First post in two weeks. I haven’t had much time to write or much to write about. Without any running going on or taking any cool fitness classes or making any creative or really delicious meals, I didn’t want to waste your time or mine by writing gibberish.
But, I realized something this morning while I was at the gym. I’ve have a long stretch of really great workouts. I’ve only taken two days off from the gym in about 2 and a half weeks – pretty amazing given my work schedule and the fact that it’s the holiday season – and I’m feeling pretty great! We’ve been waking up a few minutes earlier so we get to the gym a few minutes earlier and in turn I’ve added a few minutes to my cardio sessions (elliptical). I’ve also bumped up the resistance a notch and mix in a bunch of intervals into each session – both higher resistance and a faster pace. The best part is I can tell I’m working a lot harder but afterwards I haven’t been as stiff as I’ve been in the past.
Until the start of this year I had a casual addiction to ibuprofen. Turns out I wasn’t alone and also it’s a good thing I gave it up. The last few weeks I’ve felt better than I have in a long time. I think it has to do with two things in particular:
- This holiday season I’ve focused on eating well and staying active
- Regular chiropractor visits
So, I haven’t talked about the whole chiropractor thing on here. Woody and I started going to a chiropractor with an office close to our apartment a couple months ago. At first I didn’t think it was doing much and I would cringe every time he cracked my neck and sometimes my back. I’ve had long term issues with my right shoulder and he recognized this right away (“You have global issues” he said). It seems strange that the adjustment only takes five minutes and it does makes a difference? Seriously just in the past few weeks I’ve noticed that I do think it’s making a difference. My hips and lower back used to be so tight it would be a struggle to walk up the steps of the subway sometimes. Now I’m running up them dodging people during rush hour.
With all these great feelings Saturday I decided to try something out. I went for a run. I had intended to run from the gym to the New York Public Library branch in Battery Park City to pick up the “Downton Abbey Season 2” DVD I put on hold and then walk back or take the connection bus. BUT, I got there and turned out the database was wrong – or someone had hidden it – and the DVD wasn’t there. Since I had wasted time going over for apparently no reason and I had felt great on my run over, I ran back. No problem! It felt great to run. Even though my cardio has been going well and I’ve left my workouts feeling great, there really isn’t anything else like a good run. Even a short run.
Hopefully I’ll be able to keep this up and will soon start thinking about my goals for next year. Right now I just know of two races I really want to run but other than that everything is up in the air. But that’s all another post…
I’ll leave you with this holiday image of construction site creativity…
Those are rain boots with pine tree branches and a little Christmas tree with ornaments of tape measurers and other construction tools!
Before I sign off I do want to say that like all of you, my thoughts and prayers are with the community of Newton, CT and all of the people around the world who are affected by what happened on Friday. It’s an unthinkable tragedy that I hope will never be repeated. I hope we all have a little bit more compassion in our daily lives in the wake of this terrible event.
And with that…
- How have your workouts been going during this busy time of year?
- Better than expected!
- What was the highlight of your weekend?
- Buying our Christmas tree and donating a ton of CD’s to Housing Works
- Have you seen (or displayed) any super creative holiday decorations?
- We have hardly any decorations up at all. I wish we had more space for them!
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Today’s workout -
- 60min elliptical
- 3x15 bicep push-down
- 3x10 weighted side bends
- 3x10 weighted ab twists
- 3x15 seated row
- 3x10 hammer curl
- ab exercises
- 1x50sec plank
- stretching
2 comments:
I've gone to a chiropractor on and off for about 5 years. I've found that it depends on the type of treatment for me. One doctor did adjustments one week followed with a deep tissue massage the next. That worked for me (and my shoulder...you're not alone!). However, I then went to another chiropractor who would only adjust me and collect his money. It's definitely worth doing research, but glad you are seeing results!
My workouts have not been so good with the late nights at work and grandbaby #4 requiring my daughter to be on bed rest. But only 2 more days of work then 11 off. Plenty of time to get back on track!
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