mom.wife.fitness.LIFE

Sprints and Hills- A workout

Marcia @MomWifeFitnessLIFE — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:42:22 +0000

I took my running workout inside today. I will admit that I looked ahead at the weather forecast, and it had rain/sleet and snow. No thanks……

We had hills on schedule for Run Camp Tuesday. I decided to do some sprints and hills on the treadmill.

source

Warm up: 1.13 miles total. I walked .13 and ran for 1 mile at about a 10 minute pace. (6.0 mph)

Sprints: .25 miles and recover for .25 miles. Repeat for a total of 3 sprints. ( 7.3-8.4)

Hills: Incline 4% speed: 6.5-7.5 mph. hills for 45 seconds. recover for 1:15. Repeat for a total for 3 hills.

Cool down: 1 mile 10 minute mile pace.

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Make sure to challenge yourself during your sprints and hills. My incline of 4% is realistic for the hills in the races that I participate in. If your hills are 10% grade – by all means… take your incline up and my apologies to you. More importantly, be safe on the treadmill! This workout can also be done outdoors. It would be easier to do it on a track that has measurements…… and a hill that mimics your goal.

Warm up – 1 mile

Work phase 2 miles

Cool down 1 mile

This took me about 41 minutes total.

*please do this workout at your own risk. Ask a doctor, professional runner, or phone a friend.*

A successful 16 mile run!

Marcia @MomWifeFitnessLIFE — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:41:53 +0000

Andi and I ran a rather spectacular 16 miler on Sunday. It’s been a while since I said 16 mile run and spectacular in the same sentence. The last time we ran 16 together? Everything that could have gone way wrong; did. It was in late summer -early fall if I remember correctly. Lost running partner ( we blame Trevor), forgotten Garmin, too many hills to count, it was hot, we got lost while running ( normal for us), hip issues for Andi, and breathing issues for me. We were a collective HOT MESS! Naturally, I blocked this out of my mind. And, naturally Andi was there to remind me of this!

I don’t think we even knew we had a great run until it was done. We both went into Sunday kind of not wanting to run 16 miles. We both don’t normally have the same bad attitude at the same time. Or do we?? Who knows, but on this day we would have both rather been sleeping at 5:30 am ( wake up time) instead of prepping for a run.

61 days! I think it's too soon to start the countdown....

Garmin Stats

My Garmin stats are not correct going into the last 1 mile or so. I am not sure what happened, but it gave me credit for mile 15 when we were probably only at mile 14.90 or so. I ran a bit over 16 to make sure I actually ran 16. Duh.

I think this was a confidence booster for both of us during this marathon training. I have not trained for 26.2 since 2009. It was a pretty good year for me (I got quite a few PR’s. Oh, and I qualified for Boston….sigh) and of course it would be pretty damn awesome to do that again, I am not counting on doing it this year. Realistically, I might have to change some things in my life ( as in not teach a butt load of classes – I love my job. and actually recover adequately). So until a few things change, I will continue to do my best with training and racing. Here’s to MORE successful long runs!

When was your last SPECTACULAR workout or run?

Glass City Half Marathon 2011 --- We thought we might add another 13.1miles this year....

A Craptastic 5K

andigilbert — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 18:27:05 +0000

Today Trevor and I ran a 5k together. Trev has been wanting to run a race together for awhile and since he rarely runs, a 5k is a good distance for him (he is a natural runner and does really well even without running a lick!!!). The temps weren’t too bad for a run, but the roads had a thin sheet of ice on them (as always, the day before the race was sunny, beautiful, and roads were clear…ugh!). I haven’t done a 5k in nearly a year and have been stuck in the slow pace of my long distance runs. I have been anxious about doing anything with speed.

The start of the race was indoors which meant that my Garmin had no satellite reception…this is not good, I like to know my pace and distance…and remember, I’m very obsessive! I literally started the race and then stopped for a good 30+ seconds hoping to get my satellite working. Ha! Trevor said, “Are you serious?”…You better believe I am! Eventually, I gave up and just started running again…annoying! I ran a comfortable(ish) pace and didn’t feel like I wanted to pick it up too much on the slick roads, and I honestly just felt defeated by my slow pace, which was a minute slower than last year…that’s pretty darn significant! I have been so frustrated with my training for a while. With the number of classes that I teach five days in a row, (plus keeping up with kids), I never feel like I am recovered. I’m always worn down before I even start. I can’t see that changing any time soon either. I need the pay check, which means I have to teach the classes. Even scaling back a bit in the classes (which is hard for me) doesn’t seem to help.

Well, enough of the Debbie Downer, it wasn’t all bad today…I got first in my age group. I’m trying to be happy with that (Marcia called me a bad name, which I can’t repeat, because of my rotten attitude…I deserved it though). I honestly would rather come in last place and be happy with my time, than come in first and wish I had been faster. A highlight of the morning however was the kid’s fun run. 4 of our 5 kiddos participated (the girls really wanted Ronald to run the kid’s run too…they were sure he would get first place. Ha!). They weren’t very excited about the run the past few days (Hamilton was upset that we didn’t even ask him if he wanted to), but they all did great and had a lot of fun. The best part for them, of course, was the free food after the run.

So that’s that. First 5k of the season is in the books…now back to marathon training (first thing tomorrow morning)!

Wordless Wednesday

Marcia @MomWifeFitnessLIFE — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:54:54 +0000

V day flowers

2nd attempt at Overnight Oats---success!

Father /Daughter Dance

Huntin'

Brrrr!

Metabolic Workouts

Marcia @MomWifeFitnessLIFE — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:21:53 +0000

Andi and I keep hearing a lot about these Metabolic workouts. It’s all over the internet as well as in health and fitness magazines. You might remember my quest to 10 minutes of The Burpee Chain Row? Well I still have to complete 9 minutes and then it’s on to 10!

We both decided to do metabolic workouts in our classes tonight to see how our participants like them. I chose to do a “Metabolic Finisher” and Andi chose to do the bulk of her class as a metabolic workout.

Metabolic Finishers: are intense exercises performed at the end of the workout that’s designed to ensure that you’ve burnt every last drop of gas from the tank. Research has found that this type of training will keep you burning calories up to 38 hours after you finish exercising. They will test your mental toughness and always provide a challenge.

Marcia’s class- Cardio Mix which is a mix of cardio and weight training. I will say that today’s class was one of the toughest they have done in this 8 week session. They are on week 7, so that’s how it should be! ;-) They did a lot of stair running, jumping jacks with a body bar, lunges, and tons of weighted shoulder work. Not to forget the many reps of biceps and triceps. Oh, and the push ups! They totally kicked butt today! Before class officially started I let them know about the metabolic finisher to be done after the real workout. I told them it would help to bust through plateaus. I gave them a choice between 5 minutes of the Burpee Chain Row or 5 minutes of a different metabolic finisher( that had squat thrusts, mountain climbers, squats and speed skips). They chose the Burpee Chain Row because they thought it would be easier. ( ha!). Off they went!

Burpee Chain Row

They survived ~~barely~~, but they loved the challenge once it was over. They felt they accomplished something big, and I felt that way too. They did so well!! They don’t know it yet, but we will do another one next week! ;-)

Metabolic workout- The short definition of metabolic training is completing structural and compound exercises with little rest in between exercises in an effort to maximize calorie burn and increase metabolic rate during and after the workout.

Andi’s class-My class was a TRX class. I had a long warm up with some dynamic stretching to start getting the heart rates up and to get the muscles all warmed up for a quick, intense TRX circuit.

The warm-up went as follows…

Walking lunges with rotation (length of the gym floor)

Walking knee lifts w/ arm swings (swinging arms forward for one floor length, then swinging arms backwards on the return trip)

Hip cross over

Scorpions

Lateral lunges

The workout circuit went as follows (30sec ea w/ little to no rest between sets and most everything done w/ TRX. They were pushed to get heart rates up and then move through it with more intensity)…

speed squats, atomic push-ups, bicep clutch, cross body mt climbers, low rows, speed squats w/ side leg lifts, power jacks, chest press, glute table, plank to pike, and quick feet

They moved through it quickly and their heart rates stayed nice and high as they moved from one exercise to the next. I explained the entire circuit before having them actually do it so there was little need to take breaks while I explained what to do next. I did a little cueing and gave reminders to keep good form. They were able to complete the circuit two times and we finished with some static stretching.

Added benefit to metabolic training: Numerous studies have also shown that metabolic training better increases your hormonal profile than aerobic exercise. In particular, hormones that accelerate fat loss respond very well via this type of strength training program.

TRX Pike

Life, Goals and kids

Marcia @MomWifeFitnessLIFE — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 03:28:04 +0000

I am still on the mend! For the most part I feel so much better. I still have 4 days of the antibiotic to go ~~and the side effect rash to prove it~~! Needless to say, I did not meet most of my goals for last week. Mostly, due to illness. Oh, well. Life happens!

This week I did not write down my goals and so far I have met them all. I am not sure what that means because the experts say you will have better success if you put your goals on ~~the internet~~ on paper.

Sunday- off. Matt took me to dinner at Carrabba’s. It was delicious!

Monday- early morning lifting session, plus a metabolic finisher. 2 sets — speed squats, squat thrusts, mountain climbers and speed skips. 20 seconds on 10 seconds off for a total of 5 minutes. It was rough. I loved it.

Spin class at 10 am. This months theme is 13.1 miles. Today we biked the Lake Tahoe half marathon. Last week we were in San Francisco and next week we will be in Maui.

Tuesday- Speed work on the treadmill. It was hard. I would have rather been outdoors, but again, life happens so Andi and I found ourselves on the mill running like crazy people. After the warm up I ran 1 fastish mile…. recovered for 400 meters. I repeated this 2 more times and then cooled down. I ended up running a little over 5 miles.

Amara has her 2nd grade concert this Thursday. She will be singing a top secret duet! She had a solo last year and it was top secret then too. She refuses to sing or practice it at home. Next Thursday she has a guitar recital. She does not seem the least bit nervous either- I found out why…she will be singing there too! I thought it was a guitar recital?? Her answer: MOM it is, I just get to sing too. Oh, well duh! We are very proud of our girl. I was honestly not sure how well Matt would like her being artsy as opposed to sporty. * the girl can run, but she might not want to continue it –who knows* He is actually very OK with it. She is trying a lot of things out, sports included. She is only 7, so we think its really best for her to jump around to what she thinks she might like now and see what happens. She loves art and to sew too. She actually sewed her Barbie an outfit 2 weeks ago. I can sew on a button if begged.

I made it myself!

Miles is still crazy. He is really coming into his own lately. He is a very loving, FUNNY, energetic ( up at 7 am with a dimpled smile and takes off running…literally), happy, caring and smart 4 year old. Matt and I already know we will be getting many letters sent home or phone calls from school….. is it bad to ~~know~~ assume that already?? Or are we just being proactive??? I don’t know. He starts Kindergarten this fall. Matt asked me what am I going to do all day with my buddy gone? After Matt left the room, I cried. ( Don’t tell him). Home school?? I don’t even want to think about it!

Happy Valentine's Day! <3

Valentine’s Day

andigilbert — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:57:05 +0000

I really thought our Valentine’s Day was going to be like any other day…and I was great with that! We have a really tight budget, a busy life, and kids…we don’t have time for these silly holiday’s and we are much too practical for that nonsense. Well, that’s what I thought anyway. When I went to get my daily dose of “Spark,” I opened the container and was surprised to find a love note neatly folded and placed in the canister. Trevor, through our years together, has become notorious for sweet, funny letters (last month he went to the trouble of mailing a thank you letter addressed to me from our dog…the kids thought it was hilarious…I may have gotten a laugh or two out of it as well). I went about my morning racing around trying to get to the gym for a morning run. When I opened my make-up bag, I discovered yet another sweet letter full of words of love and admiration…so thoughtful. I later discovered throughout the day that Trevor had planted multiple letters for me to discover (in my ipad case, in my wallet, in the cookie container…a little offended that he assumed I would be in the cookie container today. Ha!) Apparently there is one more letter floating out there, but Trev can’t remember where he put it. Haha! It’s not easy getting old, is it honey. Well, so much for going about the day ignoring the holiday. As if the love letters weren’t enough, when I arrived home for the evening after teaching a class, I was greeted by my children dressed in all black and offering to take my coat and bag. They proceeded to escort me into the the living room where I found a small table that was set for two, a candle, and a cozy warm fire in the fireplace. Trevor and I were served heart-shaped homemade pizzas at our fireside table while the kids waited on us. We finished off our meal by sharing desserts from the bakery at Martha’s Vineyard. The day that started out being like any other day ended up being filled with little surprises and a number of moments where I was reminded of why I chose the man I did nearly 15 years ago. Happy Valentines Day!

The yummy pizza

The Wait Staff

It’s kinda like swallowing razors……………………..

Marcia @MomWifeFitnessLIFE — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:52:13 +0000

Or streptococcal better known as strep throat. Yep, I got it!

I have been down and out with Step Throat of all things! It was horrible! I felt a minor sore throat on Saturday afternoon and it slowly got worse. I finally went to the doctor on Tuesday and she gave me the bad news. I had no fever or cough or anything else. She even seemed a bit surprised that I had strep. I couldn’t really eat anything without pain. Yes, even the two shakes and fruit smoothie I had went down painfully on Tuesday. The whole not eating thing is my worst nightmare. It came true. I can deal with the whole no sleep thing ( I have 2 kids who were once newborns…)

I probably and hopefully “caught” it from Amara. She has swollen glands and was put on an antibiotic, but tested negative for strep, but you never know. I just hope nobody else gets it because I now know how awful it is! I am glad my meds kicked in as soon as they did.

My last workout was on Monday. I canceled my Cardio Mix class and found subs for my other two classes ( thanks Andi and Wendi). I woke up today with no throat pain ( yay!) but with a stuffed up nose and congestion. What the heck?!?! Oh well, it feels better then the razor blades.

I wanted to workout this morning, even just walking on the treadmill, but i knew it was probably not the best idea. I have to teach spin in the morning so I will be fine until then. Just trying to give my body the time it needs to recover and heal.

Things I had to do while I was sick

Allow Miles to play on the computer, watch cartoons and play his Leapster Explorer for as long as he wanted ( which was a long time)

Eat what I could. I have not had a shake from a fast food joint in who knows how long…..I had 2 in one day. My stomach was not happy about that, but my throat was for the 3 minutes the shakes lasted!

My "breakfast" at 12 noon. My "dinner" was a strawberry shake at 8:30pm.

Frown a lot.

Take a nap at 6 pm.

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* Edited to add. I worked out! Yup, Matt and I met at the gym during Amara’s guitar lesson and we worked out against my better judgement. Actually, come to think of it, I am glad I went against what I said earlier ( as in a few hours earlier….) I just took it easy, learned some new things and still believe I got in a quality 20 minute full body routine. Score! For some odd reason, even while sick I almost always feel better while working out. It’s as if my body forgets that I am sick. Same thing when I was pregnant. No, there was no forgetting I was pregnant, but I was pretty much nauseous with Miles for 5 months straight. Unless I was working out or eating. Now that the workout is over my head is full and my nose is running. Weird, but true.

Here’s to being healthy again ( almost)!!!

Saturday’s run and “Virtual Run”

andigilbert — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 02:23:09 +0000

Our run this weekend was a 14 miler. What a great day for it too! The weather was pretty mild (30’s) and the sun was shining (although not when you start your run at 6:30am :-/ ) We had more miles planned than the group we were running with, so we started early with the goal running 7. We didn’t do too badly, we ended our first leg with about 6.75 miles under our belt. We put in the last 7.25 miles with our Run Camp group, which joined with an even bigger group of runners for the free Riverbank training run. The run went really well. I’ve been dealing with a sick family for the past week and a half (if something hits our family, it will hit us one at a time, so it feels like it drags on forever!). I didn’t officially get what they got, but instead I had days of nausea, no appetite and exhaustion…not fun! Saturday was the first day in a week that I finally felt “good”. Knowing how weak my body was all week, I went in to the run half way expected to bow out after the first half. I was so happy I felt good and was able to keep going…as I’ve stated before, I like things to go as planned!

More importantly…

This weekend in particular, I felt like it was important to run; Marcia and I participated in a “virtual run” to celebrate the life of another runner who was tragically killed last month. She was out for a run and was abducted and murdered only about a mile from her home in Montana. Among other things, she was a wife, a mom, a teacher, and a runner. Her cousin, and author of the blog “shut up + run”, organized a virtual run, complete with race bibs, to honor her memory. Thanks to the many people spreading the news across various social media, the virtual run spread globally! Countless runners across the globe ran this weekend to honor the memory of Sherry. It was very special to be a part of something so powerful. My family has suffered a very similar tragedy, so it felt pretty personal for me and it was something I knew I needed to support.

Sunday Set up and the Long Run

Marcia @MomWifeFitnessLIFE — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 02:00:27 +0000

Goals for last week:

Monday: Spin and Totally Toned

Tuesday: Cardio Mix and Running

Wednesday: Spin and Core/Stretching

Thursday: Easy cardio and stretching

Friday: Spin and Spin

Saturday: Long Run

Sunday: Off OR bike

How last week actually went:

Monday: Spin and ~~Totally Toned~~ (I did not participate in Totally Toned)

Tuesday: Cardio Mix and Running (Yes! Hill training during Run Camp)

Wednesday: Spin and Core/Stretching ( I forgot to add Cardio Sculpt )

Thursday: ~~Easy~~ cardio and stretching ( Spin class…Andi was out caring for her sick daughter. I did stretch!)

Friday: Spin and Spin ( yes and yes and full body in my living room)

Saturday: Long Run ( 14 miles!)

Sunday: Off OR bike ( I did core for 15 minutes)

Things to improve on this week is definitely stretching!!!

Sunday Set up for Feb 6th – 12th

Monday: Run and lift -Spin and Totally Toned

Tuesday: Cardio Mix and Running

Wednesday: Spin and Cardio Sculpt

Thursday: Easy cardio and stretching

Friday: Spin

Saturday: Long Run

Sunday: Off OR bike STRETCH

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Andi and I ran 14 miles on Saturday. Things are starting to get serious. It was a beautiful day in West Michigan. Unseasonably warm. It was in the high 30′s while we ran. It was weird, but awesome. We kept about a 10 minute mile pace. We pushed it for the last 3 miles to about 9:30 pace ( a guess), but it felt really good. I can’t believe I am running another marathon. I just hope come marathon day ( April 22) the weather is similar to what is was on Saturday. Now, that would be awesome.