parting thoughts, and holy awesomeness, batman!

so tomorrow is officially my last training session with mike.

i am actually really sad about this, because i am in the best physical shape of my life, and I am so afraid that life will get the better of me like it did before, and I'll regress. I was supposed to have finished last week, but injured myself on Monday, and had to sit out the rest of the week. Turns out i might have pulled my hip flexor. I couldn't raise my leg to put pants on, get out of the car, go up stairs, or walk without pain. I was pretty frustrated because I had hit a high doing deadlifts and squats with 135 lbs (they finally felt natural, I had good form, and I was banging them out without pausing during sets).

Yesterday, we tried deadlifts, and I was back to feeling weak and awkward. My back aches a little bit because my form was crappy. Maybe I was subconsciously trying not to reinjure my leg, so i shifted my weight? who knows. All I know is that I was sort of sucky at deadlifts again. Boo on injuries.

i have turned into one of those annoying people who actually really enjoys working out. I have always somewhat enjoyed workouts, but now i really really like it. I am always interested in seeing what I can accomplish that day (even if it's the same weight, same sets, but my form is better), and I feel so good afterwards.

The most awesome thing of all? Somehow, Mike managed to turn me into a runner. I kid you not, I can now run outside for 2.3 miles nonstop pretty consistently. I'm tired, but I can do it. I mapped out a loop around my house, put on my shoes and my ipod, and just go. It is freaking awesome. I've NEVER been able to do this. Running has always been painful (lungs screaming, legs hurting, awkwardness), but somehow I've managed to find a rhythm that keeps me going, and at the risk of sounding repetitive, it is AWESOME.

One of my students who ran the nike human race with me lives nearby, and we meet once a week to go running. It is definitely better when there is somebody to run with and pace me, but I took my dogs out one morning last week, and we did pretty well on our own. Mike wanted me to run 3 miles 3 times a week (that's how this all got started), with an 8-minute first mile (which I don't think I will ever be able to do... but baby steps), and I've been pretty good at running at least twice a week on my off days.

My work schedule has been absolutely crazy. I have had one big long week for the entire month of january (seven days a week, going on 5 weeks in a row). The only way I am not ready to kill myself is because I have been working out and releasing the tension and stress that way. Before, i probably would've drowned my sorrows in a pint of Ben and Jerry's. Don't get me wrong, the urge to eat horribly is definitely there (I've been craving pancakes like crazy, and finally gave into that craving for dinner on Sunday), but now at least I know how to combat it.

I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, though... this weekend i might actually get saturday off if i can manage to get my shit done!

This is getting long, but that's what I get for not blogging in over a month.

last thoughts: Yesterday I was watching the news as i was getting ready for work, and they had a segment on being "skinny fat." It's where you have the right bmi for your height, but your body fat percentage is in an unhealthy range. I am not at a healthy bmi (still in the overweight category), and my body fat percentage (we'll have the final number tomorrow after we do my last set of measurements) will definitely not be in healthy ranges if my body followed the same trend it has been on since i started training. Also my digital scale, which has been ballpark says it's at about 30% (weight has stayed the same since last weigh-in, which means I have been converting fat to muscle... yessssss). This is about 9% down from my initial measurements (again, awesome), but in order for me to be healthy, i have about another 10-15% to go? damn... I may never be healthy.

I was feeling all great about myself until I saw that, and now I guess I have a new goal for myself. Here's to staying on track on my own! Wish me luck!