Trying new things this week

I'm continuing my training for my upcoming fall races, but there's always room to change some things up.  After I ran my 10K last Sunday,  I took my dog to doggie yoga. Because why not.  The challenge of doing yoga with your dog in a room full of other dogs is making sure that all the dogs will be relaxed enough to make the class enjoyable for everyone.  Luckily once everyone got to smell each other and feel each other out, we were good to go. 

The Happy Girl-Photo courtesy of Four Paws

I'd say our class was a success.  

This month has been hectic with work and traveling schedules, so I had to take my daughter to the appointment with the trainer.  I thought she might want to sit and watch, but she instead surprised us that she wanted to do the workout with me!  Although I pick her up regularly (as toddlers ask to be picked up a lot), doing targeted exercises while holding her in various positions definitely made it more challenging and fun. Getting to workout with my daughter and her seeing me being active is hopefully  setting a good example for her to be active as she gets older.

Bench presses with my 33 pound little one (feeling the burn)

Today was my long run day, so I had 8 miles on my schedule.  I downloaded the Road ID app but hadn't used it yet.  Since I was running solo, I figured this would be a good day to try it out.  It was incredibly easy to set up and I was glad to have found this app.  

Especially on solo runs, it's always a good idea to let someone know how far & where you'll be running.  

I felt pretty good on the first four miles and my splits were comparable to last week's 10k splits so I figured  I would be able to keep up that pace. I was feeling pretty confident about my pace, until I got 6 1/2 miles in and my legs started to tighten up.  What kept me going was knowing I was not far from home and I really didn't have much further to run.  

Another training run in the books.

I have a couple of weeks left before my next half marathon so I have a few more longer runs left before I begin my taper and packing to enjoy Boston.  I'm definitely feeling more confident about the upcoming races, in part because I have a half marathon under my belt. I mostly know what to expect and although every race is different,  I feel less apprehensive about upcoming races..

How is your training going?

Back in the saddle, and a breakthrough!

I've been away a while from my blog (about a month), I hit a writing rut in mid-August and I'm getting back in the habit of writing regularly.

Some things that I've done since my last post:  started working out with a trainer and continued my running and cross training to get ready for fall races (with the B.A.A. Half fast approaching!).  Finding a trainer that you trust is really important. I've experienced trainers that try to sell you on packages without selling you on themselves and how the two of you can work together to accomplish you goals.  For me, embarking on personal training is not about filling someone's monthly quota, it's about finding the next level. For me, my current goals are to be an injury free, faster runner and learn how to eat better for myself and my family. Last weekend the trainer took the workout outside (it was a beautiful day) and in 30 minutes, she really kicked my butt.  I could feel my quads tighten as soon as we finished.

View from the ab work & stretch, sometimes it's about the beauty around you too.

After working out with the trainer on Saturday, I ran a virtual 10k on Sunday.  I woke up with really tight quads but figured a good stretch and listening to my body while I ran, it would be fine.  The first mile felt alright, miles 2 & 3 I could really feel my quads but then I heard the splits on my RunKeeper:  Sub 12 min miles. So I decided I was just going to keep up the pace and keep my splits down. I felt pretty good when I was done and I realized I didn't start the RunKeeper when we started running, so my data was not going to show the full 10K (which is another reason to look into a GPS watch).

Feeling Accomplished

So I realized that I had just ran over six miles at sub 12 minute miles. I checked my data from the last 6 mile run...

8/17 Run

9/8 run

I shaved 3 minutes off my last 6 mile run and with sore legs!  I may have experienced a running breakthrough, I just have to remember how that felt to keep it going on upcoming longer runs.  Did you have a running breakthrough?  How did you keep the momentum going?

Weekend Recap & Challenge(s) Accepted

Being an Military Spouse (in my case Army Wife) means sometimes you have to be commander-in-chief of your house for a couple of days/weeks/months while your partner/spouse is doing military things.  This time around it's only for a short time. For me, it also means I have to get creative on when to do workouts when the dog needs to get walked and our toddler needs everything (and sometimes at once).  To meet all of our needs, I nixed my long Sunday run to do a 4 mile walk with the two of them.

And we're off

Four legged friends need exercise too and they both enjoyed the fresh air on a beautiful day.

The fun part of walking with a dog is you never know what adventures await you.  For example, the gaggle of geese on the path.

Geese + dog = needing all your arm strength to keep doggie away

My pace must have been a little fast for her, because at 3 miles doggie decided she was done with the walk.

Over it.

I had to coax her to get home so our last mile took a little longer than I planned but everyone got some exercise.

And now the challenge...

There are a lot of challenges popping up for August.  One group of friends are doing a full body workout challenge so I said I would join them, when another friend asked if I wanted to take on a squat challenge with her. After looking over them both, I decided to combine the two.  I was on schedule with the squat challenge but was already 3 days behind in the full body challenge so I decided to combine Day 1 and Day 2 on Friday and do Day 3 on Saturday.  

Day 1 & 2 combined (Friday):

35 sit ups

13 crunches

13 leg raises

23 second plank

21 push ups

55 squats

Day 3 (Saturday): 

25 sit ups

10 crunches

10 leg raises

15 seconds plank

12 push ups

60 squats

Sunday was a rest day on the challenge and today was 70 squats (Day 5).  Things I learned today: don't do squats right after drinking coffee. No bueno. My stomach was not happy for the rest of the day. 

In addition to the squat challenge, I'm challenging myself more by trying different things in my cross training.  I went to extreme sculpt at my gym tonight (I did not do the full body challenge today) instead of my typical body pump class.  It was extreme alright.  We did at minimum 60 pushups & dips in addition to squats, rows, etc.  I left there feeling like I was going to throw up, but stronger. I'm going to be sore tomorrow (I already feel it now).  It might be hard and seem borderline impossible in the moment to try something new, but you may discover something about yourself in the process.

What would you like to try?

More muscle, check!

The gym I belong to offers free health assessments with the nurse every 6-8 weeks, and I finally booked my appointment with the nurse.  Since the fall, I've put on 3 pounds of muscle and lost 2 pounds overall.  My body fat percentage has dropped 3.1%!  

Since I began training and running again last July, I've lost approximately 15 lbs (I didn't do an assessment when I first started so I don't have a full data summary of where I was). I feel better and my clothes fit better. 

In addition to any workout routine, nutrition plays a huge role in your results. A quick search will bring you a plethora of information on what to eat and what to avoid you can start here and here.  

For me, the added bonus of seeing results is also not being complacent about where I currently am. I like the challenge of figuring out what to do next to continue to build muscle and strength while keeping up endurance and avoiding injury going into the fall racing season.  My racing goals are always 1. Finish and 2. Don't lose any toenails but now that I've done a Half Marathon, I want to challenge myself to see how much faster I can become.

This summer I will be doing a lot of cross training in addition to runs to continue to build muscle and strength.