Vegas, detox, and getting back into the groove

Holy Vegas.  Seriously.  I drank, I gambled, I watched men give my sister lap dances.  I ate German food, I ate Italian food, I ate Fatburger.  I drank German lager, I drank house wine, I had headaches.  I came home feeling like I had smoked a few packs of cigarettes and was NOT looking forward to working out on Sunday, even though I knew it needed to be done.  The good news is the scale wasn't all that horrible upon my return, and I have no idea why it didn't tip up 10 lbs.  In fact, two days later I was almost back to my pre-Vegas weight, which means my Vegas gain was mostly retained water.

Anyway, back to the work out.  I had planned to run the day after our return, which was probably aiming a little too high.  After sleeping off whatever alcohol was left in my body, I threw on my running gear and drank a little water.  My stomach gurgled and churned.  My lungs wheezed.  My knees ached.  How in the world did I get that huge bruise on my left knee?  Damn strippers.  After much thinking and hemming and hawing, I made the executive decision not to run.  I trotted upstairs and hopped on the elliptical for 30 minutes.  I felt pretty good after that....not 100% necessarily, but pretty good.  So I did the "Ab Burner" and "Leg Sculptor" workouts on my Nike Training Club app on my phone.  I felt mighty fine by then, but still not good enough to run.  That was good enough for me for the day.

Monday rolled along and Josh and I went to boot camp at Warrior Fit Body Boot Camp, which kicked both of our asses.  I can't even begin to explain how much Darrin worked us.  I left wondering how in the world I was going to be able to get dressed for work because my arms hurt so much!  Thankfully, the pain only lasted a short period of time and I that "hurt so good" feeling for the rest of the day.  Even though I had work until 7pm that day, I knew I needed to run.  I hadn't done so for over a week and I was nervous.  I hooked up the dawg and off we went for 3.23 miles.  Pace was OK, but not great.  I felt OK, but not great.  When I got home and Josh asked me how it went, my response was "it was OK."  And that's it. 

Average pace 10:38
3.23 miles in 34:19

Josh and I made it to boot camp again yesterday and today, and both days weren't nearly as difficult as Monday, and I thank God for that.

Also, my heart rate monitor is officially shot.  I've been looking at the Garmin Forerunner 305 as a replacement HRM plus GPS.  It's clunky and huge, but it has the best reviews of any of the Garmin watches.  Unfortunately, I heard that the HRM won't work unless you're actually running, and that's just not going to cut it.  I can probably do without the HRM for other workouts, but I really really really like knowing how many calories I burn during each workout and I don't really want to sacrifice that.  I did find the Polar FT60F G1 which has a GPS unit that attaches to your shoe or wherever on your person, but the reviews indicate the GPS unit doesn't register very well.  I question if it's worth the money....

Family Vacation

My husband and I went with my parents, my sister, and her fiance to California to visit my brother and his family for Thanksgiving.  It was a torturous 15+ hour drive there but we had a great time hanging out with his girlfriend and her family and especially my super cute nephews. 

We ate.  We drank. We played Jeopardy! on the Wii.   We ate some more.  We drank even more.  I was smart enough to take my running gear with me on the trip and had intended to go for a run on Thanksgiving morning, but I woke up with some crud in my chest and just didn't feel up for a run, so I didn't go.  I drank a crap ton of water (and beer and wine...) and enjoyed the day.  The good news is on Friday I did get up and despite my slight hangover headache, I got my gear together and went for a run.  My plan was to go about 4 to 5 miles and do everything possible to not get lost and I very nearly succeeded.  Thankfully, I didn't have any issues with getting lost.  There was some road construction which made me reroute my run and shaved off about 1/2 mile, so I finished at 3.75 miles for the morning.   I realized, however, that Californians are goofy people when it comes to being chilly outside.  I was absolutely roasting in my t-shirt and capri-length tights - it was 50 degrees outside (perfect weather for a run!) and while I was out I saw two women walking outside in winter coats with gloves and hats and then I saw a road biker with full-length tights, a long-sleeve jersey, and a beanie.  I can't imagine working out in that amount of gear when it was only 50 degrees outside...

Back to my run - I managed pretty well for not running for about 2 weeks.  I felt good and I kept a decent pace (avg 11:00/mile) but also realized whyI need to make sure I work out a minimum of 3 days per week....I didn't feel THAT good.   In the end, I'm glad I got out of the house and enjoyed the cool (but not cold!) weather for about 41 minutes.  I ended Friday by eating everything in sight and drinking beer with the family. 

The drive back started on Saturday and proved pretty crappy, even though we split it into two days.  The drive from Sacramento to Reno was just plain chaotic (and I didn't even get to go to H&M along the way).  People from California are crazy drivers anyway (personal opinion, obviously, but seriously...) but they were super ridiculous during the snow storm over Donner's Pass.  Anyway, we rolled into Reno around 9pm and partied the night away playing blackjack and poker and stayed up until 5am - that's later than I've ever stayed up in Vegas!   I'm not sure I've ever been so glad just be a passenger in a car - I slept almost the entire drive home.  Unfortunately, this also means I'm not sure how well I'll be able to sleep tonight....wish me luck!