I don't know if it's the same everywhere, so just in case, I'll explain my title. In Utah, we have a system to describe the air quality, and any restrictions that might go along. It goes by the traffic-light system: Green is good air quality and no restrictions; yellow is not-so-good air quality and they encourage limited driving, trying to carpool and try not to use fireplaces or wood-burning stoves (in winter, obv.); and red means poor air quality, and they really encourage carpooling, and fireplaces are restricted (I think if you get caught you are fined- but that might just be a myth).
Anyway, yesterday and today are Red Burn Days. As if I wasn't nervous enough about figuring out when to do my run (due to our recent heat), "they" tell me that there's ozone in the air and smoke from the California fires. I've had issues on and off with asthma for the last 15 years, and bad air quality probably wouldn't be wise to mess with-plus it wouldn't be a very productive workout. So, I decided to do my back-up plan of cross-training on my elliptical machine, in my nice air-conditioned basement. I don't have to run every day, as long as I get a good workout, right?
Well, that's fine and dandy except that when I got home from work, my power was out. Great- too many people sucking juice for their A/C units! Now, my elliptical runs on batteries, so it would still work just fine. But my family room only has 1 tiny window, and it's really dark downstairs. Plus, that means no catching up on my Tivo while I workout (of course, I could have done the elliptical in the semi-dark while listening to my iPod). Am I a baby or what?
I eventually decided to wait and see if the power came back on soon, and in the meantime would catch up on magazines (since I couldn't catch up on my blogs!). Plus it had been a stressful day at work and I needed to unwind. I decided to have a little snack (or not-so-little). I had some tapioca pudding (the full sugar kind- the only fat comes from whatever milk you make it with) that was 130 calories, but I calculated, and it was 3 WW points! Yowza! Good thing I'm tracking calories and not points. Then about an hour later, I was still hungry, so I had my last leftover banana pancake with a bit of peanut butter (not heated up of course, since the microwave requires power). My snack ended up being 300 calories, but then I looked in my trusty food journal and realized my lunch was only 300 calories, so my body probably needed the fuel- especially if I was going to do a workout. (My lunch consisted of cooked baby carrots and cooked peas- from frozen, a small piece of leftover pot roast, and some vanilla "carb master" yogurt). So I felt okay.
All right, I really am getting to the point. Hubby came home and mowed the lawn, while I cleaned up a little bit, and the power came back on at about 6:45- thank heavens! So I went in and did 40 minutes on the elliptical, while watching a new show on FX, "30 Days" (done by Morgan Spurlock- the guy who did "Supersize Me") I would recommend both of them, because they are entertaining and informative. By the time I finished it was way past dinner time, but it still worked out okay.
So I overcame at least one hurdle yesterday, but I still haven't figured out my running/heat dilemma. I'm really tempted to change to a later work schedule so I can run in the mornings. On my way to work I pass a lot of runners/walkers and it kind of makes me jealous. I'm not sure what my plan is for today (bad, I know) because it's my regular Tuesday meeting, and the boss-man warned us that it's going to be heavy. That means I'll have to stay late at work, plus I have some ladies from church visiting at 5:30. It will definitely have to be an evening workout, I'm just not sure what. I could always give BL Cardio Max another try- ha! (sorry Trainer Bob- I love you, but I don't want to do anything to mess up my 6-mile run on Saturday) Maybe I'll do my Leslie Sansone 5-mile walk DVD...
Oh, and I almost forgot. On the elliptical, normally I do a warm-up at level 2, and workout at level 3 (out of 16 levels), but yesterday I did most of my time at level 4! My legs must be getting stronger from running, and that's definitely encouraging.
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