Gyms

Wed. night, I went with George to the Duke Health and Fitness Center, where he is a member. (Mom and Dad are too.) Found out that Mom had called with her credit card to sign me up. Today I went in with my paperwork and got things started. My membership starts next week, and I will have the premium package for nights and weekends. That means I get some classes and stuff, plus a Lifestle Counselor and an exercise plan. Should keep me busy. Only thing is they close at 9 during the week, at 4 on Sat, and only open 1-5 on Sundays. So I'll keep my membership at the other place, especially since I still have PT sessions for a year.

Meanwhile, I walked in the pool about 10 minutes Wed. PM, then hit the hot tub! I'm about to go to my gym now for cardio and more pool time.

I now have my two big appointments for physicals coming up in January. Eeek! But I need to do this.

Last night

PT session upper body
6 min warm-up on elliptical
30 min after on cross trainer, for 1.81 miles

Tired today, but not sore yet. Going with George to the Fitness Center tonight.

Christmas Break

No workout since Tuesday. Arrived in Alabama last night, hope to walk some later,

PT session

Last night we worked on chest and back. Sore today! Also, walked 30 min on the treadmill for 1.34 miles. Hope, in time, to do the whole 5K in 30 minutes.

Rest

I took it easy last night and didn't work out, but have my PT session tonight.

Cardio

For Sunday, Dec. 18,2005

25 minutes on the treadmill, 1.2 miles, a little boring.
16 minutes on the elliptical.

Cardio

Last night I did 23 minutes and 2.01 miles on the elliptical machine. Ran into Meda again. :-)

First full session with the personal trainer

Well, after some more measurements (including waist line! ick!), Heather really put me through my paces. I warmed up with 5 min. on the crosstrainer, then we worked on legs, shoulders, and abs. The hardest for me were the calves, and this thing with the free weights where I had them above shoulder level, then had to raise them up to touch the ends.

After we worked out for about 30 minutes, she told me to get on a cardio machine for another 20 minutes. Did the crosstrainer again, 20 min for 1.2 miles. Then I spent a long time in the hot tub!

While I was on the crosstrainer the last time, I met a lady next to me who, it turned out, works with dining services here at Duke. Her name is Mita, and it was fun making that connection with her. :-)

NC Races

Here's the link for a calendar of North Carolina road races:

http://www.running.net/calendar/NorthCarolina.html

Light workout

Last night I was late getting out the door, but I'm glad I still made the effort to go to the gym. While I was in the locker room, I ran into Chun-mei Lin. She used to work in the library, but now she's having a grand time in retirement. It was great to catch up with her and hear about her fascinating travels and time with the grandchildren. She is an avid exerciser, and I think it's part of the reason she's having such an active retirement. She seemed very happy, and was encouraging of my newest exercising endeavors. It was uplifting to visit with her.

After that, I worked on the cross trainer for 10 minutes. Decided to pass on the pool, as it was getting close to 10 PM, and I wanted to get home and get to bed. Tonight I meet with the personal trainer, and I know that will be a tougher workout.

Different machines

Saturday I spent 10 minutes on the cross trainer, 3 minutes on the stationary bike, and 12 minutes on the treadmill. I also weighed, and have lost 8 lbs total!

Saturday afternoon I went to Barnes & Noble and bought a training diary and Alberto Salazar's Guide to Road Racing. The latter is very informative, but reminds me that I have my work cut out for me. It recommends 20 miles/week training to run a 5k.

Walked a little longer

Last night I walked on the treadmill again, 1.25 miles in 25:16 minutes. I increased the incline to 0.5, and my heartrate got up to 143.

I wonder if I should increase my distance up to 5K first, and then start speeding up, or start speeding up now. Maybe a combination. I'll talk to Heather (PT) about it soon. I'm starting to get a little bored with just walking the treadmill, and I can see I'll need some variation.

Three gals from Triangle Friends (Melanie, Melissa, and Alissa) have joined me in working toward the Cary Road Race!

Making a commitment to exercise

Last night I signed up for a package of personal trainer sessions at the health club. It was a little bit scary to think about making that kind of commitment, but I took a deep breath and did it, and felt good about it after I did it. This will keep me accountable and exercising through the winter months. It was good for me to be able to TALK about my goals with someone who didn't laugh or cringe. Paula also used a gizmo to measure my body fat and BMI. The body fat indicator kept coming up with an error message, and my BMI was 50.something. It's a starting point. I'll be working with a PT named Heather, and she'll do more measurements next week. Oddly enough (for me), I didn't feel self-conscious about the measurements or talking about my current weight and short/long-term goals. I wanted to let it all out, and it doesn't seem so scary now. My next session with the personal trainer (Heather) is next Tuesday.

Although most of the time last night was spend talking and signing on the dotted line, we did work my abs and upper arms for about ten minutes, and then I walked on the treadmill for 1 mile.

Tonight's workout

This evening I have an appointment with a personal trainer. I am eager to see how it goes. It's a consultation. I hope he has some good ideas, and that it's affordable for more sessions down the road.

Baby Steps

Saturday I returned to the gym, and walked 1.1 mi. on the treadmill. This treadmill is a pretty nifty machine; I still don't know all the features. For instance, it flashes numbers in mets and watts. What in the world do those numbers mean?! So far, I've manually set my workouts, but hope, in time, to try one of the machine's workouts and see if I can handle it.

Meanwhile, I've signed up for a consultation with one of the personal trainers at the gym. This first visit is free, so I don't have anything to lose.

Being realistic

A couple of weeks ago, I'd decided to sign up for the Team in Training Program with the Leukemia Society, where you shoot for a marathon 4-5 months down the road, and they provide trainers in exchange for you raising money. Before going to the informational meeting, I decided to do a little online research on marathon training, and realized I have some work to do--and need a lot more than 4-5 months to train healthfully for a marathon!

So, I've picked a much shorter race to start with, the 5K portion of the Cary Road Race on April 8, 2006. I worked out 3 times last week, but last night was my first workout of this week. Luckily, I belong to a gym that is open 24/7 now, so time is no longer an excuse. (One less thing!)

I walked a mile last night on the treadmill, increasing the pace gradually. Got my heart rate up to 139. I also got on the scales, but won't post that number here! ;-) It was fun meeting up with George at the gym last night, and we hope, in time, to be members of the same gym.