Category: workouts

Smashed

This past week, I was super-strict, logging everything I even thought about eating, pushing myself through tough workouts, all because I was annoyed I didn’t reach my mini-goal last week.  Well, consider that mini-goal smashed!  I reached it this week, and then some, with a 4-pound loss.

My next mini goal is to lose 10 pounds before the end of November.  There are five weigh-ins before the end of November, so it shouldn’t be impossible.  Of course, we have the stumbling blocks known as holidays starting in November, so I need a plan.  Why can’t Thanksgiving conveniently be on a Saturday, my weigh-in day and “off” day?  Hmmph.  All I can do is schedule my workouts, make a solid plan, and stick to it.

I got up early this morning and did another Insanity Max 30 workout, and I nearly died.  This one was tough!  We’re talking burpees with jump lunges after each one, sadistic moves like that.  I practically needed a beach towel to keep wiping all the sweat off my face.

After a big loss this past week, I know my loss this week will be pretty small.  All the same, I am going to aim for 2 pounds and challenge myself.  Here’s to a good week!

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Oh look, another Shaun T quote! 🙂

I Want My Reward!

To help motivate me along this journey, and to add some fun, I decided to reward myself for every 10-pound loss.  Nothing wild and crazy, no Maserati’s here, just little things I usually wouldn’t spend the money on, like a salon manicure.

Last Saturday, I was 0.6 pounds away from my next 10-pound reward.  Besides not earning the reward yet, I was just very disappointed with losing 1.4 pounds when I worked so hard last week.  I am determined to reach my next mini-goal (and get my reward) this Saturday, so I decided to shake things up again and switched last night’s Insanity workout to Insanity Max: 30.

insanity max 30

Insanity Max: 30, led by my boy Shaun T, is basically Insanity condensed into 30 minutes.  No stretching to catch your breath after the warm-up, no breaks, no chit-chat, just hard-core go-go-go for 30 long minutes.  So it’s harder than regular Insanity because there are no breaks to look forward to, but it’s also over faster (since Insanity workouts range from 40-60 minutes).  And trust me, I watch that clock on the screen, counting down the minutes to the end!

Last night I was straightening up the top shelf of my closet, which tends to slide into a jumbled mess because I really can’t reach it and end up slinging things up there instead of neatly placing them there.  I pulled a stack of sweaters down to refold and put back neatly, when I discovered that two sweaters had been shoved behind all the others. I completely forgot I had them!  I tried them on, and they both fit.  I couldn’t wait to wear one of them today to work.  It was like going shopping but not having to spend any money, ha ha.  Oh, and it was a reminder to straighten that shelf more often!

Rest Day

It’s hard for me to take rest days.  I know how easy it is for me fall off the wagon, and one rest day could quickly turn into two days, three days, then weeks.  I panic at the idea of not working out and opening up the possibility of losing my momentum.  But after the dismal run on Monday, I felt like my poor body was frantically trying to tell me something, so I gave it a much-needed rest on Tuesday.

Instead of working out, I went out to dinner with my husband and my stepson.  (I stuck to unsweet tea and a chicken salad.  Rest day didn’t mean pig-out day!) Both of them are certified smart-asses, and they were raring to go that night.  I was laughing so hard at the two of them that I was sure we would be asked to leave.  It was a lot of fun.

Last night, the break was over, and I did an Insanity workout.  I was sweaty and wiped out afterward, but I added on a 10 minute ab workout for good measure.  Today my shoulders are sore, which surprised me, but then I remembered the move with push-ups that move side to side.  Yeah, they are just as much fun as they sound (withering sarcasm from someone who despises push-ups).

Tonight I will hit the weights, then tomorrow will be an early morning workout, since we are heading to my younger stepson’s football game tomorrow night!  I will be disappointed when the season is over.  I really enjoy watching him play.

I am kicking around the idea of doing an Insanity workout tomorrow morning…I’m not sure I have the energy for all that mess so early in the morning!  Then again, maybe pushing myself through a crazy tough workout before I’m completely awake is actually quite clever 🙂

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My plan
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What might really happen instead 🙂

8 Miles

TrailI wasn’t able to do much running last week, thanks to the bubonic plague that my dear husband so sweetly and generously passed along to me.  (Thanks, honey!)  I still have a sporadic cough that rears its ugly head out of the clear blue, leaving me suddenly sputtering and choking, but other than that, I think I’m going to live.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I headed out for a run yesterday evening.  Being sick always leaves me with that weak-as-a-kitten feeling, not terribly conducive to a nice, long run.  I figured I’d take it slow, listen to my body, and stop if I really needed to.

I ran on the trail at the park I mentioned during one of my first runs, when I nearly collapsed and felt like I couldn’t do it.  I felt much stronger this time.  I was able to focus on the scenery around me and notice how pretty it is, and I even watched the sunset along the treetops.  If it wasn’t such a pain to get my phone out of the arm band, I would definitely have taken a picture.  Next time.

I ended up covering 8 miles, which was my goal for the evening, but the last 3 miles or so were really a struggle.  It was funny, once I left the trail and hit the sidewalk and was running along the side of the road, I just wasn’t feeling it anymore.  I had to force myself to keep going.  Maybe I am a trail runner at heart.

I will hit some weights this evening, then who knows.  I am one of the lucky people living in the path of Hurricane Michael, which apparently wants to stomp all over us.  Our crappy utility company can’t keep the power on during a bright, clear, sunny day, so I guarantee we will lose power as soon as the storm starts and won’t get it back on for a few days.  My gym is closing today and won’t reopen until sometime after the storm, so without power or a gym, and not being sure the roads will be safe to run on even when the storm is over, I’m not certain what to do about workouts.  I will take it one day at a time and do my best.

See you after the storm!

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*Sniffle*

imageLast week, when my husband started sniffling and coughing, I was of course concerned about him and felt bad that he was sick.  But my very next thought, right on the heels of my sympathy for him, was “Oh dear god, please don’t let me catch whatever the hell he has!”  I didn’t have time to be sick!  I finally have my workouts under control, I’m finally losing weight, I just started Insanity workouts.  Being sick would just set me back.

Neither my prayers, nor my constant dosing with Cold-Eeze, helped one bit.  I started sneezing and burning through the box of tissues on my desk at work, and when I woke up the next morning and just flat couldn’t breathe at all, I took a much-needed sick day and did something I rarely do: I simply relaxed and rested all day.

I’m still not 100% better, but I’m at that nagging tail end, the part of being sick that doesn’t know how to say good-bye, the irritating cough and on-and-off runny nose, not enough to stay home sick, just enough to aggravate.

I worked out yesterday and have nice, sore arms today to prove it.  My plan is to get back at it this week and aim for a good weigh-in on Saturday.  I’m annoyed that being sick put my workouts and weight loss efforts on hold, but my husband and I took care of each other and are mostly better now.

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