Kickboxing > Everything

CKO is incredible.  Now, I know I'm only 2 classes in, so it might just be my imagination, but I feel slimmer and stronger already.  I don't think any workout can beat beating the bejesus out of a giant bag for an hour.  My knuckles were bleeding and it hurts to make my hands into a fist, but it's TOTALLY WORTH IT.  The time flew by.  I wish I knew how many calories I burned though.  Everyone says you can burn up to 1200 calories in one workout there, but that's if you're going at 100% the ENTIRE time (which is next to impossible).  I plugged "kickboxing- 1hr" into my Lose It! app and it came up with 651 calories taking into consideration my height and weight.  That sounds about right.  By the way, Lose It! is pretty awesome.  Last year I lost 22 pounds in about 3 months using it.  I gained it all back, because instead of switching over to the "maintain weight" version of the program, I went on 2 vacations in the span of 2 months.  One included several wine tours in Napa, CA (we're talking 5 different wineries with 5 different wines at each place... you do the math... I was both very drunk and very full).  And the other included eating things like this: 

These are fried White Castle Burgers. 

FRIED WHITE CASTLE BURGERS.

As the fried White Castle Burger vacation (or as it's properly known, Haley Family Seaside Vacation) is an annual thing, I need to a) use the 4 1/2 weeks I have left before the commencement of the 2012 vacation to loose some elbs (that's awesome-speak for pounds) so that I feel beach-ready.   b) run at least 5-8 miles per day for the entire 9 days I am there so that I can actually partake in some treats.  Although maybe nothing as extreme as those burgers. 

Anyway, it's Friday, which means it's a rest day.  Although I guess it wasn't totally restful as I decided to use Jay's bicep to show him some of the new punches I've learned while we walked to the train station this morning.  Calories burned:  10.

Regards from the Million Dollar Baby,

CQ

I Am an Ass Kicker

Last night was my first kickboxing class at CKO.  Man, what a fun way to burn calories.  The instructor and the guy who gave me my orientation both said I had really good form and strength, which was cool to hear.  You better watch out of you're a cylindrical shaped person who likes to hang from the ceiling.   

Beaker, Beware.

I'll definitely be adding kickboxing to the schedule for Tuesdays and Thursdays.  It was a full-body workout, and since I really hate lifting weights, it's a great way to get some strength training in on cross training days.  

In other news, my run on Monday was ok, not great, but not bad either.  And I was PLANNING on running my 3 miles this morning, but it appears that I slept through my alarm and didn't wake up until 6:40 (I have to leave the house at 7.  Yeesh).  Looks like I'll be hitting the pavement in approximately 9 hours.  I should already be done.  Boo. 

Mee-mee-mee-moo,

CQ

Many Instances of Fail

Saturday run fail... 3 miles done, but it was a painfully slow run complete with 2 intervals of walking.  Monday early morning run fail... I woke up with a raging headache so decided to postpone my run until this evening.  Monday commute fail... tried taking the light rail to the PATH station instead of walking and got yelled at by a conductor.  Monday work fail... my phone doesn't work. 

Hopefully I won't have any fails left for when I get home, run my 2.5 miles, make dinner, and celebrate Jay's birthday.  I'm optimistic. 

From the back of the Wahh-mbulance,

CQ

Hot Town, Summer in the City

I hate this.  No running today, as it is a cross training day (which I won't do until I get home from work), and yet I was still drenched in sweat this morning.  My 20 minute walk through Hoboken to get to the PATH station is gonna be a force to reckon with this summer if things stay the way they are.  89 degrees at 7:00 this morning and it's only gonna get worse.  I'd call it 99.9% humidity, but I'm no Gabriel Fahrenheit (yeah that's his name, look it up).

All this talk about temperature brings me to one of the concerns I have about the marathon.  It's in January.  In Central Florida.  This means I will be training in the bitter cold Northeast winter then hopping on a plane to run 26.2 miles in weather that could potentially be likened to a very warm New Jersey Spring day.  I hope my body will adjust.  Then again, it has snowed in Lake Buena Vista on Disney Marathon day in the past, so I guess there's no real way to prepare aside from layering it up. 

"Better not do any.... LUNGES!"

Anyway, I guess that's a bridge to be crossed when I come to it.  For today, I'll just make my meager attempt at cross training on my own.  Tuesday I go for a free trail class at CKO Kickboxing.  Might be fun to beat the crap out of a bag for an hour.  Hopefully I'll like it and can add it to my cross training routine a few times a week.  I just don't want to come out looking like Madonna.  She's definitely Borderline scary.  She should probably take a Holiday from working out.  Madonna, I should Dress You Up in long sleeves so nobody has to look at your scary biceps.  Maybe I'll shine a Ray of Light up.... yeah, that one wasn't well thought out.

Music Mix the Bourgoise and the Rebel,

CQ

Sweat.

Disgusting amounts of sweat.  I started runninng at 6am today.  The sun was up, but just barely, yet it was somehow still Botswana hot and muggy.  Due to the conditions, I was sweating profusely from 6:02am until I just sat down at my desk at work at 8:00.  During that time I took a shower (duh) and yet still managed to sweat through the water.  I dried my hair on my hairdryer's cold setting and I will welcome the pneumonia that may come with that decision (there are regulatory laws that require hospitals to have air conditioning, right?).  The problem is that it is only June.  ONLY JUNE.  I have about 3 1/2- 4 more months of this thick New York Metropolitan area heat to look forward to.

Also, I only ran 2 miles this morning.  Can't wait to show up to work after 5 or 6.  I expect it to look something like this:

"What the hell have you done to me??"

Luckily long runs are on Saturdays, so the only person who has to deal with my Senator Kelly mutation after those is my boyfriend, Jason.  Sorry, Jay.  I promise not to sit on our nice furniture until after I take a shower.

On a positive note, I ran into my best friend (and the birthday girl!) Emily on my run.  She's the one who got me into all of this after she ran the New York Marathon last November.  Inspiring, to say the very least.  She's running the Philly Marathon this November, and I'd bet my white Ray Bans (I LOVE my white Ray Bans) that you'll find her in Chicago in 2013 running that marathon too, whenever it may be. So here's to Emily, without whom I wouldn't be writing this blog (also, she's a writer, a phenomenal one, so, ya know, two birds) or running Disney 2013. 

Since my run is out of the way for the day, I will fully enjoy the happy hour planned for dear Emily's 26th anniversary of birth.  5:00 can't come soon enough. 


Get out of my bar, freak,

CQ

512.9

That is the distance in miles I will be running between today (Tuesday, June 19th, 2012) and the Walt Disney World Marathon (Sunday, January 13th, 2013). 

I'm out of shape.  I'm lazy.  I'm tired all the time.  And I wasn't any of that less than two months ago when I ran the Broad Street 10 Mile in Philadelphia, PA. Even though I came in at a snail's pace 1:49:05, I did it.  Through training I learned about hydration, shin splints, Shot Bloks, and SPIBelts, and I felt good.   Running is good for me.  A couple of blisters and some horrific chub rub (and on the 8th day God created Body Glide) are worth not feeling like this:

And looking like this:

"Welllllll if it isn't Lonestar... and his sidekick, Puke."

Official training starts tomorrow (and in the morning since it's summer and the weatherman is calling for temps in the high 90s.  Woofsville McGillicuddy)  I have my calendar set for the next 7 months *see sidebar*.  No going back now.  It's written in ink.  On paper.  And I can't find my whiteout. 

2 miles tomorrow.  Pshh, I can run that in my sleep (remember, I'm not quite a novice runner, I've got a 40,000 participant 10-miler under my belt... and about 25 extra pounds there too), it's running it at 5:30 in the morning that may prove difficult. 

See ya then, Nikes.

May the Schwartz be with you,

CQ