Sweat from all pores

Today I did Stage 2 A2 of NRoLfW after warming up for 50 calories on the elliptical. I had to change up the order of exercises because someone else was using the squat rack. Things went well. Not much to comment on there. I used 25# dumbbells for the one point rows. That's getting close to my grip strength!

Instead of doing the High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) with the last B workout, I did it today. I'm not sure why he put that on the longer of the two workouts for this stage. I hope there is not a problem with that. It starts out by warming up then alternating 1 minute intense with 2 minutes less intense. I warmed up at 5.0mph and 5.3 mph with intense being 6.8 mph and 5.0mph for the rests. I finished it fine, but I was pretty wasted at the end. I broke out into an all-over sweat and my heart rate stayed elevated for quite a while! It worked, I guess! During those 14 minutes, I covered 1.3 miles.

Just the weights...

Today was the first day of Stage 2, workout B. This has 8 exercises with 2 sets each, 75 seconds between sets. That made for a long workout even without cardio. I warmed up for 3 minutes or so on the elliptical.

I didn't have a step to use, so I made due. Not very well. Not sure what to do about that. I used dumbbells, which are a poor substitute.

Swiss ball crunches are still annoyingly easy.

Yesterday was yoga. Felt good! We did lots of back twists. I felt that afterward!

The Envi-run 5k!

This morning was a dreary morning. It was lightly raining with some distant thunder. About 44degF (7Cdeg). Not a beautiful day. However, it turned out to be wonderful weather to run a 5k in! They had a short little run for the kids, but my husband and kids decided not to go to that. So, I went alone. I was running late and my husband had thrown away the entry form I had filled out and had not made it to sending it. I was just going to hand it to them. Not a big deal, but it seemed so at the time, since I was running late anyway. As it turns out, I made it there with enough time, filled out a registration, and got my number, number 42. (Isn't that the meaning of life?) I jumped and jogged in place a lot to keep warm. It was a pretty informal race with around 50 participants. Unfortunately, a lot of them were young, fit grad students at the local university. That's ok. I enter for me, not to win!

At the start there were a few sprinkles, but they stopped and it was dry the rest of the run. The first km was a bit faster than normal for me. But, I evened out and settled into a comfortable pace. I picked it up a bit in the last km, but mostly towards the last half km, since the first half was into the wind. I kicked it towards the end and finished with something around 32:40. I don't know the official time yet. It took me a few seconds to cross the start line, so the official time wouldn't be that accurate, either. I did forget to look at my watch right as I crossed, though. I looked at it a bit later and it said 32:53.

All in all, it was a good race. Afterward, as usual, I felt like I could have tried harder, but the truth is I was over 180bpm for a decent portion of the run. I tried to keep the flats under 180bpm.

I'm ok with the time. I haven't been able to run longish distances in the past several months due to my knee. I think those two 3 mile runs in the past week or two were the only runs over 1 mile, but I'll have to go back and check.

I brought my music equipment with me, not knowing whether I would actually use it. After seeing the small size of the run and the althetic appearance of most of them, I decided the tunes would be fine. After the first 1km or so, I was mostly on my own, so it was good that I had my beats. I used a 157bpm Podrunner podcast called Native Suns.

Let's go Stage 2~

Today, I started off with a mile on the treadmill. This time, after a short warm-up walk, I played with the speed by doing some increasing intervals. I started at 5.5mph, then did some at 6.0, then 5.7, then 6.2, then 5.9... etc . Or something very similar. I'm not sure about the exact number I used, but the pattern was up 0.5mph, down 0.3mph. That had me finishing the last 0.2 miles at 6.5mph! Finished the mile at 1% incline in 10:10min. I like that was of inching up to the higher speed. I might have to try that again!

Weights were 2A1 today from NRoLfW. It went well. The squat presses were hard, but I knew they would be. I did do it fine with the Olympic bar. For 8 reps of the second set, I added 5#, but removed it for the last 2. I did push-ups on the bench, but didn't get down quite as far as I wanted, so I may move back to the Smith machine. Static lunges were hard after the previous exercises. I used a 65# dumbbell on the floor instead of a step. I actually finished the 60sec planks fine. Woo hoo!

The Bunny Count is Back!!

I'm sure the whole world was missing my bunny count. Well, folks, it's back. And with full force!
Bunnies: 9 (all alive)
Dead squirrels: 1

I had a relatively easy run this morning. It was nice. Windy, but not crazy windy. It was 42F when I left, so not bad. I had on a long-sleeved running shirt, a water-proof windbreaker, and a (drum roll please) new reflective vest! At 5am in the dark, I'm always worried that cars won't see me. Also, I wear headphones. Although, I don't have the music up loud, sometimes it's hard to tell if the noises are coming from the music or not.

The running portion of my outing was right at 3 miles, which took me 33 minutes and 40 seconds. Not bad for a somewhat hilly, easy run. I'm going to only do shorter runs before the 5k this weekend. I used a 152bpm Podrunner podcast called Power Trip. The combo of running outside and listing to the electronic beats of Podrunner is so relaxing. It's almost meditative. Ohmmmm....

It was, of course, dark when I set out this morning, but by the time I got to a path that is nice to run on, it was getting a little light. I don't run on the path in the dark, because it is completely unlit. Not only is it a bit scary, because of the trees, it gets so dark, it's hard to tell what's on the path and the condition of the asphalt. As I was crossing the street to where I would need to decide to go down the path or not, there was a dead squirrel in the street. It probably sounds completely crazy, but I took that as a hint not to go down the path!

During the run, I could feel an odd stiffness in my knee toward the back of it. Toward the end of the run, I started cramping a bit in the foot on that side. Probably due to worrying about my knee. Anyway, I think it will be ok. I might wear my brace today to help with it. I didn't run with the brace. I'm not sure the (second) one I got would be good for the repetitive motion of a long-ish run.

I so missed running outside. I sure hope this knee thing rectifies itself, so that I can continue running.