Day 83. OKAY.

5 sets of sit-ups to failure, number 2. I'm not even going to say how many I did...

..

okay, I will. 440.

...

Then I did 8 minute abs...

My yoga mat looks like the public swimming pool. Smells like it too. I'm sweating on my MacBook Pro.

My abs are still able to go on, I don't feel sore. Just tired. I think they've really developed well. The lowers still need work, but I think that's par for the course. I did 4 sets of 100, then another set of 40 before I collapsed, quite literally ready to pass out. I had ringing in my right ear. This heat is killer. 20 seconds later I hit the 8 minute abs.

I found an ab exercise I'll try tomorrow in conjunction with my 8 minute abs, it's a bicycle crunch of sorts. Basically bicycle kicking while alternating arms to the knees. Without putting feet on the ground.

Day 82

The thud after the planks was resounding as I hit the floor. Sweat covered, I lay panting, then limped to the kitchen for the coldest thing I could find. OMFG heat! It's 90 outside, so probably around 94 in here. Just finished my planks. It's hot. Very hot. Skipped 8 minute abs. Too. Too. Too. Hot.

Day 81

All day my body has felt weak and craved food. My eating schedule got thrown off twice today, too. My left knee has had pain all morning. I just tried to do my jumps, and managed about half of them. My right shoulder started to hurt and I made it about halfway through. I'm going to listen to my body and lay down. Hopefully I'll feel up to it later. So. Exhausted.

In other news, Happy 4th of July to the Americans among us!

Day 80! Wow.

I can't believe it's day 80. It'll be almost sad to see it end. It wasn't that long ago I was telling myself "just three more weeks!".

It's really enjoyable seeing Will start the project just as I'm ending it. Mostly because it's pretty much a guarantee that I'll stick with the same habits, although I have the drive to do that anyway. Last night I spent a while reading through the old workouts and realized how far we've come. There's still quite a push to be made in these last 10 days, but man, have we progressed in terms of what we can handle! (Don't worry, I didn't give Will any spoilers!)

I'm planning a celebration expedition at the end of the project... I haven't quite decided, but I think I'm going to go camp out on the summit of Camel's Hump (for you non-Vermonters, it's the mountain on the state quarter) for the night. My current plans are biking there, it's about 19 miles if I'm not mistaken. Not too terrible, but I'm not sure how my knees will feel on day two. It's about a 1.5 hour hike up, but will probably be 2 hours given I just biked there. I'm honestly more worried about my bike feeling up to it.

Day 79

Hurrah! 5x 90 second plank - apparently so tough my timer couldn't handle it. It actually froze halfway through a set. Had to pull the battery to reset it. Always enjoyable after the fact though!

I got some pure cocoa powder from the co-op, and added it to my milk & egg blend. It's okay, but I need to go a bit lighter on it so it saturates and isn't so strong. Very very low calorie additive for the flavor provided. Still not quite cinnamon-class though.

Today I learned to buy spices in bulk. Whole spice bottle worth of chili powder = $1.50ish. Bottle on the shelf - $4.00ish. Take your pick, but the answer's obvious. I got a ton of cinnamon too.

Since I switched to the heavier resistance band, my workouts have been more enjoyable again, and while some sets can't be completed, I'm actually noticing my muscles get far far stronger from it. I go back to the 5 lb'r sometimes and wonder why the hell I was using it for such a long time.

Day 78 - Workout Done!

Day 78 done! More Carbs = Happy Mike! Dry rolled oats = not a great pre-workout snack. Gotta have more moisture.

Yesterday I made an enormous purchase. It's incredible. I can't believe I never bought them before. They're the underarmour compression shorts. Absolutely fracking fantastic. Not only do they make jumping rope far more comfortable (for reasons I won't get into here), but they make the workout better too, more freedom of movement and cooler than the board shorts. They're the 6" Boxerjocks. I'm actually considering the 3" too.

Day 78

Combating laziness, building motivation.

Somebody go do my workout for me so I can watch 30 Rock more.

Seriously, I've cleaned every nook and cranny of the kitchen, including scrubbing every inch of the stovetop and burners, the sink, every dish in the house, the floor, tables, cabinets...

I went food shopping. I read on the history of muesli. I enjoyed my lunch away from the computer.

Still, I'm unmotivated. I'm gonna rearrange the living room, then workout.