The Gun Show

Wednesday Workout Wrap-Up: Barre Class
Thursday Workout Wrap-Up: 2 mile hill run, "Booty Call" class
Friday Workout Wrap-Up: Upper body strength

So glad the weekend is finally here!

This morning I woke up before my alarm and felt pretty awake.  Today would be a perfect day to stay home and rest.  It's gloomy and pouring rain with some thunder and lightening.  Unfortunately that was not an option.

According to my 1/2 training, today was to be an upper body strength training day.  I got out of bed and grabbed my weights and found a couple On-Demand videos to try.  One of them I chose because of the name alone - "The Gun Show"...how could you go wrong with that?  

 I was glad to work only upper body today b/c I think my legs are about to murder me in my sleep.  The past few days have been "lets beat the crap out of my legs" days between hill running, barre and the HIIT class I did - they were thankful for a break.  I also got a ride to work today so they didn't even have to walk or ride the bike....you're welcome legs!

Tonight I am getting together with my BFFs for dinner and probably a horrible Netflix movie.  Hopefully the rain is gone by then because we also might hit up a food truck gathering.

Mmmm...Street Meat

 Saturday I get to hang out with this cutie:

Please don't steal me!

I'll be watching my friends little lady while they head out for a much deserved lunch and movie...Jurassic Park in 3-D!  What could be better? :) 

Sunday will wrap up the weekend with a lovely 8 milers....let's do this!


 

Where the eff did Spring go??

Saturday Workout Wrap-Up: sleep - that counts sometimes
Sunday Workout Wrap-Up: 7 miler
Monday Workout Wrap-Up: Yoga Meltdown (and softball)
Tuesday Workout Wrap-Up: 2 mile interval run and a HIIT + Core class

So last week we left off with an impending trip to "The Barn Show".  On saturday morning I met a couple friends and we headed off to the "country" to go to this "Barn Show".  We arrived and that is basically exactly what it was.  A barn.  A barn with stuff in it you could buy.

The Barn!

It was a really nice day - so we checked out what the barn had to offer. There was a lot a refinished furniture, old lamps, vases, baskets...basically all kinds of stuff.  I left with a new soap dispenser made out of a mason jar and a matching shaker.  It was a set, but someone broke one of them before I got there...so mine will be for Old Bay....proof that I am officially a Marylander now. 

After the Barn, we spotted a huge plaza with both a Wegmans and a Target...aka Heaven.  We hit up Weggies for lunch and it was great.  While we were walking around they were playing this little gem in the store:

I immediately downloaded it when I got home, knowing it would make my long run the next day extra special.

And...it worked.  I jammed out to some Many Moore on my 7 miler on Sunday morning.  The weather was perfect and there was a ton a people out enjoying the nice day, so there was plenty to look at.  I ran into my friend Lily out walking her dog and I am also 80% sure I also ran past Michael Phelps riding a bike.  He is a pretty recognizable dude and lives in the neighborhood. 

I RIDE BIKES TOO!!!

Monday I had a softball game after work.  We lost, but always have a fun time.  When I got home I decided to revisit an old DVD I haven't done in a while.  Jillian Michael's Yoga Meltdown.  It was a nice way to end the day - it can be tricky, but in no way compares to any of her other videos.

The calmest you'll ever see this girl. 

Yesterday ended with my interval run from work to the gym where I tried the first night of a new class called HIIT + Core. HIIT = High Intensity Interval Training.  This is when you do short bursts of high intensity work followed by a short rest period.  So we did a lot of running, jumping jacks, high-knees and basically every variation of jumping known to man.  This part went on for the first 30 min of class followed by 15 min of core work.  It may have been from being tired already from the run, or maybe that the room was about 100 degrees, but that may have been the hardest class I've taken so far.  I'll be back.

Today the temp hit well into the upper 80's - maybe even 90...so where the heck did spring go?

Meanwhile I heard it was dark, dreary and in the 40's in Rochester...so who knows what my race day weather will be at the end of the month.  I won't be surprised if I am running through snow. 

Opening Day!

Thursday Workout Wrap-Up: 2 mile hill run
Friday Workout Wrap-Up: 35 min upper body strength training

Three day weekends are the best!  Especially when they start like mine did.

Last week at Easter dinner some friends were talking about their "Noodies and Nails" night...then room got really quiet and pretty much everyone, in unison said "WHAT!?"  Turns out it was some of the girls getting together to eat noodles and do their nails.  My friends Lindsay said "Oh, I thought you were doing your nails while watching something like "Magic Mike"...wait! That's a great idea - let's do that!"

So Thursday I made myself get up early to get my run out of the way - something I haven't done in ages.  It was actually nice to get a morning run in and then be done for the day.  It was also nice that it was only a 2 mile run and my training planned called for hills.  Luckily, the park right down my block delivers that with no problem and a full loop around the park is just over 2 miles. Score!

Patterson Park hills

After work I headed over to Lindsay's house for our own Noodies and nails night.  Lindsay picked up all kinds of Thai food and I brought over the movie and nail polish.  Go time!

I forgot to take a picture of the noodles, but they were delish and we ate ourselves into food commas. 

I painted my nails a nice shade of Orioles orange.

Let's go O's!

We also had fun making fun of the movie. We couldn't decide who was grumpier...Kristen Stewart of the girl in the movie - what do you think?

Friday was pretty much a holiday in Baltimore.  It was Opening Day for the Orioles.

I started the day sleeping in a bit and then getting in my upper body strength for my 1/2 training.  I did this routine and this video: 

Then it was time to head out for the game!  We met up with some friends Andrew and Melissa - it was Andrew's birthday too, so even more reason to celebrate.  We ended up with perfect weather and and O's win!

Today I am headed out with some friends to something called the Barn Show - I am not totally sure what this is...but I think it's something like if a barn was a store.....more to come on that!

A Lot of Updates - sorry!

Friday Workout Wrap-Up: No More Trouble Zones (and crying- this never gets easier!) + run home from work
Saturday Workout Wrap-Up: Final Evolution Class (Spring Edition)
Sunday Workout Wrap-Up: Played Catch
Monday Workout Wrap-Up: Softball Game
Tuesday Workout Wrap-Up: 2 mile interval run
Wednesday Workout Wrap-Up: 35 min lower body + rolling


Holy Cow! I can't believe its been almost a week since my last update.  There has been a lot going on and this week has flown by!  Thank goodness, since it's a 4 day week for me, and anytime you know you have a day off from work coming up, the week usually CRAWLS by.

The weekend started off with my final Evolution class. They made the last one nice and challenging.  During this second round of class they have added in a lot more running drills and moving about the class which I really like. The space is on the small side, but they do a great job making it work.  Not to mention, as the class goes on people dropped out.  I was surprised by the end how many seemed to disappear! I also found out that I was the only person who used all of their free classes.  With this series, in addition to the 3 days of class, you got a bonus class to take whatever you wanted.  I went every week  - I paid for it, I'm going!

At the end of class we did our final assessments. I am happy to report I lost another 12 pounds over those 4 weeks.  Plus many more inches - top to bottom.  As soon as I get my final numbers chart emailed to me I will post.

Later on Saturday I got together with a couple friends to paint.  We decided on a picture one of them had recently taken on a trip to Ireland and got creative.

All of our pretty Irish sheep!

Sunday was Easter and I had plans to spend the afternoon at my friends Korey and Cherrisse's.  I was making lasagna to share.  I started the sauce and meatballs on Saturday night - it was smelling awesome.

Before heading over to their house my roomie and I met Korey to play catch in the park for a bit.  Monday was going to be our first softball game of the year, so we figured we better shake some of the rust off.  

It was nice to throw the ball around a bit and hit too.  Definitely rusty though!  After about a half hour or so of playing we had to call it quits...not because of rain but because I took a line drive to the leg.  It was one of those things that happens so fast but yet in slow motion and there is nothing you can do about it. It hurt pretty bad, but I think mostly because of the shock.

WARNING!! If you are easily grossed out - do not look at the picture below.(or if you are my Mom)  I will preface it with the fact that I bruise incredibly easy - so it looks a heck of a lot worse that it feels.

After icing the leg and putting my lasagna together and int he over it was time to head over to K & C's place for dinner and games with friends.

Delicious Dinner Spread

There was so much food - my picture captures only like half of it.  There was ham, my lasagna, potatoes, breads, cookies, beet salad and Rolos sandwiched between Ritz crackers.  Those went like crack - good work Donnie!

Monday was my first softball game.  The temp throughout the day dropped A LOT and it was realllllly windy and cold during the game.  We played against a team that was super fast and seemed to hit everything - so it was basically a good practice for us :)

I got a hit and also made the best play I think I ever have in the history of me playing softball.  So, lucky me!   It was good to catch up with old teammates and even better to get compliments like "you are looking skinny!" and "You look great, I had to do a double take!"  Everyone loves hearing those kinds of things!

If you haven't lost interest yet - I will continue to blab on for a few more paragraphs!  Tuesday I started my half marathon official training.  I suck at following plans and usually just wing it - so I found a nice 5 week plan - which I am turning into a 4 week plan :)

Week	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Sunday
1	2 Mile Fartlek*	Lower Body Strength W/ Foam Rolling	2 Mile With Hills	Upper Body Strength W/ Foam Rolling	Run 7 Miles
2	2 Mile Fartlek	Lower Body Strength W/ Foam Rolling	2 Mile With Hills	Upper Body Strength W/ Foam Rolling	Run 8 Miles
3	2.5 Mile Fartlek	Lower Body Strength W/ Foam Rolling	2.5 Mile With Hills	Upper Body Strength W/ Foam Rolling	Run 9 Miles
4	3 Mile Fartlek	Lower Body Strength W/ Foam Rolling	3 Mile With Hills	Upper Body Strength W/ Foam Rolling	Run 9 Miles
5	3.5 Mile Fartlek	Lower Body Strength W/ Foam Rolling	3.5 Mile With Hills	Rest and Foam Roll	Race 13.1 Miles

*Fartlek is Swedish for “speed play.” That means you include three to six faster paced intervals per session ranging from 10 seconds to 2 minutes.

I got my 2 miles of intervals in and was surprised how hard they actually are.  I didn't wear a Garmin so my the end of my run I had know idea if I was running a 9 min mile or like a 15 min mile...it felt like the latter.

The training continued today with my lower body strength which was a combo of a lot of the leg work and barre work from the gym plus this video from Tone It Up!

Tomorrow I attack the hills at Patterson Park!