CherylKatz.org

Last night I went running with no iPod and no heart rate monitor.  (iPod’s batteries died, and the HRM thinks my max heart rate in a kickbox workout was 5.  Probably a battery problem, but it would have to be sent to the company for repair/replacement, and that service costs more than I spent on the thing in the first place.)

In any case, I wasn’t particularly  motivated to go out in the first place, but the chocolate chip pancakes I threw together for dinner tipped me over to the “squeeze in a workout” side of the balance.  I went out for one of my high intensity runs, just to get it all over with somewhat quickly.

I was surprised to find that going without my accoutrements actually improved the workout (because it was a HIIT run.)  I didn’t rely on music to give me cues about when I should sprint or on the timer for when I should stop - and I didn’t fall back on the music’s rhythm to guide my exertion.  I think that the sprintervals (haha, my own term) I did last night had more intensity and lasted longer.

It did help that I didn’t have to think about switching the hand my iPod was in (yes, I carry it, no armband here) and it was much easier to pump my arms without the headphone cords to get tangled up in.

I’m excited that I actually defied my own will and got the damned workout, but I’m also stoked that doing it in the face of adversity taught me something new.  And to be honest, I’m totally knackered from the run, so I did succeed in pushing myself past my limits.

I recently discovered a phenomenon that is sweeping the nation, and I think it really works for me!  It’s called High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and I’ve added it into my rotation of cardio workouts this week.

The idea of it is that three times a week or so, I do workouts that push my capacity with short repeating circuits of intense cardio work followed by a period of recovery time.

The way I executed this on Monday was I jogged for 5 minutes at a light pace, to get warmed up.  Then I ran as hard and fast as I physically could, until I was on the verge of asthma attack and/or no longer maintaining that level of exertion, but only for about 30 seconds.  Then I jogged an extremely light recovery for 90 seconds (in reality, the recovery started with walking, because that was all I could muster for a few seconds after all-out exertion.)

Rinse, repeat.  I managed 4 reps total before I had to take it down to a light jog and then cool down.  I got a total of 20 minute workout, which my heart rate monitor reported to me thusly:

Max HR: 181 (95% of “max heart rate”)
Avg. HR: 141

Calories burned: 178

That’s not as many calories as I’d have burned if I’d been jogging the whole time.  However, according to HIIT science, the short bursts of crazy intense activity throw my body into a tizzy burning fat in an attempt to recover, and the elevated metabolism last as long as 24 hours.  (My resting heart rate did not return to 58 as it usually does in the hour after a workout; this time it got back down to about 62 or 63, and I retained the hot feeling long after I’d showered and gone to bed.

I’m no scientist, and I realize I’m not writing especially empirically on this matter.  So if you want more clinical or experienced information about this, google “high intensity interval training,” or look at the following links:

www.hiitsource.com - a pleasant read about HIIT
http://musclemedia.com/training/hiit.asp - a little body-building centric, but this site offers a plan that starts with a 4-min a day workout.  Awesome!
http://www.exrx.net/FatLoss/HIITvsET.html - if you like science and clinical studies, this is the page for you.

So here’s my current fitness “plan” such as it were:

Monday: high intensity intervals run, possibly followed by a pilates or yoga session or a low intensity workout (I just enjoy the feeling of an extended workout!)

Tuesday: extended endurance run

Wednesday: other HIIT activity (tonight I’m going to try jumping rope.) followed by a strength training session

Thursday: whatever I feel like, or day off

Friday: HIIT of some sort.

Saturday and Sundays I like to do extended runs on these days just because time is so much more plentiful.  I always always squeeze in a second fitness activity on each day of the weekend, sometimes even a third.

I’ve already noticed a difference in the way my arms look - less fatty.  I imagine after a few weeks of this, I may just look awesome (trying to keep my expectations reasonable, k?)

A few notes to self (and readers!) here:  I think the time of gauging fitness level by the numbers on the scale is coming to an end.  As I burn fat, I am also building muscle, and these are likely to be at odds with, if not negate altogether, each other.  I’m writing this because putting it out there in the world and in my own public thoughts means that I must acknowledge that this has crossed my mind.

Second, I must resist the urge to think “Suckahzzzzz” every time I see people busting out two hours of cardio drudgery in the name of weight loss***.  I feel like I have been let in on a huge, fortunate secret, even if it’s one that many people have known for a very long time, according to the internets. Nothing I’ve ever done had burned fat off my body in two days the way HIIT has already done.  Plus, it’s improving my base speed and endurance.  I did a standard endurance run yesterday and it was much, much easier than before I’d done the high intensity workout.  I don’t know if it’s that my body responds to training exceptionally quickly or if it’s just that my expectations have shifted.  I just thought that an hour long run would have been much harder than it wound up to be.  I found it easy to run through my fatigue because it just wasn’t as hard work as the high intensity intervals had been.

I’m so excited that my coworker Jeremy mentioned this to me; I’d been complaining that my running improved too quickly and I wasn’t getting the same challenging workout on similar routes as I had been a week or two ago.  He mentioned this as a way to change up my routine and shake off the plateau.  I will certainly report back with more info as I have it (possibly even some pictures!)

***I know that time spent exercising is better than not doing it at all, and I can hardly knock anyone for putting in the effort. But why waste one’s time when such a short workout even only once a week can make such a huge difference?

I’ve been into running lately, but my running schedule is dependent on two things.

First, my jogging stroller’s operating condition.  The only real variable is the inflation level of the tires.  On Wednesday I pumped my tires, but my pump had some kind of malfunction between the second and third tire.  While I tried not to let this stop me, and went with the front tire and one rear tire inflated, the truth is that this was a tedious workout because the stroller listed leftward.  The. Whole. Time.  I corrected for this by occasionally switching sides of the street so that sometimes the tilt of the sidewalkcountered the list of the wheels.  (I have to switch sides of the street at intervals to keep my knees and ankles happy anyway.)  But it was a big challenge and distraction that I hope to avoid.

Second, Ben’s availability.  If the stroller is out of commission, as it was on Thursday due to bike pump malfunction, then the other option is for Ben to be home with Sami so that I can go out and run solo, sans-stroller.  I actually prefer this, but Ben’s work schedule gets more hectic as the September primary and then the November general elections approach.  So I can’t always depend on Ben’s availability unless we plan well, and in advance.

On Thursday Ben had an onslaught of work, and so he couldn’t come home according to our plan.  I couldn’t get the bike pump to give me any love, and I was about to be really bummed.  I was ready to throw the whole workout day and just slump into self pity for the evening.

After Sami went to bed, I pulled out my last scrap of willpower and said, f*ckit, if I can’t go running I’ll do a workout video.  It’s better than nothing, right?

Well, it was better than better than nothing.  I did Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred. I don’t think much of cardio videos as a replacement for running, but this video worked me out in ways I don’t typically do - lunges, squats, repetitive strength exercises using light weights, abdominal work using better than just basic crunches, and easy yet effective cardio moves. (Jumping jacks get the heart rate up faster than almost anything! Who knew?)

The workout is a series of three circuits, each containing 3 minutes of strength, two minutes of cardio and one minute of abs. There’s a warmup and cooldown. And it’s the most effective 22 minutes I’ve probably ever spent working out.

I did this video on the intro level.  I presumed I’d have to do it twice, or do the first and second levels, to get a good workout, but I was wrong.  I sweat buckets and feel like I did get a significantly effective workout.  The next day I was sore in pleasant and productive ways (not like the hip abductor experiment of 7/19.)

I think I have a lot left to gain even from Level 1 of this video, not to mention the rest of it.

I highly recommend it to anyone, whether fitness buffs in a time crunch or a beginner looking for an all around comprehensive introductory workout.  20 minutes is such an easy committment for health and fitness!

I don’t know what made me do it, but last week, I got home from work, strapped Sami into the stroller with a good sippy and a book, and went running.

Actually, I do know what made me do it.  I wanted to make some use of my heart rate monitor. I’ve decided that since my weight loss results through diet modification alone are not only tapering off but leaving me a little jigglier than I am comfortable with.  The time is right for me to step into this fitness thing, whole hog, and make it work.

Well, I went running four times last week, went to one kickboxing class, did a few pilates videos… and I started this week much stronger than last week.  By a long shot, actually.  I went for an hour long run on Saturday, a half hour run yesterday, and today I did a slightly longer run than on Saturday, adding a few more twists and turns into my route, but I did it in ten minutes less time.  I ran all but two blocks of the run.

My conclusion is: it’s much easier to get into better performance shape when carrying around less body mass.  It just is.  I made a few feeble attempts at jogging back in the winter and never had this kind of success.

I did something on this run that I would never have done even up to a month ago.  I wore spandex capri yoga pants, yo.  All my regular workout clothes are, predictably, in the laundry, since I’ve been doing a lot of exercising.  Instead of doing the Old Cheryl thing of just saying, F it, I don’t have optimal shorts, I’ll just veg instead, I made do and got my butt out there.  Also, my butt just doesn’t look THAT bad in these pants.  I wouldn’t necessarily wear them to the office or to the supermarket, but it’s fine to get me through the run I desperately needed to NOT blow off.

I feel so good about running right now that I replaced my old shoes (had ‘em since late ‘05) and bought myself proper running shorts that won’t itch or chafe.  Maybe I’ll enter a 3k in the near future!

I am feeling quite chuffed with myself at the moment.

I dragged my butt to the gym today for the first time since, oh, March.  I came prepared - Sami down for her nap this afternoon, I had time to dig out my heart rate monitor and strap, charge up my iPod, and find the manual for my HRM (ha, I had used it very basically to get real-time checks on my heart rate, but it can do so much more.   Today I learned to program it with my basic vital stats, so that it can guide me mathematically, and I am going to learn how to use the workout information it records to track my fitness progress.

Of course, having programmed my weight, height and resting heart rate into the thing helped it to recommend a range for me, but that didn’t make me stay in it.  I hopped on a treadmill and was shocked at how much easier it is to run without the extra 38 pounds.  I can run now at 5.3 mph at approximately the same effort I felt at 4.8 a few months ago.  And this with minimal hard cardio work, just moderate and frequent daily activity.

I found my experience quite encouraging.  Also encouraging:  my heart rate monitor said I burned way more calories than the treadmill thought I had.  I attribute this in part to the HRM knowing my weight, height and age and the treadmill NOT knowing these things, but I just think the HRM’s algorithm is probably more sophisticated.  This was heartening however.  I’ll be interested to see the discrepancy on an elliptical, as I always feel that the calories burned estimate on an elliptical is disproportionately high.

Anyway.

I was so encouraged that I did an upper and lower body weight circuit.  I was surprised to learn that I haven’t lost much strength over the last two years (the last time I really knew what I could move, I was working with a trainer who really pushed me, so my recollection is those numbers.)

In sum, I hope to be visiting the gym more often in the future.  I came home feeling really awesome (and both exhausted and energetic!)

This morning I put on my pre-pregnancy jeans, and they fit with wiggle room!  (That’s better than they fit at the time, I should add.)

I’ve lost over 10% of my total body weight since mid-January.  I didn’t think it made a huge difference, but fitting into my old jeans is quite an accomplishment.  I’m about 2 pounds away from fitting in my “skinny jeans.”

This is proving two things to me - first, that my hips, structure wise, are not any wider now than they were before Sami was born.  Second,  that a healthy goal is never unreasonable.  My ultimate weight loss goals are not anorectic.  But in January I doubted that it was even possible for me to ever get back to my pre-pregnancy weight range at all, and now I’ve gone and done it.

So I now have faith that I have the willpower to a normal, healthy weight for my body, and then maintain it.  I’ve readjusted my feelings and attitudes about food.  Unlike previous weight loss attempts, I don’t view food as my enemy; I still enjoy it and always will.  It isn’t a compulsion any more, and when I feel compelled, I examine the compulsion, rather than indulging it.  This is a power that is entirely new to me.  Weight loss is also a gain!

This may sound corny, but I’ve really invested in this circle of life idea.  I took compost from my bin and turned it in to the soil in my garden.  Last year’s scraps will be this year’s dinner.  This year’s scraps will be turned into next year’s dinner.  Less waste, more nutrition.   This, too, is a gain.

By this whole process of evaluation, my life is getting better.  I consume what I need, produce what I can and buy and trash as little as possible.  The food I eat is better.  Gain!

Left to do:  I still have more weight to lose.  I could grow more of my own food.  I need to work on time management, and on figuring out how to spend less time sick.  I need to find a way to spend more time on exercise.

A work in progress, as it should be.

I’ve lost exactly 20 lb, this morning, since January.  I don’t feel like the difference is incredibly visible, but my clothes do fit much better.

• Sami is doing extremely well at her new school, and is even eating the lunches I pack for her!
• I’ve lost eleven (11!) pounds since mid-january.  The first 4 without even realizing it.  I never considered one or two pounds significant progress before, however I am encouraged by every small step.
• Hillary Clinton won Texas and Ohio last night (more or less).  I was surprised to find myself feeling relieved about this, and also came to a concrete realization: I am not a fan of lofty rhetoric.
• I am so kicking this cold’s butt.  I’ll have my voice back, in full, soon.
• I had a good conversation with our Rabbi this morning.

Michael Ruhlman has written a post, America’s Fat Problem, which expresses well how I’ve been feeling about the idea of food and nutrition but haven’t been able to adequately describe.

I’ve been loathe to switch from full to skim milk (just don’t like it) or to use fat free cheese (yuck!) I have always known that when I have problems with eating, it’s not the food’s fault; my portion control is to blame. My two prong approach, as of last week, has been to up fresh fruits and veggies and avoid prepared and processed foods. I’ve also avoided sweets and fatty foods, but only because I need to change my habits before I confront things that have tempted me to overeat in the past.

I’m not going to wax nutritional here. I’ll leave it to Ruhlman.

Also, isn’t that photograph gorgeous?

I recently discovered the Google 15 iGoogle widget.  The idea is that you record your weight at the same time every day, and it provides you with a moving average of your weight that is a better indication of weight loss progress than one day’s static number.

I like this for a variety of reasons.  First, it turns the weight check procedure into a daily habit.  Hard to hang too much significance on the thing that comes just between brushing one’s teeth and the shower, at least in my opinion.  Second, in my previous method of weighing in once a week, at the same time on the same day of the week each time, it doesn’t take into account the natural fluctuations of weight.  So I had no idea if I was having a slight up day or had had a big up day earlier, and was back to losing again.  With the Google 15, I can see each daily number as well as the overall trend.  So while two days this week I had very small gains, the average trend was toward loss.  It continued to be an encouraging process despite what I might otherwise have written off as a disappointment.

In general, I’m a fan of turning weight loss and nutrition into a numbers game.  My problem with food is that it tends to be too circumstantial, too emotional.  If I can disassociate my emotions from my nutrition, I tend to have more success.

I discovered it through a weight loss board on Ravelry.  Yup, crafters think and talk about other stuff, too.  I know if this is of interest and use to me, that it may be for others as well.