Jog at the ball park

Sometimes we have to take advantage of the time we have to exercise. I am speaking mostly to women who have school age children who are busy with various activities, like playing ball at different ball parks or practicing dance and piano on a regular basis.

 

Four years ago, when I became committed to losing weight and getting in better shape, I would walk around the ball field during warm-ups, rather than setting camp in my folding chair. I also decided to stand during the games. Standing is helpful because it uses more calories than sitting. Also, it becomes a stress-relieving activity. I get nervous when my kids pitch or bat or swim races. I want them to:

• play or swim or bowl well.
• play the game as it was meant to be played. 
• swim her race or bowl his game.
• use the skills that they learned.

 

The more important the game or meet, the more nervous I get for them. I guess because using their skills become even more important during the games where something is at a stake--whether it is pride or a championship.

 

Anyway, I use the ball park as a great place to expend calories.

 

Today, when we first arrived in Millbrook for a tournament, I took a 50 minute jog. I know I can take time to walk or jog during the 1 hour before the game because my girl is busy warming up, she has the essentials, and she is being taken care of because my husband is the coach.

 

This morning I jogged down a street that turned into a county road. It made for an interesting jog. As I jogged "out" of town a bit, the shoulder at times had grass taller than me and patches of briars. Oncoming traffic required me to jump to the shoulder and sometimes straddle the briars.

 

It is always interesting to jog a new route, particular in a town I am unfamiliar. When I do this I learn something about the area. I also find myself not concerned with my speed or the distance, I just jog.

 

The most interesting part of this jog was in the outskirts of town, I found the smell of the country to bring back memories of the smells at home near the creek. Hot, humid , but fresh. It is hard to describe. I am not sure what is blooming that has a fresh and sweet smell that is not overbearing. The moisture in the air near the creek and today in Millbrook because the Alabama River is nearby has feel about that is beyond humid, but an almost refreshing feel.

This morning workout included: 

• I stretched my legs a little.
• I jogged variable speed for 50 minutes.
• I walked about .1 mile.
• I stretched 20 seconds toe-touch hold with feet together.
• I stretched 20 seconds each with one leg crossed over.
• I stretched 20 seconds each for a hamstring stretch.
• I stretched 20 seconds for calf stretch.
• I stood or walked for most of the game.

 

The advantages of this kind of activity during warm-ups are:

• expending calories
• using muscles
• getting a cardio workout
• not using my time with the kids to get my exercise done.

 

The disadvantages are:

• I not available is something were to happen (like my ballplayer getting hurt) which is one reason I take my phone with me.
• Even though I bring an extra set of clothes, I look bad for the rest of the tournament.
• I smell bad for the rest of the tournament.
• I have to drink more water than normal.
• I am usually a little tired (but isn't everybody at an all day tournament?)

Trying something new

Since November, I have been struggling with being motivated to exercise. I have essentially decreased my exercise regiment from 5 or 6 days a week to 3 or 4 days a week. Interestingly, I have been able to not only to maintain my upper body strength but increase my strength. Though I am increasing the length that I jog, I am jogging less frequently. One difference is that I feel like I am not as toned and I can tell a difference in my abdomen.

 

I feel like I need to do something different, but I have not figured out what. I know for sure I need more motivation, and possibly a change in my routine.

 

When a friend invited me for a trial workout with Operation Boot Camp, I thought this would be great. Maybe I could get some motivation and direction in how I can change my workouts. The trial workout was fun--well as fun as a workout can be at 5:30 in the morning. There were lots of people there since it was bring a friend day. I knew several people including two of the instructors. They were friendly and encouraging, but not in the over-enthusiastic cheerleader kind of way. The beginning of the workout was tough--that may have been because it was so early in the morning.

 

We started out with a short jog to our first "station" where we did a few calisthenics and stretched. We jogged to each station. I cannot remember all of the exercises we did, but the hardest was the plank. We held this position for minutes at least twice. We also did one set of sit-ups, squats, tire kick-ups, and several side shuffles. I thought my legs, particularly my inner thighs would be sore, but it was my abs and obliques that were the sorest.

 

I got a great workout and I was able to do the entire workout without resting and it was very effective.

 

In this program, participation is expected – and monitored – for every single session. Instructors are with you the entire time. Although there were lots of people, the instructors were able to watch and gauge our abilities.

 

It seems that the program is a total fitness program that includes nutrition information and log book, as well as intense workouts. This may be the reason that it is so expensive--because of the individual attention.

 

I am going to participate in one of their workouts that is open to the public. But, I don't think I will be able to join this group anytime soon. Expensive is an issue. An even more important reason is that I will be traveling over the next few months that will prevent me from fully participating in the program. In each of the summer months,  I would miss at least 8 days.

 

Overall, Operation Boot Camp is a good program, but someone would have to convince me why what I would get out of it that would warrant the expense. Of course, my travel schedule will be probably be an issue.

 

Thanks Dana for the invite! I really did enjoy it and wonder what the next workout would be like.

Jog again

My jog today was around 3 miles. I am not sure because the route was one I had not taken before. Because I did not go a long way, I was able to build a few sprints in the jog.

It felt good. However, I am feeling a little pain on the side of my calf. The pain starts at my ankle toward my calf. Hopefully, stretching will help.

Jogging the day after Christmas

Yeah! I finished 5.5 miles today. My knees began to hurt toward the end of the jog, but too badly.

During the jog, I felt an urge to stop jogging; however, after getting past some benchmarks along the way, I encouraged myself to keep going.

One problem today is that I did not stretch afterwards. Maybe tomorrow, I will spend a great deal of time stretching before and after my workout. I hope to exercise in the morning. I am not sure whether I will jog or work out in the gym. I hope to finish another 5 miles at least one more day this week.


It makes it awfully nice to jog and exercise when I have more time; I am not at the office this week.

Maintaining

It's been more than a month since I recorded my exercise. Although I have traveled for 5 weeks, spending only a day or so each week at the office. I was able to get a jog in here and there and I went to the gym a few times when I was actually in town.

I tried to maintain some level of exercise during those 5 weeks. During my meetings, I walked.During some of travels, I jogged a couple miles.

When I got back into last week,

• Sunday, I jogged around 3.4 miles.
• Monday, I walked a couple miles, we were supposed to jog and I had forgotten so I made it to the track late and since I had jogged on Sunday, I did not jog on Monday.
• Tuesday, we did bench press, I brought 85 pounds all the way to the chest. I also lifted 95 pounds, but did bring it all the way. My favorite is to lift 8 to 15 reps, 95 pounds with my legs extended. Because my shoulders began to get strained, I can't seem to lift more than 8 reps right now.
• Wednesday, we did heavy squats and ab work out.
• Thursday, we jogged a decent time. My legs were incredibly sore on Thursday afternoon. I walked like a duck.
• Friday, we worked out with a little of everything.
• Saturday, I jogged for 30 minutes before my daughters softball game.
• Sunday, I did not exercise.
• Monday (this morning), we jogged 3 miles, but the time was slower than last week. While jogging I did not feel tired, but I was not enthusiastic either.
• Tomorrow is bench press day. JS decided that Tuesday is the new bench press day because he feels he can lift more on Tuesday since he becomes lax (as most of us do) on the weekends.

Because my bone spurs seem to be acting hurting more, I have really tried to stretch every opportunity. Even at the softball game on Saturday, after I jogged I stretched on and off for almost the entire game.

A good long Sunday morning jog

After yesterday's jog, I felt accomplished. I jogged 5.5 miles. This is the longest I have jogged in 20 years. I started my jog at a little faster pace than normal, but slowed to my regular pace around the end of the 1st mile.

It was hot and humid, but I managed to not really tire. My warm-down included walking .2 miles home and sweeping part of the carport. You would understand why I did not sweep the entire carport if you could our collection of stuff that needed to be moved.

I also stretched. I have not talked about stretching, but it is really important to stretch before AND afterwards to ward off injuries.

In addition to finishing the jog in good form, I also had some very good thinking time, including thinking of 3 different blog posts I want to write.