Biggest Loser STARTS!!!

Ok.. so the title of my post isn't workout related but it kind of is...

First let's talk about my workout.. Today was sprint day. It kind of sucked that I do sprints the day after Jillian Michaels but hey.. c'est la vie.

So today for sprints I did 8 400 meter sprints uphill. It was hot and it was humid. It pretty much sucked bad. I honestly didn't time myself for each sprint but I gave myself 1 minute of rest between each set. I felt tired, hot, and utterly horrible lol. To warm up I ran for about 5 minutes and stretched out before starting. I then cooled fown for about 10 minutes. All together, I ran about 4.13 with an overall average 10 minute something pace.. not bad considering the heat lol.

On days like this it's really hard for me to be proud of myself. I struggled heavily, and have been struggling the past couple of weeks. I'm not sure if it's the heat, my exhaustion, stress, etc. but I really hope that my training gets easier. This sort of stuff makes me think I can't break two hours for the half marathon - or even run the whole thing. The thing is- on days like this you need to acknowledge these days and move on. Tomorrow is a walk and hopefully I can just take this time to relax my muscles and be social too!

Ok so now BIGGEST LOSER STARTS!!! I love this show. I love what it teaches people. I love how it changes people's lives and I LOVE how it inspires others. I'm sure I'll mention stuff about the show on this blog.. so be prepared :)

Jillian Michaels.. kicks my a$$ time and time again

So every Monday I'll usually alternate between swimming and a Jillian Michaels DVD (usually 30 Day Shred). Today's workout: Level 1 of 30 Day Shred... I always laugh and comment about how no matter what shape I'm in.. this lady kicks my a$$ every time lol.. Even Level 1 is a killer for me. I love her workouts though because they incorporate circuit training and are short intense workouts. What makes me laugh is that I originally heard about this video when I was planning for my wedding. Girls swore by this DVD and so of course I bought it. Now that I own it and have done it, I am also a true believer.

I'll go ahead and recap from the previous week since I was a lazy bum and didn't keep up.

Tuesday: 4 - 1/2 mile repeats (my pace alternated between 3:22-3:44). All together I ran about 4.1 miles. I felt good, but I realize I need to improve on this pace. Hopefully my time will improve is I continue to train.

Wednesday: I biked for about 30 minutes. Nothing too serious. Just parked my bike in front of the TV and rode comfortably.

Thursday: I biked for about 40 minutes and then ran for about 15 minutes. My 15 minute run was hard pace (again, I never know how fast I'm going but I know I'm booking it).

Friday: 5 mile run. It was a horrible run and I honestly don't want to talk about it. I rarely have runs like this, but when it happens there is nothing you can really do about it except acknowledge it and move on.

Saturday: 30 mile bike ride in about 2:17 and a 3 mile run/walk with my friend L at the gym... Let's just say I was exhausted Saturday lol...

Sunday: Off!!

This week I hope to figure out some good sprints and have a comfortable run sometime during the week. I'm walking with my friend S on Wednesday so it'll break up my intense workout schedule. I'll keep you all updated as I continue on my journey :)

Swimmmminnngggg

Ugh.. swimming lmao.... It's been a couple of weeks since my last swim and so it was back to the grind today.

I've got two girls who I'm "training" to do their first triathlon and so once a week we go and swim. I was teaching one of them proper form and helping them relax and just start tri- swimming for the first time. To me tri-swimming is totally different than regular swimming. You need endurance and you need to really conserve energy to get yourself through the whole triathlon. It went well, and just like any new swimmer, the two problem areas that she had were form and breathing. Honestly though, I had the worst time starting to swim and did absolutely horrible my first swim. I'm really proud of the girls though and think they're going to do well :)

While I was watching her swim and going through some drills, I got some laps in... I ended up doing 10 laps freestyle which is less than a half mile. I did a couple of other laps with the paddleboard and the buoy, but nothing too serious. It was fun though and I am pretty much forced to go to the pool which is what I need...

It was nice to be in the water since this weekend I focused only on running... I ran 7.5 miles Saturday and did 4 miles Sunday... the 4 miles on Sunday were a social run and nothing too serious. I definitely loved being back in the running groove..

Starting All Over Again...

So it's been a couple of months since I've given up on long runs.. I focused a little bit more on 5Ks and really working on my speed. I have been trying to run under a 24 minute 5K and am almost there... but now that I'm half marathon training again... I got to build up my endurance. This changes the way I train during the week and my mileage for the week.

My run today was a 7.5 mile run. I clocked in at 1 hr 13 min and 16 seconds. That averages to about a 9:46 min/mile. I didn't take away a minute from my time (which I should have) since I had to stop and tie my shoe and stop at a couple of lights to crossover which would be bring my avg time down a little tiny bit. I am pretty happy about my time right now.. Of course I've got to get under a 9 minute mile to get under a 2 hour half marathon time but I have under 5 months to get there which is more than enough time.

Next week I'll bump up my mileage to about 8 miles and slow down my pace to a 10 min/mile... I've also got to improve my eating habits... I'm definitely not giving my body the fuel it needs to go this distance AND I've really got to focus on hydration because I don't hydrate enough.. Another thing I really have to look into is speed work for endurance runners. I've been so busy working on quick short speeds.. I've got to find something to speed up my long runs... I'll be researching this week and let you all know what I find... Tomorrow I will be running 4 miles with some friends...and really just stretching out my legs.

OH I almost forgot.... yesterday I went walking with my friend S who just had a baby.. nothing too long since Florida heat is horrible! However, when I got home I saw a post on Facebook from Active that showed a 15 minute total body workout for runners... it was awesome :) It was a circuit workout with 4 basic exercises- step-ups, dips, push ups, and basic crunches. You start out doing 10 of each and work yourself to 1 of each without stopping... I'm not going to lie it was pretty tough but it felt really good... I might try to incorporate this at least once a week if not more... Anyways thought I would share :)

Back from my Hiatus!!

Hi everyone :) So I'm back! Sorry I took a brief hiatus but a lot has been going in my personal life. However with that being said, I still have been running and staying in shape. Having life happen does not give you the excuse to give up on exercise and all things healthy. Ok with all that being said, I will step off my soap box and tell you what I've been up to!

My newest athletic journey is the ING Miami Half Marathon. Yup.. I'm taking my half marathon roadshow to Miami :) I'm super excited about it and have heard pretty good things about the course in general. Now what's my goal you ask... I'm going to do it under 2 hours. Yup- I WILL do it under 2 hours. You got to get your mindset there in order to make it happen- think positively. Now my training schedule will be different than my half-iron training, but I'm still going to keep up my cross-training to prevent injury from over-running.

Newest purchases: I ended up buying the Garmin Forerunner 305. I had an older Garmin I would use for running that I inherited from a friend's dad. It finally kicked the bucket and I decided to upgrade and get the best tracking watch. It didn't break the bank and I got it for $142 with overnight shipping from Amazon... For those of you who don't know me personally, I pride myself on getting good deals lol. So far I am obsessed with it and it works wonderfully. It has so many features that I would love to learn to use.. and it also helps tracking your workout history which I love because you can see progress and results.

Another purchase that I'm currently waiting on is new shoes... specifically the Adidas Marathon 10. Now, I'm a Saucony girl and have been for a couple of years now.. however, I want to keep being open-minded and try these shoes out and get them in my shoe rotation. I have read good reviews about them and look forward to trying them out (especially long-distance wise). I'll let you know how it goes!

So now that I got all the new stuff out of the way... I'll start telling you my workouts on my journey to the half marathon :)


 
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