The Day After

It is the day after my personal triumph in the 5K at the IMT Des Moines Marathon. You would think I would be sore, but I feel great. I thank Traci and my time training at Fitness World West for that.

So, feeling good (and after a stressful day) I head to FWW. I hit the treadmill to warm up with a run before I meet with Traci. I put in a 20 minute run/walk and am surprised how great if feels, I thought there would be some remnant of pounding on the pavement, but it feels fine.

Traci grabs me and we head into the private training room. She proceeds to have me work every major muscle group. We put in a lot of time on upper body and core.

I love working out with Traci because she pushes me to places I would never even attempt on my own, let alone actually do. Today it was modified "crunch like" sit-ups with a medicine ball. That would be hard enough, but once I get up into a sitting position I throw her the medicine ball and then go down. Then it's back up to catch the ball. Um, hard. I had to stop a couple of times and admittedly whined a bit through the first set of 20. But by the second set I had a rhythm and it was easier.

Afterward I always feel great. Today is no exception, I put in a kick-butt workout on the heels of a kick-butt race performance. I feel a bit like I rock right now, I think I will enjoy this day after.

Yours in fitness, Kate

Introducing Traci

Today is one of my three days a week to train with trainer Traci. I love these days. I do some cardio and then let her put me through my paces. She pushes me hard, harder than I would push myself, but that's what I need. However, she never does it without a sense of humor.

We hit all the major muscles today from shoulders through calves. Plus of course, core. Your core is your midsection - from just under your chest to about your pubic bone. She helps me build my core every time we meet. A strong core can help with a number of things including burning more calories and in my case, helping my lower back not hurt as much. That's because now there are muscles on the front of my torso doing some actual work.

By the way, here is a picture of Traci, so when I am telling my stories, you'll know who I am talking about.

Soon I will post a before picture of me. The only one I can find is from the chest up. I am working on a full body shot. I do have full body pics from before I started training with Traci and those are coming soon as well.

Yours in health, Kate