Holy Leg Burn

Happy hump day!

I've had some great workouts the past few days!

Monday night I set out for a run. I didn't really have any mileage in mind. I wanted to do at least 6, but since it was POURING rain, my best bet was to tell myself I only had to do three.

I absolutely LOVE running in the rain. What I do not love is having to actually get started in the rain. It's so hard to motivated when the wind is howling and the possibility of curling up on the couch is so tantalizing!

Monday, I finally got my butt out there, and it was WONDERFUL!

I ended up doing the 6 miles, and did it as a progression run. I was feeling great when I started out and decided to see how fast I could make it! I ended up averaging right around an 8 mile per hour pace and although I can't remember my exact time, I know it was close to my 10k pr!

I finished with around a 7.20 mile and felt like I was flying! It's these kinds of runs that make all the tough training worth it!

Tuesday, I was planning to run to work to teach my class and back, but I didn't really feel like running. It was cold and I knew it would be dark. The prospect of getting hit by a biker did not sound fun. So I decided to drive to the gym early and lift some heavy shit.

Heavy things that need to be lifted.

I'd already taught a class earlier that morning, but felt inspired to do some deadlifts. After I got to the gym, I decided I wanted to do deadlifts AND back squats. Um, overload much?

I warmed up on the rower for about 5 minutes and then built up to a semi-heavy 8 rep back squat and deadlift. Yes, I had to set up two separate bars. I ended up with:

105 lbs back squat
115 lbs deadlift

I did 8 reps of each for three rounds. And WHEW am I feeling it this morning! Ouchhhhh!

After that I decided to work on pull ups. I hadn't done any pull ups in weeks! I have had some issues with my wrist and hand, so grasping the pull up bar was tough.

I did 10 pull ups, deadhang until failure and then I kipped. I superset that with 5 dumbbell snatches on each arm with 25 lb. dumbbells. The lat burn feeling was awesome!

Not much else to report! Have a good one!

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!