Daily Mile & Lift

Thursday I went to the University of Utah Runner's clinic to participate in a study about runner's knee.  It was pretty cool, but I will have to do another post about that later.  After the study I ran over to the gym for a quick leg day workout.  

Then, in the afternoon, when Katherine came over to teach my girl's flute lessons my wonderful, awesome son watched all the kids for us so we could get in a run!  We did the classic Viscounti out and back, and I felt fantastic!  This may or may not have been a PR for that run!  If not, it's darn close!  It usually takes at least 55 minutes for that route.  Go us!

.9 mile treadmill run (knee study)

Leg extensions

Box squats (PR 135#)

Angled leg press (PR 180# added to sled)

Leg curl

Donkey calf raises

Russian twists

Leg raises

Crunches

Hanging oblique raises

Hanging leg raises

Grow quads grow!

BOOM!  Full plates!

Making myself a stronger, better runner!  

Can you believe I didn't take one single picture on our run!?  We were cruising and chatting and it just didn't happen!  

5 miles

51:33

10:18 average pace 

Suck it up, buttercup

Well, since I made all my kids suck it up and go to school with a cold, I decided I should also suck it up and head to the gym.  I didn't push it too hard as I wasn't feeling top notch, but it felt good to be working. I'm really jonesing for some long distance running.  This break from intense mileage has been a very good thing.  Today, it's in the 40ºs and all I could think of was a nice long sunny run in a pair of shorts.  I can't wait to be running long runs every weekend again!  I love those days!  In fact, the next couple of weekends I'm going to go for a bit longer as I need to prep a bit for the Buffalo Run.  Exciting stuff!

10 minutes elliptical
Bench press
Standing barbell military press
Box squat
Pull ups
Single arm dumbbell rows
Glute machine
Russian twists
Bicycle crunches
Crunches

Super Saturday!

First things first.  A shout out to my son, Kurtis, who watched four little kids this morning so Katherine and I could go for a trail run.  Thank you, Kurtis!

Bonneville Shoreline trail, oh how I've missed you.  I love this stretch of trail.  We started at Hidden Valley Park and headed south toward Corner Canyon.  The trail conditions were stellar, and there was even a good stretch of dirt.  That's right, folks, dirt.  We were both feeling really good and happy to be running.  I was feeling in top form and was cruising uphills like I never have before.  I can tell that all my leg work is paying off on those uphills.  The entire run was great!  Then we headed back to my house and did a bit of an ab workout and some stretching before Katherine gathered her yard apes and went on home.  A good time was had by all!

Whaaaat!?  Dirt!?

I have no idea how Katherine managed this epic photo bomb, but it is outstanding!

The halfway point.  Sunshine and dirt.  What more could a girl want?

It's days like this that I remember why I love running so much.  My entire day is better on days like this!

7 miles of bliss

1:32

13:08 pace (that may sound slow, but on this trail in these conditions, let me assure you it is not!)

Flex Friday

First off, you should know that I can barely walk today.  Leg day yesterday was awesome! Yoga this morning was also a killer. I've pretty much spent the rest of my day sitting around, foam rolling and eating! Ouch!  But, you know what I always say?  Pain you enjoy.  

Since the first of the year I've really been focusing on nutrition. I've upped my protein intake, completely cut out sugar and have been limiting prepackaged foods to a very small percentage of my diet. I've also been including lots more healthy fats: avocado, olive oil, eggs, nuts and seeds. I'm really determined to a.) build muscle b.) lose fat, and therefore c.) have totally visible abs!  

My weight loss goal has also shifted.  I was focusing on losing weight with the mindset that less weight would equal less fat.  However, after getting down to, and maintaining 132-133lbs I realize that with a goal of less fat, more muscle I will weigh more, not less.  So, I'm watching the scale less and watching what I put in my mouth more.  I've gotten down to 17.7% body fat (down from 23% in June 2012 & 19% in September 2013) which means less fat, more muscle!  

Now, for the fun part where I act like a self absorbed nerd and post pictures of myself flexing.  Enjoy!

Daily Mile & Lift: Tear shit up Tuesday

Since Katherine couldn't go for a trail run on Tuesday I had a hard time convincing myself to go alone.  Then I figured, screw it!  That's why I'm taking this winter easy.  So I went to the gym and did the gnarliest back day ever!

Four sets each of the following:
Dead lift + Shrug (with a dead lift PR of 115#!)
Pull Ups
Wide lat pull downs
Single arm bent over rows
Narrow seated cable rows
Upright rows
Barbell biceps curls
Wide grip seated cable rows
Back extension holding 35# kettlebell
...then on to abs
Hanging leg lifts (4 sets of 10)
Russian Twists (2 sets of 50)
Crunches (2 sets of 25)
Bicycle Crunches (2 sets of 50)
...then a two mile run on the treadmill
2 miles
19:53
9:56 pace

Yes, I was sore and tired today.  Yes, I still did a small workout this morning.
3 sets of "Fitness at Home" and the pyramid ab workout.

 I'm ready for a killer leg day tomorrow!  Lift heavy ladies!!!

WOD Part 1

Yesterday morning I had the "brilliant" idea that I'd do a little cardio before heading to yoga.  Well, it turns out that I was still sore from my back workout on Wednesday, so I actually quit half way through the fitness blender video, doing only one round (8 minutes) before deciding that I wouldn't make it through yoga if I kept it up!  So, I opted for some ab work instead.  Then I headed to yoga which was an ass kicker, as usual.

WOD

With both a two minute warm up and cool down, the Cardio Strength workout I did today took my half an hour.  Then I did 300 Abs.  Love it!  Now, it's your turn...

WOD: HIIT time!

My Day yesterday:

This one took me about half an hour.  It's a good workout.  When I see "wall sit" I hear Jim Carey as the Grinch saying, "loath entirely!"  Yeah, I hate those things!  

Daily Mile

Today was my only run all week.  With a twinge in my knee last week, I just wasn't willing to push it.  Now, I'm feeling great!  Katherine and I went and hit up the Olympic Oval since it was all of 15º outside.  She planned a lovely little speed work meets push ups kind of workout for us.  We had a blast and we had the place totally to ourselves for most of the time.  Bonus!  We could be as loud and obnoxious as we wanted without worry!  The track at the Oval is 442 meters, which is just over a quarter of a mile.

Here's the low down:

Run 4 laps warm up

Run 4 laps race pace

Run 1 lap cool down

Push ups 20 real push ups 20 modified push ups (Katherine stuck with the modified push ups)
Plank 60 seconds

Side plank both sides 30 seconds

Run 4 laps warm up

Run 4 laps 1/2 lap sprint, 1/2 lap easy pace

100 crunches

100 Russian twists

50 Bicycle crunches 

25 Squats

25 Squat kicks

Countless epic high fives to running buddy interspersed accordingly

Go Katherine!  Get it!

 I'm thinking 38 push ups for my 38th birthday.  I've got time...

Running finished!

Crunch time!

Squat it out, ladies!  

The view from the floor.  It's a huge building!

Yeah, we were tired.  And happy.

Okay, now I know we've never fooled around on a run before *cough cough* but we saw this Christmas stuff and couldn't resist!

Today was a lot of fun!  I kind of forgot that I used to like sprinting.  I can haul ass pretty well on the super short stuff.  We will definitely be doing this again!

4.668 miles

Not really sure about time or pace.  The GPS on the Garmin doesn't work indoors.  Next time I'll have to use a stopwatch!

WOD & My Push Up PR

Friday I went to yoga.  I always go to yoga thinking about how it'll be an "easy" workout and good relaxation.  I always end up with muscles shaking, threatening to fail and thoughts of hatred running through my head.  However, when it's over I'm always glad I went.  It is  relaxing, just not until I'm laying in corpse pose wondering how I made it through the entire hour without collapsing on the floor!

Then, I had a small moment to spare before taking the kids to acting class, so I busted out this little beauty.  It's only fifteen minutes long, but don't let that fool you.  I was wishing for it to be over by half way through!


Today I slept in, looked outside at the frozen tundra and decided to throw on my kicks and head for the TV.   I did another workout by Fitness Blender.  Let me just say that the title is more than accurate.  They didn't throw the word brutal in there just to make it look tough.  This was a bitch!  I was huffing and puffing and near muscle failure by about three minutes in.  These guys do not fool around!  Brutal HIIT Ladder it is!  Then, I tried their Abs Boot Camp, which was great!  But, now for the truly exciting news!  This morning I decided that it had been quite a while since I had tried real push ups.  I was up to 10 "real" not "girl" push ups a few months ago.  Well, you'll never guess how many I can do now.  Go ahead, guess.  Did you guess TWENTY?  Because if you did, you're right!  I did 20 push ups!  Go me!!!

WOD

Yesterday I felt amazing.  Even better, I'm starting to see my hard work paying off.  I can lift more and am seeing more muscle definition.  I'm feeling really strong and positive.  I haven't run at all this week, but as it's been about 7º out when I would go running, I'm not really all that sad about it.  I think come spring I'll be ready to kill it on the trail.

Weight lifting:
Stiff leg dead lifts with shrugs
Incline dumbbell press
Upright row
Skull crushers
Leg extension
Leg curl
Wide grip tricep dip
Pull ups

-20 minutes elliptical

Ab workout:
100 Russian twists with 10# weight
100 crunches
1 minute plank
100 bicycle crunches
50 Spiderman planks
25 side plank right
25 side plank left
25 hip thrust with 10# weight
50 reverse crunches

One month belly fat difference.  Who wants to go bikini shopping with me?

Week in Review

Considering I've been sick and had quite a bit of asthma trouble this week, I managed a pretty damn good workout week!  Now, to just incorporate a bit more yoga and my cross training for the winter plan is shaping right up!

Monday- Sick
Tuesday- Sick
Wednesday- 3.6 miles + Pyramid ab workout
Thursday- WOD* + Plank Challenge
Friday- Weight lifting, leg day + 300 Abs
Saturday- HIIT & Tabata workout + Pyramid ab workout
Sunday- 5.25 miles

*Thursday WOD
-50 side jumps
-50 jumping jacks
-50 reverse plank crunches
-50 crunches
-50 walking lunges
(three times through)

Leg Day

I finally gave in and headed to the doctor's office to get some treatment for my asthma.  A girl just can't go on running and working out if she can't breathe.  Long story short, I am mostly breathing well now!  I decided that yoga might not be great today, since I am still having random coughing fits.  So, leg day it was!  After murdering my legs so that they felt like lead weights, I hopped on the elliptical and whined for twenty minutes, all the while thinking what great training it had to be!  To push your legs on a hamster wheel after lifting for nearly an hour is no small feat.  Then I headed home and did a bit of ab work.  It feels good to work muscles to complete exhaustion!  Oh, and don't forget... Never skip leg day!

Here is what my leg day looked like:

Hamstring curls- 4 sets

Straight leg dead lifts- 4 sets (20#, 30#, 40#, 40#)

Squats- 3 set (barbell only 45#)

Leg press- 4 sets

Leg extensions- 4 sets

Hip adductors & abductors- 4 sets each

Standing calf raises- 4 sets

Daily Mile

That's right folks!  Asthma and snot noses aside, I felt good enough to run today!  It was super nice to get out.  I don't sit around very well.  Granted, it took me about 20 minutes to completely stop coughing afterward, but it was worth it!  The damn air quality in Salt Lake is so poor right now it makes me want to cry (or cough)!

See that brown?  No, those aren't mountains.  That's air.  Triple yuck!

Then I came home and did an ab workout.  Tomorrow will be leg day at the gym so long as I don't relapse into sickness.

5# weight for 1st set of Russian twists, 10# for 2nd set

10# weight on hips for thrusts

Crunches instead of sit ups

And because I know you're wondering what on earth a Russian Twist is, (I certainly was) here you go.

***UPDATED***

All of a sudden this evening I remembered that I didn't add my mileage to my post today!  Hello!  Earth to Renee!  I even ran pretty fast for an asthmatic with a head cold!

3.6 miles

35:56

9:59 pace

Ab-tastic!

Running.  It does a body good.

Ouch!

Yesterday was non-stop.  Jeff and I spent nearly two hours at the gym in the morning doing a biceps and triceps workout, plus I did abs.  Then we spent the afternoon doing demolition/construction and shoveling.  (We're building a new run for our chicken coop.)  Then there is always house work, cooking, etc. But between the gym workout and the construction work I'm sore.  My goal for the next couple of months is to have at least one weight lifting session per week and one cross training day per week, plus running when I can and want to.  Now, to go take some glutamine, a hot shower and possibly some ibuprofen!