In preparation for the NYC half marathon coming up on March 20, I've been trying to get some more runs in. I've gotten pretty wrapped up in my bootcamp and triathlon training and haven't been logging quite as many miles as I should. So, my last few workouts have been runs.
On Thursday 2/24, I did a nice easy 4 miler. Alanna and I met around 7:15 and ran down to 72nd street on the West Side and then back up the east side. Around 86th street I left Alanna and headed up to 102nd street and then back home. Nothing too exciting or crazy. As Spencer says, in order to recover you just need to take it nice and easy.
2/24 Easy 4 Miler with Alanna by kelila83 at Garmin Connect - Details
On Friday 2/25, I woke up looked outside and it was pouring rain. I had told Spencer that I was going to go to the hill workout but I considered reneging on that given that he was in sunny Miami and wouldn't know if I didn't go. I sucked it up though and headed out. I really hate hill workouts. I showed up at the meeting spot and the marathon group was already leaving to head up north. Uh oh! I crossed my fingers that it wouldn't be the dreaded Harlem Hill. The ridiculously hardcore folks who actually made it out Friday are wayyy faster than I am so I ran behind them and hoped I wouldn't lose them before we arrived at our destination. About 1/2 way from the top of the park, our other coach Kevin came and joined me. He broke the news that, indeed Harlem Hill was the workout today. *sigh* So, Harlem Hill in the pouring rain. It really doesn't get worse than that. Surprisingly, the 40 min workout went pretty quickly. I think the rain distracted me from the hill climbing and the hill climbing distracted me from the rain. Once I was done, I felt pretty awesome about myself so I decided it was all worth it after all. And, by the time I added up all the miles to/from Harlem Hill and up and down Harlem Hill, I got almost 8 miles in Friday morning!
Run to Harlem HIill 2/25 by kelila83 at Garmin Connect - Details
Harlem Hill Repeats 2/25 by kelila83 at Garmin Connect - Details
Run Home from Harlem Hill 2/25 by kelila83 at Garmin Connect - Details
On Sunday 2/27, I had my weekly long run--14 miles this week. Consuelo was in town so Alanna, Consuelo, and I all met to run together. They were only doing 6 miles in the park, so I decided to do my first 6 with them at a nice easy pace and then do the remaining 8 on my own. One thing that was irritating was that my heart rate monitor wasn't working. I wonder if it has something to do with the Garmin update I downloaded last week. I love running easy and actually keeping my heart rate at the level Spencer advises so it was disappointing that I didn't actually have my heart rate recorded for this run. For the last of the 6 miles (6 of my 14), Consuelo and I seriously picked up the pace. I knew she had some speed in her so I figured I'd try to bring it out. At W90th street, I said goodbye to my running friends and set off for another hour+ of running on my own. To my surprise, just a half mile down the road I ran into Rachel Swartz, another of my colleagues from Weil. She noticed that I had lost my running buddies and turned around and ran with me for the next 4 or so miles. Rachel is training for a 10 miler in 6 weeks. She wants to do it in at an 8 min/mile pace. I have the same lofty goal for my 1/2 but I'm pretty sure I have no chance of doing it quite that fast. It was good to have some company for miles 6.5-11 and it inspired me to not be so lazy and to run closer to a 9 min/mile pace. Once Rachel left, I finished up my run by heading towards home and doing a lap of the reservoir.
14 Miler with Alanna/Consuelo/Rachel by kelila83 at Garmin Connect - Details
Let's see if I can keep up this running volume for the next few weeks!!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Do you run in Central Park?
This morning I hopped on the subway at 6am to head to WFBC. I was pretty much half asleep still because I just haven't been getting enough shuteye. For example, yesterday I watched Dexter and went to bed around midnight even though I was supposed to get up at 5:45am. Anyway, I figured I'd close my eyes until I got to 34th street and faced the torture that would be sleep deprived WFBC.
Instead, I was pleasantly surprised by a lady sitting next to me on the subway who asked, "Do you run in Central Park?" Apparently she recognized me. There are definitely some people who I see ALL the time in the park and have come to expect to see on my runs. Once we realized we were fellow Central Park runners, we launched into a conversation about how awful this winter has been for running, how on Monday, even though it wasn't that cold, the wind made it literally painful to run--I returned home from my 13 miler with my hurting sinuses, a bit of a cough and persistent sneezing--and each of our marathon histories and just how much we love running. One of the many things I love about running is the camaraderie between runners. During both the super coldest of months and the hottest, the hardcore runners who grin and bear it to get their runs in always will give each other nods of encouragement and recognition. When I was in both Hawaii and Japan last October, runners said hello even we spoke different languages. When you're on a hard run, it makes it just a little easier when you receive encouragement from your fellow runners.
That brings me to a recap of my running/other activities recently. On Saturday I did Billy's SWAT class. We did a number of timed circuits. I was paired up with Sarah Klein who kicks ass and helped me set the time to beat on one of the circuits---50 box jumps, followed by 30 squat to shoulder press, 30 pushups, and 30 mountain climbers; then 50 box jumps followed by 20 of each of those exercises, and then 10. Another challenge circuit we did was 3 1/4 mile sprints each followed by 50 reverse crunches. I was kinda disappointed by my time on that one--only managed to do it in 8:52. I figure I shouldn't feel too bad considering I had done a tempo run the day before and my legs were pretty shot. Once class was over though, I still put my fatigued legs to work with a little spin.
On Sunday, I had big workout plans. 13 mile run in the morning. Terrier tri swim practice in the evening. Instead, I went to brunch and took the day off. It was totally worth it.
On Monday I did a nice easy 13 miles in Central Park. My 13 miler felt wayyyy better than any of my long runs over the last few weeks even though I did it all alone. I'm not sure whether I'm getting stronger or my body was just happy to have a day of rest on Sunday.
On Tuesday, I had my 2nd Terrier Tri cycling class. For the first time ever, I managed to get my heart rate over 170 during a spin class. We did two drills that got my heart rate way up. The first was that we would spin at 90 rpm and then bump it up to 110 for a period of time. The 2nd was that we did a 4 minute seated climb at 60 rpm and then added more resistance and did a standing 4 minute climb keeping that cadence. After a short recovery, we repeated this 2nd drill. It was no joke. I also managed to convince myself to jump on the treadmill and do an easy 3 mile run after cycling. I kept it nice and easy and to my surprise, it wasn't actually that bad. By the time I was finished though, my clothes looked like I had jumped into the swimming pool.
Finally, today I went to my WFBC. I got in trouble a few times for standing up during laps of bear crawls around the room. Gosh, I really hate bear crawls. Unfortunately, when you "get in trouble" it just means you end up doing more bear crawls so next time around I'm gonna just get it over with the first time. I was also put in the "slower" group today. This was pretty disheartening---I think I just wasn't giving it my all and I was a bit fatigued from Monday's long run and Tuesday's brick. The plan is to work harder next Monday when I head back, but to be honest, since it's the day after my 14 miler I have little faith in how hard I can actually work.
All and all, I'm pretty proud of my last few exercise sessions though!
5 day Exercise Recap:
Saturday 75 min SWAT class and 20 min spin
Monday 13 mile run @ 9:20 min/mile pace Untitled by kelila83 at Garmin Connect - Details
Tuesday 1 hr Terrier Tri spin followed by 3 mile run @10 min/mile pace
Wednesday 1 hr WFBC
Instead, I was pleasantly surprised by a lady sitting next to me on the subway who asked, "Do you run in Central Park?" Apparently she recognized me. There are definitely some people who I see ALL the time in the park and have come to expect to see on my runs. Once we realized we were fellow Central Park runners, we launched into a conversation about how awful this winter has been for running, how on Monday, even though it wasn't that cold, the wind made it literally painful to run--I returned home from my 13 miler with my hurting sinuses, a bit of a cough and persistent sneezing--and each of our marathon histories and just how much we love running. One of the many things I love about running is the camaraderie between runners. During both the super coldest of months and the hottest, the hardcore runners who grin and bear it to get their runs in always will give each other nods of encouragement and recognition. When I was in both Hawaii and Japan last October, runners said hello even we spoke different languages. When you're on a hard run, it makes it just a little easier when you receive encouragement from your fellow runners.
That brings me to a recap of my running/other activities recently. On Saturday I did Billy's SWAT class. We did a number of timed circuits. I was paired up with Sarah Klein who kicks ass and helped me set the time to beat on one of the circuits---50 box jumps, followed by 30 squat to shoulder press, 30 pushups, and 30 mountain climbers; then 50 box jumps followed by 20 of each of those exercises, and then 10. Another challenge circuit we did was 3 1/4 mile sprints each followed by 50 reverse crunches. I was kinda disappointed by my time on that one--only managed to do it in 8:52. I figure I shouldn't feel too bad considering I had done a tempo run the day before and my legs were pretty shot. Once class was over though, I still put my fatigued legs to work with a little spin.
On Sunday, I had big workout plans. 13 mile run in the morning. Terrier tri swim practice in the evening. Instead, I went to brunch and took the day off. It was totally worth it.
On Monday I did a nice easy 13 miles in Central Park. My 13 miler felt wayyyy better than any of my long runs over the last few weeks even though I did it all alone. I'm not sure whether I'm getting stronger or my body was just happy to have a day of rest on Sunday.
On Tuesday, I had my 2nd Terrier Tri cycling class. For the first time ever, I managed to get my heart rate over 170 during a spin class. We did two drills that got my heart rate way up. The first was that we would spin at 90 rpm and then bump it up to 110 for a period of time. The 2nd was that we did a 4 minute seated climb at 60 rpm and then added more resistance and did a standing 4 minute climb keeping that cadence. After a short recovery, we repeated this 2nd drill. It was no joke. I also managed to convince myself to jump on the treadmill and do an easy 3 mile run after cycling. I kept it nice and easy and to my surprise, it wasn't actually that bad. By the time I was finished though, my clothes looked like I had jumped into the swimming pool.
Finally, today I went to my WFBC. I got in trouble a few times for standing up during laps of bear crawls around the room. Gosh, I really hate bear crawls. Unfortunately, when you "get in trouble" it just means you end up doing more bear crawls so next time around I'm gonna just get it over with the first time. I was also put in the "slower" group today. This was pretty disheartening---I think I just wasn't giving it my all and I was a bit fatigued from Monday's long run and Tuesday's brick. The plan is to work harder next Monday when I head back, but to be honest, since it's the day after my 14 miler I have little faith in how hard I can actually work.
All and all, I'm pretty proud of my last few exercise sessions though!
5 day Exercise Recap:
Saturday 75 min SWAT class and 20 min spin
Monday 13 mile run @ 9:20 min/mile pace Untitled by kelila83 at Garmin Connect - Details
Tuesday 1 hr Terrier Tri spin followed by 3 mile run @10 min/mile pace
Wednesday 1 hr WFBC
Friday, February 18, 2011
October Flashback--tempo run and shorts!
Man, I really hate winter--it has been a rough one. Good thing that it felt like Spring today (48 degrees when we started and a high of 66 degrees today) and I got to run in shorts for the first time since who knows...probably October around the time I last did a tempo run! Maybe it was the Spring like weather, or maybe all of the hard work from the last few weeks is beginning to pay off but today's run was no less than awesome.
I met the team at the Equinox at Columbus Circle at 6am, which apparently is the new meeting spot. Wish I had known that 2 weeks prior. Oh well! Before we got started, I dropped into the Equinox to pick up my guest pass for the beginner triathlon program. Turns out that my guest pass works at any Equinox at any time for the next 8 weeks. AMAZING! I can't even express how psyched I am about this. Equinox really is a beautiful gym and NYSC pales in comparison...except that it's almost $100 cheaper.
We got warmed up for the tempo by running easy over to the West Side path from Columbus Circle. Once we arrived, Spencer told us that the advanced group would do 7 miles and the intermediate group would be doing 6. Basically, from where we started at 59th street, 6 miles was down to Charles Street and back to the start. *sigh* I honestly didn't know if I had 6 tempo miles in me.
I know, I started this post by saying it was an amazing run. But don't be fooled, I still hated almost every minute of it, like every single other tempo run I have ever done in my life. According to Spencer, you should be comfortably uncomfortable for the duration of the tempo run and at about 85% max heart rate. I don't know about other people but 85% max heart rate for a long period of time is just plain uncomfortable for me. There is just nothing comfortable about it.
I started off feeling great. Mile 1 flew by and when I finished I realized that I had definitely over run it at a 7:51 pace. Who did I think I was?! I slowed down a bit and ran the next 2 miles at an 8:06 and then 8:03 pace. At that point, I was feeling really awful and had to give my self a pep talk just about every minute. First I said, okay, you will do 4 full miles. You can do that. And, if you do 4 miles averaging an 8 min pace, that's pretty respectable. Then, after I hit the 4 mile marker I told myself I could definitely do 5. I mean, what's one more mile. I definitely felt better than I did during the last 3 miles of the marathon, so I could definitely get through 5. Finally, once I got past the 5 mile mark, I convinced myself that I just couldn't stop. After all, I might be the last runner and the team would be waiting at the end for me. With all of that coaching of myself, I somehow made it through all 6, averaging an 8:10 pace for the whole run.
There is one part I HATE about the west side tempo runs. Because it's an out and back, the super fast guys (which is like EVERYONE because this marathon training group is like the super elite crew that leaves me in their dust) always end up passing me along the way. Today, I was actually quite happy to make it to the turn around point before the fast guys starting passing me on the way back. Basically I was happy I could run 3 miles faster than they could run 4. Oh, the little things.
Today I learned that I need to go out slower so I have more left in me for the end. My first mile was wayyyy too fast and then miles 4-6 were all between an 8:14 and 8:24 pace. I have this problem all the time--especially in races. I'm hoping to correct it when I run the NYC Half in a few weeks. But that said, I was very pleased with the run. I took a look at my old garmin times and I did this tempo 6 seconds faster per mile I did my last tempo for the marathon. Considering I've only really been running consistently for about a month and I haven't been particularly focused on running, that made me pretty happy. Also, since it's only February and I'm thinking of doing a half in mid March, late March, May and July, I figure by the time marathon training rolls around I HAVE to get significantly faster. For 2011, I'd really like to shave 10 minutes off last year's time.
I met the team at the Equinox at Columbus Circle at 6am, which apparently is the new meeting spot. Wish I had known that 2 weeks prior. Oh well! Before we got started, I dropped into the Equinox to pick up my guest pass for the beginner triathlon program. Turns out that my guest pass works at any Equinox at any time for the next 8 weeks. AMAZING! I can't even express how psyched I am about this. Equinox really is a beautiful gym and NYSC pales in comparison...except that it's almost $100 cheaper.
We got warmed up for the tempo by running easy over to the West Side path from Columbus Circle. Once we arrived, Spencer told us that the advanced group would do 7 miles and the intermediate group would be doing 6. Basically, from where we started at 59th street, 6 miles was down to Charles Street and back to the start. *sigh* I honestly didn't know if I had 6 tempo miles in me.
I know, I started this post by saying it was an amazing run. But don't be fooled, I still hated almost every minute of it, like every single other tempo run I have ever done in my life. According to Spencer, you should be comfortably uncomfortable for the duration of the tempo run and at about 85% max heart rate. I don't know about other people but 85% max heart rate for a long period of time is just plain uncomfortable for me. There is just nothing comfortable about it.
I started off feeling great. Mile 1 flew by and when I finished I realized that I had definitely over run it at a 7:51 pace. Who did I think I was?! I slowed down a bit and ran the next 2 miles at an 8:06 and then 8:03 pace. At that point, I was feeling really awful and had to give my self a pep talk just about every minute. First I said, okay, you will do 4 full miles. You can do that. And, if you do 4 miles averaging an 8 min pace, that's pretty respectable. Then, after I hit the 4 mile marker I told myself I could definitely do 5. I mean, what's one more mile. I definitely felt better than I did during the last 3 miles of the marathon, so I could definitely get through 5. Finally, once I got past the 5 mile mark, I convinced myself that I just couldn't stop. After all, I might be the last runner and the team would be waiting at the end for me. With all of that coaching of myself, I somehow made it through all 6, averaging an 8:10 pace for the whole run.
There is one part I HATE about the west side tempo runs. Because it's an out and back, the super fast guys (which is like EVERYONE because this marathon training group is like the super elite crew that leaves me in their dust) always end up passing me along the way. Today, I was actually quite happy to make it to the turn around point before the fast guys starting passing me on the way back. Basically I was happy I could run 3 miles faster than they could run 4. Oh, the little things.
Today I learned that I need to go out slower so I have more left in me for the end. My first mile was wayyyy too fast and then miles 4-6 were all between an 8:14 and 8:24 pace. I have this problem all the time--especially in races. I'm hoping to correct it when I run the NYC Half in a few weeks. But that said, I was very pleased with the run. I took a look at my old garmin times and I did this tempo 6 seconds faster per mile I did my last tempo for the marathon. Considering I've only really been running consistently for about a month and I haven't been particularly focused on running, that made me pretty happy. Also, since it's only February and I'm thinking of doing a half in mid March, late March, May and July, I figure by the time marathon training rolls around I HAVE to get significantly faster. For 2011, I'd really like to shave 10 minutes off last year's time.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Falling off the Blogging Wagon but driving the Workout Wagon
So, I'm still new to this blogging thing and I fell off the wagon. Rest assured though, I've been getting my workouts in. Here's what I've been up to over the last 5 days.
Saturday: Billy/Kyla's S.W.A.T. + spin
Apparently the initials of SWAT stand for something but I don't know what that is. I will get back to you next week with that information. Class was pretty awesome Saturday. I really enjoyed some of the circuits and drills we did. One circuit including doing 500 meters (I think) on the rower, and then a series of jump squats, situps, jumping lunges, and regular lunges. Another circuit had 30 squats, 30 stepups on the box, 30 jumping jacks with 7.5 lbs weights and then each of those exercises 20 times, and then 10 times. I actually think I'm missing something from that circuit but I can't remember. Other fun included jumping pullups, backwards bunny hops and sprints across the room, and of course, Billy's favorite--pushups. I was still pretty sick that day though so overexertion caused me some chest pain and coughing but I think I sweated out some of my germs. :) I also did 20 minutes of spin and some stretching once I was done with Billy's class.
Sunday: 11 mile run
The NYC Half is rapidly approaching and I honestly don't feel at all ready. Sunday, Amanda joined/helped inspire me to get another long run in. This week I did 11. The last 2 or 3 miles were dreadful. I've been cutting my calories pretty low and working out 6-7 days a week so I'm thinking maybe that has something to do with how hard it's been. Now for the route, I did my 2 miles down to meet Amanda at Columbus Circle then we ran clockwise around the Central Park loop up to 102nd street, crossed over to the East Side, headed back down to 72nd street, back to the West side, then up to 102 and East again, back down to 72nd and across to the entrance to the park at CPW and 72nd. At that point, I hopped on the M10 bus and headed home.
Monday: WFBC
The usual amazingness! Post long run though, man this class feels almost impossible! My favorite part of class today was this one circuit we did--20 Squat thrusts, 20 pushups-- where you take your hands off the ground at the bottom and then push back up, 20 of something else I can't remember, 5 laps around the room and the run up the stairs and come back and do the circuit again except doing 25 of everything. Then 30. I know, sounds like torture, but amazing.
Tuesday: First Brick, or actually just Spinning
I'm doing the Terrier Tri Beginner Triathlon program which started Tuesday. Our first session was at the Columbus Circle Equinox (which always makes me smile). Unfortunately it was rather unpleasant for me b/c I was a bit hungover. So, things I learned on Tuesday morning: 1) Spinning hungover, on an empty stomach when you had wine for dinner the night before may end poorly; 2) I need spin shoes 3) I need a foot pod for my Garmin 4)This whole "Brick" thing is going to be harder than I anticipated. I had planned to do an easy 3 mile run after our hour long spin class but well, it didn't happen. I was too tired and nauseous to do anything but go get an egg and cheese sandwich. I will try again next week.
Wednesday: Not WFBC but, instead a 6 miler, part of which with Alanna
I skipped WFBC today so I could get a nice easy run in. Nice easy runs have been somewhat MIA in my workout schedule but I need to add them back in to get ready for the NYC Half. I'm really finding that's it difficult to get all the runs in I need but get to do all of the fun other stuff--read bootcamp and boxing and do my triathlon training. Today, I met Alanna t 7:15 or so and did a part of the Central Park loop. Once we parted ways, I two laps of the top loop b/c I really haven't been getting any hills in. Ugh, Harlem Hill is terrible!! Check out my heart rate spike over the top of the hill here:
Untitled by kelila83 at Garmin Connect - Details
All in all, it's been a good week of workouts. I'm taking tomorrow off so I can get a good rested 6 mile tempo run in on Friday. I haven't been able to do a good fast tempo run in a while, so here's hoping the rest helps!
Saturday: Billy/Kyla's S.W.A.T. + spin
Apparently the initials of SWAT stand for something but I don't know what that is. I will get back to you next week with that information. Class was pretty awesome Saturday. I really enjoyed some of the circuits and drills we did. One circuit including doing 500 meters (I think) on the rower, and then a series of jump squats, situps, jumping lunges, and regular lunges. Another circuit had 30 squats, 30 stepups on the box, 30 jumping jacks with 7.5 lbs weights and then each of those exercises 20 times, and then 10 times. I actually think I'm missing something from that circuit but I can't remember. Other fun included jumping pullups, backwards bunny hops and sprints across the room, and of course, Billy's favorite--pushups. I was still pretty sick that day though so overexertion caused me some chest pain and coughing but I think I sweated out some of my germs. :) I also did 20 minutes of spin and some stretching once I was done with Billy's class.
Sunday: 11 mile run
The NYC Half is rapidly approaching and I honestly don't feel at all ready. Sunday, Amanda joined/helped inspire me to get another long run in. This week I did 11. The last 2 or 3 miles were dreadful. I've been cutting my calories pretty low and working out 6-7 days a week so I'm thinking maybe that has something to do with how hard it's been. Now for the route, I did my 2 miles down to meet Amanda at Columbus Circle then we ran clockwise around the Central Park loop up to 102nd street, crossed over to the East Side, headed back down to 72nd street, back to the West side, then up to 102 and East again, back down to 72nd and across to the entrance to the park at CPW and 72nd. At that point, I hopped on the M10 bus and headed home.
Monday: WFBC
The usual amazingness! Post long run though, man this class feels almost impossible! My favorite part of class today was this one circuit we did--20 Squat thrusts, 20 pushups-- where you take your hands off the ground at the bottom and then push back up, 20 of something else I can't remember, 5 laps around the room and the run up the stairs and come back and do the circuit again except doing 25 of everything. Then 30. I know, sounds like torture, but amazing.
Tuesday: First Brick, or actually just Spinning
I'm doing the Terrier Tri Beginner Triathlon program which started Tuesday. Our first session was at the Columbus Circle Equinox (which always makes me smile). Unfortunately it was rather unpleasant for me b/c I was a bit hungover. So, things I learned on Tuesday morning: 1) Spinning hungover, on an empty stomach when you had wine for dinner the night before may end poorly; 2) I need spin shoes 3) I need a foot pod for my Garmin 4)This whole "Brick" thing is going to be harder than I anticipated. I had planned to do an easy 3 mile run after our hour long spin class but well, it didn't happen. I was too tired and nauseous to do anything but go get an egg and cheese sandwich. I will try again next week.
Wednesday: Not WFBC but, instead a 6 miler, part of which with Alanna
I skipped WFBC today so I could get a nice easy run in. Nice easy runs have been somewhat MIA in my workout schedule but I need to add them back in to get ready for the NYC Half. I'm really finding that's it difficult to get all the runs in I need but get to do all of the fun other stuff--read bootcamp and boxing and do my triathlon training. Today, I met Alanna t 7:15 or so and did a part of the Central Park loop. Once we parted ways, I two laps of the top loop b/c I really haven't been getting any hills in. Ugh, Harlem Hill is terrible!! Check out my heart rate spike over the top of the hill here:
Untitled by kelila83 at Garmin Connect - Details
All in all, it's been a good week of workouts. I'm taking tomorrow off so I can get a good rested 6 mile tempo run in on Friday. I haven't been able to do a good fast tempo run in a while, so here's hoping the rest helps!
Friday, February 11, 2011
So that's why they say not to work out with a chest cold
Unfortunately, as a birthday gift this year it seems I received a pretty bad chest cold. I woke up on Thursday morning feeling super congested. Also, when I coughed it was really painful. So, I decided to skip working out on Thursday (which was much needed...my last day off was 10 days before that) and resume with a terrier hill workout on Friday.
No such luck! After tossing and turning all night Thursday because of my coughing, I woke up at 5:30am, saw that it was about 16 degrees and decided a hard workout in the cold was the last thing I needed to recover from my cold. Instead, I got up at 8:00am and headed to the gym with big plans of doing a tempo run on the treadmill.
I started by warming up for .5 miles at between a 9-10 min pace. My chest hurt a little bit, but it wasn't completely unbearable so I started to increase the speed towards an 8 min/mile. That's when my body fought back. I had almost stabbing pains in my chest after less than a .25 mile at an 8:00 min/mile. I took a quick walk break and thought, hmm perhaps I just did too much too fast and could see how I did at an 8:30 pace. FAIL! More chest pain. At this point, I knew I needed to at least get some cardio in, so I moved over to a spin bike.
I did 23 minutes on the spin bike. I didn't go particularly fast and only covered about 8 miles. It hurt even when I stood on the spin bike and tried to increase the resistance or my cadence too much. For good measure (and b/c I'll be doing bricks as soon as next week---no reason not to practice), I jumped back on the treadmill for another mile. This time I took it nice and easy. 9:30 pace the whole way.
Despite not doing exactly what I intended at the gym this morning, I felt pretty good about my workout. Considering that a lot of people would have used my cold as an excellent reason not to work out (which maybe I should have, according to most websites google directed me to) the fact that I got in 40 minutes of cardio is more than enough for me.
Total Workout Today:
Running 17 minutes
Spin 23 minutes
No such luck! After tossing and turning all night Thursday because of my coughing, I woke up at 5:30am, saw that it was about 16 degrees and decided a hard workout in the cold was the last thing I needed to recover from my cold. Instead, I got up at 8:00am and headed to the gym with big plans of doing a tempo run on the treadmill.
I started by warming up for .5 miles at between a 9-10 min pace. My chest hurt a little bit, but it wasn't completely unbearable so I started to increase the speed towards an 8 min/mile. That's when my body fought back. I had almost stabbing pains in my chest after less than a .25 mile at an 8:00 min/mile. I took a quick walk break and thought, hmm perhaps I just did too much too fast and could see how I did at an 8:30 pace. FAIL! More chest pain. At this point, I knew I needed to at least get some cardio in, so I moved over to a spin bike.
I did 23 minutes on the spin bike. I didn't go particularly fast and only covered about 8 miles. It hurt even when I stood on the spin bike and tried to increase the resistance or my cadence too much. For good measure (and b/c I'll be doing bricks as soon as next week---no reason not to practice), I jumped back on the treadmill for another mile. This time I took it nice and easy. 9:30 pace the whole way.
Despite not doing exactly what I intended at the gym this morning, I felt pretty good about my workout. Considering that a lot of people would have used my cold as an excellent reason not to work out (which maybe I should have, according to most websites google directed me to) the fact that I got in 40 minutes of cardio is more than enough for me.
Total Workout Today:
Running 17 minutes
Spin 23 minutes
Birthday Bootcamp
On Wednesday, I turned 28 and I of course could think of no better way to start my day than with WFBC. It was yet another great class. We did a number of 1 minute drills in which we counted how many of each exercise we could do. I can only recall numbers for the following exercises.
Squat thrusts- 34
Pushups- 39 (I was a punk and did the girl ones)
Jack knives- 42
Squat jumps - 40
I really wish I could remember more. During class today I was thinking that I need a notepad to take down all the stuff we do during bootcamp but then I realized we don't even stop for water so obviously there'd be no time for note taking.
What was great about Wednesday's class (besides the fact that it was my special day), was that I finally felt a lot stronger in class. This was my 6th class and really I've been wondering if it's going to get any easier, and apparently it is! Don't get me wrong... I think it will be hard FOREVER but I will be glad when it doesn't hurt quite so much to walk or raise my arms the following day.
Total Workout Today:
Bootcamp 60 minutes
Squat thrusts- 34
Pushups- 39 (I was a punk and did the girl ones)
Jack knives- 42
Squat jumps - 40
I really wish I could remember more. During class today I was thinking that I need a notepad to take down all the stuff we do during bootcamp but then I realized we don't even stop for water so obviously there'd be no time for note taking.
What was great about Wednesday's class (besides the fact that it was my special day), was that I finally felt a lot stronger in class. This was my 6th class and really I've been wondering if it's going to get any easier, and apparently it is! Don't get me wrong... I think it will be hard FOREVER but I will be glad when it doesn't hurt quite so much to walk or raise my arms the following day.
Total Workout Today:
Bootcamp 60 minutes
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Does Terrier Practice= Precipitation?
So, I joined Terrier Tri at the beginning of January with high hopes of attending all of their Tuesday and even some of their Friday marathon/1/2 marathon workouts. So far, it's been a losing game. I went to the first Tuesday practice and thereafter, it seems like every Tuesday or Friday I try to go, I wake up, look outside and there's a blizzard or something. Today, we just got rain (heavy at times) but it wasn't quite so cold so I pretended to be hardcore and went out in it. It was pretty unpleasant at first, but eventually it only bothered me a little bit--mostly when I wanted to change the display on my garmin but the raindrops were throwing off the ultra sensitive touch bezel.
SUPER SHOCKING SPECIAL BONUS today! Despite the rain, Amanda came to her first Terrier practice since I harassed her to join the team. She basically told me she wasn't coming in the rain, so I was pretty stoked and also surprised when she made it. I think she just wanted to be featured in my blog again.
So one of the many things I like about Terrier is that we do a really good warmup before we start our workout. This includes high knees, butt kicks, lateral shuffles, karaokes, walking quad stretches, this stretch where you walk and grab your knee in front of your chest (I'm sure it has a name but I don't know it), and then we finish up with strides. Every once in a while, Spencer will throw something else into the mix, I think just to make sure we are awake. I realized this morning that this warmup is pretty effective, because by the time we were done with it, I wasn't nearly as tight as I was when I showed up.
Once we got done with our warmup, we ran down to the "S", which is where we start our speedwork. When we got there, Spencer told us we had 5-7 800s (depending on whether we are beginner/intermediate/advanced) with a 2 minute recovery between each one. I dreaded it and apparently so did everyone else because there was an audible groan among the very small group that was legit enough to come out in the rain. Spencer kinda got a kick out of it though.
I tried to keep up with Amanda for the first 2 800s but had to fall behind because I felt like I might have just died out there in that pitch black, rainy park. Apparently, the warmup loosened me up but didn't undo the shock to my system of the last 2 weeks of WFBC on top of my usual workouts. So clearly, I only did 5 800s--the beginner workout. Guess I can't be superwoman every day. Spencer tells me I shouldn't go to bootcamp the day before speedwork because I need to rest up for our hard workout. The problem is that I'm so obsessed with bootcamp and HATE skipping it. I'm really not sure what to do about this conflict.
So after getting done with speedwork and chatting with Amanda and Spencer for a bit, I ran the 1.5 miles home and almost immediately it stopped raining. Sooooo frustrating. I guess I will just cross my fingers that Friday's skies are clearer for our hill workout.
One last thing. I really need to kick the terrible habit I have of wasting the fact that I get up at 5:30am for Terrier. Today, like many other days, instead of getting ready for work after practice, I showered and went back to bed, only to arrive at work at 9:30am. What a waste!
Total Workout Today:
6 miles
SUPER SHOCKING SPECIAL BONUS today! Despite the rain, Amanda came to her first Terrier practice since I harassed her to join the team. She basically told me she wasn't coming in the rain, so I was pretty stoked and also surprised when she made it. I think she just wanted to be featured in my blog again.
So one of the many things I like about Terrier is that we do a really good warmup before we start our workout. This includes high knees, butt kicks, lateral shuffles, karaokes, walking quad stretches, this stretch where you walk and grab your knee in front of your chest (I'm sure it has a name but I don't know it), and then we finish up with strides. Every once in a while, Spencer will throw something else into the mix, I think just to make sure we are awake. I realized this morning that this warmup is pretty effective, because by the time we were done with it, I wasn't nearly as tight as I was when I showed up.
Once we got done with our warmup, we ran down to the "S", which is where we start our speedwork. When we got there, Spencer told us we had 5-7 800s (depending on whether we are beginner/intermediate/advanced) with a 2 minute recovery between each one. I dreaded it and apparently so did everyone else because there was an audible groan among the very small group that was legit enough to come out in the rain. Spencer kinda got a kick out of it though.
I tried to keep up with Amanda for the first 2 800s but had to fall behind because I felt like I might have just died out there in that pitch black, rainy park. Apparently, the warmup loosened me up but didn't undo the shock to my system of the last 2 weeks of WFBC on top of my usual workouts. So clearly, I only did 5 800s--the beginner workout. Guess I can't be superwoman every day. Spencer tells me I shouldn't go to bootcamp the day before speedwork because I need to rest up for our hard workout. The problem is that I'm so obsessed with bootcamp and HATE skipping it. I'm really not sure what to do about this conflict.
So after getting done with speedwork and chatting with Amanda and Spencer for a bit, I ran the 1.5 miles home and almost immediately it stopped raining. Sooooo frustrating. I guess I will just cross my fingers that Friday's skies are clearer for our hill workout.
One last thing. I really need to kick the terrible habit I have of wasting the fact that I get up at 5:30am for Terrier. Today, like many other days, instead of getting ready for work after practice, I showered and went back to bed, only to arrive at work at 9:30am. What a waste!
Total Workout Today:
6 miles
Monday, February 7, 2011
Oh...that's just weakness leaving the body
Despite my better judgment (i.e. the wish to sleep in and not torture my muscles for yet another day), I got up and went to Warrior Fitness Boot Camp this morning. I actually packed my things up the night before and got up early enough to take the subway down instead of wasting money on cab fare, like I have for the last couple times. I'm hoping to make this a habit.
Having now bought a class package, I have my official WFBC t-shirt and no longer feel like a newbie in the class. We did our usual warmup--a few laps of jogging, lateral shuffling and then some stretching. Then we did a bunch of other stuff , the order of which honestly has escaped my memory at this point. It included many flights of stairs, pushups, backwards bear crawls, lunges, jumping jacks, 160 crunches, jackknives, flutter kicks, and bicycles plus some laps around the place for good measure.
Remember those arm circles you did in high school or even junior high school gym class. Well, those made an appearance in class today. I don't really remember them being that difficult. But, I guess I also don't remember doing hundreds of them, and definitely never after lots of pushups and bear crawls. Alex (one of our instructors) told us we would be doing 40 circles but only after he started counting did I realize what that meant. He counts 1-2-3 and that counts as 1 circle. That makes 120. Eek! Also, if anyone dropped their arms we got more circles added and well, people dropped their arms. Oh, and after the circles, we had to hold our arms out for 20 seconds. Then pushups. Then get up and do the circles in reverse. My arms were literally convulsing by the last set but I refused to let them fall. I was not going to be the cause of extra arm circles. I mean, nobody likes that girl.
I got just a little bit better at the obstacle course today. I got across about 3 monkey bars (I know...doesn't seem that impressive, but let me tell you, I was excited) and got over the tallest wall once. I'm hoping I progressively get better and can get through the whole thing.
Finally at the end of class we partnered up for some exercises. First we did 2 sets of 40 leg throws--basically one person lays face up with their hands around their partner's ankles lifts up their legs and their partner throws them back down. As an added perk, we had to open and close our legs at the bottom. Next, one partner did 25 squat thrusts, while the other ran laps around the room. We did this twice as well. Finally, one partner did 25 squat thrusts while the other did wall sit. At this point, my quads just could not take it anymore. Alex saw me fidgeting and looking seriously pained and says to me, "STAY DOWN THERE, THAT'S JUST WEAKNESS LEAVING THE BODY!" Ummmm, or it's excruciating pain that I've inflicted on myself by coming to this crazy establishment.
Just another awesome day at WFBC. Good news is, after class, my muscles actually felt LESS sore. We'll see how I feel when I wake up for speedwork tomorrow...
Today's Workout:
60 minutes Boot Camp
Having now bought a class package, I have my official WFBC t-shirt and no longer feel like a newbie in the class. We did our usual warmup--a few laps of jogging, lateral shuffling and then some stretching. Then we did a bunch of other stuff , the order of which honestly has escaped my memory at this point. It included many flights of stairs, pushups, backwards bear crawls, lunges, jumping jacks, 160 crunches, jackknives, flutter kicks, and bicycles plus some laps around the place for good measure.
Remember those arm circles you did in high school or even junior high school gym class. Well, those made an appearance in class today. I don't really remember them being that difficult. But, I guess I also don't remember doing hundreds of them, and definitely never after lots of pushups and bear crawls. Alex (one of our instructors) told us we would be doing 40 circles but only after he started counting did I realize what that meant. He counts 1-2-3 and that counts as 1 circle. That makes 120. Eek! Also, if anyone dropped their arms we got more circles added and well, people dropped their arms. Oh, and after the circles, we had to hold our arms out for 20 seconds. Then pushups. Then get up and do the circles in reverse. My arms were literally convulsing by the last set but I refused to let them fall. I was not going to be the cause of extra arm circles. I mean, nobody likes that girl.
I got just a little bit better at the obstacle course today. I got across about 3 monkey bars (I know...doesn't seem that impressive, but let me tell you, I was excited) and got over the tallest wall once. I'm hoping I progressively get better and can get through the whole thing.
Finally at the end of class we partnered up for some exercises. First we did 2 sets of 40 leg throws--basically one person lays face up with their hands around their partner's ankles lifts up their legs and their partner throws them back down. As an added perk, we had to open and close our legs at the bottom. Next, one partner did 25 squat thrusts, while the other ran laps around the room. We did this twice as well. Finally, one partner did 25 squat thrusts while the other did wall sit. At this point, my quads just could not take it anymore. Alex saw me fidgeting and looking seriously pained and says to me, "STAY DOWN THERE, THAT'S JUST WEAKNESS LEAVING THE BODY!" Ummmm, or it's excruciating pain that I've inflicted on myself by coming to this crazy establishment.
Just another awesome day at WFBC. Good news is, after class, my muscles actually felt LESS sore. We'll see how I feel when I wake up for speedwork tomorrow...
Today's Workout:
60 minutes Boot Camp
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Dear Amanda, thanks for the 10 miles.
Today, as I anticipated, I was incredibly sore from the last 6 days of exercise but I have the NYC Half coming up and I needed to get a long run in. Amanda and I agreed to meet to do 10 or so miles today. We were both pretty excited because finally it was a little bit warmer.
I got started around 1:45pm and ran from my apartment down to meet her at Columbus Circle. As soon as I started, I wanted to stop but I knew at the very least I had to get down to meet Amanda so she wouldn't be standing there waiting for me. Once I did make it down there, we headed into Central Park headed counterclockwise.
At cat hill around 79th street, it became apparent to me that I couldn't stay in the park for the whole run. My legs were screaming, my heart rate was elevated, and I wanted to go home--I just didn't think I could take the hills. So I suggested that we head up to 102nd street then cross to the West Side and down the West Side highway path. Thankfully she agreed (because otherwise I may have just gone home) and we made our way West.
From then on, I basically told my self I was going to stop at when I completed the next mile, but somehow when I finished each mile, I convinced myself that I should just keep going. I was so lucky that Amanda was there, because I for sure would have quit even before we got out of the park. Finally, we made it down to 14th street which was 10 miles for me. Amanda kept on running home and I hopped in a cab back to my apartment completely depleted.
Today's run made me question my decision to do quite so many hard workouts. It was supposed to be an easy long run but, I was so tired and sore that what would normally be an easy pace (9:20min/mile) kept my heart rate at an average of 171. I considered skipping Warrior Fitness Boot Camp tomorrow but I have no self control and am going to go anyway. However, I will take Friday off completely so hopefully I can be a bit more rested up for next week's 11 miler.
Total Workout Today:
10 miles @ an average 9:21 min/mile pace
1:33 of running
Untitled by kelila83 at Garmin Connect - Details
I got started around 1:45pm and ran from my apartment down to meet her at Columbus Circle. As soon as I started, I wanted to stop but I knew at the very least I had to get down to meet Amanda so she wouldn't be standing there waiting for me. Once I did make it down there, we headed into Central Park headed counterclockwise.
At cat hill around 79th street, it became apparent to me that I couldn't stay in the park for the whole run. My legs were screaming, my heart rate was elevated, and I wanted to go home--I just didn't think I could take the hills. So I suggested that we head up to 102nd street then cross to the West Side and down the West Side highway path. Thankfully she agreed (because otherwise I may have just gone home) and we made our way West.
From then on, I basically told my self I was going to stop at when I completed the next mile, but somehow when I finished each mile, I convinced myself that I should just keep going. I was so lucky that Amanda was there, because I for sure would have quit even before we got out of the park. Finally, we made it down to 14th street which was 10 miles for me. Amanda kept on running home and I hopped in a cab back to my apartment completely depleted.
Today's run made me question my decision to do quite so many hard workouts. It was supposed to be an easy long run but, I was so tired and sore that what would normally be an easy pace (9:20min/mile) kept my heart rate at an average of 171. I considered skipping Warrior Fitness Boot Camp tomorrow but I have no self control and am going to go anyway. However, I will take Friday off completely so hopefully I can be a bit more rested up for next week's 11 miler.
Total Workout Today:
10 miles @ an average 9:21 min/mile pace
1:33 of running
Untitled by kelila83 at Garmin Connect - Details
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Billy and Battlewounds
Billy, a trainer at NYSC, runs one of my favorite classes ever--an outdoor conditioning class in Central Park during the spring/summer. So naturally, when Billy told me about doing an intense indoor invite only class at NYSC 86th Street, I couldn't say no...even though it takes place on the day that I planned to take off. As a result of taking on this new class my schedule is now as follows:
Monday/Wednesday: Warrior Fitness Boot Camp
Tuesday: Speedwork with Terrier
Thursday: Easy run with Alanna/Terrier Swim Practice
Friday: Terrier run (hills or tempo)
Saturday: Boot Camp with Billy/spin
Sunday: Long run/swim
So yeah, that's ridiculous. But not quite as ridiculous as (a) today's class and (b) how sore I know my entire upper body is going to feel tomorrow when I wake up.
On to the fun that was class. We warmed up by doing lateral shuffles and karaokes and some pushup drills in a circle. Then, Billy decided we'd do pushups in a circle until someone gave up and stopped. Basically, one person does a pushup and holds pushup position and then the person to their right does one, and on and on around the circle. I think we got to 27. By then my arms were already killing me but there was more fun to come. At that point we did a number of timed exercises including squat thrusts for a minute (I did 37 which I was pretty pleased with) and squat jumps.
Then, Billy split us up into three groups and we split up and did different circuits. My group was incredibly hardcore and we started by pulling this sled across the room by a thick rope. Let's not forget to mention that the sled was loaded up with 100 lbs of weight. No joke at all. Next up, we had box jumps and pushups. In our group of 3, 2 of us did 20 box jumps while the other did pushups. Once the "counter" (the designated box jumper) was done with her 20, we rotated. I think we each ended up doing about 160 box jumps in total. Then we were on this crazy upper body circuit, which is the reason my arms are going to be SCREAMING tomorrow morning when I wake up. It went like this: 12 pushups (I know...clearly Billy likes to torture us with pushups), 6 bench presses, 12 pushups, 6 bench presses, 12 pushups, 50 punches with the bands, 12 pushups, 6 bench presses, and 12 pushups, 50 punches with the bands, 12 pushups. I don't even want to count the number of pushups I did in total today.
Finally, we did one more RIDICULOUS thing. Billy stacked up 7 risers under a step and made us jump up on it 5 times. Once all 3 of us had done it 5 times, we added another set of risers. We got up to 12 risers, which, let me tell you is pretty freaking high and needs to be stabilized by a non-jumper holding down the step. When I was performing my non-jumper stabilizing duty, however, Jamie, one of the girls in my group jumped up onto the step but managed to scratch my face in the process. It's not too bad but I'm counting it as battlewound nonetheless. (see below for a photo of my scratch taken later in the day after I had showered and put on some makeup...for the record, it looks much worse in person) After all the jumping, our time was up for using the space so Billy couldn't torture us anymore.
I then decided that for good measur
e I should do 20 minutes on the spin bike b/c hey, I didn't have brunch plans for another hour.
Total Exercise Today:
1:15 min of Billy's bootcamp
20 min spin
Monday/Wednesday: Warrior Fitness Boot Camp
Tuesday: Speedwork with Terrier
Thursday: Easy run with Alanna/Terrier Swim Practice
Friday: Terrier run (hills or tempo)
Saturday: Boot Camp with Billy/spin
Sunday: Long run/swim
So yeah, that's ridiculous. But not quite as ridiculous as (a) today's class and (b) how sore I know my entire upper body is going to feel tomorrow when I wake up.
On to the fun that was class. We warmed up by doing lateral shuffles and karaokes and some pushup drills in a circle. Then, Billy decided we'd do pushups in a circle until someone gave up and stopped. Basically, one person does a pushup and holds pushup position and then the person to their right does one, and on and on around the circle. I think we got to 27. By then my arms were already killing me but there was more fun to come. At that point we did a number of timed exercises including squat thrusts for a minute (I did 37 which I was pretty pleased with) and squat jumps.
Then, Billy split us up into three groups and we split up and did different circuits. My group was incredibly hardcore and we started by pulling this sled across the room by a thick rope. Let's not forget to mention that the sled was loaded up with 100 lbs of weight. No joke at all. Next up, we had box jumps and pushups. In our group of 3, 2 of us did 20 box jumps while the other did pushups. Once the "counter" (the designated box jumper) was done with her 20, we rotated. I think we each ended up doing about 160 box jumps in total. Then we were on this crazy upper body circuit, which is the reason my arms are going to be SCREAMING tomorrow morning when I wake up. It went like this: 12 pushups (I know...clearly Billy likes to torture us with pushups), 6 bench presses, 12 pushups, 6 bench presses, 12 pushups, 50 punches with the bands, 12 pushups, 6 bench presses, and 12 pushups, 50 punches with the bands, 12 pushups. I don't even want to count the number of pushups I did in total today.
Finally, we did one more RIDICULOUS thing. Billy stacked up 7 risers under a step and made us jump up on it 5 times. Once all 3 of us had done it 5 times, we added another set of risers. We got up to 12 risers, which, let me tell you is pretty freaking high and needs to be stabilized by a non-jumper holding down the step. When I was performing my non-jumper stabilizing duty, however, Jamie, one of the girls in my group jumped up onto the step but managed to scratch my face in the process. It's not too bad but I'm counting it as battlewound nonetheless. (see below for a photo of my scratch taken later in the day after I had showered and put on some makeup...for the record, it looks much worse in person) After all the jumping, our time was up for using the space so Billy couldn't torture us anymore.
I then decided that for good measur
e I should do 20 minutes on the spin bike b/c hey, I didn't have brunch plans for another hour.Total Exercise Today:
1:15 min of Billy's bootcamp
20 min spin
Friday, February 4, 2011
Remember when I did 8 mile tempo runs
Apparently my body does not.
Today I meant to meet the terrier group (yes, I am zero for three on terrier instruction this week) for a tempo run. I am sorta trying to follow the 1/2 marathon program that they are doing to get myself prepared for the NYC 1/2 in March. I thought they were meeting at 23rd and the West Side path but apparently I was wrong and I was standing out there alone at 6am. Nonetheless, I decided I'd do a tempo run on my own. My schedule called for me to do 5 miles. I only got through 2 miles at an 8:20 pace before I stopped. Tragic. 3 weeks out from the marathon, I did 8 miles at about that same pace.
After walking for about 2 minutes, I started up running again. I did 3 more miles--2 @ about a 9:20 and then the last one at 8:30. It was incredibly not easy and really kinda sad. Spencer (our terrier tri running coach) says that I will see the work I did last Fall sometime this season and that I need to be patient. Based on today's run, I'm not really convinced, but I guess I'll take his word for it.
On another note, it was ridiculously cold this morning. 16 degrees with a windchill of 9 or thereabouts. But, it turns out that if you dress warmly enough, you really don't feel it. Today, despite running on the West Side, where the wind off the river basically assaults you, I felt no colder than any other winter day. However, I had on 2 pairs of pants, 3 shirts (one lined with fleece), a fleece headband, and big funny looking gloves with hand warmers inside. Running creates a lot of laundry...
Today's Workout:
5 miles (44 minutes)
Today I meant to meet the terrier group (yes, I am zero for three on terrier instruction this week) for a tempo run. I am sorta trying to follow the 1/2 marathon program that they are doing to get myself prepared for the NYC 1/2 in March. I thought they were meeting at 23rd and the West Side path but apparently I was wrong and I was standing out there alone at 6am. Nonetheless, I decided I'd do a tempo run on my own. My schedule called for me to do 5 miles. I only got through 2 miles at an 8:20 pace before I stopped. Tragic. 3 weeks out from the marathon, I did 8 miles at about that same pace.
After walking for about 2 minutes, I started up running again. I did 3 more miles--2 @ about a 9:20 and then the last one at 8:30. It was incredibly not easy and really kinda sad. Spencer (our terrier tri running coach) says that I will see the work I did last Fall sometime this season and that I need to be patient. Based on today's run, I'm not really convinced, but I guess I'll take his word for it.
On another note, it was ridiculously cold this morning. 16 degrees with a windchill of 9 or thereabouts. But, it turns out that if you dress warmly enough, you really don't feel it. Today, despite running on the West Side, where the wind off the river basically assaults you, I felt no colder than any other winter day. However, I had on 2 pairs of pants, 3 shirts (one lined with fleece), a fleece headband, and big funny looking gloves with hand warmers inside. Running creates a lot of laundry...
Today's Workout:
5 miles (44 minutes)
Instructor-less swimming
So, this is the thing. I'm a terrible swimmer. I don't kick from the hip. I don't rotate my body. And I'm not good at the breathing. Yet still, apparently I think I can be a triathlete.
To remedy this, I started going to terrier tri's beginner swim class. It meets on Thursdays at 8pm at the Equinox at 63rd and Lex. I'm not a member of Equinox so I really enjoy the treat of getting to use their fancy facility, complete with kiehl's products. Generally, one of the new terrier tri coaches spends an hour making us do drills focusing on all the things I do wrong, i.e. everything. I think I will keep going to this even when my official 8 week indoor tri training program starts on 2/15 because let's be honest, I need all the practice I can get.
But yesterday, I arrived at class and there was no instructor. Elyse had mentioned she might not be coming and that someone else would. Unfortunately, there was no someone else. This wouldn't be so terrible if I was a decent swimmer and could just swim laps but well, I can't. 4 laps and I'm exhausted. I think the tri starts with 30. Crap, I'm screwed.
Add to that the fact that I didn't run yesterday morning either. So, I did 2 laps and rested. And then another 2 laps. And another. Until I couldn't take it anymore and went to meet my friend for Mexican food. I guess I will try again next week.
Today's Workout:
maybe 20 minutes of swimming...but probably not that much
To remedy this, I started going to terrier tri's beginner swim class. It meets on Thursdays at 8pm at the Equinox at 63rd and Lex. I'm not a member of Equinox so I really enjoy the treat of getting to use their fancy facility, complete with kiehl's products. Generally, one of the new terrier tri coaches spends an hour making us do drills focusing on all the things I do wrong, i.e. everything. I think I will keep going to this even when my official 8 week indoor tri training program starts on 2/15 because let's be honest, I need all the practice I can get.
But yesterday, I arrived at class and there was no instructor. Elyse had mentioned she might not be coming and that someone else would. Unfortunately, there was no someone else. This wouldn't be so terrible if I was a decent swimmer and could just swim laps but well, I can't. 4 laps and I'm exhausted. I think the tri starts with 30. Crap, I'm screwed.
Add to that the fact that I didn't run yesterday morning either. So, I did 2 laps and rested. And then another 2 laps. And another. Until I couldn't take it anymore and went to meet my friend for Mexican food. I guess I will try again next week.
Today's Workout:
maybe 20 minutes of swimming...but probably not that much
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Are you a warrior?
Last week I started going to warrior fitness bootcamp thanks to my friend Shannon and a deal on Gilt City. Today, I finished my 3 class trial and bit the bullet and bought 20 more classes because let's face it, I'm just a fitness junkie that way.
I was late for class today--it starts at 6:30am but because of the icy conditions my cab was moving super slowly and I didn't get there until 6:35. No worries though--55 minutes of bootcamp is plenty. We started class by running the stairs. The gym is on 3 and we ran up to 12 and back. Then I think we did about 50 or so jumping jacks and did some running drills. It turns out sprinting laps around the studio is pretty hard when you do speedwork the day before. The fun continued with series of pushups, squat thrusts, backwards bear crawls around the room, more running, more stairs, crunches and other fun. Then on to the obstacle course.
The obstacle course is really hard for me because let's face it, my upper body strength is lacking. Not to mention my legs were pretty much feeling like jello at this point. The hardest thing for me now is the monkey bars which I really have no hope of crossing at this point. The tallest wall is near impossible for me to scale as well. Oh, and then there is climbing the rope--can't really do that either.
Once we got done with the obstacle course, we teamed up to do 100 partner sit ups with a medicine ball. I honestly wanted to stop after 50 but when you're working with a partner, you have no choice but to keep going. Then, we did a circuit with weights. We each got a body bar or dumbells and did a consecutive ladder (25,20, 15,10, 5) of bicep curls, shoulder presses, and skull crushers, i.e. 25 of each, then 20 of each and so on. Finally we put the weights away, flipped over and did plank until class was over.
I really love warrior fitness bootcamp. We do a lot of the moves that I used to do in kickboxing classes before I started working in 2008 and found it impossible to get to class consistently. I decided to do classes on Monday and Wednesday of each week at least till my 20 pack of classes runs out. I will reevaluate then. For now, I'm a warrior.
Exercise Today:
55 minutes Warrior Fitness Bootcamp
I was late for class today--it starts at 6:30am but because of the icy conditions my cab was moving super slowly and I didn't get there until 6:35. No worries though--55 minutes of bootcamp is plenty. We started class by running the stairs. The gym is on 3 and we ran up to 12 and back. Then I think we did about 50 or so jumping jacks and did some running drills. It turns out sprinting laps around the studio is pretty hard when you do speedwork the day before. The fun continued with series of pushups, squat thrusts, backwards bear crawls around the room, more running, more stairs, crunches and other fun. Then on to the obstacle course.
The obstacle course is really hard for me because let's face it, my upper body strength is lacking. Not to mention my legs were pretty much feeling like jello at this point. The hardest thing for me now is the monkey bars which I really have no hope of crossing at this point. The tallest wall is near impossible for me to scale as well. Oh, and then there is climbing the rope--can't really do that either.
Once we got done with the obstacle course, we teamed up to do 100 partner sit ups with a medicine ball. I honestly wanted to stop after 50 but when you're working with a partner, you have no choice but to keep going. Then, we did a circuit with weights. We each got a body bar or dumbells and did a consecutive ladder (25,20, 15,10, 5) of bicep curls, shoulder presses, and skull crushers, i.e. 25 of each, then 20 of each and so on. Finally we put the weights away, flipped over and did plank until class was over.
I really love warrior fitness bootcamp. We do a lot of the moves that I used to do in kickboxing classes before I started working in 2008 and found it impossible to get to class consistently. I decided to do classes on Monday and Wednesday of each week at least till my 20 pack of classes runs out. I will reevaluate then. For now, I'm a warrior.
Exercise Today:
55 minutes Warrior Fitness Bootcamp
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Day 1 of Blogging
After reading tons of fitness blogs and loving them, I decided to start one of my own. For one, I'm pretty sure all of my friends are sick and tired of me raving about my workouts so, this gives me a place to share them. I began running back in 2007 thanks to my friend Stin and my firm track club. That November, I did my first half marathon and then the following November I ran the NY marathon and I've basically been a running junkie ever since. I did the Philly marathon in 2009 and then the NY marathon again in 2010. NY is an awesome race--I'm signed up to do it again this year. As a result of training with the terrier tri team running coach Spencer for NY 2010, somehow I got roped into signing up for the team and allegedly training for my first tri. So here I am, from a runner (loosely speaking) to a triathlete.
I'm not really much of a triathlete because I didn't really learn to a bike until Summer 2010 and I just am learning to swim this year, so it should be an interesting transition. I'm also a bit addicted to other gym activities like kickboxing, spinning and boot camp so that gets in the way of training for the 3 sports.
Today I was supposed to go to Terrier Practice at 6am but I literally put on all my running clothes, went outside, noted the "wintry mix" falling from the sky and turned around and went back inside and back to sleep. 2 hours later, I woke up and did the Terrier workout on the treadmill. 6x400 meters with a 400 meter active recovery and 4x200meters with 200 meters active recovery. I did the first 4 400 meter intervals at 8.5 and then the last 2 at 8.6 and 8.7. Then I did the 4 x 200 meter intervals at 8.7, 8.8, 8.9, and 9.0. I warmed up and cooled down for .5 miles each which ended up making the workout approximately 5 miles.
It's weird because sometimes I feel like I can push myself way harder on the treadmill because my body has to keep up with the conveyor belt unless I actually stop the mill. But on the other hand, I've heard that the mill pushes you a long a bit.
Total Workout today:
Running: 5 miles (45 minutes)
I'm not really much of a triathlete because I didn't really learn to a bike until Summer 2010 and I just am learning to swim this year, so it should be an interesting transition. I'm also a bit addicted to other gym activities like kickboxing, spinning and boot camp so that gets in the way of training for the 3 sports.
Today I was supposed to go to Terrier Practice at 6am but I literally put on all my running clothes, went outside, noted the "wintry mix" falling from the sky and turned around and went back inside and back to sleep. 2 hours later, I woke up and did the Terrier workout on the treadmill. 6x400 meters with a 400 meter active recovery and 4x200meters with 200 meters active recovery. I did the first 4 400 meter intervals at 8.5 and then the last 2 at 8.6 and 8.7. Then I did the 4 x 200 meter intervals at 8.7, 8.8, 8.9, and 9.0. I warmed up and cooled down for .5 miles each which ended up making the workout approximately 5 miles.
It's weird because sometimes I feel like I can push myself way harder on the treadmill because my body has to keep up with the conveyor belt unless I actually stop the mill. But on the other hand, I've heard that the mill pushes you a long a bit.
Total Workout today:
Running: 5 miles (45 minutes)
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