First, I have lost 5 pounds since January 1. Losing weight was not really an intention of mine, but it seems to be a natural occurrence when training for a marathon. I am eating better and exercising more. Makes sense.
Second, I have five days of workouts to report.
1. Thursday- Martha blogged about this workout too. Obviously, it was ridiculously good. We went to a killer spin class, and then Martha, Ellen, and I minxed around the weight section for a few minutes. I made them do bicep curls, seated rows, and incline chest presses- just so we could get a few solid muscle groups in to compliment the spin class. Well, while we were over in the weight section, I saw one of the trainers wandering around aimlessly.
****CONFESSION**** for the last two years it has been a secret desire of mine to work out with this said trainer. His name is Isaac, and, after watching him train his clients, I can tell he is a motivator and makes really intense and effective workouts. I have been holding in this secret jealousy for all his clients for a long time….
SO when Isaac said that his client for that time slot didn’t show, I immediately jumped at the chance to maybe have him give me (which really meant us, but I was in selfish mode at this point, no going back) a few “things” to do.
THIS WAS THE BEST IDEA I HAVE EVER HAD. EVER. Really. James, another friend/trainer, first showed us how to do these crazytown push-ups on a medicine ball. I will explain this in fuller detail when I can do them for real and can post a video. My new goal is to do them every time I workout so I can get really good at these push ups. When you see the video, you will not be disappointed. ON TO ISAAC- he decided to make us do a circuit workout:
1 sprint lap around the track.
30 seconds of squat jumping jacks with weight. (jump out equals squat)
30 seconds of these weird foot switch things on the Bosu ball- works your core and legs.
Then sets of jumping jacks (2 count = 1), sit ups, push ups, and butterfly kicks (in this order rotation). First set was 20 of each. Next set was 10, then 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, then 20. Get it?
1 final lap around (as fast as you could go at that point)
Needless to say. I felt so great during/after this workout. Workouts like these give me an insane high- ask Martha and Ellen- I was practically out of my mind with joy. I loved every bit of the pain and exhaustion. Can’t wait for more workouts like this.
2. Friday- 4 mile run. Easy peasy. Ran around the track. Nothin fancy.
3. Saturday- 8 mile run with Luna out at Shelby Farms. We started out on the tour d’wolf, but after 2 miles I changed directions. It was super muddy (again), and I just did not want to go through the stress of starting and stopping and starting and stopping. You get the idea. Just so you know- the 2 mile mark of the trail is VERY close to the 5 mile mark. The last mile of the run is on a dirt road/field that was NOT muddy. Luna and I opted to run up and down that 1 mile stretch (thus equaling 2 miles) three times. It worked well for us. There was a good hill on this stretch, so, all in all, a nice run with minimal mud. The last four miles felt better than the first. I like that.
4. Sunday: 6 mile run. I went to the gym with my handsome and health conscious boyfriend in celebration of Valentines Day because, well, nothing says “valentines” like a lot of sweat and heavy lifting. His new YMCA gym has a room about the size of a basketball court dedicated to cardio equipment. I hopped on a treadmill with its own TV (super nice, woo woo) and got to running. My thought was to increase my speed every 5 minutes for the first 30 min, then back down the next 30. Well, this plan was laid to waste when some chick on a treadmill in the row in front of mine was going faster than I was. Not to be outdone, I boosted my speed to match/surpass hers and ended up with a KILLER run under my belt. Ran 6 miles in about 55 minutes and felt GREAT for the last 3 miles. I think that I am a huge fan of feeling better in the second have of my medium runs. Big Fan. I also watched the cross country skiing finals while running, which, surprisingly, got me super energized during my run.
5. Monday- 3 miles. Again, boosted the speed on this one and finished in about 26 minutes. Felt fantastic. Finished up the run with a 3 minute jog. Ended the workout with a 3peat circuit- crunches on the AB ball (50), pushups on the Bosu ball (12), lunges with two 15 pound weights (20)—all this times 3.
Third, I am having great success with personal motivation during spinning. Every time I feel like slowing down, I push myself a little harder. This has made for even better workouts lately. I have also taken to run/sprinting on the choruses of songs. Also a good idea.
Fourth, in light of my last 3 runs, I have decided to start doing speed work with my “inside” runs. I think this will be very beneficial in the long run. I will let you know how it goes.
Fifth, I hope this isn’t information overload. If it is, I will leave you with a little cool down (or “fire me up” in my case!)--- my boyfriend on national TV! See him play with David Nail on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. My boo is the one with the good lookin pants! I am so proud!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk39k4Hw_TA
ultra love
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