Is it Me or is it Hot in Here?

I have to warn you, I've eaten about 50 dozen handfuls of tortilla chips prior to writing this post and my daughter is currently fighting sleep, screaming in her bedroom while I pray to the toddler sleep gods that she falls asleep soon.  Soooo, this may be a slightly snarky, sarcastic, bitter post.  But hopefully not. 

So I got home from the backpacking trip on Saturday.  I had an internal debate with myself about exercise on Sunday, "maybe I should get some rest."  But I knew the hike down wasn't really all that much work and that I had no reason to skip exercise altogether.  So I compromised on a 3 mile run.  Any day now I plan to start training for the Santa Cruz Olympic triathlon (not to mention the Nike half), which means 3 mile runs will soon be a luxury I can't afford.  Better get it while I can!

The run was great, a relatively flat out-and-back route from home.  Miles 1 and 2 included some very mild inclines and were around 9:45 pace.  But Mile 3 was mostly mild decline so I pushed it for a time of 9:17...cool!

The rest of the day I felt happy I'd gone on a run, as usual.  So I took the kids to a birthday party.  They were serving grilled hot dogs, the big fatty kind but thankfully had a few tofu hot dogs for vegetarians.  I'm not a veg as you know but I checked out the nutrition stats and they were much better than the others so I opted for that, figuring you hardly taste the hot dog anyway, it's mostly a vehicle for the condiments right?  The hot dog was good and I had that with cut up fresh fruit and a small serving of Chinese chicken salad.  Later I indulged in an ice cream cone, sugar cone and all (as if the other cones aren't also sugar cones, eh?).

Miguel had some friends over after his soccer game to watch sports.  They'd grilled carne asada and whatnot so I ended up basically snacking on that for dinner.  Up bright and early Monday to start the new week.  Too bright and early given I've been going to bed much later than I should be and I've had to get my workouts in first thing in the morning the past two days because of after work commitments. 

So yesterday morning I was up early and hit the gym.  20 minutes on the upright bike followed by a fast 5 minute treadmill run with chest/triceps for strength training.  The local fire station is being demolished so the firefighters are in a temporary shelter thingy.  What does that have to do with anything, you ask?  Well, well - on Monday morning there were no less than three of our local firefighters exercising in my gym.  Needless to say I was slightly more entertained than usual.  I swear, appearance must be factored in when hiring because more often than not, firefighters are easy on the eyes, at least in my neck of the woods. 

Anyway, I finished up my routine and went about my day.  The only cool thing about the morning workout is how good it feels all day knowing it's done.  But after work I was seriously dragging.  Normally after work I exercise and get a sort of second-wind boost from that, and it carries me through the evening.  But an AM workout doesn't have that advantage and I was dragging come sunset.

I also had PT on Monday and Kate said something interesting.  My range of motion was much better and she commented, "So a few days with much less sitting than usual and you're doing better."  I'm starting to think the sitting is a bigger part of the back problem than I ever imagined.  Where's that "stand up and move" app I need to remind me to get off my tuchis at least every hour?

Anyway...During the day I'd cooked red beans in the slow cooker so dinner was that with some rice, avocado, pico de gallo - you know the drill.  And, like a dork, I again stayed up too late.  Up (late) for another AM gym visit.  This time I ran outside, doing a little route I have tracked in the past so I know it's 3 miles.  I ran it in 28:47 and was happy with that.  Back in the gym for legs/shoulders/PT exercises.  I think my back is slowly getting better, I did my whole routine with nary a twinge of back pain.   

I also made it to part of a WW meeting today, except I was so late I missed almost all of it.  And I can't find my weight log/notebook anywhere!  The last time I remember having it was a different WW meeting 1.5 weeks ago.  It has all my little mental notes in it and if I've lost it I'll be so bummed out.  Of course I'll have to get over it and start a new one but still, it's a bummer if it's gone. 

Ok, well, kid #2 is now crying for some mysterious reason so I'm off to investigate that and put myself to bed shortly after.