Valerie's Gym Log
 

I've been exercising regularly for a while, and I do record my workouts, but I haven't recorded them here, not sure why. And I do like to stay active in the exercise forums, and ask questions or offer my opinion, so I probably should share what I do. And I know I love looking at other's workout logs, maybe others will enjoy looking at mine.

Comments and input are always welcome.

Basically, I love to run. That's my favourite exercise. I weight train, more because I *should* than for the love of it, but I do like feeling strong and seeing/feeling the occasional muscle, so it's worth it. When I'm ambitious, I do high intensity interval training. I really do believe it's helpful for revving up the metabolism, so it's a good fat burner.

Right now I'm in a transition period with my running. I did a 10k race in the spring, and since, have fallen back to running mostly 4 & 5ks. I've committed to doing the Chevron Houston Half Marathon in January 2008 though, so I have to start training for that around the third week of September according to the schedule I have. I'm kind of prepping for it by starting to increase my mileage on the weekend runs. I did 7k on my last weekend run last weekend, this weekend I'll go for 8k.

Jim (my husband for those that don't know me) and I love doing races, we try to do a few a year at least. There is an 8k race the weekend after the coming one, so I won't go up to 9k the weekend after next, I'll be doing a faster 8k instead at the race.

So.. that's me and my gym log started. I'll post a seperate entry with my actual workout details for today.

Wed Aug 28th
Another double day. I have to figure out how to offset these workouts instead of doubling up and then taking a day off. I'm just in a bad groove. It will take care of itself this weekend when I go out of town. I'll miss a couple of days of weights, I figure.

Weights (4pm)
BB Squats - 100lbs - 2x4
BB Bench Press - 65lbs - 1x8, 75lbs - 2x6
BB Military Press - 50lbs - 1x6
DB Shoulder Press - 2x25lbs - 2x6
DB Bent Over Row (1 armed) - 25lbs - 3x8 each side
BB SLDL - 130lbs - 2x8, 1x6
Ab Ball Crunches - 3x15
DB Hammer Curls - 2x20lbs - 3x8

Cardio (6:30pm) - 5k in the frickin' humidity, somewhere in the 32-33 minute range. A decent enough time, I suppose. It was hot and hard though. I can't wait for fall weather. I'm *so over* summer. ;)

Me too. :)

You're doing some nice weights there. Good luck with your race prep. :)

Thanks, Galatia.

If I find time, I'm going to try to find some bodyweight exercises to do to replace my weights workout while I'm out of town. I've down single leg squats off a bench before, those are tough. Because we are driving, I can pack my 25lb dumbbells, that will give me a fair bit of variety. I know Jim's parents have a stability ball. I should look up those stability ball leg curls, I read they were pretty tough.

Hi Valerie,

Great to see your gym log!

I'm impressed with your weights, especially:

How do you do this?? I've asked others in their gym logs as well: it seems to me you need forearms of steel to get that much weight up. I drop reps at 90 lbs. Ugh-- Tips??

Cheers--
Terry

Aug 30th

Today was one of those days that I did NOT want to workout, but I'd had a day off Tuesday, so even with the double workout yesterday, I felt I should do something. So, I opted for a short workout.

HIIT - 20 min - on the treadmill for a change. 3 min w/up, 8 - 30/90 second intervals, speeds for the 30 sec work intervals were 7mph, 8mph, 2 - 9mph, 4 - 9.5mph, balance of time was cool-down. The breaks, cool-down were fast walks or slow jogs.

On the last interval, that 9.5mph was killing me, I was just able to finish, another 5 seconds wouldn't have been possible. I guess that means I found the right intensity finally.

Hi Valerie--

Okay, you're the rabbit! Four sprints at 9.5mph! Go bunny--

Straps for the deadlifts, hmmm? I do use the alternate grip even at this modest lifting weight. But I'll try the thicker bar, though -- that might keep my fingers from going numb. Thanks--

Cheers--
Terry

A quickie at home workout before we head off for the weekend.

DB Front Squats - 2x25lbs - 3x8
DB SLDLs - 2x25lbs - 3x15
DB Shoulder Press - 2x25lbs - 3x6
DB Bench Press - 2x25lbs - 3x8
Hammer Curls - 2x20lbs - 3x8
DB One-armed Bent Over Row - 25lbs - 3x8 each side

I took it easy on the legs as I'm not convinced I gave them enough rest with the HIIT yesterday and my left quad is still a little twingey, though okay.

Catching up...

Saturday - 5k run, just under 35 minutes. It was a hard slog in humid weather on an unfamiliar trail and I even tripped once and fell on my knee & hands. My hands were okay, but my knee is bruised.

Sunday - nada, day off.

Monday - our regular 4.2k run, in about 28:30. Terrible time, but I had a full-fledged asthma attack about 5 minutes in and it was all I could do to just make it home in one piece.

Tuesday - weights
BB Squats - 105 lbs - 1x1 95 lbs - 1x6, 100 lbs 2x6
BB SLDLs - 135 lbs - 3x6
BB Shoulder Press - 50 lbs - 3x8
Cable Lat Pulldown (u/h close grip) - 90lbs- 3x8
Hammer Curls - 2x20lbs - 3x8
Back Hyperextensions w/10 lb plate - 3x8

Hmmm... I notice I forgot to do a bench press of some sort in there, oh well, next time.

I'm just going to tattoo "STUPID" across my forehead. I pushed too hard today when running (doing HIIT on the treadmill) and my right quad is very, very sore. It was the left last week.

HIIT - 17 minutes - 3 min warm up, 30/90 work/rest intervals at 9.0mph for the first two work intervals & 9.3 mph for the last 5. I didn't do the 8th because I started to hurt badly in the 7th. Approximately 2.0 km.

On a brighter note, I noticed a challenge in the challenge thread about tracking how many miles you run between now & Christmas. I'm not really interested in joining a challenge (or converting my distances to miles everyday) but it might be fun to track how much I run.

So, since I started this journal, I've run 18.5 kms (estimating the distance for the HIITs so far, I'll have to track those better). I'll try to keep a running tally.

The quad doesn't hurt today. That's good news. It's a weights day today, I may take it easy on the squats & lunges just to be on the safe side.

At home workout today.

Weights
Step-ups 2x10lbs - 1x8, 2x15lbs - 2x8
DB Flat Bench - 2x25lbs - 3x8
DB SLDL - 2x25lbs - 3x15
Hip Raises - unweighted - 1x8, 20lbs - 1x8, 30lbs - 1x8
DB Upright Row - 2x15lbs - 3x8
Bent Over Row - 2x25lbs - 3x8
Hammer Curls - 2x20lbs - 3x8
Bench Tricep Dips - 3x8
Ab crunches - 3x20

I did something right, I can feel my glutes getting a little achey already.

I keep forgetting to update here! ;)

Fri Sep 7th - day off

Sat Sep 8th - 8k (~5 mile) race. I completed it in just under 48 minutes, 47:34. A good time, not spectacular, but acceptable.

Sun Sep 9th - Weights
Squats - 95lbs - 3x6 (kept the weight a tad lower to protect my quad)
BB Shoulder Press - 50lbs - 3x8
SLDLs - 125lbs - 3x8
Incline Bench Press - 65lbs - 3x6
Cable Seated Row - 100lbs - 3x8
DB Bicep Curls - 2x20lbs - 3x8

I've been looking for my favourite workout capris for a few days. On a hunch, I looked in one of the empty lockers at the gym yesterday, and there they were, with a tshirt and sports bra I'd also forgotten one day. I was surprised they were still there, it's been a week or two since I forgot them there.

I forgot that the other two runners at work were going to start running MWF at lunch. Luckily I packed my gym bag to do HIIT at the gym, so I was able to join them. Esther is a marathon vet, she's done at least 4 of them, and Sean is 25 or so and a martial arts champ. I was afraid I'd embarrass myself, but I didn't. Esther is just getting back into training, and her pace is only slightly faster than mine anyway. Sean starts off fast, but has trouble with endurance. I held my own quite well, they actually were good for me to run with, kept my pace higher than usual trying to keep up. A great run for me today, 7k in 40:45. A 5:49 pace, I didn't even do the 8k race on Saturday that fast.

So, Jim wanted to go for a run tonight. I felt okay, so I went with him. Another 4.2k. We took it relatively easy, 27:40 time, though I thought we were going a little faster. That's okay, I wasn't pushing hard. Weird to do two runs in one day though.

Tue Sep 11th
Weights
DB Front Squats - 2x25lbs - 3x8
Pushups - 3x8 (these were tougher than I thought they'd be, haven't done them in a while)
DB Shoulder Press - 2x25lbs - 3x6
Stepups - 2x20lbs - 3x8 each side
Concentration Curls - 2x20lbs - 3x6
One Armed Bent Over Row - 25lbs - 3x8 each side

Wed Sep 12th
Running - 7k - 39:48. That's actually pretty fast for me, a 5:41min/k pace. Very fast for me. I like running with the guy from work, he's fast so I'm motivated to push myself to keep up.

The trouble with a 7k run on my lunch hour is that it's still a long distance for me so I'm tired after. Good thing I got a lot of work done this morning, I'm not at my best this afternoon.

Hi Valerie!

Wow, that's fast! Can you take that rabbit to Houston?

Cheers--
Terry-24

He's coming to Houston actually! He's doing the full though. I should find out if the start times for both races are the same.

I did another run yesterday too, with Jim. 5k, in a slow time, 36:30 or so, but there were lots (and lots) of hills, it was a good workout from that perspective.

I have to stop doing double runs though, that can't be good for me on a long term basis.

Weights day today, will report back later.

Weights
BB Squats - 95lbs - 1x6, 2x8
Assisted Chins (70lb offset, 100lb weight) side grip 2x8, u/h 1x6 (why are those harder?)
BB Flat Bench Press - 65lbs - 3x8
SLDLs - 135lbs - 3x8
DB Shoulder Press - 2x25lbs - 3x8
Hammer Curls - 2x20lbs - 3x8

Fri Sep 14th - day off

Sat Sep 15th - Weights
BB Squats - 95lbs - 1x8, 2x6
Cable Lat Pulldowns (u/h close grip) - 100lbs - 3x8
BB Incline Bench Press - 70lbs - 3x6
SLDLs - 135lbs - 3x8
DB Shoulder Press - 2x25lbs - 2x8, 1x7
Hammer Curls - 2x20lbs - 3x8

Sun Sep 16th - Long run - 10k in 1:04:25, a 6:26 min/k pace. Pretty good long run pace, I'm happy with it.

I've been forgetting to do my tally - I'm up to 59.7k.

Mon Sep 17th - day off

Tues Sep 18th - Weights

I dragged myself practically kicking & screaming to the gym. I did not feel like going. Not even my pre-workout chocolate peanut butter protein shake cheered me up. And, unlike most times, it didn't get better once I got there. I ended up cutting my workout to two sets of all my exercises instead of three just because I didn't want to be there.

BB Squats - 95lbs - 2x8
Assisted Chins, 70lb offset, 100lbs (u/h side grip) - 2x8
BB Flat Bench Press - 75lbs - 2x6
Good Mornings - 45lbs - 1x8, 65lbs 1x8
DB Shoulder Side Raises - 2x12lbs - 2x8
Hammer Curls - 2x20lbs - 2x8
Lunges - 2x20lbs - 1x6, stopped this one, started to get a pain in my quad again.

I'm feeling disillusioned with the weight lifting lately, I think. I know this sounds rather dim-witted, but I'm just sort of figuring out that I can lift weights until the cows come home and I'll never really notice it in my body until I lose the fat on top of the muscle. And I'm not losing the weight, at least not right now, maybe never. Unlike running, where an occasional runner's high and competing with my own speed is sufficient to keep me interested, the slow increase in the amount of weight I can lift isn't enough to keep me enthusiastic about it.

I have days like that, especially since I lost my gym partner. It helped SOOO much knowing someone was always going to be at the gym to motivate me.

I wish I had some inspirational words for you, but all I can say is shake it up, do something different and see if you can inspire yourself to new heights.

Good luck! And by the way I snuck a peek in your gallery and you are doing great, just keep it up!

Thanks, Leaddog. I may try shaking it up a little, trying something different.

I went on a run last night with Jim - a short one, 3.2k, in 20:22. A decent, though easy-ish pace for a short run. Up to 62.9k total.

I'm running with the two at work today, and probably with Jim again tonight since it's our regular night. I wonder if I can convince the guys here at work to switch to Tue/Thur instead of M/W/F for running. The MWF just does not work well with my schedule since Jim & I almost always run Wednesday nights and usually Fridays too.

I ran 7.0k in 38:54!! That is absolutely amazing for me! A 5:33min/k pace (a shade under a 9min/mile pace). I was astounded. I felt good, so I pushed it hard. Great run.

Run since August 29/07: 69.9k or 43.4 miles

Good workout tonight.

BB Flat Bench Press - 75lbs - 3x8
Goblet Squat - 45lbs DB - 3x8
Hanging Knee Raises - 2x10
Raised Leg Situps - 1x10
Cable Lat Pulldowns 160lbs - 1x8, 175lbs - 1x8, 190lbs - 1x8 (the weird machine, weights are off)
Step Ups - 2x20lbs - 3x8
Bicep Curls - 2x25lbs - 3x6
DB Shoulder Press - 2x25lbs - 1x8, 1x7
DB Chest Flys - 2x25lbs - 3x8

A run today at lunch again.

Same route today at lunch, in 39:20. Still a good time. My Garmin measured it at 6.62k though. I'm not sure if my first reading last week was right or this one. I'm hoping it's last weeks, but even if it's this one, it was still a 5:56min/k pace for 6.62k, still a fair bit faster than I usually run. I'm not sure why I'm so much better running at work. It could be the people, Jim tends to go slower than me on regular runs even though he can go faster in a race.

Counting this route at 7k until I verify it with another run, that's 76.9k for my running tally.

Weights this morning:
DB Front Squats - 2x30lbs - 3x8
Flat Bench Press - 80lbs - 1x6, 2x5 (that's a new weight for me)
Good Mornings - 55lbs - 3x8
Bicep Curls - 2x25lbs - 2x6, 2x20lbs 1x8
Smith Machine Pullups - bar above navel - 3x8
Hanging Knee Raises - 3x8
Ab Crunches - 3x8
Back Hyperextension 10lb, 15lb, 20lbs - 1 set each x 8