What a way to start the day!

Friday - Strength Training

• Kettlenetics - 34 minutes (Total Body Blast Workout)

The more I do this workout the I sweat. That probably sounds really gross (and it is) but I think it means that I am working harder each time I do it. It could also mean that my place is warmer than it was the last time I did the workout. I am hoping that I am actually working harder. When I started doing the the warm up, I actually felt like I should have been using the 8 lb. KBell. I stuck with the 4 lb. KBell though and by the end of the workout I was glad that I did. I know that the 4 lb. KBell is not going to work my arm muscles or my core as much as the 8 lb. KBell would but the lighter weight allows me to get a handle on the rhythm of the workout. Eventually, I am going to do this workout with the 8 lb. KBell but that won't be happening for at least a few weeks. This workout is quickly becoming one of my favorites because of the crazy plyometrics that I end up doing. And even thought the 4 lb. KBell really isn't providing a ton of resistance, the body weight exercises really compensate for that. I can only imagine how using the 8 lb. KBell will affect this workout.

On another note, my vacation is only three days away. If you can't tell, I am super excited! I haven't started packing yet but I have all weekend to get to that. My big concern is making sure that I will have room for my clothes after I pack my running clothes and my photography gear. You can tell where my priorities are. My other big concern is that fact that none of my clothes actually fit me anymore. That is actually a really good thing except when you are trying to get dressed in the morning. I guess I will have to go buy some new clothes this weekend so that I am not limited to the two pairs of jeans that barely fit me (and they are my new ones). I can't go overboard with new clothes though because I am still losing weight. My body has not quite reached the weight that it wants to be at (I know because I am losing weight). People always ask me when I will be done losing weight. My answer is always I don't know. I have never been a tiny person so I don't know what my body wants to weigh. According to the BMI chart, I need to lose at least another 18 pounds before my weight will be considered healthy. I am hoping to achieve that weight by October 1st for my very first half marathon. But after that who knows. Needless to say, even though I have lost 42 pounds this year, I don't think that my body is close to its true healthy weight. Because of this fact, I am having a difficult time justifying buying more new clothes. Unfortunately, none of my clothes actually fit! What a vicious cycle I am stuck in! I also need to go through my old clothes and get rid of the ones that don't fit anymore. They are taking up valuable space in my closet and dresser. I am having a serious mental block with that mostly because I am truly afraid that I wil lbe right back where I started a few months from now. I know that the likelihood of that happening is slim to none because I love the feeling that exercise gives my and I don't want to give that up.

Tempo runs are my friends ...

Thursday - 3 miles

• 3.19 miles, 35' 03" minutes, 10' 58" min/mile average pace, 161 BPM average heart rate

Ok so the alarm clock trick did not work at all this morning. Nope not at all. I thought that even though I was not in bed at my usual time the alarm clock would still get me going in the morning. It didn't. Whem the alarm went off, I rolled out of bed, walked over to the alarm clock, shut it off and then crawled right back into bed. Oops! I guess I was a lot more tired than I thought last night. Based on Tuesday's run, I was a little nervous about pushing myself tonight. I know where I was last week when I did my tempo workout so I wanted to be close to that tonight. No matter what, the important thing is that I ran today. I was completely surprised with how well my run went tonight. I was able to run at an average pace less than 11 minute/mile, which is amazing for me. When I first started running, my average pace was between 13 and 14 minute/mile. I know that I am not the fastest runner in the world but the fact that I am improving and able to run at a faster average pace thrills me to no end. My run felt so good tonight that I actually considered increasing the belt pace above my previous maximum (4.5 mph), which I maintained for 25 minutes tonight. After I finished my run tonight, I thought about made tonight's run so much better than Tuesday's run. I think that because I didn't eat anything before going for my run on Tuesday morning my body didn't have store enough energy to compensate for what I was burning. Next time I wake up early enough for a run, I will have to eat something to help get my body going. I have my nutrition under control for my long runs so I now I need to get a handle on my nutrition for my maintenance runs.

It is definitely getting easier ...

Wednesday - Strength Training

• Kettlenetics - 20 minutes (FlowMotion Basics Workout)

Even though I was totally drenched with sweat after my workout this morning, I can absolutely tell that it is getting easier with the 8 lb. KBell. When I first tried this workout with the heavier bell, my arms literally wanted to kill me during the single arm high pulls and the single arm swings.When I did the workout this morning, my arms didn't really protest. If I could have gone a little bit faster, I would have said the I did the workout perfectly (almost). At this point, I feel that the heavier weight is the main reason why I can't get the rhythm of the workout quite right. Hopefully, I will be able to get the rhythm down with a few more attempts at this workout.

Once I was down with my kettlebells, my thoughts turned to whether or not I should go to my Bikram class tonight. Last Wednesday, the teacher told us that she was going on vacation for a couple of weeks. I know that the point of the Bikram practice is that you get the same workout every time you attend class but I have found that the energy of the teacher can have an impact on the class. The tone in the voice, ther strength of the voice and the instruction provided all have an impact. I am not going to want to spend 90 minutes in a room with a teacher whose voice sounds like nails on a chalkborad. The decision about going to the Bikram class was made shortly after I got to work. I checked the class schedule online to see who would be teaching the class. It just so happens to be the one teacher whose voice really does sound like nails on a chalkboard to me. I decided that maybe it was a good thing that he was teaching the class because I have a BUNCH of things to do tonight after work. Maybe if I get everything done by Sunday afternoon, I will be able to go to a Bikram class (taught by my second favorite teacher of course).

You got me this morning, Hills!

Tuesday - 3 miles

• 3.13 miles, 38' 03" minutes, 12' 09" min/mile average pace, 164 BPM average heart rate

What a sluggish workout this morning! That's right. I actually woke up and didn't hit the snooze button. One of my friends told me that her trick is to have the alarm clock on the other side of the room. That way she has to get out of bed to shut it off. My boyfriend actually does that too. I never really tried that trick before because I never thought that waking up early would be a problem for me. Let's just say that the trick worked and my alarm clock will be staying on my dresser.

After I got out of bed and changed into my running clothes, I headed over to the fitness center to run on the treadmill. I live in the coastal region of Florida so I don't have a wide variety of hilly routes to choose from. The largest hills we have are usually the bridges to take you out to the beaches. My warm up walk (5 minutes at 3.0 mph) felt normal and didn't feel labored or painful. When I started running though, my body was singing a different tune. First off, that randomized hill workout was not pretty at all. It varied from 0% to 5% and the majority of it was at 5%. My quads were not happy with me at all. Secondly, I am pretty sure that I didn't drink enough water yesterday because my arms and legs felt heavy and my entire body was dragging. After 5 minutes of running at 3.5 mph, I tried to increase my pace but quickly found out that my body was not having it this morning. I ran my entire workout at 3.5 mph and only did 30 minutes of the hill workout before my legs decided that they had had enough of that. Finally, my 3 miles were finished and I slowed the belt down and walked for 10 minutes to cool down.

Lazy Day and Target Toning Workout ...

Sunday - Rest

I actually took the day to rest. After my long run on Saturday, I thought I would have the energy to do one of my yoga workouts on Sunday. I figured it would help my muscles loosen up so that I would be able to start my workout routine all over again on Monday. After waking up on Sunday morning, my plans to do a yoga workout were chucked out of the window. My quads were incredibly sore and I had a total awkward limp going on. I could hardly walk, which was the first time my muscles have ever locked up like that. I wasn't really in pain but my muscles were tight so I decided to not take any chances. Instead I hoped that I would be able to to get my yoga workout in after work on Monday.

Monday - Strength Training

• Kettlenetics - 52 minutes (Target Toning Workout)

So even though yesterday was a very lazy day for me, I still didn't get to bed early enough to do my workout this morning before work. I actually woke up so late that I had less than an hour to get ready for work. Not exactly the most ideal situation. Let's just say that my hair and make-up were not high on my list of priorities this morning. After I got home from work, I decided to do my Target Toning workout mostly because I haven't done this one in over a week. I am trying to prevent stagnation in my muscles because I want them get the full benefit of my strength training. The last time I did this workout I only used the 4 lb. KBell. This time I chose to incorporate the8 lb. KBell for the movements that I thought were a little easy with the lighter weight. All of the upper body moves were done with the 4 lb. KBell. All of those shoulder circles are still difficult even with the 4 lb. KBell. I can still feel it in arms. Ouch. I did use the 8 lb. KBell for the entire lower body segment, which worked out very well. I could actually feel my lowerbody muscles working. I used both the KBells for the standing core segment and the floor core segment based on the movement and the other muscles groups used. All in all, I felt like this was an excellant workout tonight and I am surely going to feel it in the morning.