Gauntlet time

Yesterday was my hard core cardio night at the gym- I learned the hard way that I can’t eat anything for at least an hour before working out. Otherwise, I feel like I can puke at any moment. I climbed on the stairmaster and did a 45 minute cardio program that was variable levels of intensity and speed. I had my iPhone on the machine, listening to music, and I discovered that my gym has wi-fi so I started surfing and playing on facebook while I was climbing stairs. Pretty cool! Anything to pass the time, right? That’s one of the hardest things about cardio- staying with it and not getting bored while you’re on a machine for an hour. There’s tv, of course, but I’m so spoiled by my TiVo, that I hate watching commercials! So now, I will play on the internet while I’m driving my body to exhaustion! :)

After the stairmaster, I switched to the GAUNTLET for 15 more minutes. Yey, ME! That's 60 full minutes of intense cardio! Usually, I've been doing 35-45 mins, but it's time to step it UP! The gauntlet is a stair machine that looks like a mini-escalator. This machine’s name is there for a reason- it’s BRUTAL! Plus, there’s always the little threat that if you don’t keep up with the speed, you’ll fall right off the bottom of it, so at least it keeps you from slacking off! I like it because it’s so high up in the air, I feel like I’m standing in some sort of a watch tower, looking down at everyone else in the gym. King of the castle, king of the castle! (Borat, anyone?)

In case you don’t have any idea what this machine is, here’s a picture of the torture device:


When I got home, Dan was out getting a drink with some friends, so I took the dogs for a walk (yes, by now I’m REALLY tired, and my legs are begging for mercy!) I made salmon and steamed vegetables for dinner, and drank a protein shake while the food was cooking. Tonight is my training session with my trainer, but he text me last night and said he pulled a muscle in his back and he’s laid up for a couple days. My first thought was, “oh no, I hope he’s ok” but my next thought was “whoo hoo! I save $100 tonight”, followed by the next thought of, “oh crap, now I’m gonna have to pull it together and try to work myself out as hard as he does.” It will be an interesting workout, methinks…