Back to it

I’m not going to lie, heading back to reality was not fun today. It was a whirlwind week of highs and more highs and having my alarm go off at 6:00am was less than bueno.

The good news is I have some fun posts in the works over the next couple of weeks, including:

• The story of my ring (#FunFact: I’m the third generation in my family to have an engagement ring with sapphire accents)
• A full review of Ragnar Relay with some tips and tricks
• What I’ve been doing differently with my diet to help shed my HIM pounds
• Half marathon goals and training
• And, of course, WEDDING PLANNING!!! <– I promise not to go overboard here. Pinky swear.

I was also excited to kick off Stage 6 of New Rules of Lifting for Women this morning.

I was very relaxed with exercise and eating while I was in Key West. I definitely entered vacation mode and just enjoyed the moment without worrying about anything else. I did manage a short 3 mile run on Monday morning and I’m guessing we walked a good 3-4 miles each day we were there. I have zero regrets and didn’t even think twice about my choices while I was away.

It was hard to get back in the swing of this this morning, but the fact that I was starting a new stage helped. Also, seeing all of my gym buddies and telling them my stories from Ragnar and the weekend was fun too. Nothing like a good set of gym buddies to get your butt moving in the morning.

I started my time in the gym with a 3 miler on the treadmill. I started at 6.5 and amped up the speed .2 or .3 every 1/2 mile. It was a good way to slowly remind my legs what running fast was and they appreciated the gentle reminder.

After the 3 miles, I headed to the weights for Stage 6A.

Now Stage 6 is an optional stage in the plan with only a goal of being able to complete an unassisted pull up at the end. I didn’t skip Stage 6 because, well, I wanted to see if it worked and if I really could achieve an unassisted pull up at the end.

The workouts for each of Stage 6A and Stage 6B are fairly short with only 4 moves and a limited number of sets in each move.

The only part I was a little thrown off with was the 10 sets of 2 reps of the upperhand-grip lat pulldowns. It felt funny doing so many sets of such a low number of reps, but I was able to go a little higher on the weight because of this and it did become rather difficult at the end.

After my gym session, I headed straight home for breakfast.

2 slices of toast with almond butter, pumpkin butter, strawberries, dark chocolate edamame, and a dusting of flax seed.

And cherries!

I spent the majority of the morning catching up on work tasks and attempting to make my way through my inbox (it wasn’t pretty).

I was so wrapped up in work tasks that it was well after 1:00pm before I realized I should be eating lunch.

I made a quick salad of arugula, carrots, olives, avocado, nuts, apple, and goat cheese. It was a light lunch, but I honestly wasn’t terrible hungry. The toast and almond butter combo always keeps me really full in the morning.

I’m still not caught up, but I’m getting there.

Have a great Wednesday everyone!