whaaaat?

It's already been nine days since I posted?! Damn, time flies. I have been keeping up with my workouts for the most part... my mom came to visit last weekend so my eating wasn't the best, but I stuck with working out. Hmmm, let me see if I can remember how last week went...

• Sunday - full body strength training
• Monday - 2.5 mile run
• Tuesday - full body strength training
• Wednesday - Zumba
• Thursday -2.5 mile run
• Friday - rested
• Saturday - Body Pump

Dude. Body Pump. It was freaking awesome and HARD. I was sore for three days afterward. Seriously.

Here's what this week has been/will be...ish:

• Sunday - zumba
• Monday - rest
• Tuesday - rest
• Wednesday - zumba
• Thursday - full body strength training, 2 mile run
• Friday - zumba
• Saturday - MY BIRTHDAAAAAAY! 5K birthday run, full body strength training

So yeah. My food has sucked for the most part the past few days. I've had a slice of cake for dinner three nights in a row. I'm going to get back onto my fairly rigid paleo diet. I think I'd like to have seafood for my birthday, so I'm sure I can still stick to the paleo pretty well even with going out to eat. I will probably have a few glasses of wine, too... I know, I know. But it's my birthday!

I don't want to overdo it, though, because I have plans for Sunday to get shit done, seeing as it's my only day off. I want to make pickles.

Training has to start for my upcoming races soon... crazy!

it is past my bedtime.

Quick update before bed. I spent a good chunk of my day looking up paleo recipes on www.paleomg.com. Let me tell ya, I've got some good ones in store. I'm also planning to make a trip out to Alice very soon to buy some grass fed goodies. I'm going to order some kangaroo meat online, as well. I know, I know, they're cute. But damn they are tasty. 

Today was a full body strength day. Here's the breakdown - 3 sets each of:

• deadlifts
• squats
• lunges
• calf raises
• curls
• shoulder press
• shrugs
• overhead tricep extensions
• side bends

 'Twas a good day. My body is tired. I'm broke until payday on Friday so my dinner was pretty simple. A big can of tuna fish, an ounce of almonds, some watermelon, and three delectable Dove dark chocolate squares to top it off.

It's weird when your heart is beating so loudly in your head that every time the blood pumps through it temporarily mutes sounds, like the hum of my air conditioner por ejemple.

restrestrest

Monday I made it to the gym for my leg workout. I'm pretty clueless and don't know a whole hell of a lot of exercises to do, so I just did three sets each of squats, lunges, leg extensions, and I threw a few little ab things in between. I'm going to look up more exercises so I can have a better variety and longer workout. Even so, though, I am sore from what I did! After I lifted I did 10 minutes of pretty intense intervals on the stationary bike, followed by a three minute cool down.

Yesterday I was absolutely, 100% exhausted. I planned on going to the gym right after work but I left work a little early and headed home for a quick nap. Well, that quick nap turned into 15 hours. I woke up a few times here and there to go to the bathroom and let the dog in and what not, but for the most part it was a good solid sleep. I needed it, I guess. So yesterday there was no upper body strength training and no 2.5 mile run.

My back is still hurting. It is more uncomfortable today than it was yesterday. It's weird but I really think that going to the gym helps it rather than aggravates it. So I'm going to try to fit the gym in at some point today. I'm working an after hours event so we'll see when, but it's nice having a gym that's open 24 hours. I'll do full body since I missed upper body yesterday, but I think I am going to pass on the run for now. My left ankle kind of hurts, as well. I'm falling apartttttt.

i'm back!

After too long of a hiatus from exercise and all things healthy, I'm getting back into the game for real. I joined a gym and I've been eating (mostly) well. Let's talk fitness first.

So I bought that Groupon for the pilates studio and I went to their Zumba Toning class. I liked it, but it wasn't as great as normal zumba at Studio Vida. Buuuuut I will definitely return to check out other classes and instructors. Especially because I have those discounted passes. Friday mornings will be Zumba, Saturday mornings are going to be Body Pump. I've never done Body Pump so I'm pretty excited to check it out.

I also joined Freedom Fitness here in town. My pal goes there, too, and the price is right - only ten dollars a month. I've been with her a few times and she's taught me some new strength training stuff. Once I learn my way around the weight room, I'm going to start going in the mornings before work. Mondays and Wednesdays I'm focusing on legs, Tuesdays and Thursdays are upper body days. I'll probably throw in one or two runs on those days, as well.

Speaking of running, I ran for the first time since Beach to Bay on Monday. I went to the gym with my mom while I was home and after I lifted I hopped on the treadmill and waited for her to finish. I decided to just run and see what happened. I kept it nice and easy, around 11 min/mile, and I was surprised to find out that I felt pretty great! I wasn't huffing and puffing like I thought I would be. I ran for twenty minutes, a little less than two miles. Not terrible for the first time back. Then I decided to be real crazy and doubled up my workout for the day by going to zumba in the evening. I had to get my Mario fix. HRM told me I burned 735 calories in the hour. Chyeaaaah! So Monday was intense - lifting, run, zumba.

Tuesday I woke up early and went to the gym with momma again. Focused on arms and did rows, curls, kick backs, etc. My arms are so weak, it's pathetic. I've gotta work towards changing that. I headed back to CC and got another semi-workout by unpacking and putting together my new room. Hey, I worked up a sweat so it counts!

Okay, so that's the fitness front. I'm feeling pretty confident and excited about keeping it up. So now for food. I've been loosely following the 'paleo' diet, which essentially is you eating like a caveman. Meat, fruits, vegetables, nuts. I'm not being ridiculously strict with it, but I feel pretty good so far cutting out almost all of my dairy and grains. The dairy needed to go anyways, I think I'm slightly lactose intolerant. And I don't eat a hell of a lot of grains anyways. But... you're not supposed to eat beans. Beans are going to be hard to let go so I'm sure I'll still eat them every now and then. I'm not going to even give it a second thought.

Okaaaay, so that's my plan. Build muscles, eat real food. And I'll leave this with this week's WWS:

• Sunday - swam, some lifting at home
• Monday - legs, ran 20 minutes on treadmill, Zumba
• Tuesday - upper body
• Wednesday - legs (maybe... having dinner at the house tonight and might not have time)
• Thursday - upper body (full body if legs don't happen tonight), run two miles
• Friday - Zumba
• Saturday - Body Pump

ouch.

Peroneal tendonitis. I believe I may have this. The soreness in my legs has faded, but the sharp pain in my right foot has not. I've been limping around since the race. I had to come back to work today and it's been rough. I've almost been brought to tears multiple times. I've got an ace bandage wrapped around my ankle, holding an ice pack up to it. Hopefully a week of rest will fix the problem..

I don't even care though. I ran a freakin' half marathon.

ouch.

Another week down in training. Thursday I came very close to skipping my run in lieu of cleaning the house, but I decided to man up and just DO IT. I did this run on the treadmill. I really kind of appreciate my treadmill runs, they aren't so bad. I like that I can keep track of my speed easily. My 3.5 miles went like this:

warm up walk
1st mile - 6mph
2nd mile - 6.5mph
3rd mile - 7mph (!! one of my fastest miles yet)
last .5 mile - 6.5mph, then 6mph
cool down

It was a good run, I felt strong. Not so much can be said for my long run this week. Well, I guess that's a lie, I felt pretty good during the run. It's the aftermath that is unpleasant. I had 9.5 miles on my plate yesterday and I conquered them. Totally annihilated. When I hit the seven mile marker I couldn't believe how good I still felt. Same with mile eight. I definitely had to dig deep for the last half mile, but I think that was more mental than physical. I knew I was almost done and that made my mind turn itself off.

After the run, I was obviously tired, especially my legs. But I noticed a clicking in my knee, accompanied by slight pain. I'm hesitant to even call it pain, maybe just discomfort. I iced and stretch but it lingered throughout most of the day. I can feel it today, the following day, but mostly only when I go down or up stairs. My legs are just sore, overall. This is the first time I've been sore from a run in a while! I'm hoping a few days of rest will clear the whole thing up. It makes me nervous, though.

After all of this training, I'm really not sure how I feel about distance running. I feel like it gets to a point where it's not even that enjoyable anymore (I usually hit this around mile 7). It hurts. It's hard. The main redeeming value of these long runs is the satisfacting and feeling of accomplishment when I successfully complete the miles. After New Orleans, I might stick to 10ks. That is, if my knee doesn't go out on me.

take that, holidays!

There's something so very satisfying about knowing that you kicked ass this week on the fitness front. I did all my scheduled runs PLUS some. Thursday was a travel day for me so there was no working out. Friday I made it to a zumba class at my favorite studio here in town and it totally kicked my ass. I wore my heart rate monitor and found that I burned 672 calories during the hour!

Saturday I was a little too sore from zumba to get my five mile run in, so instead I went to the gym with my mom and did an easy 45 minute elliptical work out. I only burned about 350 calories but I figured it was better than doing nothing at all.

This morning, even with some congestion and the feelings of a head cold, I got my ass out there and ran my five miles! I'm not going to say it felt good, because it was hard and I was fighting the wind and some achy legs, but I did get a second wind as I was finishing up my last mile and I completed the run in 53:22. Still at a sub-11:00 min/mile. I need to do some serious stretching today. In fact, I will do that as soon as I hop off the computer.

Since I have a temporary guest pass for my mom's gym until I leave town, I think tomorrow morning I'll get one last visit in before I hit the road. I'm definitely just going to walk on the treadmill. I need something very light! I haven't been sore from working out in so long, so I want to get some active recovery in.

My feet stink, that means it's time to shower. But first - a damn good stretching session! Merry Christmas, y'all!