Monday: I have a confession to make: I’m a compulsive Groupon shopper.  I don’t buy them indiscriminately, but I do have a hard time passing up Groupons or LivingSocial coupons for body work.  I’ve bought a handful this year, all for $40 and under, and have used them judiciously, most for race recovery.  I find massages tremendously restorative, but I have a hard time justifying the full cost, making me an ideal candidate for Groupon purchases.  Anyway.  Monday was particularly stressful, so I was very thankful that I had a massage scheduled, and also took that as an excuse to not do Core Synergistics.  Instead, I walked to work, then walked to my appointment, then fell asleep in the midst of a particularly vigorous Thai massage.  I guess I needed it.

Tuesday: Core Synergistics.  I admit it: I’m coming to love Core Synergistics.  Maybe it’s just that I love making fun of Tony.  Either way, I brought it.

Wednesday: A lot of walking.  I walked downtown and worked at a coffeeshop before a morning meeting (1.5 miles).  I walked back to my office from that meeting (.6 miles).  I walked home from work (2 miles).  And then, at 8pm, I went on a walk with Shane that turned into a jog (2.3 miles).

Thursday: I meant to do Legs & Back, but my right shoulder has been hurting since Tuesday night – so instead, I did a quick 3 miles while Shane lifted, then we met friends for dinner at Jolly Pumpkin, where I destroyed a salad.

Friday: My shoulder was still iffy, but I brought it to Chest, Shoulders & Triceps.  Shane can vouch for this, as he saw me collapse during at least two of the push-up sequences (even doing them on my knees!) and had to rescue me when I got stuck with a weight behind my head when I hit max reps.

Saturday: We both ran the Can Do Road & Trail Run in Kalamazoo.  Shane did an amazing job – it was his first race, and only his second run this year.  He stuck to his pace and while he was purple in the face when he hit the finish line, he finished strong.  I am SO PROUD of him.  Please note that I am not talking about MY run, however.  I did well for the first 1.5 miles, and then just hit wall after wall after wall.  When I looked at my Garmin data after the race, it showed that I hit 90% of my max heart rate (however that is calculated) at the half mile mark, and just kept going up, hitting 106% of max in the last half mile.  No wonder I felt so terrible.  Oh well – I finished in 45:56, less than a minute off from where I wanted to be, even though I felt terrible and had to walk a couple of 15-30 second stretches.

Sunday: Legs & Back.  Because yesterday’s run wasn’t punishment enough. No taking it easy. Just push push push through the three sets of 15 slow, 10 fast calf raises and the four different forms of pull-downs (since I can’t do pull-ups).  And then think hard about post-workout nutrition while slamming a delicious mushroom and Swiss brat we brought back from New Glarus.

Week 6: In the bag.  One more week and then I get a break.