Fit & Healthy Friday (Month 2)

Last month, I got a lot of compliments from fellow link-up bloggers about my routine. Thank you! 

Sooooooooooo this month was a rough one. I didn't do anything Weeks 2 and 3 since I was sick. I'm paying for it now. At least my progress report will be short. I'll also give a breakdown of my assigned homework for my running group. I have to do my homework, otherwise I fall behind on my runs. I am, sadly, the slowest one in my group. 

GOAL 1: Cardio 3x/week

Week One: Pass

Monday - 40 minute run, 40-ish minutes swimming

Wednesday - 45 minute run, 30-ish minutes swimming 

Thursday - 45 minute swimming

Saturday - 6.5 mile run

Week Two: Fail

Phlegm, anyone?

Week Three: Fail

Saturday - 6.5 mile run, with 1 mile up-hill

Week Four: Pass

Monday - 30 minutes of running on REALLY STEEP hills, 30-minute swimming

Tuesday - Speed-work day: 1 mile run interspersed with core exercises

Friday (to be completed) - 40-minute easy jogging

Saturday (to be completed) - Something long and arduous

GOAL 2: Muscle building 2x/week

Week One: Fail

Thursday - Arms/upper body.

Week Two: Fail

Week Three: Fail

Week Four: Pass

Monday - Arms/upper body

Tuesday - Core exercises: 4 sets of 10 for each movement: push ups, one-leg squats, burpees (minus the push up) and dips.

Friday - Core exercises: 5 sets of 20: push ups, planks, dips, squats, burpees

After every workout: Drink a protein shake or find chocolate milk within 30 minutes of each workout.

Week Four was tough because I've lost some of the progress I've made in previous weeks, ESPECIALLY with swimming. 

I'm trying to juggle swimming, running and weight-lifting at the same time and I've found that it's very difficult to accomplish during the week. That might have contributed to my catching a cold. I think I was just worn down from working out too much, then rushing to work without giving myself time to rest. Right now, I'm prioritizing swimming and running. The swimming teaches me how to control my breathing. My 12K is in 3 weeks, which means I still have time to build up my stamina for a run. 

I'm pushing myself to go harder each week, only because I know my limits and know that I used to be able to do these things.

....And because there is a pretty navy blue and white-polka-dot dress that I want to wear on July 4th weekend. 

I already fit the dress, but it'd be nice to have a nice set of legs  to kick everyone's butt to go with the heels. 

Food: 

No solid goals yet, because I eat what my mom makes me, hehe. I really should cut white rice from my dinner, but I refuse! Give me rice or give me death! 

Junk food is easy to eliminate. I succumb to my cravings for chips and such only after rough days at work. I don't eat out very frequently. I'm eating Kashi Go Lean cereal in the mornings, reducing the sugar in my coffee, and also snacking on healthy things like greek yogurt+fruit or honey, fruit on its own, and almonds throughout the day. 

Here's to hoping May is a smoother month! 

Fit & Healthy Friday Blog-hop

I decided to participate in a blog link-up. Woo-woooo. I've listed my general goals in March and how well I've been fulfilling each one. My schedule is kind of all over the place. The great thing about listing things like this is that I can then look at what I'm doing and fine-tune my schedule. I'm hoping to have more specific goals for April.

Goal One: Learn how to swim. Improve breast stroke, learn how to tread. Learn freestyle.
Goal Two: Fit in time for running somehow.

Week 1: 
Pass! Ran 12.5 miles, about 2.5 miles/day. Also did 45 minutes of weight-lifting over the span of 4 days. Two days of upper body, 2 days of lower-body. Core workouts combined with upper/lower body workouts. Used 10 and 12 lb weights.

Week 2: 
Pass! Ran 15 miles, about 3 miles/day. Same amount of time spent weight-lifting but increased the range of weights. Used 12, 15, and 17.5lb weights. Had my first swim lesson on Saturday.


Week 3: 
Pass! Swim 4 days each week for 1 hour. If flopping like a fish can be called swimming. Second swim lesson on Saturday. Learned how to tread! Kind of. Also learned freestyle. Attended first day of a friend's running workshop. Ran 4 miles in the sand. Died. 

Week 4: 
Planned to swim four days this week, but I overslept on Thursday and stayed home to take care of personal paperwork. Will have to cut swimming-time down to 3 days this week. Went swimming on Wednesday - working on freestyle, endurance, and breathing (note to self, remember to exhale under water).

Running: Pass. Day two of my running workshop. 4 miles in the park. 3 hill-sprints. Died. 
4-minute circuit: 10 push-ups, 5 frog-jumps, side-step in squat position about 10 meters, 10 crunches, side-step again 10 meters, 5 frog jumps, 10 burpies*.

On Saturday, coach will have us run a timed mile. I'll have a better idea of how I'm doing and can set a more specific goal for pacing after that. 

*Burpies = start from a crouch, jump up as high as possible, come back down for a push-up, start over. 

Adjustments: 
I think I'll start adding weight-lifting again in April. My arms and shoulders were fairly sore from swimming these last two weeks, but now that soreness is going away, which means I can consider being more rigorous in my workouts. 

If I'm going to be running this much, it would help to lose weight - something I never bothered keeping track of before. I'm going to start writing down what I eat and when so that I can re-evaluate my eating habits. According to my coach, we burned about 550 calories on yesterday's run. I'm not sure how many calories I'm burning during my swimming sessions...Hopefully 200? I'm hoping to continue this routine through May. In June, I'll have to figure out my gym membership situation. Blegh.