Pre-Marathon Strength Training: Week 2 Workout Log

Only four days late on this workout log for week two... I find it harder to write recaps about training right now since it's weight lifting focused, and there's not much I can say that's interesting there. Still, I like to keep a record here, so I'm going to keep them up until the end of July when I start marathon training.

Blog Stuff

Quick "housekeeping" note: I added a page to my header titled "Resources". It's basically just links to websites, apps, etc. that I like and use, and I also listed my favorite pieces of running clothing there. (Note: No affiliate links, in case you care. Honestly I don't even know how to set that up...)

The Resources page also has a link to my Pinterest page. A few weeks ago I cleaned it up and have been pinning every good running-related article I've read recently, with boards being categorized into things like "Running Workouts", "Strength for Runners", "Playlists", "Healthy Running", etc. There are also, of course, the normal boards for recipes and cookies and such. Figured I'd point it out to those of you who just can't get enough reading about running! Might be helpful.

Outside Magazine's Article on Overtraining Syndrome

If you recall, I mentioned that part of the reason I didn't want to run RnR San Diego was because my legs were feeling like total lead in the weeks leading up to the race, and I couldn't hold any speed whatsoever. I read this Outside Magazine article on overtraining this week, and while I don't think it's exactly what happened (since I peaked in the mid-30s mileage-wise), I think the stress of personal and work things on top of training led to a similar effect for my body.

I also think it's just a valuable article to read since so often in the running world we see people being glorified for more, more, more. More mileage, more marathons, more of everything. One thing that my trainer in Orange County really hammered into me when I trained with her (before she moved to NYC, sniff sniff...) was the importance of rest and recovery. She was a former professional runner, so she was someone who had worked at the highest level of the sport, and she constantly stressed the importance of real rest in order to truly recover. In fact, she said it was even more important for those of us who aren't professionals, and don't have the benefits of very little stress other than training and competing.


Week 2 Workout Log

Ok, on to a recap of last week's strength workouts. I did three out of four of them, and moved the workouts around a bit due to some firm events.

Monday: Intervals on treadmill + lower body lifting workout

Can't complain about the treadmill view!

Cardio: 5 minute w/u; 1 minute sprinting, 1 minute easy for 20 minutes; 5 minute c/d. 3.50 miles total.

Weights: Upped the barbell by 5 lbs (from 45 lbs to 50 lbs) and felt good.


Tuesday: Mini progression run on treadmill + chest and back lifting workout

Cardio: 2 mile progression run on treadmill, increasing speed every 1/2-1/4 mile as I progressed for a fast finish.

Weights: Upped all the weights slightly. Chest press still giving me major problems I didn't used to have -- apparently I lost a lot of muscle in my pecs while taking time off from lifting?


Wednesday: Off.

I was planning to run, but when the second most senior partner in the firm asks you to hit some balls on a driving range because you're on his golf team at that Friday's event, you go. It was supposed to be for the summer associates, but since I was on his team, he ended up spending most of his time giving me pointers. I'd never played golf before, but was able to hit a few decent shots by the end of the hour.

Unfortunately, though, the partner wanted to take us all to dinner afterwards, so I wasn't able to fit in the run I'd intended on doing. I mean, I wasn't that bummed, because we went to Taco Asylum, which has really fun and inventive tacos. But it didn't help my running or leaning out goals for the month. Why are tacos so delicious and impossible to say no to?


Thursday: Intervals on treadmill + lower body lifting workout

Cardio: 5 minute w/u; 30 seconds sprinting, 30 seconds easy for 20 minutes; 5 minute c/d. 3.54 miles total.

Weights: Again, upped the weights from the previous week a bit. I hate around the world lunges. I think because they take so long.


Friday: 1 mile "run" + 3 hours of "golf"

Set out to run but it was overcast and humid, my body felt tired, and I'd gotten a late start so running more than a mile meant that I was choosing between washing my hair or not. Since we had a firm event that evening, I decided to opt for cleanliness and only got in a mile.

I think I mentioned last week that while I want to maintain a strong base, I also don't want to force myself to run a bunch of runs that are miserable right now. I want to enter marathon training feeling excited to train. Since I knew I was on track for decent mileage for the week, I felt fine cutting it short and just doing a mile-long loop of the area.

Spent three hours "golfing" (quotes because I don't golf, so I can't really describe me hitting a golf ball with a club as anything other than a rough approximation of golf) with my firm as part of a summer associate event before eating delicious, delicious tacos at a partner's house. Yes, more tacos. Goddamnit, California, why do you have so much fantastic Mexican food.

Although let's be honest, if by some cruel twist of fate I had to choose between having access to amazing Mexican food and losing those pounds for marathon training, I'd choose the Mexican food every time.


Saturday: 8 miles on trails + 7 mile hike (~2500 ft elevation gain in total)

Saturday was SUCH A GREAT DAY. It was basically nonstop friends, food and being outside for almost the entire day. I met up with Kristina for 8 miles on trails in the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, which was really fun, and then Sourabh and I drove up to Santa Monica and met up with our friends Leah and Björn for a 7 mile hike up Los Liones Trail in the Pacific Palisades.

We'd planned an afternoon hike so we would be able to enjoy what are supposedly stunning vistas of Santa Monica and the Malibu coastline, but that damn June Gloom didn't go away until we'd almost gotten back to the trailhead.

I think it's pretty funny how Californians seem to love June Gloom. "It's so cloudy! I love it!" people in my office have said to me. After 18 years of the Pacific Northwest and then 8 years of the Northeast, I am a total glutton for sun. I'm sure I'll eventually succumb and start loving the two months of cloudy mornings, too, but for now, I am resolute in my love of all things sunny and cannot wait for June Gloom to end.

Gloom over Santa Monica

Anyway, enough of my ridiculous bitching about a couple months of not-quite-perfect weather. (SORRY.)

We had a fantastic dinner at Art's Table in Santa Monica (get the Sloppy Fries, which are fries with a fantastic sloppy joe mix and smoked cheddar sauce). We were slightly food shamed by the waitress for ordering so much. She doubted our ability to finish everything we ordered, but we proved her wrong. Then we dealt with 405 traffic to get back to Orange County. It's the worst, guys. Always. For no reason. Every time we go to LA, we spend half the drive talking about how grateful we are not to deal with LA traffic on a regular basis.


Sunday: ~45 minutes yoga

We spent most of Sunday doing errands, which included buying Sourabh some sandals. Which turned into me buying a pair of Birkenstocks (these) because I need to get serious about foot health and not wear awful shoes with zero support anymore. Now if I could only find a good, work-appropriate flat with support that isn't heinously ugly... Any suggestions?

I had planned to do the skipped biceps/triceps lifting workout from Friday on Sunday, but I was having a lot of muscle pain in my neck/shoulders, so I decided an upper body lifting workout wasn't the best idea. Instead, I signed up for Jasyoga to try out their athlete-focused recovery yoga routines. I did about 45 minutes worth, and also used my yoga therapy balls to try to knead out the knots.

I highly recommend those balls, especially if you have hamstring issues. When I went to Finish Line Physical Therapy while in NYC in May, the physical therapist said they're one of the most effective ways to get at hamstrings. This video has a good overview of how to use them.


Total Mileage = 18 miles (25 if you count the hike)

Pre-Marathon Strength Training: Week 1 Workout Log

Last week was the first week of the strength training schedule I put together. So far, so good!

Monday: 20 minutes intervals (with 5 mins w/u and 5 mins c/d) + lower body lifting routine.

I could definitely tell that I'd lost some strength after not lifting for a month. I was struggling a bit with a 45 pound bar, when I had worked my way up to 55-60 lbs (depending on number of reps) prior to taking some time off. Boooo. Hopefully it'll come back fairly quickly with consistent strength over the next two months.

I did 20 minutes of 1 minute on, 1 minute off intervals on the treadmill. I probably took the intervals a bit slow because I wasn't sure what my legs were capable of. Ended up with 3.41 miles in 30 minutes. The goal is to run a further distance for each kind of intervals (1 minute versus 30 seconds) each time (and I ran 3.50 miles last night, so I'm hitting that goal so far!).


Tuesday: 20 minutes one-on-one basketball with Sourabh + chest/back lifting routine.

I was so sore from Monday's lifting routine, but that's the nice thing about a body split: you can do back to back lifting days even if you're sore. Again, I could really see how my strength had fallen off based on the numbers I was lifting, which wasn't fun. It's a reminder that just running isn't sufficient!

Finished the workout by playing some one-on-one with Sourabh for 20 minutes. He's been playing a lot of basketball, so I tried defending him a bit. I have no basketball skills but I run, so I can defend decently, and it was a fun way to get in my cardio.


Wednesday: 4 easy miles on the treadmill.

I was so into the book Americanah that I chose to run on the treadmill, just so I could keep reading this book. It's so good, you guys. Please do yourselves a favor and go download it to your Kindle/iPad or pick it up from a store.


Thursday: Off.

I was still quite sore from Monday's lower body workout, so opted to give myself a rest day before I did another lower body lifting routine.


Friday: 20 minutes intervals (with 5 mins w/u and 5 mins c/d) + lower body lifting routine.

Friday nights at the gym are awesome, you guys. It's totally empty, which is my favorite. I swear I don't hate people, but let's be honest, does anyone like to have people around while they work out? The worst is when I'm doing weighted hip lifts. I really would prefer not to have sweaty dudes around when I'm doing anything that remotely resembles thrusting.

I did 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, and ended up with 3.57 miles and a gallon of sweat. Banged out three sets of the lower body and core exercises then concluded the evening by eating sushi with Sourabh at our (current) favorite sushi place in Orange County, Angotei.


Saturday: 20 minutes on-on-one basketball with Sourabh + biceps/triceps lifting routine.

I had fun playing basketball as cardio on Tuesday so decided to do that again. This time before lifting weights, since the previous time I'd shoot and the basketball would fall a good foot short since my shoulders were just absolutely shot.

Nothing exciting to note about the biceps/triceps routine -- I've lost strength, like I mentioned, but hopefully I'll see it come back.

Sourabh and I went on a walk with Mason in the afternoon at Shady Canyon, and I discovered a great incline for hill repeats come marathon training.

We also saw Spy Saturday morning (matinee pricing FTW!), which I loved. It had some very sly commentary on how women undermine ourselves in the workplace, while also being hilarious (without resorting to "haha large lady fell down" jokes).


Sunday: 105 minute restorative yoga class + 45 minutes swimming.

I wanted to be cautious not to overdo it, given that my legs had been so "off" for a few weeks prior, so I scrapped the long run for last week. Instead, I went to a yoga class and did 45 minutes of "swimming" on Sunday. If you're wondering why it's in quotes, it's because I'm an awful swimmer, and it was really more splashing around and trying to get from one end of the pool to the other. But it was a lot of fun and I hope to get better, and hopefully use swimming as a cross-training tool during marathon training. I loved the exhausted feeling I had post-swim.

Please note, the yoga class was supposed to be 75 minutes. Yes, the instructor ran a full 30 minutes over. It was a good restorative class, but the instructor didn't announce that he runs over at the beginning, and Sourabh and I had brunch reservations that we nearly missed. (We went to Social in Costa Mesa, which was SO GOOD.)

I'll probably hit up the class again because it was just the right balance of stretching and relaxation, but now I know not to plan on brunch before noon...


Both the swimming and the basketball playing are part of my effort to keep up my cardio without burning out on running prior to marathon training. No matter how much you love running, I think it's impossible to get all the way through a training cycle without a bit of run fatigue. Especially because I'll be doing a longer training cycle to compensate for any work craziness, I want to be sure I enter marathon training psyched to run and in good shape.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm hoping to stay close to 20ish miles per week generally, but given that it was my first week back to strength training, and that I'd put them a bit through the wringer, I wanted to play it safe this past week.

June Strength Schedule

In case it's helpful to anyone, here's the strength routine I put together for myself for this month. It's based off of exercises I did in workouts with Melanie, so it's very much focused on strengthening with the goal of becoming a faster runner. 

Here's a link to a downloadable Google doc version. Each day focuses on a different area of the body, with some core and hips work to finish the workout. 

"3x15" means three sets of 15 repetitions of the exercise. You should progress from exercise 1-4 for one set, then repeat for three total. Then move on to the core work portion.

In terms of amount of weight to use, as a guideline, you should be fatigued by the end of each set and you shouldn't feel like you could bang out another set of these exercises by the end of the workout.

Below, I've broken out each day and linked to YouTube videos that demonstrate the exercises. I apologize in advance for the abundance of scantily clad men in these videos (if you're offended by that). Apparently weight lifters like to take their shirts off. Also, sorry for the poor quality of each image!

Day 1 (Monday) - Lower Body

Cardio: 20 minutes of intervals

• 5 minutes easy running to warm up
• 20 minutes of intervals, anything from 30 seconds on and off to 2:00 on and off (on Monday I did 1 minute at increasingly fast paces and 1 minute at 10:00 minute miles, repeated for 20 minutes)
• 5 minutes easy running to cool down

3x12:

1. Single leg barbell deadlifts (12 reps each leg)
2. Barbell squats
3. Barbell walking lunges (15 reps total; alternate which side you start on)
4. Barbell hip lifts

3x15:

1. Single leg bicycles on BOSU
2. Plank toe taps on BOSU (Start at 1:15. Tap each leg outwards, both leg taps is one rep.)
3. Single leg bridge hip lifts on BOSU (15 reps perleg)

Day 2 (Tuesday) - Chest/Back

Cardio: 10-20 minutes easy running to warm up (or any cardio alternative; I played basketball with Sourabh on Tuesday)

3x15:

1. Lat pull-downs
2. High row (can be at a seated machine or standing with cables)
3. Arnold presses (go to 1:20)
4. Chest press on stability ball (feel free to use two dumbbells or a barbell)

3x15:

1. Hanging / Roman Chair knee-ups
2. Supermans
3. Donkey kicks (I alternate doing these straight back and out to the side)

Day 3 (Wednesday) - Easy Cardio

For me, an easy run is 4-6 miles on a relatively flat route at a pace at which I could keep up a conversation without any breathing problems. 

Day 4 (Thursday) - Lower Body

Cardio: Same intervals workout as above, but change the duration of the intervals up. If I did 1:00 intervals on Monday, I would be doing 30 second intervals at a faster pace, or 2:00 intervals at a slower pace.

3x15:

1. Dumbbell plie squat
2. Weighted jumping split squats (15 reps per leg)
3. Weighted around-the-world lunges (15 reps per leg)
4. Hamstring curls (you can also use a stability ball: see here)

3x15:

1. Weighted decline sit-ups
2. Weighted reverse sit-ups
3. Clamshells (15 reps per leg)

Day 5 (Friday) - Biceps/Triceps

Cardio: Same as Day 2 / Tuesday. 10-20 minutes easy running or some kind of cardio.

3x15:

1. Tricep press on cables
2. Squat to bicep curl on cables
3. Skull crushers
4. Hammer curls

3x15:

1. Stability ball sit-ups
2. "Dead Bugs" with stability ball
3. Stability ball toes-to-fingers

Days 6/7 (Saturday/Sunday) - Long Run/Rest

In order to keep up my running fitness, I'm doing one longer run a week. Depending on where my mileage is for the week, it'll be 8-10 miles (aiming for roughly 20 miles total each week). Saturday and Sunday are interchangeable. 

Hope this is helpful for someone! Shoot me an email or drop me a comment if you have any questions.

<lawyer> Oh, and also, as always: I'm not a trainer. I'm just sharing my workouts with you. Check with a doctor before beginning a new workout plan, etc. etc. BE CAREFUL. </lawyer>

A Fantastic Race-Free Weekend and June/July Plans

If you follow me on Instagram, you learned I didn't run the RnR San Diego Half Marathon on Sunday. I feel 99% at peace with the decision (there's always that irrational 1%, right?).

If you follow me on Instagram, you would have seen mountains -- for those not familiar with San Diego, it is not in the mountains.

On Friday evening, after learning my deal was on hold so I wouldn't have to work that weekend, I ran 4 miles. I figured I'd warm up for a mile then see what kind of speed my legs could carry. Turns out, they could barely hold a sub-9:00 pace. It wasn't that it felt hard. It's that it felt impossible.

I have no idea what's going on with my legs (or was going on? I did some intervals on the treadmill last night for 20 minutes before doing some lifting and they actually felt ok...), but I've run a few longer distance races where I felt shitty before, and in retrospect I wish I hadn't run them. It just sucks, and it leaves you feeling defeated.

I thought about heading to San Diego and at least trying to run, but honestly, I had no desire to wake up at 4:30 a.m. (and wake Sourabh up as well) only to realize after a few miles that my legs wouldn't be cooperating. It would make the weekend a lot less fun.

I texted with Jess, who will be coaching me for the California International Marathon, telling her how I was feeling, both physically and mentally. She was, as always, awesome; straight-forward and realistic but positive as well. (Also, she was responding at 10 p.m. her time on a Friday night.) Jess said given how my legs had been the past few weeks, it was pretty unlikely I could PR. She framed the question as: would I be more disappointed not to have tried or to try and fail?

Given that 4:30 a.m. wake-up and how I've felt after other poor races, I knew I'd be more disappointed to head to San Diego, curtail our enjoyment of the city (I wouldn't eat Mexican/Indian/Thai/other delicious foods in anticipation of running, and we'd be going to bed at 9 p.m.), then run a poor race.

Sourabh suggested we head into the mountains, which I was obviously on board with. So Saturday morning we drove up to Big Bear Lake in the San Gabriel Mountains and hiked seven miles on the Pine Knot Trail.

The trail climbs about 1400 ft over 3.25 miles (we parked 1/4 mile away from the trailhead making it 7 miles total for us).

The hike had gorgeous views of the lake and San Gorgonio Peak (over 11,000 ft tall!). 

Still some snow left from the May snowstorm the mountains got a few weeks ago!

San Gorgonio is the tallest peak in Southern California, and just like the other 10K peaks (San Jacinto Peak, Mt. San Antonio -- AKA Mt. Baldy, and San Bernardino Peak), you can hike to the top of it. Yes, hiking all four peaks is definitely on my SoCal Bucket List.

Alpine flowers

Initially we'd wanted to hike the Skyline Trail, which is a new addition to Big Bear, but there was a mountain bike race using the trail. After jumping out of the way of speeding mountain bikes three times, we decided we'd find a different route, especially given that we had Mason with us. I've heard Skyline is an absolutely stunning trail, though, so we'll be back to hike it at some point.

Big Bear Lake!

I know I made the right decision legs-wise, since the hike wasn't difficult by my normal standards and my legs felt incredibly fatigued the whole time. There is just no way I was PRing on them.

Summit snapshot

After we got back to Orange County on Saturday night, we feasted at our favorite local Mexican place, Taqueria Zamora, then watched a movie without regard for what time we were in bed because hey, no race in the morning!

Sunday we grabbed breakfast at my current favorite diner-type breakfast spot, Alta Coffee Warehouse & Restaurant, on Newport Peninsula. Then we headed to the Irvine Farmer's Market at the Irvine Great Park (it's a work in progress, but in a few years this park will be larger than Central Park!). I spent the rest of the afternoon reading Americanah, which is fantastic so far, and doing some food prep for the week ahead.

I am completely comfortable with my decision not to run RnR San Diego. Yes, it always sucks when you work hard at something and it doesn't pan out, especially when you were working hard for twelve weeks. But I was training to PR, and I didn't feel like running a race and not doing that. Instead, after several busy weekends filled with work or taking my parents places, we had a completely relaxing weekend filled with some of my favorite things: exploring, reading and eating.

Sometimes, not running a race really is the best decision.

June/July Training Plans

If hearing about someone else's running-free weekend bores you, then you're in luck! That part of this blog post is now done. Let's talk about my plans for June and July.

After discussing training with Jess over lunch in NYC, we agreed I'll be starting CIM training at the beginning of August. That will give me an 18 week training cycle, allowing me some leeway in case work gets extra intense for a few weeks.

The plan for the next two months is to focus on strength and short bursts of speed, capping my mileage at about 20 miles per week, with the goal being to get stronger and lean out a bit. I put together a lifting plan for myself that has me doing four strength workouts a week (two upper body and two lower body).

For running, I'll be doing two 20 minute rounds of intervals (with a 5 minute warm-up and 5 minute cool-down) each week, one shorter easy run of 4-6 miles and one longer easy run of 8-10 miles. I'm also going to try to fit in a yoga class each week.

Monday's lifting routine.

I've put together lifting workouts for Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday (lower body, upper body, lower body, upper body) that I'll repeat through the month of June, keeping track of the weight I'm lifting to track improvements. I'll probably switch the workouts up for July.

Now, obviously this is the goal and I can never predict when work will make a workout impossible, but I'm hoping to get as many of the planned workouts in as possible. I think I should see some real improvements and (hopefully) drop a few pounds over the next two months.


Here's a question for you -- would you be interested in seeing the full plan? I'd be happy to make the schedule and weight lifting tracker a Google doc available for download if people are interested. 

Workout: Runner's Boot Camp

On Saturday afternoon, I hosted a free Runner's Boot Camp taught by my trainer, Amanda. It was the first workout event that I've hosted through this blog and it was so exciting to see it be such a success!

Liz, Rebecca, Lynette, Heather, me, Laura, Ashley, and Michelle!

There were a few cancellations, so nine of us were put through our paces in this challenging workout. We were the "survivors," as evidenced by our oh-so-hardcore pose at the end. Apparently I missed the memo to smile and instead used my... uh... thug duck face?

Just because I love you, I asked Amanda's permission, and we're sharing with you the workout, the playlist, and even what we ate. So basically, you can recreate the whole afternoon!


The Class
We all gathered in Amanda's beautiful backyard for the class. She not only taught the class for free, she also opened up her home to us! And yes, this is in Manhattan. Gorgeous, right?

Amanda certainly brought it to this class! We started with a dynamic warm-up that had everyone sweating immediately. Then we moved on to the two circuits: legs and core. We did legs twice before moving on to two rounds of the core circuit. Amanda finished us up with some stretches that focus on the calves and hamstrings, AKA those areas that are consistently tight.

Amanda certainly brought it to this class! At one point, probably during the star jumps that Amanda threw in between the circuits as a special surprise, Ashley looked over and saying, "thanks, Jen!" I'd earlier convinced her she could totally handle the class after our long run that morning. Oops. Hope your legs are recovered, Ashley!

The whole class felt like a big sweaty party, with people laughing and making jokes throughout, and chatting during every single break. I'm not sure I've ever had such a fun workout!


The Workout
I am SO excited to share with you all the exact amazing workout that Amanda conducted!

What was particularly cool about class was that Amanda explained why she was leading us through these exercises, telling us that the hips and glutes were often the weakest muscles on runners, and those weaknesses lead to imbalances and injuries. She recommended strength training at least twice a week to combat those problems.

The Food and Drinks!
No workout is complete without refueling and rehydrating, right??

From Amanda's Instagram

After class, we hydrated with Amanda's incredible watermelon slushie and 2B drinks, who kindly sent me a sample pack last week and whose products I'll be reviewing (with a giveaway!). Amanda made the oh-so-refreshing drink by blending frozen watermelon, fresh mint, water, a squeeze of lime, and a drizzle of agave (Amanda uses Conscious Agave, which is a good brand for this sweetener).

For snacks, I provided a few cut-up Picky Bars and Amanda set out berries. We snacked, chatted, and enjoyed the quiet backyard space that is so rare in New York City!

The Playlist
Amanda put me in charge of the playlist, a responsibility I gladly accepted since I love putting together fun playlists and sharing my latest favorite music.

The first song should run the length of the dynamic warm-up and the cool-down should hit right around the final song, the lovely "Somewhere Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World" arrangement by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole.


Finally... thank you!
A HUGE thank you to Amanda for leading us in this amazing class and providing such a lovely space for the class to be held. Everyone kept raving about the class and how amazing Amanda was afterwards. She has been an incredible influence in my life, from getting me to start running to helping me clean up my diet and learn to love healthy, fresh foods. I was so glad that I could share Amanda's sunny attitude and tough training with others!

Thank you also to everyone who attended. It was a fantastic afternoon, and I hope to hold another event soon!

Weekly Goals and Workout Recap: Indian Cooking, Mountains, and Redeyes

Happy MLK Jr Day AND Inauguration Day! Four years ago on Inauguration Day, Sourabh and I were juniors in college on an off-term, living in a teeny basement apartment in D.C. and working as unpaid interns for two think tanks there. We'd only been dating a few months, but on a leap of faith (or rather, stupidity?) we decided to live together since it was the only way we could really afford to be unpaid interns. Not the brightest idea in retrospect since it could have ended badly, but hey, four years later and we're still together :)

Anyway, I have so much to write about from the past few days! Sourabh and my mini trip to Seattle, our last night with my family, traveling back to New York, and last week's training. I'm going to recap Seattle separately tomorrow so I can go into a bit more detail (and not overwhelm with mountain pictures in one post). Also, if you missed it on Friday, I posted a yoga flow for runners with lots of pictures illustrating each pose. Check it out!

Chef Sourabh

After getting home from Seattle on Thursday, Sourabh and I cooked some Indian food for my parents. We ended up cooking Friday night as well. Both times we made a very simple vegetable recipe -- it's basically sauteed vegetables with Indian spices. I'm going to post it on the blog soon! We also did a great fish recipe on Friday that I'd never had. It was delicious so I'll be figuring out the proportions (we were eyeballing) and posting that as well.

On Friday, we had lunch with my old piano teacher, Nancy. I was so happy that Sourabh got to meet her! I took piano lessons with Nancy for seven years, but more than being a piano teacher, she was always a surrogate grandparent to me. My mom's parents lived far away for most of my childhood and were never very grandkid-oriented, and my dad's parents sadly passed away before we could get too close. So I've always looked on Nancy as my grandma-fill-in, right down to the delicious cookies she always baked for piano recitals.

I was so glad Sourabh could meet her since he never met my grandparents. After a nice lunch catching up, my parents, Sourabh and I drove up the Mount Baker Highway so that Sourabh could see the gorgeous views in the Mt. Baker recreational area. The top part of the road was closed due to snow.

I have no idea why. It's not like there was that much snow. (Mt Baker actually gets some of the deepest drifts in the country because every time it rains in WA, it's snowing in the mountains)

We got to see the sun set over the peaks of the mountains, creating gorgeous shadows in the valleys while the mountaintops were capped with golden sunlight. It was breathtaking.

Mt. Shuksan, elev. 9,131 ft.

Sourabh doesn't share my (unhealthy) obsession with mountains, but even he admitted the hour and a half drive was worth it to see the Cascades up close. Trust me, if you're ever in Washington, you must drive up the Mount Baker Scenic Highway. If you go in August or September, then Artist's Point should be open -- it's the highest point of the highway at 5,140 ft. and has many trails you can hike while staring at the Cascades and Mt. Baker, which is a 10,000 ft. active volcano!

Ok fine, enough mountain talk. I'll stop. Even if you don't like mountains, there's a wonderful Italian restaurant partway up the highway, Milano's, which is a destination all by itself.

I'm so happy because we're in the mountains!

Oh, we also brought Mason up to the mountains! At first he was totally fine trotting around exploring. But after about 10 minutes, he suddenly ran to the car and decided he was done. I think his paws had gotten cold on the snow! He's not exactly a hardcore dog; definitely more of the coddled city dog type.

I forgot Mason's leash and collar, so my dad bought him a pink harness and leash. no gender conformity for him.

Saturday afternoon, after a 30 minute Nike Training Club workout that left me very sore the next day and my dad's yoga class, Sourabh and I took my parents to lunch to thank them for putting up with us and our finicky dog for a month. Then it was a flurry of packing and a 2-hour drive to Seattle Airport for our redeye flight to JFK!

Good bye, Washington. Till next time.

Weekly Workout Recap
Several of the blogs I read do a weekly workout recap, which I love reading. Yes, I'm a dork who likes reading about other people's workouts. Oh well.

Anyway, instead of just doing bullet points on how I did on my goals for the previous week, I've decided to start recapping my workouts a bit more, going day by day, before detailing my goals for the coming week. Let me know what you think of the change!

Last week's goals
• 2 short runs, 3 miles each
• 1 long run, 7 miles
• 1 tempo run, 35 minutes
• 2 strength workouts
• 2 yoga classes

Monday: 
Short 3 mile run around local golf course. It was cold (like, sub-freezing), but I had surprisingly few breathing issues, despite keeping an average 9:01 pace. My breathing was labored, but nothing that made the run difficult.

Tuesday:
Rigorous vinyasa class taught by my dad. This was at a smaller gym than my dad's normal class, and there was only one other student -- a young guy in great shape. My dad led a very tough class, doing extra exercises with weights, so I felt like it doubled as a strength workout.

Wednesday: 
Rest day (Seattle).

Thursday: 
Got home from Seattle after dark, so completed a 3.5 mile short run on the treadmill with an average 9:20 pace. I could have gone a bit faster, but the goal of these runs is to get my body used to the mileage more than speed up, so I didn't push it. I was really proud I made it happen, since I hate running on a treadmill and had just driven two hours, so was tempted to skip a workout.

Friday:
Unplanned rest day. My parents wanted me to stay home and since I was leaving the next day, I decided to spend more time with them. Thankfully for my training, this distraction is gone now!

Saturday:
30 minute advanced toning strength workout using Nike Training Club app. The workout showed me how much strength I've lost over the past month since I wasn't prioritizing strength training. And I'm still feeling it! Lots of variations on deadlifts. I love the areas I'm feeling sore in -- hamstrings, calves, glutes, and quads. The areas that I need to strengthen to be a better runner.

Restorative flow yoga class. My last class with my dad for a while! Since he had a large class with quite a few new students, he made it quite easy, so it was more of a restorative class.

Sunday:
Unplanned rest day. Was supposed to do my long run, but after a redeye flight from 10pm-2am Pacific time where I got no sleep, I barely moved from bed except to buy groceries for our startlingly bare fridge. I am not capable of functioning on no sleep, despite my age. Luckily, today is a holiday and I am heading out for my long run shortly.


This Week's Goals
I mentioned on last week's run chat that this time around, I wasn't going to make excuses. So no excuses: last week was not good. It's hard to prioritize workouts when you're on vacation and not in your groove, but it was not a good start to NYC Half training. I'm not letting excuses get in the way of my workouts this week. So here are my goals!

• 1 spin session
• 2 strength workouts
• 2 yoga practices
• 2 short runs (3 miles each, 1 at 8:30 pace)
• 1 speed work session (7x400)
• 1 medium run (4 miles)
• 1 long run (8 miles)
• foam roll!!

What are your goals for this week? Can you work out if you're sleep deprived? Would you like to see some easy Indian recipes on the blog?

Lacking Motivation + Fast 'n' Sweaty Strength Circuit

I've been having a hard time motivating myself to work out the past few days. While I normally love to sweat (despite being lazy), I have a few theories about why it's been tougher to get myself moving. The weather has been rainy on and off every day since my Friday run. I have to drive somewhere if I don't want to run down my road, which has no sidewalks. I often have trouble motivating myself when I'm doing a gym workout and not taking a class. I hate the treadmill for anything but speed work. And Sourabh arrived on Sunday evening, so I've wanted to spend some time relaxing with him, since technically this time in Washington State is my "vacation."

what can I say? I just want to curl up like this guy 

However. I tapered before my New Year's Eve half-marathon and then had a week off after it, resting to rehab my left IT band and right hamstring, only taking a yoga class and doing a 2 mile run. At this point, that's 2.5 weeks of minimal activity and I have a solid goal for the NYC Half in March.

While I'm not pushing myself to get intense workouts in this week, I really need to remember that a few minutes of working out makes me feel much, much better, and I don't want to lose any more fitness than I already have from 2.5 weeks off. Spoiler alert: as I learned last night after completing the below circuit, I've lost a lot of strength.

I mean c'mon, don't you want to snuggle with Fritz rather than drive somewhere in the rain? 

Right before dinner last night, realizing I didn't want to go another day without getting a strength workout in, I put together a quick circuit that would hit the main muscle groups. I didn't want to find my parents' weights, so I just used body weight exercises that can be done anywhere.


This circuit can be done in 15 minutes if you do it two times and 30 minutes if you do it four times. Doing it twice and pairing it with 30 minutes of cardio (perhaps a spinning or treadmill speed workout?) gets you a complete 45 minute workout.

Try to complete as many reps of each exercise as you can in the 1 minute. For extra motivation, have a piece of paper and pen with you and keep track of how many reps you complete during each minute, then try to beat that number the next time through the circuit!

Take a 10-30 second break in between exercises if necessary, but try not to rest until you finish the circuit. That will keep your heart rate up meaning you'll burn more calories!

Unsure of what any of these exercises are? I found some great YouTube videos to help!

Sumo Squats (hits different muscles than a regular squat!)
Moving Plank
Lunges
Tricep Dips
Squats
Push-Ups (demonstrates both modified knee push-ups and regular push-ups)
Plank

By the way, I love moving planks. The exercise is like push-ups and planks got married and had a beautiful, evil child who's here to tighten your core AND give you killer arms. If you do nothing else, watch that YouTube video and add it to your next strength workout!

Do you go through periods of feeling unmotivated to work out? Do you have any favorite strength exercises?

2013 NYC Half Marathon Training Plan

I was already really excited about my spring half-marathon season in late 2012. "Season" feels weird to say, like I'm an athlete or something... but when I have three half-marathons and a destination 10 miler lined up in the span of 3 months, I'm not sure what else to call it! 

But now, after my slightly disastrous second half-marathon, I am officially psyched for a redemption race at the NYC Half. I had incredible luck with lotteries, although my bank account feels a tad bit less lucky (Mint.com's alert about how much I was over my exercise budget made me very, very sad). So I'm racing the NYC Half-Marathon in March, the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler and the Nike Women's Half-Marathon, both in D.C. and both in April, and the NJ Long Branch Half-Marathon in May.

The first one is the NYC Half, and it's the one I'm really hoping to break 2 hours in because I live in NYC, I have quite a few friends running it, and I'll be able to have friends and Sourabh rooting for me on the sidelines. 

So I'm going to take my training very seriously. I'm using Hal Higdon's Intermediate Training Program, adapted a bit to add in yoga because I want to avoid any more muscle issues. 

In addition, I'm going to commit to foam rolling. I watch a TV show almost every single day, so there is no reason for me not to foam roll while I watch. I also shortchange stretching every. single. workout. That has to change if I want to stay injury-free (which, um, yes... yes I want to stay injury free). And I'll be working with my trainer, Amanda, on calf, glute and quad-strengthening exercises. (Check out her tips on making the most of a personal trainer from yesterday!)

So here's the program I'll be following as of next week!

A few notes: RP means "race pace," which for me will be 8:45 or so. Runner's World has a great article on how to do a tempo run. Abby of Run Stronger Every Day wrote a wonderful guide to speed work in general for newbies like myself. Strength workouts might be a class or an in-gym workout (and since I need to not get any more Mint you're-over-budget-you-profligate-hoe alerts, a workout in my building's gym needs to happen more often).

Are you training for a spring half-marathon? I want to hear about your training plans!! What are your goals?

I'm Lazy

Confession:

An illustrated description of my constant battle with laziness when it comes to working out and running. 

This blog is supposed to be my open journal of fitness and fun. I should be honest about something, then. I'm kind of lazy. I'm not lazy in an "all I ever do is stay in bed and eat doritos all day" kind of way. But I have to expend a lot of mental energy to get myself out the door and running, practicing yoga, or lifting weights at the gym.

This is basically me trying to get out the door to a workout

This is one reason I like to exercise in the morning. I'm just more likely to do something if I'm not putting it off to the end of the day. It's a delicate balance, though, because I'm always hungry in the mornings and skipping a workout to eat can be so tempting.

Excellent question, brain. What about second breakfast?

What do I think makes me lazy? I'm not sure. I don't think I'm naturally inclined to exercise. I love it once I'm out there. Ok, well... I love it 5 minutes after I've started. Sometimes 10 minutes. At the beginning, my body is saying, "what are you doing? why are you doing this to me, you horrible bitch? I want to rest and conserve energy! let's go home and watch bad tv and eat brownies. in bed." (My body is kind of a stoned slacker, apparently.)

My body, in the first 5 minutes of exercising.

Scientifically, our bodies are meant to conserve as much energy as possible because you never know when your next meal is going to be and how much energy you'll need to get it. But in modern-day society, most of us are lucky enough not to have that problem. My next snack will probably be in a couple hours, my next meal an hour or two after that.

Your brain's message to you as you start exercising.

Yet our bodies still don't want to expend energy because they haven't caught up to our modern day lives of (relative) leisure; however, they do want to eat more because they think we might start starving any minute. That's why your body is telling you to stop exercising. You basically have to override those messages, and as you do so it gets easier and easier.

You're (probably) not dying. Really.

I love exercise once I'm doing it, and I love it even more after I finish. That feeling of exhaustion makes me feel so accomplished. So why, after months of proving to myself that I actually love exercise, is it still so hard for me to get out the door for a run?

I think Battier is my body liking exercise and Stoudemire is my brain?
(Really, I just wanted to include this .gif because it's the best thing ever.) 

I have to continually remind myself of how good I feel when I workout and how bad I feel when I don't. Because a day with a workout leaves me feeling good all day, and a day without makes me feel, well, like shit.

Me, without sweating that day. 

This is why I love having workout and run buddies or signing up for a class. If there's a specific time I have to be there, I can't sit around for an hour coming up with things I have to do before I get out the door. Don't get me wrong, I'm still like, "why did I agree to this?"

My brain being angry at its 12-hour-ago self for agreeing to a 6:30 AM run.

But running with friends distracts myself from those painful initial minutes and then it's straight on to the endorphins. I never finish a workout feeling bad. I always feel amazing, and that feeling usually starts soon after I start.

Post-run, post-lifting, post-spinning, post-yoga, post-any-kind-of-exercise

So... what's the point of this post? 

There's really not a point. I just think that sometimes, it seems like people who exercise love it, and if the thought of working out fills you with dread, you should know that someone who works out 5-6 times a week has to push themselves to get out the door.

I write about fitness in such positive terms because I love it. I feel amazing after I work out or go for a run or practice yoga. But it's still really hard for me to get out the door. So if you're someone who feels like you can never make exercise a regular thing because it's so hard to start doing it, take heart. Make exercise dates. Find run buddies (Twitter is a great place to find fun new fitness friends). Join a site where you can track workouts and see progress (I use DailyMile). Figure out what helps you get over that initial hump of dread and on to the sweet, sweaty exercise endorphins.

But whatever you do, keep sweating!!

if not for yourself, then for the good of your husband.

Are you lucky enough to always want to exercise or is it hard for you to motivate yourself, too?