President's Day Exercise: I Actually Got to Swim!

So yesterday was President's Day and I had some extra time to workout. It was amazing. I booked two sessions with my trainer Randi (who I don't normally get to see because she works days). But I couldn't get two consecutive sessions, so I had them with an hour off in between. Some might have gone and relaxed for that hour, but I decided to swim, so I got two full hours of workout in. What a treat... for those sadistic people like me.

For my first half hour session, Randi focused on some killer lower body exercises. Lots of lunges and step ups, with some crunches thrown in for good measure. Then I went to the locker room, did a fast change and swam for 40 minutes straight. God, it felt so good to be in the pool. While some people find doing laps tedious, I could do them all day. I'm not fast in the pool, but I'm just so happy to be there that I just keep plugging along happily and steadily. And, since it was the middle of the day, I had my own lane for the majority of the time. That's a rare treat indeed. I was so happy to spread out and just stretch all my muscles. And then, as a little treat, I hopped in the sauna for ten minutes to dry off a little. OK, and to relax before my second session, but mostly to dry off.

For the second session, Randi was all about the upper body. Lots of bicep curls, tricep curls, mean hammer things and a few other things with some pretty heavy weights that I was too delirious to remember. Thankfully, Randi was in joking spirits and so were the other trainers, which kept me laughing through the torture. Then we ended with some lower ab leg lifts. Just for kicks. Randi knew that I was heading off for vacation (and to do my half marathon) so she gave me a little extra torture.

After the workout, I was chatting with her and telling her how the mean computer at work told me that I was obese (when I put in some stats to get a discount on my health insurance). She actually took me to the bathroom and asked if I considered that girl in the mirror to be obese. She reassured me that while I still could easily lose another 30 lbs or so, that I was in kick ass shape, and very determined and strong. She told me that she and the other trainers really look forward to training me because of my positive outlook and ability to smile through the pain. I thought that was really sweet and nice to hear. And while I'm planning on splurging a little bit on vacation, it gave me incentive to book more sessions the second I get back and to keep plugging along, even if the results are slow to come.

What a nice way to spend my day off.

Today's Exercise: Apparently Running In Shiny Green Leggings Makes Me Weird...

I was testing out part of my running "costume" for my marathon this morning, and they happen to be insanely shiny green leggings. I think as part of a costume in the middle of a Disney race they will be fine, but in the middle of New Jersey in February, they got some eye raises. Especially from the older women in the park who might have thought I was a little crazy. Perhaps I am, but at least on my little four mile run (which was a little sluggish after my hardcore squat workout on Thursday), I found out that these leggings will be fine for me to run my half marathon in next weekend.

Today's Exercise: Standing on My Head!

I've been diligently working hard in yoga to try and do a headstand, and tonight, it finally happened. My fantastic teacher served as a spotter and I pulled my legs right up and held my pose. Honestly, holding it was hard, but getting down without doing the equivalent of a belly flop onto my mat was the most difficult part of the whole thing. That's why I was grateful for my spotter. It's really unbelievable to me that just a few years ago I was unable to move my neck to the right because of two herniated discs and pinched nerves. To now have worked my muscles to a place where they can do something like standing on my head is quite the feat, and one I never would have dreamed of doing back then.

My crazy/wonderful teacher has decided to really push us "regulars" and she had us to our normal vinyasas, and toss in some handstand practice too. I almost had it, I had one part where I was floating up, but I just wobbled and lost it. We're also working on some crazy balancing pose, that I can't even describe, where you are on bent arms and have one leg hooked around and another out straight. I'm getting closer, but definitely not quite there yet. Than and Crow have been the hardest for me. Something about those forearm balances just are the thing I struggle the most with.

And this ridiculously hard class was AFTER I did my half hour training session with the wonderfully hyper Kristin. She had me focused on my lower body and lots and lots of squats with some really hard weights. And she kept me longer than my 30 minute session, since her next person cancelled on her. Thank goodness I had yoga, or lord knows how long I would have been there. Then again, I just willingly signed up for a double session with her when I get back from vacation. Maybe I'm the crazy one.

Trying to Outrun Mother Nature for 14 Miles

Before I get into my ridiculous challenge and all of its foibles, I'd like to give a super special shout-out to the guy in his car at mile 11. I thought was kindly slowing down to let me cross at a cross walk, but he was really rolling down his window to yell, "You are slow as shit". I'm sure it took a lot of effort to do that,  and perhaps you got frostbite from the quick exposure to the elements.

Last night (and into early this morning), I did my long run for the weekend. It was a training run of 14 miles, and while I ended up finishing in a snail's pace that a small toddler could probably beat, at least I finished it. And considering how much miles 10 through 14 sucked, finishing was half of the battle.

Why was I running 14 miles on a Friday night instead of during the day like a normal person? I asked myself that a lot last night, but it was really a question of simple logistics. See, all of the lovely weather people were predicting that a storm would hit this area around midnight on Friday night and go on until Saturday morning, with 1-3 inches of snow accumulating. Not that much, but considering that I had originally been planning on doing my long run Saturday at 6 am, during the middle of the storm, that was kind of out the window. I briefly toyed with running on Sunday, but was worried about ice, so I made the rash decision on Friday afternoon to squeeze my run in on Friday night just ahead of the storm.

And I mean JUST ahead of the storm. I got home at 7:15 and I knew that by the time I got everything together to run for several hours, I'd be pushing that midnight deadline. Allotting myself about 15 minutes per mile at a long training pace. The whole point of running a longer distance than the half marathon BEFORE the half marathon, is to increase endurance and get your body prepared for running insane amounts of time. Well, consider my body prepared. The books I've read said that you cannot possibly do these runs too slow, and they are more about completing the task than setting land speed records. Good thing, because after a hard training session on Thursday night with Basil, followed by my extra hard power yoga class and walking around NYC all day with high-heeled boots on, speed was far from the realm of my possibility. If I'd known I was doing this run without a full 24 hours of recuperation, I might have worn my Uggs and skipped training the night before. Or at the very least gone to bed at a reasonable time so I'd bank some energy.

So I got home, bundled up in all my lovely winter night running gear (reflector strap, running gloves, protein bar, headphones, warm socks) and headed out at 8 PM (the super sexy look got some strange glares in my lobby). The first mile was slow as my legs were warming up, but at a nice 45 degrees it wasn't that bad. By mile 2, I was in the zone. Sure it was a challenge having to stay on the sidewalks so I didn't get run down by maniacal Jersey drivers. And the constant up/down of the curbs put some extra pressure on my legs. And sure, having spots with no street lights and fumbling to turn my headlamp on so I didn't trip and kill myself slowed my down. But I would say that for Mile 2- 8, I actually ran probably 5.5 of the six miles. I was cooking along, only taking quick breaks to adjust something or grab some wheat thins to keep my salt/sugar levels up (something I've been having issues with).

I started slowing down around Mile 9, and sent my friend Maryanne a Facebook message saying that I shouldn't have had that iced coffee. Since I'm not Snooki, and can't just pee anywhere (particularly in a residential neighborhood), I was forced to try and hold it. Running basically with my legs crossed.

But at Mile 11, shortly after the charming young man spewed out his really encouraging words, something odd happened. My legs just froze up. While I had packed gloves to keep my hands warm, and those little air operated "hot pockets" to stuff in my jacket, I didn't anticipate my legs just freezing up on my totally. I walked up a hill (because really, I'm just not at a point in my training where I can run up them at any sort of speed) and then couldn't get them moving again at a running pace that was more than a shuffle. I knew the temperature drop would be a problem, but this wasn't the problem I'd prepared for. I normally run in the mornings, so while it may start out freezing ass cold, usually it warms up a few degrees and the running gets my blood flowing, so by the end of my run my legs are quite toasty. But here, because it was 45 when I started and 37 by the time I hit the wall, my legs just felt like popsicle sticks.

So I ran-walked for as long as I could and then about mile 12.5, it turned into just walk-walk, and by mile 13.5, I was lucky that it was in an upright position. By then, everything was cold (aside from my ears in my toasty headphone/earmuffs). I just wanted to be home and in bed, and at close to midnight, this seemed like a reasonable request. And to make make matters worse, the forecasted weather was closing in tight, with some very icy raindrops hitting me in the face. But.... I made it home to a nice cup of tea and warm shower.

Was my pace last night fast enough to keep me away from those pesky Disney dwarves (or whomever is going to scoop me up in a golf cart)? Nope. I'd have been almost 10 minutes over the drop-dead allotment of time. Do I think that last night's run is indicative of how I'll perform come race day? Nope. While a year ago I'd have been negative and presumed that the fact that running 14 miles in nearly four hours was the end of the world, today I'm positive I'll be a lot faster and complete it in my under 3 hour goal. As I'll be running in the morning, in FLORIDA, and won't have had a gallon of water and Venti iced coffee beforehand. I will also be running on a smooth surface, without the curbs and obstacles of stop lights and douchey Jersey natives to contend with. And I'm sure that I'll feed off the energy from the people around me. There's no way that I won't smile when I see Cinderella. Plus, I know that I've run a mile in under 11 minutes before (lightening fast for me), and while that isn't sustainable for 13.1 miles, it is possible and even conceivable that I can do a lot better given more optimum weather conditions.

So far I've trained on hills, in sub 20 degree weather, on an awful treadmill, at night in February and in the rain. Anything Florida has to throw at me should be a piece of cake. And even better? Last night's run is my last long run before the big race. Now all I've got is some 2-3 milers and 4-5 milers ahead of me before the big day. Hopefully, my legs will have thawed out by then.

Today's Exercise: "She Worked Me Out Hard"

I went to the gym tonight for a quick training session, while Isabel hung out in the kid gym for a bit. I got to work out with Kristin, the tiny little bit of a thing who loves to circuit train. Tonight's circuit was inverted lunges off of a stepper, regular knee to floor lunges across the gym with a weight bar on my shoulders, and then some squats. Repeat 4 times.

But the killer thing was her last fun exercise, she made the big guys move off of one of the scary looking pieces of metal that they do chinups and pulls ups on. She had me hop on it, put my arms in the pads and dangle and then pull my legs straight up. Sort of like a gymnast on the parallel bars (or at least that's what I told myself while I was doing it). I honestly didn't think I could do 10, but I ended up doing 40 (with breaks after each 10). Slowly but surely, I am definitely getting stronger.

The best part of my day though, was my kid telling me that her gym teacher "worked me out hard." Its something I say all the time, and she appreciates someone who puts them through the paces. She showed me the knee crunches and arm swings she had to do, and it was pretty adorable. She also proudly told my dad that she was training to do a run with me (looking for a kids 1K for her to do). She wants to race! I feel like I have inspired her, and that's all I ever really wanted.

Today's Exercise: Hit Like a Girl

My friend Jennie's been working out with a trainer named Luis for a year or so, and she's always talking about his killer workout sessions. Last night he let me tag along to one of her sessions, and she wasn't kidding. He's tough, but fun. 

He had us do 10 minutes of warmups (burpees, mountain climbers, jumping jacks, etc) and then had set up little stations all around the room. So while I was doing this hopping thing on the step thing, she was working out with him doing some one on one boxing for three minutes. Then we switched. I may or may not have mentioned how much I loved kickboxing and as soon as I put those gloves on, that all came flooding back. While I was worried about punching out a poor guy who only had mitts on (since i'm used to whaling on a heavy bag), it was fun to have something that would react to you and make you duck. I was thrilled. 

This continued for several stations. At the ab station, I opted for planks and he seemed surprised when I asked if he wanted high ones with my arms extended or low ones with my elbows. He laughed that high ones are hard, and seemed impressed I could do them at all. Thank you, yoga! He did make a great station for leg lifts, where you really had to kick up almost on to your shoulders. Again, thanks to all those yoga shoulder stands, this was pretty tolerable (though my core muscles were disagreeing strongly at about 22). 

He then had us just run around the heavy bag (while he held it) and we too turns punching it for ten times before trading off. I really, really loved hitting the heavy bag. Is it wrong that I like hitting things so much? Then we did some blocking/punching/ducking drill and bicep curls with lunges. Jennie lifted that 40 lb. bar like it was nothing, but I wimped out half way and had to go to the 35. Then again, I haven't been training with him for that long... she's used to this kind of crazy. 

And for a little cool down, just some planks (regular & side) and some backbends. It was a great hour-ish long session, but I swear, if I didn't do yoga I wouldn't have survived. Hell, the 10 minute high cardio warmup nearly did me in. Guess, I need to really work on doing cardio intensity. 

Still great workout, and today (saturday) I'll be doing my four mile run. And while I was feeling a mite guilty about canceling on my trainer today, I think my arms couldn't have survived three days in a row of personal training. We'll save that for the next time I get this same brainy idea.

Today's Exercise: Aaaaaand We're Back!

I did some yoga on Sunday, but haven't exercised since my big run on Saturday because of a nagging head cold. But today I finally got my butt back to the gym, and while I worked out hard, I feel pretty damned great.

I started with my torture session with my trainer Basil. He had me do lots and lots of curls, and one of his brilliant ideas was to have me in a full squat, with my butt way back and my back nice and straight, and then do curls in between my knees with the 30 pound bar and my hands super close together. Fun?!?!
He also found a way to make burpees more torturous, by having me told a medicine ball the entire time. Burpees are hard enough, but having to hold on to that little medicine ball, while kicking out was harder than it looked. Lifting it over my head and doing a squat was actually the easy part.

After I finished with that I headed to yoga, where she had us flowing really fast. Not a nice peaceful 9 PM class. But it was wonderful fun, and she even "rode me" during Bow pose (she likes to sit on people's feet and really stretch their shoulders up). It's actually awesome, like a massage.

So I worked up a good sweat, was happy to be able to breathe out of my nose and will probably be crawling tomorrow, but it will be worth it.