Pneumatised!

MM,

Yes, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted an update on my training. As I mentioned in a previous blog, I spent two and a half weeks working on my mom’s house; thus, I was too tired from all that work to go workout properly.

I did manage to get some running in and this week I finally made it into the gym. I’m hoping to get back to the do jang tomorrow night. I miss my martial arts training very much.

Here’s a quick summary of my running the past few weeks.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

I went for a two mile run. The week had been stressful at my mom’s house, so the run helped with that. My time for the first mile was 8 minutes 18 seconds. The second mile was 8 minutes 50 seconds. Two miles took me a total of17 minutes 8 seconds.

Monday, August 28, 2006

I went for a mile a half run. My time was 12 minutes 51 seconds.

Monday, September 4, 2006

I went for a mile run. My time was 8 minutes 57 seconds.

So, I’ve been slowing down a bit on my running. Hopefully, as my life settles down to some semblance of a routine, I’ll be able to bring the speed back up. Right now, I’m mostly concerned with being able to finish the longer distances.

As I said, in an earlier post, my life has been crazy the past three or four weeks. It’s just about to settle down now. 😀 Yeah, I can breathe again. I seriously felt like I couldn’t breathe until today. Because of all the painting I’ve done at my mom’s, last week I felt like I might be coming down with something. I’ve spent a week catching up on work I need to get done and trying to catch up on rest.

Sunday (September 10), because of all the stress lately, I went to the gym for some weight training. I kept it light seeing as I hadn’t been in the gym for almost a month. All I’ve gotten lately was running. In any case, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. (Must be because of all the physical work on my mom’s house – painting ceilings work the arms and back apparently. I’ve been pretty sore in the upper back. Of course, this didn’t replace the cardio, which is why I kept up with the running more than the gym.) I did single sets of most of the weight exercises as usual.

Leg lifts
Pull-ups (aka chin-ups, military and parallel)
Dips
Leg press
Hamstring flexor (called seated leg curls)
Hip adductors
Hip abductors
Seated row
Seated chest press
Pectoral fly
Shoulder fly
Shoulder lift (this is called the shoulder press)

Free weights:
Situps (on a incline bench; worked out the obliques as well by doing double punches during the situp)
Bicep curls
Weighted squats
Additional shoulder exercises (front and back shoulder joint)
Wrist strengthening

Monday (September 11th) I was planning on going to the do jang, but I didn’t sleep well Sunday night. I decided it was best I stay home and rest. Yesterday, I ended up staying home again as I still felt like I didn’t get enough rest lately.

Today, I’m glad to say I’m feeling more rested and more on my feet. I think part of the problem might be that I kept forgetting to take my vitamins those days I had to go to my mom’s. I wasn’t getting enough nutrients. 🙁 Usually I can go a few days without vitamins, but I need to take them fairly regularly. I have a fast metabolism supposedly, but I also wonder if my body just doesn’t absorb nutrients from food properly. Supposedly, you can’t eat enough in one day anymore to get all the vitamins and nutrients you need. This is simply because food is processed rather than being found in its most natural state. Food in its natural state such as fresh vegetables, fruits, and grains retain its nutrients better than foods that have been processed before being ingested. It makes sense when even just boiling vegetables takes out many of the nutrients. (If you boil vegetables, it’s probably better to just drink the water. Home made vegetable soup is a good idea.) Okay, enough about nutrition. I’m not a specialist, but I tend to come up with my own conclusions based on observations as well as research.

As I said, I’m feeling better today, but I still have work to catch up on. Kronos just keeps on turning the wheel. I’m hoping next week, I’ll be able to pop my head into the do jang and get a class in. I miss taekwondo, though I think about martial arts all the time. Oh, I did do a quick run-through of my taekwondo and gumdo patterns just to make sure I didn’t forget anything or my body forgot how to do anything. My kicks are still fairly good. It’s the leg press and squats – they really make a difference.

Okay, lots more to do. Be back soon, I hope.

BB,
Cassandrah
(whose life has somehow been turned upside down and all around that she doens’t know which way will be up afterwards)
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