Today was an extreme mix of good and bad. I was feeling in control and ready to start the work week on a positive note as I cruised down 295 to work nice and early at 7:30. I was in charge of organizing a large meeting to be held at 8:30 with folks across the company's US Footprint and I knew I had plenty of time to pick up the pre-ordered breakfast, set-up the computer equipment & handouts and eat my own breakfast prior to everyone's arrival. However, divine intervention had another idea of how the morning would unfold, beginning with the discovery that no, breakfast for 50 people had not been pre-ordered as promised, then the webinar deciding to malfunction prior to the start of the meeting, and the conference call cutting out half-way through an in-depth discussion on Capital Requirements. To say it was a test of my patience is a severe understatement. Reminder: I HAVE NO PATIENCE. When all was said and done though, I was able to pull-off a [slightly tainted] success of a meeting and the world did not end as I had imagined it might. Further, an afternoon meeting I was dreading got postponed by a week so I was able to catch my breathe the rest of the work day. Then came 5:00.
Threw up in my mouth a little when I rolled into World's tonight and one of my least favourite people on the planet (formerly a fav) was right front and centre. I guess this several month long absence was too good to last forever. Funny how people can have such an effect on you, good or bad. Things just started to go downhill from there as that prompted an annoying body tremor which caused me to absentmindedly shake my water bottle with the top unsnapped and spray myself with watermelon-flavoured Xtend, in addition to causing me to have terrible balance throughout my entire workout! On the bright side though (other than the fact that I now probably smell and taste like watermelon lol), the Xtend, a BCAA-containing drink mix which I picked up at PNC this weekend, is DE-LICIOUS! Normally I detest the flavour of supplements but this stuff is truly good. Tastes like a drinkable Jolly Rancher sans the calories! By the way, shout out to PNC for being very knowledgeable about their products. I felt like a total moron when I went in asking for a product I knew very little about but the guy didn't make me feel stupid at all and had some great suggestions on products to try.
Alas, onto today's workout. Luckily, the combination of my frustrating day and unpleasant sighting fueled an epic burn tonight. I started out with a treadmill run / walk to warm-up. I only ran for one mile tonight, not quite the 1.6 miles I was supposed to do according to my run schedule but I can say with some satisfaction that I busted my ass through that mile. I amped up the speed by about a half an mph faster than I usually go and sweat out about 5 gallons of water in the process. I was totally in the zone and wanted to continue mentally but unfortunately I think I may be battling a minor injury to my right foot which has been hurting all day. It feels like my left foot did when it started to develop my ankle injury last spring (pain on the top of my foot) so I didn't want to push it too hard. Why is it that whenever I'm on a great workout streak I injure myself?! Not cool. Not cool at all.
Of course in keeping with my October glute-improving goal, today was legs again! The weight room was quite crowded tonight but for some reason I had no trouble getting all the space and equipment I needed. I'm guessing it was the permanent squinted-eye snarl that I couldn't wipe away haha. Anyway, today's routine began with walking med ball twisting lunges (2x40). One of my favs! Then came bosu barbell front squats (3x20). Alternating legs and abs, I then did tee pees (3x12-10-8) balancing on the stability ball in between sets, followed by weighted plie squats (3x20). I finished up the routine with air crunches (3x16-14-12). Other than stretching in between sets, I didn't do any serious stretching tonight which I'm probably going to regret tomorrow. I was in there for nearly 2 hours though and just wanted to get home and get some food in me pronto! I think I'm sufficiently calmed down enough now that I'll enjoy a good night's sleep. Especially since nothing major is on the agenda for work tomorrow and usually a crazy day is not followed by an even crazier day (knock on wood). Here's to a stress & drama-free day and another serious burn in the gym tomorrow! Happy gymming, gym rats :)
P.S. I think I'm going to write in Canadian from now on. Some of you will know what that means :P
P.P.S. On my drive home it was oddly warm out so I rolled down the windows and blasted the radio in an effort to rid myself of the remaining stress my weight sesh did not fully extinguish. A new song came on the radio called "My oh my". Wow. New favourite. Seriously love when I find a song that I could have easily been the one to write.
P.P.P.S. (last one I promise) Word on the street is that Planet Fitness is going to get rid of their free weights. I mean, really, can you call yourself the "planet of fitness" if you don't have any free weights?! This is what I was told tonight by a long-time PFer who was told he can no longer jump rope on the premises. Disgusting. All that's going be left are a bunch of fatties who hit up the gym the first Monday of each month to spend 25 minutes confused by the machines so that they can reward themselves with three slices of pizza on their way out. So glad I did not renew my membership.
Threw up in my mouth a little when I rolled into World's tonight and one of my least favourite people on the planet (formerly a fav) was right front and centre. I guess this several month long absence was too good to last forever. Funny how people can have such an effect on you, good or bad. Things just started to go downhill from there as that prompted an annoying body tremor which caused me to absentmindedly shake my water bottle with the top unsnapped and spray myself with watermelon-flavoured Xtend, in addition to causing me to have terrible balance throughout my entire workout! On the bright side though (other than the fact that I now probably smell and taste like watermelon lol), the Xtend, a BCAA-containing drink mix which I picked up at PNC this weekend, is DE-LICIOUS! Normally I detest the flavour of supplements but this stuff is truly good. Tastes like a drinkable Jolly Rancher sans the calories! By the way, shout out to PNC for being very knowledgeable about their products. I felt like a total moron when I went in asking for a product I knew very little about but the guy didn't make me feel stupid at all and had some great suggestions on products to try.
Alas, onto today's workout. Luckily, the combination of my frustrating day and unpleasant sighting fueled an epic burn tonight. I started out with a treadmill run / walk to warm-up. I only ran for one mile tonight, not quite the 1.6 miles I was supposed to do according to my run schedule but I can say with some satisfaction that I busted my ass through that mile. I amped up the speed by about a half an mph faster than I usually go and sweat out about 5 gallons of water in the process. I was totally in the zone and wanted to continue mentally but unfortunately I think I may be battling a minor injury to my right foot which has been hurting all day. It feels like my left foot did when it started to develop my ankle injury last spring (pain on the top of my foot) so I didn't want to push it too hard. Why is it that whenever I'm on a great workout streak I injure myself?! Not cool. Not cool at all.
Of course in keeping with my October glute-improving goal, today was legs again! The weight room was quite crowded tonight but for some reason I had no trouble getting all the space and equipment I needed. I'm guessing it was the permanent squinted-eye snarl that I couldn't wipe away haha. Anyway, today's routine began with walking med ball twisting lunges (2x40). One of my favs! Then came bosu barbell front squats (3x20). Alternating legs and abs, I then did tee pees (3x12-10-8) balancing on the stability ball in between sets, followed by weighted plie squats (3x20). I finished up the routine with air crunches (3x16-14-12). Other than stretching in between sets, I didn't do any serious stretching tonight which I'm probably going to regret tomorrow. I was in there for nearly 2 hours though and just wanted to get home and get some food in me pronto! I think I'm sufficiently calmed down enough now that I'll enjoy a good night's sleep. Especially since nothing major is on the agenda for work tomorrow and usually a crazy day is not followed by an even crazier day (knock on wood). Here's to a stress & drama-free day and another serious burn in the gym tomorrow! Happy gymming, gym rats :)
P.S. I think I'm going to write in Canadian from now on. Some of you will know what that means :P
P.P.S. On my drive home it was oddly warm out so I rolled down the windows and blasted the radio in an effort to rid myself of the remaining stress my weight sesh did not fully extinguish. A new song came on the radio called "My oh my". Wow. New favourite. Seriously love when I find a song that I could have easily been the one to write.
P.P.P.S. (last one I promise) Word on the street is that Planet Fitness is going to get rid of their free weights. I mean, really, can you call yourself the "planet of fitness" if you don't have any free weights?! This is what I was told tonight by a long-time PFer who was told he can no longer jump rope on the premises. Disgusting. All that's going be left are a bunch of fatties who hit up the gym the first Monday of each month to spend 25 minutes confused by the machines so that they can reward themselves with three slices of pizza on their way out. So glad I did not renew my membership.
