Week 10

March 4- Full body circuit

This week I am switching up my weekly routine: body circuit on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and running on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

With that being said, tonight I worked on my arms with the dumbbells and legs with the stair climber. My body felt very tired from the weekend and I could tell I wasn’t putting all my effort into this workout. I’m hoping tomorrow my body will be well rested!

March 5- Run 3.4 miles

It was so sunny today, so I knew I had to run outside! Of course I had to go to Lake Padden. Last time I was there over half the lake trail was iced over to the point where I had to walk/ slide through the trail.

Today wasn’t much different… I got about 1.5 miles in and the trails started turning to ice. I actually ended up slipping and falling. I got back up, turned around, and headed for the clear part of the trail I had just run. After running a total of 3.4 miles, I got in my car and my shoulder and left thigh started to ache. I ended up cutting up my thigh and think I might have fallen weird on my shoulder. In the moment I didn’t notice I had injured myself, but once I got in the car and started warming up is when I noticed I might have hurt myself.

We will have to see how I feel tomorrow and figure out if I will be okay to go weight lifting tomorrow at the gym.

March 6- Rest

I woke up with my thigh aching and shoulder feeling a little worn out. Because of this, I decided to take the day off and give myself some time to rest and heal. I don’t want to turn a fall into a more serious injury. I’m hoping tomorrow I can get to the gym to complete my full body circuit!

March 7- Full body circuit

Today I switched up my routine. I still focused on arms and legs, but tried new machines instead of dumbbells. I had tried these machines back in January when first starting my new workout plan. I remember not liking them too much as I felt I was straining my muscles instead of strengthening them. This time around was was different! The machines actually felt really good and I didn’t feel like I was straining myself at all. Honestly, I think it is because I built up how much weight I can lift, so lifting 25lbs on the machines was just enough to get my muscles fired up and working.

I’m excited to see what results I will be able to accomplish this March. The weather should start getting nicer, meaning I will be able to start running outside again!! I can’t wait to take up the old routes down to Boulevard Park and around Lake Padden!

March 8- Flu 😦

Today I woke up and felt really tired. I tried to shake it off and make it to my 8am, but wasn’t able to get out of bed. EVERYTHING hurt!! I have really bad body aches, a sore throat, a temp of 102, and keep going between chills and sweats. I think it’s safe to say I will be sleeping most of the day….

Update: I did end up sleeping almost all day. I had to meet with a group from 10-12. Once that was over, I went home crawled in bed and slept from 1pm through 12pm the next day. I woke up every so often to eat and drink, but mostly spent my time in my bed.

It sucks, this is the weekend Alex’s family is supposed to come up to celebrate our birthdays. Unfortunately, I don’t think I will be able to make it… sleep might be the better option in order to kick this thing before dead week this week and finals next week.

March 9- Flu Cont.

Honestly, I’m not feeling much better than I did yesterday. All I want to do is sleep and try to stay warm. I slept most of today as well, made sure I was drinking a lot of liquids, and eating some food to help keep my strength up. I’m hoping today will be the worst of it so I can start preparing for quizzes, projects, and presentations for next week.

March 10- Flu Cont.

Still not feeling too hot, I am starting to get to the point where I don’t need to take Dayquil and Nyquil every second I get. My cough it getting worse, but I guess this will supplement as my ab workout for awhile!?!? My goal is try to sleep as much as I can and get my body well before this next week picks up… I’m already getting really tired of being sick!

February

Here’s to completing my first month of my new years resolution of staying in shape! Below is a personal reflection on how I thought my first month went, and the things I want to change in the following months.

Going into this workout challenge, I thought it was going to be really hard to stay on track and push myself everyday to complete the workout I had planned for myself. It is one thing to create a plan on paper and have it seem fail proof, but it’s another to accept that I got ahead of myself in my goals. I think this was one of the hardest parts of this first month. It felt like a dry run of what I want the rest of the year to look like in terms of workouts, millage, and weights. I feel like I am constantly finding new machines to try at the gym, or modifying my workouts depending on how I am feeling a certain day.

I don’t necessarily think this is a bad thing, but something I need to remain conscious of. It is easy to walk into the gym and say “I went hard yesterday, I’ll do a light workout today.” This, in my opinion, is a common mind block I need to get over, pushing myself to complete the workout listed on my calendar and make sure I complete the entire thing. Overall, I know there are days where I need to push myself harder, but for the most part I feel ecstatic about all the work I put into January and can’t wait for February as well.

Here’s a quick recap of how January went, and the accomplishments I made:

I can consistently run 3.5 miles without feeling strained or super out of shape.
I increased the weight of the dumbbells from 5 pounds, to 7.5 pounds, and then increased them again to 10 pounds (which is the weight I am currently using).
I found out how useful biking can be, especially when sore from the long runs on Monday’s and Wednesday’s.
I also learned how important it is to stretch, more specifically after my runs, so I am not as sore for my full body circuit the next day.

Here are some things I could improve on for February:

CORE- I definitely didn’t do well on completing my core workouts. I would tell myself that I was going to do them at home before getting in the shower, but most times this didn’t happen. I need to make an effort to integrate this permanently into my circuit.
Hydrating- this is very important and something I want to continue to get better at, as to avoid fatigue, cramping, and headaches.

I can’t wait to see what results February brings! Below is a PDF version of the calendar I made. Laying out the month ahead in a more realistic fashion than January did. Feel free to click on the link and see what my plan for the month is!

february-calendar-1 Download

Monthly Stats

February was a good workout month. I had a consistent schedule throughout the month, with weeks 6 and 7 possibly having a few more rest days than I should have.

Week 1

Here is an update on how the first week of my new workout plan went… Definitely did not start the way I thought it would!

January 1st- Full body circuit

The new year definitely didn’t start off like I thought it would. My boyfriend and I had to head back to Bellingham early due to his apartment flooding. There was four and a half inches of water throughout his entire apartment. So, as you can imagine everything on the floor was soaking wet and needed to be moved out of the apartment. With this being said, I wasn’t able to hit the gym to get my workout in. Instead, we spent the whole day moving things from his apartment to mine (thankfully we are less than a block apart!).

Here is what the apartment looked like the day we got the call it had flooded. It is hard to see, but there were puddles of water all over the floor, it felt really humid in there, and the carpets were soaked with water. When walking on them you could see all the water rise up around the weight of your feet.

We were able to move almost everything out of his room and his two other roommates. We flipped mattresses up on top of the box springs to try and dry them out, boxed up all the valuable things to take to my place, and got almost everything off the floor and onto counters and high places that wouldn’t get wet.

Although I didn’t get the workout in I had planned on the calendar, I did get my fair share of heavy lifting. My boyfriend and I ended up carrying his full sized mattress down the hill to my place. This was quite a challenge; I worked up a sweat and definitely engaged my arm and leg muscles to get the job done. I’ll call that a good enough workout for the day! Hopefully the rest of this week I will be able to find some time to hit the gym and stick to my new workout plan.

January 2nd- Run 3.5 miles

Sadly this run didn’t pan out either. My boyfriend and I spent the day on the phone and in the office of the landlord who owns the property that flooded. Fortunately, my boyfriend was able to get out of his current lease and into another lease for an apartment that is still close by. This new lease will start on Friday, but in the meantime we will by busy packing up the rest of his stuff to move into this new place.

After we finally got all the paperwork in line and off the phones it was dark out. My plan was to head to the gym on campus, but found out it closed at 5pm due to winter break still being in effect. What a bummer! I’m already two days into the new year and haven’t been able to try out my new workout plan. At this point I’m longing for a free day to hit the gym and get a workout in, even if it is just for 15 or 20 minutes! Hopefully early Friday I will be able to run outside for a bit.

January 3rd- Full body circuit

Today was a little more relaxed than the rest of the week has gone. All the paperwork has been taken care of and the stress of helping my boyfriend find a place to move into has subsided. Tomorrow and this weekend we will be moving him and his two other roommates into their new place.

As far as the gym went, I didn’t make it in time as the gym closed at 5pm again. Parking is only free on campus after 4:30pm and I didn’t feel like 30 minutes would have been enough time to get the workout in that I wanted. So, instead I revamped my workout to be able to do it at home. This included pushups instead of dumbbells, wall sits instead of leg machines, planks, and a 5 minute core workout. Although I didn’t work up too much of a sweat, this mini workout felt great and was much needed!

I’m so glad I was able to compromise and come up with a different workout to do at home! My boyfriend and I are planning on running Lake Padden tomorrow. It’s about 2.5 miles. I can’t wait to be out in the fresh air and get some good cardio in before moving him into his new apartment later that afternoon.

This week has defiantly been one for the books, I never thought I would have to deal with an apartment flooding or the stress of needing to find a place by next Monday (as classes begin on Tuesday). I am kicking myself for not applying myself harder to my workout plan. It just goes to show you how crazy life can get and the choice I made to put my workout on the back burner was one I will learn from. The goal of the calendar and keeping a log on this blog were to keep me motivated and honest about sticking to my new routine. With the newness of classes beginning next week I will hold myself accountable for going to the gym when I am done with classes. There will be no excuses. This is something I want to do and am excited to see where this journey will take me!

January 4th- Run 3.5 miles

We did it! My boyfriend and I ran Lake Padden first thing this morning when we got up. It felt so good to feel the cold wind blow through my hair as we ran the lake. It has been a couple months since running this lake due to the colder weather and being at home in Seattle over winter break. But it sure felt good to get out there again. It makes me long for the spring and summer weather and being able to run outside every day.

Hopefully after this week I will continue to fall into a habit of going to the gym and running each day of the week and then having Sunday’s off as rest days.

January 5th- Full body circuit

Today was full of packing up boxes, cleaning the old apartment, to the best of our ability with all the industrial fans blowing drywall dust everywhere, and getting things in order for the moving truck tomorrow.

It was a long day, but we successfully finished packing up all of the stuff that didn’t get damaged from the flood. Tomorrow will be full of lifting heavy boxes and moving things from one apartment to the next. So, instead of doing my full body circuit tonight I’m going to count all the moving and lifting as my workout tomorrow! I think this will be a fair trade as we will be moving two mattresses, two sofas, and a bunch of other furniture.

January 5th- Rest

Today was so long! My boyfriend and I got up at 8 this morning to start moving some of the stuff we stashed at my apartment to his new one. By 10 his parents were up here and were able to rent a moving truck for all the mattresses and furniture. Moving those sofas were a pain! Definitely got my workout in for the day with all the heavy lifting. We were able to finish moving everything by 4pm and have spent the past six hours or so unpacking and reorganizing.

As I lay here in bed writing this, I can feel how tired my legs are from being on them all day. I had my watch tracking how many steps I took today along with my heart rate. We took over 14,000 steps and there were some high spikes in the heart rate. I will call that a successful day of exercise. I’m hoping I’m not too sore for my full body circuit tomorrow!

I can’t wait to finally get on a solid routine this upcoming week. With classes starting Tuesday I’m sure I will be able to stick to my January calendar and can’t wait to report back on it and start to see some progress after all the snacking from the holidays.

Hope you all have a great upcoming week!