The Progression of a Workout

Last night, I completed 3 reps of this little beaut for my cardio workout.

Seems simple enough, right?

NOT.

It was NOT easy.  At least not for me.

It probably didn't help that I did this workout after doing 20 minutes of lower body strength moves...

I have done this workout before, and I remembered that it was brutal, but the fact that I am so out of shape made the brutality 10X worse.

It was a great workout though that got me sweaty and the ol' ticker a pumpin'.

Now, for your enjoyment, a pictoral progressions of the above workout.

Wall Sit #1. 

Hey, this isn't so bad!  I could wall sit for daaayyzzz!

Wall Sit #2

Oh. My. God.  My legs feel like jelly!!! How the hell am I going to last a minute?!?!

After Wall Sit #3.

Holy. Hell.

WIW

I REALLY HATE THE SCALE!

Right when I think I'm doing really well (see my post from yesterday, I was flying high!), the scale bitch slaps me back to reality.

Granted, I didn't eat the greatest over the weekend, but I'm still surprised to see a 2lb gain!

I have busted ass the past two days, and have drank a ton of water, per usual, so I thought for sure my poor weekend choices would have been amended.

I didn't necessarily expect a great loss, but I was hoping to at least maintain.

Ugggghhh.

I am frustrated, and disappointed, but still, I am not going to let the scale get me down!

Next week will be better.  I know it.

This weekend, I will be much more careful, and will not let myself get off track as much.

I promise myself.

Said No One Ever

This great quote really hits home today.

Nick has a nasty cold which I am of course picking up.  This morning I woke up with an annoyingly stuffy, yet runny nose, tired, and with a headache.

Sitting at my desk at work, feeling sorry for myself, I REALLY wanted to skip my run today.  

I started compromising with myself, saying, "Well, tomorrow I could double up on cardio and do my run tomorrow instead, and then do the Fitness @ Home work out at after work." 

Or, "I'll just do a fourth run over the weekend."  

Yeah right.

So many similar thoughts/excuses ran through my head, but instead, I bucked up and went to the gym over my lunch break.

Once I started my run intervals, my icky, sick feelings went out the window, and I felt great.

I felt strong and fast today.  Well, fast for me at least :)

Instead of feeling guilty, and regretting a skipped workout, I now feel wonderful.  Besides a slightly stuffy nose, my "sick" symptoms are gone.

I never take gym selfies, or really any selfies, but today I felt so great after my great sweaty run that I had to snap one quick!

Weekly Schedule

Hello!

I'm going to start off right away with some honesty.

My weekend consisted of NONE of this

I did not do a single thing from my schedule Friday - Sunday.  Nothing.

Wait, that's a lie, I did rest :)

Instead, I did a whole lot of this

Basically, I spent my weekend laying around with the dogs, and I drank a lot, and I didn't workout at all, or clean.

Oops.

It was a great weekend though!  

Nick and I spent the weekend in Illinois visiting with some of his friends and family.  We also went to a winery and 2 breweries.  And, not only did I drink a shit ton of carbs, I also ate mostly carbs.

This probably will not bode well for Wednesday Weigh-In, but it's in the past now and I cannot change it.

What I can do though is work extra hard this week!  I won't let a lax, but very fun, weekend derail me completely. 

Couch to 5K training has been going really well!  I actually look forward to my runs.

To push myself even more, I have been trying to up my speed and beat my distance each run.  For example, last week mileage looked like this:

Monday - 2.19 miles

Tuesday - 2.24 miles

Thursday - 2.28 miles

Friday - 2.40 miles

This mileage includes a 5 minute warm-up walk and a 5 minute cool-down walk.

When I run, I tend to get stuck in a comfortable pace.  I never really push myself to go faster.  I have the goal of some day running a sub 2:00 half marathon, but I don't work on speed, that's never going to happen.

Instead of setting my run intervals at a comfortable 6mph pace, I've been averaging 6.5.  I even went up to 7.2 mph for my last interval run on Friday.

If I keep focusing on speed, maybe I'll be able to knock out a sub 2:00 half when I run my usual May half marathon this year!

WIW

It has been a couple weeks since I did a weigh-in Wednesday post.

I have actually been avoiding the scale because I did not want to see a number I did not like, and get discouraged.  That tends to happen to me quite frequently.

The past week, I have been doing so well with working out and eating, that I was actually excited about weighing myself this morning.  I thought for sure I would be out of the 80's.  My last weigh-in on 1/28 was 182...

Unfortunately, my weigh-in did not go as well as I thought it was going to...

Wah, wah, wah. Up a tiny bit.

That is ok though.  I am NOT going to be discouraged.  I have created a workout schedule for myself that I have been able to maintain, and as long as I keep following it, I am going to see great results.

Speaking of my workout schedule, I have already changed up my cardio a bit this week.  

As I mentioned in my last post, it has been horribly cold in Wisconsin so I have had no desire to run outside. 

Today, the high is 5 degrees with -5 to -20 wind chill temps. UGH!

I have 2 of my runs scheduled for the weekend, which I wan to run outside, but that is probably not going to happen.  Instead, I did those runs on Monday and Tuesday at the campus gym on a treadmill, and I just need to finish the last one tomorrow, as scheduled.  

I am on week 2 of Couch-to-5k so I have been doing a 5 minute brisk walk warm-up, then I run for 90 seconds and walk for 120 seconds until I reach 20 minutes, then I do a 5 minute cool-down walk.  

Today, I have a rest day in the cardio department, and then on the weekend I will do the Fitness @ Home and Cardio Blast workouts rather than running. 

I will end with something cute. 

Monday night, when I was doing my strength routine, and attempting to do Supermans on the floor, Skittles decided to it was time to snuggle.  She laid right under my neck so each time I was at a rest, we really were snuggling neck to neck.  Silly puppy :)

Weekly Schedule & Wedding Decorations

Hello, lovelies!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, and a great Valentine's Day, full of love!

My weekend consisted of making wedding decorations, which I will get to in a moment.

The first thing I want to talk about today is the schedule system I came up with last week.  Every Monday, I am going to post my weekly schedule so ya'll can see what I'm up to.

This schedule system is going to be really good for me!  I started last week on Wednesday, and while I was not perfect, and did not get everything completed on the day it was assigned, it was still really motivating and helpful to have.

This week, I am on Week 2 of C25K training.  While I haven't done much running yet, it feels GREAT to be getting back into it.

It has been extremely cold in Wisconsin, so I've been doing my runs on a treadmill at the campus gym.  Doing the walk/run combo really helps break of the monotony of dreadmill running.  Hopefully by the time I get to longer running periods, it will be warm enough to do my runs outside!

Shifting gears, I had a wonderful Valentine's Day.  

Nick and I don't do anything special for Valentine's Day.  We don't buy each other anything, and we don't go out for dinner.  We usually just make a fancier dinner at home, and I'll make homemade cheesecake.  

This year, V-Day ended up being a crafting day for our wedding.  

My matron-of-honor and her husband, and my mom, spent the day with us.  Nick made amazing lasagna for dinner, and I made strawberry cheesecake.  All afternoon, and after dinner,  the ladies drank wine and crafted, decorating mason jars, and I made boutonnieres for the groomsmen, the guys hung out, helping us out every now and then.  Nick and Nathan are actually very crafty, and their insight was much appreciated!  

Here are a few pictures from the day:

My matron-of-honor showing off the bridesmaid look. 

I've had a few ideas running around my head on how to tie the bridesmaids to the groomsmen, who will be wearing khakis and navy dress shirts, and we finally pulled everything together this weekend. 

 Our wedding colors are navy and coral.  It's difficult to see in the picture, but the dresses have a coral under-layer, and are covered in ivory lace.  The dresses are from Charming Charlie, and they were on clearance for $19.99!  What. A. Steal!

I made the necklace, which is made of  two twisted strands of shiny navy beads, and a large, flat, coral bead.

The belt is just a piece of navy ribbon which is long in the back to make a bow, and the shoes look quite orange in the picture, but are actually coral and help pull the coral color out on the dresses. 

I LOVE how the look turned out!

Decorated mason jars for the tables at the reception. They are turning out so wonderful.  Each jar has a different design that makes it unique.  This is the looking I'm going for...

Via Pinterest which leads to this blog.

These are the boutonnieres I made for the groomsmen.  Everyone keeps saying they look like lollipops, which they kind of do, but they are SUPPOSED to be rosettes lol. 

Skittles and Dozer we each other's Valentines.  They were so adorable snuggling together in front of the fireplace.

Then, after Sarah and Nathan left for the night with their dogs, Skittles was very sad, looking for a new Valentine to snuggle with.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Wedding Dresses & Schedules

Hey, peeps.  It's been a few days.

While I haven't been doing awful the past couple weeks in the healthy lifestyle area, I also haven't been doing great.  I don't exactly need to do great, but I do need to do better.

Last week, my wedding gown arrived at the bridal shop!  I have an appointment after work today to try it on.  I am beyond excited, but I am also a tad nervous.  

What if it doesn't fit?!?!

The size I tried on in-store was a 12, and it fit almost perfectly, just a tad tight in the hips.  I played it safe, ordered up, and got a size 14. 

Everything will be fine.  It will fit!

But I still have that lingering thought nagging at the the back of my mind...

WHAT IF IT DOESN'T FIT!

I guess I'll find out at 6pm.

Anyway, onto something not so neurotic...

I love schedules and lists.  Having everything written out, and in front of my face, makes me happy.

Last blog post, I talked about making little daily fitness and chore goals.  That went really well, but I feel like I'm not doing enough.  I think that means I'm ready to move onto some bigger goals.

Today, I devised a new weekly schedule for myself that will help me get back into running, and reach my goals of toning up some areas, like my arms and back, before my wedding in June.  

This new weekly schedule isn't only fitness focused, it's also at-home chore focused.  

I added daily chores because I'm tired of letting things, like dishes, build up throughout the week, and then having to spend my Saturday morning cleaning the house.  If i just do a little bit each day, I can spend more time relaxing and doing stuff that is more fun than cleaning on the weekends. 

Each day on my weekly schedule is broken into three categories: strength, cardio, and home.  

I already have specific workouts and chores selected for each day.  I'll follow this schedule for a week or two, and if I start getting bored, I'll change it up.

Here it is:

I have the various strength workouts pinned on my Running! Pinterest board, follow me by clicking HERE if you'd like. 

As for running, I am going to ease back into it by starting the Couch-to-5k program.  I have not run since November, and I do not want to get discouraged by attempting to do too much, too soon.

Once I get a solid running base started, I'll look into devising a half  marathon training plan.

I like starting schedules at the beginning of the week, hence this one starting with Monday, but I'm jumping into this one today!  I will start today, and will have my first run in months, tomorrow!

Wish me luck!