My Snow Days by the Numbers!

Thank you to everyone who commented on my Runfessions post on Friday. I got a KICK out of all the crazy stories you guys wrote about in the comments! If you don't normally read the comments, that is a post you definitely want to go back and read the comments for because they will give you some belly laughs!

Anyway, last week we were snowed in Friday-Tuesday. It was fun! Here are some fun stats from my snow days!

Inches of snow- 30+ !!!

Days off school- 2

Puzzles completed- 5

Books read- 3.5. Loving Mary Higgins Clark right now.

Survivor episodes watched- 8 (we are on Season 25- Philippines)

Miles run- 8... which is actually 20 in treadmill miles. ;)

Pounds lifted- 20,620 (not including snow shoveling)

Piano lessons taught- 1

Rooms cleaned- 0

Bowls of ice cream eaten- 2

I hope you're having a great weekend!

Weekly Workout Recap!

Thanks to Snowmegeddon, I got a lot of lifting done this week as well as treadmill runs. This gal isn't afraid of the COLD but she is afraid of the SLIP!

Saturday- Lifted back @ home. We were snowed in!

Band Asst. Pull Ups- 5x6

Bicycle Crunches- 4x40

Row- 5x10x25lb

Band Asst. Pull Ups (Neutral Grip)- 4x8

Stability Ball Pull Ins- 3x15

Bicep Curls- 3x10x15lb

Plank w/ Row- 3x10x10lb

Sunday- Lifted chest @ home. Day #2 of Snowmageddon. I did it in a weird ladder style...

Chest Press- 15x15lb, 12x20lb, 10x25lb, 8x30lb, 8x30lb, 10x25lb, 12x20lb, 15x15lb

**Note: My left arm is stronger than my right arm! My right was shaking during the last two reps of my 30lb lifts.**

Push Ups- 10, 8, 6, 4, 4, 6, 8, 10

Bicycle Crunches- 4x40

Shoulder Press- 4x10x20lb

Stability Ball Pull Ins- 4x15

Tricep Dips- 3x15

Chrissy is my personal trainer.

I decided to read during rest breaks. Maybe that's why I didn't really break a sweat...

Monday- Boy was I sore from two days of lifting and shoveling! I braved the roads and drove to Planet Fitness for a treadmill workout.

Tuesday: My plan was to go to the gym and run again, but there was black ice on the roads so I decided to stay home. It was too soon to lift again, so I did a circuit workout at my house. It was exhausting!

Wednesday- Steady state treadmill run. 5 miles @ 8:19 pace. I cooled down with a little bit of walking. I was bored the whole time. And I was in pain! Those kettlebell swings from the day before kicked my ass!

Thursday- I scoped out a loop in my neighborhood that wasn't icy so I got to run OUTSIDE! The other good part is that I got to do it in the bright sunshine because we had a two hour delay. The bad part about this run is that every step was torture. Those kettlebell swings gave me some long lasting DOMS!

Avg Pace: 8:37

Splits:  Pretty consistent.

Friday- A 3 miler and a short upper body workout @ home. I have to admit something. I didn't plan on running that morning but I "felt fat". Feeling fat is a horrible reason to run, but I did it. Even though the reason for my running wasn't good, my actual run felt great. What a difference a day makes when you have DOMS!

Splits: 6:49, 8:14, 8:13

What is up with my first mile? I think there was something wrong with my Garmin, I am serious. I felt good, but I don't think I felt that good!

Unassisted Pull Ups- 4 <--- need to work back up to 7!

Band Asst. Pull Ups- 4x6

Row- 5x10x25lb

Bicycle Crunches- 4x40

Stability Ball Knee Tuck- 3x15

Bicep Curls- 3x10x15lb

Band Asst. Pull Ups (neutral grip)- 3x8, 1x6

How were your workouts this week?
Do you ever run extra when you "feel fat"?

Runfessions!

Marcia @ Marcia's Healthy Slice hosts a Runfessions link up on the last Friday of every month. Be sure to check out Marcia's blog and some of the other wonderful blogs that do the Runfessions link up!

Okay, so I can't really think of ANYTHING I need to "Runfess" right now, so I am going to have to think back... waaaay back! I'm sure I can come up with something!

Actually for some reason, most of the things I am Runfessing today are kind of gross. Read on at your own risk. And if you are new to my blog, please be advised that I don't get this raunchy every day. Come back! I swear there are many lovely things I talk about that aren't gross!

Note: I have no clue why #2 and #3 are tiny. Get out your magnifying glass. I tried to fix it in the html but that didn't even work!!!

1. Runfession #1: When I am running a marathon, instead of waiting in line for the port o john, I will go behind a tree. There have been times I've simply ducked behind a port 'o john because I had a PR to catch and I wasn't going to waste precious seconds standing in line!

2. Runfession #2: When I trained for my very first marathon, I only ran once or twice during the week, but I always did my long run. The rest of the time, I was on the elliptical. My philosophy? I was afraid I would get sick of running! I know that is ridiculous, and I don't advise anyone to adopt the strategy I used.

3. Runfession #3: At the Philadelphia Marathon, I got snot rocketed on by a guy wearing American flag shorts. I WAS SO PISSED. I am not against snot rocketing at all (even though I don't really know how to do it), but I am against snot rocketing without looking to see if there is an innocent person in your path!

4. Runfession #4: This next one happened during the marathon in which I hold my current PR. (Actually now is a good time to tell the couple of MEN who read my blog to NOT READ ANY FURTHER OR YOU WILL BE SCARRED FOR LIFE!!!) I got my period the morning of the race and around Mile 19, I could just tell my tampon needed to come out. I was scared I was going to get toxic shock syndrome or something! This was at the Harrisburg Marathon, and at that point in the race I was back in the Wildwood Hills- a paved trail through woods. There was no one around, so when I approached a trash can, I stuck my hand up my shorts, ripped out my tampon, and threw it in the trash can without even breaking my stride. Somehow I managed to finish the race without any blood running down my leg! But at that point my body had probably shut down any activity that wasn't related to running... which most likely included the shedding of my uterine lining.

What are your Runfessions today?
Have you ever been snot rocketed on?
Where is the most public place you have urinated?
Any gross running + period stories?

Work It, Circuit!

Did you hear it snowed in my neck of the woods? No, I am sure I have not mentioned it yet, right? 

On Tuesday, I planned to drive to the gym and run on the treadmill, but Facebook was telling me the roads were a sheet of ice. I was chicken and stayed home. So no running- and no lifting because I was still sore from shoveling.

What's a runner to do?

A CIRCUIT!!!!!

I remembered a cool one I posted last year- the "Oh No, It Snowed!" workout. If you have tried it, you know that it's no joke. What I did on Tuesday was pretty much the same, except I messed with the exercise order, subbed one exercise for another, and added some donkey kicks at the end. 

This is what I call a donkey kick.

It's easier than "quadruped leg extension".

What I ended up with looked like this:

It took me a little over 8 minutes to do the circuit one time through. I did the circuit 5 times total. My heart rate was quite high by the end of each circuit, so I made sure to get it back down before I started up again.

A couple random thoughts...

1. Doing 100 jumping jacks in a row was really hard at first!

2. The kettle bells swings mildly bothered my IT band. The next day, my glutes were so sore!

3. Push ups are hard after all those kettle bell swings.

4. Burpees... I haven't done them in months. Doing 20 SUCKED!!!!

5. But what sucked more was doing a plank almost right after the burpees!

6. Running 5 miles would have definitely been easier than doing this circuit 5 times!

I wanted to share this workout to remind you that even if you're stuck inside, you can still get an AWESOME workout with minimal equipment. Use this circuit or make up your own to fit what you need. There is no magic formula. Make it your own!

Do you have a favorite circuit you like to do?
What's your favorite way to get your heart pumpin' when you are stuck inside!

Did you ever wonder why I don't lift lower body?

The other day, it occurred to me that some of you may wonder why I don't lift lower body. I am always posting my lifting routines but there is never anything lower body in there. The reason for this is that squats, lunges, and all those fun lifts for my legs and glutes really irritate my IT band. I mean, it's just a given that if I lift lower body, my IT band will ache for the rest of the day.

It sucks. I used to have leg day. It was great. Happy times. My quads were popping and I was proud of the muscle I was building. Now I get jealous when I read blogs and see other runners able to squat and lunge and all that fun stuff. I hate being jealous. It is not a fun feeling to have.

I haven't tested it out in several months because just thinking about doing squats makes my IT band hurt. I just know that feeling and I'm convinced that if I try again, it will just ache and bother me for a couple days. I know I should try, I just don't like having the reminder that my IT band is a bother.

Spinning and the elliptical are also things my IT band HATES, but I don't miss those activities. I miss leg day!

So that's the short story of why all I do is upper body stuff!

Is there any activity or exercise you wish you could do?

Adventures on the Treadmill

Well I didn't fall off but I am telling you about my workout!

Thanks to the MASSIVE amounts of snow my area got this weekend, I will not be running outside for quite awhile. My neighborhood is terrible right now. It is just one lane of packed snow. At the exits of the neighborhood, there are deep sections of snow that are very scary for me and my little Chevy Cobalt to get through.

But when I am determined to go to Planet Fitness so I can run, gunning it through a little bit of snow is no problem for me! Once I get out onto the main roads, I am fine. They are just a little wet. I still take it slow due to the slush. The cars riding my ass need to just take a chill pill.

I headed to the gym around 10:30 on Monday morning. We had the day off due to snow, so I took my good 'ol time in the morning drinking coffee and psyching myself up for 8 miles on the treadmill. Why 8 miles? Because that's the number I picked out in my head on Sunday night!

If I had been running 8 miles outside  that day, I would have just run a "la la la" pace the whole time. But running at a steady state on the treadmill is so boring to me. I had to mess around with the speed. Here is the workout I did:

2 miles @ 8:19
2 miles @ 8:00
3 miles @ 7:30
1/2 mile @ 8:00
1/2 mile @ 8:19

Initially I had planned to only do 2 miles @ a 7:30 pace, but then I thought about Lisa @ Tech Chick Adventures, and her post about how the tough parts of runs are when we get stronger. Thinking about her and the run she did this weekend motivated me to bust out one more mile at that fast pace.

In my brain I was thinking: Wow, it is hard for me to do 3 miles at a 7:30 pace right now, but just 6 weeks ago I ran a half marathon at that pace. WTF!?

During those 3 miles, I switched from podcasts to music. Suzy told me music will make my runs better, so I had to try! This is what I listened to:

Lollipop by Mika

Paul and I can harmonize the shit out of this one!

Hung Up by Madonna

Work Bitch by Britney Spears

This song is just so, so, so bad.

I do think the music helped for those 3 miles, but I definitely enjoyed zoning out to my podcast for the rest of the run.

I cooled down with a quarter mile walk. Walking on the treadmill just feels so awkward! I love that moment when you finally hop off and when you are walking on solid ground again you feel like you are moving so fast!

Since I will be stuck at the gym for all of my runs in the near future, I figured it would be good to remind myself of all the GOOD things about running on a treadmill.

Pros of treadmill running and Planet Fitness:

1. Water right there.
2. Toilet right there.
3. Protection from the elements.
4. The machine maintains my pace, I just have to keep up.
5. Don't need to mess with my Garmin.
6. Won't get hit by a car.
7. Won't get struck by lightening.

I can think of plenty of cons right now, but what good will that do me!?

When I run today and Wednesday, I am going to make myself just pick an easy steady pace and stick with it. I know it will be boring, but not every run needs to be a speed workout. In fact, I need a speed workout once a week at MOST. The other days, I should be just plodding along...

What is your favorite thing to do on the 'mill? Just run a steady pace or mess around with the speed?

Favorite things about running on a treadmill?

Weekend Wrap Up!

Basically, my weekend can be summed up in one word:

 Here's the low down... or, the SNOW down! (HAHAHA!)

Warning: This is a long one. But if you are snowed in, you may be happy for something to do!

I wore quite the interesting outfit to work on Friday... It appeared I picked out all the black and white patterns found in my wardrobe and paired them together. Whatevs. I teach children ages 5-10. They probably thought I looked awesome.

That afternoon, the winter storm hit earlier than expected. Paul took some "before" shots.

Later on the evening, after there was an accumulation of about 4 inches, we bundled up and went for a walk. It was cold, but beautiful!

My alarm went off at 5:45. I forgot to deactivate it. EFFFFF!!!! That sucked, especially since I couldn't fall back asleep. It was just an opportunity to get a lot of work done on this bad boy I started the night before...

The title is "Hickoryhaven in Winter". 

It's the perfect puzzle for being snowed in!

When I looked out our bay windows, I was surprised to see that there was a bit more snow than I thought there would be...

By Saturday evening...

After the snow plow came through and created a tall and wide wall of snow at the entrance to our driveway, I said to Paul, "That's it, we are officially STUCK!"

But it was okay. We are homebodies anyway. I lifted, cleaned out the fridge, organized the pantry, and even delved into my jewelry box.

Before!

After!

This will last 2 weeks at the most.

That afternoon, a dream was realized. It took me 3 months, but I finally ate this entire can of French Fried Onions all by myself. Every bite was delish!

Later on that evening, I ventured out to start making a dent in the shoveling. It was so deep I had to shovel in layers. After a little while, my neighbor came by with his snow blower and did my whole driveway! He saved me an hour and a half- at least!!! I was so thankful. (Spoiler Alert: I brought his family chicken noodle soup and brownies I made the next day as a thank you!)

Let the sun shine! I awoke to bright sun beams! The snow was practically glowing. After a day of dark foggy snow, Chrissy was excited to find a sun square.

By the looks of what everyone was saying on Facebook, we were lucky that our neighborhood was actually plowed! Many of my friends live in neighborhoods that had not even been touched yet. Our hood had about one lane plowed. After consulting with a neighbor, I determined I would be making the one mile trip to Aldi. I was in the mood to COOK!

But first I lifted. Then I shoveled a wider path for my car and helped a neighbor widen their driveway. Boy was I pooped! Finally, I made the trek to Aldi...

I would rate my neighborhood streets an F minus. I even got stuck about 30 seconds from my house. But I was more determined than ever to get out of that situation on my own because Paul had advised me not to go anywhere! I did not need a big fat I TOLD YOU SO, so I put my car in reverse, gunned it through the pile of snow that was blocking my path, and made it out of my hood. (It wasn't a big pile or anything, but it was big for my little Chevy Cobalt.) Once I was out of our neighborhood, the roads were fine.

I made it home safe and sound and I cooked! Chicken noodle soup, quinoa, roasted rosemary potatoes, and brownies! We had enough food to last us until March!

The rest of my Sunday was quite relaxing. I did all the normal snowed in things like read, do a puzzle, and work on my blog. I was in a good mood because school was CLOSED the next day. I don't always like when school is closed (we have to make up the day anyway), but it is always nice to know way ahead of time so I can look forward to the day off and stay up late. Because that is the fun part about having off, right? Staying up late knowing you can sleep in and do your own thang the next day!

So that was my snowy weekend! If you read this thing word for word, I commend you! Leave me a comment??? I check my blog stats and each of my posts gets around 100+ views but only a couple comments. I would love to hear more from my readers!!! And obviously, thank you to those of you who always comment. It is awesome to get to know you all, and I feel like you are my friends!

Tell me what you did this weekend!
Do you like French Fried Onions?
Does your jewelry box get as bad as mine?
Have you ever gotten stuck in the snow?