2012 Running Report and Dead Arms

Recovery since the 25k has been going well. I took Sunday off from running and both Monday and today I have been randomly having great, speedy runs!

I credit my speediness to the several treadmill workouts I did last week.

Treadmill happy. The black spot on my
forehead is hair dye. 

I've talked about this before, but I can only run on the treadmill if I do some sort of speed workout. Usually, I will start around 6.5 speed level and keep bumping it up until I'm done. The longest I can usually stand the treadmill is 5 miles. I also like to mix in some fast 800s with a quarter mile recovery between. Sort of like Yasso 800's, but not 10 of them. I'll do anything to keep the boredom at bay on the treadmill!

I got an email from DailyMile the other day (follow me here if you so desire) recapping my 2012 training.

As you can see, I ran 1770 miles and averaged 43 miles per week. I logged a total of 515 workouts (that included Crossfit, yoga, ballet, etc.)! I have nothing really to compare that to, but it sure seems like a lot!

My highest mileage month was October, where I logged 219 miles. I'm pretty happy with all of those stats and will be excited to to see how I stack up next year!

In other news, today my arms are goners. Literally, they hurt just trying to dry my hair! I have no doubt the pain was inflicted last night at Crossfit. We did one of my favorite upper-body workouts.

The workout was called Every Minute on the Minute, or EMOM, as I like to say. Every minute we did pull-ups, push-ups and squats. The first minute, we started at 3 reps of each, the second minute, 4 reps of each. We continued in this fashion for 16 minutes.

When you failed, or didn't finish a round before the minute was up, you rest the remainder of the minute, cut your reps in half, and start again.

I started off doing the pull-ups unassisted, but after 3 rounds of that, I nearly died. That's an exaggeration  obviously, but I did have to pull out a band.

I've also been trying to work on my push-up technique, so I set myself up with an inclined bar that was on a rack. I made sure with each rep to keep my body straight and get my chest all the way down to the bar.

Woo, my arms are smoking today! And I also should mention we did 5 sets of 5 shoulder presses before all of that. Epic stuff!

Have a great Tuesday!

Lack of Recovery and Holiday Love

When I added the Seattle Marathon to my race schedule, I knew I was going to be running a 50k several weeks later.

The plan: Take it nice and easy. Don't push it and kill yourself so you can keep up 50k training.

And I think we all know how that plan went. Lesson learned: I have trouble holding back.

On that note, most people take a good amount of recovery time after a full marathon. I am not most people and I am still hanging on for my 50k's in December and January.

Unfortunately, the marathon has left me somewhat fatigued. Yesterday I was pretty creaky, and my left psoas was very tight and ornery. I pretty much rocked the compression socks all day and was wandering around the gym as slowly as possible.

Neon compression for the win!

I took things nice and slow all day and today I am feeling much better. I'm hoping to feel loads better by tomorrow and get in a nice run at Discovery Park before the rain comes. I'm going to do my best not to beat myself up if that doesn't happen, though. Bigger picture!

So the holiday season is finally upon us! I can't even begin to convey my love for this time of year! I have always been big into the holidays and love everything that comes along with it! (so many exclamation marks)

Case in point. I got my tree all set up and decorated this weekend!

So pretty!

Unfortunately in my move from New York, several of my ornaments were broken. I also lost two of the pieces that stand my tree up. It is precariously balanced against the wall for now. Not sure how to make it more sturdy.

Time for some superglue?

Another sad ornament story: my first year in New York, my parents mailed me all of my childhood ornaments. I never got the package and when I tried to track it down, no one would claim to have it, even though it had been delivered. I remember being so sad because there were so many sentimental ornaments in that box. Obviously I got over it, but seriously! Who steals and box of ornaments?!?!

I went to Crossfit last night basically just to see my friends. I planned to just take it super easy and sit out if I had to. After being mellow like Jello all day, I somehow had tons of energy once I got to the box! Our workout was a take on the Tabata, which is 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest. Our coach had us do 40 seconds of work and 20 seconds of rest instead. We did 5 rounds total.

As I said I would, I took it easy and used a lighter wall ball and kettlebell than I normally would have. I started off using a band for the pullups, but by the end made the effort to do them unassisted, even if it was only two in a row. Gotta start somewhere, right?

I hope everyone is having a great Tuesday!

My Overtraining Balance

First things first, workouts!

Yesterday I took it very easy on my morning run. I only did four miles and kept all of them close to 8.30 minutes per mile. I was feeling tight and sluggish during the first two and a half miles, but finally started feeling better halfway through.

Another morning I was just thankful I got to get out and run!

I attended a noon CrossFit class since I taught in the evening and couldn't make my normal class. Noon classes are going to be my normal several days a week now because of my teaching schedule in the evenings. This makes me so sad because I love the class I normally attend at night and am going to miss my friends!

Anyways, I ran over to Crossfit when I got off work and by the time I got there, I realized how tired I was! Sometimes I feel tired and then once I get started I feel fine and kill the workout.

That didn't exactly happen today.

Our workout was a killer. We did "Christine" 3 rounds through, interval style.

"Christine" includes a 500 meter row, 12 dead lifts and 21 box jumps. Three times through. For time. Kill me now.

I have mentioned only a million times that rowing is not my strong suit and it is safe to assume my legs were spent after the 5k row on Wednesday. Not only was it difficult to get through the rowing, but by the time I finished the dead lifts and box jumps, my legs were a wreck!

After the first round, I had to lower my dead lift weight from 15kg to 10kg and was able to pull it together for the last 2 rounds.

After killing myself the second round through, I let it slip to my coach that this was my third workout in the past 18 hours.

I've spoken to one of the runner-coaches at the gym before about my schedule. The most important thing was to listen to my body. If I am feeling worn out, take a step back.

Of course, this is easier said than done. There are always times I don't feel like going to a workout, but push myself because I know I'm just being lazy. It is sometimes difficult for me to tell when I am just a little tired or when I actually need a day off.

I enjoy running so much. It is just apart of who I am now and it's what I do every morning for my sanity. I can't letting it go at all. I also enjoy racing and pushing myself to get faster. There is so much joy for me in running.

I feel the same way about Crossfit. Not only do I love the workouts, but they have made my running so much better. I am a stronger and faster runner because of Crossfit's awesome insanity. On top of that, I have lots of friends at Crossfit and generally enjoy the social aspect of it.

Now that I am teaching fitness classes twice a week, my activity level has gone up even more and I need to make sure I'm paying attention to how my body is feeling since it is now my job.

Usually it takes my body about two weeks to adjust to a new schedule, so I'm just holding steady for now.

To keep healthy, I'm making sure to do as much recovery as I can. I'm drinking lots of these:

Water and green tea in my Phantom mug (duh).

I'm making sure when I do have downtime, I'm using it to rest my body. I find it very hard to sit still and not be running around checking things off my list of To-Do's, but I know its important to let my body recover as much as I can between activities. Mostly it's sitting here, being lazy and studying:

Hi couch-time!

If I'm not on the couch studying (or reading blogs, obviously), I'm out enjoying this extended Seattle summer we seem to be having. By enjoying, I simply mean layout in the park studying. Still a recovery activity!

I'm making an effort to take more of these, even though it's getting cooler out and the last thing I want to do is jump in ice-water:

Ice bath. Such a love-hate relationship.

And, of course, I roll-out and use my Marathon Stick as often as I can and am making sure to stretch every night before bed:

Foam roller and The Stick. Hurts so good.

I know other people struggle with overtraining (or just loving working out so much!) as well. It's all fun and games until someone gets injured! Any tips?

Anything you do to aid in your recovery that I may not have thought of?