Day 1 10k step challenge

That’s right day 1, again.

Why bother to do a 10k step challenge for a month if you don’t keep to it?  Why practice a difficult passage in a piece of music if you’ll never perform it?  Same question.  Putting forth the effort is the accomplishment.  I’ve never thought of it that way.  It’s not reaching the end of the race and getting the prize or the recognition, it’s getting past that 1st hill, it’s being able to go 1 more lap, it’s the getting better than you were last time.  My goal was always an end point.  When I reach such and such point, I’ll be done and I can mark it off.

I think what I’ve got to do is look at my schedule and tweak it a bit.  Saturday was gym time.  Work with the trainer, and hubby.  Did a lot of upper body work,  Shoulder presses at 20 pounds: 3 sets of 12, dips at 105 pounds (on the machine): 3 sets of 12, seated rows at 50 pounds:  3 sets of 12,  then did upright mountain climbers pushing against the machines:  3 set of 15, side to sides with 25 pound plates:  3 sets of 15, ball slams with 16 pound ball: 3 sets of 15.  Those last 2 or 3 ball slams were really hard!  I could barely get the ball over my head.

Sunday was church, a couple of lessons, then over to Panera’s for lunch–Mediterranean flatbread with cream of chicken and rice soup.  Then I went through 2 meetings that took me to about 4:30.  But Sunday is my rest day.  hmmmm

Monday I did NOT go walking because every other Monday, I have band practice.  So I drive 1 1/2 hours to the rehearsal with my hubby, my son, and one other guy that we carpool with.  What does that have to do with walking?  I play percussion in a community band, and normally that requires me to play 3-5 instruments at a time standing up for 1.5 hours.  570 calories for 90 min.  Then I drive 1 1/2 hours back home.  On one piece, I play 2 different cymbals, and 2 different drums at the same time.  My partner plays bass drum and 2-3 of the toys (triangle, tambourine, suspended cymbal, maracas, mark tree…anything that is NOT a drum.  Sometimes our section looks like it has a demented Christmas tree.)

Tuesdays, I have 1 lesson right after lunch, and one after school that I teach, and at night, I have church meeting, a club meeting or a rehearsal, depending on the week

Wednesdays, I have a club meeting at noon every other week, lessons through out the day with a break from 2-3:15.

Thursdays I have bible study during the mornings, though not through the summer, then a lesson after school, then depending on the week another band rehearsal.

Fridays I try to catch up on all the stuff I should have done Saturday through Thursday.  uh oh.

Setting a walking schedule, I have been squeezing it in here and there, and 1 complication can cause cancellation.  So I am going to set a time and do mornings through the summer.  I think my main challenge is not the physical activity, though that is daunting, but the time involved.  5 miles (10k steps) is 2 hours out of my day walking in place or going round and round in circles.  i guess a good goal is to get it done in less than 2 hours huh…

EVEN IF

I was reading Amanda’s Blog today about running in the rain… guess it is yesterday now…

Her cousin has several cancers, and so she decided to join the race to help support the research and show her support for him.  It was cold and raining, and NORMAL people would have decided not to run.  But she ran anyway.  She didn’t register properly, so she didn’t get credit for the race, and ran 3 miles in less than 1/2 an hour.  That is moving!  I mosey about 1 mile every 1/2 hour.  Which brings me to my point.

I started the 10k step challenge.  Over the weekend, I was in Southern Missouri for a conference, and I did not walk.  According to the challenge set up, you start off at 2500 steps then add 500 steps a day until you reach 10k steps…approximately 5 miles.  I had worked up to 2 1/2 miles, then went to the zoo and maxed out at about 4-5.  Not sure because my gps tracker got lost and transported me into another city.  I had a 1.5 min mile!  Ya, Right.  Since I had done so well at the zoo, I decided to take my next walk on the trail.  I didn’t make it 1 mile before my lower back seized up so badly I couldn’t stand.  This was disconcerting.  The next day, I didn’t take the hill and walked counter clockwise.  If you go clockwise, there are 4 benches in the 1st 1/2 mile, then none for the last 1/2.  I went counter clockwise so the benches would be on the last 1/2 of my walk when I usually start getting stiff in the back.  I made it about 1.2 miles that way.  The next day, my son and his girl friend took me on a walk to the park, about 4 blocks away.  I got down there, walked the track and started back and then seized up to the point where my son had to call my hubby to come pick me up because I could not make it home.  The next day at 0:Dark:30 I left for the conference–8 hours in the car.

I got there about 2 pm, and went to all the meetings and had dinner (chicken 🙂 veggies 🙂 herbed rice :l and chocolate cake :O!!!! )  The next day, I had meetings from 7:30 till about 2:00.  Then I was done until 7:30 that night.  Did I walk?  No, I slept, I read, I watched a tv show about a female Neanderthal and her children that they found in Russia.  OK, that could be my day off, but I’d already had a day off.  Oops.  Sunday, I had meetings from 7:30 to 2:00 again and drove the 8 hours home.  3 days without walking.  Monday I crashed… 4 days without walking.

Back to day 1?  no, back to day -1.  I walked 2000 steps today.  Tomorrow 2500.  It doesn’t matter when I get the 10k steps, it matters that I am taking steps.  I haven’t failed, I have postponed.  What does this have to do with EVEN IF?  Because EVEN IF I don’t get the steps on the schedule I set, I will continue.  EVEN IF the pounds don’t melt off like they say in the magazines and tv ads, I will continue.  “Isn’t that interesting?  I love walking though, so if it has some beneficial consequences, bonus!”  EVEN IF it’s cold and rainy and I don’t feel like it, I will continue.  Thanks Amanda.

mind set

Who’s in charge of your mindset?  You?  The people around you?  Your circumstances?

I had a wake-up call this weekend.  I looked through my blog entries and so many are negative.  Laws of Biology and physics do not apply to me.  Frustration.  Distraction and Depression…Yikes!  I have also been studying the life of Moses and for those of you who read Christopher Moore, the statement that Shylock makes is just a tad off.  When I complained about how things didn’t seem to work for me, how everything seemed to go wrong, how something was wrong with me…I was doing the exact same things the Hebrews were doing in the wilderness.  “Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us?  There’s no water and no meat and we hate this stupid food!” (This was the manna that miraculously appeared every morning 6 of 7 days every week, every month, for 38 years!)  Their clothes didn’t wear out; their shoes didn’t wear out. God was moving about 2 million people around the area and protecting them from wild animals, starvation, storms, renegades…and they complained about not having cucumbers.  They weren’t rejecting Moses, they were rejecting God and his blessings.  I had to consider that every time I was complaining, I was rejecting something God had put in front of me to accomplish.  Big mistake.  <.<   >.>  <.<  (looks for poisonous snakes, lightning bolts, tremors of earthquakes…)  I must stop complaining.  It makes for good comedy, but after a while, it’s not funny any more.  It fixes nothing.  It amplifies depression.  It tends to make one less likely to get up off her ass and do something productive because it will fail anyway attitude.  What kind of example is that?

So this weekend, I traveled 8 hrs to a Women’s conference.  It was for the business, but these conferences are not like regular conferences.  Every single woman in the place started at a different spot:  married, unmarried, kids, no kids, over 40, under 40, rich, poor, good job, unemployed, 6th grade education, graduate degrees.  They were all in business for themselves and hungry to find the nuggets they needed to boost their income and their influence.  There was no single winning “type”  and there was no single formula to succeed.  They covered every aspect and every time I go to one of these things, I get to the end and think, “well, that was interesting, but doesn’t apply to me,” and then the last day, KAPOW!  Just what I needed.  I don’t know why it’s always the last day, but I suspect God is needing me to see the build up to this last day so I understand it better in light of what I’ve heard and the people I’ve met and talked to in that time.

I ate very sensibly and took the stairs about 1/2 the time when I needed to go to my room or to the conference room.  There WAS this amazing chocolate desert on Friday however… When I started listing off the excuses I had for why I was where I was, they all sounded like things I could control.  I was not the victim here, I made my choices.  I chose not to cook much at home, I chose to be less active, I chose to focus on having fun and not getting better.  I, I, I  omg!  I am acting like a millenial in the basement of his mom’s house playing his video games while his siblings make fun of him for not having a job!

I decided (and that’s 1/2 the battle) that I was going to change my mindset and quit complaining and do something that I can control.  This should be interesting.

I still find it easier to walk the tread mill than to walk outside.  Last week, I went to the zoo with my son and his girlfriend.  The GPS was weirded out on my walking ap, and I wrote about that in my last entry.  It was pretty funny.  The walking I did the next day and the day after that was very painful!  Bad enough that I went on line to see what exactly was hurting.  It was the fascia in my lower back.  Anyone know how to reduce the pain there when walking?  Suggestions welcome!

10K steps–New Records!

OMG!  I am the fastest woman alive!  I have to get myself a red suit and a mask, and start fighting crime and stuff.

Why? you ask me…

I have an ap on my phone that is supposed to track my little walks.  It’s so cute!  “Activity started.  Distance?  0.01 miles Time: 0.05 min, average time/mile?  24 years, 6 months, 13 days, 4 hours, and 56 min.”  I exaggerate.  Today we went to the zoo.  It is not a fast walk, but it is continuous and goes up and down hills.  I figured about 3-5 miles.  I was WRONG!  Somehow, I left the zoo, traveled across the river about a mile, took a picture, took the scenic way back to the zoo and did 4 miles in 11 min.  I had 2 miles that I did in 3 min!  I know that’s gotta be some kind of record!  I did the next 2 miles in 8 min.  My average for the 1st 3 miles was about 22 min/mile, that’s not 22 min total, that’s 1 mile=22 min.  I didn’t want to squash any butterflies, or frighten the children in the aquarium, so I held it down to a mosey.  My son and his girlfriend do not remember me zipping out of the zoo at high speed.  The airport did not report any UFO’s crossing the river and back taking no heed to roads, traffic, etc…  To tell you the truth, I don’t remember much about my transportation, or whether I said the spell correctly, or whether Scotty really DID transport me to another place.  Seems there might have been a glitch in my gps on the ap.  Well DANG!

I had to edit my trip and now it looks boring.

I was feeling pretty good about myself…built up to 2 miles last treadmill walk in the gym.  Figured all I had to do was add a lap a day.  Then I had my training session on Saturday.  Ate right, did my walks…what were the results?  Gained 1.5 pounds.  WHAT?!!!!!   NO FAIR!  She looked at me and said… “Carbs, carbs, carbs.”  If I eat more protein, I necessarily eat more fat.  NO, I do not want to drink some powdered stuff!  I want to eat FOOD.  This is a lifestyle change.  I don’t want to depend on packages and powders for the rest of my life.

Exercises Saturday:

15 Ball slams with 16# ball, 12 chest presses at 25#, 15 Shoulder presses at 20#, 12 triceps extensions on dip machine 30#, 12 rows on machine 40#, hand raises with knee lifts 15, side to side stretches 15, 15 mountain climbers in standing position.  3 sets of each of those.

I have a women’s conference this weekend.  There are some nice walking paths there, and maybe I can get the gps to work.  I have to be careful what I eat this weekend!

10K steps…how hard could that be?

HEY!  It’s Measurable!  and it’s fairly straight forward.  Start out with 2500 steps and just add 500 each day.  Walked from Walmart to home with my son and his girlfriend.  1.31 miles 40 min.  No socks.  Got home and my shoe was literally stuck to my foot.  The insides had disintegrated.  Note:  it did not hurt at the time.  Pried my shoe off and discovered a blister on my heel.  The support plastic in the heel was unpadded and hitting my foot directly, and the lining material had come out the top of the shoe, wedging my foot into place.  Because of my artificial hip, I cannot bend over to tie my shoes.  It stops at 90 degrees, so bending my knee to my chest is impossible.  It doesn’t hurt, it just stops…like tinker toys.  I pull my shoes off and put them on pre-tied.  This also makes for interesting contortions when I put on socks, or hosiery, or try to clip or clean my toe nails, and I never ever paint my toenails.  But I digress…

So Monday I went in search of shoes.  I went to Sheel’s and discovered that the last time I got shoes, the inside arch was too extreme.  It caused my foot to slide to the outside of the shoe.  When I used the bosu in my training sessions, it caused one of my tarsals in my foot to go out of place and that was quite painful.  The shoe guy suggested one that didn’t have the same kind of arch, and brought me out a pair.  I tried them on and liked them.  I wore them home and threw out my old shoes.  Ahhhhh.  But no, I didn’t walk at all on Monday.  Starting over on Tuesday.  My BodyBugg used to keep track of steps, but I think it’s died or turned into a butterfly or a moth or something.  I don’t remember how to use it!  I have to estimate how many steps I take, and they say 5 miles=10k steps.  So today, I should try to get in 1.5 miles.  I do not hurt from the last hike, but I need to remember to take water with me.  NO MORE KIDNEY STONES!!!!

Moving Mountains

Amanda, I love your blog!

I love how you are putting new things in it nearly every day, your inspirational stories, your recipe ideas, your progress.  When I think of moving mountains, I’m thinking of getting off my couch.  That mountain that is my tummy just mocks me!  I cannot imagine you being in a funk for a week.  Just as I cannot imagine me being OUT of a funk for a week.  3/8/2014  It begins, my 1st blog post.  I even had a picture taken so I could remember how big I used to be!  hahahaaaaaaaaaaaa!  I knew I’d eventually be successful because I consider myself an active person.  Activity is fun!  Flying kites, hiking, dancing, and walking were all fun activities for me.  How hard could it be?  I was at 205 when I’d gone to my trainer and dropped to 187 before I had to quit (due to scheduling problems.)  So, reminiscing, I went back to that 1st post.  Walked 20 min at 2.3 mph and 1.5 incline.  weight 208

Today, had training session with trainer, did a superset:

biceps curls at 15 lbs for 1 min, triceps extensions at 25 lbs for 1 min, elliptical at resistance 5 for 1 min (184 strides/min).

repeat biceps and triceps minutes then 1 min on elliptical at resistance 10 (174 strides/min)

repeat biceps and triceps minutes then 1 min on elliptical at resistance 15 (156 strides/min)

seated chest presses at 25 lbs 1 min, lat pulls at 60 lbs for 1 min, back to elliptical at 5 for 1 min (176 strides/min)

repeat chest presses and lat pulls, and elliptical at 10 (154 strides/min)

repeat chess presses and lat pulls, and elliptical at 15 (134 strides/min)

The mere thought of doing those exercises back then would have put me into shock.  Yesterday I did 10 min on the tread mill at 2.5 mph, and 10 min on elliptical at crosstrain 6 & resistance 5, and 10 min at lvl 5 on the stationary bike.  After 6 months with the trainer, eating better (?) well… going to the gym more often (?) just for training and 1 other day, if I got around to it, has it made a difference?  Well… I haven’t changed me.  There’s something wrong with me that I need to change.  I have been told there’s something wrong with me all my life.  I have been ostracized, mocked, fired, teased and dismissed all my life.  I know in my heart that I am substandard in some way.  I have more education than any 2 average people.  I have more licenses in areas that require very difficult tests than 90% of the people in my business.  I play more instruments well than most band directors.  I am well versed in history, math, statistics, and Star Trek.  But I am sub standard.  I say to myself, “Self?  What difference is it really going to make if you eat correctly or not?  And what difference is it really going to make if you go to the gym every day?  You will never be back to your dancing weight.  You will always be fat and frumpy.  It doesn’t matter what you look like on the outside if you’re going to be substandard anyway.”  soooo

You saw my workout.  I was good at lunch too, just a cup of soup and a Mediterranean chicken flatbread sandwich.

weight 209.7

1 year later and I’m up a pound.  I think what makes me sub standard is I don’t know when the hell to shut up.