Yes, I'm Still Alive, Although For a Few Days There I Thought I Might Die of Pain!

I started my 12-week workout last Monday. Every Monday and Wednesday, I do thirty minutes of strength training, followed by thirty minutes of cardio. And when I say cardio, I mean CAR-DI-O! Seriously, I though I was gonna die doing the cardio. Let me just say that when the trainer is having me ride the exercise bike, I'm going a lot faster than when I do it on my own!

Here are some fun facts:

1. I liked the rowing machine
2. I liked the "80's exercise bike"
3. I did "Swiss crunches" using a big ball
4. The plank hold does not involve a board of any kind
   
5. The only reason I kept riding the spinning bike is because my feet were strapped to the pedals
   
6. I walked on a treadmill and didn't fly off the back
7. Boxing was fun
8. Except when I was so tired I could barely move my leg to kick the bag
   
9. The stepper is horrible and I hope it breaks down soon
10. Die, stepper, die
11. I used 6 and 8 pound weights - woot!
12. My strength instructor Brad is cool
13. My Monday cardio instructor Linda is cool
14. My Wednesday cardio instructor Will was a high school classmate of my oldest son, Sam, and really should have been much nicer to me because of that
15. I may have to call his mother
    
16. I have more muscles than I realized...and they all hurt this week!

This was intense - I knew it would be, but holy hell, I really had no idea! My thighs (quads?) were KILLING ME until Friday. Every time I went to sit down, and then stand back up I wimpered like a baby. After Wednesday's workout, I stopped at the bank to deposit some money into my son's account - there were five steps that I had to climb to get to the entrance. Oh sure, I could have gone the long way around and walked up the handicapped ramp, but I took the short way. UP.THE.STAIRS. Ow ow ow ow ow. And I do believe I said that out loud. I didn't care who heard me. I just wanted to get that errand over with so I could go home and lie down. For several days. Unfortunately, I had an extremely busy week and had to keep moving, which probably was a good thing, but it didn't feel like it at the time!

One more story before I stop my whining: As I was "working my core" by kicking the bag five times per leg for what felt like an eternity (but was three minutes, I think), I got slower and slower - slo-motion would have been faster than me at that point. All I could think was how I had made fun of Joelle on The Biggest Loser for moving so slow in her workouts, and how that bitch karma was now kicking my ass.