Limits Reached

The Sadist finally managed to surpass my limit of putting up with his crap.  Today he just pissed me off. I know he is suppose to push me but damn it, sometimes I get to the breaking point and he doesn't let up.  It takes a lot to get me to that point but when I'm there it takes a lot to get me back.   I couldn't tell you the exact reason or when he pissed me off, but he did.  Half way through the workout, if looks could kill, he would have been struck dead. 

The workout started like usual with some cardio and stretching to warm up and then moved into legs.  Unfortunately, we then moved into arms.  My left arm was just starting to feel better from Friday's workout and I could finally straighten it without much pain.  Now I was to do tricep dips and the last time I attempted them, I failed miserably.  Failing is not something I like to do anymore than anyone else.  Knowing how my arms have been feeling I just wasn't feeling confident.  Surprisingly enough I did okay on my first set, but even after that initial success, it was a struggle.  By the end of the 3rd set, my arms shook and I was near tears but we weren't done yet.  There were hammer curls to be done and some resistance training focused on my triceps.  We ended arms with drag curls and that just pushed my arms beyond their limits.  The last set was painful and irritating.

As always we finished with abs and the pain in the butt tricked me into doing an extra set of sit-ups.  That little trickery provided the energy I needed to get through my last set of ab exercises which I nailed.  Even though I had done well for the most part, I was beyond annoyed with him.  I couldn't get out of there quick enough.  I even tried to skip out on the weigh in, but that didn't work.  The only positive was that I had lost weight (finally) and that was with eating the Girl Scout cookies.

On Friday we had a discussion about Girl Scout cookies and that I shouldn't have bought them instead I should have bought apples . I would have bought Girl Scout apples if they were available, but they aren't.  I tried to explain how having nieces and nephews sometimes means buying things that aren't necessarily all that good for you.  He doesn't currently have any nieces or nephews, but knowing he is not an only child, I have a feeling he will learn about "all" the joys of being an uncle sooner or later.

Of course I could have donated the cookies, but I actually like the cookies I bought so I plan to eat them.  He can kiss my butt.  I didn't buy tons of them, I just bought a couple of boxes and a few are sitting in the freezer to be eaten at a later date.  Yum!  He'll learn.

 

Sunday and Still Sore

It's been over 48 hours since my last workout and I am beyond sore.  Just straightening my arms is a painful reminder of my Friday workout.  Pretty much any movement of my arms is painful right now. Usually, I'm sore, which I expect, but this has taken it to the next level. I've been checking out articles on how to heal or at least minimize the soreness of the muscles.  I've taken the ibuprofen and am putting ice on them as well as some massaging.  Did I mention that my abs were also complaining? Let me tell ya, they are.

Days like these are when I really question my sanity in continuing with this ongoing craziness known as training.  I am continually pushed towards my limits.  On Friday, I was doing some bench presses and as we continued, my arms became more leaden.  Towards the end of the 3rd set, I could barely straighten my arms as I pushed up and I know that I was given a little help.  Actually it felt like he was doing it as my muscles began failing me.   I was told very little help was provided, but from point of view I can't imagine how I was able to make those last several reps.

Along with the bench presses, I did around-the-worlds and reverse around-the-worlds as well as modified pull-ups.  The pull-ups are done on a TotalGym.  We started at an angle that was just a little to high. So it was moved down to it's maximum height and after each set he lowered it.  The lower it got, the wimpier I felt but my arms were loudly complaining, so it was for the best. Somehow, someway I survived all the insults to my arms,but of course a training session wouldn't be complete without ab work.

Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike abs? Well, that dislike hasn't changed.  Friday was roman chair work and then declined sit ups.  I did pretty good, until someone thought I needed a little resistance thrown in.  As I would sit-up that someone would hold my shoulders back.  After 5 of those and lots of threats he kindly let me finish up without resistance. It's nice to know he has some compassion. 

As Sunday, becomes Monday I wonder if Hurricane Sandy will take out my one of my  sessions. With the way I am feeling, this may not be a bad idea. Some good just might come out of her visit to the mid-Atlantic.  :)

Running Towards a Goal

Over the weekend, I cheered Hannah on as she ran a half-marathon.  As I stood there watching all the people passing by, I realized I missed doing that.  I also realized that my goals for training were very wishy-washy and was probably part of the reason I had been feeling ambivalent about it all.  By the time Hannah came running by I decided that next year I wanted be one of the thousands of people who were being cheered on.   It has been a long time since I've done any real running.   I don't consider playing live frogger on a busy street as running.  Once I thought this through and Hannah announced it at the staff meeting, it was time to talk to the Sadist.  He seemed kind of psyched by it.  I'm sure once he sees my running abilities that may change.

After yesterday's session, running is the last thing on my mind.  We did lunges upon lunges.  My quads were burning to the point that as I drove home my legs shook every time I hit one of the pedals.  I told the Sadist if he kept this up, he was going to be driving me around for a while.  I was able to do the step-ups even on the higher step this time with minimum balance issues.  Most of my balance issues came with the lunges but the Sadist was there to make sure I didn't fall and hurt myself.  Since we had done legs, it was time to punish my arms.  Being the sweet man he is, I didn't have to stand anymore, this time I got to kneel and do my curls, presses and triceps.  He is just so kind to me sometimes I go all giddy. Since he was in such a benevolent mood, he even let me lay down for my abs.  Of course he hooked me up to the cable machine and had me pull my knees to my chest but I was laying down.  I swear I feel like I'm on torture device when he attached my legs to it.  He assured me it wasn't, but I know better.  After my 100 crunches I was done, in more ways then one. 

Next week I'll start down a new road as I work towards running.  Luckily I have a year to get there.  In some ways I am apprehensive thanks to my drop foot which has caused me some trouble.  In other ways I am excited to have a concrete and measurable goal.  As with everything I do at my torture sessions, I will be challenged.  I'm also interested in what the Sadist comes up for training.  He indicated some possible offsite work.  Since I have to work this weekend and will miss Friday, I won't be finding anything out until next Tuesday.  At least my muscles will have a chance to stop hurting before I show up to start my next stage in training.

 

Juggling Curve Balls

As I was reading a friend's blog, I felt as if she was talking about me.  Except for a few I items it described my feelings to a tee so I figured I would lift it directly from her.   

"Lately I've felt like I'm in the middle of a battle.  A battle with myself, a battle of the bulge, a battle for time..  I don't feel like I'm winning.  So, that makes the impending race feel all the more difficult.  I'm not sure I'm ready.  Friends have said they have faith in me, and I can do it.  I appreciate the confidence, I really do.. I just wonder where my OWN confidence is?  I can't seem to find it anywhere.."  

The only difference I have from what she said is I don't have the impending race, but my life right now feels like a race.  As I headed off to training on Friday, I contemplated my desire to continue with it.  I've been working hard, but wonder if it really is making a difference.  My  friends tell me there is, but many days I can't see a change.  I also wonder many times, "Am I just wasting the Sadist's time?".   

Life throws so many curve balls at you and sometimes it just seems like it is all too much.  This is definitely one of those times.  As I sit back and assess what is happening around me, I realize that I need to reevaluate where I'm going and how I'm doing that.  Lots to think about.

Being the good girl I am, I showed up at my training session raring to go, or as raring as I'm ever gonna get.  We got down to work right away and as usual he busted my ass.  Today was a high rep, low weight day, meaning lots more reps and although the weight was minimal (or so he said) I was definitely feeling it and that was just the 1st set. In fact, two days later I am still sore but it is a good sore.  There were squats, presses, flies, reverse flies (ick) and a few others I have blocked from my memory.  I also had to pay my debt for not doing abs on Tuesday.  I did well with the incline sit-ups but the reverse sit-ups just sucked, especially when someone put weights on my legs. As usual I somehow managed to survive to see yet another session.  Some days I really wonder if I'm gonna make it.  Since the O's didn't make it to the ALCS, I'll be heading in to the gym on Tuesday for yet another day of torture.

Point of No Return

Hanging at the O's Game.

Wow, what a day.  Last night I was at the Orioles/Yankees ALDS game and the Orioles won.  It was an exciting but very late night and even after I got home, I was still too wired to sleep.  I finally fell asleep sometime after 3 am.  Unfortunately, it hasn't been just a crazy day, but a crazy several weeks.  Things at school, work, home, training, and even the Orioles have had me juggling my life and pushing through when I may have wanted nothing more than to say I quit.  I think my body finally had enough of me running on adrenalin and not really taking time to sit back and relax.

Why is this all important? Over the past couple of years, I have learned that when my body decides enough is enough, it takes some drastic measures.   As I try to continue on the same path, I find that I have what feels like motion sickness even when I'm not moving.  Today was the day that my body had enough, but it is also the day I have training.  The two really don't go together. 

I knew I was tired and I had felt a little off during the day and even a little nauseated but chalked that up to being hungry.  During my bike warm up, I was barely keeping my head up.  In fact, I laid it down on my arms while peddling. Generally I am tired after a long day at work, but today I didn't work and yet I was completely exhausted even with sleeping in.   I really should have taken notice when I was feeling nauseated and even a little dizzy earlier in the day.  Even though I know my body can rebel, I don't always pay attention. There are times I can be downright dense.

The Sadist noticed right off I wasn't on my A game and I'm not even sure I was on my B, C, or D game.  It seemed the more I worked out the more nauseated I felt.  As I have noted before, I really don't like throwing up.  Since we started with split squats, I wasn't overly surprised with the nausea as I frequently feel that while doing this exercise, but it didn't stop there.  Even as I worked on my tri and biceps, I found the nausea increasing.  At one point I ran for the bathroom as I wasn't sure the nausea wouldn't turn into a full blown throw up session.  Luckily for me, that didn't happen.  Once the stomach settled I came out and asked where we left off.  I didn't complain at all during the session though I did take several breaks.  I was able to get through the arms, shoulders, and legs.

Next up was the ab exercises and I just wasn't sure I would survive that without tossing some cookies.  It didn't take the Sadist long to offer a deal.  We would skip it for this session and do double on Friday.  I readily jumped at it.  I'd rather leave the contents of my stomach right where they are.  Since we didn't do abs, we added a few more arm exercises.  Someone, who will remain nameless, was picking on me,  he really should know better when I am armed with weights.  Of course since I was off my game, he wasn't in any danger of being nailed with one or two of them, but I still had some fight in me.  We ended the session early which was fine with me.  Once I got home, I literally collapsed and was asleep within moments.   I'm sure the training helped to push me past the point of no return, but it also helped with falling asleep.  Hopefully, by Friday I'll be doing much better.  I plan to get some extra rest the next couple of days and maybe just maybe that will help.

An Omazing Day

This has been an exciting and fun filled evening with the Orioles beating the Rangers to advance on to the ALDS.  It takes all the sting out of the killer workout tonight with the Sadist.  As usual he made sure that I had sweat pouring out of every pore in my body. I have a love hate relationship with sweat.  On one hand, when I sweat I feel like I've really done some work.  On the other hand, I hate the way it feels especially when it is dripping down and off of my face.  Yuck!

Friday's workout started off with some weighted leg lifts which I did pretty good.  For this exercise I am shackled at the ankles to the cable crossover and then lift my legs in various directions.  There is no sneaking off when he isn't looking with his exercise.  I continue to get better at it and the weight continues to go up.  At one point the Sadist indicated that I wasn't kicking high enough.  I told him he should give me a target, so he stood in front me.  There were two problems, 1) the weights were a little on the heavy side and 2) even if I had been able to overcome the weight, he was standing out of reach.  My legs are just not that long.  I really should have kicked out with the untethered leg and gotten him even if it meant taking an extra step or two.  That would would have mixed it up a bit.

Following the leg exercises I stayed on the cable crossover and proceeded to work on my arms, shoulders and chest.  There were flies, reverse flies, rows, lats and individual arm flies.  One of his favorite things to do is to add more weight and he did that for each of these.  My poor arms.  He did take pity on me for one exercise that was kicking my butt and he actually let me get away with only having to do two sets.  I'm not sure why he was being nice but I wasn't going to complain.

We ended with the infamous ab exercises which continue to be my least favorite.  We did reverse sit-ups and for the first time they didn't seem impossible.  I was able to get through them with little to no stopping.  I still felt them but they weren't kicking butt this time.  It was the other way around.  The other ab exercise was a weighted crunch.  My arms were in slings connected to the lat machine and then I had to lean forward and using my abs to crunch down so that my knees and elbows touched.  It wasn't a horrible exercise but rather an awkward one.  This was definitely a night for feeling all the muscles being used and I'm sure within 36 hours the muscles will be screaming in pain.

All in all the workout was good but the game was better.  I am looking forward to going to the ALDS playoff game against the Yankees on Monday.  The Sadist indicated that he would have a party should the O's win the wildcard.  I guess I will find out on Tuesday when we continue our relationship in training.

Let's Go O's!!!!

Rainy Tuesdays & Sweaty Workouts

It has been a rainy Tuesday and I longed to stay curled up in bed with a good book.  Unfortunately, that was not to be as not only was it a work day, but a training one too.   For some reason the boss expects me to show up every day and do actual work if I want to get paid.  I've been trying to find a loop hole to this, but so far its been a fruitless search. I do find rainy days to be conducive to exercising since I usually don't do much outside while it is pouring.  As with most of my sessions, I came home feeling worn out and a little worse for wear.

We did work on a little bit of everything but the legs were engaged one way or another in each of the exercises.  Again I did work on the rack, which  is a good name for it as it definitely feels like a torture device.  Anyway, he had me doing squats with the barbell and then added weight for the next sets.  Of course, three sets weren't enough, so I did a fourth set.  I swear he does this to annoy the crap out me and each time it works.  I made the mistake of looking at my workout sheet when I was done.  He had added 20lbs for the second set and for the third set it was an additional 10lbs. Each time he said I wouldn't have a problem.  What I found out by looking at my worksheet was that the starting weight was 55lbs.  I'm so glad I didn't know this before I started.  There would have been a lot more whining than what I actually did.  Yes, he was right and I was able to do them, but it did take a lot out of me.  After I was done, I was feeling quite dizzy and tuckered out, so we had to take a slight break. For the future, I need to remind myself not to drink water before squats.  One of these times, I'm going to upchuck all over the Sadist and although that may be fun to see, I really hate throwing up. 

Once I recovered from that initial exercise we moved on to arm exercises that are usually done laying down, but in order to engage my legs they were all done standing up.  I did pretty good on those and again tried not to look at what I was lifting.  No need to get myself worked up over a number.  Even though I did well, I was huffing and puffing by the end.  I felt like I was in worse shape now then when I started. The Sadist said I was just doing more now since I was in better shape.  I'm not sure how I feel about all of that.  How am I suppose to know if I'm getting better if I'm always feeling out of shape?  Sure to get better I gotta do more, but my mind doesn't always think that way.

Well depending on what happens with the last two games of the season, I may or may not be at the studio on Friday.  It's looking more like I will be since the odds are in favor of the O's playing the A's in a wildcard game on Friday in Oakland.  That's a little too long of a commute.  However, if by some miracle they are playing in B-more, then I'll be at the stadium instead of training.  Let's go O's.