Oops. Well, better late than never. :)

Has it really been over a week since I last blogged?  Sheesh.  Well, truth be told, I basically worked my way through each day last week, all the time looking forward to today - the first day of my new schedule and a training day with Misty. :)

Last week I logged about 17 miles of running, a couple of spin classes and Muscle Fusion X.  I also did my last sets of weights from my first strength training routine.  Recap at the end of my first 12 week cycle:  I ended at 126 pounds, down a total of 5.3% body fat, and a lot more muscle definition.  I did take beginning, 8 week and 12 week progress photos, but I'm still working on learning how to "pose" in the best way to show that muscle I've built.  (And maybe at some point I'll post them...)

My new training plan consists of 4 days of running, 2 spin classes and Muscle Fusion X, along with 6 days of strength training.  Misty has completely changed my routine, which will hopefully shock my system and crank things up a bit in my progress.  Besides the fact that I will now be running on an additional day, I will be doing longer runs.  The Ogden Marathon is in 14 weeks.  I will do this schedule, making the necessary weekly mileage increases, until the marathon, then Misty said she will start me on another new schedule.

Today I hit the ground running - literally.  My schedule called for a semi-long run, followed by a training session with Misty at the gym to go over my new Monday routine, which is back/abs.  When I took the kids to school, it was 3 degrees outside.  For a moment I contemplated doing my run on the treadmill, but I just really didn't want to do 10 miles on the treadmill.  So I bundled up in lots of layers, stuck a couple of hand-warmers in my gloves and headed out.  For the first 3 miles, I kept telling myself I should turn around and go home, but by the time I got to 4 miles, the sun had come up and was warming me just enough that I knew I could keep going without risking bodily injury.  Unfortunately, my hamstrings were on fire the entire run, never having fully recovered from my leg workout at the end of last week and a 10 mile run I did with Lisa on Saturday.

After my run, I had just enough time to gulp down a protein shake and take a hot shower before heading to the gym.  As soon as I got there, Misty put me to work.  First - pull-ups!  My new routine has me doing a set of 10, a set of 15, then 2 sets of 6 negatives (which means jumping up to the top of the pull-up position, then slowly lowering down to the count of 20).  By the time I was finished with those, I was already shaking. After pull-ups, we moved on to 4 supersets: a back exercise paired with an ab exercise.  The main change with this new routine is that I'm supposed to do slightly lighter weight with more reps (12-15 reps).  Although, it honestly didn't feel like any of the weights were lessened.  I was grunting, groaning and sometimes screaming my way through all of the exercises.  I felt completely exhausted when we finished.

Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining.  All of you long-time followers of my blog know how much I love a challenge and would never shy away from hard work.  This is going to be a tough few months, but I think I'll be grateful for all of the work I put in when the warm weather hits and I feel stronger than ever!  At least that's my goal...:)