EvolvedMommy

A fitness plan for a crazy week of travel (30/30/30: 21)

Stephanie — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 04:44:09 +0000

For those of you keeping up with my 30/30/30 personal fitness challenge for the month of February, today I did workout number 21, which means I’m on still on track to finish the month with thirty 30-minute workouts in thirty days.

For the first time since I started this fitness challenge I’m facing a pretty hairy week as far as schedules go. Tomorrow morning I leave for Little Rock to attend an awards ceremony, then drive back home the next day. The day after that I fly out to Nashville for Blissdom, where I’ll be until Saturday.

As the end of the month approaches I can see the light at the end of this tunnel. Now is not the time to slack on all of this consistent exercise I’ve done. This is the closest I’ve come to completing any sort of fitness goal possibly ever. Without wavering I have worked out this month. A little travel here-and-there isn’t going to throw me off track now, but I need a plan.

Here’s what I’m thinking for the rest of this week:

#21 Monday 2/20 – early morning elliptical at the gym
#22 Tuesday 2/21 – Tae Bo video at home
#23 & 24 Wednesday 2/22 – Pilates
Thursday 2/23 – off
#25 & #26 Friday 2/24- Fitness session at Blissdom
#27 & #28 Saturday 2/25 – Fitness session at Blissdom
Sunday 2/26 – Zumba, or potentially off

This schedule is entirely flexible, but at least I have a plan in mind. We’re doing well, Stephanie. We’re doing well.

Zumba. Fantastic. (30/30/30: 19 & 20)

Stephanie — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 01:18:45 +0000

In an effort to break up the elliptical/Pilates/elliptical/Pilates cycle I’ve been in this past week I went to Zumba today. People tell me Zumba is AMAAAAAAAAAAAZING and fun and a great workout. This was not my perception the last time I tried it. My experience was more like this:

Oh! fun music. I can shake my booty.

Wait. What’s she doing there?

Oh God! I just tripped over my left foot.

Okay, back on track. Shakin’ my booty.

Wait. Why is everyone facing me?

Shit!

Oh good. Now my brain is so confused I’m the only one standing perfectly still in the middle of this gyrating room while everyone else is doing hip thrusts and yelling, “Uah! Uah!” like they’re on extacy at a gay bar.

Fantastic.

Let’s do this again. Really soon.

This is NOT what I look like doing Zumba.

So I was reluctant to try it again, but it was either Zumba or Spin. I’m lazy. Spin seems hard. Zumba won.

This class wasn’t nearly as packed as the last one, the teachers were more engaging and a friend was there. It was nearly fun. I might do it again.

30 minutes and two hours (30/30/30: 18)

Stephanie — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 20:04:52 +0000

My thirty minute workout took two hours today. I’m not entirely sure what happened, but I went to the gym at 11:00 am to do a quick thirty minutes on the elliptical and walked out at 1:00 pm.

I feel kind of like when daylight savings time ends. What the heck?

Side note: I need to infuse more variety into my workout schedule. All this ellipticaling is going to get old. I considered hot yoga today. That counts.

Sleepyhead-proofing my workout (30/30/30: 17)

Stephanie — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 04:30:03 +0000

Getting up at the A$% crack of dawn isn’t easy. The jarring feeling of the alarm clock going off at 5:00 a.m. makes my skin crawl. We’re so into sleep around here, that our alarm clock is in an entirely different room so that someone has to get up out of bed to go turn it off.

The idea is that since the alarm clock is so close to the coffee pot, once we are up we will stay up and have a cup of coffee or tea instead of hitting the snooze button and crawling back into bed for another 10 minutes of bliss.

Last night I had the genius thought to get all of my workout things together on one hanger, so that when that alarm clock does go off at what feels like an obscene time, I can just mindlessly get dressed, have a cup of tea and head out the door. I even went so far as to pre-fill my water bottle and hang it from the hanger. Now, if this weirds you out, that’s cool. It doesn’t bother me to drink room-temperature water.

My plan worked and by 5:15 I was on my way to the gym for what ended up being one of my best elliptical workouts in recent memory. At the end of 35 minutes I felt strong. And proud.

Swimming in variety (30/30/30: 16)

Stephanie — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 03:33:13 +0000

One important part of my 30/30/30 fitness goal has been to mix it up. And by “mix it up” I do not mean walk, elliptical, Pilates, repeat. This is what usually happens: I get stuck in the familiar cycle, get bored, give up and stay less-than-fit.

Yes, I have done my fair share of Pilates, elliptical workouts and walking this month, but I’ve also done some “running” (you know why it’s in quotes), a little yoga and today I swam. By “swam” I mean I chased a toddler around an indoor pool and tried to keep her from drowning. I did this for an hour and half, so this counts as a half hour workout in my logic.

It’s not a full hour and a half because it’s not like I was swimming laps. There was a sufficient amount of wading, then some water-aerobics style running, a little getting in and out of the pool repeatedly and some toy-fetching. When you add an hour and a half of that up it comes to one decent (not spectacular) thirty-minute workout.

Again, no pictures. It wasn’t pretty but I did squeeze into my bathing suit. Oh, and I think the five minutes it took me to shimmy out of that wet bathing suit counts as exercise, too. It totally does.

Wouldn't it be delightful if we could both wear a two-piece this summer?

Oh and just so you know… the swim trends for summer 2012 are high-waisted bikini bottoms and metallics. I’m not even lying or being facetious. Cosmo said it, so it MUST be true.

Image from Cosmopolitan Magazine online

Wordless Wednesday (30/30/30: 14 & 15)

Stephanie — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:56:13 +0000

It's okay to carry a white bag in the winter if it's a gym bag, right? No. Probably not, but I do.

Today was Pilates day, and since my last attempt at pictures of me doing Pilates was so traumatic, this week you get my gym bag.

30/30/30 is still going well. We’re halfway there.

Tech addict for reals (30/30/30: 12 & 13)

Stephanie — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 04:50:07 +0000

The fancy touch-screen computer TechnoGym ellipticals aren’t enough to keep me entertained during a workout. Sometimes it takes an iPad to truly distract me from the reality of doing anything in the same place for an hour. Today it took an iPad, a fancy piece of equipment and a good visit with a friend. Each workout has been very different during this challenge.

Forty-five minutes into an hour-long workout. Feeling like I might die. Or that my legs have turned into angel-hair pasta.

Preserving SAHM friendships (30/30/30: 11)

Stephanie — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 22:51:26 +0000

One very difficult part of going back to work has been the separation from my stay-at-home-mom (SAHM) friends.

Today I met up with one of my mommy besties for a little Saturday morning time on the treadmill. It was the perfect way to spend time with a friend, catch up on with each other and get some exercise. As an added bonus, three other friends were there at the same time.

I have a little secret (30/30/30: 10)

Stephanie — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:36:33 +0000

Here’s a little secret… I have no idea how much I weigh.
I have my husband weigh me and keep track of the changes in a spreadsheet. Occasionally, I ask him how I’m doing, but I have no idea what the actual number is.

Here’s why:

Knowing that number, and it’s always higher than I want it to be, can send me into a tail spin.

What I do know:

1. I’m working out in some fashion every day (today it was the elliptical at 5:30 a.m.)

2. I’m eating very well

3. This will lead to positive results.

So for now I don’t want to know how much I weigh.

If you’re wondering what the hell 30/30/30 is you can read more here.

More Pilates (30/30/30: 8 & 9)

Stephanie — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:34:28 +0000

Nothing much to report today. It was Pilates day. Since its a one-hour class I totally count it as two thirty-minute workouts.

Yesterday I started a cleanse diet and thought I’d be dying by now. So far it hasn’t been bad at all. Hopefully I won’t have major sugar withdrawals, but I won’t be surprised if it happens.

Pray that I’ll be strong.

Here’s where I stand:
Fitness goal: 9 of 30 and on track
Nutrition goal: day 2 of 20 feeling great