Slacker, Slacker

I haven't worked out since Monday. Shame.

In my defense, I've been crazy busy. Work, eye appointments, finding a place to live, found a place to live, and all the drama/craziness that ensued when we tried to put a deposit down on the place. Not to mention getting ready for my friend to get here, catching up on my photo editing, and trying to get random other things coordinated, mostly having to do with Mike's upcoming deployment.

But still. No excuses, right?

Honestly, between all that, I've been extremely tired, and in some pain, mainly my calves and knees. If I bend my knee too much, and stand back up, the cracking and popping noises are audible at a distance of three feet. It was somewhat amusing to sicken my coworkers, but it also made my climbing ladders at work not so much fun.

This week is definitely a rest week. Plus, I'm going to change up the workouts a bit, so maybe it will have less impact on my body, and won't prevent me from working out for a week again. Instead of jumping right up to another minute from the previous week, I'm going to slowly build up that minute. Day one will be an extra half minute, day two will be 45 extra seconds, and then the third day will be the full minute. Hopefully this one will work better for me, while allowing me to stay on track with the running plan.

That's been my crazy week. The good news is that despite not working out, and eating a bit more than I was last week, I haven't gained any weight, and am holding steady. So at least there's that.

And the house? We managed to get it all figured out, and now just have to get Mike's orders to break our current lease. We should be in the new place by the end of next month. I can't wait!

I just realized that there's going to be a lot of painful times in life, so I better learn to deal with it the right way.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park, Raisins, 2003

Reality Check

Today's training kicked my sorry little butt.

I actually wasn't feeling too well earlier in the day, enough so that I took a partial sick day from work, but I was able to catch a nap (if you call 4 hours a nap!). Since I felt better afterwards, I thought that I'd be alright to workout, since I didn't really want to skip a day so early in my running plan.

Oh, man, was I ever wrong.

Not so much about being slightly sick-ish and jumping on the treadmill; however, I was wrong about what my original thoughts were on the whole kickin' it up to two minutes jogging, three minutes walking. Since I finished up last week with minimal fuss (just some sore calves and absolutely no asthma attacks), I was feeling pretty confident about the whole thing.

Not only did I have a pretty bad attack for me (I didn't just need a normal two puff dose of my inhaler, I needed a double dose to get it back under control...pretty sure my lungs were making it up for last week), I also had to take two breaks because my calves were KILLING me...seriously, it felt like someone had snuck in and replaced my calf muscles with solid, pain-filled rock. How did I go from slightly sore to major pain?

It probably didn't help that while I was adjusting my speed down from a jog to a walk that I accidentally hit speed number 9 on the Quickspeed menu. A quick walk for me is number 3.5, and I jog at a 4.5. Running flat out is 5 and higher...I am SO glad that I had a good hold on the bars of the treadmill!

Despite all the mishaps, I finished the full half an hour. Then, when a friend of mine suggested going out, I took her up on it, too keep my calves stretched by walking. So far, they are feeling alright, just the normal amount of sore that I was experiencing last week.

Lesson I learned? Don't be too cocky. Also, I may need to start a little slower each week. I'll see how it works out on Wednesday, my next jogging day. As for tomorrow, maybe a little bit of yoga, and a standing tennis date with a friend. Until last week, I hadn't played in about ten years, so it's been interesting to say the least.

Early today, I was on the American Lung Associate website, and was looking into volunteer work, or at least a contact number for the Oklahoma City office to find out about any work I could do, when a little event caught my eye. It's called the Fight for Air Climb, and what happens is that you climb 29 flights of stairs to get to the top, where there is a party going on. I'm very stongly considering doing this...however, I have no idea how my stamina would hold out against 29 floors, not to mention the knee problems I've been having while climbing up and down the ladders at work. Luckily, registration is not yet open, so I have a bit of time to see if I'd be able to handle it.

Nothing too spectacular today, especially since I managed to not fall off of the treadmill while it was at speed nine. I'm pretty sure that would have taken the cake though. Ah, well. Not this time.

Yoga, anyone...?

Today marks the end of my first week of 'Exercise Mania', and the beginning of my second week as a wanna-be gonna-be runner. The current training plan I'm on only calls for running three days a week-Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. However, this current plan leaves me with four-count them, FOUR!- days of absolutely nothing, nada, zilch. Sundays I have already designated as my 'work-out day off' (and also my around the house chore day...sigh). So that leaves Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday with time slots to fill.

I settled on yoga, mainly because this seems like a good way to stretch out my muscles and just over-all tone my body. I don't really want to look like I'm the female Arnold (read: giant bodybuilder!), so gentle toning seems to be the way to go.

I'm also shamed into wanting to become more flexible just by the fact that my very active 60-odd year old grandparents are more flexible that I am. Watching my grandfather bend over and plop his hands flat on the ground without effort whatsoever was not the best confidence builder ever.

Eventually, I'll probably work up to three days a week of yoga and other random activities, and then four days of running, so Sundays won't be a day of rest. Right now, though, I don't think my body can physically handle it, between both being out of shape and my asthma. I also know that if I push too hard, and hurt myself, I won't finish this. I can't fail again. I refuse.

So...now that I've settled on yoga, I needed to go about finding some routines. This is where my BFF, my lovely little HTC Hero Android phone, comes into play.

I love my phone. It is my life. Just making this nice and clear for everyone. Not only does it let me keep in touch with everyone back home (Helllloo, facebook, texting, email alerts...oh, smartphone of mine, you are my Hero!), but it allows me to download frivolous games, and amazing applications. One of the best ones I have is called MyFitnessPal. It tracks your weight, caloric intake, exercise, etc. It showed me how ridiculous my eating habits were, and puts things into perspective. Also, me being the cheapo I am, it's FREE!

Next best app: Pocket yoga. This one was not free, I had to shell out $2.99 of my precious earnings, but I figure that beat the $20 it would be to buy some videos. It goes through a whole routine with you, with different levels of difficulty (extra easy?), and I figure once I learn the routines, I can also supplement them with other poses (culled from the FREE yoga apps, of course!). Long story short, I'm looking forward to being a human pretzel in the comfort of my own home.

AND NOW (you know you're hearing the drum roll in your head-admit it).... my week end results:

I'm still weighing in at just under 165. My weight is fluctuating less, and I'm finally under the 171 for good, I think. That was a dark, dark day for me.

I feel physically lighter. I don't know if that's possible with only a few pounds difference, but I just feel like my stomach isn't quite as obvious. Maybe I'm shedding water weight? Hrmmmm....

I'm not (very) sore in the mornings anymore. The first few days, I had slight problems walking because my calves hurt so badly. Now, it's not so much. I have the feeling that the soreness will come back this week, though...hah!

I HAVEN'T HAD A SINGLE ASTHMA ATTACK IN A WEEK! This is probably my single, best achievement that I can claim. Not only does this include during my workouts, but also every other single second of every day. For a while there, I was waking up most mornings needing my inhaler. This has stopped, and I am so very, very grateful for it.

Overall, I think I had a fairly good week. I'm on track with my eating habits, and my fitness goals. This week starts my two minutes of running/jogging, and three minutes of walking.

I can feel my calves whimper already.

Hello, Asthma. You've been particularly viscous lately...

I'm Auna. I'm soon to be (eeek!) 25 years old, and I have asthma (in case you couldn't tell). I'm also overweight, out of shape, technically pre-diabetic (although that's a whole other story) and will be having plenty of time to contemplate these things as my husband, Michael, will be deploying to another country for a year or so soon. Now, Mike doesn't ask a whole lot of me, but one of the things he asked is that when we go on vacation next year, is that I have a "bikini body" by the time he gets back. Well, crap. I suppose that I could get out of it (hey, I have asthma...exercising is tough for me!)...however, I'm fairly certain that frolicking on the beach is a lot more fun in a bikini.

Okay, I promise, there are other reasons for me to get into shape. But that one is certainly the most fun excuse.

So, now I have the motivation (such as it is...). But where is that going to lead me? I've had problems breathing for....forever. I remember being a kid and watching my cousins and uncles play football, and I couldn't, because I couldn't breathe. Gym class was a nightmare. Reading took place of any exercise, and so did snacking, and now, here I am.

I was diagnosed with asthma when I was fourteen. Apparently I have a particularly harsh breathing pattern when I have an attack; my shoulders heave, my wheezing is horrendous, and I struggle so much that I've been known to bruise the muscles around my ribs and chest, so that they hurt for a few days after the attack. Thankfully, I have never completely stopped breathing. I just have a really tough time. The title of this blog is literally what an attack feels like...running for miles and trying to suck air in through this tiny little tube, while your heart frantically tries to pump blood that doesn't, can't, have enough oxygen.

I was told I have allergy and exercise induced asthma. Now, not only couldn't I go out and run around like most kids, I also have to stay indoors when it was gorgeous out because just sneezing could cause an attack. Oh, joy! Not to mention that this was before Advair and Singulair were mainstream. I just had to deal and hope that an attack wasn't around the corner.

Oh, and gym teachers REALLY don't like it when you have asthma...especially when you have a mother that will write a note to excuse you from participating whenever you have an attack, and they completely disregard it. Then you have said mother, with all her fury, descending on the school principal, and in general making the gym teacher's life miserable. Actually, that was one of my fondest memories...making my hated gym teacher even more pissed off.

Asthma (and perhaps my own duck-and-hide personality) conspired to bring me here. I'm 5'1 and over 160 pounds. I hate clothes shopping, looking in mirrors, and the like. But what I hate even more is needing my inhaler in the middle of the night because I wake up and can't breathe. Or when a group of friends wants to play football, and I'm out of the game after two rounds.

I think what really started me on this path is that I was finally able to see the doctor, and due to several problems that I have (pertaining to weight and what men like to call 'female problems'), I was started on a medication to control my blood sugar. Now, the doc never actually called me pre-diabetic; however, the research that I have done on my condition pretty much tells me that if I keep going the way I am, my pancreas will give out one day. I hate needles (despite the few tattoos that I have...), and I just don't want to be a diabetic, and risk renal failure and everything that comes with the condition. I already have one chronic disease that controls my life...why add another?

So, the Goal. Start eating healthy (this includes not eating junk food, fast food, etc...grumble, grumble). Cut out all soda, drink more water. Make sure I take all my medication. And, become a runner.

I'm following a step by step plan on the running. Right now, it's 1 minute jogging, followed by 4 minutes of walking. Next week will be two minutes running, three walking, and the week after three minutes running, two walking. The great news? I finished week one, and haven't had a single attack...not even at night. I'm fairly stoked here. Next week will also add in some yoga exercises to help stretch out the muscles, and make sure I'm not on the treadmill every day.

I'm also only making goals one month at a time. I've tried longer term goals than that, but they don't work. I think I'm too impatient, and too intimidated. So my goals are now more reasonable, with a better rate, I think. Hopefully I keep on track.

Whew. This was a long one, and I still feel like I didn't even begin to cover what this is to me. I guess this is only the beginning. I started this mainly to help me stay on track, but I'm probably going to be mixing pieces of my life in here randomly to keep my sanity (what little I have left) while Mike is gone, so beware!

I'm Auna. I'm asthmatic, overweight, pre-diabetic, an Army wife, Staples employee, friend, daughter, sister, granddaughter, and cousin. And I'm through with being the first three.