Oct 182016
 

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Ah, do not let the title mislead you. I am by no means setting ‘real’ workout goals. However, that does not mean that I do not think about challenges. Given that my car is in the shop and M needed the car for morning appointments, it was most convenient to have him drop me off at our Tuesday morning meeting point on the Corniche.

I think I mentioned that I have joined a running group that is mostly made up of moms (Moms Run This Town – MRTT), but has the subtitle of She Runs This Town. While I have been wanting to get out more, I have only managed to keep the Tuesday morning in my schedule.

Anyway, due to the car situation, I decided today was a good day to try the full length of the Corniche and see how long it would take me. I had company for the first 3.2km where we mostly power walked. Then, we parted ways and I carried on for the remaining 3.3km.

Although I wanted to run more, the heat and humidity is still a bit too much at 8:30-9am. So, I did short intervals of running and then the rest walked. I guess my pace is not bad considering.

While I have no intentions of running any races anytime soon, if ever, I do hope to be able to run more consistently. So, I am glad to have found a group of ladies who get me out. Maybe I can even start more often when I feel as if life is settled….

Thus, no workout goal per se, but at least there is progress happening. πŸ˜€

~T πŸ˜€

Oct 112016
 

I have recently joined a group calledΒ Moms/She Run(s) This Town, which is a running group that has chapters all over the States and world. πŸ˜€

Although I am not particularly a runner, nor do I plan to join any races any time soon, it has been quite fun to meet some ladies who like exercise from fast walking to running.

It all started when I decided to go to the free Yas Mall Ladies Walking activity which started as once a week with alternating weeks of mall walking and yoga. There has been so much interest, that now they have it twice a week with Mondays for walking and Thursdays for yoga. The Thursdays are a little difficult for me to get to regularly, but it is good fun. However, I have consistently been getting to the Monday walking. So, I have made friends.

One of my friends is the founder of the Abu Dhabi chapter of MRTT, who also happens to be a Korean adoptee from the States. So, through coffee chats post-walking and lots of Facebooking, we have a regular group of ladies running on Tuesday mornings on the Corniche.

At the moment, we start on the other end from where I am, but we are going to try changing up the starting point now and then.

Today we went nearly 6km of 2/2 split intervals of running and walking, though I walked most of the way back due to conversing with some new ‘friends’. While some of the member of MRTTAD are runners for races, most of us are just happy to be getting out to socialize and exercise! That’s good enough for me! πŸ˜€

~T πŸ˜€

Aug 072016
 

Yesterday I mentioned that we have been going to the gym. One of the things that we decided upon when we made the decision on our new place was that we would get ourselves to the gym and lead a more active life. M has definitely needed to get back into shape to avoid middle-age belly. πŸ˜›

So, starting August 1, we hit the gym with just one day off, which is great!!

I had been considering what kind of routine I want to do since every day on the treadmill might not keep me motivated. Once the weather gets nice again, I will try to go to the Corniche to run rather than staying on the ‘mill; however, in preparation for that I am trying to run/walk. This serves as my cardio workout every other day.

While I am usually a free-weights person – mostly because the machines scared me – I decided to try out the different machines that are on offer. Now, I am hooked! On the other days, I do a circuit on the machines focusing on all parts of the body – abs, legs, arms and repeat. What I love about the machines is the balancing of strength as I really notice now how much stronger my right side is than my left, which is strange given that I am left-handed. So, hopefully now I will balance out the muscle strength. πŸ™‚

Also, now I am determined to tone my stomach to a defined four-pack if not a six. The ab machines are not too painful, but definitely provide me with a workout. Already, I can see a slight difference. If nothing else, I can also get rid of my slowly forming muffin-top. No 40-year-old wants that! πŸ˜›

Someone suggested that I might like crossfit, which is true. However, I am not that competitive with others and do not really like to kill myself with the workout routines. I like to just push myself enough until there’s a bit of pain or sweat and then back off. It’s enough for me, so with regular yoga mat time on top of the gym, I think I will be doing just fine with the fitness – don’t you?

Just in case, (and for my reference later) here’s my routine:

Circuit days:
*5min warm-up on elliptical machine
*abs machine 1 (cross arms and sitting crunch with weights – starting weight was 20kgs 30-40 reps)
*arm machine (pull 20kgs 40 reps)
*leg press (40kgs 30 reps)
*abs machine 2 (laying crunch with 1.5kg weight 20 reps)
*arm machine (pull down front and back 25kgs 20 reps each)
*leg press (thigh press 20kgs 30 reps)
*repeat abs machine 1
*arm machine (either press up bar weight only or push out machine 20kgs 20-30 reps)
*repeat leg press
*repeat abs machine 2
*100 jumping jacks
*30-50 jump rope
*plank 30-60 seconds or as long as I can

*yoga to stretch and release muscle tension

Treadmill days:
*25-30 mins with intermittent running starting from 5mins and building up.
(Goal is to be able to run for about 30 mins straight, which would be around 5km, I think…. Eventually, I’d like to run the length of the Corniche and back which is approximately 12km round trip….)

There it is – my fitness life at the moment!

~T πŸ˜€

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