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!!!

Adios 2012

Perhaps I should have posted this yesterday but as you’ll see this week (a series of retrospective posts), I’m a little behind….

We were talking around the hot tub last night and my cousin Sarah asked us for our best moment of 2012.  I love games like this!  It’s always fun to look back at the year and really think about the things you did, decisions you made, trips you took, runs you ran that helped make 2012 fantastic.  Even if it was a bummer year for you, surely there are one or two things that stand out as fabulous.  I’ve compiled a list of my ten biggest adventures of 2012, as told to you, my blogging audience – here’s to an even better 2013!

 

1. Completing 3 Half Marathons in 3 different states – Mississippi, Texas and Illinois

2:00 exactly – State # 9, Illinois

2. Deciding to go to Graduate School at the University of Texas

3. Watching the Grizzlies in the Playoffs

Go Grizz!

4. Visiting my Aunt Julie in California

Under the Rainbow at Yosemite.

5. Actually Moving to Texas (what a journey that was!), Goodbye Memphis and Hello Austin!

ATX, my new home.

6. Turning 25, and the blog turns 2!

7. Meeting the Olympians

Speedy boys, and autographed shoes!

8. Running 1,000 miles this year

9. Going home to Memphis for the St. Jude Race

Old Friends before the Grizzlies Game.

10. Spending Christmas (and New Year’s, and the first week in January….) in Mexico.

Feliz Navidad (y ano nuevo!)!

What’s your favorite memory(ies) of 2012?  

Weekend Summary

Hi everyone – I hope you had a great weekend!  Mine was filled with running productivity and some Texas fun.  I’m hopeful the relaxed but productive weekend will leave me refreshed for running and school this week – we’ll see!

Saturday’s Long Run – So, I’m feeling behind (because I truly am) on my weekend long runs but made the wise decision to not try to make up a handful of missed double-digit runs all in one weekend.  I’d like to stay injury free in these last six weeks.  So I modified my fourteen miler into a ten miler and will plan on doing a twelve, fourteen and fifteen still before December 1st.  The beauty with fall weather is that I don’t have to rush out the door to beat the heat so Saturday morning I rolled around in bed for a bit before I forced myself up by 8.

I planned on running the Red River and Shoal Creek 10 mile loop but ran into my friend Tiffany and her husband Brandon on the trail when I was only .5 mile in.  They said they were going 8 miles so I just stayed with them until they were done and then finished my last few miles.  It was nice to have company.  We kept a pretty steady sub-9 minute pace, hitting sub-8:30 every now and then.  Tiff and I got a little nerdy sometimes reviewing our school work and talking about which energy systems were being used in our bodies…..

The self-inflicted running injuries continue – we were running so fast around a corner that I missed seeing the wall of this construction tunnel and I went straight into it with my right forearm.  I’m so glad it wasn’t one of my knees, I can handle arm injuries.  The bruise compliments the carpal tunnel in my wrists quite nicely.  We grabbed brunch at Whole Foods after which made the ten miles so worth it – over which we discussed running the Austin Marathon.  That’s right – the FULL marathon.  Someone tell me no!

Texas v. Baylor

UT had some redeeming to do after last week’s disgraceful game against OU.  After a HUGE post-run nap I met my friends for some tailgating, a chili cookoff and football.  This week I joined the LBJ Public Policy tailgate and partied with the future leaders of America.  I wanted to make sure to make it early to the football game to see all the pre-game rituals.  Texas sure knows how to do football right.

Here come the boys!

Texas pride….they never get tired of it down here.

And finally you get to see proof that I’ve made some friends!  Or at least got some people to pose in a picture with me 🙂

Lauren, me and Tiffany

Lauren and I suffer through a really tough systems physiology class together and because of the difficulty of the class we spend A LOT of time together.  Good thing I like her.

Tiffany is in my Nutrition and Exercise Lab class and is putting on the pressure to do the Livestrong Marathon.  We might not be friends much longer.

Kinesiology kids with the horns up!

That’s Jeff on the right – he loves to mountain bike and two step.  Which you’ll get to hear more about later this week!

SIX WEEKS TO ST. JUDE MEMPHIS HALF-MARATHON!

I’m thinking I can get some decent miles in this week in the following format:

Monday: 5-6 around the neighborhood

Tuesday: 7 miler Taco route

Wednesday: VO2 max test

Thursday: rest/yoga

Friday: Easy miles

Saturday: rest/yoga

Sunday: Distance Challenge Race #2 – Run for the Water 10 Miler (+2 extra miles)

Happy Sunday 🙂