Tag Archives: Working Out

New Schedule

Since hubby & I are now on the same work schedule, I’ve been getting up before 3AM every morning to go to the gym. For the 1st since I do not know when, I’ve actually got in my M-F for the last 2 weeks.

Very happy about that. LOVE being able to workout again in the early morning. So many less people….more peaceful, less idiots.

So the issue that I’m running into is that I was doing 60min on the Arc Trainer, it reminds me of both hiking on mountains and the elliptical. It really gives me the feeling that I’m pushing myself on elevation changes and steepness. I had finally broke my plane and hit over a 700 calorie burn.

I no longer have 60min to get in my cardio. So I’m back on the treadmill. Now I HATE running…..unless playing a sport…..I do not run, I death grip it.

I’m more of an endurance/stamina person, not a runner. If I’m steady, I just keep working through it….and that is what I did on the Arc Trainer….and it made my calves burn and I was always shaky and disgustingly sweaty when I was done. With the resistance workout, didn’t always felt like I still had shoes on by the time I was done.

Now I’m experimenting, trying to get back to that satisfying sweaty burn. Trying to do the “hills”, I’ve upped my level to 15….the max I can get to is 20 and at a fast walk (4.7….death gripping the whole way). Finally got it past 600 calories burned and started to feel the sweat more and earlier. Hoping to get it past 700 and feel the burn this week.

But the fact that I’m just going up and down and don’t have the resistance that I use to have on the other machine is making it harder to achieve that. Fingers crossed that I hit it this week.

Hubby got me the fitbit I wanted for my birthday. And it has gotten me back into to tracking my eating on myfitnesspal. As I compete with myself to burn more calories then I take in. Because it is much harder to lose the muffintop since I hit 40……lol

Really hoping with getting to the gym 5 days every week, instead of 3 to 5 times, will be a big help.

Spring time in the Northwest…

Is Amazing!

The weather is so much nicer. We have had less rain and more sun with more fog then more sun and then more fog with some sun.

Today I saw my first Anna’s Hummingbird! It was bright red like I am use to and not that deep dark red we saw in Arizona. I only got about 1 second look at it, but that was all that was needed to make me happy. We have not put our feeders out yet, but will be soon. We are just concerned about the winds we still get every so often.

We also saw our first Golden Eagle today! And even better, we had time to go back to get the camera! While it was still foggy when we started taking the pictures it cleared up about 45 minutes later we was able to take more pictures with the sun out as he was still in the same tree we left him in. Lazy bird. Not the best pics as I was “just off” regarding focus, but they count.

We also saw the USNS Carl Brashear (T-AKE-7) going out to sea from Indian Island. She had been dockside since we arrived in November. The first time I saw her I thought she was a building. (Crap weather prevented a good look from so far) but I was able to make out the life boats on the side to confirm she was a ship. She had the usual 2 USCG ships waiting to escort her out to the open sea.

One of the Rangers told us we will soon be seeing more and more wildlife showing up soon and the Bald Eagles will soon be tearing branches off the trees to make their nest which is something we have never seen, so I think we will be bringing our camera with us more when we do rounds in the morning.

I am still running 3 miles a day. I took 2 days off due to the whole “blind in one eye” thing when it was just too sunny for me to see properly and without excessive pain but other then that, I have done pretty well. I know my course well enough to know how to pace the hills. The only thing that slows me down now is soggy trails, harsh winds and drivers not paying attention where they are driving.

Yesterday, I was almost hit by 2 ladies who was paying more attention to whatever they saw outside the passenger window then what was in front of them, I saw them from a distance away and was going to run on the side of the road as I normally do. (I run against traffic since I do NOT trust drivers) but she started to drive like they was going to park on the side of the road where I was running toward, so I went right, then she veered right directly towards me, and as I got closer I realized they still have not seen me, and they never did see me, even when I ran past the drivers window about 2′ away.

I was so close to slapping the drivers window.

Honestly, I was looking directly at the driver and she never, ever saw me. It’s not like I am 6’2″ and 225 lbs and wearing bright red or anything.

*sigh.

Anyway, today I ran my best time ever, beating yesterday (which was my record, which was also a new best time record) by 15 seconds. 3 miles on trials, hills, and road in 32 mins and 45 seconds.

Bright sunny days, with brilliant views of Mt Baker, the Cascade Mountains and the crown jewel, Mount Rainier.

I Love the Northwest!

Once again I failed to remember I have pictures on my phone waiting to be downloaded, so some of these pictures are from a month ago, but most of them are from today.

Enjoy!

If you ever wanted to walk to Asgard, I know the way…

Let’s see how many of you get that.

Today was a wild one. It started off very windy and rainy, then it got very, very windy and rainy and then it just turned epic in a blink of the eye.

We was picking up branches around 11am while there was a strong gale force wind hitting from the South, it was the strongest winds we have felt from the South, and we was only about 50 yards from the Southern cliffs so we had very few tree’s between us and the sheer force of the wind.

We had a 1 ton flatbed truck full of yard debris such as tree branches, vines, brush etc. We we filled the truck bed. (Which is measured by how high Pauline has to jump to get more debris into the truck.)  And while on the way to the dumping area, we decided to drive down to the boat launch area to turn around and to see the water.

That turned out not to be such a good idea, as in the wide open the wind was hammering the truck and blowing some branches off.  The winds had to be 50+ mph. We had to return after we dumped the load to pick up what we had lost site seeing. I love picking up the same branches twice.

When we returned about 20 minutes later the winds had dropped to about 25mph. While it was still windy, it was not as windy. That is a win!

We came back home and ate lunch around noon and worked to about 2:30 while it rained, and rained more, oh it rained so much more, we could not see Whidbey Island. It was just nasty out. But also incredibly beautiful. I love being here in the Northwest! I am not sure I will leave anytime soon, but back on what I was saying…

Suddenly, it just stopped raining and boom. Bright Sun! That is when we noticed one of the must vibrant rainbows we have ever seen. It looked like it was in 3D. I took some pictures of it, but honestly, without seeing it for yourself, nothing could do it justice.

Still, the pics are pretty cool! I so love being in the Northwest!

Yesterday I got on a tractor to move some timber that was blocking a boat ramp. I was planning to wrap a chain around it and drag it out of the way, like I have in the past, and ever grabbed some chains to do this. When I got to the boat ramp I reassessed the situation and thought maybe if the gravel beach was solid, I could just push the timber out of the way and be done faster and maybe in a more time saving way?

So I walked on the gravel, jumped up and down, kicked it around some and was convinced it would hold the tractor and then I started to push the timber off the ramp and onto the rocks on the side of the ramp. I had it almost completely off the ramp when the left front tire sunk, which caused the left rear tire to sink, which brought the right rear tire in the air…

*sigh…

Once again I over thought what I was going to do. I played around trying to get myself out of the gravel, both using the bucket as a push off and turning the tractor in different directions, using larger rocks to put under the wheels and anything I could think of…

Nope. I can’t fix this on my own. I had to get help. I had to have a Ranger come pull me out.

If I did what I planned to do originally, I would have been done in 10 minutes tops. This took 45 minutes. Fun.

I have been running once more. For the most part it has been November 2012 when we stopped going to the gym Monday to Friday of running at least 3 miles a day.

Last Monday was just my second run while here, I had run around the roads of the parade ground on Super Bowl Sunday, but I really struggled on the long incline and about died just trying to get a 1.5 mile before the game.

So on last Monday I ran on some trails taking my chances on those hills and got just under 2 miles only walking for 300 yards or so. It was a struggle, but not as harsh of a one.

I took my GPS so I could get the distance and figure what I am trying to do route wise and effort wise. The next day I adjusted to a different route on another trial and walked about 50 yards and ran 1.82 miles.

The next day I hit gold! I once again changed my route and find a route exactly 2 miles and ran that 2 days in a row and both were non stop and I finished only my second 5 day running week in the last 14 months.

I have been breathing really well and I’ve learned how to control my own pace which is not easy to do when you are use to a tread mill setting the pace. A tread mill that has no hills. I have been paying more attention to my running style and realized I was blowing myself up running up hills since I changed my stride into a faster pace.

Once I realized that, I started running up hills in what I consider “stutter stepping” and I am no where near as winded as I had been. Once I figured out the ups and downs of the hills I also learned where I could “rest” and where I had to really work it.

Yesterday, I got to the second left where I had been turning and realized I was feeling really good, so I ran to the third left which got me exactly 2.5 miles.

Today, I once again changed my route and I got exactly 3 miles and had a controlled breathing rate and recovered as fast as I use to recover on my cool down walk on the treadmill. It felt good.

Of course right now I have sore feet, sore ankles and and a sore lower back and for some odd reason, I also have sore neck and shoulders. Maybe Im holding my arms too tense as I run? I’ll figure this out over the next few runs.

It was so nice during my run, I had so much Sun on me, I almost had to take off my hoodie. It was still sprinkling, I saw another rainbow, and I heard tree frogs croaking behind me and I heard another tree frog respond in front of me.

Tree frogs. Once they start talking, there is no shutting them up.

Here is another iPhone photo dump. I still can not seem to remember I take pictures with this thing.

Night.