Have You Met Karl?

So I have to fess up. I’ve fallen halfway off of the bandwagon over here—in case you couldn’t tell by my radio silence for over a month. It all started back in July…when I went home to the tundra for a weekend and consequently missed the gym. And then I was tired when I got back. And I missed the gym. And then I got runner’s knee and needed to ease way up on my running training. So I “missed” the gym. And then holy hell broke loose at work, and so I got emotionally tired. And I missed the gym.

Are you tired of my excuses yet??? Me too.

My last post was about hitting the restart button on my workouts since a crazy start to the summer. I didn’t do as well as I had hoped. And while I’m making it sound like I went straight up cold turkey on my gym kick, I suppose that’s a little too harsh. I have been making it there, but usually only 2-3 times per week, and usually just to do my weight cards.

Truth be told, it’s the mornings that are really kicking my butt lately. I am great at getting to the gym after work, but I am having such a hard time just waking up when the early mornings hit. I don’t know you are familiar with the comedian Mike Birbiglia and his joke about Sleepy Karl (if you are not, you should watch this awesome clip for the first 3 minutes or so), but seriously, SLEEPY KARL LIVES IN ME. I can NOT wake up in the morning, and I think this dude is to blame. My alarm is a gentle yet peppy melodic sort of tone, largely because I like to wake up thinking that I’m a magical princess who daily arises to singing birds and sunshine—but Sleepy Karl has horrible hearing and severe delusions of his own. Lately, when the alarm goes off, Sleepy Karl is all like, “What’s that noise??? Oh, it’s just an ice cream truck at 7am in the morning. Nothing suspicious here. Back to sleep.” And I believe him! Sleepy Karl is also really good at out-reasoning and back-talking me. The alarm goes off, and BOOM! Karl is all up in my grill giving the laundry list of reasons why 9am is a MUCH more acceptable time to get up. Largely, his main argument is something to the effect of, “But look, if you stay in bed and roll over, there is a COOL PILLOW on that side! You can get up anytime, but that cool pillow won’t be there to hug your head if you strap on your running shoes.” What can I say? He’s a persuasive little punk who consistently parleys me into missing my cardio mornings.  

Regardless of Karl, I’ve been missing the structure and the routine I had going in the Spring. My body feels less capable lately, my loss of body fat has slowed to a near halt, and I just feel weak and jiggly everywhere. My nutrition has also gotten a little out of hand. I’ve been able to stay relatively clean/gluten free during the week, but I totally gorge on the weekends on anything in sight. And I’ve fallen off my writing schedule, to boot!

In short, I’m feeling off-balance.

And when that happens, usually I give myself a challenge to help re-center…because I’m a control freak. So here goes:

• Workout: Step One—Give Sleepy Karl the bird and get to the gym tomorrow morning for my running card. Step Two—5 consecutive days of cardio/weight training to break back into the groove (today-Saturday, rest Sunday).
• Nutrition: 1 week Paleo/Primal starting tomorrow until next Wednesday. Three cheat meals maximum.
• Bloggy-blog: One more post by Friday, one post additional post by Sunday.

Ah, feeling more successful already. And just because the universe has a funny way of sending you things when you need them, check out what was FINALLY waiting for me when I got home today (I've been anxiously awaiting my first issue for 7 weeks)!

Two times the fun! Score!

So without further ado, I’ll bid you goodnight to go start the challenge off right—whipping up some Paleo crepes for dinner! Happy Tuesday!