100 Bricks Complete!

In looking at my last post on 4/20, it would seem I am slacking a bit on the blog. However, the good news is that I have been dedicated to my workout routine and for the most part, to my dietary habits. My major accomplishment since the last post was hitting 100 perfect bricks for 2015! This means that for 100 days I woke up and did my fasted cardio, completed frequency push ups, and ate clean for those days. This is not an easy task, so I am thrilled to have hit the 100 mark prior to the summer. I have ambitions of completing the entire 150 by the end of the summer. June will be fairly easy as I am doing another round of the 28 day Arbonne detox and completing my third month of triathlon training. I already know that July will probably not add many bricks as we are traveling to New York for the triathlon and then heading to Spain for a week right after New York. Knowing these 10 days will be relaxed, I can prepare to eat as clean as possible before and after the trips. Vacation and relaxation are as essential as routine days--it is important to identify these necessities and move on.

Triathlon training has been going fairly well. I've just wrapped up month 2 of a 3 month training plan. The spinning and Thursday night rides have made a huge difference in my cycling this year. It could potentially be a better leg of the triathlon than the swim in the July race. My swim is fine, but I use the swim sessions as recovery from crossfit, running, and some of the cycling. The time I will be looking to beat is my 2009 time of 1:49:27. The 2009 Mini Musselman was my first triathlon ever and I was 23 years at the time. When I complete the race in July, I will be a youthful 34 years old ;) It will be interesting to see if crossfit, clean eating, and the training schedule make a difference. I still have some nagging pain in my left knee due to the patellar tendinitis. Unfortunately, it is something I have to manage and will probably never disappear. With stretching, rolling, and icing, I am able to keep it to a minimal amount. I do not expect that to be a factor until the last portion of the run. Hopefully, with a strong swim and bike, I'll have a few extra minutes to spare to take it easy on the knee. And, if it is a little sore after, no worries...it is the Finger Lakes wine region!

On another note, I've been quietly seeing gains in my crossfit training. In May, I hit PRs for several of my lifts. I completed the 1RM power clean @ 100lbs and the 1RM split jerk @ 100lbs. My strict press was 75lbs--not sure if this was a PR or not as I cannot find my old book! I am pleased with these numbers. While I try to get to crossfit 3 times a week, it sometimes ends up being just 2. Despite that inconsistency on my part, I am still making progress due to the incredible coaching and motivation of the coaches at Crossfit IronBorn. If you are in the Concord, NH area, this is a top-notch facility with friendly people and a no-drama atmosphere. We have fun, we workout, we support each other, and I always leave feeling a zillion times better than when I walked through the door at the beginning of class. Strength training is an absolute must in my training program and with crossfit, it is woven into my week in a way that best meets my goals.

Laura

Race Review: B.A.A 5K

I am so excited to post my first race review for  2015! My friend Colleen (Live Free and Run) in Washington D.C. connected with me on Instagram back in January to see if I'd like to run the Boston Athletic Association 5K in April. I love the energy around Boston Marathon weekend, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to take it all in as I don't anticipate running the Boston Marathon any time in the near future. Also, since my physical therapy and recovery from patellar tendinitis, I wanted to start with a low mileage run. Thus, I committed to showing up on 4.18.15 for the start at Boston Common.

Getting to the race is fairly easy if you are already in the Boston area. I stayed at a friend's apartment in Somerville; She was kind enough to drop me at Davis Square on the Red Line bright and early. From there, it was just a few stops on the T to exit at Park Street. I should have warmed up from Park Street to the Boston Common; however, I was distracted by the people watching. I missed any opportunity for a dynamic warm up and stretching, but I did get in the walk. I was a little nervous due to the size of the race and being out of the race scene for some time.

Overall, the race was well-organized for having 10,000 runners/walkers. The t-shirt line moved quickly and the pre-mailing of the race bib was critical for setting up a smooth experience. Additionally, there were plenty of porta potties (which is essential for runners pre-race!). The gear check area was large enough but needed a few more volunteers to direct runners to move through. I did get caught up in that line for a bit, but it did not make a difference since it took about 15 minutes from the race start to actually begin.

Great race Colleen!

8:00 Minute Mile Starting Area

My only minor grouse with the B.A.A. 5K was the self seeding. I am by no means a fast runner, but in a 5K I push myself by jumping in the 8:00 minute mile corral area. However, many people did not self seed correctly. I got caught darting in and out between runners ranging from 10-15 minute speed or slower. I found this irritating. Runners should have a general idea of their pace before a race. As a result, I did miss my PR by 45 seconds. Nonetheless, I did get my second fastest ever 5K time! My average pace was approximately 8:50/mile. After a serious injury in 2014, this felt satisfying. I'm sore today, but I'll do some yoga and most likely the muscles will loosen up shortly.

While I was unable to catch up with Colleen prior to the race, I did find her near the Cliff tent after the race. Her husband, Jim, is running the Boston Marathon today, so we chatted a bit about the big race. I always enjoy hearing about her race experiences--super motivating. Be sure to check out her race recap as well!

We could not have had a better day in terms of weather. It was sunny, but cool enough to avoid getting overheated during the run. It made for a lovely setting post-race.

I may not be back next year, but I will return for this race again! It is pricey at $50, but the finisher medal, t-shirt, and post-race food were very good. If you live in the area or want to come down for the marathon weekend, this is a race you should not miss!

Laura

Milestones

This week I hit a milestone of 200,000 miles on my Honda Civic which I purchased new in 2003. In 10 and a half years, I have traveled up and down New England and the Mid-Atlantic. Most of the miles were from work commutes from NH to MA, but I also tacked a lot of miles visiting Mark up at Vermont Law while he was studying there. In the wake of this milestone, it seemed useful to reflect on some of my major workout milestones since it was not until about ten years ago that I started to seriously train and workout beyond some brief phases in college. During my senior year of college I dabbled briefly in lifting with machines and some light free weights, so it is hard to believe at 32 that I am more fit than I was at 21.

Highlights from 2004- 2013:

5 Half Marathons with a PR of 1:58:33 at Half at Hampton in 2012
6 Recorded (but several not listed in Athlinks) 5Ks with PR of 26:37 at Concord Rock N'Race in 2012
3 10Ks
7 Snowshoe Races
2 Olympic distance triathlon
4 Sprint distance triathlons
1 Half Ironman

Crossfit Gains from 2011-2013

Deadlift 130lbs --> 215lbs
Military Press 45lbs -->85lbs
Back Squat 90lbs --> 150lbs
Front Squat 65lbs --> 105lbs
Split Jerk 55lbs --> 100lbs
Power Clean 65lbs --> 95lbs
Push Press 55lbs --> 100lbs
Bench Press 67.5lbs -->105lbs


Being a Type A and an overachiever, I tend to think anything less than perfect is not good enough. Consequently, this past year has been a challenge because I focused on certain areas in my life more than others. We had a tremendous loss in our family, and I became a homeowner. Despite all of these changes, I still made huge gains in terms of my strength and conditioning. Last year, I hurt myself deadlifting and stopped doing that for about 6 months, yet now I am up to 215lbs for my one rep and am looking to top that in the next 4 week cycle. So, instead of reprimanding myself for failing at my 150 perfect bricks and nutrition, I think I should acknowledge that it has been a successful year in many ways. The failures are just opportunities to crush goals next year. I did hit #100 for perfect bricks in November and will focus on trying to clean up a bit on food for December before doing a Whole 30 reset in January.

Last weekend I participated in a partner workout(Erica and I pictured below) as a fundraiser for the Movember foundation. It is rewarding to give back while getting your butt kicked! I am so proud to belong to a crossfit gym committed to the clients and philanthropic causes.

Smuttynose Half Marathon Recap

My race season has officially come to an end for 2013 with the completion of the Smuttynose Half Marathon today. It was a light season with a few 5Ks, the Seacoast Century bike ride and of course the half marathon. As I have discussed a bit in some of my other blog entries, I found it a challenge to find the time to balance training for the century and the half marathon. Ultimately, I did a very abbreviated version of Hal Higdon's intermediate training program paired with cycling and crossfit. I was curious to see how my results this time would compare to my 1:58 at the Half at Hampton (same course just colder!)in February of 2012. I was optimistic given some decent training runs throughout the summer and fall, but knew I did not do a ton of prep miles during the week.

In the beginning of the race, everything was a bit hectic. I thought I gave myself enough time, but got stuck in some serious traffic trying to get into Hampton Beach for the race start. I grabbed my bib at about 7:40 and went straight to the porta potties to get a spot in line...this of course is always the slowest process in any race. I then had to jet back to my car to get rid of my warmer clothes (the wind was gusting very heavily at this point), luckily, with the large crowds, I did not miss the start (I just got stuck in a slower wave in the beginning). My Runkeeper app was a bit delayed but I finally got that working and set Pandora up for some tunes.

Overall, the first 6 miles felt very good. I was keeping the pace below 9 min miles and fueling at the appropriate times. Somewhere around mile 8 or 9 my Pandora stopped working which definitely caused me to lose some serious speed and momentum. I find the music really pushes me along. In retrospect, this was the point in the run where I lost the opportunity to PR. I was shooting for under 1:58, but without my music to pace, I lost valuable minutes. This combined with possibly being over aggressive in my early miles put me behind my goal. When I heard Runkeeper chip in that I was over 9 min miles, my morale started to slip. Then, I saw this super ripped girl chugging past me just doing tiny shuffle steps and really swinging her arms fast. I thought, hmmm, she seems to be pushing forward, I'll try her strategy. Sure enough, I began to pass people in front of me. Unfortunately, I had lost too many minutes during the Pandora debacle, but at least I finished with my second fastest time to date. Around mile 12, my friend from crossfit, Chandler, helped me push through the final stretch as he had just parted with his sister, Alaka, who was continuing on for the full marathon. It was great to have someone I knew at the end, but even with his help, I did have a feeling it was not going to be a PR day.

I was glad to finally finish though because that was when the rain/wind really started to pick up. I don't think it has rained for almost 3 weeks, but today it rained. It is not so bad when running but makes the after party not so enjoyable. I was thrilled to get a chance to meet up with my friend from college, Colleen. I often turn to her blog Live Free and Run for running inspiration. I knew I'd see her at the finish but not during the run! She and her husband were toughing out the bad weather to enjoy a cool beer after the race. It was so great to catch up and talk shop about running and teaching. Hopefully I can get down to DC for a race at some point--I'm sure it will be much warmer than this run was!

In the end, I'm glad I dragged myself out of bed this morning for the half marathon, but am disappointed that I did not PR after having a strong start. Nonetheless, I was not nearly as disciplined in my training regimen and I probably was 5-10lbs heavier compared to February 2012 when I was getting in wedding shape. 2:02.25 is not too shabby for a 32 year old who only had time for runs on the weekend--I guess I'll have to settle for the satisfaction of getting in a tough workout when I otherwise might have been sleeping or vegging in the apartment on this rainy October Sunday.

Week of September 30th- October 6th

Monday- AM Yoga/Boot Camp & PM Crossfit
Tuesday- AM Walk & PM Crossfit
Wednesday- AM Yoga/Boot Camp & Lunch Jog
Thursday- PM Crossfit
Friday- AM Yoga/Boot Camp
Saturday- Rest
Sunday- Smuttynose Half Marathon

*5 sets of 20 pushups for 6 days
*4 perfect bricks for a total of 77

Colleen & I post race. I think I have about 3 layers on. Poor Colleen, she needed more warm clothes! Though I paired my warm clothes with flip flops which was not the best choice.

#WHITEMOUNTAINSTRONG Results

As promised in my previous blog entry, I am including my side by side lifts/workouts to compare my progress over a period of 6 weeks during the challenge at our local crossfit gym. I attended class consistently and continued with my frequency pushups; however, I could have stuck to the clean eating far more. I'm sure that would have pushed my to some even better results. I'd been in a food slump/coma for much of the summer when I saw Sara over at House Bella wrote a great entry on Why She Eats Paleo. I know I was one of the people she had originally spoken to about going that direction with her food choices, so her affirmation of its effectiveness (not to mention amazingly delicious looking food) resonated with me. I am only back to a few days of clean/paleo eating, but I do feel those benefits already. Sara, as usual, you are an inspiration. I can't wait to hear how her marathon goes while following the paleo lifestyle!

Challenge Results-

Week 1 (July 22- July 26th) & Week 6 (August 26th- August 30th)

Back Squat 1RM = 125lbs
Back Squat = 140lbs
"The Chief" 17 rounds
"The Chief" 18 rounds

Bench Press = 95lbs
Bench Press = 105lbs
500m row 2:06
500m row 2:03

Power Clean = 90lbs
Power Clean = 95lbs
"Helen" 11:24
"Helen" 10:41

Push Press = 90lbs
Push Press = 100lbs
1 Mile Run 8:14
1 Mile Run 7:54
2 mins max pushups 40
2 min max pushups 57

Deadlift = 200lbs
Deadlift = 205lbs
"Fran" 6:05
"Fran" 5:36

*A note that many of these workouts were not Rx, but I did the same modifications for comparison*

Last week was a bit of a recovery week after pushing myself to the limits during testing week. I may have been a bit too lax in my training, but hopefully my upcoming races will not suffer due to the pause.

Workouts for Week of September 2nd - September 8th

Monday- Rest
Tuesday- Rest
Wednesday- Short Jog/walk at lunch
Thursday- Rest
Friday- AM Spin/ PM Xfit (Brick #62)
Saturday- 10 mile run
Sunday- 2 Hour Walk

Pushups 5 X 25 for 6 days

August Conclusion

As I knew it would, the remainder of August flew by. Here it is September 2nd and I am recapping the final two weeks of what is usually a fun but busy time. We spent our vacation at Squam Lake for a week and then it was back to work. During the vacation (Mark's family rents a house on Squam every summer), I was able to squeeze in a few long bike rides (we lapped Squam Lake) that incorporated some brutal hills. One morning I completed a yoga session on the dock with the sunrise which prompted me to begin doing more sessions of yoga at home (I needed it badly!). I returned to Concord for a few crossfit sessions in order to keep up progress for the WMCSF challenge. We enjoyed beautiful weather the whole week and spent plenty of time out on the boats. It is always sad when the week comes to a close, but it is something to look forward to for the next year.

Not only did I return to the grind of work the last week of August, but also we had testing for our 6 week challenge. I was not sure how the testing would go. I made it to 3 sessions of crossfit for all but one week during the challenge. My food choices during the first week and last week were clean; however, I had a 3 week time frame where I just did not focus on nutrition. My body felt the wrath of those choices, but that was not enough to push me back on the right track for the month. However, testing went well and I made some progress towards my goals of kipped pull ups and improved double unders. I'll add in the side by side comparison of lifts later this week (my workout log is at the gym), but I was psyched by how much I went up on some of my lifts. The highlight of the week was benching 105lbs. My major goal with the bench press is to be able to bench my own body weight--so with a few lbs shaved off and a few more added onto the lift, I should get there ;) Also, we did our mile time trial run and I was able to complete that in 7:54. This may have been my first mile under 8 minutes, so that was super awesome! We have not yet gotten the announcement of who won the challenge (I don't have any grand illusions that I did), but I consider it a success. I'm very glad that we had something to focus on during the summer. I can't imagine how things would have gone if I did not have the support of my gym. Though it was by no means my best summer in terms of exercise and life choices, it was not a failure. I progressed on lifts and crushed some long run times. As far as the other things to improve (morning cardio and clean eating), I know what to do--I just need to be ready to make those things a priority in the fall.

Week of August 19th- August 25th

Monday- Crossfit
Tuesday- AM yoga/Kayaking
Wednesday- 41 mile bike ride
Thursday- Yardwork/ Crossfit
Friday- Rest
Saturday- 10K Run
Sunday- 20 mile bike ride

Pushups 5 sets of 23 for 6 days

Week of August 26th- September 1st

Crossfit testing week

Monday- AM Yoga/Short Cardio Boot Camp / PM Crossfit- Brick #60
Tuesday- Crossfit
Wednesday- Crossfit
Thursday- AM Yoga/Short Cardio Boot Camp/ PM Crossfit- Brick #61
Friday- Crossfit
Saturday- Rest
Sunday- 9 mile run

5 sets of 24 pushups for 6 days

The Week Before Vacation

Last week, I powered through my work week knowing that by 4:00PM on Friday, I'd be on vacation for a week! In my years as a teacher, I often had several weeks off (though not when I was nannying and certainly much less than most people assume teachers have), but with my advising job, I have to plan my vacation carefully. I had a week in June and a week in August planned ahead. Also, I took all Fridays and a few other days in July off. However, with the house purchase/move and my grandfather's funeral, most of July was not quite a vacation. A week at Squam Lake with the Beaudoins was exactly what I needed to relax and focus more on training. I was consistent with my crossfit workouts and pushups last week but again found the idea of getting up early for cardio daunting. I made it to one morning spin workout on Friday, which felt fantastic btw!, but forgot necessary clothing items for work and had to drive back to Hopkinton and then to Manchester for work. Not living in Concord has posed some serious inconveniences; although I am usually very organized, the lack of a routine in my every day life has thrown me into a tizzy many days. I am hoping this will all stabilize soon and I'll find a routine/schedule that is consistent and effective. Mark and I finished off the week with a 35 mile bike ride around Squam Lake which was difficult, but made me believe the century ride is obtainable in September! The highlight of my training this week was my 8 mile run on Saturday. I had a fast (compared to my normal runs) run of 9:33 pace. I attribute part of this to actually resting my legs a bit on Friday afternoon/evening and part to the obscenely delicious Ruben sandwich that I had on Friday night at Kathleen's Cottage in Bristol where we saw one of our favorite music duos--Tina and Her Pony! I am kidding about the sandwich, but it was a great run! I've found several running routes in Hopkinton that I enjoy so that is important as we start to settle into the new home.

Week of 8/12 Workout Summary:

Monday- Crossfit
Tuesday- Rest
Wednesday- Crossfit
Thursday- Crossfit
Friday- AM Spin Class
Saturday- 8 mile run (9:33 average pace!)
Sunday- 35 mile bike ride

*Pushups 5 sets of 22 X 6 days*

I also want to congratulate the triathletes that participated in the Timberman Triathlon in Gilford, NH this past weekend. That is a very challenging course and it takes serious dedication to complete events like Timberman.