Stability ball squats

I’m a huge fan of the Olympics and watch as much of them as I can. It never fails, no matter how much I know about the athlete or don’t know I always experience the same feelings when I watch USA athletes compete. My heart starts to race, my nerves kick in, I’m at the edge of my seat, and my body tenses as if I’m the one competing. I feel the excitement and thrill of their win and the heartache of a loss or injury. These feelings come from a combined love and pride I have in my country as well as knowing what it means to be an athlete no matter the level!

I’m always amazed at the commitment and dedication all these athletes have with their sport. I totally get it and in another lifetime I would have been a professional athlete of some sort. Sometimes I fantasize about training 8-10 hours a day…conditioning and technical work, molding and shaping your body, your skills into a powerful machine. It’s so fascinating and exciting! Who wouldn’t want to work out at the gym, bike ride, swim, ski, snowboard, and skate all day long?! Yes, I realize it’s not all fun and games. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears go into becoming a great athlete but those athletes love it! I love it; just in a scaled down version :)

Ok, there really is a point to all this. The other day I watched Seth Wescott win the Gold Medal for Snowboard Cross. Amazing! There was a small excerpt on him and his training and I was just floored! As part of his off season training he does squats on top of a stability ball, not just a few but 100. WHAT?! My hero! Check it out:


Find more videos like this on Sugarloaf Community

Just goes to show how important it is to strengthen your core. I want to be able to do that. I realize to begin I would need lots of padding around me because a face plant or two would be the cards for me, lol! With a lot of practice and some sheer determination, I believe I can do it!

It Just Looks Like Slow Motion - Giveaway

Check out Christy's blog - It Just Looks Like Slow Motion - for a giveaway!

I'm new to her blog and heard about it through Sweaty Hugs.

Christy is giving away yurbuds. I've heard a lot of good things about them throughout the blog world.

Head on over and check it out. Even if you don't win, it's always fun to meet new bloggers :)

Ratatouille

A few weeks ago I went to a restaurant and tried ratatouille for the first time. It actually was a sandwich, which for some reason intrigued me. I LOVED it and have been talking about it ever since. So this evening I set out to recreate the sandwich. I found this recipe for ratatouille a couple of days ago and finally went to the grocery store to pick up all the ingredients. I couldn't find yellow squash, so that is left out. I also used 1 can of diced tomatoes instead of fresh tomatoes. I didn't use any fresh spices, they are all from jars. The recipe was really easy! For me the prep time was about 45 minutes, but I'm pretty slow when it comes to chopping veggies.

Here are all the ingredients, ready to start cooking.

Onions and minced garlic added to the hot olive oil.

Eggplant and Thyme added to the mix.

Next come the green peppers, red peppers and zucchini.

Tomatoes with juice, basil, parsley, salt, and pepper.

The recipe says to cook everything together for only five minutes. I reduced the heat to low and let simmer for an additional 20 minutes. This is what it looked like after simmering.

I did not have rosemary ciabatta bread (like the restaurant), but I did have some Arnold's Whole Wheat Thins. I lightly toasted the thins. Spread some goat cheese on one side and added the cooled ratatouille to the other side.

VIOLA!

The ratatouille sandwich turned out so good! The goat cheese really makes the sandwich and is an excellent addition to the ratatouille. It was so good that I wolfed down the first sandwich and uh..went back for seconds!

I put half the leftovers in the freezer and plan on having another sandwich or two in the next couple of days. Maybe I'll try the ratatouille alongside a chicken breast, that sounds good too!

Ain’t no joke!

This morning I took my first spin class EVER! I decided last Friday that I would take one of my gym friend’s classes. I’ve been thinking about it for quit some time, but for whatever reason I have been a little nervous about trying it.

I walked in at 8:30 this morning and Denise, spin instructor, got me fitted and situated on my bike. Luckily, I wasn’t the only new person in the class so I felt a little more at ease that I would be experiencing the first time with a few other newbies.

The class was about an hour, maybe a little longer. It was one of the most challenging things I’ve experienced in awhile. We did a lot of jumps which are movements from sitting, standing, and squatting low; lots of sprints, up and down in tension, hills…. Forgive my lack of “spin lingo,” I’ve got a lot to learn.

I was a dripping, sweaty mess throughout the whole class. I made sure to drink lots of water. I think there was a time that I had to will my legs to pedal faster. They felt so tired and heavy, but I managed to work through that and was back up to speed. Denise continued to remind us throughout the class to keep our knees in and pedal down with our heels. No pedaling on your toes, with your toes as it strains your knees. Also, keep the butt/hips back. This was definitely way easier on my knees than running.

The class was great, I really enjoyed it! Denise asked me what I thought when we were finished and all I could say was, “this ain’t no joke!” LOL!

A few things I’ll do differently next class is not put lotion on my hands before I workout. My grip was a bit slippery on the handle bars and I had to keep wiping my hands on my towel. I think I’ll have to do that anyways because I sweat a lot, but the lotion didn’t help matters. I will also bring a skinnier water bottle. Mine was to fat to fit in the adjustable holders on the side of the bike. Luckily nobody was on the bike next to me so I balanced my water bottle on the other bike’s drink holder. Whenever I needed water, I carefully leaned over to grab it. I will also bring another shirt to change into afterwards, mine was so sweaty. It was a bit chilly doing a small ab workout while marinating in my sweaty top. Lessons learned :)

I’m looking forward to going to more classes and incorporating spin into my workout routine.

On a side note, I was able to get a few workouts in this past week in spite of all this snow we got. Two days were spent shoveling which equaled about 1.5 to 2 hours at a time. I also made it to the gym before our second round where I ran a quick 2 miles and than did 20 minutes on the stair climber.

Happy Friday!

1/2 Marathon Bound!

I did it! Signed up for my first 1/2 marathon!

Sunday, September 5!

The best part is that I will be running it with two of my best friends and it will be all of our first half marathon race!

New Year's Running Program

At the end of December, Sweaty Hugs suggested we join a running program that she found. The program’s goal is to help people run a 5k by the end of the two month training. Kind of like a couch to 5k training program. I’m not exactly a beginner runner as I’ve been running consistently for about 1.5 years. After a bit of research and discussion with the coaches, I decided to join.

We meet up once a week at a local high school outdoor track. Our sessions are structured to where we do a group run and then meet up afterwards at a nearby Dunkin Donuts (for coffee/tea) for discussions. The discussion part was my main reason for joining this running program. I knew I could learn a lot about running just during this 30 minute discussion. We also have running homework to be completed on Sun/Tues/Thurs. My homework is slightly different from everyone else. I’m working on learning how to pace myself outside by doing intervals and other exercises.

Ron is our head coach and he is an experienced runner and triathlete. He has competed and completed the Kona IronMan in Hawaii as well as a number of marathons and other races. Susan is our other coach and Ron’s protégé. She is very positive and highly motivating. Both of them have a wealth of knowledge that I’m anxious to soak in.

Our first session was January 3 and the program is set to run through the end of February beginning of March. In the past four sessions, we’ve run in 25mph arctic winds, snow, and rain! Yesterday was the first day we had relatively good weather, cloudy no rain and about 45 degrees. Also, this is the first time I’ve ever run in the cold and in the winter for that matter! It’s a very humbling experience, but one I’m thrilled to be a part of! It’s a great feeling knowing that I can run in winter and survive. Lol!

Is it possible?! Yes, I think so!

I’ve had three really great workouts in a row and am hoping for a fourth this afternoon.  For the past few weeks I’ve been struggling with my workouts.  I’ve been doing just enough to maintain my fitness which equates to three workouts a week.  My norm is 4-6 workouts a week.  Prior to this week it’s been taking a lot of energy to get myself to the gym and then I haven’t really felt good about my workouts. 

Something has changed this week!  Sunday, I did about 1.5 miles outside in the pouring rain and it was cold (I’ll talk more about this in another post).  I wasn’t too thrilled about it in the beginning but afterwards was a different story.  Although I looked and smelled like a wet dog, I felt pretty amazing and quite proud of myself and my fellow runners. 

Monday, I was back to my my more recent normal self not wanting to workout.  So I didn’t. 

Tuesday I had to workout in the evening because I have to be at work before the sun comes up.  During the day, I made a conscious effort to fuel my body more efficiently.  The afternoons I find myself struggling…tired, lack of energy, etc.  This time at around 2ish, I took a walk to revive my energy.  Drank some green tea and ate half a yogurt and a clementine.  On my drive home from work and approximately 1 hour before my workout I ate a Larabar.  I went to the gym and ran on the treadmill.  I ran a total of 3.5 miles.  The first 2 miles I ran at a 10 minute pace.  Then next 1.5 miles I did intervals: 4 x 400 meters in 2 minutes or under with 200 meter recovery jog in between.  I finished my whole run in just under 35 minutes.  I stretched for a good 10 minutes afterwards. 

Wednesday I was up and at the gym bright and early.  I did a 10 minute warm-up on the arc trainer.  Then trained (weights) my quads and abs.  My quad workout included 3 x circuits of the following movements:

20lb DB step-ups on weight bench (12 reps each leg)

30-40lb Barbell front squats (12-15 reps)

No weight two legged bench jumps (15 reps)

I rested 1-2 minutes between each circuit.  After I finished my legs I used the stability ball and did 2 sets of crunches, obliques, and then did hanging straight leg raises.  I did 15 reps for each movement.  After abs I did 20 minutes on the Stairmaster, Aerobic program, levels 8, 9, and 10.  Stretched!

Thursday I ran on the treadmill again.  I did a total of 5 miles in 52 minutes.  My first mile was my warm-up and I walked for .25 of a mile and slowly jogged the rest of the mile.  Miles 2-4 I ran at a 9:40 pace.  Mile 5 was my cool down and I ran that at a 10:20 pace.  Overall I felt great during my run, except my knee was aching for the majority of my run and it moved up my leg to my hip/pelvis area…hmmm. 

Today, I plan on hitting the gym again.  I’m going to focus on my glutes, hamstrings, calves, and abs.  Easy cardio, maybe on the stationary bike or arc trainer. 

You might have noticed that most of my workouts this week have been cardio and lower body focused.  About a week ago, I went to the doctors about my right shoulder.  It’s been aching off an on for a few months and it is sore when I lift.  The doc seems to think I have a bit of tendonitis in my right bicep shoulder area and have been ordered to rest my upper body for 3 weeks.  No lifting whatsoever.  However, he said I can still do cardio and lower body workouts as normal.  So there you have it!

Hope everyone is having a good Friday!