Eye of the Tiger

As I mentioned last week, I've known for awhile that it was time for me to take things to the next level.  I don't remember the correct term for it, but physiologically your body eventually gets used to what you are doing and becomes complacent.  While this is one the great things about working out at Clay - your body will NEVER get complacent (I swear Hyam stays up all night coming up with crazy new ways to make us sweat), my effort level is controlled by me, not the trainer, and I hadn't been turning things up the way I needed to lately.

So when I got an e-mail from Clay announcing that Laura would be offering the opportunity for clients to try out an introductory boxing session I jumped at the opportunity. At the end of the 30 minutes I was wiped out and totally hooked. Boxing rocks!

Immediately after the trial I signed up for regular sessions with Laura. We decided that an hour session featuring 30 minutes of boxing and 30 minutes of strength-based cardio would be good for me. As much as I love the feeling of punching the bag (is that weird?) 30 minutes is about as much as I can handle right now, and trust me, Laura does not mess around for one second of that session.  

You may remember from Laura's guest post that I mentioned she trained in the US Army Reserve Military Police.  She's the real deal bad ass. Therefore what we are doing is more Muhammed Ali than Richard Simmons style boxing.  We use real boxing gloves, a real heavy bag and I when I joke about her hitting me back if I miss the mitts, I'm not sure she's joking...

Side Note: My partner apparently got intimidated by my mad skillz (not) and had to quit so I'm looking for a partner at 9:30 on Thursdays. I can do it on my own, but it's more fun with a friend. Anybody want to join me???

Oops...I Did It Again

When we adopted Scout I read every dog training book I could get my hands on.  One of the best pieces of advice I read was "A tired dog is a good dog."  Sure, there are dogs who love to just lay around, and Scout can hang with the best of them, but given the choice between lounging and exercising that dog would be outdoors running, hiking, skipping and jumping all day long if he could.

So in addition to my workouts at Clay and running on the treadmill I try to walk him at least a few miles a day.  We miss a day here and there, but It averages out to about 15 miles a week. This seems to be enough to keep him happy and me moving (though we'd both benefit from more, of course).  

I also read was that exposing your dog to new places with new smells is good for them and can actually help tire them out.  So, I try to make sure that we try a new route - or one we haven't been on in awhile - a few times a week.  Sometimes that means checking out one of the great hiking trails we are lucky to have in and around C'ville.  Other times it simply means venturing to an adjacent neighborhood.  Either way, Scout always seems happy. (Am I the only one who ever thinks being a dog would be pretty awesome?)

Unfortunately today we only had time to do the adjacent neighborhood thing.  We live on a hilly, windy road with no shoulder, let alone sidewalks, so I often get in to the car to get there (honestly this is about safety, not laziness).  The nice thing about this is that even if we only go a half mile, the fact that he got to go somewhere in the car seems to totally make Scout's day.  Again, wouldn't being a dog be awesome?

Today I chose a nice, long street with a good sidewalk.  Round trip would give us a solid 3 miles and leave me time to shower (maybe even put on make-up!) before heading off to Women's Health Virginia to deliver thank-you goodies for National Volunteer Week.

It was a great walk until the dreaded squirrel crossed our path.  Scout has, to put it mildly, a thing about squirrels.  And deer. And trucks. Mostly squirrels though.  When he sees one he has a very hard time not chasing after it.  Even though he's never - not even once - caught one, he never gives up hope. (that whole, not being able to climb a tree thing really hurts him).

Unfortunately I didn't see the squirrel or, apparently, the edge of the sidewalk, so when Scout took off in one direction, my body went the other direction and my ankle went some place completely different.  The end result wasn't good. 

 blood

 and swelling

yuck

Unfortunately we were over a mile in to our walk when this happened so the old RICE (rest, ice, compress, elevate) trick didn't take place for awhile.  These pics were taken after we got home, so you can see how well that went. I, of course, did the smart thing and e-mailed Laura to see if we could do an upper body only boxing workout tomorrow.  Oh, and I made an appointment to see my doctor, too, just in case. 

After stressing that I needed to ICE ICE and MORE ICE Laura told me that Michael Jordan once severely sprained an ankle, iced it and was able to play the next night. The way I see it Michael Jordan's got nothing on me, right?  Time to put on my boxing gloves! 

**And if you're thinking you've seen something like this from me before, you just may be right...