Workouts This Week

1/27 Monday: Power Flow Yoga I/II

Since I enjoyed the Hot Power Flow class I took last week, I thought I’d try this Monday night class.  This one was just lightly heated, but with the mix of I/II levels it was still a tough workout!  There were a few people in the class who were REALLY good.

1/28 Tuesday: 2.5 mile run on the treadmill

Brr!! Had to stay inside for this one since it was 15 degrees out before the windchill here.

1/29 Wednesday: Wandering around Macy’s for 2 hours with a scanner gun counts as cross training right?

1/30 Thursday: 3 mile run and volleyball league

It was still fairly cold, just barely 30 degrees so I bundled up a bit for this one.

1/31 Friday: Rest

2/1 Saturday: 5 mile run

We got a break from the cold and it was almost 50 degrees out!!

2/2 Sunday: Rest

Thoughts on the week: I’m really getting into the groove of doing my weekday runs during my lunch hour.  It is such a nice feeling at the end of the day to know I’ve already gotten my workout in.  Things to work on for next week will be incorporating some strength training and drinking more water.

Workouts This Week

1/20 Monday: 3 mile run outside

1/21 Tuesday: Rest

1/22 Wednesday: 2 mile run on the treadmill

1/23 Thursday: Hot Power Flow Yoga

1/24 Friday: Volleyball league

1/25 Saturday: Does bowling count?  Just kidding…

1/26 Sunday: 4 mile run outside and Flow Yoga.  Although it was pretty slow, I did the run outside in the less than 30 degree weather so I’m proud I was able to motivate myself to do so.  Hopefully it warms up soon!

Friday Things

I’ve been having a good blog week with getting a post up everyday.  Yesterday I was pretty busy and just didn’t feel like I had anything interesting to write about.  Oh well!

I’m really really glad its Friday, with the snow and cold weather it feels like this week took forever.  I’ll leave you with some reflections from the week and weekend plans…

1. Zac comes home today!  He has been in Alabama all week for the Senior Bowl.  Its nice to have the place to yourself for a little bit, but then it starts to get a bit lonely.

2. I ordered the Jade Yoga Mat the other day with some Christmas money.  Can’t wait until it arrives!  I really want to try and get to more than one yoga class per week.  It helps stretch me out from the running I’m doing and I typically leave class feeling tired but energized. I figure if that’s the case why shouldn’t I do it more often?

3. In that spirit, I tried out a new class yesterday at the main studio in Alexandria.  It was called Hot Power Flow I.  What a great class!  I was a bit worried about the ‘power’ part that I wouldn’t be able to keep up but I did and it was a great workout.  While there were typical vinyasa aspects of the class, the way the sequences were to go between the poses was a bit different and we did some poses I’d never done before.  She also did a bit of a workshop for a few minutes on ways to get into the side crow pose, which let us cool down a bit.  I’m always intimidated by poses like that so it was really great to try it with her tips even if I didn’t get into the pose last night. I know with some practice I can do it!

4. I’ve got volleyball league tonight.  There was no room for individuals not already on a team in the DC Social Sports league that I had been playing in. After some googling, I found the Chantilly Women’s League and emailed the organizer to ask if there were teams that needed any additional players.  Well, luckily for me one team has a woman who is pregnant so they do.  A bit weird that the games are spread out through the week instead of all on one night but I suppose gym time is hard to come by.

5. I have a meeting set up for Saturday morning with a local designer to talk about wedding invitations.  I hope she has some great ideas for us and her pricing fits in the budget.  Her style is described as traditional with a twist, which is pretty much what we’re looking for so cross your fingers it works out!

6. Anyone else secretly happy Justin Bieber got arrested for his antics?  No? Just me?

7.  I need to run 4 miles this weekend.  The forecast says 36 degrees for tomorrow.  4 miles would kinda suck on the treadmill so I’m thinking I need to suck it up and run outside.

8.  My W2s arrived this week.  All 3 of them.  If you work in 3 or more states in a year the company will reimburse your taxes if you go to H&R Block to get them done.  That will be a nice perk.  Since I’d moved from NJ to VA last year and still went to NJ for work a few times I went to H&R Block get them done just so I didn’t screw anything up.  While it ended up being good I did that because my W2 info somehow didn’t get switched over to VA so I needed to get an amended one, it cost a pretty penny!  It will be awesome to get my entire refund back this year.

9.  One of the best pug pictures ever.

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10. Happy Friday everyone!

10K Training Plan: Week 11

On the schedule:

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Yoga	3 mile run	35 min CT	2 + strength	50 min CT	Rest	4 mile run

What actually happened:

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Yoga	Rest	2 hrs volleyball	3 mile run	Rest	Rest	4 mile run

I skipped one of the runs (95 degrees still at 6pm?  No thank you!) , but overall a good week.

I was a sub for one of my Kansas coworker’s team and they had a double header on Tuesday night!  It was fun to get out on the court again.

I definitely didn’t want to get out of bed and do the run on Saturday, but I’m glad Zac pushed me out of bed to go.  This week’s 4 miler was much better than last week’s.  The weather was AWESOME!

10K Training Plan: Week 10

On the schedule:

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
1-Sep	Yoga	2.5 mile run	35 min CT	2 + strength	50 min CT	Rest	4 mile run

What actually happened:

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
1-Sep	Yoga	Rest	2 mile run	Rest	2.5 mile run	Rest	4 mile run

This week I was still getting over being sick, so I didn’t want to get back into things too quickly and end up staying sick.

Sunday’s yoga was the perfect way to get back into things.  It was a small class because of the holiday, so it felt more relaxed which is just what I needed.  I took Monday off to read and nap at the pool.  Vitamin D is necessary for getting better right? I also flipped the weekday distances.

Saturday’s long run was rough, but I trudged through it.  I’m hopeful next week goes a bit better.

10K Training Plan: Week 8

On the schedule:

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
18-Aug	Yoga	2.5 mile run	30 min CT	2 mile + strength	40 min CT	Rest	3.5 mile run

What actually happened:

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
18-Aug	Yoga	2.5 mile run	30 min walk	2 mile run	Rest	3.5 mile run	Active Rest

I was traveling to visit family on Thursday so I wasn’t able to fit in a workout.

Friday’s run was with my sister.  Running a new route through the University of Minnesota campus and some of downtown Minneapolis was fun for me, although she is faster than I am.  I was able to keep up with her for the first two miles but then I had to take a walk break to catch my breath when we hit a point in the route where I could see her ahead of me so I didn’t get lost!

Saturday we did a lot of walking at the State Fair but it was probably cancelled out with all the fried food I consumed!  I’m calling it an active rest day and leaving it at that.

10K Training Recap: Week 7

On the schedule:

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
11-Aug	Yoga	2.5 mile run	30 min CT	2 mile + strength	40 min CT	Rest	3 mile run

What actually happened:

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
11-Aug	Rest	2.5 mile run	Rest	2 mile run	Rest	75 min yoga	3 mile run

This week marks the first official week of the training plan.  I based my training plan on the beginner 10K training plan from Hal Higdon.  I added the 6 weeks at the beginning in order to build up to the plan.

I got all my runs in, but didn’t do any cross training this week.  I did get to yoga on Friday though, so that was something.  I tried a new class at Mind the Mat called Rocket Yoga.  It is similar to the Flow Yoga class that I take, but the sun salutation B is slightly different and there were more opportunities for inversion poses.

I think with it being my first week home in three weeks I just wanted to take it easy.

10K Training Recap: Week 6

On the schedule:

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
4-Aug	Yoga	2.25 mile run	25 min CT	2.25 mile run	30 min CT	Rest	2.75 mile run

What actually happened:

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
4-Aug	45 min walk	2.25 mile run	1 hour yoga	2.25 mile run	Rest	Rest	2.75 mile run

I was in Kansas this week and I found a new place to go running! One of the people I work with when I’m out here told me about the Shunga Trail.  It is paved and runs along the Shunga Creek,  the whole trail is a little over 7.5 miles and there are many entrances along the trail.  It reminded me a little bit of the trails near us in Arlington.  When I come back in September I will definitely run on it again.

Only 25 minutes on the schedule for Tuesday’s cross training, but I hadn’t been to yoga in a while and really wanted to go and get a good stretch.  I went to warm flow (85 degrees) at Lava Yoga. The class was full to the brim so it was extra hot in there, I was dripping sweat when I left.

I didn’t make it in time on Thursday to play in the volleyball match. Once my plane landed, we sat out on the tarmac for 20 minutes waiting for our gate and the cab driver wasn’t very good.  I got to the gym just as game three was starting and our team had already lost game 1 and 2 so I just watched.  I guess it was good I’d done the hour of yoga on Tuesday and that I walked on Friday to the sandwich place to get lunch.

For the first time in my training plan, I’ve had to walk during a run.  On Saturday I ran 2.60 miles and walked the last .15 miles.  I had slowed down to look before entering the crosswalk and had to stop as a car went by.  As I stood there waiting for the car to pass, I got a bit light headed.  I waited a bit longer and it wasn’t going away so I decided to walk the remaining .15 miles, cutting through by the high school track to stop for a drink.  I felt fine after having some water and then walked the remainder of the way home as a cool down like I’d originally planned.  Of course, this isn’t the end of the world and I did run 95% of the distance.  What I learned from this is that I need to hydrate better before my runs, especially if I’m choosing the hilly route to run so I don’t run out of steam at the end.  I think as my runs get longer I’ll need to carry some water with me.

10K Training: Week 2 Recap

On the schedule:

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
7-Jul	Yoga	1.25 mile run	20 min CT	1.25 mile run	20 min CT	Rest	1.75 mile run

What actually happened:

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
7-Jul	Yoga	1.25 mile run	Rest	1.25 mile run	Rest	Rest	1.75 mile run

It was so nice to go back to yoga, it really helped stretch out my legs.  I went to the 4:30 Flow I class at Mind the Mat.

It was really hot in Kansas last week, I made sure to bring water with me on the runs because it was in the upper 90s!  There was a pretty good breeze though so that helped.  My run on Saturday was much better than I expected.  It was not terribly hot yet and not humid out.  It was the first time so far in the training that I felt good on the run.

Didn’t do any of the cross training this week.  It was 100 degrees on Tuesday, so sitting in the AC at a movie sounded better than doing anything in that heat.  The temperature must have inspired me because I saw ‘The Heat’ with Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy.  It was SO funny, I’d definitely recommend it.  Thursday I was just plain lazy when I got home.  Friday I did a little bit of walking around in Old Town before and after dinner, but probably not enough to count for cross training.

I got all my runs in this week though and didn’t walk at all during them so I will focus on that positive note.

Five for Friday

Some highlights from the week and what I’m looking forward to for the weekend!

1) Great time for 4th of July! We went to a BBQ that a friend of a friend was having.  They live on a small lake so we all rode on the pontoon boat out to the middle of the lake to watch the fireworks.

2) I’m heading to another BBQ on Saturday with my friend Neha.  Since she enjoyed it so much from the wine and cheese night, I’m making my pasta salad again.

3) I made it through my first two training runs without walking.  I’m hoping I can make it through my “long” run of 1.5 miles Saturday morning without walking too.

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4) Despicable Me 2 was so cute!  The theater was full, but on opening day for a movie there wasn’t as big of a craze as I thought there would be.  Obviously my favorite parts were the minions.

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5) Yoga on Sunday.  It’s been a while since I’ve gone.

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