Stuffitts Shoe Savers--Review and Giveaway!

I have been given the opportunity to review a great product!

I love them! They absorb shoe odor and take away moisture from my running shoes!

I tried mine out after a few of my wetter runs. After nice run in a blizzard and then a slushy run. I was impressed thoroughly after each use. My shoes were dry and smelled fresh--not that funky, moldy smell that sometimes happens after a lot of moisture gets in the shoes. You know what I am talking about!

Stuffitt Shoe Savers are 100% cedar-filled show stuffers that remove moisture and eliminate shoe odor in all types of footwear. Stuffitts absorbs moisture up to 8 times faster than air drying alone, eradicating odor by absorbing wetness and creating an inhospitable environment for the source of shoe odor-bacteria. After a workout, marathon or a long day at work, simply insert Stuffitts into your shoe to stop moisture in its tracks!

I must say that I was a bit skeptical at first. All of my skepticism's went right out the door as soon as I removed the Stuffitts from the plastic wrap. I was overwhelmed with the smell of cedar( in a good way of course). I LOVE this smell. If you don't...well then you might not like this product! I have used Stuffitts in newer shoes and older smellier shoes and the stink is gone! They are pretty cool looking too! My next "test" will be this summer when the stinky summer sandals come out of hiding. Not mine of course--but my husbands!

Stuffitts come in a variety of sizes-even kids sizes! Stuffitts recommends that you replace the cedar insert every 6 months for maximum effectiveness. The outer foot is washable and also comes with a handy carrying strap.

I fully recommend Stuffitts and am happy I was able to review this product.

I am super excited that the fine people at Stuffitts donated 2 pair of Stuffitts for me to giveaway!

A small pair in RED and a large pair in BLUE. There will be 2 winners.

Here's How to Enter:

Follow my blog

Visit Stuffitts site and tell me where you would purchase Stuffitts in your area.

You MUST do both of the above to have a chance to WIN!

Want Extra Entries?

~Comment on any non-giveaway entry during the duration of this giveaway and link back(1 extra entry per comment)

~Put my button on your blog (2 entries..please separate them)

~Post about this giveaway on your blog (2 entries) and link back

~Follow me on Twitter and post about this giveaway 1/day (2 entries)

~Tell me your current or on-going Mission. (2 entries)

~Tell me a suggestion to better my blog! (1 entry)

~Follow my other blog (1 entry)

Good Luck!

This giveaway will run through 11:59 pm(EST) of March 10th and the winner will be announced by the afternoon of March 11th. The winner will be chosen by using Random.org from all valid entries and will be contacted via email. The winner will have 48 hours to contact me before they forfeit their prize. Giveaway is open to US residents only.

**Disclaimer: I received Stuffitts Shoe Savers for the purpose of this review/giveaway. No other compensation was received. All views expressed are my honest opinions.

Saturday-- should have stayed in bed today!

I was as reared up to go as I could force myself to be this morining. I knew what i had in store. 5-6 1 mile tempo runs on the treadmill with a 60 seconds rest in between. I also had a time limit as Matt has to work today.
I did a mile warm up at an 8:30 pace. After that I stretched for about 3 minutes or so and then I was off. My first tempo mile was at 7:35 pace. I felt pretty crappy at the half way mark, but I finished. I took the minute rest and did the next mile at a 7:30 pace. I figured I wanted to get done already. Now on to mile 3. This is where it went sour. I did it in maybe a 8 minute pace. It felt like I was going way slower. It was a total struggle too. I think I did a whole mile, maybe it was a bit short. I took my 1 minute break...and turned it into a 5 minute walk break! yikes. I was done. FAIL! Oh well. I was ticked off then, but now I realize I should have probably taken the day off or done a low-key type of cardio and saved the speed nonsense for Sunday! Too late. I will (most likely) take tomorrow off completely. I almost went home after my pitiful attempt at speed, but of course I did not. I only did 20 minutes on the elliptical though. What a day. We all have our bad days from time to time and today was my day!
Hopefully the rest of my day goes well....(Miles is potty training, and so far..we are batting 0!)

Peanut Butter Giveaway!

Click to win 2 jars of Krema Peanut Butter!
It might be the most perfect food ever! I love peanut butter!
Thanks to Kristen at Eat Oxygen for the chance!

Friday..just another day in my world!

I know I am supposed to love Friday's just as the average person does. But I don't. I like it well enough, but my days are really all the same. This is not a complaint-at all. I am, for the most part-a stay at home mom. I am fortunate enough to be able to stay home with the kids, but still work a little bit on the side. I am not sure what is considered Part Time these days, but I work roughly 4.5 hours a week (soon to be 6 hours-begins Monday) outside of the home. Add in my personal training business and nutritional sells brings me to about 10 hours a week-give or take. We won't add in the driving time to and from all my gigs because that would mean I would have to think! So anyway-- Friday is just another day to me. I think that is what I am trying to get at here! I get up early early ( between 4-7 AM) everyday of the week, regardless of the day. There is rarely any sleeping in for me. Bewtween the kids and my training/teaching there is no rest to be had! I can only sleep in until around 8 AM anyway when I try. At any rate-Happy Friday!

Spin today was a repeat class of the one I taught Wednesday. It was a new group this morning, so once again--it was new to them! I think they enjoyed it as well as my new play list. It was a smaller class--12, but motivating nonetheless. I am getting quite a few "regulars" at this early (5:30 AM) class now. That's always a good sign in my book!
My HR avg. was 150 and it topped out at 179 at one point. My Garmin says I burned 555 calories too. I wonder how many donuts that equals..or slices of BBQ chicken pizza ( which may have been my dinner last night...hopefully it put a dent in the 3 slices I ate.... haha! )
I was a good girl and after class I stretched for almost 20 whole minutes! It was much needed and felt soo painful good!!
There is a 90 minute yoga classed offered at my gym on Sunday's next month. It would be perfect timing after my long run on Sunday. I am thinking about it.

Thursday-Long Run(treadmill style)

I hate the treadmill. Yet, I am thankful I can use it to get what I need done-done. I made it to the gym a little later than planned. I think I started watching The Olympics or something and lost track of time. Ooops!
I actually felt really strong and good during most of the run. I added some inclines and varying speed along the way. At about mile 4 or so the treadmill I was on started misbehaving. It was unbalanced all of a sudden! Total bummer. There are a lot of treadmills at my gym, ,but I did not want to waste time looking for "the perfect" one -Again! I liked the one I was on..it did not make too much noise and the TV was already on Closed Captioned! I like that so I can "read" the news and listen to my iPod at the same time. Multi-tasker is my middle name (actually It's Dawn!)
So that leads me to my new treadmill. The closed caption was not on (boo!) besides that all went well....well besides my iPod ear phones acting up. They stopped working in the unit, but worked in the TV. Ugh. So annoying! I got through it. What was I talking about? Oh right..running! I tried to stop and drink every 30 minutes or so, just as I would have done if I was running outdoors. It's always harder to start up when you are by yourself I think. I kept about a 9 minute pace since I threw in a few 7:45 pace (not for a whole mile though). I was a sweaty mess. My hips have been kind of tight lately as well, not liking that feeling. I almost stopped my run with less then 3 miles left. I was kind of late starting and I did not want to be late getting home so Matt could leave for work. I texted him to let him know I had 1 mile left and did not hear back from him...so I just took that as he was OK with it. I guess it could have meant he never got the message since he was busy with the kids too. Oooops. He seemed fine when i got home so I will still assume he got my message.
I did go back to the gym fr core work. I am not sure if that is dedication or stupidity. I got the kids dressed. Changed my clothes and ate quickly and was back at the gym. I was there less than 1 hour before! I am glad I went back. I did not stretch enough after the run so I used the next hour to stretch and do core. I would write what I did, but I don't know the proper names of a few of the exercises! So here is some of what I did!
Hip circles
planks (variations)
Roll ups
weighted obliques
cat and cow
2 more!
Repeat everything!
Lots of stretching before, between and after all sets were done.
It was a great day!

Refreshing Wednesday

I figured I would be DEAD tired today. I thought I would have to take it easy on myself (boohoo) during spin today..but nope!! It was a tough one and I did not slack!
Two (4) minute hills, a few short jogs with recovery, 2 segments of endurance (4 minutes each) and a nice 8 minute hill thrown in for good luck(ha). I never know how a class will go until we actually do it..and this one went well. It was a killer. I made a new CD and everything. A mix of musical styles..Black Eyed peas, Nelly Furtado, The Script, Gnarls Barkley, Eminem etc.
Ave. HR was 149..max was 175. I usually don't feel recovered during my Wednesday spin due to running on Tuesday evening. Either my fitness is improving or I did not work as hard as I thought last night! Oh well. I loved that I felt great today and last night too.
Totally Toned was at noon. Back/chest/Quads and 5 minutes of direct abs was the focus today. Me thinks they will be feeling it tomorrow.
Great day!

Tired Tuesday!!

I did not want to lift weights today! I had a 5 AM client and I was tired. Not just my body but my brain too! I realized I have not taken a day off in 2.5 months from lifting consistently twice a week. So it was a great day to just do core. Ugh. So that is what I did.

crunches on ball (30)
hyper extensions on ball (15)
oblique twists w/ball ( 20)
ball pass ( 10)
side leg lifts on ball (15/side)
cat and cow (10)
plank (50 seconds)
repeat backwards --start with plank.
---------------------------------------------
balance quad ( 8 seconds per side x4)
pelvic lifts from floor ( 60 seconds)
balance/ right arm left leg alt. ( 10/side)

So that was it!
I also did 3 ( 1 minute) rounds on the kickboxing game. That thing is tiring.

Running Club- Speed Session- Hills x 10!
1.5 mile warm up
10 hills ( accelerate up the hill)
1.5 mile cool down.
short and sweet and very effective!

I was not sure how I would feel doing these and I felt great! It was hard, but not the kind that I wanted to stop at hill 5!
It turned out to be a great day!

A Gnu Giveaway!

Hop on over to my girl Tina's Blog A Tina Bit of Faith, Fitness and Fun for your chance at winning 7 GNU bars!

Sunday and Monday..resting and racing!

Sunday- Off day. It was not going to be one, but now I am glad it was!
I woke up with a sore body. All from the 5k ( or 3.2 mile..haha) on Saturday. My abs were (and still are) sore.
Monday- Since it's the last Monday of the month it was Race Day in spin today. I am surprised that I was not recovered from Saturday. My legs felt like logs when the race started. I am glad I extended the warm up to 7 minutes. It probably had something to do with my lack of stretching and warm down after the race (doh!)
We did 2 minute segments ( flat road, standing run, standing climb, flat road..and then we turned around-- flat road, standing climb, standing run, flat road) 30 seconds standing sprint into a regular standing climb for 2 minutes. WHEW!! The rest was in 1 minute segments with 1 more sprint and a 1 minute race to the finish line on a flat road with resistance. It was a doozy. My HR maxed out at 180 bpm, while my average was in the mid 160's! CRAZY. It was fun though. I am getting better at giving more Race Day visuals for the riders. That's not my usual thing or style so I hope they don't think I am weird or something!
Totally Toned was at noon. My visuals for today's class was Tank Tops and Bikinis! We did lots of shoulders and abs/core work!
Today was a great day!
Running tomorrow!

5k--or 3.2 miles, but who cares?!?! (ME-that's who!!)

Race Day! Heart and Sole 5k

It was a beautiful day for a race. Near perfect weather conditions for this time of year! Just about no wind, in the low to mid 20's. No complaints from this girl.

My buddies and I did a 1.5 or so mile warm-up and ran part of the course.

The race got underway on time at 8:30 AM. 250 racers (114 females).

I took off trying to keep my eye on a few key people in front of me. As I have mentioned before, I am not a good pacer. Nope. Not me. The first mile was around 6:54--oooops!! I felt pretty good actually. I am sure I could not have kept up this pace for the rest of the race. There were 3 hills today. They were all varying heights too. One had a sneaky gradual incline that I did not care for either.

So I started to really feel the pain about half way into it. That kind of pain that makes you think crazy thoughts (walk please) and you just have to push them out of your head. Or you will regret it later. I kept telling myself-- "It's only 3.1 miles" it worked I guess. I never stopped. My finishing time ended up being 22:55. What the WHAT? I felt so much stronger then that time! My lungs were on fire, as were my quads. I know the hills slowed me down, but COME ON?!?! Do not get me wrong. 22:55 is a great, great time for me. I just felt faster that that today.

Sooooo.....that brings us to the title of this blog. Yea. Soooo the race was really 3.2 miles in length and not the standard 3.1 as a 5k is supposed to be!! IF I had the correct Garmin I would have known that sooner than later. I talked to at least 5 peeps that do have one though. Their Garmin's all registered 3.2 miles for the race. If we want to get all technical and stuff (and I do). My time would have been closer to 22:15 or so. It is very annoying to pay for a race and then get craptastic results. I mean, when/how did they measure the distance for this race?? I don't understand. No skin off my back. I am not sure I could have gone much faster today.

My celebratory IHOP Harvest Grain N' Nut pancakes made it all better!

The Lowdown:

Chip Time: 22:55

Overall place: 57/250

Gender Place: 13/114

Division place: 2/27* woohoo!

Total Pace: 7:24

My next 5k will hopefully be in March. After searching the web to locate my PR for my 5k's through the years, I found that it was 21:26. 2002 baby! WOW that was a long time ago. I remember the race well too. I was the overall female winner! I was 24 years old and the the girl I beat was 19. Her grandpa came up after the race and hugged me and told me I really made her work! Funny, the stuff we remember. I probably remember it becuase it hurt. I would love to say that I would like to get a PR this March in the 5k...but, well, that time was kind of fast. LOL!
Here is a run down off all of my chip times from past races. Thanks to Caitlin (check her out-she is training for Boston) for sharing this site!

Friday!

All done for the day!
Spin was this morning at 5:30 AM. Small crowd of 10 only today. Mid winter break is on so I hope this is why the "regulars" sat this one out!
I repeated my Wednesday class with a few changes in music selection and I also changed a few of the intervals in the ride. It went over well. I basically took out the jumps and made them 15 second standing/seated runs. Which is essentially a jump, but a little different! Ha. I don't particularly care of having jumps in my classes, but I add them in for variety. I took them out for today's ride, because I had another participant express her dislike of jumps! Of course she did not show up today! That's cool though, it made it a brand new ride for me. I did my best to take it easy because I have my 5k tomorrow morning. My heart rate did get up to 166 at some point, but the average was a cool 144. I did it! Well..this avg. was also from my 20 minute elliptical ride I did after class....but still. Not too shabby! If I would have to guess, my HR avg. for spin was at least 150.
The elliptical ride was nice and easy. I just did not feel like heading home yet. I wanted to watch some TV! I have big plans of perhaps stretching or even doing some REAL yoga. We shall see though!
OK...race day tomorrow. 5k baby! We might even go to IHOP ( I loooove me some pancakes) after the race!!!

Weights and a short run....tired momma today.

I was not sure I would make it to the gym today and I was not even the least bit sad!
My little girl was up until 11 PM last night. She's not sick; she just was not tired. I had BIG plans of getting up at 5 AM and going to the gym to run my prescribed 6 miles today. Nope. I slept until I was summoned by Miles at 7 Am or so. Surprisingly, Amara was wide awake by 7:15 and we were all dressed and out the door by 8:45 AM..this NEVER happens. I was not even rushing anyone ( I swear!) as I usually tend to do. I was the slow one today. I am glad I went and all that, but I am dragging butt right now.
I did a circuit training workout today. 3 sets of 12:

Circuit A:
walk-out push ups
step-ups
pistol rows

Circuit B:
squat jumps
lateral raises
plank jacks

WHEW!
I am not sure what I was thinking when I made this up last night! It was kind of fun.
I knew that I would not have enough time to run 6 miles so I decided to run 3 on the treadmill.
It actually felt really good. I thought I might go back to the gym after my girl is out of school to do 3 more-NOPE. I am about to hit the showers instead! I see a trip to the library with the kids after school instead!
My race is on Saturday. I can't get it to show that on my little Daily Mile widget on the right of the blog! I am kind of nervous. It's only a 5k. Those hurt. A lot. Being nervous is good though right!?! If I was not then that would be kind of snotty and arrogant! I would like to think I am neither of those things! :)
So nice to be all done for the day!

Wednesday Spin Day....

I was still tired from last night's speed session. I try to take it easy during Spin class, but it's HARD for me to do that. I laid low on some of the hills, but not for too long.
Today's Spin interval class consisted of endurance, hill, jumps, recover and repeat! I threw in 2 sprints somewhere in that line up. The intervals got longer with the recovery staying at 1 minute. So the first interval was 1 minute, then 2 and up to 3 minutes and then we did 1 minute again of EVERYTHING. Sweat fest fo sho! I had the guy that made the inappropriate comment come back to class. Front row. In my face. He behaved today. High 5 at the end of class again.
I am super sore from my Tuesday workout. I think it has to be the negative pull-ups, or maybe the plank rows. Probably both. Ouch!
Totally Toned went well today too. They asked me if it would ever get easier. I hope not!

Tuesday-Weights, Tempo and running on EMPTY

Today was hard.
It started with a new workout.

Walking lunges
Negative Pull ups
Plank Rows
Leg Press
Push ups

4 sets of 10 today. I did NO direct core work today. I think the planks rows/push ups pull ups and lunges took care of that!! Whew!

I also hammered out 15 hard minutes on the elliptical just for fun.
Later in the evening was my usual Tuesday Night Special- Running Club.
I was kind of excited to go and run tonight. I already knew what I was in for, but you never know how you are going to feel until you actual do it.
Tonight was a tempo training (icky).
These runs are sooo beneficial though. I love to hate them. Mostly I hate them.
The plan was to do 1 mile at tempo pace ( this week it's 7:45 pace for me) with a 60 second rest and then repeat 4-5 times. After the 2 mile warm up this is how it went:
7:25 (ooops)
7:48 (closer)
7:39 ( almost)
7:35 ( nope)

cool down- 1.5 miles

I have an expert running partner (she ran in college) and is a great pacer. She was not on her A game tonight! She is usually right on the money with her pacing skills! I rely on her! Ha...she did her best. Better than I could do, so I am not really complaining.
It was tough tonight. The weather was perfect. The ground was not too slippery. There was not a blizzard. I was not overly sore or injured.
I can guess what caused it to be difficult for me though. I usually look at my diet. That must have been my problem today. I ate an apple about 1.5 hours before the workout. DUH. I so know my body better then that. I know I need something more than an apple!! I will blame it on no fuel. I think I did this a few weeks ago. It was during a race nonetheless. I run out of time with doing things around the house and plain forgetting to eat. How can I forget to eat. It's like one of my favorite hobbies!
I still made it through the workout. My stomach was actually growling as I was running(awesome). I could hear it and feel it. Lesson hopefully learned AGAIN.
All in all, it was a great day!

Monday Madness!!

Monday. I really don't like Monday's. I try to, but I just can't enjoy them. I rush around ( everyday really) trying to get the kids ready to bring them to work with me and not be late. I don't know why I have to be there 30 minutes before my class starts. It's not a requirement by management- it's just what I like to do. I like to set my music and bike up and chat with the spinners and my friends. I don't like to feel rushed when I am at work getting ready to teach. It makes me anxious or something. I just like to be early!! This was just one of those days:

Miles wet the bed so I had to start the laundry. He asked for oatmeal for breakfast and then did not want it. I made him eat it. Quickly. He threw it up on himself from stuffing it down like I asked (ooops). I had to change his clothes and clean him up. I was not even dressed yet. I like to leave my home by 9:15 AM. Today I left by 9:28 AM. Class still started on time. The world did not end. All is good.

Class was a straight up strength workout with some hard hills and sprints. It was a loop we traveled 3 times total. Each time it got steeper. Good stuff. I borrowed it from a monthly newsletter I get from http://www.spinning.com/ -- I am not sure I will repeat it this Friday. It was hard and I have my race on Saturday! I am one selfish chick! We shall see though.

Totally Toned had a small showing today due to President's Day and mid-winter breaks for some schools in my area. I think it was a good session.

Amara goes back to school tomorrow (yay!). She has missed it so much and has literally been bouncing off the walls since last Tuesday. We have been home bound since Friday for the most part, trying to get her brother to use the potty!

Anyways... Speed workout tomorrow and of course there is snow in the forecast. At least the high is 30* and the low is around 20*. Heatwave!

Sunday REST Day?? No way!

I decided to go to the gym and use the treadmill for my speed session I did not do on Thursday.
2 mile warm up followed by 2 minutes fast and 2 minutes slower x 6. I made it a progressive workout. Whew. It was tough, but I knew it was only for 2 minutes and then i would get to slow down. 2 minutes is a long time though. I topped out at 9.0 mph for my last fast 2 minutes. Glad that's over! I then did a 2 mile cool down which was one mile jogging and 1 mile walking. I actually walked more than a mile because I started getting into this movie on FX called Death Sentence starring Kevin Bacon. The 15 minute foot chase scene I watched got me hooked. The movie was made in 2007 and I remember wanting to see it. Of course, it's not coming on again anytime soon.
Anyway.... after my workout I felt really great. I felt a lot better than I normally do on a Sunday. I know it's because I did my long run earlier in the week and not on Saturday. Even though the 70 minute Power Spin kicked my butt-- it's no match for a 10 mile run!

Friday and Saturday...all spun out!!

Friday- early morning spin class. 5:30 AM sure comes fast! Interval class recycled from Monday's class. It was fun-again!
Saturday was Power Spin. I was a participant today. I think I get such a different kind of workout when I am not the instructor. Not necessarily better-just different. It was a strength interval class. Hard climbs-8 minutes worth followed up with a very short recovery and then a brief endurance section. We repeated that for a total of 4 intervals plus some nonsense fun stuff at the end! It was actually a 70 minute class this morning because the instructor is fun crazy like that! I will admit that I missed my long run today, but I am glad that I was able to get it in earlier this week. And I am in the midst of potty training the little man, so I wanted to be home doing the work and not making my babysitter ( big brother or my dad do the work!) Click for a good laugh!
I have a race on the 20th. My first 5k of the season. Why am I nervous?? I think the shorter distance races are more painful then the longer ones. That's why! I want to do well!!!
Today was a great day!

Thursday!

I did my long run today! I wont be able to do it Saturday. I ran 10 miles with my marathon buddy. It was not too cold out until the last 2-3 miles. The sidewalks were so icy and snow covered I felt like a little old lady shuffling along! My whole body hurts from being so tense.
BUT, I am so glad I did it with a friend and not on the treadmill Friday night!
After that I was in no mood to do my full body circuit...but I did it anyway. Mainly because I was meeting my friend. I did a totally different slacker workout though. I also stretch a lot in between, during and after! I need a massage or a vacation or a massage while on vacation.

Tuesday and Wednesday Recap..

I can't believe it's Thursday already!!! I have been a busy lady. My daughter has been out of school since Tuesday even though today officially starts her Mid-Winter break. Tuesday her school had electrical issues and yesterday was a snow-day. She was not a happy camper. The girl loves her some school!

Let's see if I can remember my workouts from earlier this week.
Tuesday: Oh yes. I had a 5 AM client so of course I slept like crap Monday night. After training her I went to the gym to do my full body circuit with about a little more than 60% effort. UGH. Hate that feeling. I plowed through it anyway. I also played on this punching/kicking game between sets. 1 whole minute seemed to take forever! It was a lot of fun and made me in a bit of a better mood. We played 3 rounds...I won every time ( just sayin').
I got on the elliptical for about 15 minutes of varying hard paced intervals. The plan later that night was to run hills with the running club. It was snowing like crazy on Tuesday. Less than half way through the warm up I was sure I was not going to be doing hills. It was waaay to slippery/dangerous. I did 1 hill and almost twisted my ankle. Yup. Scratch hills. A few of us(5) took off to run around the lake and also added some miles on. We did 6.5 hard miles ( in the snow, it felt like I was flying) in 59 minutes. That's not slow, but it sure felt as if I was running at least an 8:15 ish pace. For real! I actually felt really good out there. It was freezing and blowing snow and I STILL don't have my face protector. Duh.
Moving on to Wednesday. Spin day. Fast paced intervals with a 4 minute hill added to the end. That was the basic concept of class. I added 3 sprints on at the tale end since we had a few minutes to spare. It was a simple format that really tested the classes fitness level. It was a sweat fest. Fun stuff. Totally Toned at Noon went well too. I joined in on more of the fun than I usually do (mostly a space issue), and my hips were on fire after a wonderful round of hip circles. Ouch. In a good way. Really.
I had an experienced cyclist at Spin, but a spin newcomer. At the end of class he thanked me for "popping his cherry". Ummm..yea dude. Oh, and he called me dude and gave me a high five as well. He warned me that he will be back. Eeeeek.

Recap of Sunday and Monday

Sunday and Monday.
Pretty much standard I think.
Sunday I did long intervals on the elliptical for 45 minutes and walked on an incline for 10 minutes. Nice and easy. I stretched for about 10 minutes.
Monday was Spin. I taught a strength interval today. There were no given recoveries today. I told the class to take them as needed! I let them make today their own. Some people love that, some hate it! Those that hate it feel they need more direction etc. I totally understand that. I am the instructor. I am there to tell them what to do! Or every once in a while I can guide them on their own and take their workout to where they want to go. It can be based on what their bodies are able to handle that day--or not handle for that matter. So anyway--like to hold a class like that every now and then. It's fun to see someslackers participants taking it way easy ( it's easy to spot at times) vs. the ones that are pushing to their max ( at times PAST their max). It was fun. People clapped. I was fine. Ha!
Totally Toned was at noon. We did a lot of giant sets of biceps and some fun things with the exercise bands today. Lots of frowns ( the good kind) today.
It was a good day.

Saturday Long Run-Rocked It!

I am back! I think. It was frigid today. Freezing cold, windy, windchill of 6 or something stupid like that. This early in the season I might have skipped out or at least been really pissed off about it. Not this morning with my new improved attitude!! I was ready to go. Partly because I have decided to just suck it up and work and partly because I was excited to test out my new GPS Garmin!!

Another long story short. I am taking it back to the store. So sad about this. It has soooo many positives. But the biggest negative trumps all the positives. So sad. I NEED the real GPS capabilities. I calibrated it again for almost 3 miles. After running less than a half mile it was already "off" by over .1 of a mile. Ugh. That is a lot for a non-recreational runner I think ( that would be me).

I did not let that ruin my run though. I was still able to see my pace and faux mileage. There was even a pacer dude on my watch. I was over 5 minutes ahead of him too. It was motivating to see that even though it was not a real person! Call me crazy.

Here are my splits for 10 miles: http://connect.garmin.com/splits/24056231

My avg. was 8:47 a mile I think. That is NOT normal for this girl on her "easy" long run days. It won't happen a lot ( I save it for actual racing! haha), but it sure felt great today.

I even stretched because my carpool buddy is training for a spring marathon and ran 14 miles today, so I had the time. It was MUCH needed. I think I am going to go and stretch some more!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Spin Class

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Spin Class

Thursday's( repost) and Friday Spin!

So yea...not sure what happened to my post yesterday. Strange.....

Anyhow......

I did the circuit from Tuesday only 3x8 this time and we threw in some bi's and tri's too.

I decided to take the day off from cardio--so for me that meant I only did 15 minutes of the elliptical while pushing pretty hard! Ha! I can't help myself. I had time to spare might as well get the heart beating--right?!?!?!

This morning ( FRIDAY) was the first time I taught the 5:30 AM Spin class. It's new to the schedule. There were a few empty bikes, but lots of new faces. I decided to teach my Wednesday class again because there was a spinner from my Monday class. Did not want to make her repeat the same class again.

It went over well. Lots of jumps. The last set was 6 minutes. Whew! I have to teach Totally Toned at noon as well.

I made an impulse purchase yesterday. My GPS is on the fritz and I REALLY want need one!! I went to the sporting goods store and found the Garmin FR 60. To make a long story short..it's not actually a real GPS. It does track time/pace/distance etc. but it does not need a signal to do so. I have to calibrate it. If you are a runner then you KNOW that we are anal beings. I want the exact pace/dist. etc. Soooooo....I will try it out on my long run on Saturday. I love everything else about it though. The heart Rate monitor capabilities as well as the millions of other bells and whistles--are awesome. The owners manual is 48 pages long for Pete's Sake!

I think I shared my Spin class activity too. Love that!

I hope to have a good report back on this handy gadget tomorrow or else I will have to take it back and be heart rate monitorless and GPSless again! Booo!

What happened to my Thursday Post??

I had a nice EARLY Thursday post. I swear. It was done before 1PM. That never happens!
I was quite proud of myself for posting sooo early! No idea where it went.
I will have to come up with something else after I teach Spin this fabulous Friday morning. I think it's Friday. I hope so because i am showing up to teach weather they want me to or not!

Typical Wednesday

Nothing too new to report.

Spin was at 10 this morning. I did a lot of jumps. I never do a lot of jumps--they are just not a realistic road biking move! BUT--it sure was fun! It went over well with my class. I have to figure out if I want to recycle today's class or Monday's for my early Spin on Friday...decisions, decisions!

Totally toned was at noon. We did a weights and tube workout today. 1 set with weights/1 set with the tubing and then back to the weights. I made it up on the spot and it was a very good one too! The reps with weight in hand were 10 and all the tube moves were 20 reps. So it went 10 reps/20 reps/10 reps.

I threw in some push ups and abs and lower back and called it good! Whew!

Good day today!

Tuesday fun fun fun!

Tuesday!
I made it to the gym for weights this morning. A little later than normal, but I am happy my kids got up!
New circuit today. We did a 3x12:

Squat and press
Mountain climbers
Leg Curl
1 minute core

circuit 2
Lat pull down
Plank to press
Leg Extension
1 minute core

Later on was my speed workout.
2 mile warm up
1 mile at 7:44
1 minute rest
1 mile at 7:35
1 minute rest
1 mile at 7:35
1 minute rest
1 mile at 7:35
2 mile cool down

Good times! Ugh! My goal pace was 7:35 and I did just that. We were told to take the first one out slower. I felt really good. Told ya I was going to rock it tonight!
With that being said I want to add what coach wrote on a blog to explain why we did what we did tonight:

With tonight being our first tempo type workout of the year I'd like to give everyone the why and not just the how of this type of workout. First tempo training falls into two varieties (steady, prolonged runs, also called tempo runs, and intermittent runs, also called cruise intervals -- which is what we will be doing tonight.) both of which are run at the same relative intensity. Tempo training is great for improving endurance. Subjectively, tempo intensity is "comfortably hard" , or 20-30 seconds per mile slower than your 5k race pace. Objectively, tempo training is in the area of 83-88% of your Max VO2 or about 88-92% of your maximum heart rate. I know at this point in the training cycle it's hard to figure out exactly where we fit into the intensity charts, but let's try to remember "comfortably hard". I will bring some pace charts tonight or by going to http://www.runbayou.com/jackd.htm you will be able to determine proper pace. See everyone tonight!!!!

My coach is the best. He is out there on the roads/track/races right with us. He is super FAST too. He ran last years Boston Marathon in a 2:57! Holy FAST!
Today was a great day.

Monday!

Monday fun day! Spin was on tap this morning. It was a full class with people waiting to get in! ( Thanks to the crappy weather). It was a nice interval class with a few "true" sprints thrown in the mix for fun. I say a "true" sprint because those should only be 30 seconds long or shorter. I mean really, how long can you truly sprint ALL OUT? If it's longer than 30 seconds, it's most likely not a sprint. Unless your name is Lance Armstrong. I'm just sayin........
I just got word I will be teaching yet another Spin class on Friday morning. 5:30 AM to be exact. It starts this week. I am kind of glad, but Friday was the day I chose to take off( although that has not happened in the past few weeks...) It will be good to get a new crowd of people. I will most likely just use my Monday or Wednesday class format on Friday. Nothing wrong with recycling!
Totally toned was at noon and I heard a lot of the people were sore over the weekend due to the torture fun stuff we did Friday. I think they thought I would show them Mercy today--NO WAY. Someone did yell out "bikini season, bikini season!!" She had the right mind-set! I think every last person let out groans and moans today after the second set of hip circles! Oh well....that's what they pay for right?!?!
My plans for tomorrow might have to change seeing as my 5 year old is on the couch watching basketball with Matt (it's 11 pm here) . The cough is back. It seems to come out only at night. I will have to play it by ear if we will get to the gym in the morning. It's not looking good. I have a new circuit all ready to go too!! I can probably move my training to Wednesday--not sure when day 2 will happen. Perhaps Sunday.
I also have run club tomorrow. Our scheduled speed workout is a tempo run. Something like 4x1 mile with a 60 second recovery. 1 whole minute?!?! Gee, thanks coach! I will report back tomorrow. I plan on kicking butt!