It’s been a bit since I’ve updated. But don’t worry it’s simply because I’m busy not because I’m avoiding posting!

Friday – oh Friday. I slept in on Friday because I knew we had the weekend to ourselves and would be able to hit the gym then. I tell you, there are some days when sleeping in feels Soooo good!

The nutrition got a little shaky around lunch time. I over did it a bit, but pulled it out at dinner. The outlook on the fiancé’s job is not as good as we firsts thought and that put me into a bit of a tailspin. I need to learn how to deal with this stuff in other ways.

Saturday we had made plans to hike the dip-sea trail. It’s a challenging hike. Every year in June they have a race along it and I’ve thought about joining. I’ve wanted to hike at least once before signing up though and I thought Saturday we were going to get our chance. As we woke up Saturday morning, though, it was to the unmistakable sound of rain. Ugh! Hiking was out of the question of course.

Instead we got dressed, had some breakfast, hit a few shops (I got some more new clothes YAY) and then hit the gym.

It was nice and quiet and not very crowded. We had an awesome workout!

Back:

Bent Rows (+Bar): 60 x 6 / 60 x 6 / 60 x 6
Close Grip Lat Pull downs: 110 x 6 / 115 x 6
Assisted Pull-ups: 160 x 10 / 160 x 6
Seated Row: 120 x 6

Olympic Style Deadlifts (total weight): 90 x 6 / 135 x 4
Shrugs : 50 x 6

Bis:

Straight Bar Curls: 50 x 6/50 x 6 / 50 x 6
Hammer Curls: 20 x 6 / 25 x 6
EZ-Curl Bar: 55 x 5 / 55 x 4

Abs:
Hanging Leg Lifts: 15 / 14

I spent the rest of the day figuring out a new processes for tracking my workouts. I had found that I would raise a weight and then forget and start at the same ol’ weight the next time through. So, I’ve starting using a program that lets me set up templates and then print my workouts. It also prints nice graphs and will show my progress. I’m looking forward to seeing how things progress.

Sunday I got out of bed KNOWING I was going to get my run done. We had pondered going on our hike yesterday but the sun hadn’t shone much and we didn’t want to get stuck slogging through the mud.

As soon as I got out of bed I changed into my workout clothes, laced on my shoes and headed out the door. I had already measured and mapped out a course so I had a good idea of where I was going. I made sure I had plenty of shoulder to run on and didn’t have to use sidewalks.

It was a beautiful day and I felt GREAT going out. I hit the 10 minute mark just about the time I finished the first mile!

One thing about running outside, it is VERY different then running on the treadmill. Not just the ‘effort’ factor either. I use the treadmill to PUSH myself a lot of the times, but I also use it to hold myself back. It forces me to run a steady pace. Outside though there’s nothing like that. I just GO – it’s really nice.

Running is still not ‘easy’ for me. There are times I get wrapped up in my thoughts and I forget that I’m even running, but it doesn’t last long. Before I know it I’m going ‘hey! I’m in the zone – but THINKING about being in the zone tends to put you OUT of the zone so then I’m back to thinking about how my right shin hurts and how my lungs are on fire.

I turned around and started the ‘back’ part of my out-and-back run. That’s when things got REALLY hard. The rout I had chose had a slight ‘grade’ to in and when I turned around I was suddenly headed UP hill. I also discovered that I was now running into a headwind. Only it wasn’t consistently a headwind sometimes it shifted and was hitting me at about a 30% angle instead. Not FUN. But, I put my head into the wind and kept pushing. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I kept fighting the urge to drop into the shuffling walk/run that I have and instead pick of my feet and at least give the appearance of a ‘real’ runner. I was too exhausted to be proud when I hit the door at home. 2 miles – 24:30 minutes.

I celebrated by picking up a new pair of running shoes – I can’t wait to try them tomorrow.

This morning it was business as usual. Up at 4:00AM and at the gym at the usual time.

Leg day – whoop!

Squats (+ bar): 160 x 6 / 160 x 6 / 160 x 6
Leg Press: 540 x 6 / 540 x 6
Dead Lift (+ bar): 120 x 6 / 120 x 6
Standing Calf: 195 x 8 / 195 x 8 / 195 x 7
Seated Calf: 135 x 8 / 135 x 6

Food is on plan. I’m doing ‘only green’ carbs for my last three meals for the day. We’ll how that effects my numbers at the end of the week.

I’m looking forward to the end of next week and our four week checkin!