I had 3 people to cheer for in this race. My two oldest running buddies, Mark and Tom, were running the half and full marathons respectively. And lastly, my boyfriend Bret was running the marathon for the second time.
Hello! I hope you had an enjoyable weekend and a Happy Veteran’s Day. My weekend was jam-packed full of fun and included well-needed days of rest since I had some pretty intense workouts every day from Monday to Friday.
Just a few highlights from the weekend:
Friday: My boyfriend’s birthday bash! We had excellent Thai dinner at Trio with friends, classy drinks at Lemon Hill, and then celebrated at home with carrot cake (his favorite) and more drinks with more friends. He was so surprised and loved everything!
“Chicken and Waffles” special at Trio!
Saturday: Homecoming Weekend at the University of Pennsylvania, my alma mater. Best of all was the Penn vs. Temple basketball game in the historic Palestra. We didn’t win, but it was a hell of a game!
Bill Cosby performed after the Penn/Temple game!
Sunday: Justin Timberlake concert!! Bought the tickets months in advance and had great seats. I was an *NYSNC fan back in the day but I’ve never seen Justin live…we had a great time!
Justin Timberlake concert!
But back to fitness, last week was great because my favorite Boot Camp class started! Boot Camp is a fitness program offered by my company every Tuesday and Thursday for one intense hour! Thanks to the essay I wrote for my company’s Wellness Contest, I get to take the entire 10 week session for free!
So what do we actually do in Boot Camp? Get our butts kicked in a variety of ways! We focus on the core but work the entire body. Every time the class is offered, new things are added, but here are a few of the things we do:
Standing abs (5 on each side, 50 sets according to my buddy!)
V ups to sits ups (1-3 sets of 25)
Pushups and variations (3 sets of 10 or 20)
Squats and Sumos (3 sets of 10)
Reverse Lunges with or without weights (3 sets of 10 on each leg)
The instructor for Boot Camp is Russell Burke, and he’s awesome! Over 60 years old and has the energy of a 20-year-old, he’s a great motivator/drill sergeant! Everything moves so fast and it’s pretty much impossible to keep up with Russ, but no matter your pace, you will see benefits as it gets easier and you get stronger!
After Tuesday I was SO sore and still had to endure two more days of Physical Therapy and another session of Boot Camp. Thankfully, Thursday was much easier because we used weights and were less cardio intensive. Before getting injured, I used to be comfortable with 7-pound hand weights, but I didn’t want to overexert myself and worked with 5’s. The funny thing was that for most of the exercises, 5 pound weights were too easy for me. So it looks like I’m in pretty good shape thanks to Physical Therapy!
Here I am after last Thursday’s workout…not nearly as beat as Tuesday but feeling great!
Boot Camp Class finished!
I am a big proponent of strength training as a runner, so Boot Camp always fits very well with my training goals. Of course I’m not signed up for any races yet, but this class will help keep me strong, especially since my last day of Physical Therapy is tomorrow! I’m really glad that he’s incorporating more dynamic stretching during the workout. We seem to be focusing more on the hips too, which is still a weak point for me.
I look forward to the next couple of months! Have you done Boot Camp? What’s your favorite workout (besides running)?
What a busy week it’s been! There has been a LOT going on, in the real world, and the blogging world. I haven’t posted in awhile because I’ve been keeping my head down the past few days and working on making Run With No Regrets the best it can be!
First the real world stuff: I had a crazy busy week of working out! I had physical therapy on Monday, Wednesday and Friday after work, Core and More (cardio kickboxing) Class on Wednesday during lunch, and Boot Camp on Tuesday and Thursday. I’m sooo sore now…Boot Camp day especially kicked my butt! I’ll be writing all about it very soon!
Next, I have joined the Running Bloggers network! And there’s now a pretty badge on this page.
This is a way for me to really get Run With No Regrets on the map! I’ve found some great running blogs to follow thanks to the site, and now I’m hoping others will find me since that I’m affiliated with the Running Bloggers!
I have also joined Instagram! Follow me at runwithnoregrets! If you look on the sidebar, you should see the photos I’ve taken so far. I haven’t posted anything exciting yet, just a couple of my breakfasts and a look inside my typical workouts. I plan to use Instagram to promote the blog, and I’ll be using the hashtag #RWNR. Thanks to my sis for the suggestion!
Lastly, I’m so excited that I won a Giveaway for Energy Bits from one of my favorite blogs, Life’s Philsophie! Thanks Sophie!! They haven’t come in the mail yet, but when they do, I’ll be sure to tell you how I like them!
It’s my first Fitness Friday linkup too! So happy to be here and looking forward to meeting new people! Thanks to everyone who has dropped by to read the blog, and thanks for all the Blog Lovin’!
Are you on Instagram? What types of fitness-related pages do you follow? How do you handle working out 5 days in a row? Let me know with a comment!
After all of the issues I’ve had with running shoes over the past year, I keep thinking that if I can just get my running form correct, everything will fall into place.
So I’ve finally been able to get my running gait analyzed by a professional! Kim, my physical therapist, set me up to participate in a gait analysis session at Novacare as part of a lecture being held by Mr. Tracy Peal of Tracy Peal Speed. He is an expert on biomechanics and provides coaching to all kinds of athletes.
