Lazy Labor Day

Lazy Labor Day 

Monday, September 05, 2011 

Ah, three day weekends. After getting up early on Saturday and Sunday, a day I can sleep in. I stayed in bed almost till 7 am. 

I am not a morning person. Time was, I could sleep in till 9 if I'd been up on time the previous five days. But a while back, I set a Spark goal to be in bed by 10:30. I missed a couple of nights, but not by much and not in the same week. 

So sleeping in isn't the production it once was. Got up, and got about the day in a leisurely fashion. Fixed my breakfast, checked my friend feed, looked down the list of stuff I do daily on SP. My kettlebells called to me. The last two days, I didn't do anything with them. My body was too beat up. Pre-spark, that could have been the start of the kettlebells gathering a lot of dust. But there's 2 Spark Points to be gained by doing my morning TGU/Windmill combos and KB snatches. So they got done.

Thought about going to the gym, which is open from 8:30 to 2 on Labor Day. At 10, my daughter showed up. She's storing stuff in my basement in preparation for moving to a different apartment. We had a nice chat, then she left for work. Geared around to get to the gym, and at 11:30 I realized I barely had 1000 steps on the pedometer. (For reference, on a normal work day I'll have about 1500 steps when I'm sitting at my desk with my morning cup of tea.) 

Hmm. If I go to the gym, I might not get cardio in. That puts the 10K step streak in jeopardy. So I set out to walk my 5.2 mile loop, to get today's cardio. 

Walking was hard. It was cool and overcast with sprinkles that later turned to a steady light rain. I had a tough time holding to the walk instead of running portions. But yesterday was a 5K training day, and tomorrow is another 5K training day. Today I need to *walk* to loosen the calves, so I'll be able to walk/run tomorrow. Forgot to check the pedometer right at the start or end of the walk, but I did a bit earlier and a bit later. 5.2 miles in 74 minutes generated somewhere less than 9400 steps, but that was good enough for the 10K step streak. 

Got home in the rain. Taking care of the lawn is a lost cause this weekend. Got lunch, and it's too late to get to the gym. Played on the computer some, and the cat wants to be fed early. Tough toenails, cat. I guess I can vaccuum so you'll leave me alone for a half hour. 

Done vacuuming, and it's still too early to feed the cat. Don't want to drive anywhere, and it's a dreary day for a casual walk. The gym would be good, but it's closed now. Well, I have weights in the basement. What's on the agenda? Deadlifts, incline dumbbell chest presses, lat pulls, and standing calf raises. Can't do the lat pulls at home, but I can do the other stuff. Shut the cat out of the basement and lift weights. 

This is the first time I've done a full weight lifting session at home in a long time. Maybe Christmas 2009 was the last time? Anyway, get done with what I can do at home, and feel like I need to do something else. Can't do lat pulls. Don't like bent over rows. Settle for renegade rows, which are more a core exercise than a pull, but there is that pull element. Plus, when I get done with renegade rows I'll know I've put some effort into the session. 

Pre-Spark, what would this Labor Day have been like? I probably would have got the vacuuming done. I might have done more with the walls in the empty room than I did today, but I probably would have spent most of the day reading. I would have thought about a walk, and likely not done it because of rain. I would have thought about the gym, likely not gone, and likely not have lifted weights at home. And of course I would have eaten more and worse than I really did today. 

All in all, not a bad Labor Day. I got in a nice 5.2 mile walk, I lifted weights (including deadlifting 110% of my weight), I had a nice chat with my daughter, and at 8:30 pm I feel like I've had a very relaxing day. 

Life is good.