In my knee. In my calves. Pretty much a mess right now and starting to feel like I'm never going to be a runner. I've been really slacking on my running lately because my left knee is still bothering me. I'll take a few days off, take another stab at it, get sore again, take a few more days off, and so forth. Yesterday I decided it had been long enough (like a week at least) and I had two dogs that were in desperate need of exercise so I ventured down to the Back Cove path, through Payson, and up and down Ocean Ave with them. My knee started acting up after probably about only a 1/2 mile. I should have stopped right there but instead I kept alternating walking with running thinking I could just work through it. By the time I was done I was battling shin splints in both legs and a knee that felt like a weedwacker was going off inside it. I just don't know what to do. New sneakers? Ice? X-ray? Someone suggested today that I try those toe-shoe things that are essentially like running barefoot but no way in hell am I going to be seen in those fugly things! Maybe I'm just being a baby (which I may or may not have a tendency to do) but it really hurts! Taking the rest of this week off for sure :(
On a happy running note though, a friend of mine told me about this website called mapmyrun.com. I only checked it out briefly yesterday but I was able to place markers at all of the turns on my usual running trek (you input the starting address and a map appears for you to work with) and it calculated the mileage for me. Pretty cool if you ask me and pretty exciting seeing as what I thought wasn't much more than 2 miles is actually 3.25! You can set the elevation, input rest stops, and all kinds of things but I haven't gotten that far into it yet. Highly recommend checking it out though. No more need for a pedometer!
Although my posts have been seriously lacking lately, my workouts haven't been that bad. Today was a bi's and tri's day. Here's the quick run-down of my routine (nothing out of the ordinary here):
1. Regular bicep curls, 3 sets of 8 with 15 lb. dumbells. I didn't use the bosu ball for added core work today because I figure the added stress on my knee wouldn't be a good idea.
2. Tricep cable pull-downs, 3 sets with 30 lb. resistance (12-10-8 rep sets).
3. Hammer curls, 1 sets of 8 with 15 lb. dumbells and 2 sets of 8 with 12.5 lb. dumbells.
4. Tricep bench dips with my feet on a stability ball and a 25 lb. plate on my quads.
Abs:
5. 4 sets of 30 stability ball crunches (2 sets forward and 2 sets side-to-side)
6. Side and front planks (30 secs each side) followed by a vinyasa flow (low plank to upward dog and then downward dog) and a bunch of leg stretches
Afterward it was a short dog walk around my neighborhood so no one would see my crippled, hobbling ass and that was it for the day. Praying I wake up tomorrow after a good night's sleep with no more knee pain!
Monday, May 21, 2012
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Set Fire To The Rain
Excellent legs workout today despite World's being annoyingly ex-central. The pouring rain seemed to bring in all the riff-raff tonight and for the first time since New Year's I actually had to wait for a machine to become available. Is it just me, or does it seem to rain every Tuesday lately?
I started off my workout with a good 15 minute elliptical warm-up where I alternated forward and backward strides. I didn't get in too many moves today but what I did do was very focused! I started off with a bunch of stretching and balancing work on the bosu ball and then did three sets of weighted one-legged bosu ball dead-lifts. Next, alternating legs and abs, I did three sets of 8 tee-pees, kneeling on the stability ball in between sets. Moving back to legs I grabbed a 30 lb. barbell and did 3 sets of 16 plie squats with the bar sitting on my shoulders/upper back. This time I did them all with lifted heels so I got a really good calf burn while hitting my hams at the same time. Definitely one of my favourite moves...and I remembered to wear long pants today to boot! haha Lastly, I did three sets of hanging straight leg lifts (12-10-8 reps) and finished up with some leg stretching on the mats. Doesn't sound like a very long workout but it took a solid hour and a half to get through it, probably because of the time it takes to get through each single leg dead-lift as well as the waiting for my elliptical. I must say, World's really needs to make a better effort at fixing their "out of order" machines...there were at least 3 open ellipticals that I could have used had they not been broken!
Tomorrow may be a run day if I'm not too crippled. I managed to get in one 5 km run last week without too much leg trouble but I'll admit I did take a walking/water break at the 2 mile mark for a few minutes before finishing it out. Even with the break though I still manged to finish in 32 minutes so at least my pace is improving!
I started off my workout with a good 15 minute elliptical warm-up where I alternated forward and backward strides. I didn't get in too many moves today but what I did do was very focused! I started off with a bunch of stretching and balancing work on the bosu ball and then did three sets of weighted one-legged bosu ball dead-lifts. Next, alternating legs and abs, I did three sets of 8 tee-pees, kneeling on the stability ball in between sets. Moving back to legs I grabbed a 30 lb. barbell and did 3 sets of 16 plie squats with the bar sitting on my shoulders/upper back. This time I did them all with lifted heels so I got a really good calf burn while hitting my hams at the same time. Definitely one of my favourite moves...and I remembered to wear long pants today to boot! haha Lastly, I did three sets of hanging straight leg lifts (12-10-8 reps) and finished up with some leg stretching on the mats. Doesn't sound like a very long workout but it took a solid hour and a half to get through it, probably because of the time it takes to get through each single leg dead-lift as well as the waiting for my elliptical. I must say, World's really needs to make a better effort at fixing their "out of order" machines...there were at least 3 open ellipticals that I could have used had they not been broken!
Tomorrow may be a run day if I'm not too crippled. I managed to get in one 5 km run last week without too much leg trouble but I'll admit I did take a walking/water break at the 2 mile mark for a few minutes before finishing it out. Even with the break though I still manged to finish in 32 minutes so at least my pace is improving!
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Lazy Day Tuesday
A dreary, drizzly day made for a slow-moving and unmotivated workout today. I had originally planned to do a run today but my laziness took over and I instead opted for 15 mins on the elliptical for my cardio warm-up. I did manage to push through a 2 mile run on Sunday though so perhaps tomorrow I will be able to get back into my run routine. Thursday is the early registration for a 5k race in July I had thought I may do. I'm not sure if I want to commit to that quite this early on but we'll see!
I've been feeling like my workouts are so routine lately that I need to start incorporating some new moves before I hit a serious plateau. Thus, I decided to write down the three major workouts displayed in last month's issue of Muscle & Fitness Hers on note cards to take with me to the gym this week. Yesterday I did an upper body workout (back/chest/bis tris/shoulders) which consisted of all moves I would normally do but with reverse grips on every one of them. Unfortunately I'm not really sore today like I thought I would be but at least it was something different! The one I did not enjoy very much was the reverse grip bicep curl (both barbell and preacher). It just felt very awkward and straining but I guess that probably means I should do it more often!
Today's workout was a glute routine. I didn't follow the card exactly because a) I wanted to incorporate some ab moves, b) I was being super lazy, and c) I totally wore the wrong shorts for a glue routine! I started with 3 sets of 8 on the standing glute press machine. The routine called for bent-over glute presses (sans weights) but I don't really feel anything from those so I switched it up. Next I threw in standing calf-raises (12-10-8) which I know have nothing to do with glutes but I hadn't done them in a while so I figured, "why not"? Then I moved on to plie squats (3 sets of 8) with two 15-lb dumbells held between my legs. I probably should have added the heel-raises from my photo shoot but like I said, L-A-Z-Y! The other moves on the card included standing leg kick-backs with a cable attached to your lifted leg as well as lying leg raises where you lie on your stomach on a flat/wide bench and just lift your legs enough to squeeze your glutes but we don't have a bench like depicted in the magazine at World's (or Planet for that matter) and this majorly creepy old man who I try my best to avoid was hanging around the cables so I opted to avoid that area today.
Moving on to abs I did tee-pees (3 sets of 8), kneeling on the ball in between sets, and 4 sets of 30 stability ball crunches (2 sets forward and 2 sets side-to-side), doing v-sits on the ball in between sets. Overall, I guess it wasn't really the glute-focused workout I had intended but at least it was a well-rounded routine. Maybe when I turn on The Biggest Loser finale in a few moments here I'll get back some of my lost motivation and bust some real ass in the gym tomorrow!
I've been feeling like my workouts are so routine lately that I need to start incorporating some new moves before I hit a serious plateau. Thus, I decided to write down the three major workouts displayed in last month's issue of Muscle & Fitness Hers on note cards to take with me to the gym this week. Yesterday I did an upper body workout (back/chest/bis tris/shoulders) which consisted of all moves I would normally do but with reverse grips on every one of them. Unfortunately I'm not really sore today like I thought I would be but at least it was something different! The one I did not enjoy very much was the reverse grip bicep curl (both barbell and preacher). It just felt very awkward and straining but I guess that probably means I should do it more often!
Today's workout was a glute routine. I didn't follow the card exactly because a) I wanted to incorporate some ab moves, b) I was being super lazy, and c) I totally wore the wrong shorts for a glue routine! I started with 3 sets of 8 on the standing glute press machine. The routine called for bent-over glute presses (sans weights) but I don't really feel anything from those so I switched it up. Next I threw in standing calf-raises (12-10-8) which I know have nothing to do with glutes but I hadn't done them in a while so I figured, "why not"? Then I moved on to plie squats (3 sets of 8) with two 15-lb dumbells held between my legs. I probably should have added the heel-raises from my photo shoot but like I said, L-A-Z-Y! The other moves on the card included standing leg kick-backs with a cable attached to your lifted leg as well as lying leg raises where you lie on your stomach on a flat/wide bench and just lift your legs enough to squeeze your glutes but we don't have a bench like depicted in the magazine at World's (or Planet for that matter) and this majorly creepy old man who I try my best to avoid was hanging around the cables so I opted to avoid that area today.
Moving on to abs I did tee-pees (3 sets of 8), kneeling on the ball in between sets, and 4 sets of 30 stability ball crunches (2 sets forward and 2 sets side-to-side), doing v-sits on the ball in between sets. Overall, I guess it wasn't really the glute-focused workout I had intended but at least it was a well-rounded routine. Maybe when I turn on The Biggest Loser finale in a few moments here I'll get back some of my lost motivation and bust some real ass in the gym tomorrow!
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