Eat, Sweat, Smile

Hope everyone had a great Monday and Tuesday is off to a swimming start.

Since this is a fitness blog and all, I thought it would be a good idea to start posting my plan for weekly workouts to keep myself accountable and give a little sneak peek into what I do every week. Athena at Fitness and Feta posts her weekly workout plans and I thought this was a great way to keep myself accountable and give you a sneak peek into what I do every week. Moreover, I think it’s so much fun to see how everyone else gets their sweat on from week to week. 

This week is going to present a little challenge since I’ll be on a plane most of Friday for a work trip (and on an early flight to boot) and working most of the day on Saturday. One of the other things I think you might notice is that I’ll be doing a longish run on Saturday (I’m SUPER excited that I’ll be running in NYC-no hills, at least compared to SF, sunshine and a change of scenery!!!) because I just got back to running after a bit of a hiatus and of course that means I went all in and signed up for this-

Now that I’ve given you a peek at the week ahead, I’ll take a step back and show you what I did for my workout yesterday.

Fiona woke me up I woke up bright and early on Monday so I could get in a quick 3 mile spin before work-

Much like Saturday’s 6 miler, my heart was POUNDING during the first two miles even though I wasn’t running very hard. Does this happen to anyone else when they run in the AM? I’m starting to think that I don’t really get warmed up until about two miles in, which is really unfortunate for shorter runs like this. Oh well.

On to the fun stuff. Yesterday was my first “real” CrossFit class with other people…and it was so much fun. I love that you get to buddy up and push each other to go further. Here was yesterday’s workout-

We started out with some hip openers and kettlebell swings and then found our 10 rep max for back squats.

After that we got to the meat of the workout which was 5 rounds of 3 minutes AMRAP of -

• Approx. 06 mi sprint (we sprinted to the end of our alley way and back)
• 3 kettlebell swings (I used 35 pounds)
• 5 pushups
• 7 knees to elbows

We got two minutes of rest in between each round. This workout was such a fun and super challenging! I’m quite competitive, so I really liked competing against other people and trying to beat the last round’s score (my score is the last one in the grid in the picture above). My weak point was definitely the knees to elbows-

It’s supposed to look like this-

I looked like this once. (source)

but since I’m a newbie and this is a move that takes mastery, there was a lot of horizontal movement-so much so that one of the other girls in the class caught me when I dismounted because she was afraid I was going to fly across the room.

Even if my form was off, I definitely stuck the landing. Just call me Gabby.

Regardless of my uneven bars like knees to bar technique, I loved it and my abs are feeling it.

So what are your workouts for the week? Do you plan your workouts in advance?

May?

It’s May already?

Well, before we jump forward, let’s take a look back at the month that was April. Although I took a bit of a hiatus for the beginning of the month, things are back in full swing, so here are a few of my favorites.

Favorite Posts: On Moving Forward & Taking Chances

Favorite Workout: Spartacus!

Mid Spartacus-I mean swing

This left me waddling for days.

Favorite Eat: Meatless Meal

An Italian sandwich gone healthy and a side dish that is nutritious and delicious.

Mouth. Watering.

I really can’t believe we’re almost halfway through 2013! But we gotta get through May first…it’s going to be a crazy month!

Phew! It’s finally Friday!

Even though I’ll be doing a work event tomorrow, knowing that I made it through another week makes me feel like I accomplished something.

Moving on. I wanted to share two workouts I did this week that were not kidding around (the title makes sense now right?)

On Wednesday, I mentioned that I was attending my first CrossFit class. Immediately after I finished my first class, I sent a text to my friend-

Yep folks, I think I am in love with CrossFit after just one class.

During my first on-ramp class, my CrossFit coach Danielle (nice name if I do say so) went through CrossFit squatting basics and then I got to lift heavy weights above my head. And I loved it.

After practicing squats and lifting more than I’ve lifted in a looong time, I got to do my first mini W.O.D (Workout of the Day)-

(source)

Since this was my first time at CrossFit and Danielle probably didn’t want to crush me right off the bat, she had me do as many rounds as possible (AMRAP) for five minutes, took two minutes rest and then repeated it for five minutes, instead for 20 minutes. When I heard this workout, I was like 10 minutes, NBD.

This is how I feel…two days later.

I could barely put my hair in a ponytail yesterday. Love. My next class is on Monday, so hopefully I’ll have some pictures of me in pain to share with you next time around.

Workout two was from my gal pals over at Tone It Up.

(source) 

Karena and Katrina recently started their THIRD annual Bikini Series, so I decided to do the HIIT treadmill workout they included in their Bikini Series starter pack.

2 min. sprint, 1 min. rest, 9 times followed by 1 min. sprint, 1 min. rest, 5 times

Once again, a workout that looks harmless, but leaves you in a pool of sweat. Let me know if you try it out!

Now that the workouts are out of the way, just wanted to let you know that my blog will be down over the weekend and probably early next week-get ready for a surprise!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Despite doing things like this-

I’m pretty risk averse. Well apparently yesterday was National Take Chances Day -

In honor of National Take a Chance Day, believe in yourself: bit.ly/ZjxhXR

— Chobani (@Chobani) April 23, 2013

and I took a few little chances of my own.  

First off, I started training my first client!

Since getting my ACSM Personal Trainer certification a month ago, I’ve been thinking about what I actually want to do with it. At this point, I’m not sure if I could leave my full time office job to become a personal trainer, but when a friend asked if I would train her, I decided it would be good practice!

Second, I signed up for…

I know, I know I’ve started drinking the Kool-Aid. But just a casual, classy sip. The truth is I’ve been thinking about joining CrossFit since I did a free class in January. The only thing holding me back was the cost (not gonna lie, it’s $$$), but I rationalized it by telling myself that the cost equals doing two yoga drop-ins a week. Whatever works right?

The second and more important reason that I am checking out CrossFit is that I’ve heard so much about the team camaraderie. As much as I love running and circuit training, working out on my own is not conducive to nailing down a core group of ladies who enjoy sweating as much as I do. When it comes down to it, I really miss this-

I miss wearing my black and orange spandex too…I’ll have to bring that back.

Well, the teammates, not necessarily the rowing and erging. Anyway, since I’m pretty shy (shocking to readers I know), I’ve found that I make friends best when I’m participating in an activity with them and all of my best friends are people I started out playing sports with. I’m really forcing myself out of my comfort zone on this one, at least on the social side, so we’ll see what CrossFit serves up! Wish me luck-I was barely able to move after my drop in class

Happy Hump Day and remember to take a chance today (even if its a teeny tiny one).

Good morning!

Hope everyone had a great weekend and that Monday morning isn’t proving to be too much of a shock

On to workout related things!

On Friday night I received this workout related text from my sister which inspired my Saturday morning sweat session -

After running for the longest consecutive stretch (5 days and counting people!) since injuring myself last October, I decided the Spartacus workout was the perfect way to switch things up.  And it was free. Sho nuff!

Click here for a PDF of the workout

The workout is from Men’s Health and consists of ten exercises done for one minute back to back with two minutes of rest at the end of each circuit. Repeat thrice. Apparently, you’re supposed to look like this at the end-

source

Or at least feel like it right?

Instead, I looked like this-

Yes, that’s crotch sweat.f

And felt like this two-thirds of the way in (I had to give my sister a status update)-

The money maker.

And felt like this at the end-

Contemplating what just happened.

And I’m still sore today. It was quite the workout, but I’ll definitely do it it again! I loved that I only needed a set of ten pound dumbbells to get a full body workout. Sparatacus workout is not just for the boys!

Have you ever tried the Spartacus workout? What’d you think?

Over the past three days, I’ve written and rewritten this entry in my head multiple times, vacillating between sharing my thoughts on what happened in Boston and keeping them to myself.  I ultimately decided on the former because I believe every little bit helps, so here goes.

While trying to come up with an answer to the “why?” in all of this and trying to figure out why this particular event had struck such a chord with me, I turned to other runners’ thoughts on the event and a passage from fellow blogger stuck with me-

“One of my friends asked why I seem so much more affected by this than our other friends in DC. ‘I can’t stop thinking about horrible this is,’ she said, ‘but the way you’re reacting seems like someone attacked your friends and family.’ The reason that I haven’t been able to control my emotions since Monday is because someone did attack my friends and family… And the victims, who I’ve never met and don’t know the names of, seem like friends and family because they are part of our incredible community.”

If you’ve ever laced up your shoes for a morning run, toed the line or cheered on friends and strangers at a race, you know there’s something special about the running community. It is a tight-knit group, but just as much as it is tight-knit, it is infinitely welcoming. Runners are willing to accept you into the fold with open arms, no questions asked; all that matters is that you have the will to run.

Throughout the week, I’ve been grappling with an endless stream of questions about why this happened. Although this particular question might never be answered, something else became shockingly clear to me. Ever since I started running, I’ve always asked myself, in a variety of emotional states, “Why do I run?” Each step I took during my runs this week ultimately delivered me to the answer-to keep moving forward.

As any runner knows, this sport comes with its fair share of emotional, physical and mental challenges, but in spite of them, we find a way to keep moving forward. As any runner knows, if you can’t overcome an obstacle alone, someone on the sidelines will be there to dust you off, share a word of encouragement and send you on your way again. Although Monday’s events were a cowardly attempt to shatter the unparalleled spirit of this community, we all know that we will keep doing what we’ve always done-move forward.