March Madness -- Days 23 & 24: It Only Hurts for a Minute (or 10)

Saturday - March 23 

After my three days of hard workouts, I woke up Saturday morning barely able to move. The thing was that I'd already signed up and paid for a hot yoga bootcamp with the Amazing Adrienne, so I had no choice but to go. I spent most of my drive there trying to figure out how I would be able able to remotely do a push up or anything when I couldn't even lift my arms over my head. 

I had told my dad Friday night that I couldn't feel my arms, and he said, "If you couldn't feel them you wouldn't be complaining, I'm guessing you feel them and they hurt." Accurate. Then Saturday the World's Cutest Personal Trainer wanted to know why I was groaning even taking the trash out, and I said that my arms hurt a lot. Her response: "At least you have arms, you should be grateful you have them." Aw, sweet and surprisingly profound from my 7-year-old. Well, until she added: "And its a good thing, because if you didn't, you wouldn't be able to get me my fruit snacks or drive me places." Less sweet, but I get her point.

So I headed into Hot Yoga Bootcamp (a deadly combo of bootcamp exercises, power yoga and 90+ degree heat), with a bit of gratitude for my life... and a strong wish that I'd thought to take a healthy dose of Advil before going to class. So I went through the yoga poses at the beginning of class totally sore and stiff, but a funny thing happened, about 10 minutes in, right about the time we had to start doing insane balances on a bosu ball (seriously, those things weren't meant to be upside down!) and happy feet (which are totally misleadingly named) and Navy Seal push ups (I can't even)... I started to feel better. The heat from working out had loosened up my stiff, achy muscles enough and made it so I could survive this very demanding workout. Driving home from class in the cold when my muscles stopped working... well, that's another story. It is a very good thing that all I had to do the rest of the day was shop with my friend.

Sunday -- March 24 

Waking up on Sunday morning at 6 AM... also didn't feel so great. But I knew I had to get some running in. I have a new pair of cute Asics (that I'm pretty sure you can see from outer space since they are so obnoxiously bright) that I needed to break in for my half-marathon training. Since this was my first run with my new kicks, I didn't set a major goal, but had about an hour set aside to run. I run about 12/13 minutes a mile when I'm not killing myself, and just decided that with the new sneakers, I was going to see how it went. I ran about a mile on the track, and my arches weren't at all happy and my mile time was well over 13. So I headed off on the paved trail around the park, hoping that even if I wasn't going to get much done with speed, at least I could get some hill training in. So up one hill and down the other side and still kind of felt like my feet were lead. I even had to walk a few paces to shake my legs out a bit, which is something that I haven't had to do in a while. So I turned to go back up the hill and was mentally trying to figure out the shortest route back to the track where my car was parked, even though I'd only gone about two miles. 

Then that strange thing happened, my muscles were tight and my feet were adapting to the new shoes, but halfway up the hill a fun song came on my iPod, I leaned a little into the hill and I just felt suddenly good. I ran up the rest of the hill down the other side, and breezed around some more of the trails, and arrived back at my car 55 minutes after I'd left having clocked just over four and a half miles. Not too shabby for me! Especially considering that the first two miles were extra slow. Obviously, I'm loving my new supersonic neon shoes. My only complaint was that I stupidly forgot to put on my running playlist and just had my ipod on shuffle, so it went from Ratt to One Direction to Arcade Fire. But that's an easier fix than trying to find new running shoes.

I probably should have called the day a success, but I wanted to squeeze in a yoga class (not of the bootcamp variety) to work out some of my sore muscles. So I went to the gym for the Amazing Adrienne's Sunday morning class. It was packed, but Adrienne always gives a great class, and makes me feel special, and a bunch of my pals were there. My ability to hold a chaturanga was low and we must have done about 30 of them, but I survived the rest of the class and got the good stretch I needed. 

Best of all, when I went to see my Weight Loss Miracle Worker, I'd lost the weight I put on during my crazy binge eating phase. So physically it turned out to be an awesome weekend. Now if I could just find someone to do my laundry for me... because carrying those baskets and loading the washing machine might actually be what breaks me.

March 21 & 22: Hopping Off the Personal Training Train

So Thursday morning at the crack of dawn was my last official personal session with my trainer because of financial stuff. I'd pay her for the rest of my life if I could, but that lotto ticket still hasn't come through. I'm mostly worried that without the individual attention, I'll just stick to the same old stuff and not push myself. Or worse still, just not go to the gym in the morning. I'm driven, but I also go because I know that she's waiting for me. On my own, I might be tempted to hit snooze. I hope that's not the case, and will work hard not to make it the case, but its still a big concern. And I love my trainer. She's sweet and tough and knows exactly when to push me and when to pull back. She's really the best.

I still have some bootcamp time, but then I have to share My Kick-Ass Trainer with a few other girls. So knowing it was my last individual session, we decided to go out with a bang. She started with some normal burpees and lunges (though off a Bosu ball, just for kicks) and then took me out to the assisted pull-up machine... as she knows I need to do that for my Tough Mudder prep. Assisted sounds so nice because it takes away some of the weight, but pull-ups are damned hard, even with "help" and the fact that she had me do sets where one hand was forward and one hand was backwards only made it worse. In between pull-up sets, she had me do dips and then pushups off the little steps on the pull-up machine. I never thought I'd see a day where I was happy to do dips and pushups, as they were a relief. Then she had some fun with the resistance bands, make me do leg lifts and stuff, and then some general core work of full sit-ups to round things out. By the time I got to work, I could barely move my upper body.

But that didn't mean I was going to skip out on my Thursday night yoga class. It's my favorite night of the week, no way I'd miss that because of some sort muscles. Of course that class was heavy on the planks, which my sore forearms and shoulders didn't really care for, but had a lot of lunges and warrior 2 thrown in and held for ages, just for fun.

By the time my clock rang at 5 AM to rouse me for bootcamp, I had all I could do to roll out of bed. And I headed into bootcamp stiff as a board, but after the first 50 jumping jacks or so, I started to loosen up, and then she put us through our paces with lots of jumping, walkouts, burpee variations and planks. So many planks. It's gotten to the point where I'd kill to do crunches instead. As long as this means that someday I'll have a flat enough stomach and have the nerve to wear just a sports bra and shorts while running.... it will all have been worth it.

March Madness - Day 18, 19 & 20: ... Yoga

So my quest to exercise every day this month didn't really account for the crazy pounding headache that I had that just wouldn't go away for two days. I have no problem working out when I have a cold or cramps or general malaise. In fact, working out usually makes me feel better, but there was nothing I could do with the migraine that didn't make it worse. Jumping, jogging, sit-ups, they all either made me dizzy, increased the pounding feeling or made me want to vomit. Shoveling the few inches of snow around my car on Tuesday morning was torture. So I opted to take off until anything other than walking didn't make me feel like crying.

I realie that this terrible headache was likely attributed to my drastic change in diet (I ate everything bad for two weeks and the immediately went down to nothing), but still, even though it was my own fault, I am mad that I couldn't quite achieve my goal. Instead I did my juice cleanse from my Weight Loss Miracle Worker Danae, and ate nothing but green veggies and some lean proteins along with her vitamin-filled juice. It sounds terrible, but it really isn't as bad as it sounds, and it definitely detoxed my body from all the sugar and salt I'd been eating.

So since the headache had largely subsided, I decided to join my friend Kathy for her private class at her house again (she's really just so generous letting me come). Her husband, who is new to yoga, joined us and The Amazing Adrienne ran us through our paces, as usual. It was a great class, especially since I finally landed a pose I've been working on. I have zero idea what it is called, and I'm terrible at describing things, but here's my lame attempt. You start in one legged down dog then bring your left leg in, while putting your arms in a chaturanga pose, then put your bent left knee on your left leg and your other arm goes into your hip. I've gotten to this point quite a few times, but the trick is that you have to tip yourself forward so that your back leg goes up in the air and you are balancing on your arms. It looks impossible when Adrienne does it and her feet gracefully fly up in the air, but while my foot only made it a few inches up, it was still up in the air. I definitely appreciated Kathy's nice squishy floor though when I crash landed a few seconds later. Something I'll keep practicing, and then I'll get Isabel to take a picture of me doing it.

Adrienne also showed us the start of kurmasana, a pose I'd seen on tumblr and was fascinated by. While I've got a ways to go to get my arms completely tucked behind me and my legs straight ahead, at least I can see how to get there... sorta. Even if I never quite make it, its an amazing stretch even in the beginner stage.

And now I feel like I'm back on track. A nice workout. Another scheduled for the morning and a body that is free from sugar and most processed foods. And while I didn't meet my March Madness goal, I'm still determined to squeeze as many days of good fitness in this month as possible. There's still 11 more days and I'm going to make the most of them.

March Madness - Day 14, 15, 16, 17: Training, Walking, MagiQuest and Nothing At All

The continued challenges of my "March Madness" quest to exercise every single day in the month.

It's the middle of the month and my energy is clearly waning. Not only for blogging, but also for doing actual workouts. It didn't help matters that I had my Sunday weigh-in with my nutritionist and it didn't go well. The great stuffing of my face of 2012 (see the last post's food confession) didn't help. But Monday starts a new week and a juice cleanse… so hopefully that'll get me back on track.

Thursday - March 14th

I didn't do my normal double trouble Thursday workout of Training with Tara at the crack of dawn and yoga at night, because yoga got cancelled. But I still did a pretty tough training session that ended with these cruel leg raises where you laid on your back and then lift your legs, and then make a diamond shape in the air with them. I am terrible at describing this stuff, but let's just say they were pretty painful and they worked out some lower ab muscles I wasn't sure existed.

I ended my day trying out a few yoga poses I saw on Tumblr… this was as bad of an idea as it sounds. Thankfully I stopped before I dislocated something.

Friday - March 15th

Early morning bootcamp, which was really funny for some reason. Everyone was joking around and I had gotten a full night's sleep (almost 6 whole hours!) so I was up and at 'em. It was burpee heavy, and that was great. But then she had us doing these hopping things where you raise a knee in front of you and then put it down and raise the same knee out to the side. Let's just say, my Lord of the Dance impression was part of the day's amusements.

After work I was going to my friend's house to see her baby and do some shopping, and they live on the upper west side. It wasn't appallingly cold out, so I decided that I'd walk from my office in midtown, and cut through Central Park. It was beautiful to meander down the Writer's Walk and by the lake. Probably only about a mile and a half and took me about 15 minutes longer than it would have if I'd gone to the subway, but it was well worth it. A nice stress-relieving way to end the week.

Saturday - March 16th

I had every intention of getting up and going for a run, but I had missed my normal bus home on Friday and ended up taking the late/drunk bus (which is no fun if you aren't drunk) and not getting home until close to 2 AM. So I got to bed about 3 and then when my alarm when off at 7, I just couldn't muster the energy. This does not bode well for my personal spring training…

I picked Isabel up at 8:30, we headed to the city because I had to go see a movie screening of The Croods for work. Well, didn't HAVE to, but I love taking my kid to free movies when I can make it work with my schedule. I told her that we could either walk there or back, it was close to 2 miles, but I knew she could do it. She opted to walk to the theater, so we trekked up to Lincoln Center. It was a chilly but sunny day, and my cute model did some posing and didn't even complain that her legs were tired.

After the movie we went back to NJ, then met quickly with her uncle for lunch and headed off to a MagiQuest birthday party. I thought that I'd just get to sit around while she played, but she wanted me to help her. This meant that I basically ran around in circles at MagiQuest for an hour. We covered some serious ground, especially as she got the hang of it and started picking up the pace.

Sunday- March 17th
We were planning to go for a run as the World's Cutest Personal Trainer and I are doing a 1 mile race next month (she picked it because it goes around the mall parking lot). But when we woke up, it was frigid outside. I don't mind subjecting myself to runs on ridiculously cold days, but I felt like asking my kid to do laps at the outdoor track in sub-freezing temps with a crazy windchill was just too much.

So we stayed in and snuggled, then went to my Weight Loss Miracle Worker and found out that the scale was up… significantly after the last two weeks. Isabel told me that according to The Biggest Loser, I should try to lose weight not gain it (yeah, thanks), and that she was going to train me and even make me dinner on Monday (we shall see how THAT goes). You'd think this would have motivated me to do something, and it might have, but then Isabel had to sell Girl Scout cookies to get her booth sale badge and we froze outside for two hours.

After I thawed out, I had a headache and just general exhaustion, so I diagnosed myself with needing a break and prescribed an afternoon and evening of resting. Even the World's Cutest Personal Trainer passed out on the couch at 7 PM, which is very early for her. Who knew selling cookies in the cold was such hard work.

I've got high hopes for the next week, and am disappointed in myself for getting off track, but trying not to get totally discouraged. Instead, I'm grabbing my Excederin (because as I write this Monday AM, that head ache hasn't gone away), my juice from Danae and a ton of veggies and hoping to turn this bus around before it goes back to chubby land.

March Madness - Day 13: Walk the Walk

The continued challenges of my "March Madness" quest to exercise every single day in the month.

So first, the exercise and then the true confession.

Yesterday I was out of my normal Wednesday night routine, which typically involves me working later to do catch up, and then a workout of some sort.  I went to a book signing/reading because my friend Kim had friends who had written the book Sexy Feminism.  I knew that I wouldn't get home until late, since the reading was downtown in New York and the buses are few and far between after 10 o'clock at night.

The reading was at 7, and according to Google Maps (what did I do without them?) it was about a three mile walk. So I left my office at 6, figuring that a 20 minute per mile pace would allow me to comfortably walk in my boots with a slight heel and not be disgustingly sweaty when I got there. And it was fine. I got there are few minutes early, even with having to stop occasionally for traffic lights. And since it was fairly nice weather (in the 40's), I wasn't freezing the whole time. It was less stressful than taking a cab or worrying about missing a subway stop because I was really into a podcast or something. I mean, I did get really into a totally relatable episode of "You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes", where he was talking to Matt Mira about relationships, but that's besides the point.

The actual point is that I got a walk in. Even on a day when I didn't really have "time" to "workout", I managed to walk more than a lot of people do. And it was enjoyable.

So now its time for the true confession part of this blog post. I've been on a crazy eating binge lately. It's been bad. Really bad. And not just for a meal. More like on and off for two weeks. That's not to say that I've been just stuffing my face with bags of chips, but there have been birthdays and a lot of dinners out and lunches out… and just generally a lot more sugar and sodium and red meat than I'm used to eating.

To be honest, while some of the foods were delicious (I had pastrami from Katz's deli last night, for example), the side effects haven't really been worth it. My stomach is revolting, I'm getting headaches constantly and I just feel more lethargic than normal.

All this food is not going to help me get in Tough Mudder shape, or even half-marathon running shape, so I've got to get back to focusing on eating a largely healthy diet, and cooking for myself again.

My scale has been broken, so I honestly don't even have any idea what kind of damage I've done in that sense (though hopefully all the exercise will at least have helped keep it to a minimum). I'm sort of dreading seeing my Weight Loss Miracle Worker Danae on Sunday, because she's got that pesky scale for me to look at. We shall see how it goes, but I've got a feeling I've got some work to do. But the first order of business isn't losing any added pounds, but instead it is getting rid of this stupid sugar induced headache.

March Madness - Day 11 & 12: Failure, Bounce Back and Teaching the Next Generation About VHS Tapes

The continued challenges of my "March Madness" quest to exercise every single day in the month. 

So Day 11 was my breaking point of the month. I was hoping it would be closer to Day 21, but while I didn't get any proper exercise in, I am still determined to get as close to 31 workouts in the month as I can. Monday's are always really tough for me schedule wise, and physically, my muscles were just not cooperating. It was a mean old double whammy.

I got home late on Sunday and got up early to do work. I was working from home so that I could take Isabel and her friend to their Girl Scout field trip in the afternoon, so there was really no option to sleep in. It was really cute to watch them traipse around a local farm, trudge through the mud and plant marigolds in a greenhouse. Then we came back here with her friend. Then it was time for homework, dinner and bed (for her). Then I had to watch the finale of The Bachelor for work. That three-hour extravaganza took me until close to midnight to finish watching.

I was going to try and make an effort to do the elliptical after that, but my quad muscles were screaming at me. I tried to work it out with the foam roller (yes, at midnight), and then did a few sit-ups, but every time I laid down, I was fighting the urge to close my eyes and get some sleep. I keep reading that sleep is almost as important in weight-loss as diet and exercise. And so until they find a way for me to do sit-ups or walk on the elliptical in my sleep, I guess I am stuck taking a few hours to actually lay down in bed.

This morning I got up at 5:30 to work again, and then took her to school and headed to work, but I told The World's Cutest Personal Trainer that she had better give me a good workout tonight. So while she worked on her homework in my bedroom, I did a series of crunches and sit-ups. Then I asked her what kind of exercising she had planned, and she picked Pilates.

I had found in the back of my closet this beginner's Pilates kit that I've had forever and never actually used. You want to know how old this kit is? The instructional video is on VHS. VHS!?!?! Isabel was highly interested when she that I had to use the VCR side of my DVD player (it is one that transfers VHS to DVD). She was confused by me having to actually fast-forward through the commercials, instead of just chapter skipping, and couldn't quite get why the tapes were so big.

So we gave Pilates a whirl. It wasn't exactly the most physically demanding Pilates tape on the planet, but we did a few yoga poses afterwards to round things out. The World's Cutest Trainer kept checking the screen and looking at me to make sure I was using the proper form. She's good like that. She even decided to give me kisses when I did something right. Kisses from my 7-year-old? That's pretty good incentive to keep moving.

So while this particular instructional video wasn't exactly great, we agreed that we'd find a new Pilates DVD next time we went to the store (perhaps one that was made in this millennium) and give the Pilates kit another shot at a later date. I'll mostly be happy that I don't have to spend 20 minutes trying to remember how to use the dusty old VCR.

Day 9 & 10 

Day 8

Day 7

Day 6
Day 5
Day4

Day 3

Day 2

Day 1

March Madness - Day 9 & 10: Hot Yoga Bootcamp, Running & Some Massage Therapy

 The continued challenges of my "March Madness" quest to exercise every single day in the month. 

This weekend was packed full, but that doesn't mean that I skimped on my workouts. Saturday morning I got up super early, did my laundry and packed up Girl Scout cookies that needed to be mailed out to friends and family. Then I dropped off Isabel with her father and headed off to Hot Yoga Bootcamp. And my beloved Fitness Guru Adrienne kicked my ass for an hour. I know that I lament that her longer weeks (an hour and a half) are the alternate weeks that I can't go because I have Isabel, but honestly, between the heat and the workout an extra 15 minutes might actually kill me. 

And for those who hear yoga and thing "easy", let me just tell you, the very fit guy behind me who came with his wife was sitting on the ground halfway through the class dying. This class is not for the faint of heart. It's a heated yoga class for the start and then it kicks into high gear and becomes a full-on bootcamp class complete with kettlebells, bosu balls, so many push-up variations, and any other crazy things that comes into Adrienne's head. I sound like I'm complaining, but I pay extra for this because I love it.

Afterwards I took my disgustingly sweaty self (seriously gross) to the post office with six giant boxes of cookies to send off. Let me just tell you, some people are real jerks. Some woman saw me struggling to open the door and practically ran the other way instead of holding it open for me. 

Then I headed off to celebrate my friend's birthday, play with her baby and then stayed at her apartment in the city overnight. Got up pretty early in the morning and went for a lovely run in Central Park. My friend Jennie had considered coming with me, but when I told her my hill interval plan, she decided to opt out. Probably wisely. 

From her place on the Upper West Side, I headed north in the Central Park loop up to the top of the park where the nice giant hills are located. I ran up and down the big hills in one direction then turned around and ran them the other way. Got to get that training in for the Pocono marathon some how. I slogged my way up the hills and sprinted my way down. As is my norm. Good thing that my half of the Pocono marathon is almost entirely a decline. On my way back south, I happened to notice that alongside the main running loop there was a dirt path, so I hopped on that for a while and my legs were in heaven. It didn't hurt that the sun was shining and it was close to 50 degrees outside. I couldn't have asked for better weather conditions.



I was feeling so good that when I got over to the Reservoir and saw that it was a dirt path and nice and muddy from the recent snowy rain, I started smiling. I'd already clocked 5 miles per my GPS and had at least a mile back to Jennie's apartment, but I couldn't resist a loop around (my GPS says its just over a mile and a half). I was practically bounding and was grinning at everyone who ran past. I even told my dad that I had fun running. Yes, I know how insane those words sound. I usually just tolerate running, but maybe this is the elusive runner's high? Or perhaps I'm only really enjoying running when there's a chance there will be mud on my shoes. But I do know that when I'm running on dirt and trail, I pay far more attention to where I'm stepping so I don't kill myself or twist and ankle, that I forget about breathing and how much my legs hurt. 

I think that my mile and half reservoir loop was actually my fastest mile or so of the day, even though it was close to the end of my run. Too bad that most of my races are on pavement, and that most of the places near to my house are all concrete and tar. Then again, maybe if I were running on dirt all the time, it would lose its charm. 

Unfortunately, after I got off the dirt path and back on the pavement to head to home base, I was still in my bouncy mode and killed my poor hamstring. I had to walk/run the last mile back, even though I've been run/running for a while. 

Afterwards I had to get ready so that Jennie and I could go for our spa day. Her husband had gotten us a lovely package with a mani/pedi, massage and facial as a Christmas gift and we finally worked it out schedule wise. But for me relaxing is harder than doing a bootcamp workout, especially when strangers are touching me. On the plus side, I told the massage therapist about my sore little hamstring and she fixed that right up. I could get used to that. Normally I'm way to fidgety, but I told this nice woman that I'd been trying hard to meditate lately and she told me she was a Zen Buddhist Monk and then helped me relax with some guided meditation. I wasn't quite as comfortable during the facial and the rest of the pampering, but it was still fun and then Jennie and I got to have a nice girl dinner together, I snuggled her baby a little more and  headed home. 

So it was a little chaotic, but a lot of fun. Aside from the clocks jumping ahead for Daylight Savings Time and stealing an hour sleep, I'm not sure I would have changed a thing.

Day 8
Day 7
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Day 3

Day 2

Day 1

March Madness - Day 8: Bootcamp, Shoveling and I Just Keep Rolling Along

The continued challenges of my "March Madness" quest to exercise every single day in the month. 

Started the day at 5:20 AM with a little bit of cleaning my car off. All that threatened snow finally started sticking. Only a couple of inches, and it was wet so it cleaned off pretty easily, but it still made me about three minutes late for bootcamp.

Apparently I only missed some jumping jacks, but I hopped in just in time to do the second round of mountain climbers and jumping jacks. Then Tara threw some medicine balls at us (mine she almost literally chucked in my direction) and we learned that none of her regulars are good with balancing on those balls. I was fine with doing squats and chucking the med balls in the air, but trying to do push-ups off of the ball is harder than it may seem. So we switched to just some regular weighted squats and did a whole bunch of core exercises and other things I can't even remember at this point. 

All I do remember is that at one point my trainer came over to check on me because she thought I looked wiped out. I told her I was just tired from yesterday's double work out, but she was worried that I wouldn't make it through. Even the other regulars thought I seemed off. But I did make it through. Although when we walked out of the gym they were playing a weird version of <I>Wicked</I>'s "Defying Gravity" and I had to check with the two other girls I was walking out with to make sure I wasn't hallucinating (the gym usually gears to more standard Top 40 fare). 

After I got home from work, I had to do another round of shoveling, and was so like in the zone that I even did the spot around my sweet neighbor's car (she's older and all hunched over, but just so nice and always gives Isabel cookies). Our spots aren't particularly big, so it only took me 15 minutes or so. 

Then I picked up the World's Cutest Personal Trainer and we went out to the mall to do some shopping. We had to go all around to find the perfect gifts for some special friends who have birthday's coming up. 

When we finally got home, I realized that everything was vaguely sore. I got out my new-ish foam roller and did my back and shoulders (i'd only done my hamstrings and quads last week when I got it). Oh man, it hurts SO good. I may be vaguely obsessed with it. 

Naturally Isabel read all of the instructions and told me how to do all the exercises. Then she gave it a whirl herself, she had "work out her booty." Now I'm ready to curl up and sleep, but glad that I got the second week off to a strong start. 

Day 7
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Day 1

March Madness -- Day 7: Double Trouble

The continued challenges of my "March Madness" quest to exercise every single day in the month. 

Thursdays have become a double workout day and today was no exception. Since the threatened snow storm turned out to be nothing more than a flutter, I got up and went to the gym for a 6 AM training session with Tara. I only have a few more personal sessions with her. I'm going to be really sad when they are done. 

Today we returned to that lovely bench (I believe it is called a Roman Chair, as I discovered in my half-assed internet searching) where you stand up and then bend over doing sort of a reverse crunch. The purpose is to exercise your back, and boy does it. I am really starting to see some definition. My shoulders are rapidly becoming my favorite body part. 

In between doing sets of those (with a weighted plate, of course) and then curls, and then this weird thing I can't even begin to describe, she had me doing all sorts of squats with weights. It was a good workout... which she ended with some core work. Back, butt and abs. I sort of waddled out of there. 

Then after work, I rushed out in the still flurrying (but not sticking) snow to go to my Thursday night yoga class at 8 PM. It was a great power vinyasa from the always wonderful Adrienne and I love the small venue. My only complaint (and really it is more just me whining than anything) is that she's been on this Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon) kick lately and its like my least favorite pose. I'm not even sure why. I'd rather fall on my face attempting crow (which I did... three times) than do this not that terribly difficult pose. I do go through phases with poses though, so I'm sure that will turn around eventually. I used to dread doing one-legged anything, and now I'd almost rather do a one-legged chaturanga rather than a two-legged one. ALMOST. 

And even though my butt hurt from yoga last night and then my morning squat workout, I didn't even mind that there was a lot of time spent in and out of Malasana (a yoga squat). I do reserve the right to change my opinion on that tomorrow morning... during my 5:30 AM bootcamp class. Guess I should go to sleep before my alarm goes off for that one.

Day 6
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Day4

Day 3

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Day 1

Trial and Error: The Bar Method

A Real Life Thank You Card

In an effort to find my next exercise addiction, I'm trying out a bunch of different kinds of group classes. A couple weeks ago on a Sunday, I decided to try a Bar Method class. I'd been hearing about all these classes that involved ballet barres and how intense they were, so I finally decided to give it a shot. I found a place about 30 minutes from me. There is another location in Montclair which is closer to my home, but that entire town is vaguely intimidating and there class was full at that time, so I opted to make the trek a little further north in New Jersey.

The space was wonderful. So bright and calm. The staff was incredibly friendly and welcoming and while I was nervous about what was in store for me, and if I'd be able to hang, I was excited to try the class.

And while I was sitting in the sunny room with lots of mirrors and a soft off-cream carpet feeling out of place, two very fit, but very pregnant woman walked in to take the class. I figured if it was safe for pregnant women, how bad could it be.

And it wasn't that bad. The teacher was nice and offered suggestions to everyone in class. I needed a bunch of reminders to point my toes as yoga has sort of beaten that habit out of me. We did a lot of push ups and that sort of thing. The key though was that this was for toning so all of the arm lifts and leg lifts we did weren't hard, but involved many more reps than you'd normally have to do. Just lots of little pulsing movements.

It wasn't the impossible feat that I'd been lead to believe, and after I got over the hurdle of getting my leg up on the barre (I was concerned I wouldn't be able to), the rest of the class was fine. I did feel worked out, but not disgustingly sweaty like I do after bootcamp. My biggest complaint was that my socks were too slippery for the carpet. I needed those little kid socks with the grippy footpads on them.

As I'd told the woman at the desk I was testing things out, neither she or the teacher gave me the hard sell, but instead told me that I'd be welcome back for individual classes as my schedule permitted, and they gave me their information. And then a few days later I got a thank you card from them. A THANK YOU card. In the actual mail. It was very sweet. It made me wish that I had loved the class so much that I'd want to go back all the time. But unfortunately I just really can't afford to do a class regularly (it was 25 bucks a class) unless it is my total obsession. I appreciate all of the toning and see how it could help with sculpting (and I may try the dusty Pilates DVD that's been sitting in my closet for years) but I think I'm still seeking out something either a little more high-impact or high-energy.

March Madness - Day 6: Private Party

The continued challenges of my "March Madness" quest to exercise every single day in the month. 

I had a workout planned for today, but this afternoon I got a wonderful invite from my friend Kathy that I couldn't refuse. Lest you think this means I skip my workout, I didn't. I just changed my exercise plan. Instead of the elliptical and more jumping jacks than one person could really stand, I got in some power yoga. Kathy was getting a private class from my beloved yoga teacher Adrienne and she graciously asked me to join them. It was such a wonderful treat. I almost don't even have the words.

The class was full of Adrienne's wonderful power yoga moves and she really pushed us both, but to be in a space with just two people with an instructor really devoted to you is just so special. Especially when that teacher knows what you can and can't do and how to push you. And Kathy had this amazing padded floor, that made my wobbly crow attempts a lot less painful when I crash landed.

Anyway, I'm sure my hamstrings and forearms aren't going to love me tomorrow morning, especially since I have to get up super early for a personal training appointment. But whatever. My trainer Tara is used to me doing something wacky and coming in all sore by now.

Day 5

Day4

Day 3

Day 2

Day 1

March Madness - Day 5: Working Out With the World's Cutest Personal Trainer

Ready to work!

Isabel is doing a Tortoise and the Hare skit at her after-care where my speedy little girl is the Hare. She told me some of her lines which involve calling the tortoise a slowpoke and saying "eat my dust." I laughed and said that was what happens when she and I run together. It's sad, but true. She's fast. 

So I think she was feeling bad about that, or about the fact that I didn't get a proper workout in, and she decided to not only train me, but to participate in some of the exercises. I had written out two different workouts, one that was from my friend Jodi and looks impossible and one that I found on Facebook or Pinterest or something. Even my seven-year-old was wisely able to spot the easier one and decided we'd do that one.

It was basically a cardio-esque workout that involved jumping rope for 30 seconds and then doing other exercises (lunges, squats, high knees, jump squats, etc…) She hung in for a while, loved the jump roping and the high knees and the squats but if we had to do 20 of something, around 15, she'd slow down and just start counting. By the time we got to the end with the burpees (with a pushup in them), she did three, and just started counting and clapping. I thought this was adorable. Until I realized she kept saying one more, like four times. I told her I'd done the required 10 and she's like, "yeah, but just one more, come on." Hard to argue with that little face! Around 20 I finally made her stop.

Unfortunately because she picked the easier workout, it only took about 20 minutes or so (even with the added burpees), and I was hoping for more exercise. So I hopped on my elliptical for 30 minutes while she laid on the floor and watched Jessie and complained that Suri had a cellphone and she didn't.

Then I told her we should end with some sit-ups, just because its always good to do a little bit of core, so she rolled out the mats and laid down next to me. We did regular crunches (which the little stinker is really good at), then crossover crunches (with one leg crossed at the knee with alternating elbows), then suitcase crunches, then bicycle crunches. We did 25 of each, and she tried all of them, but didn't really like the coordination involved. But her rolling on to her face trying to do the bicycle ones really made me laugh and distracted me from the soreness in my abs.

Then I added some old school sit-ups. Hands over the head and all the way up to the floor. I love them so much, but she struggled, but because she's stubborn like her mommy, she finally got it.

On the ground after our tough workout

And we ended with a few planks, from the up-down ones (where you go up to straight arms and down to your elbows), to some mountain climbers (which they do at gym and she's amazing at and made me feel old), to just a final plank hold for a minute. She wanted to drop so badly, but said she wanted to hold it as long as I did. And she made it. I was so proud.

So we got in a great workout, with a wide variety of exercises and then I let her have some ice cream… I've got to pay her somehow and I'm not a total tyrant. Might I also add, she passed out before bedtime, so I consider today a big win all around.

Day4

Day 3

Day 2

Day 1

March Madness - Day 4: Something Is Better Than Nothing

The continued challenges of my "March Madness" quest to exercise every single day in the month. 

Monday's are my hardest days logistically to get in a proper workout. I work early in the mornings, wake my kid up, get everything together, get her to school, head to the city for work and then rush home to get her to girl scouts. Add to the fact that it is cookie season and we had a delivery to make and some company (her uncle came over to pick up his order) and then bathtime and bedtime. By the time I get the house sort of settled, it is after 10 and then I have to be up early on Tuesday to work again.

This isn't a complaint or really an excuse. I love my time with my kid and I love my job. It is just that on certain days they both take up a great deal of my time (as they should) and finding even twenty minutes to work out before I pass out is a little bit on the challenging side. 

Still... I did a little bit. I squeezed in a bunch of sit-ups for five minutes when my groggy kid didn't want to get out of bed. It was like a snooze button of sorts. Then I had to carry a heavy bag of cookies about a mile across the city on my walk to work, which I'm counting, because carrying cookies and not eating them is a miraculous feat, especially when done while dodging tourists in Times Square.

And then walked the same route home, which even though it is my daily routine, still means that I get close to two miles of walking in every day, and that's not a terrible thing. And I made sure to take the stairs when that was an option. Running - even dashing a bit -  in and out of my apartment to get her girl scout vest and then back in and up two flights of stairs because my phone got forgotten in the car, did give me a little cardio boost.

My favorite "exercise" of the day was doing a few yoga poses with her Girl Scout troop as part of their learning about other culture badge. We did a butterfly pose (not as easy to do in skinny jeans as it is in yoga pants), a nice long child's pose and then worked on our trees. It wasn't my vinyasa power yoga, but the amount of laughing I did must have burned a few calories. And it probably didn't help me in my Tough Mudder quest, but hopefully it is making me a Cool Mother.

Day 3

Day 2

Day 1

March Madness - Day 3: So Much Jumping!

To make up for yesterday's pathetic efforts, I decided to start the day off with a strong workout.. No Excuses. So my friend Jodi (aka JHOP) who is a trainer/fitness guru from my home state of Maine, had posted what she called the 100 Workout, and I decided to give it a try. It is essentially jumping jacks, crunches, squats and leg lifts in insane amounts. Like really insane.

Isabel was super game to help me out with this, since I told her about my "March Madness" plan and she thought it sounded... challenging... but she was game to try. She read the piece of paper with the instructions, and got to work on some serious counting. Starting off with 100 jumping jacks, going down to 90 crunches, then 80 squats and 70 leg lifts. She was massively unimpressed by how long it took me to the do the leg lifts, but my lower abs are definitely still a weak spot. About the time we got to 40 of whatever, she said "Oh, I get it, we are counting backwards by tens"... so a math lesson in the middle of a workout is always good.

She happily sat on my feet while I did my crunches and diligently kept track of how many squats I was doing. But at the end there was a ten minute run or jump rope. Since I don't have a treadmill in the apartment, I opted to jump rope but as a courtesy, decided to do it out on the patio. It's still pretty brisk outside, so she sat indoors with my iphone stopwatch counting down for the allotted time, and every couple minutes she'd come out and yell, "Six minutes left... stop tripping so much." Jillian Michaels had seriously better watch her back.

After I finished she gave me a high-five, and then we went to run our errands. But I had planned on taking her and her friend to this awesome place called Rebounderz in Edison, NJ. It is a good thing it is like 40 minutes from me, or I would be there all the time. It's an indoor trampoline gym, and there are just so many things to jump on, or do flips off of (naturally, I can't flip, but I loved jumping and touching my toes and getting some serious air time). I didn't do so well in the foam pit... or rather, I didn't do so well getting out of the foam pit, so that's obviously a weakness for Tough Mudder I'm going to have to work on.

Isabel and her friend had a blast, and I loved that the trampoline for nearly an hour was an excellent workout. If they hadn't been exhausted, I would have added some extra time, but that's a lot of bouncing for little six and seven year old legs.

If you have a Rebounderz near you, I highly recommend going. The waiver is scary, but its just bouncing! And who really doesn't like bouncing?


Day 2
Day 1

March Madness - Day 2: Does Carrying Girl Scout Cookies Count?

I know that the month JUST started, and I've somehow already fallen off the wagon, both in terms of exercising AND blogging. Ugh. But I've learned in my health and fitness journey that it is important not to let one meal, or one missed day set a trend. Better to just promise to do better tomorrow. And that's what I'll do.

Now why didn't I get in real exercise? Well, I got up in the morning and couldn't move at all. I had gotten home from my double day of workouts and it was like 1 in the morning. I set the alarm gamely for 6:30, and was ready to go running or spinning, but I was just worn out. Sometimes, sleep is an important thing. So I laid in bed until I could move my insanely sore oblique muscles. Even though it hurt all day long to cough.

And then my day was a whirlwind of kid-friendly stuff. From taking her to a birthday party 40 minutes away, then rushing back to get to the girl scout pick up. Then lugging 11 boxes of cookies in and out of the car, up stairs, into the elevator, into my apartment, sorting them and then lugging more out of the house and off to their various destinations. Then back out of the car and to people. It's a lot more work than I thought, even though those boxes are light.

And then we had some unexpected company (people hear Girl Scout cookies and they come running), which was delightful, but by the time that our friends left, I barely was able to tuck her into bed before I passed out myself. Even though I was willing myself to go on the elliptical.

Moral of the story: Do the sucky early AM if you are tired, even if you don't want to and are sore... otherwise you'll be trying to figure out how to calculate cookie carrying, and that's not on any app I have.

Day 1

March Madness: Day 1 -- Bootcamp and Hot Yoga

I've decided that for the month of March I'm going to try to exercise every single day, even if it is just for 30 minutes on the elliptical machine. It's my own fitness version of March Madness... with far less brackets.

I started out strong. Yesterday morning I got up at 5 am and went to my hourlong bootcamp class. Tara kicked my butt with a lot of twisted sit-ups and planks. So very many planks! Those nasty ones where you have to dip your hips from side to side are just plain evil.

Then last night I took a trial class at Pure Yoga on the Upper West Side in New York. It was quite a lovely place, and the class was a hip-opening extravaganza. My personal favorite thing. I enjoyed the heated room and the hour and 15 minutes of various hip stretches. I was dripping and disgusting, but the spa like environment made me feel a little better about my disheveled state. A class with 50+ people was a big switch from my beloved Thursday night yoga with Adrienne, with a class with four or five people and a teacher who gives constant adjustments and even sits on me to get me into the proper position.

Still, it was good to try new things, and I'm glad that I got my March plan off to a good start with 2 hours and 15 minutes of exercise.

Dating: The Final Frontier?

         

My very well-meaning friends offered to let me use their six-week-old daughter as a my "date" for Valentine's day so that I wouldn't spend the night alone… and while a sweet gesture and I do adore their baby (and was thrilled to witness her birth into the world), this may be exactly the push I need to start dating again. I hope?  

I have been separated/divorced for almost three and a half years, and haven't even been on one single date. God, that looks worse when it is written out. Anyway, the problem is that I haven't dated at all since I was 18 years old (and I'm 38 now) and the idea of dating is just so overwhelming. Sincerely overwhelming.

In the last year or so I've gone so far as setting up some half-assed profiles on a few dating websites, but when strangers start writing to me, I always get a little freaked out and then log off. Not that I have any problem talking to people in real life. My 7-year-old is always calling me out for talking to strangers. I'm the annoying girl that tells people on the subway how cute their kid is, how much I like their sneakers or compliments the book the person on the bus is reading.

I'm social, and have even flirted with a bunch of random men… but I just am so clueless about how to take the next step. None of them have asked me out, and I've been too afraid to be the one doing the asking. Heck, I've had a crush on the waiter at the diner for months and have had a ton of conversations, but can't even bring myself to give him my number. I live for ziplining and whitewater rafting, I just ran a marathon, I will fearlessly put myself into any number of ridiculous physically situations, but yet asking someone out is the most terrifying thing in the world to me.

Why? Because my brain starts running a mile a minute at the mere thought of it. What if he has a wife/girlfriend or is gay? What if he isn't interested in me and was just being polite? What if he is turned off by the stomach roll that I just can't seem to get rid of? What if he is freaked out by the fact that I have a kid? What if he's looking for more than just dating? Etc… etc… I can do this for hours. The scenarios of rejection that I've concocted for cute diner guy alone are verging on a level of insanity. Most of those involve what if we date and it is horrible and then I can no longer get French fries from the best place in town.

And it isn't that I've felt desperate to be with someone. I have a great life. I love my kid, love my job and love all of the physical activities I've been doing. Training for Tough Mudder has been a whole new awesome challenge, and I'm thrilled. But, it would be nice to go to the movies with someone… instead of sitting at The Hobbit alone on opening night with theatergoers presuming that the seat next to me was just someone at the snack bar. Or have someone to go hiking in the woods with so my mom won't panic that I'm hiking in the woods alone and lost. Or just someone other than my kid or my extremely patient friends to have a conversation with on occasion. I'm not looking to meet someone to spend the rest of my life with necessarily, just someone to hang out with.

I just think it would be easier if it was someone I knew, or someone a friend knew… or I somehow knew for sure that they at least found me remotely attractive before I force myself to ask them out. And yet, I'm already thinking it would be easier to do 10 hours of hot yoga bootcamp… guess I just need to push myself out of my comfort zone. Here's hoping I can work up my nerve.