"Week Two" Friday

Recovery meal: Tiger's Milk . Water
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with spinach, tomatoes, onions and red/yellow peppers. I piece of plain 12 grain toast. Water
Lunch: Grilled vegetables (portabella mushrooms, peppers, onions, zuchinni), Mexican green rice, two corn tortillas, fresh guacamole and green hot sauce. Passionfruit ice tea (unsweetened)
Snacks: 1 rice cake, 2 low cal cookies (the size of a ritz bit), 1 rubios fish taco
Dinner: Grilled Salmon over mixed greens with vinagrette dressing. 1 glass of unsweetened chocolate Almond Breeze

I know you are anxiously awaiting to find out if I did it or not, right? Well, I did it! I almost didn't but I did it! I woke up on time for the workout today! Woohoo! back in the saddle again! Yeehaw!

I admit, I was a little late and almost gave up when I realized I was in my car at 6:08... Did I have enough time to get to Encinitas by 6:30? Well, I applied a little bit of the mindset we get when working out, and I just decided to go for it and try even if I think I might not be able to.

I arrived shortly after the warm-up walk started. Yes, I said 'walk'. I was surprised, but fine with it. When we starte to jog, I ended up jogging alongside Adam. Yes, good ol' Adam who volunteered to spot me on my pullups the very first week. I guess he was out for two days due to a, what was it now? A back injury? I think that is what it was. Anyhow, he is back and planned on going to this morning, tonight AND Saturday! God bless him! Perhaps I will report on how he is doing when I see him tomorrow morning.

After the jog, we did some of the basic warmup stretches. One where we twist. This one is hard to explain, but basically we stand feet apart with one hand straight in front of us, parrallel to the ground, center line of our body. Then, we swing the other hand, coming from the side of our body to hit the first hand, this sends the other hand flying inthe opposite direction. Causing your upper body to turn, then you repeat back and forth until you are twisting your trunk along with and somewhat because of the inertia from your arms.

Another warm-up stretch is the 'elephant trunks'. Basically you swing your arms from side to side. From very high up to the right, swooping down and back up to very high up on the left. The movement is similiar to that of an elephant truck swishing back and forth.

Trying to remember an element of 'play', as well as serious focus, while working out is probably a good idea. Most of us never really complained when we were in elementary school playing on the playground, about how long recess was, right? HAVE YOU BEEN ON A PLAYGROUND LATELY?! Swinging is hard work now! Monkey bars aren't messing around. No wonder I was a little pipsqueak back then. I was FIT! Or maybe I didn't have the mentality that the sun was too hot or I was sweating too badly or that my playtime was too long.

Now after the warm-up, we went into the spinning cycle room. I went to the same bike I had last time. Again we alternated between high tension for a period of time, and then lower tension, and then back to higher tension. I usually just focus forward and don't really look around, but today I wanted to look around because there are some people in this program on facebook, that I don't recognize. So, I'm looking for them in class.

Now, the reason I don't look around is because I don't want to start comparing myself to other people. Actually Ava gave me that advice during the first week. There will always be those lesser and greater than I. (I will post one of the 'poems' by Max Erhman that relates to that, that my mom introduced to me in middle school and I have liked ever since). So what happens? As I was looking around, I noticed that everyone was spinning a whole lot faster than me. "HELLO?", I think to myself, "Do you people have the tension as high as I do?? I thought we were supposed to turn it two whole rounds to the right???". hahaha Okay, maybe I am just imagining it, but boy, I felt slllloooooowwwww. This is one kick butt group of peeps, I tell ya.

All in all Sal did a great job leading the group in place of Rudy. Tough shoes to fill, so I commend him! I noticed he isn't quite as vocal during the warm-up but once we got in the spin room, he got right in there and called us to WORK! I was pouring sweat.

Oh it was so funny! In the locker room, I think it was Pamela who made the funny. She said something like, "You guys, you know how people drip sweat? Well, in these classes, I don't drip, I flow." I laughed as I visualized a scene from a funny movie. Ever seen 'Airplane'? If so, 'nuff said. (If you haven't seen it, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdEmmXiB7ew Look at 2:26)

Okay, another locker room story from today. I was talking to Nicole about vitamins. She has a great product she recommends called All One Green Phyto Base. Thanks for the tip, Nicole! I have to check it out, because I need to do something!

See, I mentioned that I am taking a multi-vitamin but my (sorry for the graphic-ness) urine is really, really yellow. The Pilate's Director happened to be right there, Corinne, I think is her name. She overheard me and said it may mean that I am not absorbing the vitamins and it is just passing right through. they could be low quality! I had no idea this happened. So, I am greatful to Nicole and others who have given me ideas on how to stay nourished! Corinne recommended type of vitamn (biopharm?) that uses nanotechnology. She was super sweet to take the time to tell me all about it and how her husband who hates taking vitamins, will take these because he notices the difference in him when he goes a day with out. For me, I am a little wary of nanotechnology. Since it works at the cellular level, I want to wait a few years before I try it. I won't even use this new hair product I got from Pureology because I just read the label about it using nano-technology. It's kind of like me and Lasik. I am in no way an 'early adopter'. I wait to see the years of results. I'm better about the Lasik thing, but not quite there yet with it personally.

Oh yeah, last thought. One of my best girlfriends who goes all the way back with me in kindergarten wrote me and beseeched me to have see a thyroid specialist. She begged me to get it done because in her words:

A normal doctor will give you a blood test and if you are within a standard range, they will tell you nothing is wrong.
But seriously, even if you're .0000000001122 off, your body knows it and it doesn't work right. Any accumulation of stomach fat is a sign that something isn't right. Hopefully I am wrong but it is so worth getting yourself tested once a year.

Essentially, they take blood and run tests on your t3 and t4 levels. http://thyroid.about.com/library/links/blthyroid.htm
You should also get a sonogram on your thyroid to see if it is enlarged. That is what caught my problem.
I went from 120 lbs to 155 lbs in a year WITH working out. I hired trainer after trainer and they all told me I was gaining weight and to quit closet eating! Arrggh.

Anyway, I'm sure this has been a tough time for you and that adds to it but it also helps to know if your emotional issues have manifested into physical problems as that is what usually happens.
I wish all trainers required a thyroid test!

A lot of what she says resonates with me. I so hope I do not have a thyroid problem! My decision is to wait and see the results of the 1 month mark weigh in. If I do not see a change at all, I will seek a thyroid specialist. It might be possible that my problem is thyroid. What hit home is that I took the test on about.com and I am 33% possibility of a thyroid problem. Also, I did have two years of one incredible emotional rollecoaster. My friend made some good points. My family says that I seem slimmer, so maybe I am making progress and I just can't tell. I guess I will know better in two more weeks when we get weighed in and measured again.

Well dear readers, as my mom and sister say, "Keep on Keeping on!"

Saturday beach workout, here I come!