Introducing...No Jiggle July!

I've decided that it's time to kick it up a notch here at Maintaining Merth. I've been floating around in the post-race slump for the past few weeks, and I'm ready to get back to some more focused, regular training. There are two events coming up this fall (Zombie Escape and the Color Run) that I really want to be prepared for, so I don't want to lose the progress I made this spring. Oh yeah...there's also a trip to the beach coming up in August that, well, I want to be prepared for too!

SO...I'm declaring next month to be "No Jiggle July" -- a month-long quest to get back on track and really work on strength training and toning. Thankfully, today's only June 29, so I still have a couple of days to decide exactly what that's going to look like. Some of my ideas I'm thinking about are below:

1. Incorporate at least 15 minutes of exercise into my day EVERY day in July. (Yikes!)
2. Work my way through the gobs of fitness pins that I have saved on Pinterest.
3. Find the most creative ways I can to fit fitness in to my regular routine.

I suspect that No Jiggle July will contain a combination of all of the above, but I'm also open to suggestions. What do you think I should do?

I am Ninja!

On Saturday, I ran the Ninja Challenge with a group of my friends. 5K. 15 obstacles. NC heat.


My teammate Diana and I started the day early with a little ninja prepping. Who says ninjas can't look good while they're stealthily moving from one challenge to the next?

Finally, it was time to leave for the race. I think we were both nervous, but with a few deep breaths of assurance, we decided we were ready to tackle whatever lay ahead of us. Following the trail from the parking lot to the check-in area, we passed by a hay bale obstacle. Whew. The hay bale seemed manageable. Maybe we CAN do this!

With the sun blazing down, we found the rest of our team and began preparing for our start time. Water? Check. Peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Check. Pre-race pit stop? Check. 

And so it began. Our team opted to bring up the rear of our starting heat so as to be able to take our time and not hold anyone else up. We ran. We jumped over log hurdles. We crossed ponds. We leaped into ice cold water. We climbed cargo nets. We skipped. We finished. We had a blast.

And so, we survived the Ninja Challenge. I went into the race anticipating that it would be one of those things that I did to do and that would be it. But in truth, although it was challenging, it was also a lot of fun. So much fun that I think we're trying again -- the Zombie Escape mud (!) run in September. After several months of "training," I felt reasonably prepared for some elements of the course, but not as prepared as I should have been for others. While I'm not sure how I feel about the mud aspect of the next race, I'm thankful to have something to work toward for the next several months. Here we go again!

In 24 hours...

5 kilometers. 15+ obstacles. It's Ninja time!

Countdown

It would appear that I've been practicing my disappearing ninja skills around here lately. I'm getting pretty good at it, huh?


Anyways, the countdown has begun for my back-to-back 5K weekends. Run the 'Quay is two weeks from tomorrow, and the Ninja Challenge is the weekend after that. Yikes!


To train for Run the 'Quay, I've been doing one of the Couch to 5K apps on my phone. It's actually pretty cool -- the program leads you through a series of progressively harder walk/run workouts until you're ready to run the full 5K. I've been doing some other workouts along the way, so I haven't progressed quite as far as I would have liked, but it's a helpful tool to judge how I'm doing. I'm running the race with my brother, so I'm also motivated by the fact that I don't want to slow him down too much!


As for the Ninja Challenge, I'm not sure that I'll ever be as prepared as I want to be. When I first signed up, it seemed like I had so much more time! It's also hard to know what to expect, but I guess we'll figure it out as we go. In addition to running, I've been working on basic strength exercises (push ups, core strengthening, etc.). I hope it will be enough!


Two weeks and counting...

Outward Bound

One of the coolest experiences I had growing up was to participate in an Outward Bound excursion. Outward Bound is an organization that provides outdoor experiences for a wide-range of participants -- troubled teens, college kids, adults who want to experience adventure, etc. There are Outward Bound camps throughout the world, and the organization exists to help push people outside of their comfort zones and find a strength to pull from for the future. The idea came from observing sailors in WWII -- in stressful, tumultuous situations, everyone expected the young, spry sailors to be the ones who came through with flying colors. In reality, it was the older sailors -- the ones who had "been there, done there" -- who were able to keep their cool and provide stability for the crew. From these observations, the founders of Outward Bound sought to develop a safe atmosphere where people could could be challenged to become stronger.

Instead of traditional field trips to DC or some other educational destination, my middle school set up a program for 8th graders to be able to experience a small taste of Outward Bound. There is a base camp in the North Carolina mountains, which is only about 45 minutes from where I grew up. In several waves throughout the spring of my 8th grade year, groups of students spent five days living in the woods. And by living in the woods, I mean living in the woods -- eating, sleeping, using the bathroom, carrying-everything-you-have-in-your-backpack living in the woods.

Needless to say, it was a challenging, but amazing, experience. For five days, we hiked and participated in team challenges. We rock climbed. We tackled a high ropes course. We cried. We laughed. We stumbled. We fell. We dreamed of taking a hot shower.

Part of the Outward Bound experience involves reflection, and we had a "book of readings" to help spur that on. During my trip, I found one of my favorite quotes by Mark Twain: "I did it partly because it was worth it, but mostly because I shall never have to do it again." That pretty much sums it up for me -- I'm not an outdoorsy type of person, but I've always been grateful that I had the opportunity to experience what I did during those five days.

These days, 8th grade seems like a lifetime ago, but I've been thinking a lot about Outward Bound lately. Just like I had to "train" for my five days in the woods, I'm now training for one day in the woods -- The Ninja Challenge. To be perfectly honest, I'm kind of scared -- 15 obstacles, many of them unknown. While I'm probably in better shape than I was in 8th grade, I'm also about 18 years older.

Like the sailors of old, I hope that my previous experience will help me push through.

Training in Progress

Whew! What a crazy month March has been. Work has been non-stop lately, and Dave and I have been working hard to finish out the hockey season (Go Canes!). Somewhere in the midst of all that, I found myself agreeing to participate in a 5K obstacle course/race in June. Shortly thereafter, reality set in -- it's time to get myself in gear and start training!


A little motivation is a good thing, and I've been trying to take advantage of whatever time I have at the gym. I started one of the Couch to 5K programs (I had been running some, but I find the structure helpful), and I'm in the middle of Week 4 (I skipped a few of the early, easy runs, but who's counting!?!). I've also been trying to incorporate push-ups and pull-ups into my routine...it's slow moving, but I think I'm beginning of make a little bit of progress. (We'll see what happens when I have to pull myself up over obstacles in June!)


I was contemplating participating in a 5K while we're in Pittsburgh later this month, but due to the limited time that we're going to have while we're there, I think I'm going to pass. That race aside, however, I have several events in my future. Details are below -- come join me!


June 2 - Run the 'Quay 
Last year's race was the first 5K I ran. Ever. I'm looking forward to having a second go at it -- and hoping to be better prepared for it this year.


June 9 - The Ninja Challenge
5K. Lots of obstacles. Team race.


Sept. 22 - The Color Run (Washington, DC)
Start the race wearing white. Finish in tie-dye glory. Awesome.

D Day

Today's the day -- my four year anniversary of reaching my initial weight loss goal. After an 18-month journey, on March 11, 2008, I stepped on the scale for my weekly weigh in and realized that I had finally reached the number that I had been striving for -- a number that was 75 pounds from the one I had started with. Needless to say, it was a proud moment in my life. To this day, I still count losing weight as one of the best things I've ever done for myself.

What I didn't fully realize then, however, was that the real adventure was just beginning. It's one thing to lose weight; it's another to keep it off. For the past four years, that's been the reality of my life. Whether I like or not, I have to think about my food choices every day. Sometimes I don't mind, but sometimes I hate it. It's tough to keep up the motivation to consistently make wise choices, and I fail just like everyone else.

Six weeks ago, I mentioned that I had a goal to slim down and tone up a little by today. In the spirit of full disclosure, I have to tell you that I didn't make it. I weigh exactly what I did six weeks ago and my measurements are essentially the same as well.

Doom and gloom aside, however, I'm still proud of where I've been and where I am today. Although I'm heavier today than I have been on my previous maintenance anniversaries, I'm still within three pounds of the goal weight that I reached four years ago. As for my short-term goal, the past two weeks have been considerably better than the first four were, so I'm hoping to build on that momentum in moving forward. My goals are still my goals (hey, bathing suit season is coming!), despite a change in time frame.

Crunch Time

It's crunch time!


As I was getting into my car from the gym last night, it occurred to me that today was the beginning of March...which means my (self-imposed) fitness deadline is quickly approaching. By March 11, I was supposed to have dropped a couple of pounds and reduced my body fat percentage. I haven't taken my measurements lately, so I can't speak for the percentage part, but I know that my weight is not where it's supposed to be (or, at least, where I want it to be).


Given that I'm down to 11 days, I realize that it may be too late to fully meet my weight loss goal, but I'm still going to try to get as close as possible. (I work better under pressure anyways!) Time to recapture my determination and make smart decisions. Let's do this!

Skinny Fat

I've recently discovered the concept of "skinny fat." There are a number of articles online that describe what skinny fat is and what goes into it, but it's basically this -- by weight standards and BMI, you appear to be healthy, but you still have a high body fat percentage. In other words, you look great in clothes, but as you begin to peel off the layers (read: bathing suits!), things aren't as fit and trim as you might think (or hope for!).


Unfortunately, I've come to realize that I fall into the category of skinny fat (or at least, it wouldn't take much to get there). I don't know that I've been skinny fat for the duration of my years on maintenance, but I think I've drifted that way over the past year or two. I suspect that I've reached this point for a number of reasons -- my eating habits have gotten a little lax lately and, though I've been going to the gym, a good chunk of the past year was spent focusing on running (to train for my first 5K last June). While there's nothing wrong with running (and cardio in general), my downfall was that I stopped weight training in lieu of spending more of my gym time on the treadmill. As I now realize, weight training is one of the keys to being fit, instead of just skinny. Without pushing and developing your muscles, the flab stays flabby.


And so, that's where I am today. Seeking to turn my skinny body into a fit one. As best as I can tell through my very un-scientific Google search for online body fat percentage calculators, I seem to have approximately 24-26% body fat, which I don't think is horrible but leaves room for improvement. I'm also currently about 3 pounds heavier than my initial goal weight that I set when first losing weight. 


That said, my new goal is this: in 6 weeks (March 11), I will be celebrating my four-year anniversary of reaching my WW goal weight. Between now and then, I would like to 1) reduce my body fat percentage (that is, tone up from where I am now) and 2) return to my goal weight. While those two goals can actually work against each other (muscle weighs more than fat), I think they are reasonable goals. I'll be able to measure goal number 1 through body fat percentage and body measurements; goal 2 will be tracked through my home scale. I'll keep you posted on my progress!