Tag Archives: spinning

Footprints: Monday Morning Recap

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After an incredibly lazy/recovery week after the Marine Corps Marathon, I continued to take it pretty easy last week and actually still haven’t gone running. I hope to change that today, but I have gotten in a little bit of strength and cross training in.

Here’s the day-by-day breakdown of last week:

Monday: My version of P90X Ab Ripper and push-ups.

Tuesday: More P90X Abs and push-ups.

Wednesday: Again, P90X Ab Ripper and some push-ups. Are you starting to see a theme here?

Thursday: I mixed it up a little bit and added a great extended body ride at Revolve DC’s spin studio to my P90X Ab Ripper routine and push-ups.

Friday: Yet another day of P90X Ab Ripper and push-ups. Sorry if this is the most boring weekly recap I’ve ever written!

Saturday: I got in just part of my ab routine and some push-ups today before heading over to Revolve for a real ride.

Sunday: Rest Day. I did get some good motivation today though spending the morning cheering and volunteering at the Veterans Day 10k and the afternoon on my couch reading my latest issue of Runner’s World cover-to-cover.

vetsday10k

Resolution Check-In

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It’s that time again for my monthly check in on my New Year’s Resolutions. I’ve been putting this one off since I didn’t hit my big goal of a BQ at MCM, and I have no plans of running another marathon before the end of the year. While I’m not going to give it another shot right away, I know I will eventually cross this off my list!

Last month’s big focus was drinking less soda. I did better than I have been doing and managed to go a couple days a week without grabbing a soda. I’m planning to keep working on this and add a few more days without it each week. Damn that fridge full of free soda just steps from my desk!!

Core strength and staying injury free were other resolutions I had this year. I continue to work on my core strength and also was smart enough to get myself in to the physical therapist last month to check out a problem before it became an injury.

With the year winding down, I’m turning this month’s focus to recovery and cross training. I want to get back into working out after my marathon by embracing yoga, spinning, the elliptical and the weight room. Of course, I’m sure there will be some running in there too, but overall it’s going to be a November filled with other activities.

dmyyoga

Are you still working towards those resolutions? How has your year gone so far?

 

Footprints: Monday Morning Recap

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So this week’s Monday morning recap is brought to by Monday night. I’m running a bit behind this week! After last weekend’s half marathon I took this week as a recovery week, and I actually – gasp – did not run at all. It felt good to give myself a break and recharge, but now I’m itching to get out and run and am actually excited for my early alarm to go off tomorrow so I can lace up my running shoes and hit the streets.

Here’s the day by day breakdown…

Monday: Spin Class, Upper body strength

Tuesday: Rest Day

Wednesday: Rest Day

Thursday: Spin Class Body Ride and strength

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: Spin Class Endurance Ride

Sunday: I might not have been running this week, but I did man an aid station at the Potomac River Run Marathon – fun way to spend the morning!

On Saturday, Revolve brought in some Cinco de Mayo enterainment to go along with the ride!

On Saturday, Revolve brought in some Cinco de Mayo enterainment to go along with the ride!

Footprints: Monday Morning Recap

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Despite feeling a bit under the weather and dealing with more winter-like weather (where are you spring?!), I felt like I had a pretty solid training week last week. I know it could be a lot worse than it is here, but I am so sick of the cold. I’m over winter weather, layering up and bitter windy days. Spring needs to get here – and soon! One thing I did not do last week is my strength workouts, which is not acceptable and I will really focus on making sure that happens this week. I ran 33.57 total miles last week. Here’s the day by day training breakdown…

Monday: Spin Class

Tuesday: I did my speed workout at Hains Point again this week and fared pretty well with my half mile repeats. I did a total of 6.1 miles with a 2 mile warm-up, 4 800-meter repeats with 400-meter recovery jogs (this was too long) and a 1 mile cool down.

Wednesday: I was up early for an endurance spin class up at Revolve and wrapped the day up with a fun run with a friend after work around the Mall and the Jefferson Memorial for about 5.75 miles.

Thursday: I don’t know what it was, but I had the hardest time getting myself to the gym this morning. I came up with every excuse in the book and almost got back in bed a few times even after getting into my gym clothes and doing my ab workout. I got to the gym and saw all the treadmills in use, which rarely happens at my gym, and I almost turned around. Then someone hopped off and I knew I had no excuses left. I’m so glad I did this run. I did a 6.05 mile tempo run for an average pace of 7:26 including my warm-up and a top pace of 6:48. It felt great!

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: I ran the Run Rogue 5k this morning. It wasn’t a great race for me, but it was a great cause so I’m glad I did it. Full recap to come tomorrow.

New Nike Half Zip from Pacers, Race Bib Pinned and Ready To Go

New Nike Half Zip from Pacers, Race Bib Pinned and Ready To Go

Sunday: Still not feeling well, I almost bagged my long run on Sunday. I got a second wind late afternoon though and decided to head to the gym and just see how long I could make it on the treadmill. I figured that way if I wanted to drop at mile 6, I wouldn’t be 6 miles away from home. It ended up going great though and I made it for the whole 1 hour and 45 minutes I had planned. I kept it at an easy 8:27 pace with a 1.0 incline for the first hour and 20 minutes before starting to up the pace every five minutes. For the last five I upped it each minute so I could reach my goal pace of 7:30 – even if it was just for a minute I felt good to end the run at that pace. I finished up with 12.55 miles for an average pace of 8:21.

Blogger Ride at Revolve

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Last Thursday I was invited to a special spin class Revolve hosted for D.C. area fitness bloggers and enthusiasts. It came together out of a group of bloggers featured in the Washingtonian chatting on twitter and turned into a big event. I go to Revolve regularly and love their classes, and am also a huge fan of a lot of the bloggers that were going so I was really excited to take another class there and actually meet some of these people who’s blogs I’ve been following.

BloggerRide1

I stole this shot from Anne’s at fANNEtastic food blog.

Francina Segbefia taught our class with awesome energy, a kick-butt Vegas-themed playlist and a flair of style. She kicked things off by having everyone introduce ourselves and the name of our blog so we could know each other in the real world too. It was so much fun. She had the whole class singing along to Gold Digger and other songs and pushed us all the way to the end where we wrapped up with some weights to work on the upper body. Their body ride classes are fast becoming my favorite type of spin class – it’s a great change of pace and this one was an absolute blast.

On the bikes next to me were Melody from Will Run for Margaritas – love her blog – and Laney from Running On Veggies – I hadn’t seen her blog before, but it’s great and definitely worth your time to check out. Turns out Melody and I used to teach boot camps at the same site – small world D.C. for you. Some other bloggers I really enjoy reading were also there including Melissa Romero who does the Washingtonian Well Being blog, Ashley of Coffee Cake and Cardio, Workout Wonks and DC Fit Crasher.

Blogger Introductions

Blogger Introductions

After class we had some time to mingle and post-ride refreshments from Gouter. I was a bit skeptical that I would like something labeled raw, vegan and organic, and I’m not really into juices or cleanses, but these were surprisingly tasty!

Post-Ride Refreshments

Post-Ride Refreshments

Overall it was a great night – fun to meet other bloggers excited about health and fitness in D.C., and get a great workout in too!

Footprints: Monday Morning Recap

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Sometimes training involves being flexible, and this week I had to do just that and retool my workout plan to include more spinning and less time pounding on my feet after a not-so-smart Tuesday tempo run left my feet covered in blisters. I still felt like I got a really good week in though and am continuing to improve my fitness. The feet are doing a lot better and I hope to test them with some more faster runs this week. I ran 14.17 total miles last week.  Here’s the day by day training breakdown…

Monday: Spin Class in the morning followed by a legs workout.

Tuesday: You can read the full story here, but basically I decided to do a tempo run in really old shoes and my feet paid dearly for it leaving me a bit hobbled for the rest of the week. Somehow it was still a great run. I got in 6.67 miles on the office treadmill starting out with a mile warm-up at an 8-minute pace, bumping it down to 7:35 to start the tempo portion and working my way down to 7:03 before cooling down for 2 minutes back at the 8-minute pace.

Wednesday: I bandaged my badly blistered feet up and limped over to my apartment gym in the morning, and put in 30 minutes on the stepper and a legs workout.

Thursday: I got in a body ride spin class at Revolve Thursday night as part of a blogger ride they hosted. It was a blast – more to come on that tomorrow.

Friday: Rest Day.

Saturday: I started the day off with an endurance ride spin class in the morning and then tested my feet out for an easy 3 miler in the afternoon at my apartment gym.

Sunday: I headed back to the spin studio for an early morning body ride before putting in an easy 4.5 miles on the treadmill at Washington Sports Clubs before my membership there ends this week.

Footprints: Monday Morning Recap

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Last week marked the end of my base building phase before I start training for the Nike Women’s Half Marathon this week. I felt really great all week and feel like I’ve gotten my fitness back to a good point to start race training. My mileage total was 24.25 miles. Here’s the day-by-day breakdown of where I left my footprints this week:

Monday: Spin Class

Tuesday: It was a lot easier to get myself out this week with 40 degree temps compared to my 9-degree track workout last week! Track Workout – 2.5 mile warm-up; 6X800m repeats with a 400m jog recovery; 2.5 mile cool down

Wednesday: I hit the gym for a 10-minute warm up on the elliptical followed by a 30-minute tabata workout and some more lower body strength exercises.

Thursday: Early morning tempo run on the treadmill at my apartment gym. I really wish I had room for my own treadmill. 5 miles total – warming up and cooling down at an 8-minute pace and reaching a 7:35 pace throughout the middle. I made it a double day getting in 4.25 after work. I met up with a friend who I went to elementary through high school with for a fun run around the National Mall. We looped past the Vietnam Memorial down to Lincoln and back around to the Capitol Building before splitting off to different metro stops. It was a blast to take in the sights while chatting and catching up along the way.

Friday: Spin Class in the morning and I took a late lunch to head down to the office gym and get in 50 minutes on the elliptical in the afternoon.

Saturday: Spin Class

Sunday: I set out in the morning for an easy-paced 7-miler through Georgetown onto the Rock Creek Park pathway and headed for an out and back along Hains Point before heading home via the Memorial Bridge. I followed the run with an hour body ride spin class at Revolve DC.

Sun setting as we ran down the National Mall Thursday night.

Sun setting as we ran down the National Mall Thursday night.

Barre Ride

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It’s felt great hitting the spin studio a ton this month, and Sunday I finally tried out my first Barre Ride class up at Revolve in Clarendon. What an awesome combination of cardio and strength in an hour workout. I put in a fast-paced 4 miler right before heading up to the studio, so my legs were already feeling it a little, but they were full-on shaking by the end of class.

It started out like one of their usual rides. We did 36 minutes of heart-pumping riding and using the weights for an upper body workout before hopping off the bikes and ditching our bike shoes. We started out with calf raises and then stood in different ballet positions – first and second position – doing squats and pulses while holding onto the bikes for balance. We did more of these going into a plié, while up on the balls of our feet in relevé. (For any ballet dancers out there I’m likely using these terms wrong, but I’m trying!)

The toughest portion for me came when we were up on the balls of our feet, went down to a 90 degree chair position, pulsed further down before coming back to chair position, and stood all the way up before starting again. I was seriously trembling by the end. We wrapped up with a few more exercises before ending class with some stretches. I can’t even remember them all now, but my sore muscles over the past couple days have reminded me what we worked on!

If you’re looking to get in some intense cardio and strength in one workout I highly recommend the barre ride. It was great!

Footprints: Monday Morning Recap

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Going strong! I ran a total of 14.25 miles this week and spent a lot of time at the spin studio.

Here’s the training breakdown by day:

Monday: Spin Class

Tuesday: Track Workout – 2 mile warm-up; 6X400m repeats with a 100m jog recovery; 1.5 mile cool down

Wednesday: Spin Class

Thursday: 4 miles easy – I ran home from work Thursday night completely overdressed since I was expecting freezing temps and snow, but instead it was completely dry and over 40 degrees.

Friday: Spin Class – Body Ride

Saturday: 4 miles easy – Great weather for a Saturday morning run through Georgetown along Rock Creek Parkway and back over the Memorial Bridge past the Iwo Jima Memorial. All was great except for a spill I took near the end ripping up my favorite winter running gloves…better them than my hands though.

Sunday: 1.25 miles easy on the treadmill to warm up for a lower body workout. Spin Class – Body Ride

Spin Class: High Energy + High Intensity = Great Workout

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I’ve jumped head first (or more accurately, bike shoes first) back into spinning this past week, taking classes at Revolve’s spin studio in Clarendon. I took a break from spinning while doing the physical therapy thing, and while I was able to ride my regular bike as long as I didn’t clip into  the pedals, it definitely feels good to be back in the spin studio for my favorite kind of cross training.

I joined the Washington Sports Club in Clarendon about a year ago primarily for their group classes. I already have free access to gyms at home and at work for the basics, but I missed spinning and was interested in trying out other classes like body pump. Unfortunately, their class times don’t fit well into my schedule anymore, so I’m considering ending my membership there after my year commitment is up.

I took advantage of a free pass to try out the relatively new Revolve Fitness studio in Clarendon last week. I’ve seen rave reviews about their studios in NYC as well as the one here. It’s not a gym, but rather is a dedicated spin studio. The class was awesome and really kicked my butt – a great way to start the week off. I bought their discounted intro package for one month of unlimited rides at $60. It gets a bit pricey, at least for me, after the first month is up, (although I have no doubts about the quality they provide) so I don’t think I’ll continue with the monthly unlimited memberships going forward, but you can also buy packs of individual rides to spread out over several months as well.

Bike Shoes

Bike Shoes

In the meantime, I plan to get as much use as possible out of my intro month. I took classes Monday, Wednesday and Friday of this week, and already have spots reserved for weekend classes. They offer three types of classes: Real Ride, Body Ride and Barre Ride. The Real Ride is similar to what I’m used to having taken classes at other gyms, and it simulates an outdoor ride with challenging sprint intervals and hills. I took my first Body Ride class this morning, which combines light weights to work on your upper body while riding and still getting the cardio impact. We did the weights for one longer song and I loved it – very cool change of pace.

I’m not sure how I feel about the Barre Ride. You spend the first half of class riding your way to a great cardio workout then hop off the bikes for a series of barre-based exercises using the bike’s handle bars as a bar. I’ve never done this type of exercise, but will try to fit it in sometime during my intro month, and will let you know how it goes.

I love the high intensity, energetic atmosphere at spin classes. It can leave you exhausted and provides the best cardio benefits of the cross training activities that I do. I’m never bored, as can often happen on the elliptical at the gym, and both the 45-minute and one-hour classes are over in a flash.