Nike Half Playlist and Pushup Workout

Hope you all wore your pink and made fetch happen today!

I had my last physical therapy appointment yesterday. For all my Cville area folks, I highly recommend Move Better PT. Great staff and positive results ;)

I meant to post my playlist from the half when I did my race recap, but forgot. Here it is!

Obsession by Sky Ferreiera

Edge of Glory --Glee Cast

 Edge of Glory- Lady Gaga

Firework- Katy Perry

Pompeii - Bastille

Next to Me - Emeli Sande

My Songs Know What You Did.. - Fall Out Boy

Marry The Night --Glee Cast

Let It Go- Frozen Soundtrack

Roar- Katy Perry

No Virgins in Heaven - Madonna & Bruno Mars Mix

Feel This Moment - Pitbull

Wrecking Ball - Miley Cyrus

Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Marvin Gaye 

Don't Stop Believin' - Journey

I've Had Time of my Life - Glee

I Knew You Were Trouble - Taylor Swift

Old Time Rock & Roll/Danger Zone - Glee

Rain Over Me - Pitbull

So Emotional - Whitney Houston

Stop! In The Name of Love - Glee Cast

Wake Me Up - Avicii

50 Ways to Say Goodbye - Train

Only Girl in the World - Rihanna

Bad Romance - Lady Gaga

Bulletproof - La Roux 

Can't Be Tamed - Miley Cyrus

Can't Make You Love Me - Britney Spear

Cry For You - September

The Fighter - Gym Class Heroes

How Will I know - Whitney Houston

Like A Prayer - Glee Cast

New Divide - Linkin Park

A Little Party Never Killed Nobody -Great Gatsby soundtrack

Supermassive Black Hole - Muse

Survivor/I will Survive - Glee Cast

Take On Me - A-Ha

Total Eclipse of the Heart - Nicki French

Oh Happy Day - The Edwin Hawkins

Workout

I started out today's workout with a 30 minute warm up on the elliptical while enjoying a Sex& the City marathon on E! After finishing with that, I went into the aerobics room to do a nice long ab workout.

         Followed with an arm workout that left me with a love-hate relationship with push ups....

 I

I didn't feel like leaving the gym just yet so decided to work out the glutes a bit (gotta continue to strengthen my weak butt haha)

After all of this rain for the past 3 days, I am ready for some sunshine!

Nike Half Race Recap

5:45--alarm goes off, it is RACE DAY! (even though I woke up at 5,  I was going in and out of sleep till 5:45).

• Do pre-race routine and have my usual race breakfast--toast and peanut butter.  One last roll on the leg. Remind Ben (who was a mole seeing light when I turned on the light...and with whom I was super jealous of getting to stay in the comfy bed for an extra 2 hours) where we'll meet and off I went! 
• The lobby and walk was busy with runners, all buzzing with pre-race excitement!
• 6:30-Drop off bag at bag check. Wished I had bought some check sweatshirt to wear for the next 30 minutes so could toss to side before start.
• 6:40--in my wave corral, doing anything to keep the chill off. It was in the mid 40s and I was wearing shorts and tank. Brr!
• 6:50-- Get my Garmin ready to go. Pre-race chants, stretches start. One last leg stretch and pray that the IT band plays nicely!
• 7:00-- AND WE'RE OFF! 

I could tell from the start I was going faster than I should've. Bad habit of mine, going out way too fast. However, I was feeling good! I just kept reminding myself, enjoy this weather and getting to enjoy some of DC!

Right after my 5k mark, my left calve started tightening up. I was hoping it would go away and that maybe I stepped weird. Unfortunately, it stayed tight THE REST OF THE RACE. UGHHHH. What I would've done to freeze the rest, let me stretch and roll it out, then unfreeze and keep running.

Just enjoy the beautiful weather and sites.

My IT band decided to make an appearance around mile 9. I went from running to taking quick walk breaks to help. I knew my pace was slowing down because of this which was a bit deflating because I was on a good pace to break 2 hours, BUT, I'd rather finish feeling good rather than walking cause of injuries. Just 4  miles to go! 

Miles 9-11 were a bit blurred in my mind, but when I reached mile 12, I told myself "Just 1 mile! Let's go!" and started picking up the pace. My IT band wasn't hurting anymore but my calve was SCREAMING. I knew my form had to be a bit funky looking. 

When I reached mile 12.5, I could see the finish through the buildings and that gave me a sense of boost knowing that in just a few minutes, I would be done! I took the final turn and did my best to stretch out my form and run for the finish. I was pretty relived when I finished because my left leg was throbbing. I was so pleased with my PR time, especially with feeling blah through some of the race.

My family was tracking me throughout the run (Have I mentioned how great my family is!) and my dad posted this online afterwards. You can see where I slowed down, ehhh!  

After crossing the finish line, I walked through the water station...chocolate milk station (yesss)...goody bag station full of yummy snacks from Whole Foods....heat sheets (that I used more as a cape)...and then, the major reason why 15,000 ladies ran today....that pretty blue box we all know of by Tiffany's!

I found Ben in our meet up spot and was happy to hear that he was able to catch me finishing :) 

Overall, and take away the calve pain, I really enjoyed this race. I could not have asked for better weather (it was in the low 60s when I finished) and getting to run in parts of DC I haven't been to or hadn't been to in years was really nice. GREAT crowd support throughout the race and water stations plus oranges throughout.  Minus the disappointing Expo, everything was very organized and flowed along which was impressive since it was in the city! 

Plus, this gave me a nice preview to the marathon in 180 days!

Here are some clips if you want to know what the course looked like:

Nike Half

Nike Half Recap--Saturday

My 3rd half marathon has come and gone! As I type this while rolling out my calve (more to come about that later), I am going to jump forward to the best part about this half...another PR! 2:04! 4 minutes off from my Diva Half time! I was hoping to break 2 hours this half, but when some complications arose (more about that below), I just focused on getting a PR.

Saturday

Ben and I arrived in the city around 1 in the afternoon. After dropping off our luggage at our hotel (which was right next to a metro stop and 2 blocks from the race), we hoped back on the metro to head to Georgetown to pick up my packet. After a 15 minute walk from the metro and elbowing through the crowded sidewalks of Georgetown, we arrived at the Expo! The Packet Pick-Up and T-shirt tents were easy in and outs and I was excited to see what goodies awaited me in the Expo tent.

I was disappointed.

It was just lines and lines of people looking at Nike apparel (there was a line to see the stuff then a different line to check out) then lines for a hair salon or to sign your name in this electric wall. Ben and I were ready to leave then.

Once back at our hotel and checked in (top floor! Celebrity status haha), we met up with my dad, who was in town for business, and we went for a walk around the city. Since the race was so close to where the hotel was, we wondered down there first so I knew where I would be going, etc. It was pretty cool to a street so empty when I knew in 12 hours it would be packed!

After my dad left, Ben and I tried finding a place to eat. Trying to find a place for me to carbo load during dinner hour in DC was a lot harder than we thought. 45 minute here.... 1.5 hour wait there....ugh. We ended up just going to a sandwich shop next to the hotel and getting something to bring back to the room to eat, which was fine with me!

While we finished up eating, I laid out all my stuff for in the morning

Did one last roller on the legs, ice the IT band, and off to bed I went!

Race Recap coming up...

Last run before Sunday

After last week where I felt that I always had to be home after work to be finishing assignments, this week is like a vacation having no big assignments due (Student teaching is pretty much over and my final project for my other class is due in 2 weeks). Having time to catch my breath and get in a workout before this weekend and not feel rushed is wonderful. Come mid-May when graduate school will be over and before summer swim team begins, I promise my blog will be more entertaining with more workouts and pictures!

I had PT Monday and again tomorrow. Today I decided to knock out one last run before the half. I *might* do a 1-2 mile run Saturday morning to wake the legs up before Ben and I head into DC. Another reason I wanted to get a run in was that I ordered an IT band wrap and haven't gotten to use it yet. I gave it a try for today's 4.5 mile run and didn't feel any pain, but not sure if that was the wrap's doing or not. I'm still on the fence on whether I'll try it for Sunday. I would've liked to have gotten a few more runs with it just to get used to the feel of it (I had to adjust it like 5 times). Stay tuned!

After the run, I came in to do my homework. I definitely will continue to do these exercises after my run, my glutes always have a nice little burn after I do them!

Finished out with some abs!

40 crunches 

5 sit-ups 

20 scissors

30 bicycles 

:25 plank

:20 side plank each side

30 Russian Twists

20 Vertical leg crunches 

15 jacknife sit ups with weight

:40 plank

Now to start putting together my packing list for this weekend! See you this weekend DC!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!

My Easter was a relaxing one. I had a wonderfully delicious breakfast with Ben's family then spent the afternoon helping my parents start to move out Caroline of her dorm and then once home, finishing up this huge graduate school project that makes me not want to type a document or make tables for awhile. 19 more days!


Backtrack to yesterday's workout.


I went for a 5 mile run in the morning. This was actually the longest I've run since my 10 mile disaster. Yes, a few 2 and 3 miles here and there. My physical therapist wanted me to run this amount to see how my IT band, especially since between 4-5 miles is when it starts acting up. I also wanted to run something more than 25 minutes (less than a week till race day!). My knee didn't hurt, but my leg just felt tight. Not painful tight, just a "I would love to get a massage and a leg pull right now" tight. My time was about the same as my previous 5 mile runs which is good.


Right when I got back, Ben and I were off to the gym where I immediately hoped on the elliptical for 30 minutes at a "run pace". Another thing my physical therapist recommended was that I do some sort of cardio for 30+ minutes immediately after my run to keep my heart rate up (so it was sorta 15 minutes afterwards) to also help for the race. It was then that I felt a little shot of pain on my IT band. Shit. Though nothing too painful and after a few minutes, I realized I didn't feel it anymore. Phew!


After the elliptical, I went over to the stretching area (which in Ben's gym, is pretty much any available floor space or the corner over by the Personal Trainer section. Good thing I'm small!) to do my "homework". My "homework" is exercises that my PT has given me to do every other day. It will help strengthen my hips and glutes area--the area that needs to get stronger to help my IT band.

The exercises look like this:

3 sets of 15 leg abductors with band

3 sets of 10 "clams" with band

2 sets of bridges for 30 seconds (legs 8 inches apart)

2 sets of 10 of bridge leg kicks

Though it doesn't seem like a lot, my legs were shaking towards the end and my butt was sore this morning!

Agenda for this week fitness wise: Meeting with PT tomorrow and Thursday...hopefully some runs...and preparing for this weekend! My packing list is already written out.

Energizer Bunny needs a Recharge

Typing this up real quick while doing homework to say hi and that yes I am still alive. What I thought would be a more calmer week has turned out to be more crazy which is leaving me trying to get a million things done at once. Some items to catch up on!




1) Met with a Physical Therapist yesterday on my IT band. Going back tomorrow and 2x next week to do more exercises with him. Pretty much the result of my IT band hurting is that my hips and glutes are weak (lazy butt alert!). The exercises he's given me to do on my own and with him are to help strengthen them.


2) The Nike Half in 10 days is still a -go even though I have not trained past 10 miles in over 2 weeks and really haven't done as much short distance running during the week as I had hoped. Fingers and toes crossed that my body will remember it has run 13.1 miles before and can do it again and that my IT band plays nice!!


3) Got to the gym sooooo much later than I had planned and I was feeling frazzled. I did a fast 20 minutes on the elliptical (release some of the frazzliness!) before doing an ab set.

30 Russian Twists

10 sit-ups

:30 plank

20 vertical leg crunches

:20 plank

10 jackknife sit-ups

40 bicycles

:15 side plank

30 crunches

:40 plank

30 vertical leg crunches

20 bicycles

5 sit ups

20 Russian twists

:45 plank

40 bicycles

10 scissors

:20 side plank

10 sit ups

:30 plank

Ok, back to the homework!



Run for Autism 5k

The sun was shining and the birds were chirping while a record 1,200 people ran the VIA's Run for Autism 5k this morning! I was also glad that my IT band didn't hurt at all and I actually ran my fastest 5k time in a very long time! 26:20 (8:30 pace), yeah! 

The course took us from a track at a high  school through a park through a pretty neighborhood...with lots of ups and down roads...and then back to the track. My only con on this race was no water station during it. Even though it was a family friendly 5k, I was so thirsty by mile 2, I would've loved some water!

After I finish, I stayed around for awhile catching up with some old co-workers and just enjoying seeing people finish. I particularly loved seeing via students run it with their families and the complete joy on their face :)

These bracelets were being passed out so I had to snatch one up...what if everyone ran? Hmm....

When I got back home, I changed shirts and headed to the gym with Ben! First thing I did was foam rolling and some good leg stretches. Ahhhh!

Next was an arm workout I had found on Pinterest and my arms were a little shaky near the end, especially doing dips!

After that, I had Ben work with me on proper posture for a few exercises (a perk of dating a personal trainer!) and then did an easy round on the elliptical while Ben finished up. 

So looking forward to not waking up to an alarm tomorrow!

Week Decompress Workout

Friday is here and I could not be more excited for the weekend. I felt like I have been nonstop all week and am finally getting to de-compress from it all! 

IT-Band update

I went and saw a doctor Tuesday about my knee and after waiting 35 minutes past my appointment time in the waiting room (thank goodness for USweekly and People), I was told what I pretty much knew....a weak IT band. She has me going to meet with a physical therapist Tuesday, but told me that why my IT band was so sore was that it was having to do more work than it should due to weak muscles elsewhere. I see lots of squats and quad workouts in my future! 

Good news is that she did think I'll be able to do my half in 2 weeks but I need to take it easy and really work on my IT band until then. She also suggested I use a knee band/brace during the run for compression on the IT band. 

Workout

I've been able to squeeze in a few little runs this week (like 2 miles and that was pushing it for time) and had planned on going running today but it was a lot warmer out than I expected and all I wanted was AC! I did 20 minutes on the elliptical to warm out, following with some leg exercises of:

Squats on the smith machine 

leg extensions

leg curls

side leg raises with resistance bands

and....

FOAM ROLLING!!!

Peanut Butter Fingers (seriously, check out her blog, she's my inspiration!) posted a workout the other day that I wanted a try and it was a great way to finish my workout! Even though it says Biceps, you also work other areas as well. 

Setting my alarm for in the am only means one thing....race day! I'm doing a Run For Autism 5k that my old work place (Virginia Institute of Autism) puts on every year! I did it 2 years ago (a week before I got the job offer) but had to miss it last year due to having another race the same day. I'm looking forward to seeing familiar faces and running for a great cause :) 

Monday after Break workout

First Mother Nature dumps a ton of snow on us this year. Then she decides to make the Monday after Spring Break a downpour. As if getting out of bed wasn't hard enough already!

Today's workout: 30 minutes on the elliptical (7 1/2 mins forward, 7 1/2 mins backwards, etc) and then went to the aerobics room to do a Full Body Workout:

After my leg/glute workout yesterday, my hamstrings were screaming during this! Thank goodness for stretching/foam rollers!

Now to decide on staying up to watch the NCAA championship game or go to sleep...

Spring Break is over?!

Back to the work grind I go tomorrow! This break has been wonderful, but now I'm stuck in the mode of being totally relaxed. Might want to remember to set my alarm for tomorrow.....6am. Ugh.

Today's workout focused primarily on legs and glutes. I haven't run at all since last Monday and am going to the doctor Tuesday....however....I did try and see how the IT band would be today doing a 1 mile run on the treadmill. I did go at a slower pace than usual, but it felt fine (though it was torture being next to a window and see how nice it was outside and I was running inside!)

The rest of the leg/glute workout looked like this:

Step-ups with weights (3x20 each leg)

Squats on the smith machine (3x15)

Leg curls (3x15)

Side leg lifts with resistance bands

Leg kickbacks with weights (3x20)

fire hydrants with weights (3x20)

I finished with a quick set of abs and some good ole foam rolling. 

Have a good Monday everyone! 

Post Swim Hot Tub

In my future (when I'm making billions as a teacher),  I will have a hot tub in my house. They are glorious after a hard workout (like today). Give me a margarita in it and I am set!

Today's workout was 30 minutes of abs and foam rolling before doing a swim workout.

200 warm up

100 pull with buoy

100 kick

100 pull with buoy

100 kick

50 medium effort, 10 sec. rest

100 medium, 10 sec. rest

50 easy, 10 sec. rest

2x50 medium, 10 sec rest

2x100 fast, medium; 10 sec rest

100 easy, 10 sec rest

3x50 medium, 10 sec rest

100 fast kick

150 easy (IM kick for 100, then 50 choice)

200 warm down.

Because of my knee, I stuck with freestyle with some backstroke thrown in there. This took about 50 minutes, give or take. Brought back some swim team memories (though I tried not to think on how I've gotten slower ;) )  I sat in the hot tub for about 15 minutes afterwards which was like getting a mini massage. My arms ended up be sorer than what I was expecting, but my knee felt fine. I currently have a hot wrap bandage around it.

I hope you all have been enjoying this lovely day out, I'm hoping for the same type of weather tomorrow for my BIRTHDAY! :D