Hundred Push-Ups Week 1 and Crock Pot Halibut Stew

Well, I'm officially done with week 1 of the hundred push-ups challenge I started, and I'm surprised to already be seeing some improvements.  I'll be honest - as I was completing day 1 of week 1, and even the next morning, I was pleasantly surprised.  It didn't seem so bad while I was actually doing the push-ups, and I was only mildly sore the next morning.  As the day went on though, more and more muscles began to ache, and the aches all kept getting worse.  I was struggling to put on my jacket or change my clothes by the time work was over.  I was certainly humbled at that point!  I had sore muscles in places that I didn't even know I had muscles to begin with.  I'll admit - it was tempting to throw in the towel and say I wasn't cut out for it.  But why give up after just the first day?  I couldn't do that.  I just convinced the hubby to give me an extra long back massage that night and the next, and made sure to really focus on stretching out those muscles.  I was on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule for the program, so when Wednesday rolled around, I woke up still feeling quite sore, but not nearly as bad as the evening before - I could at least wash my hair and put on my own coat!  I made sure to really stretch out my upper body after work on Wednesday, and even though I was skeptical (and a bit afraid of hurting myself), I headed down to the basement to do my push-ups before my run.  I'm not going to lie - I was still sore.  And it hurt while I was doing the push-ups this time.  But you know what - I still did them.  On the 5th and last set each day, you're supposed to max out - do as many push-ups in a raw as you can without injuring yourself.  I couldn't do anymore than before this time, but I made it through day 2 of week 1 anyway.  No glory there, but lots of guts!  Lol! 

I felt surprisingly good on Thursday, despite all the anticipation of feeling just as terrible as I did on Tuesday.  Friday was super busy for me, and I was exhausted, so I opted to move my Friday push-ups to Saturday (completely acceptable according to the lay-out of the program).  Saturday's program was week 1 day 3, and it was intimidating.  I was schedule for sets of 8, 10, 7, 7, and a max of at least 10 or more.  I hadn't done more than 9 consecutive push-ups yet, so I was glad I'd decided to take the extra day to recover.  I truly surprised myself.  Not only did I make it through the first 4 sets as scheduled, but I did 12 consecutive push-ups on the 5th set for my max-out!  12!  I'm not sure if you saw that, so I'll say it again - 12!  I know this isn't really many, but for me it was.  And it meant I was already seeing improvement over my initial test (max of 8). 

I snuck a peek at week 2 day 1, which I'm scheduled to do tomorrow, and it's another intimidating one of 9, 11, 8, 8, and a max of at least 11. Whoa!  And by the end of week 2, I need to be able to do at least 15 on my max set.  Yikes.  I figure all I can do is try.  I don't really expect to be able to do 100 push-ups by the end of the program, so if I have to repeat a couple weeks, that's okay with me.  No matter what, I'm building up some muscle capacity in my upper body and core, which was the goal anyway.

On another note, since it was Sunday, I decided to bust out the Crock Pot again - it seems to be a Sunday favorite of mine.  This was the recipe I chose for today: Slow Cooker Halibut Stew.  There wasn't any halibut at the store, so I used cod instead, but I doubt that matters.  Now I'm not the most advanced in the kitchen, which means I don't have any suave and sassy knife chopping skills.  That being said - this prep took FOREVER!  Everything needed chopped or diced.  Some needed peeled first.  It probably took me twice as long as it should have, but it was finally all in the crockpot.  Whew.  I was actually a little ticked at this point because I wasn't really expecting much from this dish.  It was a stew of fish, after all, and I was only anticipating an average outcome.  Not worth it for all that prep.  HOWEVER, when dinner time rolled around, my husband and I got quite a shock.  This stuff was fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It was even spicy, which we love!!!!!!  I thought for sure this was something he'd hate and offered him the option of eating some of the leftovers in the fridge from earlier this weekend.  But he tried it, and we were both amazed!  :o)  This immediately went on the "make again" list.  This was the picture from the website where I found the recipe, and the real outcome actually looked pretty similar:



So after the excitement and chaos of last week, I'm hoping to get fully back on track this week.  If the rest of my cooking this week is as good as that halibut (cod) stew I made tonight, it shouldn't be too hard.  I just need to stay away from the cookies...  :o)