What I do on a gym day…

This question has been asked often enough that I might as well blog about it, you’d think I would have by now…

I tend to not talk about the nuitritional side of health, because, let’s face it, even though I eat a lot healthier now, I’m still a newbie at that part of the game.  But I think I do have a handle on the whole workout side…

So, what do I do in the gym?

Well, it really depends.  I can get a workout in anywhere, anytime.  Be it at home in my bedroom (no not that you pervs! , using resistance bands, or on the road in New Mexico at the hotel gym.  But for the sake of time, and your attention, we’ll just focus on the gym, if you need ideas on what to do while on the road, or can’t afford a gym, gimme a holler.

I usually get up at 4:45am, excuse me, as a dear friend so definitely pointed out.  I SET my alarm for 4:45, and am out of bed by 5:00am.  We’re all snoozers, I’m no exception to the rule.  I throw on whatever is closest to me, because let’s face it, at 5:00am, I’m not the most coherent.  I’ve shown up in the gym in some snazzy outfits, other times…showed up with shorts…but no underwear.  Whew good thing I had a drawstring to cinch ‘em up.  Anyway, grab a banana, get my work clothes together (THE NIGHT before), and Im’ out the door, and on my way to Pure Fitness.

**I’d like to take this time right here to address something that appalled me.  This past week while in New Mexico, I found out that one of my coworkers was paying $75 a month for a gym membership!  75 FREAKING DOLLARS!!!  If you are paying ANYTHING over $30 for a gym membership, you’re being ripped off.  Unless you’re getting the red carpet treatment, like 4-5 training sessions a month, etc…your membership, just for a monthly dues, and a training session each month with someone, and unlimited access to the gym, should never cost more than $30.  If you currently have a membership costing more than that for what I just listed, please go to their membership office and threaten to go elsewhere, I guarantee you they will drop your fees.  My membership each month is $16.  That includes unlimited access to any gym Pure Fitness has in the valley, any time of day, one training session a month, which I don’t use, because I’m smarter than the average trainer at a gym, and unlimited access to classes in the gym.  Mine is so cheap monthly because I put more money up front, but you don’t have to.  My gym membership at 24 hour fitness was only $24 with nothing up front.  I also would like to add, that cost is based on one person.  If you have a family pass, etc, it will be more expensive for more people.  But again, I know someone with five people on their membership paying about $100 a month, that’s $20 a head!**

Okay, rant over.  I usually hop on the treadmill at the gym for 20-30 minutes.  I run hard so I don’t need a longer run, but I am going to start running longer to train for an olympic triathlon.  That’s right, I’m not satisfied with a sprint, I want more.  Eventually work my way up to the granddaddy of them all, the ironman triathlon.

After that, I hit the weights.  I use free weights mostly for upper body, and stationary weights for lower body.  It just is what it is.   I alternate days on upper and lower, and usually some days of the week I don’t even do weights, I give my body time to rest, but still do cardio.  My weight lifting usually lasts 45 minutes to an hour.  This is because I give myself rest in between each rep.  1 minute long and 2 minute rest between set of muscles.   On days when I’m training for a race, I’ll also hop on the bike after a workout.  Or go for a ride.  Other days I”ll stay at the apartment gym and go swimming first, then weights, then a bike ride or run.

So more specifically, what do I do in the gym exactly?  I’m an avid follower of bodyforlife.com, so I use their workout regime very closely, to see what an exercise is, google it!  Here’s an example:

Upper Body
20-30 minute run or pool swim, laps
20-30 minute bike if training for race

45-1hour weights (I do four reps of one exercise, increasing weight each time, but decreasing reps, the goal is to hit your high where you can barely lift the heaviest weight, then I drop the weight down a little and do maximum reps, for that weight, increasing strength, then I do one rep at about the same weight of another exercise.  Basically it’s 12 reps, 10 reps, 8 reps, 6 reps, 12 reps (at a lower weight than the maximum weight you could do), and 12 reps).  Between the fifth and sixth time, there is no rest.

1)Dumbbell flyes
2)Dumbbell Bench Presses

1)Wide-Grip Lat Pulldowns
2)Straight Arm Pulldowns

1)Lateral Raises
2)Seated Dumbbell Presses

1)Barbell Curls
2)Hammer Curls

1)Bench Dips
2)Lying Triceps Presses

Lower body
20-30 minute swim or bike
Weights
20-30 minute run or swim

1)Leg presses
2)Leg extensions

1)Lying leg curls
2)Dumbbell lunges

1)Standing heel raises
2)Standing calf raises

1)Abdominal crunches
2)Floor crunches

From couch potato to Triathlete Champion!

The end...the journey was great, but the finish line was awesome.

After the way the day went, this post seems almost anti-climatic.  I mean the day was awesome.  The whole atmosphere about it.

You know, someone once told me that a triathlete is champion when they cross the finish line.  Not the first place winner only, endurance running takes guts, it takes you to places you never thought you’d go.  So, yes.  I am a triathlete champion.  Not many people can say they did a triathlon, although anyone can do it.  Yes anyone.  It just takes training.

So…the day started out like any normal day for me actually, except I got up 45 minutes earlier than I usually do.  At 4:00am.  So much for those nightmares about oversleeping.  I was easily on time.  Although, if you ask Lissa (my friend who’s house I slept at the night before to make sure I arrived on time), she’ll tell you I was sure we were going to be late because we left 20 minutes later than I wanted.  We arrived at 5:45 perfectly.  Which was when the transition area opens.

For those who don’t know, the transition area is where you set up your bike, and your equipment and clothes needed for the bike and run.  This is where you change (although not out of your clothes) into your gear for each segment.  Crowded, definitely.  There was over 500 participants in the race.

I’d been nervous all week, and I thought I got over the jitters on race day.  Nope, ask Lissa or Tara (coach) how I was day of, I was a nervous wreck.  The night before I almost forgot socks! and a water bottle!  But the day of was even worse.  I picked up my timing chip (which is used to track your time). And proceeded to try and keep my mind off the daunting task I was about to do.  No easy task when you’re 147th in line.  Which means 146 participants went before me.

They called our numbers in groups of 20.  So it was about 7:30 before I even lined up.  I wasn’t sure about what time I finally took off but Tara told me it was a little before 8:00am.  I got in the pool, and it was nippy, not cold, but nippy.  Adrenaline took over though and I was fine.  I should mention at this point, that three days earlier I tore a muscle in my shoulder.  So I was doing freestyle swimming with a bad shoulder.  It didn’t hurt, surprisingly.  Which I can chalk up to adrenaline.  Because as soon as I exited the pool, it started burning and tingling.  At least I was able to muddle through the swimming.  It was a struggle.  Not because I was out of shape, because I wasn’t.  It was because when I trained in the pool alone, the water wasn’t as angry and loud as it is when it had 30-40 swimmers in there with me.  So when I was trying to get air, I would usually end up swallowing water.  So by my 4th lap (out of 12) I was already winded because of no air.  The girl behind me was 10 years old!  Her parents were running with her too.  But holy moley she was a rocket!  She passed me by my second lap.  I wonder where she finished. There is one thing I would change about this part.  The goal is to do 2 laps up and down each lane.  There are 6 lanes, so you have one swimmer or multiple swimmers going in the opposite direction of each other head on.  There were plenty of collisions including me with one guy where our hands locked up.  But no one got mad, it is what it is.  There sh ould have been 12 lanes, would have been better.

I completed the swim part in about 15 minutes.  This is the part I perceived to be the hardest before the race, because of my shoulder and it’s my weakness.  I got to the transition area for the bike segment and had trouble getting my shirt on because I was still wet, was driving me nuts. My number actually came undone so I lost precious seconds fixing that.  Then my bike gloves weren’t cooperating and I was exasperated.  I finally sat down, closed my eyes for a few seconds and took a few deep breathes ,and went back to work getting my shoes and helmet on, much easier.

The bike course is 3 laps on the road, from Thompson Peak Parkway and Union Hills, to Bell Road/Thompson Peak, to 94th/Bell Road, to 94th/Union Hills, and back to the beginning.  The first half of the course was a breeze on the first lap, as I expected, and I actually passed a few bikers.  Then came the long challenging bike climb for almost 2 miles from 94th to Thompson Peak.  It isn’t so steep as it is long and I overestimated my strength.  Instead of a 1.0 climb, I would say it was a 4.0 climb.  I didn’t train for it properly.  I got through the first lap, with minimal ease.  On the second lap,  I started getting sick from lack of oxygen I believe.  I wanted to throw up, I actually allowed (and I kick myself for this) the thought “quit” to enter my mind for a half second.  I quickly berated myself for this.  Tara suggested I come up with a mantra to repeat to myself when things got tough.  It did, at one point I was giong to pull over and puke and then continue on.  But I kept going.  My mantra was “Live”.  This stems from my favorite quote, which is:

“It’s tough to do, but you’ve got to work at living, you know? Most people work at dying, but anybody can die; the easiest thing on this earth is to die. But to live takes guts; it takes energy, vitality, it takes thought…. We have so many negative influences out there that are pulling us down…. You’ve got to be strong to overcome these adversities… that’s why I never stop.”

I also kept reminding myself why I couldn’t stop.  I trained too hard for too long to give up now and then another quote entered my mind:

“You’re running on guts. On fumes. Your muscles twitch. You throw up. You’re delirious. But you keep running because there’s no way out of this hell you’re in, because there’s no way you’re …not crossing the finish line. It’s a misery that non-runners don’t understand.”

Yea, after all this, there was no way I wasn’t going to finish this race, even if I had to crawl across the finish line.  So I started counting down the turns.  I would have to make 12 of them before I was done.  Finally, the second climb came, and I just leaned forward on my bike, closed my eyes for a bit and started pedaling and downshifting to conserve energy.  Then, as the second lap was completed, all pain and feeling to puke was gone.  It wasn’t until after the race that I realized I had hit a runners high.  This is when most people stop, when they feel they can’t go any further.  Just beyond that agonizing pain, is a high so extreme I can’t describe it.  Nothing hurts anymore, you feel like you could run or bike or swim forever.  I breezed through the final lap, and was finally done with the bike part.  I would proclaim this part, which I said was my strongest suit before the race, the hardest part after the race.  I entered the transition area, and I WAS EXHAUSTED.  My legs were shaking.  But again, I would crawl if I have to, because the worst feeling in the world is not finishing the race.  I was going to do it one way or another.  I switched shows, put on my hat and sunglasses, and started out of the transition area.  I couldn’t get anything going.  And then it happened.  I was told to expect it, but I didn’t expect it to hurt that much.  I cramped up, and my hamstring started aching.  I hadn’t even ran .2 miles yet.  I stopped for a few seconds and massaged my hamstring, a volunteer came by and said “rub it out, it’ll go away, get going!” (in a supportive way, of course).  The first half of the run is all uphill, and I do mean all UPHILL.  A 3.0 incline.  I half ran half walked it, I couldn’t get my legs to go that far.

I finally reached the halfway point. and it was time to turn around.  At this point, I couldn’t feel anything in my legs anymore.  No pain. So I started running.  1.5 miles later, I could hear the emcee and the crowd growing louder and louder.  I am the type of athlete that absolutely feeds on the energy of a crowd.  I didn’t realize when the final stretch came that I was all alone.  I was expecting a runner who was catching up to me to come and pass me, but she didn’t.  Not sure what happened, she might have ran out of gas.  Anyway,  I was keeping my head down to focus on the last stretch and I heard the emcee say it, wasn’t expecting it but he said “and here comes No. 147 ladies and gentlemen!”  I’ve heard stories, read books, about how it feels once you hit the ticker tape (finish line).  But it didn’t prepare me for it and I hit it, and it was amazing.  Impossible to explain.  You have to experience it.

And then my body realized it was over and my legs started shaking and I lost my balance.  Tara got me some water while Lissa stayed with me.  I was looking for my mom.  But later found out she tried to call.  She had a flat tire as she left Tucson to come to Scottsdale.  She had arrived about a half hour to an hour earlier, but they told her to go to the lobby.  She never saw me finish.  None the less, it was nice of her to come up.

The hard part was over, bask in the glory of your finish.   I got a free massage from the cortiva institute.  It was at this point that I was told that I most likely tore a muscle in my shoulder earlier that week.  Ah, oh well, race over.  I beat my self down and preconceived limits.

The rest of the day was spent with my mom (eating out for a short time) and friends.  I have high ambitions.  This is not over.  I want to run a half marathon (13 miles) a full marathon (26 miles), an olympic triathlon (twice as long as the sprint), a half ironman (twice as long as the olympic) and a full ironman (150 miles biking, 26 miles running, 3-4 miles swimming).  But that’s for another day of training.  For today, I rest, and I enjoy the thoughts of the day.

On the eve of my greatest challenge…

September 12, 2009.   Much like March 9, 2009 will go down in history for me.  March 9, 2009 was the day I said enough is enough and committed to a new lifestyle.  September 12, 2009 is when I will officially put it all on the line for the first time and see if how hard I have worked for six months is successful.  My first triathlon.  I admit, I am nervous, but a type of nervous that inspires us to do great things, to push beyond what is our preconceived limit.  I no longer fear this triathlon.  I have trained for it, I have honed my biking swimming and running abilities, there is no doubt in my mind that I can finish this.  But I’m still nervous, as we all are when we try something new.

On a positive note ,a friend of mine who is listening to me and following my training method, did her first weigh-in this week and has lost 3 pounds.  HIGH FIVE!!  It gives me great joy to see others work toward their goals and succeed.

So, without further ado:

March 9, 2009: 325 pounds, 35% of it was fat.  PURE FAT.
April 9, 2009: 295.8 pounds (-29.2 pounds lost)
May 9, 2009: 280.6 pounds (-15.2 pounds lost)
June 9, 2009: 271.6 pounds (-9.0 pounds lost)
July 9, 2009: 263.8 pounds (-7.8 pounds lost)
August 1, 2009: 260.2 pounds (-3.6 pounds lost) **THIS WAS THE HALFWAY POINT IN THE CHALLENGE*
August 9, 2009: 258.0 (pounds (-2.2 pounds lost)
September 9, 2009: 243.6 (-14.4 pounds lost)

After frustrating month in early August, I turned up the heat and have knocked out -14.4 pounds since August 9th.  Probably the most important thing was my body fat, it is now at 24%, I have eliminated 11% of pure body fat.  That is the most important thing.

People always ask me, why do I run, why do I put myself through 50-mile bike rides and swim until I can no longer breathe normally.  I tell them its because running, swimming, and biking, there are no competitors.  Yes, you have other runners, but the true competitor is your self-doubt.  Your inability to see past your own shortcomings.  All the time when I talk about the triathlon, people tell me “I’m amazed at you, I could never put myself through that or do it.”  IT IS POSSIBLE, 6 months ago I said the same thing.  It’s the way of thinking that must, ABSOLUTELY MUST change in everyone.  This is why we run.  Every time I shatter a personal best, I look back 6 months ago and I’m amazed at how much self doubt I had.  I believe I can do anything now.  This is why we run.  Running gives you confidence in your ability, and takes you places team sports can’t do.  You have only yourself to rely on, only yourself to blame if you fail.  And trust me, if you come up short, it’s the worst feeling in the world, but you also get back up, one more time, each time, until you do it.  And if you’ve never failed, or met someone who has never failed, I’ll show you a person who has never tried to push beyond their limits.  Because without failure, how can you know the pure joy of success, and the agony of defeat?  If you know not defeat, success means nothing.  THAT is why I run.

Next week, September 14th will be a big day, it marks 100 days left in the challenge.  It’ll probably also coincide with my triathlon post.