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.