Halloween Happiness

Happy Halloween! Today is going to be a great day!

Winifred Sanderson might not think so!

I am FINALLY back in my contacts after a week and a half of wearing my glasses. I apparently had an allergic reaction all of a sudden to my contact solution. I've been using the Costco generic solution for years now! So odd that I all of a sudden developed an allergy. Anyways, I am even more excited than usual to run today because my glasses won't be falling off my face every second! I am still planning to take Milo out to Cougar Mountain for a trail run today!

Speaking of Milo, we talked it over, and he decided he wanted to be Falcore from The Neverending Story for Halloween.

I'm so proud!

Before my eye appointment yesterday, I was able to get in a speedy 3 mile run. Speedy being a relative term. I held about a 7:50 pace, which is currently pretty uncomfortable for me. I had a good motivation to get finished: an appointment with the eye doctor!

I'm still feeling pretty sore from my classes I taught on Tuesday, so hopefully I make it up and down all the trails today!

Happy Halloween!

EMOM

EMOM...what the heck does that mean??

It stands for "Every Minute on the Minute". Which, in workout terms, means at the top of each minute you do work.

I did this in my classes yesterday, and it definitely gave everyone a good sweat!

Starting with the first couplet, dumbbell thrusters and push ups, complete 5 of each exercise at the start of the first minute. At the start of the second minute, complete 6 of each. Continue adding one exercise each minute until you hit 10 minutes. Then move on to the next couplet and begin again!

After doing this workout twice yesterday, I am SORE this morning! I've begun to really LOVE teaching classes. I used to get so nervous and have such anxiety over it. Now, I really look forward to it and it's pretty much a huge mood lifter for me! Hopefully I can find time to add more classes in the future!

Hoping for a short, speedy run today so that tomorrow I can take Milo out to Cougar Mountain for a trail run. Have a great Wednesday all!

My Weekend

Happy Tuesday!

Yesterday was a completely nutty Monday. I'm pooped today. Hope your week is off to a better start than mine!

Despite working all weekend, I was still able to get in a few naps and some great runs.

On Friday, Milo and I took a run around Discovery Park again. The little furball did great!

I am really tempted to try and take him out to Cougar Mountain now. I want to see what the little guy can do and I think he would love it up there. Plus there are less people than Discovery, which is a good thing!

My little ghost all in white

It was super foggy, even in the afternoon.

Discovery Fooooogggg

Luckily the fog lifted in Seattle this week. While yesterday was super windy, today seems a lot calmer, if not colder!

I trained several clients on both Saturday and Sunday mornings before I headed home for lunch, a nap, and a walk with my boy.

Sunday, I'd told myself to try and get a longer run in. I want to have somewhat of a base before this marathon thingy in December.

The only other time I've done a long run in the evening, it was awful.

Least favorite long-run place EVER! Cedar River Trail.

I was expecting to have to pep myself up and have to take my run on the struggle bus.

But I had such a great 10 miler! My stomach wasn't too bad, and my legs felt GREAT!

Thinking about adding 16 more miles afterwards was tough, but I keep telling myself I have a good month and I'm not trying to hit a goal for the marathon. Just have FUN!

My plan is to keep increasing my long runs on the weekends, unless I start getting overwhelmed. I'm hoping to get up to 20 miles a few weeks before the race, but I don't want to push it, either. We shall see what happens!

Courage

Kick Butt Circuit Workout

Yesterday was slightly nuts. I opened the gym at 5:30am and then worked the desk until I taught class at 6:30, then it was training and desk work until 1:45pm. My dad was actually in town for a dentist appointment and he popped by to say hello! It was nice to see him right as I got off work.

We visited for a bit before I ran home, walked the pup and then headed back to work to teach class in the evening. Woof! I was pooped after that!

I gave my classes a nice little circuit workout that they loved. I thought I'd share part of it:

One minute for each exercise, 2 rounds of each circuit and a rest between them. Let me know if you try it!

I think another run with Milo at Discovery Park is going to be on the agenda today. Can't wait!

Back to The Trails

Hope you had a great weekend! As it is now Tuesday, I'm sure everyone is already looking forward to NEXT weekend!

I worked on Saturday, so my weekend was on Sunday. I spent the morning leisurely eating breakfast and drinking coffee with the pup. Sometimes I forget how nice it is to just take the morning to decompress.

I'd decided that I should probably get some longer runs in before the marathon. Haha, duh! I remember before my last marathon that running trails really helped. Since the Crossfit coach that I usually shadow on Sundays was out of town, I headed down to Lake Youngs in Renton to tackle the 10-mile loop.

The Lake Youngs Trail isn't my favorite, but it's hard to get lost on and there are lots of hills. You are basically running along a fence for 10 miles.

I won't say it was my best run. I needed a bathroom by the end reeeaaaalllyyy badly! But I definitely felt I could have done a lot more after my hour and a half on the trail. And I wasn't too tired at the end of the day, either!

It was definitely a fall morning. Lots of crunchy leaves and fog. I LOVE fall running! Best season in my opinion!

Other than that, Milo and I had several good walks over the weekend.

He found a few friends at the park, both puppy labradoodles, so he was pooped by the end of the weekend. And a pooped Milo means a cuddly Milo. I may or may not have let him on the couch to cuddle. Ooops!

Yesterday was a busy day at work, and once I got done all I wanted to do was curl up at home! I did for about an hour before taking Milo out, and running to Crossfit to shadow one of my coaches.

On the agenda at Crossfit? Deadlifts and L-sits!

It was fun correcting the deadlifts. It's amazing and, quite frankly, fun to be able to see how many variations people's bodies can come up with for one movement. It definitely puts a lot of pressure on the Crossfit coach to catch incorrect form so people don't injury themselves. We had a big class last night, so I'm glad I was there to help.

After lifting, the last 10 minutes of class was an AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) of the following:
3 thrusters
6 burpees
9 kettlebell swings

I think it's a general consensus that most everyone hates thrusters and burpees, so this was not a favorite workout. Sure was fun to watch people suffer through and push themselves though!

Can You Remember?

Cleaning at CrossFit

After a lovely long walk with Milo yesterday, I decided to run over to CrossFit for class. I knew what was on the agenda: cleans!

I actually really like cleans. And if you have no clue what I'm talking about, see this.

The Olympic lifting coach at my gym was teaching class yesterday, so I knew I was going to get some great coaching. 

We started with lots of drills with the PVC pipe and then did 3 sets of 3 heavy hang cleans (instead of taking the bar from the ground, you start with it just above your knees). After a million drills and front squats, my legs were already crying. 

And then we started the workout, which was as follows:

15 minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) with partner
5 jump and shrug
5 hang cleans
5 front squats
200 meter run
*Add weight each round
*You go, partner goes

I started with the empty bar, 15 kilograms (33 pounds). I got through four rounds, going up by 5 kilos each round. I ended with 30 kilos (66 pounds).

I think I could have gone up to 35 kilos, but we ran out of time and I was too smoked to try afterwards. The main problem I had in the workout was trying to keep the engagement in my quads on all the front squats. I seem to always want to put the work into my glutes. Which isn't a bad thing. That's just not how front squats are supposed to be done!

After class, I stayed and did a little pulling work.

In the classes I taught on Tuesday, I did a lot of push ups and wanted to give the pulling muscles a chance for the week.

I did 3 rounds of 10 ring rows and 10 kipping pull ups. I really need to work on dead hang pull ups, but I just wasn't feeling it yesterday!

Not sure what's on the agenda today workout-wise. Probably a long walk with Milo and a short run. I'm hoping to get in a 10 mile train run on Sunday, so I'd like to take it a bit easy the next few days.

Happy Friday!

Discovery Park Loop with Milo

Yesterday marked a great day in our little family.

Milo made his first 5-mile RUN around Discovery Park!

Pooped, but adorable!

When I first got Milo, he was, let's just say: slightly de-conditioned. He had only been taken on one or two short walks a day. Obviously that had to change! We have slowly been working up to more. Like a human, I didn't want to just throw Milo into super long runs. So I built up his "training". We started with shorter walks, which turned into longer walks. Then some trail walks. And finally we started running!

YES!

I decided to try and see how he did on the full loop at Discovery yesterday and I was SO proud of him for making it all the way around! The little tyke did wonderful!

After we did the loop, I dropped off Milo at home and did a few more miles on my own. Now that I'm registered for a marathon in a month, I feel like I need to be getting in MILES! Plus it was a perfect fall day and I wasn't finished movin' my legs!

I shadowed one of my Crossfit coach friends yesterday and the workout was as follows. Since I was coaching, I didn't get to actually do it, but I can't wait to tackle it soon!

You basically start off going through the list of barbell exercises, 20 of each and every minute on the minute you have to stop and do 4 burpees. Then you continue making your way through.

Talk about motivation to go as fast as possible! The faster you go, the less burpees you do!

There was a 20 minute time limit and everyone made it through before that. None of the women used the prescribed weight, though. I'll bet some of them could have!

Aaaand just for fun:

Where Have I Been?!

I pretty much disappeared here on my blog for awhile. I'm sure anyone who was reading was wondering what the heck happened and where I went to!

Honestly, I needed a break. I was dealing with some personal issues and had to step back to figure out what is truly important to me. I've discovered some really important truths about myself in the past year or so, but for the blog, the important thing is that fitness is a passion and force in my life that I continue to love and enjoy talking about!

So I've decided to continue blogging. I will no longer be posting all my workouts and what I do everyday, but I hope to let this be an outlet and a place I can share inspiration, struggles and fitness-related topics and ideas.

Now, what the heck has been going on in the past year for me!?

Firstly, I took a little break from running. I was getting burnt-out and was having trouble remembering why I loved to run in the first place. While I didn't completely stop running, I gave my Garmin a rest and ran by feel. I stopped signing up for races, and if I did, I didn't really have a formal training plan. Despite the heat of the summer (not a fan of running in the heat), I realized that I love longer races -- half marathons and marathons -- but tend to get a little over-zealous training for them, which becomes less than fun. And trying to break a certain time takes joy away from me as well.

So what's my plan?

I recently signed up to run the Seattle Marathon on a whim.

Have I run further than 10 miles in the last few months? Nope! But I think that will be part of the fun. As for a training plan, I hope to get in one 15 mile run and a 20 mile run before the race on December 1st. Other than that, I plan to continue running what I want, when I want. I may or may not even wear my timing chip on race day, just to take away the pressure of performing a certain way.

Several things have also been happening on the Crossfit front.

I also took a little break from Crossfit. After taking classes 5 times a week for a good 8 months, I had again, forgot what I loved about it. I didn't quit all together, but only took classes here and there.

It may come as a surprise, then, that I have become a Level-1 Crossfit Trainer! While I wasn't all gung-ho about Crossfitting for myself, I have always believed that Crossfit is the best way to get in general peak physical shape. I also think there is gold in the community aspect of Crossfit, but that's a talk for another day! Going through the weekend certification course, I completely renewed my love for this sport!

There are so many things to love about it, but for me, my favorite part is the heavy lifting. I was never much of a lifter and knew next to nothing about it, despite being a personal trainer. Now I have a love and passion for heavy back squats and deadlifts!

Along the same lines, Crossfit has taught me that it isn't about what your body looks like, but what it can do. That it's more important for me to beat everyone in a workout than it is to look a certain way. Crossfit box's tend to not have mirrors, so the only comparison is with effort. What an awesome lesson!

Currently, I am shadowing several of my coaches to learn how to become a great instructor. While I already teach classes at work, I don't know a lot about how to recongnize faults and how to correct them in the powerlifting movements. Shadowing has been a great asset to help me learn to spot things!

In completely unrelated news, I have a new love in my life: Milo!

Milo is an English creme golden retriever. He is a little over a year old, so he is still a puppy but full of cuddles.

I adopted my furry buddy at the end of August and we have become fast best buddies! I may be slightly obsessed with him, so he will obviously be making frequent visits to the blog.

I'm still personal training and leading classes at a gym in Seattle, which I have come to love. I'm very lucky that the gym I work at is like a little supportive community, so going to work each day is enjoyable (despite the fact that it's usually 4am).

Thanks for reading! Have a great Wednesday!