Nov 10, 2012

Hunka Hunka Burnin' Quads



Friday was day three of visiting my little workplace gym. I know to some of you, this isn’t a big deal. I hate exercise – I honestly don’t get that endorphin feeling all you crazy people talk about. I do feel better generally when I exercise and I know it keeps my blood sugar down so I do it. Love it? No.

Some days I am kicking and fighting my way into convincing myself to do it and other days I just suck it up and do it to get it over with.  I have found that my weight loss is more directly related to what / how much I eat rather than how much I move, but moving my body definitely makes it look more toned and sleeker (as much as that is possible at still 50lbs overweight!) and it also has a psychological effect, I don’t want to eat crap when I spend so much time exercising.

My intercity bus hit major weekend traffic Friday morning and was very, very late, so those 15 minutes earlier that I rolled out of bed were for naught. I got there just in time to change into my regular clothes, grab a coffee and get to my desk with 2 minutes to spare. So I had planned to do an abbreviated lunch time workout again but we were allowed to leave early and because of my commute, I can’t get an earlier train so I used that time to go the gym and used lunchtime to get outside and get some fresh air.  We’re expecting beautifuI, warm weather over the weekend and I want to get some time outdoors so my gym time was a 10 min warm up walk, 3k run, 10 min cool  down walk. My quads were burning when I started but as much as I was dreading it, the walking and running actually alleviated the sharp pain and left me with a dull ache, plus had the benefit of stretching my legs completely. Shin splints started around 10 min into the run so I walked a minute and when the burning subsided I ran again. I played with the speed and incline to make it more interesting as Andrea suggested and I watched some TV so the time was not completely horrible.

I woke yesterday morning with burning quads and feet. What is up with the lower half of my body this week???

The quad pain I am sure is from the elliptical yesterday, I had it on a higher than normal for me resistance and incline. Wearing my running shoes all day helped yesterday.  The day before,  I was also standing a lot in 3” heels and was back and forth between my desk and photocopier about 30 times an hour (not exaggerating, I actually counted for two hours – the things I have to do to amuse myself and get through the day!) so that was sitting/getting up standing/sitting/getting up/standing over and over all day.

Next week I am only at work 3 days, and the week after that I’m only at work 4 days so I won’t have an opportunity to try the gym five days a week for another two weeks. 

Is this glow or sweat? I think its glow on your face and sweat everywhere else!  This little gym has no windows and zero air circulation so it heats up really quickly once the machines/TV are on.

I could wring out my tee shirt by the end of it.


10 comments:

  1. Oy to the lower-half pain. On the plus side, your muscles are happy. Well...sort of. Or maybe they just have a strange way of showing it. Haha!

    I loved your quote: I don’t want to eat crap when I spend so much time exercising. You're correct! Why would I want to eat a bag of chips or a bar of chocolate after I exhaust myself and get all dirty and sweaty and ache the next day. It's easier to eat better when your body reminds you with aches and pains the next day. Haha!

    Good job on workin' it out!

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  2. Great job with the workout! I hope your strain feels better. Stretching sometimes helps!

    I totally agree with you that weight loss has more to do with what I'm eating. I do eat better when I'm exercising though because it seems counter-productive otherwise.

    Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

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  3. Wow, now that's a post-work out face, Enz!...I totally agree with what you're saying. You can't out-train a bad diet, so for me it all starts with diet. Sure, I could lose weight just by eating "right", but I love the effects of working out regularly and then that domino effect sets in and if I'm working out there's no way I want to undo my hard work.xx

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  4. Hey! Good job working out. I love exercising and still struggle to do it every once in a while so I can't imagine what you must go through every once in a while.

    Have a good one!

    EMILIO!

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  5. Hi Enz! My face turns fairly pink when I exercise too. I agree that exercising makes a body sleeker and not want to eat the fattening food, but it is that calorie control that makes a person lose weight.

    I wish you could enjoy exercise more. I do understand that when I used to hate exercise, NOBODY could convince me otherwise.

    :-) Marion

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  6. Hope the pain is subsiding. Good job on getting to the gym!

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  7. "I don’t want to eat crap when I spend so much time exercising" Like yor way of thinking here must admit one of my problems is exercise makes me want to eat more and often the wrong things, sounds to me like you've got the right phsycology.

    On another note you say you hate exercise, I'm the same, running, cycling, swimming, gym, etc for the sake is hard for me to do. However have you considered taking up a competitive sport, give me a ball to hit, kick, throw, chase or somebody to beat and I'll exercise all day.

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  8. Good job on sticking to it even though you don't like it! Definitely worth it!!! Your job sounds really busy. I'm sorry you're having lower body pain, that sucks. Hope it calms down soon.

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  9. You look great - all sweaty!
    You are doing great!
    I am lucky in that I can wear Nikes to work....
    AND I can stand at work all day, and do mild stretches!
    It really helps to move during the course of the day.

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  10. I've been going through your posts since I left and I wanna say that I am thoroughly impressed at your continuing commitment and how amazing you've been doing. You are truly an inspiration and I love love love how much you push yourself! So now it's my turn to ask, where'd you go??

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