Ahh...the comfort of iron.

Today was my first day back in the gym after chilling at home with the parents. Today's work came in 3 parts.

Part 1 and Part 3 were the walk to and from the gym. I live close to campus and refuse to drive the short distance just to work out, so I walked. However, late last week, the state of Iowa, or at least where I'm at, was covered in a sheet of ice. As of today, that sheet was still there, especially on my path to the gym. Imagine walking on a ice rink, which is easy enough, however there is a slight hill, so that ice rink is now tilted, leaving you slidding down the street, flailing your arms. Not so bad on the way to the gym, but quite difficult on the way back! My quads got quite the workout as I did my best not to whipe out (and I didn't!).

Part 2 was actually at the gym. On my icey walk to campus, I decided to take the next month or so off of endurance training to hit the weights before starting the olympic training. I was a constant weight lifter in high school and undergrad and will be glad to be back in the weight room. However, unlike when I was younger when I wanted to add more weight, I need to be aware that I'm no longer a "weight lifter". I now have to train myself to accept that more is not better, unless the more is reps. Today I did more reps with my normal weights, but will so drop the weight a little to increase the reps even more. To understand just how absurd this thought process is to me, think of trying to explain to a teenage girl who is extremely vain about her looks that what is on the inside counts more than her good lucks...good luck with that.

I did some running for cardio, and will continue to do so, but I won't be pushing the "long" runs for a few more weeks.

I also am adding a new resolution/goal: to successfully complete 5 pull ups WITHOUT any help! The gym has this do da machine that aids in pull ups and I can do 10 on that. Apparently, even with my weight training history I suffer from "Chunky Vertical Syndrome", which means that while I can handle my body weight in other ways like squats, pushups, situps and tri dips, I'm not able to pull my weight veritcally. Well, 2009 is the year of the cure!