Spring Sweataway 2013 Part I

Due in part to holidays and closures at the SJCC, Jared and I contrived to take Monday and Tuesday off work and enjoy ourselves on a much needed break.

 

We slept in a little and went in to the 7am CrossFit so Jared could bust out his birthday WOD!  My hands were still beat up from the Saturday before, so I stuck with my regular programming and did my Wendler's deload week for back squat and bench press.

 

We got to shoot some hoops before working out - he helped me out with some pointers and I made a bunch of baskets!

 

 

 

He was sporting the birthday present I got him...the Reebok CrossFit Nanos!

 

 

If you wanna give his birthday WOD a try, here it is:

 

"Jared"

 

2 rounds for time:

 

25 Double Unders

12 Clean & Jerks #95/65

13 Snatches #95/65

25 Pushups

12 Burpee Blasters

(burpee into knees to elbows into pullup)

13 Handstand Pushups

25 Calorie Row

 

Jared busted out the top score of the day - sub 20 minutes!

 

 

 

I took it easy on my deload week - it was nice to get some time under the bar and not work my hands too much.

 

 

 

 

After we got home, we ate a little, packed up, and Jared tuned the bicycles so we could head north to Anacortes for a ride!  Great views all along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We found a great trail for riding and got to see herons and a cute otter up close.

 

 

 

We were STARVING by the time we finished and hit up a local cafe for some awesome food.

 

Jared's lunch - French Toast Cinnamon Rolls!

 

My lunch: Fish and Chips and Shrimp and Clam Strips!

 

Yes, I had salad, too.

It was so nice to get out and enjoy the sunshine and sing along to music on our mini road trip.

 

 

Fall Sweataway 2011 Pat IV: Sunday Morning and Afternoon

We slept AMAZINGLY well at the Oxford...a crappy night in Motel 6 plus a half marathon will really knock you out. 

Breakfast was a mix of muffin, pastry, fruit, coffee/tea, and protein-packed chocolate milk.

If you are looking for a good book on racing, Runner's World Guide to Road Racing is a great place to start.  It has everything from nutrition tips and cooldown strategies to motivational quotes from famous runners and lists of the best races in the country.

I loved how quickly my body started recovering from the Bend Half.  My first half found me hardly able to walk during the rest of the day, and still pretty drained the day after.  Not so for this time around...an unexpected pay-off of diligent training!  I always tend to focus on getting faster or going farther or working on my form.  Avoiding injury and recovering quickly make good goals for ANY training program.

Jared planned for us to walk 2+ miles to the liquor store to find a particular local brand (Oregon Spirit Distillers) of gin or rum.  They had the marionberry cordial, but not what he was looking for.  They did, however, have a Whole Foods nearby, and we had a groupon-type thing to use!

It was really sweet that he had us start the day with a long walk.  We fell in love walking and talking for hours at our college campus, and we don't usually get to any more.  (The walking part.  The poor boy will probably never find a way to make me stop talking.)  Romance props to Jared for being so thoughtful!  The view was pretty amazing, too.

When we got back to the hotel, we grabbed some bars for snacks and headed down to take out the complimentary cruiser bikes.  I have a weak spot for all things cute, and these bikes really take the cake.

We rode to the Old Mill District to do some shopping, along the river because it's pretty, up towards the area where we ran on Saturday, and around town a little.  We found a cute tea place that we'd like to try next time we come visit Bend.

It may seem like all we did on this trip was work out together...and that wouldn't be excessively far from the truth.  But we truly enjoy being active and at home in "real life" we are rarely able to coordinate our schedules to do our workouts in tandem.  So we wring every drop out of these amazing Sweataways.  (Plus we don't waste a minute feeling guilty about anything we eat.  Which is a huge perk...since we eat a ton.)

Next on Sunday's agenda was strength-training.  I was totally in need of more than a few reps, since I'd been so focused on running.  And no way would I pass up the chance to get tips on moves and form from my favorite personal trainer.

Jared being focused and me taking pictures. 
This is kinda how we roll.

We decided a full body strength workout would be best, and started with Jared's dynamic warmup, which includes jumping jacks, walking lunges, and hip strengthening exercises, to name a few.

We then did about 10 minutes of abs...and boy could I tell I had been ignoring mine lately.

For the full body workout, we did seated lat pulldowns, pushups, and body weight squats.  15 reps of each going in a circuit, resting between circuits for a total of 3 sets.

Move #1

I really have to watch my form on these, because my right trap always wants to scrunch up and "help."  This is bad for my neck and also does nothing to help strengthen my lats.

Move #2

I am not currently up to "real" pushups, so I go with bench pushups instead of "girl" pushups (pushups from knees instead of feet.  Girl pushups make it hard to have good form, and I don't think they build as much strength.  Using a bench or something equally study makes it a little easier than full pushups but encourages good form.

Move #2 with bad form

Obviously when you get tired your form slacks off.  Having a trainer or even a well-informed workout buddy can help you when you don't realize you are sticking your hips back.

If you want to try real pushups, though, go for it!  They are a great way to get a super speedy workout, any time and any place.

Move #3A

Move #3B

Body weight squats are another do-anywhere kind of move.  All you need to do to make them more challenging is to squat lower without letting your knees go past your toes...or hold the down position for a few seconds before coming back up.

Strength training is serious business.

If you want to jumpstart weight loss or any other fitness goal, strength training is a crucial part of your routine.  It ramps up your metabolism, fights fat, and protects you from injury.  A nice pair of gloves protects your hands...I like the GoFit gloves from Target.

We finished up with a quick yoga routine, which is always a good idea, especially after a day full of moving around.  It's a fun tradeoff, because Jared is great with strength training, but I know more about yoga.  When we workout together, we can both be contributing ideas and learning from each other...which is a pretty useful exercise in marriage, if you ask me.

FINE: 30 for 30 for 30

Or should that be finally?  Not sure...

So, I did it.  Sometimes by wearing two outfits in one day...but that meant I was doing two workouts, so I feel like it counts.  Ready for #21-#30?  Good, me, too:

#21 - Labor Day

 I hope you realize this is not a buffer,
short-haired, tall version of me.

This nice guy wanted to bike 11+ miles for Labor Day. 
He's cute, so I went for it.

#11: Tee - Nike, sports bra - Champion,
running skirt, Champion, shoes - Nike

Me looking sweaty and labored after the ride

#22 - Be prepared for a Castle-worthy use of irony.  I determined to train for a fall half-marathon since I felt a summer half would require running in the heat of summer and would not be too fun.  Ironically, this year was one of our (shortest and) latest summers.  Ever.  So the hottest week of the year coincided with the most intense week of my training.  I decided to be super awesome/stupid, and wore all black for one of these hot runs.  I felt REALLY slow (physically and mentally).

#12 - training run on the hottest day EVER;
black tee - Nike

Black Dry-Fit capris - Nike, shoes - Nike

#23 - Commuter/Recovery Run

Sports bra - Champion, tank - lululemon

Capris - Old Navy, shoes - Nike



Saw this on a bridge on my way home - cute!



And then I saw these.

"Recovery run" is obviously code for
"stop and eat a ton of blackberries
whenever possible"

 I had decided to have leftover beets as my final snack/meal of the workday...like an hour or less before the run.  Fiber is great, but sometimes it's really inconvenient.  Like when you are a ways away from your apartment on a run and realize you need to find a bathroom...five minutes ago.

I somehow made it to the clubhouse in our complex and dashed in to the restroom.  Good thing there were no small children in Pull-ups or pregnant ladies in my path. 

Then I decided that I could totally run a little longer...which worked out awesome since the clubhouse comes with a mini-gym.

Me feeling much better post-potty break. 
Note the fan cheering me on.

This was one of those "real life makes working out inconveniet" sort of days.  I'd had to stay later at work than I'd intended, and needed to clean the apartment (and my sweaty self) plus strength train all before a meeting for my musical theatre class.  (Yes, I'm uber-psyched to be teaching again.)

Somehow, I made it, using those killer sport wipes, and a quick 10 minutes of seriously challenging weight-lifting moves.  Obviously you are dying to know what I ate as well.  Protein, iron, whole grains, H2O, plus necessary replenishing of the salt I sweated away.  You're welcome.

#24 - Wicked Witch of the West

I cycled to and from work.  Which is impressive for me.  It's only a couple of miles, but somehow hills that I don't mind running are REALLY not cool on a bike.  I kinda wish I had the awesome evil theme music from Wizard of Oz playing while I rode.  It would motivate me.  Or turn my skin green.  One of the two.

It was kinda fun because Friday is date night, so I biked over to the mall after work and met the hubby, who had biked to work as well.  We went and used our Oh! Chocolate groupon and sat and talked...right near the bench where we first talked about the fact that our relationship was probably headed for marriage.  Fun walk down memory lane.  Then we biked home together (he went slow for me - that, folks, is true love).


Top - Nike, sports bra - Nike,
pants - Express, shoes - Nike,
bleary eyes - long week

#25 - Freakout Speedwork Run

We got home from work and I still hadn't done my training run for the day.  I was starting to panic because I had not followed the training plan from Fitness magazine ABSOLUTELY PERFECTLY and since I'm a spreadsheets/planning/freakout kinda girl, I determined this meant I was in no way ready for the half and could never possibly be.  Ever.

My husband is a smart man and told me to go ahead and go for my run.  It's really nice being married to a personal trainer who knows how to handle crazy panicking women.  Or at least, me.

So, guilt relieved (I hadn't wanted to cut date night short) and the latest copy of Runner's World in hand, I went for my hour-long run on the aforementioned clubhouse treadmill and had a killer run.

Tee - Nike, sports bra - Nike,
shorts - Brooks, shoes - Nike

It's amazing how sometimes you need to just get out there and do the work.  Seriously, if I picked one run from the 10 week plan (well, 8+ weeks so far) that was a "game changer" for me, this might be it.  I did some leg strength training afterwards and some yoga and felt SO ready to tackle the half on October 1st. 


#26 - Weights and Wings

I LOVE Saturday workouts.  It's pretty awesome to sleep in and still get to start your day at the gym.  Everyone seems to be in a good mood, and a lot of folks are STILL sleeping in, so you don't have to share equipment and you can take your sweet time about it.  I did abs, back and biceps (my fave), the elliptical, and yoga.  SOOO relaxing.

Headband - lululemon, tee - Fall City Days 5k,
sports bra - Nike, capris - lululemon, shoes - Nike

The Huskies were playing that afternoon...so we ended up at Wing Dome.  Yes, you read that right.  We hardly ever go out to eat, but usually when we do, we try not to worry too much about being healthy.  If you eat well 90% of the time, you don't have to feel guilty about stuff like wings, drinks, and donuts.

I got some Peach Tea/vodka something or other. 
Perfect for a hot day.

The famous wings...not my thing, but pretty good

We balanced things out with our late afternoon snack at home: caprese with tomatoes and basil from our CSA!  (Thank you, Jefferson Davis!)

I would seriously eat caprese every single day.

#27 - Longest Long Run!!!

Jared and I don't usually get to train together, but we try to do our long runs together on the weekend.  We decided for the longest run of our training plan to head over to Redmond and run the Sammamish River Trail.  We like avoiding traffic and stoplights and car fumes, plus the trail is just plain gorgeous to run along...AND they have bathrooms and water fountains along the way.

We stopped at the Redmond Town Center Starbucks to fuel up...and carefully avoided too much fiber (see #13). 

Pumpkin cream cheese muffin and
yummy baby food fruit thing.

We filled up our water bottles with nuun and brought PUSH powder for later.

We warmed up pre-run with jumping jacks, body-weight squats, and walking lunges.  I hardly ever do a real warm-up, but whenever I do, I feel like it makes a big difference.  I should do it more.

Headband - lululemon, top - Nike,
Dry-Fit capris - Nike, shoes - Nike Free!

You may think this is almost the same outfit I wore for #2 of the 30 for 30 for 30.  You would be right, except I threw on the headband to throw you off.  Tricky, huh?  In all seriousness, this outfit is absolutely my favorite for a long run on a warm day, and since this would be the longest run of our training, I wanted to be as comfortable as possible.

We had a GREAT run.  It's a fun thing to do as a married couple, since Jared loves doing things together as a team and I love talking.  This way, we're both happy!  I'm also finally getting faster, so it makes me glad to know that Jared's actually getting a decent workout on our runs these days.  Our speed was totally on pace for our sub-2-hour goal.  Woohoo!


#28 - Yoga

Pretty chill...woke up and did yoga before a long day of work.  It's a stella way to get blood flowing and muscles working without getting all sweaty and gross.  It also gets your brain in gear and really starts your day off on the right foot.

Jacket - Everlast,
sports bra - Champion,
capris - lululemon

#29 - Rolling Hills

Another instance of cramming health and fitness into a tight schedule.  Worked late and had to really kick my butt out of the office and out onto the pavement.  The nice thing (or not so nice thing) about Bellevue is that you can run some serious hills without having to go out of your way.  At all.  It makes you really sweaty, but hey, at least you're outside and not staring at a computer screen.  In addition to hills, Bellevue is crammed with parks.  I did some speedwork at a tiny one, and then headed to the big pretty one near the mall for some additional mileage.  I finished up on the treadmill at work and then hit the weights for 15 minutes.  I keep reminding myself that something is better than nothing (especially when it comes to pushups).



Sweaty Meghan: tee - Nike, sports bra - Champion,
capris - Express, shoes - Nike

 This nice guy gave me a ride home, which was very helpful as you can tell from the stuff on the table that we had our quarterly sample sale at work, and I made out like a bandit.

Me and the nice guy

CONFESSION: I did buy one thing during the 30 for 30 for 30. 

I CAN EXPLAIN!!!

Since we are doing a lot of commuting by bike or on foot these days...and we are heading into the longest season of the year (rain), we realized we'd each need some sort of running jacket to fend of wind and drizzle.

We were admiring super cool, super pricing jackets at lululemon.  But it would've been the jackets or our kids' college.

We went with college and hit up the Nike outlet instead.  Jared actually ended up ordering his online since the outlet didn't have his size on hand.  Pretty cool though, right?

I haven't worn mine yet, but it's adorable and super light-weight...and cost about 1/4 of the lulu jacket.  $35 instead of $100 plus works for me.

See?  Tags still on!

#30 - What's All that Racquet?

My dad and I talked my mom into joining us on one of our racquetball dates.  She was a super good sport and surprised me with how well she played! 

To give you an idea of how good my dad is, my mom and I (as a team, getting 2 serves to our team for every 1 serve of his) only beat him one game out of six.  By two points.

Still, we had a killer time and I even ended up with a minor concussion from getting clobbered in the noggin by a rogue ball.  Now I'm obviously a serious player and other court-comers will be deeply intimidated by me.

Me and my cute mom!

I wore my "There Is No Finish Line" shirt and my Old Navy capris with my Nike Frees. 

This challenge really un-bored me with my current set of workout gear, and kept a tight watch on my budget.  I also got a good sense of what I do need next time I'm shopping for workout clothes/gear, and I stayed motivated to keep logging sweat.  All in all, I think this was a success.

Thanks for tuning in, and happy Monday!