Sleeping

I had every intention of working out yesterday ... and today ... but I found myself caught in a deep sleep instead. Part of it is jet-lag and part of it is probably the lack of sleep and exhaustion from all the wedding events. In any case, as guilty as I feel about not working out these past two days, I do not feel bad for sleeping because, let's face it, I really don't sleep enough.

So, hopefully after a good night's sleep tonight I'll be good to go and ready to attach the rest of my semester and the rest of this year with energy and enthusiasm.

Today's main plan was to catch up on blogs (I believe I've made it to everyone's blog who posted in the past week), update my list of things-to-do (slightly intimidating with how much stuff I need to get done), and plan my food for the week.

My menu and grocery list are complete. I'm all set for food for tomorrow so now it's just about getting organized and putting the plan into action!

On the Move

I didn't get to sleep until late last night (again). What is wrong with me? Is it still jet-lag? Vacation mode? Too lazy to go to bed (does that even make sense?). Or perhaps it's just because all I really want to do is park myself on the sofa and watch continuous episodes of Grey's Anatomy - after all, that is what I was doing until almost 2 a.m.

It wouldn't be so bad, but I was up by 6. So much for trying to reach my goal of 6 hours of sleep/night!

It was a busy, busy day mainly filled with errands to run for my parents. Their move is stressing me out in more ways than one, but I know that they are mega-stressed too, so anything I can do to help them out, I'll do it!

I did take an hour break to have coffee with some friends. I would have stayed longer but I started to get antsy about the errands I had to do. Plus I still hadn't made it to the gym so I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get a workout in.

I was waiting for a few deliveries at home this afternoon so I thought I would get a head start preparing dinner. I recently bought The Big Book of Food and Nutrition (Men's Health) and they've got lots of great recipes in a section called '100 of the healthiest meals on the planet.' I want to try them all out!

Today I made Pinto-Sized Shrimp Salad.
This is what it looked like -

Not bad, huh? (It bugs me that the purple leaf on the plate is not centered on top. I'm trying to let it go ... I tried to rotate the photo, but that didn't work. I've already eaten the salad otherwise I would have taken the photo again -- ok. Breathe. Let it go.)

It took some time to prepare - chopping up the bell peppers and marinating the shrimp, but it was worth it. My favorite part was the jalapeno-lime dressing that goes with it. Yum! I'll be sure to post the recipe soon.

So did I make it to the gym? Yes :)

I did Day 3 of Week 2 in the C25K program. I was quite achy and sore from yesterday and I wasn't sure it was a good idea to do the program two days in a row ... but then I thought, why not? It's only 33 minutes of cardio.

I'm glad I did it. The session was much better than yesterday's. You can read about it here.

After that I rushed to Zumba class to get a bit of ass shaking in before dragging my tired/sore ass home to put the finishing touches on the salad.

*sigh*

Busy but satisfying day.

Revved up and Ready to Go

The lists are done. The week's schedule is mostly mapped out. My bag is packed for tomorrow and I put out my clothes as well. I think I'm actually ready to get this week started - All that's remaining to do is get a good night's sleep.

I didn't sleep well last night either. Most of it was because I was frightened I would sleep through my alarm and not make it to pick my parents up at the airport. It's just as well I didn't really sleep because when I later checked my iPhone I realized that I had set the alarm for 6:45 p.m. instead of a.m. - now you see why I was worried? What's worse is that my dad texted me at 3 a.m. letting me know they were boarding, and then my mom texted me just before 6 a.m. telling me that their flight had taken off but then returned after being in the air for about 15 minutes due to technical failure. They didn't get any other details - nor did I. However, my already restless sleep was now completely broken - while I was very relieved that they made it back to the ground safely, I was still worried. When will they make it back? Will the plane really be safe? Damn Kuwait Airways ... we went through almost the exact same thing in June - except we never took off and were just told to go back home. Now, however, they are stuck in a crummy hotel airport. Feeling helpless as I know there is nothing I can do. I'm just relieved that mom carries enough of dad's medicine with her so that he should be ok ... they've really preoccupied my mind.

Aside from worrying about them, I did manage to get a bit more organization done. The week's menu is planned, the grocery list has been finalized, and I even took some time to glance at this semester's calendar.

I can't believe that work starts tomorrow. Where did summer vacation go? Oh yeah, I know - towards my thesis! The last three months have just flown by ... I just wish I had a few more weeks ... y'know, just until the thesis is over and done with. I really should have taken this semester off. Oh well. I just hope there's no drama and that I get a good class ...

After getting organized I decided to go to the gym. I wasn't really planning on starting my workouts until tomorrow but I thought I'd take today and just warm-up. I had planned 20 minutes on the cross-trainer, 20 minutes on the treadmill, and 10 minutes on the bike, followed by 10 minutes of general weights - nothing too intense.

It was nice to get back to the gym, although it was relatively empty. The highlight of my time there was an exchange I had with one of the trainers:

C: Where did you go?!

Me: To London - you know that!

C: I mean, where did you go?! Look at your arms and legs, so much muscle!

Me *grinning from ear to ear*

The muscle in my arms and legs, my friends, is the result of what I call the 'Carry 8-15 kg bags up and down train platforms and stairs' workout. All that running around, though painful, seems to have paid off. It's always nice to hear someone else notice these kinds of changes - I mean, when I looked in the mirror I thought my legs and arms looked like they had toned up a bit, but then I just dismissed it as illusion - until D mentioned it yesterday and C said it today. I was happy that somebody noticed some changes!

Anyway. After the cross-trainer I headed to the treadmill and decided to try the Tabata intervals that Ryan from 1 year 100 pounds mentioned to me a few days ago. He describes it in one of his video blog posts (4 min and 30 seconds into the vlog). It involves 20 seconds of giving 100% effort (running, lifting, or whatever exercise you're doing) followed by 10 seconds of rest for a total of 8 minutes. Well, before trying it out I told myself that I'd just do 4 minutes and see how I feel. I didn't want to go overboard on my first day back at the gym ...

All I have to say is OMG. The 20/10 second proportion doesn't sound like a lot, but the intense burst of energy followed by only 10 seconds of rest really forces you to quickly 'recover' ... though it really didn't feel like recovery to me. It just felt like a flash of time in which you had to quickly find the mental strength to go on and not give up ...

Oh, I just played Ryan's vlog to check what he says about Tabata training and at what point he talks about it (clarified above) and I just realized that it's only 4 minutes - not 8 minutes. So I guess I did the whole thing! I had mixed up the fact that you do 8 cycles of the 20/10 second interval in the 4 minutes. I'm glad I didn't push further. (Note to self - properly check your program before trying something new!)

Well, I guess that makes me feel a bit better though my lungs and legs may not like me as much at the moment. After the 4 minutes I managed a few 1 minute runs in between a few walks to finish up the 20 minutes.

The 10 minutes on the cycle was more of a cool-down - and the weights were not difficult at all. I used relatively light weights and just did 2 rounds of the intro choreography to Body Pump since it covers all the major muscle groups and movements (e.g. bicep curls, shoulder presses, squats, lunges etc. etc.)

The additional stuff I did had to do with physiotherapy for my knee (gotta keep doing those leg extensions!!) as well as the rotary torso machine for my abs, and the back extension machine to help stretch out my back - which has been feeling a bit tense, probably from the lack of sleep and other general stresses in my life at the moment!

So overall it was a good day. Tomorrow the real work begins -- and then I'll have to balance my PhD, work, working out, family, friends, errands ... ya, it's going to get hectic.

I hope I'm not too sore tomorrow!

Somewhat Sore

I can’t believe I’m sore. I mean, I know that I did the first workout of NROL4W yesterday and that I hadn’t lifted any weights for about three weeks, but I really didn’t think I would feel the effects of yesterday’s workout since I didn’t lift very heavy weights – and it was only 2 sets of 15 reps for each exercise. Still, I definitely feel the tightness in my arms. I’m pleased. I wonder how tomorrow’s workout will go.

I slightly regret having gone to the gym yesterday when I really felt like I was coming down with a cold. My headache has been persisting for over 24 hours now and I still feel fatigued from all the travel etc. I hardly slept last night and I know my lack of sleep in general has been a problem in my overall energy levels. Still, I’m taking today to rest – just trying to make sure I don’t push too hard in the beginning only to make it difficult to complete this 6-week task.

Workout B tomorrow!