back at it.

Whoa! Time passes so fast! I'm sorry its been two weeks since I last updated.

So, I've been back in workout mode this week (and most of last week). I decided that one of the best motivators to being in shape and having physical goals to accomplish is the Olympics. Every day when I get to the Y, I plug my headset in and listen to the inspiring stories and watch as people from all over the world compete in so many different sports. As I see them achieve this amazing dream of being an Olympian, I find myself burning quite a few more calories than I normally do. I'm not fostering any false hope of one day being an Olympic athlete, but I might do something else....like run a marathon (following in the footsteps of my younger sister Jenni who just ran her first marathon in Richmond in November). We shall see.

I've developed a fairly good routine at the YMCA. I have been using the Precor AMT 100i Elliptical Trainer which goes above and beyond a regular elliptical machine by allowing you to instantly change your stride and speed as often and freely as you would like. (Click here to read a more detailed description of this machine so you can find it at your local gym). I do this for 35 minutes on varying speeds and resistance levels and have been burning an average of 400 calories during this part of my workout. I follow this with some stretches and core/ab workouts that I learned from P90X. Next I use several nautilus machines to exercise my leg muscles which I am working on strengthening and toning. It takes about an hour overall and I feel great afterwards.

I have to say I haven't been able to eat as healthy as I would like to the past week or so because I am running out of food and all I have left in my pantry is stuff that I bought before my fit lifestyle plan. So, here's to my next paycheck!

Sick.

This week has presented a challenge to the whole "get fit and healthy" plan.

Last Friday, Luke and I took on the Plyometrics exercise in P90X. It is an hour of intense cardio workout and you pretty much have to be in serious good shape to make it through. Well, I stuck with it for about 25 minutes (which let me tell you was hard as heck) and Luke beasted the whole thing. Little did I know at this point that it was not a good time for me to be doing a hardcore workout. Sickness was coming upon me.

By Saturday, my entire body was aching which was a combination of soreness from P90X as well as the bad cold I was getting. But, as it snowed about 12 inches overnight, I was not going to miss out on the fun outside and played in the snow with my friends. We attached Luke's snowboard to the back of Brad's Durango and drove around the apartment complex snowboarding behind the truck. It was lots of fun and a lot of strain on my already sick body.

Basically, by Saturday night, I was miserable. I couldn't stay warm and was achy all over. I contracted a stuffy head by Sunday and pretty much all week I haven't been able to work out because I haven't had the strength, nor is it good for you to work out when you are sick because it keeps your body from recovering.

This morning I did a little Yoga and Kempo Karate (Kickboxing) to try and get my heart rate up a little bit and barely made it through that, so I am definitely still not at 100%--but I am recovering, so that's good.

Here's to next week and hopefully being able to get back into the workout mode!