Always on the Run

Between having a house, working, working out, and spending time with friends and family, I always feel like I'm constantly on the run. The easiest thing to cut out would be my workout, but I feel like that is the only thing that keeps me grounded. Yesterday was a perfect example of having a busy day. 

Personally I like to get my workouts done first thing in the morning (on the weekends, anyways), Afterwards you feel so refreshed and accomplished and this is the feeling that keeps you going throughout the day. Since my wonderful husband was working yesterday, I wanted to take the time to visit my mom and one of my friends that I don't get to see too often. I had a decent sized window to do all this, but it required me to get up earlier than I would have liked to. When the alarm went off, I hesitated for a minute debating whether or not I really wanted to get up and workout. It was "sprint" workout day and the feeling of going faster than comfortable was not too appealing at that moment. I ended up putting my workout clothes on and walked out the door with my Garmin and headphones... 

I usually skip a warm up (which is not the smartest thing to do) but on sprint days I usually opt for a .5 mile warm up. After the warm up was finished I started my first 200 meters.. It was completely uncomfortable and I tried moving my legs as fast as possible. I managed to finish my first one in 44 seconds. Although it completely sucked during the time, I was able to get 8x200 meters accomplished all under 44 seconds, with my fastest time being 40 seconds. My recovery was a 200 meters in between. Once I was able to catch my breath, I was proud of my workout, especially since it has been a while since I worked solely on speedwork. 

When I managed to look at the clock.. I realized I had to shower and jump in the car... Even though I was rushed it was completely worth it. Luckily, today I don't have too many plans. I just needed to get a 5 mile run in before church. I managed to wake up without an alarm with enough time to relax after my run. I had a decent paced run today, with a 8:10 min/mile pace. It was defenitely difficult for me to keep up that pace, but I really need to start getting uncomfortable during my runs. I tend to just become complacent and then get frustrated when my times don't improve... Hopefully, this type of mindset will help me improve on my runs... Tomorrow.. Maybe some orange theory.. 

Update on my weight loss goal: it looks like I'm at 142.2. I gained a little bit of weight and haven't been able to get under the 140 lb mark. I know my diet hasn't been consistent and it looks like I'm snacking way too much on high calorie items. I'm going to have to come up with some better snack alternatives.. I'll let you know what I find!!

Continuing to Count Calories!!

Yup. So I'm still going. Pretty impressive for me if you consider my self-control tendencies, which = absolutely none. I guess since I've been making some sore of progress I've actually been sticking to this whole counting calories business. Today I weighed in at 141.5 which is four pounds less than where I started. It's easy to assay that some of it might be water weight or the normal fluctuation in weight, but regardless of the reason it continues to motivate me. 

This motivation made me kill my workout which consisted of orange theory and running to the gym. I live over a mile from the gym so even though it's close, it sucks when you're done with the workout and have to take the energy to run back. 

Since I ran to the gym my heart rate was already elevated when I started. We had a couple of different blocks to do throughout the class so I'll try to best remember them. The first block was 4 minutes long and started on the treadmill. For the first two minutes you we're at base pace, followed by a minute at push pace, and finally a minute at all out. Next, we rotated to the rowers for another four minutes block. The only two exercises we had to accomplish in this block was to row 100 meters and finish 10 air squat jumps. After you finished the 100 meter section, you moved up to 150 meters and 15 air squats followed by 200 meters and 20 air squat jumps. If you finished you repeat the two exercises until time is called. The last four minute block was in the weight room where we had to do 8 hand release push ups, followed by 8 kettle bells swings, followed by 8 pikes with this roller blade thing. You kept doing those three exercises until time was called. 

The next set of blocks was 8 minutes long and we were back at the treadmill. The only thing we had to focus on during this block was distance. Since I felt like crap at this points I kept it nice and easy and managed getting over .75 mile. Not bad, but not crazy.. The next 8 minutes we had on the rowers where we had to row 150 meters and then squat, curl, and press with a dumbbell. Once you finished those two exercises you repeated the block. The last eight minutes we were in the weight room where we did some sort of oblique twist on each side with the sbt straps for 10 reps,followed by something (ugh, I really can't remember!!) for 10 reps, followed by 10. tricep extensions.

The last block was three minutes long and we were back on the treadmill. For this block. Had two minutes of base followed by 30 seconds of push and 30 seconds of all out. Next we were back on the rowers where I can't really remember what we did :( lastly we did 3 minutes in the weight room where we had squats on the bench, followed by high squats, followed by v sit ups. 

At this point I felt like crap but I still needed to run home. I ended up burning almost 500 calories which was incredible... I just have to keep going...


A Non-active kind of weekend

Most weekends I do a combo of a "long run" and some sort of weights, however, not this weekend. I'm typically the stay at home kind of girl that doesn't really do anything too crazy anymore. I actually prefer to stay home and wake up early to workout than staying out late and drinking. This weekend was special though and I got to celebrate one of my friends bachelorette parties. The weekend was definitely more intense than most weekend but I survived lol. Although I didn't have a chance to workout, I tried my best to eat a little better than I typically do. The one thing I didn't do was log my calories lol.

Now, logging calories has been beneficial for me. It's stopped me from mindless eating and I think it's helped me maintain my weight and even drop a little. When I first started logging my food I weighed 145, but today I weigh 143.5. Not bad all things considering, but you have to wonder how much of that weight loss is attributed to my weight fluctuation or the nutrition. I'm hoping the nutrition. I'm going to keep at it and hope I can slowly fall below the 140 mark. The biggest thing for me is that I like to see instant results. I've got to learn to stop thinking that way and celebrate the small victories. In the meantime, ill keep logging my food :)

On another note, this year I'm trying to sign up for at least one race a month. Races definitely push me to the edge and I love the feeling of trying to beat my previous time and get better. So far I have all races signed up through march. There are two other races I have in mind for April and may and will most likely sign up soon. One good thing about racing this year is that a lot of companies seem to realize that race registration costs have gone up, therefore, creating blitz registration days for cheaper. I gotta tell you this kind of marketing works and probably signs up more people than normal. So, that definitely makes me happy. 

Later today I'm going to go for a run but now it's time for work. I'm hoping I can get more peddling in today than yesterday!!

A Day of Rest

Yesterday I had an orange theory class even though I was sore. I know, I know. I consistently make poor choices when it comes to resting my body, but I had no idea I was going to be THIS sore. You sign up for classes at least 24 hours ahead of time so I couldn't plan for the craziness that unfolded on Sunday, but anyways that is not what this post is about.

Yesterday when I woke up my legs were stiff. I tried to walk around a little bit at work, but it just wasn't enough. i also ended up failing myself by not doing my 20 minute bike peddler. Overall a no bueno situation. However I headed straight home after work to change and head over to the gym. Once I got there I promised myself I wouldn't go crazy (I don't even know why I bother lying to myself), and waited for class to start. When class started I took off flying since it was distance specific and we had to try to accomplish this workout in 11 minutes: .30 mile run, 30 kettle bell squats, row as long as it took you to run .30 - 1:52 minutes for me. Next it was: .20 mile run, 20 kettle bell jumping jacks, and row as long as it took you to run .20 - 1:32. Finally you ran .10, 10 kettle bell row ups on each arm, 10 kettle bell dead lifts, row as long as you run - 35 seconds. I forgot to do the stupid kettle bell dead lift but finished everything else. I know what you're thinking.. She didn't take it easy.. And you were right.. I didn't. We did those set twice for both cardio 11 minute blocks. 

In the weight room we did a bunch of arm workouts for both circuits we were in there. i don't remember the order of each circuit but these are the exercises i remember doing. It started off with 10 chest presses, 10 bicep curls, 10 jumping jacks, 10 power push ups, 10 bench rows, 10 chest flys, 10 bull crushers, 30 mountain climbers, and 10 dips. 

After class I knew I was physically spent, so I headed home and took it easy for the rest of the night.. When I woke up this morning my calves were on fire and figured today would be a great day to rest. So today I rested and  i will resume workouts tomorrow morning. 

In other news I am tracking my calories again. It's been three days and I feel like this app has prevented me from stuffing my face with crap. Ill try this for at least month and see what happens... Off to sleep :) happy trails everyone!!!


Basking in the Glory!!

I consider myself not overly obnoxious about running. For the most part I try not to share my times or gloat about my victories, but I didn't follow that rule today. I won third overall for the females in the 10k. Honestly, I didn't even think I would PR let alone place, but I accomplished both with a 48:20 Best part about this whole thing??? A giant sized check like they give you when you win prizes. So it was for $50, but it's better than nothing. 

So lets start by trying to figure out how I pulled this off. For dinner, I had the free dinner that was offered to us by the race hosts. The dinner consisted of salad, Pepsi, chicken Marsala and a bread roll. I did have tropical dots for dessert (I got 13 boxes for Christmas so ill be having dots a lot). Note to self: dots may be the key to a good run... 

I didn't do anything out of the ordinary that night and I had the worst sleep. I woke up about 4-5 times throughout the night and had a hard time falling back asleep. I finally woke up at about 5:15 and just started getting ready.. My friend k was going to meet me there but at 5:30 I got a text she wasn't feeling well. At that point I contemplated not even racing, I'm so glad I didn't listen. 

Once I got to the race I did my usual meandering the grounds and tried to stay mellow. The race started late which sucked because I just wanted to get the race done.. Once the race started I took off towards the front and I made my way slowly towards the front of the pack, and by mile 2 I had taken the lead. Once I got the lead I got excited and told myself I had to maintain or quicken the pace; I couldn't fall behind. My legs quickly grew tired and by mile 4 I was caught. Over the next 2 miles one more girl caught up to me and I tried my hardest to stay close to them. It was at mile 5.5 where my body started yelling at me. I actually almost threw up but I think that was my mind playing a trick on me because I as totally fine 2 seconds later. I'm not going to lie, at this point I started looking back to see if anyone was close by (yes, I turned into that person who looks over their shoulders - ick).. Once I saw the finish line I tried sprinting it in (to me it felt like a sprint but I might have been as slow as molasses). 

At the finish line I met up with other two girls and while we talked we realized we had made top three... Which meant cash prizes!! However, we needed to check the official results before getting super excited.. We ran over to the results and sure enough.. All three of us made it!! I got $50 in the form of a giant check and I couldn't believe it. Yes, I called people, texted people, and posted my picture on Facebook. I was ecstatic and proud of myself. It's incredible how much I could push

myself today, and I continue to realize that I have the ability to go harder and faster. Now, to figure out how to cash this thing.. 



Just Another Orange Theory Workout

Today we had orange theory. Since there has been an increase in memberships, the class we wanted to go was wait listed so we went to the 7:30 class. I tried really hard to remember our workout today so I could talk about it in my post.

So my workout started on the treadmill (ha - it always does). We had 2 minutes at base pace (comfortable pace on the treadmill - they have a card to help you determine your base pace); 2 minutes at push pace and then 1 minute all out. After that circuit, we rested for less than a minute and returned back to base pace. This time we had to hold 2 minutes at base pace, followed by 1 minute of push pace, and 1 minute all out. After the all out, we waked it off for about twenty seconds, and then we moved on to the rower.

We had 200 meters on the rower. After that exercise, we had to grab free weights and completed 14 double squat presses. We continued repeating those two exercises for about 6 minutes. Once those 6 minutes were over, our group moved to the weight room. In the weight room it got crazy.

Our first weight room circuit consisted of 20 chest presses on the sbt straps, followed by  14 push ups, 14 arm dips, and lastly 4 burpees. Our next circuit consisted of 20 low rows on the sbt straps, followed by 20 high rows on the sbt strap, 14 wide bicep curls, followed by four burpees. Our third circuit consisted of 20 tricep curls (I think that is what it's called) and 14 v up presses, 14 lunges with curls followed by four burpees. Our fourth set had 40 bicycle crunches followed by 20 double crunches and lastly four burpees. That's all I could honestly remember and the exercise made up our weir room workout. Our last rotation was back on the rowers.

At the rowers we only had two exercises to complete: 200 meters rowing and 14 snatches on each arm. You kept repeating those two exercises until time was complete which was probably about 6 minutes. Even though I burned over 400 calories during class, I felt like I wasn't pushed very hard during this workout. To be honest, this isn't one of my favorite trainers. She always seems confused and doesn't really capitalize on the treadmill workouts. I can't wait until Mondays class. I know I'll get my butt kicked then. Tomorrow.. I've got my 10k..

Update on the tires: they were ridiculously impossible to figure out. I couldn't get the bike liners to stay straight or the tubes on the wheel. So, my friend G has the tires and I'm hoping he can fix it...

Day 2 of the New Year

So today I went back to work after being off for New Years. I was determined to keep up my no procrastination mantra at work and I think I succeeded.. I did manage to get a good amount of work done and I organized my office!! Well, I organized the desk part anyways lol.

So, side note, for Christmas I got a bike peddler that you can put under your desk. It is a pretty neat contraption and it prevents you from just sitting at your desk all day. The cool thing about this thing is that it records how long you have been pedaling and how many revolutions you've turned the pedals. It also tells you how many calories you've burned, but I don't think it is accurate because I never input my weight and height which is important information to correctly calculate calories burned. Regardless, I love it and have been trying to aim for about 30 minutes total while I'm at work.

After work I did a 3 mile run. I tried to make it a quick run since it gets dark earlier. My run today was okay - 24:16 but I could feel my sandwhich while I ran. Gross, I know. I usually have the same type of sandwich: flat out wrap, hummus spread, boars head honey maple ham and cheese. The hummus sounds weird but I think it adds a little kick to the sandwich. I usually have a flatout but today i had white bread so that might have thrown me off. I still managed to do well, I just didn't feel 100%. Tomorrow's menu consists of homemade pizza ... pretty awesome :)

Well, I just got my new tire tubes for my new cycling tires!! I'm going to go mess with them in hopes that I can cycle tomorrow :)

Happy New Years!!

Like one of those newly crazed, hyped, and motivated New Years resolutioners, I decided to blog today. Yes, I worked out today, but this doesn't variate from my typical workout week. However, I did utilize my home gym to its full potential today so I'm quite proud (i usually don't use my home gym stuff very much). Although the holiday season is a hard time to eat well and workout, I still managed to maintain weight and get most of my workouts in. 

Before I get into the sappy New Years realizations, ill tell you all about my workout:
The warm-up was a 5 minute bike.. Low resistance and a high cadence...
Followed by sprints - 400, 300, 200, 100 meters with rests in between ( 30, 20, 10 seconds)
Ab workouts: two sets of - Sprinkler (12 reps) and Clamper (12 reps)
Recovered on the bike for 5 minutes with a low resistance and low cadence
Same ladder repeat and same exact rest breaks
Ab workouts: two sets of - Seated Oblique twists (20 reps) and Superman press (20 reps)
Recovered on the bike one more time for five minutes
Another ladder repeat with the same rest breaks
Walked for 2:00 minutes to cool down.. 

Overall, I accomplished all three 400s under 2:00 mins; all three 300s under 1:30 mins; all three 200s under 1:00 min; and, all three 100s under 30 seconds. Needless to say I'm pooped.. 

So.. Now for my New Years realizations.. 

As I reflect on 2013 a lot of things come to my mind:

- We bought a house!!!!
- The house has sucked most of our savings... Wah wah..
- I forgot how much moving sucked and how much crap we had.. 
- We found out Bandit had cancer..
- We found out Bandit had cancer again.. 
- We had an amazing trip out to California and Vegas!!! 
- I fell into a running rut..
- I joined Orange Theory and love it!!
- I started enjoying running again at the end of the year.
- I realized how much I missed friends I haven't spoken to in a while..
- I realized how lucky I am to have a wonderful husband who deals with my insanity...

Things to accomplish in 2014:

- Eat less sugary foods.. 
- Spend less time utilizing electronics.
- Try different workouts.
- Work on the house.
- Keep in touch more with the people you love.
- Don't procrastinate on accomplishing tasks.. Even stupid tasks like doing the laundry.. 

These accomplishments are not really resolutions but goals to make me a better person. Even if I can accomplish one goal, it will make a difference, but hey it's only January 1st right? 
 
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