I did Day 3 of the 100 push ups workout today. I'm am all the way up to 5 push ups! Woot! Even last year I was doing way more than that, and I'm surprised I can lose that much power/endurance so easily. Maybe it's more mental than physical. Anyway, I'm up to 5 in a set.
My whole legs have been pretty sore since Wednesday. But by yesterday (Friday) afternoon, they were feeling pretty good. I prefer being comfortable rather than doing difficult exercise, and I never got around to going running today. However, I did go outside with the kids to supervise YoungestSon's bike riding. I figured I might as well run around instead of walk right by him. So I decided to take off my shoes and go for it. It was in the parking lot (asphalt) and on the sidewalk. I was easily able to avoid gravel/rocks.
I was going along, and thinking "hmm, I seem to be wasting a lot of energy on really short strides and up and down movements rather than forward movements. I bet I can push off and move forward more fairly easily." So I tried it. And it seemed to work very well. However, as I was pushing off, my toes were kind of gripping and twisting against the ground. I then noticed a stinging, squishy, slimy feeling on one toe. I thought "oh, I'll just ignore that." Yeah, that wasn't such a good idea. When I finally looked at it, a layer of skin was gone on that toe. It was kind of like a popped blister.
The ultimate rule of learning to run barefoot is to pay attention to your skin. Your skin will tell you to slow down, so that you protect your feet, which need time to strengthen after being in shoes for so long. So yeah, I totally ignored that rule. I only ran around the building a couple of times, about 0.4 miles total. But now my bones in my lower legs ache a little, my feet ache a tiny bit, and obviously the skin on that toe hurts.
I confess that I'm doubting barefoot running a little bit. However, when I look at running in shoes with a heel strike, it just doesn't look right. I think that it's totally reasonable to expect that my body will need some time to catch up after exercising in shoes. And it makes sense to run truly barefoot rather than in Vibram Five Fingers to start out. But I'm not sure what to do in the meantime. Running 0.4 miles a few times a week isn't much of a workout. Maybe I can run barefoot for a while, and then switch to shoes.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
5/5 - Sore
Wednesday, 5/5 - Day 2 of hundred pushups workout. I have already doubled the number of pushups I can do in a set. I am amazed.
Calves still pretty sore. Mid-upper back is sore. As I was running to chase YoungestSon this morning, I had a little jolt of pain/soreness in my lower back too. I assume both are from the push ups.
After the first day of the Push Up Challenge, I realized why I don't exercise. Well, it's really a Catch-22 sort of thing. When I get muscle soreness, I associate that with being REALLY sick, like when your body aches from the flu. So when I exercise, the next day I feel sick. Mentally I take an inventory and realize that everything actually feels fine, except the muscle soreness. But my brain has experienced muscle soreness along with the flu, so it apparently associates the two. Perhaps if I get sore often enough, my body will associate it with good workouts instead of illness.
Is being sore always a desired result? Or is that only when you're starting out? I'm not talking about pain. I consider pain and muscle soreness to be two completely different things. But they say that to build muscle, you need to tear it down and then let it recover. So is this an on-going process? Or do you get to a level where you've built up a decent amount of muscle and then it doesn't happen any more?
Calves still pretty sore. Mid-upper back is sore. As I was running to chase YoungestSon this morning, I had a little jolt of pain/soreness in my lower back too. I assume both are from the push ups.
After the first day of the Push Up Challenge, I realized why I don't exercise. Well, it's really a Catch-22 sort of thing. When I get muscle soreness, I associate that with being REALLY sick, like when your body aches from the flu. So when I exercise, the next day I feel sick. Mentally I take an inventory and realize that everything actually feels fine, except the muscle soreness. But my brain has experienced muscle soreness along with the flu, so it apparently associates the two. Perhaps if I get sore often enough, my body will associate it with good workouts instead of illness.
Is being sore always a desired result? Or is that only when you're starting out? I'm not talking about pain. I consider pain and muscle soreness to be two completely different things. But they say that to build muscle, you need to tear it down and then let it recover. So is this an on-going process? Or do you get to a level where you've built up a decent amount of muscle and then it doesn't happen any more?
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
5/4
Tuesday, 5/4 - No foot soreness/tenderness at all. However, my calves were sore. Stretching them out does not help, so I think they might actually be overstretched, which would make sense, given the mechanics of running barefoot (with no heel) versus running in a running shoe (relatively high heel).
My chest and arms were pretty sore from the push ups, and I ended up skipping the entire day for push ups.
My chest and arms were pretty sore from the push ups, and I ended up skipping the entire day for push ups.
Monday, May 3, 2010
5/3
This blog is about to get even more boring. I'm planning on logging my information here, so that I can keep it all in one place.
Monday, 5/3 - 1 mile barefoot run
Day 1 of hundred pushups workout
Monday, 5/3 - 1 mile barefoot run
Day 1 of hundred pushups workout
Push Up Challenge
I saw a link on Facebook to a Push Up Challenge. The goal is to do 3000 push ups in May. They can be any style - full, knees, wall, whatever. I thought this sounded like a great idea and signed up.
I am really embarrassed to admit how many real push ups I was able to do on May 1. I think it was something like 10. Split into two sets. With poor form. I don't look like Jabba the Hutt, but I sure feel like a slothful slug-like blob. I did about 30 knee push ups, and filled in the rest with 60 wall push ups.
On May 2, I was so sore! That is so pathetic! Oh well, I'll press on anyway. I found a website that gives you a training schedule to get up to 100 push ups in 6 weeks. They recommend doing your push ups three times a week with rest days in between, just like if you were a new runner. I thought that sounded like a good idea, so yesterday I did a light day of 100 wall push ups. I am still a little sore today, but it's not too bad. I forgot to do any push ups before work, so I'll have to fit them all in after work, which probably means I'll end up doing most of them wall style again. I'll get there eventually though!
I am really embarrassed to admit how many real push ups I was able to do on May 1. I think it was something like 10. Split into two sets. With poor form. I don't look like Jabba the Hutt, but I sure feel like a slothful slug-like blob. I did about 30 knee push ups, and filled in the rest with 60 wall push ups.
On May 2, I was so sore! That is so pathetic! Oh well, I'll press on anyway. I found a website that gives you a training schedule to get up to 100 push ups in 6 weeks. They recommend doing your push ups three times a week with rest days in between, just like if you were a new runner. I thought that sounded like a good idea, so yesterday I did a light day of 100 wall push ups. I am still a little sore today, but it's not too bad. I forgot to do any push ups before work, so I'll have to fit them all in after work, which probably means I'll end up doing most of them wall style again. I'll get there eventually though!
Friday, April 30, 2010
Competitive
Some guys at work are talking about running. I am suddenly finding new motivation to get back on track to do a 5K (or more). Obviously I'm not thinking of beating these guys -- they're both seasoned runners, and one is close to winning local 5Ks. But I do have that competitive spirit that wants to say "hey, I'm a runner too!"
My biggest excuses right now are time and kids. It's still so difficult to run with the kids! If I take the jogging stroller and put the kids on bikes/scooters, it turns into a family fight session. The kids are continually endangering themselves or trying to crash each other, and I end up yelling at them the whole time. If we go to a track or field, YoungestSon stands there sobbing, and each time I run past him, he screams "holdj meeeee! Not leave meeee!!!!" and runs toward me with his arms outstretched. So sad! Money for a babysitter 3-4 times a week is not in the budget. I love making excuses, because then I have a reason for my failure. I'd rather move past that and do something even if I do fail!
My biggest excuses right now are time and kids. It's still so difficult to run with the kids! If I take the jogging stroller and put the kids on bikes/scooters, it turns into a family fight session. The kids are continually endangering themselves or trying to crash each other, and I end up yelling at them the whole time. If we go to a track or field, YoungestSon stands there sobbing, and each time I run past him, he screams "holdj meeeee! Not leave meeee!!!!" and runs toward me with his arms outstretched. So sad! Money for a babysitter 3-4 times a week is not in the budget. I love making excuses, because then I have a reason for my failure. I'd rather move past that and do something even if I do fail!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Amazing
I've written about and been chastised/encouraged about my struggles with eating sugar/getting off sugar MANY times. This isn't news to anyone who has ever read more than 3 of my blog posts.
Guess what I had yesterday? This is all in addition to regular meals:
- 1 Girl Scout cookie after breakfast (YoungestSon broke into them, so I helped myself to one)
- 2 Zingers (out of a package of 3 from the vending machine) as a mid-morning snack
- 1 Creamie after lunch (we had them for a work lunch the other day and there are leftovers)
- 2 Girl Scout cookies as an after-lunch snack (I have a couple of boxes in the freezer at work that haven taken me a few weeks to get through)
- the other Zinger as an afternoon snack
- a disgusting 'car' made out of a Twinkie with Oreo halves for wheels at the Pinewood Derby. I did not enjoy the Twinkie in the slightest. It was gross, and I had plenty of Oreos to satisfy my cravings. So why would I eat it? Why??
- a few bites of a Georgia Mud Fudge blizzard (went to Dairy Queen as a post-Pinewood Derby treat) -- I saved most of the blizzard for today.
When I look at that, I think, "oh, it's not that much, especially spread out over a whole day!" Yeah, right. I'm afraid to even calculate the grams of sugar in all that stuff. I used to pour table sugar into empty SoBe bottles to show people how much they were drinking with each bottle. I wonder how big the pile of sugar would be if I added all this up?
OK, I'm adding it up. . . 4 (Tagalong), 36 (2 Zingers), 13 (Creamie), 6 (2 Thin Mints), 18 (1 Zinger), 19 (1 Twinkie), 8 (frosting), 42 (4 Oreos?), 7 (1/10 Blizzard). . . . 153 grams of sugar
That's 12 Tablespoons!! I do take some comfort in knowing that people who drink several soft drinks per day are getting far more than that. That's rationalization though, right?
Apparently posting my sugar intake isn't enough to shame me in to quitting. Is it going to take severe health problems? Diabetes, adrenal fatigue, heart problems (recent evidence shows they're caused more by simple carbohydrates/sugar rather than fat/cholesterol)? I am sure that I am setting myself up for problems, whether they manifest now or in the future.
I'm amazed that I have so much knowledge about the real effects of sugar, but so little interest in actually doing something about it (besides whining, I mean).
Perhaps the one thing that (sadly) will motivate me is that a 'gut roll' has appeared around my waist and I am going to have to start wearing dresses every day if I don't do something about it soon. I know I need to exercise for many reasons. I think that I would see a huge improvement if I just quit eating all the crap! I truly enjoyed the week I ate all raw. It tasted SO good and I did not crave sugar. Each day I did have some 'raw' coconut/chocolate pudding that was sweetened with honey/agave, but I wasn't eating vast quantities of it, just one normal serving each day. The batch of pudding lasted me the whole week. So I really have no excuses left.
Guess what I had yesterday? This is all in addition to regular meals:
- 1 Girl Scout cookie after breakfast (YoungestSon broke into them, so I helped myself to one)
- 2 Zingers (out of a package of 3 from the vending machine) as a mid-morning snack
- 1 Creamie after lunch (we had them for a work lunch the other day and there are leftovers)
- 2 Girl Scout cookies as an after-lunch snack (I have a couple of boxes in the freezer at work that haven taken me a few weeks to get through)
- the other Zinger as an afternoon snack
- a disgusting 'car' made out of a Twinkie with Oreo halves for wheels at the Pinewood Derby. I did not enjoy the Twinkie in the slightest. It was gross, and I had plenty of Oreos to satisfy my cravings. So why would I eat it? Why??
- a few bites of a Georgia Mud Fudge blizzard (went to Dairy Queen as a post-Pinewood Derby treat) -- I saved most of the blizzard for today.
When I look at that, I think, "oh, it's not that much, especially spread out over a whole day!" Yeah, right. I'm afraid to even calculate the grams of sugar in all that stuff. I used to pour table sugar into empty SoBe bottles to show people how much they were drinking with each bottle. I wonder how big the pile of sugar would be if I added all this up?
OK, I'm adding it up. . . 4 (Tagalong), 36 (2 Zingers), 13 (Creamie), 6 (2 Thin Mints), 18 (1 Zinger), 19 (1 Twinkie), 8 (frosting), 42 (4 Oreos?), 7 (1/10 Blizzard). . . . 153 grams of sugar
That's 12 Tablespoons!! I do take some comfort in knowing that people who drink several soft drinks per day are getting far more than that. That's rationalization though, right?
Apparently posting my sugar intake isn't enough to shame me in to quitting. Is it going to take severe health problems? Diabetes, adrenal fatigue, heart problems (recent evidence shows they're caused more by simple carbohydrates/sugar rather than fat/cholesterol)? I am sure that I am setting myself up for problems, whether they manifest now or in the future.
I'm amazed that I have so much knowledge about the real effects of sugar, but so little interest in actually doing something about it (besides whining, I mean).
Perhaps the one thing that (sadly) will motivate me is that a 'gut roll' has appeared around my waist and I am going to have to start wearing dresses every day if I don't do something about it soon. I know I need to exercise for many reasons. I think that I would see a huge improvement if I just quit eating all the crap! I truly enjoyed the week I ate all raw. It tasted SO good and I did not crave sugar. Each day I did have some 'raw' coconut/chocolate pudding that was sweetened with honey/agave, but I wasn't eating vast quantities of it, just one normal serving each day. The batch of pudding lasted me the whole week. So I really have no excuses left.
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