Tag Archives: p90x

Footprints: Monday Morning Recap

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OK, I know it’s no longer morning, but I’m finally getting around to last week’s recap. It was an up and down week with some great workouts, a tough 5k and an awesome trail relay run!

Monday: My legs were feeling real heavy after Saturday’s speed session and Sunday’s race, but I pushed through three easy miles along the W&OD after work.

Tuesday: P90X in the morning followed by teaching early morning boot camp.

Wednesday: Thanks to a work-from-home day I got my run in during my favorite time of day to run turning lunch into runch! I put in 6X400s along the trail with a 400 recovery between each. I was so pumped when I got home and saw I’d done each one progressively faster working my way down from a 6:57 pace to a 6:16 one. Here are the splits: 1:44, 1:40, 1:39, 1:37, 1:36, 1:33

Thursday: P90X in the morning followed by teaching early morning boot camp and a quick strength workout of my own.

Friday: Another day of getting in my P90X routine before teaching boot camp in the morning followed by the Crystal City 5k Friday race at night. Recap coming soon!

Saturday: I ran the North Face Endurance Challenge marathon relay with fellow Oiselle teammates and had so much fun out on the trails! Recap on this one coming soon too.

bibs

Sunday: I had good intentions of getting a run in, but turned into a lazy, recovery day that I really needed and felt great!

Footprints: Monday Morning Recap

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Sorry I was MIA last week. It’s been a busy few weeks at work and at home, but I’ve had a pretty successful last two weeks of training. I decided to switch to the half marathon for the B&A Trail race at the end of the month since I just wasn’t where I needed to be to attempt a BQ. That has allowed me to switch my focus to speed and strength and I already feel like it’s been making a difference. I’ve also had more fun running the last two weeks than I have in quite some time – which could also have something to do with the improving weather!

Anyway here’s the day-by-day breakdown from last week:

Monday: I put in 3 speedy miles along the Mt. Vernon Trail after work followed by my p90x core routine.

Tuesday: I taught a boot camp class in the morning and also got in my own full body strength work along with my p90x core routing.

Wednesday: Today was my birthday and also a late night at work so I took the day off from running, but did get my p90x core workout in for the third straight day this week.

New Oiselle hoodie - bday present from my husband!

New Oiselle hoodie – bday present from my husband!

Thursday: I taught another early morning boot camp, did my p90x routine first thing along with a full body strength workout and then got in 3 speedy miles after work along the W&OD Trail – such a beautiful night out for a run!

Friday: Rest day.

Saturday: I ran the DC Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon in the pouring rain, but came away pretty happy with my performance! I finished in 1:51:58 and will have a full recap up soon. All told, I put in closer to 15 miles Saturday and still managed to fit in my p90x routine.

Sunday: I started my morning off with p90x and 5 easy recovery miles along the W&OD. I felt a bit stiff at first, but loosened right up and was feeling great by mile three!

Footprints: Monday Morning Recap

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Aside from a skipped workout over the weekend, I felt really good about this week. I forced myself on the treadmill to push the pace a couple times this week and for the first time started feeling notable progress on my paces. I tallied 35 miles over the course of five runs for the week.

Here’s the day-by-day breakdown:

Monday: I enjoyed my last Florida run Monday morning putting in 6 easy miles.

Tuesday: Rest day.

Wednesday: I hit the treadmill for my speed workout this week to force myself to keep a faster, more consistent pace and it worked. After a 1.5 mile warm up, I put in 4X1200 meter repeats with a 400 recovery in between each. I wrapped up with a 1 mile cool down, a quick strength workout and a P90X core routine.

Thursday: For the second straight year I ran the DC Road Runner’s Resolutions and Predictions 5k. My watch never started so I ran by feel and was initially disappointed when I tried to figure out my finish time after the race. Turns out I was more than a minute off and my chip time put me at 23:03! More to come on this one. I chased the race with my P90X core routine before Ian and I hopped in the car to visit with friends in Ocean City.

DCRRnewyears5k

Friday: Despite maybe having too much to drink the night before, I put in 10 great miles and felt really good doing it. I have to be leery of these kinds of runs though as I went a bit harder than what my easy pace should be, but wasn’t pushing enough to count it as speed work. I want to make sure I don’t put in too many runs in this no man’s land zone that don’t really benefit me. I wrapped up with my P90X core routine again.

Saturday: After driving back from Ocean City I caught a case of the lazies and didn’t make it out for my run, but at the very least got my P90X core routine in to keep my New Year’s streak going. My record is just more than 100 days – we’ll see if I can get near that again.

Sunday: I hit the gym again for my tempo run putting in 9.2 miles with the middle chunk of those as marathon goal pace! I felt really good about finally hitting these paces and feeling comfortable doing so. I hung in at the gym just long enough to do my P90X core workout and another quick strength workout.

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all got your year off to a great start as well!

Footprints: Monday Morning Recap

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Well it was another week of not running as much as I should have, but I did get in some quality workouts, enjoyed running outside in nicer weather and felt like I’m starting to get back on track.

Here’s the day-by-day breakdown:

Monday: Extended Real Ride spin class at Revolve. P90X abs.

Tuesday: P90X abs.

Wednesday: 30 minute tempo run after work. It was high 50s and it felt incredible to not have to wear multiple layers, glove or a hat for the first time on an outdoor run in a long time.

Thursday: P90X abs.

Friday:  Body Ride spin class at Revolve.

Saturday: 10 mile bike ride from Arlington to Old Town to see if I could feasibly bike to work without getting sweaty…not going to happen! It was a good thought though. Quick abs workout.

bike

Sunday: One hour easy run in glorious sunny and 65-degree temps! This. Felt. So. Good.

 

 

Strength Training

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Like stretching and cross training, I’ve always known how important strength training is to a successful run training program, but I haven’t always been great about fitting it in. Running was always my top priority and in the past I haven’t been great about keeping up with strength training when I’m getting ready for a race.

Things are different this time around though as I’m determined to stay healthy and train right. Also all the benefits of strength training and ways it can make me a better runner are just too hard to ignore anymore. Core strength and how it could help my running form was a big thing I focused on during physical therapy, and I made it a resolution for this year to focus on building up my core strength. This has really stuck so far and I’ve completed my version of the P90X Ab Ripper workout everyday in 2013.

In addition to working on core strength I’ve dedicated two days a week in my Nike DC Half Marathon training plan to strength training. Here are some of the exercises I’ve been working on…

Upper Body: push-ups, bicep curls, tricep extensions, lat raises and front raises

Lower Body: single leg squats, pistol squats (sitting all the way down into a chair on leg and raising back up), side plank with leg lifts and runner wall squats

What are your favorite strength workouts to do?

Core Strength

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In my New Year’s Resolutions post I talked about wanting to work on building up my core strength. I made it my main focus for the month of January, so I thought I’d share my favorite core workout with you. I LOVE the P90X Ab Ripper workout. It’s tough and hurts like heck the first couple days, but that goes away and the results are amazing. It includes ins and outs, bicycles, cross-leg sit-ups, leg climbs, mason twists and more. It only takes about 15 minutes a day, so I try to think of it in terms of how little of my time that requires each day and there is really no excuse.

Here’s a link to the Ab Ripper workout. I do 30 reps of each exercise, and have also added 30 back extensions and a 2-minute barrel roll plank on to the end. I’m always looking for new ideas, so tell me about your favorite core exercises in comments.