Week 1 - Day 5

Day 5 was a rough day. This morning my muscles were so sore from this weeks workouts. I almost didn't get out of bed, but I told myself I have to do it because I had no other time today to "catch up". So I dragged myself out of bed and made it for my 1.5 mile run and the weight lifting circuit class at the gym. The run helped warm up my muscles for the class, which was a good sign, but the class was quite a challenge. In a few of the circuits we had to use gliding discs to do hamstring curls, plank while moving feet back and fourth, and my favorite one... mountain climbers (hint of sarcasm). For those of you who don't know what gliders are here is an image of them followed by another image of someone using them while doing mountain climbers.

These kill your abs and your hamstrings, quads, and every other muscle you can think of. There was also other weight lifting activities we had to do, but these were by far the hardest. After I was done with the class my legs felt a little shaky and were killing me. Needless to say I avoided the stairs at work today.

Luckily for me I only had to work a 1/2 day because I took off to go to the Brewers game with TJ and my parents. My legs were still pretty sore by the time I got home, but the pain was manageable. When my parents got to our house we played craps on the homemade craps table I made, and then drove to Miller Park to tailgate. 

Food/Challenge

I did very well for breakfast and lunch, and my Mother and I planned out our tailgating menu for dinner to ensure we had healthy food to eat instead of the usual burger, chips, beer, etc.. Instead we had fajita chicken sausage on an 80 calorie hot dog bun with some baked beans and pretzels. It all turned out great on our grill and I was able to stay within my calorie allowance. After the meal I then proceeded to have a Redd's Apple Ale, which I found out later was 165 calories for one beer. I then had a mini bottle of red mascato wine.. I still have yet to look up the calorie count for that. We then made our way into the park and then had unsalted shelled peanuts. I have no idea how many I had, but I'm sure it was more than one serving. TJ was also nice enough to get me my favorite Miller Park Food.... cheese fries! (again, a little sarcasm). I ate about 1/2 of them and then gave the other 1/2 up because all I kept thinking about was the amount of calories I was putting in my mouth.
*On a side note, these fries come in a little souvenir helmet that I think I might make a pin cushion out of. I think that would be really cute. thoughts?

Recovery

Currently I am sitting on my couch icing my left knee while I write this because it is a little sore from working out this week. I am hoping the ice will help so it won't hinder my running, spinning, or weight training. This is making me realize I really need to create a stretching routine in order to prevent muscle injury.

Weekend Challenge

I hope it is nice enough outside to do my four mile run so I don't have to be cooped up and run it on the treadmill at the gym. I then have to sit down and write a six page Economics paper for my MBA program, which I have been pushing off until the last minute.

The weekends always seem to be my biggest challenge because you have birthday parties, hang out with your friends, go on dates, or just grab lunch while you are out. My challenge for myself and you this weekend is to workout and stay under our daily calorie limit. **hint: the more calories you burn, the more you can eat/drink.

I like to think of calories like money. You only have 1200 calories(dollars) to use in a day, but if you workout (work) then you get more calories (money) to use for that day. As you eat and drink(spend) calories you decrease your daily limit. Once you hit zero calories(dollars) you are done. You have none left to use and you go negative(use a credit card). What happens when you go over your calorie limit? You gain weight. Just like when you go over your spending limit and then start using your credit card, you gain debt and it becomes hard to pay off.

Try doing this over the weekend and let me know how this works for you.