Good afternoon Beautiful,Well… it’s back to the grind after a fantastic 4 days off.I had my alarm set this morning to go off at 6:40 a.m. (in my attempt to start waking up earlier), and found myself changing my alarm to go off at 7:10. I 100% couldn’t get out of bed at that time today for some reason, so I slept 30 minutes longer. In hindsight, I probably would have had more energy if I would have woken up when I was supposed to, because from last week’s experience, waking up earlier = more energy (for some absurd reason).I was somewhat looking forward to going into the office today. The only reason I was like of dreading it was the fact that I was away on Friday and I knew I had a ton of emails just hanging out, waiting for me to open them so I would have a million things to do today. If you know me well, you know that I hate not being able to see my first and last email in my inbox at the same time. I hate having emails lingering around, I’m super OCD about organization, and cute organization at that…. Chapters/Indigo have some pretty awesome and cute stationary and organization tools, check it out sometime. I am in love with office supplies. So much so that I usually buy my own for work. I could easily pay zero dollars and use normal stuff, but what fun is that? I like coloured pens, pretty notebooks, patterned post-its… it’s just what I like. See photo below.
My pretty desk supplies include bamboo, Keep Calm & Carry On
notes, coloured pens, post-its, hand cream and hand sanitizer!
So all morning I was looking forward to my first attempt at interval training. I knew what I needed to get done in my mind, but the problem was that I wasn’t sure it was actually going to “work out” (no pun intended) once I got on the floor. I couldn’t very well set up a circuit right in the middle of the gym, I’d be occupying a ton of space, and equipment that I’d be using for like 10 seconds, but no one else would be able to use. Side note: I hate when people do this in the gym. If you do this please stop... unless you’re working with a personal trainer and using exclusive PT equipment. In my head I was going to run 500m on the treadmill at a “fast” pace (not something so unbearable that I fly off the end of the treadmill, but fast enough that I’m like “holy shit this is fast”.) and then go to a set of 10 squats on the Smith machine, a set of 10 deadlifts with a bar and weight plates, a set of 10 shoulder presses and a set of 10 (on each arm) dumbbell rows.My workout actually went somewhat like what I had planned out in my mind, but I had to make some quick adjustments in order to keep my heart rate up and the fact that sometimes people steal your equipment (not on purpose of course) because you’re not currently there using it. So my workout went like this:
Round 1
Run 500 meters at 7.8 on the treadmill (I could probably go faster next time), which took 2m30s.
Set of 10 squats holding 30lbs dumbbells (totally missed the Smith machine, I literally thought they moved it… turns out I’m just blind as a bat)
Set of 10 shoulder presses with 20lbs dumbbells
Set of 10 rows on each arm with a 20lbs dumbbell (could have done more weight.. )Round 2
Run 500 meters at 7.8 on the treadmill
Set of 10 squats holding 30lbs dumbbells (didn’t bother looking for the Smith machine since I figured they moved it anyways…)
Set of 10 push-ups from my toes (decided to add this in, I thought my first round went too fast)
Set of 10 rows on each arm with a 25lbs dumbbell (woohoo! Could still probably lift more)Round 3
Run 500 meters at 7.8 on the treadmill
Set of 10 squats holding 30lbs dumbbells
*This is when I wandered away from my little workout area because a guy was using my bench to do abs*
Set of 10 push-ups from my toes
Plank for 1 minute (in replace of the rows.. not even the same muscle group, whatever)So that was my interval training… I can definitely tell that my body isn’t used to going super fast, as most of the training I’ve done this year is based on slow, steady movements. I literally had sweat dripping from my nose, and forehead, and armpits. But alas, I felt like my workout was over really quickly, it had only been 30 minutes. So I decided to do a little bit extra, which went something like this…Squat on the Smith machine (I found it!!! Thank the sweet lord!), 90lbs + the bar, 10 reps
Deadlifts with a 90lbs barbell, 10 reps
Squat on the Smith Machine, 90lbs + the bar, 10 reps
Deadlifts with a 90lbs barbell, 10 repsBy this time I was sweating so much and I was so thirsty that I decided to quit for today and go back downstairs to my pretty cubicle, and this is what I looked like when I arrived, after cooling down a bit.Pretty huh? Just tricking. It’s pretty gross, but I love knowing how great the workout was! I then proceeded to stretch out my legs because I’ve been having some pain in my right leg. Basically when my muscles aren’t warm yet and I start running, I run with a limp because there’s something funky going on with my right calf muscle (for all you anatomy buffs out there, I think it’s going on in my soleus as opposed to my gastrocnemius). It started when I ran my half-marathon (strange that running 21km would hurt me, right?) and it hasn’t gone away. My theory is that it’s because my legs are so tight, and my right one is way tighter than my left one. That’s why I’ve been going out of my way to stretch it out. Stretching calves is not the easiest thing in the world to do, but I think I’m getting better, sort of. I actually probably need someone to help me do it, but I’m too stubborn for that.Tonight is beach volleyball night! I love these nights. I love my team and I love the sport and sometimes I’m actually ok at playing! I’m hoping the rain stays away until after 8:30 so I don’t get soaked and drag a pound of mud into my car. Last week was a brutal week, so hopefully this week is better. I’ll update you!Stay sweet.
xoxoPost Script Volleyball UpdateWell, team To Kill A Blocking Nerd played better this week than last. We still lost most of our games, but just not as bad. And we won the last set we played which is better than last week! We lost most and only tied one set. Last week bumped us down in our ranking to 8th in the league... I'm not sure what we'll be after this week - I will let you know!