You won't rain on my parade (err...workout)!

It's another rainy, disgusting day in Boston (I thought we were past this kind of fighting at this stage in our relationship, Boston!), so I'm not walking on my lunch break yet again. Unfortunately I also didn't do the stairs at work yesterday because a task was thrust upon me at the last minute and I was scrambling to get it finished.

After work I went to the gym and tried out the lower level for the first time. Random fact as a side note: I didn't know until yesterday that there was a lower level. This is partly my fault and partly the fault of the Planet Fitness staff, as I signed up for the gym online and was never offered a tour. I had no idea that there was a level full of strength training machines and free weights; I thought the only weight machines were part of the 30 minute circuit training upstairs. Huge surprise! I also feel like my $10 a month goes even further now. That said, when I got to the gym and walked downstairs after changing, I was pretty intimidated. So this is where they hide the big and scary muscle men. I almost turned around and walked back upstairs, but reminded myself that I pay the same amount they do to use the equipment and have every right to be there because, whether they like it or not, I'm an athlete in training.

I decided to focus on my legs since I didn't do any walking or running. For the most part, I have very strong legs and am very familiar with the various machines that focus on them. I did, however, use the hip adduction/abduction machine for the first time. I could certainly tell that I was lacking in some strength here, particularly with the adduction. Admittedly, this doesn't seem like the best workout for my legs (and several forums I've found since seem to agree), but it was a great way to point out where I'm lacking some strength and conditioning and lead me to research how to improve that. Overall it was a really great workout.

Today I'm taking a slightly different approach, particularly because I had a big dinner last night before going to see Green Lantern with Joe (don't waste your money) and want to get in more movement today than yesterday. So while I couldn't go for a walk on my lunch break, what I did was work in some chair dips using my office chair. It's a rolling chair, so I stabilized it against the wall of the office and did 5 sets of about 8-9 reps each. I'll probably do a few more later in the day, in addition to the stairs at 3pm.

Then, provided the rain holds/slacks off, I'm planning to walk home after work. The difference this time is that I won't be doing the 3.5 mile route, I'll be doing a 4 mile route that takes me by Trader Joe's, where I'm getting pizza dough, veggies, and sauce so Joe and I can make a pizza tonight! The extra weight of groceries should add a nice layer to my workout.

Joe and I love making pizza together. I guess I shouldn't speak for him, but he seems to like it quite a bit and I certainly love it. Our signature pizza is bell peppers and broccoli on a Trader Joe's crust with Trader Joe's marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. The first time I made it for him, we drank wine and watched The Town on DVD. Tonight we're going to stick with that theme, but instead of regular mozzarella cheese, we're going to be using Daiya vegan mozzarella cheese, which is what we had on the pizza from Peace o' Pie the other day. I'm super excited to try using it in my own cooking for the first time. Combined with our whole wheat crust and veggie-only toppings, it should be a pretty delicious and fairly healthy meal! We'll also be drinking seltzer water, rather than wine. Which reminds me, I need to get seltzer at TJ's too. This is turning into one heck of an arm workout given I'll also be carrying my purse and gym bag! Maybe now that they've caught Whitey Bulger we should watch The Departed tonight.

Requesting good vibes

Yesterday's proposed workout schedule got an extra boost! After I did the stairs at work (4th floor down to the basement, across the basement to the opposite stairwell, up to the 4th floor, down to the 1st, up to the 4th floor, down to the 2nd, up to the 4th floor, down to the 3rd, up to the 4th floor, down to the 1st, across to the opposite stairwell and up to the 4th), I was feeling pretty great. Once I left work (and saw my bus speed away into the distance) I decided to walk to my new apartment.

This was the first time I had walked from work in Mission Hill to my apartment in Brighton. In total it was 3.5 miles. Tacked onto my lunchtime walk around Leverett Pond and I had completed 5 miles of walking and the stair work at that point. I made myself some dinner, relaxed and digested with some TV, and then decided around 8 to go out for a run. It was my first time exploring the neighborhood in that way, so I ended up going both directions from my apartment (first heading off toward the pike, then back down past my apartment and toward Lake St and Rogers Park). I ended up having a pretty decent 2.5 mile run. I stretched out pretty well afterward, but my legs are still a bit sore this morning. Unfortunately it's raining today, so likely no lunchtime walk, but we'll see how things look around noon or so.

While I take this training pretty seriously, there is something of a more serious note I'd like to briefly mention. I have had some medical issues the past few weeks (nothing extreme, but still getting progressively more frightening) so I have a doctor's appointment set up for Friday. I got pretty worked up last night, mostly because I was left to my thoughts without much to do while Joe was out with Sean. Once he got home and called me, I calmed down enough to go to sleep, but woke up still pretty frightened. I don't want to go into detail right now about exactly what's happening because I'm hoping the doctor chalks it up to nothing (or mostly nothing). I'll update on Friday with whatever news I get from the doctor. In the meantime, send good vibes my way.