Really Moving Now!

One last post before the weekend gets away from me.  We are planning Myra's one year birthday party and I have a feeling I'm going to be busy,busy until then.  A quick gym report before I get to the good stuff.

Thursday I had to face the music with Week 5/Day 3, another 20 minute run.  When I got on the treadmill my stomach started growling and I realized it'd been 4 hours since I ate lunch.  Not good.  But, I had a day off on Wednesday and I did not do legs/shoulders in the days prior so I was hoping things would be better than last time, and they were.  Though it was still harder than I would have liked it wasn't a minute by minute personal hell.  I thought a lot during the run about how to describe the level of difficulty and came up with either medium-hard or 7 on a scale of 1-10.  My heart rate was fairly good, my legs ached and, well, it was the treadmill so I got bored too.  After the run I did legs & shoulders for weight training, core work and 5 minutes on the stair climber before stretching.  My entire workout was a challenge and I think it would have been a lot better if I had remembered to eat a snack!  I got irritated with myself, I don't need to be adding to the difficulty by not fueling my workouts.

On Thursday night I was lucky enough to go out with some friends for cocktails.  I needed a mom's night out.  We met up at a nice bar and I had vodka with soda water, the lowest calorie drink I can think of (besides beer that tastes like water).  I was struggling with what to eat but in the end I got a poached salmon salad with the dressing on the side. I also ate 3 pieces of fried calamari and a few french fries from what my friends ordered. All in all I think I did well.  Alcohol is always a challenge, add that to being in a restaurant and it's not easy to stay on track.

The best part though was definitely the girl talk. We all shared and listened and supported one another.  At one point I referred to myself as "plus sized" and they set me straight right away.  So I then re-qualified myself as an "xl girl".  Nope, they didn't want to let that go either, though I really am an xl right now.  Just the support, the encouragement, the positive outlook was so nice to hear.  I sometimes have a tendency to think of myself in terms of who I was years ago, and not just in reference to my body but also my personality.  I have changed.  A lot.  I am me now, and I am a good person.  Sometimes I just need to be reminded of that by some good friends and that's exactly what I got.  So thank you Monique, Erica, Laura, Deb - I'm grateful to have you gorgeous ladies in my life!

Today (Friday) I took a 1/2 day off so I was able to go to the gym only an hour or so after lunch.  I think it helped that I had eaten something recently.  I did 25 minutes on the bike, Level 5 - rocked it!  Then I did back and biceps.  My back has not hurt much lately and my abs feel a lot stronger so I decided to do one set of back extensions and see how that feels.  Doing them felt fine, we'll see if I hurt tomorrow or Sunday as a result.  After core work and the stair climber I stretched and hit the road.

Onward.  Good thing #1 - a mom in my club was giving away her old hard-tail mountain bike and I happened to be on the computer when the email went out.  Well I jumped on the chance and I am the proud new owner.  My beloved old Cannondale (pictured here) was stolen out of our garage a couple years ago (when we lived in our condo, I don't think I ever mentioned it here).  We don't know exactly when it was stolen, we just realized one day that it was gone.  I was so sad because Miguel helped me fix it up and turn it into what we called my "around town" bike.  He bought me a big cushy seat and I had a rack put on the back and a kickstand.  Well, now I have a new bike I can turn into an around town bike.  I just wish I loved it like I did my old bike.  That Cannondale was the first bike I ever purchased, I was living on the big island of Hawaii and I was getting into shape, I cried when I bought that bike because I knew it was a sign.  1995 - 200?  RIP Green Cannondale.

The other piece of good news is, it's weigh-in Friday!!  You know that means I lost or I wouldn't be acting like weigh-in Friday is a good thing.  I lost...ready for it?  TWO POUNDS!   Yippee!  I'm in the 180's with 189.4 pounds.  The hard work is continuing to pay off.  I am thisclose to the 10 pounds lost mark.  Hopefully next week but if not, that's ok too.

Well, that's it for me folks.  I'm headed into a busy weekend but hopefully I'll catch some down time to post. Not sure what my workout plans are, I hit 5x already this week so will probably take tomorrow (Sat) off.  Sunday is Myra's party so I might have to take that off (though her party is in the mid-morning/early afternoon so I might make it.  Monday is a holiday and I took Tuesday off so I know I'll get there those days at least.  I hate to start the week (Sun) with a day off so hopefully I can do Sun, Mon, Tue.

Now that's really it.  Bye for now!!  Hope you get out there and do something fun this weekend!!!