Weekly Workouts

Monday:  rest day

Tuesday:  squats and lunges throughout the day at work

Wednesday: 5 treadmill miles after work, plus box jump work

Thursday: 1.5 mile walk plus YMCA WOD:
     AMRAP
     10 pull ups
     1 legged burpees with BOSU 5 each side
     15 KB squats
     10 spiderman push ups each side
     15 deadlift 65#

Friday: 5 mile trail run after work

Saturday:  Crossfit Cupcake WOD (with brother!):
EMOM x 10:  1 clean and split jerk (I did a more simple movement after failing to grasp this one)
10 RFT:  3 pull ups (with a band)
4 RFT:
    800m run
     10/5/5/5 rope climbs from ground
     40 ft DB walking lunge (40#)

Sunday:  rest day

Weekly totals:
11.5 miles plus WOD running
2 WODs

Less than last week, but I still felt good about this week. I worked an extra day and also we drove to KY to celebrate E's birthday so it was a busier week in general. I was happy fitting in the workouts I did.

Celebrating Men's Health Month

When I was approached by Lucy at Nuts.com to do a post for Men's Health Month, I'm not going to lie... I thought it was spam. Dirty spam. However, after doing a little bit of research (on my phone. Does anyone else feel like your phone can't get viruses like your computer? Or is that just me?) I realized that they are a legit company with a super resourceful website!

Anyways, back to the issue at hand. I do give advice to men on a daily basis while working at the pharmacy. And while some of it is well received, some men just want to speak to another man. And I get it. So I decided to check in with my resident men's health (and health in general) expert, my brother, Matthew.

So I asked him for his number one piece of advice to stay healthy...

I would say consistency. It takes a long time to get results from training and eating, and an even longer time to figure out what's going to work for you. You just have to be consistent. 

 And he's exactly right. Start with your diet. Consistently put good food in your body. Think of it as fuel. Your body needs fuel to function. And if you want it to function at an optimal level you've got to give it the best fuel. Have you ever tried to workout after eating like crap all day? It's HORRIBLE. Almost as horrible as trying to workout without fueling your body at all. You have to find a balance and be consistent. Experiment with different pre and post workout snacks and find out what works best for your body! Check out this article for ideas! There are healthy snacks for over ten different situations.

And here's my two cents, for what it's worth:  I see people day in and day out at my job who are paying the price for poor health decisions they've made consistently. Type 2 Diabetes, breathing problems, chronic obesity, heart problems, arthritis, etc. You've got one body, do everything you can do to take care of it!

Side note: You'll notice chia seeds mentioned in the graphic. Here is a great resource page explaining all the benefits of this superfood. I sprinkle it on my shakes or acai bowls.   

five things friday

what better way to ease back into blogging than an easy list? :) i've missed posting, but let me just tell you, falling asleep between 830-930 every night is not conducive to blogging!


first….
this has been a crazy week at our house. on saturday i was on my way home from work when brad called and asked if our vet's office was open (side note… isn't this such a guy thing? call me to see if the office is open rather than just calling the office. ahh, i digress). immediately i'm ask what was wrong. long story short, lyla had ripped off an accessory pad on her front paw while playing with riley in the back yard and was bleeding like crazy.

we took her to our local emergency vet and they stitched her up, good as new. she got a cute little leg bandage that brad claimed make her look like a filly ready for the races (can you tell we're from KY?). 

unfortunately, for her and her mischievous ways, she also came home the owner of a brand new cone of shame. it's been a big old pain in the you know what, but oh how we've laughed at her. (keep all your comments about what horrible parents we're going to be to yourselves ;) )

i mean, come on. that's funny. 

second…

we're doing a challenge at pure barre asheville: 20 classes in 30 days. just what i needed to give me some extra motivation to get my butt to the barre. my inner teacher's pet loves getting to put a star by my name before every class. yes, i'm weird. 

i've completed 5 so far (it was my on week at work), and am hoping to complete 7 in the next 7 days, wish me luck!

third…

i celebrated my 31st birthday on monday! brad totally spoiled me and even sent me these beautiful flowers:

my awesome brother sent me some super comfortable socks and a gift card to sonic (he knows of my major addiction to diet cherry limeades). i know i brag on him all the time, but truly, he's the best. i'm so proud to call him my brother  :) i'd love the show you the picture, but my computer is being STUPID and won't let me upload it.

my friend shannon also sent me these awesome forever stamps:

LOVE them.

fourth...
i'm still in love with pure barre. it rocks my sticky socks. and speaking of sticky socks, check out the ones that brad put in my stocking:

fifth and final...

aren't they the cutest??

2013 spartan sprint carolinas :::: recap & review

spartan sprint carolinas

march 23, 2013

time: 1:34:13

my brother and i ran this race last year, if you want you can read about it here. this year we dragged brad along too :)

our heat was scheduled for 10a so we drove to charlotte that morning. we got to the race site [us national whitewater center] and went up the hill to get checked in. i had ezekiel toast with PB before we left asheville and that seemed to do a lot better than last year's clif bar.

of note::: it was COLD this year. i was not looking forward to the water obstacles!

we made ourselves get out of the car and get our bibs on, then we headed up to get marked up. volunteers write your bib number on your face, arm, and leg [from what i can tell this is mostly for pictures because bibs tend to be covered in mud].

then we headed to the start line. i believe they release heats of 200 every 30 minutes. i don't normally start near the front of any race, but we lined up pretty far up for this. last year we got behind a lot of people on a single track trail at the beginning so we wanted to avoid that.

.: obstacles that i remember :.

• up and down a set of stairs
• pretty technical trail running
• set of 4 foot [i think] walls, one you go over, one under, then one through the middle
• the trenches [barbed wire mud pit] i'm talking mud up to your chest. 
• the mud pit led into the river, which we waded in for a bit
• one seven foot wall followed by an 8 foot wall
• obviously matthew and brad helped me here. matthew gave me a knee then they made sure i was steady at the top. i slipped coming off the back side and hurt my palm pretty badly. i should have just let go when i slipped but my reaction was instead to grip harder.  it immediately started turning blue so i skipped the second wall and went to do burpees. 
• tractor pull [i managed this one all by myself this year!]
• back to the river for some more wading
• three mud pits that were shaped like this VVV you walked down into them then had to climb up the other side. it looked super easy but was actually pretty hard. it was slippery but that's where the teamwork comes in. [TMI alert - i ripped my bootie to shreds sliding into the pits, OUCH!]
• barbed wire crawl
• monkey bars = my second set of burpees
• bucket pulley - they actually had girl and boy buckets this year and i was so happy to be able to complete this obstacle. 
• climb through a concrete tunnel
• cargo net climbs
• sandbag carry [they also had added a girl version of this, last year we all carried the same sandbags]
• traverse wall [burpees for me]
• tire flip
• spear throw [30 more burpees]
• rope climb [umm... burpees]
• a ladder type wall that you climbed up, over and down
• an incline wall that you used a rope to climb over
• fire jump
• gladiator pit

.:my race:.

• i felt like it was easier this year [matthew said the same]. 
• i feel like i could do another one and let the boys go on ahead of me. while it was nice to have them as my safety net and cheering me on, i know they would like to see how fast they could actually do a course. 
• i was disappointed in myself for skipping that second wall. i let my fear get the best of me and i regret it. 
• i made a point to stop and help people when and where i could. i love the camaraderie that comes with spartan race. it's all about getting everyone across the finish line. 
• i did two obstacles that i wasn't able to do last year.
• once again, my brother stepped up big for me. he and brad went ahead and finished because the they thought i could do the final obstacles myself.
•  matthew ran back to encourage me, telling me i was almost there and giving me tips on the final wall. 
• last year i burpeed out of this wall because people were killing themselves on it. they had put dish liquid on it to make it super slick and i have this unrational fear of busting my teeth out!
•  matthew told me that i could do it so i said i'd try even though i wanted to burpee out of it.
• i started up it and started to have a mini freak out because my feet started slipping out from under me. i was about to let myself slide down when i heard my brother at the top of it telling me to lean into my heels and that i could do it. 
• i climbed up to him and he helped me over the top. he had come back onto the course to help me. love him. 

this was after we hosed off. still freezing our tails off. and here are some pics from the race photographers:

i think brad win's for best picture! side note::: they allow you to download hi res copies of these pics FOR FREE. huge kudos to spartan race for providing that. 

they also send you a video of yourself completing some of the obstacles. here's mine, if you're so inclined you can see me crawling through the barbed wire pit, finishing the last incline wall, and running through the gladiator pit:::: click for video.

improvements from last year:

• ladies versions of some obstacles
• mile markers
• more water stations
• the shirts said 'finisher' on them. however they still give them to you at the end of the race when you're covered in mud. they're still black cotton. yuck. 
• bibs were nicer

Week In Review

As I mentioned to y'all, the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge has officially begun and part of my participation involves sharing my workouts publicly and that means y'all get to read all the boring details [please feel free to skip right over it, i won't be mad atcha!].

but i will also smush in my marathon training weekly recaps to kill two proverbial birds...

monday::::  lifted shoulders and did a RUSH yoga class
tuesday::::  3 mile training run, 20 minutes stretch/yoga
wednesday::::  4 mile training run, lifted bis/tris/abs
thursday::::  5k turkey trot (with b-rad), yoga (plus cooking/cleaning points!)
friday::::  lifted shoulders/chest
saturday::::  9 mile training run, 20 minutes stretch/yoga
sunday::: 1 mile walk, yoga, WOW*

*the WOW stands for workout of the week that amanda posts to her YouTube channel. such a great way to learn new exercises to incorporate into your routine.

week 4 of marathon training::::  
i completed all my runs as planned. i was supposed to run 3 miles on thanksgiving and i ran raced a 5K. not the smartest (and keep in mind, me "racing" is still slow) but i selfishly wanted a new PR. i definitely paid for it and had to ice and foam roll like crazy.

i've been doing most of my training runs on the treadmill [with my eyes glued to gossip girl on the iPad] but i've kept the incline at 1. what do you all think about that?

here are some pics from the week (minus my turkey trot pics which i'll share in a separate post)::::

this was on the doorstep on monday, and i didn't order it. either i've gotten b-rad addicted to lulu  or he's been doing some Christmas shopping!

gossip girl on the treadmill, mismatched yurbuds, blox BCAAs, mizuno wave riders on the treadmill

after shoulder day

thanksgiving at our house!

me and my little brother

the fam at wild wing cafe on sunday after church

me and my beautiful momma

have you signed up for the Sock Swap??? 

rear view mirror:::: august 2012

running:::: 
16 miles.... oh yeah, it was that bad! but honestly, running has not been my priority the past couple of months. my priority has been in the gym and i didn't have any races coming up, so i'm okay with that. september is the month that it changes though, i'm running a half on the 29th [it'll be #7 of 12 in 2012] so it's time to get the running bug again!

i also met another amazing person at lululemon last week, mara. i'm excited to meet up with her [not only because she's so awesome] but because she has a lot of great ideas about the asheville run community. her vision for the local run community is so in line with mine and hopefully we can get something together!

weight training::::
i just finished week 8 of my training plan! it's crazy, but i actually really enjoy it [well except for ab work.. some things never change!]. i like the way clean eating makes me feel, and the workouts make me feel really powerful! who knows, maybe i'll even be able to keep up with matthew at the spartan sprint next year [yeah right!].

reading::::

the virgin suicides - on my long list of older books that i wanted to read. glad i read it but it was just okay. a little weird but i mean, what did i expect?
the beach house - pretty typical jane green, everything ties up with a neat bow at the end.
cold mountain - really good and also very cool how a lot of the book takes place near where i live.
where we belong - i was really excited for this book, but it was just okay. i really felt like she ended the story just when it got really good. maybe she'll continue it later?
matched - young adult trilogy but i kept seeing it everywhere so when i saw it at the library i scooped it up. very easy to read but it's actually an interesting story. i'm reading book 2 now.

life::::
gearing up for my favorite time of year!! love the cooler weather, the football, the pumpkin patch and apple orchard! fall is really beautiful in the mountains, if you're thinking about visiting asheville, now's the best time in my opinion!

The New Rules of Lifting for Women

Tomorrow I'm starting stage one of this bad boy:

To say that I've become addicted to training would be an understatement. I feel like it's made a huge difference in my running and my body. In January I started lifting three times a week. My brother made me two plans and I just alternated them. Around March he switched them up a little for me. Then last month I did three new plans that a trainer made me (I won some free training sessions). I mostly took last week off, minus one training session with my little brother while I was in KY.

Now I'm going to give this plan a try. It has three stages and I really enjoyed reading the book. It seems like the author understands that there are women out there that want to lift and push themselves.

I'll keep you all updated with how it goes.

Along with my new found love of lifting I've developed another love:

Taking awkward self portraits. Syntha-6 protein powder. It's not chunky. It tastes like a chocolate milk shake. LOVE.

And just because it made me so proud, I have to share this with you all. Look what my awesome brother said on FB last week:

Having him say that meant the world to me, cause he's a BOSS in the gym.


Hope you all have a great Monday!

Spartan Sprint Carolinas Pictures

I hope you all had a great weekend! Ours was great but super busy!!! I ran two half marathons, met two blogger friends, saw some KY friends, and the CATS won!!!! I'll post more on all this later, but I wanted to do a quick post to share the pics from the Spartan Race last weekend. Nuvision Action Image did an amazing job, I just wish they'd caught us more! They also allow you two download their files for free = AMAZING!!

The last three are my favorite. Matthew came back to help me with the tractor pull. Love him.

After a girl is grown, her little brother - now her protector - seems like a big brother. ~Terri Guillemets

 

Spartan Sprint Carolinas 2012

They are so right, you do know at the finish line! I'll never forget the rush I got after I finished my first half marathon, but the one after this race dwarfed it! I felt like a BAMF. :)

So Matthew and I left Asheville around 6:15 am on Saturday morning to drive to Charlotte. The race was held at the US National Whitewater Center. We both had protein shakes for breakfast then Matthew switched to water and I had G2. We got to the site around 8am. Matthew took this pic on the way in:

I was about to pee my pants already. We got parked easily (they charged $5 to park) and started towards the check in. Check in was pretty deserted, we got our packets (timing chips, bibs, free drink ticket) and went to get marked up. They put your bib number on your arms, hands, calves and cheeks. They also stamp your forehead with this stamp:

So beautiful! We looked around for a little while, I made myself eat a Clif bar (what I eat before every LR and half), and checked out the merchandise. We both got Spartan tech shirts and stickers, and the guy who was helping us threw in a water bottle also. Here's the finish line:

We walked back to the car to put all our stuff up. They did offer a bag check but it was another $5, so we just took everything back to the car. We made our way back to the start line and waited. We got to watch to heats start before ours and we actually got to see a couple of guys finish in the elite heat. They were finishing right under an hour, so that was intimidating. We had been told the fastest course time was about 35 minutes. I had to make about 3 bathroom runs. The CLIF bar was not a good idea. I guess I was too nervous!

Finally around 10 our heat got to start. We ran about a half mile (trails) to our first obstacle: dive under and crawl under these net things, then jump over a small wall. Repeat. Then we took off up into the mountains on single track. We obviously weren't trying to win or anything but looking back I wish we'd started off faster. We got stuck behind so many people on that single track and it was early enough that our shoes weren't covered in mud yet! So we lost a lot of time, but oh well. Oh and as we were starting into the woods there was a girl in the crowd and I hear her say to her friend about Matthew, "Dang he looks like a Spartan!."

It started to get slippery quickly. We have clay in NC, not dirt. When it's wet it's crazy slick and it cakes to your shoes. Running the next bit was a HUGE core workout. And like Matthew said, we didn't run 4 miles, we tried not to fall for 4 miles! I couldn't stretch out and run because I'd slip. And you did not want to fall. Tree stumps, roots, and rocks awaited if you fell. 

I don't remember all the obstacles and honestly the terrain was just as difficult as the obstacles. At one point we had to run across this mud pit. You could see people stuck all throughout. Matthew went first and hollered back to just pick up your feet as soon as they went down. I take off across and make it but I lost a shoe. Luckily my brother is awesome and went back and got it for me (You'll notice this trend throughout:  My brother saved my butt!!). After I get my shoe back on we look ahead to start running and notice there are ropes hanging down in another pit. THE ROPE CLIMB WAS THE ACTUAL OBSTACLE. Oh dear. I completed my first set of burpees. 

Other obstacles:  set of walls probably 4 foot high (over, under, through middle, over, under), carrying sandbags up a hill and back down, a set of walls one 6 foot and one 8 foot, tractor pull (rope tied to cinder block to pull down and up a hill), monkey bars, a huge hill that you had to rappel up, two more walls 8 foot each (the girls could use the side with a foot hold), a bucket on a pulley that you had to hoist to the top then let back down, a traverse wall, a climb over hay bales, a cargo net, barbed wire crawl, a type of rowing machine that you had to go 200m but you were pulling down instead of rowing, a spear throw, an incline wall they had coated in dish soap, fire jump, gladiator pit, and a swim to end it.  

I know I'm missing a bunch of stuff and like I said this does not include all the crazy terrain, we even had to run in the river for a good quarter to half mile.

It was so amazing to complete the last obstacles: fire jump, gladiator pit, then swim. That swim was so refreshing, I wanted to stay in there forever! After crossing the finish line you get your medal and your shirt. 

The red shirt is the tech shirt I bought, the black shirt is cotton and it's the finisher shirt. And the medal is definitely my favorite!

We made our way to the showers after the race:

They were actually really nice, Dial for Men sponsored them so there was this new soap they have. It comes out of the can like shaving cream and foams up but is a body wash. 

After rinsing as best we could we headed to the car. 

Official Results:  2:11:45

Age Group:  120/195 (62%)

Gender:  527/1018 (52%)

Overall:  2456/3397 (72%)

Among all racers on Saturday. 

PROS:

• This was an unforgettable race. It was challenging, painful, and fun. 
• It was well organized. 
• Plenty of bathrooms.
• We got good parking but we also got there early. 
• The volunteers were great.
• **Edited to add** The race photographers Nuvision Action Image allow you to download your race pics for FREE!!! And they're pics are great, I'll be sharing mine with you soon. 

CONS:

• I understand wanting only people who completed the race to get shirts (Brad paid for entry then couldn't race, he didn't get anything), but the shirts don't say finisher anywhere on them. Also, they're handing you these shirts right after you finish and even though the last obstacle was water we were still covered in dirt. So I just got my new shirt muddy, great. Lastly, they're cotton shirts. When you pay such a high registration fee, I think you should get tech shirts. 
• Only one water station. Yes they told us ahead of time, but what were we supposed to do? Can't use a handheld because you need your hands. Some people were wearing Camelbak's but I just think they'd be ruined. 
• I thought it was crappy to charge for bag check.
• That damn tattoo would not come off!!! Matthew has a scab on his forehead from trying to get it to come off! 

Would I do this race again? ABSOLUTELY! I'm signing up for the 2013 race later today with the promo code 'NC50'. It takes 50% off your registration, but it's only good until Tuesday night. 

Like I said this was an unforgettable race. My brother was amazing as always. He definitely could have went ahead and finished way earlier but he stayed with me. He helped me (and a few other girls and guys) over the walls and even came back on the tractor pull to help me pull that big rock. He's always looking out for me and I love him so much for it! 

I was given one free entry to this race in exchange for blogging about my experience. All opinions are my own. Thanks to Spartan Race!