Everything is SORE!

My brother's wedding was last weekend. It was great! I didn't expect to have as much fun as I did but I don't know what I was thinking. Mix booze with my family and the fun never ends...until the next morning. I was paying the price with an epic hangover! I had to drive home too. I don't now how I made it. I am just feeling better today!

Me and my brother. I basically walked around with booze in my hand all night.

Needless to say, I didn't have time for my workout on Saturday. It was a plyo challenge and I was really looking forward to it. I had a hair appointment in Corpus Christi at 9 am, which means I had to leave my hotel by 8:15 am, which means I had to shower at 7. I am not a morning person. I do not do morning workouts. You can't make me! When I used to sub for 9 am pump, I hated every minute. I know that is not very early, but it felt like that to me.

This week, my coaches have turned up the dial on our workouts. Not only are we required to do the WOD, we have to add 30 minutes of cardio. The cardio has to have our HR up to about 130, which means the elliptical machine at work won't cut it. Twice a week, they are incorporating HIIT. I do love HIIT workouts. Did the first one yesterday. Not too bad. I went right in to the WOD, which was back.

The HIIT workout was simple but effective. Three sets, 90 seconds long, three rounds. I did 9 total rounds of exercise for 90 seconds. The exercises were body weight based, so it was stuff like skaters, jump lunges, squat thrusts, high knees in to a side lunge and planks. We would do exercise 1 for 30 seconds, exercise 2 for 30 seconds and then exercise 1 again for 30 seconds.

Set 1:
Skaters (30 seconds)
jump lunges (30 seconds)
Skaters (30 seconds)
[90 second rest]
Set 2
Walking plank with jack (30 seconds)
squat thrusts (30 seconds)
Walking plank with jack (30 seconds)
[90 second rest]
Set 3:
Side jump with 90 degree turn (30 seconds)
8 high knees with side lunge (30 seconds)
Side jump with 90 degree turn (30 seconds)
[90 second rest]

Repeat twice - 9 sets total

I. Am. SORE! Every muscle in my upper body is hurting. The only saving grace I had were my legs, and guess what today is....LEG DAY! Can't catch a break.

I need to eat so I have energy to do this workout but I am not hungry yet. Who am I kidding...I am ALWAYS hungry. But I want a hamburger, not this turkey meat with asparagus!

I had my fun this weekend. Back to the grind!

THE TALK

I decided last week that I was going to have “the talk” with my daughter this week about her *gulp* period. I also decided I was going to break this up. I will talk about the science and medical terminology of her cycle. She is not ready for the emotional side of it. She has no interest in boys just yet. No need to rush the “this is how you get pregnant” speech. She’s 11. She’s a young 11 that still likes to snuggle with us every night and mostly just wants to play with her brother. Not ready for that.  At least I don’t think she is.

It went well. It was fast. I showed her a video I found online and I paused it to discuss different things  about it I thought the video skimmed over too quickly. I told her this was just the start of our talks. She may not have a bunch of questions for me tonight but she can ask me questions any time about this. I will need to work up the script for the boys talk. I was given a slight glimpse of this a few days ago.

We went to Lost Pines in Bastrop this week for Spring Break. The weather wasn’t that great but it we still had fun. The girl said some boy was talking to her in the lazy river. She told us at dinner. After the story was over she said “it’s obvious he liked me.” I had to tell her that just because a boy pays you some attention, it doesn’t mean he “likes” you. It can, but mostly it doesn’t. I saw her face drop for a second, then a light bulb came on in her head as if maybe her mommy was making sense. TA didn’t like this story. He wanted to know what he looked like so he could eyeball him. HA!

I am just glad that the talk went so well. She asked me a lot of questions. Mostly logistical questions. It wasn’t as bad as I made it out to be in my head. My talk lasted a long time and came with a very weird brochure. HA! My mom is a nurse. The big questions from her was how to track your period so you don’t get surprised at school. I will have the sex talk later. I am sure most people won’t agree with my approach. That’s ok. I know my kid. She will handle this better in chapters.

Stress

My first stress post. I can predict there will be more. I will number them once I get going, but, for now, I will just call this one “Stress”. Maybe I should number them so I can see how much I whine. I hate whining.

Crazy week. Everyone says that about their weeks but my head is still spinning. I took the lead on budget cuts for our department and helping my boss meet his budget goal for the year. 20% cut. Ouch! This would not be bad if I had been involved in the budget the entire year and known where the numbers came from. I don’t. I am doing a deep dive in to each category I was asked to evaluate and I have 1.5 days to do it before I leave town for a conference.

Tuesday through Thursday I will be in NOLA for a conference. This only stresses me because of my exercise program. The stress has doubled because I ran a 5k this weekend. I have not run in 8 years. I knew I was in good enough cardio and physical shape to finish and finish strong. My company put together a team of almost 30 people to run either a 10k or a 5k.

Half of our run club team

Stacy and I pre-race

I did it. I finished strong. I went WAY faster on the last mile than the other two. My goal was to pass 20 people. I passed way more than 20. One day later, I remember why I don’t run. My knee is KILLING ME. I have had trouble with my Iliotibial Band (IT band) for the last 8 years. I first noticed it after a 4 mile run 8 years ago. It has been trouble ever since. It has never hurt this bad in 8 years like it does today. It hurts to walk down the stairs. So frustrating. I have been to numerous doctors and spent so much money on trying to get this fixed just to have it ruined in 30 minutes. I am scheduled to teach Bodypump tomorrow and I am trying to figure out WTF I am going to do. Still haven’t found a sub for my Wednesday class. I will probably have to stand in front of the class on Monday with little to no weight on the bar for squats and lunges or get a sub. I hate this. I am also worried about the conference. How am I supposed to walk around for 2.5 days with pain like this. Just typing this, I know it must sound trivial to whomever is reading this but I am so upset. We all have setbacks but I am tired to this one. I just want to be able to bend my knees to pick up something without worrying if I will injure myself while I get up. This is stressing me because I want to exercise while I am in NOLA. I don’t know how I will do this. I typically work from early in the morning until very late at night at these things.

The budget. It is hanging over me like a dark cloud. Cut or cut more heads. I don’t want that. I received pretty good news on it on Friday about our progress but I still want to get it completed so I can move on with my normal job. Our performance evaluations are due tomorrow as well. I hate those things. I spend so much time writing them and then they become meaningless. 

My kids are taking their standardized tests this week. Good week for them to do this because I will be out of town. They won’t have much homework. But now I am stressed about their eating and if they will get enough sleep while I am away. I stress about my husband’s stress level while I am away. 

This is one of those time where I know I need a few days off. Typically, I would handle this stress by exercising but now that option is limited. I need a release. Maybe I will meditate. I don’t think that will work but I can give it a try. 

Work

My health

Conference

My kids

My husband

My other job

=

Stress (right now)

Any suggestions that don’t cause me to empty all the liquor in the house are greatly appreciated. :)