Spinning by design.

This morning I got up with my alarm, despite the fact that it's a Saturday, so that I could fit in a Spin class and some grocery shopping before coming back home for some family time.  Once again, spinning never lets me down - what an awesome workout!

For those of you who only know me in this virtual context, you may not know that I'm a member of the LDS Church, (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, also known as the Mormons).  This weekend is our semi-annual conference of the church, where our leaders speak to us from Salt Lake City and it's broadcast world wide so we can all listen to words of direction, advice, inspiration and spiritual uplift.  Our family watches it on the internet, since we don't have TV.  So this morning we watched the first part, then before the afternoon session began, we went to the park where we tried to teach Nicolas how to ride his bike without the training wheels.  It didn't go well.  Poor kid kept jumping off and saying, "It's too scehwy (scary)!"  Oh, well.  At least we were out enjoying our one day of 70 degree weather...it's supposed to rain tomorrow.

Running with a bike pacer!

It's another busy Friday.  I squeezed in a quick workout with Jillian Michaels this morning, doing the 30 Day Shred DVD before going to Cub Scout meetings.  Then, after lunch I wanted to get in a run.  I was thinking of doing the 9 mile loop, and I asked my son, Sam, if he wanted to ride along on his bike.  He loved the idea and ran out to make sure his tires had air and to grab his helmet.  As we headed outside, we realized it had started to rain, though.  When I suggested maybe we shouldn't go, an instant look of disappointment swept across Sam's face, so I decided we'd just do the 4.5 mile loop and then see how things were going.  He was fine with that, and we took off.  Having him on his bike staying just ahead of me was very helpful to keep my pace up.  We did the 4.5 miles with an average pace of just over 10 min./mile.  It felt great.  When we stopped at an intersection at one point, I gave him a drink of water from my hydration belt and he said, "This is super fun!"  What an adventure for him, since he usually isn't allowed to go that far from the house on his bike!  The rain even held off just enough that we didn't get too wet. :)

3 mile run and a little spin.

Another great spinning class this morning with our favorite instructor!  One hour of pure, endorphin-induced bliss.  Well, maybe my idea of bliss is different than most people's, but I can truly say I have officially become addicted to spinning.  After the class, Chris and I hit the weight room.  He did his strength training yesterday before work, so he recovered from spinning while helping me do my usual weight rotation.  We spent an hour doing that, and I even added a few new things, like inverted sit-ups using a 9 pound medicine ball in between my reps of bicep curls, and sideways sit-ups in between my lat pulls and tri downs.  It kind of fun to start to see some visible increase in muscle definition in my arms.  It's helping me to feel more like the athlete that I know I have inside who is scratching her way to the surface.  Apparently, it's a slow process.

After our hour in the weight room, I found an open treadmill and cranked out 3 miles in 30 minutes.  As an added bonus, I came home to a UPS delivery of a brand new pair of my favorite running shoes, ASICS Gel Nimbus 13's!  Nothing more exciting than getting new running gear.  My feet will be happy running 10 miles this weekend. :)

Simple day.

This morning I started my day doing Jillian's Yoga Meltdown again.  It's weird, but as I sit here this evening writing this post, my hamstrings and calves actually feel sore from it.  One would think that as you gain strength and a certain level of fitness that the "simpler" exercises wouldn't make you sore anymore.  Not that Yoga is simple, but I've done it lots before.  All it takes is a short break and then when coming back to it, apparently all your muscles freak out.  After I finished with Jillian, I got on the treadmill and walked for an hour and a half.  I probably should have run today, at least a little, but I felt a recovery day was in order.

More spinning. :)

Up and at 'em at 6am today, getting the kids ready and off to school so we could go to our spin class.  As I climbed out of bed and started moving my body this morning, I realized just how much "stuff" I've been doing to myself.  I have mild to moderate soreness in relatively every part of my body, still experiencing skin sensitivity on my sunburned parts, and the throbbing toenails - enough already!  I said to Chris (with a laugh), as we were getting out of the car at the gym to go in to class, simultaneously letting out moans of discomfort as we stretched our aching legs, "You know, it's crazy what we're doing to our bodies.  Why again do we do it?"  And he responded, "Yeah.  It'd be a lot easier to sit on the couch watching TV and eating Cheetos all day." ;)

A new instructor at spinning today, well "new" to us.  She is recently returning to teaching class after having a baby.  It's always an interesting twist when there is a different instructor.  You would think that with an exercise such as spinning, there wouldn't be that many options for variation, but there are and it's always a challenge.  Still, after experiencing class with 4 different instructors, I have my favorite.  She is the hardest, of course.  I like having someone to admire from my bike in the back of the room.  Gives me something to aspire towards. :)

After spinning, we went swimming.  I did laps for 30 minutes, then after a short soak in the hot tub, we got ready and went to the movies: Hunger Games!  Have I ever mentioned how much I love Tuesdays?

4 mile run in the rain, and a bunch of other stuff!

I've had quite the adventurous day, fitness-wise.  I started out my morning with a bit o' Jillian (Michaels) and her 30 minute Yoga Meltdown.  I haven't done that DVD in a while.  I'd forgotten how hard core she is.  After that, I geared up and headed outside to go for a run.  I had intended to do the 9 mile loop.  As I started out, things seemed fine, though there were some very scary looking clouds rolling in - quickly.  I got out a little over 2 miles and when the rain and fierce wind started, I decided to just turn around and head back before I got too far and had to call in hubby for a ride back home.  So, back home after just 4.5 miles at about a 10 min./mile pace, I took off the wet clothes, and put on different workout clothes, started some laundry then got on the treadmill where I did run/walk intervals for 45 minutes.

Then, late this afternoon, after feeding the kids dinner and getting them all started on their homework, etc., Chris and I went in to the gym to do some weights.  We got right to work doing our usual rotation: bench press (I'm up to 60 pounds, by the way!), bicep curls with free weights, tri-downs, lat-pulls, sit-ups, and shoulder press.  After about 45 minutes, we saw our favorite spin instructor heading down the hall towards the spin room.  I asked Chris if we could go take the class, even though we weren't planning to because we usually go to spin Tues./Thurs. mornings.  He was reluctant, knowing how tough it is, but he conceded and we jumped in on the class.  Man, I LOVE spinning.  Tonight's class seemed particularly tough.  I mean, I literally had pools of sweat accumulating on the mat under my bike.  But I always feel so great afterwards.  It's kind of empowering.  And we're still planning to hit the 8:30am class.

Spin class, post-long-run update.

Looking back on Thursday's run, I'm so very happy about how good I felt during and after.  It is so rewarding to be able to track palpable improvements in my fitness and endurance, when most of the time I feel like I'm on a plateau.  Yesterday I continued to recover, with minimal soreness.  I was feeling a bit 'blah' in general with an overlying mental fogginess as well, and some oddly shaped patches of sunburn in places like my neck, collar bone, and one arm, but my main complaint has to be my stupid toes!  I took off my pretty, neon pink nail polish last night to find not one, not two, but three black and dying toenails.  I've heard urban legends of distance runners who have had these kinds of problems with their toenails constantly dying, so they went to the doctor and had them removed, and in such a way that they don't grow back.  It's tempting.  Though not really.  I'm not sure I could handle the creep-factor involved with looking down at toes sans nails! Ewe.

Anyway...I did some walking yesterday to help stay loose while my body recovered.  I walked on the treadmill for an hour and a half while I watched this week's Biggest Loser, then in the afternoon I took the kids to the park and walked about 2.5 miles worth of laps around the track.

This morning I woke up feeling 100%...well, maybe more like 89% (again, the toes and sunburn).  I fueled with my staple of oatmeal with blueberries and almonds and headed into town for a spinning class, followed by 45 minutes of weight lifting.

23 glorious miles!

Here I am, before we left the house this morning.  I can't even tell you how much I fantasized about our run today, particularly about getting out and enjoying the weather.  I even sported a tank top under my long-sleeved, so as to be able to strip off layers as necessary. ;)  They were wrong about the wind, though.  It was blowing.  Fortunately, it was a warm-ish breeze.

The first 12 miles or so flew by seamlessly.  I helped the time pass by jibber-jabbing away to my husband, hoping to distract us both enough to keep our minds off any fatigue we were feeling.  At some point around mile 12 or 13, we made a turn and the wind was immediately in our faces.  Even though it wasn't cold, there were very strong gusts, which became kind of annoying after a while.  Chris had put out Powerade and water at various locations along the second half of our route, and we continued along pretty well for another 5 or 6 miles.  I have to tell you, I was actually feeling surprisingly great.  We were doing a 3 minute to 1 minute Run/Walk ratio from the very beginning of our run, and even up until 20 miles, I felt pretty strong.

 (Here we are when we stopped at a gas station around mile 9 to use the restroom and get a drink.  Total stop time: about 5 minutes.)

Unfortunately, Chris was struggling by the time we reached mile 19.  He had been having issues with his knee/IT band, and it was flaring up and becoming an acute pain.  We took some additional walking breaks for a few minutes, hoping his pain would settle down, but it didn't seem like it was going to happen.  Finally, we decided I would go ahead and run on home the remaining 3-4 miles, then come back for him with the car.  I went on, running, starting to feel tired, a couple of my toenails were really bothering me, too, but I was still feeling mostly good.  When I reached the house, I called Chris on his phone and asked how he was doing.  He said he had been able to run through some of the pain and had less than 2 miles to go, so he didn't want me to come get him.  He persevered and finished the job.  I'm so proud of him for not giving up (though he has been doing A LOT of moaning, limping and laying down the rest of the day)! :)

(Chris stopping for water.)

Here I am again, after our run...

And here is Chris... ☺

At-home cardio workout.

This morning I started my workout with some simple Pilates, for warm up and stretching.  Then I got on the exercise bike and pedaled away while I watched Dancing with the Stars from Monday night.  I tried to keep my heart rate up around 115-125, which is a "fat burning zone" for me.  At regular intervals I got off the bike and did sit-ups and plank holds for 1-2 minutes.  I also used my 5 pound hand weights to do bicep and triceps curls while riding.  I did that for a total of about 1 hour and 40 minutes.

My husband and I are all "geared up" for a big 22+ miler tomorrow.  The weather is supposed to be perfect - no wind, mid-60's for a high, sunny.  On the surface, I am excited about our run.  I've been looking forward to it, actually.  But for some reason I've been in sort of a funk all day.  I woke up with a headache this morning and feeling some new hip pain, and even though my head was feeling better by about noon, I remained in a grumpy, irritable state the rest of the day.  I was snappy with my kids after school, sent them to bed by 8pm, and not without some yelling.  I was super hungry all day, but nothing sounded that appealing to me so my diet today consisted mostly of a variety of cold cereals with vanilla soy milk, butter toffee peanuts, and Tostitos Chips.  I did fix an egg and ham "Thinwhich" for lunch, but that was the extent of my cooking today.  Of course, I've considered the obvious cause that it is hormonal issues, but it's not really likely, timing you know.  Anyway, I'm not sure what the deal is, but I hope I can sleep it off tonight.

Tuesday morning, spin class.

This morning, after all the kids were at school, Chris and I went in to the gym for spinning.  And normally our routine has been to do at least an hour of additional cardio after the hour long spin class, but today we went straight to the pool/hot tub afterwards.  I swam laps for about 25 minutes, soaked in the hot tub and then we went grocery shopping.  Chris' work schedule has changed this week and he's back on night shift, so while he's at work tonight, I'll be doing some walking on the treadmill.  I felt much better today than I did yesterday.  Some days I feel really strong.  I like those days.  We're still gearing up for a 22 miler later this week...

Two-a-day.

This morning I woke up feeling sooo tired.  It was like my body was finally realizing what a busy and stressful week I had last week, and it was rebelling.  I got up at 6am, made the kids their lunches for school, did about 15 minutes of Pilates, ate a bowl of oatmeal, took the kids to school, then came back home and climbed back into bed.  That only lasted about 20 minutes, though.  Then I got up and got on the treadmill for an 8 mile run, which took me almost an hour and a half.  The rest of the day I did laundry and got caught up on things from the weekend, then this evening after dinner, Chris and I went to the gym.  We did an hour of weight lifting, then we did a 3 mile run on the treadmill, which took 29 minutes.  For as tired as I was this morning, I'm feeling pretty good right now.  Hopefully a good night's sleep awaits me, as I get ready for spin class in the morning! :)

Busy weekend workout.

This morning I was busy from about 8am until 11am with Pinewood Derby for cub scouts.  So, after lunch I got on the treadmill and walked for about an hour and 20 minutes while I caught up on this week's episode of The Biggest Loser.  Then later this afternoon, I was able to meet up with my husband at the gym, where we lifted weights for an hour, then we both did the elliptical for another hour.  We spent that hour talking about and planning for the 22 miler we're doing next week! :)

You know you're a distance runner when...

...you realize that having toenails is overrated. :(  OUCH!  Again.  I have one that is in the painful stage of death and blackness right now, and that makes a total of 5 toenails lost, 6 if you count that one has died, grown back and died again, since I started training for marathons.

This morning, I sucked it up.  Even though it's a dreary, drizzly day, I geared up and went out for a run.  Alone.  It was great.  Refreshing.  Not too cold, a little windy, but not bad.  I set out to do our usual 9 mile loop, but added about a half mile out and back at the turn around point, so by the time I reached back home I had gone a total of 10.17 miles.  And other than my annoying toe, I felt pretty dang good.  I even noticed that a hill that usually gives me lots of trouble, felt a little easier than normal.  I think that I can attribute my new-found cardiovascular strength to spinning.  I hope it only gets better.

Spinning, weights and running.

This morning's spin class seemed even harder than usual.  I think our instructor likes to see us on the verge of passing out. ;)  After one hour of pure sweaty torture fun, Chris and I went into the weight room where we spent another hour lifting.  Guess what?  I can bench press 50 pounds!  I know, that doesn't sound like much to most of you, but considering where I started and the fact that I only weigh about 120 pounds, I think that's pretty decent.  After we finished with the strength training, I hit a treadmill for a 3 mile run.  Now I'm getting ready to help my son celebrate his birthday with some yummy looking chocolate fudge cake. ;)

9 mile walk.

Today I used as a slow-burn type of cardio day.  I had been hoping to go out for a run, if you remember, I was so excited about the wonderful weather we were supposed to have this week, ahem...so, when I woke up and it was raining, well, I wussed out.  Besides, I was still feeling a tad tired from my spinning and 5 miler yesterday, so I decided to go at an easier pace.  I got on the treadmill, put it at a decent incline (I can't tell you the % incline, my treadmill's not that high-tech), and walked at 3.7 mph for about an hour and a half.  Then I got on my elliptical and did 30 minutes, at which point the "pedal" completely fell off and broke, from what I can tell, it's now un-fixable.  :(  So, I got back on the treadmill and walked some more, when I finished catching up on a couple of shows on Hulu.com, I had gone a little over 9 miles.

Another 5 miles, post Spin Class.

This morning Chris and I made it to the 8:30am Spinning class at the gym.  I just love that class. Our instructor is awesome (tough) and I sweat buckets.  It's like a purging of sorts.  My heart rate stays up above 165-175 for the whole hour - and that's a great workout.  After spin class, I did 30 minutes of weight lifting.  Chris spotted me, and he has also been tracking in a notebook where I'm at with my weights.  Today I went up on several, including the bench press, lat pull and tricep pull downs.  After that, I got on a treadmill and ran for an hour, getting in a little over 5 miles.  It was tough, considering my legs always feel like Jell-O after spinning.

8 miles.

I wish I could bottle some of the motivation and strength I feel on some days, so I could drink it on days like today.  I have been acutely aware of so many of the muscles in my body the past few days, that I was having a hard time getting cracking this morning.  On Saturday evening, even though I'd already done a pretty good workout in the morning, I joined my husband at the gym for his weight training session, where I also did an hour of weights.  As much as I know it will (hopefully) help me become a stronger runner, I'm not sure I needed to add pec, lat, tri and ab soreness to my already worn out body.  My lower back and quads are still recovering from that dang spin/butt kick class, for crying out loud.  (Yes, please...I'll take some cheese with my whine.) :)

Anyway...I got on the treadmill this morning and eventually cranked out about 8 miles, doing a combination of running and walking.  At least it's something.  This week we will be switching things up just a bit, because it appears we're going to be having some excellent weather, perfect for running on the road.  Tomorrow morning it's back to the gym for spinning and other cardio and weights, but Wednesday we're going to try to get out there for some good, old fashioned running.

5 miles and strength circuit.

I have been very surprised at how sore and achy I've been for the past few days.  I honestly don't think it's from my 20 miler, either.  I'm pretty sure it's due to the that killer spin/kickboxing class on Wednesday that literally kicked my butt!  I'm sore in some very unusual places, so I know it's from doing new exercises.  My lower back has been very, very stiff and sore.  I could barely sleep last night, even after doing Pilates in the morning and in the evening, hoping to loosen things up.  Other than the Pilates, the only other working out I did yesterday involved being on my feet all day, going to cub scout meetings, Activity Days, taking the kids to swim, then going to the park where I walked laps while the kids played on the playground.  Even though all I felt like doing was laying down and taking a nap, I knew if I kept my body moving, I'd be better off.

This morning I again woke up feeling sore, but after eating some breakfast, I jumped on the treadmill and started walking.  Once I got past the initial pain I was feeling in my back and hamstrings particularly, I picked the speed up to a jog.  After doing an "easy" jog for about 30 minutes, I turned my workout into a circuit, getting off the treadmill every 5-10 minutes to do sit-ups and lunges, punches, kicks and lifts using hand weights.  Then I'd get back on the 'mill to run a little more, until I'd done over an hour a half.  Now I think I'll go rub some Icy Hot on my back and then head outside to enjoy the sunshine. :)

20 miles...it finally happened!!

I'm so excited to report we were finally able to get outside for a long run!  I have to say, I was a little nervous when I woke up this morning and realized my body was none too happy with me for putting it through that killer workout yesterday, and about to put it through 20 miles of suffering.  Once I got moving, though, I knew I just needed to push through the pain. ;)  I took some Motrin, too...that helped.

I was so impressed with how well my husband did, considering his longest run prior to today was 18 miles, and that was a few weeks ago.  He was strong well into the double digits, and really didn't start to fatigue terribly until about mile 16 or so.  After that it was a bit of a struggle, but he kept going and we finished in good time.

After we got home and had chocolate-peanut butter smoothies to refuel, we went in to the gym where we swam a little to loosen up and sat in the hot tub.  Then we went and had a "lunch" of Mexican food.  It was like a day-long date! :)

Mid-week workout, spin-style!

I warmed up this morning with 20 minutes of Pilates.  Then, since I had to catch up on Monday's episode of "The Voice", I did 30 minutes on the elliptical followed by 40 minutes on the stationary bike.

After lunch, my husband and I took the little guy to the gym, where the boys played basketball while I did a spin class.  Well, it was supposed to be a spin class, according to the schedule, but when I got there the spin instructor and the kick boxing instructor decided to turn it into a circuit, since there weren't quite enough people to do 2 separate classes.  We began with 20 minutes on the spin bikes, then we jogged through the hallway to one of the big workout rooms where we did kick boxing moves combined with plyometrics for about 10 minutes, then we jogged into the basketball gym where we had to do two running ladders, then jogged back to the spin room and back on the bikes for another 20 minutes, then repeated the whole cycle once more.  Hardest.  Workout.  Ever.  But I loved it. I know, I'm sadistic.  I was wearing my heart rate monitor for the whole hour long class, and my heart rate hovered around 175 for most of the time and actually went up to 189 (that's very high).  After my class was finished, I went and relieved my husband of "daddy-duty" so he could lift some weights, and I played some hoops with my little buddy for about 1/2 an hour.  Then we all went swimming, but I spent most of my time in the hot tub soaking my muscles.

Still on the agenda for tomorrow: a nice, long run with my husband.  :)

Spin class and a 5 mile run.

This morning my husband and I did another spin class.  I swear that it is the best workout (next to running, of course) that there is, at least for cardio.  I think I lose about 3 or 4 pounds just sweating in there!  After the hour long class, I went straight upstairs in the gym to a treadmill, where I pounded out 5 miles.  My legs were wiped out from the spinning, but I guess that makes it an even better workout for me - running on fatigued legs that will hopefully become stronger for it!

As of right now, it's looking promising that the weather may cooperate with us for my husband and I to get in a long run on the road later this week.  I hope, I hope....:)

Cross-training.

This morning's workout wasn't super exciting.  I just got on the exercise bike and road for about 2 hours.  I wasn't going really hard, just moderately enough to get a good aerobic workout.  After that I also did a few reps using the 5 pound hand weights.  It didn't feel like it was doing much, since I'm up to 15 pound weights at the gym, but I don't have that size here at home, so I just had to make do for today.

Saturday's Warrior. :)

Today's was kind of an unexpected surprise.  I knew I wanted to do a long walk, since I've had a tough week of good workouts, logging about 25 miles of running, 13 of which I did on Tuesday (constituting my "long run" of the week).  I actually woke up this morning feeling a tad bit of over-training setting it, probably due to all the "new" exercises and weight training I've been instituting into my workout routine.  So I got on the treadmill this morning and started walking.  It's a gloomy day outside, Chris was at work and the kids and I didn't have anything we had to do today.  It was a kids-stay-in-their-jammies-all-day kind of a day.

I set my pace to 3.6 mph initially, but as time progressed, I vacillated up to 4.0.  After 90 minutes, I stopped to have a bowl of oatmeal with blueberries, then, since the kids were all playing nicely and entertaining themselves, I thought, "What the heck.  I'll just keep going."  At some point, I made the mental decision that I wasn't going to stop until I'd reached 4 hours, just because I had an urge to fill the void of a long run, but didn't want to put my legs through the trauma of running for that long.  After all, sometimes it's all about time on your feet, right?  Then after passing the 4 hour mark, I just decided, in honor of my marathon PR, I'd just go until I'd walked for 5 hours and 12 minutes.  So, as you can see in the above picture, I walked 19.2 miles on the treadmill today.  My treadmill readout only goes up to 100 minutes, then it resets, so go ahead and mentally put a 3 in front of the 12:02, and a 1 in front of the "calories burned" (far left number), because that's actually where I was when I finished.  It actually feels really good to know that I can still handle that kind of time on my feet and even felt like I could definitely have kept going, although I do have a couple of blisters.

And lest some of you think I was a completely negligent mother today, I did also stop at lunchtime, just long enough to fix everyone something to eat, including a veggie and turkey sandwich for myself.☺

Made-up circuit training workout. :)

This morning I only had about an hour to workout.  It's a weight day for me, but I also wanted to get in some cardio, so I made up a circuit workout.  It went something like this:

I started out with 5 minutes of fast walking on the treadmill.  Then I used 10 pound hand weights to do reps of 10 of bicep curls, 10 overhead lifts, then 20 sit-ups.  Then I did 5 minutes as hard as I could on the bike, followed by the same weight reps again, and 20 more sit-ups.  Next, 5 minutes hard on the elliptical, and back to the same weight reps and 20 more sit-ups.  Then I did 5 minutes of running on the treadmill, and then this time, I used the stability ball to do chest presses, 10 reps, followed by triceps and then again 20 sit-ups.  Basically, I repeated this sequence until I had done it for 65 minutes.

Not a bad workout, actually.  All the changes and variety in my workouts lately, well since getting our gym membership almost a month ago, have really helped me become more well-rounded in the physical fitness department, but I am desperately missing my long, long runs. :(

4 miles and spin class ~ a first!

Tuesdays and Thursdays are quickly becoming some of my favorite days.  My husband's current work schedule has him off, and all four kids are in school, so we get to "play."  As soon as we dropped them off, we headed up to the gym to make it in time for a spin class.  I've never taken a spin class before, and it was ridiculous ~ I LOVED it!!  I seriously don't think I've ever sweated that much in my life.  The class was one hour of intense, hardcore cardio.  I am definitely going back for that one, and I'm hoping I can integrate it into my schedule at least a couple of times a week.  After the class was over, Chris was completely spent, so he went into the basketball gym and shot baskets, while I headed upstairs to a treadmill.  I did an "easy" 4 miles (5.5mph pace).  After the burn I felt in my legs from spinning, I wasn't sure I would even be able to go that far, but once I got in a groove, I was able to stick it out long enough to get the 4 miles in.