Is it just me or is there an awful lot of whining going on over at Twitter? Day after day after day. It got so bad one day, I actually thought about deleting my Twitter account. Of course, I thought about the Tworkout and decided against that idea.

I laid low for a couple of days and then got back on. Same stinkin thing. But, what caught my eye this time was that a lot of these tweets were whining about fitness related things. Training runs and races and such not going as planned. I understand this once in awhile, but every day? Could it possibly be that bad every day?

As a person who just finished Week 1 Day 2 of the Couch to 5K program today, I started giving this whining a lot of thought. Is it worth trying to train to run a 5k if there is the chance that I am going to end up hating it and whining about it? Is it just the nature of the beast? I understand that running is hard work. I understand that running long distances is hard work, but if you are not enjoying what you are doing, why do it?

Why do it? I got stuck on that thought. Why do it? Damn good question isn’t it? Here’s what I came up with…
1. Do it because you can. There are a lot of people out there that would give anything to be able to do what you can.
2. Do it because it’s a challenge. Prove to yourself that you have what it takes to push yourself just that little bit further than you thought you could.
3. Do it because you are worth it. You owe it to yourself to be the best you that you can be.
4. Do it because it’s what you want to do. Don’t let peer pressure push you into something that you don’t really want to do.
5. Do it because you have always wondered if you could. Wouldn’t it be fun to finally find out what you’re made of?

These are the five reasons I came up with for me to train to “Run the Hood”. I have walked two half marathons and more 5k’s than I can count. I have never run an entire race of any kind ever. I have run parts of races, but never the whole thing. This is my goal for this 5k. I will train as hard as I can so that I can run the entire race. I will work hard and will try my best to do it with as little whining as possible. Pinky swear!

I realized a month or so ago that I really wasn’t giving my all to my workouts. I was doing them, but was I really “doing” them? I was getting sweaty, but when I really thought about it, I knew I could do more.

I resolved to change what I was doing. I was going to stop going through the motions and really give it my all. And that was just what I did.

I was going to boot camp twice a week and zumba four times a week. Believe it or not, I was loving it. Boot camp was getting harder every two weeks. It had been doing that for awhile now. Last week, it was tough and I mean really tough. I might even say it was brutal.

I started out by hurting my knee. I twisted it pushing a 110+ pound Wave Master up and back across the gym floor. I knew when it really started to hurt that I should stop, but I didn’t want to be the overweight older lady that couldn’t keep up. The insrtuctor even said she’s push it back for me. But I kept on going and I finished with most of the group. But, I was hurting.

The next morning I woke up and my knee was swollen. There wasn’t much I could do about it excpt go about my day. Icing a knee isn’t part of the preschool curriculum. What I didn’t realize was that through the course of the day, I was compensating for my knee and screwing up my ankle on the other leg. This was Friday.

I always make Friday and Saturday my non exercise days of the week. Sunday I usually go to zumba, but I had made plans with a few of my girls and skipped it. My knee and ankle were both still hurting anyway.

Monday is my day for double workouts. I do zumba first and then an hour later, I go to boot camp. I went to zumba and it wasn’t too pretty. I had an ankle support on and that helped a little, but it still hurt.

My boot camp instructor is also my Monday zumba instructor. After class, I told her I thought it might be time to say “uncle”. She agreed. I wasn’t going to boot camp that night. I also wasn’t going Wednesday night.

I went to Tuesday zumba with the ankle support and new insoles and it wasn’t awful, but not great either. I went to boot camp Wednesday night to videotape and take still pictures for the instructor. I can hosetly say that I hated being there watching everyone else work out and not being included. It was fun to take pictures because I love to do that, but I didn’t like not being part of the class, but I knew it was the right thing to do.

I am 56 years old and I have to be responsible enough to know when to say that enough is enough. I would prefer to not have knee replacement anytime down the road. To avoid that, I have to take care of myself now. That means I have to sit out on the workouts for a little bit. I hate that, but it’s the right thing to do. My instructor thinks it’s the right thing to do too.

I’m hoping that things will be back to normal next week and I can get back to boot camp. I’m doing zumba on Monday and we’ll see how that goes. Hopefully, I’ll be at boot camp an hour later. If I’m not, I’m not going to be upset. Healing is the objective here.

Maybe I can be the poster girl for the older overweight sisters. You have to listen to your body and give it what it eeds. Be that water, exercise or just plain old rest. Sometimes we just all need a little rest.

P.S. My instructor has started an awesome fitness related blog. Check it out!

http://2b-fit4life.blogspot.com

I am a runner. I also like to spin, lift weights and Zumba!

But in my heart, I am a runner.

However, there are things in running that I avoid because it hurts, it’s out of my comfort zone, it makes me breathe harder blah blah blah. Mainly speedwork and running hills. Yeah, I could do without both of those because eh, it doesn’t feel so good on the body and it is so HARD. Which is exactly why I should do it, right?

Anyhoo, I avoid speedwork and running hills as much as possible.

Until yesterday.

Let me back up. My next half marathon that I am registered for is the Zooma Austin Half Marathon on April 16th.   I finally took a look at the race course map and the elevation map and boy, was I in for a shocker.  The first 2.5 miles of the half marathon are ALL UPHILL.

Be still my beating heart.

The first few miles of every single run for me is HARD, whether I am doing a short distance or a long distance.  It takes my body a few miles to fully warm up and for me to feel like I am truly running.  Does this happen to anyone else?  To learn that my *hard* miles are now going to be uphill, too?  It was like someone had stabbed me in both legs.  Ouch.

I knew right then and there that I would have to change my game plan, my strategy, if you will.  I was going to have to step out of my comfort zone and challenge my body physically during training (even though I don’t want to, lol) so that I can ensure that I am prepared for race day and not DIE on the course, at mile 3. 

In all reality, I have never had a true *strategy* for any race, except to FINISH IT without passing out.

Yesterday, I purposely planned my running route to go uphill as much as it pained me possible.  I did 2.9 miles but a lot of it uphill.  Early in the morning, without a coffee boost.  There is one hill in my neighborhood that is 0.4 miles long.  The first time I ran UP it yesterday, I really thought I might die, or that my heart would leap out of my chest. 

I didn’t die and my heart didn’t leap out of my chest, just so you know.

The second time I ran up that hill was a tiny bit easier because I knew what to expect, I adjusted my breathing and I knew that it would end eventually and that my legs would stop screaming at me as soon as I got to the top. 

I continue to evolve with this running thing and much against my will, I am stepping out of my comfort zone.

When was the last time you stepped out of your comfort zone and did something physically that mentally you really didn’t want to do?

P.S. Be on the lookout for an awesome Zooma giveaway later today/early tomorrow- you don’t want to miss it!

Courtesy: St. Pete Times Turkey Trot

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday! Raise your hand if you did a turkey trot yesterday!

I did! I woke up at 5 a.m. to run with 16-thousand of my favorite friends in the world. Yes, in my town, more than 16-THOUSAND people got up to run the turkey trot.

And I must say, standing in the middle of a sea of people for as far as the eye can see, all lined up to run on Thanksgiving morning always takes my breath away and makes me feel a little extra thankful.

I ran with people pushing jogging strollers, running with their dogs, running in full turkey, pilgrim, and/or Native American regalia, people in wheelchairs, wearing pajamas, old people and young people. There were bands along the route and an old guy gave me some beads as I ran past.

It was a 6.2 mile Thanksgiving party.

This was my third year doing the turkey trot and it’s our newest holiday tradition and I am all about traditions. My husband and I wake up at 5 a.m. My parents come over and my mom watches the kids and sticks the turkey that I prepped the night before in the oven while I am gone and she watches the kids while my dad, my husband and I get in a quick turkey trot. We come home, shower, I finish cooking and the rest of the family comes over at 2.

I was never aware of the turkey trot prior to my first one 2 years ago. To me, the turkey trot is Thanksgiving’s best kept secret. I would never in a million years have gotten up to run on  a  holiday much less go to the gym or exercise or anything like that. The holidays were for taking time off (and subsequently gaining 7-10 pounds that I’d have to get off myself sometime after January 1st.) That was my normal holiday tradition.

But now I’m finding that we’re building new traditions and I’m finding that they’re fitness-related instead of food-related (or maybe because of the food-related ones) and among them is the turkey trot. Now I can’t picture myself NOT doing a turkey trot on Thanksgiving day. NOT doing one now would just be weird. Because each year I strive to beat my previous year’s turkey trot time (I’m still racing for that holy grail of a 10k under 1 hour but I did beat my time by 15 seconds this year so that’s something.) And each year it’s a new way to bond with my family. And to burn a quick 600 calories at the same time. And I also find, too, that I eat a little bit less than I would have if I had not run earlier. Win win all the way around!

After the turkey trots are all said and done, there are, of course, the Jingle Bell runs and dashes going on and that, too, is becoming another holiday tradition for my family. Each year we pick a jingle bell run or a dash and we finish off the year with a 5k and we drag everyone we can along, from my dad to my brother-in-law. It’s the best-spent $18 this holiday season because, hey, we’ll get a tee-shirt, some other free stuff, and we’ll get to make a few more family memories not based on pie or cookies and holiday memories are really what the holidays are about anyway, right? Besides, an $18 5k registration also doubles as a pretty good Christmas gift!

Fitness-related holiday traditions of course don’t have to be based on 5k’s, 10k’s or even running (if that’s not your sort of thing.) You can head out for some ice skating (here in Florida, we do that inside), climbing hills to go sledding, get in a post-turkey flag football game or any other millions of things so my question to you is: how about you? Do you have any favorite fitness-related holiday traditions? Did you do a turkey trot yesterday? (If so, how did you do??)

Please share them here with everyone! We could all use a few new ideas for great new holiday traditions!

Now that the weather is cooling off, I’m finding that I do NOT want to go outside for runs. Or bikes. Or to get in the car to go to the gym.

I don’t wanna, and you can’t make me.

So what do you do? What do you do when it’s too cold or too rainy or too sunny or too insert unacceptable weather phenomenon here? Do you scrap your workout?

I know I have. More than once. More than I care to admit.

But that is no longer an option for me. I need to get into a habit over the winter months. And now is the time to start that. Here are the options I’ve come up with…

• The treadmill – This one is the obvious one. It’s in the basement so I don’t have the excuse of needing to go to they gym to use it. But really. Treadmills get boring. So…
• A bike trainer – This one basically allows me to turn my bike into a stationary bike in my basement. This will come in handy when I start tri training up again in January. But really. Cycling in place gets boring. So…
• Exercise TV – Do you guys have Exercise TV on your cable? It’s a free On Demand service that offers free workouts. And the selection is huge. HUGE! Theirs 4 minute workouts and 44 minute workouts. Dancing, abs, kickboxing, whatever floats your boat…you can find it.
• Workout DVDs – I know I have a few of these laying around. They just offer another option to Exercise TV. Several of them are progressive type programs so you move through the routines instead of just doing the same thing over and over again.
• Wii – The EA Sports Active is my main (o.k., only) workout game, but it’s nice to switch things up. I love that it has a little meter that lets you know whether or not you are doing the exercises correctly. It helps keep me in line. Not that I cheat. Nah, not me.

That’s all I can think of at my house. Do you guys have other go-to cold weather workouts that you try to throw into your routine? Please share!

I like to run.  Well, it’s more like wogging (walk+jogging) but whatevs.  I get the job (ie mileage) done.

Prior to October 2009, I was vehemently OPPOSED to running.  I mean, it hurt, I sweated a lot, my breathing sucked, and did I mention that it hurt?  Why would I want to willingly and knowingly put my body through that?

Now I know that the reason it hurt is because I was pushing my body too hard, too fast and oh yeah, it wasn’t used to moving that way.  DOH!

Enter the Sisterhood Virtual 5K of 2009.  A group of my wonderful, brilliant, awesome sisters had this wonderful idea of training and running a 5K, virtually.  That meant we chose a training plan and committed to doing the plan on our own.  We chose a weekend (Nov 7, 2009) for everyone to run their individual 5K’s at home, asked everyone to take pictures and then we shared the experiences.

Although at that time running was NOT my choice of exercise, I joined the 5K Virtual movement I was forced to do it because everyone else was doing it.  Isn’t peer pressure the BEST?!

Little did I know that participating in that Virtual 5K challenge would lead me to where I am today- willingly and knowingly choosing running as a form of exercise, I’m about to run my SECOND half marathon in 2.5 weeks, and unbeknownst to us here at Shrinking Jeans, we’ve inspired a whole new group of newbies to embrace running.  That little-bitty 5K that a bunch of us committed to in 2009 yielded spectacular results.

How awesome is that?!  So guess what?

It’s time to do it again- woot woot!

The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans is hosting our 2nd Annual Sisterhood Virtual 5K.

Here are the pertinent details:

• Training will begin on Monday, November 1st. Yeah that’s in just a few days- wheee!!!!  There’s no better time to start a training program than right now, right?  Don’t worry though, if you are reading this AFTER November 1st- you can STILL join us.
• We will be following the Couch to 5K training plan (C25K).  It is a 9 week training plan that has been embraced by hundreds/thousands/millions of folks around the world.  It is wonderful for the beginner runner/walker.  Although I have been running for a year, I will be using this program to increase/better my pace : ).
• You do not have to already be a runner to do the training program.  In fact, C25K was developed for new runners, as in folks that have never run before.  Your “runs” are broken down in minutes- as in, jog for 1 minute, walk for 90 seconds.  Lather, rinse, and repeat.  Eventually, over 9 weeks, you will build up to jogging 3 miles (or wogging for me, ha ha).  Really, YOU can do this.
• We here at the Sisterhood will be there to support you along the way.  Pinky promise.
• All of us participating will run a 5K VIRTUALLY on January 8th, 2010.  Why January 8th, you ask?  First off, because it’s 9 weeks after November 1st!  Secondly, because we want to support some of our other running sisters who will be taking on the big kahuna of races (some are doing a half marathon- 13.1 miles, others are doing a FULL marathon- 26.2 miles) at Walt Disneyworld on January 8th.  As in all that we do, we want to encourage and support you guys (our new runners) and we want to encourage and support our “old” runners.
• Grab the “I run with the Sisterhood” button, copy and paste to your blog and BLOG about your training!
• In the very near future, we will be offering NEW Sisterhood shirts through Cafe Press.  Once those are finalized, we will announce it and then you can buy one : ).
• One more thing, I can already hear a few of you saying to yourself- I’m NOT a runner, I’m too big to run, my knees hurt, I don’t exercise yada yada yada.  There are so many excuses to give yourself- heck, I had a MILLION reasons why I couldn’t run.  Finally, I shut off the voices in my head and just did it.  I am by no means a fast runner, and it’s taken me a while to get where I am and truthfully, if I had not had the support of the Sisterhood back in the hard months, I might not be a runner now.  If you start off walking and end up walking the entire 5K, then that’s fine- at least you are moving and exercising.  We are PROUD of all of you, regardless of your level of running/wogging/walking.
• Because we love you so much, we have collected a Round-up of Running posts which includes links to Couch 2 5 K, where to get started with running, finding the right pair of running shoes, and MORE!

So tell me, will you be joining us for the Sisterhood Virtual 5K on January 8th, 2011?! Come join our discussion on the ‘hood!

UPDATE! Winner has been chosen, check the comments!

Have you heard of International Fitness Day?

Yeah, neither had I, till a few weeks ago.

So, you may be asking, what exactly is International Fitness Day? Settle in, I’m going to tell you!

International Fitness Day is a worldwide day to celebrate being healthy and fit – after all, we have SO many holidays that revolve around unhealthy food and lying on the couch all day – don’t get me wrong, I love me some Thanksgiving – we even have a day dedicated to caring for the Earth. So seriously, it’s about time we take a day to celebrate taking care of ourselves!

International Fitness Day is tomorrow, y’all. What are YOU going to do? Take a nice long walk? Maybe organize a touch football game? Hit the gym for some yoga or Zumba?

I have a suggestion, so listen up.  If you have EA Sports Active or EA Sports Active More Workouts, how about doing a new workout, especially designed by the fantastic folks over at EA for International Fitness Day? Check out the new workouts here: EA International Fitness Day Workouts. All you have to do is find the correct workout for whichever game you have, then enter the new workout. Then you’re set, and you’ll have this great workout ready to go for tomorrow…or whenever!

We want to hear from you! What do you plan on doing to celebrate International Fitness Day? Link up below! And guess what? Your link is ALSO your entry to win a copy of EA Sports Active More Workouts. We’ve got a copy to give away!

Can’t wait to hear what everybody has planned!

Giveaway ends next Friday, October 22, 2010 at 11:59 PST. The Sisterhood has not been monetarily compensated for the giveaway.

A couple of weekends ago, I had a breakthrough run.

I really, really needed this breakthrough because I had a long string of disappointing workouts leading up to it and I was beginning to doubt and question myself and I was ready to quit.

My breakthrough was a sub-30 minute 5k run during a triathlon!!! And this never happens!!!  Never ever! Normally my legs are like toast by the time I get to the run, it’s hot, I’m in some amount of pain, and I have to just dig deep to finish. But this time, I ran hard the entire time. I was a little out of breath, but I wasn’t uncomfortable and my legs were just doing their thing. My time: 28:47!

This was HUGE FOR ME! HUGE!

One of the things I had done differently was that I started reading the book, Chi Running by Danny Dreyer.

My husband had bought the book and he kept telling me I should read it because he thought I would like what it has to say and I said it sounds like some sort of weird “Yoga running” and whatever. But then one day I picked it up and I started reading and I couldn’t put it down. I was completely and entirely wrong and he was completely and entirely right about what I would think about it (guess he knows me.)

This is a basic overview of ChiRunning from their website:

“ChiRunning combines the inner focus and flow of T’ai Chi with the power and energy of running to create a revolutionary running form and philosophy that takes the pounding, pain, and potential damage out of the sport of running. The ChiRunning program increases mental clarity and focus, enhances the joy of running, and turns running into a safe and effective lifelong program for health, fitness, and well-being.”

There is an entire technique associated with the ChiRunning style and to get it truly down pat you should practice it a lot, but just off the top, the little tiny tweaks I did as part of ChiRunning has made a huge, huge difference in my run, my stride and the way my body feels while I’m running. Basically, there is no pain involved with running anymore for me and I have terrible knees and running always hurts me in some way either during or after.

The ChiRunning book takes you through fixing your posture because running posture is a very, very key ingredient to running. But then, it also introduces the fabulous idea of working with gravity to run more efficiently.

“With the ChiRunning technique, instead of holding your posture upright and in line with the pull of gravity, you allow yourself to co-operate with the pull of gravity by letting yourself fall forward. Your body will then become a forward-falling object… Because your center of mass (your pelvis) is just ahead of your point of contact with the ground (your feet), your upper body falls forward…and all you have to do is pick up your feet to keep up with your fall.”

 

So basically, you are trying to catch yourself from falling with each step (which sounds really weird, but just try it), only it’s not a clumsy movement, it’s deliberate movement. By doing this,  you are running from your center and your core rather than your legs, allowing your legs to just be along for the ride. The constant energy you expend by pushing your legs off the road with your feet in normal running is basically just gone.

The book focuses also on breathing, on what your other limbs should be doing while you’re running (which is nothing) and how to focus on a tight core and good posture while running. It also delves into your mind while running and how to be in touch with what your body is telling you while you’re running. Your mind has a great big deal to do with what your body does while it’s running and in order for you to get in a good run, the two have to be in synch.

I am really excited about working on this technique. That day on that run with just a couple of chapters under my belt, my run improved immensely. I went on to a 14 mile training run a week later and I beat my 1/2 marathon PR as well and I had no pain whatsoever after the run. Yesterday, I ran my fastest 10k ever. The movements feel natural and my body just moves. It makes running (for someone who used to hate it) fun. The book also talks about how we used to run as children, with no effort whatsoever, because we were focused on a game of tag or just running around the yard. This book helps take you back to that place, where you were when you ran as a kid. If you are in a place where running just isn’t fun, your joints hurt with every pound of the pavement, or you can’t focus or center yourself while running, try this technique! There is also a ChiWalking book for all those walkers out there!

ChiRunning is on sale at bookstores and on Amazon. There is also a DVD that explains the technique and there are workshops and ChiRunning instructors all over the country and the world so you can actually take a class on it.

Happy Fitness Friday everyone! Please share your running experiences in the comments and whether or not you’ve ever heard of this or tried this!

**Disclaimer: We are not fitness experts, we are only people like you who love to talk about things we’ve tried! The opinions expressed in this post are ours and ours alone. Please consult a doctor before beginning any fitness program, mkay? **

Back in the day, like WAAAAYYYYYY back in the day, prior to marriage and during my mid-20′s, I considered myself a Latin dancing superstar not really- in my head I danced way better than I did in real life. 

Regardless, my girlfriends and I would regularly visit our favorite salsa dancing club and tear up the dance floor FOR HOURS.  I would always return home from those evenings, soaked with sweat and the next morning I would wake up with sore butt muscles, sore hips and sore calves.  Some mornings it literally felt like my entire body had been run over by a Mack truck.

I loved it.  Obviously.  I kept doing it over and over, every weekend!

Some brilliant genius has taken the Latin moves of the dance floor and turned it into a fitness class called Zumba I wish I had thought of this- I could be a millionaire now!.  A few months ago, I finally attended a Zumba class at my gym.  I shimmied what God gave me, my heart rate skyrocketed, and I made a complete fool of myself as I bee-bopped to Spanish tunes, some hip hop, and all kinds of international tunes. 

The next morning, my entire body hurt.  All over. 

Don’t let anyone tell you that Zumba isn’t a real workout, because it is.  I can’t remember how many calories I burned, but I do know that I worked up a great sweat, my heart beat fast, I worked my entire body and most importantly, I laughed my ass at while looking at myself in the gym mirrors dancing.

It was so much fun.

You may be thinking to yourself:  I don’t have rhythm, my body can’t learn those moves, I look ridiculous.  THROW those thoughts away.  The point of Zumba is to have fun and to get moving, your entire body moving.  It doesn’t matter if you are doing the steps in the correct order and it doesn’t matter if you can’t gyrate your hips like the instructor.  The only thing that matters is that you enjoy yourself and MOVE.

So get going- go Zumba!

Click here to see what Zumba looks like (scroll down and click “play” on the video)

Psssst…can I tell you a secret?

I’m not a big fan of working out. (ducks the rotten tomatoes)

I’ve never really been a big fan of working out. I know that I have to. And I know that it’s good for me. But I don’t usually get that sense that endorphins are rushing through my body or that I’m about to reach my happy place.

Exercising is hard work. And I’m a slacker. Not really a match made in heaven.

So what do I do to keep myself going?

I sign up for races. Or join things with a specific end date. Or challenge people to do something on a specific day.

I put it on my calendar, and then I circle it in red.

Knowing that I have something to work towards is really what keeps  me going. If I think “Gee, I’m going to go out and run/walk/bike/swim/yoga/push up/whatever today just because it’s glorious to be alive!”, chances are, I’m staying at home.

Which is why I’m all signed up for a race on September 26th. Signed, sealed and almost delivered…

And the wonderful thing about goal setting is that it works for ANY KIND OF EXERCISE!

I know that there’s people out there (yeah, I’m looking at you), who think they can’t set goals for themselves because they are not a runner. Just because your sport or activity doesn’t have organized race days doesn’t mean that YOU can’t create a goal date for yourself.

• Get your Ohm from yoga? Pick a pose that you’ve never tried then pick a date when you are going to nail it. Then practice.
• Runner? Sign up for a race. And if you’ve never signed up for a race, now is the time to do it. Give me one good reason to put it off. I dare you. If you can’t find a race that’s convenient, set up a virtual one with friends. Anyone up for another Sisterhood Virtual 5k? And World Run Day is coming up on November 10th…
• Walker? See entry for runner above. Most road races accept walkers and there are even some walker only races out there. Check it out!
• Biker? Sign up for a race. Or shoot for a monthly mileage goal. Or vow to ride to the library on the third Tuesday of the month. Be creative!
• DVDer? Work your way up to the more advanced move that you’ve been too afraid to try. Pick a date and shoot for it!
• Weight lifter type? Circle the date that you will try increasing your poundage for a few reps. Work for it!

You get the idea. Anything you do can have a goal associated with it.

ANYTHING.

Hit us up in the comments and tell us what day you have circled on your calendar and why. Feel free to go add one now…