Barbara #1

This spring I started Crossfit. While my time was limited (injury + my coaches/friends leaving the gym), it was my all-time favorite physical activity. I haven’t been able to make it back to a box, but why not try some Crossfit at home? Monday I decided to see just how truly out of shape I was by tackling a modified Barbara.

This benchmark workout is as follows:

Five rounds, for time:

• 20 pull-ups
• 30 push-ups
• 40 sit-ups
• 50 squats
• 3 minutes rest

HAHAHA. Well, I decided upfront that I would only be attempting ONE round instead of FIVE (seriously, FIVE?!), with jumping pull-ups and push-ups on my knees. That decision, and assessment of my physical fitness level, was spot on, as this single round (not timed exactly, but making my best guess) took me somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 minutes. I guess that’s why they call these benchmarks, huh? Now I will know where I started, and will hopefully one day look back on this with pride on how far I’ve come. Until that day, I’ll be here plugging away…

To help make this possible I really cleaned up my diet in the past few days. Just look at this salad in all it’s veggie splendor!

Spinach, carrots, celery, tomato, bell pepper, cucumber, green olives, olive oil, a splash of red wine vinegar and a dash of garlic salt. This is pretty much my go to lunch, as long as I plan ahead. When I don’t plan, or too easily let myself make excuses I end up eating garbage, when this is so easy and delicious.

What are you favorite quick and easy Paleo lunch choices?

Rolling with the Punches

As I mentioned in my last post, I have been feeling some tenderness in the top of my right foot lately. I decided to take a rest from my runs to see if this discomfort would go away. In the meantime, I wanted to make sure I was still doing things to improve my overall fitness and mobility. Last week was just plain crazy with some pretty significant changes in my personal/work situation, so I knew it would be hard to fit in workouts anyway.

Friday night was a big night out to celebrate some of the aforementioned changes. While this was a food and drink calorie-fest, it also turned into a pretty epic dance night so…I’ll call it a draw. Saturday was nothing but a recovery day in every sense of the word.

Sunday is when I got back to business. Since I had so much fun dancing Friday night, I ended up doing about half an hour of hip hop workout routines, followed by this awesome program I stumbled across called the Anti Office Workout. The general idea behind this workout is: “It addresses the muscle imbalances and posture problems that develop from constantly sitting”. Boy do I need that. It focuses on hips and shoulders, two of my most persistent problem areas that I truly believe are constant issues because of sitting at a desk all day. I was still pretty pooped from the weekend antics, so I only made it through the bridge part of the corrective workout (after doing the soft tissue work and stretching). I hope that incorporating these movements will help with mobility and strength, and by extension my performance and injury prevention.

How was everyone’s weekend? Anybody try a great new workout?

Sunday Sickday

Sadly, this week’s Sunday Runday turned into Sunday Sickday. While I managed to drag myself all over NYC to make some time-sensitive returns and buy some fancy new running gear, I felt like garbage all day and ended up sleeping the entire afternoon and evening. Which meant no running. Since I’ve been feeling a bit achy, including a foot that’s been a little sore, I suppose the extra day of rest wasn’t a horrible thing. While I really want to stick to a regular schedule, I definitely need to make sure I’m listening to my body as well.

Feeling sick has also flushed my diet down the toilet, including taco bell, tortilla chips and popcorn today. Yikes. I ate like…no actual, real food today. I really feel like one thing that will help me get to my final goal of SeaWheeze is dropping some weight. I’m not really one with body image issues, I just think that I’d be a much more efficient and less-injury-plagued runner if I wasn’t carrying around so much weight. Unfortunately, I know that eating Paleo will absolutely help me drop the weight, I’m just sometimes pretty weak when it comes to eating…garbage. I find it hard to maintain the 80% paleo rule. I seem to be a little all-or-nothing when it comes to my diet. I’ve completed two Whole30’s, so I know I can commit, but it seems when I’m not going all out, I have a hard time keeping on a reasonable track. Does anyone have any advise for something like this?

In other, more fun news, I picked up some running goodies today. I had been intrigued by CW-X’s Stabilyx tights for a while. I asked for some advice from my favorite triathlon resource, and got incredibly positive feedback about the tights. So today I picked up a pair of the Stabilyx tights as well as the Ventilator top. While I went in for the pants, I might be even more excited about the top. I have always had trouble with my posture, even when not running. Unfortunately in the last six months my poor posture has created some injury issues in my shoulder. This top is designed to help with posture, and I think it will be really helpful while running. Even though I try to concentrate on my posture a lot while running, I know when I get tired I start to slouch. I’m hoping this will help out with that. The tights are designed to support your joints and muscles, as well as aid with recovery. It’s still a little warm in NYC for full tights so it might be a while before I wear them, but I’ll be sure to post a review once I’ve given them a spin.

Hope everyone had a great weekend and great runs! I have a really crazy work week coming up, but hope to post some reviews of some new fitness classes I want to try through ClassPass soon!

Run #5

Ah, Thursday. So close to the weekend, yet so far away. In true “perpetually injured” form, I spent my morning at the doctor’s office, getting x-rays on a very painful thumb. Honestly, I have no clue what happened, other than I woke up one day with lots of pain and the next day it was worse. I really don’t want to play any games with my thumbs so to the doctor I went.

Not quite sure what the full diagnosis is at this point, but the good news is, I still got my run in. Can barely tie my shoes with only one thumb, but once I got past that it was smooth sailing. A nice dusk run, warm but not too warm, on a super flat out and back. Nothing to write home about, just getting the miles in.

What I DID get excited about last night was my shiny new membership to ClassPass. I am beyond excited to try out this new subscription type service. $99/month gets you unlimited classes at participating studios. While you can’t visit any one studio more than three times a month, I doubt that will be a problem given the crazy number of studios to choose from. While I haven’t sensed anything alarming while running, I can already feel my knees raging post-run, and am looking forward to getting in some cross training this way. I’m even considering replacing one of my three weekly runs with a lower impact class. I have been dying to try out a class at AQUA, so once my hand is cleared I intend to make that my first reservation. I’m also pumped to do some yoga outside of my living room, constantly dodging my two dogs. Has anyone out there tried ClassPass before? Would love to hear some recommendations.

Happy weekend!

Workout:

• 5 minute warm up
• 12 x 2:00 walk, 0:20 run
• 2:00 walk
• 5 minute cool down

Tuesday Run & Regret

OMG.

Ok first of all, I am paying the price for the choices I made earlier in the day. I am now VERY aware that my run would have been SIGNIFICANTLY easier had I not slept in this morning, but gotten my lazy self out of bed. But no, I had to start my run at 10:15PM. Like I’m not tired enough at the end of the day. My Taco Bell lunch probably didn’t help either. Oops?

To add on to that, today was a time increase day, going from 2 minutes to 4 minutes total running. I won’t lie, a lot of my walk intervals were uh…slow. I was literally dragging my feet a couple times.

The foot dragging might have also been due to my ridiculous shoe situation. While I just went completely nuts and bought like every pair of shoes in Illinois, I had no room in my luggage for all my new swag, so to FedEx it went. The precious cargo isn’t supposed to arrive until tomorrow, so I had to make due with something else until then. Luckily, I had a brand new, never-been-worn pair of my so beloved Mizuno Wave Elixir 8‘s. As I was putting in my insoles, I thought gee…these don’t fit so well. As soon as I put the first shoe on I knew something was wrong. These shoes are a full size too small 😥 Not gunna happen. I remembered I had an OLD pair of Mizuno Wave Enigmas…probably like version 1 or whatever the cave men wore they’re so old…in my closet. Those would have to do. Those suckers are worn to the bone and HEAVY. Holy cow.

Anyway, there’s my pity party tonight. I was not feeling this run and was bored out of my mind in addition to being tired and shoe-traumatized. I have to say I’m proud of myself for still getting out there and doing it though! What do you find motivating in these times where it seems like nothing is going right?

Tonight’s workout:

• 5 minute warmup
• 12 x 2:00 walk, 0:20 run
• 2 minute walk
• 5 minute cool down
• LOTS of stretching

Yoga Monday

Finally home from my weekend travels to my hometown, and a no-run day, it was a great night for some “easy” yoga. I definitely worked up a sweat, but didn’t do anything TOO taxing. Tonight I decided to try Yoga Practice for Runners by Ekhart Yoga. I really enjoyed this practice, especially the instructor, Esther Ekhart.

The practice was extremely easy to follow just on vocal cues, which I really value in a YouTube practice. Having to disrupt my poses or flow to look up at the TV to see what I’m supposed to be doing is annoying and sometimes counter productive. Honestly I didn’t really find myself watching her at all, just listening to her cues, which allowed me to really pay attention to ME and my alignment (isn’t that the point?!). So often I find myself only focusing on what is going on on the TV and really paying no attention to what I’m doing with my body – not the case with this practice. I will definitely be using this practice again, and checking out some of the other goodies from this team!

Finally, I thought I’d start adding a bit about what I’m wearing for my workouts. I really love seeing fitness fashion on other folks’ blogs and vlogs.

Monday Yoga by journeytoseawheeze on Polyvore

Run #3

After staying up past 2AM to hunt Altuzarra for Target, and with a wake up temperature of 39 degrees, I decided to stay in bed a little longer than planned this morning. Once I finally rolled myself out of bed, it felt like a beautiful sunny 70 degrees outside for run #3. This was also my first run with the new Mizunos. One run in those and I’m hooked. So glad I went back for those shoes – they are absolutely great. Felt perfect from my first step out the door. Today’s run was all around a great experience. New shoes, sunny day, and a BEAUTIFUL trail to run on.

In addition to all that, today’s run just felt good. I felt less fatigued at the end than I had earlier in the week, and I even felt like I had enough energy on the last few run intervals to really open up my stride and run instead of just jog. My last of 12 run intervals turned out to be at the same pace as my second interval (I am a huge data nerd and having info from my Garmin is like…the most exciting thing ever). It was a great way to cap off my first week of running, and the lack of fatigue makes me feel good about doubling my run time this upcoming week to a whopping 4 minutes.

Hope everyone had a great Sunday Runday!

Today’s workout:

• 5 minute warm up
• 12 x 2:10 walk, 0:10 run
• 2:00 walk
• 5 minute cool down

More Shoes

So this just happened…:D

Mizuno Wave Inspire 10’s

Since I ran in the Brooks and wasn’t immediately sure if I loved them or not, I decided to go pick up the Mizunos too. I originally had my eye on a really gorgeous purple pair, but I really couldn’t pass these up. The thing is, I hate almost everything about the separate pieces of these shoes. That blue? – Ick. Yellow soles? – That just doesn’t look right. There is a random bright red section on the bottom. – Why? Turns out when you put it all together, I had to have them. I guess I was just feeling adventurous.

To go with my adventurous streak, I’m up waiting for Altuzarra for Target to launch. I’ve become a bit of a pro when it comes to Target designer collaborations and snagging anything and everything I could want. Unfortunately that means staying up all night (launch usually happens around 3AM EST. Oof.). And I’m planning Run #3 in the morning. That might be a little painful. I’m using this time to look for some good yoga and cross training routines/videos/blogs/etc. I definitely want to incorporate a decent amount of yoga and cross training into my routine, without overdoing it. I want these activities to enhance, not take away from, my runs. What do you like to do to cross train? Any suggestions for some light activities or bloggers/Youtubers/apps to follow?

Run #2

Well. I was rudely introduced to fall today (full disclosure, I LOVE FALL – but didn’t pack for it). I was up at 4:30AM to catch a flight back home to take care of some business this week. It was in the mid 70’s, heading up to around 80 in NYC. Little did I know that Illinois would welcome me with open arms and a wind chill of 48 at run time. What the what?

Despite being in a zombie-in-an-icebox-state, I got my planned run in, wearing a brand new pair of shoes, no less! I am fiercely and exclusively devoted to my hometown running store for my shoes. As far as serious running shoes go, I have been pretty loyal to Mizuno, but thought I might branch out a bit. Well, the final decision came down to a battle between the Mizuno Wave Inspire 10 and the Brooks Ravenna 5. I was feeling adventurous, and they both seemed like good options, so I went with the Brooks, and ran in them tonight.

Brooks Ravenna 5

Honestly not sure what I think yet, other than new shoes of any kind are so much fun. Since my house is like 1800 miles from my favorite running shop, I’ll probably stop by and pick up the Mizunos while I’m here anyway. Oops?

In addition to the new shoes, the cooler weather gave me a perfect opportunity to break in a brand-spankin’-new pair of bright purple Wunder Under Crops as well as a Run: Swifty Tech LS Scoop I picked up last week, anticipating cooler weather.

Anyway, back to the run. Felt good, and honestly the temperature really made the run pleasant – I warmed up nicely once I was moving. It was also great to be in my hometown where we have EXCELLENT running paths. Hit around 2.6 miles with the following workout:

• 5 minute warmup
• 12 x 2:10 walk, 0:10 run
• 2 minute walk
• 5 minute cooldown

It felt a little strange to only run for 10 seconds at a time, but as time goes on, that interval will grow.

Now a bit of a break before my next run Sunday, so will probably try to fit in a bit of yoga. I’m also trying out a mobile app called Headspace, designed to lead you through short, do-anywhere meditations. I feel like this emphasis on mindfulness can do nothing but help with my nutrition and fitness goals! What are some other good yoga/meditation tools you’d recommend?

Run #1

After a full month of only walking, Tuesday was the first official run day! While nothing went quite as planned, I still managed to make it! I overslept, eliminating any chance at fitting in the run in the AM, and my Garmin had just enough battery power to get me to…the front door…before dying. Luckily I had my trusty RunKeeper app to log my time and distance. I’m sure this is just one of many lessons in flexibility when it comes to training for a race. Luckily my improvisation seemed to work out just fine, and my run felt great. The run segments felt nice and easy, while I made sure to keep pushing myself through the walk portions. I prefer to get my workouts done in the morning, but I do enjoy the “loose” feeling I have when exercising in the evening. Any tips for getting loose before morning walks/runs?

Planned Workout (for 6AM):

• 5 minute warm up
• 12 reps of:
  • 2:10 walk, 0:10 run
• 5 minute cool down

Actual Workout (at 8PM):

• 5 minute warm up
• 4 reps of:
• 0:30 run, 4:30 walk
• 5 minute cool down

Running Brooklyn at night