Ass KICKING Saturday

Maybe the longest I've ever run. I went out with the crew aka K.A.S.A, for the last of their big workouts. The plan was 4 miles. The first mile was to be a warm up around 9-10 minutes, rest for half of the time you took to run it (4:30/5), continue to cut your time down by each mile. We ended up doing 6 miles. Wow. Glad I only stayed for that first movie last night. Anyways...

Our first mile was about 9:45, rest for 4:45. I took the lead for pace. I have an uncanny sense of pace. Second mile, 9:30. Rest for 4:15. Third mile 9 minutes, rest 4:30. Fourth mile 8:45, rest 4:20. Fifth mile 8:30, rest 4:15. Sixth mile, run your fastest.

How it actually worked was, 1st mile 9:45, 2nd 9:30, 3rd 9:00, 4th 8:52, 5th 8:33, 6th (for me) 9:05. I knew my legs were gone after that 5th mile. Remember, during rest time we're still lighting jogging. Altogether, we ran about 7 and 1/2 miles plus. Frickin' crazy. Almost 2 hours of straight running/jogging. I was spent, but strangely, not that spent.

Frickin' my husband, Zim, ran that last mile in 6:55. Frickin' nuts. That man has some legs on him. My tank was empty by the 6th mile. Hung in for a 1/2 mile then felt like someone punched me in the chest. Never had that happen. I had to stop and walk for about 30 seconds.  My legs were getting like jelly and I think I was getting dehydrated. It was like 85 degrees out when we started. Hate making excuses, but I think my body was like, "Hey, chill out for a few seconds". Still hate it.

The boys (Team KASA) will be at the Spartan race next Saturday. I think they'll be more than fine. Especially Zim. Not coz he's my husband, but damn, that man has put in soo much time. All the boys have.

Playlist: Animals: Greatest Hits, Alkaline Trio

Friday Light and some Nightmare

I wanted to run Friday, but the best time to hit the pavement, was before the sun was at it's peak. I woke up at 5:55am, brushed my teeth, fed the cat, and slapped my sneakers on. I ran for about 21 minutes, over 2 and 1/2 miles. Pretty humid out for 6am. Still a heat warning in effect. Came home, and did a round of shadow boxing and 2 rounds of hitting the heavy bag. Altogether worked out over 35 minutes. Not a bad little workout.

Showered up and made my way into work at 8am. Ended up going to Friday Fright Night at The Colonial in Phoenixville. They were running a double feature of Nightmare on Elm Street: Parts 4 and 5. I only watched Part 4, since it was over at 11:30pm. I was kinda beat. My buddy JD did some prints for the flick. Nice work!

Playlist: The Faint: Danse Macabre

Inside Gym Day for Sure

And the heat lingers around. The heat wave isn't supposed to break until Sunday. So the weather folks say. I worked in the morning, so I wasn't going to be working out in the great outdoors today. I just did 35 minutes on the elliptical, doing my 30+ second sprints on the minute mark. Then did strength training. Dips, assisted pull-ups, rows, lat pull-down, chest presses, shoulder presses, etc for over 25 minutes. Finished with ab work. Was at the gym for a total of an hour and 10 minutes.

Playlist: Hank 3

4th of July

I took Tuesday off from working out. I decided to give my legs a break. Plus I had an hour and 1/2 car ride home from the shore. It was Zim's birthday, so we went out to breakfast to one of the local breakfast/lunch joints. We went out of the beach one last time, and spent an hour or so on the beach. A skate or a ray swam RIGHT in front of me in the ocean. Only about 8 feet away or so. Pretty cool, but also kinda creepy. Showered up, had some lunch, and it was back to good old Pennsylvania. And the heat waves continues.

Decided to run on Wednesday, the 4th, but got a bit of a later start than I wanted to. I got to the trail about 10:45am. It was getting pretty hot, but not that bad. Glad I went when I did though. It got brutal a few hours later. I ran 4.7 miles in 40 minutes. Boy that water afterwards was fantastic. I came home and finished with ab work. Kicked my ass. That sun and heat really takes it outta ya.

Showered up. Grilled up some turkey dogs on wheat buns and had some corn too. Good stuff. Went out to see the fireworks downtown. Fireworks ended up starting late and were pretty lame. Oh well. Happy Birthday America!

Playlist: Alkaline Trio

Monday Beach Run (Again)

Another beautiful morning in Ocean City, NJ. Why not take the opportunity and go for another beach run. Plus I had beer, vodka, and Zim's birthday cake to burn off. It was a bit hot, probably close to 90 degrees or so, but I had a late start. Didn't get on the beach till closer to 10am. Altogether I ran 3.4 miles in about 32 minutes. Ran almost down to Playland's Amusment Park.

I came back to the house and did some strength training with Zim's 26 lb Bulgarian Bag. Pretty cool piece of equipment. Did 3 sets of curls, upright rows, shoulder flys, shoulder presses, and some good ole push-ups. I'm interested in using it more. It's built for wrestlers to help in their training of pulling, swinging, throwing, twisting, etc. It's design is based off shepherds, carrying a lamb or goat around their shoulders. Very interesting training tool.

Work out DONE!

Bathing suit on, and off to play in the ocean again!  Water was 74 degrees and feeling nice in the heat. Back home in suburban Philly, we've been under an excessive heat warning all week. I'm glad we decented to take a little mini vacation.

Playlist: Cloud Nothings: Attack on Memory

Beach Run Party

After having a great Saturday, I slept in till about 8:30am. I made some breakfast and about an hour later I hit the beach again for another beautiful morning run. I was gonna take it easy, but I ended up running my ass off. I ran 3 + miles in about 25 minutes. I was dripping with sweat by the time I got back to house. Next calisthenics. 3 rounds of burpees, push-ups, lunges, and jumping jacks. I started with 30 each, 20, and last round was 10 reps. I finished with 8 minutes of abs work. Done.

Back to the beach again. Playing in the ocean and the sand. Worked on my tan. Made sure I was back at the house in time for the Euro 2012 final. Spain v Italy. I sported my lucky 2010 navy Spain kit. I cracked opened a beer and enjoyed the match. Spain won handily 4-0. I especially enjoyed the Torres to Mata goal. It was like watching Chelsea FC in July. Sweet!

Playlist: Division of Laura Lee: Violence is Timeless

Congrats to the Euro 2012 champs ESPANA!!! Cheers!!!

A Run on the Beach

I took Friday off from working out. Definately needed a rest anyways. Later that night we drove to Ocean City, New Jersey. We got to the house after 10, and more or less crashed out a couple hours later. Zim and I got up around 7:30, threw on our running gear and headed to the beach. I've actually never ran on the beach. Absolutely LOVE it now. You have to run close the the water though, unless you like running on a slight slope. It was beautiful out. Sunny, not too humid, temperature around 80 degrees. I wore my old Nikes. I don't mind getting some sand in them and I like those sneakers on the trails. We ran around about a half hour for over 3 and a 1/4 miles.

After our run we did three rounds of 30 body squats, 15 burpees, 25 lunges, 30 push-ups, 25 jumping jacks, 30 crunches, and lastly 1 minute of plank. Finished with 100 crunches. Done! We went straight to the beach after. The water was sooo nice! Did a little body surfing, played with my nieces, and dried off by reading Stephen King's The Gunslinger. Came back to the house, showered, ate some great seafood, and went to the boardwalk. Came back, fixed a few vodkas while watching the Philly Union match. Great day!

The Playlist: The Pretenders