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!