Workouts - September 21, 2015
It's time for another workouts update! This has been another great week. I am seeing improvements to both speed and endurance, and I hope it's mostly hard work (but thinking it might be the SLIGHT drop in temperature we have had). Either way, I'll take it!
I have been successful in putting on some weight, after realizing that I had let things slip more than I intended. I've done this by increasing the weight and decreasing the reps on some of my weights workouts, eating more complex carbs, and making sure not to skip meals. As I mentioned previously, most of my diet-focused efforts are now being documented on the Hardly Awesome Instagram account.
This week had another great Birmingham Track Club social run, so I've got some photos of that. On to the recap!
Monday: 6 @ 9:24 on the treadmill, nice and relaxed. I did this week's treadmill runs very early, baby monitor balanced on the display console, while we were on a quick beach trip.
Tuesday: 6.4 @ 9:19 on the treadmill. I just ran for exactly an hour at a nice aerobic pace. Gotta build up that base.
Wednesday: 3 @ 7:57 on the treadmill. Sometimes I like to grind out some treadmill miles at a nice clip. As always, I did not stop or pause the treadmill at all during the run. It puts hair on your chest, haha.
Thursday: 7.4 @ 8:46 around downtown.
Friday: Just a lower body weights circuit and a traditional bench press workout. Most of you will roll your eyes at this, but I can bench in the powerlifting racks, because I am finally strong enough to bench the bar (45+ pounds). I know. You would think I would have more upper body strength from swimming, but I find that my chest is weak.
Saturday: 11 @ 8:35, at the track club social. I decided to go out with the lead group and see how long I could hang. It went...okay.
I've been directly uploading my run data from my TomTom watch to my phone via bluetooth. (Don't ask...I had a failed attempt to upgrade my laptop to Windows 10 and ended up gutting the thing). Silly me forgot you actually have to CHARGE a GPS watch for it to continue working. So, my watch died 9.6 miles into this run. Fortunately, 1) it saved the data for those miles, and 2) I was carrying my phone and switched over to the mobile Strava app. I was super bummed, though, because this was a fast run for me, and I felt so amazing the entire time, and the watch SNAFU ended up shorting me about a half mile. Oh well, lesson learned.
Sunday: Hour-long spinning class and a ton of stretching.
On Saturday, we had a great social run with a group called Black People Run Bike and Swim. They are just a phenomenal group, and they work to promote healthy habits, accountability, empowerment, and safety in Birmingham. It was a real honor to run with such talented athletes and hear their views on running as social justice. I have participated in movements to "take back" the streets, like women's movements on college campuses in the 1990s, or the grassroots Hollaback campaign to end street harassment. But I have never really approached running as a way to problematize and remedy social inequalities. It was real food for thought, and I am honored to be part of the city of Birmingham, where so many forward thinking people are working to make a difference.
And, after all of that heavy thinking and hard running, we had some donuts. It was an amazing morning.
 |
| Pre-long run banana selfie. #banelfie? |
I have been successful in putting on some weight, after realizing that I had let things slip more than I intended. I've done this by increasing the weight and decreasing the reps on some of my weights workouts, eating more complex carbs, and making sure not to skip meals. As I mentioned previously, most of my diet-focused efforts are now being documented on the Hardly Awesome Instagram account.
This week had another great Birmingham Track Club social run, so I've got some photos of that. On to the recap!
Monday: 6 @ 9:24 on the treadmill, nice and relaxed. I did this week's treadmill runs very early, baby monitor balanced on the display console, while we were on a quick beach trip.
Tuesday: 6.4 @ 9:19 on the treadmill. I just ran for exactly an hour at a nice aerobic pace. Gotta build up that base.
Wednesday: 3 @ 7:57 on the treadmill. Sometimes I like to grind out some treadmill miles at a nice clip. As always, I did not stop or pause the treadmill at all during the run. It puts hair on your chest, haha.
Thursday: 7.4 @ 8:46 around downtown.
Friday: Just a lower body weights circuit and a traditional bench press workout. Most of you will roll your eyes at this, but I can bench in the powerlifting racks, because I am finally strong enough to bench the bar (45+ pounds). I know. You would think I would have more upper body strength from swimming, but I find that my chest is weak.
Saturday: 11 @ 8:35, at the track club social. I decided to go out with the lead group and see how long I could hang. It went...okay.
I've been directly uploading my run data from my TomTom watch to my phone via bluetooth. (Don't ask...I had a failed attempt to upgrade my laptop to Windows 10 and ended up gutting the thing). Silly me forgot you actually have to CHARGE a GPS watch for it to continue working. So, my watch died 9.6 miles into this run. Fortunately, 1) it saved the data for those miles, and 2) I was carrying my phone and switched over to the mobile Strava app. I was super bummed, though, because this was a fast run for me, and I felt so amazing the entire time, and the watch SNAFU ended up shorting me about a half mile. Oh well, lesson learned.
 |
| My friend Sherri took this photo to share with her Facebook triathlon group :( |
Sunday: Hour-long spinning class and a ton of stretching.
On Saturday, we had a great social run with a group called Black People Run Bike and Swim. They are just a phenomenal group, and they work to promote healthy habits, accountability, empowerment, and safety in Birmingham. It was a real honor to run with such talented athletes and hear their views on running as social justice. I have participated in movements to "take back" the streets, like women's movements on college campuses in the 1990s, or the grassroots Hollaback campaign to end street harassment. But I have never really approached running as a way to problematize and remedy social inequalities. It was real food for thought, and I am honored to be part of the city of Birmingham, where so many forward thinking people are working to make a difference.
And, after all of that heavy thinking and hard running, we had some donuts. It was an amazing morning.
 |
| So, 50 strangers in athletic clothing meet on a dark street corner (stop me if you've heard this one)... |
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| I <3 Birmingham runners. |
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