Monday Moves

Posted on April 15, 2013 by HHRunner

It’s Marathon Monday! As much as I wish I could have watched the race, I have [unfortunately] been chained to my desk job all day. Perks of working in an office full time. I’m starting this week flat out exhausted, which should bode well for the rest of the week, right?

this sums up how I feel 100%

I don’t even think we did too much this weekend? Not sure why I’m so tired. At any rate, I wasn’t too tired to rough out some sort of fitness plan for the week.

Monday: 6 mile run (easy)

Tuesday: BodyPump, 45 minute incline walk

Wednesday: 20 min. easy run in the AM, 20 min HIIT (PM)

Thursday: 20 min. Jillian Michaels Legs, 4 miles (easy)

Friday: 20 min Jillian Michaels Abs

Saturday: 4ish easy miles + 20 min Jillian Michaels Arms

Sunday: 6 miles

I have a work event on Saturday morning preventing me from going to my beloved BodyPump [rude]. I’m actually not sure about some of this, so it may switch around, but I’m feeling very go-with-the-flow-zen about it right now. Or I’m just too tired to put any extra thought into it. One of those.

I hope your Monday is starting a bit more energetic than mine.

Did anyone get to watch Boston??

Monday Moves

Posted on April 8, 2013 by HHRunner

*go enter the Esprit de She giveaway while there’s still time!*

Yeahhh buddy, starting off the week on the right foot this week since I was super motivated [I say that lightly – it doesn’t exactly take a lot to recap workouts, even if my inability to regularly do so makes it seem that way] and posted my workout wrap-up yesterday.

Which means I actually have to figure out my plan for the week today. I’ve decided that I think I’m going to drop my running down to 4 days per week instead of 5, though there’s really no good reason for that. If I add in additional running, great. If I don’t, fine.

Onward to the schedule:

this is my favorite.

Monday: BodyPump

Tuesday: easy 15 minute run before work, 45 minute interval run after work

Wednesday: 3 mile run in the AM + Happy Hour Spin Class

Thursday: Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 L2 + maybe some running? but maybe not. we’ll see how I feel. Last week I tried to run on Thursday and I ran for a full minute before deciding that I didn’t actually feel like running. so I didn’t. Sean was impressed with my great mental fortitude and ability to stick it out.

Friday: nothing! gotta rest up for the weekend, obviously.

Saturday: I’m gonna shoot for 6 with the running group + BodyPump

Sunday: 5-6 easy miles, probably with the same ‘you aren’t allowed to use the watch for anything other than tracking mileage’ mentality.

[via]

weekly workout wrap-up

Posted on April 7, 2013 by HHRunner

Hey-o! I’m bloggin’ on a Sunday! I started off this week feeling a little “meh” about my workouts, but I feel like I really picked up speed at the end of the week and I finished everything out feeling really good, so I’m pretty pleased about that!

For whatever reason, my computer isn’t currently letting me pull any pictures into this post? So I guess we’ll just get right down to it.

Monday: 20 min HIIT running, BodyPump. I did do 20 minutes of HIIT – specifically, a 5 min warm up, 5 x 1 min @ 7:03 then 1 min @ 8:34, 5 min cool down. I hated all of this. It felt much harder then it should have, I was unhappy with how I was running and the 20 minutes felt like 45. So there was that. BodyPump, on the other hand, was delightful as always. I just really love the instructor.

Tuesday: 3 mile run before work, Jillian Michaels Yoga Meltdown after work. The 3 miles happened. For whatever reason, I couldn’t get the gym TV to work in the morning, so I started at a blue screen for a solid 26 minutes. And that was that. Yoga Meltdown happened after work and I thoroughly enjoyed it – I forgot how much I like that DVD. I was pretty stressed from work, though, and Jillian didn’t relieve all of that stress, so I laced up and headed out for a slow 2.53 miles. I just ran what I felt like running and then came back home. 3rd run of the week, 1st one that was OK.

Wednesday: 3 mile run @ Memorial Park + Happy Hour Spin Class (ob-sessed with that class now. I don’t even know why I was nervous about going last week). I’ve been running my runs at Memorial without the watch. I just check the time when I leave and then when I get back to my car. It’s delightful! I felt like this run was hard and when I got back to the car I realized there was good reason – I ran it in 24 minutes exactly, and I know that it always takes me a mile to warm up, so that means I ran the last 2 miles in the 7’s. Happy Hour spin is seriously one of my favorite classes to go to. I love love love the instructor.

Thursday: Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30. I didn’t want to work out at all on Thursday, so I guess it’s good that I planned such a short workout. And that Sean was running on the treadmill when I got home. There was no way I was going to let him work out and not suck up 20 minutes of my day for Jillian. Did it. Was glad I did it. And was glad I was done.

Friday: Friday 5k before work. Nope. I took a rest day. For one, after Thursday I could tell that I needed one. I also am currently taking a class on Friday nights, so that kind of eliminated any other time I had to work out. Friday is now going to be my rest day – at least for the next 7 weeks.

Saturday: Some undetermined amount of miles [maybe 8? then again, maybe 4…] + BodyPump. Initially I wanted to hit up my running group and run with them, but I ended up going to bed really late on Friday because I got wrapped up watching King of the Hill [don’t judge my high quality TV choices – there is not much on Friday nights], so I nixed the alarm and just let myself sleep. When I woke up I hopped on the treadmill, did a 1 mile warm up, then 2 miles alternating a 1/4 mile at a low 7:xx with a 1/4 mile at 8:34, then a 1 mile cool down. Then BodyPump happened at 10:30 – it was a new release and SO FUN! When I got home from grocery shopping I decided I did want to run 8 total for Saturday, so I laced up and hit the pavement for 4 more miles, which were surprisingly quick considering how tired I figured my legs were. Done and done.

Sunday: NOTHING. I have no plans other than a 1.5 hour deep tissue massage. Well, all that nothing changed once I subbed out my rest day for Friday, so I woke up this morning and headed out for 5 easy miles. The only thing I told myself was that I wasn’t allowed to watch my watch. Which resulted in a slow warm up mile around 9 min, then 3 miles at flat 8’s, then a slower final mile.

Like I said earlier, this week didn’t start out at all how I wanted it to, but I really feel like I finished it up with some solid workouts. I’m trying to focus on balancing fun with working out and being healthy, and I feel like I achieved that this weekend.

How was your weekend?? Did you do anything fun?

Go enter the giveaway here. NOW.

Monday Moves on Tuesday… Again

Posted on April 2, 2013 by HHRunner

I truly can’t believe that Tuesday is almost over. I don’t even know where this week is going and I see no sign of it slowing down… I’m not even sure if that’s good or bad at this point! I feel like the minor meltdown I was having yesterday was ages ago… which I guess is good because I’m feeling rather optimistic about everything right now.

Now that March is over and my little experiment with running 15 minutes each morning has concluded, I’ve realized two things: 1. I really do like getting in some sort of movement in the morning. 2. It’s freaking hard to do that every morning. So I’m going to cut back to a few times a week and call it good Smile

At any rate, one of the few things that’s keeping me sane throughout all of this week’s craziness is knowing that I have some kickass workouts on the books. I’m looking forward to each and every one of these:

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Monday: 20 min HIIT running, BodyPump

Tuesday: 3 mile run before work, Jillian Michaels Yoga Meltdown after work

Wednesday: 3 mile run @ Memorial Park + Happy Hour Spin Class (ob-sessed with that class now. I don’t even know why I was nervous about going last week)

Thursday: Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30

Friday: Friday 5k before work

Saturday: Some undetermined amount of miles [maybe 8? then again, maybe 4…] + BodyPump

Sunday: NOTHING. I have no plans other than a 1.5 hour deep tissue massage.

And in other news, I do have a very overdue story to tell you guys about a little race I ran at the beginning of last month… Expect that on Wednesday or Thursday. It’s a fun one!

On that note, I have to go pull dinner out of the oven Hope y’alls weeks are all off to a magnificent start!

weekly workout wrap-up

Posted on April 1, 2013 by HHRunner

Ouch. This weekend I did a lot of this:

and this:

and then this:

and maybe some of this:

The working out, on the other hand… well, we’ll just let the workouts speak for themselves.

Monday: Run 15 minutes [AM], BodyPump (heavy) [PM] Ran 1.72 miles in the morning. Went on a 20 minute bike ride with the boy + hit the volleyball back and forth for 15 or so minutes. Then PUMPED. Success.

Tuesday: Run 15 minutes [AM], 6 mile run [PM] Ran 1.76 miles in the morning. Did another 6 on the treadmill that night. Rounded it out with 10 minutes of core Pilates. Check, check, check.

Wednesday: Run 15 minutes [AM], 2-3 mile run + Happy Hour Spin Class (doesn’t that just sound fun? Put “Happy Hour” in the title of anything and I’ll probably think it’s a good idea) [PM] Ran a sleepy 1.68 miles in the morning. Did an easy 3 mile run at Memorial Park immediately after work while I killed time for the spin class. Spent 45 sweat-filled, blissful minutes spinning. Loved every single second. Big, fat check.

Thursday: Run 15 minutes [AM], Jackie Warner Total Body Circuit Training [PM] Ran 1.73 miles in the morning. Cancelled my date with Jackie in lieu of Jillian and did Ripped in 30, level 3. Lots of legs. Semi-check, simply because Jillian is shorter than Jackie.

Friday: Run 15 minutes [AM], Friday 5k [PM] 1.75 miles when I first woke up. Followed that with a 5k around the neighborhood. Knew that my long run was doomed. But still, check.

Saturday: 10 miles. I haven’t had a solid double digit run in a while. It’s time. + BodyPump (light) 10 minutes on the elliptical [5 before Pump, 5 after. getting crazy here!]. BodyPump. 20 minutes of incline walking. Zero running. Meh.

Sunday: REST DAY = the BEST day. Major success on the resting. But I failed at life.

While I didn’t run 10 miles this weekend, I’m not too cut up about it. Sometimes, it’s just better not to run. I didn’t feel like it, so I didn’t. Perks of not training for anything.

I am failing big time when it comes to my diet and nutrition. Just straight up binge eating on the weekends. I know it’s a problem. I don’t know how to stop it. I do need some help in some way, shape or form. Suggestions are welcome.

Also, I did get to see one of my very best friends from college this weekend, who I haven’t seen since last summer. I always get nervous that we’re not going to have anything in common anymore, because we don’t really keep in touch, but then we always just fall right back into being best friends. And I love that.

And, as usual, I can’t ever seem to get enough of this face:

Seriously. Just the best.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a workout plan for the week. Until then, I’ll be drowning my binge eating sorrows in salad.

Seriously, suggestions on how to get eating habits under control are needed. GO.

Monday Moves… on Tuesday

Posted on March 26, 2013 by HHRunner

Another week, another plan in place. I had a really bad day mentally yesterday. You know those days where you just all around don’t feel good about yourself, but there’s really no good reason for why you feel that way? That was me. Everything was getting on my last nerve.

You know what makes a bad day better? Having a ridiculously awesome mom + husband. My mom listens to me lament all of my problems all the time. I just don’t know how I got so lucky. And my husband? He just rocks.

When it comes to our interests, Sean and I are decidedly different, but the same. I love working out in any way, shape or form. Sean loves motorcycles like I love working out. We both love being outside. Yesterday when I got home from work he asked me if I wanted to go for a bike ride. For anyone who doesn’t know us personally – we have a grand total of 6 bikes in our garage – two regular bikes, one motorcycle, two dirt bikes and a mini dirt bike. It was a beautiful day, so I enthusiastically agreed. I went and pulled on jeans, boots and my jacket and went to meet Sean in the garage. He was wearing workout shorts and Nikes. We both looked at each other like the other person was crazy.

He thought we were going on a regular bike ride. I thought he meant a motorcycle ride. Miscommunication at its finest. In case you’re wondering, we went on a regular bike ride. [Pointless story of the day – check.]

Moving on… This week is [hopefully] going a little something like this:

Monday: Run 15 minutes [AM], BodyPump (heavy) [PM]

Tuesday: Run 15 minutes [AM], 6 mile run [PM]

Thursday: Run 15 minutes [AM], Jackie Warner Total Body Circuit Training [PM]

Friday: Run 15 minutes [AM], Friday 5k [PM]

Saturday: 10 miles. I haven’t had a solid double digit run in a while. It’s time. + BodyPump (light)

Sunday: REST DAY = the BEST day.

Two things I’m obsessed with right now: easy runs and BodyPump. I’m trying to hit around 30 miles each week, but I’ve realized lately that I’m not even really sure why. I think I’ve gotten so used to feeling like I have to hit a certain mileage during training. On the other hand, I really want to up my strength training. It’s put me in a strange place where I’m not really sure what to do. Suggestions?

People that hold you accountable

Posted on July 10, 2012 by HHRunner

Edit to add: I forgot to mention!!! I guest posted over at my friend Melissa, who blogs at Mouthwatering Morsel, today!! You can find my guest post on healthy travel tips here!

So, in case you were wondering, which I’m sure you were, I did in fact work out after work yesterday (before I edited the post that said tomorrow, not yesterday. guess who’s ready to go home for the day!!). And while I may have hated the first 5 minutes of it (seriously, it started out a little brutal) I was happy that I did it by the end.

I spent a long time yesterday texting Britt back and forth about working out (for those of you that don’t know Britt, she used to blog over at fitchickbritt.com … I like to think she’s just on an extended hiatus right now, and will come back to blogging eventually Winking smile ) Britt and I have been running together and hanging out for a little over a year now, and she is the very first person that I turn to when I need someone to tell me to suck it up and get the workout over with.

Yesterday was no exception. I came up with a million excuses as to why I couldn’t work out and then after several texts back and forth lamenting the fact that neither of us was very motivated, she told me we really had no excuse.

So we did.

Ditto, friend.

It also helped that when I walked through the front door I heard the familiar whirring sound our treadmill makes. I walked into our gym and Sean was running. Sean does not workout in the “hit the gym” sense on a regular basis, and runs or lifts weights once a week at most. If even he could work out yesterday then Britt was right, I had no excuse.

Having friends like Britt who are there for a friendly nudge in the right direction are instrumental for me in staying motivated and on track. I can’t even explain how many missed workouts might have occurred if I didn’t have someone to hold me accountable and remind me that it’s always worth it. I think having someone you can always rely on to give you a push when you need it is crucial at times.

Do you have someone that keeps you accountable?

forced rest day

Posted on May 29, 2012 by HHRunner

this weekend was pretty jam-packed for me, but despite not really having a spare second to myself I still managed to fit in some good workouts and get a a lot done. oh and have fun, I did a lot of that too!

friday sean and I had a wedding to attend – his BFF’s little sister (who I adore) married her high school sweetheart. she was absolutely stunning, and her whole wedding was a beautiful mix of classiness and elegance.

we ended up crashing at his parents house because the wedding was out in sugar land & sean had an early morning wakeup call (4:15!!) to go to dallas with his dad. I, on the other hand, stayed in bed til 7 (I know, late sleeper here) and then spent the morning drinking coffee and chatting with my lovely MIL. from there I was going to have a relaxing day running errands…

kicked off the day with a shot of wheat grass & a smoothie

HA. saturday was one of those days where everything took about 10 times longer than I allotted time for and I didn’t end up walking through my front door until 7:30pm… I did manage to fit in a 45 minute, hilly bike ride at the gym though, a plus to keeping workout clothes and shoes in your car. when I did finally eat dinner it was in about 5 minutes flat so I could finish up a few things around the house before sean got home. at 9:30 this happened:

is there really much better than an empty house, a glass of wine, a book, and a bubble bath? methinks NO.

unfortunately about 3 seconds after I sunk down into the bath sean walked through the door and turned on the TV and took a shower. #silenceshattered

sunday started out like this:

1 mile swim, 1 mile walk

random funny story: as I’m walking out the door to the gym in my workout swimsuit and shorts (no shirt, so you could see my swimsuit) this conversation occurred:

S: are you going to swim at the gym today?
Me: nope, going for the elliptical.
S: I hate you.

and ended with one of my best friends & her fiance, and sean’s old roomie and his girl, and this:

memorial day weekend should always be spent with close friends and the river.

and yesterday I had a freakin’ cardio party at the gym. 20 min stair stepper, 20 min elliptical, 20 min bike, 30 min walk. followed by a lot of arm lifting with the boy:

needless to say, when I woke up this morning I thought about doing some yoga but decided to wait until after work. when I got home from work I promptly turned around and flew out the door so that I could vote before it got crazy. and when I got home from that I reminded myself that while I am feeling a million times better than I was a month ago I am still injured and I have to take rest days.

taking rest days is really hard for me. I like being active and rest days always make me feel sluggish. but I need them, especially while I’m still recovering. I think part of dabbling in endurance sports is understanding that need to work out, to push yourself, and coming to terms with the realization that you have to give yourself a break from time to time. today was that day for me. even if I had to constantly force myself to do something else to keep from fitting in a short workout. like the ironing. finally got that ish out of the way today thanks to needing to distract myself from my treadmill. and while I may hate resting today, I’m pretty sure my knee is going to thank me tomorrow.

how was everyone’s weekend? anything fun happen? bad at taking rest days or good at it?

December Goals

Posted on December 2, 2011 by HHRunner

I can’t believe it’s already December. To prove that I can’t believe that, when I stopped by the bank this morning to deposit a check and withdraw some money and I saw my available balance I just about choked. I spent the next 15 minutes of my drive to work trying to figure out what the heck Sean had bought and why the heck so much money was missing from our account. He said he bought shoes. Clearly it was more than shoes.

Oh yeah, it was our mortgage payment since it’s the beginning of the month.

Reality check over here, it’s December now.

NOVEMBER

I started out last month listing out my November goals, so I guess before I go into December I should see how I did with November right?

1. Improving my overall strength: check check. I’ve been strength training more – twice a week to be exact. I love strength training, and now that I’ve gotten back into it I’ve realized just how much I love it. Success.

2. Becoming a faster, smarter runner: ummm I don’t really know how to guage this one because I haven’t run any races that I want to think about. I’ve been good about listening to my body and I had a fantastic 18 miler last week that I was much faster at then the previous week’s 15 miler. However I had a wretched half marathon. So I don’t know where that leaves me. Maybe success?

3. Managing money better: yeah no. I don’t really know where our money is going right now, but I kind of threw a budget by the wayside. Fail.

4. Improving the quality of the blog: I don’t think I’ve actively done anything different. Oops. No idea.

5. Stress less: Nope. Been mega stressed. Fail.

I think it kind of evens out. Some successes, some fails, some I don’t knows. Such is life.

DECEMBER

I wanna keep December short and sweet though. It’s going to be a busy month with lots of temptations so there’s no sense in making lots of lofty goals that are out of reach.

1. Run smart and hard for the 30k: I am both excited and nervous for next week’s 30k. I’m excited because of how wonderful the previous 18 miles I had went. I’m nervous because what if I can’t recreate that? What if it was a fluke experience? I don’t even think I have a time goal, I just want to finish feeling strong.

2. Maintain my current exercise/weight: Janetha is hosting Dedicated December, a little challenge to stay active during the holidays. She’s offering a lot of cool little giveaways for different winners, and it’s a fun way to stay accountable during the holiday season.

photo taken from meals & moves

3. Continue to run smart and train hard for the marathon: It’s in a little over a month and I really want it to go well. I’ve been dedicated in my training and rarely change/switch workouts in an attempt to run well. I’ve put so much into this and I can only hope I reap the benefits of doing so.

That’s it! Short and sweet!

Don’t forget: You still have a few days to enter the RoadID giveaway!

How’d you fare on your November goals?

What’re your goals for December?

Accountability

Posted on November 8, 2011 by HHRunner

I have been blessed with an incredible drive to reach the goals that I set for myself. One of my college friends emailed me several months ago asking some questions pertaining to running and asked me how I stayed motivated to run. I have a lot of tricks for getting myself out the door or onto the treadmill, but the truth is once I’ve decided I’m going to do something not much stands in my way – both in life and in working out.

However that’s not to say that I don’t sometimes struggle with finding the motivation to work out, I think I’m just better at ignoring the little voices telling me not to go then a lot of people.

credit to Google as always

Over the past few months, though, I’ve found myself even more motivated than normal to hit the pavement or the weights, and I owe that largely to Britt and to my blog friends. Britt and I made a deal to commit to 1 yoga session, 2 strength sessions, and 3 quality runs a week (speed, tempo & long) and that has been the driving force behind getting me going when I’m less than enthusiastic about it.

Last night on my way home from work as I was thinking about the speed work on tap, we exchanged the following texts:

R: I’m so uninterested in running tonight it’s ridiculous

B: I was just gonna text you and say I really just wanna go home and drink wine. Not work out.

R: LOL ahhh I hate today!

B: Oh I mean no go workout. You’ll feel better after. And you’ll be super speedy in January if you do speed work.

I’m pretty sure that anyone driving next to me thought I was crazy because I was laughing out loud in my car. By that point I knew she was right, I would feel better, but I was still favoring not working out so I tweeted this:

Almost immediately Kim replied with this:

I couldn’t remember exactly what my speed work entailed, just that it involved 800 repeats. I told myself that if it was anything over 4 repeats I could put it off until the morning (except I suffer from exercise guilt when I do things like this so I probably would’ve guilted myself into it) and low and behold when I got home guess what I saw:

Of course, right?

At which point I decided that it had to happen. And you know what? Despite the extreme lack of wanting to run and a dead iPod resulting in a musicless (real word!) run, I had a fantastic run. Which further proves the theory that you never regret a workout.

Having people hold me accountable has been one of the best ways for me to push past any desire I have to skip a workout, and I am eternally grateful for each and every one of you that has given me support when I’ve needed it.

Do you have someone that holds you accountable?