Time For A Swim

After coming home from a great vacation I decided it was time to get back in the pool and start training for my swim portion of my Triathlon in October. It was my first swim in 7 and a half months and it felt great! I could not believe I swam 900 yards today! I wasn't sure how far I would be able to go since it had been so long, but I think it went great! I was averaging times that I had as my best times at the end of last season's training and I have only just begun. :) Here is my workout breakdown:

Warm Up:
2x50 swim sprint (ss) (0:45 and 0:45)
2x50 kick board (kb) (1:10 and 1:12) 

Workout:
5x100 ss (1:45, 1:47, 1:49, and 1:47) 

Cool Down:
1x100 ss (1:53) 1x50 kb (1:15) 1x50 ss (0:49)

Overall I did the whole workout in 16:37 which gave me an average lap speed of 1:51 per 100 yards. This is great, last year I averaged at 1:45-1:50 per 100! It feels great to know that I am already off to a good start. Eventually I will work up to a straight 600 yard swim. The Triathlon swim portion is 587 yards (1/3 of a mile) and in the pool this equates to about 12 laps (1 lap is 50 yards). I cannot wait to do this workout again! Here's to the next workout. Until then...

April :)

Duplication Is Not Always The Key

After having the best run in a long time, I decided to run the same route as yesterday. I woke up a bit later today and found that my GPS didn't want to work at all. Well, after the trouble with the GPS yesterday, I went ahead and mapped the area and knew where my 3 mile mark was located. My run today was slightly lethargic to say the least. I ran 3.1 miles in 31:46, which gave me an average of 10:15 min/mi. Average to say the least for me...but at least I ran it! The route was close to the same as yesterday and you can view it here. The key to a great workout for me is to keep moving. Sometimes it is better to do something brand new; run a new route, try a new ab routine, walk down a different path than normal. I have to stay mobile and continue to do something everyday, changing up my routine occasionally, or I get stuck in a rut. Even though I did not have as good of a run as I did yesterday, I still ran great and did it on vacation! :) Here's to the next workout. Until then...

April 

It's All About The View

Time sure does fly...I just realized I have not posted any of my workouts lately! We decided to go on a mini vacation to Destin and even though it is hard to make yourself workout on vacation, I brought my shoes and clothes "just in case". Well, since I woke up early everyday anyway, on Saturday I decided to get up and run since I had been awake since 6:30am. The weather was great, perfect for a good run along the bay in Sandestin, FL. I got dressed, stretched, and put my earplugs in and turned the music way up! I ran, and ran, and could have ran 5 miles! I went what I thought was half way (because I decided to check my distance and ended up pausing my workout!) so I judged my distance the best I could. I really wanted to do a 3 mile run and ended up running 2.8 miles! It was my best run yet! I ran 2.8 miles in 26:37! I wish I would have just kept running...it would have been a great 3 miles! I averaged a 9:31 min/mi, which is my best time since I have been running multiple miles. Since the GPS bleeped out on me, I tracked my run so others in the area can run it. I highly recommend this run, it was beautiful! Here is my route. This was such a great run...I think I will do it again tomorrow! Here's to the next workout! Until then...

April

First Bike to Run Transition

Hello blog-world! It has been a few weeks since I last wrote. I have been playing softball to keep me going, but have not been very good at doing other workouts. However, today I really kicked it in gear and did a "transition" workout from bike to run. I biked 10.01 miles in 40:07, which is a 4:00 minute mile and an average speed of 15 miles/hour. I wanted to do better than that, but still it is not terrible. Then I put my bike up and transitioned to a 2 mile run that I completed in 21:28. I had to stop twice due to cramps in my calves, but my pace was still 10 minutes per mile and my speed was 5.79 miles/hour. This was a great hour of training! You can view my route on the Trace by clicking this link.

Next week I will go back to my swimming routines to get my lungs back to where they need to be. From now until October I will be training heavily on Triathlon workouts. I do feel that cross training and strength training is necessary to maintain good all around health and strength. On days where I only run, I will try to incorporate a body rock routine to increase my strength. This weekend we are going out of town for the holiday...to the beach! I really love a good beach run, so I am going to try very hard to do it twice! We shall see how it goes...hopefully I won't get the "vacation lazies" and push through for some good training. Here's to the next workout! Until then...

April :)

Run 'til My Legs Fall Off

Well, for the first time in 3 weeks I ran. It was not pretty! I started out great...I was trudging along, trying not to over exert myself since it had been some time since my last run (which wasn't exactly at full speed). I decided to check my time at 1.5 miles and that was a bad idea! At 1.5 miles I was at 14:32, which was fantastic. I was on target for a 29:04 3 mile run! That would be awesome for my first time back out. But, I knew once I saw the time and began calculating what that meant for my finishing time that I would begin to calculate how much slower I could go and still finish in 30 minutes. I got to 2 miles in 19:34 (I was already slowing down) and before I knew it I was telling my self, "Just a half a mile more, just a half a mile more..." It was terrible, and by 2.75 miles I decided I could walk faster than I was running so...I did. I was so mad at myself! I only had a quarter of a mile left and I walked. I was so tired, I almost just stopped my time there. However, I decided I was going to do 3 miles today, so I mustered up the last of my energy and started running again. That was a bad idea! I had already began to tighten up since (In April body language) I started walking so I was done. I told myself just a little bit further April...and I finished my 3 mile run in 31:19. Certainly not a bad time, but from the pace I had at mile 1.5 and at mile 2 I should have finished around 29 minutes. No big deal though. I will do better next time. :)

Remember to not overdo your workout. If it has been some time since your last workout ease into the workouts at your pace and build on that. I pushed too hard today. I really should have ran 2 miles today, then 2.5 to 3 miles the next time run. I will have to keep this in mind the next time I do run because I have a bad habit of just going for it all! Here's to the next workout! Until then...

April :)

Award Winning Day

Wow, it seems I have not written in some time! I have been mostly just playing softball and I guess that sometimes I feel that you can only write so much about a co-ed game :) I have found myself struggling a bit in the offensive sense, but played well defensively. Tonight, I finally got 2 great hits and I caught the winning line drive in the outfield! I was even one of the 2 winning runs that put us ahead 9-7. It felt great to be able to play well. I also did great in the school and work world...I found out I got a 4.0 this semester and I received an award for the Association of Office Professionals Educational Office Professional of the Year! My little girl was at the game along with my man...and what made the night even better is that she had to go potty (mommy forgot her seat :() but she went on the big potty anyway!! It was an absolutely great day...until I threw the ball in from the outfield and dislocated my second baseman's finger!! That really made me feel bad and I do hope Erica is ok. Well I guess that is about it for today. I hope to run tomorrow if the weather holds up! Here's to the next workout. Until then...

April :)

Softball, softball, softball!!

Thursday is here and that means one thing...softball!! Our pitcher was out tonight so I got to fill in. I think I did quite well...I walked 2 people :(, struck out 2 people, and caught a line drive! I did not hit very well tonight...but I did get a great hit at my last at bat which brought the winning run home!! That made me feel good! :) I was still sore from my groin strain on last Thursday, but I made it through! I love how the swinging of the bat gets my abs going :) I had to make sure to stretch extra good before the game and "remember" to stretch after the game! I could have additionally done a body rock exercise, but I felt that I needed to give my body a good rest before the next workout.

I hope everyone's workouts are coming along great! Here's to the next workout...until then...

April

Softball equals sprints

Tuesday marks another softball game night! The weather was great :) I was in the outfield and prepared for a great game. We did awesome and ended up winning! I got to come in and relief pitch which got some additional muscles moving and woken up! I did not get much action in the outfield, but I did get great hits and come around the bases quite a few times. I seem to forget sometimes how many sprints I run in the span of a 60 minute game. Team sports are great ways to get those little muscles you don't think about working out a chance to stretch and become active. My abs are still so sore! Now, my groin have decided to feel "worked" along with my abs and lower back! Remember to do good stretching before and after all workouts. No matter how "in shape" you think you are, you are throw your back out just by picking up a pencil! 

Here are some great stretching workouts:

Body Flow

Shape Magazine Article: Stretching before and after a workout

I hope these articles and exercises help you with being more flexible! Here's to the next workout...until then...

April