Weekly Workouts – Fun on the Lake Trail

We made it to the middle of the week y’all!  Today’s workout developed from a little feeling of boredom I developed with the Lake Trail.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the trail and the lake but sometimes just running laps can get a little boring.

So today I decided to run the Pfluger pedestrian bridge to the South First bridge (about 1.5 miles) but with a few extra rules….

1. Run the lap twice
2. Sprint the bridges
3. Flights of stairs must be climbed three times before moving on (at least 3 flights on the loop = 18 flights of stairs)

After the two laps, I finished with an old favorite from my Memphis boot camp “Finishers!” (who misses those?!)  Two moves to this one – squats and pushups.  Start at ten for each and work your way down one at a time until you get to 0.  Tough stuff!

If you don’t live in Austin, or have access to multiple flights of stairs you can head to a local track with stadium stairs or improvise with one minute of high knees every .75 miles.

Good luck, and as always let me know if you try something!

Sleep tight everyone 🙂

Back on Track

Literally.  Made a return to the track today after missing last week.  On Monday I put up a quote about really wanting to do something and then making it happen, or making excuses.  Then I went for a mid-day run (first one in six days = eternity in my running world) and it was horrible.  Only made it four miles down the trail before my body said this to my brain, “No.  I will not allow you to run any further.  You can walk back home.  Up hill.”  There is little worse than being miles from home and totally defeated on a run.  So, body and mind walked back together and on those four miles I decided to do the training right these last 8 and a half weeks.  I’m going to embrace the runner’s lifestyle completely – from foam rolling to proper nutrition to stretching to rest days to dreadful track workouts.  Along the way I’ll work out some balance issues with fun and schoolwork but I’m in a unique position of having a relatively flexible schedule, a lot of knowledgeable people around me and great support in my new running friends.

I’ll admit it’s difficult to be surrounded by young, energetic, party things in this town and try to stick to a training regimen.  It’s hard to fit all the fitness in between classes, work, playdates and avoiding tequila and tex mex.  But no one said this was easy.  I need to stop expecting it to be that way.  That doesn’t mean it won’t be fun – I’m really looking forward to this race season (starting Sunday with the 10k!) – and group runs with new friends.

It’s going well so far, despite face-planting on the run Tuesday…I made it to yoga yesterday to take care of those tight muscles, and have been foam rolling my legs like an pain addict.  And today I made it to the track.

Week 9 Track Workout

Two sets of six 400s.  The first set my goal was to push it and keep the time under a 7 minute pace each lap.  The second set my goal was to try to stick to my 10k pace as practice for Sunday and I hit that pretty well too.  Under 8 minute pace for each lap but not faster than 7 minutes.

Here’s what you missed: Wedding and Running!

I told you I’d be back!  Here’s a re-cap of what I’ve been doing the past week while I took a break from writing:

Wedding!

Last weekend I went to Dallas to see my big sister (from my college sorority Chi Omega) get married.

Dynamic Duos – a doctor and a prom queen.  So young!

She taught me how to play dress up and talk to boys. I taught her how to make snow angels (she’s from Texas…not much exposure to snow back then).

My first snow at Rhodes

And now I can hardly believe the girl who encouraged me to skip my first class (“just one time”…) is all grown up and married.  We had a great time celebrating her new journey.

Mr. and Mrs.

The ceremony was beautiful – a dark room with pink and blue back lights and a string quartet playing while everyone walked down the aisle.  Her girls wore navy blue, floor length gowns and her dress was beautiful and classy.  They each wrote their own vows and tears were shed by bride, groom, me and others.

Pretty sis!

After the tears turned to smiles, it was time to party!

Me, Alycia (Memphis) and Ally (Austin)

There was one table dedicated to Rhodes kids – mostly her girlfriends and their boyfriends/husbands.  I very happily flew solo with my friend Alycia.

Colorful bunch

We knew we wouldn’t get too much time with Tay at the reception but we managed to snag a few photos with her 🙂

Rhodes Girls

I am not in the right period of my life to be thinking about getting married but that doesn’t mean I can’t take notes for my wedding in oh about twelve years…..so here’s what I’ve learned:

1. Do NOT let your girlfriends sit close to the aisle where you can see them.  If they cry, you will cry before you’re even two steps down the aisle.
2. Make sure the party lasts all night.   Your guests will want to keep dancing.
3. Have plenty of food available if there’s an open bar.  Snacks, a three-course meal, and a to-go meal (hers was breakfast tacos – hey we’re in Texas!).  Sick guests are good for no one.

So, I’ve got those notes for future wedding planning just in case I don’t take my dad up on his offer for $10,000 to elope.

Running!

Yes, I have been running!  This week is going much better than last week – I decided to kick it off with a bang on Monday and get a double digit in.  I did a big loop from my apartment to downtown and back.  Coming home (on foot or bike) is always so much harder than going downtown, it’s uphill the ENTIRE way.  Good practice for strong quads and calves.

Split Time Distance Avg Pace Summary 1:29:26.6 10.01 8:56 1 8:45.3 1.00 8:45 2 8:59.7 1.00 8:59 3 8:38.7 1.00 8:38 4 9:04.9 1.00 9:04 5 8:41.5 1.00 8:41 6 8:55.2 1.00 8:55 7 8:54.9 1.00 8:54 8 9:04.2 1.00 9:04 9 9:28.5 1.00 9:28 10 8:51.1 1.00 8:51 11 :02.6 0.01 6:44

Not quite on target.  Damn.

I had to be a big girl on Tuesday and decided not to go to the taco run so I could stay up late and get up early to finish a presentation for my nutrition class.  Instead of getting my 4.5 tempo run and free breakfast taco, I was making slides on the phosphorylation of P70(sk6)…..I’ll spare you.

I taught core class Tuesday night and am looking forward to teaching again next week!

Thursday I put my game face on to take on the track again. 6×800 repeats on the agenda.  6×800 repeats completed, almost all at pace.

Split Time Distance Avg Pace Summary 39:54.2 4.27 9:21   1 8:34.1 0.95 9:00 2 1:29.4 0.04 34:23 3 3:36.5 0.51 7:03 4 1:30.1 0.04 37:40 5 3:29.9 0.50 7:00 6 1:36.4 0.05 31:42 7 3:33.1 0.50 7:02 8 1:26.1 0.06 25:04 9 3:32.2 0.49 7:14 10 1:45.7 0.05 34:21 11 3:48.1 0.50 7:36 12 1:26.1 0.06 25:43 13 2:42.9 0.36 7:31 14 :09.4 0.01 22:13 15 1:03.9 0.14 7:48 16 :10.4 0.01 18:28

Some weird button pushing happened on the last two numbers – they should be added together for 3:46.8.  My goal for all splits was 3:36.  Legs were heavy and burning by last two and I almost talked myself out of them.  Almost.

Then later on Thursday, my store Texas Running Company teamed up with Lululemon and Bar Method for a running and fitness community event.

Big group for running and “barring”

Our group left the Texas Running Company at 6:45 for a short run to the Bar Method studio on W. 5th Street.  I chatted the whole time with Lena (you can see me on the far right of the photo, she’s the one I’m talking to!).  I had never taken a bar class before and let’s just say it kicked my ass (and my quads).  I feel my quads a lot today.  A LOT.

An excerpt from their website:

The Bar Method™workout creates a uniquely lean, firm, sculpted body by combining the muscle-shaping principles of isometrics, the body-elongating practice of dance conditioning, the science of physical therapy and the intense pace of interval training into a powerful exercise format that quickly and safely reshapes and elongates muscles.

The women who led us through the class were cheerful, helpful and energetic as the running girls and a few boys burned and shook with pain.  They did their best to keep us working hard through the shakes while maintaining good posture and a smiling face.  I enjoyed the class and the group of runners and am looking forward to more community/fitness fusion runs in the future!  I definitely recommend Bar Method based on yesterday’s workout and the way I feel today, unfortunately it doesn’t fit in this student’s budget right now!

Setting up Internet!

That’s right – I’ve got it at the apartment now so I can be back in tune with y’all.  I’ve missed you!

What’d you do for the last week of summer?