This blog blossomed in 2010 to chronicle my adventures in pole dance after weight loss surgery. Although I am pole dancing less these days, I still hike and do yoga. I sometimes still have to remind myself that the size of my body doesn't dictate my worth. I believe living a life full of gratitude and joy helps lead to a true mind, body and spirit connection. You have the power to manifest your best life!
So, I didn't think it was possible but I am ALMOST done with Couch to 5k (one run left...and its scheduled to happen tomorrow). I took much longer than the nine weeks they scheduled, and I HATE running for 30 minutes (15 minutes seems to be my happy place). But I can, in fact, run for 30 minutes straight without stopping. Side note: That's on a treadmill at a steady 4.5 miles per hour. On the trail, my lazy ass stops way too often.
I did the Brazen Wildcat 5k last weekend. Although I shaved two minutes from last year's time, I still had to walk most of it. It was straight uphill, down, back up and back down. I jogged on the downhill as much as possible but that puts a lot of stress on my knees.
I am still planning to start Bridge to 10k soon. I am only running once a week, though. Here is their schedule:
Each workout includes a 5 minute warmup walk and 5 minute cooldown walk
Week 1
Duration: 53 min.
Run 10 min/walk 1 min Repeat x 4.
Week 2
Duration: 57 min.
Run 15 min/walk 1 min. Repeat x 3.
Week 3
Duration: 63 min.
Run 17 min/walk 1 min. Repeat x 3.
Week 4
Duration: 66 min.
Run 18 min/walk 1 min. Repeat x 3.
Week 5
Day 1: Duration: 55 min. Run 22 min/walk 1 min. Repeat x 2.Day 2: Duration: 61 min. Run 25 min/walk 1 min. Repeat x 2.Day 3: Duration: 71 min. Run 30 min/walk 1 min. Repeat x 2.
Week 6
Duration: 70 min.
Run 60 min.
I am actually planning to stick with weeks 1 and 2 for awhile to get my stamina up. I'd like to speed up and I've heard that walking for a little bit in between running sets is actually good for interval training. Bel told me to look up the Pose running technique. So I am going to try to use that to make sure I am moving properly.
I am feeling pretty frustrated and down about this whole diet and exercise thing. I've been reading back on old blogs and have to kind of giggle at my own cheerleading attempt to keep myself motivated. Most of it is bullshit to pretend that I'm on track. Lately, whether I'm eating well or not, or exercising or not, there doesn't seem to be a track. My body is off doing whatever it wants.
A couple of years ago, I started doing 5k's with Brazen Racing. Mostly I was walking them. My motivation behind Couch to 5k was partially to prepare for Bay to Breakers, but also to start actually running the 5k's I do with Brazen. I did one over the weekend with my injured back. It sucked. Freezing cold, wet, muddy. I jogged the flat parts but there were so many muddy parts on a grade that I had to walk them. Slowly. I think my final time was almost an hour so I was doing 20 minute miles.
Anyway, I thought I'd share some photos since we were so disgusting and muddy at the end. I definitely recommend Brazen Racing (cool shirts and medals, lots of goodies in our bags and good friends to see), and I look forward to feeling better so I can actually RUN an entire 5k soon!
In the past, people have suggested I try the Couch to 5k program. I've always said no...I don't really enjoy running so why am I going to make something I hate part of my weekly workout routine? I "do" 5k's (or, for Annie, I do the little-more-than-three-miles) with Brazen Racing, but I walk/jog them. If it's a flat course, I can do that in about 45 minutes. If it's really hilly or muddy, then maybe an hour. I am slow. I know I'm slow. I walk slow. I jog slow. I meander. John can do Half Dome in six hours. AJ did it in eight. It took me 13 hours -- both times. John would always try to give me advice to move faster -- put on fast music and just move to the beat. Doesn't work for me. I'm just a sloth. And I'm ok with it. So, any time someone has suggested I run, I'm like, NAW!
I recently had a change of heart. A group of Twirly Girls are planning to do the Bay to Breakers in San Francisco next year (it's the 100th annual). It's a 12k (about 7 miles), and I understand there are some pretty nasty hills. So, I decided I need to learn to move a little faster (hip and back problems are getting better, so it's good timing). We may not run any of it...but I don't want to be the one holding up the group. And I imagine the Couch to 5k program is my best bet for being able to walk/jog a 7 mile hilly course. The program takes you from basically doing nothing to running for a full three miles non-stop. You follow the program three days a week for nine weeks, and it starts you walking for a bit, then jogging for a bit. Then you work up until you are jogging for 30 minutes straight.
I don't set New Years resolutions because I don't want to feel like a failure if I don't meet them. So, this is my goal for January. If I finish that in two months and feel good, I can start working on their 10k program. I will have five months until the Bay to Breakers, so it will give me plenty of time to lose weight and get in shape. It will also help me reach my goal of inverting on the pole by April.
So, this weekend, I basically should have spent the night at the Twirly Girls studio. I was there every day and had the BEST time!
Friday night, the gorgeous Kat taught a sensual workshop at Twirly Girls. Check out the photos here. We had a really great group. Of course, you feel slightly silly rubbing up on your girlfriends and learning how to give a lap dance. But we still had a lot of fun and it's always a treat to watch Kat dance! The workshop ended around 9:30 p.m., but a lot of the girls stuck around to chat and we all ended up performing pole routines for each other. I think I left around 12:30 a.m., but Bel and Rita were still going strong!
Saturday morning, I got up at 7 a.m. for a 5k at Mt. Diablo (or, in case Annie is reading, I got up for a little-more-than-three-mile walk/jog). I always like the Brazen Racing events. They're usually well put together and everyone is very supportive and nice. This was my third 5k with Brazen. The first one I did took me about an hour (but there was a VERY big hill toward the end). The second one was extremely muddy and took about an hour and 15 minutes. This 5k had some rolling hills and streams but wasn't too difficult. I did it in 50 minutes! I was pretty proud of myself. Thanks to my mom and Robert for walk/jogging it with me. There is another 5k scheduled in Tilden Park next month and another in June somewhere in Pinole. I have some photos up on flickr. Once Brazen puts their photos up, I'll add more.
I went straight from the 5k to Twirly Girls. It was the regularly scheduled Saturday morning class. I ended up making Rita and I about 30 minutes late (didn't realize I'd be taking a bus from the parking lot to the race start and then back again). Once I got there, I was a little tired and probably didn't put in as much effort as I should have. But, as usual, it was a fun class.
After class, a group of us headed over to Pierre Silber in Santa Clara to try on shoes and costumes. They were really great to us. I put on a costume and twirled a little on their newly-installed pole. Pierre took some photos and gave me a write-up on their blog.
Sunday morning was the BIG DAY. Rita and I had set up a Twirly Girls party. We didn't really have a reason in mind, but the date ended up coinciding (somewhat) with my new-birthday.
We started the day by going to Bare Escentuals in Walnut Creek for a girlfriends party. They did our makeup. I want to thank Gaby for doing an amazing job on mine! I loved it!!
We had an awesome group of girls at the party. I had asked Andrew and Misti of Liquidpulp Photography to come and photograph the event. I was nervous about how the girls would react to (A) pole dancing and (B) having a guy there photographing it. But it went perfectly. Everyone dug into the costumes, shoes, wigs and other fun things. We spent the first hour acting silly and taking photos.
Then I performed my solo to Darling Nikki (the Foo Fighter's version of the Prince song). (3/23/2010: The video is now up...check the end of this blog (before the photos). I won't bother critiquing myself...I know what I need to work on for the Kidney Foundation recital though!) I was SO nervous. I think I was fine up until the moment I put on my costume and then I KNEW I had to actually do this in front of new Twirly Girls! I have to say that even though I missed some things I wanted to do and felt like my timing was off, having the other girls cat-calling and yelling and clapping for me really made me feel good and helped me feel like I still did a good job. I will also link to some of Andrew's photos once they are up!
After my performance, we had a little bit of a Taster class, then Andrea did her beautiful performance (LOVED that it brought Misti to tears). Bel also gave us a little taste of her abilities. Then it was more silliness until it was time to go home. All in all, it was a really fun party and I was glad that everyone (especially the shy girls) had a good time.
So after abusing myself all weekend, I have an appointment with Keith at Tri-Valley Bodyworks tonight to put me back together. Although, that man is going to put himself out of a job, because he fixed so many of my problems in that first visit, I am still almost virtually pain free!
Protein intake is so important when you're working out. I've heard a lot of people say you should only get your protein from food sources, however I don't necessarily agree with that.
RNY Gastric bypass surgery works in two different ways. It staples your stomach to make it smaller (the receptors that tell you that you are FULL are at the top of your stomach, so if you've stretched it enough, you may never feel that sensation). It also bypasses some of your intestines to make you malabsorptive. (How it works.) This means that you would absorb fewer calories after surgery. But this also means you absorb fewer nutrients. It is very important to take your vitamins and supplements after surgery (this is actually important to most people in general, as our soils have been stripped of many nutrients anyway).
I am six years post-surgery. For at least the first five of those years, I had to drink a whey protein shake every morning. If I missed my shake for even a week (even if I replaced it with a food source with the same amount of protein), I'd start getting light headed and blacking out. For me, whey has always worked better than soy (this past year, I traded out my protein shake for cottage cheese and peaches, and its worked so far...I have no idea why). And, for that time, the shake clearly worked better than trying to EAT that much protein. Some doctors will tell you they don't want you to use meal replacements, but you have to do what works for you. And blacking out randomly wasn't really my thing.
People used to come to our support group meetings bragging about the high number of grams of protein in their shakes. One of the protein powders boasts 55 grams of protein per scoop. Sounds like a great deal if you're supposed to get 75 to 100 grams of protein per day after surgery. I have always heard that the body absorbs about 30 grams of protein per sitting (so, basically an hour). So, if you decided to have your 55 gram shake (at 250 calories per scoop (estimated) instead of my 30 gram shake at 125 calories per scoop), you wasted all of those calories and didn't even get the benefit of all of the protein!
While researching this topic, I actually found a very interesting article. The author actually claims you can only absorb about 15 grams in an hour and a half... Read here. And another article that says your body will eventually adapt to the protein you eat.
One thing I've learned after surgery is that EVERY body is different. So what works for me might not work for you. But protein is an important nutrient for our bodies, whether we've had surgery or not. We only have one life and one body, so make sure you take care of it. :-)
Until next time, keep twirling!
BONUS: Great book for weight loss surgery patients: The Success Habits of Weight-Loss Surgery Patients by Colleen Cook. Want to get in shape? Make it a goal. Try a 5k (its "only" three miles...you can do it)! I also just signed up for sparkpeople. I figure it can't hurt! I still need to lose 45 pounds by my birthday. My user name on there is lolorashel if you want to add me!
