Category Archives: Fitness

Footprints: Monday Morning Recap

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Last week was a pretty solid training week featuring a mid-week track race and a long run that included some trails that I don’t run on nearly often enough. I’d like to start speeding things up, but am happy with the mileage base that I have.

Here’s the day by day breakdown…

Monday: Spin Class at Revolve – real ride.

Tuesday: I ran home from work again – this week it was “only” 90 degrees out when I set out and I got an entire extra mile in in the same amount of time. I finished up with 10 miles – love being able to hit double digits during the week.

Wednesday: DC Road Runners Track Championship! I ran the mile in 6:21 for a 3rd place finish in my heat. Check out the full recap.

track

Thursday: Rest Day

Friday: Strength training – core and upper body.

Saturday: 16.5 mile long run. I got myself going a bit earlier this week and was on the road before 8. I took a route I’ve only done once before and even mixed in some trails along the Glover Archbold Trail before running through the zoo and home via Rock Creek Parkway. I don’t run trails very often so it was a pretty challenging run for me, and I’m probably a little too proud that I didn’t fall this time and I only got lost once!

Sunday: 45 minute treadmill run.

Race Recap: Such A Rush

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Last Wednesday I ran my first-ever track race at the DC Road Runners Track Championships as part of the Bring Back the Mile Tour. It was so much fun and made me sort of wish I’d run track in high school, although I wouldn’t want to give up all the great softball memories and friends I have either.

Rocking my Oiselle stipe tank and distance shorts with CEP compression socks.

Rocking my Oiselle tank and distance shorts with CEP compression socks.

Ian and I drove up to the track about an hour early so I could get signed up for my heat, watch some of the earlier races to see how things were done and get a full warm-up in. My coach gave me a goal time of 6:30 so I ended up signing up for the under-7 minute heat. After my warm-up I was feeling good and made my way toward the start to wait for them to call our heat. I was pretty surprised at how nervous I was for a one-mile race… I mean I’ve done 26X this multiple times.

DCRRTrackRace

Once the starting call was given the nerves were gone and the adrenaline was pumping. It was such a rush and I loved every second of it. I jumped out quick so I wouldn’t get tied up with others near the start and led almost to the 200 mark before the speedsters in my heat took over. I spent most of the race in 4th place. Clocks were set up at the 200 and 400, but somehow I managed to instantly forget my splits. Ian’s pictures gave me a pretty good idea though, and it looks like I ran my first and last laps the fastest with the 3rd one being the slowest.

During lap four I moved up a little and ran with fellow DC Running Coach teammate Michelle. We dueled our way down the final straightaway to the finish. I felt like I was flying. Obviously my pace was nowhere near the elite heats that would go later, but it was still a pretty quick mile for me! We crossed the finish line at almost the same time. They gave me third in 6:21, but to be honest, it was a pretty close call and probably could have gone either way. The pictures are great – we match each other step for step to the finish.

SprintToTheFinish

I’m really loving the shorter races lately and being on the track with people cheering and seeing you run the whole way was a blast. I’ll absolutely look to do another one of these soon.

Have you ever run a track race? What did you think?

Back on the Bike

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Well, sort of – by back on the bike I mean a spin bike, not my road bike. It’s funny that I much prefer running outdoors in any kind of weather to running on a treadmill, but I’m the complete opposite when it comes to biking. This is probably cause I’m not the best biker and I get nervous on the roads around D.C., but as I’ve mentioned before, spin is my favorite kind of cross training.

I made my first trip to Revolve, a dedicated spin studio in Arlington, at the beginning of this year and was instantly hooked. Their classes are super intense, the instructors are phenomenal, the playlists are always great and I love that you can mix it up with the different style rides. I was there almost every day during my unlimited intro month and then bought 20-class packages to get me through my cross training days for the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler and Nike Women’s Half Marathon.

revolvestudio

Between travelling every weekend in June, starting the new job and all the expenses involved with moving, it’d been awhile since I’d been to Revolve. They were kind enough to comp me a few rides this month and boy has it felt good to be back. One of the classes I went to was even a request ride where riders got to submit their song requests beforehand. I love that they mix it up with fun rides like this and was pumped that my request got played during class! I’ll be buying another 20-class package very soon as I incorporate spin as my main form of cross training to get ready for the Marine Corps Marathon and go after my BQ!

On top of the great tracks pumped through the speakers during class, I now to get to enjoy music from Revolve anytime I want with the launch of RevolveSounds on Spotify. I’d actually always been on the fence about trying Spotify and am so glad this gave me the push to finally check it out. It’s amazing! I’m already thinking about upgrading to the premium version. Let me know if you’ve tried the premium one and think it’s worth it.

You can follow RevolveSounds on Spotify and check out their various playlists. I love the 2013 Summer Edition playlist, which has a lot of the songs they play during class. My favorite playlist of theirs though is Rethink Office. When I need to focus at work and block out some background noise I’ll pop in an ear bud and listen to this station. It has some fun songs that keep me going throughout the day without distracting me from work. If you like to listen to music at work, definitely check out this playlist.

revolvestudio2

They also have a Revive: Sunday morning playlist that’s a bit more mellow and fun to listen to while I’m doing things around my apartment. I don’t listen to music while I run outside anymore, but I’m looking forward to listening to the Revolve Run mix the next time I hit the treadmill at the gym.

Are you a spin class fan? How important to you is the music during spin classes?

 

Footprints: Monday Morning Recap

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Holy heat wave Batman! Last week was Hot and Humid – in a much worse than usual kind of way. I’m talking triple digits with the heat index and really high humidity. I somehow managed to still get a lot of runs in outside, but the heat definitely made a difference. I’m running a lot slower than I want to be, but am trying to listen to my coach that it’s just the heat and I’ll see improvements when it cools down.

Here’s the day by day breakdown…

Monday: Mostly a rest day with a little bit of core and strength work.

Tuesday: On a scorching hot night I ran home from work getting 9 hot and hilly miles in. It was a straight into the shower with my clothes on when I got home kind of run!

Wednesday: Rest day with a bit of walking.

Thursday: Track workout. 102 degrees with the heat index. I can’t tell you how thankful I was for the cloud cover that came in right as we finished our warm up. I started off with a 2-miler and was a bit off the mark – mostly slowing down on the second mile. After a 10-minute slow recovery jog I went right into a 1-miler that was also a bit slower than my target. I told my coach about my concerns about my times on recent runs and feeling like I was breaking down, so instead of calling it a night he had me do two more 400s. This was a huge confidence boost as I felt a lot better and much more speedy finishing the second even faster than the first.

Friday: Spin Class at Revolve – feels so good to be spinning again!

revolvestudio

Saturday: Despite  knowing that it was going to already be in the high 80s at 6 a.m., I hit snooze one too many times then dragged my feet about getting going so I finally started my long run at 11. Great time of day for a super hot and humid long run. I made it 15 miles though so I felt pretty good about it. I was wiped for the rest of the day though for sure. I downed some chocolate milk when I got home, took a long shower and then headed out with Ian for a big lunch at Fireworks.

Sunday: 45 minutes on the treadmill.

Got Chocolate Milk?

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While I was at FitBloggin’13 in Portland a few weeks ago I got to meet a couple reps from the got chocolate milk? and Team Refuel campaign! I’ve always loved chocolate milk and often used to have it after exercise just because it tasted great and was easy to drink after a tough workout. You might say I was pretty happy once the science started to come out that chocolate milk is actually a great recovery drink for athletes.

Chocolate milk nutrition lockup

With so many great reasons to drink chocolate milk after exercise I’ve decided to take the 21 day TryChocoMilk challenge. Depending on the intensity and duration of my workouts I’ll be treating myself to 8-16 ounces of skim milk mixed with Hershey’s syrup as a recovery drink. You’ll see updates here on the blog, but also on my Twitter feed and Facebook page.

TryChocoMilk challenges

There are the challenges. I like to mix things up so I started today with #12 and had a nice tall glass of chocolate milk after a scorching hot track workout. I even drank out of my Marine Corps Marathon pint glass to remember what I’m working for!

trychocomilkchallenge12

Are you a chocolate milk fan? What’s your ideal recovery drink?

 

 

Footprints: Monday Morning Recap

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Yes, I know it’s Wednesday night. I had great intentions of getting this post up on Monday, especially since I haven’t posted anything in forever. I’m behind…on everything. I have a bunch of unanswered emails in my inbox, which is a huge pet peeve of mine and a to do list a mile long that has way too many things not crossed off. After my four trips in four weeks exhaustion started to catch up to me at the same time I was moving, starting a new job and new car shopping. Needless to say it’s been a busy but awesome couple of weeks, and unfortunately I’ve fallen behind on the blog. I’m hoping to turn that around and get going on things again though, so let me know if there are any posts you want to see this month!

Now on to the weekly recap! I missed posting this last Monday, but there wasn’t much to report. I only got 3 runs in for about 11 miles all on treadmills, but was sorer than ever from moving. I did not realize the new place didn’t have an elevator – thank goodness we’re only on the second floor! Last week was a lot better although this heat wave has not been helping my speed any! Still, I got some quality runs and strength training in.

Here’s the day by day breakdown…

Monday: I got in an easy one-hour run on the treadmill for a little more than 7 miles followed by a 20-minute strength training workout.

Tuesday: Tonight I did an hour boot camp style strength training workout.

Wednesday: I ran home from the new office for the first time. It’s a bit further run commute than the old 3-mile one that I used to have to add loops to. This ended up being 9 hot and hilly miles with the last couple miles especially being a tough uphill route. Despite the heat I really love this run and look forward to doing it more – this will be a great one for my longer weekday run each week.

Thursday: Rest Day.

Friday: Rest Day.

Saturday: Spin Class followed by a track workout. This was a bad idea and I instantly regretted sleeping in to late so that I couldn’t do the track first. It was great to be back at Revolve though – had been way too long. I walked from there to the track for 2X2 mile repeats with a 2 minute break that were supposed to each be 14:50. The first one I hit dead on, but then the spin class caught up to me and I locked up on lap 4 of the second set struggling to finish it in 15:23. Not surprisingly my Coach recommended that I don’t do my track workouts following another workout from now on after I sent in my recap.

At the track realizing this was not such a great plan! Next time track first, then spin class!

At the track realizing this was not such a great plan! Next time track first, then spin class!

Sunday: I split my long run into 2 runs today – the first about 55 minutes and the next just under an hour. I’m glad I made it outside for them both, but am looking forward to a true long run this week.

Resolution Check-In

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Seriously, how is it July already? Seeing as we’re now more than halfway through the year, it’s time to take a hard look at how I’m doing on my New Year’s Resolutions.

I’m still staying healthy and that’s awesome. With four trips last month and more to come, one thing that has really helped is having a portable roller known as The Stick. Ian got it for me as a gift and it helps keep my muscles in good shape even when I’m on the road. It’s nice to get back from a trip and not have the first time back with the foam roller be super painful. You know that involuntary tears kind of painful…never good, so I’m glad to be avoiding it now!

thestick

 

A stronger core was another one of my New Year’s resolutions that will also help keep me healthy and injury free. It was also my focus for the month of June. I actually let these slip a little with all the craziness of traveling, moving and wrapping up my job before I start a new one next week. I actually had to go back and look at last month’s post to remember what I’d put. I still do a good job of getting planks in most days, but I’m definitely not doing enough and need to get back to my full P90X Ab Ripper routine.

I had good weeks and bad weeks with drinking soda last month. I just stocked up on Tri-Berry Nuun though, so I’m going to turn to that this month when I’m looking for a drink with some flavor rather than gulping down a soda!

My final goal/resolution is my Boston Qualifier. I’m still working hard to get in shape for this and even managed to get long runs in on two of my recent trips to Portland and Montreal so I can keep on pace for this! It’s hard to believe it’s officially fall marathon training season and it’s getting closer to making this really happen. I’m still working on my speed as well as my endurance too and have two speedy races coming up this month including a 4-miler and my first-ever track race for a one-miler.

I’m looking forward to a good month and am making cross training my big focus for this month. I only do it two days a week, but I’m going to make sure I get quality cross and strength training workouts in all month.

So how are you doing on those resolutions this year? Have you checked any off the list yet?

Footprints: Monday Morning Recap

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This was a pretty hectic week but a great training one. I started off Monday getting in my long run I missed during the previous week and ended the week at FitBloggin’13 in Portland fitting in 6 workouts in 2 days! I had so much fun and wish I could do this every weekend!

Here’s the day by day breakdown…

Monday: Monday was really hot but unfortunately I wasn’t able to get my long run in early so instead I went during the hottest times of the day splitting my runs into 2 1-hour stints at lunch and just after work. I got 6.5 miles in around Hains Point during lunch and looped the opposite way plus over the Memorial Bridge back home for 7 miles after work.

Tuesday: Tonight I ran a 5k put on by the DC Road Runners. Check out the full recap.

Wednesday: Rest Day – although since it was moving day I think I got in a fair amount of cross training with all the lifting and walking up and down stairs I did in 90+ degree heat.

Thursday: Travel Day – flew out to Portland.

Friday: I started off with an early morning boot camp class, then hit the streets of Portland for a 20-minute tempo run and rushed back to the hotel for a Reebok cardio dance class…my kind of day!

Saturday: It was another early morning with some 6 a.m. SweatPink yoga, a 5-mile run along the water and a trampoline fitness class! Can you tell I enjoyed this one???

Trampoline-Fitness-Class

Sunday: I woke up bright and early one more time – staying on east coast time really helped me this weekend – and got in a 2 hour long run looping around the Portland waterfront area and bridges.

Trailblazing Through Saturday at FitBloggin Portland

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It was another crazy busy, but awesome day at FitBloggin. I’m so glad I came out to Portland for this conference – it was even better than I could have hoped for! Like I said in yesterday’s post, I’ll get fuller, more in-depth recap posts up soon, but here’s a quick recap of my Saturday here.

My alarm went off bright and early again, and I was off to SweatPink yoga. It was one of the best yoga classes I’ve taken in a long time. I rushed off to squeeze a 5-miler along the water in so I could get back in time for my fitness trampoline class. Yes, you read that right. So. Much. Fun!

I needed to refuel after getting all of that in by 9 a.m., so I made my way by the Got Chocolate Milk booth in the expo…

fitblogginchocomilk

We hit up a food truck area for lunch and then the afternoon was packed with some really great info-filled sessions. I went to a workshop on creating media kits, followed by a session on photography for blogging and finally a google analytics session. My brain is in serious overload. I learned so much. The people here are amazing. I can’t say enough about it.

We officially wrap things up in the morning with a fun run and goodbye breakfast. It’s going to be hard to leave!

 

 

FitBloggin Day One: Is This Heaven?

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The first full day of FitBloggin’13 was awesome! I had so much fun and was totally in my element. By 9 a.m. I’d gone to boot camp, got out for a quick run around Portland and taken a Reebok cardio dance class. (The time change really helps make me a morning person.) Can I please do this everyday?! They also had a great hot breakfast for us, which made my morning.

Free Hugs Wrist Bands at FitBloggin

Free Hugs Wrist Bands at FitBloggin

I went to some great small group discussions later that morning. The first was a talk about motivating your community to live healthier lifestyles and the second focused on tackling the taboo of therapy. An athletic wear fashion show at lunch was followed by a presentation from Reebok on choosing the perfect shoe. I also learned a lot during a couple more afternoon sessions on using SEO and monetizing your blog.

After a great dinner with Ian at a local Italian restaurant I headed back for the Ignite Fitness keynote featuring 5-minute presentations from various FitBloggin attendees. Everyone was so amazing and inspiring. Loved it. I am completely exhausted, but excited for more to come on day two. Full recaps and more pictures to come soon!