Hi, I'm natale and I'm Healthy! I finished the Princess Marathon!! Need a new goal.

[Dina Monster]

Hey Natalie you are doing sooooo good! I hope you do well in the 1/2 I am going to run the 5K in September next year. I don't think at this point I'm ready I want to get my time down a lot for my 5K's I've been first for the past 2 almost 3 years but I have never been into running until my husband left for training this past September. I really wanted something to do while he was gone, so I picked up running.

You can take my suggestion or leave it not sure if you do weight training in your workouts or not. But I know for a fact they are very, very important. Most people freak out when they begin a weight training workout because they actually start to put on more pounds, but muscle weights more than fat so you are really cutting and toning you body. I do weight training twice a week and then cardio four times a week, along with soccer practice, Bikram Yoga and Belly Dance.

Good luck!

 

[natale1980]

You are doing great! Don't worry about your DH taking so long to notice a difference. Men are not know for being the most observent creatures.

Sorry to hear about you leg injury. I'm glad to hear you took some time to rest it. Pushing too hard too fast will just make it worse.

Congrats on finishing "half of the half." I'm sure you will have no problem finishing the Princess.

It's funny with my DH, I think he's getting jealous that I'm getting stronger.

I really feel like I can finish the half now!! Very Excited.

Hey Natalie you are doing sooooo good! I hope you do well in the 1/2 I am going to run the 5K in September next year. I don't think at this point I'm ready I want to get my time down a lot for my 5K's I've been first for the past 2 almost 3 years but I have never been into running until my husband left for training this past September. I really wanted something to do while he was gone, so I picked up running.

You can take my suggestion or leave it not sure if you do weight training in your workouts or not. But I know for a fact they are very, very important. Most people freak out when they begin a weight training workout because they actually start to put on more pounds, but muscle weights more than fat so you are really cutting and toning you body. I do weight training twice a week and then cardio four times a week, along with soccer practice, Bikram Yoga and Belly Dance.

Good luck!

Are you saying that you win every 5k you enter!!! WOW!

I know I need to weight train. I do alittle bit of weights in bootcamp, but I know that is not the same. The problem is I have no idea what I am doing on the equipment. I'm afraid to hurt myself.

-nat

 

[natale1980]

TODAY'S WORKOUT: Swimming

I spent an hour in the pool today. Yep... guess that's it for today.

-nat

 

[lolakat]

I know I need to weight train. I do alittle bit of weights in bootcamp, but I know that is not the same. The problem is I have no idea what I am doing on the equipment. I'm afraid to hurt myself.

-nat

You might think about doing one or two more personal session with the trainer at the gym. Usually they can get you into a routine in 1-2 sessions so you will feel more comfortable on the equipment. If that is not in the budget there are on-line tutorials available. What you are doing in boot camp is likely a very good place to start. Just b/c you are not on the machines doesn't mean you are not strength training.

 

[natale1980]

You might think about doing one or two more personal session with the trainer at the gym. Usually they can get you into a routine in 1-2 sessions so you will feel more comfortable on the equipment. If that is not in the budget there are on-line tutorials available. What you are doing in boot camp is likely a very good place to start. Just b/c you are not on the machines doesn't mean you are not strength training.

The only thing good about having a larger then I want butt is, I feel like doing squats is strength training.
A personal trainer at my club is $65 an hour. DH is laid off right now, so I feel lucky just to have a gym membership. I'll check out the on-line tutorials.

Thanks!
nat

 

[Dina Monster]

So, far I've won almost every 5K in my age group, not overall of course! My biggest rival is a 52 year old woman that has been running for longer than I've been alive. Haha she runs her 5K in like 19:00....>_<

I think the best thing to do as far as weights is to try the machines first if you have a gym you go to before free weights. Because machines will not let you get hurt nearly as easy as free weights. I usually do 2 to 3 sets on a machine, so say for instance you are doing the lateral pull down. I'd do 2 sets of 15 reps or 3 sets of 8-10 reps. The even better thing about machines is the have the correct way on them to execute the exercise so you can see what you need to do.

I don't work for Oxygen Magazine, but I do subscribe and I find their weight training to be very hard and fulfilling all at the same time. The page I'm linking here includes tons of different workouts you can do at home or the gym and it is both free weights and machines. Trust me I didn't start weight training until about 4 months ago. I hated it cause I was scared that I would hurt myself or get manly which is a lie BTW. Haha but I find that it really does enhance my workouts and my runs.

Oxygen work out link:
http://www.oxygenmag.com/training

Oxygen also has great tips on eating clean, staying in shape and motivational columns to keep you on track. I love them!

 

[natale1980]

Dina Monster - Thanks for the link!!
I guess I need to start working out 7 days a week to fit it in now. I was wondering what I was going to do that day.

-nat

 

[natale1980]

TODAYS WORKOUT: Run/Walking

I'm so proud of myself - I took 8 minutes off my 4mile time!!! This time I ran so much more, it is very exciting!!! I still do not plan on winning the half marathon, but I know I will finish it on my feet.

My body is changing alot too. Places I had rolls are now disappearing, it's funny when you catch a reflection of yourself out of the corner of your eye and don't realize it's you. I still have a bunch of work to do and I'm having a blast, but I'm not going to lie, it is awesome to see results!!!

-nat

 

[Dina Monster]

Nothing wrong with working out 7 days a week but just remember it's okay to take a rest day. Like for the week of New Years the only work I'll do is walking around Tombstone and Sonoita. Haha It's good for your body to take small breaks. They say it's best to take a week off once a quarter from working out all the time. And you do a lot of low impact cardio so I think you will be just fine.

I love it when you begin to notice changes in yourself! You'll soon see muscle toning and wonder when the heck did that get there? Are you kids cool with you working out? Do they try to help you out or do you leave them with the hubby?

 

[natale1980]

All of my workouts are at 5:30 in the morning, I'm back home before anyone even wakes up.
I don't even think the kids know I am gone! My DH says this is the best hobby I've ever had it doesn't cause him any more work with the kids and I'm getting healthy.

-nat

 

[natale1980]

TODAY'S WORKOUT: Spinning

Best spin class EVER!!!!! If this had been my first class I don't know if I would have gone back. It was intense!!!
I had an amazing time and got a great workout!

-nat

 

[natale1980]

So I woke up this morning and my little toe hurt, not sure why. I got all dressed and walked out to my car. Today should have been bootcamp. I got all the way to my car and decided that my toe hurt too bad for bootcamp. Now the choice was go back inside and get in my warm bed or go work out. Well, since bootcamp wasn't going to work out and I was really tired.... I desided.... to....

TODAY'S WORKOUT - Swimming

I did my normal 60 minutes in the pool without slowing down or stopping. It was an ok workout, but it wasn't as good as bootcamp.

Today was my weigh in. Looks like I'm down to 180. =) VERY slow, but I'm going in the right direction, plus this isn't about weight.... right?

My toe feels much better so hopefully by tomorrow it will be back to normal.

-nat

 

[natale1980]

Remember how I said my little toe hurt. We during the night I actually woke up in pain. At that point I got out of bed to investigate. It seems what has happened, is my nail has cracked in half and it had a tiny jagged edge. I snipped off the jagged edge and went to bed. I woke up feeling much better. I think the edge kept on getting caught on the blanket when I moved so it was trying to rip my nail off while I slept.

I chickened out of running today. So today will officially be my day off this week and I am going to spin tomorrow.

TODAYS WORKOUT: Epic Fail

-nat

 

[natale1980]

I was board, so I thought I would post some history.
Age 19, minutes after we got engaged.

Here I am in 2005, my DS is 6 weeks old.

Here I about 4 months pregnant with my DD.

Last January after the 5k

This past summer...

I had gained about 7-10lbs after that summer picture was taken. I have now taken that back off and then some. It's been close to 12lbs since November 5th.
My highest weight ever was around 260+ when I was pregnant with my DS. I don't know what my official high weight was since I stopped paying attention after 255.
My weight journey has definitely been up and down!! Time to get off the roller coaster and get healthy!!!

I had a bad eating day today... didn't eat any sweets, but for dinner I had a nasty frozen dinner. YUCK! It was gross. I made my family pasta and since I can't eat wheat I got myself a stuffed green pepper. It was NASTY!!!!! It's funny what I now consider a 'bad' day of eating!

-nat

 

[natale1980]

TODAY'S WORKOUT: Spin Class

Good workout, but she played X-mas music 75% of the time. Didn't feel like it had a strong enough beat to distract me from how tired it was. But then she played some great songs that got me motivated again!!

So I am not very happy about my weight loss so far, so I went over to the personal trainers desk and asked to use their fat percentage reader thingy... I've lost 2% body fat!!! Take that 5ish lbs in 4 weeks!!!

Turkey dinner at my mom's house tonight. I'll be good and eat the white meat.

-nat

 

[natale1980]

OK - So here's the deal. My mom has an aortic aneurysm, she has to watch her blood pressure and get scans of her chest every few months.

I knew that... what we just found out is it could be hereditary. I'm going to call my doctor on Monday to see what he thinks and possibly set up an appointment to get scanned myself.

I'm a bit freaked out. I planned on trying 10miles tomorrow, but now I'm not sure what to do. I can't blow the next week or two of exercises out the window because I may have an aortic aneurysm, can I? More importantly, should I?

Not fair, I was getting in such a good groove, now I don't know what to do.

-nat

 

[Dina Monster]

Nat,

I'm not a doctor in any way shape or form I only know what I know from researching. But I do know that if you work out consistently for the rest of your life you will by just getting up everyday and working out have a lower resting heart rate than people that do not work out. I understand that the condition is caused my increased blood pressure. I also know that working out improves stress levels. I would say work out still but that is just me, I wouldn't worry about it till it was confirmed. And then if it is talk with your doctor and find out things you can do. I'm destined for high blood pressure, diabetes, a heart murmur and high cholesterol, but I still work out at least 5 to 6 times a week trying to battle all of those illnesses I might have. But I try and that's what matters.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0675/is_4_20/ai_90924147/

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/exercise/HQ01676

 

[natale1980]

Thanks Dina Monster - I think I was just freaking out a bit. I'm going to call the doctor today and see what he says.

So I ended up taking Sunday off. I woke up with a headache and just wasn't motivated to do much yesterday. Didn't even leave the house until 3:30pm.

-nat

 

[natale1980]

TODAY'S WORKOUT: Walk/Run

I woke up this morning with the intention to walk for four miles on the treadmill. BUT - I ended up running almost the whole thing!!! I'm not going to lie, in the back of my head I kept on hoping me heart didn't explode. (I know that's not really what happens, but I am a dramatic type of person)

I felt really strong today!!! I still can't believe that last year around this time I had a hard time believing that I was going to beabel to finish a 5k!!!

-nat

 

[Dina Monster]

TODAY'S WORKOUT: Walk/Run

I woke up this morning with the intention to walk for four miles on the treadmill. BUT - I ended up running almost the whole thing!!! I'm not going to lie, in the back of my head I kept on hoping me heart didn't explode. (I know that's not really what happens, but I am a dramatic type of person)

I felt really strong today!!! I still can't believe that last year around this time I had a hard time believing that I was going to beabel to finish a 5k!!!

-nat

Haha I wish there was a like button!