Wednesday, June 11, 2014

WWU - Summer of Fun, Fitness and Friendship Begins!

Ahhh, summer - time to play.  Yes I realize that summer technically doesn't begin for another couple of weeks, but tell that to the weather...our temps were in the 90s all last week!  Plus, my teacher-friends are now free to hang out during the day!

Last week I ran 12 miles and walked 4 miles for a total of 16 miles on my legs...and I felt pretty good, too.  I think getting a warm-up walk in before most of my runs has helped immensely.  Additionally, the strengthening I'm doing at Planet Fitness seems to be helping as well.  Cross training, who knew??  Haha, that's a joke, as I knew...I just wasn't very good at actually following through with it.

I encouraged Julia to join PF, and she did, so between going with her and Jeff, I'm getting some good workouts in.  One morning we drove to our Starbucks, parked the car, and walked to PF - it was about 3/4 of a mile.  Not bad, but we were on a busy road and the traffic was unpleasant.  So after our workout, we took a different route back, which was a lot nicer but twice the distance.  My feet were a little sore, which I think was mostly due to my wearing older running shoes (thinking they would be fine for a workout at PF - they were - but didn't consider doing that much walking in them).  Here's our view as we started our walk from Starbucks:
Lots of vehicles blasting by us as we walked...meh.

And here's Julia getting us set up at our table, in the nice patio that Starbucks built for us:
Nice spot to rehydrate, relax, and eat breakfast after a good workout!

One thing that I do for all my workouts, be it running, the gym, or swimming, is to have a bag packed and ready with everything I need for that specific routine.  I've had a running bag, and I have a huge pool bag (even though I don't swim for exercise anymore), but I needed a gym-specific bag, so I treated myself to one:
Can you sense a color theme here?  I also bought a new water bottle, plus a long-sleeved running top (that I won't need for six months) that was on clearance.

I've stocked the gym bag with a combo lock for the free lockers there (and wrote the combo number on several pairs of my shoes...smart thinking, right?), earbuds for if/when I use the treadmill or other equipment where TV watching is helpful, a tube of NUUN, lip balm, face wipes, extra pony tail holders and headbands and all sorts of things.  This is just another way that I set myself up for success with exercising - no last-minute running around trying to find what I need before I go workout - it's all right there.

What I did last week:
Sunday - PF with Jeff
Monday - Nada (birthday)
Tuesday - Ran 2 miles with Jeff
Wednesday - Ran 2 miles and walked 1 mile with Julia (National Running Day)
Thursday - Ran 2.5 miles with Cary, PF with Julia
Friday - Walked 2.25 miles total, PF with Julia
Saturday - Ran 5.1 miles with Julia and Amy, walked 1 mile warm up with Jeff

I'm in the groove and it feels good!

20 comments:

  1. I feel on hold (last week of school) BUT BUT BUT HOPE to find my grooooove next week.

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  2. Awesome workout week you had there! How do you like going to Planet Fitness so far?

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    1. I really like it so far! Two opened up recently; Julia had a not-so-great experience at the other PF (smaller, more crowded, some weirdos) but every time I've been to the one closer to me, it's been great.

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  3. Maybe I would like PF if I could both be able to go at my leisure (instead of cramming it in before or after work, and believe me after is horrendous) AND if I could get someone to commit to going with me. For whatever reason I am SO not self-motivated for gyms. I'm glad you're happy and yes, I'd say based on that schedule you posted up there, you are definitely in a great groove!

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  4. After Memorial day I am in full on Summer mode, I don't wait till June 20th or whatever the official date it!
    Awesome job in your miles! And cool new swag! I like the color!

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    1. Love it - no rules about waiting for the official start of summer! :)

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  5. Ooh, its not summer yet?? Sure feels like it around here! You are more organized than I am about going to the gym. Except for my pool bag--I keep it packed all year, JUST IN CASE the mood to swim happens to strike in the dead of winter : )

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    1. Part of my organization came from trying to carry my sunglasses, phone, keys, lip balm, and water bottle out to Julia's car...I realized that a bag was necessary before I ended up dropping everything on the driveway.

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  6. Of course its all matchy clothes/bags - I would expect nothing less from you Shelley! Yep, a packed bag makes all the difference - no excuses!

    Love that you are enjoying the gym - watch foodtv like I do when you are on the treadmill!

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    1. I don't know how you manage to watch FoodTV and not immediately hop off the treadmill and go EAT EAT EAT! ;)

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  7. Love that Starbucks made the patio!!! :) Yay for your groove!!!!! Have a good day Shelley

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  8. No way is it summer yet - we are still in spring mode here LOL! It's in the upper 60s today.

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  9. You are SO smart to be so organized about your workouts, it often takes me forever to get ready because I can't remember where I put my headphones or some other necessity. And I'm thinking the fact that you find cute stuff to wear and use and tote things around in would be a subliminal nudge that Fun was ahead. Sounds like you're on a roll, yay you!

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  10. Girl you are definitely in the groove, way to go on the workouts last week!

    And here I thought I was organized but you are even more organized than me. Since I workout at or from home I don't need a bag anymore but I have all my workout clothes in one drawer. My fitness and running shoes are in the same room. And my DVD's are in another drawer. I lay everything I need the next day ready the night before. No stress for me in that department either.

    Here's to a great summer for the both of us.

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  11. Just out of curiosity, why don't you swim anymore?

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    1. I never loved swimming - it was something I begrudgingly did when I injured my ankle and couldn't run. I liked it well enough once I was in the pool, but the whole process (long drive to the gym with the pool, swimming for an hour, long drive home) got old, plus that gym membership was something like $35/month - as soon as I could ditch it, I did.

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  12. I *LOVE* your idea about writing your combination on your shoes!! I'm going to use that one. I also like having my bag packed and ready to go, though I only have a pool one and a gym one. Most of my running is done from home, so I just change and go. But, now that I think about it, I might just need another bag, if I can make it all matchy-matchy like yours :-)

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