Exhausted

I fell asleep at 10:30 pm last night.  I was so tired, more so than I thought.  I've been carpooling to work for the past week, and the carpool leaves a little bit earlier than I usually do.  Add that to the extra drive to meet at whoever's house it is that is driving and I'm getting up a good 30 minutes earlier than normal.  So yesterday was a carpool day and a long day at work.  I also decided to go the gym last night.  I ran my usual 3 miles and did some weights, but I think I really pushed myself during the run.  I felt like I was the slowest person on the track (aside from the walkers).  Everyone was passing me, and I am usually not being passed.  So I was running a quicker pace than normal or at least it felt like it.  By the time I got home, showered, and got out the door to go to dinner, I was so tired and hungry.  The exhaustion set in right after dinner.  I was shaking and could barely keep my eyes open.  I got home, got into bed, and turned on the TV.  "Being Human" and "Castle" were on last night, so I asked the hubster which one he wanted to watch with me.  He said neither because he wanted to play Xbox with his cousin later on in the evening.  Instead he watched No Reservations with me.  It was more like watched the first 15 minutes with me and watched me fall asleep promptly thereafter.  I guess I was really that tired.

Half a Half Marathon

I officially signed up and registered for the Silver Strand Half Marathon in San Diego in November this past weekend.  It's a little too early to train for it, but I've been trying to run more than my usual three miles when I go to the gym.  So after my run on Saturday and my general sedentary lifestyle for the past two weeks, I decided to go the gym last night.  I got there and started my run.  I went with the goal of running three miles and doing some mat exercises and some weights.  Well, I know when I'm in the mood for running and last night was one of those nights.  It's only happened once before and that time I ran for 55 minutes and my Nike Plus app said I ran a little under 6 miles.  So I scratched my plans for weights and ran 6.5 miles in an hour.  Yay, so that's half a half marathon or a quarter marathon.  I was exhausted which was good, but my right knee was aching.  Once I got home and ate dinner and showered, I was pooped.  The tiredness settled in and I could barely move.  My plans are to sign up for a 10K in April.  Now that I've been up for a few hours, I realize the back of my knee if hurting a lot more than I thought.  Maybe it's time to make an appointment with my doctor.

On a separate note, people need to learn some track etiquette:

• Group of 4 high school girls walking on the track, please don't take up all three lanes.  People need to pass you while you gossip away.
• Man doing moving jumping jacks, please don't do it in the middle lane and stretch your arms out as far as possible.  I don't want a black eye.
• People walking in pairs, please also do not take up all the lanes.
• People who walk and pass other walkers, please look before you pass.  I really love it when I have to come to a complete stop because you are walking slightly faster than the people you are passing, but leave no room for ME to pass.
• Walk on the inside track!
• If you choose to walk on the outside lane, don't be surprised when I pass you on the left.

Gym? What's that?

I've been slacking off about going to the gym.  I only went once last week and the week before that.  Around this time last year, I had just signed up and was going a minimum of 4 times a week.  I think since I reached an acceptable weight, I've definitely relaxed the work out and eating plans.  I've been eating like a piggy too.  I think spaghetti on Friday night was the only home cooked meal we had!  My fitness goal for this year is not focused on losing weight, but working on my tone and definition.  I'm sure weight loss will accompany that (which I don't mind, my dream weight is another 5 pounds away, but I think that is pretty unrealistic), but I think this requires more lifting than cardio, and I don't think the machines at the gym are going to cut it.  To achieve my goal, I think I have to spend more time with weights, but still have time to run now that I'm signing up for the half marathon.  That seems like to achieve my goals, I have to spend longer in the gym (ick) or go more often (not so icky).  I have to train, but it's so hard to run that many laps around a track that is a little more than .1 mile long.  Now I'm just making excuses and this entry has lost any coherence to it if it ever had any.

Bottom line, I need to start going again and more consistently.  I'm hoping to go 3 times this week, but at least two.  I think since I'll be snowboarding on Sunday that can count as a workout.

Boot Camp

There are two reasons why I stay a member at Urban Active: the indoor track and the Boot Camp class.  I try to go every week, but sometimes life gets in the way.  Since this is the first week back from the vacation in NJ, I made it a priority to go.  I went to the gym Monday night to ease myself back into working out.  Boot Camp is a tough class.  I always get my butt handed to me.  I always leave sweaty and out of breath.

I left work on time yesterday to make sure I would get to the gym on time (It gets super busy this time of year.)  I thought I would be ok since most of my soreness and achiness from snowboarding and being sick had disappeared... or so I thought.  Warm up went well and so did the first two exercises in the circuit.  On the third exercise, I had to reach down and lunge at the same time, and boy, could I tell that my butt/tail bone was still not recovered.  I could feel it for the rest of the class... the 55 minute class.

I made it through, but dang, who would have known how much your butt comes into play when working out?  My arms are sore today, but overall, I'm feeling good.  Still losing some weight, not as fast as before, but just a little.  I'm thinking I'm going to rest today and hit up Trader Joe's/Easton after work for some shopping since Brock has class until 9:30 tonight.

Pants

Last year when I first joined the gym, I spent a boatload on work out clothes.  I'm not ashamed to admit it.  I'm one of those people.  The ones who just can't wear sweats and a t-shirt to the gym.  It's mostly motivational.  If you want me or anyone in my family to do something, throw money into the equation and consider it done.  I figure if I spend money on work out clothes, I have to work out.  And I did!  Anyway, I spent a few weeks finding the perfect winter work out pant.  I don't do tights without shorts over them and since I didn't want to drop too much money, buying two pieces was not in the budget.  I also recently found out that sweatpants make me too hot.  So tight capri pants were the solution and I found the perfect ones from Nike.  They had a zipper pocket in the back (crucial for me since I'm paranoid someone will steal my keys).  I worked out in them for at least 3 days a week.  Yes, I know.  GROSS!  But this was before the 3 mile runs and major sweating kicked in, so I justified it.  And they were the only ones I owned.

So I put them away when the weather got warm and I forgot where I put them.  When the weather got cooler last year, I looked high and low for them.  I couldn't find them.  Usually when I misplace something, I spend an hour looking for them and in utter despair say the magic words "Ugh, I've lost _______" and magically, I remember where it is or look in the right corner (which was previously looked at 15 minutes ago), and there it is!  That did not happen this time around.  I made do with running with longer tights with shorts over it. I had acquired a few pair of shorts over the summer.  I finally gave in and bought the same pair when I saw them at Lady Foot Locker at FULL price.  And then it happened.  Can you guess?

So yesterday when cleaning the house, I found my pants... in a shoe box.  !@#!@#@  A shoe box on a rubbermaid bin.  Ugh.  FML.  The bright side is I now have two pairs of awesome capris and I won't be stinky from wearing them too many times between washes.

At the gym

So I decided to hit up the gym tonight since I hadn't been since Monday's awesome 6 mile run (first time at that distance!).  Well, it doesn't start off well since I unknowingly got there 30 minutes before they closed (since when do they close at 7:00 pm on a Saturday).  Anyway, start off with a quick run.

I found out today that not only can Asian women not drive, they also cannot run on a track.  There is this tiny, tiny Asian woman on the track doing her power walk/jog combo.  She's in the middle lane. No big deal.  I can pass her on either side, right?  Ha!  Silly me.  Right when I come up on her, she starts weaving in her lane, just enough to deter someone from passing.  Such a tiny woman can cause such trouble for me.  And to add insult to injury, she had bathed in some cheap perfume that lagged behind her for a good 65% of the track.

At least I got enough of a workout to have some cider beers tonight (Woodchuck...yum!)