Tough Tuesday Workout & Weekly Workouts (Fairfield Half)

Tough Tuesday Workout - 2,4,6, 8 Who Feels Great?!

This was the 2nd of the my Z Cardio and Strength combinations with some variations for this early morning bootcamp class. You are adding reps each time and I added the one minute of jump rope in between so it made it a little longer and a little harder.

What you need: two sets of weight - I had 8's and 12's, mat, bench and a mat

Warm Up - Jog, Jacks and Jump Rope, Wide Leg Pushups (3), Squats and Lunges  (about 20 of each) and stretching for the hip flexors, shoulders, calves, etc. 

Section 1 - Cardio 
I used the ZCUT Power Cardio 2 to lay out this workout making a few small edits for my class

*One minute of jump rope in between each workout, those that moved through the workout quick started jump roping right away so they got a few added bonus seconds. 

10 prisoner get ups
20 box jumps onto the step
30 side to side jumps over a barbell
40 skaters
50 pendulums
60 high knees plank (this one we all stayed together)
70 squat jumps


Section 2 -  Strength

4 Rounds
10 backward and forward lunge
10 pushups with a row
5 competition burpees
10 deadlifts

Abs

Crunches - 20
Plank with knee tuck - 10
Double Crunch- 20 
Forearm Plank with knee  tap - 10
Hold Plank 30 seconds

Everyone has said the past few weeks have been very tough, so we'll keep going :)

Weekly Workout Summary - Week of 6/17

Monday - Nothing after running 11 + miles on Sunday in the extreme heat, I was exhausted.

Tuesday - Above workout and short run

Wednesday - Bike and Swim

Thursday - Running about 3+ miles at night while listening to the symphony in Hoboken after house cleaning

Friday - Bike

Saturday -Bike ride around the course of the Fairfield Half Marathon, which got us really nervous because there were a shite ton of hills, crazy hills! We started the bike from Sherwood Island.  And this is the view.

View from our car to Sherwood Island

Sunday -Fairfield Half, which was hot and little disappointing, though my goal was only to finish, I would have liked to run faster instead of being bested by the heat. But, we made it in the heat and humidity and we crossed the finish line. 

 Fairfield Half Marathon

Surprisingly I was not nervous before the race, but I think I should have been, since when we went out on the course there were some pretty steep hills.  We went out to do what we thought would be a leisurely bike ride but we hit the hills and thought uh-oh.  We had been training to do the Liberty State Park Fleet Week Half and then got sick and the race was cancelled and never got our groove back despite signing up for the race, both of us have been too busy at work. Blech. The race was hot but it was a lot of fun. The people of Fairfield were amazing.  They had sprinklers out, music, ice cold lemonade, even beer, which Billy grabbed at the end.  I just couldn't make it up those HILLS. But the scenic views were pretty amazing. CT has great Coastline!  They did run out of cups at some of the water stations so that made planning water stops tricky. 

But I have still never been so hot (nor have I done a race in June) like this, at the end, it ended at Jennings Beach and my feet and legs felt so hot and sore, so I ran (really hobbled) right into the water.  In my socks. HOT! Afterwards, I collapsed. I had slowly been moving my times back down towards 2:40, with a race at 2:45 and 2:48 but this race took me about 3 hours so it was very disappointing but walking up the steep hills that came after mile 6 really slowed us down and so did the stretch of sun after mile 11. :(.  So I am looking forward to training all this summer and picking a race in the Fall with a flatter course.

Collapsed on Jennings Beach After the Fairfield Half Marathon

We got this really cool shirt from the race.  At first I thought all we were getting was a bandana but they had these on the beach. Score!! Tech shirt! 

After the race, I ate at Shake Shack and had a root beer float and some of a PB shake and very little of a shroom burger.  I like liquids after racing.  It was my parent's anniversary and that was their post race pick! Yes, I wore the race shirt.  We crawled in traffic home and made it home in time to go see the Red Bulls game on Pier A and have a few beers.  Then we put our still aching feets in some water.

Tough Tuesday Workout: ZWow'd Week 1 (6/11/13)

Tough Tuesday Workout - ZWow'd

 I have always been a big fan of Zuzka Light, the delightful online fitness personality, who now has her own website and DVD's, which I bought up immediately. Her DVD's ZCut Power Cardio and Zcut Power Strength have 12 10-20 minute workouts that are incredibly tiring and an incredible workout.  I thought they'd be a cool addition to our bootcamp class as we keep in shape this summer. 

What you need: two sets of weight - I had 8's and 12's, mat, bench and a mat

 Warm Up - Jog, Jacks and Jump Rope, Wide Leg Pushups (3), Squats and Lunges  (about 20 of each) and stretching for the hip flexors, shoulders, calves, etc. 

Section 1 - Cardio 
I used the ZCUT Power Cardio to lay out this workout making a few small edits for my class

10 burpees
10 squat jumps
20 lunge jumps or alternating legs
10 squat jumps
30 pendulums
10 squat jumps
40 side to side leg kicks

Repeat 5x so you have a total of 50 burpees by the end. It was killer and everyone thought so!

Section 2 -  Strength

3 Rounds
10 squats
10 dive bombers
10 pistol squats

Abs

Crunches - 20
Plank with knee tuck - 10
DoubleCrunch- 20 
Forearm Plank with knee  tap - 10
Hold Plank 30 seconds

Weekly Workout Summary - Week of 6/10

Monday - Nothing drove back from CT and after a weekend at the Oakley Mini and a brick workout and a 3 hour drive home I was done. 

Tuesday - Above workout and short run

Wednesday - Bike and Swim

Thursday - Running

Friday - Bike and Swim and Friday night YOGA!!

Saturday - 5.5 mile run up Patterson Plank Road (huge hill) and just about 20 miles on the bike in the afternoon (flat)

Sunday - late in the afternoon - 11+ mile run to Liberty State Park to get ready for Fairfield Half marathon next Sunday.

Post workout in my brand new compression socks ready to dunk my feet in an ice bucket. 

My other weekend activity - gardening!

 

Here is a better full view of the socks I was wearing - they are brand new - thanks to @skinnyrunner's promotion from procompression and I wore them Sat&Sun. 

Tough Tuesday Workout (5/7/13): Shuttle Runs Plus Weekly Workouts & HOHA 5 miler

Last week ended up completely different from what I planned but great nonetheless. I've been pretty lousy about signing up for races.  Being somewhat low on cash and headed to Nashville on vacation, I've been waiting to sign up and see what I want to do.  I had thought about doing a Mother's Day duathlon this past weekend, but haven't been out on my bike enough.  I also thought about the Newport 10K but the rain put me off (I know it shouldn't but since my running buddy got sick, I wasn't eager to go alone).  Well I headed to the gym Saturday (shockingly) and turns out some friends were running so I headed to the HOHA Sunday and it was great and my Ipod and I finished in 52 minutes, which was great!


What you need: two sets of weight - I had 8's and 15's, mat, bench and a mat, Gymboss or other timer

Warm Up - Jog, Jacks and Jump Rope, Wide Leg Pushups (3), Squats and Lunges  (about 20 of each) and Stretching.with band 



We ran across the gym the short way, so it looked like little shuttle runs

heavy weights at one end
2x back and forth sprints
down curl press
Repeat for 3x 15, 10, 5 of each exercise

shuffle low back and forth
alternating lunge 15, 10, 5 (add one more shuffle at end)

frog jump burpee and back peddle
pushups 15, 10, 5 toes or knees

Rest

50 on and 10 off

1. jump lunge
2. side to side burpee
3. Dive Bomber
4. one legged deadlift
5. 3 d pushup
6. one legged deadlift
7. tap knees
8. side lift R
9. side lift L
10 Dead lift

Repeat

Rest

30 seconds - squat in and out on the bench
Repeat other side
Repeat Taps for 10
2 pushups - downward dog for 3 sets

Abs

one minute plank. 

cool down & stretching

This took about 50-55 minutes (4 Round x 10 plus about 1 minute break plus abs and the warmup and cool down)


Remember to always check with a doctor before doing any exercise and to always keep on tri'n!

Weekly Workout Summary
I started my week on Tuesday after taking Monday off after we had run 10 + miles Sunday I was TIRED. Tuesday I did my morning weekly boot camp and I did a light 20 min jog before heading to the Shelter meeting at night

I was pretty sore the next day (Wednesday) during spinning but still did some swimming to get ready for tri season.

Thursday night I went for a quick run with the my running buddy since I got home late (again - repeat the same as last week! 
 

 Friday I taught spinning and did some weights and swimming.  And that night I did yoga at Sky Club.

On Saturday I went to Combat class at Sky Club and followed that up with a short run (about 25 minutes) and then went to Local Barre over the weekend and did the Sports Barre Class. 

On Sunday, I ran the HOHA with the Sky Club crew and kept a pretty good pace for me.  I was excited.  

I put together my weekly workout schedule for the spring/summer a few weeks ago to get ready for tri season and to finish up training for the half we planned to do and it's working out well. BUT

Then this week I found out the Half Marathon we'd planned to do was CANCELLED - super bummer.  We hadn't signed up since I was waiting for Uncle Sam to send over his contributions to race season but it was disappointing nononetheless, looking at a half in CT and then today I found out they cancelled my usual first race of the season in CT for tri season (Westport TargetTraining race). DISAPPOINTMENT AGAIN. I've looked into other options.  Fortunately the Hartford Marathon races for the summer are still a go. 

Back to the races & Plymeteric Paradise: June 4

 Back on the Road to Racing

I have slowly started to make my way back from illness!  And it's been a long road.  Before I got sick, I was doing really well with running (for me) and ran the HOHA Hoboken 5 mile in just about 10:30 miles, which was great for me.  The run was great, fantastic morning and I was there with some great pals from Sky Club.

After the HOHA 5 Mile on Mother's Day.

Then, I got sick as I talked about in my previous post, and lost all ability to move much less run.  But, this weekend I came back with a vengeance (ok I just came back) and ran the Oakley Mini 10k.  The race ending up being a lot of fun. I had been really excited about doing the race and then Friday it poured rain, like Noah's ark prep.  I had mentally prepared myself that the race was going to be cancelled, Hoboken was going to flood, I'd lose power, and sleep in.  So had my better half.  But, race morning came, so did the sunshine and birds chirping and with my pal Run Lift Repeat saying she was up for the race, we were off to the races, literally.  Fortunately, the drive by car into NYC is speedy quick, which left us plenty of time to get registered, talk my better half out of being mad at me for waking him up so early, and use the restrooms. He set off on his own run around the park and I went to the starting line.  I ended up being last. How? I dunno. 

I was expecting to have a horrible race after eating pasta and pizza by the pound at 10pm the night before, but amazingly I was setting a 10:30 pace a week after being sick, I slowed up some on the hills in Central Park but my finish was only a minute behind last year, so I was happy overall.  I was happy I didn't cough, throw up, or DNF, especially since I had forgotten many of the hills that were involved. Whoops. The one at the 5k mark always gets me.

I was very excited the medals were pink! Especially since I was wearing pick.  One the way into the race, Run Lift Repeat and I had a long discussion on race fashion, much to the disgust of my better half, who couldn't understand dressing up to sweat.The race has a great "go women" vibe and I love the medals and carnations they give out.  I also cannot forget some love for the super race volunteers who made bag drop easy.

Post Race Pink!

This is the 5th year I've run the mini and the tanks that they gave out may beat some of the previous T's. Go partnership with Oakley.

Missing a medal from 2010, maybe I lost it? But otherwise 4 years of medals starting from 2009!

Last week, before the Mini 10K, I also formally got back to teaching classes.

 Plyometric Paradise.

Warm Up - Jog, Jacks and Jump Rope, Wide Leg Pushups (3), Squats and Lunges  (about 20 of each) and Stretching

I decided to change up my Tuesday class and I set up rows of benches. We did our usual warm up and then a plyometric workout.

They lined up in front of the benches and did plyometric jumps all the down the benches (6 in a row at varying heights) and then lunges back (3 rounds).  The first set deep squat on the step.  Second set was deep squat when jumping down and run back after 10 squat jumps.  The 3rd set we moved laterally and did toe taps down and shuffle back and reverse.

We broke it up (each set) with heavy weight work and 3 minute challenges. The 3 minute challenge was 3 minutes of 5 competition burpees, 10 squat jumps, 5 burpees, 10 mt climbers. I was exhausted by this. The weights we did squats, curl press, push ups, single leg dead lift, and dead lift row. (10-15 of each).

Here is a link to the video that inspired me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLzI1mcvIv8


Remember to always check with a doctor before doing any exercise and to always keep on tri'n! 

Weekly Workout Summary - June 3 - 9

Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Plyometric Paradise and Swimming - 20 min, 20 min run at night
Wed - Spinning 45 min and 20 min Running
Thursday  - 40 min Run in the Rain
Friday - Spinning - 45 min and some ab work
Saturday - Oakley Mini 10k
Sunday - 17 mile bike on some big CT Hills and 20 min Run (BRICK!)

Interval Challenge & Intermittment Illness

 This workout is from right before I left on vacation. So I never got around to posting it.  Then during vacation I came down with what I call - the "worst illness I've ever had."  There was a sore throat, horrific cough, runny nose, fever chills and more.  And we were in Nashville, supposed to be having a great time seeing live music, the Avett Brothers and more. Which we did.  But I was so sick. I was out of commission for a week and half, the longest I've taken off in years and it was a B*tch getting back into working out, especially when I ran a mile the Sunday of Memorial Day and nearly keeled over.

Me during my illness.

What you need: two sets of weight - I had 8's and 15's, mat, band, bench and a mat, Gymboss or other timer

Warm Up - Jog, Jacks and Jump Rope, Wide Leg Pushups (3), Squats and Lunges  (about 20 of each) and Stretching.with band and gymboss 50/10, 10 Rounds
 
Interval Challenge
50 on and 10 off
Jump Lunge
Squat Curl Press
Elevated Pushup
In and Out Jump
Scorpion Pushup
wood chopper R
wood chopper L
Side Planks R and L
Abs - in and out
one legged dead lift

(in second set, jump lunge become 3 jump lunge 2 knees then in last (third) set becomes 3 jump lunge and 3 mt climbers and in last set scorpion pushups becomes a dive bomber and one legged dead lift is 2 legged with a row)

4 min challenge
set up 2 weights about 3 feet apart
double step, high knees over weights, double step burpee, double step, high knees over weights, double step, go back (repeat for one minute)
Squat Kick Right
4 punches, 4 crosses (jumping jack with no arms)
Squat Kick Right

order
Interval Challenge 1
4 min Challenge
Interval Challenge 2
4 min Challenge
Interval Challenge 3
2 minute challenge
 2 minutes of 10 squats, 10 pushups, 5 plank with forearm to straight arm
1 minute plank hold

cool down & stretching

This took about 50-55 minutes (4 Round x 10 plus about 1 minute break plus abs and the warmup and cool down) 

And then there was this...

If you look in the background you can see the bottle of Jack Daniels from when we visited the distillery in TN.