September Workout Interim Update – Epic Fail

To be fair, my schedule has been hell on wheels this month.  It’s not so much a fail on my part to execute, but a fail to realize expecting a big boost in activity in an already crazy month was a bad idea.  What happened?  Well, to start, let’s recap the plan here:

Day 1: 20 mins on Cybil, 20 mins arms/squats, 20 mins running

Day 2: 5k run for time, 20 mins core/bootie, 15-20 mins yoga at home

Day 3: 40 minutes of DDR, 15-20 mins yoga at home

Day 4: 1 mile run for time, 20 mins full body strength, 20 mins on Cybil

Day 5: 4 mile run, 15-20 mins yoga at home

Crazy plan for a crazy girl, right?  It seemed like a good idea at the time for many reasons.  I had just spent two weeks working normal hours and figured I would be rested and refreshed enough to tackle something harder.  My weight loss was slowing, and I wanted to kick it up a notch and thought this might help get the ball rolling faster.  My parents were going to be here and staying with me, so I thought I could use some extra me-time, and it was a perfect excuse, and a perfect excuse for Zliten to get away and workout with me as well.

How did it go?  Well, the first week was fine – tough, but fine.  I completed, minus yoga one or 2 days (just stretched in place of it), everything.  I hit a pretty decent starting 5k time of 32:20, I matched my mile time of 8:55, my 4 miler wasn’t torturous, and I set myself up a pretty good and efficient arms/some legs and core/other legs strength circuits.  Four days of running did sort of aggrivate my foot slightly (only lasted a day, but still a bit disconcerting), and I had on and off hip and right hamstring issues, which both seem to have cleared up.  Behind that I believe was introducing myself to Cybil the arc trainer on maximum incline, and misusing one weight machine for a week before I realized like a dummy that I was putting my calf where my foot was supposed to be.  However, Zliten decided to work out in the mornings, so my extra time at the gym was extra stress for him (being around my parents nagging at him without me to intervene), which was more stress for me later.  Also, some weird stuff happened at work which made everyone around me just become ridiculous Negative Nancies, which started to rub off on me.  In other words, I was doing it, but MAN OH MAN I was a grumpypants to be around.

The second week, everything fell apart.  I felt sorta like that cat in the cage, I knew I was having an off week, but couldn’t do much about it since I was already paws deep into it.  I had industry parties to go to last Monday and Tuesday, and I missed my workout Monday and just did 40 minutes of DDR on Tuesday due to time constraints.  I couldn’t drag myself to the gym on Wednesday, so I did the same workout plus some yoga, due to utter and complete exhaustion.  Thursday and Friday I got back in the swing of things with a 20 minute Cybil, 25 minute partial full body strength, 22 minute run and a 4 mile run and major stretch session respectively.  Saturday, I had to cut it short with 40 minutes of DDR right after I got up so we could head out for the day to the waterpark.

I am proud of myself that I still managed to get in 5 workouts last week even with the super frantic schedule I was keeping, but 3 of them were definitely light days.  The energy was just not there for the intensity I wanted.  Actually, I’m also proud of myself for knowing my limits.  I could have pushed through the exhaustion and figured out a way to sacrifice the time to do the killer workouts, but I think it would have negatively impacted me.  The last thing I need right now is to be sick or hurt, and I could have easily done that to myself last week.

Possibly contributing to the fail-ness is I haven’t lost a pound this month.  I did set a new record low weight by 0.8 lbs, but last time I got on the scale I definitely wasn’t there.  People have told me I look like I’ve lost weight, so I might have firmed up a bit, but there is only so firm a 5’5″ girl can be at 167.  Unless miracles happen, I’m not going to hit my goal of 165 by October 1st.  I know it doesn’t sound like a big deal, but this is the first month I haven’t lost at least 5 lbs in over a year.  I don’t want to lose momentum.  I do really well with keeping something in motion, but I don’t do well with starting or restarting something.

My plan going into the next two weeks is going to be:

• Eat more, but good stuff.  The plan is to eat the same types of things I normally do, but add extra servings of fruit and veggies and maybe even some lean protien/nuts.  I’m hoping to be at 1500-1700 calories on the weekdays, and 2000 calories on the weekends.  Reason being – I think I might have screwed up my metabolism by trying to pump up the exercise without the good fuel being there at first.  If this helps, I’ll have to remember to eat more for a while when I bump my program, and then gradually eat less as I become more accustomed to it.
• Try to push through and finish the month as scheduled, more or less.  The next 4 days are back to normal, and then I have a 3 day music festival to attend which will combine walking and lots of food/drink, which will hopefully cancel each other out.  I’m not going to be insane and try to work out during that time, so I’ll miss one day this week.  Besides that, I’d like to follow it as closely as possible and see if by the end of the month it gets easier.
• Start figuring out what’s up for October.  Things that have piqued my interest are HIIT, longer workouts and cutting down to 4 days per week, 3 super hardcore workouts and 2 really light ones, a month of only cardio, a month of minimal cardio, and alternating weeks of heavy and light activity.  So, erm, yeah, all over the board.  Stay tuned to see what I decide.

I’m excited for the next few days to get back into a normal schedule with normal happenings.  No houseguests, no crazy weekday parties, no going out to eat every meal.  I felt myself slipping in weird food ways the last two weeks (noshing off an appetizer tray at parties after having eaten a huge dinner, eating two gigantic meals in one day and still being super hungry the next, not counting calories on the weekend because it’s just too much to deal with), and I’d like to get that back in check before it becomes a habit.  It’s good to know that I’m dedicated and active enough to get through a tough two weeks without gaining (or at least fluctuating up and down like normal within an acceptable range), but the scale must start showing me a lower number or I will go nuts soon.

That being said, I’m off and running to grab this week by the horns and really try to rock at living healthy for the next 4 days.  Wish me luck!