Spartan Ready.... and some workouts.

This week has been FULL of good workouts. I'm pretty beat, but I love when I can get a good sweat in...

Monday's workout: 
On a football field -
Jog 90 yards, full sprint 10
Jog 80 yards, full sprint 20

Jog 70 yards, full sprint 30

Jog 60 yards, full sprint 40

Jog 50 yards, full sprint 50

Jog 40 yards, full sprint 60

Jog 30 yards, full sprint 70

Jog 20 yards, full sprint 80

Jog 10 yards, full sprint 90

Full sprint 100 yards

100 yard slow jog for cool down.

Tuesday's workout: 

Squats

Lunges

Single leg deadlifts

some ab work

TONS of Stretching. (major soreness from the sprints)

Wednesday's workout: "Full Body Workout"

Warm Up:

1 – 2 mile run

Main Set:

10 body weight squats

10 squat w/ dumbbell press

20 walking lunges w/ weight (10 each side)

5 burpees

10 overhead tricep press

30 seconds squat jumps

10 dumbbell bench rows each arm

10 sumo deadlift high pull

5 burpees

10 dumbbell bench press

10 machine rows

10 machine pull-downs

Side plank dumbbell lift (10 each side)

5 burpees

REPEAT 2 times

Today's workout: LEG DAY

Warm Up:

1 – 2 mile run

1 gym lap high-kicks

30 seconds high knees

30 seconds butt kicks

Main Set:

20 body weight squats

25’ Spiderman crawl

20 step-ups w/ lunge down (10 each side)

5 burpees

Weighted squats
(Pyramid 10x: 10lb, 15lb, 20lb, 25lb etc.)

Walking lunges (body weight)

Weighted Deadlifts
(Pyramid 10x: 10lb, 15lb, 20lb, 25lb etc.)

5 burpees

10 good mornings

20 One-leg deadlifts (10 each leg)

20 weighted donkey kicks (10 each leg) 

REPEAT 2 times

ANNNNNNDDD I'm spent!!

I've been training like a mad woman to prepare for my first Spartan Sprint. Never heard of it? Well, it's this 5k obstacle course thats military inspired - and let me tell you, these obstacles do not look easy. I'm honestly a little nervous about a few of them... and the 30 burpee penalties for any obstacle you can't complete. I see a few sets of burpees in my future...

But, it's a challenge and thats exactly what I'm looking for. I've gotten all of my workouts done for the week, and now it's time for 2 days of complete rest and stretching to get ready for this race. 

I don't know how much more "ready" I could possibly be. 

I'm feeling pretty strong these days.

Dave is doing the 8 mile race on Saturday, the day before I race. I gotta admit I'm pretty proud of this kid. An 8 mile obstacle course is no joke. He's trying to complete all 3 races: The 4 miler, the 8 miler and the 12 miler -  If you complete all 3 in a calendar year you get a TRIFECTA medal for being a badass. I'm gonna see how this 4 miler goes on Sunday and see if I want to be that cool, or if I just want to let Dave have all the glory.

Have you ever done a Spartan Race? Does anyone else out there LOVE mud runs as much as I do?

Thanksgiving weekend, workouts and a Frenchie

This weekend went by in a blur and I realized it had been way too long since my last post. My main goal this past weekend was to not focus the weekend too much around food, rather, focus the weekend on working out and getting things done.

On Thanksgiving Day, Dave and I got up early to run the Arroyo Verde hiking trail just a few miles away from our house. These photos were taken after the 4 mile run with our little fur-child, Phoebe. Below the trails is this beautiful little park. After our runs I always just want to lay down on a blanket in this park and take a long nap. 

We ate with my family later that afternoon at my Grandparents. Thanksgiving isn't the tradition it used to be because my grandparents aren't very mobile anymore, so we visit them in their retirement community, and it is usually over no later than 2:00 - which is always a little bit of a letdown. You know, since nothing is open on Thanksgiving, so there isn't much else for us to do. But we did enjoy a bottle of wine and some Lord Of The Rings.... I had never seen it, and Dave was appalled, so we watch it. Haha.

Friday morning (Black Friday) I decided to forgo the shopping experience and went to a 7:00 am boxing class at the (new) gym. Damn I love that class. It kicks your butt. Definitely worth getting up and going to. I need to remember that. 

 Olive was just being extra cute this weekend so I thought I'd post some photos of her squishy mug on here. In this photo she was very serious about me getting out of bed to feed her. Googly eyes and all. Girl loves her food. Hmmmmm I wonder where she got that from?

Later on Friday we decided to put up our Christmas decorations. Mostly the tree and the outdoor lights. I do love my little tree - covered in pinks and blues and starbucks cups and owls... It's my favorite night light. I wish I could keep it up for longer than a month.

 Olive and Phoebe were very curious about what the heck we were hanging on the house.

Saturday my parents held a non-formal Thanksgiving feast at their house. It was delicious, but again, I took no photos of the food. I guess I was really serious about not focusing too much on food that weekend. We did, however, get another workout in before the last feast of the weekend. My brother Shane invited us on a little hike up the trail behind my parents' house in Ojai. It was only a couple of miles but it definitely helped with all the food we had eaten over the weekend. It was also very special because I hadn't gone on this trail since I was in junior high, so there were lots of memories on this trail. Sometime soon Dave and I have agreed to do the FULL day hike to the top of the Topa Topa mountain (the top of the mountain in the photo below - I've heard its a cray hike but totally worth it)

And then Sunday was just another day of getting groceries and things in order for the week ahead. That concludes our crazy Thanksgiving weekend! I truly enjoyed the time off and all of the time we spent on exercise and getting outdoors. It was a great weekend.

My afternoon spot: Arroyo Verde Park

On occasion, when I am unable to work out on my lunch break, I'll make a pit stop at one of my favorite little places for a quick hike: Arroyo Verde Park. It's a quick 2 mile dirt trail loop around a beautiful park. You get a few ocean views and a good sweat going - especially if you run it.

I started out walking it, walking it twice, then running one loop. I'm still working on the bigger hills, which I still have to break down and walk a little bit, but I'm running almost 80% of the loop in 28 minutes, with a 410 ft incline. Not too shabby.

Afterwards I usually do a few burpees, squats, mountain climbers and pushups on the grass just before the entrance. It's a perfect little workout for those days where you need a little break from the gym life.

Personal goal: To be able to run TWO loops with minimal walking!