Week 2, Day 1 (revisited)

Today my sister and I went to the gym and ran on treadmills. It was my first day back at Week 2, and I have to say, it didn't kick my ass. I blame the treadmill. It's easy to run on a treadmill since you're not really propelling yourself forward. I definitely prefer my track, but it's nice to know I've got the gym as back up.

A word on gyms: I hate them. I belonged to 24 Hour Fitness a couple of years ago. My sis and I went semi-regularly. We'd do the weight machines every now and then, but mostly we did about 25 minutes on the ellipticals and then did our cool downs on the treadmills. A couple of times, I got bothered by an employee pushing protein shakes, power bars and personal trainers. The last straw was when I was doing my cool down walk on the treadmill and an employee came over and started telling me I wasn't going to get a workout from walking that slow. When I informed him that I had HAD my workout on the elliptical a few minutes before, he acted like I was lying and kept telling me I should book an appointment with a trainer.

I canceled my membership instead. Hey, there's a fat chick on a treadmill! Let's automatically assume she's fat because she knows NOTHING about exercise and a healthy lifestyle.

So it was with a heavy heart that I joined up again. But I did it to support my sister, so I'm okay with it. And if someone tells me I need a personal trainer, I'm going to tell them a thing or two about fat chicks.

But I digress. This was our first time back at the gym, and for the most part, it was quite painless. We got changed and headed out to the treadmills. I started W2D1 and my sister stuck with Week 1. I guess this would make it Day 2 for her. The funny thing was, this tiny little woman hopped onto the treadmill next to me and immediately jumped into her run. The three of us were all going at the same pace, but the tiny woman was holding onto the bars of the treadmill for dear life. Weirdest thing I've seen all week.

Once we'd both finished our runs and cool downs, we stretched and my sister said she wanted to do 20 minutes on the elliptical. So I joined her. Except things have changed since I was last at this gym. They've got all new ellipticals and THEY SUCK. I've had easier times climbing up onto a horse, and I'm barely five foot one. Even after I turned the elevation and resistance all the way down, it still felt like I was climbing a flight of stairs. And the arms were awkward as well. I managed about 18 minutes on the damn thing before my right foot fell asleep and my sister said, "&$% these things, let's cool down on the treadmills."

So we did. All in all, we worked out for an entire hour. Not bad for a couple of fat chicks.

Here is where I would like to talk about what I did yesterday. Yesterday was my strength training day, so I did that along with my 20 minutes of aerobics. Afterwards, I had to take my mom on some errands and we decided to grab lunch at a pub near the university (because she had a coupon). I ordered the veggie wrap (mixed greens, onions, green pepper, cucumber and hummus wrapped in flat bread). It came with fries. I shouldn't have, but I did eat some of them. By the end of the meal I was feeling pretty gross, so I vowed to take Tank for a walk when I got home. My mom did a double take when I told her. Why? Because I live on a mountain. Not only that, but we're on a dead end. The only road to walk goes right down the mountain.

I used to walk Tank and Luke to the mailbox and back just about every day. The genius of that was, going back, I had a combined total of 140 pounds of dog pulling me up the mountain. These days, it's just me and Tank and the dry twist. Still, I felt gross and knew a walk would make me feel better, plus it's good for Tank. I live in a quiet little down. Hardly any traffic up here. Neighbors come and go once or twice a day. So I'm fine letting Tank off his lead for our walks.

Walking down the mountain bothered my knees quite a bit. I had a brisk walk going (which I guess can't be helped, going downhill); felt like it took me two minutes to get to the mail boxes. The walk back up the mountain was a lot easier on my knees, though my heart and lungs weren't too happy about the adventure. S'good, though. Meant I was getting a good workout. I stopped about halfway up, mostly to catch my breath but also to give Tank a chance to run into the woods after some rabbits.

When I got back home, I was surprised to find it had only taken us 27 minutes for the entire walk. I entered it in at Gmaps Pedometer and it is exactly 0.9604 miles, round trip. I burned 132.92 calories, too. What I find shocking is that the elevation at the mailboxes is around 385 feet. The elevation at my house is a little over 590 feet. That's quite a walk, people. (For me, anyway.) How am I not dead today?? My ass was a little bit sore, but I fully expected to be incapable of climbing out of bed this morning.

Very promising. I'm going to make this a regular outing for me and Tank. Here's an aerial of our route:

Oh, and I’ve come up with a reward for myself. I’m planning on running eight miles on August 8th, but given the way my life seems to turn around and bite me in the ass all the time, I’m willing to forgive myself if I don’t reach that goal on that exact date. So basically, after I run eight miles, I’m going to reward myself. And since I am now a hockey addict, and what’s more, a Slap Shot fanatic, I’m going to buy myself one of these:

That’s right. A Chiefs jersey. Number 18 because Jeff is the king of slot car racing and has a pet brick.