Marathon Monday: 12/31 and 1/7

Happy Monday erm Tuesday!

In case you noticed, yes, I missed a Monday post last week but I really didn’t miss posting any workouts because my fever + cough have kept me rather rest-y lately… Here is the pathetic report:

Monday 12/24: 4 mile run
Tuesday 12/25: Do the shakes from a fever count as working out?
Wednesday 12/26: coughing = ab work
Thursday 12/27: Yoga
Friday 12/28: Rest
Saturday 12/29: Rest
Sunday 12/30: 3 mile run + weights
Monday 12/31: 60 min weight DVD
Tuesday 1/1: Insanity Plyometric Cardio Circuit
Wednesday 1/2: 3 mile run + upper body weight DVD
Thursday 1/3: Something, not sure what
Friday 1/4: 5 mile run
Saturday 1/5: Physique 57
Sunday 1/6: 5.4 mile run of death

This week was really horrible on the workout front.  I have zero interest in running and zero interest in working out in general.  I’m thinking of starting an NY un-resolution trend and actually make this year the year I get less fit + less healthy.  That sounds like way more fun to me  Joke will be on me when I am trying to dierun 26.2 miles on Sunday.  NBD.

I know I will finish.  I’ll probably even have fun but I am done with running for quite some time when we get back.  I’m really over it after 1+ year of training/hating it/still running through it and just being a 10x worse runner than I was 1+ year ago. To think I finished a half marathon in 2:04 in Oct 2010 and now am not so sure I will finish twice that in three times the time… #winning.  Hopefully sister can send the course sweeper out looking for me after she finishes!

In case you missed it, I won the optimism award of 2012

Marathon Monday: 12/17

Less than one month to do!  Way less even… I am so, so, so, so very excited to be in Florida!  Work has been leaving me in tears nearly every day lately so I am looking forward to this trip like no other!

The real reason I am excited for Florida.

Here’s how I (sort of) worked out last week – despite leaving for work before the sun rose and getting home way later than I’d like…

Monday: 3 mile run + TRX
Tuesday: 40 minute weight DVD
Wednesday: 30ish minutes of a circuit at my FitU appointment at the gym
Thursday: 2 mile (sad, wanted 5-6, didn’t have time…)
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 8 mile run in the rain AGAIN!
Sunday: 5 mile treadmill run + 15 minute upper body DVD

Total mileage: 18 miles
Total yoga workouts: 0
Total gym trips: 3!!

This week was not really a successful week as far as my goals go.  No yoga.  Not enough miles of running.  BUT!  I did make it to the gym three times so that counts for something.  Work was insanely busy this week which made me feel compelled to get there by 7:15 each morning thereby taking all my morning workout time.  Then I ended up there late every single night last week (except Thursday!) which really cut into my will to do evening yoga or foam rolling for that matter… It still was a pretty decent week though and the running mileage I added this weekend really helped me feel better about the week as a whole.

SPOILER! New shoes ahead…

In other news, I got to meet my Little Brother on Thursday and spent some time with him on Sunday as well.  I think we are going to have a lot of fun together in the next few months!  Also, on Saturday, I went back to the shoe store to find another new to me shoe to be fitted for… I ended up in the Brooks Ravenna 3s and my run on Sunday felt good so I am hopeful these will work for awhile at least… until Brooks goes and changes their shoes or something and pulls a Nike  I finished out my weekend by spending entirely too many hours watching end of the world/apocalypse specials on the History 2 channel.  The only thing that boggles my mind more than actual scientists studying these topics are those people who are stock piling food and building shelters to live through the big volcano/war/zombie attack/whatever.  My question is why would you want to live through that? #mostrandomparagraphever

(Provided the world does not end on Friday) It’s less than 4 WEEKS UNTIL DISNEY!!!!  I’d like to be running more miles now to feel more marathon trained but at the same time, my legs have not felt this good in a year so maybe that means something too.

Come to mama!

My goals for the coming week include running 22-25 miles, 2 gym trips and 2 yoga sessions.  We shall see how this pans out…

Marathon Monday: 12/10

Only about 1 month until Disney!  How is this coming up so quickly?!  I am super excited though and every time I think of something that we did last year or anything related to running The Marathon, I get super excited!  I’m better sister is a little nervous for it but I know we’ll be fine so I’m just excited!

This past week was a pretty good running week – made my goal of 20 no problem and felt like I actually could have run more without hurting.  I’ve been intentionally trying to keep my mileage a little lower this round to not over do it on running again and aggravate my back/piriformis that causes me such issues.  It’s not the way to train for a PR but that’s not my goal, I’d rather play it safe this time around.

Monday: 3 miles + weight DVD
Tuesday: 45 minute Tae-bo DVD
Wednesday: 4 mile run with bad shoes
Thursday: 40ish minute at home weight circuit + yoga
Friday: 6 mile dreadmill run
Saturday: Rest/home improvement day
Saturday: 7 miles

Even though it was a good running week, it wasn’t the best yoga or gym week but oh well. I went to the gym twice last week (even if one time was literally just to shower) and did yoga once… I’ll take it!

For the week ahead, I would like to get in 23 miles of running and 3 trips to the gym with at least one of those trips being yoga (not sure if that will happen with my schedule this week though…)

Now I desperately need to figure out what to do about running shoes… because my old ones are not going to cut it for another month of running + 26.2 miles.  Erg.

Do you get fitted every time you get new shoes?  Or only when you start having problems?

Marathon Monday: 12/3

Another week is starting up.  I’m already certain it will be a crazy busy one.  For whatever reason, my work turns crazy busy this time of year #merrychristmastome But to distract myself from that, there is always exercise and marathon training!

Here’s a look at last week:

Monday: 2 mile run in the morning + TRX class at the gym in the evening (why does this class cost extra )

Tuesday: 45 Kickboxing circuit I did in the basement which also included some weights!  I always forget how much I love kickboxing and really wish it was at my gym…

Wednesday: 4 mile run in the morning + pilates in the evening at the gym

Thursday: 3 mile run in the morning + insanity upper body weights in the evening

Friday: rest!

Saturday: 11 miler for fun.

Sunday: rest (again)

I really like doing the double workouts during the week but then when the weekend rolls around, I just want to sit on my butt and do nothing!  But at least I ran Saturday…

Total running mileage: 20 miles!

Total gym trips… 2.

Made the mileage goal but fell a little short on the gym goal.  Hopefully one of these days I start feeling like less of an outsider at the gym.  Clearly I take these things way too personally…

Goals for this coming week include running 23 mile + 3 trips to the gym (for real this time)

Did you do anything extra fun this past week?  Any rediscovered favorite workouts?

Marathon Monday: 11/26

A day late, a dollar short – whatever!  This holiday/birthday week went way too fast and I had zero interest in blogging this weekend (or doing my NASM apparently – whoops!) so this will just have to be a day late + – I’m sure you’re really broken inside about this – I know I am

Anyways, here’s a recap of my workouts from the past 7 days + whatever else happened while I was out!

Monday (aka my b-day): I stayed home from work and went to check out a class at the gym in the morning – Interval.  Not exactly a class I will be missing attending regularly, that’s for sure… but later in the afternoon, when sister was done with work, we headed back for another class, TRX!  Love, love, loved this workout!  But I refuse to pay $10/time after we use up our joining gift certificates.  Sad.  Also kind of worried this gym is going to be a big fat bust on the classes.  So far, not so good…

Tuesday: Back at work, yuck but I managed to run 3 miles before work!  I don’t think I did anything else in the after work hours but I cannot recall…

Wednesday: Yoga DVD + 15 minute Core + 15 min Arms DVDs.  Yoga was either this day or Tuesday I guess.  #memoryfailure

Thursday: Turkey Day!!!  My favorite holiday!  I cooked dinner/lunch at my house and my parents, grandparents and sis were there to enjoy the food.  I always fail to time turkey cooking correctly though… Wanted to eat at 5pm but the turkey was done by 3:30pm.  I always end up with turkeys cooked way before the normal Xmins/lb says it should be done.  But regardless, it was all really delicious and I ate way too much!

TURKEY!

Man, I want there to still be leftovers in the fridge…

For workout it was a big fat rest day + being on my feet for 5ish hours cooking – ha!

Friday: Sister and I tackled her first ever 20 mile run!  It was terribly windy on Friday and also quite cold.  We didn’t really feel the full effects of the weather on the first 13ish miles but by the time we finished that first portion, we were both so cold + so windblown.  We refilled water bottles and tried to chug along for the final 6.35 miles but those 6+ miles felt like they might as well have been the full 20!  And then to top it all off, my hip started hurt, hurting around mile 17 and I tried to make it go away up to mile 18 but to no avail… so we walked the next 1.5, stopped home for a little pup and walked it to the finish around his “block”.  Hopefully we will get in another 20 miler closer to Christmas because this one was anything but confidence boosting for me!  Plus I want sister to run it home next time  After the run, we parked our butts in bed and watched a Twilight Marathon – ha!

Nap time.

Saturday: I was planning to go to the gym but guess what?  Didn’t happen!  So instead I did the Strength DVD from Insanity Asylum.  Totally love this DVD from the crazier Insanity!  The others have a lot of jumping but someday I want to go through the whole program and actually eat healthy along the way too to see what it can do for me!  Maybe come February…or when I’m 40.

Sunday: Made it to the gym!  And did a 40ish minute weight circuit I made up (must practice chin ups…) and then went to a yoga class at the gym.  After working out, the family attempted to get a Christmas tree for my house and the parents.  It turned into quite the ruckus when we 1) got locked out of the house and 2) had to drive to THREE tree farms to try to find something >4′ tall + <$70.  But somehow we managed… after walking, and walking and walking some more!

All said and done, I ran 23 miles and made it to the gym 3 times so I met all my goals!  I also squeezed yoga in twice so that’s a good thing for me!

For the next week, I am planning 20 miles of running + 3 gym trips again.  Also yoga > 1 time

Peace out, Homies.

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving holiday if you are in the US!  Any good workouts from the past week?

Marathon Monday: 11/19

The birthday edition  Having a birthday on a Monday seemed like torture… so I took off today to be home on my birthday instead of at work!  Not regretting that decision at all!!

This past week, I took a little step back from running week with no long run.  I was pretty excited to not have to do a long run this weekend… I guess that means I am over marathon training or something  But anyways, here’s how I spent the last 7 days:

Monday: Ripped in 30, Week 1
Tuesday: unintentional rest day…
Wednesday: 4 mile run + 15 min upper body weight DVD
Thursday: Ripped in 30, Week 2
Friday: 5 mile run
Saturday: 3+ mile run + Ripped in 30, Week 3
Sunday: Ripped in 30, Week 4

Running miles = 12
Weight lifting = 5!
Yoga = 0.  oops.

I’ll do a recap of all the Ripped in 30′s later this week but I am officially done with that DVD for awhile!  Tuesday I didn’t mean to take a rest day but due to a crazy night Monday from Sister’s break in to her car, it sounded like a better idea than getting up early that day!

This coming week, Sister and I are planning a 20 mile run and I am scared to death of that!  But since Disney is only 54 days away!!!!! – It’s time to get serious!  I also have a goal of getting to the gym 3 times this coming week.  Not going to waste away this membership!  And yoga once… which is my perpetual goal/failure of a goal…

Marathon Monday: 11/12

9 weeks until Disney!  How are the weeks going so fast?  The days go slow but the weeks fly by so that means it’s time for another Marathon Monday post.  I’m proud of the fact that I got a whopping 2 hours of yoga in this week!  That never happens…

Monday: Ripped in 30, week 4
Tuesday: 2 mile run + 15 core workout
Wednesday: Bob Harper Yoga DVD
Thursday: Ripped in 30, week 4 + 2 mile run
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 15 miles down by the lakefront with a running buddy! + yoga class
Sunday: Ripped in 30, week 4 + Insanity Relief DVD (super good stretching DVD, not real Insanity at all)

Total running mileage: 19!
Total Ripped in 30s: 3!

Overall, a pretty successful week.  My sister and I broke down and joined a new gym for the upcoming winter months.  We both got really tired of running outside in the cold last winter so hopefully the treadmill option with be nice this year.  We also will be able to try out some more classes and I am going to shoot for getting to yoga there once per week at a minimum.  I’m looking forward to belonging to a gym again!  Hopefully this one works out better than the last…

My 15 mile run on Saturday was fun but challenging.  I met up with Amy (met her at the Lakefront expo!) down by the lakeshore and just ran and chatted for the first 11ish miles but then my legs just died and every step felt so incredibly hard.  But I finished!  And I am guessing it was challenging because of my lack of training lately catching up on me so hopefully with more training, it will get slightly better  I am totally hooked on running with someone though – long runs are SO boring when you have no one to talk to!

Goals for the upcoming week include a reduced mileage level, I’m thinking 8-10ish?  4 times of Ripped in 30 (1x of each week so I can blog a review on it) + more yoga and stretching.

In other news, I finally learned how to properly foam roll in my NASM study materials!  I thought I’d been doing it right but after reading about it, I was not holding the spots long enough at all.  You are actually supposed to find a painful spot and then hold that spot on the roll for a minimum of 30 seconds to allow the muscles to release.  Makes so much more sense now and I felt a huge difference when using it yesterday.  So maybe I will be better about that this week too!

What was your best workout of the week?

Marathon Monday: 11/5

Another Monday, another Marathon Monday recap.  I had a very productive weekend but also got in some resting so in theory I should be ready to tackle this week head on but… I am having a hard time accepting the fact that it’s Monday  I wonder if I will ever again not dread the word ‘Monday’… But anyways, a good week of training last week to recap:

Monday: Ripped in 30 Week 3 (butt whipper!)
Tuesday 4 mile run + 5k run with GOTR
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Ripped in 30, Week 3
Friday: Ripped in 30, Week 3
Saturday: Sit on my lazy butt all day and scrapbook
Sunday: 15k Turkey Trot (recap coming later this week)

Weekly mileage = 16.5ish
Ripped in 30 = 3x

This week of Ripped in 30 was no joke so I was kind of glad I didn’t have to run a ton at the end of the week and could rest my legs a little more for the big 15k yesterday.  I’ll post a recap on that tomorrow or Wednesday but sneak peak = when I am not allowed to have a garmin or any kind of timing device, I literally lose all concept of distance + time + pace.  #winning

In the week ahead I am shooting for 17-18 miles of running and Ripped in 30, week 4 – 3 times. Next week I will take a little step back in my running mileage but hopefully I can successfully complete a legit long run this weekend.  We shall see…

Disney in T-68 days, 20 hours!

Any good workouts in your log book from last week?

Marathon Monday: 10/29

Another week of training is complete which means only about 11 weeks until Sister and I will be running a marathon!  Here’s how I spent the last week:

Monday: Ripped in 30 + 2 mile run
Tuesday Ripped in 30 Week 2
Wednesday: 4 mile run
Thursday: Ripped in 30
Friday: 6 mile run
Saturday: Monster Dash 5k!
Sunday: Bob Harper’s Pure Burn Strength DVD

No real rest day last week but I’d planned to take one Sunday but then had way too much energy this weekend so I needed to get rid of some

Total miles ran: 15.1 miles
Total times doing Ripped in 30: 3

Which means I met my goals this past week – whoop!  Ripped in 30 has been just the kick in the butt I needed to get back to doing weights routinely.  I’m kind of scared to see what weeks 3 and 4 hold though!

For the week ahead, my goals are to up the weekly mileage to about 16 or 17 and do week 3 of Ripped in 30 about 3 times!

How about you, any goals for the week ahead?

Marathon Monday: 10/22

Monday again.  Yeeks.  I’m not excited about it!  But on to other things… like a Marathon Monday recap post!

Here’s how I have spent my last 7 days:

Monday: Ripped in 30 – Week 1
Tuesday: 2 mile run + Ripped in 30 – Week 1
Wednesday: 3 mile run
Thursday: Ripped in 30 – Week 1
Friday – Rest
Saturday – 8 mile run + upper body circuit
Sunday – 4 mile walk

Total weekly miles run = 13!
Times doing Ripped in 30 – 3!  (Would have been 4 if I wouldn’t have forgotten it when I went to my parents this past weekend…)

I finally feel like last week was more back on track with some sort of routine.  As much as I like having a varied workout routine, it’s hard to really focus on something and make improvements in certain areas when I’m doing a little of this or that.  So for the next few weeks, I’m going to mainly focus on running and working through Ripped in 30.

So, for the next week I am going to aim to run 15-16 miles and do Week 2 of Ripped in 30 3-4 times.  Hopefully all goes well!  I also hope to sneak in some yoga or extra stretching this week to help ease my legs back into running!

I’m really not looking forward to another crazy week at work but I do have something fun to look forward to this Saturday, the Monster Dash 5k with by blog buddy Allison!