Healthy Twists

I know, I know, I’m sitting here blogging when there are fireworks to be watched and kegs to be tapped (umm…was that the right? Do you tap a keg? Jeez, college wasn’t that long ago!). But since it’s cloudy, I hate beer, and I live on the outskirts of a beach community that’s known for plenty of debauchery, I’m hanging out at home with my dog. I just cleaned the entire condo while listening to the BEST Pandora station (Glee Cast, of course) so I thought I’d blog…so that I can keep listening.

This week in training was technically a “step-back” week as far as mileage, but I don’t know if I really gave my body that much of a break. And, my ankle is starting to give me trouble, so I’m trying to be extra diligent about stretching and icing, and I’m going to the running store ASAP for new shoes.

This week’s workouts:

Monday: Pilates! I traded some PR work for a session at a fancy-pants Pilates studio where a friend is an instructor, and on Monday I finally had the one-hour session . I have only done mat Pilates before, so getting to use the Reformer and other crazy contraptions (see below; photo source) was a real treat! I have to water my money tree some more so I can afford to train there for real someday.

I had no idea what to expect, and the next day I was the most sore in my triceps and legs, which makes me think I wasn’t engaging my core as much as I should have. I felt like a little kid playing, rather than an grown-up, exercising. Why can’t all workouts be that fun?

Tuesday: 3-mile hilly walk/run with Nina in about 40 minutes. Again, between the 8 miles on Sunday and the Pilates session, I didn’t want to over-do things by running 3 miles and talking my pup for a walk, so I combined the two, even though I said I wasn’t going to do that anymore. Ah well.

Wednesday: This ended up being a semi-rest day because all I did was my Hatha yoga class. Gosh, I love yoga, I just cannot do it unless I’m taking a class! I have a month of unlimited yoga at a new-to-me studio that I’ve been meaning to start before it expires (it was one of those Groupon-type deals).

Thursday: I ran 4 miles in about 42 minutes. I ran near my work because I had to go in early and I had evening plans close to where I work, so it didn’t make sense to go far to run. This was was tough and I felt sluggish, but I ended pretty strong! I stopped at a lot of stoplights, so I decided to really push it in between lights, since I knew I’d be getting a little break. I still can’t decide if the whole run/walk thing is helpful or hurtful (mentally and physically) for my speed and endurance.

Friday: I got off work early (yay for holiday weekends!) so I hit the gym for a quality lifting session before meeting a girlfriend for a drink. Again, I did a slightly modified version of Susan’s upper-body routine with cardio intervals, and it was a great workout (that took me an hour and 20 minutes…I swear I take forever at the gym, even when I’m trying to keep my heart rate up and not take breaks!) except I did something to my back and of course, finished the workout instead of stopping when I first felt the pain. I’m not sure what happened but basically, Susan broke me. And she lives in Canada, so that’s impressive.

Saturday: See above. I slept horribly on Friday due to the 2 glasses of wine pain I was in all night, and I could barely move Sunday morning so I sat around whining for a good part of the day. I did, however, take Nina for a leisurely 55-minute walk up our hill, and that actually made me feel a lot better. Funny how sunshine and endorphins can do that.

Sunday: We had 6 miles on our schedule, and it just so happened that there was a 4th of July 10k going on, so on a whim, Jenny and I decided to do the race! No fancy race recap here, but it was pretty fun to run in a new area (Lake Miramar…quite lovely) and have a sense of that race atmosphere to get us amped up for the half marathon. We did the 10k in about 1 hr 10 min or so. I was hoping that I’d be faster (I thought perhaps race adrenaline would magically make us fly), but this was a better time than my first 10k, so a PR is a PR. It was funny seeing everyone hitting up the beer garden at 8:30 AM at the finish line…although, it is a holiday, and if it was a mimosa garden, I would have been there, so I shouldn’t judge.

Ok….enough rambling! I need to hit “publish” before I start publicly overanalyzing my fitness levels, work, food choices, finances, school, relationships…so I’ll just say I hope you’ve had a lovely 4th of July, and if this is a long weekend for you, ENJOY!

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