Weekend Workouts

Happy Monday to all! I hope everyone had a great weekend. 

I enjoyed some running, per usual. Sunday I even managed to average at 7:59 pace for 4 miles. That's pretty speedy for me! I think Sundays tend to be my speediest day of the week because I tend to run later in the morning, so I'm all woken up and fed, etc. If only I could manage that for every run instead of the 4am slug fest currently happening! 

I didn't make it to Crossfit on Friday (because I wanted to go Sunday), but I did my own shoulder workout. I made a ladder of push ups and shoulder presses and went through it as fast as I could.

I enjoyed this workout, and my shoulders were certainly burning by the end of it! Once you get past the reps of 10, it's all downhill!

My Crossfit class on Sunday was fun. We ended up working on split jerks. Odd name, but it is essentially a shoulder press where you come into a lunge at the end of the movement. We worked sets of 3. My last set was 32 kilograms. 

Our workout was short, but sweet. 

5 rounds of 5 pull ups, 7 burpees, 9 kettlebell swings. I did all the pull ups without a band, and they kept getting better as I went through each round. 

I finished in 5.35. Short and sweet!

Another fun thing this weekend was this quote on one of my tea bags. I am obsessed with tea and have a cup after lunch and dinner almost every day.

I loved this simple phrase. Our entire being working in harmony. 

Ignore my ugly thumbnail and focus on the quote =)

Have a great Monday!

Runs, Squats and Cookies

How is it Thursday already? This week is flying by! I've been MIA on the blog since Monday, but there has been a lot going on!

As usual, I've been running. I've been doing my usual 5 mile loop in the mornings except for yesterday when I met a friend out at Discovery Park for a trail loop. It felt good to get my lungs burning going up the billion stairs there! I always find it to be a miracle when I can get up all of them without stopping. Although it does seem to keep getting easier =)

We ended up with about 4 slower miles. We kept a super relaxed pace, which was nice since I was feeling pretty beat up!

And because I am a crazy person, I got up super early on my day off yesterday to fit in a yoga class at my favorite studio.

I was feeling pretty lethargic for most of the class, so I just took the flows nice and easy. I am still feeling sore from sprinting last Friday (I think sprinting was what did it), and I can't begin to tell you how great pigeon pose felt. Sure, it hurt while I was in it, but wooof! Once I got out, my hips were finally feeling back to normal!

Backtracking a little, Monday afternoon, I did my usual squatting session with my Crossfit coaches. For my 3 sets of 5 backsquats, I went up to 62 kilos, up 2 from the 60 I squatted last week. Since I am training a linear progression, I get to go up by 2 kilos every week. It's going to be fun to have a new PR each week, but I just hope I can hang on and keep squatting heavier!

We did a nice, shorter workout at CrossFit last night. Thank goodness, because I was TIRED!

We went through this twice, and tried to keep the same time for both rounds. I suspected I was going to have a tough time hitting the same pace for the second round through, but I ended up being faster than I was for the first round. Typical. I feel like it usually takes me awhile to warm up, so I need to remember I'm better at 2nd and 3rd rounds than firsts. Such an endurance athlete. Intensity is not my strength. But I suppose I'll keep working at it =)

And finally, I baked some chocolate chip cookies for a co-worker for his birthday. I used to bake ALL THE TIME. I even had a baking blog. But, when I switched it to blogger from self-hosting, all my photos disappeared. Which, of course, ticked me off, so I stopped posting.

Chocolate Chip Cookies for the win!

I loved baking, though, and for whatever reason, when I moved back to Seattle, I stopped. I forgot how much I enjoy it. And seeing people's faces when I bring them goodies is always priceless! =)

Sprinting and Cross-fitting Weekend

Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend!

My weekend started on Friday. After I got out of work, I headed to meet a friend at a local track for some sprints.

I was worried how my stomach was going to react, sprinting after a day full of food. It turned out to be fine, though!

We started with 2 warm-up laps around the track, just to get the legs moving. Then we did 6 100-meter sprints. I haven't legitimately sprinted in a veeeery long time, so it was the most bizarrely freeing feeling for me! I learned several things that I need to work on for next time including using my hamstrings to bring my leg up and fire it forward and down, and swinging my arms close to my body.

We finished the few sprints and I was kind of like...that was it?! But holy cow was I sore the next day! Particularly my adductors and my hip flexors. Ouchie!

We had a great Crossfit workout that evening, too. Thank goodness the weather has been good because we have had the chance to run so much lately! After all those months of the dreadful rower, all I can say is thank goodness!

We started the workout with some back squats, and I made sure to take it easy so I didn't tire my legs out too much. I just did single reps and got up to 75 kilos.

Our workout was two rounds of the following:

I wasn't planning to push too hard that day, but ended up starting next to this guy who was in it it win it. Of course, my competitive nature kicked in. I couldn't let him just think he was all that and a bad of potato chips, so I kept up as best I could. I was pretty much right behind him until the second round of pull-ups. I was even using a small band and couldn't do 20 straight through.

I finished the last 300 meter run panting my little face off and came in about 30 seconds behind the other guy. I reaaaallllyyy wanted to smoke him, but it just didn't happen this day. Oh well! I still finished several minutes before everyone else and definitely got in a good workout!

Saturday consisted of a run and Sunday I did another Crossfit workout. Again, more running!

4 rounds:

400 meter run
10 deadlifts (45 kilos)
10 burpees

I smoked this workout as well and came in first this time! Looking back, I probably should have gone heavier on the deadlifts, but I've had such a heavy leg week, I didn't want to wear myself out.

I'm going to lift with my Crossfit coaches again later today. Squat city!

Have a great day!

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday! I have been out of commission for several days this week, sidelined with a bug of some sort. Not fun. I hate being sick (what a dumb statement, who actually likes being sick?!), so it's a good thing it doesn't happen to often.

I thought I would start this Friday off (and maybe most Fridays?) with some favorites from my week!

I think scooter bowling last weekend was the highlight of my week. There's nothing quite like rolling on your belly towards 10 foam rollers. Actually, that sounds crazy, but it sure was fun!

I've been systematically trying out all of the Larabar flavors and I think my favorite is the Coconut Cream Pie. Obviously you have to like coconut to love this flavor, which I do. It kind of reminds me of the pie my dad always insists on making for Thanksgiving each year. Delicious!

This morning marked my triumphant return to running in shorts! After succumbing to running tights for the winter, I was SO happy to see the temperature outside today at 44 degrees. Perfect shorts weather! There is something so much more freeing about running in shorts rather than tights. I was one happy girl!

And finally, my Monday lifting session with the boys is always a good time. Not only do I look forward to squatting heavy things, but I love the dead-leg feeling I get afterwards, knowing I have worked my muscles in a new way.

What were your favorites from the week? Have a great weekend!

How Are My Legs Not Dead?

Happy Tuesday!

I lifted again with my a few of my Crossfit trainers yesterday, which was only slightly nutty. Good thing I knew what I was getting myself into this time!

We started with about an hour of warm up drills with the barbell. Some deadlifts and some snatch pulls (just the beginning of the snatch movement). My coach says all the warm-ups are to get our nervous system firing. I tried to think of that every time I snapped my hips forward.

Kapow! Wake up, system!

Then we worked up to 3 sets of 5 back squats. I used 60 kilos. I was told we are following a linear training system. So every week I will add 2 kilos for 3 sets of 5. I guess it's called linear since I'm adding the same amount each week.

After that, we did squats using what I now know is called a safety squat bar.

Safety Squat Bar Source

I feel so silly using this thing, but it really changes the feeling of the squat! Your core definitely has to become more involved! It's nice to have the padding over the back of the bar, though, so it isn't digging into your back.

Again, we super-set sets of 7 safety bar squats with 7 split lunges on each leg. I used 30 pound dumbbells for the split lunges. We did that for 3 rounds.

Holy moly, why do lunges make my legs burn so much?! I loooove it!

And then we headed over to what we are now calling Satan's Tricycle.

This. Thing. Hurts!!!

We did 3 30-second sprint intervals on it and I thought my legs were going to come off! My legs were like Jello afterwards, too. We had to take a walk around the block to flush them out!

I'm really enjoying lifting with my coaches. I'm not sure where it is going, but for now, I am learning so much and maybe my stronger legs will help my running!

This morning I expected to wake up with either lead legs or just super sore legs. And I'm feeling neither! I guess that walk around the block after doing intervals was the ticket, because I'm feeling great today!

My work schedule is a little wonky on Tuesdays, so I took to the treadmill at the gym this morning. I wasn't exactly sure how I wanted to play it today, but I knew I was going to have to do some sort of speed workout if I had any hope of staying on the belt.

I ended up doing 800s. Most of them were around a 7:40 min/mile pace. I jogged for a quarter mile between them. I ended up with 5 miles in 40.2 minutes. Felt great to run fast!

I hope your Tuesday if off to a great start!

Scooter Bowling

I hope everyone had a great weekend! 

I'll begin on Friday at Crossfit. It was a beautiful day, so I begged our coach to let us run outside. And he obliged!

We started with shoulder presses first, though. 5 sets of 3 presses, adding weight each time. I got to 30 kilos for my final round, but could only get 2 reps in. For the fourth set, we took half of our max to failure (as many rounds as you can do). I dropped down to 15 kilos and did 27 reps. Grrr! Shoulders of steel!

Our workout was:

5 rounds, alternating with partner:

200 meter run

6 pull ups

10 kettlebell swings

I was being wimpy and used a band for the pull ups, but I really should have tried doing them without assistance. I had fun, though, and it felt nice to stretch my legs on such a short run!

Saturday I got in a nice run in the morning before working all day.

And Sunday, funday, started out with a Crossfit workout. One of our friends was going, and he didn't know anyone, so I decided to go so he would have a friend. We ended up doing a workout that I really enjoyed, although it was almost the same thing I had done on Friday. This time, however, no pull ups, and no partner to work with.

5 rounds:

3 cleans

9 kettlebell swings

200 meter run

I really didn't work very hard at all because I knew I was heading out for a run afterwards. I only used 27 kilos for the cleans, and a lighter kettlebell. I still had fun, though!

Afterwards, I headed out with Beth to meet Ultramarathoner Jess at Discovery Park for a short run on the trails.

The run was nothing spectacular, and my stomach was sort of upset the whole time. We finished 4.33 miles in 44 minutes, going super slow and just enjoying hanging out.

Because we are crazy beasts, we headed BACK to the Crossfit gym to fool around. There weren't any classes, so the gym was empty. Of course, that means trouble =)

Beth and I ended up playing scooter bowling, which was great fun!

Beth goes in for the kill!

 We set up foam rollers as "pins" and then hopped on scooters to knock them down.

Bowl me up!

 Haha, SO much fun! I wasn't in the mood to do anything workout related by this point, so after bowling I worked on back hip circles on the pull up bar. Back hip circles are an old gymnastics move and have nothing to do with Crossfit, so if you have no clue what I am talking about, here's a video!

I went to go see Zero Dark Thirty Sunday afternoon as well. Has anyone scene this? What did you think? I enjoyed it a lot, the story was great and the main character's journey was interesting to watch develop. It was definitely a stressful 2 hours though!

Have a great Monday!

Zercher Carry and a Friday Workout

It's back to rain in Seattle! But at least it's a little warmer. I'm not sure if I prefer the rain or the freezing cold. But I've found that people complain either way!

We did some new (to me) things at Crossfit last night.

The first one that kind of blew my mind was called the Zercher Carry.

This obviously isn't me, but you get the general idea. We started with the barbells in a racked position, instead of on the ground. It's just about as hard as you think it is! This was something totally new to just about everyone in the class, which I always enjoy. We all have different strength levels, but no one is more "skilled" than another and we are all sort of figuring it out together.

We also did weighted box jumps last night. Yup, you read that right. We held dumbbells while we jumped on boxes. Um, who does that?! Isn't jumping on the box tough enough?! Haha.

After I got over my initial fear of falling on my face (Coach: Allison, jump on the damn box!), I used 10 pound weights and was able to do sets of 5 fairly easily. Talk about having to be extra explosive. Tough for a white girl who cant jump!

Our workout included the Zercher carry, 5 weighted box jumps and 7 kettlebell goblet squats. We did as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes. I can't say I pushed myself very hard, but I enjoyed working on some of the new exercises.

Before the workout, we did back squats. Since my legs are still toasty from Monday, this was pretty tough for me. We did 5 sets of 8. I made it up to 65 kilos for my final set, but only made it to 6 reps. I am probably going to do legs again next Monday, so hopefully I'll recover fast!

I taught my H.I.I.T. class last night, and really enjoyed the workout.

The workout is 3 different AMRAPS (as many rounds as possible), 6 minutes each. We got through all of them with a 1-2 minute break between.

When I pulled out the white boad with this workout written on it, everyone stood looking at me with their mouths open and shaking their heads. But by the time they finished, they were all smiles and thanking me for kicking their butts. That's what I love about teaching fitness. Showing others how to push themselves past what they thought was possible.