Boxing

Yesterday afternoon I did a boxing class.  I don't usually do them during the week, because I'm busy with other activities, but I will be missing a couple Sunday classes while I'm on vacation, so I want to get my money's worth.  The class last night was taught by a pro who is so-so - he's definitely a good boxer (and was pro), but I don't think he cares all that much about teaching the class.  There's very little creativity to it.  However, he did have us do a lot of high-knee running between rounds, which was good cardio.  I got a good burn from the class.

Afterward, some ladies were discussing their calorie burns according to FitBit.  I thought they said 163 calories for the class, so I wanted to assure them it was more than that...turns out they got 363 calories, which was similar to my 400 calories according to BodyMedia.    Some other ladies heard us talking and were seriously disappointed to find out that they probably weren't burning 600 - 1000 calories per class.  A lot of people just have no idea how many calories they burn doing different activities.

This morning I did my shortened version of P90X2 Recovery + Mobility.  I burned about 90 calories.

Tennis Practice

Last night I had a practice with my tennis team.  I played pretty well, but I think it was mostly because it was relative to who else was playing...still, it was a beautiful night, and fun to play.

This morning I did the second workout of Stage 1 of NROLW.  This is the last day for 2 sets and 12 reps per set.  I'm a little nervous to move up to 3 sets with 10 reps.  I'm not sure whether I'll be able to go up in weight or not.  I guess I'll find out!  Today I burned about 95 cal in the workout.

My weight is still up today.  I'm starting to wonder if my lower weights, from when I was visiting my mom, were because her scale is offset from mine.  Today I took my scale and put 50 lb of weights on it to make sure it measured 50 lb - it did.  My mom's scale is a balance-bar type scale, like you often see in doctor's offices, so I don't have any reason to think that it is incorrect.  Here's a list of my weights and location where I measured them:

• Saturday, home, 124.8 lb
• Sunday, home, 124.2 lb
• Monday, home, 126.4 lb
• Tuesday, my mom's, 124.8 lb
• Wednesday, my mom's, 124.4 lb
• Thursday, my mom's, 124 lb
• Friday, my mom's, 122.9 lb
• Saturday, home, 126.8 lb
• Sunday, home, 127 lb
• Monday, home, 126.6 lb
• Tuesday, home, 126.6 lb
• Wednesday, home, 126.4 lb

The measurements taken at my mom's house don't seem unbelievable in context of my other measurements.  The Friday morning measurement was a little low, but it was the day after my long run, and I was probably a bit dehydrated.  On the other hand, if you take out the measurements from my mom's house, then it looks like I jumped up to above 126 lb for the entire week.  There would be no reason for this...when I was at her house, I carefully measured and logged what I ate.  This is incredibly frustrating.  I don't look puffed up any more, so I feel like I should've release the water weight.  I keep expecting in the morning to have the weight drop a couple pounds, but no luck so far.  And there's no way I've put on a couple pounds of muscle all of a sudden, NROLW or not.  It's even more frustrating because I'm going on vacation at the end of the week, and I know I'll gain weight then.  I'm going to come back and be over 130 lb!  I can't believe it!

When I started NROLW, I decided to follow the suggested nutrition amounts.  I started July 14, so it's been a little over two weeks.  My weights on the days around that were 124.2 lb, 125 lb, 124.8 lb.  I can't believe I've actually put on 2 lb of anything in 2 weeks. 

I'm going to stick with the nutrition for the next couple of days before I leave.  I'm going to do a waist measurement Friday morning before I go and hope things have improved.

Easier Plyo Workout

Yesterday afternoon, I did my lower and upper body plyo workout .  It felt easier than usual.  I think my sprint times have gone down a bit.  This is probably because it wasn't quite as hot out as usual, and it was quite windy, which cooled me off.  The upper body work especially felt a lot easier.  Amazing how much more pleasant it is to workout without dripping in sweat.

This morning I am still way up in weight from when I jumped up 4 lb last Saturday morning.  I don't feel like I look as puffed up, but clearly I'm still retaining water.  It can't be real weight.  Frustrating!

This morning I did P90X2 Balance + Power.  It felt kind of funny using such little weights for the moves in this workout after using nothing less than 20 lb in my latest NROLW.  However, the core and balance work is definitely good for me.  I burned about 195 calories overall.

Hard Tempo Run

Yesterday afternoon I did a 6-mi tempo run on the treadmill.  My speed was 6.4 mph, which I had done on my last tempo run.  However, this one felt really hard.  Maybe I was still tired and dehydrated from Saturday.  I had to take a lot of breaks on the side rails.  My time was 56:16.

During the run, I watched another episode of Years of Living Dangerously, the climate change documentary that was on Showtime.  I liked this episode, because a lot of it focused on the Heartland Institute, which agitates against trying to stop climate change.  It is also anti-evolution and has other similar conservative positions.  It was interesting to see an interview with one of the big promoters of the Heartland Institute's agenda, to see how he completely twisted or ignored the facts.

This morning, I did the first workout from Stage 1 of NROLW.  I am still on 2 sets and 12 reps.  The step-ups are the exercise in this workout that I really struggle with.  They are hard!  I burned about 95 calories in the workout.

Usual Boxing

Boy, when I went to bed last night, I was exhausted.  I didn't feel like I'd done enough to be so tired.  I guess being outside in the Sun for so long really drained me.  This morning, I was still all puffed up and heavy.  Dang.

This morning I did my usual boxing class. I was still feeling out of it, so I dogged it a bit.  Blah.

Double Tennis

This morning when I looked at myself in the mirror, I looked a bit puffed up.  Apparently Subway for lunch two days in a row is a bit too much sodium.  Unfortunately this was the day of the week I take my waist measurements, so they were high.  My weight was up almost 4 lb from the morning before!  Very frustrating, although I know it should go right back down in a day or two.

This morning I had a practice with my tennis team.  I played pretty well, although I felt a bit rusty during the warm-up and the first couple games.  I won all three rounds with my partner.

This afternoon, Andrea (from tennis) invited three of us from the team to visit her condo complex, play tennis, eat a bit, and swim in the pool.  We played tennis for over two hours, playing a set with all three combinations of partners.  By the time that was over, I was a bit worn out.  We went to Andrea's condo and had some food, but we never ended up doing any swimming.  It was a fun afternoon!

Last Workout in PA

Last night before bed, my mom and I went out to look at the sky at her house in PA.  It was so dark - the stars were magnificent!  You can step out of the door and see the Milky Way before your eyes even get dark-adapted.  I wish all of my students could experience that.

This morning, I did the second workout in Stage 1 of NROLW at the local YMCA.  Again, I was generally doing 2 sets with 12 reps, so I upped my weights.  For the deadlifts, I used 60 lb.  For the shoulder presses, I used 25 lb per hand.  Sadly, I still couldn't do more than 3 pull-ups at a time.  For the lunges, I used 20 lb per hand - those were really hard.  The YMCA did not have a stability ball, so instead of balance-ball crunches, I did crunches on a bench with a 10-lb weight plate.  I burned about 110 calories in this workout.