Marathon Training Week #1

Last week was officially week 1 of 20 weeks of marathon training.

And it was pretty fantastic.

Monday - off. did a spin class sunday morning, and spent all day monday getting settled into my new apartment in Chicago.

Tuesday - 2 a day. 2 miles in the morning, 2 miles in the evening. 4 for the day. These were good miles. Good effort, good intensity. It was my first chitown run. exciting! 

Wednesday - yoga at home. Pulled out the mats, downloaded the yogadownload podcast and just did a little easy flow at home. Not a huge calorie burn, but good stretching. amazing news - i can still do crow pose.

Thursday - 4 miles out by the lake. Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous. last .5 mile? 4:00. Oh yasso's, I'll get you eventually. even more amazing? I did core work afterwards. go me.

Friday - 3 miles easy. Headed out expecting to get poured on. My luck? No rain at all. And negative splits. and 8:24 average. so much for easy.

Saturday - SELF workout in the park. Like i mentioned in my prior post, this kicked my butt. I'm still sore and its now monday. Damn all those burpees, squats, lunges, and jumps.

Sunday - 8 miler long run along the lakeshore. this was amazing. negative splits. my first run with gu. roommate tagged along on her bike to hold my phone and keys. The lake is beautiful. chicago is beautiful. I'm in love.

negative splits whoa!!
(i dont count mile 7 because i was weaving through drunk cubs fans on the way back to my apt)

yay for roomies who take photos of you on your run! :)

Total miles: 19

Total time running: 2 hours 39 minutes

Self Work Out in the Park

Yesterday I went to the Self Magazine Workout in the Park event in Chicago.

It was really really awesome.

I picked up the tickets for my roommate and I on gilt city last weekend on a whim, and boy am I glad that I did! Very much worth it. We got there around 10:30 to register and then got in line. They didnt open up the park area until 11AM, but after that point it was jam-packed with things to do. 

There were two smaller fitness areas apart from the main stage where there were smaller more individualized workouts. We did a pilates one that killed my ab's, but it was quite short - maybe 10 minutes or so. But hey it worked!

The main stage was the best part - plenty of cardio and strength training based workout's with the chicago skyline in the background.

I did a few of the group fitness classes. One was a kickboxing type cardio class, which was fun. We caught the end of a bollywood style class called masala bangrha by Sarina Jain who was literally awesome. I'm almost tempted to go out and buy some of her workout videos. It reminded me of zumba, and was super fun. We then did a Jillian Michaels style circuit which I'm pretty sure really contributed to my soreness today, which is typical for Jillian workouts. 

There also was a Rebook cross-fit area that was awesome as well. A bunch of squats, burpees, and lunges that all killed my butt and hamstrings. All in all a great success.

 The event was huge, but didn't feel crowded, most of the vendors were great about supplying their tents with enough free swag that even at the end of the day we could get a few more things to go.


And boy did we collect some swag. By the end of it, a lot of the vendors were just trying to get rid of things, so we took advantage.

highlights: 

- all the bags of smartfood (we walked away with 6 or 7)

- luna squeeze water bottles (my favorite for running with)

- keurig k-cups from green mountain (LOVE)

- full size garnier products (haven't tried the dry shampoo yet, but i've heard its great)

- zico conut water (the chocolate is amazing!)

- rebook running socks. I can always use performance socks

This was May

So many things have happened since last blog post.

Let’s hit them bullet style:

•  Ran a half marathon. PR’ed, but just barely (we’re talking 2 minutes 1 second here). I also managed to get 6^th in my age group. It was a small race. All the fast runners were in the age group up from me.
• Finished 2L year. One final, one paper, a crapton of clinic stuff to wrap up. It was stressful, but I did it. Only one more year of law school!
•   Moved to Chicago. Yes, chitown for the summer. Weather has been uncooperative towards my love so far, but I’ll get there.

• also, must note that I moved in 3 blocks away from a lululemon store. trouble trouble trouble.
•  I’m doing real environmental lawyer-y things this summer and I love it. It’s great actually advocating for the things I care about, and while I’m not yet seeing results, I really think I will. And that’s so exciting.
• Got really serious about marathon training. Plan is made, runs are getting checked off, strength training is getting done.
•  Spent one weekend spending as much money on cardio accessories as I possibility could. (See new running shoes, new spinning shoes, all the vanilla gu)

So things got a little crazy, but life is good. Expect weekly training recaps, randomness, food posts, and the complete marathon training plan in all its excel sheet glory soon.

The Hot Vinyasa Yoga kicked my butt week

March 25- March 31

Monday - run 4 easy. total = 4 miles

Tuesday - the usual spin. total = 55 minutes

Wednesday - Hot yoga day. This kicked my butt. It was long class, with awesome music, and an awesome instructor, with a great breakout flow. total = 1 hour 15 min 

Thursday - a run with a friend by the stadium, followed by a hard extra mile tacked on the end. total = 3.56 miles

Friday - OFF

Saturday - OFF

Sunday - a long run post a shortened sunday workday. Yes! For once I get a Sunday Runday!
The sun was shining, I ran in shorts and a t-shirt and definitely needed a hat. The downhill start was killer on my calves, but it was a great run overall. A great 9 in the books. Total = 9 miles



March Recap

Total Miles: 65.22
Total spin classes attended: 4 classes
Longest Run: 9 miles

Michigan Basketball is love

I have never been a big basketball fan. I don't really understand basketball, none of my siblings ever played basketball....

But after this season of Michigan basketball, I'm hooked.

After last night when Trey Burke and Mitch McGary gave us the most amazing win I've ever seen.

source

I am a college basketball fan.

GO BLUE

Fitness Classes Queen

I am like the queen of fitness classes as a running supplement.

I went to hot yoga this week for the first time probably since the summer when i had my unlimited month of yoga in DC.

The fanciest bathroom. pre-sweat sess

I totally forgot how much you sweat.

I was planning on taking before/after pictures, but my hair/face/etc. was just so sweaty and disgusting that I realized that could not be shared with the internet.

I also totally forgot how much i love  the mental aspect. the focus on the breath, the pay attention to the movements even when we sit still (the beat in your heart, the blood flowing through your veins, endocrine releases, neurons firing), the total relaxation and satisfaction of shavasana.

Last week I finished up a 10-day new student trial at my local Pure Barre.

It's definitely not running in terms of cardio burn, but it definitely works my arms/abs/legs in ways that running definitely does not.

The studio has a ton of class offerings. with a class limit of 18 people, you get a pretty hands-on class from the instructor who will make adjustments as necessary (and for me, the poor new girl, those are definitely necessary). I've had a different instructor every time, but all of them have been great thus far.

The class incorporates upbeat music, a warm up to get that heart rate up, an arms section, a legs section, and an abs section. It's all pretty fast paced, not a lot of time in between, except for stretching between each section.

suprisingly, my calves were sore- you think running would get rid of any possibility for calf soreness, but that is apparently false. Also my butt has been more sore than I thought possible. Gah.

And finally, the constant for the second year of law school - spinning

spin is pretty much the only kind of cardio I will do because its the only one that compares to running. Love the cardio burn, love pushing myself, love the seriousness of the cardio. Plus there's the fast-paced music that I love.

I spin at Vie and i LOVE it. Def. recc for those of you who would ever end up in Ann Arbor.

The Week of 3 runs in a row

Post-broken foot incident of 2011, I haven't really ran consecutive days at all.

That all changed last week when I ran three days a run.

We're the throughs of half-marathon training over here, and so when it was Thursday and I hadn't done a single one of my 3 runs for the week, it was time to get serious. So I ran on Thursday, and Friday, and Saturday.

whoa-ness.

My legs were sore, I struggled to breathe on Saturday. But I got in 13 miles. Which is not very much. But whatever. I still worked out 6 days/week. So I'm calling it good.

Monday - 7:45 AM Pure Barre. Post-st. paddys. This is an acomplishment. 55 minutes

Tuesday - The usual tuesday spin. hard and awesome. love it. 55 minutes

Wednesday - Another day of Pure Barre. 55 minutes

Thursday - Run 4 miles. snowy, snowy. but done!

Friday - Run 2-3 miles - garmin died. dont know how fancy this got, but we'll call it good.

Saturday - Run 7 miles. Aimed for 9. Oh well.

General notes on running lately:

• all runs are full of mud and puddles. The ground is thawing, snow is melting, and everyone I want to run is full of mud. I'm surviving, but getting dirty in the process.
• I just need some sunshine. although it is nice to still be almost light out when i do evening runs. Thanks daylight savings!
• I forgot how much I love cliff shotblocks. It's pretty much my only incentive for long runs. Candy. oh yes.