Fitness Follow-up Friday

Fitness Follow-up Friday is here! Well, it was here a few days ago but since we were out of town for the weekend, I didn't have a chance to post it until now!

Several people have asked what all is included in my weekly fitness.  So going forward, I am going to try and give you some idea of what my weeks consist of!  Each Friday will (hopefully) consist of a Fitness Follow-up!

Super Saturday Circuit

Super Saturday!

Last weekend started off this adventure with a Super Saturday Circuit at the gym!  30 Minutes, 9 exercises, as many rounds as possible.  The gym was packed and it was awesome to see everyone pushed it as hard as they could to get through this workout!  I managed to get through 4 1/2 rounds in my 30 minutes, using heavier weights on the OH lunges that I normally would, and modifying my plants to be one leg plants!  Then the circuit was followed by a 5 minute mini-mission consisting of sit-ups, squats and bicep curls!  I was definitely feeling that at the end!  After the workout, I spent some time in the other end of the gym hanging out with a foam roller and doing some other stretching.  Overall great way to start my weekend!

Sunday Funday in Bairds Creek

Sunday Funday with Friends!
Sunday afternoon we hit Bairds Creek and wandered the trails for just over 4.5 miles.  It was an awesome crisp afternoon spent enjoying the beautiful fall afternoon, watching ducks in the pond, sprinting up hills, and listening to the woodland creatures scurrying in the leaves.  I even got Colleens daughter to RUN up and down some of the hills with me!

Colleen - Next time I am climbing that tree when I see it, since we never made it back by it this time!!

Monday Morning Mini Rowing session

Manic Monday
Monday Morning wake up call!!  Last week I started meeting Tom at the gym for some mini rowing sessions before work.  We usually do a 5 minute warm up and then another 5 minutes of intervals.  Normally we do 1 minute on and then 30 second rest in between (5 total intervals),  but today we hanged it up and did 40 seconds on and 30 seconds off for 8 rounds (still 5 minutes total rowing time).  Those shorter intervals will catch up to you quick, however we both found that we actually rowed further in the same about of time!  Last weeks intervals gave me a total of about 1200m in the 5 minutes, today it was over 1300.

Remember, you need to change things up once in a while, otherwise your body becomes accustomed to the workouts and you may find yourself stuck on a plateau!  Keep your body guessing!

Afternoon Strength Adventures

Monday afternoon was Strength time at the gym!  Thanks Joe for  another great session! It was just one more day that I can say that I left the gym knowing that I pushed myself a little harder, stepped out of my comfort zone more, used heavier weights and still lived to tell about it!

Tuesday
Tuesday was "sleep in" in day... well not really. Instead of the alarm going off at 4:15 or 4:30, it went off at 4:45 so that I could get dinner in the crockpot before being at work for 6am.  After work it was time to hit the gym for another Strength class with Joe!  Forgot to take a picture of the board but it was a day full of Rowing, Clean's, KettleBells and Squats!  Between the KB work during the workout and then the mission at the end, I think I did  a zillion squats.  Ok maybe not a zillion, but it felt like it!  Then the Farmer Walks with 40lb KB's in each hand were epic!  Was fun to have Joe working out with us today as he was testing out the new MyZone units that they got in at the gym!  Thinking I might need to get one for myself to play with too!

Wacky Wednesday

Wacky Wednesday = Crazy sock day at the gym!

No rowing with Tom this morning since I have other things going on after work, needed to get my circuit in early!

5:15 Circuit class was THE way to wake up!  Was nice to see Lisa at the gym early today (I usually see her when she comes in for 6am, as I am jumping in the shower after the 5:15 class!) 3 stations, 9 exercises and burpees were not one of them!  4 minutes of wallballs, pushups and squats was tough but the 4 minutes of KB swings, pushpress and squats was enough to make my arms cry!  Then when you throw in some weighted crunches, Russian twists and flutter kicks, you get a morning workout that will definitely get you moving!

Tired Thursday
I am calling today Tired Thursday because I was too exhausted to get out of bed and get to the gym this morning.  My body said sleep, so I did  :)  I had to work at the bowling alley tonight for a few hours for a private party and the multiple trips up and down the stairs to the basement meeting room at least made me fee like I got in somewhat of a workout!

Finally Friday!
No work today since John and I were heading out of town for a long weekend, but I still was up early and got me workout in!  I also decided to splurge and get myself one of the new MYZONE monitors at the gym.  Charlene worked on getting it set up for me while I was doing a quick warm-up and then it was time to test it out!

MYZone  is a heart rate monitoring system that was recently installed at the gym to give us live feedback on how hard we are actually working out!  Anyone that is wearing a monitor has their live date displayed on the TV monitors that have been put up in each gym, to include current heart rate, calories burned, points earned (based on workout time, time in each heart rate zone and more!) and most importantly - your current max heart rate percentage! If you are not pushing hard enough, everyone will know - how's that for motivation to push your self that much harder?

This morning, started out with a rowing session with Tom, so my data was the only one on the screen (each gym has it's own screen showing data for those working out in that room).  I instantly found myself challenged by the numbers!  I was on a mission to keep that percentage as high as I could!   It was really cool to have a more accurate calorie burn too, since this takes into your age, heart rate etc.

After Tom and I finished rowing, I stuck around for the 6am Strength class.  There was one other person in class with a monitor too so it was interesting to see how our numbers compared during the 45 minute class!    At one point, we both we over 90%!    

After just one morning, I am easily able to see how this is going to help me get even more out of my workouts!  Results from this morning?  718 total calories burnt, peak heart rate 164, point earned 271.

What did you do to push yourself this week??  What are your goals for the next week?

Race Recap: Door County Fall 50 2014

What do you get when you cross 5 crazy runners, 3 bunches of banana's, 2 dozen hard boiled eggs plus a cooler full of other food and water, 1 fueled up support vehicle, 50 miles of beautiful fall countryside and perfect weather?

You get the Door County Fall 50!  A 50 mile race from the northern tip of Door County, starting at Gills Rock, meandering down quiet tree covered roads, through several charming small towns, up and down crazy hills.

That is exactly what we did last weekend!  Darci, Robin and I were this time joined by Dena and Darin to enjoy the fall beauty of Door County.

Start line of the Door County Fall 50 - Gills Rock 

Way back in February, Dena put out a shout out to all of us at the gym to see if anyone was interested in tackling this race.  It didn't take long for us to get a team together!  The day that registration opened, Dena got right on getting us registered, and it was a good thing that she did!  The relay portion of this race sold out in less than an hour!

 We left Green Bay well before the sun was even thinking about coming up and started this crazy adventure!  This is one of those events that you never know what you are going to get for weather... Late October in Door County could bring any thing from sunshine, rain, snow, clouds, wind... you name it, it could happen!  This year we were extremely lucky!  Although it was a little chilly in the morning, the entire day was filled with sunshine!  The wind off the lake was a bit chilly at times, but I will take that over snow or rain any day!

 Our team was started with the 9am wave and had an estimated finish time of 4:49pm - just under 8 hours.  We were on a mission.  We arrived in Gills Rock just before the 8 am wave of relay runners was taking off, so we had plenty of time to get ready. I was running the first leg so it was pre race fueling, and making final decisions on what I was going to actual wear for this first run of the day.  The crisp morning air was refreshing and I opted to stick with the capri's and left my jacket on.   Once we got started, I realized quickly keeping my jacket was a wise choice - the breeze off the lake was cold!  But you won't hear me complain - I'd rather have a cold breeze that 90 degree heat!

Before long I realized the 1st exchange point was right around the corner!  That 4.8 miles of rolling hills was done before I knew it!  The rest of the crew was ready and waiting at the exchange point and Robin was off and running!

We spent the next 8 hours going from one exchange point to the next, taking turns running the hills and winding roads of Door County!  There was nothing easy about this course.  If you were not going up hill, chances are you were going downhill.

Darin taking off in Sister Bay

 The exchange points were always filled with excitement.  Teams cheering each other on, strangers encouraging one another, crazy costumes and food (did someone say chocolate chip cookies?!?!?)  Since all of the solo runners started at 7am, they had a few hour headstart on us.  Yes there were about 150 brave souls that were running the entire 50 mile course solo!  I have the utmost respect for anyone that even attempts to run 50 miles in one day!  I was looking forward to seeing several friends on mine out on the course today, but that was going to have to wait until later!

One of the best parts of this race it checking out all of the other team names and costumes!  Through the day we saw chickens, the Flinstones, Super Mario Brothers, the Crew from the Wizard of Oz and more!  There was a group of ladies (2 teams) that were dressed as Chickens and we were chasing those chickens all day long!  At one point, we finally passed one of the chicken teams but that other team was just to quick!  If we had another half mile, Dena might have caught them at the end!

Scenery driving through Ephraim

If inspiration is what drives you, there is no shortage of that during this event!  It was very humbling to see those solo runners giving it everything to make it through those miles!  Think you are too old to do an event like this?  Never!  we passed several 60+ runners and at least one that 70+ runner!  These guys were not going to let a little thing like age slow them down!

There were also a few teams from myTEAM TRIUMPH out of the course!  Running a 50 mile race is one thing, but running it while pushing a Captain in a race stroller take dedication to a whole new level!  Matt and Andy guided Captain Joe through his 50 miles and if you can see from the below photo that there was no shortage of smiles coming out of Egg Harbor!  The other mTT team (Team Top Gun) consisted of a small army of angels (or in this case co-pilots) to carry Captain Jacob (ie Maverick) through his journey - all the way, wearing their flight suits!

Awesome work guys!

In the end we gave it everything that we had, we pushed ourselves up those hills, enjoyed the amazing fall colors of door county, shared some great laughs, ate A LOT (I hear those PB&J's were pretty awesome at the half way point!).  We could not have asked for better weather - yes the wind was a bit cold at times, but I won't complain - there was no snow!  It was another awesome day outside of the gym!

Official Time 8 Hours 1 Minute and a few seconds!  Next year, we WILL make it in under 8 hours!

What did you do this week to get outside?  Grab your friends and get outside - I know we enjoy it every time we do!

Thanks Team Renegade Runners for another awesome day!!