How to burn a bajillion calories in one weekend

After spending Friday night prepping the house for painting, I created a little makeshift breakfast nook for myself Saturday morning by pushing the two couches together in the middle of the room and plunking an upside-down coffee table on top as a hard surface.



Before getting too comfortable, I was off to the gym for a run and workout. I left the car in the gym parking lot and set out for an 11K run. It was a nice mild morning and I was waaaay over-dressed. I even saw one guy out running in shorts! In December! In Canada! I had a great run and found myself back the gym before I knew it ... on to round 2!

I grabbed my bag from the car and headed inside to change and eat a quick snack before Bootcamp. Class was great, as usual, but all I could think as I squatted, lunged and inchworm-ed my way through the stations was "I was 3 gallons of paint waiting at home; I hope I don't regret this!"

Once class had finished, I booted home and got ready to get down to business. Hubs, unfortunately, was not feeling well. (He had been at a work party the night before; I'll let you use your imagination as to why he was not feeling so hot. grumble grumble) I ended up sending him back to bed, turning on some music and getting started on my own.

Painting clothes are so attractive, aren't they?

I quickly found a groove and actually enjoyed myself. Anyone else find painting to be very therapeutic? So I painted and painted and painted some more, taking a few short breaks in between. After about 4.5 hours, the first coat was complete!

It ended up being a nice quiet evening. I hung out in my little "breakfast nook" for a while before eventually joining hubs in the bedroom to watch a Christmas movie.

Sunday morning came all too early... my legs, back and shoulders were definitely talking to me and I had a big run on deck. I made my way slowly and stiffly through the morning routine before hubs and I met up with our training group for a long run.

It was another mild morning (slightly above freezing = mild) and wet snow was falling but not accumulating on the wet roads. I was actually pretty comfortable in two long sleeve tops and a light windbreaker layer, except for the fact that I was soaking wet within minutes.

It would continue to snow/rain for the duration of our run and the roads became more slippery/sloppy/slushy as we went along. As we trudged up some of the more significant ski hills "undulations", I was certain we were making more progress sliding backwards than forwards.

Everyone was suffering quite a bit since it was taking so much more effort to simply move forward, and the torturously "scenic" (read: hilly) route certainly wasn't helping. The majority of the group decided to take a short cut back to the store, while only 4 of us (hubs, myself and 2 others) trudged on for the full distance. Even coach decided to turn back early - probably the first time in all the years I have run with him that I've seen him cut a run short. (I made sure to tease him about this thoroughly after the run.)

Finally, after running the majority of the last 5K into a wet and snowy headwind, we made it back to the store. I had been chasing after hubs and another fast-foot and managed to log some pretty impressive splits (including a few in the 5:00/KM [8:00/mile] range), especially given the conditions.

27.0 KM (16.8mi) - 2:32:09 - 5:38/KM (9:04/mi)

This run definitely falls under the "character-building" category... and I'm not even technically training yet! I was sore all over, mostly from the previous day's activities, and dreaded the thought of going home to finish painting.

After catching up with the gang back at the store, I quickly felt chilled to the bone and we hurried home... with one quick pit stop on the way:



Hubs was gung-ho and ready to help on day 2, but I had a major lapse in judgement had decided I wanted to finish the job on my own, even though every muscle in my body was hurting. (He was on stand-by for back-up and took care of some other chores in the meantime).

I was definitely less enthused to start the second coat, but ready to get the job done.

My hair looks awesome like this, doesn't it? :/

It felt like the second coat took forever. In reality, it was about another 4 hours. I took a lot more breaks because I was exhausted and hurting from head to toe. I may have vowed never to paint again. But mercifully, the job was eventually done. Hubs touched up the trim where I had been sloppy where necessary while I rinsed brushes.

Today we'll finish cleaning up and get the rooms put back together. And then finally I can put up the Christmas tree! What a job. "After" pictures will follow.

The reward for two days of hard work? Every Canadian's favourite at Christmas:

HBBC Week of Dec.4-10

Dec. 4 - run (15.8), F&V (1) = 16.8
Dec. 5 - run (3.1), F&V (1) = 4.1
Dec. 6 - 0
Dec. 7 - run (5), 20 mins. weights (1), Spin (6), F&V (1) = 13
Dec. 8 - run (9.7), F&V (1) = 10.7
Dec. 9 - run (6), Spin (4), weights (1), F&V (1) = 12
Dec. 10 - run (3.1), F&V (1) = 4.1 
=60.7

Ongoing Tally Week of Dec. 11-17
Dec. 11 - run (6.8), Bootcamp (4) = 10.8
Dec. 12 - run (16.8)
=27.6