Workout Wednesday & Marathon Naps?

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Started out the morning with a nice 30 minute total body strength training session, 10 minutes of foam rolling, and 20 minutes on the bike! 

My work-out this morning included:

  • 2 sets of 15 squats on the bosu ball with 10 Ib free weights (with bicep curls transitioning to tricep extensions overhead)
  • 2 sets of 15 curtsies on the bosu ball (15 on each side)
  • 2 sets of 15 single leg deadlifts with 10 Ib free weights (15 on each side)
  • 2 sets of 10 reverse v-ups (not sure what these are exactly called) with feet on the stability ball
  • 2 sets of 20 mountain climbers with forearms on the stability ball
  • 2 sets of 45 second side planks with side crunch (45 seconds on each side; about 12 crunches)
  • 2 sets of 10 v-ups with alternating rotations with a 10 Ib medicine ball

Can we talk about how stunning my drives into work have been lately?! I love this time of year! Spring running is always amazing, I can leave my headlamp at home, and never need to stress about not being seen on the roads. 

The weather for us over the next few days is seriously bumming me out. It was SNOWING on-and-off here all day and higher elevations may get 3-9 inches of snow tonight! I want spring weather, Colorado! My skis have already been tucked away until next season...

This entire week I have seriously been SO exhausted. I always feel this way the last few training weeks of a marathon training cycle- anyone else feel this way too? I'm trying to keep myself well-hydrated and am determined to get more shut-eye the last three weeks before race day to help ease the marathon taper-craziness!

Some other things that I like to do to keep the taper-crazies at bay: 

Schedule some time to pamper yourself (new haircut or mani/pedi?), try out some new recipes that you pinned (curb the rungriness), take an extra nap (or three), craft time, spring cleaning, or take a day-trip to a National or State Park near you!

Hopefully these ideas will help you take advantage of all the free-time that you have now that you are tapering and stop those taper-crazies before they start!

Also how cute is she?! This is her "im sitting down like you wanted me to, now give me the food humans". Happy HUMPDAY

VO2 max & Jumpboard class!

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Hi friends! Happy May! I am almost always training for a marathon in the month of May, so when it hits I know that 1. my race is right around the corner (41 days to be exact) 2. that these next few weeks will be my peak weeks until I begin to taper and 3. I will be hungry all.the.time and it is acceptable to eat all the things!

I was pretty groggy when I woke-up this morning and it was sleeting, but I was determined to not let the weather push me indoors and I am so glad I was persistent! When I finished foam-rolling at the gym, it was just overcast outside and absolutely perfect out. 

I think I maybe met one car the entire 5 miles and really tried to keep my easy run "easy". Does anyone else struggle with this? Since taking iron supplements (I've been on them for a little over 4 weeks), I've noticed that I've been able to run at a significantly faster pace (we're talking 30-50 seconds faster) without feeling like I'm struggling or have any sort of labored breathing and each run FEELS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! Thinking I'll make my post about my anemia and kidney infection coming up real soon. Also- I hit a new VO2 max threshold this morning- score! 

Another amazing feeling is finishing a truly easy run and having your Garmin tell you that you have a recovery timeline of less than 24 hours. Does anyone else get super pumped when they see this? It must mean we're doing something right...right?

After my run, I per-usual showed up to work with still wet-hair and heated up my breakfast (2 egg muffins, 1/2 baked sweet potato, and 1 Murray's breakfast sausage). Fast-forward to lunch and I got to go back to Jumpboard class at Steamboat Pilates and Fitness! I LOVE this studio. I mean really LOVE it. They just did a remodel and it looks amazing. The instructors are all awesome and I have learned so much from them about how to engage my core (and hello- I actually have "abs" for the first time). 

I had some of my thai coconut peanut sauce with soba noodles & veggies for lunch along with a side of carrots & spelt pretzels after coming back from class. Hoping to take it easy tonight and have some leftover minestrone soup, find HGTV's Fixer Upper on (hopefully! I am slightly obsessed with Chip & Joanne Gaines), and foam roll! 

Here is a link to a great sight that I used to look up where my VO2 max stands for my age and gender. Running for Fitness also does a great job at explaining what factors go into predicting your VO2 max and what it is exactly. 

 

Do you have any big Monday night plans?

Do you use any VO2 max calculators or rely on your running watch for any other stats?

What's your favorite cross-training running workout?