Tag Archives: Workout review

May 1 2013

Review April 2013

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Notes April:

  • The month was over in no time, time flies by so fast.
  • My total workouts for the month were less than in March, something that wasn’t the plan at the beginning of the month. But sometimes these things happen especially since I had a nasty cold at the beginning of the month.
  • Total time I did something (including walking): 18 hours and 34 minutes.

Workouts April:

Running. Done: 7

Strength training. Done: 3

Cardio. Done: 2

Yogalates/Stretching. Done:

 

Number and time of workouts in March: 15 workouts, total time 5 hours and 57 minutes.

Number and time of workouts in April: 11 workouts, total time 5 hours and 49 minutes.

 

Yearly mileage

Total April: 28.3 K / 17.6 miles

Total till 04/30: 116.7 K / 72.9 miles

Total running time: 13 hours and 38 minutes

Walks with Bella:

Days with at least 1 “long” walk this year: 81 days

Total time we walked so far: 47 hours, 23 minutes.

Total mileage we walked so far: 238 km / 148.7 miles.

Book I’m reading

George R.R. Martin

A Song of Fire and Ice – Book 4 A Feast for Crows

 

Finally I finished this book! I have two more of the series left but I decided to read something else first.

Tess Gerritsen

The Keepsake

Low this month

Catched another cold, took me 2 weeks to recover.

Highlight(s) of the month

First day it was possible to sit outside on April 14.

Concert of Boudewijn de Groot.

We have a new Queen since yesterday!

I have been in front of the TV for all the official events yesterday. This was my second abdication and if I’m lucky I will see another one when I’m old. It’s very special and it makes me proud of my country. I love it that we have a monarchy and I think King Willem Alexander and Queen Maxima will do a great job. For those of you who haven’t seen pics yet, I found some on the internet today.

Signing of the abdication:

On the balcony after signing, our new King and Queen with their 3 daughters:

Walking to the church for the inauguration. I love, love, love Maxima’s dress, it’s so beautiful.

Sweat the oath:

In the evening they went on a “koningsvaart” (king’s sail)

Love the evening dress and hair too:

They got off the boat to shake hands of Armin van Buuren, the number one dj of this moment (he’s Dutch). He performed with an orchestra on their request: classic meets trance.

Apr 2 2013

Review March 2013

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Notes March:

  • I had high hopes March would be better than February but the weather didn’t cooperate and I skipped a couple of runs, simply because it was too cold to run (because of the wind).
  • Looking forward to April, half marathon training starts and am looking forward to see how the training will go.
  • Total time I did something (including walking): 18 hours and 42 minutes.

Workouts March:

Running. Done: 7

Strength training. Done: 5

Cardio. Done: 1

Yogalates/Stretching. Done: 2

Workouts:

Number and time of workouts in February: 13 workouts, total time 7 hours and 2 minutes.

Number and time of workouts in March: 15 workouts, total time 5 hours and 57 minutes.

Yearly mileage

Total March:24.1 K / 15 miles

Total till 03/31: 88.4 K / 55.2 miles

Total running time: 10 hours and 21 minutes

Races:

March 3: Trappenbergloop Huizen, 5K/3.1 miles, 34 minutes.

Book I’m reading

George R.R. Martin

A Song of Fire and Ice – Book 4 A Feast for Crows

I still haven’t finished this book. I’ve been reading this for over 3 months now. It isn’t as interesting as the first 4 books but I need to finish it before I start reading the next books. Goal for this month is to finally finish reading this one.

Highlight(s) of the month

Girls night out with my friend T.

First race in almost a year.

First photoshoot ever.

Sushi dinner date with my friend K.

Anniversary: 20 years together with R., celebrated with an anniversary dinner.

Low this month

Falling down the stairs with weird side effects afterwards.

The weather (again)

Mar 3 2013

Sunday March 3, 2013: First 5K of the year -> done!

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Thursday I had a follow up appointment at the dentist. The appointment was first scheduled for March 19 but a couple of days after the first treatment I started to have pain again. This time I couldn’t bare anything cold: no drinks, no food and no wind. Everything that was cold, gave me pain in the treated teeth. At first I thought I would sit it out till my next appointment but on Monday I said to myself that I was crazy going on like this and rescheduled. The emergency filling was removed and it all looked good so he gave me a permanent filling. I should be painfree after the weekend and so far so good, I haven’t had pain after the treatment.

Friday night my friend T. came over for her birthday dinner. Usually I cook for her but I haven’t had much cooking inspiration lately and I could buy a Groupon for a dinner in a restaurant. I decided to use the Groupon deal and go out for dinner. I didn’t know the restaurant but the food was very, very good. We had a nice evening with great food.

Saturday we were invited by friends of ours for a pleasant evening with them and our other friends and it was a pleasant evening. We did go home on time because I had a race on Sunday and I didn’t want to be tired for that.

Workouts:

March has started and I followed my friend Shelley’s example: she did a plank challenge in January that I’m going to do in March. Started this on Friday:

Friday: 20 seconds (I thought this would be a piece of cake but 20 seconds is longer than I thought LOL)

Saturday: 20 seconds

Sunday: 30 seconds

I took a short run on Friday morning because I was still recovering from the dental treatment and had a little after pain. I didn’t walk and I couldn’t be more surprised that this turned out to be my fastest run so far this year. Felt good!

Stats:

Distance: 2.2 K / 1.4 miles

Time: 00:14:35
Speed per km: 9.05 km/hour (5.9 miles/hour)

Time per km: 06:38
Weather: dry, not much wind, 2C (35 degrees)

Last song on Ipod before finish: The Corrs – OldTown

Trappenbergloop Huizen 5K / 3.1 miles

My first race in almost a year! Because my training plan hadn’t been going all that well lately due to crappy weather my goal was to go, run it and finish and that is exactly what I did.

It was a trail run and it was sometimes hard because there were lots of sticks, pineapples and other stuff on the paths. You had to look where you were running all the time. I prefer road races if I have to be honest.

The course was 2 rounds of 2.5K and the first round I ran without walking. I did start to fast and had to pay for that in the second round where I had to take 3 walk breaks. But overall I am satisfied with how it went. I finished and that was what I came for.

I was also happy that R. and Bella were there to join me so R. could take some pictures of me.

Before the start, I’m in the middle with the pink jacket and head band.

Coming through after 2.5 K:

 Run to the finish:

I did it!

Stats:
Distance: 5 K / 3.1 miles
Time: 00:34:20

Speed per km: 8.74 km/hour (5.5 miles/hour)

Time per km: 06:52
Weather: dry, not much wind, 4C (39 degrees)

Last song on Ipod before finish: Queen – We will rock you

Weekly workout review:

I’m okay with the results of this week.

Meals:

Friday

Starters: Carpaccio.

Main: beef tenderloin with a pepper sauce, mashed carrots and caramelized chicory.

 

Dessert: a vanilla pie with whipped cream.

Saturday

Lunch: a salad with apricots and warm goat cheese with honey with some honey-mustard dressing.

Mar 1 2013

Review February 2013

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Notes February:

  • I’m so glad February is over. It hasn’t been a very good month mostly due to the weather and tooth pain.
  • The first day of March always feels like Spring is started, even if the weather isn’t that good, it’s something mental for me.
  • It is what it is and I won’t be looking back but move on forward and know March will be better.
  • Total time I did something (including walking): 19 hours and 17 minutes.

Workouts February:

Running. Done: 6

Strength training. Done: 3

Cardio. Done: 2

Yogalates/Stretching. Done: 2

Workouts:

Number and time of workouts in January: 15 workouts, total time 7 hours and 21 minutes.

Number and time of workouts in February: 13 workouts, total time 7 hours and 2 minutes.

Yearly mileage

Total February: 27.5 K / 17.1 miles

Total till 02/28: 64.3 K / 40.2 miles

Total running time: 7 hours and 35 minutes

Races:

-

Book I’m reading

George R.R. Martin

A Song of Fire and Ice – Book 4 A Feast for Crows

I still haven’t finished this book although I’m getting close to the end now.

Highlight(s) of the month

Weekend at the beach with R. and Bella.

Low this month

Root canal treatment and second treatment after another month of pain.

The weather, need I say more?

Jan 31 2013

Review January 2013

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Notes January:

  • This month didn’t go exactly as planned due to being sick for a week and 2 weeks of extreme cold (that is for our country). These things happen and you just move on.
  • I have to admit that because this month wasn’t all that great, I took it easy the last couple of days too but have every intention to make February a great month.
  • I lost weight which is a very positive thing.
  • All things considered I didn’t do all that bad compared to December, my mileage was higher than last month too. I’m making progress and that’s what is important.
  • Total time I did something (including walking): 17 hours and 16 minutes.

Workouts January:

Running. Done: 9

Strength training. Done: 1

Cardio. Done: 4

Yogalates/Stretching. Done: 1

 

Number and time of workouts in December: 16 workouts, total time 7 hours and 9 minutes.

 

Number and time of workouts in January: 15 workouts, total time 7 hours and 21 minutes.

Yearly mileage

Total January: 36.8 K / 20.7 miles

Total running time: 4 hours and 22 minutes

Book I’m reading

George R.R. Martin

A Song of Fire and Ice – Book 4 A Feast for Crows

 

I haven’t read in my book for at least 3 weeks now. Sometimes I have these periods where I don’t read that much.

Highlight(s) of the month

My jubilee party at work.

 

Low this month

Sick for a week and very cold weather with snow.

Random

Tonight we went to the vet with Bella for her yearly vaccination. He did a short check up and she’s a very healthy dog. Her weight is exactly the same as last year, at least one of us is maintaining her weight LOL. Does this look like a relaxed dog or not?

 

Tomorrow we are going away for the weekend. I booked a hotel at the beach for 2 nights. Bella is coming too. I booked it at a website that has daily special travel offers and it was a very cheap deal. I’m also checking Groupon daily for dinner offers, so far I’ve scored 3 coupons for dinner at restaurants, all with a 50% discount. It’s been June last year since we last went away and we both are looking forward to it.

Jan 27 2013

Sunday January 27, 2013: Back on planet earth

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I have been sick all week last week. I can’t even remember the last time I have been sick this long. I did go to work everyday, except for Friday when I took a vacation day, but that left me without energy every night. I didn’t workout, I didn’t take long walks with Bella (that made me feel guilty). On top of that it has been freaking cold the past 2 weeks. I can’t say how happy I was that today the cold weather is gone and warmer weather is on the way.

I felt like a real human again on Saturday and that’s when I picked up my daily routines again.

I did have enough time to think about my running schedule for this year and I worked out a plan till October. I have planned a few 5K and 10K races and planned my half marathon in October (either in a race or on my own). I made a training plan till October with some escape weeks if necessary.

I am also back at a different schedule to complete a 5K without stopping, the one I was using didn’t feel right. It felt like I wasn’t making any progress.

My running will come first, if I need an extra rest day I skip a cross training workout. I have 3 runs a week planned which can be done easily.

It’s all about flexibility: you have to use a plan that works for you.

I have to say that doing nothing for a week refreshed me and gave me enthousiasm and motivation to move on. That’s why I also planned a couple of rest weeks in my plan where I do a few easy runs but no cross training.

I’m leaving you with a photo of Bella who’s playing with R. trying to catch her toy (she did get it of course, you can’t fool her).

Workouts:

Saturday morning I felt good enough to try a run. My legs and body felt fine and it went great. But it was so cold, temperature wasn’t even that low but there was a very cold wind. I was, however, very pleased afterwards that it went so well.

Stats:

Run-walk ratio: 4 x 5 minutes, 3 minutes walking inbetween (20 minutes running, 12 minutes walking)

Weather: dry, windy, -2C (28 degrees)

Distance: 4.4 K / 2.7 miles

Time: 00:32:06
Last song on Ipod before finish: Joni Mitchell – Both sides now

Weekly workout review:

Since I’ve been sick, I didn’t do much last week. That’s life, it happens.

Jan 20 2013

Sunday January 20, 2013: Recovery mode

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And here I thought the cold I had a week and a half ago was all I got, how wrong was I.

It has been so cold last week, normally I can handle it fine but last week I’ve been cold the entire day. Now I know that was because I wasn’t fit. Friday morning I did some cleaning, got my run in, did grocery shopping, took Bella for a walk but when I got home after that I completely collapsed and felt very sick, think I had a fever but since we don’t have a temperature I’m not sure. My head was exploding, my body was tired and all I could do was sit on the couch and do nothing.

I went to bed early and had 10 hours of sleep. When I woke up Saturday morning my throat was still hurting, my nose still running but the headache was gone and I felt better.

By now (Sunday evening) I’m not a 100% fit but it’s getting better every day. I took Saturday and Sunday off from working out. I’m picking up my workouts tomorrow and go to work and we’ll see how it goes. Because I was sick I’m behind on reading blogs but I’ll catch up with you next week.

We had snow last Tuesday and because it’s so cold it doesn’t melt. Today we had some more snow and more expected tonight. It’s cold and it looks like it’s going to stay cold the next week.

Workouts:

Wednesday morning I was glad that I didn’t have a run planned because it was so cold and the roads weren’t clean yet with all the snow. Instead I did a Chalean Extreme workout but I wasn’t really in the mood and I skipped two exercises. Excercises were all for legs and shoulders.
Total time: 29 minutes.

Friday I did training 2 of week of the 5K program. I had to do 2-6-2-6-2-6 and it went fine till the last 6 minutes where I had to take an extra walk break. My physical condition considered it was an okay run.

Stats:
Run-walk ratio: 2-6-2-6-2-6 minutes, 1 minute walking inbetween (24 minutes running, 6 minutes walking)
Weather: dry, windy, 0C (33 degrees)
Distance: 4.4 K / 2.7 miles
Time: 00:31:08
Last song on Ipod before finish: Bruce Springsteen – Cadillac Ranch

Weekly workout review:

My workout week was fine till Friday, then I got sick on Friday and took extra rest days on Saturday and Sunday.

Meals:

Wednesday

Breakfast (4 points): Oatmeal with a half banana, 1 tablespoon brown sugar and 1 tablespoon peanut butter. Never had this combination before and it tasted very good.

Lunch (13 points) Couscous salad, it was delicious, an orange, milk and a bowl of tomato soup because I wanted something warm. Turned out to be way too much for lunch and I wasn’t hungry the rest of the afternoon and didn’t eat my fruits.

 

Dinner (10 points): Spaghetti with meatballs and tomato sauce.

 

Snacks: Zoen (during a meeting) (2 Points).

 Thursday and Friday and Saturday

Thursday was a complete off day and I didn’t count points. I had a meeting all day, including lunch and I had too much too eat. Still need to work on that. Friday was okay but I ate not enough during the day because I was sick. Saturday was a good day but I forgot to take pictures.

Sunday

Breakfast (7 Points): Vanilla yogurt with blueberries and granola.

Lunch (7 Points): 2 Slices of whole wheat bread with salad, brie cheese, honey and walnuts.

Dinner (12 Points): Pasta with Bolognese sauce.

 

Outfits:

Wednesday:

 Thursday:

Jan 6 2013

Sunday January 6, 2013: Mishmash

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Daily stuff:

Back to work Thursday and it wasn’t easy to get back into routine. I didn’t really wanted to go back to work already but bills have to be paid and food has to be on the table. At least the advantage of 2 workdays is that it was weekend after just 2 days.

We had a quiet weekend which was lovely after all the holidays. Most people don’t like January but I love it because everything is back to normal and a whole new year is lying ahead of us.

We didn’t do much, had movie night yesterday and watched Horrible Bosses, it was an okay movie. We didn’t want a “heavy” movie just one you could watch mindlessly.

This afternoon we went to my friend T. who is having her birthday today. She never celebrates big but we always go to congratulate her. As usual my gift to her was an invitation for dinner at my house, it’s a tradition we have for years now.

Workouts:

Back to working out before work means running in the dark again. We’re lucky that the weather is so mild so far this winter, it hasn’t been really cold yet. Only a few more months and daylight will be return. The run itself went good. I had to do 7 x 3 minutes running and the last 3 minutes was at a 6:00 pace (per km). That was hard and I had to step out of my comfort zone to do it but I did.

Stats:
Run-walk ratio: 7 x 3, 1 minute walking inbetween (21 minutes running, 7 minutes walking)
Weather: dry, bit windy, 9C (48 degrees)
Distance: 4 K / 2.5 miles
Time: 00:28:12
Last song on Ipod before finish: Chicago – Saturday in the park.

I did a fun run this morning, just running for fun, take a walk break when I need it, don’t look at my pace and it turned out to be a very good run. I took 2 walk breaks and just enjoyed running.

Stats:
Weather: dry, little  wind, 7C (44 degrees)
Distance: 3.5 K / 2.1 miles
Time: 00:23:49
Last song on Ipod before finish: Fun! – We are young.

Meals:

Thursday:

Lunch (8 points): brought my own lunch which I plan to do more often. I made a salad from a WW cook book: couscous with cucumber and tomatoes. This was for 1 person but it was too much to eat it all. I ate about ¾ of it. I also had to kiwi (Zespri) fruits.

Friday:

Lunch (9 points): Another salad with pasta yellow pepper, rocket salad and cherry tomatoes with a dressing of low fat yogurt with a little bit of pesto. I like the salad but the yogurt in it not so much. Think I will replace that with a little extra virgin olive oil. Think I will like it better that way.

Saturday:

Breakfast (6 points) was a whole wheat bread with a boiled egg.

Lunch (10 points) was 2 slices of bread with bacon, spinach, tomato and cheese that I put under the grill for a few minutes till the cheese was melted. It was delicious, I had the same for lunch today.

 

Dinner (6 points): Tomato-lentil soup with Turkish bread that I put under the grill with some garlic and olive oil as a topping. Delicious! I made two portions and put one in the freezer for a day I don’t have much time to cook.

 

I forgot to take pictures of my breakfast this morning that was a croissant with jelly. I didn’t make dinner because I was full from the snacks I had in the afternoon and just ate 2 slices of bread with peanut butter.

Weekly workout review:

I have been taking it easier the past 2 weeks with my exercises and running and I don’t mind. Sometimes you have to take it a bit easier. As of tomorrow I will pick up my regular exercise schedule again.

Dec 10 2012

Monday December 10, 2012: Snow!

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Daily stuff:
Well snow definitely arrived last Friday and a lot too. We didn’t go to the concert because of the weather. It snowed all day Friday with a nasty cold wind. Saturday it was still cold but a beautiful day: blue skies and sunshine. Even though I hate snow, I thought it was a beautiful sight. Yesterday it started to rain at night and by the time I got up most of the snow was already gone but the roads were still very slippery.

We were supposed to buy a Christmas tree last Saturday but R. had to work and wasn’t home till 8 pm. He thought the store was open yesterday and we went there in the morning but when we got there it was closed. So he would buy one today after work but they sent him on a job and he still isn’t home when I’m posting this so I went to buy one myself after work. I haven’t decorated it yet but when it’s finished I’ll show you.

Friday pics:

Saturday pics:

Workouts:

Due to the bad weather I couldn’t run this weekend and I ran this morning. Usually Monday is my rest day but since I hadn’t done anything the past 3 days, a run was the best way to start the week.

Stats:
Run-walk ratio: 2 x 10 minutes, 2 minutes walking inbetween (20 minutes running, 2 minutes walking)
Weather: dry, not much wind,5C(41 degrees)
Distance: 3.2 K / 2 miles
Time: 00:22:16
Last song on Ipod before finish: John Fogerty – Rockin’ all over the world.

Weekly workout review:

What can I say: not a good week. But it is what it is, this was all I had this week.

 

Bella and Fran’s Autumn challenge: walk at least 30 minutes every day:

Days till the end of Autumn (Thursday December 20): 90 days
Success: 64 days
Fail: 16 days

Bella loves snow, I don’t. But because she loves it so much we did go out for a walk even if it was snowing.

Nov 25 2012

Sunday November 25, 2012: Mishmash

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Daily stuff:

Hope my US blogger friends had a great Thanksgiving last Thursday.

What have I been up to last week?

Wednesday evening I visited my friend K. She recently moved to a new house and I hadn’t seen it. I loved her house, totally something I would buy if I had to make that choice again now. We hadn’t seen each other for a while and we had lots of catching up to do. It was great seeing her again.

Thursday I had another workshop with the other secretaries at my company. I had low expectations since the last workout wasn’t what I expected but this was much better. It was all about exchanging experiences and talk about our jobs.

It was also R.’s birthday Thursday. He bought a big cookie to give to his colleagues to celebrate his birthday.

We didn’t celebrate his birthday besides going out to dinner together as we always do. We went to the same restaurant as we did last month. I had bought him a little gift: a gift card for a hot stone massage.

My Mom was supposed to visit us this morning but since we are having kind of a storm today we decided to go to her so she wouldn’t have to drive through the storm. We left Bella there for a sleepover because tomorrow is her 2-weekly day she stays with my Mom.

Weekly workout review:

My week wasn’t good, mostly because I didn’t make my workouts a priority last week and skipped some of them because I had do to other things.

Bella and Fran’s Autumn challenge: walk at least 30 minutes every day:

Days till the end of Autumn (Thursday December 20): 90 days
Success: 55 days
Fail: 10 days

Dinner:

Thursday dinner

For starters we had a salad of mushrooms and bacon with a fantastic dressing (same dish I choose 4 weeks ago).
Main course was wild boar with baked apple and a musterd-honey sauce. R. had a deer steak.

 

Friday lunch

Low carb recipe: rocket salad with cherry tomatoes, pine nuts and bacon with a dressing of balsamico vinegar and olive oil.

Saturday dinner

Salad of spinach, pine nuts, avocado, pancetta with a balsamico vinegar/olive oil dressing.