Glorious SWEAT!!!

I remember when I made the realization that I'm not a non-sweating hard worker like I had always thought.  When I work hard I SWEAT.  I don't perspire.  I don't glisten.  I pour sweat out of what feels like every pour in my body!  When I finish a work out, I have to hang my clothes to dry before I can put them in the "funky clothes" pile (AKA the bathtub).


Ever since shoulder surgery I haven't been allowed to work out (other than PT and that hasn't made me produce wetness).   That constraint came to a halt at my last doctor appointment!!  (You know the one where he told me I could do "anything I want"!)  So yesterday I got to put on an actual SPORTS BRA and workout clothes (spin shorts) for a REASON and hit the gym.

I was teaching Spin and to say I was nervous would be an understatement.  I wasn't sure what kind of

shape I'd be in after two full months completely off.  Would my butt hurt like a new comer?  Would I be able to spin and talk at the same time?  Would my legs revolt and give out part way into class?  I didn't want to teach an easy class, but the beauty of Spin class is that you are in control of your own bike.  You determine RPMs and resistance.  But, I didn't want to make it easy...and besides a good bit of the class I was teaching was standing and you have to put enough resistance on the wheel to stand safely.  (I could have moved it up and down, but I didn't WANT to need to do that!)

And...I DIDN'T!!  I'm not going to lie...it was a mental challenge, but I DID IT!!  And, I poured SWEAT!!!  I was soaked when I got done.  And, I LOVED IT!!!

To make it even better, it was almost a two shower day!  After Spin I showered and ran errands before going to PT later in the afternoon.  I knew I was going to get to work harder so I wore a clean/dry sport bra and workout shirt (something I haven't had to do in the last eight weeks), but decided to wear blue jeans since I was just working my upper body.  Imagine my surprise when I realized I was actually sweating!!!  I wasn't dripping, but I was certainly showing the beginning of a glisten!!

Up for today--teaching another Spin class and at home PT.

I am laying down some bricks!!!

Until next time...
:D

I'm Not That Great

Boy howdy....it's been too long!  You can tell how hectic my life has been lately, I only posted one time last month.  So much to say, so little time to get it all out.

I haven't even told you about all the cool things that have happened the last couple of months.  I mentioned how I got my USAT Level One Coaching Certificate (hands in the air--whoop whoop!).  I also just went Friday and got certified as a TRX Group Trainer (fist pump!).  Have I mentioned I'm currently coaching, count them: NINE athletes??  Yes--NINE.  One more and I'll have TEN.  Oh...and I'm training for IRONMAN LAKE TAHOE!!  How I wish I had the time to go search for a super cool sound effect to insert right here...but I can't because in a little while I'm going to be taking the written part of the test to finish up my AFAA Personal Trainer Certification!!!  OH YEAH BABY!!!

AND...I now have my very own FaceBook Page:  Dana Trains.  Go LIKE me now!   (Yes, anyone can have a page, but I feel like mine is legit since I really do have a business....that's still such a foreign thought!)  ...Wait, did you go LIKE me yet??  No?  Click the link, it opens a new page so you can come back to finish the post...  :D)

Now that you're back...


The other day I went to check out a new fitness studio (doesn't that sound cool? "fitness studio") called SWEAT (even cooler name, huh?).  I had already signed up for my TRX training so decided I might want to go take a class since I had never been to one!  LOVE that place, love the workout, love the instructor!!  Afterwards I came home, was looking at their website and found the blog.  At the end was a little "challenge":

...I have 5 copies of Dr. Daniel Crosby’s new motivational book, “I’m Not That Great” and I want to give them away to 5 people bold enough to reveal how being regular has made them do things they never thought possible.  Be bold!  Share your story on our Facebook Page to let us hear the story of your journey!  The contest will run from today through Friday, November 23rd.

I had missed the deadline but made a comment on FaceBook about it anyway...and, wouldn't you know it, Jeidi told me they still have a book and I was welcome to make a post.  ((As if I could tell how NOT great I am in one comment!))

...how being regular has made (me) do things (I) never thought possible....

Seriously, this makes me cry.  Yes, literally.   I know better than anyone how inconsequential I really am.  I don't "rock".  I'm not "awesome".  (And, I'm REALLY NOT fishing for compliments here! :D)  I have NEVER been an athlete.  I don't have "muscle memory"...my muscles didn't ever learn how to work in the first place.  I've talked before about how I only passed ONE of my PT tests in the army over the course of 4 years.  (I was usually SECONDS late so I was allowed to squeak by.)  Three years ago I didn't KNOW how to swim.  I didn't own a bike.  I didn't own running shoes!  (GASP!!)  In the last 36 months I've learned it's not where you start from that matters...and, more importantly, it's not where you think you'll end up.  "It" is about the process.

As you begin to think about New Year's Resolutions, I want to challenge you to consider what it is you want out of life.  What experience do you want to have.  Do you want to be striving to get to a finish point (lose X number of pounds, run a (fill-in-the-blank) K race in XX:XX time, be able to run X miles or swim X number of laps...).  Or do you want to be intentional about living life every day, getting the most out of each moment but with the bigger picture of life in mind?

When I think about what I'm going to eat for lunch, I'm not going to think, "oh, I need to eat as little as possible because I'm trying to drop some weight"...I'm also not going to think, "I can eat what ever I want because I'm getting the most out of this moment in life" ...I'm going to have the bigger picture in mind (dropping some pounds) and couple that with the fact I've worked out hard today, and still have some left to do, and then I'll make some deliberate choices about what food will best fuel my body.

Until the day I die I'll be in the "process" of living.  The fact I know I'm not that great means I need to work hard to get the most out of the days I have left, however many that may be.  Go pay attention to your intention...unless you really are just that great you don't have to!! :D

Thanks for stopping in, come again soon.  I'm committed to updating more often...I really am!
:D

I SWEAT!!!

Not me...

I'm a little more than just a little embarrassed to admit what I'm about to admit to you...but I decided to go ahead and write about it just in case there are others out there who have this same "problem".

Let me start by telling you about yesterday's workout - power intervals.  It was a brick workout on the spin/stationary bike and treadmill.  I start out on the bike with a warm up then do intervals of very hard and very easy resistance for an HOUR followed by a cool down...then I go straight to the treadmill for a 10 minute warm up, some very fast/easy intervals and a cool down for a total of 30 minutes. 

I've done this workout four times now.  It's hard.  The resistance on the bike should be such that my cadence is 40-60 rpm (normal bike riding is about 85ish).  If you're a bike rider, you know how tough 40-60 is...if you're not, take my word for it.  The treadmill speed should be set so that it's CONSIDERABLY faster than I usually run.  (I comfortably run about a 9:45 pace now...my interval pace is anywhere from 6:00 to 8:20.) 

Yesterday I told myself to make the most out of the workout, not to settle for anything less than my best.  ((I've written before about not knowing exactly what it means to do my "best", and I can say I still have no idea!!))  Every time I increased the resistance I told myself to PUSH; there was not a single time I didn't have more in me than I initially thought. 

Let me explain...my cadence (how many times the pedal rotates in a minute) during the easy minute would average around 75-85.  If I wasn't paying attention it would fall to around 60.  When I increased the resistance (from 2 up to 17 or 18 on the digital readout on the bike) my cadence would drop down to 39ish if I wasn't paying attention.  My old self would have decreased the resistance--making it easier to get the cadence up to 40-60 where it was supposed to be....or maybe pushed enough to make it up to 40ish.  However, yesterday I tried each time to make my legs work to get the cadence up to the 50s (sometimes even going above the 60 mark--which told me I needed to increase resistance).

Not me either...

What shocked me was how much I would sweat during those tough intervals!  I know some of you are laughing.  ...Yes, I was shocked working hard made me sweat.  When I told my husband this story he knew EXACTLY why it shocked me---I'm NOT used to working hard!!!  I'm not lazy (or maybe I really have been).  I always feel like I'm working hard when I think I'm working hard.  However, I've been finding out my definition of hard may not be accurate.

Eric was talking about power intervals the other night; he said if you're doing it right you are slinging sweat everywhere.  I thought to myself what I always think when that topic comes up..."I'm sure glad I don't sweat like that!!"  I have always thought I just don't sweat a lot...but yesterday's workout gave me a different perspective.  I want to be clear here--I do sweat when I work out...but yesterday I was POURING BUCKETS, but ONLY DURING THE REALLY TOUGH SECTIONS WHEN I WAS CONSCIOUSLY CHALLENGING MYSELF. 

Hear this---I'm not saying how much you sweat is a perfect indicator of how hard you're working...however it was remarkable how I started dripping ONLY when I was pushing "as hard as I could".   I could have made the cadence be in the appropriate range with a decent resistance (40ish at 17)...and be sweaty and breathing hard.   To anyone watching it would appear I was working hard.  But when I told myself to work HARDER--to make it HURT and not be afraid of that pain--(pushing up to 60 at 18) it was as if my body turned on the faucet!!

It's funny...I usually take a towel when I workout...most of the time it's fairly dry (not completely, but FAR from soaked) when I leave (again...keep in mind, I thought I wasn't a profuse sweater like "those other people").  Yesterday, my whole hand towel (not small rag) was wet. 

As I have been writing this I've been thinking maybe yesterday was a fluke.  Maybe I really don't sweat that much...yesterday I was simply expelling some retained water and it won't happen again.  ((I've never even really sweat that much in a sauna...but I haven't been in many saunas for very long-it usually gets too hot!!)) However...from what I understand, sweating is the body's reaction to muscular activity.   It would stand to reason more activity would equal more sweat, right??

So...I've said all this to say...  I don't trust my perception of exertion anymore.  In addition to my heart rate as an indicator of how hard I'm working, I'm going to pay attention to my sweat!!