Strange Dream And Work Outs

Have you ever dreamed about working out? Last night, I had a dream that I was at someone's house (looked like a really big gym, but in a residence) taking a strength training class. The instructor told us to pick up a dumbbell, and hold it out in front of us. I picked one up, and was told it wasn't long enough. Everyone else had two hands on the weight, and I only had room for one hand. And that's really all I remember, other than I felt very out of place, and embarrassed for doing the exercise wrong.

Why did I dream that? No idea. Maybe it was because I was sort of nervous about getting on my elliptical today. Maybe it's because I've been thinking about upping my weights, who knows? But I don't remember ever dreaming about working out before.

As far as doing an exercise “wrong”, I'm sure I do plenty of exercise moves without proper form. Mainly the manly pushups. I don't go down to the floor nearly as much as I should. If I go any lower than I do, my arms will collapse, and I'll fall on my face (and possibly squish my cat Ashley in the process). I basically hold a plank position and lower myself about an inch at most and push back up. It's not a “real” pushup, but it's my version of a real one. I also tend to go faster than I should with certain exercises, like seated leg extensions. I need to concentrate on going slower with those.

Anyway, just a random dream last night. As for my workout this morning, I did well. Struggled a bit on my second set of front lateral raises. Didn't raise the dumbbells as high as I normally do, but I still managed to do a second set of 15.

And as for my elliptical? I did 1/10 of a mile in not quite four minutes. And the best part? No pain at all in my ankle. I actually wanted to go another 1/10, buy mt legs were tired. It's sad. I've been off my elliptical since the end of December, and my legs have lost all of that strength. My endurance was OK, but the fronts of my legs were dead. It would be so nice to be able to keep strength and endurance while recovering from an injury. I know it will be a while before I hit that 1 mile goal again. But it will happen.

The plan for this week is to do another 1/10 of a mile on Wednesday and Friday. Then next Monday go for .2 miles. And increase my mileage by .2 every week. And STOP if I feel any funkiness in my ankle (or other areas). During that 1/10 of a mile, I burned off 33 calories. Hehehe. What is that? Like three M&M's? At least it's something though. I am very happy that I felt no discomfort at all. I was somewhat anxious about it. I kept thinking after 30 seconds it would start to ache, but it never did.

I can relax now, and focus on moving forward. Positive thinking. No more injuries. I want to go a mile again, NOW, but I know that's not a very smart thing. Not only would my ankle probably flare up, I'd most likely die from exhaustion. Either that, or the muscles in the fronts of my legs would explode. Hehehe. So, slow and easy is the key.

As for the rest of my day, I have some serious vacuuming to do. The kind that involves moving furniture and sprinkling carpet freshener over it. When you have three cats, that's necessary from time to time.

What are your plans this week?