R2 D4

This morning, I did not wake up before the alarm. In fact, I did push the snooze and had to force my body up and out of bed.

I was excited about today's challenge. But my body was tired.

I took my time getting up and ready this morning, had my breakfast and was out the door.

I tried to charge myself up on the way downtown, took lots of deep breaths and focused on the events ahead.

We began the morning with dips and the mile.

I did not have music today and was a little sad about that but it did allow me to focus a little bit more on my breathing, relaxing my shoulders, neck and wrists, and keeping my stride consistent. The first quarter of the mile was tough. I still felt physically tired and had to really focus on "pushing through". After I crossed the bridge and knew that I was about half way, I tried to pick up my pace a little bit and really pushed myself hard. About 3/4 of the way through, I felt my usual urge to walk for just a second and my mind was saying "You can't, You can't...) but I forced those negative thoughts down deep and repeated to myself "You can, YOU CAN!!!" And I swear I heard "Ten Thousand Fists" somewhere in the distance. I pushed harder and harder until I got to the bridge and didn't stop to walk. Before I knew it, I was to the homestretch and once my feet hit those wooden planks, I picked up my pace even more and sprinted to the end with everything left in me. My time today was 8:28. I managed to take another 30 seconds off and I was excited about that but more importantly, I ran the whole way. Now I know that I can do it so no more walking in The Mile for this girl!

After the mile, we did the rest of our Fit Par challenges. I did well until we got to jump rope. About half way through jumping, my left heel started hurting with every jump. I did my best to complete each task but the annoyance of heel pain definitely hindered the rest of my scores.

According to what I've read online, it could be because my body isn't use to the pounding of pavement on my feet and because I'm overweight, it causes extra stress. I also found out at Gazelle that I am a pronater which means that my ankles roll inward and that I don't support certain areas of my feet properly so I did purchase shoes specifically for that. Also according to what I've read, I may have to get a heel insert to help take some of the pressure off when I do activities that require excessive heel pounding. So I guess I'll be visiting Gazelle again soon.

Anyway, not much time left before work so let's get to the scores. This time, I'm listing my previous final Fit Par score compared with today's scores. I improved some in most areas but there was not as dramatic of a jump today as there was last time.

1 Mile Run
8:58 - 8:28

Dips (60 seconds)
37 - 41

Push Ups (60 seconds)
29 modified - 1o regular + 17 modified

Squats (60 seconds)
47 - 58

Crunches (60 seconds)
81-88

Plank
3:00 - 2:20 (yes, this one went down...hmmm...)

Reverse Crunches (60 seconds)
71 - 71 (hmm, the same?)

Shuttle (2 minutes this time, so I really can't compare scores)
38

Jump Rope (2 minutes)
149 - 158


So all in all, I did good today. I am disappointed about the plank and I know the shuttle would've been better if my heel didn't hurt but other than that, I feel pretty good. I had a goal to beat my mile by 15 seconds and I beat it by double that so I am proud of myself. My heel is still very sore when I touch it and step down on it so I guess we'll see how work goes and if it's still hurting after that, I'll be visiting Gazelle tonight so I can hopefully resolve, or at least help this issue before tomorrow so I can be at my fullest potential for class.

Now, I'm off for another day. And tomorrow is a new day and I hope my heel heals by then!