Had me a busy weekend. Took the kids bowling. Made a bunch of crafts for Chinese New Year. Played out in the snow (finally).
I think I slept 8+ hours on Saturday night. I was bouncing off the freaking walls all day today. FULL of energy. Oh yeah! This feels more like me! I had literally forgotten what it felt like to truly feel great. I had been feeling crappy for so long, and trying to struggle through it - not very successfully, that now, I really appreciate the true feeling of happiness I have again. And energy - gosh, it's amazing!
I wish everyone out there realized the importance of sleep. I always knew it was important, I've read about how it can affect every aspect of your life (training and fat loss included), but I don't think I could understand the real impact of it until I experienced a lack of sufficient sleep myself. There are folks that say they can function normally on 4-6 hours of sleep. But I think they are kidding themselves. I have to get up at about 6:45am to get the kids out the door for school on time. I could probably get up 15 minutes earlier just so it would be a bit more relaxed but the truth is, I like to stay in bed until the last possible moment. And if I don't wake up numerous times during the night or have trouble falling asleep, that should give me between 7-8 hours.
I am lucky that I can workout at virtually any time of the day. There is no need for me to get up ridiculously early to workout before work because my work isn't dictated by 8-5 hours. I can go to the gym when I want. Not only that but all of my kids are at school so even if I wanted to workout at home, I wouldn't have them to worry about. If there is one thing I can't stand, it's the kids coming downstairs wanting to bounce on the trampoline or dance while I'm working out. I will send them straight back upstairs every time. But even that brief moment is enough to throw everything off and leave me feeling irritated. I don't like being interrupted during a workout, especially if it's intense.
My last workout was hill sprints. I put my treadmill to the highest incline possible and did intervals. My working intervals only lasted 25 seconds at a time. I kid you not, my legs could not go another second on that incline. It was 25 seconds....every....time. I tried to keep my rest intervals to 1 minute or 1 minute 15 seconds at the most. And my sprint was at 8mph. On an incline, for me, that's pretty good. I have never experienced total muscular fatigue in my legs like that before. Amazing! Here's something strange to note, I have noticed that the gym's treadmills seem easier than mine at home. For instance, if I do intervals on the treadmill at the gym, 8mph seems like I'm jogging. I kid you not. It feels like a huge difference. Maybe it's just the atmosphere.
There is something to be said about the atmosphere of the gym. It makes me work twice as hard. It amps me up in a way my basement never could. I love that. I love the camaraderie there is with other gym goers. We're all there for the same reason. There's no competition, there's no pressure, yet I work harder. It's an amazing thing.
Last week, one of the things I did was walking lunges around the track. I think I did a hundred of them. It's a small track, it took me about halfway around it (I think). I saw a guy doing sprint intervals on the track last week. I don't know if I'd like that because there are always so many slow walkers on it for one thing, and for another, it's so small that you'd be turning every few seconds. But I would like to try it just because I know I'm not "sprinting" by definition on the treadmill. All out sprints mean you give it ALL you've got, as fast as you can. And that's what I need to be doing. I'll try that this week and let you know how it goes ;)
Before I go, I will leave you with this:
These are donuts I made today. Not your typical fatty fried unhealthy donuts. But lighter, raised donuts baked in the oven. No sugar. They were delicious! Even my husband couldn't keep his hands off them!
If you'd like the recipe, check out this blog for AMAZING recipes.
The blog is called The Bikini Baker and it's wonderful.
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