Sunday, January 20, 2013

Improvement

Last week was my first Zero Week of 2013.  Obviously this isn't a good thing, but the way I see it, I have two choices: dwell on it or do something about it - and doing something about it is far more productive.

Monday, January 14: I'm convinced that the universe was plotting against me today. Woke up to a freezing cold house and discovered that the furnace had gone on strike sometime during the night.  Scurried into work for about 2 hours to collect stuff to work on from home.  Spent from 10am-3pm working in 45 minute bursts since I couldn't sit still for too long before my hands went numb!  The good news is that the repair guy got the furnace running again. The bad news is that it looks like we'll be buying a new furnace after this winter - to be fair, this isn't really shocking since the thing is 20+ years old.  Once the house warmed up, I headed downstairs to spend some time on the bike trainer and all of the following happened:
  • I snapped a nail pumping up my rear tire.
  • My computer misbehaved when I tried to stream Netflix.
  • My cadence sensor refused to cooperate and actually show my cadence and speed.
45 minutes and several whiny trips upstairs to beg Mr. R&R for technical assistance I was good to go.  I rode for about 30 minutes and spent another 15 minutes or so lifting weights.

Even Walter required a blanket to snuggle under when the furnace was out

Tuesday, January 15: After being thwarted for over a week, I finally made it to the gym!  I ran on the evil dreadmill treadmill for about 30 minutes.  Holy crap, I've gotten slow.  Oh well. At least now I have something to improve upon.

Wednesday, January 16: My knee was feeling a little 'tweaky' after yesterday's treadmill run and rather than ending up hurt before the season even starts I took to my yoga mat.  42 minutes later I was stretched, relaxed, and feeling a little less rusty than I did the last time I practiced.  I'm hoping to try one of the longer flows soon.

Thursday, January 17: Rest Day.  I desperately needed to go grocery shopping and the first part of Oprah's interview with Lance Armstrong was on.  This was a 'must watch' for me. I came away disgusted but not really surprised. My final thoughts are: 1. I won't waste time watching the second part. and 2. I hope he remains banned from competition for life.

Friday, January 18: After two weeks of planning to go and then not going, I finally got my pool membership! My gym doesn't have a pool, but they do have a reciprocal agreement with another facility about 17 miles away so we can use their pool.  After I signed up, I hit the water. I could get used to this. The water was about 81 degrees and I pretty much had the whole thing to myself - which was good since I'm pretty sure I was a splashing, thrashing mess.  I swam about 450 meters (just over a quarter mile) - and by then my arms, shoulders, and back were burning and I was panting like a dog in July.  Added bonus: I can work on swim form and endurance without worrying about encountering any evil fish!  Maybe the whole triathlon thing isn't completely out of the question!

(source)
 I had planned on spending the rest of the evening on the couch, but I got talked into going ice skating instead.  Funny enough, the ice rink is in the same building at the indoor track that I've been avoiding like the plague encircles the ice oval!  I guess fate wanted me there one way or another! 1 hour and 4 miles later, my toes were frozen solid and the ache in my legs matched the one in my arms. Couch time!

(source)
Saturday, January 19: Woke up with aching arms and legs and decided a rest day was in order.  Mr. R&R and I also treated ourselves to an awesome cheese plate, a mix of prosciutto/calabrese salami/cappicola, and a bottle of Bordeaux.

These are a few of my favorite things...

Sunday, January 20: Another dreadmill run since it's about 8 degrees outside and the windchill is well below zero.  It was slightly less awful than Tuesday's run, but still ridiculously slow and my arms still ache from Friday's swim, but I'll take it since it brings my workout count for the week to 6!

Spot wanted to come too!
 This week was a vast improvement over last week and I'm hoping that the coming week will be another good one.  I'm spending the rest of today doing things that will set me up to succeed again next week (read: eliminating my usual excuses): finishing my laundry, pre-making a few meals, etc.

How was your week?



4 comments:

April said...

Keep that motivation up! The ice rink/track combo is freakin' awesome! Not many ice rinks in this neck of the woods.

jill said...

Your bunnies are adorable! Also impressed by your fitness regime. I used to run and do occasional 10Ks, participated in a triathlon once, but now my fussy tendinitis won't let me train like that anymore - it's all skiing, swimming, kayaking, and some hiking. Bummer about the furnace but hope you're all warm now.

Anonymous said...

Hows the swimming going? And as always love the insane bunny cuteness. How do you clock how far you skate? Is it by laps or does a pedometer work? Cause I skate at the Plaza (no laps) but would love to know how far I go!

Mary said...

I know that the ice oval is 440 meters (just over a quarter mile) so I wore a lap timing watch and every time I passed a certain point, I ticked off a lap. If I was skating outdoors, I'd probably nerd it up and wear my Garmin.