Glorious yoga

I went to another yoga class at my workplace today and it was AWESOME!

I really love the instructor, only the 2nd male I’ve ever had, and the class included a lot of my favorite poses (pigeon, Warrior Series, etc.) and a few that I had never tried…like Eagle.

When I left, my legs were feeling it and I felt totally at peace and calm. There is nothing quite like how a good yoga class can make you feel.

This was my third yoga class this week and I am feeling so good about everything, including my training. I can almost attribute the “frustrating” weeks of my training program to those when I did not include yoga!

Tomorrow, I get to visit my friend Carrie at Eternal Health Yoga and I can’t wait. That will make 4 yoga classes this week, woo hoo!

Do you practice yoga regularly? Do you find that it enhances your fitness program (not to mention overall well-being)?

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Two in a row

I recently posted on Twitter asking other running bloggers how often they run. Some said 5-6 days a week, some 3 or 4, with alternating days. Everyone is different!

I had started to think that perhaps I needed to cut down to 3-4 and try not to run two consecutive days anymore because I’m worried about injuries and getting burned out like I did last time I trained for a mini marathon.

So since I ran two miles yesterday, technically I should have just laid low today. But since I like to do long runs on Saturdays (not that I have in a while) I want a day off before that.

So I headed to the gym and went right over to the Cardio Cinema. They were showing “Gone in 60 Seconds” this time. Definitely not a favorite, but still fun to watch while running.

Holy crap, that movie is 10 years old. What?!

Oh yeah, I ran 3 miles in 32:57!

When I first started, my hip felt tight and my knee hurt a bit but after the first mile, I was good to go. I’m so glad I ran today and didn’t talk myself out of it. Now I can rest tomorrow and get ready for Saturday

I also took a yoga class today which ended up being taught by the same instructor that I got frustrated with once before. But luckily, I changed my attitude, realized the class was about my practice, and it ended up being okay. Not great, but okay!

How often do you run?

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Have a plan?

On Wednesday, I was struggling to decide what workout to do that day.

Even though I am on a “training plan” for a half marathon, I know it is not realistic (or fun) for me to run 5 days a week and cross-train for one, rest for one. Boooorrrrinngggg. Plus, hello burnout!

So I’ve just been taking it week by week, day by day. If I feel like running, I’ll run, or if I can’t run I’ll do something else. Not to mention our lovely winter weather has intervened many times.

But this week, I have been enjoying a free 7-day guest pass to a gym, so the possibilities have been many. However, on Wednesday, I couldn’t make it to this gym (it’s girl’s night potluck night) so I had to get it in at work.

I decided to run 2 easy miles on the treadmill, then do some weight training.

Before I left work, I made a plan:

I’m guilty of going to the gym and doing exercise that I like and end up neglecting certain areas of the body, like my back and legs. So I wrote out all the areas first and then filled in an exercise for each one.

I also tried to choose exercises that I hadn’t done recently, since I also tend to get in ruts. I swear I’ve been doing chest presses for ages now, ha ha. It’s good to change things up!

The best part is, when I got done, I didn’t really feel like I had done that much but I was definitely a little sore today. I did every exercise on the list, 2 sets of each and 10 reps each, except for abs which were 25 each set. I think if I hadn’t written all that down, I definitely would not have done as much.

The 2 mile run was great too, I ended up doing intervals varying my speed between 5.0-6.0 mph and then sprinting at the end. I’m definitely feeling confident about my 5K on March 6th

When you go to the gym, do you have a plan? Or do you just wing it?

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Cardio, abs, yoga

Today, I decided to try out more of the classes at Urban Active. I’m really impressed by this gym!

Before I headed out the door, I had to document how incredibly pink I was today. I did not plan this, I swear

First, I went back to my favorite Cardio Cinema (today’s selection: the new Star Trek) and walked for 20 minutes, gradually increasing the incline up to 15.0 and then back down. That got the heart rate up and broke a sweat!

Then, I headed to a short 15-minute abs class. I wasn’t too impressed…I guess I am more advanced at ab work than I thought because I barely felt a burn.

Afterwards, I attended the “Urban Yoga” class which was pretty challenging and had me sweaty and fatigued, especially in the legs. Yet I felt refreshed and free at the same time. I love yoga.

I still have a few days left on my free pass then I need to decide if I’m going to join. I really want to, I just have to take a look at our budget and see when exactly it can happen.

Do you belong to a gym? What is your favorite thing about it?

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It’s real now!

I woke up this morning to find this email on my Blackberry:

Uh oh, it feels real now!

I’ve participated in this Mini Marathon the past two years but last year I did not train very well, so I decided to enjoy the course and walk. It was still a challenging race though!

Now that I have decided to run again this year, I’m a little nervous but at the same time I’ve made peace with it and know that no matter how I finish, I will finish and it will be a great time. And after my 5-mile run yesterday, I know that I can definitely get there.

I want to give a shout out to my girl Mari who will be running her first 5K very soon. I still remember my first one and it was such an awesome experience. Good luck girl!

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Cardio Cinema

Have you guys ever heard of a Cardio Cinema?

It’s a room where you get to do your favorite cardio machine (treadmill, elliptical, bike, etc.) and watch a movie at the same time!

Today’s selection: The Holiday!

I love this movie and when I got there, it had just started. It was like it was meant to be

Here’s a bad picture of what the inside looks like (it’s dark like a movie theatre)!

Distance: 5 miles

Time: 53:09

Pace: 10:38/mile

After this run, I wanted to marry who ever invented the Cardio Cinema (but I’m already taken). Getting a great run, where I sweat more than I had since that time I tried Hot Yoga, and watching a fabulous movie?! Genius.

I didn’t “zone out” during the film either. I warmed up walking for 5 minutes and then challenged myself to start at 5.5 (instead of 5.0) and then increased my speed every mile until I finished strong at 6.0 mph and completing my 5 miles for the day.

Just awesome

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Zumba and Iron

I had the pleasure of trying out a new gym this weekend thanks to my friend Renee.

She is a member of Urban Active, which has several locations here in our city. I’m actually thinking about joining once my 7-day pass expires because I really want a place to use on the weekends, a place that offers great classes and a place to go if work cancels due to snow!

On Saturday, I attended a Zumba class, only the second one I’ve ever been to. It was great!

The last time I did Zumba, I had a hard time keeping up with the foot work, but I was much better prepared this time. I felt like I kept up really well with everything and it was the first time I remember “letting go” and not caring what I looked like as I was shaking everything! I was a sweaty mess when we left too…always a good thing

Then yesterday, I went back and took the “Urban Iron” class which is what you all probably know as Body Pump. It’s a group class with barbels and you get a full body workout in 1-hour. The instructor was 7 months pregnant, which also inspired me because if she was still doing it, so can I!

I only struggled with two areas during class: chest and abs. I put too much weight on my bar for chest presses, so about 3/4 of the way through the set, I had to take some off and jump back in. Then our last set of abs had us doing lots of planks and my arms were so tired from everything else that I had to let myself down a few times.

But I actually expected to struggle with squats and lunges or shoulder presses, but I was totally wrong! I love it when you get surprised like that

On the weekends, I usually just take it easy, count grocery shopping as exercise, etc. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I definitely feel 100 times better today knowing that I had such an active weekend!

It helps that the weather was spectacular…we hit 63 yesterday! Unfortunately, it’s not sticking around, but it’s not too terrible either. We’ll be in the 30′s and 40′s this week and hopefully Spring is right around the corner.

I was actually planning to run yesterday but I remembered  a commitment I made to get my dog healthy, so I took her for a nice hour-long walk instead. It was good for both of us!

I’m running today

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I’m a Beautiful Blogger too!

The very sweet Jessica of Let’s Get Fit has awarded me with the Beautiful Blogger award

This is a first for my fitness blog and I feel very honored!

Here is how it works:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award. –Thanks Jessica!
2. Paste the award on your blog.
3. Link back to the person who gave you the award.
4. Share seven interesting things about yourself.
5. Nominate up to 7 more beautiful bloggers.
6. Link the bloggers you nominate.

Here’s 7 “interesting” things about myself.

1. I write a food blog called See Sarah Eat (shameless plug).  I have found that keeping food and fitness blogging separate helps me keep my thoughts organized which means better blog writing!
2. I have been with my husband Josh for almost 11 years, married for almost 5! 
3. I have very eclectic taste in music ranging from heavy metal to ambient nature sounds. The Goo Goo Dolls are my all-time favorite band. Did I really just write that?
4. Mouth noises are my biggest pet peeve. That and when people pronounce words incorrectly, misspell words, improperly use grammar, etc. 
5. I’m deathly afraid of spiders.  
6. I have a Bachelor’s degree in English (see #4) and Art History. 
7. I am an only child so my girlfriends are like my sisters

And now for the 7 bloggers that I’m tagging with this award:

1. Mari from Namaste Mari 
2. Amanda from Two Boos Who Eat 
3. Erica from Faith, Family & Fitness 
4. Kim from Kim’s State of Food
5. Carrie from Happy Vegan Yogini 
6. Mama Pea from Peas and Thank You 
7. Lauren from Eater Not a Runner

Man, only picking seven was tough. But I’m glad to share this honor with those ladies.

Have a great weekend

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Feeling like me again

I am so glad I took yesterday off from running, but I still got in a great workout. I feel like I’m finally breaking free of that all-or-nothing mentality I picked up from somewhere.

It used to be that I would always find a way to workout, even if it wasn’t what I had wanted to do that day. I feel like I am finally getting back to that point!

But today I did run, because my legs were rested and I wanted to, and it felt GREAT!

Distance: 3.36 miles

Time: 35:00

Pace: 10:25/mile

This was another treadmill run. I have just lost my patience with the cold weather and snow/ice. Hopefully, Spring is almost here because I would much rather be outside.

This time last year, I was struggling to run  after a hiatus over the Fall and early Winter months. But I changed my attitude and vowed to just run because I love to run and stop competing with myself and beating myself up for not keeping up with my training.

I took a real lesson from that today. Yesterday I was freaking out that the mini-marathon is in two months. I haven’t done a long run in several weeks because Saturday seems to be the snow’s favorite day to dump on us. In fact, I haven’t ran more than 5 miles since I can’t even remember when.

But…I didn’t stop running after the races I did last Spring. I achieved a personal record in a 5K in May. I ran through the Summer, Fall, Winter until now and that has paid off tremendously. I can easily run 4-5 miles right now, a little slower on the treadmill but at a pretty decent pace (under 10:00/mile) outside. I’m doing way better than I was this time last year!

I am going to run this mini-marathon, perhaps not as well as I did in 2008 (but surely faster than 2009 when I walked it), but that doesn’t matter.

I’m just going to do it!

For more running stories, visit my Races page.

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Listening to your body

On my food blog, See Sarah Eat, I posted yesterday about the importance of listening to your body’s hunger cues and not eating based on the clock or your own “time frame.”

This same concept can be applied to exercise. I think it’s interesting how I got to apply this principle in my routine yesterday, both through food and fitness!

Yesterday, my training plan called for a 2 mile run and weight training. However, all morning my legs weren’t feeling too great from the past two days of running on the treadmill (especially that 4-miler). I also started to think about my upcoming workout and honestly the thought of running was not exciting to me.

When that happens, instead of pushing through a run and totally not enjoying it, I’d rather switch it up for a day and re-arrange my schedule to do a run later. It’s frustrating at the time, but I definitely think it pays off!

I ended up doing 25 minutes on the elliptical trainer, followed by some weight training.

• Plank push ups (2 sets of 5 – I struggled!)
• Chest presses (2 sets of 15 – 15 lb dumbbells)
• Shoulder presses (2 sets of 15 – 5 lb dumbbells)
• Shoulder shrugs (2 sets of 15 – 20 lb dumbbells)
• Bicep curls (2 sets of 15 – 10 lb dumbbells)
• Tricep kickbacks (2 sets of 15 – 10 lb dumbbells)
• Leg extension machine (2 sets of 15 – 35 lbs)
• Leg curl machine (2 sets of 25 – 50 lbs)
• Side bends (2 sets of 25 – 12.5 lb dumbbells)
• Reverse crunches (2 sets of 40)
• Side crunches (2 sets of 25, each side)

This routine made me realize that I am neglecting my back! I need to write up a new routine because having a strong upper body with a weak back won’t do me any good

Also regarding time: sometimes we plan for a morning workout but we don’t feel up to it or we oversleep. That’s okay! Just try to fit it in later in your day. There is almost always something that can get moved around in order to accomodate your workout, especially if it is a high priority to you.

You might have to use your lunch hour (and eat at your desk), skip or record a TV show you usually watch, or tell a friend you’ll be late for dinner. Don’t stress about it! The feeling you get from finishing a workout is totally worth it.  You are worth it

I always put a workout on my calendar like an appointment. It might get moved around a lot but it almost never gets deleted!

Every work out is a learning experience. I am so glad that I did not push myself to run yesterday because today my legs feel strong and I’ve definitely got the energy to run today!

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