Lesson Learned

I have learned my lesson – do not lift weights right before a swim.  I headed to the gym when I got back in town (more on where I was later in this post) and did 30 minutes on the elliptical – it still makes me nervous to run, 30 minutes of weight lifting, and then I was supposed to do a 45 minute swim.  I did the first two parts of my workout without any problems.  Then I hit the water and I quickly learned that I will never schedule a strength training workout right before a swim.  My arms were jello-y and my shoulders immediately began throbbing.  I had major shoulder issues when I used to swim competitively and I can’t afford to go through that again during my training.

So, I decided to take it easy, especially since I hadn’t been in the pool for 2 weeks.  I did a bunch of 50s, which actually loosened my arms up after 12 of them.  By then though, my mind was already focused on the fact that I told myself if I swam 1000 yards I could get out of the pool.  I was mentally checked out.  But hey, I got 20 minutes of swimming in and I learned a very valuable lesson that I will make sure not to repeat anytime in the near future!

My workout ended up like this:

I did 1 set of 10 for each of my strength training exercises.

MY WEEKEND ACTIVITES

Anyways, this weekend I headed up north to Chicago for Brooke’s baby shower.  I hadn’t seen her since this past summer, and at that point she was pregnant but didn’t know it yet.  I had seen a picture or two along the way, but nothing too recent, so I was super excited to see the pregnant lady! 

First of all, Brooke has to be the cutest pregnant person ever!

My head looks really large when I’m next to Brooke.

The shower was really nice and I had the benefit of having my mom drive from Indy to Chicago since she was invited as well!  That made the trip much easier on me.

I got to see some other friends from college as well, which was really nice!  We had some delicious food, played some shower games, and saw all of Brooke’s cute new boy presents.  It was a good time and I wish I could’ve spent some more time with Brooke.  Lucky for me, I’m heading back up to Chicago in a week and a half for NASP, and we’re planning on getting some dinner one night.  I can’t wait until the baby boy arrives in April!!!  This is the closest thing to a nephew that I’ve got since Brooke has been my best friend for over 8 years!

Now I’m back in Cincinnati and it’s back to another crazy week at work.  February and March are by far the craziest months in school for me – so many evaluations due and reports to write.  There will be lots of report writing at home for the next few weeks.  Yippee (boo).