It probably goes without saying that I have been neglecting to keep this blog updated recently. I can’t really even use the excuse that there is *so much* going on that I haven’t had time. It’s just one of those things that you have to be in the mood to do. Like reading, for example; I borrowed a bunch of books from the library, read three and ran out of steam for the fourth one that is sitting on my kitchen table on it’s second renewal and due back again next week. I mean, they give you 20 days for each renewal, so I should be done by now, but I digress…
Despite my lack of motivation to provide updates, there are plenty of things to provide updates on! Here they are in chronological order.
Kosama September-October 8-Week Challenge
The first month of the 8-week challenge wasn’t much to shake a fist at. We only went to the gym 8 times (which I am disappointed to admit). But October brought on renewed motivation, not just for this challenge, but for a MEPs challenge as well. We were set up to face off with other Kosama members in brackets to earn the most MEPs each week. All 6 classes counted, so you couldn’t miss a day. Z and I really busted ass on that. The first two weeks I pushed pretty hard, but my body felt the damage from it and so I quickly fell out of the running. Z on the other hand didn’t miss a SINGLE DAY all month and got all the way down to the final four! His final competition put up a really good fight. A month of that level of effort unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) eventually results in really great recovery time, which means that it is a LOT harder to sustain a high enough heart rate to earn the MEPs needed to win the challenge.
To go along with these dual challenges, I challenged myself to cook at home as much as possible during the month of October. Clearly, this self imposed challenge paid off because Z and I BOTH took home the titles for most body fat % lost during the challenge ( as well as $80 apiece from the challenge buy-in pot).
Too Much Turkey Countdown Challenge
November was supposed to go much like October, with my staying motivated to cook at home in preparation for enjoying a tasty Thanksgiving meal. Unfortunately what actually happened was my being totally effing lazy and eating out, like, a ton. We also missed a bunch of days at the gym, clocking only 14 of the available 24. Looking back, this is particularly disappointing as I had the entire week of Thanksgiving off of work and had planned to do two-a-day’s each day that I was off to make a final push before my birthday dinner at Benihana in December. What REALLY happened, was I did two classes that Monday which were both strength (a terrible idea, in case you were wondering – just stick with 1 strength class and only double-up on cardio days, kids). I subsequently took Tuesday off, only worked out once on Wednesday, and took Friday and Saturday off. I ate seconds on Thanksgiving, and I don’t care. It was delicious.
Holiday Weight Maintenance Challenge
Bahahahaha! Oh, right, I am supposed to be taking this seriously. Ahem. So I weighed in before Thanksgiving. I was up again in body fat (but just by a bit) as a result of my instantaneous abandonment of eating healthy for November. I weighed in just after and my weight was up 0.8lbs, though I was down in body fat, likely a result of losing muscle mass. These past few weeks in December have been busy and stressful for work (read: super stressful) and I haven’t been drinking enough water, or eating my snacks on a schedule or anything, so I am hoping that my pre-Christmas weigh-in won’t be so terrible. Then again, I did bake 300 unhealthy cookies last weekend that I have been slowly devouring with milk (if you have never had biscochos before, they’re awesome, and once you start you can’t stop eating them). I guess I should lower my expectations that I will either get exactly what I expected, or be slightly surprised…
Iron Girl 5k
I convinced my bestie Jenn (yes, the Jenn who runs more runs than I do – you can imagine how much convincing it actually took…) to run the Iron Girl 5k with me yesterday, on her birthday. When I woke up, it was 37 degrees. I have run two half marathons that took place in January and it wasn’t that damn cold. Lucky for me, I warm up really fast.
All I was hoping for with this run was to at least match my time from my last run. I have been progressively getting better this year, and just wanted to see that trend continue. The run took place in Fountain Hills which is, needless to say, hilly. I really impressed myself when I was able to run the first full mile without stopping. I only took a quick break to catch my breath. I also did it after mile 2, and that was good timing since there was a water station. There were about 4 or 5 uphill sections, with the last one taking the most breath out of me (another quick walking break), but I managed to beat my time again! It wasn’t by much – I took my minutes per mile from 11:41 to 11:12. I’d like to think that if there hadn’t been hills, I might have actually broken into the 10 minutes per mile. Might have to sign up for another 5k to find out!
In the meantime, my body is recovering from busting butt. You don’t realize how many muscles you use to really run properly until you run like this. Every part of me is aching and I sat out of Kosama today (ALL legs) to give myself a little recovery time. Let’s hope I feel better tomorrow for K-BOX.
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