Day IV: A New Hope

I woke up this morning and my legs were pretty sore as I expected. I did a pretty easy 3 mile run at about 7:30 pace and by the end of it the soreness was gone. I just need to say Winter is definitely here. It was 28 degrees when I started, but luckily I was wearing the ideal amount of clothing. I didn't overheat and I wasn't freezing either. I finished the run and did some quality stretching. I then headed out to LA Fitness to ride the stationary bike for a while and do some lifting and core.

Adding in the Extras:

While planning my training, I've made sure to add in a couple supplemental and alternate exercises a week. Through the years I've learned first hand that these exercises are great for injury prevention and right now they'll give me the added advantage of a little extra weight loss. I rode the bike for a half hour and according to the workout summary, I covered exactly 11 miles. I'm no cyclist, but I do know it felt like I was exerting myself and I was covered in sweat when I was done. All in all, it was a nice warmup for the leg workout I had planned. I did 3 sets of walkover lunges across the gym while holding 25 lbs dumbbells in each hand. I then went to the squat machine and did 3 sets of 12 squats at 200 lbs. I like the machine a lot better than the free weights because I can't comfortably hold more than 150 lbs on my shoulders. I moved onto the leg press where I did 3 sets of 10 presses at 200 lbs. I finished up with 3 set of 10 on the leg extensions, hamstring curls and calf raises. My trip to the gym ended with 2 sets of core. I only held the planks and other timed exercises for 30 seconds. As my training progresses, that will be increasing and I'll throw in a couple additional exercises.

On my ride home, I avoided every fast food place imaginable (Chick-Fil-A, BK, McDonalds, Tacobell, and Wendy's), but I did stop at Wawa. I got a chocolate milk (a great post workout drink), a half gallon of iced tea and a bag of Tostitos to snack on later. I'm trying my best to improve my eating habits and cutting back on the fast food is my first target. Tomorrow I will probably run between 4 and 5 miles and the pace will be dictated my how sore my legs are.