Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Wednesday Workout Update - Impressive Stats, LOL!


July Stats
Swimming - 50,000 yards
Hot Yoga - 150 minutes

That translates into swimming 2,500 yards a day for 20 days out of the month (I swam every Monday thru Friday except for one day when I had to go to the dentist in the morning because of my hurting mouth), and going to yoga twice.  Still, I like that you can make anything sound impressive - just depends on how you write it!

Swimming is going well - it generally takes me around an hour and fifteen minutes to complete my workout - if my pool buddy Nancy is there when I arrive, we kick board and chat together for 20 or 30 lengths (if she's not, then I usually only kick for 10 lengths while I cry inwardly because I like my chatty time); then I do my combination back stroke/side stroke for 50 lengths, and finish for a total of 100 lengths with more kick board, throwing in about five sprints if I feel like it.  Just so you know, I do not feel like sprinting when I'm swimming the morning after hot yoga.  Swimming is enough at that point - the yoga workouts are intense, and I'm still a bit tired from them, which is to be expected since I'm swimming about 13 hours after I finished yoga.  I consider it a victory that I actually DO swim at all the morning after my evening yoga class.

I had a couple of workout-related victories this week that I wanted to share.  First, as I mentioned in Monday's post, I kayaked!  I got into the kayak from the boat's swim dock and didn't capsize the kayak (have you ever seen contestants on the Amazing Race do that?(I have)(not that I was worried)(ok, maybe just a little) - I like to think that my core strength contributed to helping me balance while I got in.  And then, I paddled.  Now, it wasn't like we went a long distance - just to the little island and back - but my arms didn't get tired at all from paddling, which surprised me.  Swimming has really strengthened my arms without a lot of muscle soreness - I like that I am able to get a workout in and still be able to raise my arms to wash my hair!

My second victory happened during Hot Yoga (hot as in 104 degrees hot - yikes!) on Monday night.  Kimberly, the instructor, had us moving at a pretty fast pace which was good as it left me no time to second-guess whether or not I could actually DO the poses she was leading us in - I just went for it, as much as I could.  She did the plow pose and I was shocked to discover that I could actually do it, too!!!  Usually, any of the really "bendy" yoga poses don't happen for me because I'm not that limber (yet).  So when I realized I was DOING this, inwardly I started celebrating!  I guess I'm still getting used to the idea that my body can move like this - apparently I'm carrying some of the "phantom fat" around in my head.
Plow pose - advanced yogis can put their feet on the floor.  Mine were about a foot above the floor.

23 comments:

  1. Woohoooooooooo what an excellent month Shelley!

    You are rocking swimming and yoga. Well done my friend.

    I was thinking about you this morning during my run. I'm wondering what the condition of your injury is: any improvement or still the same?

    And now I'm off to see if there's nobody here at the office that can see me and try the plow pose too :)

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  2. Two very very cool victories!!!
    hot yoga and getting back to it is tops on my list for things to do when the child starts kindergarten!!

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  3. Dang, that is impressive, no matter how you spin it. :)

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  4. Very impressive, indeed. I went to the pool for some exercise day before yesterday. I thought of you - I did not do laps. I'm not much of a swimmer, so the fact that you are and do is VERY impressive to me!

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  5. I like phantom fat around your head! HA! I am super impressed that you are swimming so much especially since you weren't so keen on it. I am hoping that your heel is healing ok and that you will consider doing a triathlon. You have all three sports and you can do races without having to stress your ankle too much... you can even do a race with your hubby as a team. :-)

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  6. Ok, so you swam OVER 28 MILES in July! How awesome is that??? Congrats on that not-so-small victory and your other ones! My father kayaks and I've done it once. It's an incredible workout. I think it's one of the best tests of your core muscles you could ever take. :-)

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  7. *Enters blog. Sees statistics. Promptly Faints*

    It's not the statistics that made me faint, because I think you underestimate yourself all the time. It's the fact that you posted them lol!

    I can do the plow pose but I will never get my feet on the floor. My pot belly gets in the way.

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  8. Way to go! I love, love, LOVE (my point is I really like it) kayaking. With all of the different things you've been trying it sounds like you might be gearing up for a Texas Adventure Race. :)

    So it's called a plow pose?! I never knew that. I used to always do those as a kid with my feet on the ground just because it felt good and looked weird. Now you have me curious as to whether I can do it again. (prepare to dial 9-1-1)

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  9. WOW! I'm impressed. Building arm muscles without pain. My kind of muscle workout.

    I have that same "phantom fat" around my brain too. Nice to have a name for it :)

    When you talked about yoga I totally forgot I had a class this morning...DAMN! There is always next week.

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  10. Wow!!!!! I'm impressed.....very. Gives me hope that some day.....soon.......I'll be doing that too.

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  11. Nice. Your commitment to swimming is so awesome.

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  12. I'm desperate to go kayaking. I've been a little nervous about it but now i'm not. I KNOW I have a strong core now! :) Isn't it fun to see progress in yoga??? I'm so proud!

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  13. Nope. Can't do the plow pose. There was a lot of rocking back and forth, though, and now I'm a little out of breath. Does that count? I'm very impressed that you can do that. More impressive, however, is that you walked out the front door into 104 degree heat and KEPT GOING!!

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  14. Holy Shizz Shelley - that's awesome!! Not sure I could hold that pose, um, my muffin top gets in the way!

    The stairmaster kicked my butt this morning - I did 35 minutes and you would have thought I haven't worked out in weeks I was huffing and puffing, oh, and sweaty!

    BTW, I finally washed the hat you gave me - I've normally just let it air dry but it washed great - but I forgot to put it in my bag so I'll have to lather up the sunscreen before my run today. :(

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  15. You are impressive Shelley. I remember when I could do that position. I wonder.....

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  16. Dang Shelley - you are aqua woman!! Way to go!!

    I like the plow pose. I can touch my toes to the floor, but sometimes I have trouble getting out of the pose when I do that.

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  17. Woo Hoo!!! Impressive stats ANY way your write it! Way to go Shelley!!!!! (I love the way you write, hope you don't inwardly cry often, and love the Amazing Race!!) Hope your Wednesday has been a good one!!!

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  18. OMG, this is scary motivating. And I bet the Hot Yoga balancing has something to do with the fact that you didn't roll your kayak!

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  19. Amazing workouts this month! That is a heck of a lot of swimming, I am in awe of you. Plus the hot yoga, yikes. And good for you for doing the plow pose!

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  20. You had a great month Shelley! I have just started yoga too and I just forge ahead even if I can't do the poses perfectly. I sweat way more than I thought I would! And all that swimming you do?? What the heck? Way to go!!

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  21. Congrats on all those laps and the new strength in the arms. I think you could write it out in minutes or seconds and it would sound even more astonishing.

    The phantom phat never leaves.

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  22. You will be able to get way more flexible with yoga. I did and I'm in my 40's too.

    :-) Marion

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  23. That's awesome! I love Plow post! It's so fun!

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