Running Hill Repeats With Tiger Lilly

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Coco

I usually do hill workouts on my treadmill–it has a pre-programmed hill interval workout that cycles through 4 sets of 4 hills of increasing intensity, with each hill lasting 60 seconds with 60 seconds of recovery at 0% incline in between. But last week, I did hill repeats outside for the first time ever.

I am trying to get my dog back into shape for short runs, and I thought an interval workout would be a good one for her, since we would not be running for long stretches. I figured out how to set my Garmin to beep at different intervals, and programmed a workout with 2 minute “work” intervals and 1 minute “rest” intervals, for 10 intervals cycles total. 

We walked for about 1/3 mile and then ran for about 1 mile to the bottom of a long hill in my neighborhood. I started the workout on my Garmin, and we ran up the hill for 2 minutes, then turned around and walked down the hill for 1 minute. I was surprised by how long 2 minutes took and by how much hill we covered in that amount of time. Still, it took three cycles to reach the top of the hill. After that, we ran down the hill until we got to our starting point again, which took about one “rest” interval and one “work” interval. Then we did it all over again.

We still had three sets of intervals left, so we ran down the hill again, and then ran up/walked down two more times. To make up for some of the downhill running time, we ran home, which meant running up another hill.

She did great, although she was confused by all of the u-turns! We covered about 2.5 miles in the 30 minutes of run/walk intervals, and covered about 4 miles total including our warm-up and run home.

My legs told me that it was a good workout–and I think Tiger Lilly thought so too!

Have you ever run hill repeats outside?

Do you run with your dog?

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Reach Your Goals In 90 Days!

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Coco

October 1 is a special day in our house because it’s our anniversary–#24 this year!

(Flowers delivered at work–he’s a keeper!)

Some people see October as the beginning of the end of the year. Sunrise is coming later and later, and it’s noticably dark earlier and earlier. School is in full swing, football season is going strong, and Halloween candy is in the grocery store. Soon we will be planning Thanksgiving dinner, hearing Christmas carols on the radio, and 2012 will be over before we know it!

But it would be a mistake to write off the year already. With three months left in 2012, there is plenty of time to dust off your New Year’s resolutions and make good on your goals.

If you want to lose weight before the holidays, my friend Raphael Calzadilla (an A.C.E. certified personal trainer) has prepared two e-books with detailed nutrition and exercise programs (for home or gym workouts) to get you started on the road to lasting weight loss in 8 weeks. You can learn more about them and purchase them here.

If you want to take small steps to a better Fall, check out the October Yoga Challenge from Grow Soul Beautiful. Founded by my awesome Fitbloggin roomie Amanda, Grow Soul Beautiful wants to help people appreciate their bodies as a work of art and build confidence from inner strength.

Personally, I have three goals for October:

  1. Make it through my insane travel schedule without losing my mind.
  2. Use healthy strategies to cope with stress.
  3. Don’t beat myself up if I succumb to conference food, airport Starbucks brownies or the snooze button.

What are your goals for the last quarter of 2012?

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Holding My Tongue

Posted on September 30, 2012 by Coco

When I think about sin and how I fall short–which I try not to do very often–I think I am most guilty–and most frequently guilty–of saying unkind things about other people. I’m just not good at holding my tongue.

It’s an age-old human weakness that James writes about in the New Testament.

The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. … It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

These are harsh words, but words I need to hear.

I think of myself as a kind person. I want people to know and experience God’s love, and I try to show that through my interactions with others. But I get sucked into office gossip. When someone irritates me, the urge to vent has me reaching for my phone. When someone sends an email that sets me off, I find myself hitting “forward” and dashing off a “Can you believe this?” message to a friend. When I see comments or tweets on social media complaining about other comments or tweets, I want to trace them back to the source and then jump in with my own.

I like to believe that my venting is harmless, but if I really think about it, I am sure that some of my words could be hurtful to the person I am venting about.
(Gosh, that is hard to write–so hard to admit in black-and-white.)

I am trying to stop myself before unkind words escape my mouth–or my fingertips. Realizing that my emails, tweets and Facebook posts may someday comeback to haunt me, I try to delete snarky comments before I hit send. It is not easy to sit in silence with whatever injustice I have suffered, but if I can’t share my side of story without possibly hurting someone else, it is probably a story that does not need to be told.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord.
~Psalm 19: 14

Do you get sucked into gossip?

Are you able to filter your words for kindness?

Posted in Life, My Faith | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Hills, Hills, Hills (ATM Training)

Posted on September 29, 2012 by Coco

After running the Army Ten Miler several times, I have learned that if I want to be less miserable on the 14th Street Bridge, I need to train for hills. You may not think that bridge is hilly, but when you are crossing it one stride at a time, you get to know the steepness to every ramp and incline!

After my long weekend of extra workouts at Fitbloggin I was worried that my legs might not be up to a week of training, but they seem to have held up.

Monday: Strength Routine
AM Dog Walk: 1 mile
Strength: I modified my strength routine to give my legs a bit of a break, but I added 3 sets of 12 Crossfit-style “air squats” that we learned at te Fitbloggin Crossfit workout. Yowzie!

Tuesday: Neighborhood Run (5 miles, 49 min, 9:44 pace)
My legs were ready to run and the 50F temperatures made it a perfect fall run–although it was really dark at o’dark-thirty.

Wednesday: Strength Routine
AM Dog Walk: 1 mile
Strength: I was back to my full strength routine, replacing the single-leg squats with those Crossfit-style “air squats.”

Thursday: Hill Repeats with Tiger Lilly (4 mi, 5 min)
After a warm-up, I did 30 min of hill repeats on a long hill in my neighborhood. I ran up hill for 2 minutes and then walked downhill for 1 min. When I reached the top I ran back to my starting point and did it all over again.

Friday: Long Run (10 mi, 1:36, 9:34 pace)
I walked out the door knowing that I wanted to run 8-10 miles, but I wasn’t committed to 10 miles–my legs and glutes were still feeling the hill repeats from Thursday. Since my usual hilly neighborhood route is a loop, I didn’t have to decide until I got back close to home. When I hit 6 miles, I knew I could do 9 miles, and when I hit 9 miles close to home, I decided to go for 10. I felt pretty good when I finished, but I took an ice bath to help my legs recover from my hilly week!

Saturday (Light Strength)
Elliptical: 10 min warm-up

(An elliptical with a built-in fan at the top–brilliant!)

Strength: I was disappointed that the hotel gym didn’t have any free weights, but I did my plank routine and the exercises that Amanda (@runtothefinish) posted for strengthening your glutes to ward off ITB injury.

Do you strength train to address muscle imbalances? 

Did you see the interesting post on the #plankaday trend on Katie’s Healthy Heddleston blog? What do you think?

Posted in Fitness, Training Log | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Book Review: Gone Girl By Gillian Flynn

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Coco

If you don’t count the “50 Shades” books (which I have no interest in reading–sorry, I’m not sorry!), Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn was the book that everyone seemed to be reading and recommending this summer.

Once I started reading it, I understood why. It was quite a page-turner with just enough twists and turns to keep me up late reading.

The story starts on Nick and Amy’s fifth wedding anniversary, when Amy disappears. The husband is always a suspect and Nick doesn’t do himself any favors.

What happens when your wife goes missing and you are a jerk?

It’s a whodunit told in chapters that alternate between Nick and Amy’s diary–and you never know whom to believe. I won’t even hint at any spoilers, but I will say that the story gets satisfyingly Revenge-y with each dark plot development.

Speaking of Revenge, who else is excited for season 2?

Posted in Book Reviews, Life | Tagged | 9 Comments