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.