Day 77 - Interval Cardio & Yoga

I did some research yesterday about interval cardio, and there's a lot of stuff out there about how it's much better for burning fat than standard cardio. So I decided to try it - 30min, after yoga, alternating between 9mph and 4mph. After 12 minutes my side started hurting, which has only happened a couple of times, and by the end I was dripping wet and felt like a million bucks. Definitely it's going to be the way I go with cardio from now on. Did 3 miles, too, in under 30minutes.
Yoga was decidedly unsatisfying, for some reason. There was some soft music playing, which threw me off, and I think work stress made relaxation more difficult. I can't really put my finger on it, but I didn't get in the mode until the last ten minutes. Kind of a waste of time. My first bad session, though, so I'm not putting much stock in one bad session.
Then I hung out in the hot tub. And it was amazing - had some very good thinking time, and relaxed perfectly. Love that hot tub.
Food was good today - oatmeal & protein for breakfast and a grapefruit, protein bar at 10:30, turkey & provalone on wheat for lunch, fruit at 2:30, protein bar at 5pm, and then a spinach/chicken salad with oil & balsamic for dinner. Good stuff.

Day 75 - two days off, but got it right today!

Not a great weekend for working out. Drank a ton of IPA on Saturday (IPA challenge for microbrewers in ABQ), and did a lot of yardwork, but no gym time. Sunday I got up late, had a fabulous late brunch, and slacked all day. Didn't eat much, either. I'm not taking weekends off on purpose, but they do tend to be less organized.
Today I was back in the groove - ate right, breakfast, protein bar, healthy lunch (mostly), fruit, protein bar, and steak, potatoes, and spinach with oil & vinager. My workout was intense and right on - I did more weight than I usually do, 250 on the leg press and 90lb upright row. 35lbs barbells on the swiss ball for fly and bench presses. I could've done more for the ball press, but I didn't want to go get more weights. The key is really keeping that adrenaline up - starting with some hard cardio, doing some hard cardio in the middle of the routine, and never slacking between sets.
I'm not posting any pics because I'm too lazy to mess with photoshop. sorry...

Day 70 - hard at work

Today was a winner! Ate mostly right, did a great and very cardio-intensive weight circuit, but did have a little beer tonight. Still, good day.
I did discover boiling water for oatmeal and frozen blueberries are a very bad combination. The oatmeal isn't hot any more but are lukewarm, and the blueberries aren't crisp and frozen anymore, just lukewarm. Pretty much the worst of all world. Definitely a mistake I'll not be making again.
The workout was great. I got everything going, then went running for about 5min in the middle of the workout. It got my heartrate up in the good zone, and I felt great, and blew threw the last half of my workout. Really an exhilarating push, and a good workout. I've been stretching post-workout, too, and I think that, along with the yoga, is really starting to make a difference.

Days 67, 68, 69 - Getting back in the groove?

The last three days have been, well, moderately successful. I haven't eaten much, and did my workout fairly regularly, but haven't done a hard-core cardio session since before the wedding. I did some great yoga, and it was an intense cardio yoga workout on Sunday, and I did a good ab session. Monday was a fairly intense, if slightly short, weight circuit, about 35 minutes. I didn't eat enough on Monday, and ran out of blood sugar & got shaky 35 minutes in. Did good abs, though, on Monday too. Tuesday I had a really long day at work, and never made it in to the gym. It was raining, too, so didn't run outside either. Only a late-night abs workout redeemed that day.
I'm finding it difficult to get my diet back together after that weekend of fabulous food. I'm not eating enough, and not eating good enough food when I do eat. Discipline is having a tough comeback!
I'm starting to feel a bit of the pressure. Time is running out - only three weeks left in this thing, so I've got to pick it up. No way I'm not getting abs after spending all this time at the gym!

Day 66 - back in the saddle

Well, I made it back to the gym in a serious display of will power. Did a good workout, not amazing, but definitely threw some weight around and did a great ab workout.
I'm not back on my food track yet. Grandparents are still here, so still ample supplies of homemade food floating around, which I cannot possibly decline for culinary and etiquette reasons. It just tastes so good!
Side note: Homemade cinnamon rolls are the best thing ever.
After the workout, I felt good. I feel almost as if with a couple days off, my body has had time to heal and rejuvenate. My weights didn't decline really at all, thankfully, although the cardio side seems tougher, at least mentally.
So back on the saddle again! 24 days to make it happen.

Day 64 & 65 - Two days off

Two days off in a row! My sister is getting married today, so I've been totally slacking. Both grandmas and a bunch of aunts in town, so the food is fantastic and it happens all the time! Some of the food habits I've been cultivating transfer smoothly, such as eating a lot of fruit & veggies instead of the main dishes, but I have to say, I consumed an enormous amount of an impossibly unhealthy bean dip!
I'll be back on track tomorrow, with a nice little workout of some kind. My lower back's been hurting, still, from the slip on the leg press, and I've actually been lacking energy for some reason. This week has been full of long, long, days with very little Tim time. Relaxation is going to be great this weekend.
The big thing is that I just can't let this break my rhythm. Gotta get back on it on Saturday.

Day 62 - Running!

Did 4.2 miles today, in 40 minutes. Not amazing, but waaay better than two months ago. So much of running is in the breathing, I discovered today. Much like lifting - monitoring my breathing lets me do a lot more weight and kept my pace going for longer. Also, I'm doing intervals - a couple minutes at a 8:20 mile and a minute at 20min mile, so it averages out to about 10min/mile. I've found 7.2 mph is a great pace for me. Any faster, and it slows down my overall pace.
Didn't eat too much, especially at night. Friend's b-day party, and then went to my dad's place, but they were out of food. So I ate plums and came home and ate a grapefruit.
Two days without yoga and I'm starting to feel it. Might try to sneak off during the weekend, but family is in town and it's going to be tough to get any workout done, especially an hour of yoga. Probably will have to settle for a quick morning jog or something.