Week 8 already?

Wow what a crazy busy week.  What with work, new fitness classes, parenting and losing a total of five pounds I am exhausted!  Yes that was the five pound mark as of Saturday morning. I am very excited.  I know it is only five pounds and I have many to go but it is a step in the right direction.  Yay me!

Let me tell you about my new fitness class at Prairie Athletic Club.  I have been doing my old standby BodyPump for a few weeks now and I still love it and it is still a challenge.  I have decided however that if I am going to run a half marathon, I need to up my cardio endurance.  Not just by running but taking other measures.  I set my sights on BodyCombat.  It was one of the few classes I could get to on time after work.  I was a little afraid of starting a new class not really knowing what it entailed or who would be in it but I bit the bullet and pulled it off.  I LOVED it!!!!!!!  I have been told it is a lot like Tae Bo.  Not sure if I spelled that correctly so try it phonetically.  I was punching and upper-cutting, bobbing and kicking.  Some of the choreography was a little tricky for me but I am sure with time I will get the hang of it.  I was even sweatier than after a run.  I took this class Thursday evening and it took till Sunday for my calves to stop aching, not to mention my upper back muscles.  I could feel the muscles surrounding my scapulae.  The next day I was still so excited I couldn't stop demonstrating the move where you grab your opponent's head and smash your knee into their face.  It was great!

I managed to get a short bike ride in Saturday also.  It was just the Yahara River trail in DeForest.  I took Cat's advice and really pumped some air into my tires.  It helped immensely!  Here I thought the tires looked flat from my weight being on them.  Nope, they really were just low on air.  I still have a lot of work to go before my 60+ mile ride in August with Damara but I am on my way.  Other great news!  Cat gave me a pair of bicycle shorts with built in gel padding and they fit!  I haven't tried them out yet but I am sure they will make riding more comfy on the nether regions.  The downside is they add padding to the buttock region.  Oh well.  Just keep pedaling!

I have taken my running to the next level as well.  I was doing my normal run walk and was thinking how I didn't really feel I was making progress.  So I asked myself, "Self, are you really pushing yourself?"  The answer was most decidedly no.  I upped my running speed to 5.3 mph and my walking pace to 3.5 mph.  Then I made myself add more running segments in to my workout.  It wasn't so bad.  My knees still feel great, my feet feel great and I have been mostly warding off the shin splints.  So the end of another successful week.

Here is the part were you can stop reading if you don't want to hear about PMS.  I gave you a warning.  It is not pretty from here on out.  To put it mildly, I never had the urge to tell a co-worker off, I did not have that week of intense cravings that could not be satisfied, and most noticeabley I did not have low back pain or constipation.  So yes, when I did get my period I was completely surprised.  Not sure I like that but I can do without all the other symptoms.  I don't think I had a headache all month either.  Lately I have been developing some wicked migraines.  Hopefully diet and exercise is the cure.

Also wanted to let you that all the photos in this weeks blog and from here on out will be my own.  You may recognize some images of Devil's Lake or the tunnel from the Elroy-Sparta trail.  Others were taken from last years trips to Florida.  I wish I could say I was clever enough to come up with the inspirational quotes myself but I would be lying.  So let's just be happy with knowing copyright infringement is not in my future and all quotes are from Anonymous.  See you next week?  I am not sure when I will post next as I am leaving for Florida on Saturday and will be gone for a little over a week.  Need to get more pictures!