Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Wednesday Workout Update - Vacation Edition!

Sunday: Set out for a five mile run. Times I thought about quitting before five miles? Eleventy billion. Times I took an extra rest (aside from the 30 seconds Ricky Bobby let me have every mile)? Three. Times I yelled out loud at Ricky Bobby to hurry up with the miles? Two.

My first three miles were good - 11:51, 11:32, 11:34 - but the last two were 13:30 and 13:27. Geez, I really slowed down! The weather was actually decent - well, the sun stayed behind the clouds, so that was nice. It was still nearly 80 degrees and humid, of course...what would you expect at 6:55 am? Ah, Texas...gotta love it. Hopefully Tuesday's run will be better.

Monday: Linda was kind enough to give me a going away present in the form of a killer workout in cardio today. I was kind enough to only pretend to punch her in the arm when she kept upping the speed on the treadmill. The workout was called The Countdown, and it went like this:
  • 100 calories burned on the treadmill
  • 90 squats
  • 80 lateral pylos
  • 70 butterfly sit ups (since I can't do those at the moment, she substituted two 2-minute plank holds)
  • 60 burpees (made it to 40 and she had me move on so I could wrap this up in 30 minutes)
  • 50 calories burned on the treadmill (this would be where pretend punching occurred!)
I can already see the burpee-bruises forming on my knees - I'll look super cute on my vacation with them, I'm sure! If that weren't enough, Brad had a contest in the gym where we had to "call" the number we thought we could hit on each set. This was a "push" day. Wednesday will be a "pull" day - oh darn, I'll miss it! Anyway, I did ring push ups, leg presses, punch push ups, tricep extensions and this lunge/press using an exercise tube. Between each set we had active recovery with mountain climbers, jumping jacks, some funny cheerleader knee kicks, and squats. I ended up being the winner by one. I know, aim high, right? Anyway, the prize was a t-shirt, but they didn't have my size, so I picked one for Jeff and Brad is going to have "Pit Crew" printed on it, as he's the one who holds everyone's keys, wallets, phones, water, etc. during our races. So that will be a fun surprise for him.

Tuesday: Tuesday's run was not better than Sunday's. For me, I think I was just plain tired - my alarm goes off at 6:00 am on the days I run - combine that with the fact that I don't sleep very well anymore, and eventually something had to give. And on Tuesday, it was that run. We ran about 1.6 miles, chatting all the way, before I had to stop and catch my breath. Jenny woke up all congested and was not feeling great, so she was good with stopping the run. We ended up walking a few laps, where we planned out our August training (we watched a class from A&M run hill repeats and *lightbulb moment* - hey - we need to be doing those, too!). So. Not a stellar run, but as I've learned, they can't all be winners, lol!

Wednesday: I'm in California! Looooong day yesterday and I'm still tired, so I'm going to give myself a break and not run today, although I can run to the beach from Barbara's house, and plan on doing that in the next day or two. Today I will get my exercise by shopping!

20 comments:

  1. Have a great time my Friend! Shopping is the best exercise anyway. Can't wait to see what goodies you come home with.

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  2. Maybe your runs are being affected by air quality. I'm telling you about 90% of the time when I get home and think what a sucky run I've just had, I'll flip on the TV and the weatherman will be standing there saying we have an air quality alert. It has been particularly bad this summer.

    Have fun shopping and buy something beautiful and frivolous.

    I hope you have a wonderful vacation and that it's a bit cooler with less humidity so you can see what that sort of running feels like!

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  3. Have a wonderful vacation, looking forward to pics from your beach runs.

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  4. Have fun on your vacation and take plenty of pictures.

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  5. Well, I guess the 4th time is a charm. I seem incapable of leaving a comment this morning. Wonder how many others I've flubbed.

    Have a wonderful vacation in your homeland.

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  6. Sorry your runs have been rough! Way to push through them though!

    When u get back from vaca, can I bother u for an explaination of the countdown workout. I am not familiar with butterfly crunches (I don't think) or pylos I like that format though.

    If you have already explained it I'm sorry,I only recently found your blog.

    Enjoyn vacation!

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  7. I know you people who run (like I used to be) are always trying to up your speed, but I think it's fantastic that you're running 5 miles and more PERIOD. Very inspiring. Also, Helen stole my thunder about air quality - we've had ozone alerts where even healthy people are being advised to modify outdoor activity due to poor air breathe-ability.

    I got several good chuckles from your post today! Have a great time in California. And I also want to say that your progress pics really inspire me. That's gonna be me some day.

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  8. ... 60 burpees? Yikes. Just the thought is intimidating. And very impressive :)

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  9. Hey Shelley, you won the Monkey Shake on my blog. Email me your address and I'll get it in the mail to you right away. Thanks.
    allieisarunningfool(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  10. Have a GREAT time! Like you wouldn't...LOL

    And for the record, the more $$ you spend shopping the more calories you burn. Not sure if you knew that. It's the retail equivalent of the food rule that there you consume no calories when you eat directly from the container. //word

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  11. I could SO RUN WITH YOU!! We have a similar pace.

    Have fun in Cali.

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  12. A lot of people are having subpar runs lately. John was just saying that to me today that lately he has just been struggling to run the whole way through 3 miles, whereas a couple months ago he was going for a PR each time out.

    Summer heat wears you down. Not to mention your kickass workouts.

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  13. Have fun in California. I hope I hear from you.

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  14. Have a great vacation--and like others, always looking forward to your photos!!!

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  15. Heat and humidity really affect your running ability - for every 5 degrees above 60deg, your running pace should slow down about 30 seconds. So if you figure you were in 80deg temps, that is an additional 2 minutes on your time!!

    have a great time in Cali and hope you have fun shopping!

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  16. I love to hear about your workouts. I am glad to know that I'm not the only one that yells at their Garmin. :)

    I hope you are having a fabulous vacation!

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  17. Oh oh oh! You're here! So glad you made it safe and sound. Sending an email.

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  18. You are going to have such a fun weekend with Barbara!! So glad you made it there safe - be sure to take lots of pictures!!

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  19. "eleventy billion" Soooo funny. Reminds me of my 4 yr old who says "one million thousand million" for really big numbers. I hope you have a super duper vacation. I live in TX too! And it's HOT! Someday someone has to explain to me what a freakin burpee is. Have fun!
    Ann

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  20. Hope you are having a blast and made it to the running store finally! I went to one today and thought of you. Happy vacation!!

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