Trainer 'no show' and Thor 3D = missed workouts

Well, the last few days have been interesting on the exercise front. My son has been in the hospital since Tuesday, and with my wife staying with him at the hospital, my mornings and evenings have become more complicated. Especially the mornings, because now I have animals to take care of when I get up (not usually my responsibility). (FYI: Number One Son will be fine, hoping he will be home this weekend)

So on Thursday, I was supposed to do Strength Training with my trainer Jordan. So I wake myself up, get the dog and fish squared away, get dressed and head to LifeTime Fitness. I get there only to find that my trainer is nowhere to be found. Really? I was not amused.

Since I had not planned to be running, I had only brought my cross trainer shoes. So after a little while of waiting, I just decided to get in a quick jog and call it a day (I was really tired anyway and I wasn't feeling the drive to lift weights by myself). So I got in a 2 mile walk-run and left much earlier than usual. So I guess we will call this my 'mild day'. I figured I will work hard on my Friday cardio.

That would have worked out fine, except that I went to see Thor 3D at midnight on Friday. Awesome movie!!!!! My plan? Get in a 3 hour nap beforehand, then see the movie, then get 3 more hours of sleep before my cardio workout. Good plan, eh?

Well, it 'was' a good plan. But the reality wasn't well executed. I overslept and missed my workout! I woke up at 6:15am (15 minutes late for the workout) with my alarm shouting at me. Ooops!!! Sorry, Meghan! Blame Thor 3D for its awesomeness! (At least I got some run time in on Thursday...)

So I am going to have to put in a solid run on Saturday morning to make up for missing Friday. I can expect no less, right?

Workouts, 10K race, and Gel Pack wisdom

Today is off to a good start! I had a good workout this morning. Once again, I was the only person at the TEAM Weight Loss cardio training. So I had a chance to talk to Meghan more about running, running gel packs vs sport beans, heart rate zones, my planned races this year, etc.

Gel Packs: I have never tried gel packs because you don't need them unless you are running longer than an hour. I also did not know that you need to drink about 8oz of water each time you consume one of those gels, otherwise it can have a detrimental effect rather than a positive one on your performance. She is going to bring me one so I can see what they taste like and how they make you feel.

Heart Zones: I told her that on my Saturday run, my max heart rate was 174 and I wanted to know if that was good or bad. She suggested I get a Cardio Point evaluation to find out what my actual zones are instead of just using the standard calculations. Everyone's zones are different and what might be good for me (based upon my age, weight, health, etc.) is going to be different than anyone else. And then I can get up my watch accordingly and better monitor my runs. She says you should have the zones re-evaluated later because they change as you become more fit. Great idea, but why does everything have to cost money? Ugh!

We talked about whether I should run the Windrunner 10K this summer. Part of me wants to give it a try but the other part is worried about running in the Chicago heat and humidity in mid-August. I suppose I can't live in fear though. And the only way I am going to really improve and move to the next level, is the challenge myself to do a little more and run a little further. Throw out the negative thinking! Meghan says I can do this; Beth says I can do this. "Rick, it is your 'destiny'! Search your feelings. You know that it's true!"

And while we were chatting, she was working my butt off! I power-walked 3 miles today, including several 3-minute runs at 4.5 mph. The runs felt great. But it is always a challenge to walk the treadmill while also doing lat pulldowns, curls, chest presses, and shoulder presses. Lots of arm work today! And when the arms weren't being used, I was doing inclines from 4-12%. Whew!

By the time I was done, I was ready for my protein shake! This time, I brought my own whey protein and had the Cafe guy mix in banana, strawberries, and milk. Tasty and economical because mix-ins are about $3 cheaper than just buying one of their smoothies. Nice!