HSOrlandos 2013 Journal: Being vegan in a non vegan world

[hsorlando]

Tonight I ran in the rain. I don't know if it was the smartest thing to do since I didn't feel that great last week, but I ended up going faster at the end, and being the first one of our group to finish. I also warmed up for a half a mile, so when I finished my two mile run it was closer to 2.5 miles.

 

I can't wait to start my vegan vacation, I may just sleep through half of it, lol. I'm looking forward to getting back on track with what I eat, and having some fun workouts, good times, and meeting lots of cool people.

[hsorlando]

I just had to share this. I weighed myself on Monday morning first thing,and I was 2 pounds less. The scale last time said 138 without shoes, it was 140 with shoes. So this time it said with shoes 138, so I'm down to 136, and hopefully it won't go back up!! I find it quite humorous that I've been eating badly, have had no energy, wasn't feeling good enough to workout everyday, and still dropped 2 pounds.

[Zack]

Congrats on the weight loss.

[hsorlando]

Thanks Zack!

Today I did the cardio jump class, and right after did the Body Pump class. I'm actually surprised I did alright. I didn't know if I would get through both classes. I was quite tired because I woke up at 3:45am, and did not get any nap!

Anyway in CJ there was a circuit of stations as usual. Started with a warmup, then began each jump area for 60 seconds, then moved to next station.

1: jump or hop sideways over hurdles- then jump/hop forward facing over hurdles- repeat until 60 seconds is over

2: jump sideways between cones, making it as far as you can from one side to the other

3: jump sideways over rope thats attached to cones

4: squat jump while holding medicine ball and lifting it overhead

5: jump into a squat on top of a step with five risers each side/ step down repeat

6: leap over step, or do plyometric jumps over step

We did this circuit 2 more times. The second time was for 45 seconds each, and the third was for 30 seconds at each station. Inbetween we did squats, I actually got pretty low. We also jumproped a lot, and prettymuch kept up our cardio levels.

Right after this class ended I set up for Body Pump. It was fun because I don't get to do it as often as I used to, but I felt like such a beginner! I went pretty heavy on some things, and couldn't complete every rep because it was heavier. Overall I don't think I'm losing strength I actually think I'm getting stronger finally.

Anyway that's about it, I don't know if I'll be able to post much until I get back from Portland. Tomorrow I work, then I run at 6, then I get to pack, and get to the airport around 5:30am!

[thendanisays]

Get here faster! i wanna meet you!

[hsorlando]

HA Ha!!

I can't wait either! As I type this I'm also packing my stuff. I know I'm gonna end up bringing too much .

[hsorlando]

Well I'm packed, and I'm going to catch some sleep now before I have to go to the airport. I really can't wait to meet all of the vegan vacationers this year. I hope to make some awesome friends in the next ten days!

[hsorlando]

I'm back in Orlando. Vegan Vacation 2008 is over! In the past 10 days or so I've gotten in 3 workouts at a gym in Portland. The gym reminded me a bit of the gym in the Rocky movies, old school style.

Anyway the first time I trained chest, that was right after my arrival, and there were quite a few members from vbbf that showed up there.

The second time I trained legs and managed a 300 lb leg press for two sets of 8. Robert spotted me for the first set, then I did the second by myself. I started with 180, and moved up to 300, then finished the leg presses with a set of 90lbs.

That day I also did lunges, leg extentions, but I didn'tlike the machine it was pretty much made for men with long limbs. I also did some leg curls, squats and calf raises. My legs were sore for like 4 days!

My last workout at the gym was arms. Me, thendanisays, and Robert met DV and we all did arm workouts. My arms are a bit sore today from the workout, it was yesterday morning.

Besides the gym I hiked a bit at Mt. Hood, walked a lot, and did some white water rafting, I'm sure I look terrified in these pictures, but I had a blast!

[hsorlando]

Tonight I officially got back into running.I didn't run at all during VV08! Anyway first I did some back stuff. I started with some unilateral rows with one hand and leg on a bench. My first set was about ten reps at 15lbs, then 10 reps at 20lbs, then 2 sets of 8 reps at 25lbs.Then I went looking for a bak extention machine. I went upstairs to the resistance equipment, but I didn't like the machine, it had you face up, and it felt weird. So back to the room I was originally in, and I found the one I wanted in the corner, hiding! I think I did 4 sets of ten reps each time. I could have done a lot more, but I didn't have time. Next I did some low cable rows. I started at I think 55 lbs, and ebded up doing 2 sets of 6 reps at 70lbs, they were hard! Then I did some lat pulldowns, ending with 70 or 75 lb pulldoens. Then I went to the dual adjustable cable machine. I tried some high rows, but wasn't exactly getting the form down too well. So I left that and decided to see how much assisatance I needed on the assisted pullup/dip machine. I tried pullups, and managed to only need 40 lbs of resistance to help. So if I was only 95 lbs I could do them unassisted, ha ha! Next time I will try to only use 25 lbs to assist me.

After my short but tough workout I ran with my small group. It feels good to be running again, and I think I may try to concentrate on that for a while now. I am pretty happy with my strength right now, and want to get better at running. I love weight training, and will continue with it, but I don't think I'll be upping the weights for a while. The easiest thing may be to do a few Body Pump classes a week, and concentrate more on cardio,and running. Nothings set in stone though, so this may not occur.

[hsorlando]

I took a rest day today, because I am short on sleep! I have gotten back into the swing of things at work, but something strange has occurred. When I got off the plane in Orlando I had a weird voicemail. It was from another YMCA asking if I'd be interested in working in their Wellness department. To make a long story short this is what happened. I spoke to several people, and finally decided to at least hear this person out, and try to keep an open thought about moving to another location. Anyway today I met the manager at the other Y, and now I'm worried that perhaps the people that hired me don't think I'm good enough. The one person I can always talk to at the gym is not around this week. I think he's on vacation. Another thing that happened is that I heard an employee say that he's been transferred. I don't think this is true, but who knows. I still absolutely love where I work, and I don't want to move to another location. I still feel verydeeply that I belong there. I have to remember that I've only just set my foot into the finess field about 6 or 7 weeks ago, and am not even certified yet. I just get the feeling that certain paople may think I should know more by now. I am still not trained on the fit linx machines, so I can't even set people up on them. I know how to make sure they have good form, and I know how to use the machines, it's just the computer part I need to learn. I know I lack confidence, and knowledge, but this will be less of a problem as I learn more and earn my certification. I am doing my best to not be upset, but I can't really help it as I don''t want anything to stop me, or get in my way of working, and advancing at the Downtown YMCA.

[robert]

12,000+ views!

 

Awesome!

 

Have a great time. Nice 300lb leg press by the way!

[hsorlando]

Today at work was a lot better! I didn''t feel anything differently with any of the people I work with,in fact I got some praise. Anyway I probably just took the whole situation and event the wrong way. Had a good morning, even though I was all alone, usually there are two people on the floor. I managed to get through the morning although I didn't get a break.

 

Later in the afternoon I went back to workout. I warmed up for 15 minutes on an elyptical, and then hit some weights. I trained chest today.

bench press: 12reps 15lbs, 12 reps 15lbs, 10 reps 20lbs, 10 reps 20lbs

incline press: 4 sets of 8-10 reps @ 15lbs

flyes: 4 sets 12lbs 8-10 reps

decline press: 4 sets 8 reps 15lbs

chest press machine: 12 reps 50lbs, 12 reps 50lbs, 10 reps 55lbs, 8 reps 55lbs

was going to do the pec deck, but someone was using it, and I didn''t feel like waiting

abs: 25 crunches with 8lb weight, 50 alternating side crunches with 8lb weight, 25 crunches with legs in air reaching toward feet, 50 reaching opposite hand to foot,

 

Oh and then I ran for two miles. It was supposed to be with a group, but noone but the running instructor showed. So I had a nice one on one run, and had a pretty good discussion about my running highs and lows. Basically the main point I got was that I am in as good shape as I was when I was running more, but with all the stuff going on in my life, my mental focus on running is a bit off track. But hopefully getting consistent again will help me. I feel good that I showed up tonight that was a good first step.

[hsorlando]

Ok, things definitely seem to be alright at work. The only problem is that I am a lot quieter than the other people in the department. Basically they want the people working on the Wellness/Cardio floor area to go around check on members, and chit chat with them. I do this but on a much lesser scale than others. Basically my feelings about this are that these people came to workout, and if we talk their heads off for 20 minutes, we've taken away from their workout. I have no problem being cordial, and finding out how their workouts going, but then I think we should let them get to it. I've seen some people talk to members for 15-20 minutes at times. It is of course different if the person wants to talk. Personally I like to be left alone for the most part so I can get the best results out of my time at the gym.

Today I have not, as of yet gotten to the gym. It is already after 2pm, I was just going to run today. I do believe though that my mom and brother are taking my nieces to a park that has a track. So I will most likely go there, and test out the track. I've noticed it before, but I'm not certain how far around it is mileage wise. I will just have to guess! Hopefully the rain will hold off too!

[hsorlando]

Yes I did run today! I ended up running at the park, while my brother and mom watched my nieces on the playground. I am guessing I ran between 2.5-3.5, but I had never run this track before, and I have no pedometer, and there are no mile markers. Well there is one but all it says is 0 miles, and by the 4th time around I know I went further than that lol. Time wise it definitely felt further than a half mile around, but it couldn't have been a mile, so I will take an educated guess and say it was 3/4 of a mile. So today was my third run this week, and if my guess of 3 miles is correct that means I've run 7 miles total this week. Hopefully next week I can get that number quite a bit higher. Oh I also walked like three miles after I talked to the guy at the other YMCA. I was kind of upset, so the walk did me good.

[hsorlando]

Today was quite packed. After church, yes I'm one of the few that goes to church on Sundays. Please don't think any less of me, rofl! Anyway I was saying afterwards my family was treated by a friend who hasa vegetarian sone to go eat at Etho's Vegan Kitchen. I ordered the biscuits and sausage gravy, a cinnamon bun, and coffee. We didn't last toolong as my two nieces needed naps.

So I was 20minutes late to Step class, and I was looking forward to it all week, so I went in late. I don't know if I would have survived the whiole 55 minute class, yikes it was tough! Afterwards the instructor,talked to me to find out the details about the other YMCA calling and telling me about a job. He was so nice though,and reassured me that I didn't need to worry about leaving that Y. He also seemed a bit confused about it though, so I guess he'll get to the bottom of it tomorrow, since it's Monday. He also said something nice along the lines of me being an important part of the Y, even though I am not there "yet".

I was still stuffed from brunch, so I just had water, and studied my book for a bit. Then I took the BodyPump class! Maybe I should end this here as I haven't done one of those classes in a while!

Actually I did better than I thought. I went lighter on the squats only 40lb barbell, but I could have done 45lbs. Chest did get me though, and I was having a hard time keeping up, and my barbell was only 25lbs. Back was fun though, and the clean and preses felt really good, I used 30lbs, and may try to go up in that weight soon. Triceps, and biceps I did at 20lbs, and they were hard too.This is only like the second time I've done the new release. Then lunges and shoulders were next. I kept the weight the same, and my shoulders did not want to cooperate. Then we did abs, and stretched. I like the way I feel after the BP class, and I really do want to get back to doing 2 or 3 classes a week.

[hsorlando]

It ceases to amaze me that Body Pump can be so tough on my body. Today I have such a good all over soreness from the class. I just don't seem to get that when I lift weights by myself. Perhaps that's because I don't go heavy enough because I'm by myself? Except for my leg workouts I rarely feel muscle soreness after my weight training seesions. I guess I should just continually change it up, and keep my body guessing. Today I am sore in my quads, thighs, hamstrings, chest, shoulders, triceps,and a bit in my biceps too. It's not overly sore, but a good sore like I had a good workout. Today was a rest day, and then I will do something at the gym Tuesday-Thursday, then have another rest day on Friday.

[hsorlando]

Today was a long day. I didn't get very much sleep, less than 6 hours. But by my third cup of coffeee I was alright, lol. After work I went to where my mom works, to conserve gas, and slept in a chair for a couple of hours. Then at 4pm I went back to the gym to workout. OI warmed up for ten minutes on an elyptical, then did biceps, and triceps. It was a pretty short workout as I was going to meet people to run a bit later.I did supersets of bi's and tri's.

bicep curls (standing) 10lbs,12reps/12lbs,10reps/15lbs,10reps/20lbs,6reps

tricep kickbacks 10lbs,12reps/12lbs,10reps/12,10/15lbs,8reps

 

bicep hammer curls (seated, alternate) 15lb,10r/15lb,10r/15lb,12r/15,12r bilateral

tricep dips off bench- 10,12,12, 8 on assisted dip machine assisted weight55lbs, and then I think Imanaged one with just my bodyweight

 

bicep barbell curls(standing) 20,10/30,8/30,11/30,8

tricep press with barbell-20,10/30,10/30,10/30,10

Then I did some quick ab work, and got ready to run! I ran with 6 other people in the group,and we all had sweat pouring off of us because it was so hot. We only went our usual 2 miles, but in this heat it was enough, at least for now! That's about it for tonight. I'm about to eat some pasta, relax a bit and then get some much needed rest.

[hsorlando]

For some weird reason my back and shoulders are really sore today, but I barely feel my biceps,and triceps. It's weird because I was checking my form a lot, and I'm just surprised I feel the effects of my workout in areas I wasn't concentrating on. The only thing I can think of is maybe I did too many dips, or possibly when I ran I was a bit tense. Anyway I figured I'd better not workout today as my back is hurting a bit. So tomorrow I will run, and then Friday I will take a Body Pump class most likely. I'm not sure what I'll do Saturday, I know I'll run, but I'm not sure of anything else. But I'll do something as I work all day Sunday, and won't have s chance to train.

[hsorlando]

Ok, I seem to have a few updates to make. I usuallytry to update it every day, but sometimes logging your workouts gets away from you.

Wednesday: no workout, becausemy back and right shoulder were very sore.

Thursday: ran with running group. OMG it was sooooo hot!!!!!! Even the trainer said she didn't feel like running. The humidity was terrible, but we persisted and we got through our two miles. The running trainer had wanted to go further tonight, asshe has more time Thursdays, but it was too muggy. Anyway surprisingly I did quite well. I was in the lead for most of the run, and then finshed third of all the beginner runners. I think two people actually stopped and walked for the last half a mile. It was getting tough but I managed to keep at a decent pace until the end. The instructor has said that we are all improving, and maybe sometime we should join the regular group,but there are short cuts we can take during those runs.

Friday: Since I took Wednesday off instead I had to workout today! So I took a Body Pump class and it rocked. I went heavier on almost everything,and it felt so good. The trainer also mentioned to me before the class that he noticed I've come a long way since last year. I didn't think I heardhim correctly, so I asked if he thought I had improved, and it was definitely a positive comment. Anyway as far as my weights go this is what I used. Warmup:25lb barbell, squats 45lb bb, chest 30lb bb, back 30lb bb, tricep 25lb, bicep 25lb, lunges 25 lb bb, shoulders 20lb bb. Then we did abs,and stretched. I didn't go heavier on squats, but I think I'm going to hab=ve to up that weight as my legs are the only part of me that isn't sore from the workout. I've been at 45lbs for awhile,but I'm not too sure about upping it. The problem is I'm not sure I can get it over my head and onto my shoulders. This is hard gf=for me to do at 45, soI imagine 50lbs would be nearly impossible to clear over my head without knocking myself out.

Saturday: Today I ran 4.5 miles. It was still quite hot, but not as bad as Thursday, but still pretty difficult to run in at 10:30 am. I ended up running most of it, but also walking a bit at the end. Then when I was sitting down inside the gym someone was introducing me to a new istructor who was there to teach a Body Pump class, and theperson was like oh yeah she'll be in the class.I thought it was kind of funny that people just assume I'm going to take certain classes when I'm at the gym. I may have attempted it, but I was exhausted from my run, and I was too sore from Body Pump yesterday.

[hsorlando]

So today I managed to get in a bit of a worout but it wasn't much. I rode a bike in the cardio area for 30 minutes, and then took a strength training class. I must be improving in my level of fitness because both things I did barely phased me. Oh well that's what I get for taking it easy.

[hsorlando]

Right now I should be asleep but I'm not! One of my nieces is crying for no apparent reason, yet again. Don't get me wrong I adore them, but I'd rather not live with them. Can't do much about it yet because I don't earn enough to have my own place. Too bad I can't meet a nice guy and move in with him, ha ha! Anyway didn't mean to rant in my blog. Tomorrow I will run with my group, even if I'm dog tired, I'm getting remotivated with the running stuff so that's good. More details later!!

[hsorlando]

Today was long, but good. I woke up early for work, and figured I'd be off by 10 am and then I could sleep. Well I was asked if I could stay because there was a schedule conflict,and for several hours the cardio area would have had no one on the floor. So I of course said yes, and then got off at 1pm. I didn't really think it was that big of a deal, but all the managers kept thanking me, I guess they were just glad they didn't have to do it themselves!

I didn't get that much rest, but I made myself go back for my running group. It was a beautiful evening to run, about 73 degrees, and no humidity. Of course I had to be there to run, there was no other choice. I was tired, but persisted.The run was pretty good, but I had a stitch in my side the whole time, and it wasn't going away. I ran through it though. That's all for tonight. I'm going to hang out here on vbbf for a bit and watch some of the Olympics too.

[Tasha]

Wow very cool to hear you're doing well

 

You go girl !

[hsorlando]

Just a quick update for now. I'm not home, and am on another computer at the moment. I think our internet service has been shut off, so I figured I'd update now while I have the chance.

Today I'm taking a rest day, because frankly i need the rest!

Tomorrow I won't be running with my group, because I'll be working extra hours yet again. I hope to get off my regular shift at 10 am, run, workout, then eat and rest before I have to be back at 4 to cover the 4-8pm shift. Then I have to be up early for my Friday shift 445-11am. Then I'll be off, yahoo! I hope I can make it through the next two days, and survive! I'm not quite getting all my workouts in, but I'm also not exactly getting adequate nutrition eith at the moment. So in all I'm doing pretty good, even though the present circumstances haven't been great. I guess going to VV08 was worth an extra month of finacial problems. Anyway I'm not letting anything get me down, and I'm feeling pretty damn good about everything too!

[hsorlando]

Alright, tomorrow my computer will be back online with our new internet provider. Too many problems/issues with the other company. I just had to post because after I got off today I had the most amazing run. It wasn't snything special, but it just felt so good to run. I think I'm getting back that mental focus and part of running that I was missing for a bit. I ran about 3-3.5 miles, and like I said I enjoyed every moment! Anyway I've got to go so I can get a bit of rest, and food before I do the 4-8pm shift. I think I'll call before I show up though, just in case they decide they don't need me.