More of the same..

Here I am. Blogging used to be so easy to squeeze in here and there. I'm not sure what happened, but it's slipping farther and farther down the priority list. To those who still come here from time to time, I apologize. But, I do want to keep this site going, so here's an update....

Monday, 1/10 - Run, 2 miles
Normally, I'd get out and run my miles in the wee hours of the morning. But, the temps were in the 30s and it seemed like such a waste to get out in the cold for 2 measly miles. :-) I ended up running my 2-miler on the indoor track at the gym on my lunch break. Funny thing - I usually wear my ipod on the indoor track and the treadmill. I forgot my ipod, so I was dreading this run. But, I found that this was one of my better runs on the indoor track. Everything "clicked" and I wanted to do more. Honestly, I think that using my ipod screws up my stride...I try to get the bpm for the songs to be in the same range, but it can be hard. I think I speed up and slow down depending on the song. I really like running without the music better!

Tuesday, 1/11 -P90X Chest and Back & Spin Class & Ab Ripper X
After doing P90X for the past 6+ months, I decided to step it up a bit. Instead of using bands for the chin-ups, I finally bought this....



Sorry for the crappy pic from my phone - that's a chin up bar. Time to stop being a wimp! :-)

At lunch I headed to spin class. The instructor stepped it up a bit - a lot more tension, lots of intervals and hill climbs. Good stuff!

Once the kiddos were tucked into bed, I did P90X Ab Ripper X. Gotta work that core!

Wednesday, 1/12 - Run, speedwork - 10 miles 8 miles
The Hubby was out of town starting on Tuesday for a hunting trip. What does this mean? It means that if I want to run, I have to do it either during lunch or after the kiddos are in bed. That doesn't really leave time for 10 MILES. Right? Now, I did consider taking the baby monitor outside and running loops around my backyard just to get in a few miles after work.

Really, I did.

But, I decided against it. Why? 1) My backyard is not that big... it probably would have taken me 25 laps to equal 1 mile (can we say monotonous?) and 2) it was going to be the coldest day of the winter thus far (26 degrees...stop laughing you Northerners, that's cold for the South!). So instead, I ran 5 miles at lunch on the indoor track - 1 mile warm up, then 3 miles of intervals (3 loops fast, 2 loops slow), then 1 mile cool down (total time - 49:47). Then, after the kiddos were tucked into their beds, I ran 3 miles on the treadmill (29:27).

Thursday, 1/13 - Rest day
'Nuff said.

Friday, 1/14 - P90X Shoulders and Arms / Spin
4:15 wake up call for P90X! I know I've said this before, but this is my favorite P90X workout.

I was going to try for lunchtime spin class, but shiznit happens, right? Decided to work through lunch. Maybe I'll wait until after the Houston 1/2 to pick up a 2nd spin class....

Have an AWESOME weekend, ya'll!!!

Flexibility

I am a typical type A personality. I like schedules. This week, I've had a few lunch meetings, so I had to try my best to be flexible...luckily, the hubby is very far from type A and he helps balance out this OCD thing I have with schedules.

Wednesday, 9/22 - Run
I usually run on Tuesday and Thursdays during lunch at the gym at work (nice, right?), but this week I had lunch meetings. Fortunately, I knew this far enough in advance to plan ahead! ('Cause I'm a planner like that.) So, I managed to get in a run at the gym on Wednesday instead. I did a warm-up mile, then 2 laps fast (relatively speaking) followed by 1 slow x4, then a cool down. All in all, just a little over 3 miles. I managed to leave my watch at home, so I have no idea what my splits looked like. I do know I finished the 3 miles in less than 30 minutes...small improvements...

Thursday, 9/23 - P90X - Chest and Back, plus Ab Ripper X
Again, I had to be flexible - this is Friday's scheduled workout. On Friday, I shall attempt to run.

In my effort to continue to build some muscles, I have vowed to do a P90X workout 2x per week. Today's workout was nothing but push-ups and chin-ups, and I could tell it had been 2 months since doing this workout - it hurt! I could also tell by the number of "real" push-ups I could do, that I am much stronger than the last time I did this workout - that kinda rocks! During each exercise, I did about 20 "real" push-ups, before I had to drop to my knees and do "girlie" push-ups...the only exceptions were the dive-bomber push-ups. I still suck at those.

Monday, Monday

Bad news - I had a dentist appointment yesterday morning.

Good news - It gave me time to get in a morning, OUTDOOR run before taking the kiddos to school! Yiiipppeee!

Since the tri is this weekend, I decided to go ahead and do my speedwork today rather than wait until Wednesday. It's been a couple of weeks since I've done speedwork of any kind, so I decided not to get too crazy.... I was going to do 6x2 min with 1 minute recovery, but felt pretty good after the 6 and added one more. The 1st thing I noticed was the cooler temps...then again, anything is better than the 90-degree evenings I've been running in. However, I also noticed the increase humidity! It's definitely less humid in the evenings. Oh well, you can't have it all!

I started with a nice, easy 10-minute warm-up, then did my intervals, followed by a 10-minute cool down. I focused on shortening my stride and taking quick steps. In fact, I was repeating the words "quick. short. steps." in my head over and over, although I didn't realize it until I was almost done, lol! My overall pace? 10:39.

Funny how my "speedwork" pace for 3 miles is slower than my 2-mile brick pace!

Why is it that when I hop off my bike and then run, I feel I must start at a 9-something pace? But when I just run, I can only start at a 10-something pace?

Weird.