Yesterday was GYM CHRISTMAS Day 5: Spreading Yuletide Cheer. I brought two bags of Christmas candy for my students as a surprise treat on our last day of classes. I only have 10 students right now and on any given day only 4-5 show up. So at the end of class, I still had two fairly full bags of candy. Despite my efforts to disperse them at school (and the small handful of chocolate kisses I had for a pre-lunch snack), I still had two bags of candy when I went home.
John and I knew that we wanted to spend the evening eating the leftover candy and watching Game of Thrones (in season 2 and we're hooked!) but I wanted to do a fairly challenging work out. Otherwise I would have sat around all evening eating candy and feeling kind of belch.
So I did as much as I could of the Iron Strength work out I've written about before. And bonus, I got to do it in my new Triathlon Club T-shirt that came in yesterday! As one of my teammates said, now everyone will know how legit I am.
I haven't attempted Iron Strength for several months because of my stress fracture. But since it is (hopefully!) on the wane, I wanted to give it a try. And, to my complete surprise, I did the best I ever have with this work out. I did ALL SIX SETS of 15 jump squats - what?! And my legs aren't even sore today. My upper body, of course, is pretty tired and sore now because I also did two sets of 15 pushups and 15 rows from plank (without the weights). I still can't do some of the tasks, like sit ups, etc, because of my motion sickness. But I'm really happy with what I could do. I guess swimming has made me stronger. It's the kind of thing I find surprising because, if the way my pants fit is any indication, I'm not exactly as thin as I was a year or two ago. But if I'm stronger, then I'll take it. My pants still fit well enough, after all.
In addition to Christmas candy, John and I decided to make a drink that Mark and his former roommate, Jeff, christened the Barack Obombus. The story goes that Mark and Jeff, both theory grad students, briefly concocted a plan to open a bar named for the genus of the bumblebee, the Bombus. They began thinking up signature drinks for the bar, like the Bombus Rombus, the Irish Car Bombus, etc, and of course, the Barack Obombus. It's basically a White Russian but with chocolate milk instead of half and half.
If you were going to buy vodka, and there was a 750 ml bottle with a tiny bottle of Crown Royal, and one without, and they cost the same, wouldn't you buy the one with the Crown Royal? I mean, come on. It's American Girl sized!
So if after a week of participating in Gym Christmas (or not) you would like a chocolately drink, I would like to further my gift of yuletide cheer by giving you the recipe for the Barack Obombus:
1.5 oz Vodka
3/4 oz Kahlua
3/4 oz Chocolate Milk (or more to taste) (non-dairy chocolate milk would work just as well)
Ice
Combine and serve. Repeat as needed. Goes particularly well with Game of Thrones.
Here is my GYM CHRISTMAS list now:
Go for a Pre- or Post-Dinner Walk.
Yuletide Cheer
Make a Game of Household Chores
Crank Up the Music and Boogie Down
Hazardous Waste Removal
Regular Water Consumption
Investigate and Share
Sneak a Work Out into Another Activity
Turn TV Commercials into Fitness Breaks
Muscle-Building/Strength Training
Animal Time
Seven-Minute Work-Out.
If I have time, I'll be back later today to report on whatever task I complete for Day 6.
Happy Finals Week, everyone!
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