Impressing Myself

These past two days have been mighty productive.  I’m actually pretty impressed with my productivity level (pats self on back):

Yesterday’s Accomplishments:

- Going to Trader Joe’s to food shop for the rest of this week and next week.  This was pretty annoying to do in the rain and with traffic, but I am so happy I did since next week I’ll be crazy busy with finals.

- Doing all my laundry

- Cleaning the kitchen

- Scrubbing the bathroom

- Hanging all my clothes, put all my clutter away, etc.

Dinner last night was a side salad (fresh produce…yay!), some pulled BBQ chicken, and white cheddar shells and cheese (which I haven’t had in FOREVER).  Definitely a delicious comfort meal.

I took the opportunity to get ALL of my personal tasks out of the way because I really wanted to start focusing entirely on school today until the end of finals.  If it needed to be done before next Friday, then it was done last night.  Today I woke up early to watch lecture, completed an online quiz, and enjoyed some breakfast in bed while doing my work under my covers.  No better way to study for finals than in your pajamas.

Breakfast in bed was a Trader Joe’s breakfast burrito with egg, potatoes, turkey bacon, and cheese and half of a grapefruit.  The burrito was ok..kind of dry.  Meh.

Around 2ish it was time to hit the gym.  My legs were still really sore and stiff from my weight training session two days ago.  This 5 mile run was hanging over my head all morning.  Should I do it?  Should I modify the workout?  I really wanted to finish the week’s planned workouts strong so I decided to head to the gym and see how it went.

I walked to the gym (note to all…if you want to walk more, park your car in the “money spot” right outside of your apartment….you will never want to give it up and end up walking everywhere), and hopped on a treadmill to see how my legs felt. 

My legs actually felt good.  They felt better while running than walking so I decided to complete my 5 miles as planned.  WI walked a bit after each mile and took it pretty easy running at about 5.8mph.  The workout did have some struggles though.

First of all, when I arrived at the gym, EVERY single cardio machine was open except for my favorite treadmill.  I’m weird…I know…but I was not happy.  Can you spot the thief who stole my coveted treadmill?  I kid…sort of.  I don’t like change….

Then while running (on a foreign treadmill) I had a slight wardrobe malfunction.  My “stretchy” pants that I was wearing were way too big.  They seemed ok when I put them on in my apartment, but when I started running I swear they were about to fall down to my ankles.  I had to keep pulling them up every 5 seconds for the first mile then I started to sweat a bit and they were able to stick in one place for the rest of the run for the most part.  I was happy the cardio area wasn’t crowded since I had to keep pulling my pants up and probably looked like a weirdo who was trying to moon everyone behind me.  Definitely lots of hurdles to jump today, but overall a great sweaty workout.

After my run, I felt accomplished…but my stomach also felt a little queasy.  I suddenly had a huge drop in energy so I did the long sweaty walk home to shower up and eat a little meal.  I made myself a little gyro in a small whole wheat pita paired with an apple and some almond butter.  I didn’t realize that I wasn’t in the mood for a gyro until after I made it, but it happens.

I was able to get up enough energy (courtesy of a Starbucks skinny vanilla latte) to study on campus for a few hours before dinner.  Dinner was scrumptious tonight…some pesto chicken…pre-marinated (from Trader Joe’s) and some oven roasted sweet potatoes.  For a dipping sauce I mixed together a little BBQ sauce with a little fat free sour cream.  It sort of diluted the BBQ sauce and made it really light…the experiment went well and it went perfectly as a dipper for my sweet potatoes.

This week, my challenge has been to complete all of my planned workouts.  It is going well, even though today was really hard.  In all honesty, if I hadn’t set out to complete every workout as planned this week, then I don’t think today’s 5 mile run would have happened.  I pushed myself to do something that wasn’t easy, and I’m pretty impressed I finished the 5 miles I set out to do.  Perhaps I am getting a little better at self discipline?

This week’s workout plan:

Monday – Spinning

Tuesday – 3 mile run and weight training

Wednesday – 30 minutes elliptical

Thursday – 5 mile run

Friday – 3 mile run and weight training

Saturday – Spinning

Sunday  - OFF

For now, my legs need a hot bath and my body needs a long night’s sleep.  One week from tomorrow, I will have completed my finals and officially be on winter break.  But until then, I push forward!