Luv that treadmill :)

It was supposed to be a day off, but since I had a bit of time in between soccer/hockey games, I thought I'd get my long run in since I don't know what is in store for tomorrow. My goal was to run 2 hours again and I did (on the treadmill). I was really happy with it. After reading Sue's blog on her run, I equipped myself with 3 gels and 2 water bottles. I used all of it. I went 10.78 miles in 90 minutes and then had some stomach pains so I paused the treadmill and quickly used the potty. Back on and did 13.1 in 1:49.22 (running time - did not include the pit stop which was probably 2 minutes). Then I ran for the 2 hour mark and did 14.33 miles. My legs are definitely tired and a bit sore, but I'm glad I did it today. I would have liked to have run up to 16 miles, but again, ran out of time. avg. 8:20 min miles.

The 1/2/3 up to 5 and back down in miles was on tap for today. I was supposed to take the same in number of minutes between each set of miles, but was impatient and only took 1 minute of recovery. I can say that my effort was not at 100% today - no real reason why. The time was 1 hour 1 minute and 40 seconds for 25 miles...cadence was about 87-88 and avg. mph - 24.7. Like Max said in his e-mail today, I'm looking forward to riding outside with some scenery and seeing how my legs fair on a ride in the hills!

Fran was my date for today too, but I'm saving it for another day. A haircut is more important (just kidding). I did do 3 sets of 10 10# dumbell thrusters/10 knee pushups to get my heartrate up again and to not feel guilty about missing Fran but I know it's not the same.

Swim and some AMRAP fun

Water today felt good. Ttl yards - 4000. Main set 400/200/100 (x2 - 1st IM, 2nd free). Goal was to go hard and each one had to beat half of what the one prior was...so for my 400 IM time of 6:06, I had to go under 3:03 for the 200 (did a 2:54) and then had to go under 1:27 for 100 IM (went 1:24). Free was the same - 400 was 5:33, 200 was 2:39 and 100 was 1:15. Worked hard on these and then did some 50's on 50 pulling, holding :40.

2nd WOD was 5 burpees/10 knee push-ups/500M row as many rounds as possible (AMRAP) in 20 minutes. I chose to do this at home so I substituted the row with a 500M (.31 mile) run. I got in 6 rounds, 5 burpees and 3 push-ups in the 20 minutes. DONE!

Short and tough

Does anyone ever feel like sometimes the workouts are just too short? Today was that type of day - maybe it was because I wanted more time to myself since the kids have another snow day. I'm not saying that the workouts aren't hard enough, just that I feel like going longer.

1st workout was the 50 step ups/40 box jumps/30 situps/20pushups (knees)/10 burpees x 2 - total time was 13:16. I always feel terrible on these WODs...the box jumps and burpees put me at a heavy breathing state.

2nd workout - 4 x 800M with 2 minutes rest in between. Times were 3:28, 3:25, 3:23 and 3:19...pushed the last one and almost fell off the treadmill..held 8.9 for the first and then increased speed each 1/2 mile.

First brick in a long time

I know what you're all saying...haven't seen one of those on the plan yet, right? I warmed up with a 1500m row to get everything going and then jumped on the same bike I always do at the gym. It was a 25K TT today - I knew it was going to be hard, since I felt a bit tired in my legs from the wall balls yesterday. I started off hard and that was a good thing...I worked it and ended up with a time of 37.22 (which beat my time from 2/2 by 35 seconds)..totally happy with it. Avg. mph-24.98, 154 avg. heartrate and held it mostly at level 15/16.

After that bike, just didn't feel like stopping the sweat and wanted to see what the legs would feel like after a hard bike. Not too bad, but only ran 2 miles. Held 8:30 minute miles just to feel it out. So today's workout to me qualifies as a brick. And it was a good one.

Tired arms

Arms yucky. Finished the 150 wall balls using a 12# large medicine ball (it seemed harder than using the gym balls - i think because it's not bouncy and that much larger to hold). Anyway, total time was 6:32. 50 straight, small break, 30/20, and then last 50 were by 10's. Panting hard with some wheezing which was new, and my heartrate measured in the high 180s.

Swam before that - main set was 8x200s. Nothing exciting to report...times were a bit off and didn't feel spectacular -arms tired and not grasping the water great - oh well! Total yards 4000.

one foot in front of the other

today was a long run day so i did the 10.3 mile loop i had done back on jan. 17th. same exact time. 93 minutes. it was a beautiful morning with a bit of wind, but also some sun. it was worth getting up early to do it and get it over with...the rest of the day was filled with hockey. felt better than last time other than the fact i needed a port-a-potty at mile 6....i was tempted to jump into the woods, but that would have only added time to the run :)!

early swim

So it wasn't that early (8am) but snuck out before kids got up to get a swim in. Didn't have much time so warmed up and then did a 500 time trial. Extremely happy with my time - 6:47. And that's after doing those thrusters yesterday...i don't use my legs much in swimming, but my upper body was a bit sore. I'd love to eventually be sub 6:40, but that's for another day. I finished off with 10x50s...alternating free/back where I pushed the free. Held 37, 36, 36, 36, 35. Ttl yards - 2000.

May try and squeeze another workout in later depending on what time I get home. We'll see.

2 1/2 WODs

So I needed to get to the gym badly. I could actually have biked at home, but just felt like getting out. Mixed it up today a bit. I was supposed to swim, but didn't get to the pool. So I did the first workout which was 5 min bike/1 off/10 min bike/1 off/ 15minute bike - and noted distance - total was 12.37 miles. I was pretty happy with that on the stationary bike at the gym (yes, the same one I've used for all the other rides)- it seems to match up fairly closely with my trainer times at home. Anyway, averaged 24.7 mph, climbed 7000+ ft, and average heartrate was 157.

# 2- 5/5/5/5/5 back squats. Hadn't done these in a while and was not looking forward to them. Started with 95lbs and did okay. Pushed it to 105 and held that for 4 rounds. Probably could have been a bit lower to the ground with the squat. Happy with the weight though as I looked back on the last time I did these and I couldn't put up 105 more than one time.

#3 - after that i thought about going to the pool but then remembered that it was probably closing early for HS practice. I wasn't ready to go home just yet, so I tried to think of another WOD that I might have missed. I almost got it but not quite. It was supposed to be the 21/18/15/12/9/6/3 thruster-burpee combo, but I forgot a few numbers..ended up doing 45# thrusters/burpees for 21/15/9/3 (i thought the numbers descended by 6). oh well...still painful and got what i needed from it. 170+ heartrate and time was 9:54. Don't know how Jane and some of you other folk did it so quickly with the extra rounds. The burpees did not feel so good after thrusters, nor did thrusters feel any good after burpees....vicious cycle of hell.

Run Forest, Run

I felt like Forest as I was running the tabata today. It was 16x :20/:10 and i held a 9.0 (6:4? pace)...it felt good to just run so I ended up doing 24 instead of 16.

Before that I did the 10! set of box jumps, burpees, and sit ups...I swear I start to lose count by the 4s...mind is just working too fast. Final time was 10:08 and heart was pounding.

I may try and squeak another crossfit workout in...I feel like I've missed out on a couple over the last couple of days. We'll see how the day goes and if I can fit it in somewhere.

Snuck it in

It's 10:30pm and I just finished my 40K TT...never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined myself doing it at this hour...it pretty much sucked doing it this late, but I started getting this guilty feeling by mid-day that I wasn't going to get it in and things just started snowballing...literally. Lots of snow to shovel, movie in the middle of the day (highly recommend Avatar 3D IMAX), more shoveling, sleepover friends arrive, drop off/pick ups to hockey, more shoveling and then what the heck - let's throw in a bike ride. I'm happy with the time...59:19 (averaged 25.1) - it's a little off from my previous 40K but only by 43 seconds. Considering the week I've had, I'll take it.

More of an LSD day

Run in the afternoon...8.6 miles in 75 minutes - killed some time while the kids were ice skating. It felt great to be outside in the sun and I actually ran without my ipod which was a huge feat for me.

Swam this morning - got 2500 yards in, but it was not quality swimming. I brought Torben - my first mistake. He was going underneath me and racing me at certain points of the workout plus stopping me in the middle of a set and asking me when I'd be able to play. Second mistake was that I did the crossfit workout yesterday that completely exhausted my arms. Just didn't have it in me today.

Knees to elbows? don't think so...

WOD was 21 25# KBswings and 21 Knees to elbows (4x) - this produced some serious blisters on my palms. I had trouble holding on through the KTE exercise in that by the 2nd round, I was doing each one individually. I made sure I did my form as best as possible...there was no way I was getting to the elbow. The boob is as far as I got. Everything was shaking. Total time 11:48.

2nd workout - 1 minute stand/1 min sit all the way up to 5 and back down (50 minute ride)- 19.98 miles. This really took a toll on my legs with the standing. Glad to have gotten the workout in.

Going through the motions

2/11 - swim- i never would have imagined that my arms would still be sore 4 days after doing those pull-ups, but they were. swimming was hard today. just going through the motions. main set- 15 x 150's. Total yards-3000.

WOD #2- (400M run, 50 squats ) x 6 = 20:20. Heartrate 160+

2/12- mindset was to just sweat today. many emotions flowing. 4 mile run and 12 15# dumbell thrusters (x3). Tired and did not sleep much and ate too little and poorly yesterday with travel.

2/13 - the lack of sleep is hurting my body, but i will prevail. now just have to get rid of this cold i happened to pick up.

A lot on my mind so short blog...400M run, 50 squats, 800M run, 50 squats, 1600M run, 50 squats - time 17:19. Thank god it was short today.

10K day

10K for time...48.18. started off with 2 x7:30 minute miles and kept it below 8min miles as much as I could for the remainder. i think this is my fastest time on a treadmill...the only other time that I could remember was a 49.57. running seemed to go by quickly today as i had a lot to think about...a close friend of ours died last night - only 38. life is so valuable...don't be afraid to live it and make sure you let those in your life know how much you love them.

My arms are crying

It was a bit chaotic today trying to fit the workouts in...I give all of you who have to go to work lots of credit for fitting in these workouts and staying motivated. I don't know how you do it. I had to do it today since I was subbing from 8:30-3:30. The first workout (pre-work)was the pool...I was looking forward to it, even though I knew it would be shorter. Did the warmup and main set was 4x400's descend (thanks for the set idea Martin)...times were 5:34, 5:32, 5:30, 5:27. I was pleased and pleasantly surprised that the times were going down since I had some anger I was going through. On the 2nd 400, the lady at the pool (who is an anal woman) started cleaning the deck with some chemical that makes you honestly feel sick. I should have told her to stop, but I didn't want to take a break in the workout. When I finished, I let her know that in a pool, swimmers smell everything and taking in a breath of that putrid air when trying to push a set is not a good thing. I'd love to see what would happen if she pulled that move during a HS workout!

So I finish the day at school and get home to the shuttling of kids (+one missed the bus)...it wasn't a good day to do that. As they all got dropped off with Max for the cross-fit session, I had an hour to get to the gym for WOD #2. This is where my arms were crying. 100 pull-ups for time. Seriously? Ok - I use the gravitron because I can't do one on my own. It worked out that I pulled 60# and kept that weight the whole time. I wasn't out of breath because by the 50th one, I could barely get 3 up in a row without taking a break. This was hard and painful. My final time was 13:28...again- kudos to Dan who did all of them in a shorter time frame with his own body weight. Wow!

squeaked it in...

After 3 hockey games in a row (starting at 8:45 and ending around 3ish), I managed to get home and get myself dressed warmly for a run outside. It was lovely until the sun went down for the last 2 miles...the wind decided to kick up at the same time. All in all, the run felt good. Went for 1:20 and did 8.9miles. Not super speedy, but I enjoyed the fresh air and my legs had a challenge with the rolling hills vs. the standard treadmill run.

worst one yet

this wod was painful - 400m run, 50 squats, 10 burpees (4x) for time. After the first set of burpees, I could not catch my breath and running was very difficult...it took a good 1/10 mile to feel the legs again. I didn't break in my squats but the burpees were definitely slow going. Time was 15.22 and I gave it all I had. Thank god I did it at home instead of the gym...what a mess I am.

Second workout - 5min bike/2 off x4- distances were 2.13, 2.24, 2.25, 2.23- did it at home on my bike. The times seem comparable to what I do on the gym bike. Love the comforts of home and no one making noises on the bike next to me.

lovin' the H20

Pool = :) Main set: 4x100s, 2 x200's, 1x400 (2x - 1st set IM, 2nd set - free). IM's felt great...doing another stroke is a good way to change it up. And the freestyle keeps feeling better...a good thing. Shorter rest between each swim (free 100s 1:17s, 200's- 2:37's and 400 was 5:26-6sec. faster which is a big tadoo for me since this 400 was at the end of the main set and the other one was at the beginning. Ttl yardage: 4500.

Feeling strong

I just read Max's note to everyone...it has been so great hearing everyone's take on their journey to better fitness, health and competition! Keep up the great work!

I had another positive day where I felt really good about my workout. Today, my warm-up was a 1/2 hour of shoveling since there was a snow delay and then once the kids got on the bus, I was off to the gym. 500M row, 50x20lb KB, 500 row, 40x20lb KB, 500 row, 30x20lb KB, 500 row was the WOD. I had seen Jane's post before I left so she pumped me up that I could do better than last time which was Jan. 6th. The row did not feel great starting off, but boy those kettlebell swings felt good and strong- I was moving more quickly through those than last time. By my last row, I was huffing hard and finished at 180+ heartrate. I improved my time by 37 seconds and went a 12:44.

Second workout: 4 x 400's with 2 minutes rest in between. My legs, while tired from the previous workout, almost feel more warmed up and better for running when I have a short set like this to do. The total mile time was 6:50. The first .25 mile was the slowest because the treadmill had to get going...after that I kept it running. My fastest 400 was the last one at 9.0mph...1.45, 1:43, 1:42, 1:40.

A positive comparison

January 12th was the last time I did a 25K TT on the bike. Today that was what was on the agenda so I replicated the workout by going to the gym and using the same bike with the same seat height. I even had the same guy sitting next to me as last time. Why do I remember that, you ask? Well, how can one forget when the volume on my ipod needs to be increased significantly in order not to hear the noises he makes....very distracting!

Anyway, last time I finished in 39.02. Today the time was 37.57...I pushed the beginning and had my heartrate immediately up in the 150's - by the end I was at 160, but overall average was 153. I climbed 9091 ft (vs. 9036 from last time) and my average speed was 24.5, up from last time. Overall a happy result.

Good swim

It's always hard to get to the gym knowing that I have to also go to the pool, plus it's hard to pick which one to do first. And will the first one wipe me out for the 2nd one?...it's a guessing game. Today I picked the gym first - it was a short WOD. 500M row/ 21 x25lb thrusters (3x) for time. Time was 10:21 which I could take or leave...the row was hard on my legs and while I didn't break during the 21 thrusters, my quads were definitely feeling it and so was my heart - heartrate was low 180's as I finished.

Pool was good today...I am more positive going into it when I feel good about what I can do...although today I wasn't so sure what would happen with doing the CF workout first. I ended up completing 3600 yards with the main set of 500, 400, 300, 200, 100 for time (all had a 100IM drill in between). Times were: 6:57, 5:32, 4;03, 2:37 and 1:15. Looking forward to Thursday already :)

PART II
So as I'm reading everyone's posts that they did dumbell thrusters, I'm feeling a little guilty because I did thrusters with a bar and 1/2 the weight of what I was supposed to do...sometimes ya get it right and sometimes ya don't. So at some point I need to do the 25# dumbell thrusters to see how much more pain I can experience...I'm sure that I will need to break them up more than a few times in order to finish. :)