself signed up for...which is approaching quite quickly, I might add.

My training really started a couple years ago, when we decided to join a gym in an attempt to lose the baby weight I had been carrying around for like 8 years. It was a frustrating endeavor that only served to make me upset and didn't budge the pounds significantly. But I kept at it. Two years ago, I started taking it a bit more seriously and decided to run with a friend who was training for the Ogden half marathon. We had worked up to running 6 or so miles at one point, and then she injured her foot, and I fell off the wagon.

Last summer, another good friend and I started a very regular, rigorous exercise program where we were sometimes running 2 times a day. It started to become addicting--not in the sense that I loved doing it when I was doing it, but I started loving how it was making me feel when I wasn't doing it, if that makes sense.

In about October or so, we added in some personal training, and, wow! The first time I went, I thought I was going to die, and then, the next couple days I wished I had died! I can't remember exactly what I did for that 1st workout, but I know it left my thighs so sore, I couldn't walk down stairs properly or sit on the toilet without falling the last couple inches for about a week. About 2 days after that first session, I went downstairs to wake the boys for the morning, and I seriously though "it would be less painful if I just fell down the stairs!"

I eventually recovered...until she had us jump rope, and I thought to myself, "she is determined to humiliate me by making me pee my pants." I stuck with the jumping rope, though, and my friend and I started doing a jump rope challenge, where we would time each other for 1 minute and see how many jumps we could get in. I think my first attempt was about 60, but I moved up and by the end of a couple weeks, I was able to do about 120 jumps per minute.

Pounds started falling off, and more than I ever thought possible. I was amazed, and still am. I was at a point where I just did not think that it was possible for me to lose weight. That no matter what I did, my weight was what it was, and to just learn be happy there and be healthy. I don't mean to brag, or draw attention to myself, but damn! I'm proud of what I'm doing!

So, here is my plan. I am already logging my workouts, for the most part. I am going to start logging them here...kind of resurrect my jog log blog. Every week I go to my trainer 2 days a week for 30 minutes, and with this half marathon looming over my head, I am going to be running at least 3 days a week. I am going to keep track of what I do on here again, and if anyone feels so inspired to start a workout program--jump in with both feet. It is hard work, I hate it when I'm doing it, and I have yet to get to that point when I'm jogging where I think to myself "Man, I LOVE this!!". But, I do LOVE what it is doing for me--gives me more energy, makes me more conscious of what I put in my mouth, and more conscious of the amount of work those things I do put in my mouth take to work off...so I feel like I'm the healthiest I've been in a LONG time. So,do it with me. Give it a try. See if you notice the same effects. Most of the exercises my trainer has me do, you could do at home with a couple of 12-15 lb dumbells and a pull-up bar, and the ones that do require equipment can be modified or those muscles can be worked in other ways. (If anyone does want to attempt this and needs more clarification on any exercise, I'd be happy to post an explanation of each exercise--just post a comment.)

Monday: 1 mile slow run, 2 mile run in 20 min. (*yay* on my time there--that's fast for me.)
Tuesday: training--X2 (repeat each set of 2 moves 2 times)

1. 25 sumo squats with 40 lb weight
   
2. 25 push-ups

1. 25 dead lifts (probably about 55 lbs)
   
2. 25 upright rows (35 lb bar)
   

1. 25 jump squats
2. 25 bicep curls (12 lb weights)
   

1. 20 overhead (alternating) lunges with 10 lb weights
2. 20 obliques (each side)

finished with a quarter mile run.

Wednesday: training again (since we are going to WA this week for a wedding) See how many rounds of this you can do in 20 minutes. I made it through 7 rounds.

• 25 squats
• 25 pull-ups
• 25 sit-up

Thursday (today): 5.5 mile run