Cheap Date Night

While at Larry's birthday party last week, he mentioned that he was going to take Sheri to Grapevine Wine Shop in San Jose for their cheap date night. The last time they went Sheri told me how much she liked it so we've been wanting to try it. We finally had a free Wednesday and spent the evening with Larry, Sheri, Janet and her beau. It was a lot of fun, the grilled cheese sammies were all do die for except the brie and cranberry and the wine was tasty. We left with two bottles of Pinot Noir and are grateful for the company of good friends. We are blessed with a really excellent life:)

Weds Workout

Lawrence has hurt himself, so Tuesday's urban assault didn't happen this week. Which is fine because I was so busy at work, there was no way I could get out until after 6pm. It was dark and icky and I just wanted to go home and snuggle with the hubby.

I had a short workday on Weds because my phone wasn't ringing off the hook as it usually does. So, I was able to finish all of my sales calls and organize for next week. I went straight to the gym and had a nice long workout.

10 minute warmup - treadmill
15x 2x 20lb standing row with lunge
15x 2x 20lb sitting bicep curl with crunch
15x 2x 20lb shoulder shrug
15x 2x 20lb bicep curl with shoulder raise
15x 2x 20lb hammer curl with shoulder raise
15x 2x 45lb squat press
15x 2x 45lb leg press
15x 2x 45lb squat press with jump
15x 4x 45 lb calf raise
15x 2x 60lb lat pull-down
15x 2x 24lb tricep pull-down
LOTS of abwork, too much to write down.

Good workout, lots of sweat, felt great.

Monday Spin Class

My friend Melinda is a spin instructor and I've been talking to her about how I might get certified to teach spinning...or at least just be a fill-in for other instructors that can't make their class. According to her, it's so easy it's a joke. She sent me this link and it explains that you have to attend an nine hour orientation filled with instruction on spinning and two spin classes. Sounds like fun so I think I'm going to do it the next time they have one in San Jose.

Since I've been in the spin mood lately, I checked out the class at Bally's. It was not as brutal as I remember previous spin classes to be. I think this is directly related to the fact that I am more in shape now than I ever have been.

After spin class, I hit the weights for a little bit of upper body work. Nothing exciting.

I'm wicked and I'm Laaaaaaaaazzzzyyyy

There was house cover of that David Byrne song a few years ago and it was amazingly fantastic. One of my very favorite songs. It has one of those slow-head-bob melodies and drawn out words that put you in a lazy mood. That's how I feel right now, wicked and lazy.

Today was all about spending time with the wonderful hubby of mine and just being. We had breakfast at Hobee's and then did some shopping. I actually agreed to go to Fry's because Les wanted to get a labeler and I need a new set of headphones for working out. We got what we needed and then we went over to the appliance section and found the stove/oven/fridge/washer/dryer/DLP HD TV that we want when we buy our house next year. I'm glad that's sorted. I was really worried that we wouldn't be able to spend thousands of dollars in one place, but it turns out we absolutely can. I loathe Fry's and the thought of handing over that much cash to them makes me ill. But they have what we want. Bastards.

After spending many hours on the internet doing F*ck all today, I finally got off my butt and went out running with Huggy.

Today's workout:
2.5 mile loop 24:16
30x2 single leg lunges
20 alternating lunges
30 squats
25 push ups
15 V-Ups
15x2 alternate crunch with leg lift
10x2 oblique crunch with leg lift

Felt great, was a very quick workout. Tomorrow me and GB go for a ride:)

Spa day with Mom

Mom's birthday was last week and since this was the first chance we had to get together, we celebrated for her today. It was ALL about Mom today.

We drove to Calistoga ( about 20 miles north of Napa) and enjoyed the mud bath, mineral spa and massage at Dr. Wilkinson's Day Spa and Resort. This isn't your typical trendy/frou frou spa experience, this is for folks that don't mind a somewhat sterile hospital-like feeling. it's for people that want to just get down to business and get spa-ified without the pretense and snobs all around.

We were relaxed and felt so pampered, the only thing left to do was to eat a delicious lunch. Mom had seen Brannan's Grill showcased on Eye on the Bay and so we gave it a try. This is what was left of the chocolate lava torte we shared for dessert. OMG.

I highly recommend this place to anyone looking for food in Calistoga.

On the way home we talked about lots of mother/daughter things. It was a perfect day:)

No workouts today.

Oh man, it's only Tuesday and I'm already tired of sleeping all day being on vacation. Okay, so I'm not sleeping ALL day, but I am in bed all day. I'm swapping channels between Food Network, Discovery Channel and TLC so I can catch "What Not to Wear". I didn't get out of bed until 3pm and I took a shower. Then I went to the store for some household items and off to the gym.

Today's workout - Tuesdays are my favorite!
Urban Assault with Lawrence and Jojo. We run through downtown San Jose to Guadalupe Trail and run up and down the stairs five times. Then we run to Adobe and use their outside playground for circuit training - pushups in the alphabet wall, squats and jump lunges on all the chairs, and wall kicks on the number wall. Then we use Adobe's shipping ramp for five hill repeats and then run back to the gym. It takes us about 1/2 hr to do all of it and it's so much fun! My heart beats so fast and hard that I think I'm going to die, but afterwards it's such a great feeling not to be dying of boredom in a workout.
Then at the gym -
2x 45lb dead lifts
2x 45lb squat with row
2x 45lb squat with overhead throw
15 inverted pull-ups
3 mins of plank (2x30seconds front and both sides)
10 mins stretching

Excellent workout, I think tomorrow I'm going to take Huggy to LG Creek Trail tomorrow for the par course. I'm so addicted to endorphins. I'm a total junkie.

Today I ate well during the day and then an hour before my workout I had a personal size cheese pizza:( And I made mediterranean turkey burgers for dinner tonight (thank you Rachael Ray). They were super delicious and like all things RR makes, were very easy to put together. think I ate too much though because my belly is sticking out a lot.

I have an entire week off!

From real-world work this week. I have not taken any vacation time from my job since January when we were in England. That's far too long to go without lengthy time off. I'm in sales and since I have an annual sales goal, it's hard for me to justify not working. I made my goal already so I feel okay about taking time off although I'm missing out on extra revenue I could be making toward a bonus. Oh well, I was going insane and need this week to myself.

I'm going to take this opportunity to get myself organized and think dutifuly about what my tri season is going to look like next year. I want to graduate to a half-ironman in 2007. That means I'm going to really have to work my butt off. But I'm certain I can handle it. It's going to mean a rigid training schedule that I can't f*ck off at any time. I've still not made up my mind 100% on this, but I'm strongly leaning toward it.

This all depends on how much extra work is going to be involved with school starting in January. I'll be taking two college courses and it's way more important that tri training. I might only be able do normal gym workouts and ride/run on the weekend as I normally do.

Green Pea has reminded me that journaling your workouts is good to keep you on track and make you accountable for actually doing them. So, I'm going to start today:

75 min gym workout with Lawrence -
10 min treadmill
dynamic stretching
90x20lb bench press
30 push ups
20 squats with 15 lb ball throw
40x20lb single leg lunge - altrenate legs
40x20lb squats
20x20lb BOSU squats with press
20x20lb BOSU squats with row
15 min stairclimber
5 min stretch

This was a good workout, I love to sweat. Seriously...sweat makes me feel great. The sweatier the workout the more proud I am of myself for completing it:)

The cold makes me happy

I love it when the season changes into a true Fall around here. The crisp and cool weather, the sound of the wind in the trees blowing the leaves everywhere, the position of the midday sun that's just off to the side rather than straight above. Everything. I love everything about Fall.

I was so good to get out and run the other day with some sprinkles falling on my face. I even like to ride my bike in the rain. But there's just one small problem....the challenge of this time of year is that it gets dark around 5pm. Therefore the motivation factor to work out is slim. I need some tips on how to just get it done. Tell me how to break through the desire to snuggle up with a comfy blanket and a big 'ol cup of hot Ovaltine. Please, tell me this.

Here's a photo from a Halloween party Les and I went to last weekend. It's the sexiest thing I've worn in public...I had thigh-high stockings on! Go me and my 30 year old self:)