Gotta love being a whippersnapper!

So this morning was Aqua Bootcamp.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but the "bootcamp" bit put me in the mind of super intensity and maybe having to tread water for long periods of time and lots of water jogging and such.  Instead, I show up and I'm the youngest person there - by about 30 years.  It was actually a lot of fun though.  By keeping my weights and my noodle under the water during the exercises I could dramatically increase the resistance and make it challenging enough.  Still wasn't a hard workout by any means, but it got my heart rate going.  I stayed in the pool for an extra hour after the class to just make sure I got some good cardio in.  BTW - did you know water jogging burns about 600 calories an hour?  Pretty sweet... :)  Next step, buying a one piece because bikini bottoms are not conducive to all that jumping around!

Reaching goals

I did it!  I hit all the goals I had for my 10k: I finished, I wasn't last, and I finished in under 2 hours!  My back went in the first mile, but I still finished, I was 790 out of 799, and I finished in 1:22!  Hooray!

After that, I promptly decided to stop working out for a few days.  My body was hurting!  I went back tot he gym for the first time since the race last night and stuck to the elliptical and weights.  I've decided I'm going to build up my muscles a bit more before hitting the trails again.  I'm thinking in February I'll start back up with the 0 to 10k program and pick up where I left off.  My goal is to run the whole 10k, and then just keep on going!

Harder and Harder

So, last night I decided to go to a class instead of trying to slog it out on a treadmill.   I managed to get shin splints during TurboKick!!!  I was hobbling out of the class and was barely able to finish.  What the heck is wrong with me?!  So instead of being able to do some last minute training, I have to rest my shins to try to make sure I can get through Saturday in one piece.

a very bewildering day

So last night I tried to start the last phase of the Tabata run (run 20 seconds, rest 10 on an incline of 3 at a min speed of 8) and I only made it halfway through.  Halfway is only 2 minutes mind you!  I couldn't even go for 4 minutes.  I thought my legs and my lungs were just going to give up.  It didn't help that I did not want to work out last night at all.  Not even a smidge.  So, since I couldn't sprint, I tried a nice slow run, and went for a quarter of a mile before I got bored.  Like I said, my heart just wasn't in it.

I got home and just really wanted to cry (see Katie - I'm right there with you!).  I've been wanting to cry for 2 weeks now and I'm kind of sick of it.  I just feel like I'm not as far as I should be and I'm very aggravated with myself.  I know I'll be proud just for finishing this 10k - no matter how much I have to walk and no matter how long it takes me.  But I wish I'd been firmer with myself about really preparing for it.

Hopefully this will really hit home.  Seems like being in this situation for my 5k in September wasn't enough.  Seems like a broken record - not ready for the 5k, not ready for the 10k...  If I'm not ready for ToughMudder I'm screwed.  I can't just flub my way through that one.

Ladies, wherever has our motivation gone?!  It's almost race time and it's no where in sight...

Here's hoping tonight's workout goes much better!

still having issues...

I did not want to work out today.  I've been exhausted all week, added by the fact I was trying really hard not to cry all day because of the school shooting, and I just was not in the mood.  But the 10k is in days, and a girl has got to do what a girl has got to do.

So, went to the gym, started my sprints, got half way through, and there went my back.  Balls.  This is very very ungood.  Normally I would've given up at this point and gone home, but yesterday's insights were still fresh in my head, so I decided to push on.  Not on the treadmill - I didn't want to hurt myself, but I went to the basket ball court and did my circuits.  I got through 2 circuits and had to stop.  I probably should've gone on to finish at least 3 times on the ropes and the tire, but during my second session of abs I almost started throwing up, so I decided it was time to throw in the towel.  I added some extra abs the trainer didn't have me doing originally, but the consistent back pain has me kind of freaked out, so I figured I needed as much ab work as I could handle.  Apparently adding 50 diamond crunches, 24 wall bridges, 12 leg lifts, and 50 standard crunches for each circuit is enough to make me want to puke.  Go figure.

So I get home, hacking up a lung and coughing something fierce, and Carey is on the phone with a family member.  Not a smile or a how do you do, just a look to acknowledge I'm there and that's it.  I hop in the shower, just a bit miffed, and let the steam soothe my battered lungs.  I get out, trying to motivate myself to go make dinner, and Carey sneaks up behind me, scatters a few kisses along my neck, and tells me to get some real clothes on because he's taking me out to dinner!  Apparently you get bf rewards for working out that hard - hooray!  We went to Chili's and I got some pasta, a margarita, and a side of parmesan garlic sweet potato fries (omg - so good!).  I only ate a fraction of my food, but I'm back to the wanting to throw up stage.  *Sigh*  Oh well, at least I got my reward - which totally undid all the ab work I did.  Luckily, the gym will still be there tomorrow.

An interesting insight

So, as I slack off just days before the 10k, I've spent a bit of time looking back over my past endeavors. I've realized that I'm constantly "starting over".  I'm always doing things right -again.  I've never gone through with anything to the point where it's a good starting off point for the next phase.  I'm always coming up to the end of the contest, or the 5k, or the 10k or what not, realized I haven't gotten myself to where I should be, so I stop trying.  I give up before I can officially "fail".  When I don't finish it, it's because I "chose" to stop, not because I couldn't do it.  It's malarky, but I think that's what I'm telling myself.

Hence, the supreme laziness of the last several days.  I'm so aggravated with myself.  I'm not ready for the 10k, I've gained weight, and I'm in this wretched funk.  How do I get myself over this hump???

The next installment!

So, today I didn't work out.  I was at work from 6:30am until 5:00pm and then traffic sucked my ass and I didn't get home until 6:15pm.  After all that, all I wanted was to catch the end of Jeopardy and enjoy a glass of scotch - so I did.  BTW - Ardbegh is my dear friend.  It's $60 a bottle, but sooooooo gooooood!

I did hear back from the office though.  Maintenance Man - the Master of Mediocrity, came and replaced our drywall (I think I could've done better) and cleaned our bathrooms from the mess left by the "contractors" (I know I could've done better - and will do better soon - plus there's still the gap in the wall).  Our water heater is going to be replaced tomorrow (again by MM) and an environmentalist is coming to test our neighbor's air quality.  If there's time he'll test ours as well, but I'm honestly not too concerned because if they're clean, we'll be clean.  I would like to be there to watch, but I'm happy it's happening.

Sometimes all it takes is a little bit of passive aggressive-ness, a threat to call corporate, you neighbor talking to a lawyer, and telling them I want one thing done professionally and until that happens I'm not going away, to get your apartment complex to do the right thing.

Those mattresses - I just slammed Kim and the office in the face with them.

PS- working from home tomorrow as I still don't trust them any further then I can throw them.

To the mattresses

So this has nothing to do with working out, I just have to vent about my apartment complex. PS - this is kind of long so you might want to grab a wine/coffee/coco or whatever your bev of choice may be.

So, last Saturday (12/3) as I was doing laundry, I noticed a funky smell.  I thought it was the cat box, but C said he just emptied it.  I figured Bert had just done what he does and moved on.  Sunday, we notice a lot of water in the basement.  Our water heater has leaked before, so we assumed that was it again and called it in.  We also called in that the tiles in our shower were coming off.  Turns out, it wasn't the water heater.  At the time, we assumed it was water getting behind the shower tiles and and making its sweet way down two floors all the way to the basement to form some lovely puddles.  Maintenance Man comes by on Tuesday to fix the problem.  We put our own fans on the puddles in the basement and MM call the job done.  Please note - he does nothing to sop up the water or dry our basement.  Wednesday, we still have some large puddles and we still notice an active drip so we call it in.  Turns out, it's not our shower, it's our neighbor's and it's not the tiles, it's a whole friggin pipe.  I come home Wednesday night and there's a whole in both bathrooms - floor level in the upstairs and in our poweder room ceiling on the main level.  By looking up the hole in pwder room, we can see the wood in between the walls is completely saurated, actively dripping, and there's some lovely white stuff starting to form - aka, mold.  To be honest, it looks like the middle logs of our wood pile after a ton of rain when they don't get the chance to dry. 

Thursday or Friday, they send out "contractors" to patch up our holes.  The ceiling looks ok, but the patch job in the upstairs bathroom is horrendous - there's a 1-2" gap between the bottom of the patch and the floor.  They also left both bathrooms an absolute mess and I stepped on a screw hidden under our shower mat when stepping out of the shower Friday morning.  So, I'm a little concerned at this point, because I know that, other than the fan c & I put out and pointed up in to the ceiling, they haven't done a darn thing to dry things out other than fix the leak.  If they patch it up completely, shutting out any air circulation to aid in drying, I have a very strong hunch that mold will form.  C has mold allergies, our neighbor's toddler has repiratory issues, & our neighbor is pregnant.  Mold would be very bad indeed.  I've been reassured over and over that they sprayed bleach on the area, but according to the mold remediation company I contacted, that's not going to cut it - especially if they wall up the area before it's dry.  I speak with the neighbors to see if they're walling up their side, and, lo and behold, my fears are well founded because they're going to town patching things up with nary a fan in sight.  Neighbor tells me they've contacted a family lawyer, so C & I may have to jump on that wagon if it comes down to it. 

They don't do anything over the weekend, but, we figure, it's the weekend - let's see what happens Monday.  Monday comes and goes without anyone coming to clean up their mess in the bathrooms, or in the basement.  The damaged dry wall has also not been replaced.  BTW - you can't clean mold out of dry wall; it's too porous.  The whole piece needs to be replaced.  I call the office today, speak with the office manager and just avoid the front office monkeys all together, and offer my complaints.  For some reason, I'm still trying to be nice.  I tell her I want a professional mold remediation company to come out and do an air quality assessment.  If that comes back negative, I will shut up and everything will go away once they clean up their messes (and our water heater- turns out the fucker is leaking).  She lets me know she has to get it approved with the VP.  I let her know that's fine and give her both my work and my cell numbers so she can call me with updates on when/how they're going to go about fixing everything.  I also tell her I need to be present when this air test is going on, because I honestly don't trust them to hire an actual professional.  For all I know, they'll get some cheapo detector, hand it to Maintenance Man, and have him do it.  I don't care if he's been certified - he's not a pro.  I'm certified in CPR and First Aid, but does that mean I'm an EMT?  No!  I didn't say that because I was still trying to be nice, but I wish I had.  At the very end of the convo, I tell her that I will contact the VP if necessary, and her parting shot is this "Let me do my job first and we'll go from there".  She's lucky that was the end of the conversation because if she'd said that earlier and if I'd had time to process that, oooooh nelly would she have been in for it!  If she'd do her job, I wouldn't be on the phone with her asking her to!  We wouldn't need to be thinking about taking legal action, we wouldn't be wanting to call coporate, & I wouldn't be looking for new apartments if she'd been doing her job!  Let her do her job indeed.... BLERGH!  That's what I have to day about that!

This brings us up to date on our current saga.  Tune in tomorrow for our next episode.  If she doesn't call me back today, she'll be getting daily calls and they will be less and less friendly.

PS, did I mention that the first day this started, I found out I had a large crack in my radiator as well?  It was a wonderful week, let me tell you!

You say tomato, I say Tabata!

So, since I realized we have a scant 2 weeks to go til the 10k, I skipped to week 2 of the Tabata and put my incline at 1.5.  It was kind of rough, but I did it!  Even better - I did it after Zumba!  I don't know if it's just the teacher or if it's me, but Zumba's not quite the ass kicking I remember...  Maybe I just need to know the routines better so I can get into it more and really throw my hips around!

Tonight I'm going back to the 10k program after Body Pump.  Keep your fingers crossed there's no back pain!!

Playing catch up

Hello all!  It's been a while since I've posted anything, but I promise I've worked out since then!  I wasn't running though - sadly enough.  After that stupid Hustle class, the very bottom of my shins/ankle area stated hurting like crazy!  I took a day off to rest them, and then started walking on the treadmill to warm up, went to start a sprint, and promptly almost collapsed on the treadmill from the pain of it.  So I switched to the elliptical to still at least engage my glutes and did the rope and tire exercises from the trainer.  While I was in the gym, I did manage do do a few set of sprints, so that's good.  Maybe they just needed to warm up a bit... 

Funny story - while I was doing my first circuit in the gym, I was alone (very unusual) and pretty happy about it.  After a while, one guy came in to play basketball, but I ignored him and kept on going.  At one point while I was on the ropes, I was seriously getting tired, and I hear this, "You can do it!!  Keep going, you can do it!!"  I look around and the basketball guy was definitely watching me workout and I guess he really wanted me to finish that set :)  I thought it was pretty funny, but i guess you have to be there!

I didn't do anything over the weekend, but we had the Yule log, so I guess that counts as hiking.... right?  Kate and Drew both bailed this year - Drew because he was hungover and Kathryn because she's all upset about stupid Paul....  I have never met this guys but I do not like him one bit.  He needs to telll Kate is he's interested in dating or not - because I think she thinks they're dating, he thinks they're "hanging out" and I don't think he has any interest in moving beyond that.  *Sigh*....

So girls, we're T-2 weeks!  I'm pretty nervous, and I know I'm going to be super slow on this, if only because of my back, but no matter what, even if I"m walking alot - I am going to finish!

I hope you're hearing the Eye of the Tiger in the background, because I sure am ;)

Hustle! or not...

So last night I went to a class called Hustle, which I thought was going to be like Zumba, but more hip hop.  It kind of sucked.  Def not going back again.  I broke a sweat, but I think that's just because it was so hot in there!  We kept taking breaks to learn more of the routine and it was a lot of hand movements, so I definitely do not feel like I got a workout in there!  After that I tried to go do the routine from the trainer, but I went in the gym and there were these 3 guys in there throwing stuff around the entire length of the gym to the point where I did not feel safe and was pretty darn sure I was going to get beaned by a basketball or by the football they were trying to throw in the hoop!  After trying to deal with the hoodlums for 5 minutes, I got fed up and just went home.  I think the fastest I moved all evening was the sprint out to my car...

Holy Tabata!

Holy Tabata Batman!

So I tried the Tabata run for the first time - and it was pretty darn good.  I'm thinking I'm going to have some sore muscles tomorrow!  I got a really good sweat off of it, although I don't think I pushed myself as hard as I could.  Next time I'm going to run all the way at 8 on the treadmill, instead of 7.6 and see how well I can do that.  The time after that, I'll add an incline if I can.

My back started to hurt a wee bit, but I adjusted by posture and it went away!  Hooray!  Now I just have to make sure I can do that on the long runs and my life gets so much happier.  Joyous times.  I know there's no way I'll actually be ready for this 10k - and I'm fully aware it may take me 2+ hours - more if my back acts up - but gosh darn it!  I am going to do this!  I figure I'll just do that next day of the program and walk/run till I'm done.  Will you guys wait for me at the end?