Workout Week in Review

I haven’t done one of these posts in awhile but I’m reasonably happy with my level of activity last week so… here goes!

Sunday: I actually ran on the weekend – shocking! We were in the mountains so my run was a leetle bit hilly. Garmin was not my friend and kept giving me a “weak signal” message but I’m going to assume that I ran slightly more than the 2.39 miles it registered in 45 minutes of activity. I ran a new route and there were some major hills. Even the downhills were tough because they are so steep. Nonetheless, it was great to be out and moving.

Monday: Nothing. My excuse is that I had to go out of town on business for the day, leaving at 6:45 a.m. and returning at 6:30 p.m. Yes I could have exercised that night but suffice to say, I didn’t even seriously consider the possibility.

Tuesday: Beanie couldn’t run (waahhh!) so I had to venture forth alone. I slogged along for about two miles then checked my Garmin and realized that my pace was over 11 min/mile. OMG! None of my excuses were legit so I had no choice but to pick it up. As I was running, I passed a man going the other way who had the perfect runner’s body – long, lean, muscular legs – picture a Lane girl with a penis. Seeing him forced me to confront the fact that my reduced exercise schedule coupled with the same (poor) eating habits have caused me to look remarkably like the Stay Puff marshmallow man. I picked up the pace a little more. By the time I finished four miles, I had an impressive negative split with an overall pace of 9:56 min/mile. And I was sweaty and out of breathe. Good stuff.

Wednesday: Richard is back!!!! He met me to bike at 6 a.m. I have to admit, I was a little cranky about getting up so early as always, but riding with Richard was a blast. I immediately tucked into his draft and cruised there pretty much the whole ride. Toward the end, I offered to lead. He gave me a look that said, “why bother now?” while he actually said, “that’s okay – it’s a short ride.” We rode 17 miles at 17.0 mph and discovered a great new route in the process.

Thursday: I planned to run, I really did. Beanie couldn’t join me again – our schedules were totally opposite last week. But I set my alarm and got my stuff ready the night before. When my alarm went off, Scouter looked at me and said, “You need some sleep.” I have been really really tired – this summer has been difficult sleep-wise because my kids have been staying up late and I’ve been attempting to get up early to exercise. It’s the only time I seem to be able to fit it in! Plus we didn’t get much sleep in WV last week. Once the babies woke up, my kids woke up and then it was full blast throughout each day! So anyway, on Thursday I lounged in bed for awhile. Taz woke up and we snuggled a bit. Finally at the last possible moment, I went up to our attic where Scouter keeps his weight equipment and fit in a little workout. It is amazing how much I hurt myself in 30 minutes! Granted, one must achieve a certain lack of fitness to experience these same results. I was trying to get as much exercise into a small amount of time as possible, so after a quick warm-up, I did supersets of squats, lunges, dead lifts, flies, reverse flies, static squat while doing shoulders and biceps, triceps, and abs. By that night, my pecs hurt and by the next day, my quads added their opinion to the mix. It was a good kind of pain and reminded me that I really need to get back on a normal weight lifting schedule. Once a month is probably not going to do it.

Friday: Yet again I had good intentions to run but this time they were derailed by an early morning meeting.

Saturday: I made up the Friday run and am particularly proud of myself because we were at the lake with friends (more on that later) and we stayed up late drinking margaritas the night before. I had a nice, flat four mile run at a smoking (for me) 9:06 min/mile pace. Later that day, I water skied for the first time in years – literally, I think I’ve skied one other time since college and I didn’t ski more than twice while I was in college, but I used to ski a lot as a kid. It was so fun that I didn’t want to stop! When I did, my hammies were quivering. The next day (and today), my upper back and shoulders were very vocal about how old ladies maybe shouldn’t attempt to water ski. I wouldn’t have listened but didn’t have the opportunity to go again anyway. Probably best for my ability to move today!

So this week, we’ll see whether I learned a lesson about the benefits of exercise or not. I’ve started out questionably with nothing on Sunday and a bike ride on Monday. Will there be another WWIR next week? We’ll all just have to wait and see…