Is it Friday? It should be Friday!

I can't believe how busy I've been lately. Good busy, once again, but busy nonetheless. I just came back from two hours of salsa, the first hour being the lesson and the second, the practice session. Raf and I had fun, we tried different combinations, different movement sequences (well, he tried, 'cause I just try to keep up and follow properly). We're going to continue the classes into level 3, where things get serious and they teach you really interesting moves.

Last night, I went to the opera with my colleague Soraiya, to see Faust. It was great, a bit morbid but then again Faust is no comedy. Good thing for the dialog showing up in English on top of the stage, because I couldn't follow the story just by listening to the singers, even if the original dialog was in French. Well, some did pronounce a bit better than others :-)

And to top it all, I'm back on a pretty busy running schedule, in preparation for the half marathon on June 25. I kept up the running after the half in February, but not at the intensity I need to prepare for a race. Which is normal. But now, time is not on my side and two months is just enough to prepare and build up to the 21km distance once again.

Combine consistently busy days at work with busy evenings with more workouts and you get one tired Melissa. Where's my bed?

Especially tonight... I was up early this morning to do my fit test. After ten sessions with the personal trainer, it was time to see some results. I'm pretty happy with the progression. I lost 3% of body fat mass and gained quite a bit in lean mass (muscle). My chest, back and legs are all stronger. I'm not smaller or lighter, but I do feel that my resistance has increased. The training sessions were a good investment. I'm not going to sign up for another ten, but I will sign up for bootcamp sessions at lunch time. Bootcamp is a good full-body workout that keeps your cardio pumping for an hour. I know I wouldn't push myself that hard, so having someone push for me will help keep the pressure on my workouts.

OK, off to bed now. Mmmm... bed...

(Somewhat...) working out again

During my fight with a nasty cough, I was obviously not feverish enough to work out at the gym or go for runs. I can't imagine how the heavy breathing would have helped my irritated throat.

This week, I started exercising again... somewhat. It feels like I've lost 50% of my strength and cardio in the past two weeks. I know it won't take very long to feel right again, but this has been a very frustrating experience. I worked out with Jenika this morning and she had to cut short several of the exercises she had planned. She was good about it though, very patient and encouraging.

So, I'll have to see about my short-term goal of running 10km in less than one hour. The Sun Run is in one month, let's see how things are progressing. I still plan to run it, but it might not be my personal best after all.

See below a picture taken at a healthier time: Jen, our clinic leader, sent me this picture from the half marathon in February. I remember that stretch, it was pretty cold and windy, might explain why I'm not looking so happy!


First half marathon - running along the seawall