better

i do love the gym.  i almost didn't go. again. worn out, still mopey, crampy, and the weather was ASS when i left the office... if i hadn't been all self-indulgent and whiny last night, i wouldn't have.  but i didn't want two nights in a row of sitting around, drinking and smoking, so i braved the roads, chugged some mild energy tonic, and got to it.  so glad i did.  i will likely not be able to move much tomorrow, but you'll have that.

oh, side note, TOTALLY almost got in an accident on the way there.  some utter MORON decided to try and pull out in front of the car in front of me.  they almost collided, and i almost collided into them.  i instead slightly collided with the snowbank on the side of the road trying to stop in time.  but it all worked out in the end.  anyhoo.

breakfast was, as previously mentioned, yummy but didn't stick with me like i'd hoped. 

about 1/4 cup oat blend, cooked in water with cinnamon, half a banana and most of a little empire apple (i bought apples yesterday!  i missed them so)  the rest of the apple i ate while waiting for the oats to cook
stirred in some blueberries after cooking, and my wheat germ/flax blend
topped with dark chocolate almond butter, my cherry preserves, and 1/4 cup fiber one

fruit-a-licious! oats always make me smile.

snack 1 (sorta - it was RIGHT before lunch so it should prolly be considered my appetizer) - clementine with my tea, as threatened in the woe is me post.   

lunch was decent but i was really just going through the motions last night making it.  kinda drunk.

wrap with sabra roasted red pepper hummus,  canned chicken (salty.  wow) and spinach.  i warmed it up before eating, because i seriously craved hot food.  and my carrots.  always carrots.  if i run out of baby carrots, i spaz out.
i also had a couple bites of wasabi roasted edamame.  nice little texture/flavor switch there.

snack 2 - slice of bread, some natch more and cinnamon to fuel the workout.  and a speedy  'latte'  

snack 3 - i just keep eating scoops of protein powder in my car.  i've actually grown to like it.  the textures get all interesting.  digging it out of my teeth isn't fun, though. 

dinner - a relatively 'meh' salad, due to my poorness and lack of produce.  romaine blend, spinach, carrots, and some soy-marinated baked tofu... which was actually really good.  and italian dressing.  and a bite of the pizza that the rest of the fam ate.  it was decent, but it was multiple-meat and tasted very strongly of pepperoni grease so stopping at one bite was pretty easy, even though i'm still kind of hungry and LURVE ME SOME PIZZA.

workout (again... i really should have taken notes.  memory fail)

20 minutes on the stairmaster (aerobic training program, level 10) to 'warm up'.  and almost die a little.  but i do love the stairmaster.

chest press - 10x40, 15x50, 10x60, 5x70, 5x70, 10x60, 15x50

lat pull - 10x40, 5x50, 5x50, 10x40 (it seems like i did more than this, but i'm not sure)

bicep curl - 10x25, 15x30, 10x35, 10x35, 15x30 (something like this)

row - 10x30, 10x40, 5x50, 3x55, 5x50, 10x40

pec fly (alternating with the delt fly) - 10x20, 15x30, 10x40
delt fly - 10x20, 10x30, 5x40

i wanted to pyramid back down, but i didn't think i could.  

did some stretching to finish out the night, chatted with Jose and flirted with Bryan, and then was on my merry way.  almost went and tanned, but i plan to do that friday and i don't want to be snooky.  i hate that i know who that is.  but ONLY because of facebook.  

speaking of snooky.  there is a girl who works at my gym that is slowly morphing into her. 

on the way home, my mom texted asking where i was.  i thought she was concerned.  no, she wanted me to stop and buy her alcohol.  nice.  she handed me the 'no funds' excuse, but still wanted me to.  that ALMOST ruined my endorphin high.  i'm not sure what to do with the annoyance, so we haven't spoken since i got home.  i think she went all resourceful and found a way to be drunk anyway.  

oh, and i still haven't heard.  left a voice mail this morning, no call back.  i guess if it was a flat 'no' they'd have gotten back to me by now?  i am ENTIRELY too impatient to play this waiting game.  i know they didn't call my reference, which actually makes me feel better 'cause if they'd asked him my weaknesses, the most obvious one to come out of him would not be well received.  but now he knows how not to answer that question should he be asked it.  

looooooooove legs day

had a VERY decent day today.  on top of the deadline being passed and therefore the pressure being gone, i had an evenly productive and lax day.  could have been more productive, admittedly, but hell with it.  it's been a rough week.

and i had some tasty coffee in the afternoon, then went in the back lot and did donuts and drifts in the snow.  GOOD TIMES.  and i didn't damage my car or any equipment so i call it a win.

LEG DAY.  and an awesome one at that.  for the first time, i grasped the concept of a pyramid workout and did more than i think i ever have:

elliptical - 1 'mile' in about 11 mins... 2/10 of that mile was backward or it would have taken much less time.

glute isolator - 15 x 30, 13 x 35, 10 x 40, 7 x 45, 10 x 40, 13 x 35... and i think i stopped there

abductors - 40 lbs on the squeeze due to changing the way i do it (to CORRECT), 60, 70, 80 on the spread, and i don't even know reps 'cause i wasn't counting... gym buddy distraction

ab knee lifts - 3 x 20

man, i really should have taken notes... i forgot most of this already :-( this is all estimation, but i did full increment pyramids on just about everything

calf isolator - 3 x 10 of each position (straight, ins and outs) at 40.  first time on THAT one and helloooo burn.

curls - 15 @ 40, 10 @ 50, 7 @ 60 x 2, 10 @ 50, 15 @ 40

extensions - 15 @ 50, 10 @ 60, 7 @ 70 x 2, 10 @ 60, 10 @ 60, 15 @ 50

angle press - 10 @ 120, 10-15 @ 140, 10 @ 160, 5 @ 180 (my high), 10 @ 160, 10 @ 140

and then i almost died.  i was honestly going to try for squats, but i should have done those first as i was jelly by the time i was ready.

lotsa stretching and talking with Bryan (aforementioned gym buddy), who is a very nice, and attractive, older guy (i wish i knew HOW old) who is clearly interested in me and hinted toward taking me out.  i sidestepped it, but might be willing.  he lives like someone younger than i am and age is a number, right?  we'll see what happens there.

holy crap i feel great.  i NEED to remember how good i feel now so i keep it up.  friday makes a good leg day, since i could be at the gym until after 8 and not stress about sleep.  i wish i could have hit the tanning bed, but i have $40 until friday so that's a splurge that will have to wait.  sadface.

wasn't even bothered by the 3" of snow that accumulated on my car in my just over 2.5 hours working out.  much lake effect today/tonight.  the ride home was sketch but i've learned how to drive in snow.  took a couple wrecks, but i'm good now ;-)

FOOD STUFF:

breakfast:

1/4 cup (less than usual) - ish of my oat blend cooked in water and half a banana

container of oikos nonfat chocolate stirred in

wheat germ / flax mix sprinkled

blueberries

fiber one on top

yuuuuuum.  and way more satisfying than expected.  i wasn't even really hungry at noon.

snack 1 (at my normal lunchtime):

clementine

lunch (at about 2pm, i wanted to eat this later since it was heartier than my normal lunch and would hopefully hold me over until after the gym):

leftover curry (YUMMY) and some baby carrots

snack 2  (at like 4:45):

my last work banana - needed to be eaten and would give me a little boost for my workout

speedy 'latte', 20 oz - LITTLE bit of FF french vanilla cap, ice, topped off with coffee, cinnamon stirred in.  mmmmmm...

dinner:

we'll call the scoop of protein i ate on the way home from the gym part of dinner.  didn't mix it, just ate it and chased it with water.  need to fuel those muscles.

saaaaaaaaaaaalad (half and half romaine mix and spinach, carrots, tomatoes, and light italian dressing)

the last of the curry, with almonds and FF feta (just as good the 3rd time)

couple bites of shrimp linguini that was cooked when i got home, and half a piece of garlic bread

all told... yummy stuff.  'course, the night is still kind of young and i'm having wine, so i'm sure i'll graze a bit before i pass out.  and that's OK with me.

still excited/freaking about the job.  i still feel really good about it... but i want it SO MUCH that i'm scared.

that is all... for now. 

back to business

technically, i guess, monday was back to business. and had i written a post, perhaps it would have been.

but today is valid because it was the first day back to the gym. but... i was all wired and excited last night (and i blogged, which kept me up later than usual) about the job interview and whatnot and didn't get my full (at LEAST) 6 hours. i rocked the dark circles through one of the more hectic morning/early afternoons of my recent professional life, and then worked until 7. hit the SF red bull around 5, when i normally leave, but then got all inspired to not be there all night tomorrow (i have a friday AM deadline that will be fun to meet) and did some extra work.

any other day, i'd've gone straight home, hit the wine, had a cigarette or three and felt ok about it. well, maybe not the cigarettes, but i'm working on it and went from a pack a day to less than a pack a week so i call it improvement. i'll get into my smoking justifications at some other point. the CURRENT point is that it was really important for me to get to the gym tonight. for some reason. not out of an obligation, but because i didn't want to spend the evening smoking and feeling guilty about smoking, and missing out on the good times and chest improvements i'm seeing from all the presses. so, even though i got there when i normally like to be leaving, i went.

had 3 goals - stairmaster, chest press and lateral pulldown.

i got onto the stairmaster... then pretty much got right off of it. NOT happening. but i had done a short but pretty intense 'jog' on the elliptical prior to that so i can justify a little. but it was pretty pathetic. i did maybe 2 minutes at medium intensity and had had enough of that shit. my legs just felt like jelly.

pec/delt... thing. i don't know what it's called. this wasn't on my list, so i feel good about it.

delts - 20 lbs, 2 x 10; 30 lbs, 1 x 10 (i THINK but it could have been 5)

pecs - 20 lbs, 1 x 10; 30 lbs, 2 x 10

chest press - 40 lbs, 1 x 10; 50 lbs, 1 x 10; 60 lbs, 1 x 5

lats - 40 lbs, 1 x 10; 50 lbs, 2 x 10

yes, kind of weak... but i knew it would be and feel better for having gone.

and now, the food diary portion... i did this all out of order.

breakfast:

1/3 cup oats mix

1/2 banana

cinnamon

nuked in water for a minute

stirred in about 1 tbsp peanut flour, blueberries, blackberries, apple sauce... topped with some fiber one and a splash of unsweetened vanilla almond milk. it really seems like i'm forgetting something but i can't think of it. it was pretty good, but eating it out of a mug was strange. efficient, but strange and i think i'll go back to bowl and deal with the extra dish.

i also had a couple cashews and a pinch of homemade granola while waiting for my oats to cook.

snack 1 (i had several):

a clementine

lunch:

the last of my cheesy red potato soup (with red pepper and silken tofu) and like 4 triscuits to scoop it up. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm thick and comfy, which was nice after the day i was starting to have.

snack 2 (we'll call this an extension of lunch):

a small handful of wasabi roasted edameme. again, big lots rocks my socks. i'll have to go back and get more, now that i know i like it.

snack 3:

little red delicious apple that had been in the work fridge for like a month, i swear. but aside from being a little mushy, it was really decent.

snack 4 (told you):

a banana and a half piece of light bread with naturally more. my typical snack on a gym day, i just don't usually throw that many more in. but i was SO tired and concerned about fueling for the gym. not that i really needed it, but still. it was tasty too.

oh! haha... so, after the gym, on the ride home, i ATE a scoop of protein powder. just poured it in my mouth, half at a time, and chewed it up and swallowed it. it was interesting, and not nearly as bad as i expected.

dinner:

was late-night chaotic. side salad, a few bites of vegetable beef soup, and a sinfully DELICIOUS coconut macaroon. 145 calories of awesome, it was. chased it with a spoonful of nonfat fage heavily covered with cinnamon, in hopes to neutralize some of the sugar from the cookie.

i'm almost out of my sleepytime tea, so i made a mug of TJ's bedtime. which is delicious, don't get me wrong, but i don't have a TJ's, or WF for that matter, within 65 miles (BFE northwest indiana sucks it) so i try to conserve stuff from those stores.

so i really intended to not say much... then this post happened. huh. can't stop me once i get going, i guess. but it needs to be unwind time now. got some sleep to catch up on.

that is all.