WIAW: What did I do and eat today?

This morning I woke up well rested and kid free. My son spent last night and will spend tonight with my mom while I handle some business (his first time away 2 nights in a row :-( ). I didn't know what to do with myself. I didn't know whether I should relax until my appointment and workout later or vice versa. Thanks to my Facebook peeps, I chose to get it in early. So I quickly made a green smoothie (I'm on Day 16 of the Simple Green Smoothie Challenge) and I was out the door for a 'dreadmill' run and a body works plus abs class at my gym.

Selfies with my smoothie

I arrived at the gym and to my surprise it smelled lemony fresh. I can really appreciate them doing that because I can be a germaphobe at times. All the machines had noticeably been wiped down...hooray!

I ran 3-miles on the hill setting, alternating between levels 1-5. The first mile was kind of slow and hard and reminded me of my bad run from last Saturday. I almost thought I would burn out earlier, but I focused on the really ratchet music in my earbuds and that helped me push through. I gotsta have my Southern Rap when I do cardio on a machine!

After my run I joined my fav instructor for a body works plus abs class. As I mentioned before, she does her class a little different. Today's workout was the start of another 6-week series. We did a little HIIT the first half of class and finished with circuit training. By the end of both workouts my cheap dri-fit shirt was soak and WET! It was pretty disgusting but I worked HARD today!

Had a quick post work out snack of Greek yogurt with a little honey and a banana before I had to get ready for an appointment.

I didn't plan for lunch, but knew I had to go food shopping later. I was starving. Have you heard the saying don't go grocery shopping when you're hungry? Let's just say a package or two was opened on the ride home.

I had to have those Kettle chips...I craved the salt. ;)

When I finally got home, I took pictures of my purchases for my upcoming updated grocery haul post and I drank the rest of my green smoothie from this morning. I made this smoothie for the first time using soy milk instead of cows milk. It was really good and filling.

my go-to: strawberries, banana, Greek yogurt, soy milk

For dinner, I cooked a taco salad without the shell for me (still striving for abs). I'm enjoying my fun, but semi-healthy meals as of late, because I know once August 18th comes around, it's back to the same meals every day with one cheat day a week. Why? Because I can tell a big difference in my performance when I eat super clean.

Oh yeah! Remember at the end of one of my posts, I said Nike and I had to have a talk? Well, I got my replacement in the mail for my broken watch. I was like a kid on Christmas Day! Yes, I'm ready to take "her" out for a run!

For the non- cows milk drinkers, do you prefer soy, coconut milk, or something else as a milk replacement? I have a nut allergy, so I don't think I'll be trying almond milk.

Hope you had a good day!

-Tiffany

Starting the Week Off Right

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Happy Monday! I'm happy to report that I did not skip my long run yesterday and I did a Body Works Plus Abs class at the gym this morning.

In my previous post, I skipped my run Saturday because I was busy and unmotivated later in the day and I was actually doubting myself that I'd get it done Sunday, considering Sundays after church are normally lazy days for us.

With only a little less than 2 weeks left before my 10k, I figured I may as well. I knew postponing until today or the following weekend would mess my taper week up. So...I sent a text to a friend who is running the same race (benefit of running buddies) and we met up. Come to find out she's been busy due to work and hadn't run in 3 weeks, hence the slower pace. I didn't mind being there to motivate her, because I almost skipped myself like I said.

We just wanted to get the miles in, so we did run/walk intervals.

Sorry for awkward angle. I'm not into taking gym selfies in the mirror, lol

My training plan calls for a rest day, but I hadn't cross-trained in over a week. My son had off and on low-grade fevers last week, so I didn't want to send him to the Kid's Club all cranky, etc. I didn't do anything at home either. 

There was a substitute teacher for this morning's hour long class. She was pretty good. For the first half of class we did high intensity interval training (HIIT), the next half we did supersets with the free weights (my arms were on fire), squats, lunges, and the last part we worked our abs.

I thought I would've lost a little strength since I hadn't been to a Body Works class in over a week, but I did pretty good...comparing myself to others in the class anyways. I try really hard to push myself to my limits and visualizing my goals honestly does work...that and looking in the mirror and not wanting to look goofy or want to give up (benefits of group workouts, for me). :-)

This picture is the epitome of #momlife and #fitmom. When baby is hungry, everybody better stop! He had two ounces of breast milk leftover, but he still had to nurse afterwards in order for us to have a pleasant trip home. My classes always cut into his first nap of the day. Thankfully, he didn't miss much of it and slept until we got home. And I sat in the garage and answered texts and emails. :)

Anyone else take the long route home when baby's napping? :-)

-Tiffany

Peachtree Road Race Training Update

I haven't blogged my workouts in a while, but I've definitely been 'going hard in the paint' (lol). Seriously, I think I'm going on 4 weeks strong of running and cross training workouts. I haven't missed a long run and I've actually added 2 more cross training days than I have to. 

My DVDs got boring so I signed my baby up for the Kid's Club and have fallen back in love with the Body Works Plus Abs classes. I have been going so consistently that I have my favorite instructors now. I love that I am getting my strength training in and I can tell a huge difference.

This particular day, my husband and I warmed up by running around the track, did hill repeats for about 20 minutes, and then ran a mile around the trail. Afterwards we played around with the basketball. Well, I did more playing, he did more actual shooting the ball in the actual hoop. That's his domain, running is mine. "Coach" said I need to work on my range... uh, yea, that means what? :)

My Body Works instructors are no joke. I have one that is kind of old school. She starts the class up with a lot of cardio for the uncoordinated, smh. I don't really enjoy that part...because if you haven't guessed, I'm amongst the uncoordinated. The other 2-3 instructors I've taken are new school and the entire class is basically HIIT (high intensity interval training). With HIIT, you burn a lot more calories. In all of them you are lifting weights at the same time and doing core work. It's very important to have a strong core when you run long distances.

Besides the weekend of my family reunion, in which I went ALL IN. I've been doing pretty good with eating and eating 3 meals and 2 snacks a day. I recently started back up shopping at the farmer's market. PAUSE: I apologize if this blog post has a lot of info in it, but I haven't blogged in a while :)) I'm slowly transitioning my family into eating grassfed meats and purchasing local/organic produce. I'm trying to figure out how to do this while sticking to the same budget. 

My last long run, 5.5 miles was supposed to be 6 miles. I could of walked or ran slower on the treadmill to get to the 6, but I got a headache (need to practice my breathing), and towards the end I kept looking at my Nike+ app, so that broke the "zone" I was in. I already have a hard time running on the treadmill sometimes, and to get all the way to 5.5 (my longest run on a treadmill since 2012, I think) and to just stop half a mile short of my original goal...sucks. I ran on the hill setting on level 2 or 3. I hope this really simulated an outdoor run. PLEASE! I'll be back outdoors later today for a 30-40 minute recovery run to test my legs and endurance. I always get nervous about my next outdoor run after I've run on the treadmill. Another reason I don't prefer the dreadmill. But hey! Check out those negative splits!

Speaking of legs (see, blog post about EVERYTHING TODAY), I can actually barely walk. I took a Body Work Class Friday evening, walked 1.5 mile Saturday morning, ran those 5.5 miles, and then walked another hour around the zoo in hard flip flops. Despite, I do still need to run today, but Monday I will be giving my lower half a break. This probably means I need to skip out on Body Works and go lift Monday. We'll see how I feel because I really still am uncomfortable lifting alone with all of those dudes. lol. It's true and I know I'm not the only female who thinks this way. :-P

Well, I think that takes care of my "catch up". Less than a month until race day.

-Tiffany

Slow Improvement

Saturdays workout: I ran 4.3 miles of steady inclines. Although my pace differed from last Saturday's run (4.5 miles) by 5 seconds, it was an improvement because the route was much harder. Imagine if that were a flatter course, hmmmm...

After the run, I went to a Body Works Plus Abs class at the gym. This class is a total body workout using body weight and free weight exercises. I've taken this class before but never at this location. I could tell a difference. Either this instructor was tough or I've been too lenient in my home strength workouts because I had to modify MOST of the exercises! I'm typing this on Sunday and my entire body hurts in places I forgot I had. I will definitely go back next week! 

I was supposed to run for 30-40 minutes according to the training plan, but Mothers Day festivities trumped. I enjoyed my first Mothers Day, but honestly being a self proclaimed fit fanatic, I was itching to workout.

Well tomorrow starts a new week and my goals are to finish some professional develop things, redesign this blog, and workout like crazy. July 4th will be here before you know.

Tiffany