School starts tomorrow....

Just like last year, school starts up and I forget about the blog. This past week was teacher work week which left me totally crazed and then this past weekend, I went home to visit with family before my sister leaves for studying abroad! 

I did get a 10 mile run in yesterday with my mom. Diva Half is only 18 days away!

Last day of summer for me today (ahhhhh) and I had lots to do. I went to an Ultimate Abs class this morning at the gym then followed it with a quick arm workout:

Sweet dreams to all my fellow teachers!

Weekend recap and Monday arms

Friday: 3 mile run

Saturday: Bodypump class

Sunday: 9 mile run...not the most pleasant run the day after a Bodypump class. I took a bath afterwards and it felt wonderful especially to legs that felt like lead. 

Today:

I slept awful last night (at least Ben did too so we were awake and annoyed together) and I almost didn't go to the gym when I got up. Besides the lack of sleep, my body was pretty sore in general from the weekend. 

.....but after an hour of getting up, I decided to head over to do something small with arms and abs.

Scaption Exercise  because yes, I had to look it up too ;) 

Off to bed shortly, hoping I can sleep through the night better!

Yoga Run and Full Body

YogaRun

Last night I tried out a YogaRun class at a local yoga studio, a class that has you run for 30 minutes at the beginning and then do a 30 minute yoga session. I've tried yoga classes before and have felt "so-so" about them (too slow in my opinion), but I was thinking a 30 minute class, especially after a run, sounded not too bad.

I loved it!

It was a small group, 4 of us. We ran around a neighborhood behind the studio, talking the whole time. The other 3 are runners (1 woman is about to do her 10th Marine Corps Marathon and the other woman was training for her 1st!) and we couldn't have matched up more perfectly with our paces. 

Coming into the studio after running in the muggy weather felt wonderful. Strip off the shoes and sweaty socks in a dark, air-conditioned room and lay out the mats. One of the runners is also a yoga instructor at the studio who led us in the yoga moves/stretching. Time flew by! And a 30 minute stretch after running was perfect. 

YogaRun, I will see you again for sure!

Today's Workout!

A 20 minute warm up on the elliptical before doing a new Full Body Circuit Workout put together by Life in Leggings!

A link to a T-Stabalization Twists can be found here!

Leggy Monday and 1st Sworkit workout

This post was meant to be posted yesterday, but I kinda forgot. Case of the Mondays! I ran 8 miles on Friday before hitting the road to Lake Anna for a bachelorette weekend. We drank, ate, swam, laid out, laughed, etc. A very relaxing weekend, but my body was definitely feeling a bit gross after the drinking and eating (although none was regretted!)

 

 Drinks and best friend on the water, can't complain!

 Yummy dinner by the water

 

Wine tasting with the Bride-to-Be!

 

 

After babysitting all day yesterday, I headed to the gym. 30 minutes on the elliptical on the cross-country setting (while enjoying an episode of Gilmore Girls, never gets hold). The main focus of yesterday's workout was a leg workout:

I'm feeling some thigh burning this morning for sure!

 

So Sworkit app....I've been hearing about it and decided to download it and give it a try. It reminds me a lot of the Nike Training Club app I used to use. You choose what you want to focus on (strength, yoga, cardio) and from there you pick what you're targeting (whole body, lower, body, core, etc), then select the amount the time you want to work out. They show you a 5 sec preview of what you'll be doing with each exercise, before doing a :30 sec clip of the exercise. Very easy to figure out.

I decided to do a 10 minute core exercise. It varied from crunches, bicycles, V sit-ups, side planks and other exercises.

I think it'd be helpful for anyone who does home workouts or need some structure while at the gym. Try it out!

 

300 Abs

I wasn't sure if I'd get to the gym today because I had fun plans with friends, but when I got back to the house around 4, I didn't feel like just sitting around, so I changed into gym clothes and headed off.

 

I decided to put some focus on cardio after my past few runs I have been feeling winded sooner than what I used to so did 30 minutes on the elliptical. I used to do a ton of cardio (mainly elliptical time), but started laying off of it when I started getting bored/more in weights and other gym items.

 

After the elliptical, I tried out a new abs routine. Gotta make sure my abs are ready for some lake fun this weekend ;)

 

I rolled a ton after the abs. I have a 8 miler planned for Friday and want my legs feeling fresh and ready to run, especially after how I've been feeling my past runs!

Long run recap and today's workout

Happy Monday everyone!

 

Saturday was a 7 mile run as part of my Diva Half training. It was a great morning for a run temperature wise, but my body could not get into it for some reason. It really wasn't until mile 4.5 that I felt a groove....sorta. Seeing that my mileage is only going up from here, my mind and body has better get back into the running mode. Maybe I need to start looking for new routes to try out? Something to get more amped up for another half training!

 

 

Today's workout was a good one. I slept in (yay for a free week of nothing planned), found some new workout circuits to try and was ready to go!

 

I did a quick 15 minutes on the elliptical to get my heart going before heading to the free weights section for an upper body workout.

 

Followed by a glute workout....

 

Got a 3 mile run planned for tomorrow. Suppose to rain all day so either I'll be doing a rainy run or heading indoors for a dreadmill!

 

When bored, do full body. Short and sweet.

I started out today's gym visit with 20 minutes on the elipitical...which I spent most of it trying to figure out what I wanted to do after/finishing up an episode of Friday Night Lights for the 50th time (no shame at all).

 

What I decided on was just to do a Full Body Workout hit 2 birds (or more) with 1 stone.

 

 

 

Running and core

So I decided to wake up earlier than I needed today this morning to get a run in and I was semi regretting it when the alarm went off (at 6am, who wouldn't), but I'm glad I got up and got 3 miles over with. It was a great morning temperature wise for running. My legs are still sore/stiff from BodyPump on Saturday (advice to self...roll next time) so my pace was slower than usually, BUT, I just kept reminding myself that every run is different, not to compare, and to just enjoy the run.

 

After a long day of kidsitting, I went to the gym to do some core exercises.

 

I ended up switching the Thread the Needles to Russian Twists with a medicine ball.

 

Lower Body Day

Title is self-explanatory, today was all focus on the lower body!

 

 

 

 

20 minutes on the stairmaster.

20 minutes on the bike.

4x15 reps on the abductor machine.

4x15 reps on the adductor machine.

4x12 on the laying leg curl.

3x15 slanted leg press.

45 calf raises with weight

2x20 lunges with weight

2x20 squats on bosu ball

20 inner thigh leg lifts on each leg

 

 

 

Monday Blues = good workout

After a much enjoyed conference week last week, I was semi dreading waking up this morning to go back to babysitting this week (especially when I didn't get the best of sleep last week and last night). After a long day of "kid watching", I was ready to burn off some energy and sweat at the gym!

Started off with 25 minutes on the stationary bike (starting to become my new favorite over elliptical) before deciding on an arm and ab routine.

 I haven't done an arm work out since Thursday night, but for some reason, my arms (mainly shoulders) were screaming at the end of this. I did do crab walking soccer today with the kids......

 

One day down, 2 more days of kidwatching and one day closer to seeing my mom & Caroline on Friday! :D

Last day of hotel workouts

Day 5 of TEACCH ended today and that means this week has come to an end. It has been a great experience and I'm really glad I got to come to this training!

 

My Day 3 of hotel workouts was running on the treadmill and I forgot to post yesterday's workout (oops).

 

I had a nice hour and half workout in the gym this evening (I decided to sleep in this morning). I'm thinking of calling tonight's workout a Full Body Sandwich Workout.

 

1 mile run on treadmill

15 minutes on the elliptical

10 jackknife sit ups

20 Russian twists

10 weighted sit ups

30 crunches

20 oblique crunches

:45 plank

20 hip twists in plank

25 Russian twists

30 vertical crunches

1 min plank

15 minutes on the bike

 

Hope everyone is having a fun Friday!

 

Hotel Workout #2

Day 2 of TEACCH training complete!

I woke up early again this morning to get my workout in and I am so glad I did that. A group of us went out after we were done at 4 to walk around Franklin Street (the social scene of UNC) and dinner and I am now relaxing in comfy clothes and digesting all the food we've had today (seriously, TEACCH makes sure we are well fed). No way would I want to go workout now.

 

So today's 6:30am workout: arms and abs.

 

 

30 vertical leg crunches

20 oblique crunches

5 weighted sit ups

20 Russian twists w/ dumbbell

:45 plank

40 bicycles

10 scissors

:20 side plank each side

10 weighted sit ups

:30 plank

 

Hotel Workout Day #1

Greetings from Carolina!

I'll be in Carolina all this week for a TEACCH Autism Program training which means hotel workouts for me!

 

I woke up before the training this morning to get a workout in and was happy to find the little fitness center all to myself. I started out with 20 minutes on the elliptical (If you hadn't had already guessed it, that's kinda my go to warm up) on an Around the World routine that had lots of high levels.

 

Since hotel gyms are very limited to equipment (and space), I chose a leg workout that just needed your body.

 

 

I finished with a quick ab routine before rushing back up to my room to get ready!

30 Russian Twists

10 sit ups

:30 second plank

20 vertical leg crunches

:20 second plank

10 jackknife sit ups

40 oblique crunches

:15 second side plank each side

30 crunches

:40 second plank

 

Hiccups While Working Out

...totally happened twice to me while working out. And not just any hiccups, but the painful chest ones. Not fun. And I feel rather silly doing some exercises and then my body "bounce" cause of a hiccup. I will tell you this, hiccups and jumping jacks are an odd combo.

 

Leg Day today. I went back through my old Pinterest pins and found this leg workout (that I think I pinned when I first discovered Pinterest senior year at Radford).

 

I did glutes yesterday so my lower body was feeling a bit sore after yesterday and today's workout. But a good sore ;)

Arms and a fun running survey

So I missed Bodypump on Saturday ( sad face) because I was sleeping in from the (amazing!) Legwarmers concert after getting in late and then ended up doing a leg workout later that day so today's workout was focused on arms!

I also was pretty excited to use my new lifting gloves I got yesterday. Take a wild guess on what color they were ;)

One of the bloggers I follow, The Hungry Runner Girl, posted this fun running survey a few days ago and I thought it'd be a fun thing to fill out:)

 

1.  Would you rather run along a beach path or on a mountain trail? a beach path
2.  If you could choose the flavor of gatorade at your next race’s aid stations, what would it be? always lemon-lime
3.  If I gave you a $100 gift card to a running store, what would be the first thing that you would purchase with it? At the moment, new shoes! And if I had any money left over, anything that caught my eye
4.  Do you prefer to follow a training plan or wake up and decide then how far and how fast you want to run? When training for a race, I absolutely follow a training plan. When I'm not training for a race, I just wake up and decide how far I'm going when I'm running.
5.  Would you rather start your run with the uphill and end on the downhill or start your run with the downhill and end with the uphill? Start with the uphill
6.  When you can’t run, what type of cross-training do you choose to do? elliptical
7.  What is your preference—>  Out and back, point to point or loop runs? Loops
8.  If you could recommend ANY running related item to a new runner, it would be a—> a GPS watch. No matter how far or fast you are going, it's a nice way to keep track of your runs.
9.  Do you ever see any wild animals while out on your runs? HA! Story of my life. Deer (common occurrence in Crozet), bunnies, geese (who decided to chase me), bees (in my hair), horses (though they weren't really wild because they were at a farm, but I still ran by them)
10.  Ever gotten lost while out on a run? Nope
11.  If you could have one meal waiting and ready for you each time you got home from a run for the next 30 days… what would that meal be? Hmmm....when I was training lately, it is always breakfast food because I run in the morning and usually have something small before hand to tie me over.
12.  Capris or shorts… what do you run in most often? Shorts
13.  At what mile (or how many minutes) into your run does your body start to feel like it is warming up and ready to go? Around 2 miles...course depending on the distance. The first mile is never enjoyable haha.
14.  What do you do with your key when you run? Tie it in my shoelace
15.  If you could relive any race that you have done in the past, which one what it be? Disney Princess Half!!
16.  What type of run is your least favorite type of run? When you can sense ahead of time that you just aren't going to have a good run or you're just exhausted.
17.  What has been your biggest motivation lately to get out the door to get your run on? Wanting to wear new running shorts (seriously, they are so comfortable). Plus getting the body back into running mood to start training for another half soon.
18.  When you go for a run, do you leave right from your front door or do you drive somewhere to start? Living up in NOVA, I just go out the front door but in Crozet, I would have to drive somewhere.
19.  When running in daylight—>  are sunglasses a must or an annoyance? I honestly can't remember the last time I wore my sunglasses....
20.  When you get tired, what keeps you from quitting?  "That I've done a marathon with a hurt IT band and a little run is nothing compared to that" or the usual...well, I'm ____ distance from home/car, walking will just take longer haha.

Fantastic Friday!

Happy Friday ya'll!!

 

I am super excited for tonight because I am going to see (and dance...and singalong) to The Legwarmers Concert, an 80s tribute band. Although I'm not an 80s child, I love 80s music!

Today's workout was a mixture of things. I was at the gym at a time where the pre-work rush was gone and no classes were going on yet so the gym was pretty dead and the aerobic room was available, aka my favorite gym time!

20 minutes on the elliptical before doing a Peanut Butter Finger's Weekend Circuit:

 

 

Finished up with some abs:

10 jackknife situps

20 Russian twists with dumbbells

10 weighted sit ups

30 crunches

20 oblique crunches

:45 plank

20 hip twists in plank

25 Russian twists with dumbbells

30 vertical leg crunches

10 weighted sit ups

Wednesday Workout

Today was my first official day of summer, I checked out of my room yesterday. A full day of nothing planned?!?! I had hoped to go to the pool after the gym and lay out and read, but of course, after days of intense heat and sun, today is overcast. Of course!

My workout though, was not ugh.  I wanted to use the aerobic room so hoped on the bike for 15 minutes while a class finished up in there. I started out with an arm workout that left my shoulders screaming at the end...followed by a quick Tight Tummy workout...and then I decided to end to a quick glute workout.  All 3 workouts are posted below!

Lots of sweating today!

By the end of today, I probably looked and smelled like I had already been to the gym. This morning was field day at my school and although I wasn't participating in the activities like the kids were, I still worked up a little sweat standing out in the sun and moving around with my kids.....and then I got to the gym and sweated more!

 

15 minutes on the stairmaster (which always gets me sweating the most!) and then did a Body Burning Workout:

 I eliminated the standing one leg toe-touch crunch (still trying to get the understanding of this) and the snow boarder jumps.

 

With my Summer Break now 2 days away, I have created a Summer Fitness Bucket/To Do List  that I hope to accomplish:

1) Take advantage of different classes at my gym during the day

2) Get in a swimming workout at least once a week (the pool I will be doing swim lessons at doesn't have a lap lane so I may have to find other options)

3) Start my September half marathon training

4) Do a fun 5k with friends (Color Run, Twilight Run, etc)

5) Increase or maintain my current run time

6) Actually get back to updating this blog more! ;)

Legs for Days and another Half

Oh this girl is ready for summer and sun.....yes, I am contacting Olaf. But seriously, so ready to summer time. This teacher is ready for a break!

 

I did an arms and ab circuit Tuesday, but have been fighting this cough and forgot to post. And then forgot again when I was home sick yesterday. It was a good one and I will have to post it soon!

 

Today though, I was back to focus on legs and I am feeling it now! I started out with 20 minutes on the Stairmaster (where I had the pleasure of being next to a guy who I don't think had showered in a few days. Lovely).

 

Disregard the title of this workout. I am in no way trying to drop a pants size haha.

 

I held a dumbbell for all but the high knees and wall sits (what I replaced butt kickers with).

If you're wondering what a split squat is, here is a video of it. I had to look it up myself.

Split Squat

 

I finished out with an ab workout (while my stomach was rumbling for dinner) of

40 crunches

5 weighted sit ups

20 scissors

30 bicycles

:25 sec plank

:20 sec side plank each side

30 Russian twists

20 vertical leg crunches

15 jackknife situps

:40 sec plank

 

And for now. I will continue to finish fighting off this cough (that now only shows its presence at night. Seriously?!) and get excited for a girls weekend with my best friends! :)

 

Oh and in racing news....

 

Signed up for the Richmond Half in November. One of my good friends is doing her first half with them so I'm excited to do a race with her (and be there for her first half) as well as I have heard great things about this race! And according to the logo, it's the friendliest! ;)

 

Summer Legs

With bathing suit and shorts and skirt season upon us, it is time to get these legs ready for summer! With my IT band issue,  I do a lot of glute exercises which helps strengthen my IT band and then running always keeps my legs pretty solid. Even so, do other leg exercises can also help strengthen them and keep them strong.

 

I started out moving around various machines (leg press, leg curl, glute kickback, etc) doing 3 sets of 15 reps.

I then finished out with this leg circuit:

 

Wrapped up with a quick ab circuit of:

30 Russian Twists

10 sit upts

:30 plank

20 vertical leg crunches

:20 plank

10 jackknife sit ups

40 oblique crunches

:15 side plank (each side)

30 crunches

:40 plank

 

Now to sit back and enjoy a glass of wine and remind myself I have 9 days of school left.