Fitness Friday: Gettin' er done

I have decided to try my hand at the Canadian Championship 10k next week held at the Toronto Zoo Run.  I was debating whether or not I wanted to race in anything big between now and the Scotia Bank Toronto Waterfront Marathon next month, but decided that I want to give the race a go.  I have had some pretty good experiences racing in this CRS event... last year my sister Shannon made the trip with me and warmed up with me and Natasha... and it gives me a chance to head back home to Canada.
I'm not quite sure how my fitness will compare with the rest of the field, but I am looking forward to testing the waters.
This week's FITNESS FRIDAY brought me back to the pool with Kim and Ryan for an early AM interval session.  Those of you that remember my university training will remember that I used to spend a lot of time in the pool cross-training and rehabbing.  Those workouts involved a lot of aqua jogging and a lot of holding my breath.  While those workouts definitely benefited me back then, I now believe that full-on swimming workouts fit better into my training plan.
I started swimming with Kim and Ryan in July and feel like I now have a pretty good handle on how to pace myself through the workout.  What I love about swimming is that I can get my heart rate up and feel a completely different fatigue than that which I feel during running intervals.
Kim is hardcore... she usually swims 3000m for her workouts, while Ryan and I stick to 2000m (Hey! We started out at a mile in July... so I'm happy with our progress).  This morning however, Kim, Ryan and I all did the 2000m workout... and though I'm sure neither Kim nor I would admit this to each other... we were totally racing!
We start all our swim workouts with 200m easy, 200m pull, and 100m flutter kicking.
Then we move into the actual session.
Our intervals usually include several sets of 100s, some 50s even harder, and then some 200s keeping the pace steady.  Today there were a lot of 100s.
Finally, the cool down is 200m easy... but Ryan and I usually end up pulling the first 100 to make it go by quicker.

For those of you who want to look into some swim workouts... here is a pretty easy website to start out:

http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/swim-cgi/

Nothing like that rubber feeling after a hard swim session!

Fitness Friday ... Beach Ready

This week I am heading to the beach with "double down" and a few of his friends. To try and make my weekend a bit easier running wise I did a hard track session earlier this afternoon (3x(5x400m) and then heading back to the basement to do some stretching and strength work.  Now I'll just have an easy run tomorrow and a long run Sunday. I'm anticipating it being pretty hot when I get down there, but am looking forward to a few days to lay out in the sun!
My general running fitness seems like it is coming along fairly well... I'm sure I have Ryan and Kim, and the C.O.W.S to thank for keeping me fit while rehabbing my ankle all summer.

First I started out with some work on my foam roller:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoHBDim_fzk

Then I went back to work on my ab ball and made use of the laminated card that I was given and is now in the hands of other athletes in Chattanooga:

First I did some general planking balancing on my ab ball (3x 60s), then I switched to some arm and leg extensions while balancing on the ball (3x15s per side).

From there I did a side plank then rotate to bring elbow under the shoulder of my supporting arm (12 per side).

Finally, starting in a push-up plank position with my feet balancing on the ab ball, I then engaged my core to pull the ball in towards me, bending at the knee (3x15 reps).

Not a crazy long core session, but enough to stretch out and engage my core after a pretty solid track session.

Now to pack for the Beach!

Fitness Friday: A Model Athlete??

Earlier this summer, while I was still on crutches I was asked if I would like to demonstrate core exercises with an ab ball. At the time I thought sure, why not? I regularly use an ab ball during my core sessions and wouldn't mind showing a few exercises... let's just say it was more than a "few" exercises.

A few weeks later I received an email with the sketches of the exercises I was going to have to demonstrate and decided to test them out. It wasn't long before I became painfully aware that my core is not what I thought or want it to be. Sure, I can blame some of the balancing issues on my still slightly bum ankle (as I choose to do with my less than stellar performance at the Crim 10 miler last weekend)... but deep down I knew it was my core stability at fault.

I have always done core work, but I guess it's easy to stick to the same old exercises and in a way cheat my way through stabilizing exercises.  After going through the sketches a few times I was terribly exhausted.  Instantly I began to worry about demonstrating these positions, holding them for camera shots, and not making a fool out of myself.

After about a week of practicing, I showed up at the YMCA as ready as I could be... hoping that I had at least trained my core a little bit to make it through the photo session.  The afternoon of core was not nearly as easy as I had thought it would be back in July... but I made it through it, have some amazing photos I can now share, and have a better understanding of the weaknesses I need to start addressing in order to get back into proper marathon form!

FITNESS FRIDAY - err... pre-race recovery

Ok, so tomorrow I make my return to racing at the Crim 10 miler here in Flint, Michigan. I made the road trip up here yesterday and have been chilling in my hotel room with my Colorado running buddy Deanna Ardrey.
Yes, I opted to drive up to the race. Yes, there was a lot of car dancing. Yes, I still hate Ohio. No, I'm not crazy.
I'm actually going to jump up to Canada after the race tomorrow to visit the fam, and so that I can then cross back over the border to have my paperwork processed. Fun... eh? eh? Let's hope that border patrol do not find me "too hot to cross" again, and I get through in a timely manner.

So, since I am racing tomorrow my "fitness friday" hasn't been to "fit" feeling.  Dee and I went for a shake out run and will hit up the pasta dinner tonight... that's about the extent of today.
I'm not looking for much out of my race tomorrow... Just a solid effort to see how my body is coming back from this dang ankle injury.  I have been able to maintain some form of fitness swimming and rollerblading... but man, I now understand why people complain about running. It's hard! I didn't remember it hurting this much to get back in shape.
Anyways, enough sounding like a wimp for me.
Next week I'll be "fit" again, I promise!

Fitness Friday

Alright... I have found a new Ap for my iPhone and am in love with it! The Nike Training Club.  This thing is great... there are tons of workouts to pick from and you can hammer out a great core and strength workout in 15 min when you are pressed for time or choose one of the longer ones (30 -45 min) depending on what you are wanting to accomplish.
This week I did the "Core Crunch":

Each exercise lasts a minute:
1. V-ups
2. Full Extensions: Extend your legs out straight and arms above your head holding a med ball and then bring your legs in and the med ball to your feet. (I didn't have a med ball, but substituted using a weight)

3. Suitcases: Squeezing the ball with your inner thighs, bring knees and elbows toward each other until your shoulder blades are off the ground. (Again, I had to get creative and used my roller to hold between my knees).

4. Side Plank Crunches (30 seconds each side)
5. Frogger with Swivel: Start in pushup position with hands close together; Jump your feet to the outside of your hands; Jump back to start position; Twist through the hips to bring one knee up to the opposite elbow; Bring the knee back and swivel the opposite knee up.

Repeat 1 -5
Then:
6. Plank
7. Side plank (1 minute per side)
8. Opposite arm/leg supermans
9. Kick downs: Lie on your back with legs straight up int he air, 90 degrees from your body; Keeping your legs straight, lower them as far as you can.

Great little session to finish out my training day!

FITNESS FRIDAY - FITNESS ON THE GO pt 2

Just when I thought I was going to start to settle down and have some routine to my life... girls weekend parked itself on my calendar and Ellen and I found ourselves road-tripping it up from White, Georgia through Knoxville to pick up Shannon, and then up to Johnson City.

Time to get creative again.

So, what does a girl do when she's staying with friends and needs to squeeze a workout in during a chatty girls weekend? She does WATTS:

First you start with 100 crunches
Then you roll over immediately and do 10 push-ups
Roll back over and do 10 crunches
Roll over again and do 11 push-ups

You repeat this adding 10 crunches and 1 push-up each set until you have worked your way back up to 100 crunches and finish off with 20 push-ups.

I generally like to switch up the crunches and do different variations to keep things interesting and to focus on different areas of my core muscles. I'm not gonna lie, by the end I struggle to get through 20 push-ups... but it does eventually get easier.

Not a bad quick fix for a workout... now time to visit with the gang and the new baby!

FITNESS FRIDAY - FITNESS ON THE GO pt 1

It's Friday! Time to go to work!

This week, as some may know, I was house-sitting for a friend in Chattanooga. It definitely made my life a bit easier not having to commute from Georgia, but it also meant I had to get more creative with my core training this week... did I mention there was a 17 year old lil' dog involved in my house-sitting?

This week I totally stole my workout from my lil' big sis. She had just recently traveled for a convention and posted a workout about training in a hotel room. Granted I wasn't in a hotel, but working with a smaller space than usual and perhaps, lacking a little motivation sent me scanning my sister's blog for inspiration.

http://www.cupcakedujour.ca/2012/07/work-out-wednesday_19.html

Not a bad little work out at all eh?