The Fit Files: Friday installment (a day late)

OK, this is just weird. I decided to keep track of my weight on a weekly basis; it will help a bit with accountability, I think (my conscience is supposed to do that, but somehow it's easy to let infrequent lapses become habit and lo, you've regained your losses and lost your gains). When I stepped on the scale on Friday, I was down by another 2 pounds (since Wed!?). As I say, weird... but I'll gladly take it.
My first major goal is to have the official designation of "Overweight" removed from my medical records at my doctor's office, and I need to lose about 10 lb (4.5 kg) to get there.

After having finished the 30 Day Shred on Tuesday, I took a break from exercise on Wednesday. I was soooo tired, having had a series of poor sleeps over the past couple of weeks. Thursday I was back at it, working several hours in the garden: unloading a huge pile of mulch from a truck (pitchforking, shovelling, sweeping); more weeding, mulching various flower beds (loading, dumping, raking and spreading several wheelbarrow loads) and transplanting some flowers. The yard is looking less like a weedy wilderness by the day.

Yesterday morning, I ran 5 km on the treadmill in just under 40 minutes (I usually aim for 45:00 or thereabouts). Felt MUCH better afterwards than when I did my last treadmill-5K run (early June). My knees did not hurt at all, but my hamstrings felt pretty strained. I did the same stretches for cooldown that Jillian uses in the Shred workouts, but I went at a much more leisurely pace. That's one criticism I have of the Shred workouts: the cooldown stretches are done much too quickly, which kind of defeats the purpose, if you ask me. They need to be really slow and relaxed in order for one to gain maximum benefits. These workouts have really helped me in that regard: during the sitting "split stretch" (which, trust me, in my case is nowhere near a split), I can now touch my forehead to my knees. I could not have hoped to do that even a month ago. So take heart in your quest for improved fitness (even in middle age): a little effort will take you a long way!
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