Holy moly!  First it’s one week, then it’s two, then before I realize, it’s been three weeks since I’ve done a Fitness Friday post.  I may or may not be doing this because I have to study for a chemistry exam.  Okay, I am doing this because I have to study, but I just don’t waaaaaaaannnnnnnaaaaaa right now!  It’s raining, it’s Friday, I’m sleepy…do you see the trend I see?

Okay, so enough about being lazy.  Here’s a look at the workouts I did this past week while I wasn’t being lazy.

Sunday: Five mile run!  Woohoo!  I haven’t done anything more than four miles in a long time because of my dang knee pain. I went to a physical therapist for the first time last week, so maybe it was the two days of knee-muscle-strength-training, or maybe it was my stubborness, but I got through the five miles 85% pain-free.  Yes, there was pain, but a lot less pain than I have become accustomed to after 3 miles.

Monday:  Rest day.  **Whenever I say rest day, I actually do get some activity in.  Everyday, workout or not, I bike between 1.5 and 3 miles to class, 5 days a week.  It’s faster (and healthier) than the bus.

Tuesday:  Three mile run, followed by triceps exercises.

Wednesday: Rest day.

Thursday:  5 minutes of incline walking to warm up, then 20 minutes of light jogging on the treadmill.  Shoulder workout:  3 sets of 20 of the following:

• Chest press on the bench
• Fly on the bench(is that what it’s called?)
• Incline press
• Chest press on the machine
• Fly on the machine
• Standing fly

Friday: Mish-mash of cardio as follows:

• 10 laps on the track (1 mile)
• 3 minutes of abs- 25 front crunch, 25 on each side, 120 bicycle
• 5 laps on the track, sprinting the straightaways
• same ab series as noted above
• 5 laps on the track, sprinting the straightaways
• 10 minutes of running, sprinting and incline walking on the treadmill (while watching Keeping Up With the Kardashians, because I have, you know, NOT been keeping up with them and have missed out on SO MUCH juicy drama.  Kris and Bruce are separated?!)
• 20 sets of 25 second bursts of cardio with a five second break.  That makes no sense.  Basically, I did some sort of cardio (jumping jacks, butt kickers, jump squats, burpees, star-jumps, high-knees, etc) for 25 seconds, then rest for 5 seconds, and did that 19 more times for a total of ten minutes.  Did that make sense?

All for a grand total of 40 minutes of cardio, abs scorched, 3 miles ran, and a completely soaked person.  Success.

I just wanted to say that on Thursday, I really had no desire to go to the gym.  As a matter of fact, I had no desire to do anything, but sleep while it poured outside.  But I told myself to go for twenty minutes, do a slow and easy workout and call it a day.  I ended up staying for fifty minutes and did a pretty decent workout and I felt so energized and so much better.  That nap would have been nice, but the workout has longer-lasting effects than a half hour nap.  Sometimes you just need to remind yourself that the hardest part about going to the gym is literally GOING to the gym.  Try little incentives- maybe you’ll scale down your workout, or try a new workout, attend a fitness class, go with a friend.  Do whatever you need to do.  Once you get there, you’ll most likely surprise yourself with what you can accomplish.  And if not- if you really just aren’t feeling it, there is always tomorrow.

And one other perk- if nothing else, maybe it’ll give you a moment to see something you don’t normally see.  This photo was taken right before 7:00 am.  It almost makes getting up worth it.  Almost.