Morning cardio and gym bag fails

Currently my hair resembles a lion’s mane and there’s a strong possibility that I will end up flashing my co-workers before the day ends because my skirt is hanging on my hips by the tiniest of threads.

How have I gotten myself into such a predicament you ask? Morning cardio.

I spent 30 minutes on the elliptical on incline level 1. The minutes broke down like this:

• 0 – 10: resistance 7
• 10 – 20: resistance 8
• 20- 30 at resistance 9

Then I ran a slow 2.5 miles on the treadmill.  And followed that up with some leg extensions.  I did light weight (20 – 30 lbs) and high reps (25).  My hamstrings are so freaking tight from Tuesday’s workout that I thought leg extensions might balance things out and make my quads sore.  I mean, if my legs are going to be sore, let everything be sore?  And then I painfully rolled out with the foam roller and followed up with 10 minutes of ice which felt amazing.

And now back to the skirt/flashing/lion’s mane situation…

See I packed my gym bag last night.  I knew it was going to be in the 80’s so in went a tank, flip flops and a skirt.  Sounds good right?  Except that I hadn’t worn the skirt since last summer and didn’t try it on beforehand to realize it’s too big.  Having my clothes be too big is always a good thing.  I’d love it if all the clothes in my closet no longer fit me.  As long as I was learning this info in my own room in my own closet where I had the option of putting something else on.  But when you’re getting ready at the gym your only option is the outfit you brought or sweaty gym shorts. So I put on my too big skirt and made the best of it.  And then I spent the next 10 minutes in a mad rush to finish getting ready so that I could make it back to my desk for a 9 AM meeting.

Which is where the lion’s mane comes in.  I have naturally curly hair which I prefer to wear straight but on rainy days or days with limited getting ready time I do it curly.  It also grows fast and I can only wear it curly for so long before it gets too big and turns into what Chris fondly refers to as “the lion’s mane.”  Well, my friends, we are totally in lion’s mane territory.  And the worst kind of lion’s mane is the one where I don’t have enough time to fully let it dry/diffuse and have to leave it wet.  Which was today. Can’t wait to get home to pull this crazy mop back into a headband.

How do you guys handle morning workouts if you have to get ready at the gym?  Do you try on outfits before? Wear your outfit to the gym and then change?  Ever have any major fails?  I’m convinced one day I’m going to forget something likes shoes or pants…hahah.

Strawberry oatmeal + little black dress prep

Tonight is the wedding of two very awesome people and I can’t wait to celebrate. It also concludes what we’ve been referring to as the “wedding gauntlet” (3 weddings in 3 weekends) and I’m going to be really happy when they’re all over.  I’ve absolutely loved celebrating the biggest moment in my friend’s lives but it will also be really nice to get back into a normal routine again.

Speaking of routines, on days where I’ll be wearing a dress I always try to work out the part of my body that’s getting featured.  Typically I wear strap-less dresses to special events.  My upper body and arms are my favorite part of me and I enjoy showing them off.  But today, I’m going a little crazy and my little black dress will be showing off my legs.  I’m actually pretty nervous about my outfit but Chris (and my mom who helped me pick out the dress) gave me approvals.  I think in general I’m just really self-conscious about my legs.  I’m knock-kneed which is annoying plus no matter how hard I try I have never been able to get those awesome quad and hamstring defining lines.  Life problems I tell ya…hahah. To help me feel a little better about them, I’m going to do levels 1 & 2 of Jillian Michael’s Killer Buns & Thighs and then 20 min of intervals on the spin bike.  I have no clue if it makes a difference or not but I feel like working out a specific body part the day you have to show them off makes them look better.  We shall see…

And because I know I’ve got a long wine/beer/champagne drinking night ahead of me, I’m making sure to fill up on healthy, hearty foods.  For breakfast I had a blueberry smoothie (in the car while we dropped one of the bridesmaids off downtown to get her hair done) and some strawberry oatmeal once we got back home.  And then for lunch I’ll be having some black bean, sweet potato and quoinoa salad.

Strawberry oatmeal

• 1 cup steel cut oats
• 3 cups water
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 6-8 chopped strawberries
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil

Bring water to boil, add oats and turn to low.  Simmer for approx 10-15 minutes.  Add strawberries and simmer for 5-10 more minutes.  The longer you simmer the oats the softer they’ll be.  Mix in honey and coconut oil. Enjoy.

And that, my friends, is all I have for you today.  What fun and exciting things do you have going on?  Does anyone else out there have tips/tricks  or a special routine they follow before a special event?

Not showering before a workout – acceptable or gross?

Happy Thursday morning to you.  This week has felt like it’s been dragging on so I’m really glad that we’re getting to the end.  Today, if all goes according to plan (and nothing crazy happens in the next couple hours), I’m going to head to Group Power (also known as Body Pump in some gyms) at 11.  Back in the fall/winter I was doing Group Power sometimes twice a week and loved it.  But because there was a lot of lunging involved I decided to take a break and let my knees heal up.  Now that they’re feeling a little better I’m going to give it another shot. What is Group Power you ask?  It’s a 60 min barbell program that goes through 10 different tracks, working out all your major muscles from your back to your legs to your abs. And, it’s taught by my favorite instructor, Kristen.  I’ll give you a report back tomorrow on how things go.

Now the fact that Group Power is at 11 is the reason behind my post headline.  To get to the gym with enough time to change and get everything set up for class I basically have to leave my desk at 10:30.  And since I had to be in to work by 7:30 this morning, I just couldn’t find enough logic to hop in the shower before leaving my house.  I did wash my face, and put on some deodorant so I’m not smelly, but that really was the extent of my cleanliness routine.  At 1st I just threw my hair in a headband/ponytail combo but then I realized I looked too scrubby so I ran my flat iron through it (which even now seems pointless, like I’ve mentioned here I have curly hair and the minute I sweat it gets curly.  So basically I straightened it for nothing).  And unless you’re my husband or one of my co-workers reading this blog post I bet you couldn’t tell I didn’t shower.

image source

Obviously the main reason to shower is to be clean, but beyond that there are some people who NEED to shower in the morning to wake up or to just help them start their day off.  Not me.  I’m pretty sure if I didn’t work-out, I could spend the whole day without a shower and be fine. To clarify, I love showers, I love the feeling of hot water on my skin…I could stay in a shower forever.  What I hate, is the getting ready afterwards situation. Sometimes it just feels like so much WORK…the hair drying, the makeup, the lotioning… Ug.  I would be perfectly happy wearing no makeup and putting my wet hair in a ponytail 24/7 and while I could probably pull that off quite often at work, it wouldn’t fly if it became an every day occurrence.  Can you image, “well hello Mr. whatever department manager, I look like a drowned rat, but don’t let that worry you.  I promise I really am a grownup and that I will manage your product  and make you lots of money.”  Hahah.  Not so much.

But on days like today, when I’m really only going to be out in public for about 3 hours before I go get sweaty (and I have no meetings between now and gym time) it just makes more sense to skip the pre-work shower and clean myself up after my workout.

What about you guys, do you shower before if you know you’re going to work-out soon after?  Or am I totally alone in this?  And please continue reading my blog.  I promise I’m not the gross, smelly girl in the corner…or at least I hope I’m not :)

And in other news, to follow-up on my post the other day about sugar, I came across this post on The Fitness Dish.  Laury explains that you should eat under 40 grams of sugar a day, ideally closer to 30 grams.  And then she offers up some ways to help reach that goal.  Some of her suggestions include giving up sugary drinks and protein bars, and to really dissect labels for hidden sugars.

Image source

I found this super interesting because honestly I have no idea how many grams of sugar I eat each day.  My guess is that I should be pretty healthy, but I’m going to try and track it to see where I stand.  I’ll be using My Fitness Pal which is available free online and as an app and is super easy.  Just enter in your food (their database is huge so most everything is already in there) or you can create recipes and save them (I do this for my protein shakes).  I’ll give it about a week and see my average.  I’m a little worried about the sugar content in my alcohol (um, pretty sure my cider should be renamed apple alcohol with sugar) so I’m sure that will throw me over the edge.  But it will be good to get a gauge of where I stand right now.

Do you guys watch your sugar intake?  Are you around 30 grams?

Have a great day.  I’ll let you know how Group Power goes.  And I promise I will get a shower in today :)

Random thoughts on Tuesday including apples > oranges, childhood obesity and the challenges of curly hair

Inspiration – Loving these two quotes I’ve been seeing on Pinterest.  Being fit and healthy is a commitment.

Commitment

Dedication

Apples > oranges (remember that greater than/less than sign?  I still have to think of it as “the mouth eats the better thing”) – I usually always have an apple as my afternoon snack. But last week I had an orange and it was delicious so I thought this week I’d switch it up and have oranges as my afternoon snack so I bought a big bag.  Mistake.  While sweet, the orange just feels like less food.  Too juicy or something.  An apple feels like it has some substance.  But now I’m stuck with a big bag of oranges.  At least I’ll get my vitamin C

U.S. Kids still eat too much sugar – This article came out from the CDC yesterday. Well Duh.  Childhood obesity is out of control as is diabetes.  This does not feel like real news to me.  Now, I’m not a parent but I do know what type of parent I will be.  One in which my kids do not eat a lot of sugar. Sure, kids are going to want desserts, we all do (I’m super guilty) but I will do everything I can to keep the extra processed foods which have tons of sugars away from them.  And they will not drink soda. Actually my kids are probably going to hate me because I’m going to serve up every vegetable under the sun. With every meal.  All the time.  This article is just a good reminder of how parents need to clean up their act.  It’s not fair to kids.  You learn your eating habits primarily from your parents and they need to set good examples.  I feel bad for kids but then again I feel bad for parents who can’t afford good healthy food.  Now I feel like I’m getting onto a soap box.  I’m stopping now.

Green meals in March – The Fitnessista posted a bunch of things you can do in March including eat one green meal a day.  I’m all over this one.  I already eat spinach in my smoothie so I think that counts but I’m also going to start doing more salads for lunch.  Yesterday’s was delicious.  In fact, it was so good that I feel like my whole eating plan has been messed up. Normally I have a snack around 11, head to the gym and come back and eat my lunch at 2.  But I don’t really like my snack and I can’t stop thinking about the salad. Yesterday (and probably today) I ate my salad at like 12:30 and then headed to the gym.  Then I was hungrier than normal during the afternoon… All messed up.  I need better pre-workout snacks.

Green meal = salad

Hair – I have naturally curly hair.  Like crazy, spirals which I blow dry straight a lot.  I wore it really long all through high school and then cut it short after my freshman year of college.  I’ve kept it short for most of the past 12 years, with my favorite haircut of all time being the a-line bob a la Victoria Beckham.  It was super easy to straighten and I liked it curly.  But then I met Chris and when things started to get serious I started to grow it out, thinking I’d need longer hair for my wedding.  I grew it long for about a year and then 2 months before the wedding I cut it off.  I couldn’t handle it.  I didn’t like it curly and it took too long to straighten.  So I had short hair at my wedding and loved it.  I felt like myself.  Then after the wedding I ended up growing it long again.  Not necessarily on purpose, more like I just didn’t get it cut as often.  Plus I liked the pony tail aspect.  And it got long!  The longest it had been since college.  And I loved it straight, made me so happy.  But I work-out every day at lunch so all that time straightening it was wasted by about 1.  And if I did re-straighten it at lunch I was totally damaging my hair.  So on Friday I cut short. Not quite a-line bob short but chin length.  Now it’s super easy to straighten and even easier to wear it curly.  I tested out the morning straighten, lunch time workout yesterday and it was better than I thought.  It definitely got curly but more manageable at the shorter length.  Today I wore it au natural – with my crazy curls.  I do love it, and it’s so much easier.  But then I was looking at pictures today of it long and got a little sad.  2 years worth of growing it out down the drain.  Hopefully that passes.  Especially after I workout today and realize how freaking easy it is to get ready again.  I think being so active and working out at lunch time just doesn’t work well with naturally curly hair.  I just need to get used to it again.

From: Long & Straight

To: Curly Sue (horrible iphone pic this morning)

Spinning – I am tired of it.  I want to run so bad!  I have another physical therapy appointment on Friday and I need to be better about doing my exercises.  I’ve only done them 3 times since the last time I went.  I was all set to do the first half of spin & sculpt today but I just can’t.  I’m going to elliptical it up instead.

Fashion sense – I have none.  My favorite outfit ever is a white tank top, worn in jeans and flip flops.  In the winter, throw on a hoody and replace the flip flops with sneakers.  I just believe that I should be comfortable and luckily I can get away with dressing like that at work.  But I have felt like lately I should pull it together a little more.  Maybe get some black pants…Chris however is a super good dresser and very fashion savvy.  He’s by far the better dresser between the two of us and thankfully he’s always trying to help me dress like a grown up.  This morning he told me that an old co-worker he hadn’t seen in a while stopped him yesterday and told him how great he’s been dressing and that “Whitney must really be helping you step up.”  I was dying.  That would never happen!  In fact, I actually tell Chris to dress less fancy sometime.  Not only do I fail at fashion, I often make inappropriate outfit choices based on weather.  Like today (thankfully I was wearing a long sleeve shirt.  Yesterday I was wearing the afore mentioned hoody/tank combo) I walked outside and it was snowing.  And then I looked down at my feet.  Which were in about as close to flip flops as you can get while still having actual toe-covering shoes on. Luckily I won’t have to walk outside until I head to the gym in the afternoon when the snow will be gone.

That is snow around my feet.