This week I took several days off because my legs were tired and I’m trying to rest some before next Saturday!
Sunday 3/8 – 45 sit-ups with my feet propped on the door.
readyup – reach
Monday 3/9 – 45 rear leg lifts with band.
ready to lift rightlift with slight pull on band
After one side has been worked over, it’s time to switch and hit the other side.
left leg readylift & squeeze butt
I did Turbo Jam – Lower Body Jam & Ab Jam – both fun workouts!!
Tuesday 3/10 – 45 reverse lunge to warrior 3.
lunge back with left legpush off right foot and lean forward
I love how many muscles are involved in these 2 moves. And the balance challenge always makes me happy!!!
lunge back rightpush off with left and lean forward
I did a 9 mile run in 68:35 followed by 1.2 easy miles.
Wednesday 3/11 – 45 crunches with a medicine ball toss (8 pound).
This was the start of taking a few days off since my legs felt tired. I still ended up with almost 20,000 steps after a day of cleaning and setting up at the venue.
Thursday 3/12 – 45 bent over tricep pulses.
readylift
An easy move on another day off (other than 8 hours on my feet while ironing table cloths).
Miracle might be one of my all-time favorite movies!! When the head coach has the team skating lots of suicide type drills he tells the players, “The legs feed the wolf.” When it came time for the big games (Olympics), they were better conditioned than any other team on the ice!!!
So, I tell myself the same thing when I’m running high mileage and also when I back off a little to rest my legs for a couple weeks!!! This week I had much lower mileage but I did a number of workouts and exercises to strengthen my legs, especially my hips.
Sunday 3/1 – 45 standing crunches – lift one leg straight out and bring hands to foot while holding a medicine ball – crunch on the forward bend.
start positionlift right leg and crunchlift left leg and crunch
I like that this move works your core and also your hip flexors!
I ran 8 miles in 59:58 followed by 0.6 easy miles.
Monday 3/2 – 45 push-ups while kneeling on a stability ball (shins rest on the ball and your butt stays down on your heels).
set-updown
These look a bit awkward but it was a really good move. You can tell that it was hard for me to keep my butt on my heels during the down part – need to work on that!
I did Cathe – Turbo Barre. Talk about a workout for your hips and legs – this one is great!!!
Tuesday 3/3 – 45 side leg abduction while in a semi-squat.
Partial squat with left leg – right leg ready to liftstay low and lift right leg – squeeze butt
There is a bit of balance involved with this move too!!
ready to squat right and left leftlift the leg while staying low
Running day – 10 miles in 75:44 followed by 1 easy mile.
Wednesday 3/4 – 45 single leg step-up on BOSU then circle opposite leg back-front-back before stepping down.
step up with left leg and start with right leg pushing backsweep leg around to front
From the above position, sweep the right leg back so that it is behind you and then step off the BOSU.
I did all 45 reps stepping up with my left leg and then switched and did another set.
step on with left right leg, left leg squeezes backsweep leg to front, then back behind you before stepping off.
The hardest part of this move was staying balanced while sweeping your leg around!!!
I did TaeBo Amped – Rockin’ Buns. There isn’t a lot of cardio involved in this workout but it is great for strengthening your hips, legs and even your core.
Place a band under your BOSU with enough slack that you can lift it but still have a challenge. I decided to add an extra challenge and stay in a partial squat while completing my arm lifts.
readylift your arms above your head
After about 25 reps I had to give myself a little more band to work with because this was hard!!!
This was another running day – 8 miles in 60:20 followed by 1.05 miles easy.
Friday 3/6 – 45 quad/knee raises while pushing foot down with bar.
ready to startlift knee up and push down on the bar at the same time
By pushing the bar down it makes the resistance so much harder than just lifting your body weight.
ready to work the other sidelift knee and push down on bar
This day was the closest to a rest day that I took this week. I did Caribbean Workout – Core Pilates for an hour.
Saturday 3/7 – 45 “first position” monkey squats. (I had to google what the position was called!!!)
stand in first position (heels touching – toes turned out) and touch toesgo down into a squat while holding on to your toes
By holding your toes for the entire move this feels different than just doing normal squats!!! Turning my toes out made the move different from a standard monkey squat.
And, I did one more run for the week.
6 miles – 45:17 followed by 1.75 easy miles.
I think overall it was a good workout week even cutting back on my running.
32 miles of hard running
4.4 easy miles
This week was one of those that I had to dig deep for motivation. Most days I ended up having a good workout once I finally convinced myself to get started!!!
Sunday 1/25 – 45 single leg front and back hops.
Clearly I wobbled around a lot and didn’t always do straight front/back hops but…I did 45 on my right leg and then switched to my left for another set of 45. This move will make your legs burn and get your heart rate up!!!
Monday 1/26 – 45 triceps push-ups on the weight machine bench.
readydown
Doing these on the bench made it comparable to having my knees on the ground – the only way I can ever do 45 of this type of push-up!!!
This was a short run day – 5 miles in 40:29 followed by and easy mile.
Tuesday 1/27 – 45 crunches with feet under weight machine bar.
readyup
I tend to forget about going back to the original way I learned when doing crunches but this move really does make you work!!
I decided to hop on the treadmill but didn’t know if I wanted to run. I walked 2 miles with a 10% incline. The 3rd mile I lowered the incline and did some weighted arm holds (out to side, straight up…). I finally decided to run for 3 miles (22:00 min) and followed those up with another 1.1 miles of walking. (like I said – digging deep for motivation)
Wednesday 1/28 – 45 standing leg lifts with small ball tucked into leg.
ready (barstool just to help with balance)lift
Of course, I had to switch sides and do 45 more.
side 2 readylift
Using the ball really made this a bigger challenge – it forces you to squeeze your glutes/hamstrings when you lift your leg.
I did Turbo Jam – Turbo Sculpt which is a nice mix of toning with some cardio.
Then I decided to run – 8 miles (59:59) followed by 1.25 easy miles.
Thursday 1/29 – 45 second hang from pull-up bar and then 45 jumping pull-up holds. (Hunter did the pictures for me later since by the time someone was here to help with pictures I was far to sore to attempt another rep!!!)
just hanging ready to push off (jump)hold a couple of seconds
I’m not gonna lie – 2 days later my entire upper torso area HURTS!!!!
I did a workout that I don’t think I’ve ever done before – TaeBo T3 (Total Transformation Training). I just did 2 parts of this – Ignition & Acceleration – for about 45 minutes of work. I will definitely do more of these workouts!!!
Friday 1/30 – 45 straight leg bridges with feet on a stability ball.
readylift and squeeze butt
Another day of running – 8 miles (63:36) followed by 1.35 miles easy.
Saturday 1/31 – 45 single leg squats on wobble ball.
ready to work the left legdown
That side wasn’t horrible but then I had to switch to my right leg. Single leg squats are one of the moves that still hurt my leg.
right legdown (pretty shaky – hands were flailing!)
Single leg squats are always a challenge but doing them on a wobble ball really makes them difficult!!
I did another Turbo Jam DVD – 3T (Totally Tubular Turbo) – this workout uses a resistance band to get some great strength work!!!
I’m hoping that next week is the week I can get back to my normal early morning workouts – that should help my overall motivation!!!
This week has been a much stronger week of workouts! I’m hoping to start getting in a few mega runs soon!!!
Sunday 1/11 – 45 supine rolls, great for your core and also your upper back.
Make sure your elbows are pushing down to the floorcrunch up but keep your elbows pushing into the floor the entire time
I got in a 6 mile run (45:01) at a faster pace than I had been running for awhile followed by an easy mile.
Monday 1/12 – 45 double knee in to a full body extension with arms extended.
Knees in (excuse the blurry photo – hard to get a good mirror picture!!)extend legs and arms (both arms are actually supposed to be overhead but that didn’t work to take a picture)
I did a DVD that I don’t do often but it really is a good one – MashUp Conditioning. This DVD has 7 different workouts (called Tempos) that are 15 minutes each. Each segment has strength, HIIT, core. I did Tempos 5,6 and 7.
Tuesday 1/13 – 45 plies with heels up.
easy partdown
I always love the feeling in my inner thighs when I do plies!!!
I ran 10 miles!!! (75:33) I finished off the workout with an easy mile.
Wednesday 1/14 – 45 step-up to knee, step down and lunge back. This move is similar to one that Josie (YumYucky) did – stairless step climbing.
step up with left legright knee upstep down and lunge back with the left leg
After I did 45 like that and had shaky legs, I switched the whole pattern for another set!!
step up with right legleft knee uplunge back with right leg
Fun move – and my heart rate really got up since it is all lower body work.
I did one of my 10 Minute Solution DVDs – Tone Trouble Zones. This workout uses a band –
the green one at the bottom for this workout
and is very effective.
I also walked 2.45 miles with a 10% incline (had some DVRed shows to catch up on!!).
Thursday 1/15 – 45 single leg bridges with one leg crossed over the other and the supporting foot on a stability ball. This move is from Nellie’s (Brooklyn Active Mama) weekly Wednesday workout.
readyup and squeeze
YIKES!! This move was hard!! Probably why my hamstrings are sore today (2 days later!!).
have to work both sidessqueeze and lift
This was another day of running – 8 miles in 59:37 followed by 1.75 easy miles.
Friday 1/16 – 45 side leg abduction with band.
ready to lift the right leglift and hold
I love moves like this because while it works the hip of the leg lifting, the standing leg also starts shaking!!!
ready for the other leglift – hold!!
I don’t know if you can tell but while I lifted my leg I also pulled on the band for some extra resistance.
I did Denise Austin’s Personal Training System. This is a full body workout with about 20 minutes of cardio followed by 10 minutes of lower body, 10 minutes upper body, 10 minutes core and 10 minutes of stretching.
Saturday 1/17 – 45 bow lifts.
easy partlift chest and legs (knees off ground!)
Pretty sure this is the first time I’ve ever done any of the pictures in our bedroom – I have to stay out of the light today and this room is one of the best choices.
Overall this was a really good week of workouts. I’m still incorporating a lot of the moves from physical therapy into my workouts – just amping them up a little. And, my running speed is starting to pick back up!! Now I think I’m ready to slowly increase my mileage again!!
