Baila con Zumba!

Another gloomy day, another day of feeling no-so-hot, but I dragged myself to the gym anyway.

I did an hour of only Zumba tonight - no running, no lifting, and it was nice. It reminded me how much I miss dancing (I danced from age 7 until I got pregnant with my son 6 years ago). It also allowed me to move my hips a lot, be feminine and almost flirty.

I spent the first half of the class moving to the music, but still mulling over life's problems in my head. By the end, I was just dancing and focusing on how I looked in the mirror - my form, the definition in my arms that I'm proud of, and really noticing the difference between how I look today and how I looked when I started this journey on January 4th.

Between my month-long hiatus from working out and eating terribly at the same time, I surprisingly only put on about 4 pounds (I'm sure I lost muscle though). From last week to this week, I lost 2 pounds. That puts back to 135, only 5-10 pounds away from my original goal and 17 pounds down from January.

It's Nice To See Improvement

Today was my ~3 hour gym day.

The Zumba class was first (I'm still humming the tunes from that class while I'm here at work). I hadn't been to the class in months, and it was surprisingly not as as fun as it used to be. This may just be a reflection of the weird mood I've been in lately rather than a criticism of the class. But, the great thing about today was that Zumba used to make me winded and sweaty 15 minutes in. I held my own today. I guess it's a testament to my fitness level as compared to February and March.

Another teacher taught both the core strength and muscle challenge class. As you guys know, I like my weight lifting plain. No jumping or cardio mixed in. I barely like to break a sweat. And the last time I took her muscle class I heard other classmates referring to her as either "homicidal" or "maniac." But, because of my schedule I couldn't make either of the barbell classes this week. So, I convinced myself to go, and I held my own in her class too.

Overall, it was a good workout day. I could have done without the rain and gloom though.

I'm just leaving work now (10:40pm), then it's back home for some ZZZ's, and an early start tomorrow (6am) in order to drive to Jersey City for the race. I'm excited, even though I have to be back at work in CT by 4pm tomorrow, because my family and close friends are all coming out to either run the 5K, walk in the 3K or run in the kid's sprints.

Look for tomorrow's race report!

40 grams Net Carbs
Workout: Zumba, Core, Strength

Week 5 Tally: 2/1-2/7

7.5 miles in Run-walk drills (Over 3 days only -- due to ankle injury)

1 hour of Strength work

1 hour of Zumba
6 pounds lost total (of 22-27)
40 days 'til 5K

A Good Run & Carb Hallucinations

Before today's noon to midnight shift, I squeezed in a 30-minute treadmill run and an hour of Zumba. 

I had a great treadmill day. I ran 12-minute intervals and it felt really good. I slowed the pace down to 5.2mph so I wouldn't get so out of breath or overheat. My max heart rate stayed around the mid-160s, and I finally got into a comfortable stride. Yes, it's slow (11:30 min/mile), but once I get to 3 miles, I can always work on my speed.

Today, I had terrible cravings. I've been doing well on Atkins for the last 4 weeks, without cheating. I'm still keeping between 20 and 30 grams of carbs, mostly because I'm an all or nothing person, and if I start letting myself eat "more" carbs I will eat "all" carbs. But, for some strange reason, I kept smelling food aromas that made me crave carbs like Bruschetta, and fresh-baked Italian rolls.

I resisted. But... man did I cheat in my mind.

The Week Ahead

It's the beginning of a new week and a NEW MONTH, and here's what I have in store, based on the 8-Week Plan I've been following.

WEEK 5

"Sweat cleanses from the inside. It comes from places a shower will never reach."

--Dr. George Sheehan

Mon	Tues	Wed
Run/Walk Run 12 min Walk 1 min Repeat 2X Run 4 min Zumba	Run/Walk Run 13 min Walk 1 min Repeat 2X Run 2 min Weight Lifting	Walk Walk easy 30 min Rest

Thurs	Fri	Sat	Sun
Run/Walk Run 14 min Walk 1 min Repeat 2X Weight Lifting	Run/Walk Run 15 min Walk 1 min Run 14 min Cardio Contact	Walk Walk easy 30 min Rest	Rest

The Long Gym Day

Today was my long gym day. I got off work at 7am, got to the gym by 8am. Did run-walk intervals for 30 minutes (2.39 miles) with 25 minutes of running and 5 minutes of walking.

I stayed for Zumba with the high-impact teacher. My calves were burning, but dancing to the Latin music was fun, despite being out of breath. Then, I took the half-hour core strengthening class followed by the hour-long muscle challenge class. 3 hrs and 15 minutes of consecutive exercise!

I found myself having trouble getting through through multiple sets of planks, lunges, or boy pushups without stopping or modifying. But, I'm happy to report that my abs and obliques are surprisingly strong (especially after my hernia doc told me my rectus muscles would never come back post-pregnancy), as is my upper body and back.

My muscle challenge teacher really pushed us. I typically like to weight-lift when I want to get strong without breaking a sweat or jumping all over the place. She had us lunging while doing bicep curls, squatting during our "breaks," alternating between abs and pushups multiple times ("roll over!"), all at a fast pace. She was no joke. It felt like bootcamp -- with a yoga mat, 4 hand weights, a water bottle and a towel.

I'm sure I'll be stronger for it come Monday.

Rough Workout

Today's workout was rough. I don't know what happened this week, but I have been so tired, and un-motivated to run or workout. I had to drag myself to the gym today, after falling asleep when I was supposed to be working on a presentation. I think I've napped every day this week so far!

I repeated the 6 minutes running, with 1 minute of walking in between, but at 21 minutes, I just didn't want to run anymore. I was tired, my left hip felt like it was tightening up, and I didn't want to miss my muscle challenge class which was starting.

Then, I thought about you guys. And how I would feel having to blog that I only ran for 21 minutes for no real good reason other than lack of motivation. So, after taking a long walking break (to 23 minutes), I ran again for another 6 minutes.

Muscle challenge was also hard. Legwork after running/walking for 30 minutes was difficult, but the hardest for me was the core work. Squats, lunges, inner/outer thigh stuff, all fine. Upper body, great (as usual). But, I kept having to stop or modify almost all of my core work.

I felt guilty about cutting the running short by 2 minutes, so I stayed for the Zumba (Latin Fitness) class afterwards. But, I did treat myself -- a pedicure with foot massage -- as soon as I left the gym.


Net Carbs: 20 grams
Days 'Til 5K: 56
Workout: 29 minutes of running-walking; Muscle Challenge class; Zumba fitness class

Week 1 Tally: 1/4-1/10

7.8 miles in Run-walk drills

2.7 miles walking around NYC

2.5 hours of Strength work

1 hour of extra Cardio (Zumba)

4 pounds lost (18-23 to go)