Ugh.  I was feeling slightly sluggish this week.  My legs felt like I was dragging anvils around, and I couldn’t figure out what was going on.  Then, one morning I realized that I hadn’t taken my thyroid medication – OOOPS!  That would explain it.  For those of you who don’t know, I’ve been on thyroid meds for a few years now – I take Armour Thyroid and Synthroid every single day.  I struggled with debilitating fatigue and unexplained “weakness” for a lot of my life – I actually have a very vivid memory of walking in my backyard as a kid and feeling like I was “dragging” my legs, because they felt so weak.  As I matured and started hiking/climbing seriously, I started blaming my fatigue on my training and my over-zealous weekend exploits.  I also work nightshift, and it was pretty easy to use that to explain my fatigue as well.  Finally, it got to the point where I was using sick leave to take naps in my car at work – yah, that’s probably not normal.  I started on a very bumpy journey to discover why my health was poor – my thyroid was definitely a piece of the puzzle, but I was also malnourished.  Apparently, a diet consisting entirely of pasta and Aidell’s chicken and apple sausage and Papa John’s “Cowboy” pizza with a side of mint chocolate chip ice cream is NOT ideal for sustaining life.  Go figure!

Once I figured out that I had missed a few doses of my thyroid meds (doh!), I started feeling a lot better.  This week has been pretty solid, workout-wise.  I’m going to overlap a little bit with my post from last week, since I technically shared a week and a half’s worth of workouts last Monday.

Even the view from Si is decent on occasion.

Here goes:

1/29 – ran in a 5k… set a new PR of 22 minutes, which I thought was pretty good, considering that I never run.

1/30 – hiked up the old trail of Mt. Si … (1.5 hrs to the top + a short break for a snack) 3hrs round trip, 3800″ gain.

1/31 – “bootcamp” style workout at our gym:

1 mile run

using light/medium dumbbells (I used 10lbs/12lbs) perform 100 reps with light and 50 reps with medium of (note: when our trainer makes us do ridiculous things like 100 reps of something, I typically break it down into smaller, “mini sets”):

tricep kickbacks

bicep curls

single leg lunges (holding weights)

glute lifts (weight behind knee)

50 tricep dips, 120 second plank hold, 40 push ups

100 crunches (30 of these were holding a dumbbell)

2/1 – rest day, basically did nothing all day

2/2 – “bootcamp” style workout at our gym:

1/2 mile run at fast pace

100 bicep curls w/30lb bar

120 seconds of plank hold

5- tricep dips

30 push ups

3×25 reps of a delt raise

3x 25 reps of straight arm shoulder raise

40 rows with 70lbs

50 glute lifts with medium dumbbells on each leg/50 glute lifts with heavy on each leg

50 leg adduction lifts with medium dumbbells on each leg/50 leg adduction lifts with heavy

40 hamstring “roll outs” with wheel (it’s a small wheel with foot pads, so you lift your hips and push the wheel away from your body and pull it back in to work hamstrings)

40 “pike to plank” with wheel

10 “in and outs” with wheel

100 each of: reverse curls, crunches, squirmers (obliques)

40 more pushups

2/3 – HIIT workout and 45 min circuit @ gym:

HIIT: 5/10/15/10/5 of pushups, burpees, jumping lunge/squat combo, broad to tuck jumps, squat pulse jumps and skaters

Circuit: 1 min 20 seconds each x 2 rounds of the following exercises: ab wheel rollout, uphill run on treadmill, incline sit-up with dumbbell punches, burpee with step up, bicycle crunch, single leg glute lift with opposite leg raise, plank ups, leg extension with scissor, front/back kick combo, mountain climbers and hops on the bosu ball, 10 tricep dips + 5 air jacks, uneven step squat and shuffle, bar to bar abs.

2/4 Tabata + strength garage workout:

12 min tabata (20 sec work/10 sec rest) of: Kettlebell swing (25lb KB), sprawl with kicks, sprawl to squat, kick through side abs, reverse lunge with kick (holding 15lb dumbbell in one hand), push press w/ 15lbs.  Repeat 2x total.

Strength: Delt row with red band 3×15, squat pulse with 25lb kettlebell 3x 20 reps, 20 walking lunges with 30lbs total.

50 tricep dips, 30 push ups, 120 second plank

cardio finisher: 40 kettlebell swings (25lb KB), 40 box jumps (smaller box), 40 squat with press (15lb dumbbells).

2/5 HIIT Pyramid + strength garage workout:

pyramid – 10 box jumps (tall box) + 1 burpee, 9 box jumps + 2 burpees, 8 box jumps + 3 burpees, etc… down to 1 box jump + 10 burpees.

120 second plank, 30 push-ups, 50 tricep dips

15 deficit squats with 40lb dumbbell, 20 monster walks with band around legs, 25 each side glute lifts (20lb dumbbell), 15 deadlifts with 60lbs.

I’m going to share a few of the workouts that I posted in my “Towards the Mountaintop Inch By Inch” facebook group this week (if you want to join it, just search for it and request to be a member – it’s a private group).

Keep after it peeps – summer is just around the corner!!