Where's the Beach?

Today started off pretty much the same way as it has been starting since on vacation. I didn't really need to try to run again today. I put in 11.5 miles in two days and I know that's pushing it with my injuries. So, the plan was to just do the elliptical for a bit and watch a bit of Food Network before Jason got up. But, the elliptical is really basic (aka crappy) so I lasted about 30 minutes before moving to the treadmill. Normally I loathe the treadmill, but if I can watch something on TV that I want to watch, it makes it so much easier to handle. Yes, I just said I should not have been out running. So I did keep it scaled back. I only did 2.5 miles on the treadmill. And actually, I think it was maybe a good thing. It was a softer surface than the hard pavement I've been pounding. So for that reason, running inside wasn't such a bad idea. And it wasn't long. No intervals, no hills, nothing crazy. After the run, we packed up the cooler with lunch, lots of wa...

Moving It I had sort of hoped to get in a run at lunch with Jason today. But I definitely needed to rest both my heel and piriformis. So, I hit the gym instead. Since spin is out, the cardio was pretty boring - hello elliptical. I did the elliptical for about 40 minutes then did 3 rounds of a tabata session using kettlebells and body weight. It probably didn't actually help my piriformis one bit, but I couldn't stand the elliptical for a minute longer. It was a super simple workout as I hadn't exactly written it down. I just chose 4 exercises for a circuit that was repeated twice  before a break so each circuit (with break) is 5 minutes. You do each exercise for 20 seconds followed by a 10 second rest before moving to the next exercise. After all 8, you rest 1 minute. Kettlebell swings Kettlebell figure 8's Alternating front lunge holding kettlebell in both hands chest level Squat thrust with pushups Kettlebell swings Kettlebell figure 8's Alternating ...

Elliptical & Kettlebells Today was another oddly warm day - 80 degrees in March. Rather than hit the gym at lunch, I had to make a quick trip to Target. It was nice being outside even if it was just a quick errand spent mostly in the car. The sunshine definitely helped my mood. I won't harp on it; I feel like it's becoming redundant. But I really had no motivation for the gym. It just felt too nice outside to be stuck indoors. Thank goodness my gym does have a nice view. That helps some. But my PT wants me to lay off spin for now, so that really only leaves me with the elliptical, weights, and the kettlebell tabata that I've been doing (low-impact). In other words, it's kind of hard to get excited about doing something not terribly exciting. I can definitely understand why people stop working out if they aren't doing something they really enjoy. On a positive note, I did pick up some new magazines while at Target. I've gone through A LOT of magazines si...

Poopy Round 1 Literally, it was poopy. In reality I'm saying shitastic in case you want to know the truth. It was raining this morning, so I pulled on my handy rain boots. I didn't realize it until I had already gotten to work, but I managed to step on wet dog poop walking to the car. This, of course, meant that their was poop in the car. Yay. I had my doctor's appointment for my sciatica and foot pain at 9:15 this morning. Without going off on a major rant about doctors prescribing an assload of meds to mask the pain and not really and truly trying to figure out what's wrong, I'll just say that I have 4 prescriptions for pain meds, muscle relaxers, steroids. I rarely even take Advil or Ibuprophen let alone a cocktail of pain meds. However, I really am in enough pain that I did start the prednisone and left work early to take the muscle relaxer in hopes of some relief. The doctor is setting me up with an orthopedic specialist next week. So, maybe we'll get ...

Sunday Comfort Meal I did manage to get on two coats of paint for the TV stand. My only concern is that the paint will scratch off very easily. I guess it'll due for now at least. It definitely looks better than the black that it was. Jason, having been sick, was wanting something warm and comforting. It was fairly chilly and gray out, so soup sounded good. He originally mentioned a baked potato soup as we had two baking potatoes. I really didn't feel like that much potato for dinner. I ended up going with a made-up concoction for a chowder. I had used a recipe for a corn chowder ages ago, no idea where it is, so I figured I could wing it. Luckily, winging it worked nicely.  Corn and Cannellini Bean Chowder Ingredients: 3 small/medium carrots, diced 1/2 white onion, diced 1/2 green bell pepper, diced 1/2 red bell pepper, diced 2 tbps minced garlic 1 russet potato, cubed 1 can lite coconut milk 1 1/2 cups cannellini or white beans 10 oz frozen corn 1 not-chikn bo...

Windy Wednesday = Treadmill  So today I had these grandiose plans for a fabulous 6-mile run after work. It was supposed to be partly cloudy and around 59. Um, apparently the weather folks forgot to check outside today. It was more like no sun (at all), gusting 25 mph winds, 48 with wind chill of 41. So off the mark on that one guys. I really had no other back up workout plans I did weights yesterday. I really didn't want to wait around until 5:30 for spin, step was out of the question as calves are still too tight for that. So, I decided to hit the gym and split up cardio time between the treadmill and the elliptical. I started with the treadmill for 2 miles then did 6 1-minute athletic intervals then ran to round out to 4 miles before heading over to the elliptical to finish out another 10 minutes. I really would have preferred that my first run post half marathon be outside, but this worked. I was a sweaty mess once done. I got home and hit the yoga mat for stretching and ...

Gym Day The weather today made it really really hard to hit the gym and not the road for a run. Another gorgeous day, and warmer than yesterday too. Can't wait to be able to run for fun again and not based on a plan.  Anyway, today I hit the gym for my usual elliptical and weights session. Today was shoulders, chest, triceps and abs. I went with the trisets done in 3 sets of 8 reps again like I did on Monday. I started with a 15 minute warm up on the elliptical. TS#1 Chest flye Chest press Decline pushups Staggered chest press -8 TS#2 Standing dumbbell shoulder press Lateral raise Front raise Front raise open to side back to front - 8 TS#3 Double-arm overhead triceps extension Lying dumbbell triceps extension Double-arm kickbacks Triceps dips - 16 I did a variety of ab exercises like hanging leg raises, some weighted exercises, and some stability ball work before finishing off with another 10 minutes on the elliptical. Hump Day Dinner Back to what was...

Monday Gym Day Today I decided to go with my typical (or what has become my typical) Monday routine of hitting up the gym for elliptical and weights. I started with about 15 minutes of the elliptical today, then hit the weights for back and biceps. I went with trisets of 3x8. TS#1 Underhand barbell rows Pullovers Single-arm rows TS#2 Dumbbell curls Hammer curls Cross-body curls Assisted pullups - 8 Concentration curls - 5 (went pretty heavy with idea of just going to failure) I finished out with another 15 minutes on the elliptical. Overall, a really strong workout. It was definitely what I needed today as a stress reliever. Mustard Sauce for Monday I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to do for dinner tonight. Last night I actually had cereal (gaps). We had some asparagus that needed to be used up quickly, so I went with that and built the meal around roasted asparagus. I did roasted sweet potatoes (rosemary, salt, pepper, parsley), roasted asparagus (salt and...

Legs, My Aching Legs I must say that last night after sitting down to eat dinner, I wasn't sure my legs were ever going to function normally again after this sequence of workouts: 12-mile run (Sat), legs (Sun), 8-mile with intervals (Mon). Let's just say we need a new thing of tiger balm now. Of course, the reason I did the run on Monday rather than today was because I was supposed to have jury duty. I didn't have a clue what the day would bring so I was prepared to make it a rest day if needed. I called the number last night as directed and listened to the names being rattled off, not once, but twice through because my name was never called. At the end of the message it just said that if they didn't say your name, you didn't have to report until further notice. Seriously???? Oh well, at least I got the run done right?  This morning, oddly enough, my legs weren't nearly as bad off as I had expected. I can walk normally and even hover over the toilet at work...

Way Way Off Running Plan So today I thought I was going to hit the trails again for another fantastic outdoor run. The temps were perfect, but the wind was so out of control. Not even gusting 23 mph, just flat out 23 mph. Um, no thank you. I might be fairly crazy, but I'm not totally crazy (ok, that might be a lie). Anyway, as much as I wanted to run outside, and as much as I wanted to attempt to semi-salvage this week's training plan (which is so completely out the window), I hit the gym instead. I started with 10 minutes on the elliptical to warm up and then hit the weights for shoulders and triceps. I started to go with supersets (very typical) but ended up doing trisets of 3x8 followed by 2 additional exercises: TS#1 Shoulder press Lateral raises Rear delt press Front raise open to side - 8 TS#2 Double-arm overhead triceps press Lying triceps extensions Double-arm kickbacks Triceps dips - 16 After the weights I did some ab exercises before returning to th...

No Cereal After All Well, after much debate over dinner, we did not eat cereal after all. Jason ended up putting together some Toasted Tempeh and Bean Burritos by browning tempeh, along with red beans, red and green bell peppers, onions, some salsa, and typical Tex-Mex spices with a splash of lime juice. We sprinkled some whole-wheat wraps with Daiya, filled them with the mix, rolled and toasted up. I have a feeling we'll make these again. They were tasty, filling, and fairly simple.  Monday Gym Day It's another absolutely gorgeous day here. Too bad I didn't have a run scheduled or that's what I would have done during lunch. Trying to follow the plan (for the most part), I didn't run but rather hit the gym for back and biceps and a short elliptical stint. It's pretty much the same routine as last Tuesday. I started with 10 minutes on the elliptical then hit the weights going with 3 sets of 8 reps: Assisted pullups - 8 SS#1 Alternating biceps curls Un...

Car Update As I promised, here is a picture of the wall I had to scale to get into my cube on Friday. I stood on the chair to get onto the cabinet then stepped over the wall. Thankfully there is another cabinet on the other side (see 2nd picture) that I could stand on then jump off of.   I've had so many of you ask about that status of the car. Well, it's still gone. We have to wait 3 weeks before the insurance company will give us a check for the value of the car. Of course, it could still be found between now and then. I got a nice fat envelope in the mail at lunch today with tons of paperwork to fill out for the insurance company. While I am really really trying to find some humor or even the slightest bit of positivity out of the situation, it really started to sink in yesterday afternoon. I ended up opting out of the Super Bowl party, letting Jason go alone. I wasn't going to be much fun. I'd like to just curl up and have a crying fit to be perfectly honest. I...

Lifting on Blah Monday Today I definitely had a case of the Monday Blahs. It didn't help that the skies were heavy and gray today. Tomorrow it's supposed to storm and then get down into the teens. So much for early spring huh? I had actually contemplated trying to do tomorrow's training run today just so I could get it done outside. But I had to be realistic, I had a long run Saturday and another 4 miles yesterday. I needed to do something other than run today. So, I hit the gym for some upper body weights and a short stint on the elliptical. I did 10 minutes on the elliptical to warm up then I went with back and chest, then abs Assisted pullups - 10 Pushups - 24 TS#1 - 3x8 Underhand barbell rows Flat bench flyes Flat bench dumbbell press Assisted chinups - 10 Pushups with feet on bench - 16 TS#2 Single-arm rows Incline bench flyes Incline bench dumbbell press SS#1 Pullovers Staggered chest press I did a variety of ab work including some stabilit...

Weights & Elliptical on Wednesday  Today I had thought about running 3-4 miles of tomorrow's planned run making tomorrow's run with intervals shorter. But, my legs were against that idea. So, I decided to hit the gym after work (despite the fact that it was way to nice out to be inside). I wanted to get back done, and had thought I might do chest as well to be done with weights for the week. In the end, I just did back and abs. I started with 20 minutes on the elliptical to warm up before hitting the weights. I really only planned on 10, but someone was using the barbell I needed. This is yet another tweaked version of my last back workout from Cathe's STS rotation. It was done at 4 sets of 8 reps at my 1RM. Pullovers Single-arm rows Underhand barbell rows (I omitted the single-arm horizontal rows) Assisted pullups - 2x6 (I tried to go as light as I could with the assist) I also did some ab work before finishing up with about 5 minutes more on the elliptic...

Freezing Outside Well, I know almost every single state has snow, but I have to bring up our frigid temperatures. It was warmer on the days it snowed here! Walking into work at 7 am, it was 16 degrees with wind chill of 2. Yes, that's a single digit friends. I thought I lived in the south??!! I guess the only saving grace was that it was sunny. Sometimes really cold days are some of the prettiest - so crisp (literally). Tomorrow's high is only 32 and that's not the wind chill of course. It's going to make the scheduled 4-miler a bitch. Gym Day Speaking of workouts, today I did 15 minutes on the elliptical then hit the weights. I did biceps for STS Week 2 of Meso 3 (sort of). Since I was at the gym, I didn't have my weighted gloves that allow me to micro load (in 1 and 2 pound increments). So say I did 15 pounds last week and needed to increase 5% this week. I could use the gloves to do that rather than trying to jump from 15 to 20. Also, the incline curls are s...

Working Out on Friday So today is supposed to be my rest day, but since I took the day off Wednesday, I packed my gym bag and took it with me to work. This meant I had no excuse to skip the workout. I worked through lunch so I could leave at 3 pm. This also helped prevent any excuses. I hit the gym for a 10-minute warm up on the elliptical then back from STS Week 2 of Meso 3 . This week the weights increase and the reps drop to 4x7. Underhand rows One-arm rows Pullovers (in lieu of deadlifts) One-arm horizontal rows I added on low back extensions on the stability ball then finished off with 20 minutes on the elliptical. Fun Facts Friday - Resolutions vs Goals Tonight will be our typical Pizza and Pool Friday. It just makes meal planning so much easier on Friday evenings after a long work week. Now I know you all are asking, "So how does this fit in with Fun Facts Friday???" And it doesn't. Just chatting is all. But since you all brought up Fun Facts Friday...

Gym Day Well, today the temps were back closer to the normal range - as in 51 not 73. Today was like my Friday as we are off Thursday and Friday for the holidays. Even better, I got to leave at 12:30 pm. Now that's a Christmas gift for sure! I had packed my gym bag this morning because I knew I wanted to work back today. I wasn't sure if I would be hitting up spin class or just the elliptical. Since I got off work early (though not early enough for the noon spin class), I just hit the elliptical for my cardio. Since I missed Week 2 of STS Meso 2 , I went with that for my Week 4 workout. I decided to start at 70% and work up to 80% of my 1RM with each set so that I was hitting the 80% as I was supposed to this week. Warm up on elliptical for 10 minutes Pullups Medium grip chinups Chinups Barbell rows - 12,10,8,TF 1-arm rows - 12,10,8,TF Pullovers - 12,10,8,TF Low back extensions on ball Again, I left out the band work and deadlifts and substituted with pullovers ...