Biking

FAB Fitness: weekly workouts 10/7 – 10/20

Guess what’s back?! I’m resurrecting the weekly workouts posts, although these past two weeks have been boring — yet again. But I ran for the first time since the marathon (more on that below) and am signed up for some spin classes over the next few weeks! Hoping to get back to a yoga class soon as well.

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Saturday 10/12: 19.26 mile bike ride in 1:38:54

My husband had to drag me out on this ride. I was worried about leaving the house (this was the morning after our break-in) and my stomach was all wonky. And to be honest, I was kind of miserable the entire ride. My quads were tired, but luckily so were my hubby’s, so we took it slow. It was also cold and damp out and the sun wouldn’t decide if it was going to stay out and then my sunglasses started hurting my head. And on top of it all, my stomach continued to act up the entire way. But, once we were home, I was glad we went. Plus, it’s nice to bike with the hubs since we don’t run well together 🙂

Sunday 10/13: 1.59 mile walk in 33:51

Just a nice walk with the hubs and the dog to fulfill my GymPact pact.

Saturday 10/19: ~~Short run with Andrea~~

Saturday afternoon (after a failed attempt at running with Andrea — screw you, Mother Nature) the hubs and I went to see Gravity in IMAX 3D. We’re normally the small theater kind-of-people, but we braved the mall on a busy Saturday afternoon and splurged in celebration of our anniversary to see Gravity on the really big screen. Overall, I was a fan. I won’t get into it too much (there were quite a few “yeah right” moments) but I really tried to just enjoy the movie — and I really did. After the movie, we went to one of our favorite restaurants, Ngon Bistro, and had a fantastic meal.

I love bun!

Sunday: 2 miles in 19:02

Well, my first post-marathon run wasn’t fun — or pleasant. It wasn’t awful either. My random thoughts about this run:

My legs felt heavy
My foot hurt
My hip hurt
My knee hurt
I was tired

OK so I use the word “hurt” loosely. (Hopefully) nothing will ever compare to how I felt for the last few miles of the marathon, so really how I felt during this run was just a minor inconvenience. But things definitely didn’t feel good — but maybe I was just feeling the effects of not running for two weeks.

After that run, I felt like I needed some retail therapy so I headed to the MOA with Mandy to do a little rainy day shopping.

photographer fail.

Spent the rest of the day doing a little work and relaxing while watching football.

Random lesson learned recently: my husband makes amazing mojitos. And thus I’ve been drinking them quite often. This should probably stop happening soon….

Have you seen Gravity?

Have you ever seen a movie in one of those fancy theaters with the comfy chairs and the alcohol and the reserved seating? What’d you think?

FAB Fitness: weekly workouts 5/6 – 5/12

Monday: 8.25 mile run. Total time: 1:18:03

Ah, glorious sunshine! 73 degrees and sunny when I left on my run. Ran the 2.1-ish miles to Lifetime and then hopped on the treadmill for another 4 miles before heading back home. I enjoyed the E! special, “Blinging up Baby” while running. I took half of a Vanilla Bean GU after three miles and the other half after six miles. When I got home I had a protein shake made with Vanilla Fitmixer and then hydrated with the new lemon line Nuun I picked up the other day. I like this flavor MUCH better than the pink lemonade one.

Tuesday: 27.19 mile bike. Total time: 2:03:38

Thanks for the idea, Erin! You’re right, braids = brilliant.

A few weeks ago I decided to sell my bike. Yup, the road bike that I just bought last year for my triathlon. The triathlon experience wasn’t what I thought it would be and I just don’t see more in my future and frankly, I have a lot of anxiety around riding my bike in the Cities. That, combined with really being able to use the money right now, I figured I’d try selling it and buying a less expensive bike.

But today’s ride may have just changed my mind — at least temporarily. The weather was perfect and going in the afternoon on a weekday meant less stress with traffic, pedestrians and other cyclists. It felt awesome, but I was sure wiped when I got home!

Seen on my ride:

The Grain Belt sign.

The 35W Bridge Collapse Memorial.

A few lakes.

A giant bunny. (Has anyone else seen Donnie Darko?)

Wednesday: 30 minute HIIT intervals on the step mill followed by shoulders/chest/biceps/triceps/abs strength work.

Thursday: 2 mile run. (One mile warm up and TC 1 Mile race). One mile time – 7:10. Race recap coming.

Friday: 16.41 mile bike ride. Total time: 1:20 (2x on the bike in one week? Who AM I?)

Jen and I decided to head to St. Paul and try out the Gateway Trail.

Err, maybe I need to invest in some new cycling clothes — recognize what I’m wearing under my jacket?

It was a nice day for a ride. A little brisk, but pleasant. It was relatively uneventful minus my little “run in” with a fence. Let me start by saying that I’ve never claimed to be a pro cyclist. Or very graceful, for that matter. I’m not even sure it happened, but all I know is that we were riding across a bridge where there were fences/barriers on either side of the path to keep you from going overboard to whatever was underneath. (And looking back, I guess I’m glad the fence was there!) And I think I just lost my balance or something and swerved into the fence. Then, I decided that I was going to try and stop myself so I could get re-situated but I never hit the brakes, so I just kept skidding along, hitting every bar along the way. Which is why I now have this lovely little thing:

Ouch.

Saturday: Rest day — got in my steps by chasing our dog around the dog park, a trip to Menards, building a cedar planter with the hubby and walking around the North Coast Nosh event.

Sunday: Long run — 11.52 miles. Total time: 1:57:04

My friend Patti met me at my house around 9 a.m. and we ran the roughly 2.3 miles to Lifetime Fitness. The temperature was somewhere around 40 degrees but nice and sunny. I decided on my Twin Cities Marathon long sleeve with a Lululemon cool racerback underneath, capris and sunglasses. That ended up being a perfect decision. Once we got Lifetime I took off the long sleeve for the seven miles I did on the treadmill. Then, I put the long sleeve back on for our run home. I noticed that I felt really tired and the run felt like a lot more effort than it should have. I’m not sure if it was dehydration or just the increase in physical activity over the past week, but I was pretty wiped after the run.

The rest of Sunday was pretty awesome. Patti and I got Chipotle after our workout and then the hubby and I finished up our weekend planter project. It turned out pretty great!

All that’s left is to build the top, decide how we want the actual smaller planters to sit in the top and then buy soil and plants/flowers. And so far, our project has been on budget! Does anyone else watch Renovation Realities? We love watching the couples on there and I’ve joked that I want to do something similar on the blog 😉

Pizza on the grill for dinner was the nice finishing touch on the weekend.

Hope you all had a good last week of workouts! And don’t forget to enter my Jawbone UP giveaway before it ends on Wednesday!

How I conquered the treadmill

I’m not sure when it happened – or how – but I’ve come to appreciate the treadmill. And embrace it.

I was dreading my last long run because of how poorly some of my recent runs have been outside in the heat. After a fantastic weekend of camping and relaxation, I decided that I’d get my ten miles in Monday afternoon and I’d do them on the treadmill. I think it was around mile eight that I thought to myself “holy s*** I’m going to do this!” I felt really great the entire time and watched the Ellen Show and the evening news to keep me entertained. I realized that I’ve also come to appreciate being able to pace myself so easily.

While camping this weekend, my husband and I explored the Root River Trail in Lanesboro by taking a ~16 mile bike ride. Although it was HOT out, it was such an awesome ride. The trail is 43 total miles and connects 4-5 towns and is paved the entire way. And EVERYONE that is out riding on the trail is like, super happy. Every single person we encountered said “hello” and had a smile on their face. So awesome.

*the lovely view on our bike ride*

*we stopped for some mini-golf*

*I build awesome fires.*

*Brought the pup along for his first camping trip!*

It’s officially triathlon week. And I’m feeling…..anxious about it. I still haven’t gotten an open water swim in, practiced my transitions, done enough biking (or bricks, for that matter) or anything really that I’m “supposed” to do in preparation for a tri.

I’m feeling pretty good about marathon training, however. The only things that really freak me out is the possibility of getting injured between now and race day and how I’m going to get my really long runs in with our busy schedules this summer and fall. I’m actually thinking of skipping our annual cabin trip with our friends because it falls on the weekend of the big 20 mile race that a lot of people do here.

In addition to the triathlon on Sunday, I’m racing the Torchlight Run 5K this Wednesday! (recognize anyone on the website?) I’ve run this for the past four years (except last year when it was canceled due to heat and then I had plans on the day it was rescheduled). I love this fun run, it’s part of the annual Aquatennial celebration and they shut down the streets in downtown Minneapolis for the race. There is lots of crowd support along the entire course and beer at the finish line!

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Weekend race recap

It sure was an eventful weekend!

On Saturday, the girls from the two sites of the Girls on the Run Twin Cities inaugural season all ran the Be the One Run 5K. Most of them ran with their parents as their running buddy or volunteers. (*side note: I finally got to meet Erica, who I recruited to be a running buddy. She got her girl to the finish line with a smile on her face!)

My running buddy’s family got lost on their way to the race so she didn’t end up making it in time 😦 Since I didn’t end up with a running buddy, I did something I’ve never done before – live tweeted during a race. It was a lot of fun, but somehow more challenging than just running 3.1 miles!

Check out the GOTR-TC Facebook page for the photos I took during the race.

Sunday was cold and rainy, but it didn’t lots of people participating in the MN AIDS Walk and 4-Mile run. Some friends and I volunteered as part of the spirit squad for the runners! How much fun to be on the “other side” for once. I loved seeing how appreciative some of the runners were for our cheering and encouragement.

Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous outside. I took advantage of the sunshine and great temps by going for an 18.4 mile bike ride. After I got home, Jesse and I went to our local garden store (I love this place) and picked up some plants for our garden.