Hello from the Urban Tundra! Are you dug out yet? Yeah?
Me either.
Today marks Day 4 of our snow-induced house arrest. The last time I left my house in a vehicle
was Friday morning…to get to the gym. High fives for determination. Now, as a
Vermonter, I’m not afraid of a little snow. Heck, I’m not even afraid of a LOT
of snow. But I’m having a really hard time dealing with the Cabin Fever that is
setting in, and I’m feeling anxious about losing momentum on my recent gym
spree.
Until Nemo came and destroyed my streak, I had been
getting to the gym 6 out of 7 days for the past three weeks. I can feel my strength
and endurance rebounding from the holidays, and I am even noticing some
definition returning to Olge and Inge (my bicep twins). I braved the onset of
the storm Friday morning to get my cardio in, and was anticipating being all
dug out by late Saturday afternoon in order to return to the gym to get my
strength Card in. WRONG. So I did the next best thing—logging a workout via the
soon-to-be-next-proposed-Olympic-sport: turbo shoveling. Strapping on my trusty
heart rate monitor, I opened the door to welcome this little aerobic challenge:
 |
| Why yes, this would be 31 inches of snow. And those two mounds would be cars. |
Two and a half hours and 1100 calories later, we finally
found our cars AND the ground!
 |
| Oh, there are cars in this driveway! |
Now we were only waiting on the plow to come clear the street,
and thus, our path to freedom. WRONG AGAIN.
Enter Sunday, or as I like to call it, “Owwwwwww, Dear
God Why day.” For the record, shoveling doles out more full-body hurt than a
lengthy session on a Concept 2 rowing machine—but I considered it to be a nice exercise
in cross-training. We had yet to see a plow on our streets, but I was okay with
that. I definitely needed a day of rest
to recuperate from the insane workout that was lifting and throwing wet, heavy
snow. In any case, I had worked out 6 days in a row and surely the roads would
be clear Monday to get back into my workout routine…
WRONG AGAIN. It’s now late afternoon, and we still have
yet to see a plow on our street. Normally, I wouldn’t mind being cooped up at
home, but I am going a little stir crazy. My body is buzzing with kinetic
energy, and I’m getting antsy without a real outlet—like the gym. So, to say I
have cabin fever would be a gross understatement. I am finding myself
completing banal chores today just as a way to keep my body in motion and off
the couch.
So this afternoon, Bubs and I decided to do something
about our cramped, swollen bodies that have been quarantined to our apartment
for far too long. It was clear via the post-apocalyptic urban tundra outside
our driveway that we would not be driving anywhere. So, we broke out my hiking
backpack and got walking……..to Subway. You can laugh, it’s okay.
Diet management during the Apocalypse definitely poses its
challenges. Shelf-stable foods are generally high-sodium, high-carb foods, and
I am definitely paying the price in terms of my physical comfort and energy
level. But in this case, I didn’t really have much choice. I have to eat what
is available, and as long as I don’t overdo it, I am hoping that it won’t pose
too much threat in terms of punishment on the scale or my body metrics. I can
say, however, that by this morning, I was literally craving vegetables. Now
while Subway can still be a sodium trap for dieters, I decided to cut my
losses, because at that point, I would have done just about anything for some
cucumbers and green peppers…
So on went the backpack and off we went. It turns out
that just trying to get around these streets is quite difficult in itself. By
midway, we realized this was less of a leisurely walk and more like urban
hiking. The whole way, we were switchbacking through and climbing over heavy,
wet snow. Opportunity for a workout? I’ll take it. The total trip was only
about two miles, but it took us about 80 minutes to get there and back due to
the lack of sidewalks and safe, walkable roads. It was pretty cool though—I felt
like a modern Paleo woman or something: Kelsey
hungry. Kelsey no food. Kelsey go hunt and gather for food (stretch). Kelsey
get home, eat yummy food, feel good ‘bout self. Pretty decent cost/payoff if
you ask me.
In all fairness though, I am realizing that while
workouts can come in a variety of forms, I feel less “worked out” when I am not
following my set routine. There is something psychologically comforting about
the gym for me. I can keep track of exactly how hard I’m working, measure the
speed and distance of my cardio, and develop targeted strength workouts for
specific areas of my body. This “free for all” brought on by the snow is
definitely rocking me a little. Even though I know I’ve been moving and active,
I don’t feel that same level of tiredness and satisfaction that I do when I
come home from a session at the gym. While I love being outside in the fresh
air, I am feeling limited in my workout range. Perhaps this is just a side
effect from being cooped up, but I am willing to bet it has more to do with the
sense of comfort I derive from compartmentalizing: gym for workouts, home for
relaxing, driveway for cars, etc. When everything has its place, I feel more organized,
orderly, and in control—and I feel more capable of accomplishing my goals.
Speaking of, here’s Friday’s data:
As of 2/8/13:
Percent body fat:
27.7%
Total percent body water: 50.8%
Percent muscle mass:
37.0%
Bone mass: 4.6 lbs
So, I’ve been making some progress since last week! Down
0.3% in body fat and a 0.6% jump in muscle mass. True to last week’s post, I
have made a big effort to cut out on “junk” during the week, focusing more on
open meals on the weekend to go a little carb crazy. It looks like it’s paying
off, but I am starting to suspect inaccurate readings from my scale—especially due
to the rapid increase in my muscle and bone mass numbers. My bone mass has yet
to shift since the beginning of this process, and from what I am reading from a
variety of sources, tends to stay pretty stable over time. I know the scale has
a margin of error, as with any measurement tool, but I am left with two
questions: either what brought such
increases, or can I really assign much value to the numbers I am logging each
week?
I guess we’ll see if there’s any continuity with next
week’s data…provided I can get out of this house and off to the gym! Cross your
fingers for a plow for us!
