Hello. I'm Back.

(source)

 

 

 

I'm back. I have nothing important to say today (ok, any day, really), but I'm feeling like I'm back to the world of the living a bit so hope to get back to posting. We'll see. I make no big promises. But, for today-- I'm back!

 

I even got up this morning and hit up the gym for a 5:30am Signature Strength class.

 

Trust me, I was as shocked as you that I actually got up and went. 5am just comes SO EARLY!! But, I did! The instructor tried to break my arms off by focusing almost solely on arms. WOWZA... hurt to lift my arms above my head after. Ouch!

 

After class I did a quick 2 miles on the TM. Then, while showering I realized we didn't do any legs. So, I decided to do some squats. While in the shower. That's TOTALLY normal, right?!?!? So, I did a set of 15 between each shower activity. Shampoo, 15 squats, conditioner, 15 squats, body wash, 15 squats, shave underarms, 15 squats, turn water off, 15 squats, etc. You get it. And, yes-- I get that I am WEIRD. Some how I got 7 sets of 15 in! Not too shabby for a last minute in-shower leg workout.

 

Anyway-- during my lunch hour I got over to the gym and did 30 minutes on the elliptical while watching Pretty Little Liars. Yes, I watch this show. No, I am not even a little shamed. It's just good, bad TV. Love it.

So, that's that. Haven't missed anything really. Business as usual-ish. Ok, maybe not really. But, we'll get into all that at a later time... :)

 

 

 

 

Internal Conversation

Here's how my internal conversation went this morning when my alarm went off at 5am.

"Ok, Meagan. You got this! Get up!"

"Meh... ok, but give me like 1 more minute just to lay here."

"Deal."

"Ok, maybe I don't got this. Do I HAVE to go to the gym?"

"Well, you COULD go to the 6pm Spinning instead."

"Oh! I could! Yeah. That sounds good."

"But, will you really go? Plus, then you won't be home til 7:30pm and you hate that."

"Yeah... maybe I just should just skip the gym today."

"But yesterday you skipped!"

"Yeaaaaah... I so don't care."

"Ok. Deal. No gym."

{5 minutes pass with me just laying there telling myself it was OK and I could go back to sleep, but really just continuing to argue with myself.}

"Ok... FINE. I'll get up and go. You suck."

"Agreed."

(source)

And, so I went. I 100% did NOT want to go. No part of me wanted to do strength. No part of me wanted to get up. No part of me wanted to sweat.

But, I did.

5:30am Strength Class and 20 minutes on the elliptical.

Feels good to be done. I'll even admit... I'm SEMI-glad I went.

Remind me about this tomorrow when my alarm goes off again at 5am.

(source)

 



5am, 10K, Wicked and Mother's Day

Guess who got up at 5am and made it to the gym both today and yesterday?!?!? THIS KID!!! Yup, that's right! 2 morning workouts in a row! Am I getting my groove back?? Maybe. We'll see. Too early to tell.

Anyway- Monday was 6 miles on the treadmill (while watching the season finale of Revenge... Nolan!! Whaaat?!?!? Noooo!! Love it!!!) and 15 minutes on the elliptical. Today was Signature Strength and then 15 minutes on the elliptical. Yep, not only am I back on the 5am train, but I even went to Signature Strength class today. WOAH. I'm on a roll.

So, we'll see how long this "roll" lasts. This week my work-gym is closed (we're officially in summer at the college I work for so every year the gym closes for 1 week in the summer to do maintenance and such), so I kinda have that "if you don't get up you won't get a workout in" mentality, which always helps me peel my ass outta bed.

BUT-- I did manage to get a workout in Monday during my lunch hour too! The girl from work that I'm helping with the Couch25K program and I went outside and did our intervals around campus! We covered 2.3ish miles in 35 minutes. She's rocking it! I'm so proud of her!!

Anyway-- so, yeah. Workouts have actually been happening. Solid workouts, even. Feels great! Hopefully I keep this up! We'll see... :)

In other news, this weekend was a whirlwind. Friday night the Hubs and I drove up to Grand Rapids, Michigan (about 2.25 hours away). We stayed with some friends, ate some pizza, and crashed early to prep for the Fifth Third River Bank Run. So, Saturday we were up WAAAAY too early to race! I was signed up for the 25K, but as everyone else in our group ended up doing the 10K, I decided to drop down and just run for fun.

My friend, K, and I celebrating our 10K! It was her very first 10K and she CRUSHED her goal and kicked some serious butt. SO proud of you, K!!!!

I ran easy and finished in 55:41 for about 8:58 min/miles. I was 1322 out of 4190.

 

 

The race was a lot of fun, though chilly! Darn mother nature! It was like 40*. IN MAY. Not ok. Not ok at all. Anyway- the race was a blast.

 

I won't do a full recap, as I've done one before (see it here) and it was essentially the same race, just several miles shorter. I love this race and would highly suggest it to anyone! Only bummer with the 10K is you don't get a medal. BUMMER! I did get a pin, though, so I guess that's something.

 

 

Anyway- after the race we headed back to shower and such and then headed out for a quick lunch before the Hubs and I drove home (aka: the Hubs drove while I napped in the passenger seat). We had to rush back because we had tickets to see Wicked that night!

The show was amazing! Such great music and an amazing set and cast. LOVED it!

The show, while great, was a bit long. It didn't get out til past 11, which is WAAAAAY past my bedtime. I was exhausted from the race and the late night. So, I immediately crashed after we got home. 11pm and I am SPENT. I know, I'm so lame.

 

Sunday we were up early again to take Sadie for a quick walk before heading to Chicago (about 2 hours away) for a Mother's Day celebration. Great way to end the weekend: family, fun, and food! I ate my weight in delicious foods and the napped again in the car on the way back. Poor Hubs! Always stuck driving. He's OK with it... he'd rather me be asleep so he can listen to sports radio than me be awake and force him to listen to Katy Perry and flip the radio stations every 2 minutes. (Not that I would EVER do that)

 

Phew! I'm exhausted again just recapping everything. Hope you had a great weekend too! 

 

 

7.5 Miles, Jelly Beans & an Ass Kicking

Remember how I went apeshit crazy in search of Laffy Taffy Jelly Beans??? Well, I found them.

To be fair, my awesome MIL told us exactly where she bought them and as we were in town last night to get our taxes done (always fun), we just went to that exact store and bought two bags.

Yeaaaaah. Turns out, they kinda suck. I mean, I guess that's too harsh. They're OK. But, DEFINITELY not as good as I thought they would be. #epicfail

Before the disappointing Jelly Bean Incident of 2013 (it's an official event now), I got in a pretty good workout.

 

Yup. You read right. 7.5 miles in a 8:12 average pace. As in a SUB 8:15 pace. WHAAAAT??? Seriously, though... what???? I don't even know how that was possible. I was DRIPPING in sweat by the end. Proof? 

Love that shiny, yet salt-ridden forehead.

Anyway, I did intervals, but a different kind that my usual addiction, aka: Yasso 800s. This time I did... wait for it... 400s. WOAH. SO DIFFERNT, I KNOW.

Well, kinda 400s. I was kinda all over the place. I warmed up with a mile at a 9:00 pace, then did .3 miles faaaaast, .7 miles @ 8:45 pace, .25 miles faaaaaaast, .75 mi @ 8:40 pace, and kinda followed that pattern-ish for the run, ending with the last mile at sub 8:00 pace. WOWZA that was tough. Loved every second.

My legs today, however, do not love me. They are SOOOOORE central. The 5:30am Signature Strength class where we LITERALLY did over 300 squats/lunges couldn't have helped mend that relationship any either. Wah wah.

In other news, work is still crazy busy and kicking my ass all over the place. Below is my calendar from this week.

Maybe you can't tell but there's verrrry little not-scheduled time on there. Like, all week. These are all individual student meetings, presentations, programs, or meetings. Somehow in the not-scheduled time I have to manage to do all my admin-y type work too. Awesome. I hate to bitch about being busy. I really do. I HATE being bored and would much rather be go-go-go than sit with nothing to do, but this week it's just kicking my ass. I'm exhausted all. the. time. Next week is our schools Spring Break, so hopefully it'll chill a little, at least for that week. Fingers crossed.

How to Get Up Early to Workout

I reallllllly didn't wanna get out of bed this morning. Reasons?

1. It's freaking COLD. It "felt like" 6* AFTER my workout this morning.

I'm sure at 5am it was even colder. And, the bed is just SO warm. Especially with the Hubs still snoring away. At least it wasn't snowing. That's a plus.

2. I'm kinda in a gym/workout rut. I've introduced speed work and some hill work, which definitely helps... but, I'm just not really feeling MOTIVATED lately. Like, I haven't WANTED to workout in a while. I do it. I never dread it. I almost always like it when I'm actually doing it. But, I haven't had that fire under my ass in a while. Maybe it's just a little burn out? We'll see. Hopefully it's just a phase and it passes soon.

3. I couldn't sleep last night. Tossed and turned all night. Hate that. Usually I sleep like crap Sunday nights after a weekend, but this week Sunday I was OUT and last night sucked. Weird. My body's revolting.

4. I JUST DIDN'T WANT TO.


I mean, I guess that's really the only reasons. No fancy or eloquent way else to say it. I just didn't want to.

But, I did. Sometimes you just gotta suck it up and do it, even when you don't want to.

(source)

60-minute Signature Strength class (luckily, the focus was on arms and abs) and 2.5 miles on the TM. DONE.

Not much else to that story. I'm glad I went. I still know I didn't want to, but I'm glad I did.

So, how do I get myself to workout (especially in the morning) even when I realllllllly don't want to? I'm by no means an expert and often times bail on workouts myself, but here's how I manage...

(source)

1. Probably the biggest make-it or break-it factor for me and getting up at 4:55am to workout is my mental game. If I let myself think for even 1 second the night before that it's OK if I don't get up the next morning, for whatever reason ("if I don't sleep well", "if I promise to go at lunch", etc.) there's like a 95% chance I will not get up. I have to not even let the thought cross my mind. There is NO other option. I have to think of it like I HAVE to get up and go to the gym. Just as much as I HAVE to go to work or take Sadie out or whatever. HAVE to. No option. I don't let myself think maybe's or alternatives.

2. The second my alarm goes off, I turn it OFF and then tell myself "Ok, it's Tuesday. If you get up now, that's only 3 more mornings of waking up early before the weekend!" Somehow doing thinking about the fact that there's only X more early mornings that week helps.

3. Speaking of alarms-- NO SNOOZING! Part of this is easy because the Hubs is still asleep next to me and he'd be pisssssed if my alarm went off a billion times while we has still getting sleep. Part of this is if I snooze, I know I won't get up. It's just SO MUCH EASIER to just get up. The faster I get up, the less time my mind has to think about the fact that I'm SO TIRED and don't want to go and blah, blah, blah. I have to get up and moving and honestly even get out the door before my mind has a chance to know wtf my body is doing.

(source)

4. OK, the next two are specifically about getting up to workout early-- and, this is a no-brainer... but, I go to sleep early. Like, 9pm early. No joke. To get up before 5am, a early bed time is mandatory. Simple as that.

5. I prep EVERYTHING I need the night before. This helps me in the whole #3 thing-- not THINKING about ANYTHING that early. I have my outfit for work laid out, gym outfit laid out, lunch packed, gym bag packed and everything exactly where it needs to be.

6. I remind myself WHY I'm working out. Training for a marathon? Lose weight? Get healthy? Stress reliever? Whatever the reason-- telling myself it in my head over and over again seems to help. I also remind myself how much better I'll feel AFTER the workout. Because it's true. I pretty much ALWAYS feel a million times better after a workout. Reminding myself of that (while also doing everything else) seems to help sometimes.  

7. Schedule a workout you actually enjoy. Hate running? Why run then? There are a bazillion other workouts  you can do. Find the one you like. It makes it easier to get up and do it if you like what you're doing. Oh, and mix it up. Doing the same thing everyday gets old FAST. I love that Tu/Th I can go to Signature Strength and W/F I can go to Spinning. Helps spice things up and keeps things interesting.

7. JUST DO IT. Simple, right? But-- I mean... it's true. At the end of the day (or the start of the day?) sometimes you just gotta do things you don't wanna do. End of story.

Pup Cup, a lost Hubs, and a broken hair dryer

It's been a LONG ass day. And, it's not even 11am yet. Awesome.

Before we get to all that-- let's rewind a bit.

First up-- the weekend. Nothing really to note about the weekend, except that we took Sadie to her first ever vet appointment. Nothing really exciting there. She's a healthy, happy doggie! $200ish later for her heart worm and flea pills (for the whole year) and the price of the visit, we were on our way. Oh! But, before the vet we did have something exciting! We stopped by Starbucks because I had a coupon for a free drink.

Skinny iced vanilla late for me.

Pup cup for Sadie.

 
So cute!!! Who even knew s-bux did "pup cups"??? It's just a little dixie cup filled with whip cream. Sadie was skeptical, but after she tried it, she LOVED it and slurped that shit up in like 3 seconds!

Yes, the most exciting thing about my weekend was giving Sadie a pup cup. No shame.

The rest of the weekend was filled with a HUGE top-to-bottom house cleaning (I'm talking 4+ hours straight of cleaning!), a movie, pizza, and a whole lot of not-running. It was cold and snowy and I was just... not feeling it. I did make it to the gym for 45-minutes on the elliptical Sunday, but that's it. Whatever. I'm OK with it. Not every weekend has to be some crazy workout filled weekend. I enjoyed being lazy at home with the Hubs. No regrets.

Anyway, the week has been off to a brutal start. I haven't been sleeping well... 3am on the dot each night I'm WIDE awake. BOO. Yesterday I was too exhausted to get up at 5, so I skipped the morning gym. I did get a quality workout in during my lunch hour, though.

(from my DailyMile)

7 miles of Yasso 800s. BRUTAL. Kicked my ass all over. Felt like it SHOULD HAVE felt easier, seeing as how I basically sat on my ass all weekend. Oh well. I got it done.

Today, I did get up for 5:30am Signature Strength class. KICKED MY ASS. Why do I feel like I always say that??? I mean, I guess I do-- but, DAMN! It does! My arms are already sore. Not a great sign for things to come tomorrow.

After class, I went to my locker in plans of skipping my 2.5 mile TM run in favor of 20 minutes in the sauna. I HAPPENED to look at my phone, which I never do, and see 4 missed calls and a voicemail from the Hubs. I quickly called him back and the poor guy was lost and didn't have access to a GPS (he doesn't have a smart phone).

 

Yup-- 11 calls (all before 7:34am, mind you!) later and we finally had him un-lost. Turns out trying to guide someone who doesn't know where they are and somewhere you've never been just from using the Maps app on my iPhone while in the gym locker room with a bunch of women chatting about menopause is not an easy task. Who knew?!?

 

So, that was a less-than-calm start to the day. I had to skip the sauna after dealing with all day and rush through my shower. As I start to dry my hair, my blow dryer starts making crazy crackling sounds, followed by a big boom and then started smoking! DANGER! It's completely shot. Done-zo. Poor lil' guy. Never stood a chance with my thick hair.  

 
I swear, I go through at LEAST 1 blow dryer and 1 straightener a year. At least.

Anyway-- so, that sucked. Luckily, the gym has dryers, so I don't look like a crazy person at work today. But, again-- definitely less than a calm start to the day.

So, that's been my day so far. I cannot believe it's only Tuesday.

Now... let's just hope neither me nor the Hubs gets lost on the way home from work today. Finger's crossed.

Before & After

This is what I looked and felt like BEFORE my workout this morning.

 

 

 

Yup. You read right. This MORNING. I got up at 5am (WITHOUT an alarm, I'll add! Eck!! Good thing I happened to wake up right then!) and got to the gym just in time to take the 5:30am Signature Strength class. And, I felt good! I was awake and alert and feeling good.

 

 

Class was brutal, as usual. The obligatory "warm up" was 15 good-mornings (using 15 lb-body bar), 30 alternate lunges with weights in hands (I used 10 lb) and then 30 push ups. Repeat. Again- SO NOT A WARM UP, but honestly it was better than most, so I didn't complain (not that I ever do... at least not out loud).

 

While the warm up wasn't that bad... the rest of class was. Walk out push ups, rows, clean presses, bicep curls, push ups galore, lots of sit ups/crunches/core work, overhead tricep extensions... and more. I can't even remember. All I know is that I felt like DEATH by the end. Ex-freaking-hausted. But, I told myself just to TRY for a quick run and that if I wasn't feeling it .1 mile in, I could stop.

 

 

Well, I still was definitely NOT feeling it after .1, but managed to convenience myself not to stop. I only had time for 2 miles instead my usual 2.5 because class ran over (and because I have my morning routine down to the SECOND and even just 4.5 more minutes on the TM would have made me late to work). They weren't 2 fast miles. They weren't 2 pretty miles. But, they were 2 miles. Done and done.

 

By the end of class and the quick run, this is what I felt/looked like AFTER my workout...

 

 

No, that is not a mis-print photo. I felt like a SLEEPY DOG. I was freaking BEAT and just all around WORN OUT and felt CRUMMY. Just not my workout.

 

Which leads me to a small tangent... this weekend my girlfriends and I were talking about how sometimes social media/blogs/etc. can actually be REALLY mentally draining/damaging. Seeing/reading all these other people talk about how GREAT they are and how great their lives are when our lives don't seem to measure up can be hard sometimes.

 

There are some bloggers or "friends" on facebook who always seem to have everything together. Always the perfect workout and the perfectly balanced diet (about 9 times out of 10 including something that she "swear tastes so good" but looks like ASS. Or a green smoothie. Every freaking time.). They always seem so perfect.

 

Sometimes, we can't help but compare ourselves to these people who are supposed to be out "peers". We can't help but think "She ran 10 miles on the treadmill this morning, so I should at least be able to run 10. She did!" We know better, but we still compare.

 

After we compare, we try to live up to them. We run farther than we're ready to. We ignore injuries. We eat WAY too little food because she only ate like 1,000 calories today AND she ran 8 miles, went to a spinning class and did a 45 minute strength circuit. That she made up. On a Tuesday. We end up making extremely poor life choices to try to live up to her.

 

Then, the inevitable happens. We don't live up to their impossible-to-maintain standard of perfection, we feel BAD. Really bad. We feel like failures. We feel like she's better than us. We feel like crap.

 

WHY?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

 

Here's a thought... STOP READING THOSE. And, who is this she? Who is she really? We have NO idea who whoever this persons blog is REALLY is. Some blogs (or facebook profiles or whatever) don't portray very accurate images of themselves. And, even worse, some blogs do and they are EXTREMELY UNHEALTHY. If a blogger never seems to have bad days or bad workouts or never eats a single freaking cupcake (made with FLOUR not freaking black beans or something)... they are NOT healthy. EVERYONE feels like a freaking sleepy dog sometimes. I guarantee it. If a blogger isn't saying it-- they're only showing you one side of themselves. And, fine-- it's their blog. But, if you feel bad about yourself after reading a blog, DON'T READ THAT BLOG ANYMORE. Seriously. If you find yourself thinking "I should be more like XXX" too often, STOP READING THEIR BLOG.

Be you. Don't let something that you do for FUN and for a HOBBY (like reading blogs or facebooking) be a source of stress. Please believe I'm talking to myself right now as much as to you. I just deleted 5 blogs off my favorites tab and plan to tackle my facebook friends list next. Life's too short.



 

 

Signature Strength, a hole, and leash walking

This is how I felt this morning. Working out was the LAST thing I wanted to do. It was COLD and I didn't sleep great and all I wanted to do was stay curled up in my bed... but, I got up and made it to Signature Strength by 5:3oam. 

   
Class was BRUTAL... again. Kicked my ass. It always kicks my ass. How is this possible? Wouldn't it start getting EASIER the more I go? Maybe I need to go or do any sort of anything resembling strength training more than just once a week? Huh. Rocket science, I tell you.

Anyway-- the warm-up was:
-30 sumo squats til your butt hit the step
-20 push-ups (I did them girl style)
-10 squat thrusters (I used 10-pound weights) 
Repeat 3 times, followed by a 2 minute plank

Kills me every time. Just call it the start of the workout. Don't LIE to me and call THAT a "warm-up". There's nothing small enough about that to warm UP to. It's up. Way up. Rant over. After the warm up we did a bunch of rows, bicep curls, russian twists, planks, push ups, squats, reverse lunges, squat thrusters, chest presses, swimmers, cannon balls, tricep dips, and more. If I didn't feel like the deathly pic above shows before the workout, I sure as shit did after it. I walked up to the treadmill to do my usual quick run and just couldn't even get the energy/motivation to step on it. I walked right back to the locker room and sat in the sauna for 20 minutes instead. #fail Hopefully I can get a run in later today during my lunch hour... but, I kinda doubt it. Oh well. At least I got some strength in.

After class I showered and stuff and it wasn't til I got to work and that I realized I have a hole in my shirt!

Oh no! I look like a slob today! Oh well. It's a small-ish hole, but it is right in the middle of my tummy-- no hiding this sucker. At least I'm wearing a tank top under the shirt so I'm not showing any skin. :)

I'll leave you with a cute pic of Sadie because I can and because she's just so damn cute. 

We're working on leash walking right now. She pulls like CRAZY when we walk. She just wants to sniff and smell everything and does not want to stay right next to either of us. She's so stubborn! So, we're trying to keep her on a shorter leash and give her treats for staying near us... it's a sloooow process. We're thinking about doing an obedience class, but that's seriously the only issue we're having. She's potty and crate trained. She doesn't bark. She doesn't jump up on strangers (much). She did great at the dog park with other dogs. She's SUCH a good dog, we'd just like her to stay near us a little more when we take her for walks. We'll see. Stay tuned.  

Signature Strength and Biggest Loser

Just another average Tuesday in these parts...

Up FAR too early to take Sadie out before hitting the gym for a 5:30am Signature Strength class.

Ugh... 4:55am is WAAAAY too early. I used to get up at 5, lay in bed for about 5 minutes and actually get outta bed at about 5:05. Now, with the doggy, I gotta get up right when the alarm goes off which gives me just enough time to pee (tmi?), brush my teeth, change, take Sadie out for a quick 5 minute walk/pee break for her (tmi again?), feed her, grab my shit and get out the door by 5:15am. The gym is a 10 minutes drive (well, at 5am when there are no other cars on the road it is) so I'm there juuuusy before the class starts. Perfect timing, down to the T. 

Signature Strength was ROUGH this morning. I mean, my arms were legit SHAKING while I was shampooing my hair after class. Wowza.  I don't remember everything we did, but I do remember the warm up was 30 squats, 20 alt lunges, 10 push-ups-- repeated all 3 times. Usually we use small, handheld dumbbells (I use 10 pounds) in class, but today we used kettlebells (I used 25 pounds). We did a TON of k-ball swings, bicep curls, lunges, squats, push ups, Russian twists, sit ups, chest presses and more. Too much to remember. TOO much, period. I am gonna be SORE tomorrow. Kicked my ass, but in a good way. I skipped the short TM run after, since I did 11 miles yesterday and plan to run during lunch today. 

Other than that... nothing really to report. Oh! Except that I started watching the new season of The Biggest Loser. I have a love/hate relationship with this show, but now that Jillian's back, you KNOW I'm watching this season.

A few thoughts on BL this season thus far....

1. I LOVE me some Jillian Michaels. LOVE. Like, seriously girl/fitness expert crush. I'd LOVE to be trained by her. Seriously. She can yell at me all day. Jillian comes off as a BEAST (aka: bitch) on this show, but I love it. That's exactly how I'd want a trainer to be. YELL AT ME! It'd definitely motivate me.
2. I also have a serious crush on Bob. He's so darn cute. And hard core. Dulvett's freaking hot too and trains like a pro (maybe b/c he is?? Duh, Meagan.). Ok, ok-- fine. I'll take any of them. If you insist. 
3. Not sure how I feel about the kids part of the show yet. Love the idea. Not sure how it'll be executed.
4. I admit it, the show almost made me cry a couple times. I didn't, but it was close. 
5. Were there this many medic's there the first day every season? Good God! It looked like people were legit about to die. That's a bit crazy, but I loved it.
6. Lastly-- PLEASE, can I PLEASE do a last chance workout? Seriously. I wanna be a contestant on that show so bad. SIGN ME UP. The yelling. The puke. The swearing. The sweat. The exhaustion. SIGN ME UP NOW.  Is it f-ed up that they look like FUN to me? Like, FUN fun. 



Alright... so, that's about it in my life right now. Gym. Eat. Work. Eat. Home. Eat. Hubs. Sadie. Rinse, repeat.

Weekly Workout Recap (12/10-12/16)

(source)

Weekly Workout Recap (12/10-12/16):
Monday, 12.10.12: 45 minute Unleashed class & 1.5 miles
Tuesday, 12.11.12: 60 minute Signature Strength class & 2 miles & 45 minutes elliptical
Wednesday, 12.12.12: 60 minute Spinning class
Thursday, 12.13.12: 6.2 miles
Friday, 12.14.12: 6 miles & 15 min. elliptical
Saturday, 12.15.12: 45 minute Insanity DVD workout
Sunday, 12.16.12: Rest Day!


Totals for Week (12/10-12/16):
15.7 Miles Run 
1 Spinning Classes
1 Signature Strength Classes
1 Unleashed Classes
1 Insanity Workout
45 Minutes Elliptical


This week was kinda an unintentional step back week... just didn't quite have the time I usually have and was outta town all weekend. I did get 2 pretty solid speed runs in through-- 1 intentional, 1 not. Was happy to get 3 different types of gym classes  and an Insanity workout in too! It's always good to mix it up a bit. Overall, a solid week, I'd say!

Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday

Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday!

 

Hey-- at least it's not Monday.

 

But, before we talk about Tuesday, let's talk about Monday.

 

I'm trying SO HARD to get up in the morning and hit the gym at my not-so-usual-anymore 5:30am group classes. It's just SOOOO hard sometimes. Monday was one of those times. I didn't sleep great and when I found myself up at 4am, I knew 5am wasn't gonna happen so I reset the alarm for 6:30 and tried to get a bit more shut eye. Stupid. I never really got back to bed so I should've just gotten up and went to the gym at 5am. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Oh well.

 

After a busy day at work I decided to hit the gym for a 5:45pm Unleashed class. What is Unleashed again?

 

Basically, it's similar to an Insanity type workout. Insanity (and Unleashed) = insane. Just for the record.

 

Anyway, the class didn't start til 5:45pm, so I had a little time to kill. Enter, treadmill.

 

Yes, I was rockin' compression sleeves.

 

I was a little nervous to even attempt to run, since I ran long Saturday and then got 6+ in again on Sunday. So, I set it for just over a 10:00 pace and hopped on. I was pleasantly surprised to feel great! I felt like I was going SO SLOW, but kept the pace steady and just called it a warm-up before the class started. I got 1.5 miles in in just under 15 minutes. Slow, but felt great! It's crazy how sometimes that pace can feel like I'm CRAWLING and like I could carry on a full conversation with no problems and sometimes that pace feels like death. Oh, running. That's why I love/hate you.

 

Me post run, but pre-Unleashed.

 

5:45pm rolled around and it was time to head to the gym for Unleashed.

I always know this class is rough, but I kinda forget just how rough til I walk in and see all the stations and then it all comes flooding back. Burpees, squats, lungs... yeaaaah. Intense.

Just how intense? Well, below was the WARM UP.

100 jumping jacks, 50 alternating lunges, then ran 2 laps SPRINTED around the gym.

100 jacks, 40 alt. lunges, 2 laps.

100 jacks, 30 alt. lunges, 2 laps.

100 jacks, 20 alt. lunges, 2 laps.

100 jacks, 10 alt. lunges, 2 laps.

 

Not a math major? That ended up being:

   - 500 jumping jacks

   - 150 alternating lunges
   - 10 laps sprinted around gym

 
As a warm up.

 

I was chatting with the Hubs after and we both agreed-- that should be called part one of the workout rather than the warm up. For real.

 

Back to the class... after completing the "warm up" (aka: part 1 of the workout), we got to the actual workout.

All stations done for 2 minutes. Complete first part, then second, then repeat until timer goes.

Station 1: 10x Wall Balls, 10x Tap Jump with Ball  (Note: I used 25 lb ball)

50 JUMPING JACKS

*1 minute break*

Station 2: 20x KB Swings, 5x Burpees (Note: I used 20 lb kball)

15 BURPEES

*1 minute break*

Station 3: 10x Clean & Press, 15x Deadlift (Note: Not sure what weight the bar was I used... I think 20.)

100 MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS

*1 minute break*

Station 4: 10x Knee Ins, 10x Push Up (Note: Completed on medicine ball, which made it so it was basically like a 2 min. plank too. UGH!)

50 JUMPING JACKS

Station 5: 2x Carpet Pushes across gym, 20x Jump Squat

15 BURPEES

Station 6: 10x bicep curl (I used 10 pound weights), 20x push ups (with help of risers)

40 PUSH UPS

 

The warm up and that workout too about 43 minutes. I peaced out after that. The class actually kept going with a few on-the-fly exercises to make it a full 50-minute class (+ 10 more minutes of cool down/stretching), but I just was POOPED. Plus, I knew I was going to Signature Strength this morning and didn't want to completely slaughter my muscles before then. I was dripping in sweat though! 43 intense minutes! LOVED it.

 

Since I left about 15 minute early, I got home right around 7pm. The Hubs was just finishing up his dinner and some paperwork around the house (paying bills! Thanks, hubs!). I reminded him that he had the name of the day! You know what that meant...

 

Our favorite fro yo place gives a free cup of fro yo to you if you have their name of the day. So, we headed straight to fro yo right after I got home. DELICIOUS!

If you notice, I said we went RIGHT after I got home. As in, no dinner between then. WHOOPS. I ended up having some air popped popcorn post fro yo while icing my knee and then a handful of almonds and chocolate chips. Dinner of champions? My tummy was not too happy with that decision and was in full on-revolt mode by bedtime. Whoops. Next time, I promise to give you food with actual substance ok, tummy? Good.

That brings us to today! TUESDAY, TUESDAY, TUESDAY!!! Hey, it's ONE day closer to Friday!!!

I started the day of at the gym with a 60-minute Signature Strength class that KILLED my arms and abs! Wowza.

Post class I decided to try the TM again, since yesterday it went well and since the strength class didn't have TOO much legs (though I'm sure I'll still be crazy sore tomorrow). I did 2 miles in 18:04. I went back and forth for the first mile for 20 seconds at 9:30 and 40 seconds at 8:42. Then, for the last 1/2 mile I started at 8:30 pace and increased it ever :30 seconds. Ended up being an average of a 9:02/pace. I'll take it!

Kinda random end of post story: The Hubs texts me every morning to say good morning (vomit, I know) and to see how the gym went. Today I replied that it went good and that I did signature strength and then 2 miles in 18:04. Below is his reply.

 

 He's so goofy... but, I love him. :)