I had talked yesterday about the new "challenge" at the gym. This challenge sounded right up my alley:
Quarter mile run
15 sit ups
15 push ups
Repeat 4x's for time.
The owner of the gym had a time of 10:17 or something like that. I figured I could possibly beat her, as I consider myself a runner. But what I forgot to consider...I am not fast and I am a wimp when it comes to push up's! And she is a personal trainer who spends 8+ hours everyday in the gym. I finished in 11:03. I ran between a 6-6:18 minute mile each quarter, so I know it was slow push ups that did me in! It kicked my butt! It just goes to show that I really am not in that good of running shape! My lung control is horrible. I think my body could have performed better, but I just cant breathe.
My coworker is a gym junkie and a pretty hardcore athlete. He played baseball in college and is on a very competitive men's softball league, plays basketball league weekly, bowls weekly and goes to the gym daily. I made a challenge wager with him that loser buys lunch. Needless to say, I am buying lunch. He ran slightly faster than me, but really kicked my butt in push up speed. Dang! I gave him all kinds of excuses as to why he beat me, but they are just excuses: he is almost 10 years younger than me, he hasn't birthed two children (heck, he has no children to drain him), he is almost a foot taller than me and most of that is in legs and...well, that is the last of my excuses! However, his post challenge recovery was much longer and harder than mine. I was pretty sure he was about to puke and he took about 10-15 minutes to recover and was drenched in sweat.
Where on the other hand...although my arms were shaky, I wasn't sweating, I caught my breath in a minute and was fine to do the rest of my workout. I really have a hard time mentally pushing myself. I know I was pooped, but I could have pushed myself harder. Reminds me of my track days where I would place mid-pack but wouldn't hardly be winded after the race. I am a weird combo of competiveness. I want to win, but I mentally set myself up that I wont win, so then I don't try as hard so that I can use that as an excuse to why I lost. Not that I want to puke at the gym or anything, but that is the huge difference between me and my coworker. He pushed himself so hard he was grunting, sweating and almost to puke stage. I am never going to get better if I don't get harder on myself.
I have become slightly obsessed with pinterest/instagram photos of weight lifters and fitness models. They are truly inspiring. While I don't want to be buff and ripped quite as much as they do, I do need to follow some of their eating plans!
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