Where's the Beach?

Weights & Tabata Today was supposed to be a gym day for me. I did ask Jason if he wanted to run at lunch vs in the morning. I was hoping he'd say today. Nope. No such luck. So, I did what I needed to do and hit gym. And it really was more ideal. The temps were already in the 80's by 11 and it was pretty windy out. I guess I'm feeling like I'm spending too much time at the gym - like I'm working harder not smarter. I am not sure if it's time to go back to a few weeks for full body workouts or what I should do. I have a huge list of exercises I think I should be doing, or want to be doing. But I feel like I'd be there even longer than I already am. Anyway, I hit the elliptical to warmup then hit the weights. It wasn't the best workout session, but that boiled down to some major annoyances (which I'll get to). I decided to go with giant sets for back and shoulders. After finally securing a bench, I got started. I did 3 sets of 8 reps: GS - ...

Lunch Date Trumps Gym Today I did something totally different - I went off my normal schedule. Something I should do more often. Rather than getting in my workout at lunch, I met a friend for lunch. We hadn't seen each other in a while, so it was long over due. We met at a nice place just down the street from our respective offices called Lulav . It's definitely one of those places you think of when you want a fancy dinner. But, their lunches are actually very reasonably priced - and good. So, we had a nice visit over our meal. It was great catching up, and just taking time to enjoy some time during the day. I think it's easy to get caught up in disliking Mondays that it's easy to overlook opportunities to make it enjoyable. The only downfall was that it was so nice out it made it that much harder to get back to the office. Gym Time I guess the other downfall of missing the noon workout would be my general workout motivation - or lack thereof. When I workout a...

Spin & Motivation Today was supposed to have been warm and sunny, but the sun was very slow to come out. That was probably a good thing though, less tempting for me to try to run. Instead, I hit up spin. I guess yesterday's interval run kicked my booty more than I realize. My legs felt like dead weights during spin class. In my mind I was keeping pace with the music, in reality it probably looked like I was barely moving. The only reason you'd know I was truly working was from the sweat pouring off of me. After work I spent about 20 minutes stretching. I'm hoping it loosens up the tension or tomorrow may end up having to be a rest day. Tonight is going to be simple - fajitas (for Mexican Monday). I'm just using homemade seitan and sauteing with onions, bell peppers, and portobello mushrooms. It's not really even much of a recipe really. In fact, I sort of feel bad about how measly this post is today. I don't feel like I have any great workouts to shar...

Running Day Well, the rest day yesterday did help some, but I still felt really drained most of the day. On tap for workout was Week 1, Day 2 of the half marathon training plan . Jason has not started the plan yet, but he said he was going to start it with me today. He wanted to try to get the workout done during lunch and I agreed, but man was I reluctant (and dragging boooottttyyyy). It was sunny, about 51 degrees, but winds gusting up to 20 mph. Ahhhhh good times friends. The plan was a 4-mile run with 4 100-meter gentle pickups at the end of the run. This meant that you started slowly then built up speed for 100 meters (about 20 seconds) then jogged to recover and repeated. Sounded reasonable enough...But my legs felt like lead weights today. I'm just having such a hard time getting out of my head now. I am over-analyzing everything from the tilt of the road to any minor muscle twitch. It's frustrating because I was on cloud 9 with almost every run before. I know I jus...

Weights and Plyo Wow, Monday sure came fast. How'd that happen???? I went to bed pretty early last night (asleep by 9 pm), when my alarm went off at 6:18, I could have easily slept another 2 hours. And yes, I set my alarms at off times. No rhyme or reason. Today I went home and did weights at lunch. It's supposed to be upper body focus with plyo legs. I didn't have time to do a full plyo workout, but did managed to do 5 exercises. Weights were 3 sets of 8 reps: Back - Double-arm dumbbell rows Biceps - Dumbbell preacher curls (these are the bane of my existence) Chest - Flat bench flyes Shoulders - Military press Triceps - Overhead extension Biceps - Hammer curls I did add an extra back exercise - pullovers. Plyo: Wide jumps on 12" step, explosive running man, crossovers with 8#, split jumps After work I did 30 minutes of Cathe's Imax 3 for additional plyo work, then stretched. Accidental Mexican Monday Tonight's Mexican Monday Meal wasn't really plan...

Step and Biceps/Triceps  This morning I opted for the extra hour of sleep rather than the morning workout. I did go home and get the workouts done at lunch though. It was the perfect energy boost that I needed. I had started the day feeling rather down for no particular reason. The workout seemed to get me back on track. I did one of the premixes from Cathe's Step Blast then did biceps and triceps using the drop set method: 12, 10, 8, 6. Dumbbell curls Hammer curls Incline curls Lying dumbbell extensions Kickbacks Overhead extension I was a little frustrated with the weights I ended up using today. They seemed lighter than I would have liked. However, I must keep in mind that I did quite a few reps with this method. It's not like they don't feel sufficiently fried either. Do you ever beat yourself up over a particular weight? I'm trying really hard not to, there's no reason for it. Fajita Monday Tonight just seemed like a fajita kind of night to me. It would hav...

Fabulous Friday I managed to get up and get my workout in again this morning. It was easier because Jason had an alarm set for 5 am to go to swim. Not much point in trying to go back to sleep for an hour when it takes me 30 minutes just to drift off most of the time. So I chose Cardio Fusion . I like this workout because it is a compilation of 3 other workouts so you don't get bored. Just when you think you might, you're on to something else like football runs. I also got in a second cardio today when we had a fire drill. I'm on the 10th floor by the way. It took 10 minutes to get out of the building. We only have 5 elevators, so taking the stairs is actually must faster. Makes me very very glad to be in shape! It felt like such a great day, even if I worked 9 hours. I think it was the sunshine and warmer temps. Everyone seemed to be in better spirits. I plan to carry this energy over into the weekend. Tomorrow I plan on getting in a run outside. It's supposed to be s...

Tired on Tuesday Well, today I had every intention of getting up and working out first thing. I had my step out, DVD chosen, even clothes set out. However, I slept terribly. I tossed and turned from about 2 am on. I just couldn't get my mind to slow down. So by the time 4:30 am rolled around, I knew that there was no way I was going to get up at 5 and exercise. I reset the alarm for 6:15 and dozed on and off. Needless to say, today felt very long and tiring. I really began to contemplate the option of taking today as a rest day. I just felt completely run down with zero motivation. However, I decided that the cardio may do me some good. It usually does, even if only temporarily. So I chose to do Cathe's Low Max today. It's been so long since I've done that workout. I like it, but it's not a super high calorie burner for me. You also have to be ready for a solid hour workout. It's still fun and time does go quickly. It alternates between a short step combinat...