How the Hours Fly, As the Moon Drifts By
It’s been yoga abs for the past few days - with the increased mileage and hot yoga (which involves a lot of crazy core moves too), I finding the 365 Abs Routine Fitness Streak a bit of a boring distraction.
Streaks seems so fun in theory and after two months and I like the results - but there is this sense of “eh” about it.
After tomorrow, I’m retiring the streak. I would rather find the time and energy to complete a 120 minutes of hot yoga six times a week and get a full rest day.
I also really want more hot yoga sculpt in my life!
I had whipped up another pot of my Hearty Indian Lentil and Spinach soup for dinner - borrowing the picture from my old recipe since we even had the same mini bell peppers for the top!
The house smelled wonderful and today needed a cozy soup and some time cuddling on the couch.
I enjoyed my soup with a slice of Ezekiel toast with a wedge of Laughing Cow, but I was so hungry I forgot to photograph it. :D
Dessert was summer heaven: ripe, perfect, in season strawberries - from far, far, away and courtesy of Fresh Picks.
These fruits taste like spring which makes me jealous of the parts of the country where people are luxuriating in the sunshine.
Off to do some serious foam-rolling and yoga in front of the fireplace - I am so tight tonight!
Stellar Workouts + 5K Speed Test!
Nigel, as a baby puppy, captures how intense my workouts have been this week- and how awesome!
I had a surprise six miler yesterday.
During that run, I decided I wanted to make my Wednesday runs my speed work day and focus on the 5K distance.
It doesn’t tax me as much as my five miler speed tests, allowing me to aggressively keep increasing my weekend long runs which I run at a fast pace (rather than a slower pace as recommended by some books).
Today, I went out on my first 5K speed test and finished it in 28 minutes. When I came home, I checked my Garmin data and apparently, this is my 5K P.R.! It’s only a little over a nine minute pace and it’s my starting point.
I paired my run immediately with a Hot Power Fusion yoga class - I haven’t taken these since I’ve mostly been doing the C2’s but it was nice to have some aggressive flows.
Hot yoga and running, goes together like a PB&J sandwich!
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What I’m really proud of though is my strength training this week.
Today and on Monday, I adapted my yoga routine along with the Tough Mudder strength training routine and created a routine I really enjoyed doing!
On Tuesday, I worked on my pull-ups and planks.
I have no pull-up strength but I read in a book that pull-up hangs, where you hang from a pull-up bar with your knees bent, are a great way to build strength. Women might need to build up to a 2 minute hang before they can do five perfect pull-ups!
I finally feel like my Abs Fitness Streak was working for me and allowing me to integrate more strength training into my regimen.
It’s a mental game - yes, strength training isn’t as fun as running or hot yoga for me, but doing these routines without rest gets me going!
My training journal is available here! Hope everyone is having a good training week!
Valentine’s Morning
Blooms in the front room!
Mini-chocolate chip waffles from Van’s Natural Foods stuffed with peanut butter for breakfast.
With maple syrup for dipping!
Our Abs Fitness streak continues with Routine 44 and 45 inspired by Tara Stiles. I did the routine five times through and added plank pose, side planks, and crow pose.
My sweetie is on my mind while I drink my morning coffee. :D
Hope you had a great morning!
Rest Day Sunday
Today is a rest day. I’m not good with rest days.
…but I’ve earned one. :D
I may or may not go to a Core Restore Yin Yoga class but I might just unwind on my mat at home.
That is, if someone understood how mat sharing works.
I am pretty proud of John and me - 42 days into the New Year and our fitness streak is still going. I haven’t missed a day and John is only behind one!
I haven’t posted the last few abs routines because they’ve been the same Ab Ripper sequence from P90X.
I’ve increased the reps from 5 to 6 but with the hot yoga classes and increased mileage, my body is not handling much else - including the Tough Mudder workout!
My goal in the next week is to increase the reps and get comfortable with a 1:30 plank!
Hope you are all having a great Sunday with the ones you love!
The Bully Bachelor + Tough Mudder Test
Our old neighbors were featured on “Marry Me Monday” on The Bachelor tonight - it was so fun to see someone we knew and such a surprise. Nigel used to love that girl, so he took his broken heart on the prowl during his evening walk tonight. He met two blonde women tonight so tune in next week to see who he’ll choose. :D
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My sick day eats:
…a plate of popcorn…
…and a bowl of wild long-grain rice with Asian veggies including broccoli, green peas, sugar snap peas, carrots, peppers, and baby broccoli.
My cold got much worse as the day wore on - so I decided I didn’t want to blow my nose through hot yoga and worked out at home instead with my Tough Mudder Circuit. Good lord people, I would say I’m as weak as a kitten but that would be an insult to kittens.
The photo above would be me attempting to do scissor kicks really, really fast.
A month ago, I wouldn’t have been able to make it through half these moves - I have hot yoga to thank for some of my basic strength. However, putting up more then one set of the complex moves was a real challenge. And there were some “ummm…” moments - like the chin-up and chair dips.
I find marathons and half-marathons exciting (sorry, Tough Mudder marketing). It sounds egotistical, but I am certain I will finish and that over time I will get faster, whether I run 13.1 miles or whether I run 30 miles.
However, running a Tough Mudder race is one of those goals that makes me want to throw up.
I don’t want to skip obstacles and I don’t want to be helped everywhere because I’m a girl and don’t have the strength. Friends have suggested doing a smaller Warrior Dash or Spartan Race first, but I prefer popping the obstacle race cherry on a longer distance. So yes, a goal that makes me want to throw up.
Plan A is to work hard and kick ass. Which will hopefully make Plan B an unnecessary backup (grabbing onto some hot Marine’s back and not letting go until the finish line). :D
Be Pushed by Your Dreams And Not by Your Problems
So Downton Abbey was my awesome weekend (link contains spoilers). I have plans to watch Season 2 through the Super Bowl and luxuriate in the costumes. Oh, those costumes!
I was obsessed with Manor House when it aired and this show fills the hole in my life for Edwardian drama. The series is written by Julian Fellowes (of Gosford Park fame) and is fabulous!
As my father would say, the youngest daughter has “a face for the ages.” I think she is unbelievably lovely - and probably the most pleasant to watch onscreen. She looks like an Edwardian portrait, no?
This was a deliciously lovely weekend. I totally finked on watching The Woman in Black because I freak out when I’m home alone! Snuggles under a blanket instead with Downton Abbey! The show needs an English bulldog. :D
Marathon Training
This is the third week that I have been able to run four times for a total of 16.1 miles.
My long run this week was 6.51 miles - no knee pain during and only a mild twinge after.
Hot Yoga
I was only able to make it to four hot yoga classes this week - one advanced, two beginner, and a Core Restore, which was much needed because my run left me so tight. The increased mileage is making me a bit cautious but I need to hit six classes next week - I don’t feel right anymore when I don’t have enough yoga in my life!
My workout log is available here!
I’m 36 days into my abs routine streak and I’m making some changes. First, John wasn’t able to keep up the streak so I’ll be going it alone. This will be much easier for me to get the routine done earlier and to make it longer!
Thursday’s Routine
I focused on transitions - moving from plank in side planks without rest. And yes, I wiped out on the seventh plank! :D I hoping that by adding these quick transitions with difficult moves, I’ll get stronger and bring it to my yoga mat!
Friday’s routine was just a hodge-podge - I didn’t feel like an abs routine so I got this one done.
I did this routine on Saturday and today and it’s one of my favorites. It’s the “Ab Ripper” section from P90X and it’s such a great routine. All the descriptions are available here!
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In the following week, I will continue with marathon training and I will aim for six hot yoga classes, including a Core Restore class.
I also want to change up my abs and strength routine to serve me more - I am going to be tracking my routines in a seven day segment here. This week I will be focusing on the Ab Ripper routine and the Tough Mudder Routine and allowing myself two restorative core routines - I have to find something that will work for that!
Popeye Power
Tonight was perfect. We were home in the early evening, I got to fix our living areas before John came home, put the fire on to warm up the house, and prep the kitchen to cook after our workouts. Let’s rewind shall we?
Lunch was a bowl of cello spinach dressed with balsamic vinegar, black pepper, oregano, and a sprinkle of sea salt. Popeye power people.
My main “entree” was two Morning Star “sausage patties” and a whole wheat roti.
My afternoon snack was a banana and a tablespoon of peanut butter.
This is what I came home to - do you see that tongue? Now I notice all the time that some puppies sleep with the tongues out!
Tongue-hance! Seriously, that smoosh face kills me every time.
Today’s Workouts:
My first workout was a 60 minute Hot Yoga Sculpt class in the morning with my p.r. in crow.
After John came home, we went for a 5K run - completed in 30 minutes with no knee pain! I have been able to run three days in a row for a total of seven miles with no knee pain! Weekend long run and four runs a week, here I come!
And because my abs are screaming at me - we did a yoga inspired abs workout to stretch out the core which felt wonderful!
Off to make dinner!
Yeah Look At That Puppy
Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle, Yeah!
Today’s first workout was a C2 hot yoga class at Core Power. I love the class and it’s nice to challenge myself with more advanced moves like side hurdler.
Since I’m nowhere close to doing it (apart from sliding my arm under my hammies), it’s a humbling experience.
I also can’t shake the feeling that I dislike the teacher. I like to think because of this I have a lot more to learn from her but do you just have a teacher who talks too much while she leads? It was still a great class but I just couldn’t “settle” into it.
My second workout was a simple 1 mile run completed in 9:51. ”Sorry so slow!” said my body! :D My main goal is to keep building to a four run week so I low-balled it today with the hope that I can long-ball it tomorrow. Yes, I just made up the phrase long-ball.
I fueled my workout with a Chocolate Cherry clif shot because I would like to get my tummy used to a high level of caffeine races over ten miles. Chocolate flavors seem to be my enemy though!
We started to realize that our abs were probably constantly sore because we keep doing planks every day (on top of what I do in hot yoga class) - and then I chanced upon this little routine, the Ab Ripper from P90X. (Check it out, there are little pictures!)
Hope you all had a good day! I’m off to bed!
Foxes Under the Bed
I tossed and turned and woke up late because I was dreaming so much last night. There was a fox in my dream and this morning I remembered how I used to make my father check underneath my bed for a family of foxes.
He would get on his hands and knees and use an umbrella to chase them out. Three months of this and my mother had enough - she suggested I be weaned off this behavior. The next morning my parents found me sleeping in my sister’s bed because I refused to sleep above the family of foxes.
Breakfast was a bowl of chai tea oats and a clementine.
And a lovely cup of coffee with a quarter cup of unsweetened almond milk!
Our fitness streak is tough - between hot yoga, running, and our daily abs workout, my abs are constantly sore. We try to have “pulse” days but I think we need more yoga abs stretching workout for “rest workouts”. They won’t interrupt our streak and will provide some relief to our sore abs!
