Weekly Workouts!

Hola! Thank you to everyone who gave me tips last week on how to make my workout posts more interesting!

Amy likes seeing the balance between lifting and running. Lisa wants more pics. Meranda wants a fun story about the workout. Kristina isn't into workout recaps but I think if I sprinkle in more cat pics she will at least enjoy it a little more.

I'm going to try to hit all of these areas this week and have a SUPER INTERESTING WORKOUT RECAP!

Saturday- 10 miles on the Appalachian Trail with Anne, John, and Kristen. I parked my car at the top of Peter's Mountain. The crew picked me up and we parked at Clark's Valley. They ran to my car and back but I stopped at my car so I could get home in time for rehearsal.

I felt great on this run, but I think it was because we did walk all of the uphills. This part of the AT is rocky but also beautiful because you're on top of the mountain the whole time.

My trail buddies!

I got to use my new hydration bladder for the first time. My old one was leaking, so I bought a Nathan bladder for $32 and stuck it in my hydration pack. I love it! It's easy to open/close and you don't have to turn the nozzle to get water out, you just suck it out. NICE.

Fun Story: While my hydration bladder worked well, my ACTUAL bladder was not having it! I peed 6 times since leaving my house that morning. Once at Hardeez on the way to the trail, then behind my car after I parked at Peter's Mountain, then at behind a tree at Clark's Valley before we even started running, then three more times on the trail.

Sunday- Hill repeats! (6 miles total) It was warm but drizzling. I felt like mixing it up, so I ran to a neighborhood about a mile away and ran up and down a big hill 6 times. The first time up felt really hard, but after that, it was fine. I wasn't trying to sprint up the hill so that's probably why it didn't suck too bad.

Monday- 6 morning miles. My plan was to lift, but I felt a little bloated from all the chili I ate the night before. I hate to run just because I "feel fat", but I will be honest, once in awhile, that is my motivation. It was a good morning and I felt really strong. The chili must have powered me!

Tuesday- Lifting chest @ home. It snowed and we had a two hour delay! Awesome! Here is the circuit I did 5 times:

Chest press- 8x30lb

Bicycle crunches- 40 reps

Donkey kicks- 20 reps

Push ups- 10 reps

Stability ball sit ups- 20x15lb

Push ups (again)- 10 reps

Hydrants- 20 reps

Shoulder press- 10x20lb

Stability ball pull ins- 15 reps

Bird dog- 10 reps

Plank- 1 minute

 You do your push ups by your cat condo too, right?

Snowy outside, swole inside!

Wednesday- 6 SUPER BLUE MOON MILES. The real feel was 12 degrees, but honestly anything in double digits is fine with me right now. I was feeling stressed so I did something weird... I ran 4 more miles after work. I never do doubles.

Super blue moon run!

I was 30 seconds faster per mile in the evening!

Thursday- Lifting back at home. I started out doing light weights and high reps, but then I didn't feel like I was getting the proper pump, so I upped the weight and lowered the reps.

Wide grip chair asst. pull ups- 2x15

Bicycle crunches- 5x40

Donkey Kicks- 2x20

Neutral grip chair asst. pull ups- 2x12

Stability ball sit ups- 5x20x15lb

Row- 2x15x20lb

Hydrants- 5x20

Bicep curls- 2x15x15lb

Stability ball pull ins- 5x15

Plank w/ row- 2x10x10lb

Wide grip band asst. pull ups- 3x6

Neutral grip band  asst. pull ups- 3x8

Row- 3x10x25lb

Bicep curls- 3x8x20lb

Plank w/ row- 3x8x15lb

Later on that day I found out I'd be competing in a jump rope contest at our Jump Rope for Heart assembly on Friday. The contest was to see who could jump rope for one minute straight without messing up. And if no one messed up... whoever could go the longest would win! I grabbed a jump rope from the phys ed teacher and had a student time me. At 20 seconds I was exhausted. At 34 seconds my legs felt like jelly. BUT I MADE IT TO ONE MINUTE without stopping or messing up. Hopefully I don't embarrass myself in front of the whole school tomorrow...

Friday- Lifting chest @ home. Since I want to run long on Saturday, I figured it wouldn't hurt to lift. I will be honest, I did want to run. But I did two 10 milers this week so I figured I should not overdo it. Here's my workout:

Chest press- 5x12x25lb

Bicycle crunches- 5x40

Donkey kicks- 5x20

Push ups- 5x10

Shoulder Press- 5x10x20lb

Stability ball sit ups- 5x15x15lb

Push ups (again)- 5x10

Hydrants- 5x20

Fun fact: Shoulder press is so. much. easier. after doing 50 push ups instead of 100!

Then I went out to the carport to try jump roping again. IT WAS SO MUCH EASIER IN SNEAKERS! I could have gone for 2 minutes in sneakers. I was very relieved.

Here are some cat pics for Kristina!

How were your workouts this week?
Do you jump rope?