Workout Demos

We have a monthly newsletter through my bootcamp and this last month I was tasked with demos.

I love finding new ideas for workouts or a way to step up the usual.  While pinteresting (totally a wod) one day, I came across the idea to combine a rockstar(star jump) with skaters.  So why not try to capture this on film and submit it for my demo.

Not as easy as it may seem, here are some outtakes of the process :)

The skaters weren't difficult to capture on film as I could stay stationary for a little while.  Though the rockstar was difficult to capture.

Here is what I turned in for the newsletter-

Starting on your right side, get into skater form pushing off your foot jumping into rockstar and then landing in skater form on your left side.  Do 20 reps total, moving back and forth each time.  Use your yoga mat as a guide/goal for how wide these skaters should be.

See Jane Run Half Marathon recap

I've realized I'm not so good at race recaps and I don't take photos while running the race either.  I did, however, take enough photos to do a photo race recap.

I'm not sure of my official time yet-I've checked and they weren't online yesterday.  It wasn't my best run, though it was my 2nd best.  It was hot out there on Saturday.  And the 8am start time didn't bother me until we started running.  By 9am, I have no idea what the temp was but it slowed me down significantly.  I think I would have done better had the race started an hour or an hour and a half earlier.  This was my 8th half marathon and I learned your body can do anything you put your mind to.  I didn't train as much as I should have.  I do tons of crosstraining-I teach spinning classes and go to crossfit 2x a week.  I need to find a way to add running back into my routine as I don't want to give up running these races.  Running is like nothing else and you should train for running.  My endurance was there-thankfully it helped me cross the finish line.  My first 6 miles were great.  I guess the 10ks and 5ks I'm signed up for will go really well :)

I hope to complete 10 half marathons by my 30th birthday.

And without further ado, here are my photos of See Jane Run Half Marathon.

 

I have the dreaded running pants tan.  I get it every year.  I need to even this out soon though-I have an event at the end of the month that I need to be in a dress.

See Jane Run Half Marathon

Tomorrow I will be running a half marathon at 8am.  I've been mentally prepared for this for a few weeks.

These past few weeks I've upped my workouts.  Crossfit 2x a week, spinning 2-3x a week, running and I've added in a bootcamp class or two as well.

As much as rest is necessary the week prior, duty called and I worked out Monday thru Friday and on on Friday I did a double workout.

I'll make my running playlist tonight and hope to finish.  My last half was in September 2012. 

Here's to running!

Monday Motivation-Pinterest style

I love me some pinterest.  And I thought I'd share some of my fave inspiration I've been liking/pinning over the last few months.

New PR's

I'm loving my new schedule.  Not only am I going to crossfit consistently 2x a week, I'm spinning 2-3x a week.  Getting the cardio in.

Adding in bootcamp, where I'm squatting or doing core every day I'd say that I'm in a good place.

A couple weeks ago, my crossfit box tested our 1 rep maxes again.

I managed to get a 1rm snatch of 75#.  And 1rm floor press of 115#.  All in the same day.

The next workout I got a 1rm jerk of 120#.  And 1rm deadlift of 205#.  I went up 20# in my deadlift.

I haven't tested my front squat in forever.  And since I don't go on Monday or Tuesday, I'm missing out on back squats.

I administered a fit test in bootcamp today and this got me thinking about benchmark tests.  And I wanted to post my newest benchmarks.

Weekend workouts

For my friend's birthday, we headed to a hotel in San Jose and hung out by the pool and walked around downtown for drinks and noms.

In between drinking both days, we managed to fit in a great workout.  Saturday was her birthday so among everything else we did 33 burpees.  And the deck of death.  Have you heard of this?  Each suit represents an exercise, you shuffle and draw one card at a time and the number corresponds with the rep number.

We did plank tucks, sit ups, squat jacks and cross countries.  We use ankle bands for all exercises.

After that, I did Roxanne with them.  Love holding plank and doing push ups for over 3 minutes.  What a burner.

We did some lateral squat walks and wall sits with one leg up.  It was a great workout.

On Sunday, we were up early again and headed out for a run. No one had a mile tracker but we ran about 2.5 miles for about 35 minutes.

Weekend workouts make you feel good.  Though my body is feeling it as I usually have Sunday as a rest day.  Tonight I have spinning and I'm hoping to run tomorrow too.

Champagne

I woke up on Thursday feeling good.  I knew what was ahead for the day and I was looking forward to it.  When I brought dinner over to a friend's house, I said why not champagne. 

Champagne isn't for special events.  So we popped the bottle of champagne and I beat him in gin rummy.  Our series is 3 - 0 with me in the lead. 

It's been quite warm her in the Bay Area in the afternoons and sometimes a beer won't do.  I'd had a cold red and white blend of wine from Tess for dinner the night before. 

I'm loving the warmer weather and can't wait for my allergies to stop acting up so I can continue getting out there and running.

Going to the game

5k and allergies

I went to crossfit on Wednesday expecting a great crosstraining workout to get me ready for a training run on Thursday.  I walk in and read the board-push press for strength and the WOD is 5k.

Now throughout my journey I've run many of 5ks since I've ran a marathon and several half marathons.  And sometimes I quit running for one reason or another but a 5k is still a great distance.  Never had I imagined I'd do a 5k as a workout and not something I trained for.

I'm not a fast runner.  I'm consistent and want to be faster.  I need to train to get faster.  I started out feeling great-I hadn't had much breakfast (my own fault) and it was warm out even by 9am.  The first mile was around 8:45 I believe.  Good pace for me.  I would have loved to keep that pace.  For the 5k, we had to run the same block 6 times.  Yes 6 times.  I hate lap running.  I'd rather have an out and back anytime over lap running.  Around the 3rd or 4th lap I started to feel a cold sweat come on and feel clamy.  I told my coach as I went by for the 5th lap and she said keep up your pace.  I don't remember what the time she called out for that was.

As I came back around for my 6th and final lap, I was determined to finish no matter the time.  I walked a little during those last two laps-hoping to feel a little better.  The cold sweats never stopped. I finished though.  With a time of 28:07.  I'm happy with that time.  I didn't train.  I didn't eat well.  I felt awful.  I did it though.  I'm strong and completed a 5k without warning on a Wednesday. 

As I was driving home to quickly shower to meet friends for an afternoon out in the sun, I started to sneeze. Not 5 times, or 10 times.  I quit counting after 15.  I think it was near 25 times.  Allergies got me.  I think it was the run.  We were running at 9:30a in the heat where pollen has been bad.  I was stuffy and congested all day.  You know, spending the day outdoors while already sneezing is a grand idea. (insert sarcasm here).

After I got home for dinner, I took another allergy decongestant and felt better instantly.  Now I'm ensuring I never leave home without the allergy medicine and I won't hesitate to take a 2nd one if I'm feeling particularly miserable.

Fun plank idea

I got this idea from a co-worker a few months ago and finally tried it out in my bootcamp class this AM.

Play the song "Roxanne" and do a plank the entire length of the song.  3:14 is the length I had.  Then when you hear "Roxanne" do a push up and right back into plank.  I believe there are 26 Roxannes in the song. 

Try it some time and enjoy!!

I did this with the bootcampers this morning and it was tough.

Happy Friday!!

May fitness challenge

Sometimes you just need an extra push. 

I googled for May Fitness challenge and found an Ab one that I'm going to do.  It involves lots of planks and push ups.  I do tricep push ups so hopefully my arms will look that much better when summer arrives.

Check out the calendar (the site I got it from is on the calendar) I'll be following this month-ready to plank!?

Getting back into it

Wow - a break up and a move really take it out of a person.  I'm back!!!

I've been keeping busy with work.  I have started teaching 5 days a week at 5:30a (hello naps during the day) and trying to add more classes to my schedule all the time.  (Bootcamp and spin teacher for hire?)  I'm getting TRX certified in June-hoping to add another class or just fun elements into my bootcamp classes.

Spinning 2-3x a week is great for my endurance.  I did a 10k race a couple of weeks ago and was not sore at all.

I'm keeping up with crossfit at 2x a week.  I'd love to up it to 3x a week but currently have a bootcamp at the same time.  Might look at the schedule to add in a Tuesday class.  Hello looking cute for summer.

I ran the San Jose 408k and had a great time.  This was also the day after I ran the NWM 10k-sync a run from the weekend.  My legs were definitely sore that following Monday.

In April, I headed down with friends to Santa Cruz to race another 10k.  I finished in an hour-which was my goal.  Not my fastest but certainly not my slowest either.

My goal is to complete 13 races for 2013...I have a warrior dash, a couple more 5ks and possibly another 10k.  And a half marathon-that I announced yesterday on the resurrected blog o mine.

I've been toying with the idea of Paleo recently-though I love beer (I'm on untappd) and the occasional indulgence of french fries.  Though I was once told 80% paleo is still better than 100% crap.  I might draw up some guidelines for myself.  I don't believe in making yourself crave/want something and torturing yourself.  I usually do good for about a month and then give in.  

That pretty much sums up my life at the current time-next time I'll dig deeper into some crossfit PRs and workouts.

See Jane Ambassador

It's officially official.  I'm an ambassador for See Jane Run.

June 8th in Alameda will be my first half marathon of the year and another race on my quest to finish 13 events in 2013.

And who doesn't want to run a race with chocolate and champagne at the end?  Join me, there's also a 5k option.

100th post

This is my 100th post.  I can't believe I'm still posting to even get to 100. 

And today we're talking about crossfit.  I'm currently signed up on a plan to attend 2x a week.  This past week, I had to teach on Friday instead of attending my favorite women's WOD.  So I asked if I could come MWF of this week to make up for missing that one day.  I'm a little nervous about 3x this week, as I haven't done 3x a week for quite some time now.

Even though yesterday was a holiday, there was no resting/slacking/relaxing at crossfit. 

Our WOD was this:

Why yes, that does say 10 burpees with a 25 lb plate.  And yes it was as insane as it sounds.

My backsquats felt heavy but were good.  I went with my 3RM of 185 and did these weights: 135, 155 and 160.  I did calculate my % but for math sake, I always round.  I'm sure that's bad but it's easy :)

My time for the WOD of 3 rounds was 10:27 which I'm quite pleased with.  I wasn't sure how much time it would take for those awful burpees with that extra weight. 

After crossfit, I headed to San Jose to go on a hike with my friend and her dog.  It was a great adventure as we went off trail so he could run around off the leash.  I'm sure we walked anywhere between 3-4 miles.  The first half was all up hill and I only used the dog to guide me up for a little while.

Motivational Friday

Being in fitness, I know that people (and myself included) sometimes have a tough time finding the motivation to actually put on your workout clothes and get out the door.

And being the Pinterest fan that I am, I'll share my favorite recent motivational posters. 

2013 events

As the year started, I made a goal of running so many miles in a week.  And yet that goal feel at the waist side as I found myself in a break up and finding a place to live. 

The only reasonable thing to do at that point was to sign up for events.  The first was a 10k in April.  Then I found the 5k Drenched in LA in July.  Yes it'll be a fun little road trip. 

Then last night in my stressed and sad state, I registered for the 408k in San Jose in March and the NWM 10k the same weekend.  Yes I'm running a 10k on a Saturday and then a 8k on Sunday.  It'll be a good weekend.

I'm still considering Tough Mudder.  I want to run at least 1 half marathon, maybe 2.  And many more 5ks and 10ks.  This will be my year of running.

I'm hoping once things settle down, I'll be ready to run on a weekly basis.  Right now, I'm biking about 40 - 45 miles a week with spin classes.  I'm doing crossfit 2x a week.  I'm not being lazy, just prioritizing other things. 

I've found an apartment and will be moving this week.  I don't know how long it'll take to move as I have to buy a new bed and get it delivered.  And a couch. 

This list is a list in progress so I'll be updating you as the year goes on.  For now, my first race is March 9th and 10th.  Here goes nothing!

WOD catch up

I feel like I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off.  If I'm not teaching a class, I'm programming for another or I'm working out myself.  Or I'm looking for an apartment.  Or cultivating friendships b/c at a time like this, all you need is your friends.

It's so hard to put into words how some things make you feel.  The mere thought of burpees makes me cringe and then seeing it on a WOD at crossfit really makes me not feel so well.  I know how great burpees are for you.  I get it.  They are not fun though.  I know I program burpees into workouts-they are great full body workouts.  You can't go wrong with them.

I'm about 2 weeks behind on my workouts.  So without further ado, here are the last two weeks of workouts.

Another great workout.  I am so bad at pull ups that I was sore for days.  My weights for the olympic lifts were 65#, 75#, 85#, 75#, and 75#.  I realized quickly that the 85# wasn't a smooth transition for me and I wanted to work on form.  I finished the WOD in 8:49.

This was a great workout.  We didn't keep time as we had a lot of girls using 2 tires.  I couldn't believe how much this hurt even with taking a rest to make sure we were all on the same round.  My cleans were 65#, 85# and 90#.

A 7 minute WOD was no joke. I got to the round with 12 reps but only 9 pull ups.  The strength portion of that day was modified to 5 sets of 10 chin ups.  My lats were sore for days.  Still are!

Such a great Friday workout.  I did 135# on all 5 sets of deadlifts.  It was heavy enough that I wanted to take weight off but coach told me to push through.  And I'm so glad I stuck with it.  The WOD was killer.  We had a head wind on the 2nd part of the 400m.  I finished in 14:11.

This past week, we switched from Tu/Fr class schedule to a MWF class schedule.  I teach on Mondays, so I'll be going every Wednesday and Friday.  However, I have a spin class 30 mins after the end of my crossfit class.  It was an interesting transition to go from lifting and sweating to pedaling and more sweating.  I know that I can program less standing on the bike as my legs are normally shot from crossfit.  Wednesday was no exception.  Though I'll see what results I start getting from these 2 a days.

Now that it seems to be getting warmer, I've got to start incorporating some running into the mix.  I have a hunch I'll be signing up for some more events in the near future.  Stay tuned...

Monday Spin

Today was a looooooong day.

I started with being an assistant coach to a 5:30a bootcamp class.  My next class was at 9a and I usually will come home and nap.  Today I couldn't  nap as I had to put some finishing touches on a presentation I had at 10a, right after my class.  So I powered through the morning and got it done.

I'm looking for a place to live and seem attached to my email at all times.  Either emailing new places or anxiously waiting to hear back about the million places I've already emailed.

I'm also teaching tomorrow at 5:30a, 6:30a and 11a so I had to make sure my programming was done prior to me crashing from exhaustion.

I've been teaching spinning on Monday nights for a while now.  I'm transitioning into a regular spin teacher into one that has a tri club doing their brick workouts during my class.  They will ride for 15 minutes, change their shoes and transition to their run for 7 minutes before getting back on the bike.  I'm learning so much about triathlon training while figuring this all out.

Today was one of those Mondays where I felt that I couldn't keep my head above water.  Everyone needed something.  Not everyone was nice about it.  And I was plain exhausted by the time my class came around.  However, I did manage to knock out 25 miles in my class tonight.  I was super stoked that I was able to get that many miles in with the exhaustion I was feeling.  I did come home and eat and work some more.  I must say, it's early to bed for me as I have that early class again tomorrow morning.

Friday's WOD

Today's WOD was tough. 

Starting with the warm up.  Tire flips, push ups and mountain climbers into a hip stretch.  3 rounds.  These definitely warmed me up and I was removing my long sleeves off.  Next we had deadlifts.  I lifted 85#, 105#, 115#. 

And then came the WOD.  a heavy push press.  We did 75#.  And then we did rowing.  Keeping track of the calories for the whole WOD.  So the way the partner WOD worked, I started with the push press and she started on the rower.  Once I was done with the push press, I went to the rower and rowed until she completed the push press.  There were some push presses that lead to failure, not getting over my head.  I didn't give up though.  I rested for less than a minute and picked that barbell back up.

Though it was good to be pushed hard and heavy.  We completed in 12:07 and for a total of 125 calories on the rower. 

Tuesday's WOD

I look forward to Tuesdays.  It's the Women's Only WOD at my crossfit and I have a lunchtime bootcamp that I teach right after.

I wanted to make chili so I set my alarm a little earlier to brown the beef and put it in the slow cooker.  I  knew it would be ready by lunchtime and it's great for leftovers.

Today's workout was a good one.

The warm up was a good one.  I've just started doing these walk walks and man, they are tough.

My 1RM for backsquat is 201 so my lifts were 90#, 100# and 120#.  It's a deload week and it was heavy enough to get through those 5 at the end.

And the WOD.  My lower back has been hurting and I think I've been compensating in deadlifts so I asked to use a lower weight.  So I did the WOD with 115#.  The 3 minutes of rest was so welcome.  After the first round, it was just enough rest.  Though between round 2 and 3, I think it was too long.  The run first was killer for those burpees at the end.  My final time was 17:36.

I then headed to teach bootcamp.  It's outdoors and near the water in South San Francisco.  It's a 45 minute class and it's great.  I decided during crossfit that I was going to do a plank a day.  We sometimes do a plank in our warm up and we did today. Though since I was feeling good (must have been those endorphins) I decided to do a plank with my class.  So day 1, I did 2 planks each 1 min long. #plankaday

Catching Up

Wow, when you slack one day on blogging, it is harder to come back to it.  So here's a huge catch up post from mid-November til now.

I started a new crossfit box. And I love it. I should have been posting all my times with these WODs.  That's a goal for the new year.  I've attached some photos of our WODs.  We just tested our 1RMs on deadlift, backsquat and strict press.  I'm happy to report I am now part of the 200 club in the back squat.  201# to be exact.  195# on deadlift and 75# on strict press. 

I did run the Turkey Trot in Memphis over Thanksgiving.  And I hit a new PR.  I love hitting all these new PRs last year.  2013 is a whole new year and a year for more PRs.  2012 I ran in 37:39 and in 2011 I ran in 39:11.  That's a win in my book.  However, I haven't ran any in the new year.  I want to set a monthly mileage goal for myself to really get me outside and running.

I've been obsessed with mac and cheese lately.  It's such a great comfort food.  And there are so many ways to make it.  Here's a picture of one of the ones I had while on our New Years trip to Tahoe.

2012 was the year I realized how much I love fitness.  I'm still studying to be a Certified Personal Trainer and I'm loving teaching all of my classes.  I've picked up 2 more classes in January and am just finding a routine with my crazy schedule.  I'm not sure how it happened, but my weeks are really front loaded with classes leaving me with Fridays free. 

I think that's a great catch up post.  I've been a little sick all weekend and have been trying to relax and sleep.  It's harder than it sounds.  Hope everyone is having a Happy New Year!