I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!
Here’s a recap of mine in pictures from Christmas Eve.
Life Is Good
Uncategorized
Pure Barre Review
I did it. I survived my first Pure Barre class. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. I’m sore today (mostly my butt and abs) but I guess it could have been worse.
I think I may have stumbled upon the best marathon-friendly strength training class. No jumping, no drills, no lunges, no squats…bouncing is not allowed. Instead, movement is confined to mere inches. So how can Pure Barre be so effective?
It’s fast moving. Aside from little breaks to stretch out the muscle group that you just worked on, you are constantly moving. Or I should say, squeezing, pulsing, and tucking (hence the reason why my butt hurts so much). And you work muscle groups for minutes at a time. We worked on abs for a few minutes (no breaks – I was dying), and then got into a plank and held it for 90 seconds!
We worked abs, glutes, quads, and arms. The whole shebang. My arms and quads feel fine (next time I’ll increase my weights for arm work) but my abs and glutes…not so much. What a wake-up call. As a runner, your core and butt should be strong to support your hips. I’m clearly lacking strength in those areas. I’ll never forget my RRCA instructor’s words of wisdom during my coaching certification: the knees are innocent victims to a weak ass and unsupported foot. So true. Everything works in a domino effect from the foot up or the hip down. Take care of the foot and hip and you take care of the knee.
I will definitely be going back to Pure Barre. It definitely takes a few classes to get the lay of the land. The only downside? Cost. It’s very expensive – $23 per class!
Up next…a power yoga class! Maybe I’ll be ripped by the time Boston comes around? Ripped or not, I will definitely be stronger!
A Strength Training Conundrum
For the past few weeks, I’ve been going to a Whole Body Strength class at my yoga studio. It’s a 1-hour circuit training class and it’s enjoyable and convenient. And…it’s also getting comfortable. As in the last 2 times I went (despite upping my weights) I woke up the next day not sore at all. Don’t get me wrong, I’m challenged during the class but the next day I want to feel like I did something. And, it being a circuit training class, we do some drills and jumping which I’m not a fan of.
Marathon training is taxing enough. Each time your foot stikes the ground it has to absorb two to three times your body weight…multiply that by miles per week and you got a helluva lot of pounding. Add drills and jumping during your strength training class and I get very nervous about injury. Call me a nervous Nellie but I’ll save CrossFit and Bootcamp for the off season. I even asked my PT about CrossFit (since I have a Groupon) and she told me to be very careful. She treats a lot of patients because of CrossFit.
So I’m looking for strength training that is marathon training-friendly (i.e., minimal impact). Here are the options I came up with:
BodyPump
I would love to do this but, unless I join a gym, it’s not feasible 🙁
Pure Barre
Per the website, Pure Barre is intelligent exercise. The technique protects your joints as it does not involve any bouncing or jumping. Each strength section of the workout is followed by a stretching section in order to create long, lean muscle without bulk. The workout launches a full blown attack on the areas of the body all women struggle with: abs, hips, seat and arms. It defies gravity by tapering everything in and lifting it up.
Defies gravity?! We’ll see. I have heard that you feel like you got hit by a truck the next day. Sweet. Just what I’m looking for. And I can unleash my inner Black Swan. Look out.
Power Yoga
A new yoga studio opened up around the corner and they only offer power yoga. I used to take an athletic yoga class years ago that always kicked my butt to the curb. And I don’t even need to list the ways yoga benefits runners.
I’m thinking a power yoga and Pure Barre session each week will work out just dandy with marathon training. We’ll see. I plan on going to Pure Barre tonight so, as long as I’m able to type tomorrow, I’ll let you know how it goes.
Ever take a Pure Barre class?
Do you enjoy the hit-by-a-truck feeling post-race or post-strength training? I have to admit I love it. It’s a nice reminder of what you accomplished!
Part II is never funny and fueled by treats
Happy Monday! Only 4 more days of work left. I can do this. I can do this. I hope some of you have a short week too!
Never mind my gibberish title. Creativity is not my strong suit and I’ve used “weekend recap” way too often. Speaking of which, my recap can be divided into “run” and “fun”.
FUN
Friday night Matt and I tried to watch The Hangover Part II but barely made it halfway through before turning it off. So, so bad. It’s the same movie over again minus the laughs. I wasn’t expecting much for a Part II but this was ridiculous.
On Saturday we hosted a Christmas party for Matt’s family. Matt comes from a big family (youngest of 7) so we are talking lots of adults and kiddies. Everything went very well (we also hosted last year so we had some practice). Good food, good company and lots of delicious treats!
When I was sufficiently stuffed to the gills, Matt and I watched St. Joe’s CRUSH Villanova! What a prefect way to end a great day! St. Joe’s and Nova are bitter rivals and nothing made me happier then sending Nova back to the Main Line with their tails between their legs 🙂
RUN
Last week was a solid week of running (good thing, since I ate my weight in cookies and cake). I’m still base building and won’t start officially training for Boston until Jan. 2 but I got in 35 miles. I did 10 miles on Saturday with 6 miles at 8:30 pace. I finally feel like I got my speed back. 8:30 pace felt good…almost as effortless as it did during the Lehigh Valley Marathon! On Sunday I did 7 very slow, Garmin-free miles. It was bitter cold but so refreshing.
Anyone see The Hangover Part II? Anyone actually watch the whole movie?
Anyone else stuff themselves with treats this weekend? My neighbor keeps baking and bringing stuff over for Matt and I to eat (she’s an incredible baker too). I think I may pop.
Friday Favorites – Holiday Edition
Let’s get right to it….
Christmas cards from friends and family
I love coming home to a mailbox full of Christmas pictures! Matt and I send out a picture of Hawk. Nothing screams we need to have children quite like this…
Hot chocolate with candy canes
Williams-Sonoma make these candy canes dipped in chocolate than you put into your hot chocolate. Delicious!
Cookies
I eat cookies year round but somehow they taste better at Christmas. My absolute favorite are white chocolate macadamia followed very closely by chocolate chip.
O Holy Night
Hands down my favorite Christmas song. I have no idea why…maybe because it’s so dramatic? Least favorite? All I Want For Christmas Is You (or anything by Mariah Carey) and Santa Baby. Ugh.
Christmas ornaments
Matt and I exchange ornaments every year. We started this tradition our first year of dating so we have quite the collection by now. I love searching for something new and different each year. Matt’s ornament for me last year pretty much rocked.
Time off work
I have the week “off” between Christmas and New Years. My company “shuts down” but makes us hold onto 4 vacation days so we can use them during the “shut down”. So it’s pretty much forced vacation. I’d prefer to work and use those 4 days over the summer but time off is time off and I won’t be working which makes me happy.
What are some of your holiday favorites? Fave Christmas song? Least favorite? Fave cookie? Share ’em!
'Tis The Season
Last week it was in the 60s and I was running in shorts. This week, treadmill running made an appearance.
Don’t get me wrong, nothing is better than running outside. Nothing. I have no idea how (or why) people run on a treadmill year round.
I can’t complain – my treadmill is in my basement in front of a large TV. I can watch any show or movie I want with the volume jacked all the way up. This helps…but not all the time. Some days I just can’t bring myself to run on it.
This week I’ve been pretty busy at work and had to get in early (7:30ish). I’ve opted for treadmill runs on both Monday and Tuesday. I do have certain runs that I can do on the treadmill and certain runs I refuse to do on a treadmill. It’s very scientific…
YES
– easy runs of no more than 4-5 miles
– speed work
HELL NO
– long runs
– tempo runs
– longer easy runs
(via)
I could never train for a distance race solely using the treadmill. It’s just too easy. You never learn to pace yourself, deal with varying weather conditions and terrain, and run downhill. You reap so many more benefits by running outside.
Treadmill – yay or nay?
If you use a treadmill are there certain runs you refuse to do on it?