Skipped workout guilt

I just typed up and posted my workouts for the week. I missed half of Monday's exercise (I did the weights but not the cardio) and all of Tuesday's. I tried to figure out a way to catch up -- came up with a lot of plans that involved doubling up on my workouts on a given day, lifting weights two days in a row, or leaving for a run shortly after arriving at my aunt's house for a family reunion.

By Thursday, I realized it wasn't reasonable for me to make up the missed workout. I decided to just get back on my regular schedule and let it go. But I'm still feeling bad.

Part of me thinks it's ridiculous to worry so much -- I exercise 6 days a week most weeks, it's not a huge deal if I only get 5 workouts in every once in a while. That's my rational mind thinking.

My irrational mind believes this is the beginning of a slippery slope that leads back to tight-fitting size 14 jeans and an overall lack of fitness.

I'm guessing the truth is somewhere in the middle. And what I'm wondering is, how do I make peace with missing the occasional workout while continuing to push myself on a day-to-day basis? Where is the middle ground? I have to figure that out. Right now, my usual response to a week like this one is to say I'll put it behind me and do better next week -- that I'll complete all my workouts. And that's certainly what I'll aim for. But how can I learn to be consciously OK with myself if I miss one because life gets in the way? Hopefully I can come up with some kind of answer before I go off track again.

Weekly roundup

After a month (give or take) of writing this blog, I've decided to list my exercise a week at a time instead of day by day. Then I won't feel like I'm falling behind if I don't post every single day, and my other posts can get into topics that don't involve navel-gazing about whatever exercising I did that day.

So, with a bit of redundancy -- I'm going to list Monday's exercise again, even though I wrote about it on that day -- here's what I did last week:

THIS WEEK'S EXERCISE

Monday, 8/24:

Kathy Smith "Lift Weights to Lose Weight" DVD -- upper body, lower body and ab workouts.

Tuesday, 8/25:

Zero exercise while I headed out of town for a short getaway with my family -- I tried but couldn't squeeze in a run, then spent the rest of the week attempting, unsuccessfully, to catch up.

Wednesday, 8/26:

45-minute run in beautiful Grapeview, Washington under the blazing hot sun and along a highway lined with bountiful blackberry bushes.

Thursday, 8/27:

25 minutes on the elliptical trainer @ zone 1, followed by ...

intervals -- 2:00 @ zone 2, 10:00 @ zone 4.

I made it to the goal!!! (Now where do I go from here?)

Friday, 8/28:

Chest/back weights

45 minutes on the elliptical trainer @ zone 1 (70% of max)

Saturday, 8/29:

9-mile run, a little hilly and warmer than I would have liked, but manageable overall. Topic that kept me occupied as I slogged along: "Should I attempt a full marathon in November?"

Sunday, 8/30:

Rest day -- although I did weed my garden for over four hours.

More Seattle Marathon thoughts to come this week ...

Hallelujah

Saturday's exercise:

10 mile run, felt great the whole time!

Sunday:

Rest day

Monday's exercise:

Kathy Smith's "Lift Weights to Lose Weight" DVD (45 minutes or so at home)

After the giant piss and moan fest, Saturday's run was no trouble. The weather was beautiful, the route was interesting (and mostly flat, another deluxe bonus) and I didn't even need to listen to the audio books M had downloaded for me. I ended feeling good and strong, yeehaw!

Sunday, of course, was rest day -- no news there. And yesterday was supposed to be my usual Monday: full body weights at the gym followed by 45 minutes on the stairclimber. But circumstances conspired against me. I had a pile of work to do (in my non-exercise-obsessed life, I'm a freelance copywriter), a huge box of tomatoes from the farmers market to transform into roasted tomato sauce, laundry to do, a house to tidy, kids to ferry around and an 18th wedding anniversary to prepare for. By the time I'd gotten everything squared away, I was down to less than an hour before my husband got home and our anniversary love-fest could begin.

Let me pause a minute to say that I don't generally put exercise at the bottom of my to-do list. It's usually my top priority. But occasionally I just have to take care of other things first. And when that happens, I am very thankful for my Kathy Smith DVD. Here's a link to it her website:

http://www.kathysmith.com/s/kathy-smith/kathy-smith-timesaver-lift-weights-to-lose-weight.html

If that doesn't work, you can just Google "Kathy Smith" and find it that way.

I've had the DVD for years -- so long that the one on her site has different, updated packaging. I read about it in a newspaper article that reviewed a variety of exercise DVDs; it got top marks, so I ordered it. When I first started doing it, I used 3- and 5-pound weights; now I use 8s and 10s. And there were some exercises that I flat-out couldn't do: tricep dip and Kathy's version of the plank included. But despite the terrible music and Kathy's sometimes over-the-top cheerleading, I did and still do like the DVD. It's divided into three sections: 20 minutes of upper body, 20 minutes of lower, and 7 or so of abs. The lower and ab workouts continue to be challenging for me, which I love. The upper, not so much -- but I still feel like I'm working, so I'm content.

Kathy's not on my regular exercise rotation, but I am glad to have her in my back pocket for those days when I'm supposed to lift weights but can't get to the gym. She did pave the way for me to relax and enjoy a romantic night with my husband while feeling like I'd gotten at least a little bit of a workout in. Now I just need to figure out when I can make up those 45 minutes on the stairclimber that I was supposed to do ...

So not in the mood

Wednesday's exercise:

Full body weights

45 minutes on the elliptical trainer, zone 1 (75% of max)

(plus some extra weights while I was working out with R)

Thursday's exercise:

Intervals on the stairclimber -- 4x 2:00 zone 2, 9:00 zone 4, wahoo!

Plus 15 minutes of warmup on the elliptical trainer and a 1-mile walk home from the gym

Friday's exercise:

Upper body weights

45 minutes on the elliptical trainer, zone 1 (70% of max)

Today's exercise:

10 mile run ... ?

I confess, it does feel good to be back in my workout groove. I stayed on track and did everything on my schedule this week -- even the intervals, which I dreaded all day and would have been so easy to skip after I spent the afternoon with my little C at the beach, then headed to Easy Street Records to see a live Pete Yorn performance, what a treat! Even though it was getting late, I had M drop me off at the gym so I could do the intervals and I'm so glad I did. It had been three weeks since I'd done them and I was curious to see how they'd feel ... overall, not bad. It feels great to be so close to the goal of three sets of 10 minutes in zone 4!

But it's been a long road. The last exercise metabolic test (EMR) test I had done was last fall (at Real Rehab; there's a link on the right if you want to check them out. I really, really like them.) Awesome Izette gave me a whole road map to get to her suggested ultimate goal of three sets of 10 minutes in zone 4. I started with two-minute intervals -- two minutes in zone 2, followed by two in zone 4. When I could do 10 sets of those, I moved to three minutes in zone 4 (the two minutes of recovery in zone 2 always stay the same). Then four minutes, five, six ... when I got to seven minutes in zone 4, I reduced the maximum number of sets to six. At eight minutes in zone 4, I reduced to five sets. At nine, I stopped at four sets. Which means I can reach the goal next week. I feel pretty great about it even though it's taken close to year.

But that's next week. The only thing I have left for this week is my long run and I'm having a hard time get fired up about it. Last week's run was so crappy and I felt so wiped out afterward ... I know the best thing is to get back in the saddle and hope for a better experience but a big part of me is worried I'll just suffer as much on this week's run as I did on last week's. Plus, I got totally spoiled running with Sister A while we were training for the Rock-n-Roll half marathon ... but she's not training for anything right now and hasn't been able to join me for even a section of my long runs lately. Boo hoo for me.

So I've planned what I hope will be a nice route using my favorite website, USA Track and Field. I put a link to it on the right if you want to check it out. And to keep my mind occupied, M downloaded a bunch of audio books for me to put on my iPod. Today I think I'll revisit "Catcher in the Rye" while enjoying some beautiful Seattle scenery ... wish me luck.

Early morning run, afternoon nap?

Today's exercise:

1-hour run

Whew, I pulled it off: I got up early this morning and went for a run before officially starting my day. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I've gone running without eating something first, so I was curious about what my energy level would be like ... definitely low, but I'm guessing that might have something to do with the reduced amount of sleep I got last night, along with the fact that I'm still sore from Sunday's run and went running this morning less than 12 hours after wrapping up my workout last night. Not the most generous amount of recovery time ...

So, it's not even 3:00 and I'm really tired, to the point that I'm wondering how I can get my younger daughter to agree to let me take a nap. This is making me think of the cover article from TIME magazine a couple weeks ago:

Why Exercise Won\'t Make You Thin

My main takeaway from this article was, "Duh." Of course exercise alone won't make you thin. You've got to consume fewer calories at the same time. And certainly, you can lose weight by skipping the workouts entirely and restricting your calories. But in my experience, weight doesn't stay off without exercise.

I've had two major weight loss efforts in my life: the first was about 10 years ago, the second four years ago. The first time, I did Weight Watchers -- went to meetings, counted points, the whole thing. I exercised fairly regularly, but not strenuously; I mostly took power walks and occasionally hit the gym, but I wasn't doing anything organized with weights. I lost about 30 pounds, some of which had come back by the time I got pregnant with my younger daughter. Of course, all of it came back -- and then some -- while I was knocked up. And it didn't come off very easily after she was born ... I just couldn't get rid of the last 15 pounds or so.

When C was two, I couldn't stand it anymore and went back on Weight Watchers. This time, I did their online program -- no meetings, I just logged my points and tracked them through their site. I realized really quickly that the only way I was ever going to feel like I'd had enough to eat was by exercising to earn more points, which I could then use to treat myself to things like a slice of cheese on my turkey-and-whole-grain-bread sandwich. I started doing cardio workouts several days a week, then read something about the benefits of weight training -- that replacing fat with muscle is good because muscles burn more calories than fat. Which basically means that the more muscle you have on your body, the more calories you can consume without gaining weight. Bring on the muscle, I thought, and added three days per week of weight training into my schedule.

Long story short, I lost about 25 pounds and I've kept it off for over four years. I'm now smaller than I've been at any point in my adult life. I have gained some pounds back, but I've lost inches -- which tells me that I've increased the amount of muscle on my body. And, best of all, I don't have to be crazy about watching what I eat. For the most part, I eat what I want. Sometimes I overindulge too regularly, then notice that my pants are getting tight (I try to stay off the scale because looking at the number stresses me out; instead, I use my clothes as a guideline -- if they still fit the same, I know I'm OK). When that happens, I pay closer attention to what I'm eating for a while. Usually the extra padding comes off after a few weeks, then I relax again. Sometimes I go back to counting calories for a while, and stop when I'm happy with how my clothes are fitting.

The difference between my first attempt at weight loss and my second? It's exercise, pure and simple. I do work out like a fiend -- six days of cardio per week, three of those with weights -- and I confess that a large part of why I do it is because I want to stay slender. But a larger part is because I love it. I couldn't keep it up if that wasn't the case.

So, TIME magazine, cheers to you for stating the obvious and not taking it any further: you can't eat whatever you want, then exercise and expect to lose weight.

The article did raise an interesting question about whether people who exercise strenuously compensate for it by reducing their other activities or eating more calories (thus potentially negating the weight-loss value of their workouts) ... that certainly may be the case for me today, sitting in my chair and feeling so sleepy after taking a run this morning. In fact, I am too tired to address the issue at all right now, so I'll save it for another post. But I'm not headed upstairs for a nap; instead, I am going to take little C to the neighborhood spray pad to play in the sunshine.

False start, then back on track with a bonus lesson in humility

Day-before-yesterday's exercise:

None, went shopping for a party dress instead

Yesterday's exercise:

Extraordinarily grueling 8.8-mile run, followed by a 1-mile uphill shuffle home

Today's exercise:

Full-body weight workout

45 minutes on the stairclimber, zone 2

After all my big talk about coming home and resuming my regular exercise routine, I didn't manage to get out for a long run on Saturday. We were out late Friday night and had an early evening wedding reception on Saturday -- and I had nothing to wear for it. I over-ambitiously thought I could quickly pick up a fabulous dress at the nearest consignment store and have plenty of time for my run ... instead, I hemmed and hawed over my selection until it was far too late to run 9 miles and still have time to get ready for the festivities. Another three-day exercise lapse; that's got to be my last one of those for a long, long time.

Sunday I got up determined to get back in the saddle with a big fat run. I cockily thought it would be no trouble: after all, I ran 10 miles fairly easily just two weekends ago, and my long run distances have been generally in the 8-10 mile range. That was my first mistake. My second was waiting until early afternoon to get started ... right when it started to get pretty warm outside. Third mistake: I waited too long after eating, didn't drink enough water before I headed out, and didn't carry water with me.

I pretty much knew at mile 2 that it was going to be a rough go. I realized that I had not only planned a fairly hilly route, I had also set out exactly during the time that the sun would be beating directly in my face for the vast majority of the time. All the same, I slogged it out fairly well until I came to the long, slow, gradual uphill of Magnolia Bluff. I started to get the chills along my arms that are my body's signal that I'm nearing my limit, so I slowed down a bit -- and then saw someone familiar chugging down the sidewalk toward me. Who was this picture of glistening health and fitness? AC, my favorite trainer at the gym (aka the very last person I wanted to see while panting my way up the slope at half the speed of the average strolling turtle). Of course he slowed down to say hello, then -- oh, horrors! -- turned around and started running with me. I made a pathetic attempt at laughter and said, "Don't run with me, I'm going so slow right now!" but he pointed out that it would be a nice rest for him and kept chatting along beside me. Unable to put my ego aside, I tried to step up my speed a bit and still squeeze out a word or two in response to his questions. What I really wanted to do was lay down in the road. I suddenly had huge understanding for Sister A, who so kindly went running with me and attempted to talk while she was very out of breath. How did she do it for miles and miles when I could barely do it for a few blocks? Finally, Captain Fitness took pity on me and resumed his run in the other direction.

But it was too late for me. I struggled along for another quarter-mile or so, hoping to get my breath back (and feel a little less like I was going to keel over). No dice. Then I handily remembered a New York Times article I'd heard about, that said marathon runners actually improve their times when they stop and walk every now and then. Here's a link to the article, which I just looked up and read more than two months after hearing about it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/health/02well.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=marathon+run+walk+minute&st=nyt

Hopefully that will work. If not, searching "marathon run walk" on the NYT site will get you there.

Anyway. Since my only options at that point seemed to be to: a) walk the rest of the way home; b) call my husband and ask him to come pick me up -- something that was looking more attractive by the minute; or c) try the walk/run thing, I went for the one that would allow me to look at myself in the mirror the next day and know I'd tried my best. So I walked for a minute, then started running again.

Anyone who knows me as a runner will understand what a huge concession that was. I never, and I mean never, want to stop during a run. When I ran my first half-marathon nearly two years ago, I worried it was cheating if I slowed down too much at the hydration stations. I didn't slow to a walk the entire time, even though that meant I dumped more water and Gatorade down my shirt than I managed to get into my mouth. I've gotten a little more reasonable since then, but not by much. I really, really don't want to stop running once I've started -- not until I've reached my goal.

But I also found myself in the rare position of feeling like I was at the end of my rope, stamina-wise. I don't often get there and kind of enjoy knowing that I've pushed myself to the limit (while simultaneously switching between wondering if I'm really being too easy on myself and feeling like I'm going to pass out). Trying the walk/run option really seemed like my only choice, and I do think it's what got me through the rest of that long and torturous run. Even stopping to walk for one minute every 10 minutes, I couldn't face the final quarter-mile -- a pretty steep uphill heading toward my house. When I gave up, I did so knowing that I'd given it everything I had. I was disappointed in myself for not going the entire distance (I'd planned 9 miles and ended up at 8.8), but I also knew I was being a little ridiculous, fretting over less than a quarter mile.

Plus, as soon as I'd caught my breath, I knew that I really had pushed myself a bit too far. The heat, lack of water and fact that I'd waited too long to head out after eating all came together and kicked me in the ass. And who knows, maybe there was something else going on. Sometimes I set out for a run in the best possible circumstances and nevertheless feel like crap the entire time -- it's just a slog from beginning to end. Those are the runs I just try to get to the end of. And sometimes I get the amazing gift of a run that feels nearly effortless. I honestly don't know what I do differently to achieve such different experiences. I just think there are tons of variables at play and I have to do the best I can with what I get on a particular day.

So, I dragged myself the final mile home with my eyes on the sidewalk because I literally felt like I might stumble and fall. The stairs to the front door almost did me in, and I had to bend over with my hands on my knees to keep my head clear ... that never happens to me. Fortunately, my sweet daughter A came to the rescue with some G2 Gatorade (that's the low-cal kind) and I sat to drink it and catch my breath for a few minutes before attempting a small snack and more G2. I didn't feel great for the rest of the day, though, and even had some residual flu-like feelings today. Lessons learned: more water before, don't delay departure too much after eating, bring water along if it's warm outside, and doing the walk/run thing isn't the end of the world.

But I still feel kind of bad about doing it. I've got to work on that.

Despite fatigue and pretty sore legs, I did my usual full-body weight workout today, followed by 45 tough minutes on the stairclimber. I never felt close to as awful as I did yesterday, but I was definitely happy to put that trip to the gym behind me. Tomorrow I'm supposed to run for an hour -- and my schedule combined with the weather forecast makes early morning the best option. Wonder if I'll do it? Seeing as how it's actually tomorrow right now, and I'm supposed to be out running in 7 hours, I wonder ...

Home again

Today's exercise:

None -- sat on my ass in the car for most of the day

Yesterday's exercise:

None -- slothful last day of vacation blowout

Day-before-yesterday's exercise:

A second 40-minute run with my husband, yee-haw!

Back in Seattle and I am feeling so antsy. Really ready to resume my regular exercise routine and eat more moderately again. I totally let loose on vacation, foodwise, and so far I'm not feeling the effects in how my clothes are fitting ... stay tuned on that.

I didn't work out today because we spent most of it packing and driving home from Eastern WA (with several stops along the way). Yesterday I gave myself a day off because it was the last full day of vacation -- and also because, after four consecutive days of running, my lower legs felt really achy. But yes! I did run four days in a row and felt pretty good the entire time. I think I can safely increase the number of runs I'm doing each week to at least three, or maybe even four if I don't do them all on consecutive days. That's good to bear in mind as I mull over whether or not to train for (and actually do) the Seattle Marathon in November.

Even better, my wonderful husband came along for a second run with me -- and managed to go about a quarter mile farther than he did the day before. Impressive! His breathing sounded much less labored, too. His pace was slower and I think that helped his endurance and his breathing. We didn't get off to a great start -- we were talking about something delicate and I got totally defensive about it. But I think the fact that I was letting off steam by exercising defused what could have escalated into a really stupid fight. By the time he needed to slow down and start walking, I was able to see his side of things and be reasonable. It reminded me of several years back, when we were going through a tough time together -- we took long walks almost every day and talked things through. I don't think it's much of an exaggeration to say those walks probably saved our marriage. There was just something about being together but not facing each other head on, doing something rhythmic and meditative alongside one another in the open air ... it somehow helped us access our thoughts and feelings in a way that we had a harder time getting to when we were in our own home.

Anyway, it was pretty fantastic and I closed out the run feeling even closer to him than before. Now if only he would consider running occasionally with me here at home ...

Three days running

Today's exercise:

None so far, unless you count mini golf and two half-mile strolls -- but I'm still aiming for a run.

Yesterday's exercise:

40-minute run with husband M!

Plus one set of 40 situps six ways (see last entry for details)

Day-before-yesterday's exercise:

45-minute solo run

Plus one minute of plank position, 40 crunches and 20 side-lying heel lifts on each side

This week's exercise has been exciting in two ways for me:

First, I've gone running three days in a row (and if I get off my butt and head out this evening, that will make four). When I was training for my first half-marathon in 2007, I was troubled with shinsplints, calf pain and what I think was an irritated sciatic nerve. I was convinced my problems were due to running on consecutive days and decided not to do that anymore. I was also pretty sure that, at my advanced age (I'm now 41), I couldn't run more than twice a week without injuring myself. That's not a big deal -- unless I'm training for a half-marathon, when it's better to run three or four times each week. Even so, I ran only twice a week while preparing for Seattle's Rock-n-Roll half-marathon in June and completed the whole distance with no trouble. (Although I'm guessing that I was helped by the four days of cardio -- elliptical trainer and stairclimber -- that I did at the gym in addition to two days of running.)

Anyway. After running three days in a row, I'm feeling just fine. A little sore, but certainly not on the verge of injury. In fact, the only thing that's stopping me from going for four is pure vacation laziness. I hope I manage to get out for a run today because I'm interested to see how I'll feel. Maybe I can become one of those people that runs five miles every day? Although that would mean I'd have to give up catching up on all my magazine reading on the machines at the gym and there's something I really like about hopping on something and mindlessly moving for 45 minutes or an hour while I skim the latest issue of Time or the New Yorker (or if I'm lucky and one of my friends has passed one along, a juicy People).

Second exercise excitement of the week: my husband ran with me yesterday! Anyone who knows him will understand what a big deal that is. He is emphatically NOT a runner -- instead, he prefers Brazilian jiu jitsu, aikido and mixed martial arts stuff. I think he's drawn to the strategy involved ... he's always watching matches on his computer, seeing how the fighters (if that's the right term) get out of seemingly no-win situations. Of course I'm happy that he's found a type of exercise that he likes enough to do several times a week, but I'm always after him to include more cardio in his overall plan. His grappling workouts are more about short bursts -- kind of like interval training. That's good, but I really think he'd benefit from regularly spending some time in the middle place between low exertion and full speed ahead. I've tried to talk him into training for a run with me, but he's always declined; running just doesn't hold his interest. So imagine my surprise when I asked him to take a run with me yesterday and he agreed!

And he was such a trooper about it, holy crap. The last time he ran any distance was several months ago, when we took a boot camp class together (see what a great sport he is?) and we did a timed mile. Yesterday, he ran at least a couple miles before needing to stop and walk -- and then he completed the rest of our out-and-back by alternating running with walking. I was so impressed! When I started running four years ago, I had to build up to being able to run one mile, let alone two. It probably took me a month to be able to do what M did right out of the gate yesterday. I so wish he'd continue! I think he'd do really well. And I confess, I did like admiring his awesome calves when he was ahead of me. I'd love for us to be running partners ... but I think yesterday's experience will probably be one of few. A girl can dream, though!

Drought

Today's exercise:

5.75 mile run,

followed by 2.75 mile walk

plus 40 reps of situps 6 ways*

I guess that, technically, that was yesterday's exercise since I'm talking about Sunday and it's now 1:00 a.m. Monday morning. Even worse, the last time I worked out was Tuesday, the day I left Seattle, when I took a run before getting in the car to drive to Spokane. I can't remember the last time I didn't exercise for four days in a row (aside from being sick with a bad flu a couple years ago), and it was a big relief to start up again today.

That said, it didn't go as smoothly as I'd hoped. I'm on vacation with my family at Lake Chelan in Eastern Washington. We're here with another family, and the mom has recently started running again after a long break. (She was a total star athlete during her childhood in Eastern Europe.) She, I think, has committed to running the Seattle Marathon in November ... I am still mulling it over. But I'm keeping the training schedule in mind; so far my weekly long run is ahead of the one on the schedule. I'll have a big decision to make in another month or so, when the schedule's distances start getting into the mid and high teens.

Anyway. Vacation mom and I agreed to run 7 miles into the nearest town and set out just after 9:00 this morning. We would have been smarter to start a couple hours earlier. Her pace was more brisk than mine, so I spent the first couple miles trying to adjust ... and then the heat and highway dust started to take their toll. We slogged away for a while, then came to a big hill and agreed to walk up it -- and never resumed running. We were just too hot and worn out. The sun was relentless, the terrain was hilly, the conversation was good ... and somehow we ended up walking the rest of the way into town, close to 3 miles. I didn't have my heart rate monitor on, so I don't know how much of a workout I was getting, but I can say that I felt like I was working hard even though I wasn't running for the last leg. Even so, I'm looking forward to resuming my regular workouts when I'm home next week. I'm hoping to experiment with doing more short runs while I'm here -- maybe even a short run every day, just to see how that feels. I never run on consecutive days at home. Stay tuned. In the meantime, here's the ab workout I do when I don't have access to any equipment:

*Situps 6 ways

I do these in either a single set of 40 each; or a set of 25 each followed by a set of 15 each.

1. Elevated leg crunch:

Lay flat on the floor. Raise knees directly above hips and position lower legs at a 45º angle to knees. Place hands behind head and do crunches from that position, trying to keep your lower back pressed into the floor.

2. Bicycle:

Lay flat on the floor with hands behind your head and knees up. Twist to bring your left elbow to your right knee, then back to starting position, then right elbow to left knee and back. Make sure your midsection is twisting and that you aren't just using your arms and legs to make the movement.

3. Crunches:

Lay flat on the floor and position your lower back so it's pressed into the floor (pelvic tilt). Put your hands behind your head and use your stomach to lift your shoulder blades off the floor. Watch your stomach as you go up to make sure it stays flat and doesn't bunch up in the middle.

4. Reverse crunches:

Lay flat on the floor. Bring your knees above your hips and put your hands behind your head. Roll your butt off the floor and bring your hips toward your head, making sure to lead the movement with your abs and not your legs.

5. Lower ab crunches:

Lay flat on the floor with your legs straight. Put your hands behind your head. Flex the muscles between your hipbones and raise your head -- not your shoulders! -- off the floor. This is a very small movement and you should feel it primarily between your hipbones.

6. Side hip lift:

Lay on your left side with knees slightly bent and your left arm extended in front of you. Cup your head with your right hand. Simultaneously raise your right shoulder and right knee toward each other, then back down. Repeat on the right side.

Hello from Spokane

Today's exercise:

None! (Unless I count a quick swim in Lake Coeur d'Alene)

Yesterday's exercise:

50-minute run

Day-before-yesterday's exercise:

Full-body weight workout

45 minutes on the stairclimber

It's the beginning of 10 days of vacation for me and my daughters -- my husband will join the fun on Friday. We're in Spokane for a few days, staying at the home of my great friend S, who moved here from Seattle four years ago.

As much as I love vacation time, I always get a little overwrought about getting enough exercise. My workout schedule at home is pretty strict: six days per week of cardio, three of them with weights as well. When I'm away from home, that's hard to maintain and I have to be a little more flexible and a lot more creative about when and how I exercise. I have to accept that I won't be able to work out every day -- and I try to tell myself that it's good for me to shake things up a bit; that I'll come back home and resume my usual schedule with a lot more energy. But there's always a small voice at the back of my head that says I'm going to lose a lot of ground unless I stay with my normal workouts. I start to worry that my clothes are feeling tight, that I won't be able to run as long or lift as much when I get back home. When I miss my usual workout, I feel antsy and jittery in my body, like I have a bunch of energy that needs to be burned off. That's how I'm feeling right now. But I'm with my friend in hot, hot Spokane -- without access to a gym for a weight workout, and I wouldn't go running even if I had the time and it wasn't so hot because I ran yesterday and my 41-year-old, somewhat-new-to-running body doesn't like to run two days in a row. Plus, even though I'm admittedly somewhat neurotic about getting my exercise, I don't get nearly enough time in the company of my fine friend S. I don't want to trade away what little we have so I can do some curls and squats.

I also know that all my lack-of-exercise anxiety usually lasts for just a few days. After that, I get quite used to lounging around and wonder how I was able to motivate myself to work out so hard and so often! That's actually another reason it's hard for me to disrupt my schedule ... once I get off of it, it's hard to resume. The first three or four days are pretty brutal -- and them I'm back in the saddle, where working out is a given in my day, just like eating or brushing my teeth.

So, no exercise today. At least so far. It will be interesting to see if, later this afternoon, I give in to the temptation to do the Bryan Kest power yoga DVD I brought with me. That's the only exercise option I have for today. Or maybe I can just let myself relax and enjoy the day with my friend.

Regardless, I won't be posting as regularly for the next week and a half. But I'll be up and at 'em in mid-August, back home and ready to work off all the treats and indulgences I've enjoyed over vacation.

Rest day

Today's exercise:

None!

I love having Sundays as my official day off exercise. After working so hard throughout the week, I honestly feel like my body deserves a break. It's also nice to have a breather from figuring out when and how I can squeeze in my workout, something that's particularly tricky with my girls home for summer vacation. Sunday seems like the perfect day -- I'm not a member of an organized religion, but I freely borrow the "day of rest" that Sunday represents for some. I also like that it's the official beginning of a new week, so I move forward feeling recharged and ready to take on whatever goals I've set for myself.

Weights with a friend and long run in good company

Yesterday's exercise:

Upper body weight workout

45 minutes on the elliptical, low end of zone 1

Today's exercise:

10 mile run

I enjoyed a super-fun first yesterday: my husband's business partner asked if I'd help her with some upper body weights, so we met at the gym and I walked her through one of my workouts. I've got about 15 different weight routines that I cycle through so I don't get bored ... a nice variety of full-body, upper-only and lower-only workouts.

We chose Friday because that's the day I do upper body weights only. I weight train three times per week: full body on Mondays and Wednesdays; upper on Fridays since I usually take a long run on Saturday and don't want my legs to be too sore or tired for that.

I was kind of nervous about showing R my workout -- I really wanted to be sure that I knew the correct positioning of everything myself before I tried showing it to her. And clearly, I don't have any formal training so I wanted to be cautious; I'd feel terrible if I showed her how to do something incorrectly and she ended up hurting herself. But I realized, after looking through my selection of upper body workouts, that I've been doing them for so long and I'm so familiar with them now that I felt pretty confident about passing them along. It was also great to realize that, after five years of weight training, I've picked up a reasonable understanding of which muscle (or muscle groups) are working during a particular exercise. That might sound completely obvious, but for a long time I just did the exercises without really thinking about which muscles were supposed to be working. I know that I sometimes have let the wrong muscles take the lead, and I probably still do. But at least now I have a better sense of when I'm doing it. And happily, I felt good about being able to express to R how to do a particular exercise and where in her body she should be feeling it. It was great to see her working hard and feeling like she was getting something she wanted from the exercises I was showing her.

The best part was probably at the end of the workout, when I was showing R a bunch of ab exercises. I was giving her a bunch of my faves -- but then she told me she has an old injury that makes it hard for her to do ab work in a seated position. I was so happy to be able to offer her several really good options that worked around her injury ... stuff that has starting in a pushup position and working the abs from there. (Funny enough, those are the exercises that I can't do a lot because of my lingering rotator cuff problem; I have to be careful about not holding my weight on my hands too much.)

So, instead of my all-time favorite oblique exercise -- the medicine ball twist -- I suggested the side-lying heel lift* as well as the other ab move I wrote about a few days ago. And instead of the butt-kicking circles**, I gave her either the super-badass "walking hands on riser" (which she wrote down as "walk the plank," an apt description for how this feels while you're doing it) or the demoralizing and really hard -- but extremely gratifying if you can pull it off -- pike on the ball, where you balance your legs on a physio ball while holding your weight on your hands with straight arms, then raise your ass as high in the air as you can manage while rolling the ball inward. Man, that one is tricky. But she gamely tried them all and we parted ways with me feeling like I had given her some good, new stuff to do on her own. All in all, a really nice reinforcement of my desire to work toward becoming a personal trainer -- which would let me do this kind of work with confidence and authority!

Then this morning I did a nice 10 miles before it got too hot. It was actually misty outside when I left home -- one of the many fabulous benefits of living reasonably close to the water -- so for the first mile, I occasionally got to pass through wisps of ground-level clouds and feel the moisture. Heaven!

I planned a route that would take me past my sisters' house so I could pick up Sister A, who was my partner for Seattle's first Rock-n-Roll half marathon last month -- and overall, my favorite running partner ever. Our paces work really well together and we go slowly enough that we can chat the whole way, which makes the run go by super fast.

A isn't working on any particular distances right now but I'm trying to keep mine up so I'll be ready for the Victoria half in October. I figure if I keep myself able to do 10 throughout the summer, I can easily train up to 13 after my girls go back to school in September.

So I've been planning runs where I start on my own, meet up with A for a while, then finish solo. It's great to have her along for a good portion of the run -- as well as being fantastic company, she also moderates my pace. I find that I often start running at a pace that I can't sustain well when I'm by myself ... I really have to focus on slowing down, otherwise it can be really hard to finish. That makes it sound like I'm a super-fast runner and nothing could be further from the truth: when I'm running by myself and not talking, I average an 11-minute mile on long runs. When I'm with A and talking her ear off, we end up closer to 12-minute miles, probably because all that chatting slows me down.

Anyway, a lovely 10 miles and the end of my workouts for the week. Tomorrow's my rest day and I'm going to make the most of it -- starting with my older daughter's 13th birthday dinner tonight!

*Side-lying heel lift:

Lay on your your side, with the bottom arm straight out front and hand of top arm on your hip.

Lift both heels off the floor, paying particular attention to the bottom heel and keeping feet together.

Lower back down to the floor with touching.

Repeat for a set of 15-20, then switch sides and do it again.

**Circles:

Start flat on your back on the floor with knees up.

Straighten legs so feet are pointed toward the ceiling

Keeping legs straight, bring feet down to an inch or two above the floor (don't touch!)

Bring legs in so heels almost touch the butt

Go back to original position.

Do 15-20 complete rotations, then change the direction and do it again. Whew!