Another Day at Orange Theory

I went to Orange Theory this past Sunday and managed not to die like I did last week. Luckily I was only sore for two days as opposed to four. Today I decided to go again (J, the girl I go with wanted to go tonight) and was pleasantly surprised.

So, you have a slew of trainers you can pick from when you go to OT (ha - I sound like a veteran). Each trainer has their own personal touches, so you can either stick with your favorite or switch it up! I typically like to stick with one person, but after tonight, I might switch it up between the two trainers I've gone to.

The trainer I go to on Sunday really like Kettlebells. He likes to interject them in our circuits. The guy tonight was keen on cardio (my favorite). He didn't do as much Kettlebells as the other trainer, but I think I'm okay with that. I think I've figured out their main workouts: Treadmill, Rower, Kettle Bells, Free Weights, and TRX bands. They mix up their circuits but all together I think they need to use those specific workouts during the class.

Ok, so back to today's class. Since it was cardio-specific, he really had us on the treadmill working out. For one of our circuits we did do some rowing in between one of the sets and it definitely reminded me of brick workouts. We had to do .3 miles on the treadmill, followed by 300 meters rowing, then .2 miles followed by 200 meters all the way done to .1 miles. As I finished my first rowing workout to get back on the treadmill, I could feel the weight of my legs. This is perfect for triathlons - dead legs. I pushed through it and finished the circuit completely.

I definitely did well tonight. We get a report after each class that tells us how we did and which zone our heart rate was in and for how long. I'm getting into the red zone more which makes me happy :) Tomorrow is Run Club. Hopefully my legs don't feel like logs. If anything, I can get the lactic acid out of my system.

The Fast Runners

This past week I made an interesting observation: Runners are attracted to fast runners. I think about my own interactions and notice myself in awe of those runners who are the faster ones in the pack. I never really thought about this observation until this past week's run club.

The last couple of times at run club, I have not pushed myself to my limits. I've either gone with guests, or have had"easy runs" scheduled for that particular day. However, this week I was game for a faster run.

I started with the middle group (9 minute milers) and after 5 minutes was ahead of them. The fast runners (7 minute milers) are too fast for me and so I tend to stick a little ahead of the middle group. I'm a in-betweener lol. This week was no different and so I started with the middle group. Two of the guys in the group started taking off, and so I paced behind them as best as I could. The slower group had started a couple of minutes ahead of us, and in no time we had caught up to some of them. I kept going, listening to the mackelmore cd n my iPod :)

Then the "situation" happened. As I was passing one of the guys, he started to speed up. He paced right with me for about half a mile, and then pushed ahead. You could tell that he was not having me pass him, and so I made it a point to gun him down (yes I'm immature - but he started it)...so I kept my pace and just did my best to close the gap. I actually had my Garmin with me and so as I was getting closer I pushed the pace up. Then.. I caught up to him.. And I passed him:) I could hear his footsteps picking up, and so I turned my music up and just tried to focus on the fast beats. At this point the fast runners were catching up and so I tried to match their footsteps to catch up the rest of the way. I finally brought it in, and went back to cheer in my friend g in.

Once he got back from his run, we went to get some water. The guy who was trying to pass me was there, and I tried to avoid any type of contact. However, he came up to me and started talking about how I motivated him. At this point I felt like a jacka$$ because he was just trying to push himself and I thought he was being a jerk. He told me I had a good run and that I did fantastic. A couple of other people approached me later and talked to me about my run.

Then it hit me. The last couple of weeks I had not had one person approach me. Then this week I was ahead of most of the pack and was talked to more. Coincidence, maybe. But this is definitely note worthy and worth paying attention to. If this is true, it's kind of sad. Instead of trying to encourage everyone and talking to everyone in the group, people will only talk to faster runners. Like I said before, I myself am victim of this.

I am going to Run club again this coming week. This time though I'm going to start with the fast group and try to keep up. I'll let you know how that goes..

I better go to bed since I've got orange theory in the morning :) 

Day 2 of Being Sore

I'm still sore. Yesterday I couldn't walk correctly without feeling pain. Did Orange Theory work? I would say so. Maybe a little too well.

Soreness is the result or muscles that are torn due to strain on them. It is also a byproduct of lactic acid and other toxins that are released in your body after a serious workout. The best way to reduce the soreness is by actually getting the blood pumping and trying to excrete that out of your body.. by well.. working out.

So I decided to spin. Nothing serious. Just a light spin that had a consistent cadence for about 35-40 minutes. I stretched afterwards and it helped for about 2 minutes. Then today I woke up and my arm felt like a tree fell on top of it. Seriously, I don't think I've ever been this sore. I've been trying to stretch and relieve the pain, but holy crap. I mean I'm a decently athletic person.

So, what does this sick headed person do? Drive my happy butt to Orange Theory to officially sign up for my membership. I've only decided to only do it once a week since it's taking me over two days to recover. Plus, I figured I need to start my running routine again. I scheduled my coworker and I for Sunday. This time I will be in the red zone for over 60 seconds dammnit.

Side note: You can buy your own heart rate monitor strap, so I did. I also bought a cute tank that says: Base, Push, All Out, Repeat... Awesome motto...

I tried Orange Theory :)

I've been in a rut. A pretty bad rut. I've tried to shake it off and pretend that I'm not in a rut, but it's utterly useless. I don't get excited to go run, I don't enjoy racing, and I don't want to workout. I don't think I've ever felt this way before. So, to get out of my rut I decided to try something new. 

So, one of the girls at work has been talking to me about trying out Orange Theory, especially since I was moving to her neck of the woods. I've heard it before and had seen their booth at some races, but never really approached them or researched them. I figured now was a good time to try something new, and so today was the day. I'm not going to lie, I was excited when I woke up this morning. I wasn't too sure what to expect, but I figured I needed to bring my A-game (I'm pretty lame I know). 

Right when I pull up I see my co-worker already heading in, and follow behind her. I got signed up and put my heart rate monitor on. Signing in was super quick and since we had a lot of time to kill we watched the class before us finish up their workout. I'm sure it was awkward for them, but whatever. Right after they finish up we bolt to the treadmills (I was told their a hot commodity) and put our stuff down. We warm up before class officially starts, and after a couple of minutes, it's time to begin. 

Now, this workout is based off HIT principles. If you started on the treadmill, your first workout involved: the treadmill, kettle bells, and the rower. There were a variety of workouts incorporated in the workout, but it was all based on a specific distance. You had about 12 minutes to do the first circuit, and your goal was to finish every workout listed on the board. I got pretty far down the list, but didn't hit them all. 

Next you moved to the bench. This circuit was a little different because it only had two real workouts: burpees and a workout involving the bench). You did 21 reps of both, then 15, and then 9. If you finished before time was up, there were four other workouts you could do until time was called. I luckily got to finish this interval, but holy crap did burpees suck. At about this time, I already felt sore. 

Then it was back to the treadmill. This interval was treadmill specific and was driven off of time. They had you run up a "hill" for a specific amount of time, sprint for a specific amount of time, and push your pace at certain times. After doing those burpees my legs felt like giant logs that weighed at least 200 pounds. I pushed through it, but it hurt bad.

The last circuit killed me. Utterly destroyed me. It was TRX training bands, pushups, some weight work, and rowing. The TRX training was embarrassing, and I don't think I could even do one normal push up my arms felt so weak. I struggled horrendously in this interval and tried my best, but holy crap are my arms sore as I type. (For the record, I decided to do a quick Jillian Michael's video yesterday (30 Day Shred - Level 2 to be exact), and felt a little sore as a result from it. Not that I'm making excuses for myself, but c'mon that has to be worth something! )

Then it was over. We had finally finished. I was drenched but felt accomplished. I was monitoring my heart rate on the screen (they have it up high so you can see how you're heart rate is progressing), and happy with what I saw, but realized that I need to really push it some more Needless to say, I loved it.  Now, it's expensive, but honestly if you know you're going to do it, it's worth it. 

After thinking it over, I am most likely doing 4 classes a month. It ends up being $59/month without a contract, which is pretty good. Their other packages are more expensive, but again - if you're going to use it, then it's worth it. I didn't get a chance to sign up yet, but I'm hoping I can get it done by the end of the week so I can try to go to another class next weekend :)

Thought of the Moment: Am I really contemplating doing the Rock n Roll half Marathon in Vegas? I think so :) This might be the push I need get out of this rut :) 


National Running Day!!

I never really celebrate national running day, until today. I know I've been in a funk and a probably burnt out over running, but all in all today was fun!!

So to celebrate national running day I went to run with the baptist health Weston run club. The club hasn't been around for very long (maybe a could of weeks) and had over 130 people today. Now, I've been to alot of running groups, but this number is huge!!! They run every wednesday (rain or shine) and try to change up the course loops so its not repetitive.. At the end they have cold water and sometimes bring out products from a sponsor to raffle.

Today in particular I brought my friend gw to come its me and try it out. I ran with him more than halfway to go and sprinted the other half (only after he told me it was okay to race up front). I ended up getting pretty close to the front but couldn't make it!!! After we were done, we didn't want to stay and chit chat so we headed home.

Tomorrow im not sure what ill do for my workouts, but I will tell you I'm already excited for orange theory (first class this Sunday).

Getting Settled

So after all of this time... we finally moved :) It's definitely been a process, but now that we reached the light at the end of the tunnel, I can now admit that it was worth it.

We had been packing boxes for weeks, and trying to get ready for the big move, but no matter how much you plan ahead, you're never ready. The day of the big move, pretty much everything had been done. We called for four of our friends to come over to make it as easy as possible. I must admit, having those extra hands really made the difference. Instead of Greg and I attempting to lift the heaviest things on our own, and fighting over everything in the process, we had other people to help. The move from the old place to the new place took about four hours. For the amount of crap we had, that's pretty frickin impressive.

So enough of the boring stuff. Let's talk about the cool new things that come with living in this new place.

1. We have over 800 sq feet more AND a back yard.
2. There is a Dairy Queen about 5 minutes away (the old place took about 10 minutes).
3. It's really close to the new running club that I joined.
4. The new area is conducive to running and comes with a place to run hills.
5. This area is not as busy or full of traffic.
6. We can paint the walls and not worry about painting them back.

The list goes on and on..

Although moving was awesome, my diet took a turn for the worst (and so did my workouts). I ended up not working out for the week again AND I pretty much ate out at least once a day for a week.  I felt gross, but I knew it would be short term. However, the day after we moved I went out for a nice 4 mile run. It was hot and ridiculously humid, but it felt nice. Slowly but surely I'll get back to my routine, but until then.... I've got some more decorating around the house :)

CD of the week: The Heist by Mackelmore - Uh-mazing...

 
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