August 28, 2014

Ballet Class Recap: August Slump

It’s been a bit of a rough couple of weeks. I’ve decided to pass on running the Philly 10K, since there’s no way we can be ready on  time. While I’m pretty disappointed that it feels like I’m giving up (again)–I’m still glad that I’m making the right decision for my health. There is always next year.

Instead, I’ll be doing my favorite local 5K from last year at the end of September, which will benefit a group that runs with shelter dogs. I’m excited. So far, running without the pressure of trying to greatly increase my mileage has been going really well.

I feel like I haven’t consistently made it to ballet class consistently with vacation, moving and work (as well as lack of sleep) — although I’ve made it to at least one last class in the past three weeks. This past week I made it to two, thanks to some friends from class who texted me to get moving and get to class.  I’ve been a little frustrated with how I’ve done in class (especially with jumping) but I’m hoping once summer is over and I’m more regularly in class things will be going better.

How has your August been?

Filed Under: Ballet Class Recap Tagged With: , , , 1 Comment
July 1, 2014

Let Training for the Philly 10K Begin! @thephilly10k

I’m not going to lie–HQ and I haven’t been running in about three weeks–and 10K training (for the Philly 10K I wrote about a couple months ago) has kind of crept up on us. I was kind of oblivious to the fact that it was almost time to train until I saw a post from Be Well Philly featuring a 10-Week plan for the 10K–and it clicked that we should probably get moving if this race was going to happen.

I’ve never prepared for a 10K before and I wasn’t sure where to start.  I considered going with the plan provided by the Philly 10K and Be Well Philly, but it seemed a little intense–so I went looking for a plan that was a little bit easier that would be more on my level. I discovered Women’s Health Beginner 10K plan.

What I think I’ll enjoy most about this plan is that the easy days are all by time–this way I don’t have to worry about how far I’m running in the mornings–just how much time it’s going to take me. I’m hoping this will help me get up earlier, too.

We’re going to start training now–even though the plan is only 7 weeks–in order to allow for a few hiccups that may happen along the road.

 What training plan do you usually use for your races?

 

Filed Under: Ballet, Running Tagged With: , , , Leave a Comment
May 13, 2014

Getting Back into Running + The Philly 10k

 

philly10kUp until the past two weeks, HQ and I haven’t been doing much running, even before the hot chocolate 5K. Now that it’s finally starting to warm up, we’ve started to run a bit more. Although I’ve already dealt with some issues like tight calves (and running in the wrong shoes), running seems to be going relatively well for us only being two weeks back into it.

It’s felt like I’ve been running really slow lately–I keep forgetting that I haven’t been running that long and it’s going to take a while to get back to where I was before I stopped last September. It’s been something that’s been really tough to do, and I usually end up pushing myself too hard. I’m debating doing couch to 5k again (or some other sort of interval series) so that I can do a better job of making sure I don’t push myself too hard, even though I’ve yet to stick to the program for more then a few weeks. Any suggestions for doing so would be greatly appreciated!

The reason we returned to running so late was partially due to me trying to take it easy post-stress fracture as well as lack of motivation. I think to solve this motivation issue, I’m going to try and find a 5K for mid-summer (around the time I’d be finishing C25K) and then start 10K training for the Philly 10K.

I’m excited for the Philly 10K for a few reasons:

  • motivation for HQ and I to finally get past the 5K distance and actually train
  • running through the city vs the river trail
  • supporting Philadelphia Runner (one of my favorite stores)
  • awesome shake shack with cannolis and free beer

Now I just need to find a 5K for the summer. If you’ve got any suggestions for 5Ks in the area–let me know!

Filed Under: Blog, Running Tagged With: , , Leave a Comment
May 6, 2014

Avoiding the After-Work Workout Slump #teamX2

I’ve never dealt well with late afternoon or evening workouts. When I was a kid—my body never seemed to take after school or night swim practices very well—I was always more sluggish and slow whenever I exercised later in the day.

I’ve adjusted to night ballet classes somewhat and usually can handle them somewhat decently. However, I always feel slightly more sluggish during a night class (especially a late night class) versus a morning class. My nighttime runs nowadays always seem more sluggish then my morning ones do. Unfortunately, HQ and my schedules don’t always align super well and that usually means we’re running later in the day(someone please give me tips on how we can become better early risers and wake up and run).

Disclaimer: I’m a #TeamX2 blogger and excited to work with X2 Performance in a paid campaign to help me achieve my fitness goals.All opinions are my own.. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease.

I mentioned in my introductory post about X2 Performance that I’m not a huge supplement person. Sure, I take a few vitamins (a multi-vitamin and calcium and vitamin D supplement)—but that’s about it. I’ve taken shot bloks with caffeine and salt before to help pre-post ballet class or run, as well.

Continue Reading

Filed Under: Ballet, Reviews, Running Tagged With: , , , , 3 Comments
May 5, 2014

Ballet Class Recap: Headaches and Busy Saturday Classes

I failed in my goal for the week of making it to two classes, and I only ended up making Saturday morning’s class, which I hadn’t been to in a while.

Here’s why: Thursday usually HQ either meets me at the subway or by the studio when he gets out of work so I don’t have to walk home by myself. However, this week he had to work late, so I didn’t go.

We were prepared to go on Friday, but I ended up with a pretty painful headache all afternoon (and into the time ballet class started) and instead decided to go out for a run later in the evening.

HQ and I instead went to ballet class on Saturday morning which was packed with 19 people in a relatively tiny studio. Apparently everyone else failed to make it to the earlier classes in the week (there were only 2-3 people in each of the classes) and instead decided to come to class Saturday.

Barre went fine, other than the fact that my brain got a little bit scrambled on some of the more difficult combinations. Center, however, was kind of a mess. I made it through the first easy combination no problem, but I failed at most of the across the floor combinations, partially because it was somewhat difficult to see what was being demonstrated as well as to mark out the moves–especially during a turn sequence where I ended up doing turns to the wrong direction at first.

Overall it wasn’t a horrible class even though I was really disappointed with how center went. My leg seems to be doing a lot better (thank you, calf raises). But in the future, I’ll be trying a little bit harder to make sure I make it to Thursday and Friday classes.

 

Filed Under: Ballet, Ballet Class Recap, Blog Tagged With: , , , 1 Comment