Matt, I have to admit – yesterday I let you down :)
My ‘partial’ excuse was that I wasn’t feeling good. The headache stayed with me all day and by evening I was wheezing and coughing. After work when my fiancé showed up – we were both invited out with ‘the guys’ from work. We went. My nutrition for the day was ‘spotty’ and was completely blown by me indulging in a drink at the bar. Then when we finally ate dinner I gave into the craving for a juicy hamburger AND fries.
But that’s done and over with. The good news is today I woke up headache free for the first time in about a week. Yay! Maybe I needed that red meat protein? Who knows.
When the alarm went off this morning I toddle off to do my morning constitutional and yes, the thought of going back to bed DID cross my mind, but when I got back to the bedroom the fiancé had already gotten out of bed AND turned on the light. We were committed. Whew!
We actually managed to get out of the house in really good time and were at the gym about 5 minutes earlier then normal. That was nice because it gave me time to get in a really nice long workout.
I started with my run. The goal was 1.5 miles. I was worried about how I was going to feel during my run because I had had so many problems breathing last night. After a two minute warm up I set it to my 5MPR pace and started to go. The first 10 minutes just WIZZED by! I knew at that moment that all the hard work I’ve been putting into my running was paying off. When I dropped down the speed for my first walk break I only dropped it to 3.5 instead of my normal 3MPR and then only ‘rested’ one minute instead of two before cranking it back up to 5MPR. I had a new goal, finish the 1.5miles in less then 19 minutes. As is my habit I really pushed the last .25 mile. Even so I was still feeling great when I hit that 1.5Mile mark! And that feeling got even better when I looked down and saw I had finished in 18.31 minutes! YAY!
I didn’t have long to celebrate though because soon it was time for shoulders and Tris.
Arnold Press: 35 x 6 / 35 x 3 / 30 x 6
I’m at a problem time right now on the Arnold Presses – 30’s are way easy and 35’s MAN are they hard. I think I’m just going to have to keep doing as many with the 35’s as I can and finishing up with 30’s
Military Barbell Presses (+bar): 50 x 6 / 50 x 6
This was REALLY hard – probably because I did Arnold Presses first. Fiancé was doing a LOT of spotting towards the end of the last set.
Side Lateral Raises: 20 x 6
Triceps Cable Pushdowns: 105 x 6 / 115 x 6 / 115 x 6
Overhead Cable Extensions: 55 x 6 / 55 x 6
Bench Dips: 6
I’m going to raise my feet the next I do these. I have to say doing these was a HUGE victory for me. A few months ago I tried doing dips and the only way I could do them was to bend my knees (so it almost looked like I was sitting in a chair) and support much of my weight with my legs – I did them EASILY this time with my legs completely straight.
I’m back on track with eating today and the workout is done and taken care off. I see another strong day going into the books and that little *blip* from yesterday is over and done with.
And I got this quote in my email today.
"Gradual change is usually more fruitful in the long run than
is forced, ultra-aggressive upheaval. Undertaken wisely, steady
transitions cultivate authenticity, groundedness, and virtues–like
patience, compassion (for self and others), and perseverance."
*Unknown
Great advice – I still may end up throwing a lot of the ‘wheat’ carbs out of my diet.
Thanks to everyone for your comments on the ‘loss’ in my photos. I know the scale shouldn’t rule our lives and yes I’m happy for the changes I’ve been seeing – BUT, losing scale weight IS important to me for more then vain reasons. Carrying around 200+ lbs is not easy on my joints and feet, especially when I run. It’s not easy on my heart either. I MAY think about avoiding it for a longer length of time – like a month or so. But that makes it hard to know if the diet needs tweaking. We’ll see. I’ll try to refrain from complaining about it too much though. If I’m going to continue to get on the silly thing I should be willing to accept that it’s not always going to tell me what I want to hear.
Back to work now – Have a GREAT day!
Edit: Today's Pace 1.5 miles in 18:31 at 12:20 mins/ mile
WHOOP!!!
Shawn who says you have let me down at all?
ReplyDeleteYou're human, and doing what you did is perfectly understandable and normal, it's not like you do something like that, 2 or 3 times week.
You more than made up for it, by nailing the awesome running time, and by nailing those Dips.
Misses, I'm really proud of you come what may. A little whoopsie, lets's call it an act of humanness, is not going to make me think I'm wasting my time posting on here, or putting belief in you.
I believe you can do amazing things with your body, but I'm certainly never going to deliberately make you feel, like you have anything to live up to, or put you on a pedastel :-).
I'm proud to come here, and give my support to someone I know wants this so much, they'll push themselves beyond their own expectations.
You more than made up for yesterday, with the running and dipping, in that manner you always do, when you think you've made a boo-boo or a whoopsie with your diet and / or training.
Oh and, here's a thought. Why not use the 35's on the Arnolds first, then the 30's second to retain some energy, so you can go back to 35's on the last set, when there's nothing to lose.
Might work out better than tailing the exercise off with 30's.
Whatever happens, you're going to achieve the things I quoted on my blog, I am 100% certain of it, and that's why I am happy to come here and give you a "virtual" pat on the back, pretty much every time you post.
GOOD LUCK, keep making those awesome achievements, keep smiling, and I hope you feel as proud of yourself, as I do of you, because you deserve to.
You've had an awesome last 6 months, and you're doing amazing things, so relax, enjoy the progress, and don't fret about little things, because you ALWAYS bounce back from them, with outstanding ability.
You're a human success story, and I'll back you 100% all the way :-).
You'd have to seriously binge eat for about a week, to let me down.
Matt
P.S. that last bit was not a challenge ;-).
lol! Not a challenge? Darn ;)
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your awesome run..and reaching your goal!! Keep up your hard work...it's paying off :)
ReplyDeleteWTG on the run...(see me standing on my chair cheering you on...GO Girl).
ReplyDeleteI'm having the same struggle with the scale as you and know EXACTLY how you feel... but your pictures show that you are definately on the right track.
Great job Shawn!!! Awesome time on your run! I hoping to start back into my running program next week so I will be right there with you setting goals and blasting thru them!!
ReplyDeleteHow are you feeling? Hope the headache is still long gone. I get them too. They are miserable!
ReplyDeleteCongrats for picking yourself up and having a great workout despite a (minor) setback. That's how you acheive long-term sucess. Keeping at it no matter what. You're doing it! :o)