Combo Sweep!

Last night, my combo team won all the courts in our match!  Mary Ann and I played on #3 doubles.  At first, we thought it was going to be an easy match, because our opponents did not move well and did not seem to play that well.  However, they ended up having a lot of well-placed and angled shots, so the match was a challenge.  We won 6-4, 6-3.  The second court won, although it was a bit closer, and the first court blew away their opponents.  A good overall win!

This morning when I woke up, I had a new low weight: 123.8 lb.  This is the lowest weight I've registered since the end of June 2014!  It's so nice to be losing like I feel like I should've been for months.  My waist circumference was also the lowest it's been in quite awhile.  Progress!

Around lunch time I went to a boxing class.  I've been doing this later Saturday boxing class when I can, because it gives me time to sleep in!  At any rate, I could tell that I hadn't gone to boxing last week.  One week off, and my arms and back really feel it!

Cardio Tennis

Yesterday after work, I went to cardio tennis at TCCP.  This was the last session led by the pro that played a lot of fun point games.  It was a good session!  It's too bad that he'll be gone.  I wonder if the clinic will be led by the former instructor, or if it will be someone new?

This morning was my rest morning, so I did my shortened version of P90X2 Recovery + Mobility.  I burned about 75 calories.  The day is not a complete rest day like usual, though, because I have a combo tennis match tonight.

Easy Run

Yesterday after work, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was an easy-pace 50-min run.  I ran at 5.8 mph, and the run felt reasonably good.  The distance came to 4.83 mi.

This morning, I did P90X2 X2 Shoulders + Arms.  I increased my reps on a few moves.  I burned about 95 calories.

Agility HIIT

Yesterday afternoon and evening I took a break, since I have a match on my usual rest night, Friday.  I also had a lot of work to do, so it was good timing.

This morning I did the agility HIIT workout that I described previously.  After that, I did P90X2 X2 Ab Ripper.  I burned about 195 calories, which was pretty good!

Monday Night Tennis

Last night I had my usual tennis doubles at TCCP.  I played awfully.  In the first round, my partner, Kelly, and I lost 6-3.  She's not a strong player, but she does have a weird lefty serve, which helped us.  It went down hill from there.  In the second round, my partner, Mary Ann, and I lost 6-0.  Then in the last round, my partner, Julie, and I lost 3-0.  I really need to do something to pick myself up a bit.  I'm making too many unforced errors, and giving my opponents the ball too much.

This morning, I did P90X2 Chest + Back + Balance.  I did a few more reps of a few moves, and did a few fewer pull-ups.  I burned about 100 calories.

HIIT Plyo

This morning I did a HIIT plyo workout like I did last Monday, followed by some ab exercises from Oxygen magazine.  I do think the ab moves are getting a little easier.  I burned about 170 calories.

Snowy Day

We got a bunch of snow and then sleet yesterday, which left quite a mess for this morning.  We didn't get the driveway shoveled out in time for me to go to boxing.

At lunch time, I did have my practice with my tennis team.  I did not play very well - I am sore and tired from my long run yesterday.  In the first round, my partner, Whitney, and I won 5-3.  In the second round, my partner, Susan, and I lost 7-6 and then 4-0.  In the last round, my partner, Lisa, and I lost 5-3.  I made a lot of unforced errors.

Long Run

Yesterday was my rest day, so I didn't do any more specific activity.

I woke up to another lowest weight since at least last July - 124 lb.  I can't complain that I'm finally losing weight, but it almost seems to be flying off.  I'm not sure what has helped me finally start losing, but I'm guessing the biggest factor is finally getting more sleep and becoming less fatigued.  I've definitely been working very hard at that.

This afternoon I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 12-mi easy run.  I ran at 5.8 mph the whole way.  The run felt pretty good.  I only took 30-s breaks every 10 minutes for the first 40 or 50 minutes, which is quite good for me.  I took more breaks later.  I think part of what motivated me was watching The Hunger Games; it's distracting and motivating.  After all, if she's running for her life, surely I can run a few miles!  The run took me 2:04:10.

Cardio Tennis

Yesterday after work, I went to cardio tennis at TCCP.  It was soooo cold outside, and the tennis bubble was pretty frigid, as well.  Usually I warm up and break a good sweat during cardio tennis, but I hardly sweated this time!  The class was fun.  Our instructor only has one more week before moving to a new job, so we definitely wanted to enjoy his class while we can.

Today is my rest day, so this morning I did my shortened version of P90X2 Recovery + Mobility.  I burned about 70 calories.

Easy Run

Yesterday after work, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 40-min easy run.  I ran at 5.8 mph for the whole time, which came to 3.86 mi.  This run felt pretty good.

This morning, I did P90X2 X2 Shoulders + Arms.  I did the same weights/reps or increased slightly since the last time I did the routine, in December.  Pretty good!  I burned about 95 calories.

Hill HIIT

Yesterday afternoon I did a hill-running HIIT workout on my treadmill.  I followed one of the plans from Gina Harney's book HIIT It!  Here's the sequence:

1. 0 - 5 min: 5.8 mph at 2% incline
2. 5 - 10 min: alternate 30 s at 6.2 mph and 30 s at 5 mph, at 2% incline
3.  10 - 12 min: 5.5 mph at 7% incline
4.  12 - 16 min: alternate 1 min at 6.2 mph and 1 min at 5 mph, at 2% incline
5.  16 - 26 min: alternate 2.5 min at 6.2 mph and 2.5 min at 5 mph, at 2% incline
6.  26 - 28 min: 5.5mph at 7% incline
7.  28 - 30 min: 5.8 mph at 0% incline

This was a good workout.  The distance came to 2.8 mi.  I was a bit conservative on the speeds, because I haven't really run on inclines much.  I think I can push them a little bit; however, I have to keep in mind that the recovery intervals really have to be recovery.  I think hill running has been missing from my training, so I'm going to try to do this workout when I have an otherwise-unoccupied night.

This morning, I weight 124.6 lb, which is a new recent low for me. and again the lowest I've weighed since last July.  I'm not sure what has caused me to finally start losing weight, but it's good to see.  I've lost perhaps 2.5 - 3 lb since the beginning of the year.  In restrospect, it looks like I started losing in the last week or so of January.  I'm pretty happy with my eating, too.  I have been eating 1600 cal/day for about 3 days a week, but that's allowed some typical cheats I have at work.  Other days, I've been eating 1800 - 1900 cal, with Saturday being more like 2400 cal.  However, I'm not trying to religiously hit the number each day.  If I'm busier and don't have time to eat, then I'm not doing it.  The only thing I miss are my M&Ms, but I think cutting them out has been helpful.

This morning I did my Agility HIIT sequence that I did last week.  The adjustment I made, for time, was that the first round was 30 s on and 30 s off, but the second round was 15 s/15 s.  After that sequence, I did P90X2 X2 Ab Ripper.  I burned about 180 calories.

Snowstorm

Yesterday afternoon and evening a snowstorm came into the area.  Consequently, there were fewer players than usual at my Monday night tennis doubles at TCCP.   I did play a bit better than I have recently.  In the first round, my partner, Donna, and I won 6-5.  In the second round, my partner, Jessica, and I won 6-2.  In the last round, my partner, Katya, and I won 4-0.  Katya is the 9-year-old daughter of one of the members, but she's already a very good player.

he snowstorm caused the university to be closed today, so I got to sleep in a bit.  When I got up, I did P90X2 Chest + Back + Balance.  I last did this in December of last year; I increased the reps on a few moves.  I do all the pull-up and chin-up moves as regular pull-ups and chin-ups, instead of the weird variations the workout does.  I burned about 100 calories.

Sunday Tennis

Yesterday at lunch time, I had a practice with my team.  My play was still not great.  My partner, Whitney, and I won our first round 6-2, so that went well.  But then my next partner, Mary Ann, and I lost 5-7, 1-4 in the second round.  In the last round, my partner, Michelyn, and I lost 2-6.  Blah.

In the evening, I had a match with my 6.5 combo team.  Unfortunately there was a lot of drama before the match, because I needed to find a sub for one of my 3.0s and had trouble doing so - but I did.  Then another 3.0 pulled out of the match about 4 hours ahead of time.  There was no chance of finding another sub on the holiday weekend, so we ended up defaulting the third court.  Very frustrating.  At the match, my partner, Shelley, and I won 6-3, 6-4.  Our opponents were really pretty weak, so we should've won by more, but so it goes.  We lost the other court, so we lost our first combo match of the season.

This morning I started a new segment of my training cycle.  I did a plyometric HIIT workout.  I did 10 plyo moves for 30 sec followed by 30 sec of rest.  Then I did the same sequence again, but with 15 sec and 15 sec.  This definitely got my heart pumping.  After that, I did some of the ab moves from Oxygen magazine that I described a couple weeks ago.  Overall, I burned about 165 calories.

Saturday Exercise

Yesterday was my rest day, so I didn't do any activity in the afternoon or evening.

This morning, I went to a boxing class.  The instructor was not my favorite, but he had us do some different work today with the light weights that was pretty good.  I was feeling a little tired.

This afternoon, I did the next run on my training schedule.  After a 5-min walking warm up, I did 10 min at 5.8 mph, followed by 4 x 5 min at 6.5 mph and 4 x 2 min at 5.8 mph.  Then I did 5 min at 5.8 mph.  After that was a 5-min walking cool down.  This came to 4.4 mi in 43:00.  I took too many breaks during this run - just wasn't feeling it.

Cardio Tennis

Yesterday after work, I went to cardio tennis at TCCP.  I was definitely feeling worn out - not from any one thing, I think, but the overall match the night before and the plyo work that morning.  I did not play very well, and my calorie burn wasn't as high because I didn't move as much.  It was still fun.  Unfortunately the newer instructor that has been running the class is leaving at the end of the month.

This morning I woke up to my lowest weight since July 25, 2014: 125.2 lb.  Yay!  I'm finally for sure losing some weight.  I decided last week to stop eating my M&Ms when I ran out, and I ran out of them about a week ago.  That's definitely cut down on my snacking a bit, although not completely, because I do pull other things out of the cupboard.  But I think it has made some difference.  Hopefully I will stop missing them someday.

Today is my rest day, so this morning I did my shortened version of P90X2 Recovery + Mobility.  I burned about 65 calories.

Team Win, Personal Loss

Last night I had a tennis match with my 3.5 team.  Jessica and I played together again - we won on Sunday, so it seemed like a reasonable idea.  Well, maybe not.  We both played pretty badly - a lot of unforced errors.  It did not help that we had two pretty strong opponents.  We just couldn't get the ball away from them, and they were particularly good at putting away balls at the net.  We couldn't get over them or by them, at least not for long.  It was pretty frustrating.  We lost 6-3, 6-2.

Fortunately the rest of the team played much better and won the rest of the courts.  We are still undefeated this season, which is pretty amazing!

This morning, I did P90X2 Plyocide without the neuro-integrated stretching. I did skip a couple moves that bothered my left calf, which has been feeling off since Sunday. Afterward, I added on 3x20 glute bridges; I increased my weight for these to 25 lb.  I burned about 165 calories.

Easy Run

Yesterday after work, I did the next run on my training schedule.  This called for a 50-min easy run.  I decided that I've been running my easy runs too hard, so I did the entirety of this one at 5.8 mph.  The distance came to 4.83 mi.  I would've hoped that my easy run pace would have picked up since I started running, but it doesn't really seem like it has.  At any rate, the run went pretty well.

This morning I did Body Beast BULK Chest, followed by some ab moves like I did last week.  I still couldn't press the 33-lb weights.  I probably should've changed the plates and done 30 lb, but I didn't want to take the time for that.  I burned about 85 calories total.

Monday Night Doubles

Last night, I had my usual tennis doubles at TCCP.  Despite my winning match on Sunday, I just played OK.  In the first round, my partner, Andrea, and I lost 6-3.  We were playing against two really strong players, and they tended to take advantage of Andrea's lack of mobility.  In the second round, we had a great match-up between Whitney and I and two strong players.  This was quite a round; even though we also lost 6-3, it was a whole different game than the first round.  In the last round, my partner, Mariann, and I lost 3-1.

This morning I did my agility HIIT sequence like I did last Tuesday.  I followed that with Insanity the Asylum vol. 2 Ab Shredder.  I tried to push harder on the agility moves, and it definitely felt like it.  I burned about 225 calories.

Huge 3.5 Win!

Our 3.5 team had a big win last night!  We played a very strong team that usually finished in the top 1 or 2 of the league.  The last three times we played them (in 2014), we only won one court of five.  Last night we won the match overall, winning three of the courts: #2 singles, and #2 and #3 doubles!  I'm so excited!

Jessica and I played on #3 doubles.  Since we're both new 3.5s, I didn't think we'd have much of a chance.  We lost the first set 6-3.  One of our opponents was a 4.0 that played on my 2014 tri-level team, but was moved down to 3.5 this year, so she was very good.  The other opponent was the captain of the other team, and she is not a good 3.5.  In the first set, they made very few errors.  And even though the weaker opponent wasn't good overall, she had this amazing topspin lob that went SO high and hit on the baseline, and bounced up SO high.  She was hitting it perfectly corner to corner in the first set, and we really couldn't do much with it.

In the second set, our opponents started making mistakes.  We broke the stronger one's serve in the first game, and we found out later that her partner (her captain) told her she was making too many mistakes.  Geez.  We think that just messed her up, and she tried to start going for everything and making a lot of errors.  Meanwhile, her partner started losing her good lob - it got shorter and lower, so we could start taking it out of the air.  We won the second set 6-1.  Then in the match tie-breaker, we were always een or ahead and ended up winning it 10-7.

From keeping an eye on the other courts, I thought our court was the only one that we won.  However, our #2 singles player had the scorecards reversed - she won, instead of losing.  And I guess I just totally missed the court next to us winning.  So we won the match!  I think we were all really surprised!  So exciting!

This morning, I did Body Beast BULK Shoulders.  I increase weights for one intermediate move.  I maybe should have tried to increase the weights on the shoulder press, but going from 20 to 25 lb per hand is a pretty tough jump.  I burned about 105 calories.

Two Runs

Yesterday afternoon, I did the next race on my training schedule.  It called for 7 miles: 3 miles at an easy pace, 1 mile at a moderate pace, and 3 miles at a hard/race pace.  I did the first 3 miles at 5.8 mph, the middle mile at 6.0 mph, and the last 3 miles at 6.5 mph.  This was not as bad as I was expecting it to be.  I ran the first 20 minutes with only one break, and it felt pretty good.  The last 3 miles were a lot harder, of course.  The run took 1:08:45.

Today I had planned to practice outside with my tennis team, as we are having unusually warm weather.  However, we ended up with an extra (fifth) player.  Since I was the closet to home, I just came home and let them play.

I changed into running clothes and went down to Rock Creek Park to run on the trail.  I ran 3.0 miles in about 30:30, which was about 5.9 mph.  I wanted this to be pretty easy, since I had just run yesterday.

Combo Win!

Yesterday was my rest day, so I didn't do any activity after work.  However, the team planned a get-together for Libby's birthday after our combo match, so I went to watch the match.  It was very close, but fortunately we won two of the three courts.  The two courts we won followed the same pattern: we won the first set in a set tie-breaker, lost the second set, and won the match tie-breaker.  On the third court, we won the first set, but then lost the second set and match tie-breaker.

The party afterward was fun.  We got a few appetizers and had some really good cupcakes that Lisa made.  It's nice when team members are so happy to get together.

This morning, way too early, I had a practice with my team.  I did not play my best - with only about 5 hours of sleep, I wonder why?  My partner, Joan, and I won the first round 6-1, 1-0.  In the second round, my partner, Terri, and I won the end of the first set 7-6, but then lost the next part 1-4.  In the last round, my partner, Fran, and I lost 3-5.  It was still a lot of fun.

Cardio Tennis

Yesterday after work, I went to cardio tennis at TCCP.  It was a lot of fun.  We had the new(er) guy, so we played a lot of games.  Good stuff!

Today is my rest day, so this morning I did my shortened version of P90X2 Recovery + Mobility.  I burned about 65 calories.

Short Run

Yesterday after work, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a short run.  I ran for 30 minutes, starting at a speed of 5.8 mph and increasing to 6.2 mph, so that I averaged 6 mph.  This came to 3 miles.  This run went pretty well.

This morning, I did a shortened version of P90X2 Plyocide.  I didn't do the foam rolling at the beginning or the neuro-integrated stretching at the end.  I added on 3x20 glute bridges with a 20-lb weight.  All of this burned about 185 calories.

7.5 Combo Win!

Last night I had my first match with my women's 7.5 combo team.  I was a little nervous, because it's definitely a higher level than I've been playing at.  I played with my old friend Janet on #1 doubles.  It turns out that our captain is smart and played me for the first time against a really bad team.  They had all 3.5s to play against us, except a self-rated 4.0 on our court.  They were really pretty awful.  The 3.5 opponent we had could not serve!  We beat them 6-1, 6-1.  Our team swept the match, which was a bonus.

This morning I did Body Beast BULK Chest.  I could not manage to use the 32.5-lb weights for the first chest presses like I did last week.  I think I got them too close to my chest and just couldn't get the move started.  Disappointing.  Pressing 32.5-lb per hand is about 1/4 of my bodyweight per hand, which really should be similar to what I do for push-ups.  I just can't seem to get past that level.    After that workout was done, I did some of the ab moves I talked about last Wednesday, which really haven't gotten any easier.  All of that in a little less than 40 minutes.  I only burned about 85 calories. 

Agility HIIT

Last night I had my usual tennis doubles at TCCP.  I played OK.  In the first round, my partner, Donna, and I lost 6-3.  We started out pretty strong, but then had trouble.  One of our opponents was a lefty, and for some reason we were just having a lot of trouble with her serves.  In the second round, I played that lefty opponent in singles, but that was no problem - she's really not overall a very strong player.  I beat her 6-0, and then we played for awhile longer.  In the third round, my partner, Mariann, and I won 6-2.

This morning, I did a new HIIT routine that I call "Agility HIIT".  I got Gina Harney's book HIIT it!, which inspired me.  I did a sequence of 10 agility moves, mostly from Insanity the Asylum volumes 1 and 2; I did each move for 30 seconds and then had 30 seconds of rest.  Then I repeated the sequence again.  This was definitely a sweaty workout, but I'm not sure my heart rate got up quite hard enough to call it HIIT - I'll have to work harder at it next week.  After this was done, I did Insanity the Asylum vol. 2 Ab Shredder.  Overall I burned about 225 calories - not bad at all, for about 45 minutes' worth of work.

BULK Shoulders

This morning I did Body Beast BULK Shoulders.  I increased my weights on the front raises, which is good.  I feel like I should be able to do more weight on the Arnold presses, but no.  I burned about 100 calories.

Long Interval Run

Yesterday afternoon I did the next run on my training schedule.  This one was a little more complicated.  I did 10 min at 5.8 mph (easy pace), then I did 4 x 5 min at 6.5 mph (hard pace), alternating with 4 x 2 min at 5.8 mph.  At the end, I did 5 min at 5.8 mph.  this took 43 minutes, and the distance was 4.38 mi.  This wasn't too hard, but it wasn't easy.  I suppose that's the point.

This morning I did my usual Sunday boxing class.  It was OK.  I was tired, despite having gotten about 9 hours of sleep last night.  What is with that?  So frustrating.

This afternoon, I had a tennis practice with my team.  I played pretty well.  In the first round, my partner, Jessica, and I won, 5-3.  In the second round, my partner, Jill, and I finished the first set 7-5, and then lost the second set 1-6.  In the last round, my partner, Renee, and I won 5-3.  It was fun.