Where's the Beach?

Running and Raining  Today is one of those full on Mondays. Kind of a blue day and it doesn't help matters that it's just been nasty, rainy, gray, dreary since Friday afternoon. Big fat blah. However, despite the craptastic weather, I did get in a really good and very wet 11.5 mile run on Saturday. As long as it's not just pouring down and storming, running in the rain is really rather fun. Oh, and as long as it's not cold. Just a few stipulations. It was in the mid- to upper-60's when I set out with a steady, but not exactly heavy rain. It felt very refreshing I must say. The rain definitely helped to keep me cooler. The only downfall was the 100% humidity of course. But, everything seemed to be clicking for me. I did make a stop at the house at mile 6 to put on dry socks. The others were getting terribly squishy and I was worried about blisters at that point. Not that the dry sock stayed dry for long, but it sure felt good while they were dry. Maybe it wa...

Running & Tailgating  We had some incredible weather this weekend. The lows were in the low 60's and highs mid-80's. It actually felt like fall. And I guess that came just in time for the first of two AR Razorback games held in Little Rock. The university is in Fayetteville, but two games of the season are in Little Rock.  And, it's a huge deal. Everyone turns out for some serious tailgating. It's just one enormous party on the public golf course outside of the stadium. We, of course, went. We met up with our friends. Walked around and visited with other friends. Lots of standing, walking, walking and standing. Let's just say that didn't bode well for my feet after our morning run. Because it was cooler, we actually got to sleep in until after 7 and didn't have to start the run until around 8:30. It was a nice change of pace, being able to actually wake up fully before taking off out the door. Jason and I decided to try out a slightly differen...

Rainy Run & Cross-Training  We didn't really have much going on this weekend. No complaints about that really. I woke up Saturday morning ready to run. The weather, however, was not in my favor. It was storming. I kept watching the radar like an obsessed fool trying to figure out when it'd pass. Finally, around 9:45 the storms were gone and the rain had mostly turned into light sprinkles. I asked Jason if he wanted to go with me. He balked at the idea. Whined that it was raining. But in the end, he headed out with me. The sprinkles turned into a light rain, but it felt amazing. Very refreshing I must say. My plan was 6 miles and I told him we could loop near the house so he could drop off sooner. He didn't of course. I think the rain added some pep in my step. We had some really great splits (mile 3 was 8:38, mile for was 8:38). Mile 5 was a little slower (I think it was 8:50) and that was a part of the run where we had to run in some grass and hop over some miss...

Running, Relaxing, Relishing This weekend as another fairly low-key one for us. Saturday I got up for my 6 mile run. The temps were just under 70 degrees. The humidity was still in play, but man at least it wasn't 80+ degrees. Made such a difference. It ended up being a really good run. I tried to just run by feel rather than paying attention to my pace. I only checked the speed at each lap/mile. Overall average ended up being 9:04. After scrubbing the master bath, I spent some time on the patio reading before we went to a late lunch. We were actually able to sit outside on the patio and enjoy outdoor dining for the first time in months! The temperatures were hovering around 90, but there was a nice breeze. And face it, 90 feels like 70 when it's been 110. We had just finished our lunch when I got a message from our friends. They wanted to meet us exactly where we already were. I told her we were there and done with lunch but would gladly stick around and wait on them. S...

Running & Lazing  This weekend was pretty low-key for us. Which, was fine by me actually. Saturday morning I got up and hit the pavement for a 6-mile run. It ended up being a pretty good run. Of course, after Friday's horrendous run, anything would seem "good." It was really hot out, especially because the sun was blazing down on me. So when I got back to the house, I changed into a swimsuit and immediately jumped into the pool. Talk about the most refreshing, wonderful feeling. I have been a little lax on stretching and rolling, so I did spend some extra time doing that after I got out of the pool. And then I decided to be lazy and get right back in the pool for some pool lounging time. Jason joined me. We just floated around for a couple of hours before deciding to go out for lunch. We both agreed pizza sounded like it'd hit the spot, so pizza it was. The rest of the evening was pretty low-key. We played cards for a bit while listening to music. Made dinn...

Running and Enjoying the Weekend This weekend was super productive. I got in 2 pretty good runs, definitely better than Friday's run. Saturday I set out for 4-5 miles. It was really hot (go figure) so I was trying to be flexible about my miles. If it was just too much, then I'd stop early. There's really no reason why I must get in 5 miles, or any for that matter.  They weren't just easy peasy, but so much better than the previous day. I definitely pushed myself for some pretty good splits. My first mile was 9:10, then I got in 8:53, 8:54 then a holy-crap 8:36. I messed up my lap on mile 5 so I don't know exactly what that one was, but my overall average was 8:53.  Now, I need to shave off about 10 seconds from that and be able to sustain for 13.1 miles and I'll be good to go for my next half ;-) Oh, good to know lesson learned - ice pack on the back of your neck after a hot run is amazing. I can't believe I haven't been doing that all summ...

Two on Tuesday  This morning started off way too early. I slept fairly well until around 2am then I was tossing and turning a bit, but refusing to look at the time. The alarm was set for just after 5 so we could get up and get in a run. The plan was 6 miles (or that was my plan anyway). I had hoped the temps would be a lot cooler after a recent front moved through. They were, sort of. It was still around 74 degrees but the humidity was 90% and the dew point in the upper 80's. In other words, it was soupy out. I felt pretty good for the first mile, of course we were taking it slower. But I could feel the humidity start to affect my breathing. While I don't get exercise-induced asthma, I have severe asthma that has always affected my exercise. Usually, Singulair keeps me on track unless I have some major allergy issues OR extreme humidity. Singulair can't fix humidity. Somehow I did manage do pull out fairly good times for miles 2 and 3, but definitely started slowing ...

Bis/Tris Today was a gym day for me. I actually wasn't dreading it. I think part of it was that I only did weights at the gym twice last week. Other workouts were done outside or at home. So it was a nice break. Since my injuries, I feel like I was spending all my time inside the gym. So cutting back the gym time (not necessarily lifting time mind you) is a nice, refreshing change of pace. I mean, I do have a pretty decent set up at home that I can take advantage of. I was kind of looking forward to biceps today. I had originally thought I'd switch up my splits this week, but I think I'll do that after vacation, which will give me a week off from lifting as well. So I went with biceps/triceps and did 3 sets of 8 reps as supersets. SS#1 Alternating curls Double-arm triceps overhead press SS#2 Hammer curls Triceps pushdowns SS#3 Cross-body curls Lying triceps extensions It was a pretty decent workout. I felt strong with the exercises and can definitely feel...

Pumped Up Workout I'll readily admit that I did not want to go to the gym today. I had no real excuses to not go though. I was just feeling lazy to be honest. But, I did myself a favor and made myself go. I knew I'd regret it if I didn't go. I think part of my reluctance stems from a bit of boredom. I've gotten into a rut again with workouts. That and sometimes I just am flat out tired of seeing the inside of that place. But, that part aside, boredom all the way. So, I decided to try to do something a little different for my biceps/triceps workout. It's nothing earth-shattering. But it's a switch up from my typical 3 different supersets done as 3 sets of 8 reps....yawn. So, today I did 4 sets of 8 reps for two supersets then I did dropsets at the end starting with heaviest weight for 6 reps, then increasing the number of reps by 2 as I decreased the weights. I did this 4 times (6, 8, 10, 12). SS#1 Alternating bicep curls Double-arm overhead triceps exte...

Sunday Gym Day Yesterday turned out to be a pretty good day. It was sunny but insanely windy - like 30+ mph winds all day. So glad I got my long run done on Saturday that's for sure. I hit the gym a little after 9 am to get my weights done. I started with the elliptical to warm up while reading the May issue of Oxygen magazine. I almost stopped at one page, but am glad I turned the page. The next article was all about biceps. And that's what I was working. I saw a new exercise I really wanted to try - the drag curl. So I scratched  hammer curls from my workout and added in the drag curl. SS#1 Alternating curls Weighted triceps dips SS#2 Drag curls (not sure I did these correctly, inconsistent videos on how to perform) Triceps pushdowns SS#3 Incline curls Lying triceps extensions Dropset - biceps curls - 6, 8, 10 Dropset - double-arm overhead triceps extensions - 6, 8, 10 Overall, really good workout. I definitely need to figure out how to properly do the d...

Weekend Recap  I hope everyone had a nice weekend. Mine was good. Not quite as planned, but still good. I decided to pretty much log off most of the weekend, so no blog postings. I didn't really have anything super exciting to post. Not that it was a bad weekend mind you. Saturday Jason and I got in a good 8-mile run. It was insanely humid so the wind was actually a welcome thing for a change. For the most part, no pain. My piriformis started to get pretty tight towards the end of the run, but I made sure to stretch, roll, stretch and ice (foot as well). I am so happy that running is back to being enjoyable. My first few runs after my hiatus were simply awful. I honestly thought I'd never enjoy running, never want to go back out there again. Sunday I hit the gym rather than the pavement. I really wanted to run again, but Jason's feet were feeling tight. It was gusting winds too, so I think the gym was the right choice. I did biceps and triceps as supersets of 3x8 (un...

New Piriformis Exercises Today wasn't too terrible for a Monday. Of course, I did leave a little early. That always helps huh ;-) I had another round of physical therapy today. My PT has been really researching piriformis syndrome and found an interesting article that discusses the use of McKenzie Exercises - typically used for back pain. I have started adding in low back extensions (one of the exercises) but now have a whole new list of exercises to add into my workout rotations. But, if it helps, I'll do it. I also asked her about dry needling (thanks Sarena ), which is sort of similar to acupuncture, but is more about trigger point and intramuscular stimulation. And I'm glad I asked because the timing is uncanny. One of the doctor's in the clinic happens to be going to get certified this weekend. They both believe that I am a prime candidate for the procedure. So we'll see how that goes. Kind of scared because I hate hate hate needles. Have any of you tr...

Lunch Date Trumps Gym Today I did something totally different - I went off my normal schedule. Something I should do more often. Rather than getting in my workout at lunch, I met a friend for lunch. We hadn't seen each other in a while, so it was long over due. We met at a nice place just down the street from our respective offices called Lulav . It's definitely one of those places you think of when you want a fancy dinner. But, their lunches are actually very reasonably priced - and good. So, we had a nice visit over our meal. It was great catching up, and just taking time to enjoy some time during the day. I think it's easy to get caught up in disliking Mondays that it's easy to overlook opportunities to make it enjoyable. The only downfall was that it was so nice out it made it that much harder to get back to the office. Gym Time I guess the other downfall of missing the noon workout would be my general workout motivation - or lack thereof. When I workout a...

Super Saturday Yesterday turned out to be a great day. It was mostly about relaxing and enjoying the great weather really. I did get up and do a few house chores, but mostly...relaxing. We did get in a good run as well. We drove over to the Two Rivers Bridge to start the run. Jason wanted to run through the "woods" or the prettier part of the trail. I was a-ok with that. If you start from the Big Dam Bridge (usual starting point), it's 2 miles just to the Two Rivers Bridge. Normally, not a big deal. Injured...big deal. So, we got going with our run. I was just happy as a lark then Jason suddenly stopped. I thought he might have hurt himself or something bad. But he had lost the key to the car. We turned around and headed back the direction we came. Mind you, this was about 5 minutes into the run. Apparently he dropped the key at the very start of the bridge. So, the first .77 miles of the run was a bit chaotic. But, we found the key. After all of that, we got back ...

Weight Day Good news is that my heel and piriformis are still doing good. The bad news is that my hams and calves are totally revolting against me. I've never felt so sore after any run - even my 14.5 miler. I seriously thought that all the leg workouts, spin, even the darn elliptical would keep me in fairly decent running shape. Actually, I thought the leg workouts would really help me out too. Um. Apparently the only way to stay in running shape is to actually run. This has been noted now. I had hoped I'd feel up for spin today, but that was not going to happen. Instead I did an easy 30 minutes on the elliptical to try to help loosen up the legs then I hit the weights for biceps and triceps. I went with supersets of 3x8 unless noted. SS#1 Alternating biceps curls Double-arm overhead triceps extension SS#2 Hammer curls Double-arm kickbacks - 10 reps SS#3 Incline curls Triceps pulldowns - happily increased weight today. I did some ab work before calling it do...

Bis & Tris Today I had a doctor's appointment at 1. I plan on talking about it tomorrow, but for today, I'll just stick to my regular posts. The appointment took far longer than I thought it would take, it was a good thing I had already told my boss that I probably wouldn't be back to work that afternoon. I really needed to sort of decompress after the appointment, so I went straight to the gym to get in a pump session. Today's workout started off with my typical elliptical warmup. It did not take long to warm up either. It was 80 degrees today and the building did not have the A/C on. To say sweatfest is an understatement. I went with biceps and triceps then tacked on a high rep superset at the end (totally optional) Pin It * I for the swing lunges with curls, I did 4 lunges to each side rather than 8. I the idea from Kristin at Stuftmama - check out her videos for examples of how to do the moves. Kitchen Time After the gym, I was going to go home and st...

Supersets & Drop Sets Today I ended up going to our company's gym. Thankfully it was actually open. I don't use that gym often as it's really small and usually crowded. There isn't tons of equipment, but it's definitely something nice to have for employees. Sunday was pretty dead so I was able to get on the elliptical for a bit as a warmup. It's the same type of elliptical that I used yesterday. It's not quite like the traditional elliptical machine and I really don't know how to describe it exactly. But I like it so much better actually. After a short stint on the elliptical while watching Food Network (a huge perk being able to actually watch what I wanted), I went to the weight room. Again, it's really small and I can't imagine working out with more than 2 others in that space, but they have a full rack of dumbbells, an EZ Bar, a regular bar, and several benches. They do have a Smith machine that I might have to figure out how to use ...