New kicks workout

Thank goodness Monday only happens once per week. Today, I was torn between blowing off the Monday Blahs at the gym or on the couch. I decided to head to the gym, mostly because I had a new pair of Brooks PureCadence shoes in my gym bag. I love these shoes.

I decided to do a combination of strength training and running. I’m running Rudolph’s Rampage on Saturday, so this will probably be my only day of strength training this week.

I started with a 2-mile run on the treadmill, before completing the following workout:

5 sets of:
10 push pulls (40 lb.)
15 kettlebell swings (20 lb.)
15 plie squats (20 lb.)

.5-mile run (3:16)

5 sets of:
10 push ups
15 jump squats
15 plank jacks

.5-mile run (3:22)

3 sets of:
20 sit ups with an 8 lb. medicine ball
10 side planks with row (8 lb.) – per side
20 back extensions with an 8 lb. medicine ball
1-mile run (6:52)

It was a good, sweaty workout. Plus, my new shoes added a little spring to my step. I’m beginning to get excited for the race this weekend, I just hope it doesn’t rain too much and turn the trails into a swamp.

Rainy race weekend

What a busy weekend! Yesterday, the Junior League of Florence held the Home for the Holidays 5k/10k. We are raising money for Habitat for Humanity and we’re planning to build a house for a family in May 2014.

On Saturday morning, it was muggy and overcast. Not exactly great running weather, but we weren’t too worried about that. The main issue was not having enough volunteers along the course to direct the runners.

As we were waiting for the runners to finish, we noticed that the 5k runners were taking a long time to get back. A handful came in under 22 minutes, but it was several minutes before the rest arrived. We found out that everyone got lost and ran too far!

Fortunately, many of the runners weren’t too upset. A few joked that they needed the extra exercise and I’m grateful for anyone who laughed it off instead of yelling at us! 🙂

In the end, we raised money for a good cause – which is all that matters. I’ve done Habitat for Humanity in the past and remember it being a lot of work, but it’s also fun because you get to work with your friends. Plus, maybe I’ll learn a thing or two about how to fix up my house.

The other good news (for me) is that I don’t plan to organize another race anytime soon. I’ll be extra grateful next time I run a race and everything runs smoothly!

After the race, I ate a gigantic sandwich, then took a two-hour nap. I still felt kinda blah, so I decided to go for a run. I ended up running fourteen miles. There was a lot on my mind, so it felt really good to blow off some steam.

This morning, I did three rounds of the 5-to-50 Ab Workout and completed Day 22 of the Push-up Circuit Challenge. Now, time for my favorite cardio… Christmas shopping!!

Sore and sweaty

Huck and I took a short walk this morning, before I completed Day 19 of the Push-up Circuit Challenge. After yesterday’s strength training workout, my arms were in no mood to complete forty push-ups, but I pushed through slooowly. I made sure to rub out all the soreness with my Grid afterwards. Ah, bliss!

This evening, I did an interval progression run. I started off by running .2-mile @ 6 mph and .5-mile at a faster pace, then gradually increased the pace and distance of the “speed” interval. After 6.2 miles, I was drenched.

How I think I look at the gym:

How I really look at the gym:

Wrong shoe workout

I started off the day with a two-mile run with Huck, before completing Day 17 of the Push-up Circuit Challenge. I can’t believe I’m already halfway done with this challenge!

My workout this evening started off on the wrong foot, literally.

Somehow, I grabbed two different pairs of shoes. The purple shoes are a half size too small, so it felt weird. I decided to focus on weights this evening, sandwiched between two short runs.

Run 1 mile @ 8:40

50 bent-over rows (25 lbs.)
50 squats (25 lbs.)
50 overhead presses (25 lbs.)
100 jump squats
50 bicep curls (10 lbs.)
50 reverse lunges (10 lbs.)
100 plank jacks
50 split jacks
50 half jacks

Run 1 mile @ 8:10

The strength part of this workout felt tough, even with the pitifully light weights I was using. I need to do more upper body workouts or I will end up looking like a t-rex…

The jump squats felt surprisingly easy, so I guess all those butt workouts are paying off. This workout made me kinda glad that I brought the wrong shoe. 🙂

Black Friday

Today has been the perfect lazy day. My fiancé and I spent the morning playing with Huck and laying around on the couch, before I headed out the door for a five-mile run. The weather couldn’t be more perfect. I love crunchy leaves and being able to run for almost an hour and not feel a tiny bit overheated. When I got home from my run, I completed Day 13 of the Push-Up Circuit Challenge and two rounds of this Brazilian butt workout:

It seems like everyone I know is either Black Friday shopping or complaining about people who Black Friday shop. 😉 In general, my fiancé and I hate shopping (online shopping is another story…), so we’re doing our best to avoid any of the major retailers in our town. Shopping at Wal-mart makes me squeamish and this video is enough to convince me not to visit anytime this weekend. Yikes!!

Thanksgiving Eve

This morning, I completed Day 11 of the Push-up Circuit Challenge, then used my foam roller for ten minutes to squeeze out the muscle soreness I’d accumulated over the past few days. It felt wonderful!

It was another yucky day, but fortunately I was able to leave work a little early and drop by my favorite workout apparel store (T.J. Maxx) and pick up a new pair of running leggings. After digging through my current stock of leggings this morning, I realized that I was in pretty bad shape. There is nothing more unflattering than ill-fitting leggings. Right, Justin Bieber?

Afterwards, I went to the gym and did a short interval run on the treadmill followed by ten minutes of planks. Thanks to the 30-day push-up challenge, my plank endurance has improved quite a bit. 🙂

A holly, jolly Tuesday

This morning, I took Huck for a walk through the woods near my house. I figured it would be a nice change of pace, since we could both relax a little and enjoy the scenery. Of course, it’s November and everything is brown, but whatever.

After our walk, I completed Day 10 of the Push-up Circuit Challenge and then did this stability ball butt workout:

I’m going a little crazy with the butt workouts lately, but at least it was fun to incorporate my stability ball. I need to pick a new body part to work out tomorrow, so I can start walking normally again.

By the time 5:30 rolled around, it was dark, cold and raining outside. I was thisclose to going home and curling up on the couch, but I headed to the gym and did a quick progression run on the treadmill. This Turkey Trot isn’t going to run itself!

I started with a 1-mile warm-up, then ran 2.8 miles, increasing the pace every quarter mile for 3/4 of a mile, followed by a .1-mile jog.

.25 @ 7.0 mph – 7.5 mph – 8.0 mph then .1-mile jog
.25 @ 7.5 mph – 8.0 mph – 8.5 mph then .1-mile jog
.25 @ 8.0 mph – 8.5 mph – 9.0 mph – 8.0 mph then .1-mile jog

This was a pretty good workout and I was tired afterwards, but not crawling-off-the-treadmill tired.

Now, the real question: which Christmas movie am I going to watch tonight… ?!

 

Burn, baby, burn!

I’m loving this cold weather lately. It’s finally beginning to feel like fall/winter in South Carolina. 🙂

This morning, after a quick run with Huck, I completed Day 8 of the Push-up Circuit Challenge. I love 30-day challenges, because its easy to see results quickly. I’ve definitely noticed a difference in my strength in the one week that I’ve been doing this challenge.

I’ve realized that I need to focus on building my strength if I’m going to improve as a runner. I decided to skip the gym after work – I knew I’d just hop on the treadmill – and went home to do a body weight workout in my living room. I’ve been obsessed with the workouts I find on FitSugar, because they are typically quick, but very challenging.

This evening, I did the Rainy Day Runner’s Workout, followed by the 10-Minute Pilates Butt Workout. The Pilates workout was especially tough. Every inch of my glutes were screaming!

Harder, better, faster, stronger

Huck and I did our usual morning run, plus an extra loop because he was being good. I think he’s figured out that I’m not his sled. 🙂 Afterwards, I completed Day 7 of the Push-up Circuit Challenge (I’m skipping the rest days) and did one round of FitSugar’s Power Plank Workout. Whew – it hasn’t gotten any easier!

This afternoon, I headed to the gym for some sprint intervals. I know that I’m not going to get any faster running on the treadmill, so I decided to run on the indoor track, instead. This was much easier for me. Psychologically, it’s really hard for me to “sprint” on the treadmill… especially when I’m worried about flying off the back end and breaking something.

I warmed up with 1 mile on the treadmill, then did the following workout:

.5-mile @ 3:07
30 air squats, 10 push-ups
.5-mile @ 2:57
20 surrender squats, 20 jumping jacks
.5-mile @ 3:10
20 box jumps, 10 push-ups
.5-mile @ 3:16

Afterwards, I ran 1 mile on the treadmill to cool down. I also spent some time in the hot tub and I know my muscles will thank me later. It felt amaaaazing! 🙂

Happy birthday to me :)

Huck and I did our usual run this morning. Since the sun has been rising later each day, we were able to see a beautiful sunrise as we crossed over the bridge near our house. What a nice way to start the day! 🙂 After we got home, I put Huck in his kennel for the morning and did Day 5 of the Push-Up Circuit Challenge.

When I opened up Google this morning, I saw this cute – but, also kinda creepy – birthday message. Thank you, Google, for being that weird friend who stalks me on the internet all day.

This evening, I did this Power Plank Workout that I found on FitSugar that totally put last night’s plank workout to shame. It was tough!