Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Working Out During Lunch

So today I attempted to work out during lunch. I think it's something I may start doing every other day of the week. I got up this morning, determined that no matter what I was going to hit the gym. So I packed my bag of workout clothes, some baby wipes, all the essentials, and headed out the door. I got lucky and was able to snag a sandwich to eat before my workout and then headed out in the middle of this hot, disgusting 100 degree day at about 1:40.

I decided to wear my new Nike running shorts and a coolmax shirt since I'd be running to the gym. I believe it's about half a mile to the gym from where I work. Maybe a little less. But running in this heat was no fun at all. By the time I got on the elevator to get up to the gym, I was slimy from sweat.

Today I decided to a little bit of circuit training since I've been running so often. I did 3 sets of 15 crunches on the inflatable ball. I then did 3 sets of 15 of side obliques on the back extension, plus 3 sets of 15 back extensions. I did 3 sets of 15 bicep curls and tricep curls and 3 sets of 15 rows for my back. Then I cooled down a little by doing 3 sets of 30 side crunches with an 8 lb medicine ball. Then I high tailed it back to the office.

I honestly feel really good and am so glad that I went to the gym during lunch, especially since I knew I wouldn't be able to work out today after work because we have puppy class with Dexter.

I definitely recommend this to anyone who feels awful by about mid afternoon. Usually right about now during the day (3:30) I'm fighting to keep my eyes open. But I'm feeling pretty good. Yes, my hair has to stay up in a clip and no amount of baby wipes can make me feel as refreshed as taking a shower would, but honestly I am proud of myself for making the effort. I'm going to try this again on Thursday and Friday and see how it goes.

My work outs aren't near as long as they would be if I was going to the gym early in the morning or late at night, but just knowing I got about a 30 minute workout into my day when I could have poo-pooed it off. So go me!

As for last week, it was another hard week of trying to be motivated...though I was successful and worked out. I can't remember what I did last week but I do remember Sunday and yesterday's work out. Sunday I ran 5.25 miles and walked another .25 on the treadmill since I managed to procrastinate all day. I do want to add that I did that about 2 hours after eating Freebird's and boy howdy! Let me tell you what! That burrito and guacamole was like a brick in my stomach...I felt terrible and I kept belching up nasty avacado/garlicy stuff.

Monday before my teaching interview I went to the gym to burn off some steam. I did 40 minutes on the elliptical machine with a 5 minute cool down. When I'm on the elliptical 100% of the time I choose one of the "cross training" options. I put the resistance at an 8 and tried to keep my pace at about 160. I think I managed to do about 5 miles and burned about 575 calories.

Later on that night, I met up with my friend, Brandi, and we ran 3 miles. I think we ran it in 34.18 minutes with an average pace of about 11.24 minute miles. According to my RunKeeper we burned about 343 calories...but if you ask me, running in that heat I'm sure we burned more than that!

So there's that...I'm going to sign up for the Tour des Fleur 20k that's held in September. Last year I ran the 10k and by the time September comes around the 20k should be a piece of cake. It will also fall on the weekend of my 2nd anniversary with my husband! So that's exciting! Other than that, that's all I've got. I've been tempted to sign up for the 2 hot 2 handle in July as well but I may wait and see on that.

So for anyone who's keeping up with me, that's what's going on. More later!

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