Mangos and lady parts

Today started out rough. Like really rough. Why? Because it's day one of my period which means my uterus has recruited my intestines to put up a pretty intense fight to find their way outside of my body. It is not fun. I spend half the day writhing in agony because of cramps and the other half is spent in the bathroom because I get some awesome diarrhea. Yeah, yeah. That's an overshare, but since diarrhea is a topic that I'm sure I'll speak about in great lengths in my future career as a doctor, I may as well start now.

Anyway, I basically had a built-in excuse as to why I couldn't run my 5k today. But, I decided to head to the gym anyway. It was actually a bit of pain relief, but whoa man, did it hit me when I got home. I have a hard time getting myself to eat on days like these because of how gross I feel, but I had some ripe mangos so I decided to go a bit mango crazy and had some mango, mango juice, and pretzels for lunch.

After some studying, the pain became a bit too much and so I went to lay down and then fell asleep for about 2 hours. It was heavenly. Waking up to do more work? Not so much. I still felt sick, but I figured since I was home at dinner time (which rarely happens), I made some fish and beans. It was delicious and pretty healthy.

And I made enough fish for two more meals, so that's always nice. Anywho, I'm going to head back to bed again. I've got a lot to do tomorrow since today wasn't nearly as productive as it needed to be thanks to my lady parts. 

Some Friday Night Ramblings

So, I guess last night my subconscious was not feeling a 5:30 a.m. 5k because for some reason, I turned my alarm off (which I never do because it's set for the same time everyday). And so, I didn't wake up until 6:50 a.m. That was plenty of time to get to my 8 a.m. class, but not enough time to run a 5k, shower, eat, and get to class. Sooo, no gym for me today. Womp, womp.

Anywho, after my day of classes, I headed home and took the night off from studying. I watched Project Runway, talked to my boyfriend on the phone for a teeny tiny bit, and decided to get my grocery shopping and food organization done for the week. It's pretty time consuming to make my list, accumulate coupons, shop, and put everything away. So, it's a nice thing to do on a night where I'm not doing school work but still need to be somewhat productive.

The other nice thing about not doing school work is that I have time to blog - you know, give you a substantial update. Why? Because I love you that much, internet bestie. So, tonight's topics are CrossFit and Nasur. We'll get to those topics right after today's photos.

Breakfast in front of the computer

Groceries!

Bailey got a new toy tonight because of a coupon provided by his loving grandmother

He loves things with feathers. Also, shoes. He's probably gay.

Tonight's first topic of rambling: CrossFit

So, in June, I wrote about how I won a free membership for a CrossFit gym. When I got back from Africa, I did my training sessions (you have to do 3 to learn proper lifting form, get an idea of the workouts, etc.), and then I was set to do any class I wanted. They e-mailed me the schedule and my sign-in pin number and then I went to my first class. It's hard to explain the workouts because they're monstrously hard, but I wanted to tell you my thoughts about CrossFit.

So, CrossFit is basically a workout that combines crazy shit that you would never normally do with a healthy dose of shame. For example, does anyone ever actually ever need to do handstand push-ups? Like, I get that it's cool to be able to say you can do that, but how often do you find yourself in a situation where that is necessary? I mean, if someone's holding a gun to your head and says that they'll kill you unless you do a handstand push-up, I guess you're in luck, but really, I find that that happens only in very rare circumstances. Plus, the point of the workout is to get you to work point the past of exhaustion so that you push yourself both mentally and physically. As I'm someone who tends to get down on myself in my own head, I really don't need the mental push. Physically, yes. But mentally, no. 

Now where does the healthy dose of shame come in, you ask? Well, it comes in the group fitness atmosphere. The people who do CF are pretty much badass when it comes to fitness. For example, people at the CF I went to wore shirts that said "Your PB is my warm-up," with PB standing for personal best. How...welcoming. Most of the workouts are timed and they record your times on the board. It's kind of embarrassing when you come in last by several minutes. Or you know, when you only do 14 reps of something and someone else literally does twice what you can do and with 40 pounds of more weight. Yes, perhaps they've been working at it longer, but I felt as though I was too out of shape to be doing CF. I mean, I literally hadn't worked out since I left for Africa and I think I was jumping into things a little too fast.

I also didn't care for having to come to class at a set time. My schedule can get pretty weird so it was hard to just pick up and go to a class at 9 or a class at 6:30. I like to get my workouts done right away in the morning so I don't have to worry about finding the time to get it in. If it's done right away, I don't have the opportunity to talk my way out of it.

The other thing I didn't care for so much was the olympic lifting. Yes, it's cool to say that I can do a clean and jerk. Yes, it's nice to know what a sumo dead lift high pull is (and kinda be able to do one), but I'm not really that in to lifting because it's easy for me to cheat to the side that's stronger. I really like dumbbells so that I have to work both sides with the same weight. And on that note, I didn't like dangling from the high rings and literally getting blisters on every pad of my palm. 

And lastly, holy shit there is a lot of squatting involved. Now, for those of you who are first-time readers (and who haven't read the entire archive for some unknown reason), you'll know that I've got some arthritis in my knees. The first day I had a training session, I was popping ibuprofen like it was nobody's business and I had to ice them so they wouldn't hurt to the point where I couldn't sleep. Yeah. And then we did more squats. And then my knees blew up again. It was not my favorite.

The things I did like about my brief experience with CF was the encouragement I got from some of the other members. I also liked trying some new things and knowing that I could push myself to try something new that was outside of my comfort zone. But, alas, my trial is over and it is way, way, way too expensive to pursue on my own (it's $110/month for just the ladies classes). Plus, I'm happy with my $32/month YMCA membership.

Anywho, I'm off to bed so I can run the 5k that I missed today!

I almost forgot about you

I was all set to go to bed an hour ago when I realized I hadn't finished my [stupidly long] ethics readings, made my lunch, or blogged. Now, I've accomplished those first two tasks and am working on the third (duh).

So, today was a one mile run day and strength training. I really like strength training because it's fun to watch muscles appear slowly. My favorite muscles are quads and biceps, mostly because it's easy to track their progress. Anywho, my run started out awesome and I was all, "Man. It'd be easy to pound out a 5k this morning." That was until I was two songs in - then I really just wanted to get to the strength training part.

Anywho, I've got a 5k ahead of me tomorrow morning and I need to be up by 5:30 a.m. to fit it in before I have the worst class ever ethics at 8 a.m. so I shall leave you with pictures of today's morning eats (since I didn't take pictures of anything else).

Cheers, folks!

Protein smoothie

Proof that I eat the same thing over and over

Dialoguing with myself

So today when I woke up at 6 a.m., I had a lovely dialogue with myself. It went something like this:

>Oh, efffff no. It is too early for exercise.
>>Yeah, but if you don't go now, you won't go
>I mean, I could go tonight when I feel more human
>>You say that now, but you won't
>I mean, I could just sleep for 15 more minutes
>>I think by 15 minutes you mean 2 hours
>But the sun isn't even up yet
>>Go. To. The. Gym.
>No. Waaaah!
>>Really? Go.

So, I went to the gym and ran a 5k this morning. After chest presses yesterday, it was a mostly painful experience, but I used my iPod shuffle to get me through the rough patches (a.k.a. the whole run). I like to countdown using songs. I tell myself, "Okay. Three more songs. You can do it." And then, I ended up finishing without dying. Every time. It's a miracle.

Anywho, the eats today were kinda boring, but here you go:

Leftover fish taco from Steph's birthday dinner (and I get one for tomorrow, too!)

Breakfast of champions...or you know, just me

Tomorrow's schedule for the gym is running one mile and strength training. I wear my heart rate monitor to make sure I stay for an hour and get in a decent workout. So, here's to another 6 a.m. workout tomorrow!

Short and sweet

This one's going to be short and sweet because it's my bedtime. Today, I woke up and hit the gym and lifted weights for the first time in forever. It felt lovely. My arms were all shaky and my thighs were all quivery, so that meant I did a good job...I hope. Anywho, here are some photos from the day just for you!

My lunch (that I prepped last night)

Guacamole I made last night because my avocado was mushy

Protein smoothie for post-strength training muscle building

Breakfast!

Friends at Stephanie's birthday dinner. It was nomalicious.

Also, in case you were wondering, 10-30% of you have Staph in your nose and could spread it to other people. Staph is quickly becoming resistant to antibiotics and can kill if the infection gets bad enough. So, stop picking your nose people!

Oh, aaaaand, I forgot to tell you yesterday, but I've also implemented my "No eating past 8 p.m. rule."

Today was the day that ish got real

So, I said yesterday that shit was getting real today. I meant it. I did some things today that I haven't done in a long time. I shall enumerate them for you from beginning of my day to the end of my day:

1. I did a weigh-in...it was sucktastic
2. I ran 5km this morning...it was hardtastic
3. I logged all my calories today...it was time consumingtastic
4. I got home and despite my frustration stuck to my aforementioned planned calories...it was shocktastic
5. I blogged for all of you to see...it was fantastic.

Here are some pictures for you to follow along with today...ish?

Oof - up about 13 pounds since mid-August...

Breakfast: eggs (2 whites + 1 whole), ham, and cantaloupe

Plated lunch at home so that I could simply pack it up to go for later

Packed lunch

So far, so good. My plan for getting my shit together is to stop half assing my weight loss efforts. On MWF, I will run a 5km in the morning (with stopping/breaks if necessary - it was soooo necessary today). On Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, I will run a mile and then do some strength training. I need my biceps back - the arms are looking super tubs. I'm planning on taking Sundays as a rest day - ya know, like the Lord. Also, I'm going to start wearing my heart rate monitor again to make sure I'm actually getting some work done. Aaaand, that's it, my friends. The Semester Shape Up has been reorganized a bit, but I am still going to pass on desserts and alcohol to help keep myself on track.

Shit's getting real...tomorrow.

So, tomorrow is my shit gets real day. You will get a weigh-in (so not excited for that) and you will get some food pics for the first time in oh, you know, forever. But, I'm content to go to bed right now after an awesome family dinner. Love these kids!

Three days in a row

Well, this post is going to be quick. I just got home from school. I put in a good 14 hours there today. Boo. Anywho, didn't make it to the gym (because I suck) and didn't get nearly enough done (because I suck). So, perhaps I will post tomorrow with some actual accomplishments. Keep all crossable things crossed, folks! Thanks :-)

Aaaaaand, I'm back!

So, here we go again...again. I haven't been doing a great job of keeping up with da blog for several reasons. I shall enumerate for them shortly, but first let me say: I'm sorry if I am your soul form of entertainment and my abandonment made you relive traumatic issues from your past. That was not my intention. That being said, I hope it allowed you to take a moment to appreciate everything you have now. Whoa, what a glass half full type of gal I am ;-)

Anywho, here are the reasons I haven't kept up with da blog:

1. Holy shit - second year is infinitely harder than first year
2. I have been doing this new thing where I go to bed early/during prime blog time
3. I spend my evening internet minutes writing facebook messages to a...special someone...ish?
4. I'm lazy
5. HOLY SHIT - second year is infinitely harder than first year

So, yeah. There you have it. I shall explain each of these things for you since I'm sure everyone's curiosity was piqued by #3.

Number 1: Whoa. Second year was a slap in the face. Summer was lovely and not so busy and then woosh! All free time was gone. Not cool. And so much harder. Like I don't think I studied nearly this hard last year. So, that's not so fun.

Number 2 (giggle, giggle): I've started going to bed around 10 p.m. so I can wake up around 6 and go to the gym right away so that I'm not putting it off. I have a tendency to procrastinate on gym time so I try to do it right away to get it out of the way.

Number 3: I'm dating someone from Uganda. I don't recommend it. It takes long-distance dating to a whole new level [of Hell] and it's somewhat disenchanting. I mean, I'm sure I could take a whole entry to bitch and moan about it, but I won't. At least not today. Anyway, I met a guy in Uganda and now we're dating...ish. I mean, as much as you can date internationally. But I spend the last few minutes every night writing him a facebook message so he has something to wake up to and then I [usually] have a message from him waiting when I wake up. I say usually because sometimes his phone dies because the power isn't exactly reliable in Uganda.

Number 4: I'm pretty sure you already knew this, so let's skip this one. Okay? Perfect.

Number 5: like really hard. Like I feel like my brain is being beaten up by Chuck Norris. Or you know, someone equally notorious for his/her bad-assery.

So, how's the June Challenge on Steroids going, you ask? It's okay. I think I will write more about that tomorrow (since I'm being all glass half full and am assuming I'll do this again more regularly), but you should know that I'm officially dubbing it the "Semester Shape-Up."

So, there you go. A post! Now you can stop reliving the horrors from your childhood.

Catch you later, internet besties!

Kitty picture! You're welcome.