Where's the Beach?

A Bit of a Spin Rant Monday, you are not my BFF. I try really hard to not be negative about Mondays. But the fact is, I am. They mark the end of a weekend, the end of free time, then end of getting to sleep in just a little bit extra. I tried to get excited about this Monday because it was supposed to be in the lower 50's and sunny. In other words, I was planning on running after work. Luckily, I did think to pack my bag for spin just in case. That "just in case" happened. I think part of my sciatica issues are with sitting most of the day. I have been noticing more and more that I am in pain more throughout the week than on the weekends even with long runs. As much as I wanted to run, I knew it wasn't going to happen. Period. So I changed my mindset to spin. Then I found out my fave instructor wasn't going to be teaching. Not only was my motivation lacking overall, but I was doing my Plan B workout as it was. And now a different instructor? Can we through an...

Gym Day Yesterday's run was so great that I really had crazy notions of going out for another one today. But, I knew that I didn't need to push it. So, I ended up going to the gym instead. I thought I was going to run a mile for my warmup. Thought is the key word. Not even 2 minutes in I had to stop because of my sciatica/piriformis pain. Obviously the gym was a smarter plan that trying to go for another outdoor run. So, warm up ended up being 15 minutes on the elliptical instead. It did give me a chance to read some of the latest Oxygen magazine at least. Then it was time to hit the weights: chest, shoulders, hamstrings. I went with the typical 3x8 pattern. SS#1 Chest flye into press Pushups with toes on bench SS#2 Overhead shoulder press Bulgarian deadlift SS#3 Lateral raise Step ups - 6 reps SS#4 Upright rows Hamstring roll-ins on stability ball I finished up with some ab work using weights and the ball. Ok, for all you lifters, what am I doing wrong wi...

Cold but Good Run This morning we woke up to gorgeous sunny skies. But cold cold temps. It just seems way too early for it to be so cold here. Last night it dropped down into the 20's, so that meant no early morning fun for this girl. I tried to wait around as long as possible for it to warm up. Finally, I realized that it just wasn't going to truly warm up. So, Jason and I sucked it up and headed out around 10:45 with the windchill in the low 30's. I pulled out the trusty long running tights, long-sleeved top, vest, headband (to cover ears) and gloves. It was so cold getting started. And of course there was a cold breeze blowing off the river. I just kept reminding myself that I would indeed warm up (fingers crossed). Around .5 into the run, I finally started to loosen up and my hands didn't feel so frozen. By mile 2, we were farther away from the river and actually starting to feel pretty warm. Jason took his gloves off at this point. It ended up being a really...

Rest Day Today is a rest day for me. I kind of wish I had planned it out better so that I could run today. The temperatures are supposed to be about 50 with sunshine. Sounds like outdoor running weather to me. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny, but only 45, which probably means more like 40. It's ok, you guys in the north can totally chuckle at me for being such a weenie about the weather ( Jess did you catch the word choice). Since I didn't have any workout plans, I had extra time on my hands. During lunch we hit up Whole Foods finally. Been avoiding that one for a while because of major road construction in that direction. After work, the goal was to get a couple of Christmas gifts purchased, finally. I've been really putting this off because of driving in insane traffic. So far, I've only ordered gifts for my niece and nephew from Amazon. All shopping should be so easy I believe. Easy Chef Baking Set - Source My nephew has found this insane passion for cook...

Intervals, Legs, Triceps  Today I decided to do some intervals on the treadmill then hit legs and triceps. For the run, I started with two miles at a 9:13 min mile pace then I did a drop type of intervals (not sure what you'd call it exactly and not sure I'm going to make any sense explaining). I went with 8:34 min mile for the speed part and 9:31 min mile for recovery. I started with 2 minute intervals (2 fast, 2 recovery), then dropped in 30 second increments down to 30 second intervals. 2:00:2:00 1:30:1:30 1:00:1:00 .30:.30 So a total of 10 minutes worth of intervals. I went ahead and finished out the last .3 mile at an 8:57 pace to round out the mileage to 3.5. I thought this was a good interval run to do before legs because the amount and time of intervals was much shorter than what I did Tuesday or what I did last week. I wanted to get in speed work, but didn't want to completely fatigue my legs before weights. As I did  last week, I wanted to focus on t...

Snow & Spin I know I need to stop ranting about the weather. But this one is a doozy. Yesterday it was "supposed" to be cloudy in the morning then clear off in the afternoon with temps in the lower 40's. Ok. No biggie. Not only did the wind chills keep the temps in the upper 20's, but it certainly never cleared up. When I got off work, it was misting (no umbrella of course because I stupidly trusted forecast) and friends in other parts of the state were posting Facebook pics and posts of snow. I was just wet and cold by the time I got to my car. Snow would have been preferable and drier. It kept drizzling most of the evening. Jason's alarm went off just before 5am for his master's swim class. Normally the deal is to shut off the alarm ASAP and not wake me up. He quietly went into the bathroom to change, but then barges out to announce there is snow everywhere. Of course, I'm just a tad annoyed. I mean, I was attempting to go back to sleep. Then I ...

Intervals & Weights  All I want to know is what has happened to our weather. Our averages are in the 50's this time of year. This morning the windchill was 29 degrees. If I wanted it to be 29 degrees, I'd move farther north thankyouverymuch. Not only was it frigid, it was gray. I know that there will come a point when I'll get out and run in this weather out of necessity (and for sanity reasons), but not ready to go there just yet. So, I took my run indoors along with biceps and back. I started with a warm up of 1 mile at a 9:13 min mile pace then moved into intervals* (my only saving grace for treadmill runs). 4 x 2 minute intervals: 8:34 and 9:31 min miles 4 x 1 minute intervals: 8:34 and 9:31 min miles I finished out the remainder  of the run (about .8 mile) starting at 9:13 and gradually increasing pace every couple of minutes to finish the last 1 minute at 8:34. Total miles: 4.5 * Just to clarify - 2 mins at half marathon goal pace followed up 2 minu...