Garbage That GOO!

A good workout or two.

Whew. Keeping up with the blog is a bit more demanding than I thought! But I best catch up now or just let it go.

I had a killer water aerobics workout on Wednesday.

Seriously. I was pushing the whole time... and my heart rate was up in the low to mid-130s, which is pretty good, as generally, heart rate tends to measure lower in water than on land. Of course, I also find that my cheap heart rate monitor that I use for the pool does not work quite as well in the pool as it does on dry land. This is apparently normal due to the way pool chemistry can affect the signal. But it tends to drop out if my heart rate gets too low and sometimes it just doesn't register at all. But it was working quite well Wednesday!

I know water aerobics sounds like a wussy old lady option for exercise, but you can make it tough!

Fortunately, the instructor, Julie, likes to hustle, so that helps keep me going at it. She says "Go faster!" to the class and I do. During one move, what she calls "little runs", you move your feet in a small jogging motion, but as fast as you possibly can while rolling your arms with hands cupped as fast as you can. This REALLY gets your heart pumping! She said I was turning a little red in the face at one point! Didn't surprise me, because I was tiring, but I was also giving it my all.

If you power every move through the water, you get a LOT of resistance! I think of it as cardio on steroids! At least that's how it feels to me. Anyway, she tried some new leg exercises on us and wow, more taxing than they looked! I was starting to shoot some dagger glances her way before we were done with those. By the end of class, my legs felt like jelly. I even stumbled getting out of the pool!

Wednesday eating was fine and all compliant. I won't detail the meals here, because I'm tired, but I eat a lot of similar stuff day to day anyway. I did have a post workout drink of water and whey protein right after water aerobics to hold me while I did a few errands. When I got home, I had a carb meal of steel cut oatmeal with half a frozen banana, some walnuts and topped with low carb milk mixed with chocolate whey protein. Very yummy!

Thursday recap...

Well, I woke up sore in every muscle from Wednesday. Even so, for some reason I felt fine and after breakfast, was actually abnormally keen on getting my Nordic Track workout done. I did that right before my second meal and managed 25 minutes/1.8 miles. Though, my feet are feeling it a bit, so perhaps I shouldn't push for longer times yet. I'll see how it goes. It's a good exercise for me, because there is virtually no impact.

Average heart rate 135, maximum 147. Average speed 4.41 mph. Well, better than my walking speed would be (3 mph), but nothing to brag on. Hope to improve.

Thursday eating was fine.

All 5 meals eaten, all compliant, I drank more than a gallon of water and green tea today. I was feeling a little pushed on time, so I did have two protein smoothies whereas normally, I like to only do a smoothie once a day. They are quick and easy... sometimes that's a nice break.

One meal was one of my "emergency fast food" fixes. I.E. big pile of spinach, topped with a red onion slice, two cans of sardines in tomato basil sauce and sliced peperoncini pickles on top. The only issue there was that I had to shut myself in my office to eat it in peace. Luna went WILD when she smelled the sardines and kept trying to get at them. When shut out, she sat outside the door and howled! I guess there's a reason I don't break out the sardines too often!

Time to get to bed and rest up for water aerobics!