Weekly Workouts – The Brick

Good morning y’all!  I think last night was my coldest night in Texas – that didn’t stop me from getting up and out there this morning!  Instead of running outside I did a Brick workout at the UT Rec Center.  For the remainder of this week they’re offering a “Try Before You Buy” trial period for their Spinning and TexErcise classes (normally there’s a semesterly fee for each) so I jumped on the chance to Spin fo’ free.

I’m no triathlete but did steal a page from their training book today.  Often times they’ll complete workouts called Bricks:

A brick workout is two or more types of training combined, commonly biking followed by running.  It’s a great workout to target complimentary muscle groups.

The Spin class was pretty easy since it’s the first week back from break.  I think they’re wanting to ease all the newbies into it (which I completely support, Spinning is tough and can be very intimidating).  Regardless, I was able to adjust resistance to still challenge myself and it felt great to be back on the bike.  Our class was about 40 minutes long.

After the Spin, I did a quick series of arm weights before hopping on the treadmill for some lactate threshold work.  (I know I’m throwing around fancy terms…maybe that means school is working?  I promise to explain as we go – if you have questions, always feel free to contact me!).  Basically for LT, I’m not going to run for very long or very far but the time I do spend running will be tough, pushing me past where I normally am comfortable – but not for long.

0-2 minutes     Warm-up walk with 1% incline (keep the incline throughout the workout)

2-6 minutes      jog at comfortable recovery pace (for me 6.0)

6-8 minutes     recovery walk

8-12 minutes     run at your first pace + 1.0 (for me 7.0)

12-14 minutes     recovery walk

14-18 minutes      run at your second pace + 1.0 (for me 8.0)

18-20 minutes     recovery walk

20-22 minutes     run at your third pace + 1.0 (so hard, 9.0)

22-24 minutes    recovery walk

24-25:30 minutes     run at your fourth pace (9.0)

25:30-27:30 minutes     recovery walk

27:30-28:30 minutes     run at your fourth pace (9.0)

28:30-30     recovery/cooldown walk.

So you can see you don’t spend much time running but I’m learning that it’s crucial to developing fitness to spend some time in challenging work zones.  Try this one once a week and you’ll elevate your metabolism, increase your speed and lose fat!

For all of you suffering through temps in the 20s and below, give the treadmill a chance!  Have a great Wednesday – I’ll be in class and then adventuring to San Antonio to watch my Grizzlies!!!

Thankful Taco Tunesday – We Come Running

Didn’t oversleep this morning!  Made it in time to run 4.5 miles with the taco group.  Tiffany and Brandon have become regulars and I was glad to have their company and steady pace this morning.  I decided not to go for the 7.25 mile route because the St. Jude Half is next weekend.  Let’s just call it the unofficial start to my taper…. 🙂

Today’s Thankful – Breakfast Tacos.

It’s a pretty simple one today but I have found a lot of joy in the Tuesday Taco runs here in Austin.  Who knew that scrambled eggs and a tortilla could get so many people out of bed before the sun week after week?  I know for sure it’s the only reason I’m up and running on Tuesday mornings.

We Come Running.  Youngblood Hawke.

Sometimes this song comes on the radio at work and I just have to bounce/jump/rave around singing with it.  I think it’s just full of energy PLUS  any song that mentions the act of running in the chorus is a big winner.

What do you think of their sound?

Oversleepin’ Taco Tunesday

So I had big plans to get up this morning for the Taco Run.  Set my phone on the charger in the bathroom to make sure I didn’t turn off the alarm and roll over in bed.  Went to bed with a plan for cold-weather gear and even dreamt of tacos.

Then I woke up at 5:58…..I had two missed text messages from people I was supposed to meet….I texted them to say I missed the alarm (turns out I had it set for 6:15 instead of 5:15…) and then went back to bed for another hour.

New Plan….

I decided before I rolled back over for some extra ZZZZs that I would go immediately after class was out to run the route anyway.  I had to re-plan my breakfast since tacos were no longer a free option and I would need fuel for the run.  Normally if it’s the very first thing I do (within 30 minutes of waking), I won’t eat.  But I was going to be up for 3 hours before I got started so I packed breakfast to go:

• 1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 cup frozen strawberries/blueberries
• 1/2 cup almond milk

By the time I got to campus, the oats had soaked up most of the milk and the fruit was sort of slushie.  Weird textures and definitely not my favorite but they got the job done!  After an exciting class on glomerular filtration rate, I was looking forward to some time in the crisp air.

Taco Run

I opted for running the route backwards just to change things up a bit and somehow ended up with only 7 miles instead of 7.25.  I ran at a “cruisin” pace, as J from work likes to call it, and felt much better after a tanked run on Sunday.  My average pace was 8:03 – right on target for a PR 🙂

We’ll just have to see if I can keep it up for 6 more miles.  The morning after a Grizzlies game.  Just 17 days to go!

Tunesday

Today I chose a song that I’ve been jammin’ to on the radio a little bit.  I’ve never listened to the words really until I looked the lyrics up just now but it’s a fun song.  A good mood rolls right along with it.

One Republic.  Feel Again.

Sleep tight y’all – tough workout comin’ for you tomorrow!