Huh? What’s that?

Posted: August 1, 2013 | Author: R B | Filed under: Daily, Training | Tags: 30 day challenge, training | Leave a comment

What happened to my June 30 day challenge, you ask?

Hey, let’s agree that history is history and leave it at that! I am taking a different approach to my July 30 day challenge which has been simply to stretch every. single. day.

This has been going alright. Better than June if you must ask. 🙂

I have ridiculously tight muscles in general and I forget to stretch after my runs. I always feel pretty loose at that point. It isn’t until the next morning, or after a crappy run because I was too tight from a long run, that I begin to regret my laziness. With the longer and longer runs I decided July would be a good month to work on making stretching a more daily habit. I stretch in front of the TV, in the bathroom when brushing my teeth, when waiting for the hot water to boil, whenever!

What ways do you trick or treat yourself into things like stretching and warm up/cool downs? Is it a must for you?

June 30 Day Challenge

Posted: June 3, 2013 | Author: R B | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 30 day challenge, half marathon, injury prevention, rehab, training | Leave a comment

So I created my own 30 day challenge for this month (a few days late)! I borrowed ideas from other challenges around the interwebs. As I being my half marathon training I’ve been reading about how to rehab my ankle and fend off other injuries I’m prone to (plantar fasciitis and shin splints) so I can stay on track and healthy. I picked lots of jumping activities for my June challenge because they not only strengthen and improve calves, but they will help me with running speed, rehabbing my ankle, and serve as a reminder to stretch, stretch, stretch.

Will you follow along on my Jumping June?

Six Pack May Culmination

Posted: June 3, 2013 | Author: R B | Filed under: Daily, Training | Tags: 30 day challenge, training | 1 Comment

Well, I’m both sad and proud to say I made it to day 23 and then fell off the wagon. I’d curse the three day Memorial Day weekend but can’t bring myself to because it was so much fun! Some wonderful friends got married in a very sweet ceremony in Oregon and I got to visit, drink beer, watch baseball, play yard games, eat good food, and laugh till my cheeks hurt with so many people I love dearly. It was just too easy to get off the bandwagon and not get back on.

That being said, when I started on May 1, the prospect of doing 70 sit ups, 30 push ups, and a 1 min 45 sec plank seemed daunting and I was fairly certain I’d never get there! But here I am! Well, sort of. Truth be told, the planks got a little rough on my ankle so I maxed out at about 1 min 15 secs. Still, I am feeling pretty proud and hope to keep working up the plank times. If I could just keep up with doing 70 sit ups and 30 push ups a day, I’d be pretty happy. So, here’s to maintenance and this wonderful body that is a work in progress.

Six Pack May – Check In

Posted: May 20, 2013 | Author: R B | Filed under: Daily, Training | Tags: 30 day challenge, cross training, Mr., running, training | Leave a comment

60 sit ups, 25 push ups, and 1.5 mins plank. This is today’s challenge.

I’ve kept up with this 30 day challenge pretty well so far. When I’ve missed a day I do two days worth on the next day. Also, I’ve started doing the sit ups on an exercise ball because I don’t have a soft mat and it was killing my tailbone. I can do the sit ups consecutively and although tough, it feels like a great workout and I enjoy these. I did yesterday’s 22 push ups without stopping but today had to take a 10 second rest after 20 and the next 5. My planks aren’t quite up to snuff either. I am about a week behind as I can do about 65-70 seconds. My ankle doesn’t love the planks but I’ve been doing alright with that. I can really see and feel my improvement over just two weeks ago. I am feeling stronger in my core and excited to see how this will improve my running.

Mr. got himself a Nike+ GPS Sportswatch so now we can nerd out together on our Nike+ running data and our fitbit data.

Six Pack May

Posted: May 7, 2013 | Author: R B | Filed under: Training | Tags: 30 day challenge, core, cross training, Mr., training | 1 Comment

I do well with mid-length goals and have found that 30 day challenges are a really nice length of time for me. It is long enough that I really see and feel benefits without having to commit to anything too big. It is big enough that it is work to complete (so I get to feel good afterward), but short enough that I don’t immediately start hyperventilating at the thought of agreeing to participate.

So, there is no way in hell I’ll have a six pack in 4 measly weeks, but you gotta start somewhere, right? I’ve had this little beauty on my fridge since March and finally remembered on May 1st to start the challenge. The days of the week don’t line up, but I’m just going by the day (3/7 = 5/7). Mr. has joined me and we are both going strong on day 7. We even skipped the first rest day and opted to re-do the prior day’s set.

It doesn’t seem too crazy or hard at the beginning but as you look ahead and see the ramp up over such a short period of time, it gets a little intimidating.

My choice for how to do these exercises is as follows (Mr. does his own thing a little differently and incorporates a stability ball):

– Full sit ups (not crunches) with my toes tucked under some furniture for leverage

– Push ups from the knees because neither my busted ankle nor my old volleyball/car accident shoulder injury like the full ones

– Planks full-on from my toes (for now). Once the time increases we’ll see how my ankle and shoulder hold up and I might have to drop to doing them from the knees.

I’d be lying if I said the push ups were easy. Well, I’d be lying if I said any of it was easy. But that’s the point, right? If this shit was easy, I’d already be doing it every day!

Props to shrinkingjeans.net for their awesome collection of blog posts, challenges, recipes and more! Check ’em out!