Tuesday's Shenanigans

Today was my daughter's first day of 1st grade. It was weird for me, but I survived ( so did she).

Miles asked about her just about every 10 minutes.

He and I headed ff to the gym for some playtime.

I made up a sort of cardio-weight circuit for myself. It went like this:

step mill intervals 20 mins

upper body circuit ( shoulder press/biceps curls/push ups) 3x10

Elliptical steady state 20 mins

upper body circuit ( upright rows/bent over rows/triceps ext.) 3x10

stair master 10 mins.

lame stretches for 2 minutes.

I decided to skip running club tonight. This seems to be a continuous theme for me lately!

It was really windy out and that would not be good for my allergies/breathing right!?!? I felt I was setting myself up for failure if I attempted to run in the Gail winds. They are bad. Really.

I headed off to spin class instead. It was awesome. The music and fore mat were great. It was a strength class that did not have any given recoveries for the most part. Nice.

My legs are pretty much toast already and it's only Tuesday. Oops.

Monday! Boston! Garmin! YAY!

Monday~ It totally felt like a Monday too. Whatever that means!
Spin day today--intervals. We were all over the place today. Organized chaos I like to call it. It worked well though-I think. I had only 1 bike left open-yay! That's a hard feat for the time of day I teach in such awesome weather. I had about 4 new peeps too. Love the newbies! They actually said they liked it and would be back again on Wednesday--we shall see though!
I know I am always talking about how helpful a heart rate monitor is for Spin--because it is!! I really could have used it today as I have no idea how hard I am really working. I cannot wait until I get my new Garmin 110- oh did I not spill the beans yet?? I am getting it FOR SURE! My runner friend let me know on Saturday that she got it at the Boston Marathon Expo! YAY! She ran Boston today ( lucky duck) and had a GREAT experience. It was her slowest marathon ever and the most painful. "How could it be a great experience then", you ask?? Her whole family made the trip. 5 kids and her hubby were there to cheer her on. Her older kids ran the 5k the day before too and did AWESOME!! What a great thing to share with your family!

Totally Toned was at noon and we did some circuit training- I think they liked it.
I hope to lift tomorrow at some point. not sure if it will work though. I am hoping to get to a kickboxing class in the AM. Yep, The cardio kickboxing class that I was addicted to before Amara was in school. Oh, how I have missed it. If I make it, I am going to be so so so so sore. It happens every time. Love it. I am bringing a friend so she can experience the pain pleasure as well.
I am also going to attempt to run a 5 mile tempo later on-- I hope my vocal cords approve!! Wish me luck!!

Is It Friday Yet!?!?!

I am exhausted today. Totally pooped. Miles was up a few times last night. He has some weird cough, nasal drippage going on. Poor guy. I am dragging today. But, alas-- we were able to get to the gym on this 80* day! It was in the low 60's by 9am and my poor kids had coats on! Ooops! I let them leave the coats in the car though. It was warm.
At the gym I did a quick 3 x 10- chest and triceps circuit:
Chest Press
Tri Dips
Push ups
Tri Press
Chest Flye
Lying Triceps Ext.
1 minute break and repeat.
Um yea. This hurt me. It hurt me soo good!
I almost did 4 sets, but chickened out since my poor arms were shakin' by set 2!
I know time off from lifting is good for me, but it sure stinks trying to get back in the swing of things! The good thing is though, that I took enough time off so I actually MISS lifting weights. YAY!
I also attempted to run on the treadmill today.
I did some sort of speed work. 400 repeats with an equal time rest. I may have done 8. I stopped counting after 4. My goal was 5 but I know I did more!
My breathing was so-so. I attempted to use my own breathing techniques to get through it. I won't say it worked (cuz I have NO idea what I was doing), but I pushed through and ran almost 5 miles when I was done with the intervals and warm up and cool down. That lifted my spirits a bit!
Later on I taught 3*2*1. I counted this as my core work for today. It was all standing ab work for total of 6 minutes. I did not add any plyometrics to my workout today-maybe tomorrow after spin class.....maybe.
Friday I am going shopping my girl Mary! Wooot! I better go to bed now so it's Friday sooner.

Monday-- at least the sun came out!

Yup, it's a Monday. My alarm clock went off late. Miles is my alarm on most day's. He decided to get up almost 45 minutes later than normal. It is probably because he was up twice last night, but that's another story.
I had spin class this morning. The good news is that I planned the class last night. The bad news is I did not have the music set yet. I assumed I would be up at 7:30 AM and would have plenty of time to plan the music. Not the case! Sooooo, after getting both kids in their chairs for breakfast I was able to find some worthy music! We left a bit later than I prefer, but all turned out well. Today's class was an interval style one. It was a loop--we did did 4 loops total. I had them try to make each loop a little more challenging then the last. The first 4.5 minutes was all standing runs...30 second standing run, 30 second rest, 45, and 60 seconds with equal rest. We then did a 20 second sprint with a 40 second rest. Last up was a 2.5 minutes climb. Repeat!
My timing actually worked out and I did not have to add any special "flair" to the end of the last loop. That almost never happens!
Totally Toned was at noon. Today started a new session, but there were no newbies today. I normally start off a bit easier for the newbs, but seeing as there were none today--not so easy! It was fun though. I think. I hope.
I went back to the gym to lift since won't be able to tomorrow-my usual day to lift.
It took all of 20 minutes at the most. Love that!

4x8:

Circuit A
Squat Jumps
Lateral raises
Plan Jacks
Circuit B
Walk out push ups
Lateral Raises
Box Jumps
Short, sweet and effective!

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!

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!

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 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.

Wednesday and Thursday stuff.......

Well Wednesday was an off day. I know. I had a complete day or rest on Sunday!! Oh well. My kids were up all night Tuesday and early Wednesday morning. No sleep for anyone so I was a nice mommy and let my girl sleep in until almost 10am ( the start of my spin class) Thank goodness I found a sub at the LAST minute!! My kids always come first. They both had/have some weird hacking cough that naturally is worse at night! All the honey in the world was not going to "cure" them. They are both doing so much better now.

I was able to get to my 12 noon class though. I was not much of a good instructor I might admit...they seemed to get a good workout, but I felt off my usual game. I was sooo tired. I can work through it usually, but I was going on 3-4 not so good hours of sleep. Whew.

On to Thursday.

I am still behind in my sleep, but was able to make it to the gym this morning for weight training. Still doing the same circuit, but that will change next Tuesday. I think my training partner is ready to step up his game as well. It was a good one today. 4x10. No time for core today, but we did stretch for a good 8 minutes!

I also went back to the gym to do my speed workout on the good old treadmill. Today was a fartlek workout (Training in which the pace is varied from a fast sprint to slow jogging).

It's hard to pace on the treadmill, but I did most of them at 7.6 mph up to 8.2 mph. It was 2 minutes fast 2 minutes slow jogging. 8 times. Oh what fun! I attempted to go to my beloved kickboxing class right after. I snuck in the back and lasted about 8 minutes ( the warm up! So sad), but I listened to my body and it was in need of some nourishment. No need to be all crazy stupid in the name of extra cardio! And besides I am kicking the idea of getting my long run in tomorrow morning. Ugh. Long treadmill run by myself. I should get to be d now. 4:14 AM will be here soon.

Sunday, Monday and Stuff!

Sunday~ OFF!!! I sure needed it too. The icy and snowy run really wrecked havoc on my legs!! I should have done some yoga/stretching, but I didn't.

Monday~ Today was Spin day. It was a true structured interval style class. It went over well with the participants I hope. Matt has made it to class the last six weeks I think. I think he actually enjoys it too...I think! He is doing great.
I am also back to teaching Totally Toned on Monday's/ I had a whopping 2 weeks off. It was good to be back. I think they missed me!

Stuff~ This will be the week that I will start to step up my running mileage. I will run more than once per week! I don't have a mileage goal in mind yet, but I will come up with something soon. My running club "kick-off" is this weekend. That means that we officially start on Saturday! We will be meeting on Tues/Thur and Saturdays now. I will only be able to make it on Tuesday's for the speed work as Matt plays b-ball on Thursday nights. I am fine with that though. I can get burned out on running very quickly.
My first race of the season will be in a relay. I will be running 5 miles in all on Jan. 31. I am kind of excited to try and run fast again. It's been a while.
I also plan on weight training twice a week, full body, most likely circuits. I will shoot for Sunday and Tuesday or Tuesday and Thursday depending on what kind of time I have. I will also be doing my cleanse again in a few weeks. I really liked it the first time around and will continue to do it every 90 days. It helps me to get rid of all the toxins I have inhaled during the past few weeks of the loooong holiday season. I am happy to say that when I first did the cleanse 90 days ago I dropped about 6.5 lbs. and have kept off 4 of those! I am happy with that..and my pants are still baggy! Ha ha! SO I am not going into the cleanse trying to lose any weight, ,sometimes it happens though and if it does, I won't be upset!

Friday!

I was wanting to take the day off from exercise on Friday, but a recent article in Runner's World explained that it was a good idea to be active before a race or big event ( long run in my case).
So I went. I am glad I did.
I had a great upper body workout.

Pull ups ( 5.5, 5.5, 4, 4) Woohoo..I am almost at 6!! Finally...
DB Shoulder press
Push ups
Bicep curls

I went through this circuit 4 times with reps of 10 ( except the pull ups).
It was short and sweet and I had enough time to make it to spin class early.
It was a great class. Hills, hills and more hills. Long, steep and long and fast!