This Week in Workouts: A New Milestone!

Good morning! I hope your weekend was absolutely wonderful and to anyone who participated in the Boston Marathon, CONGRATULATIONS, you are incredible and I so hope your was one for the books!! In true marathon spirit, this last week included my longest run yet by a half mile. But, it was my fastest 10K and my longest time spent running. 

What is incredibly interesting about this run was that I did the run/walk/run per usual but decided to run the entire last mile. Turns out that was my slowest mile of all! The pace before that mile was 11.01, The 6th mile went up to an 11:38! There really is something to this run/walk/run method!! So, let's talk about what else I did for exercise.

Monday: 3-minute Magic Mile with a 9:30 pace! 

Tuesday: Rest Day

Wednesday: 30-minute run. Ran 3.06 miles :)

Thursday: Long run of 6.50 miles on the Legacy Trail- an old train track that has been converted to a running/biking path. The parts that I ran were a bit boring, but I have heard they get better when you get into the state parks. 

Friday: This Hip Opening Sequence

Saturday: Rest Day

Sunday: Some Sun Salutations

A little housekeeping for this week: The hubs and I will be in California for a bit so getting posts out might be a touch more difficult. My goal is to be able to do 1-2 posts about the area that we are in, great workouts (possibly while on an airplane since I have this one down), and hopefully a third!

Next week we will talk about Jeff Galloway's book, The Run Walk Run Method. If you have not yet finished it, or started it, I totally recommend picking it up!! 

Sliding Workouts

Have you ever tried a towel or skateboard workout? Boy, are they intense! If you have done these before, you know that it is a massive ab and glute workout. If you have not, I would highly recommend trying it! Skateboard workouts are my personal favorite, but if you do not have a skateboard available, towel workouts are fantastic as well! For either of these workouts, the goal is to use your leg, abdominal, and arm strength while any other portion of you is sliding around on the floor. This takes lots of balance, coordination, and strength- and because of that, is a great whole body workout!

Although skateboard workouts are not as big of a hit yet, there are still a few YouTube videos out there with them. I may just need to do a workout with the skateboard on the blog soon, because there are simply not enough good resources for a full workout.

As for towel workouts, there are PLENTY! These are a few of my favorite towel and skateboard workouts. I have also heard of using paper plates and added a Cassey Ho workout where she does just that! Let me know which is your favorite!

A Full [and Intense] Skateboard Workout

Pumps and Iron Towel Workout

This workout is very quick and VERY effective. My favorite part is that Nicole goes over proper posture. Towel workouts can be much more intense than a regular workout, and for that reason, can be a lot easier to get something wrong and get hurt from. Back strain is a big part of that. The goal is to have other parts of your body making up for the lack of resistance and support the towel gives. If you are feeling lower back pain, take a minute to readjust, something is not right.

Cassey Ho Plate Workout for Abs

Happy Weekend!

Hehehehe.

I am so excited it is the weekend already and have some fun plans for it! This week has been busy and exciting, so I am ready for an equally busy and exciting weekend filled with (fingers crossed) Cross Fit, catching up with some very old friends, meeting a few new friends, and getting some serious business done.

Side note: Whenever I think of the weekend, I think of that one scene in Downton Abby where Maggy Smith's character asks what a weekend is. Ha! love it.

Now, back on topic. How has your water challenge been going? Yesterday I was able to drink about 120 ounces before hitting the hay. About 40% of that came in the final hour, but it gone in! I have also found that putting lime in mine makes water drinkable. Not sure how you feel about it, but the taste of water has made me [almost] gag since I was little. The lime helps quench that thirst ans disguise that taste. 

And, because this is turning into quite the rolling thought blog, here are a few more things that might entertain you. Happy Friday!!!

Emily Henderson's Target room.

This show. I am obsessed.

A quick and crazy workout.

A carrier your cat will love.

This site made me laugh out loud earlier in the week.

Plank Roll Challenge

TGIF! What are your plans for this weekend? We will be enjoying the cold[ish] beach at a business conference near by. Usually, at these conferences, there is not too much time to workout. I have gotten use to it and try to fit in little workouts here and there instead of big ones once to twice a day.

Not sure about you, but my abs could use some TLC right now after the holidays and plank rolls seem like the perfect fix! For that reason, we have a weekend challenge! It is pretty simple, but should not be easy. If you breeze through this, try doubling or tripling the number to really active that core! One hundred plank rolls should take about 5-minutes, so it is nothing that you will have to cut out time for in the next three days.

A nice little cheat for plank rolls if you have sore wrists or need that little boost is to do them on the forearms instead of the palms of the hands. This will make them a bit easier and seriously reduce the weight on those wrists.

Happy weekend!