Who Needs a Rest Day?

Me me pick me!

Wednesday- about an hour of mountain biking after work. Not a long ride, but I knew a) I hadn't been off road in a while and this takes brains AND skill and b) I haven't missed a workout in days, even if it wasn't much of a workout, there have been no complete rest days

Thursday-
3.2 mile run to the bus stop, then the next hour trying to stop sweating. It was very humid today
Since I came in and started working instead of hitting the shower first- I was still disgusting by lunch time so I hit the fitness room for
gravitron asst. pullups: 2 x 8 x 73 lbs dips, 2 x 8 x 65 dips, 1 x 8 x 73 pullups, 1 x 8 x 65 parallel grip PUs, 1 x 6 x 65 wide grip pullup
bench press 3 x 8 x 65lb
cable crossover 1 x 10 x 30, 2 x 10 x 35
incline press DBs 3 x 8 x 15lb
fly 2 x 10 x 10lb, 1 x 8 x 12lb
seated cable row 3 x 8 x 50lb
tricep pulldown 1 x 10 x 35lb, 1 x 10 x 40, 1 x 10 x 45
about 10 minutes of ab work: crunches, reverse crunch, planks, etc

And then: I ate in the cafeteria at work. Mashed potatoes. The ruination of it all.

run piggee run,squeeeeaaaaal

yesterday- 3 miles - late afternoon -decent but not heartpounding pace
today- went out with women who kick my butt and rightly so. worked a little harder and did closer to 3.5 miles

What is it that makes us pound harder when we aren't alone? Is it really competitive spirit? not wanting to look like a lard butt? spite?

Weekend Walks

Saturday a.m. we left for a short camping trip in East Arkansas, not too far from Memphis. Despite our many state park trips, we've never visited Village Creek before. The acreage is huge, trail system is LONG, and we won't have time to see much of it but here we are. After arriving the small one and I get a driving tour of some of the park then we stop by the visitor's center to check in and chat. We pick up a soda for each then head to our campsite to get set up and cook some much longed for lunch. The park has quite a few caches hidden in and around so as soon as lunch settles we head right back to the VC to try the caches hidden close by. Ugh. One was labeled "night cache" and we couldn't find it in the daylight. We found the next one at the amphitheater then we walked over to the Big Ben trail for a cool one. 2 more in a recreation area across the park and we decide maybe we'd like to head into "town" to see what there is to do. We stopped at the pioneer memorial on the way out of the park to find a cache and the small one was fast asleep in the back seat. This one took us a while, it was well hidden. The small one was excited that there is a cache in a cemetary in town-I know it's strange but I like walking in cemetaries too. We never found the cache but we had interesting discussions about the people buried there and what their lives might have been like. All that walking and driving has worn us out so we head back, build a fire, play some UNO, roast some dogs and then...we watch a movie. Not something I usually encourage while camping but it's okay sometimes.
Easter morning I fueled everyone up with peanut butter chocolate banana wraps in tortillas and a few links of sausage. Good food makes my family happy. We met the new, and I mean brand new, park interpreter for a hike on the Military Road trail. 2 hours, countless steps, a swinging bridge and a bundle of frog eggs later we were ready to pack up and head out. After stopping for a quick lunch we went to Parkin. There is a museum park run by state parks and the archeology group on an ancient indian village site. Cool. We got to see many of the artifacts found at the site and walked through the museum about life during the time of the Mississippian mound builders. The story is that the first Christian service in Arkansas may have happened here at Parkin when DeSoto came through. There is a written record and a drawing of the cross raising in the village. hmmm. The newest part of the park is a restored school house that was built for the children of black lumber workers of the Northern Ohio company. The building was being used as a house and might have been destroyed if someone hadn't recognized it for what it was. An interesting combination of history here, Native Americans to Segregated Americans.
As usual it was nice to get home. I can't believe how tired I still feel when I know I spent all my time in a car or walking (not running). Time to get back to it.

Jog Like a Breeze?

Another beaut of a day today. My calves are really quite sore but I wanted to go outside so I did another 3 miler today. There was a bit of wind, every now and then I felt like it was blowing me sideways. Resistance training with Mother Nature again.

After that I went in for a little light weight work:
push ups 3 x 8
tricep pulldowns, split rope 1 x 10 x 20lbs, 2 x 8 x 30lbs
all w/ 12lb DBs
bent over rows 3 x 8
upright rows 3 x 8
shldr press 3 x 8

Run Like the Wind

or something
3 mile run/jog today. Calves are sore from stair climbing but it was an okay run. Weather is GOOOHRGEUUS

Who Needs a Stairmaster....

When you have stairs.
Wednesday 3-19
Across the courtyard is a building with 9 floors. I climbed those stairs 4 times then up to the 3rd floor and back down 2 times. My legs were wobbly.

bent over rows 3 x 8 x 12lb DBs
seated rows 3 x 8 x 50lbs
flys 3 x 8 x 10lbs

Snooze Alarm Abuse

Every so often the snooze button gets hit one or 5 too many times and I'm in a big rush to make it out the door. I ride a commuter shuttle so I HAVE to be on time each day. This morning I had about 7 minutes max to get out the door. I pulled on some hiking pants that I had out, a tshirt and a fleece pullover, brushed my teeth and hit the door. SO sophisticated, SO professional, SO age appropriate. Ha. Guess it's a good thing that the general attitude toward clothing where I work is such that my NASCAR style a.m. routine doesn't warrant a second glance. Oh well, feeling disheveled gave me a reason to hit the fitness center at lunch even though I know I want to get my Tuesday night Biggest Loser workout on later. That way I could feel justified in taking a shower and cleaning myself up a bit.

short warm up then
15 minutes HARD on the stairmaster doing intervals
traveling lunges out of the room and into the free weight room-
pushups 2 x 10
bench press 3 x 6 x 65lbs
reverse crunches between bench sets 3 x 10
incline bench press 3 x 8 x 15lb dumbells
bicep curl/hammer curl combo 3 x 10 x 15lbs
I don't even know what to call this- the cable crossover machine with the pulleys high and pulling both to the center - I know it's chest work but I don't know what it's called....
3 x 8 x 20lbs on each pulley

ADDENDUM:
it was Biggest Loser night and despite the earlier psuedoworkout I decided to ride my bike anyway, mostly spinning though, no big ring
45 minutes on the trainer
15 minutes of core work and ...
Joe said-"this hurts, you should try it" he had me flat on my back with my arms over my head just a few inches off the ground and he put a 10lb medicine ball in my hands and said "hold it" Ouch

Restful Weekend?

Monday- 4 mile run at work. Must say that this use to be a 2 or 3x a week route but I felt it today. Bah

Sunday- many hours of yard work, I feel like I've been doing deadlifts!

Saturday night I finally got round to my weekly "biggest loser" workout- not meaning that I have Jillian Micheals in my house to kick my ass but that I work out while I watch her kicking other people in the tail. I LOVE watching people who lose my entire weight loss goal in one week. Wait, sarcasm doesn't always transfer to the written page so in case you missed it, that was definitely sarcasm. Dripping with it.

Cycling trainer 30 minutes with another 20 minutes or so of light upper body work with resistance band and core work

Okay workout discussion over. On Saturday there was a St. Paddy's day parade downtown so we set out with the small one with high hopes for a bagpipe filled afternoon. We got to that, but not before we ran into a group of tattooed folks taking advantage of the outdoor area in front of the convention center for a smoke break. Oh yeah. The center was hosting "Inksplosion" for artists, customers and ink-fans. After the parade, which involved one marching bagpipe band and an almost runaway horse drawn trolley car, we headed back up the sidewalk. As we're waiting for the red hand of death to turn to the white hand of the safety angel we see a very blue man on the other side. Blue. Blue face blue neck, blue anything exposed. You know I always feel torn between thinking these folks expect to have their artwork stared at (and hopefully appreciated) and trying not to stare so I won't be rude. I never know what to do. I should have stared, should have paid attention because my husband tells me later that it's a fairly famous guy that we've seen on TV before, Enigma-who's covered in a tattoo puzzle amoung other body modifications. Interesting. One never knows whom one might see in downtown LR.

TGIF

30 minutes on the elliptical XCountry program
first 10 minutes just felt like hell but was feeling good by the end

squats and plie squats with shoulder raise (8lb DBs) -hip sled + 90lbs weight

Some time ago, I asked a "guy" in the fitness center how much the bar on the bench press weighs because the scale in there is always broken so I couldn't weigh it. He tells me 25lbs. Okay, I'm reading other ladies' logs thinking I'm a wuss. I find out today that it's 45lbs. I feel better now.

Hotel Fitness Rooms

Sunday afternoon we arrived in NW Arkansas and checked into the lovely suite hotel/convention center. We pretty much hit it just in time to clean up and change for the reception, oh good free food and booze, just what I need. I ate too much sushi and drank too much wine, embarrassed myself with my husband's coworkers and by Monday afternoon still hadn't figured out if it was the cheap wine or bad sushi but I could barely remain upright. I felt terrible but not bad enough to keep me from eating, a lot.
Tuesday I hit one of two fitness areas in the hotel. I chose the "old" one because it had everything I needed and no one else was there. I had a good 2 hours- most of it actually working out thankuverymuch. I did 40 minutes on the treadmill, brisk walking but with hill repeats lasting 3-4 minutes between 4-10% incline with 5 minutes each for warm up and warm down. The rest of the time was spent strength/toning with light free weights with 3x 5 minute runs on the treadmill in between. I did take another walkabout later in the day and didn't drink at dinner. Had a bit better food day, but not by much.
Wednesday- thought I had about 1-1.5 hour to workout and get back to the room to shower, pack and be ready to go so I did another hill workout on the treadmill but only the 40 minutes (10 running) and very light core work for a few minutes. Turns out I could have stayed longer. Oh well. On the road again. Had McDs for lunch AND got talked into chinese buffet for dinner. This really has GOT to stop.

cardio, more cardio and fat pants

okay so time has been crunched so here goes the last couple of days-

Thursday: I had a fanfreakintastic treadmill workout. Anyone who knows me well will see the humor in that statement. I hate the mill. But I'm finding that if I am constantly in flux by speeding up, slowing down, ramping the incline, etc- it's not that bad. 50 minutes, 35 of it above a 4% incline, much of it running, some of it walking but at an 8-10% incline, it was a kicker.

Friday:Snow Day! It snowed 2X in one week. That's bizarre. This one stuck a bit harder than Tuesdays snow and we went out to build a snowman. In the evening I cycled for 35 minutes and did some upper body and core resistance work.

Saturday was another indoor cycling day much the same as Friday's workout.

Right this minute I'm supposed to be in the shower so we can leave for the NW part of the State. The partner in crime is going to a 3 day meeting and I'm going with. I hear there is a super fitness center in the fanshy smanshy hotel. Yeah!

But You Asked Me To!

So the person who asked me to help get his heinie in gear on the workout front has now accused me of trying to kill him. It was a gorgeous day but he likes to be "in the gym" so I made him do an hour long cardio sculpt video that kicks butt. Literally. 35 minutes in, he was toast, but kept going at least half heartedly to the end. HA! I said HA!

Biggest Loser Day

The past month or so, Tuesday has been the day I wait to work out until the evening so I don't waste time watching the Biggest Loser. I wait until the show is well underway then I work out while skipping all the commercials. Thanks Dish Network and DVR! Today I went out for a brisk 1.5 mile walk during the day. It snowed here yesterday so it was in the 30's all day long.

P.M.
45 minutes on the cycling trainer + a few minutes of very mild cool down

stability ball crunches, med ball (10lb) overhead lifts sitting on said ball, and 3 rounds of boxing punches with 7lb dumbells
don't ask for counts- I was watching the vote off.

Motivating Mondays

Last week one of the guys at work said "hey, I need motivation to get back in the gym, can you encourage me and/or go with me?" Okay. So we set a schedule and despite the fact that I really didn't want to go today, we headed for the gym-it's pouring rain and that's one of the few reasons I'll hit the gym instead of going outside.

30 minutes on the elliptical trainer Xcountry program and I pushed it

shoulder work
3 x 8 x 8 lbs each front, lateral and rear deltoid raises
1 x 8, 2 x 6 tricep dips, gravitron assisted @ 81 lbs
2 x 10 x 20 lbs lateral pulldowns (single arm on crossover machine)

Marathon or Mountain Bike?

3-1-08
Friday was skip day on workouts apparently.
Saturday was a beauty of a day. I spent about 3 hours downtown as a volunteer for the Little Rockers Marathon. These are 7-12 yr olds who have accumulated 25 miles or more of walking or running and they run the last mile as a group, cross the finish line and receive their marathon medals. Cool. I think there were over 3,000 kids in the program but only about half actually came to run the last mile together. Still, that was a wall o kids. Winner came round just after the last age group was released so it was right around 6 minutes. Gee Whiz.

Later in the day, me, the hubby and the "more fit than he has a right to be" 18 year old boy/man went out to a local park to test out the new GPS on some Geocaches. I was just wanting a workout and only got part of one. We were in an area that is meant for mountain biking and it's hilly but we only ran parts of it. Total I think I ran close to 2 miles but only 1 of those was a no stopper.
This was not enough workout to make up for the 6 glasses of wine I drank having dinner with friends.

3-2-08
Mountain biking instead of marathoning. The LR marathon was this morning. Due to training issues with the knee, I didn't participate. I'm still not sure how I feel about it. Instead we went out for 1.5 hours of pretty intense riding. I think it was intense just because I haven't been on single track more than once a month in oh, a year or so. I don't ride enough to consider myself better than moderately competent. Fell twice, both times on "easy" terrain but there was limb debris. Came home tired and muddy. Good day.
I was going to make a light chicken and pasta meal for dinner but the man wanted pizza. I caved. It was veiled as a favor to me so I didn't have to cook but we both know it was just because he wanted that greasy pizza. ha