40 degrees. ew.

Today's weather was CONSIDERABLY disappointing, seeing as it was over 23 degrees cooler than yesterday, windy and totally overcast. EVERYTHING LOOKED DEAD. ugh.

Still, I had to jog to and from the gym in it, per usual.

3 rounds of:

500m row (~2:10 min)

10 thrusters, 65#

I didn't have much time to workout before going on a field trip to check out a community garden at another university about an hour away, so this was a nice 30 min quickie. The field trip included lots of walking in the miserable weather. Bleh.

However! I felt really strong on the rowing machine today! I was pulling a 2:06-2:10 pace almost the entire 500m of all three rounds!

63 degrees.

SIXTY-THREE DEGREES, PEOPLE. Needless to say I spent 89% of my day outside walking, running, sitting in the grass doing homework, etc.

I had a big night last night, but luckily I felt great today. I chugged a coconut water and some H2O before I went to bed, so that probably had something to do with it. Today I went for a 3-mile jog to enjoy the GORGEOUS day as well as to try to sweat out summa the toxins from last night.

I WANT SPRING.

Filthy Fiftyish

Indeed.

50 box jumps

10 chin ups

50 kettle bell swings, 35#

10 pull ups

50 sit ups

50 hang power cleans, 45# barbell

500 m row

50 back extensions (WOW. HELLOOO hamstrings and lower back.)

Dayum!

On Friday..

After 2 days of rest and relaxation...

3 rounds of:

600m run (last 100m sprint)

40 walking lunges

100 bicycle crunches/ab ladder

16 to-the-floor push ups

Yay!

Much needed change of focus

Thank GAWSH! It's about time for a little less leg-intensive work and a little more upper body. Phew.

I felt extremely energized for this workout. I literally couldn't wait to go to the gym. My warmup of 500m rowing illustrated this perfectly; I rowed one of my fastest times to date– 2:04 mins (!)

3 rounds of:

10 burpee pull-ups

10 dips (30# assistance)

50 sit ups on recline

10 chin ups

20 kangaroo kicks on incline

10 jerks, 45#

Also, new blisters after this one. :D

Premier PWRS Post!!

In preparation for yesterday's bike-run-bike adventure, I made a Post Workout Recovery Smoothie (PWRS) beforehand so I could grab it out of the fridge as soon as I got back; I knew I'd really want/need it quickly.

It was more a pudding (that's what chia does, haha), but here's a good example of one of my regular, vegan PWRS.

3 Tbs high-protein hemp powder (Living Harvest brand)

1 tsp super green powder (Amazing Grass brand)

2 Tbs chia

1 tsp vanilla extract or fresh vanilla seeds

1 tsp maca powder

1 banana (frozen)

3 medjool dates (take pits out)

2 tsp cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice

12 oz room-temp green tea or filtered water

Pour all ingredients inside a blender or Vitamix and blend on hi for 20 seconds.

Enjoy it as you feel your muscles slurp up all that 4:1 carb-to-protein deliciousness, preparing your body and mind for another day of glorious athletic intensity.

Just another interval track workout

Today's workout was nothin' fancy. I dressed up quite warm for the sub 32 degree weather and felt great after I got my heart rate up.

3 rounds of:

800 m run

15 to-the-floor pushups (much harder than normal push ups)

I did however feel like I was without any "after-burners" in my legs due to yesterday's 3 hour sweat-fest. That's a pretty good sign! :)

Adventures! And more!

This afternoon, I was inspired (by excessive amounts of hyper energy and free time) to go off into the wilderness for a long, Sunday workout in order to cap off my week.

I've been really into running and interval workouts at the track this winter, so I had not ridden my road bike longer than 7 miles since Halloween, so I thought it about damn time to go on a nice, Sunday ride.

It felt great filling waterbottles, slipping on cycling tights and pumping up my tires- I was about to go out and destroy my legs and I was so excited. I know what you're thinking (Oh my gawshhh, she's such a fitness FREAK!), and yes, I definitely am :) And it feels amazing.

I rode 9 miles on my road bike to a park, ran for an hour on the muddy trails there, then rode back. It was an awesome day, my legs indeed feel absolutely wasted, and I am le tired.

good stuff

I felt great today– full of energy, ambition and well, days like these are the best days.

3 Rounds of:

32 box jumps

30 sit ups w/ 25# weight

10 thrusters, 75#

30 kangaroo kicks (ab work)

12 dead lifts, 130#

Also, I went to go see a hilarious matinee with some of my best friends today; it's that new Natalie Portman one called No Strings Attached. It was hilarious and fulfilling in every way imaginable. Really, you should see it...but especially if you're obsessed with Natalie Portman :)

Holy quadriceps, Batman!

Today's workout came at the perfect time... I needed an ass-whooping, and that's exactly what I got.

Row 500 m (~2:20 mins)

21 pull-ups (#40 assistance)

21 one-legged squats, R then L

Row 500 m (~2:20 mins)

18 pull-ups (#40 assistance)

20 one-legged squats, R then L

Row 500 m (~2:20 mins)

14 pull-ups (#40 assistance)

20 one-legged squats, R then L

Row 500 m (~2:20 mins)

10 pull-ups (#40 assistance)

21 one-legged squats, R then L

Row 500 m (~2:20 mins)

7 pull-ups (#40 assistance)

20 one-legged squats, R then L

+

75# thrusters, 10 reps

+

various ab exercises and crunches and ab ladders and things and whatnot.

:D

I FEEL SO AMAZING AFTER THIS WORKOUTTTTT. LA LA LAAA. LA.

a little bit

Today I was helping a friend obtain a fixer-upper bike, and after said bike was obtained, I rode it back to her place about 2 miles away. It was a cold sprint workout, uphill the whole way (lies).

Later I felt very tired and just wanted to sleep, but I did a home workout instead, 'cause I just didn't feel like hauling myself to the gym. It consisted of:

2 rounds of:

12 burpees

15 HSPU

1 min plank on each side

It was a light day for working out, but tomorrow (Friday), I'll get to the gym with fury.

Whiny Belly

January in North Carolina is proving to be pleasant as hell. It felt awesome outside this morning, and since I decided to never workout in the gym on nice days, I jogged over to the track around 10:30 to enjoy the weather and get my dose of vitamin D while it's available.

At the time, I had just completed a track workout about 15 hours earlier, but I did a different type of workout all together since today's was mostly upper body and cardio interval work.

5 rounds of:

run 400m (80% effort)

15 HSPU

10 burpees

20 pull-ups

The workout felt good but hurt quite a bit. I finished my workout last night around 7pm then woke up for another track workout this morning...but the primary issue was that I was still digesting breakfast, so my body did not like having to do some hard work in these conditions. Oh well, I kicked its butt anyway ;)

I have a very hectic afternoon/evening, so I'm really happy I got this out of the way so I can relax tonight.

Standard night time track workout

Did what I do best– made up my own interval workout!

Run 2000 meters (5 laps)

40 walking lunges

20 push-ups

Run 1200 meters (3 laps)

40 walking lunges

50 bicycle crunches

30 regular crunches

Run 800 meters (2 laps)

20 push ups

Ab ladder (30 for each "rung" of crunches)

Run 400 meters (1 lap)

12 pull-ups

800 meter cool down and stretch.

I sprinted last 100m of each running interval. This workout took about 50 minutes.

"Elizabeth"

The gym had very few people in attendance today, so I ran the weights section with these cleans. I felt really strong by the third set of cleans– my form was better, my focus was perfect, and I just mowed through them. I should start at 85# next time. :D

The first part of the workout was done by alternating between sets of cleans and dips.

WOD:

12-9-6 reps of:

cleans (75#-80#-85#)

21-15-9 reps of:

dips with 30# assistance

+

3 rounds of:

30 abs on incline

30 kangaroo kick-the-skys on recline

Super PWRS!

That acronym stands for Post Workout Recovery Smoothie, and from now on I will be including information about what I eat/drink directly after a workout. PWRS replenish muscles and energy stores so that I can get back on the track or in the gym the next day (and still have enough energy to blog about it)!

For a while I've been flirting with the idea of including in my blog some delicious high-protein, plant-based recipes (read: performance enhancing) that really get me raving. I think I'll tackle that concept by posting my favorite PWRS (looks like an abbreviation for "powers"...I like that!) in order to share some knowledge and personal experience with my fellow vegan athletes.

In return, you'll learn why PWRS are important, when they are effective, and what the most delicious recipes and ingredients are necessary for proper refueling.

First PWRS post coming soon!

Best Friday EVARR

Today was literally one of the most rewarding days of recent memory. I got my dream job, I passed a big certification test for being a ServSafe Manager, and I had an awesome workout followed by the best FREE dinner ever (vegan pizza from Brixx).

My workout was fueled by pure bliss.

5 rounds of:

500 m row (under 2:20 min)

30 back extenstions

6 burpee pull ups

125# back squats, 12 reps

+

ab workout

HELLOOO WEEKEND!!

Running, running, running

Early this morning I woke up to awful muscles soreness in my shoulders and triceps. I felt so clumsy as I suffered to get out of bed (then back in again, with a book!). It was pathetic.

I quickly decided to go running today instead of the Rx crossfit WOD– I didn't want to even TOUCH a barbell. My upper body internally cringed just at the thought of doing a push-jerk. So. Obviously I chose to go on a long distance interval run instead!

I geared up and went out for 4 miles of running on roads away from campus and then made my way to the track to do 4 laps of 400m track intervals. I'd say I easily completed 6+ sprint intervals over all (on roads and at the track), and I got down and did 4 min sets of ab ladders and bicycle crunches twice during the workout as well as some painful walking lunges and pull ups near the end.

In the inner lanes of the track, I stretched then laid down on my back, closed my eyes and let the warm sun in the gorgeous, clear blue sky shine down on my face and eyelids. It felt incredible. Runner's high, much?

With the quickness

I was fortunate that today's crossfit workout was only 15 mins long, cause thats exactly how much free time I had to work with. Of course, I changed it slightly so I didn't have spend time jogging to the gym and whatnot. This was a home workout– those are rare.

Do as many rounds as you can in 15 minutes:

1 min of squats

16 pushups

I did 7 rounds with some Girltalk as my high-energy soundtrack. works every time.

I'm incredibly sore from yesterday's upper body destroying insanity. Yup, feel's good.

It's a mad house in there!

That's what the fitness center attendant said to me as she swiped my card to get into the gym. She was right– that place was jam packed! I was bumping elbows with dudes the whole time in the weights section. BUT! I still managed to exhaust m'self almost to nausea with this workout.

3 rounds of:

6 muscle ups (2 full dips + 1 pull up to substitute since my gym has no rings, also 20# assistance)

12 Handstand push ups (HSPU)

30 wall ball shots, 20# medicine ball

75# power clean, 12 reps

then, after I was finished with that mess,

3 rounds of:

30 abs on incline (targets upper abdominals)

30 leg lifts on recline (basically kangaroo kick the sky) (targets lower abs)

stretched for about 10 minutes.

Ahhhh I'm so glad that's over! My arms feel like jellyfish tentacles!

Slip 'n Sliding...in a blizzard

I was sitting at work all day hoping that the snow storm would come faster. I must have checked the updated doppler images seven or eight times over the course of the day. When I got off work around 5pm I rode my bike straight home, put on running tights and other cold running gear and HIT THE SLOPES!

I couldn't wait to go out running in the middle of the snow storm. I ran to the track and had a blast running intervals.

6 rounds of:

300m run

100m sprint (ALL OUT 100% GO GO GO! PACE)

I ran a couple cool down laps and ran home for an approximate mileage of 2.5 miles. I was sweaty and wanted to die at times....it was glorious though. A couple boys came soon after I got there and started jogging slowly around the track– I blew past them over and over. Twas serious winter wonderland fun and kind of felt like Mario Kart on a snowland level or whatever.

Quick n' dirty

Today was a lazy, very cold day. It snowed on and off all day and I stayed inside with my puppy dog and watched movies (such as The Terminal and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World). In the early evening I finally got off my bum and felt inspired to work out before I had to take a shower and go out to a party.

So, I went to the fitness center and improvised a pretty nasty workout.

2 rounds of:

10 burpees

1 mile at 7:08 min/mile pace

12 dips

40 leg presses, 135#

+

200 sit ups/crunches of various styles

Now, to attack my Saturday night with a vengeance!!

Soreness. So much soreness.

Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes:

155# deadlifts, 6 reps

7 burpee pull-ups

10 kettlebell swings, 30#

300m run @ 9 mph

Completed 4.5 rounds.

Soggy Toes

This afternoon I ran intervals around the football practice field. There are some hills around the perimeter, not to mention some puddles and patches of soggy grass. Chilly, soggy toes would be more accurate--for the first 10 minutes at least. My toes actually never get cold while running in vibram five fingers because my feet are working so hard to balance me as the muscles flex and contract with each stride; this foot work doesn't happen when wearing sneakers--and thats another thing I love about barefoot running, especially in the wintertime.

5 rounds of:

400m run

200m sprint

40 walking lunges

20 push ups

100 crunches/bicycle crunches/leg lifts

My quads were super sore today from the run and the thrusters from the past few days, the the lunges burned SO good. The sprints felt great, the sky was clear and the shorts I was wearing were just perfect for the weather. Please January, do keep treating us North Carolinians to a pleasant, mild winter. k thanks.

Building it back up

This morning I jogged to the gym and, to my surprise, it was fairly mild out.

21-15-9

65# thrusters

20# assisted pull-ups

+

20 abs on incline

20 leg ups on recline

This was a tough and pretty low energy workout. I just wasn't feeling it and couldn't wait to finish...must've been the 2 whisky gingers I had last night...

I am also somewhat sore from yesterday's interval track workout which means I lost some muscle mass while on holiday, which is disheartening. However, now I get to build it back up this winter term while I have plenty of time to hang out at the track and in the gym. Yay for me ;)

Shorts in January

Today was my first day back working out after a break of about 8 days. It felt SO amazing.

1.5 miles

sit ups

push ups

3/4 mile

sit ups

pull ups

800 meters