Challenges…

WOW!!

Yesterday, someone at my office just stopped and said "By the way, great blogs". How awesome is that, someone is reading my random writings, well I hope that more than one someone is and I really hope that everyone is getting useful information, or at least inspiration to assist in their own endeavors to make lifestyle changes.

Today's blog is about challenges, as the headline told you and here is why:

When you undertake the lifestyle change that Jeremiah and I have, you will need to challenge yourself and you will need others to challenge you too. You will need to be proud of yourself and others to be proud too! For me, this is coming at me from all sorts of directions.

Krista, the personal trainer, said to me two weeks ago - your challenge for the week is….

I immediately wanted to roll my eyes and say no way … that means real work … but I didn't …. she gave me a sample routine to work on … the recumbent bike, the treadmill, the stair stepper, and last but not least, the elliptical. I could honestly tell her I would do the bike and the treadmill, but the stair stepper and the elliptical I had tried on my own and really had no luck or success with — so I stopped trying them and just told myself not to worry about them.

When I told her that she didn't buy in at all … she just calmly and sweetly said … you can do as little as a minute on the elliptical (this was all the success I had previously had) and you can go just 5 minutes on the stairs …. then I had to do 5 minutes with her during the session … and I DID IT !!! — I really could do it… So that day, I also tried to do the elliptical … I lasted a solid 2 and a half minutes …. and I was proud of myself.

A couple of days later I tried to go longer on the elliptical … made it to 5 and a half minutes …. oh boy was I overjoyed …. I DID IT … I wanted to share my joy… but it was 730 in the morning …. ok, so I waited to call Jeremiah, though only about a half an hour … but I was proud … He was happy and excitedly spread the word back to Krista when he had his next appointment.

My next visit with Krista was this past Saturday and she taught me to change my notion that I couldn't do yoga … she did this by showing me I could … and I enjoyed it too!! Then she said … I have another challenge for you …. wow … how many challenges can one person take??

But I listened and the challenge was …. For me to agree to run in a 5K with her …. one year from now …. We both have asthma and that in and of itself makes it highly difficult to run - but we will attempt to beat the idea that we cannot do it by working up to it and then doing it …. in just over a year. Hope that challenge is a do-able one! Okay session over, and working on my own …. really proud of the fact that I am taking on challenges to better myself and feeling pretty darn good about it!!

The next day, was Sunday and Jeremiah and I were fortunate enough to be able to go to the gym together … he has been supportive and working hard to ensure that I know he notices a change, although the change is not happening as rapidly in the measurement of lost pounds as I would like it to. We did some work on the track and with some circuits together and then I left to tackle that darned elliptical again. I was going along fairly strong when he decided to join me - I met the five and half minute point without even so much as looking back and kept going … I made it to about 7 minutes and began to stop, when he looked over and said keep trying - just lower the amount of resistance you are using … he encouraged me to try 2 and a half minutes …. I reluctantly started again and actually made it 2 more minutes… that was now a total of 9 minutes… YAHOO!!!

Monday was an off day for me, as I had training all day in Anchorage - I did get up and out of the house at an early time - I even made it to the gym; however due to time constraints I was forced to not be able to do much except for a few stretches and of course a visit to the steam room, I was feeling a little stuffy and so then i was able to get ready for my day and off to training I went - I was too tired by the time I got back out to the Valley to even consider an attempt at an evening workout, so I decided to resume my pattern on Tuesday morning, and boy did I ever…

Tuesday morning I hit the gym at 630 am .. I began with the elliptical and I quickly passed the 2, 5, 7, and 9 minute marks and I was still feeling pretty good, and I wasn't breathing crazy or feeling like fainting.. I made it to 12 minutes before I started feeling like I was getting close to needing to stop - I did an additional 3 minutes, more of a cool down, and then I stopped — 15 minutes total. I am sure this looked like nothing at all to some of those who spend hours on this machine consistently going, but to me I had just conquered the elliptical world - grabbed the machine by the horns and showed it who the boss was — and boy was I proud!!! I then proceeded to the track where I was able to do 6 laps, which translates to 1/2 a mile and then some circuit training exercises before I had to call it quits to get myself to work in a timely manner — I was floating on cloud nine by this point — this was probably the most I had done consecutively since starting this plan and I was feeling good!!

To me challenges are great - it gives you a place to set your sights and then to work to achieve bigger, badder, and better things. I patiently waited to share the latest news with Jeremiah and when I did, he was amazed and proud too. Then in the evening I was able to share the news with Krista who was elated and encouraged me to not think uin terms of what I can't do any more - well to get myself past that and see what I can do!!

There is no one giant step that does it. It's a lot of little steps.

Cohen, Peter A.

Continued success to all of you in all you do to make positive lifestyle changes … Keep up the great work!!

Until Next Time,

Amber