Olympic Fever and Big Time Game Planning!

I love Track and Field.

Seriously, I really, really love Track and Field.

I am sitting here with goosebumps despite the 80 degree weather.  I've been watching the Olympic Trials events I missed this weekend and I am getting SUPER excited for the Olympics!  The end all be all of Track and Field is just 40 days away!

I'll be wrapping up a trip to Lake Michigan the day the running events start (Aug 3), so while everyone is out on the water, I'll probably be a stones throw of the tv.

All this T&F made me think about how little I have been running.  And when I say little, I mean- not at all!

I have two races on the books- a 5K on July 4th and the Detroit Free Press Half Marathon on Oct. 21st.  I'm not too worried about the 5k.  While I have not been running much, I have been spinning, so hopefully that helps.  I plan to run with the Royal Oak Area Runners on Tuesday and that's a pretty fast run for me.  I'll  finally try out my new Garmin!

Now, I am starting to worry about the half marathon.  I ran it last year- or I should say I completed it last year, as I did do some walking, for sure.  My time completely sucked and I was sore for days!  This is probably because I didn't train much.  I started training, it was going great, I increased mileage and that plus a improperly fitted shoe (yes- I did get fitted at a running store and they gave me a shoe a full size too small), I ended up with a stress fracture in my foot.

I had to take 16 weeks off.  I did, and never really got myself back on track.  Before the race, my longest training run had been 5 miles.

This year I not only want to destroy my time, I want it to be, well..kind of easy. I don't want to suffer and struggle for 13.1 miles.  Yes, I expect to be uncomfortable, but I don't want to be miserable. I also don't want another injury.

I am injury prone, I always have been.  When I ran years ago, it seemed that the only way to get better at distance, was to run, run and then go run some more. That always led to injury.

I have felt that there has to be a way to train less, yet get faster and stronger.  I stumbled upon Run Less Run Faster .  In a nutshell, you run 3 times a week plus cross train two other days.  I saw that and was intrigued.

I looked to see what other bloggers had written about the book, read reviews and finally decided to buy it.  It was less than $10.00 on Kindle, so I gave it a shot.  I just started it, but I think it's going to work out perfectly!  There is a 16 week half marathon schedule, so I officially start training Sunday July 16!

Anyone want to join me?

On to my fitness plans for this week:
Sunday: Rest
Monday: Spin- "GoChubChub"
Tuesday: Go Barbell AND ROAR 3 miles
Wednesday: Go 60
Thursday: Go60
Friday: GoBarbell and GoCycle Abs
Saturday: Spin
Sunday: Peanutbutter Finger's 1000 Rep Workout

If you are wondering what these new "Go" workouts are, there are classes at GoCycle.  I bought a summer unlimited pass, so I'm working out there a lot! I plan to describe these classes more on Tuesday.

Speaking of the upcoming week, the blog plan is:
Monday: New Egg Cups and Muesli recipes
Tuesday: Planning my vacation workouts and talking about the new classes I'm taking
Wednesday: Craft Room Reveal and some talk about getting our house ready to sell
Thursday: How to pack for vacation and house hunting
Friday: Swimsuit shopping. What a difference a year makes.
Saturday: Book Review: End of an Affair; Race Music; New books (new to me): Fit to Fat to Fit and Skinny Rules


Have a great week and see you tomorrow!

The Trouble with Rest Days and I Hop on a Soap Box

According to those who supposedly know a thing or two about fitness, you should not workout every single day.  At least once a week should be a rest day, where you really do nothing at all.  Maybe a walk, maybe some stretching, but that's it.


I am not good with rest days.  First, in my world, no calorie burn = eating like a bird.  And I hate eating like a bird.  No treats, no drinks, just 3 small meals and a couple of small snacks. Not fun.


Next, if I don't workout, I can't sleep.  I can't fall asleep or I wake up at 2 am, for the day. I'm also very cranky if I don't work out.


Finally, the worst part, the day AFTER the rest day.  Rest day is awful, but for some reason, once I get past that one day off, my mind says, "hey, I like this lazy stuff.  Let's not work out today either".  I tell that little voice to shut up.  I can handle the "lets be lazy" argument.  So the little voice comes back with "well, you really should jut say home, because you are going to suck".  And for some unfathomable reason, I start to buy into this one.


Yes.  That's right, I get convinced some how that one day off means my muscles have atrophied, my resting heart rate has headed to the 80s and I'm going to need my inhaler every five minutes.


This makes absolutely no sense, but it's powerful.  It opens the door to many of my old excuses (you suck is always #1, sad, I know), like:


 "the house is a mess, you need to stay home and clean up!"
 "your kids need you, you work full time and THEN have the audacity to workout 7 hours a week,  how dare you!   If they are delinquents, it's all because you left them to workout",


"your husband needs help.  He works all day and then you leave him to care for kids/make dinner/pick up? How much of that is he going to take before he packs his bags?,


and the most ridiculous,  "you still have thank you cards to write from Mack being born! How can you think of working out?".  (Honestly, I am three years behind in thank you notes! I need to just let it go.)

My point is, after over four months of working out consistently, that self defeating voice is still there.  It almost makes me wonder how I ever got out the door in the first place?  Then I remember why I got out the door in the first place...for my kids and my husband.


I had cancer at 21.  My mom has had it three times (3 different cancers) and her mother died of cancer in her 50's. My husband had cancer at 33. 


It's not just cancer.  My dad had a heart attack at 55. His mom died of an  aneurysm her 50s.


Add that I didn't start having kids until my mid 30's, and you might see the issue. Simply put, I am not leaving my husband a widow or my kids orphans.  And if that means a messy house, quick dinners and a few hours away from them, so be it. 


My point is, I think I may never completely eradicate the self defeating voices in my head, but with every workout, I get stronger and I'm not talking muscle stronger, I mean emotionally stronger.  It takes less and less to overcome that voice, still, it's important that I always to remember why I started this and why I need to continue.  Really important.  In fact, I always had those thoughts in the back of my head, the thoughts that I need to take care of me for them, but until I actually said it. Until I wrote it down, shared that thought with others and repeated it to my self over and over, I didn't buy in 100%.  

I am sympathetic to those who are where I was four months ago.  Getting started is so hard. I was scared, intimidated and very unsure of myself.  But once I started, each workout was easier to start.  The self doubting voice gets quieter and weaker. Remember, you deserve this.  You deserve to be healthy, to feel good, to look good and to be proud of yourself.  You deserve the extra energy for now and the extra years you are giving to yourself and your family.  


Probably the biggest revelation was this: it's alright to care about myself more than anyone else. That is shocking, isn't it? A mother or a wife is not supposed to say she loves herself at least as much as she loves her family, but shouldn't she? Doesn't everyone benefit from a mother or wife who takes care of herself? What I am saying that it is alright to put yourself first when it matters.  It's not selfish to put my needs first.  If I don't take care of me, no one will.  In fact, I am doing a disservice to my family if I do not, first and foremost take care of me.


I'm not saying I go around and do whatever I want.  I am not talking wants or desires, but needs.  Time to myself is a need.  Exercise is a need.  Healthy eating is a need. I not only have a right to address my needs, but an obligation.


Don't get me wrong, I'd take a bullet for my kids, without a second thought.  But that doesn't mean I'll be fat, unhealthy, miserable and sloppy when I do it. 


What do you think of my position? Agree? Disagree?
What are the biggest challenges to you getting out the door? 
Why are you getting fit/being healthy/want to change? What's your motivation? 

And I hope you enjoyed the randomly placed pictures of my motivation!

Treadmill Racing and Sad News.

I went to Nth Degree on Wednesday and the class was pretty small.  About five minutes before class, it appeared that the class would only be half full.  This means everyone would start on the treadmills and no one would start on the floor (the weight training portion).  I looked up and down the treadmills and was disappointed.  You see, I always want to workout next to someone faster and stronger than me.  It motivates me and I try to keep up with them.  I usually know who is faster, and I didn't see any of the usuals at class.

Then classmate #11 came in.  I don't know his name, but he's a guy (many are faster than me- but not all) and he is a good 10-15 years younger. BINGO.  I'd run with him before and I knew he was fast.  But what to do?  If I leave my treadmill, will he take my spot and leave me to do the floor workout alone?

I decided to put it all out there.  "I'll work out with you, ok?".  He looked glad to not be alone, but I didn't want the poor kid to thing some woman in her late 30's was hot for him.  "Your fast", I said matter of factly. "I'll be faster if I work out next to you".  He seemed to understand and seemed a little relieved.

It was a smart decision.  We flew through the workout at "sprinter" speeds.  Nth Degree instructions give three speeds, "walker", "runner" and "sprinter".  I started as a "Walker Plus".  I moved on to a "Runner"  then a "Runner Plus".  I'm now a Sprinter.  I'm barely a sprinter, but still, I'm a sprinter.This is a huge deal to me.

I also liked working out with this kid because he lifts heavy, as do I.  It really is so much more enjoyable to work out near someone who is also pushing themselves, and this was certainly the case.

Our usual dinner plans for Wednesday fell through, so we headed to a favorite local brewery.  The one that we go to every Thursday.  So of course, several members of the staff stopped by to say "You know today's Wednesday, right?.  Yeah, yeah, ha, ha.

I ordered the secret Boca Burger (it's not on the menu) with broccoli and a chipotle mayo.  I ate the sandwich open faced with a little of the mayo.  Yum.  We also ordered a pitcher of something dark.  I think it was a porter.  Absent the beer, it was under 300 calories.

I was off of work on Thursday, but sent the kids to daycare.  This was so I could work on painting the dressers and work table for my craft room.  I was busy from sun up to sun down.  Boot camp was canceled because most of the people couldn't make it.  Between spring break and  it being opening day for the Detroit Tigers, only Jenny and I could have gone.  We talked about working out together, but it was kind of chilly. In the end, I skipped my workout all together.

This was not smart, since Thursday is another night at the Brewery.  We met our neighbors there and they gave us some terrible news.  They are moving.

To some people, this would be unfortunate news.  To us, it's devastating.  They are some of our dearest, closet friends.  We had always hoped our boys would grow up together and continue being best friends.

We can't blame them at all.  They have been given an amazing opportunity, a great Northern Michigan town, a great job, great schools- their dream life. So are sad, but very happy for them.  We pushed aside our disappointment and focused on being happy for our friends.  We spent the evening talking about vacations we will take together this summer and when we will go and visit.

All this talk meant more beer.  A total of four pitchers for four adults.  How on earth did that happen?

Friday morning came way too fast.  I got on the scale and was 2 pounds heavier than the morning before.  great. Not entirely surprising, since I exceeded my daily caloric intake by 50%.

I did the work thing- it was a half day so that's good.  Tom was off and daycare was closed, so he was home with the boys.  After I got home, we had an opportunity to work on the paining some more.  The fat quarter of fabric also arrived.  The colors are all a match. Phew!

Here's a before picture.  I have to find an after...

I think we pretty much are done with the painting.  Now we have to do the poly and let it all dry.  I'm pretty pleased with how everything looks so far.

I planned to do 5 miles of fartleks, but could not think of a 5 mile route that I wanted to run.  I decided to break it up a bit.  I warmed up for a half mile and then did fartleks for another .75 mile, until I arrived at the local track.  There I did 2.5 miles of straights and curves (hard on straight-aways, easy on turns).  I wrapped that up and ran home at a "tempo" run pace.

Our middle school track is pretty crappy.

I stayed in lane 3 to avoid the potholes.  I had to take a picture of it for Tommy, since his favorite number, like all 3 year-olds that I have ever met, is 3.

For the straights and curves, my heart rate got to 160/161 for the straights and I made sure it stayed above 140 for the curve. This workout burned just over 500 calories for 5 miles.

The run itself was great, but there were a few distractions.  First, I am absolutely done and finished with headphones.  They drove me nuts.  Second, I lost my Lululemon headband.  Serves me right for spending $16.00 on a headband.  I retraced my steps and it was gone.  Someone else is now sporting a used headband. Enjoy your new find thief and may someone choke you with it. 

Afterwards, we hung out with the neighbors again.  We had cocktails and ordered pizza.  I don't even want to think about how many calories I went over. Still, it was a great night. Here's Mackie on Jenny's lap.  He just adores her! And boy does he need a hair cut!

It was a gorgeous evening, so I couldn't help but take a ton of pictures.  Mack was trying on Jenny's gardening gloves.

 Tom even got out his guitar.He needs a haircut too!

 Tommy was trying out his new shades. Oh, and yeah- haircut needed.

 And finally, Mack kicking back in the bed of the play truck.

I took a bunch of pictures of the neighbors too, but keep forgetting (or am to embarrassed) to ask if it's alright to post them.     I asked- here they are:

Mile Repeats with 8 min mile example

Mile Repeats-8 min Mile ex.
with Speed Increase
Distance	Incline	Speed	Example
Warm Up
800 meters	0.5	base -.4	6.7
START
400	0.5	base	7.1
400	0.5	+.4	7.5
400	0.5	+.3	7.8
200	0.5	+.2	8
200	0.5	+.2	8.2
STOP
Walk	0	3.8-4.5	4
Allow HR to get to apx 115
Repeat x4 or x 5
Cool Down
800	0.5	base-5	6.5
Done

Follow the example and your miles should be just under 8 minutes each. 

Circuit/Interval Workout for March

Equipment: Dumbbells, Bosu, Swiss ball, treadmill

Time: :55 minutes not including transitions 

How it works: Each "card" lasts 5 minutes. You alternate between being on the treadmill and being "on the floor".  I call them cards, because I actually printed mine out, glued them to card stock and laminated them.  Nerd City!

Start with "1. Core". Next do "A: Warm Up", then "2. Quad Push", and continue like this until you get through the final set of abs.

How to read the cards:

I think the strength training cards are pretty self explanatory.  Let me know if not. There are links to images/videos of the exercise being performed.

For the Running Cards: 
IN: Incline
A: This is for those aiming for a moderate speed
B: This is faster
A Note about speed: The speeds are just guidelines.  You may find you have to -2 or + 3 - or whatever.  
If you do the A speed, you should get about .5 mile on most of the runs. B should be closer to .6. 
e: time elapsed for that segment.

Example: For the Warm Up Card: You chose speed A. Start the treadmill at at .5 inclide and a speed of 5.5. You stay here for a minute.  At 1:00, increase the incline to 1 and maintain the speed. Do this for 60 seconds. At the 2 minute mark, keep the incline the same and increase speed to 6.5.  Maintain this for 60 seconds.

Get it?

Hope you give it a try.  I'll let you know how K and I do with this Tuesday.

By the way, I was able to just open this page on my iphone and do the workout from the phone. Very cool.

1: Core
60 sec	mountain climbers
30 x	bicycle
30 x	leg V, hands through V*
Repeat until 5 minutes is up.

*can't find a pic of this- sorry.

A: Warm Up
Time	IN	A	B	e
Start	0.5	5.5	6.5	60
1:00	1	5.5	6.5	60
2:00	1	6.5	7.5	60
3:00	0	7	8	30
3:30	1	7	8	30
4:00	0.5	7.5	9	30
4:30	0	6	7	20
4:50	0	3	3	10
5:00	Stop

2: Quad & Push
20x4	side lunge on bosu
12x 3	chest press on ball

Strength Training Note: You can do all the lunges first then go do all of the chest presses, or you can do the chest press in between the lunges.  I prefer to alternate so that my heart rate stays up a little higher.  If you finish all of this and have time left, try to get in another set of whichever you prefer. 

B: Endurance
Time	IN	A	B	e
Start	2	6.5	7.5	60
1:00	2	7	8	60
2:00	1	7.5	8.5	60
3:00	1	8	9	30
3:30	2	7.5	8.5	30
4:00	1	6	7	30
4:30	0	3	3	30
5:00	Stop

  

3: Glute, Ham and Pull
15 x 4	donkey kick
16x2	1 arm row from plank

C: Sprint
Time	IN	A	B	e
Start	0	6	7	30
0:30	0	9	10.5	45
1:15	0	4	4	45
2:00	0	9	10.5	45
2:45	0	4	4	45
3:30	0	9.3	9.3	30
4:00	0	6	7	45
4:45	0	3	3	15

4: Quad & Push
20x 2	sumo squat w/ weight
8 x 3	shoulder press
12 x 2	YTI
more sumo if time

D: Incline
Time	IN	A	B	e
Start	6	6.5	7.5	45
0:45	8	5.5	6.5	30
1:15	10	5.0	5.5	45
2:00	8	5.5	6.5	60
3:00	0	7.5	8.5	30
3:30	4	7	8	30
4:00	6	7	8	30
4:30	8	6	7	20
4:50	0	3	3	10
5:00	Stop

5: Glute, Ham and Pull
15 x 3	hip raise on ball
8x3 (HEAVY)	concentration curls

E: Combo
Time	IN	A	B	e
Start	4	5	7	60
1:00	4	6	8	60
2:00	4	7	9	60
3:00	0	8	10	30
3:30	4	6	8	30
4:00	4	7	9	30
4:30	4	4	4	30

6. Core
30	Weighted side bend
30	scissor
30	double reverse crunch
Repeat until 5 minutes is up.