Saturday, May 5, 2012

Day 11: Productivity and Smiles

This Saturday wasn't what I expected it to be. I woke up refreshed (AND sore throat free!) and I had no idea what I wanted to do. Today was the St. Michael's Mediterranean Festival, which I've been wanting to attend for years, but I realized that I had way too much to do today to be able to go.

My laundry turned into a small mountain since I started working out every day, and my clothing pile has doubled. I needed to tackle that since I'm almost out of work out pants! While laundry was going on, I decided to do an all over big huge apartment clean!

I swept, mopped, vacuumed, scrubbed, wiped, and sanitized practically my entire apartment, and built up quite a sweat doing it! Chores can be a great workout, too. I actually enjoy doing them with the right music blasting in the background.

I'm running low on groceries, and I woke up kind of late, so I ate a quick brunch of raisin toast and eggs. Not the healthiest choice, but I was in a hurry.
Wow...Looking back, that's a ton of Smart Balance spread.
After I digested a while, I decided to hit the gym at around 3. I started off strong and did my usual power walking thing until about 15 minutes hit. I boosted the treadmill up to 4.5 and was able to keep running for 3 minutes. (That may seem slow to some, but I have really short legs, so that's almost a sprint for me!) I never slowed down beyond the speed of my power walk (3.8) this time. I stuck to a good fast-paced power walk most of the time until 35 minutes hit. I don't know why, but I decided -- OK. START RUNNING. I only put the speed to 4.2 this time because it's fast enough for me to be at a run without me feeling like I might fall if I don't overdo it, and I was able to last that way for 5 AND A HALF MINUTES! I couldn't stop smiling knowing that I beat my previous times of staying at a quicker pace. The best part was not feeling like I was overexerting myself or I was in pain. I truly think I could have lasted longer, but I think I got a little scared...  I was actually upset that I was about to hit 45 minutes so I didn't have time to run more, but I had so much else I needed to get done today, and I wanted to get some strength training in.

And I raaaaan. I ran so far awaaaaaay.
After cardio, I did 4 sets/10 reps of 30 lb squats and squat lunges on the Smith Machine and 1 set of lateral pulldowns at 30 lbs. I also did 1 set of free weight exercises with 10lb weights. I was pretty exhausted at this point, so I called it quits, but I couldn't help but keep smiling knowing that I actually felt GOOD while I was running today.

I got back to my apartment, showered, and headed back out the door to run a bunch of errands. My knees were/are bothering me a bit now since I had to walk a whole lot throughout a couple of stores, though. I noticed the slight pain, so I decided to buy some calcium supplements. If I'm going to keep up with this running thing, I want to be sure I'm getting the nutrients I need! I have been taking multivitamins, Fish Oil, Flaxseed Oil, Niacin, and now the calcium supplements. Does anyone else have any suggestions for supplements that would help??

I wanted to go grocery shopping, but my legs were much too tired. I headed back home, and made myself dinner... A repeat, but a good one.

Romaine, 1/2 chicken breast, rice, and
the 8 leaves of baby spinach I had left...lol
I hope I can go grocery shopping soon. I need more veggies in my fridge! All I've got right now is frozen fish and frozen chicken and a TON of rice! I hope a good night's sleep will help my legs recover. I am QUITE pleased with my work today, and I can't help but wonder how tomorrow will go. Sundays are difficult to fit in a workout, especially Sundays like tomorrow when it's Youth Mass, but I will make it work!

 I want to start doing more ab work soon... Perhaps that will be my Day 12 goal! Till then, thanks for your support, everybody! Even though I'm working out alone, you all make me feel like I've got a HUGE crowd cheering for me!



2 comments:

  1. I'm so inspired! Thanks Mel :)

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    Replies
    1. Yay! Thanks for reading, Richie!! Someday I'll have a hot bod like you! haha ;)

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