7 Week Break

So I wasn't planning to take a break from swimming, but I did.  I finally got back in today.  I swan 4,000 yards.  I did 2,000 then a 1,500 with paddles, and 500 cool down.  It felt really nice, until I went to the store and my tailbone freaked out on me...But that is my fault for not exercising like I should be.

During my time off from swimming, I did a fitness challenge.  It was a month of daily exercises.  I did all but two days.  I missed the last one because I hurt my back.  But I completed the rest.  I think that I will try a different month-long challenge soon.

30 Day Challenge

I decided to start a 30 day fitness challenge.  It is only 2 little exercises a day.  I have been doing it for 15 days now.  Unfortunately I missed yesterday.  I promised myself that if I skipped a day I would have to make it up double.  Well, yesterday I was supposed to do 50 squat jumps.  So I had to do 100 squat jumps!  They kicked my butt the first time I had to do them and I was pretty worried about completing that many, but I was able to do it.  I just broke it down into groups of 25 and rotated it with the other one I missed from yesterday and today's exercises. 

When they say "50" of some exercises that are side specific I always double it.  I like to do extra, and that way I make sure I am not missing any. 

Here is the website that I got it from:  www.30dayfitnesschallenges.com/30-day-beach-body-challenge/

I like it so much that I am already looking for my next monthly challenge.  This is the one that I am considering:  http://theysmell.com/january-2015-workout-calendar/.  Does anyone want to join me next month?

Lower Body & Abs

Let’s see how far I can get with this workout before my baby wakes up:

ü  Plie Squats with arm raises (to horizontal) 3x15 (3 lb weights)

ü  Romanian Deadlift 3x15

ü  Walking Lunge with Bicep Curl 3x15 (each side) (3 lb weights)

ü  supermans hold for 10 seconds  over 1 minute (5 times)

ü  Squat with side leg lift 3x15 (each side)

ü  lying Hamstring curls with swiss ball 3x15 (I completely died on the last round!)

ü  Donkey Kicks 3x15 (each side)

ü  Single Leg Bridge Kicks 3x15 (each side) (these ones kick my butt!)

ü  Ball Plank with leg lifts 3x10 (each side) No leg lifts!  Just 3x1 minutes ball plank

Step-Up with a Knee-Up 20 times each leg

This is the website that I got the workout from: http://www.popsugar.com/fitness/Exercises-Get-Rid-Flat-Butt-18361944?stream_view=1#photo-34166328

5-10 minutes stretching

I have also been working on my posture.  I am trying to stand and sit with my back straight and my shoulders back.  I don’t have very good posture, so when I catch myself sitting or standing wrong, I fix it.  Hopefully this small change will help.

First Run In Years

Today I started my walk/running.  I decided to start very slowly because my left knee usually hurts when I run.  I thought this way I could slowly build up the muscles.  I started with walking and alternated with running.  I went nine rounds for a total of about 25-30 minutes.  I used my iPod to measure; I alternated by songs.  That is probably not the most exacting way, but I liked it better than trying to keep track of minutes and watching my watch.

I ran around the neighborhood and up to Valley Street; then I cam back home through the park.  It was about 2 1/3 miles total.

Afterwards, I stretched for about 5 to 7 minutes.

I am pretty fit when it comes to swimming. So I am trying to work on my cross-training.  That is why I started lifting weights the other day.  Unfortunately, I am incredibly sore. I am pretty awkward when I move around.  It is pretty comical.

 

Land Lover--Fitness Out of the Water

I decided to integrate weights into my fitness routine.  I really need to do some tightening and toning.  And that is what weight training is good for. Today was the first day.  I went to Millcreek Rec Center.  I love how they have incorporated the old gym floors into the new center.  The workout room was kind of small, but it is equipped with the latest and greatest machines.  The indoor track is the best!  It is not a boring oval.  It is a fun wavy track.

Here is what my workout consisted of:

20 minutes on the elliptical (~1.5 miles)

Lower Body Lifting (15 reps for each—two times through):

Squat with 12lb medicine ball (at the top I did a press with the ball in my hands)

Dead lift with 2x12lb weights

Curtsy Squats with 2x12lb weights

Side Squats with 2x12lb weights

5 minutes on upright stationary bike (~1 mile)—Cool Down

~10-15 minutes of stretching

I am planning to go again tomorrow in hopes that I will not become too sore.  I will focus on aerobics and abs.  I am usually extremely sore whenever I start doing weight training or running.  I think in the long run, my plan is to swim on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and either Saturdays or Sundays.  Then do my weights/land fitness on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays.  That sounds like a lot of working out, but I think I need it.  I have been doing some research and I should really be exercising for at least 30 minutes every day.  So these land exercise days could be shorter when I get into the full routine.

Sunday Afternoon

I really have to thank my husband for putting up with me.  I make it pretty miserable for him.  I put him through a lot of pressure not to swim.  He has to keep persuading me every time.  And he does such a great job of it.  I only got in the pool today because of him.  I just wanted to take a nap.  But he knew better, he pushed me out the door and told me that I would be glad that I went. And he was 100% right.  I have so much more energy now than I did before swimming 4,000 yards. THANK YOU!

Here is today’s workout:

1,000 warm up

8x100 @1:30—25 hard/75 recover; rotate the 25 throughout the 100’s

Ladder: Pull up through 400 @ :10 rest

100

200

300

400

300

200

100

400 Kick with fins; 50 dolphin/50 flutter

200 cool down

4,000 yards total

I went on a 3.25-mile hike up Millcreek Canyon on Thursday with my dear friend Brenna. It was really hard packing a 23.5-pound baby.  But it was fun!  I cannot believe how warm it is.  The snow up there was all slushy.  It has been a pretty crazy winter here in Utah!

February 3, 2015

Nothing too interesting tonight.  I haven’t swam in about a week and a half.  I did not feel very well either.  So I just made it through my 3,000 yards.  I swam it as two 1,500’s. 

I did have quite an adventure over the weekend.  I got to spend the night at a yurt in the Uinta Mountains.  It was about a two-mile hike up to the yurt.  Then on Saturday we did a two-mile round trip to Lily Lake.  Then back down.  It was a blast and I would love to do it again.  It was pretty tough hiking with all our gear.  But now we know that the yurt is pretty well stocked with equipment.  No packing a skillet next time!  That will save me a lot of weight.

Long and Steady

This was the first workout of the week.  I didn’t feel very well the last two nights.  So I had to swim a little extra tonight.  I am really hoping that I can get one more workout in over the weekend, but that doesn’t usually happen. 

So tonight’s workout wasn’t that interesting.  I swam 4,500 yards straight.  But I think it is good for me to do long workouts.  I want to try to incorporate them more.

Just Do More

I was trying to figure out what makes this time different.  I have tried swimming on my own in the past, but I always falter.  This time I have a theme that has been working very well for me:  Do More.  It is that simple.  I have a baseline plan (a minimum of 3,000 per workout) and I try to do more at every workout.  For example, if I am planning to do 6x75’s kick, when I get to the third or fourth one, I think to myself, “Well, if I do two extra, then this set will be an even 600 instead of the 450.”  Then when I get close to the end I think that I might as well just do two more and make it an even dozen. 

This doesn’t have to go just for extra yards, you can do it for anything.  Let’s say you typically do two dolphin kicks off the wall.  All you have to do is think, “Why don’t I try it with one more?  It is only one more, maybe a ¼ of a second.”  You can take it into other parts of your life too.  I see so many possibilities!

Here is today’s workout, it is dedicated to my husband who persuaded me to go. Thankfully he is very persuasive.

600 warm up

10x125 Free @1:50

1.    25 fast/100 recovery

2.    50 fast/75 recovery

3.    75 fast/50 recovery

4.    100 fast/25 recovery

5.    125 fast

6.    100 fast/25 recovery

7.    75 fast/50 recovery

8.    50 fast/75 recovery

9.    25 fast/100 recovery

10.  125 recovery

4x250 Pull (distance per stroke) ~:15 rest

10x75 kick w/fins @1:10 (alternating flutter & dolphin)

400 cool down

4,000 yards total

Out with the ‘poo, in with the soap.

I caught you with that title, didn’t I?  Well, it is not as exciting as it sounds.  I have found that I don’t really like to use SHAMpoo and conditioner very much anymore.  It all came when I ran out of them during my swim-every-day-to-reach-my-goal-end-of-the-year-rush.  All I had was my soap (Dove Beauty Bar = soap to me), so I used that.  I found that I really liked it.  So now I just use that.  I have so much less to carry around.  And as soon as I run out a home, I think I will only use soap here too.  Maybe I am saving money because I don’t have to buy as many products? 

I had every intention of swimming over the weekend, it just didn’t happen.  I did get a decent workout in today.  Although, I wasn’t in the mood for anything too interesting, so I just did a set of longer stuff.  I was pretty stiff, and I think that is what led to the workout format.  I guess I need to swim more often.

Here is tonight’s workout:

1,000 warm up

1,500 pull (I was going to only do 1,000 here, but I added a little onto it)  I did this in exactly 20 minutes

500 kick w/fins (50 dolphin/50 flutter then 50 flutter/50 dolphin…repeat)

500 cool down

3,500 yards total

IM and Breath Control

Tonight was a tough workout for me.  I am still trying to get used to working out after dinner.  I really like swimming in the evenings, but it has been challenging for me to get used to it.  I also have to work on my “winding-down” skills.  I get a burst of energy after exercising.  That energy lasts for a while, so sometime falling asleep is difficult.

I love not having to stress out about getting tons of yards in at each workout.  I have the flexibility to do things like speed work and kick sets (ugh).  I think that I want to incorporate the long workouts like I did in my end of year rush.  I am planning to do them two or three times a month.  They are nice long, easy workouts.  I am surprised how much I enjoyed them.  And it definitely made it easy to plan what to do.

This is what I did tonight:

800 warm up

400 kick with fins (dolphin down/ flutter back)

200 IM Drill

12x50 fast IMO Down/easy Free on the way back @:50

8x150 pull (breathing 3,5,7 by 50) [the last one I did 3,5,7,9,11,13 by 25 and it was HARD] @2:10 or 1:50 I am not sure which it was

600 cool down

3,500 yards total

Swimmin' along in the New Year

The last few weeks have been pretty crazy with swimming.  In order to reach my goal, I had to swim every available day for over 5,000 yards.  That was quite difficult.  I mostly did it at night while Matt put the baby to bed.  It usually took about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes.  The longest swim I did was 6,250 yards.  And it did it pretty much straight through, no real stops. That was exciting for me. 

Most of these workouts were pretty boring.  Things like 4x1500 or 3000. 2000, 1000 or 5000 straight, etc.  Whatever it took to get it done in the limited time that I left myself.  I am so thankful that Matt was there to support me and push me to finish my goal.  I would not have been able to do it without him!

Tonight was the first swim of 2015.  From my experience over the last few weeks trying frantically to achieve my 2014 goal of 130 miles, I found that I really love swimming at Steiner, just not with the Steiner Masters.  It is a great pool with lots of open lanes, most of the time.  Plus, it is only about 10-15 minutes from my house.  That is where I went tonight. 

This was today’s workout:

800 warm up

4x200’s descend

14x100 @1:25 pull

500 cool down

3,500 yards total