Running, Spinning, and BodyPump - Oh My!

I haven't updated you all (y'all for my friends down south) on my workouts much the past couple days, but I promise I have been working out...maybe just not as much as my challenge was supposed to have my working out.

Here's a recap of the past week:

Monday - REST

Tuesday - 7.5 miles in 60 minutes (8:00 pace avg)

Wednesday - 7.5 miles in 60 minutes (8:00 pace avg)

Thursday - REST

Friday - 6.25 miles in 50 minutes (8:00 pace avg) + 35 minutes of spin

Saturday - REST

Sunday - BodyPump class + 5.05 miles in 40 minutes (7:55 pace avg)

 

Total - 26.3 miles + 35 minutes spinning + 1 BodyPump class

Since I haven't posted since last week, I need to tell you about these past few workouts.

On Friday, I decided I would go to a spin class.  I was only going to run 30 minutes before it, but I got there a bit early so ended up staying on the treadmill for 50 minutes.  And I'm very glad I did.  I ended up leaving the hour spinning class after 35 minutes because it was so bad.  I've gone to spinning classes at XSport before and they have been good, but this instructor was not.  It was a middle-aged man who barely said anything during class.  The music was terrible.  I wasn't even sweating after 35 minutes because he had no particularly hard sequences of workouts to do.  On a positive note, I do have to say that although his actual class was not the best, the instructor was super friendly and helpful.  I hadn't been to spinning in quite a while, so he helped me set up my bike and I noticed that he got off his bike in the middle of class to give a participant a towel.  At least that lady was getting a good workout from him!

I really should have ran on Saturday and have no good excuse for why I didn't except that it was snowing and I didn't want to leave my apartment.  I did go to brunch right away in the morning with Rachelle, but then had the ultimate lazy Saturday spent watching documentaries on Netflix.  When will you be over, winter??

But Sunday was a big day for me.  I woke up and went to BodyPump at the Y.  I was a bit nervous because I had never been to a weight-based class.  Before the instructor unlocked the studio, I met a girl who was also waiting who said it was her first time as well.  When the instructor came, we told her we had never been to a BodyPump class and she walked us through all the equipment we needed and how much weight to use.  Throughout the class, she was sure to give proper instruction which was nice and I felt at ease.  We did 10 "tracks" including a warm-up and cool-down track and then each other track focused on a different muscle group.  There were some exercises I wasn't quite able to master yet, but I'm sure I will as I go to the class more often.

Have a super Monday!  I have some BIG news to share tomorrow!!

What is your favorite group fitness class?

What Should I Do This Weekend?

Here's a quick summary of my workouts last week:

Monday - 6.3 miles tempo-ish run
Tuesday - 5.6 miles normal (included in the same post as Monday's run)
Wednesday - 19.25 miles !!
Thursday - REST
Friday - REST
Saturday - 4 miles normal w/ Angela and Olivia in northern Michigan - also, some paddleboarding = arm workout
Sunday - cross train - 12 miles biking, leisurely on a tandem bike

Even though I didn't get a run in on Friday as planned, I'm still really happy with the runs I did this past week and glad to have gotten my mileage up (both long run mileage and total weekly mileage which was about 35 miles).  I would still like to get that weekly mileage up a little more over the next 3-4 weeks before I taper.  But I say that every week.

I haven't decided yet what I want to do this weekend.  I might go to Madison, WI to watch the Ironman Wisconsin and in that case I would probably shoot for a 20 mile long run on Saturday.  But after all the driving this past weekend, a day trip to Michigan planned for the following weekend, and then UD Parents Weekend at the end of September, I think a weekend without traveling will be nice.  So if I stay here in Chicago this weekend, I can do a half marathon on Sunday or do a long run either day.  Here's my plan for Monday through Friday at least.  Obviously Monday already happened, so I just put in what I already did.

Monday - hill workout ~4.5 miles
Tuesday - 10-12 miles
Wednesday -6 miles
Thursday - Speed Workout - Mile Repeats
Friday - 5 miles

And now it's September!  As far as August running mileage, I ended up with 140 miles. If you've read some of my other posts, you know that I am comparing these couple months of marathon training to how I did during 2010 when I was training for the Columbus Marathon. In August of that year, I ran 145 miles, so I'm pretty much at exactly the same.  I was hoping to be significantly higher for the August mileage, but the beginning of the month was pretty low-mileage.

September should be a big increase over 2010 because I only had 98 miles that month. I want to shoot for close to 200 miles this September.

I decided I needed another picture and thought I'd include another one from the lake weekend, but then I thought - why not find a picture from last September?  My soul was sold away to the public accounting world for most of the month, but then I got to go to Nashville to celebrate Grace's Bachelorette party!!  Are you aware that according to whatever spell check system this blogging software uses, bachelorette is not a word?  It wants to correct it to bachelor.  That is weird.  And now I just typed it in Microsoft Word and it is a word there.  Google Blogger must not think that girls have fun too.

What are you planning to do this week?  Or this weekend?

Have you ever been to Nashville? 

Marathon Training Camp Weekend in MI

I just got back from northern Michigan a little while ago and obviously want to share some pictures and fun stories ASAP.  I've decided to call it our Chicago Marathon Training Camp Weekend since Angela, Olivia, and I are all running it and we got in some quality workouts and fun over the weekend.  So first, a picture of the lake/where I spent a few hours napping.  The nap also resulted in sunburn on only the left side of my body.

After the nap, the 3 of us went for a short 4 mile run - short, but hard.  I had done my long run on Wednesday night and then didn't run at all Thursday and Friday.  Angela and Olivia did their 18-mile long run Friday afternoon, so on Saturday afternoon we were all pretty sore/tight.

Wouldn't you want all of your runs to be on a road right a pretty lake?  I would.  Then I realized a lot of my runs ARE right next to Lake Michigan.  But this is way way different since there's not a million people also running the same path at the same time.

After a lot of chips and salsa, an amazing homemade dinner, and a few beachy cocktails at the cottage, us 3 girls headed to the local bars.  They close at 11pm.  A local we met asked us what we were up to for the rest of the night and I replied with "going home to sleep in bunk beds."  Their cottage was so cute and perfect for the northern-Michigan lake-cottage atmosphere.  Their family has been vacation here forever. The cottage actually reminded me a lot of the cabins my family used to stay in when we vacationed at Pennellwood.

Sunday morning we went to Mass, got lunch in town and brought it to the beach to eat, and then explored along the lakefront for awhile and walked to this lighthouse.  I wore this new hippie skirt that I am now in love with.  I practically got it for free from the LOFT since it was on sale and I had a $15 off coupon to spend during the month of my birthday.

We weren't really up for running, so instead Angela and I took out the tandem bike for what turned into a 12 mile ride.  I think we talked about the Chicago Marathon the entire time - what we'll wear, pacing, the course, etc.  I am even way more pumped up now!  6 weeks to go!

Sunday night we went to the beach for the sunset and rock collecting and then had another great dinner at the cottage.  We were all pretty wiped out and had decided we would do a hill workout Monday morning, so we turned in to the bunk beds early.

Monday morning was chilly, but perfect temperature for a hill workout.  And by hill, I mean mountain.  Angela BEASTED up it.  I had my phone in my little running fanny pack pouch thing, so I took it out (while still climbing up) and snapped her picture.

And then do you know what we did?  We ran down it and then back up again.  Each time was close to 5 minutes of straight up.  Angela was ready to do another, but Olivia and I were not as enthusiastic.  Here's the view from the top on the way down...around the curve, it kept going down.

In high school we used to joke that any of the "hills" in Chicago that we would use for a hill workout were actually just "bumps."  This hill was on the other end of the spectrum.  We talked Angela out of a third hill climb and ran straight into town on a few more rolling hills to join their parents for breakfast.  They even brought us clean t-shirts and sweatshirts so we wouldn't have to sit in the restaurant in our sweaty clothes.

Do you like doing hill workouts? - Chicago is extremely flat, so this is the most hill action I've done in a long time, probably since I visited Kristin in Cincinnati.  So this time I really enjoyed the hill workout since I haven't done one in so long.

Where is the most scenic place you have ran?

The Craziest of Crazy Cardio Equipment

During my long run Wednesday night, I saw a few pretty interesting pieces of exercise equipment being used that I had never seen before.  I was going to write about them in that post, but I had way too much to write!

Kangoo Jumps

I saw a man using these, which I learned are called Kangoo Jumps, on Wednesday night.  He was probably around 50 or so, not moving too fast in them.  But hey, if that's how he wants to get his workout in, then right on.  I didn't have much time to stare as I ran by him, but decided they looked fun and would be cool to bounce around on.  I am pretty sure I would not purchase them, but they would be awesome to try sometime!  Wouldn't it be fun to get a group together wearing these and play basketball?  Anyone who would like to do that, please let me know.

Frog Scooter

The girl I saw using the Frog Scooter on Wednesday night was probably in her 20s, just swinging her hips back and forth to make it go.  It's hard to describe the motion and also seemed like it would take up a lot of space on the path given the side to side motion you need to do to propel it forward.  Can you imagine what terms I put in Google to figure out what this thing was when I got home?  I don't remember which one ultimately worked but I tried things like "triangle scooter" and "2 footed scooter."

Elliptigo

I have seen people using the Elliptigo a few times on the lakefront path and out in the suburbs at the forest preserve.  It is a bit wider than a regular bike, but overall not that much different in size.  I actually don't think this is that crazy of a concept, it's just new and different.  The bike was outside first and then stationary bikes came along for indoor use.  The elliptical was an inside machine first, so why not take it outside?  It's a great cardio machine for people who are injured and need little impact or who just don't like running.

Treadmill Bike

Now here's where things get fun.  This is just silly.  I have never seen anyone use this, but I decided to use Google to see if there were any other crazy outdoor cardio fitness devices on the market - and lo and behold - the Treadmill Bike.  The silliness is brought to a whole new level when you check out the website of the makers of the Treadmill Bike.  Here are a few of my favorite excerpts:

"Have you ever wished you could get a quality treadmill workout without paying expensive gym prices?"

Unfortunately, the link on their website that is supposed to direct you to order your very own Treadmill Bike takes you to a site to purchase a bicycle design software.  My guess is that it would cost at least a few hundred dollars.  If you did want a quality treadmill workout without gym prices, maybe buy a real treadmill?  Just a thought.  Yes, I imagine a real treadmill would be more expensive than the Treadmill Bike, but it can be used year-round, not just when the weather's nice.  Speaking of...

"When the weather's nice, the last place you want to be is cooped up in some stuffy gym. Imagine running through evergreen forests or strolling down country roads."

Can't I run through evergreen forests or stroll down country roads while just, you know, regular running?  My reasons for running on a treadmill are either (a) the weather sucks or (b) I want to do a speed workout using the treadmill to control my paces.  The Treadmill Bike would work in neither of these situations.  We have Garmins now to do help do speed workouts and see/control the pace.  Furthermore, just to drive the stupidity of this thing home, how on Earth would you know how far you ran on the Treadmill Bike? I imagine the pace you are running and the pace this contraption is moving along are different. But there's more...

"The Treadmill Bike's hard wearing belt offers a sure grip while protecting your feet from dirt and other contaminants commonly found on the earth's surface."

You would still need to buy a new pair of running shoes after a certain number of miles on them, whether those miles are indoor or outside. Sure they may look prettier if you never get dirt on them, but where's the fun in that?

"Thinking of taking the Treadmill Bike to the grocery store? Be sure to stock up on ice cream while you're there. You will have earned it."

And where are you going to put the ice cream? Maybe in a backpack?  That's logical for something smooth like biking or even rollerblading, but not for something bounce-y like running.

There is no way a runner would want to use this thing because how can it give you a "quality" treadmill-like workout if you aren't using your arms?  It would be awkward to run while holding handlebars.  So, even though the Treadmill Bike would be something else that would be fun to give a try, I definitely don't think it can replace real running.

This was just too good to not look up on YouTube.

Which one of these would you want to try the most?

Or have you tried any of them??

Excel is Amazing

I really love using Excel.  For everything.  I think one of the best feelings ever (after having a really good run, of course) is making a really long, complicated Excel formula that actually works and does what you want it to.  It's probably the best skill I picked up during my public accounting time.

I log all of my runs on www.running2win.com and one of the cool features on that site is the graphs you can make showing miles/week or miles/year.  But I want to make my own graphs.  That website only let's you include all years...and my running during 2011 and 2012 was weak and doesn't really matter to me right now.   I want to compare this year to what I was doing when I was training for Columbus in 2010 or when I was training for cross country the summer of 2009 because that's when I believe I was in my best shape.  That is different though since I was training for much shorter races and never ran over 12 miles but still had decent mileage because of 2-a-days and always adding strides to the end of runs.  So I basically took all my weekly and monthly mileage and transferred it into an Excel file so I can make cool graphs and since we are finishing up July, I thought I should share a graph I made to analyze how marathon training is going so far in comparison to 2010.

By the way, this graphs is like beginner-level Excel. I swear I can do cool formulas, I just haven't figured out how to work in vlookups into my running analysis quite yet but I'm sure there's a way. Also, it looks better if you're looking at this on a computer because on the phone it looks super smushed.

I'd say so far for the 24 to 12 weeks before the marathon, I am definitely doing more mileage than I was in 2010.  I was injured during the spring of 2010, so I was confined to a lot of cross training and then it took awhile to build back up to running consistently.  But these past 3 weeks have been a little weaker in comparison to 2010.  Time to step it up!!

I have ran 159 miles more in these 13 weeks in 2013 than I did in 2010, which is an average of 1.75 miles more per day.  However, since I obviously don't run every day, the average per workout would be probably closer to 1 mile more.  Boom.  Analyzed.

I also know that the quality of the miles, not just the quantity is important.  In 2010, I barely did any speed workouts or significant pace variation.  So I'm going to keep trying to get in a track workout or fartlek each week!

Today's workout was supposed to be a bike ride and I got myself pretty pumped for it, but I made it about 2 miles before getting a flat tire and had to walk back home. I was in the suburbs and using mom's bike instead of my own. Remember when she got a flat a few weeks ago? I guess that's the risk you take using a bike that is about 25 years old now. It was originally Aunt Bernadette's and I used it in my first 2 triathlons.  But then I bought my own bike last spring as my after-tax-season present to myself.  And just for fun, here's a picture of my bike right after I bought it.  It feels neglected now because I have been running and not biking.

 

Do you like Excel?

How do you track your runs?

Any good biking stories?