Work in Progress

Found, Lost Mojo

Whatever wall I was up against on Tuesday. I shattered it last night. I had an intense, energizing and upliftling workout and I am feeling stronger and more self-assured today.

I started off with my nemesis, the plank. I took my handy ipod (so many uses in one little gadget!) and used the stopwatch to time myself. My goal, at the start of the workout, was one minute, thirty-five seconds. (On my way to the gym I figured out that I need to increase my time by five seconds per day to achieve my goal by Tuesday.) The last few seconds were kind of painful, but I did it. Victory number one.

My next challenge was to increase my cardio by fifty percent. No gradual increase this time around. I was a little nervous about it, but I have found that if I break the time into thirds it feels more do-able. The first fifteen minutes were the most daunting; those were the new ones in my mind. I pushed past a rough spot at about eight to ten minutes and was feeling pretty good by minute fifteen. The second fifteen actually felt pretty damned good. My heart rate was where it needed to be and I was sweating heavily, but I didn't feel out of breath at all. The last fifteen minutes were...dare I say it...sweet. I felt amazing! Energized. Clear-headed. Motivated. Aside from the fact that my feet went numb by the end, that forty-five minute cardio session was sublime. I think I hit that 'high' that intense exercise sometimes brings and I enjoyed it.

I decided to do some abdominal work since that's always a good idea. No matter how often you do them, they always hurt a little. I can feel them the whole time so I know that I am building a nice, strong core. (And a flat tummy would be a nice bonus!) Once they were good and fatigued I re-visited my old friend the plank. My goal this time was to see how long I could really hold it when I am tired. My abs were screaming at me the whole time, but I did stay up for a one minute, one second. That felt really, really good.

I shared my successes with April before I left. I feel like I have regained control and regained momentum. One nice little perk - April mentioned that some other gym members have pointed me out and have noticed that I am losing weight. It's a nice validation of all of my hard work.

Tonight I'm on my own, so I'm going to attempt to kick my own ass. I've got it all planned out in my head, and I will keep account of everything I do in my journal.