Wonderful Team Ride

Today did not disappoint—God blessed us with almost as amazing weather today (sans sun) as we had yesterday. The following picture is the route we took. I'm not happy with the new mapmyride program, so there's no elevation to show and I couldn't incorporate the mileage (36.44 according to the application) into the screen cap, so this is what we have. If anyone knows of a better program/site to use instead, please let me know!

We rode a different route today than we normally do, and it was a great route. There were two additional sprint signs (I'm not sure where the 3rd one was because I totally missed that sprint), which made for a spirited ride . And all the people there made it more exciting (albeit very inconsistent time-wise): Lisa, Lisa, Parri, Catherine, Lee, Jonell, Anna, Valerie, and me from Team B; and Lynn, David, Dave, Andy, Robert, Jason, and Jeremy from various other teams. Stats:

• 1:43:19, 33 miles, 19.2 avg (prob closer to 20, actually, since I rode until I hit 33 miles) (35 max), 1970 cal, 158 HR (189 max)

Then I had fun working on planning Lauren's birthday party (Amazing-Race themed, and I'm praying for no rain or snow because we'll be all over her neighborhood with fifteen 12-year-old girls!) and making some food for the week—I'm thankful for big pans!

Mmmm...all these veggies and chicken, mixed with rice, made 12 servings, which is 2 weeks' worth of lunches. Hooray!

Outside!

I love being outside. Today was my chance. Forget that the kids had a snow day on Tuesday, have been to school maybe 10 of the last 40 days, and have already run out of built-in snow days in the school calendar. Forget that we've had more snow than normal and a lower average January temperature than normal. Today was different. I almost have tan lines on my arms from our ride this afternoon! But before I get to that, I'll recap today's fun D1 bootcamp.

Sarah worked us harder today than last week, and a lot of the same people were back for more. I introduced myself to a few, including Laura, Joann, Paul, and another guy whose name I can't remember. We started out with a few laps around the field and a quick dynamic warmup. Then it was right into the real workout: stations. Today we had 10 stations that I did in the following order: star jumps (while saying "I'm a star!"; Will would've been so happy), push ups, plank things where we jumped our feet onto a step 3 times then pushed the step 10 yards then repeated, biceps curls, throw downs where we threw the med ball hard onto the ground, triceps push ups, burpies and punches, side and lateral delt raises (10lb), mountain climbers, and squat with stick. We did 25 seconds of work, had 15 seconds to rotate stations, and went all the way through. Then after a short break we did some abs exercises. Stations, abs, stations, finish. The hour passed quickly, but I will be honest—it made me miss training with Will in the same room, making me work harder and harder.

As soon as I finished that, I headed to Lisa's house for a ride. I wore toastie toes for my feet, but I didn't even need high socks or arm warmers and loved it. Hopefully more of the same tomorrow! My ride was changed from what it should've been due to a flat tire around mile 8. Thankfully I had a spare tube with me and Wayne stopped to help me (good thing because whatever had punctured the tube went through the tire and he had a bill to protect the tube), but that meant we were separated from Lisa, Andy, Adam, Jon, and Kevin. We got in a good 1.5 hours or so, a kind of slow 27 miles (16 mph average, and 144 HR average), but I never really looked at my watch and my computer wasn't working, so I really was just out to ride. It felt like a nice recovery ride—not the endurance/slow-ish tempo pace Lisa had, but it was pretty much what I needed. Stats:

• 1:40:06, 27 miles, 16.1 avg (yes, that's super slow!) (28.1 max), 1521 cal, 143 HR (177 max)

I've been kind of slacking on my other workouts (one of which I should be doing now but am blogging and planning instead), but everything I've done this week has been high quality and I'll still hit the 9 (or 10) workouts that seem to work well for me.

Party Party

Today was wonderful. So nice outside, great running with an amazing friend, a productive afternoon, and game night with previously known and new friends. Can't get much better than that for a Friday!

After a short morning at work, I headed to Anna's for a run through Edwin Warner park. The sun was out and it was warmer than it has been, and we thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine and God's goodness and faithfulness in both our lives. We ran a 5K and walked the rest of the way, completing about 5.25 miles. My HR looks high, but it was definitely a comfortable conversational pace. Stats:

• 54:41 total, 5.21 miles, 10:29 pace (6:52 best), 571 cal, 149 HR (182 max)
• Mile 1: 8:22, 165 HR
• Mile 2: 8:16, 168 HR
• Mile 3: 8:58, 168 HR
• Mile 4: 9:17, 168 HR
• Mile 5: 16:04, 120 HR
• Mile 5.2: 17:25 pace, 111 HR

Then we headed back to her house to get ready for Josh's birthday party that night. Anna loves to plan and execute parties, and she did a killer job with this game-themed party. She had someone make the billiards balls cupcakes below, but then she made a dice (cheese ball with olives), dartboard dip (lettuce and tomatoes with beef and olives for the double and triple lines), apples with caramel (for Apples to Apples, which we didn't end up playing), suit-shaped lemon cookies, beef stew with alphabet pasta, and Scrabble-tile brownies. Sometimes I wish I were that creative, but God has given me some other great talents that I'm happy about.

Billiards ball cupcakes

Dart board dip, half-eaten

While enjoying the great food, we played a long round of poker. It took forever because we had 8 people and lots of chips. Even though I had horrible hands (I never would've won even if I'd stayed in long enough to get to that point), I enjoyed it. We played a couple rounds of Catch Phrase and called it a night. I'm so grateful for such good friends!

CompuTrainer Class: Aerobic Training IV

Today's was a good class—I was definitely in my aerobic zone for the whole thing, and I like the feeling of working hard and sweating! It was the same workout today as we did Tuesday, and it felt about the same. Though I didn't do the same workout yesterday as I'd done Monday, so my legs felt slightly less weighed down.

I wasn't able to stay on the bike as long because I got there later than normal, but hopefully I'll make up for it with a nice long ride outside this weekend. Hopefully all the snow melts between now and then!

Today, Tuesday, Thursday.

• 1:09 total workout, 164 avg HR, 181 max
  1:21 total workout, 158 avg HR, 180 max
  1:23 total workout, 152 avg HR, 176 max
• 5-minute warm up to warm up the trainer, 103 HR
  9-minute warm up to warm up the trainer, 96 HR
  11-minute warm up to warm up the trainer, 101 HR (but I was on and off here)
• 10-minute warm up, 155 HR
  10-minute warm up, 151 HR
  10-minute warm up, 144 HR
• 17-minute aerobic effort with two 2-minute spikes in the middle, 169 HR; 2 min active recovery, 168 HR
  17-minute aerobic effort with two 2-minute spikes in the middle, 166 HR; 2 min active recovery, 166 HR
  17-minute aerobic effort with two 2-minute spikes in the middle, 159 HR; 2 min active recovery, 154 HR
• 4 minutes of 1-leg drills, 170  HR; 2 min active recovery, 168 HR
  4 minutes of 1-leg drills, 165  HR; 2 min active recovery, 164 HR
  4 minutes of 1-leg drills, 158 HR; 2 min active recovery, 158 HR
• 4 spin-ups, starting at 85 for 30 seconds, increasing to 110 for 1 minute, holding 110 for 1:30, going back to 85 for 30 sec (or maybe 2 min), then repeating (4 total times; big chain ring), 175 avg. HR; 3:30 active recovery, 163 HR
  4 spin-ups, starting at 85 for 30 seconds, increasing to 110 for 1 minute, holding 110 for 1:30, going back to 85 for 30 sec (or maybe 2 min), then repeating (4 total times; big chain ring), 172 avg. HR; 3:30 active recovery, 168 HR
  4 spin-ups, starting at 85 for 30 seconds, increasing to 110 for 1 minute, holding 110 for 1:30, going back to 85 for 30 sec (or maybe 2 min), then repeating (4 total times; big chain ring), 167 avg. HR; 3:30 active recovery, 160 HR
• 1 minute at 95, 158 HR; 2 minutes at 110, 172 HR
  1 minute at 95, 160 HR; 2 minutes at 110, 171 HR
  1 minute at 95, 151 HR; 2 minutes at 115, 169 HR
• 1 minute at 95, 172 HR
  1 minute at 95, 170 HR; 2 minutes at 105, 171 HR
  1 minute at 95, 165 HR; 2 minutes at 110, 166 HR

I had another workout for later, the same one I did Tuesday afternoon, which I did not do. I needed a rest, and instead I went over to Farkases' house and watched American Idol with Uncle John, Luke, and Savannah. Much more relaxing than training would've been.

Busy Day at Work

Today was pretty busy at work, and though I had a lunch break, I decided to not use it to go swim like I'd planned. Instead, I did one afternoon workout and called it a day. I did mostly the same workout as I'd done Monday, but I skipped the laps and the dead lifts and did lunge and standing ham instead. Definitely a good decision.

These were all phasic exercises that will hopefully help me be fast (since they basically make you turn your muscles on and off as quickly as possible). This is another one I need Will to explain to me again. It was the same methodics for all exercises: 10 reps, 3-count rest, 15 reps, 3 rest, 20 reps, 5 rest, 25 reps, 5 rest, 30 reps, 10 rest, 35 rest, 10 rest, 40 reps.

• Standing front delt
• Bent over lateral delt
• Leg curl
• Leg extension
• Bent over front delt
• Biceps curl
• Hip flexion
• Hip extension
• 1-leg dead lift, 30 each side, 45-lb bar
• Lunge L (2:53), R (3:03)
• Standing ham

It was also a good day for grocery shopping. I haven't shared any of my shops lately, but this one deserves a post because I got some real food. Kroger has some good sales this week, too, and I'll likely be able to get more for less there. Here's what I got at Publix today:

Here's the summary:

• Spent $13.94, saved $23.27, or 63%
• Morning Star burgers (4): $4.82 ($15.64 full price; used 4×$0.75 MQs)
• Publix pasta: free ($1.15 full price; buy theirs, get ours Publix promo)
• Mueller pasta: $0.94 ($1.49 full price; used a $0.55 MQ)
• Publix eggs: $2.39
• Publix baby spinach: free ($2.49 full price; buy theirs, get ours Publix promo)
• Fresh Express baby spinach: $3.69
• Publix sugar: $0.01 ($2.69 full price; penny item Publix promo)
• Kotex (2): $0.36 ($5.86 full price; used 2×$2.00 PQs and a $1.50/2 MQ)

CompuTrainer Class: Aerobic Training IV

Today's class was a good one. It was pretty much the same as last week except that we stayed in the big ring the entire time and I had my watts at 208 rather than 206. It was at 211 when I started, but since I know Todd doesn't want me up too high, I lowered it to where I'd been on Saturday. My HR was a little higher today than Thursday, and I definitely felt like I was working harder. I don't know it if was from the 1-leg dead lifts yesterday  or I'm just tired, but I made it through everything and kept my cadence where it was supposed to be even though it was super hard. And based on the stats below, my HR where it wasn't supposed to be since it was significantly higher than Thursday. Today, Thursday.

• 1:21 total workout, 158 avg HR, 180 max
  1:23 total workout, 152 avg HR, 176 max
• 9-minute warm up to warm up the trainer, 96 HR
  11-minute warm up to warm up the trainer, 101 HR (but I was on and off here)
• 10-minute warm up, 151 HR
  10-minute warm up, 144 HR
• 17-minute aerobic effort with two 2-minute spikes in the middle, 166 HR; 2 min active recovery, 166 HR
  17-minute aerobic effort with two 2-minute spikes in the middle, 159 HR; 2 min active recovery, 154 HR
• 4 minutes of 1-leg drills, 165  HR; 2 min active recovery, 164 HR
  4 minutes of 1-leg drills, 158 HR; 2 min active recovery, 158 HR
• 4 spin-ups, starting at 85 for 30 seconds, increasing to 110 for 1 minute, holding 110 for 1:30, going back to 85 for 30 sec (or maybe 2 min), then repeating (4 total times; big chain ring), 172 avg. HR; 3:30 active recovery, 168 HR
  4 spin-ups, starting at 85 for 30 seconds, increasing to 110 for 1 minute, holding 110 for 1:30, going back to 85 for 30 sec (or maybe 2 min), then repeating (4 total times; big chain ring), 167 avg. HR; 3:30 active recovery, 160 HR
• 1 minute at 95, 160 HR; 2 minutes at 110, 171 HR
  1 minute at 95, 151 HR; 2 minutes at 115, 169 HR
• 1 minute at 95, 170 HR; 2 minutes at 105, 171 HR
  1 minute at 95, 165 HR; 2 minutes at 110, 166 HR
• 1 minute at 95, 169 HR; 4 minutes at 100, 173 HR
  1 minute at 95, 166 HR; 4 minutes at 100, 169 HR (moved to big chain ring)
• 1-minute short cooldown, 172 HR
  1-minute short cooldown, 167 HR

I had another workout for later, and boy were my legs tired from the morning ride and yesterday's dead lifts. And guess what? More dead lifts were on the schedule for this afternoon! This was similar to one I did February 1, 2010 (with Will) and again October 30, 2010. However, neither was preceded by what this one was! Somehow I keep combining or confusing dead lifts, 1-arm dead lifts, and 1-leg dead lifts. I think it's time for Will to explain it all again.

• GHR 40 seconds; 10 quick-style squats; 1-leg dead lift RIGHT leg, 15 reps, 45-lb bar 20-lb bar; rebound 1-leg squat, RIGHT leg back, 30 reps
• Switch legs, then repeat, doing 3 times each leg
• 1-arm bench press, 25 lb, 3 breaths at top, 3 reps, switch arms, 6 sets of 3 each arm
• Rebound bent-over 1-arm row, 25-lb bar (or less or 15-lb or so dumbbell), 3 reps, switch arms, 6 sets of 3 each arm
• Crate crunch, 3×30 quick-style reps

My pleasant surprise for the night was that Lisa S was at the CSY working out at the same time! None of my normal "posse" (her word ;-) was able to lift, so I switched Ys and hoped I'd see Lynn maybe or someone else I knew. It was great to be able to chat with her and still have both of us try to complete our workouts.

Monday Run (No Swim)

Today's temperature was much to high to swim. It hasn't been 40+ degrees for a few weeks, and I just had to get outside. So I went to the DHY and ran 2 miles on the path out back. 15:13, 7:37 pace. My HR average was 176--yikes! The good news is that it took me only about 45 seconds to get it down to the 140s after I finished. Mile 1 was 7:49, mile 2 was 7:24. Mile 1 is mostly uphill, which of course means that mile 2 is mostly downhill, hence the significantly faster mile. But it's pretty comparable to the next (and maybe only this year) 5K I'll be doing, so if it stays above freezing I might decide to run instead of swim.

For the afternoon workout, I did another that I'd already done but threw a little bit of running in between exercises. Just a few times around the MFY track each time, nothing to long or slow, just a mile total including my half-mile warm up.

These were all phasic exercises that will hopefully help me be fast (since they basically make you turn your muscles on and off as quickly as possible). It was the same methodics for all exercises: 10 reps, 3-count rest, 15 reps, 3 rest, 20 reps, 5 rest, 25 reps, 5 rest, 30 reps, 10 rest, 35 rest, 10 rest, 40 reps.

• Standing front delt
• Bent over lateral delt
• Leg curl
• Leg extension
• Bent over front delt
• Biceps curl
• Hip flexion
• Hip extension

The last on the list was 1-leg dead lift, 30 each side, 45-lb bar. I used a 40-lb bar instead and did only as many as I could before I felt like the bar was about to slip, switch sides, repeat, until I reached 30 total.