I Survived Week 1

Day 1: Here We Go!
I rolled out of bed this morning, got ready for work, took a few extra minutes to make sure I had all my food for the day (I'm eating every couple hours on this adventure), and headed off to work.  All day long I struggled with eating on the prescribed schedule. I was so full after breakfast that I skipped the morning snack.  I'm doing my best to follow the nutrition plan, but I refuse to eat if I'm not hungry.  Lunch was good and the afternoon snack was tastier than expected. All day long, I kept watching the clock, willing it to go faster so I could get home and tackle Day #1's workout!  The first workout on the schedule is only 20 minutes long, so I went for a nice 1 1/2 mile warm up run before getting started.  It was my first time running since the pain-fest that was Fox Cities this year, so I wasn't expecting much. It turns out, that it was the best run I've had in a while!  I went straight down to the somewhat renovated Babe Cave when I got home, fired up the computer and completed the 20 minute Pump Challenge workout. I really enjoyed the squat track and the back/shoulder tracks and predictably hated the lunge track. I've never liked doing lunges (they feel all wrong to me), so I guess that hasn't changed!  The 20 minutes went by pretty fast and I was good and tired by the end. Mr. R&R and I made dinner together and then tackled the project of prepping food for Day 2.  I think I'm going to need more tupperware just to keep up with how many little containers we both need. 1 day down. 89 to go!

Lunch and Snacks

Day 2: Welcome to #HellMonth
They gave me a rest day on Day 2? Really?  Physically I didn't need it, but it was a good thing it was on the schedule since I discovered that someone decided to hit my car in the parking lot at work (causing almost $1000 in damage) and didn't leave a note.  I spent a solid hour today on the phone with my insurance company, the building management company (they're pulling the security tapes for me), and the body shop.  Then I had to duck out of the office 45 minutes early in order to make it to the body shop in time to get an estimate and schedule an appointment to get my car fixed.  Have I mentioned that this is the absolute worst timing in the world for all of this since #HellMonth at the office started today?

Have I ever mentioned that I'm a Buffy fan?

 I debated going for a short run, but ended up deciding against it when Mr. R&R challenged me to try the power yoga and abs workouts he did this morning - he's doing Power 90, the precursor to P90X.  10 minutes of power yoga (mostly plank/up dog/plank/down dog done in rapid succession) and 10 reps of 10 different ab exercises and I had definitely worked up a nice little sweat before dinner.  Does this count as extra credit since my abs were cussing me afterward?

Day 3: I Still Hate Lunges
Made it home from work and down to the Cave.  Everything felt good until I got to that damned lunge track. I hate them with a passion, but I'm determined to find a way to master them.  Dinner was consumed with gusto (I was ready to start chewing the furniture), lunch and snacks were packed for tomorrow, and Walter and Spot put on a show for their favorite snack - banana.

Day 4:  Back In The Saddle
It's been 6 1/2 weeks since I crashed my bike at the Shoreline Duathlon and I haven't spent any time in my saddle since. That changed tonight.  I only rode for 20 minutes, but I'm happy to say that it felt good and I was able to maintain a good speed/cadence throughout.

The ride was followed by the 20 minute 'Flow' workout prescribed by Les Mills Pump.  At first I had a hard time following along since the music track drowns out the verbal cues, but once I turned off the music it was smooth sailing.  It was a pretty basic yoga flow with lots of runner pose, downward facing dog, plank, and up dog.  That was followed by a few crescent, warrior two, and lateral angle poses and a little floor work that mostly involved light twisting.  All in all, it was a good stretch, but not terribly difficult.

Day 5: Just What I Needed
A very odd day at the office was followed by a solid 20 minutes on the bike trainer, 20 minutes of Pump Challenge, and a 55 minute full body massage. I didn't realize how tight my upper body was until my massage therapist had to resort to using his elbow to release some of the trigger points!

Day 6: Running In The Clouds
I woke up early (for me) this morning and went for a run. My legs felt like lead and I was wheezing from the humidity, but I ran up a big hill, paused at the top and just looked out over the silent streets with the fog hanging over them and had one of those "I Love Running" moments.  Although it was a craptacular run from a speed standpoint, standing on top of the hill I felt...grateful.

The run was followed by the workout I've been dreading all week: Hard Core Abs.  As expected, it was 10 minutes of ab-searing pain and misery, but I made it through and was done with all forms of working out before I would normally be out of bed on a Saturday! I wonder if I'll be able to walk normally tomorrow or if my abs will be too sore to stand upright?

Day 7: We Did WHAT?
This morning I ran the Community Unity Run - a 2.62 mile fun (un-timed) run benefiting two local children's running programs. Why 2.62 miles? It was a play on the 26.2 mile Lakefront Marathon, which was happening at the same time.  I arrived at the race site a little early and gave the Iron Cheerleader (he was the race director) a hand with some last minute tasks and then met up with a few members of The Herd. 

D, A, Me, & C

My teammate, C, mentioned that she was planning to take it easy this morning and run somewhere between 10:00-10:30 pace so I decided to run with her since I was technically supposed to be taking a rest day today.  I don't know her terribly well and I figured that since this run was just for fun it would be nice to run together and get to know her better.   The gun went off and we set off and quickly found ourselves running toward the front of the pack (I blame C since she's a friggin' rockstar) - with only the real speed demons in front of us!  The first part of the course was an out and back and we counted the runners coming back at us as we approached the turnaround point - we were tied for 8th!  I know it was supposed to be a fun run, but my competitive streak came out, and thoughts of running 10:00/mile were immediately banished from my head when I saw that.  Somewhere just past Mile 1 there was a cheer-tunnel of kids who would be participating in the kids race when ours was over. We ran single file with our arms flung wide to high-five as many kids as possible.  I definitely started feeling our pace around Mile 2, but the thought of finishing well and keeping up with C beat out my desire to slow down and catch my breath. C & I actually managed to carry on a conversation for the entire run.  Toward the end we got passed by one guy, but no one else ever came close.  We crossed the finish line in 25:18 (9:39 pace) tied for 3rd place female and 9th place overall!  That pace was nothing that would have allowed that to happen at an actual race with a competitive field, but it still felt amazing since it's probably the best placing I'll ever have.  It was great to end the week running with friends - and on such a high note!

The out and back section. I love this part of the city in fall!

Overall, I'd call Week 1 a success. I worked out 6 days of the week, I ate clean, had an unexpectedly good race, and I'm starting to feel a lot more like myself already - which was the whole point of this challenge in the first place.