Monday, October 3, 2011

Fitness Challenge Report Card: August & September 2011

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This is a double report card for August and September.

Are you all still tracking your fitness challenge miles*?

*ONE fitness challenge miles = 1 mile walked or run for fitness OR = 15 minute increments of other exercise for fitness such as cardiovascular or strength training exercises.

I know Brandy is. She makes note of them every day at the bottom of her daily blog post--which is a great way to keep track of and reflect on what you're doing. I'm still keeping a log of my exercise on my fitness blog, See how she runs..., which I update every couple of days.

How did you do with your fitness challenge miles* in August? And September?

My ongoing goal is to reach 100 fitness challenge miles* every month. In August I came in at a mere 43.8 miles, which I more or less anticipated since I was on vacation with my family for two weeks in Europe, during which I didn't do any workout specific workouts, although we walked miles every day touring the cities, climbed tons of stairs in subways, museums and landmarks always carrying a backpack and often lugging luggage around. So it was hardly a lazy vacation. Then later in the month I missed a few days of working out because of hurricane Irene. Considering those "interruptions" to my regularly scheduled workouts, I was still pretty active.

In September, my fitness goals were both awesome and a bit disappointing. First the awesome. As most of you already know, I competed in My First Triathlon on September 11 and had a really fantastic experience! It so much fun-- the training, the anticipation and finally doing it! I enjoyed it so much that I'm planning to do it again next year!

As for the disappointing part, I fell short in meeting my 100 miles again in September. It's one thing if something legitimate comes up like sickness or vacation, but I was working out consistently. Argh!! I've since figured out why and will make the necessary adjustments so I can reach my goal this month.

One reason I missed some fitness miles was because I was leaving 15 minutes early from my 6-7 am fitness classes three days a week since school started so that I could be home before my teen left for school. She has zero period this year, which means has to leave by 7:15 am and I like to be home to pack her a healthy lunch, make sure she has everything she needs and basically see her off for the day. If I'm not there in the morning before she leaves, I don't see her from bedtime the night before until 6 or 7 pm the next night because right now she has volleyball practice or games every day immediately after school. That's too long without connecting with my daughter so for now, I'll keep leaving class 15 minutes early to see her off, but I'll make up those missed fitness miles at home those days with some ab exercises, push ups and other resistance training after the girls leave for school.

Another reason I missed some fitness miles is because my Friday boot camp class has been cancelled due to lack of interest--although not mine! Ugh. I'm so upset about this. I loved that class--not only was it a killer workout that we often did outdoors, but also because all my workout friends were in it, including the instructor! I miss it. I've been running on Friday's in lieu of boot camp, but I don't always run 4 miles for the same 4 fitness miles I'd get from an hour of boot camp. I suppose I ought to make sure I DO run 4 miles on Friday's then. :P

So it looks like I've got my work cut out for me for October if I want to reach my goal of 100 fitness challenge miles!

What about you? What are your exercise plans for October?

2 comments:

  1. I think you should count the miles walked during vacation :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. nath is right! I just went back and counted and I have 143 fitness challenge miles for August and 124 for September. I think it dropped off a bit in September because I was feeling so frustrated and hopeless that all that exercising and I'm not losing weight. At all. I've also had a few injuries crop up. I decided to not do the regular Cardio Agility class anymore. It was just not fun anymore and my shoulder and shins were getting worse and worse with pain during the classes. I've started a cardio-pump class instead and am hoping the extra weight training featured in the class will help with the whole weight thing.
    I think you have a good plan in place for those 15 minutes and understand why you take those minute out of class. And the running? WOW! I am so jealous! You're doing fantastic!

    ReplyDelete

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