steppin’ up!  i climbed 112 flights of stairs (3×24, 3×10, 2×5) in sixty-four minutes.  this is the first time that i attempted doing three laps of the full building.  i was surprised to find that the third lap really wasn’t much harder than the first two… they all kill me equally!!!

sixty minutes on the treadmill.

the plan was to go jogging on the beach after dropping hubby off at the airport at 05:00 this morning.  it was a great plan since i was already awake and there would be no getting back to sleep before work.  unfortunately, the sun is rising later and it was pitch black outside when i got home.  i attempted to get a bit of rest but i was correct in my inability to do so.  since it was a bankless day, it was a marathon conference call day which meant that i did not get a chance to do any lunch-gymming either.  i attempted, once more, to get a nap after work but, again, it didn’t work.  so, after so many failed attempts at both activity and rest, i managed to talk myself into going to the gym to do ninety minutes on the treadmill.  go me!

I had a training call during my regular lunch time today so I just took off an hour early. I managed to squeeze in fifty minutes on the treadmill (no stairs because I had to bring a luggage cart up), pay our association dues, pack, cut hubby’s hair, shower off, and still got on the road by 17:00. Go me!

it angers me immensely when my body rebels against me for no good reason.  today’s lunch gymming was the hardest workout i have had in several years.  i didn’t exercise any harder than usual, it was just so much harder to exercise.  i’ve had lots of days where i’m dragging to start with but, eventually, i get into the groove and i’m fine.  not today.  from minute one, my body DID NOT WANT TO.  it never got any easier.  in fact, it just got harder and harder to keep going.  so i dragged my body through an excruciating fifty minutes on the treadmill and then i pulled it begrudgingly up nineteen flights of stairs. 

i kid you not, folks, i seriously cannot even remember the last time that it was that hard for me to work out.

back to the routine as normal which means that today was stairs. i did 100 flights even (2×24, 4×10, 2×5, 1×2) in sixty-two minutes. not too bad, if i do say so myself. especially since i had two weeks of sloth. throw in the continued head-spinning land-sickness and i find it downright impressive.

fifty minutes on the treadmill plus nineteen flights of stairs up and two down.  i did a lousy job of gymming on the cruise – the only exercise i really got was walking up and down the stairs to get from one meal to the next.  however, i am jumping right back into it now that we’re home.  that’s something, right?

since we both had good lower body workouts this morning (104 flights of stairs for me, 10 mile run for him), we took the kayaks out this afternoon to give the upper body a chance too. we played around a bit and had a nice two mile paddle. it was tiring but so nice. now how about some packing?

somehow, i woke up this morning feeling energized (makes no sense since i didn’t sleep well). i got up, saw that hubby was gone, got dressed, and hit the stairs. i took a watch this time so that i could track my time a bit better. i made it down (22 floors) in four minutes flat. i made it up (24 floors) in 05:13. not too bad. i expected by time to dramatically increase on the second “lap” because i tend to be much more winded and my legs tend to protest more the second time but i made it down (all 24 floors this time) in 04:25 and up (all 24 floors) in 05:40. not too shabby, imo. anyhow, i ended up doing 104 flights (2×24, 3×10, 4×5, 3×2) in sixty-seven minutes. though i still feel like i’m dying, i am clearly getting better at this. go me. of course, when i try it again in two weeks, i’m expecting to be right back at square one again. oh well – that’s a worthwhile price for vacation fun.

fifty-five minutes of weights. and i slightly increased weights (i purposely do low weights, high reps because i want to get fit, not bulky) on almost everything today so it was a rigorous workout. i then did the nineteen flights of stairs up to the top and two back down to our floor. it may just be my imagination since i don’t wear a watch but i really felt like i did the stairs quicker and easier today. my breathing didn’t become severely strained until the 21^st floor. seems like that usually happens around the 12^th. it really just felt like i maintained a better pace all the way up. and, if i had had the time, i felt as though i could have kept going.

so that completes three weeks of a good workout routine (four days a week, half weights, half cardio). now comes the tricky part: can i maintain that routine while on a cruise ship and can i jump right back into it when we come back in two weeks? this is always my weakness. i start a routine and do really good at it but then we go out of town or something interferes and i just don’t get back into it. i’m going to strive to do a better job this time. i’d be happy if i can force myself to do at least three days a week for the next two weeks. i’d be thrilled if i did more. it would be so easy since there’s a running track around the top deck of the ship and state of the art gym. of course, it’s also much too easy for me to say “i’m on vacation” and shirk it. i’ll try to keep in mind the pain that my cousin is putting herself through for a fantastic cause and maybe, just maybe, that will be enough to guilt me into some vacation activity.

forty minutes on the treadmill followed by nineteen flights of stairs (plus two down). is it naptime yet?

fifty minutes of weights and seventeen flights of stairs.

shockingly, i managed to force myself to be active after work today. i’m not good at that. i’m much more likely to be active during lunch since it’s a break from work. yesterday i had the same goal and failed. today, i climbed 89 flights of stairs (2×24, 2×10, 3×5, 3×2) in seventy minutes. i then came back, got changed, and gathered my hubby. we walked thirty minutes on the beach and swam six lengths of the pool before finishing off in the hot tub. the way i see it, that’s practically a triathalon. over two hours of activity. so then, time for some fresh, warm cookies, eh?

forty-five minutes on the treadmill and walking the seventeen flights of stairs back home. i’m guessing that tomorrow will be a gymless day since my dad will be here. so far my five-day-a-week workout schedule is 0-2. i guess four days is better than none though. as a bonus, here is hubby kayaking tuesday when i was too tired from stair-climbing to join him: