bit of a catch up

It's been a whole week since I've updated this blog. Crazy. Let's see....

Tuesday Nov 16

Today was supposed to end with a 1hr session with J-chatting about nutrition, but due to a case of crossed wires, it turned out that I ended up at home with G. We did the tricep circuit and a round of the new 'blue page' neck and back stretches.

Then we settled in for the Packed to the Rafters season finale.

Wednesday Nov 17

Crawled out of bed, slipped into our workout gear and headed for the lounge room to do our bicep circuit. G isn't much of a morning exerciser and is finding it tough to get into a morning rhythm. Me? Well, I'm not much of a morning ANYTHING--especially not at 5.25am!

I'm struggling this week. Every day, I expect it to get just a little bit easier- but it doesn't. Each morning, my arms burn just as much as they did the day before. I'm feeling sad and discouraged so when G finishes her last lot of squats and heads off to the shower, I wrap my arms around my gym ball and cry for a minute or 2. Somehow, it makes me feel a tiny bit better.

It's a college night tonight. My backpack weighs a tonne- ok, more like 10kgs! 2 bottles of water, my laptop, my college books and my lunch. Life seemed lighter before I started on this journey!!

By the time I get home from college and wind down mentally, it's 11.15pm! No wonder I'm so tired.

Thursday Nov 18

No rest for the wicked! I didn't sleep very well last night...worrying about my alarm going off and being on time for my 2nd group session with J. Fortunately, G helped me get organised last night. My work out back is packed (and I'm even wearing runners instead of my black work shoes- I admit, it's a much better look!).

I arrived a couple of minutes early, had a chat with J and then she says, "ok-to warm up, I'd like you to walk down the stairs and then run or walk quickly up them." I groaned inwardly. This was not going to be good. I did as she asked, made it to the top without incident, only for her to say: "Just one more time."  The second time was not so successful. About 5 stairs from the top, my runner got caught or I just ran out of gumption, and I had to put my hand down to steady myself. How embarrassing!!

Shortly after that, my fellow participant arrived - just the 2 of us this morning. I spent the first few minutes gasping as inconspicuously as possible whilst stretching. Not an easy feat. Guess my cardio needs some definite focus.

I started on the bicep side of the room. I almost made it through the circuit twice in 15mins. Not too shabby. Then a 1 minute break and across to the tricep stations. I think I only made it through that circuit once--but J also allows less time for the 2nd circuit. We did our warm down and then relaxed on the yoga mats in the darkness for a minute. Bliss.

Miracle of miracles, I was able to walk down the stairs without wincing at every step (last time I did this, I couldn't walk down stairs for 4 days without groaning and grimacing!). I have to grudgingly admit, that my workouts at home with G must be doing something.

Since I'd already done my workout for the day and I had some time to kill before G got home from donating blood in the city, I headed to K-Mart to do a little retail therapy. I scored some workout gear bargains and even picked up a running shirt for G. I picked up a hand pump to top up the gym ball (after using the ones at the Centre this morning, I realised that ours could use a little more air). I even picked up a groovy little gym towel (hopefully I can use this to keep my sweat from dripping onto the yoga mat!) I managed to resist purchasing a 'step' to do my morning exercises--but just barely!

Early to bed. Exhausted after this week's exertions. In fact, the days are starting to blur together and I can hardly remember what day it is, let alone what circuit I'm supposed to be doing. Maybe sleep is just the thing I need to get my equilibrium back.

Night all!

Friday Nov 19

Sleep seemed to help- at least I don't feel like the walking dead today. Tricep circuit done. Time to head off to work.

Tonight we met up with a good friend of G's for dinner at Darling Harbour. I tried to eat light stuff in preparation for tonight's festivities. We decided on Asian/Malaysian--much safer than Italian! I was careful to choose mostly healthy options. I had 2 pots of Jasmine tea instead of alcohol or soft drinks. I had 1/2 cup of rice and maybe 1 1/3 cups of noodles. At any rate, the 3 of us were unable to finish the 2 mains that we'd purchased. Then our friend suggested the Lindt Cafe for dessert.

I have heard so much about the Lindt Cafe. It sounded divine! However, standing in the cafe, I didn't feel tempted by any of the chocolate. Weird. The plan was to have hot chocolate, but when it came time to order, I weighed up how my stomach was feeling after dinner (not too crash hot) and how it might feel  if I added warm milk and chocolate to it. In the end, I settled on honey-sweetened iced tea with lemon and a sip of G's hot chocolate.

It was 1.30 by the time we arrived home. Knowing I had college in the morning, I dropped into bed.

Saturday Nov 20

I pried my eyes open at 8am and realised there was no why I'd be able to manage any exercise this morning. Instead, I settled for an instant coffee and my usual breakfast of Jalna yogurt and Carman's Classic fruit muesli. Yum.

Just before I headed off to college, we discovered that our modem had finally gone to join the big download in the sky. Not impressed.

College was great. Weekend intensives can often be pretty full on, but today was relaxed and lovely. I wasn't organised enough to bring my own lunch, but Nature Care College has a lovely cafe that sells healthy food. I decided to have cauliflower and sweet potatoe au gratin (basically cauliflower with white cheesy sauce) and roast pumpkin and rocket salad. I managed to get the au gratin down and the rocket, but I had to leave most of the roast pumpkin--I was just too full to fit it in.

Since I hadn't exercised in the morning, I figured I'd better get stuck into it when I got home from college. Still feeling tired, but I managed to finish the bicep circuits. For dinner, G prepared a delicious broiled salmon with lemon juice and a green salad. Beautiful! Early to bed for me again tonight!

Sunday Nov 21

Today was much the same as yesterday. Jalna yogurt, Carman's Classic Fruit Muesli and an instant coffee for breakfast. Tossed a couple of carrots into my backpack. Feeling a bit off the nuts these days. G and I seemed to have developed an allergic reaction to something that we've been eating. I reckon it's either the nuts or perhaps the sulphates in the dried apricots, so I'm going to cut down on them and see if the reaction improves.

College was great. We covered Carl Jung and Joseph Campell. VERY VERY Cool!

It was a lot harder to get through the tricep circuits tonight. Normally it's the easier one (for me) but I really struggled today. Oh well, at least I completed them. Now for a relaxing night of TV.