It's going down!

143.8

Yes its Thursday. And yes this is the number I saw on the scale this morning. Yes this is significant because not only is that a 1 pound loss from last week which is like all exciting, giddy producing kind of crazy for me, but also because this is officially the lowest weight I’ve been in forever.  When I went to San Jose last October and purposely lost the weight and felt great about myself the lowest I recorded was 144.4.  So yes, seeing a 143 anything on the scale this morning was mind blowing.  Like really cool for me. 

Not that I am all about the scale. I really have not been as of late. Honestly I am not really necessarily trying to lose weight. I am trying to not gain weight if that makes sense.  Running or rather marathon training tends to actually produce weight gain or at least that’s what tons of articles I have read will have you believe.  I don’t want to gain weight. I understand this concept because post half runs I am seriously a feverish hungry buffoon. All day long. Nonstop. So I get why doing lots of long runs might make a person end up gaining weight.  Therefore I have tried my very best to counter that effect and just overall kick ass instead. I think I’m doing a decent job of ass kicking as a result. 

And I was shockingly, seriously surprisingly rewarded this AM with that number.  Funny how a 1 pound loss is like HEAVEN to me.  Once upon a time I would have scoffed at such a number but not now. Not at the weight I am at.  Not with all the factors I have going in my life. A 1 pound loss is like near impossible and I am giddy. It’s the little things.  Like I said I’m not purposely or all together intentionally losing weight.  I do use my fitness pal to keep track of my food but I just have a solid routine down that I like to follow and apparently its working for me.  I am going to hit my 140 goal by Maui.  9 weigh-ins to go.  I can do this.  I seriously just feel incredibly on top of my game right now. Like the stars and the moons have aligned magically to create this kick ass vibrant happy healthy excited woman.  I kind of love her.  I am shockingly so in love with myself. That sounds vain and conceited but I don’t really care.  After spending a lifetime of not really feeling it, to truly love yourself is such an amazing thing.  It’s taken me such a long time to get her.  I am certain that this is something that can really only be obtained with a little age and maturity.  36 has been wonderful for me thus far, the whole almost 2 months of it, ha ha.  But seriously, I am just in perfect bliss right now.

So anyway, moving on to last night.  The thing is, that blister that I got on Saturday during my run and then that was bothering me Tuesday morning on my run, well it was bothering me again last night.  Well, at work yesterday so I decided as any good runner would do to just go ahead and wrap the shit out of it.  Medicated it, put gauze on it and wrapped it up.  I was going to do my nightly run, come hell or high water.  I’m insane like that.  So I wrapped her up and went on my way.

When I got to the gym I got on the treadmill and just decided to go for a nice easy paced run.  I couldn’t feel my lungs for the first 2 minutes and thought I was going to die.  This is typically what happens when you start to run. For a solid 120 seconds I am thinking horrible awful things about how I hate this, and why on earth do I ever choose to run, etc. You get the point.  And then my breath settles and I figure it out and I get into a groove.  And the foot taping helped so that wasn’t immediately bothering me.  And I just ran.  And I ran some more. And some more.  And I checked the time vs the distance as to gauge where I needed to stop at to attend class at 6 PM.  Strength class taught by someone other than Amanda. Shutter at the thought, right?  But alas, everything lined up perfectly for me to complete 4 miles of running instead of the 3 the plan called for. I actually started to feel good, you know. Like crazy good after I ran.  It happens.  Most of the time honestly.

So with sweat dripping everywhere off of me, I got off the treadmill to the little group that was forming of the people intending to take the class. It was 4 of us.  And the male instructor.  He was nice, so I went with it. We immediately got into the workout room and I surveyed the workout on the  board.  Looked tough but manageable. I knew what all the exercises were so I thought I could handle it.  We immediately started with 16 sprints outside.  I was like, cool, I just ran 4 miles, not a big deal.  This was said in jest of course.  I mean, I knew I could do them, but I wasn’t that excited about them.  I pushed on.  I ran my whole 16 sprints whereas I am fairly certain everyone else bagged out early.

Back into the room.  The workout was going to consist of a series of exercises in 30 second intervals.  It would be 2 strength exercises, followed by a 30 second cardio boost.  It looked like this:

Each exercise 30 seconds (3 rounds of all)

Shoulder Presses

Upright rows

Jumping Jacks

Weighted Lunges low one leg

Weighted Lunges low other leg

High Knees (Can we just say for a second High Knees done in full force for 30 seconds is INSANE!)

Push Ups

Plank

3 spot burpies

Back dumbbell rows (single arm at a time)

Back dumbbell rows (both arms)

Jumping Squats

Triceps overheads

Triceps Kickbacks

Bridges on ground

Bicep Curls

Hammer Curls

Wall Sit

That entire list done with no breaks 3 times thru.  At the end of each round we got a 30 second break.  This guy didn’t pack any punches, we worked pretty damned hard and really went from one exercise to the next.  I was literally dripping sweat buckets all over. Of course that’s because I put in maximum effort. I was not only feeling it, and feeling high after my run but had that familiar feeling of wanting to impress someone.

Can I just say for a moment that I kicked ass.  Like hardcore I knew what I was doing and he kept telling the other ladies to watch me. I am not trying to sound like a braggy bitch but I’ve been at this game a long time and therefore do know my way around a set of exercises.  It was actually really good.  I felt great and accomplished.  And at the end of it I burned 645 calories for the night and that is pretty solid all things considered for me.

It was a pretty epic kind of night. I was just feeling it, more than I did Monday or Tuesday night so it’s always nice to get in a good one every now and then.  Tonight I am taking boot camp class which will probably be brutal as well.  I don’t have any running scheduled on the plan for tonight but I am modifying things a bit this week since I didn’t work out Sunday and all, I might do a short, small run. Who really knows though.  We will see what I feel like tonight. I also might need to take it a little easier too since I am running a half on Saturday morning in what is supposed to be ridiculous intense heat.  Like 97 degrees the forecast is calling for. Hopefully not at 8 AM when it starts but it’s going to get rough I am well aware of that.

Also I stupidly made plans for Friday night to get a personal training session with Amanda.  Well, it went down like this.  I was watching Amanda’s sisters dog, Cricket. She’s a lovely little pug that has been at my house since Sunday.  Well she’s still at my house actually but her mom is supposed to be getting her tonight. Anyway, Amanda felt bad I think that I was doing all this and being generous with my time and stuff so she told me she wanted to give me a free training session.  I can’t exactly turn down a free training session and honestly I think she really wanted to ease some of her guilt. But honestly I was doing it because I love dogs and couldn’t stand the idea of that poor little baby being locked up in a bathroom completely alone for days on end.  That’s animal abuse and I can’t do it.  I have a perfectly lovely home that is set up for dogs and that’s just what I needed to do as a decent human being. 

Anyhow, I am getting a training session on Friday night, back and biceps and I was like cool, I can do that.  That is probably ALL I am going to do since I do have to wake up and run a half on Saturday.  But that way I get in another good solid lifting session and that’s cool too. Plus free you know.  Not that I don’t or won’t have millions of opportunities to work out with Amanda in the future. I always do.  Love that girl.  But I just couldn’t say no, you know.  Plus afterwards we are going to have date night, going to Applebee’s where I can get something healthy and good for my half on Saturday morning. No alcohol for this girl. Nope. Nope.

Oh and on one final note for the day, you know those size 4 jeans that have been sitting in my drawer for well over a year, the smallest ones I’ve ever owned and wore for a blip in time, well I am wearing them today.  Yup, they are on, they fit and I feel great.  That’s what happens when you lose weight or get smaller and tighter from lifting.  I am certainly not at my smallest scale weight ever.  But I’m clearly about the same size as I was at my smallest because hello size 4 Old Navy Rockstar jeans.  Nice to meet you again specifically because I have a whole drawer full of you!  

Yes, I have a lot of lingering worries and thoughts about maintaining this and what happens post Maui in 9 weeks and all that jazz but I’m not going to let that bog me down right now this minute.  I’m going to be happy and embrace the jeans, the 1 pound loss for the day, the killer workout last night, the impending workout tonight, the happiness I feel about life and such.  I’m just going to go with all of it for just this day. I can worry about the rest later.

And finally, here are my Instagram posts from yesterday because well, it’s my most current new thing that I’m doing.  Love them.  Kind of Love Instagram more than I even would have guessed.  So much better than twitter or even Facebook.  I can’t even explain it, but I’m totally digging on it.  Plus I kind of am liking the daily short little updates on life and following other fitness people and being inspired and such. It’s way cool.  It’s like the old weight watchers boards from back in the day but only with pictures and therefore it just makes it all the more real.  Love it.  Anyway, smile, its Thursday. I feel great.  And I have another half marathon this weekend.  Good times.