Tale of the Scale: week of 4/13

I finally thought I'd get my Tale of Scale piece worked out early in the week. I wonder if this means that by Thursday I'll be itching to share something else with you? (I hope so).

I noticed last week that I'm physically running outta gas during some of workouts. Let me tell you, lying on a bench with 2 20# hand weights resting on your belly, knowing you're going to press them over your body... and feeling your muscles seem shaky and weak is not the formula for confidence and success.

Seems like low blood sugar, so I guess I'm not timing my eating well enough. But wait.. aren't I supposed to be entering stages where my body is using the energy I have stored to complete these tasks? (Note to self: read that slow twitch/fast twitch information again. This time until you understand it).

Today I made sure I had a good lunch about 1.5 hours before my workout. And as I was pumping gas on the way to the gym, I snacked on an apple and a couple almonds. Pleased to report that the shakes did not appear.

I entered the gym thinking that I wouldn't do much cardio. Hah! I am so fickle! Instead of "not much" cardio, I went for some high-intensity interval training where I believe I determined my safe maximum heart rate. I'm not completely sure because at the point that I was killing, the heart rate monitor on the cross-track machine jumped from 150 up to 215 before settling down at a saner 165. One minute at that rate (lets pretend it was all 165) would be rated (by me) as a PE of 9 or 10. I could maintain that effort for one minute, two at the max.

Considering for my age the "prescribed maximum heart rate" for my age is 140, I will proudly say that I am aerobically about age 40! Now I have to remember to work to my potential and ignore those charts.

Sadly, after that point I let the mental defeated attitude take over too much of my workout. One of the tricks is to remember that our brains quick before our bodies do. The real secret to success is to push through when the brain is saying: NO, NO, NO. That's where change happens.

Today, when my brain would say: No, I was pretty much saying: OK. Worked out but did not work to failure or complete fatigue.

I let myself down.

This mental part of the workout is the hard thing for me. I need help with this. The fabulous trainer, Guido, hasn't been around for almost a month, or he would be coaching me through this, Instead, I'm on my own. And I will gladly take any suggestions offered.

I also blog at: A Stitch In Time throughout the week and BlogHer on Mondays and Saturdays.