Olympics, Summer School, and Insanity

I've been kind of MIA in blog world lately but it's been for good reasons. I had two more exams this week for my summer classes (which by the way are even harder to study for when the Olympics are on.) My Survey of Behavior Analysis Research class has proven to be a test, and after huge doubt in my ability to pass the class, I managed to pull off a B on my 3rd exam on Wednesday! I don't think I've ever been so happy for a B before. Two more weeks to go and I'll be done with classes and getting to head home for a bit. Three weeks or so until the big bike trip (more about that later). About Four weeks before Fall classes begin... time flies!

This past week was full of fun roommate moments. In a few weeks my roommate Amanda is moving into a two bedroom in the same apartment complex and my roommate Nikki is moving to East Lansing. I'm gonna miss having these girls so close, but Amanda and I already have study dates and Insanity nights planned. The three of us started the Insanity workouts almost two weeks ago now. After experiencing the pain of Insanity last summer (and the payoffs) I was nervous but excited to get back into the routine and try to finally finish all 63 days of the workout. I'll have to take a few days for long bike rides and ultimately the bike trip but they'll be totally worth it.

The Insanity Countdown Calendar. Almost two weeks down! Jeah!

Lastly a few words (and pictures) about the Olympics. From gymnastics, to beach volleyball, to diving, to swimming I love the summer Olympics! It's always exciting to watch people's dreams come true and to band together as a country. For me, swimming is probably my favorite event. Lochte, Phelps, Berens, Adrian, Soni, Franklin... I could keep going because the whole USA team this year is awesome!

Jones, Adrian, Lochte, and Hansen

It's no question Ryan is my favorite

Nathan Adrian is like a hot teddy bear. He's just adorable. And that smile!

I think I might be heading to Dunham's this weekend to purchase a one piece swim suite in order to start working out in the pool. My roommate used to be a swimmer and I'm hoping she can teach me a few moves and we can push each other even harder. I just keep imagining what my body will look like after all this Insanity, biking, and swimming. Rock hard hopefully. 

Gonna get my Missy on!!!!!!

Forgot to foam roll after Insanity's Cardio Power and Resistance workout...


and now I can't move.


Regret, so much regret. I'm feeling the lactic acids today.

Shaking Muscles

First off, today was kind of a bummer due to the fact that I was on my way to bring a milkshake to my favorite cousin, Ariana Joy, when my car decided it hated driving around. I haven't had any troubles with the breaks since my dad and I bleed them out; but when I started smelling burning rubber and my car was having trouble accelerating, I knew something was wrong. My dad had to come get me and there went my fun afternoon.

I've been kind of stressed about money and school and the apartment next year that I knew it was time to get back into regular exercise. Not that regular exercise isn't good when you're not stressed, but stress is definitely a good motivator. Because I basically fail at follow through and sticking to my goals, I wasn't surprised when after taking, what I intended as, a week off from Insanity around the time of the Bayshore 10K, I seemed to quit all together.

Tonight I took the leap back into Insanity workouts. I ended pretty much exactly at the half way point, right at the start of the recovery week before the workouts get even harder. Basically this time around I decided to start with a few days of the first cycle workouts and then go into the recovery week. I decided to do the Plyometric Cardio Circuit DVD. HOLY MOLEY I SHOULD NOT HAVE STOPPED WORKING OUT FOR A FULL TWO MONTHS! Seriously I kind of don't know what I was thinking by not working out for that long but tonight was HARD. It was mentally and physically challenging and there were so many times when I just wanted to stop, lay down on the ground, and just guzzle my water. I was surprised at how long just the warm up seemed again. The more I did the workouts before the warm up seemed to get easier and shorter, now it just went on for forever (and so did the workout!) By the last few punches and jabs I was ready to rejoice in the fact that it was finally over.

As much as I dread working out and the hard work that is put into exercising like this, I secretly love the way it makes you feel. It reminds me of a good day after dance. If your body is sore, you know you put everything you could into your work outs. You tried hard and now you're feeling the results from pushing yourself through the challenge. It's somewhat satisfying when your muscles start to shake as you're walking up the stairs and the moment you sit down you loose all power to get yourself up again. The ground seemed to be my happy place until I was able to muster up enough strength to take my body to the shower. Oh the shower, it's such a lovely thing when you're covered in sweat. Now I've resorted to lying in my bed, ready to read a bit of "One Day" before I fall asleep.

This will definitely hurt worse tomorrow and I'm kind of dreading it. I'm just hoping I manage to make it through work the next four days straight. I'm a little terrified that I might collapse under the weight of clothes tomorrow.