Thursday Training Update

I know that it's been a long time since I did one of these! Being sidelined for a second time since December really took it's toll, y'all.
I've been doing some time on the elliptical, and an occasional yoga practice, but this really hit me hard. I've been getting back into the groove lately, and Tuesday is my first day back running, which I'm ecstatic about.
As a coach, I've been riding my bike alongside my runners, but since I'm riding at their pace, it isn't much of a workout.

Let's go back to last Monday, and see how I did!

Monday, I did the RealWomenMove brackets workout and my PT stretches. That bracket work out is a killer.



Tuesday, I did some time on the elliptical, more brackets, and I walked to and from the gym.



Wednesday I went for a walk and did my PT stretches.



Thursday I rode with my pace group, they did hill repeats. I rode hill repeats. Not too crazy.



Friday was a day off. You know, from my super serious workouts.

Saturday I rode with my group, about 75 minutes worth.



Sunday I played Easter Bunny. No workout, just having fun with my neighbors.



Monday I walked for an hour. I joined a Step Bet to get me moving and it's been a great week step wise!



Tuesday I rode with my pace group, walked for 40 minutes and did the Insanity Fit Test to mix things up. I am not fit.



Wednesday, I hit the trails because it hit the 60s here! I also did day 1 of Insanity and my PT exercises.





Not too bad, now that I look back. The Boy and I joined a gym today and they have some amazing classes. I will be trying Body Pump tomorrow. If I don't die, I'll let you know how it went.

What was your favorite workout this week?

Wordless Wednesday

Why I Run.....

I'm writing this post as a Skirt Sports Ambassador. I am not being paid to write this post, but it will contain a discount code that will earn me points towards some free swag.

So now that we got that out of the way, let's talk about why I run. Well, I'm not actually running right now, but I will be back at it on April 3rd!
I started running because I was unhappy. I talk about it briefly below, but here is the real deal. I was overweight. I had just "broken up" with a friend who made me unhappy. She was one of those people who just sucked the life out of you, without you knowing it. She was unhappy and she brought me down with her. I decided to do the Couch to 5K program, and that was the start of a beautiful new life! While training for a 10k, I got it into my head to run a half marathon. That turned into over 50 half marathons and 4 marathons, and the rest is history. I found my joy. Here are a few reasons why.

In no particular order.....

Friends. Some of my very best friends were met because I run. Whether I met them at my running club, at a race, on a message board or Facebook, they all quickly became such amazing friends and I'm blessed to have them all!



Bling. Sometimes even the worst race is made better by the bling at the finish. I have definitely signed up for races just because the medals were amazing, haven't you? Plus, if you're going to race, you need to train....



Peace. I'm talking about the quiet around you and the quiet in your mind. I have my best thoughts when I'm running, and I've solved a lot of problems as well!



Health. I started running when a friend and I.... stopped being friends. I had wanted to run a 5k and she didn't, so it was a good place to start. I lost and gained a lot of weight since then, and I've gained a lot of muscle and fitness as well. I feel better when I run!



Plus it sets a good example for my kids...



Races. I guess this goes with the bling, but not every race has bling, so maybe not. I love travelling to new places for a race, and I've seen so many great sights because of races.



Fundraising. I run for my Dad, he is fighting a form of Muscular Dystrophy called Myasthenia Gravis and I have been running with MDA Team Momentum for the last 4 years. This year I'm running Marine Corps!



Wanna donate? Every little bit helps!
Http://www2.mda.org/goto/4warren

Work. I legit get paid to run! I am a coach at Run For Your Life in Charlotte, and I coach the walkers who are just starting out. It's amazing and I love every minute of it. The last month I have been riding my bike with them, but I still coach!



Cute Gear. You knew this was coming. I pretty much live in Skirt Sports. It's for women, made by women, and their message is everything I live for. If you haven't tried a Skirt Sports skirt, you're not really living. Seriously.

we are both wearing Happy Girl skirts here!

all Happy Girls skirts!

My favorite is the Happy Girl, followed closely by the Jaguar...

Discount Code!

And the Pocketopia Capris...



Why do you run?

Wordless Wednesday, MCM edition

Face Your Fears, March Edition

Everybody has a list of things that scare them. Whether it's spiders, clowns, horses, or heights. Maybe, for you, it's none of the above. Everyone has a different list.
This is the year of my 45th birthday, and I compiled a list of things that scare me, one for each month of the year.
Well, except for January, which is the month that I made the list.



Last month I went Line Dancing. Alone. This may seem silly to a lot of people, but for me it was huge.

This month, I chose Aerial Yoga.



I got super lucky and scored a Groupon for Aerial CLT, in Pineville NC. This is a quick 25 minute ride from my house in SC. The Groupon was for an 8 week beginner course in silks.
I missed the first week because it started the day I travelled back from NOLA, and I barely made it back in time. I was exhausted. I had maybe 15 minutes to change and jump back in the car if I wanted to get there on time, so I opted for the couch.

An excuse?
Possibly.
Avoidance?
Probably.

Let's talk about why it scares me in the first place.

I'm not really afraid of heights, although falling from them doesn't sound especially fun.
I was afraid of being the biggest girl there.
I was afraid that I would suck.
Before I registered, I was afraid I would be too big.
I was definitely afraid to see the pics afterwards.
Let's not even start about doing something new on my own.

So let's break it down from start to finish.

I arrived at the Yoga Studio, and it was one big room, as you can see from the photo above. There was a cute little girl getting a private lesson, and she was doing some pretty amazing things, considering it was her 3rd lesson.
This got some of the ladies talking, and they were saying how hard it was at the first lesson.
Yikes!

Soon, the other beginners started to arrive, and some of my fears grew just a tad.

I'm pretty sure I was the oldest one there, which I didn't know was a fear until that moment.
I was definitely the biggest girl there. Luckily, when I registered, the weight limit was posted and I didn't come anywhere near it.
I sucked. But not at everything.

I was also not the only one to miss the first class, so I wasn't necessarily holding everyone back. Another fear that hadn't occurred to me until that night.

We started off with a review of the week before, which helped the 2 newbies.
We had to wrap our hands in the silks and lift our knees to our chests. Repeatedly.
Oh my heck.
Y'all, I have the upper body strength of a newborn. This sucked a lot. For real. I was worried.

Next we did a foot hold that I barely managed. I managed to get myself about 3 inches off of the ground. Seriously. Then we were supposed to pull ourselves up again. That so did not happen, so now I have a goal for my next class!

Okay, so now I'm freaking out a bit because my gazelle of a partner was really good at the first hold. I was feeling a little self conscious, but I decided to be a good sport about it, and that definitely changed the way I looked at the class.
The next thing we worked on was a more secure foothold. You had to pull your knee up really high, which I sucked at, to get the silk wrapped around your foot. Once I figured out the best way to do that, I rocked it.



We worked on a few positions after this, which mostly involved leaning away from the silks and curling into little balls. I was really good at this!
Our final position was to wrap our foot into the silk and make a cocoon around us. It was a little difficult to get started, but it was fun to do!
Afterwards, we had a few minutes to take pics in the pose of our choice. No time for anything crazy, though.



Not super proud of that mid section, but look at me up there! I look awesome! I will post more impressive pics next week, if I can.

Some of my fears definitely came true, but I am glad I tried it, and I cannot wait to go back on Monday night. Tuesday and Wednesday were hell on my arms, but today I feel almost normal, so I'm optimistic that next week will be better.

My April fear is ziplining, and I will be booking that in the next few days. The Boy has expressed interest in joining me, and I hope he does, it will be more fun with someone to enjoy it with.

Have you tried Aerial Yoga? Ziplining?

Volunteering at RnR NOLA

I received a bib for the Rock n Roll New Orleans Half Marathon as part of being a BibRave Pro. Check out BibRave.com to read and write race reviews.

If you've been following along, you know that I'm injured. Again. It seems that my other foot is now experiencing the same posterior tibial tendonopathy that I had in December. Shoot me now.

Anyway.

We were all set to travel to NOLA, so we knew that we would be coming anyway. I might have whined a bit on Facebook and a friend suggested I join her husband's running club and volunteer at the mile 11.5 water stop. Perfect!



I arrived at around 7 am, plenty of time to help set up before the 10k runners came by.



I have never had so much fun volunteering! This was my first time at a water stop, and it was hard work, but so much fun!



I handed out water for about 4 hours, while dancing and cheering. So many said that it was their favorite stop so far!



Most of the men were in red dresses to advertise for their August event, the Red Dress Run. It put a smile on a lot of faces, especially towards the end.

Once the crowd dwindled down, I walked my friend Carolyn to the finish.



It really was the perfect day. I wish I had something to report about the actual race, I have heard amazing things all day!

I will say that RnR has great volunteer swag!



And volunteering was almost as hard as running a half, just less impact!



Did you run this morning? Did you dance down the road at mile 11.5? (Mile 4.5ish for the 10k)

Rock n Roll NOLA expo!

I received a bib for RnR New Orleans as part of being a BibRave Pro. Check out BibRave.com to read and write race reviews.


Yesterday the hubs and I arrived in New Orleans for Rock n Roll weekend!



We have been exploring the city, eating all the food, and having a great time!



Unfortunately, due to injury, I cannot run tomorrow as planned. Instead, I will be volunteering at a water stop! I'll be at mile 4 for the 10k and mile 11 for the half and full marathon.
I did hit the expo anyway, since I had a bib, and RnR puts on a great expo.



I met up with some friends and we all wandered the expo together. I easily picked up my bib and tee, with barely any line at all.



Time to see the expo!
The Brooks merch was amazing as always, but since I'm not running I couldn't justify spending any money on race swag. Something new that I noticed was that they print all the runners' names on the back of the tees!



I visited the Geico booth but didn't win a tee. If you win a tee and wear it to the race, they give you a free massage at the finish!
I scored some free gum, and then made a beeline for the Toyota booth. They always have the coolest stuff to do.



I got an iron on for my shirt sleeve there as well!





I also ran into a friend...



As we left, crossing over a timing mat made your name show up with a Good Luck message on a screen. I tried to get a pic but someone stepped in my way. There were so many people there that I didn't even try again. It was fun to see, though!

I enjoyed the expo, even if I'm not racing. I'm looking forward to volunteering tomorrow morning, even though I have to get up even earlier than
I would if I was racing!

I will post about my first experience as a water stop volunteer tomorrow night!

Have you ever volunteered at a race?