Cardio Plus Light Leg Workout Done

Over to the left you have my promised shot of Cronulla beach. The famous Shark Island break is just around the point you see in this photo. The break was not happening on the day that we were there, and there were only a few kids surfing the small waves that were coming in. The water looked inviting enough, but it was a bit overcast for my liking so I have yet to break the ice and get in the sea around Sydney for a swim. I think that Manly was a nicer beach, although I am going to make the time to go back to Cronulla on a finer day when the surf is up before I make my final decision. It is a good place for a day trip. plenty of wonderful eateries and more cafes than you know what to do with! The chicken salad with mustard dressing that I had for lunch was just superb, and I think that even my trainer would have approved!

I was tired again this morning and I think that it must have something to do with putting a lot more effort into the cardio workouts that I am doing. I had another good workout this morning, and managed to go a bit harder on the second 25 minute session than I did on the first one today. I was huffing and puffing a lot today which means that it must have been a good one! It is nice to be finally seeking out that extra burn and extra level of difficulty. I really think that I have come a long way since I started this new approach to life.

The stats for my workout are up on the cardio fitness progress chart you can link to over on the right hand side of this blog if you want. Most importantly I got through 628 calories today which I think might be something of a record. I did an experiment on the second session choosing a calorie goal instead of the manual program on the treadmill. I had hoped that this might allow me to beat the 20 minute limit the club has, however it did not! No luck there, and it was during the warm down that I reached the goal, not during the main part of the workout, which I had expected.

I felt good after the first session and decided to take a wander around the gym and see if I felt like doing any more exercise. I decided that I did, and that I would do a light workout on my legs. I did some seated leg extensions, leg press, and seated calf raises. I finished off with three sets of 10 ab crunches on the Swiss Ball. I have decided to make sure that I do the crunches on the Swiss Ball after each cardio workout I do on my own, so that I can strengthen that area of my body. After years of having a large stomach behind them, and plenty of fat over the top of them, my abs need a lot of work.

I felt pretty good after the workout, but then it ocurred to me that doing legs the day before I saw the trainer might not be such a wise move. It was too late by then, however I am glad that I decided to just make it a light workout today. I will need all my strength for the usual Thursday workout tomorrow morning. I guess that it is also possible that the trainer will want to weigh me as it has been a while since she last did that.

On the way back from the gym it started raining on me which wasn't the best. It did help to cool me down and that was nice. I stopped at Woolworths on the way home to pick up some chicken for dinner tonight. I also purchased some of the diet chocolate mousse that my trainer has approved. They have virtually nothing in them and were on special ($1 for two packets as they go bad in four days). I'm also eating a lot of yogurt at the moment, and had to get some more of that today as stocks are running low. I must get back into making my own as it is much nicer, you have better control over what is in it, and it is much cheaper.

Dinner last night was fantastic, even if I do say so myself. I neglected to take a photo as it looked so good that my partner and I tore into it as soon as it was ready and completely forgot to take a photo of the meal for the blog! Never mind, I will take one next time as we will definitely be having that again. The fish was really fresh, so they told me truth. Next time I will cook it a bit less so that the rare part in the middle is more pronounced because that is so tasty! All this talk of food is making me hungry - lucky it is almost lunch time!

Check back tomorrow to see how my workout with the trainer goes, and who knows, I may even have a non-official weigh in to report to you! I'm hoping that I get a good loss this week as it will get me closer to running on the treadmill. I am really looking forward to being able to do that, I think that I am at the stage where walking fast is actually more effort than running would be! Thanks again to all of you that have been posting comments, keep 'em coming they really help to keep me focussed on what I am trying to achieve and the fact that I have come so far already. I guess that I am roughly a quarter of the way to my goal, which is pretty good considering the amount of time I have been at it. Can't wait to reach half way!