12 Week Body Transformation

So now I'm doing this program called Body by Frame. It involves me getting up at 4:50 every morning to get to class at 5:30 a.m. The class itself is kind of a boot camp, but it is inside, and we use weights and these TRX things that hang from a bar and you do all kind of pull ups and squats and such with them. It's a group class, but a small group, with a great trainer.

But Frame is more than a boot camp. There is also a nutrition element to it. A big nutrition element. Maybe it is a paleo diet, I'm not really sure. What I do know is that I have given up SUGAR, ALCOHOL, BREAD, and most processed foods for the last 6 weeks. Which, as my husband will attest, is NOT PLEASANT and results in anger and grumpiness. Watch me watch you eat your tres leches dessert or your little restaurant loaf of bread slathered in butter, and you will see my struggle. You may feel my fist punching you in the arm, but you probably will not. For the most part, I am still well-behaved. But WOW, sugar addiction is a tough bugger to break.

Also, and the very best part of Frame (and what makes it nearly cost prohibitive, but not. entirely..) is that you have a DEDICATED person who looks at your food tracking (in the My Fitness Pal app) every day and comments on a Google Document spreadsheet that you share. They say things like, "Really? Tortilla chips? Need to cut that out." Or "Try half a banana instead of a full one to reduce your sugar intake." Really specific, nit-picky stuff to keep you on track. It is kind of like the Biggest Loser because you have that constant, customized attention directed at you achieving your weight loss and fitness goals. And it's bad ass. 

So how effective has it been? I'm on week 6 and I've lost 6.5 pounds and 5 inches and 2% body fat. I'll get measured again at Week 8 and then there are only 4 more weeks and I'm through the 12-week program. I'm really excited about kind of moving to the next level of fitness! It's a good thing.

Runner's Knee & White Legs Swimming

It's been over two months since I last posted. Not doing too well at this blog thing!

In January, I ran the 3M Half Marathon. It went great. Nice run, nice people. I did not manage to PR on that race, but I only went over by a few minutes. At the end it was super cold and windy. No big deal, really. Just a nice 13-mile run with a couple thousand people.

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Well, then I was training up for the next half, the Austin Marathon and Half. 5 miles one Sunday went great. The next weekend, I took a spill off the mountain bike. Banged my knees, but no worse than ever before... then on a twelve mile run on February 3, something bad happened. At about mile 6, I started really getting a pain in my left knee. It hurt for the next. Six. Miles. Went to the doctor that week, and he took a look at my old creaky knee and proclaimed that I shouldn't run "as far or as fast." Angry cartilage, he said. 1) WHAT? 2) so exactly how far and fast shall I run? 3) WHAT?

So I took this to a sports physical therapy place here in Austin, and we are working on it. I still don't know what my running career looks like, but at least I have some hope. We're strengthening my hips and quads and working on getting nutrition to my knee joint. That involves several exercise including one they call tailgaters, like sitting on the tailgate, and swinging your legs up and down. This is supposed to flood my joint with some substance that it apparently likes. We shall see. I feel like they're making up this stuff, but hey. Can't hurt.

Meanwhile, I am really tearing up the pool. I'm probably getting 1800 meters in per week. I took a stroke clinic throughout February, and now I'm going to continue for Danskin training season. I can already tell I'm a lot more efficient in the water. Not dragging so much, and I'm using the big muscles and breathing better. I'm pretty confident that I will be able to swim the Captiol 2K in Town Lake on May 4. So, at least for now, these white legs are for swimming!