Not Going Gently into Perimenopause: Part NROL4W

[RacerBill]

Ditto what Tom said - great story. You've really made some changes. I love hearing about people who have taken charge, made healthy choices and stuck with it.

[Willie]

I am just getting caught up with your log and all I can say is, WOW! You should be proud of your muscles, and all of the grace that so clearly goes with them!

You seem to have a great sense of self, and I can tell that I am going to enjoy checking out your workouts AND the rest of your log.

[nutbar]

Wow, impressive changes!!

Originally Posted by DanceDiva

• Diane’s squat questions caused me to pause and evaluate throughout these sets. After 2nd set was tired & hot and decided to lower weight for set 3.
  This is the first workout where after the squat sets did not feel R. knee throbbing.

Very cool. I'm just now starting to surface from under all of the squat reading I've been doing. LOL I love when a move is discussed and analyzed to death, even those I think I'm "perfect" on, because I always learn something and further improve.

• ,

  Originally Posted by DanceDiva

  LOW: 2 minute incline @ 2.0; speed @ 3.0

  . .

What is that??

[DanceDiva]

Tom & Bill: Thank you for your kind words (and reading). I think it is so funny that it takes me actually telling someone what I've done for me to think about it and appreciate that I have accomplished something versus just thinking I'm only doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

Willie: Come back at your leisure. I'd like to know what you think about rowing machines in the gym. I was thinking about trying one during intervals.

Diane: Is this showing up as "Greek symbols with numbers" or some other nonsense? For me it shows up as it's supposed to look until I copy and paste it. The original was cut and pasted from Word instead of typed directly. It is supposed to say:

• LOW: 2 minute incline @ 2.0; speed @ 3.0.

I have no idea what the shorthand is for indicating treadmill stats. The machine I was on has separate +/- for incline and speed, so my terminology was to indicate that the incline was set at 2.0 instead of 0.0 and the speed at 3.0 instead of 0.0 (of course, if it had been set at 0.0 the belt wouldn't be moving and that would have been a sight to see).

Glad you saw the shout out!

[nutbar]

Yep, it's looking like Greek. I was thinking you were doing some REALLY exotic workouts. "The workout formally known as Prince" or something. LOL

[Willie]

Originally Posted by DanceDiva

Willie: Come back at your leisure. I'd like to know what you think about rowing machines in the gym. I was thinking about trying one during intervals.

I think the rowing machine can be a great tool for over all fitness training. I love doing tabata intervals on the erg (shorthand, rower speak for "ergometer" or "work meter" or "rowing machine").

CrossFit folks use the ergs a lot.

Proper instruction will make it a much more pleasant experience for you, and will likely result is a lower risk of back injury. I am happy to offer some instruction, but if you're really interested, I would start here:
Getting Started on the Indoor Rower

Good luck!

[dillytl]

WOW Tracey - you've made some great changes!!! I like how you've listed out all the food changes you've made - there are lots of them!!

[DanceDiva]

Kate (see I got it right this time): Thank you for the link. I'll start with that and actually see if I like rowing before I start pestering you.

Tracey: Hi! I have been checking up on you.

After listing them out, I can see now that I have made a lot of changes. I tested, tried, and evolved so it's kind of like when you see yourself everyday you don't notice the changes until someone you haven't seen in a long time mentions them. I also approach eating the same way as exercise -- the basic nutrition and what I feel like eating that day are merged together, and I've done this long enough that I have more confidence that it all balances out.

*************************
Some internals:
I tried to nourish myself yesterday because of increasing flow and pain. I had a hot stone/aromatherapy massage, and purchased an herb to try to soothe my uterus (unfortunately this is a watch over time thing too). I had a bad pain night last night. I woke after an hour of sleep and for the first time in my journey cried, felt sorry for myself, and prayed before getting off my butt, taking some advil, and getting some relief.

Today, my muscles are doing the spidey tingle but in this case they are telling me WE WANT TO MOVE. I'm on my way to the gym, but tried to talk myself out of doing the last B workout today -- this lasted all morning. I'm going to a 1 1/2 hour free dance tonight and I don't know how it is structured, so I wanted to save some energy. In addition, I think this one may end up the same as my last workout, which was energy-depleted. Oh well, we'll see.

I've been doing a lot of thought about ending Stage 1 and starting Stage 2. I really leaning toward not doing formal intervals -- none of the non-beat up your knees up options appeal to me and the things I think might appeal to me I don't want to do repetitively. I bought a Gymboss, so I'll still give this some thought. I've also leaning toward not doing the AMRAP optional workouts. Can't see how this is helpful for comparison when I didn't do the first workout AMRAP. 2nd don't want to overdo these and be sore for a week.

[dillytl]

What's a Gymboss??

[LisaS]

Originally Posted by dillytl

What's a Gymboss??

Gymboss - it's a little interval timer - you can set up to 2 periods and then repeat as you like.
e.g. set 30s:60s repeat 5 times. or set 60s non-repeating - but it will count and alarm everytime you hit start again - like for timing rest periods.

[LWilson212]

Some internals:
I tried to nourish myself yesterday because of increasing flow and pain. I had a hot stone/aromatherapy massage, and purchased an herb to try to soothe my uterus (unfortunately this is a watch over time thing too). I had a bad pain night last night. I woke after an hour of sleep and for the first time in my journey cried, felt sorry for myself, and prayed before getting off my butt, taking some advil, and getting some relief.

The hot stone massage sounds wonderful. And sometimes I find I just have to let myself cry and feel sorry for myself (for a little bit at least) to feel better. I'm glad the advil helped and you're feeling a bit better today.

[Willie]

Originally Posted by DanceDiva

Kate (see I got it right this time): Thank you for the link. I'll start with that and actually see if I like rowing before I start pestering you.

Pester away. Also, re: intervals-- I really encourage you to explore the tabata protocol as a means of keeping intervals as part of your routine. Tabata is traditionally 20" on and 10" of x 8 for a total of 4', but you can use the same work to rest ratio for longer intervals if you'd like (though then it isn't Tabata...). Anyway, I can't run / elliptical / step mill or even row right now, so I do them on the spinning bikes at the gym (no injuries there!) or I do bodyweight squats. I find BW Squats to be pretty effective, and they don't hurt my knees at all.

[dillytl]

Originally Posted by LisaS

Gymboss - it's a little interval timer - you can set up to 2 periods and then repeat as you like.
e.g. set 30s:60s repeat 5 times. or set 60s non-repeating - but it will count and alarm everytime you hit start again - like for timing rest periods.

Thanks LisaS! Guess I coulda googled that, eh?

[DanceDiva]

Thanks for checking on me. I'm feeling a hell of a lot better. Got good stuff to log.

[DanceDiva]

Well, didn't end of going to the free dance outing because my husband called me in the afternoon and asked me to meet him downtown for a night out. He thought I could use one.

The initial plan was dinner then maybe a movie.

We went to dinner and had turkey, dressing, and yams. Dressing had a lot to be desired. Tasted like Stove Top instead of home-made to me. However, once I added sugar and butter to the yams, they were good. And the cranberry sauce was awesome.

After dinner took a walk in the drizzle and ended up in a bar where my husband and some of his co-workers go. Met some of them and stayed for a coffee and a chat. I could not sit still. My back and triceps were still doing the spidey tingle. I kept stretching at the table. My husband thought I wasn't having a good time. I had to explain to him that my mind was having a good time, however, I can't control when the muscles don't want to be sitting in a chair.

We ended up supposedly taking one of his blind co-workers home so he wouldn't have to catch the bus. This man is straight-up a mack daddy. He ended up having us stop at a bar (supposed to be for a minute so he could tell a client happy birthday) where they had karoake, and the lady running it talked me into singing because she was the only woman who had. I was nervous, felt words catching in my throat, but my husband came up behind me and held me as I sang. It was so exhilarating.

Then, he and my husband told me about another co-worker who plays base in a band that was in a bar nearby and asked if I wanted to go listen. This band was so good. Music ranged from 50s - 70s. I danced up a good sweat. I even got an admirer who asked me to dance, then cornered my husband and asked him if I was his girlfriend.

Got to bed at 3 then got up to take the car for a service then came home and made breakfast AND GOT TO SEE THE SUN TODAY!!! Intended to go workout (still got the spidey going on). But went to sleep. Woke up feeling heavenly. Then went to workout.

[DanceDiva]

Whoo, Hoo. I've finished a stage. Need a champagne smilie.

*************************
NROL4W STAGE 1, WORKOUT B

Warm-up:

• 3-min stationary bike
• Y squats; twisted row with lunge; walking hamstring; hip circles (out & in); walking quad pulls; arm circles; walking back rolls; dislocates; warrior 1 with twist; 1 glute bridge, 1 one-leg glute bridge (each leg); 1 easy cobras; 1 fire hydrants (each leg)

Workout:

• Barbell Deadlift: 3 x 8
  WU: 45#x6
  WU: 67#x6
  S1: 89#x8.
  S2: 89#x8.
  S3: 89#x8.
  All sets felt good.

Alternating Sets:

• Dumbbell Shoulder Press (weight db in each hand): 3 x 8
  S1: 20#x8.
  S2: 20#x8. (+ 5)
  S3: 20#x8.
  Left arm struggles @7 sets 2 and 3 but all made with good form.
• Wide-grip lat pulldown: 3 x 8
  WU: 50#x6.
  S1: 70#x8.
  S2: 70#x8.
  S3: 70#x8.
  Set 1 felt hard but other sets felt fluid. This may need 2 warm-ups.

Alternating Sets:

• Lunge: (Alternating legs, weight db in each hand): 3 x 8
  S1: 20#x8.
  S2: 20#x8.
  S3: 20#x8.
  All were at 60 sec rest. Last workout had a 90 sec rest 3rd set. Fluid and not taxing at all. Still got the heart rate up.
  
• Swiss-Ball crunch