Dance Party With a Toddler

Thursday: Body Blast at lunch, 3 mile run outside after work

Today will be a much needed day of rest, yesterday totally kicked my booty!

I quickly realized Wednesday night that jump roping was NOT a good idea for my calf.

It hadn't been bothering me much at all, so I didn't even think about it while I was jumping.

I managed to get through Body Blast without doing any alternatives and sucked it up for a quick 3 mile run after work.

I've been loving these shorts from Target.

They are super comfy, wide waist band and i love the gray in the back and black in the front.

And I wore them for my 4 minute and 40 second half marathon PR!

 

Now it's back to almost 24/7 compression wear though. Ugh!

I did spend the rest of the evening in the most comfortable running pants I own.

Gap gfast leggings

The actual ones I have are no longer available - I got them on clearance, but they are the gfast lightweight ones. They are amazingly soft and comfy. 

 Mine have these awesome stripes on them too. I'm pretty sure K made fun of them last night, but I love them.

I spent the rest of the evening with this lovely little lady.

We played and danced, danced and danced some more. We were laughing so hard and her laugh is just so contagious. For some reason I taught her how to do "the car wash" dance. Just thinking about it makes me laugh. She's quite a little dancer!

I loved watching her show her mom and dad her new dances moves when they came home!

Next time you've had a rough day or in a bad mood, grab the nearest toddler and teach them your favorite dance moves from the 1970s! It's sure to put a smile on your face.

And that was definitely a third work out for the day. I was exhausted!

Enjoy your weekend!

Race Goals

Thursday: Body Blast Class at lunch

I had to modify or (yikes) not do a few things in class yesterday because of my calf.

As hard as it was to do that, I am proud of myself for not pushing it and hurting myself even more.

We had class outside and it was gorgeous! It's always nice to get out and enjoy some fresh air in the middle of the day.

The sunrise became 1000 times more beautiful minutes after this picture.

I am feeling fairly confident in my leg for the race this weekend.

I plan to wear either a compression sleeve or compression socks during the race.

I'm sure there will be some ingesting of ibuprofen before the race (yes, I know you shouldn't do that, but I am anyway).

Luckily the course for Sunday is flat, hills would be really bad news for my calf.

So I've been thinking about my goals for the race:

A) PR. It's a flat course and my current PR isn't exactly breaking any world records, so should be doable. Or so I thought until I injured my leg...

B) No PR, but close to my last 2 half marathon times.

C) Finish. If all else fails and my leg is not cooperating, I still want to finish. I've only DNFd one race before and it was a 5K that I tried to run with a broken foot (I didn't know it was broken until 2 days later).

I think those are all fairly realistic goals! Fingers crossed for a healthy and safe race for all of the runners!

 

And on a totally random note, two different days this week I saw hot air balloons in the sky on my way to work in the morning. There's something I just love about hot air balloons.

In The Groove

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: Body Blast class at lunch

Remember a few weeks when I said I was in a rut, then came up with a plan to hopefully get myself out of it? Well, I think it worked!

 *Mostly at least!*

I've been most successful with goal # 2

• Do some new workouts (or something I haven't done in a while)

I've been trying to take at least one class per week at work. I prefer the Thursday afternoon Booty Kickin Body Blast class, but there are several other options too. Getting the track work out in the week really spiked my running motivation too.

 I'm planning to get back in the pool this coming week.  Someone hold me to that, please!

Lunchtime workout necessities all stuffed into a BRIGHT pink bag

I also almost completed the Squat Challenge. Unfortunately I missed 3 days total.

But that's more than I would have normally done, so I'll take that as a win!

Baby steps.

Yesterday's Body Blast lunch class went something like this:

Grab weights and yoga mat and head outside (it was beautiful out, but felt like a thousand degrees by the time we finished). 

3 sets of 25 of the following: bicep squats, overhead press, push ups, sit ups, run 100 yards

Planks, plank arm raises

100 yard run holding weights

100 yard side steps (50 yards each side)

Finally go back inside and do more abs.

It was brutal, but she assured us we burnt A LOT of calories.

Wednesday was a rest day. I spent the evening with these amazing Mojo women.

We planned upcoming races, socialized, shared healthy recipes and laughed.

We laughed a lot.

It was a great night!

Happy weekend! Here's to a long run for the first time in ages this weekend!

Not Your Average Fitness Class

Thursday: Lunchtime Body Blast class

I was finally able to do my favorite group fitness class at lunch yesterday.

It's a Body Blast class, but the instructor is phenomenal (read: total booty kicker).

We don't do the normal warm up of stepping side to side and swinging your arms and/or legs.

(There is nothing wrong with this type of warm up except that I feel like a total dweeb).

Andrea always has something a little different in store.

Yesterday, we pulled out the spin bikes for our warm up/cardio part of the class.

My legs were burning after just a couple of minutes.

She had us doing jumps and hills right away.

I haven't done a spin class in a long time. I enjoy them, I have just been focusing on running as my cardio.

It was fun to be on the bike again. 

And now I really HAVE to get my road bike out again. I'm ashamed to admit how long that has been...

After the spin bike portion, it was time for full body weights.

Dead lift / squat combo

Lunge / overhead press combo

bicep curl / squat combo

I can't remember what else we did, but I was dripping sweat and praying for the class to end.

We finished up with several different planks, pushups and bicycles.

Whew, what a lunch!

And because I feel like I need to add a picture, but of course didn't take one of the class, here's my new favorite of Pugalicious.