September: New Workout

For September, I am really going to focus on getting back into the swing of working out.  Since my triathlon back in June, I haven’t really done anything as far as working out goes, at least not consistently.  Well, it’s finally starting to get to me, and the scale has been saying some very mean things to me lately.  So, this month I am going to find a new weekly workout schedule.  I am still a little burned out on the whole swim/bike/run thing, so I am going to be trying some new things.  I’m hoping to try weight training, yoga, kettle bells, and possibly Krav Maga.  I’m hoping Krav Maga works out as I have definitely missed Muay Thai since the class I used to go to shut down about a year ago, but am not sure quite what to expect.

February Update: Work out five days a week

For February I was trying to work out five days a week for a month, as a kick off for my four month triathlon training program.  it was actually a lot harder than I thought, as much because of the amount of time it took out of my schedule as the actual physical stress of the workouts.  In the end, I only worked out five days one week, but worked out four days every other week, so while it wasn’t a blinding success it wasn’t a complete failure.  Prior to this I was at most working out three days a week.  It served it’s purpose, I’m on track to be able to finish the Grand Rapids Triathlon and I know what I have to do to manage my time properly.  I’m still deciding what to try next month, so check back soon.

January Update: 14 pounds

For January, I was trying to lose 15 pounds before the end of the month.  I was close…really close.  In fact, I weighed myself again after my morning swim and I had lost 15.5 lbs, but that’s pretty much cheating since I was just dehydrated.  I ended up losing 14 pounds altogether, which I’m happy with. The first week and a half I was fighting off a cold and that didn’t help matters. If your curious what I was doing, I lost the first few (5-6) just eating normally and working out, and the last two weeks or so I focused on cutting “white” carbs 6 days a week (aka slow carb diet)  The carbs are definitely the key for me, and it was interesting to see just how much of them I eat in a day.

January Challenge: Lose 15 Pounds

So I’m running a little behind here on the challenges, seeing as it is January 11th and I am just now posting my challenge for January.  This month I went with something relatively straightforward: Lose 15 pounds.

I chose this for a few reasons.  First, I did particularly horrid this holiday season watching what I ate, and have paid the price both in pounds gained and tighter clothes.  Second, if I seriously want to make it through the triathlon, I need to start serious training in February.  I can say from personal experience that even 10 pounds can make a world of difference when working out. Why 15?  I figured that was a relatively reasonable number for a month, and it would put me just below where I was at for most of last year.

Anyways, that’s it, lose 15 pounds in January, look for an update at the end of the month to see if I made it!