Home Gym

I have been working on building my home gym little by little over the winter. Eventually I hope to be able to save money on my gym membership by just putting it on hold during the summer. When I get a treadmill to get me though the winters, I hope to cancel it completely.

A must for my work outs from home are a set of free weights. I asked for 5lb, 8lb, and 10lb weights. The 5lb ones I use more for balance exercises like star poses or side planks. The 8lb ones I use for bicep curls and over head presses. The 10lb weights I like for chest presses and days I am feeling really strong.

I also got a 8lb Danskin toning ball. It is filled with sand and is squishy, so it is easy to grip. The ball also works really well for balance exercises or things like leg lifts, since it is easier to hold in place than a free weight and smaller than a medicine ball. I also use it in place of my medicine ball on occasion for ab work outs.

My favorite piece of equipment is the Bosu. I bought the pro version because they home version has mixed reviews on the quality. I figured it is worth the extra 50 dollars. The Bosu adds the extra challenge I need while lifting. It also helps work my core at the same time since I am forced to balance. It makes me engage my abs so I make sure to protect my back. I use it most for legs, but it can be used for a ton of exercises.

I also have two medicine balls, a 10lb for H and a 6lb one for me. I like medicine balls if I am working out with H or for ab exercises. They are great for bouncing too, but I have yet to work out at home on a surface that really lends to that type of pounding.

H also has two 30lb dumbbells. I do not touch those. Someday I might add a extra heavy kettlebell to my set of weights, but it isn't a priority right now. I have enough to get me by. Kettlebells are pretty expensive, but great for a core work out. They really work different muscles than a regular weight would. I still have my gym membership, so if I really want to use one I'll go there.

Horray for home work outs!



My home gym



Run Fail

This week has been a really crazy week for me to get things done. I feel like I am sprinting everywhere. Even now as I write this I have to head to the gym for class in four minutes, but I am taking the time to get this blog post started so I can post it for my loyal fans. I really need to post more photos for you guys. This is one of my goals in the upcoming year. Once I get a new cell phone, with better picture resolution, hopefully it will get easier.

Lets start out with the failures this week. I wanted to do an eight mile run this past week end on Sunday, but went out late with friends Saturday night. I also had plans to watch football with friends on Sunday so I didn't have much time to squeeze in a run. Turns out I slept in too late and only had time for a four miler. Sleep = more important than running (most of the time, and since I slept so long I think I really needed it). I did five miles on the treadmill the next day as my punishment. It was not fun, but I did it. One of my good friends told me five mile on the treadmill equals 15 miles outside. I like that math.

My eating habits have been okay. My thought process is I am never on a diet. I just try to eat as healthy as I can in any given situation. Football has had a big impact in my eating too. We had pizza on Sunday for lunch. I made an effort to fill up on the fresh fruit that was also there before I went for the pizza. When we went out for dinner the same night I got a veggie burger (which I have fallen in love with again since last fall) instead of a real one. I did not drink any beer, but did have rum with Coke Zero (and two cocktails the night before). It could have been worse and I am not officially training for a race right now, so in my mind the little extra indulgences are okay.

Even though I am feeling slightly disappointed about the past week, I did do some things well. I worked out five days in a row. I could have easily skipped a work out. I don't like to do that many work outs back to back. I find I have higher quality work outs if I have a rest day after two or three days, but my schedule didn't allow it.

My runs did go pretty well. I was able to do that five miles on the treadmill, even though it felt like torture (my heart rate got up to 191!). I did a four mile run that goes up and down hill most of the time (300ft elevation). Usually on the up hill portions my pace is in the upper 10 minute or lower 11 minute mile range. I stayed under 10 minutes the entire time. During my interval training on Tuesday I was easily able to stay at a 9 minute mile pace. Granted I probably should have speed up, but at this point I was happy to even be doing it. I think I should be able to make my 9 minute mile pace goal for my 5k I have coming up in two and a half weeks.

Overall my pace is getting faster and I can tell I have been pushing myself since my heart rate is getting so high. Here is to a week of some quality training (and the next two days off!).

Thursday - Rest
Friday - Rest
Saturday - 3m run (weights too if I have time)
Sunday - 9m run
Monday - off
Tuesday - Intervals on the treadmill, 3.5 miles
Wednesday - Gravity and Elliptical for a warm up

Amazon Store Launched

I am really impressed with Amazon.com these days. There are often times when I link to items in this blog and think of how nice it is for me to give free publicity to their products. Amazon has launched a feature called Amazon Associates. It works where I can link to a product in my blog. When a reader clicks on the link it takes you to my store at Amazon.com to buy the product. In the interest of full disclosure, if you buy the product I get a very small commission on the sale. Cool huh? The hyperlink to my amazon store is on the right hand side of the page. There is not much in it now, but I plan to add more as I think of stuff. There are just a few of my favorite items in there now and some things I have talked about on the blog here already. I am not too tech savvy so it may take me some time to make it look "pretty". I will do my best.

Races for 2011 so far

I just signed up for my first two races this year. The first one is going to be the Valentine's Day Dash 5k around Greenlake in Seattle. The second race is the Seahawks 12k in Renton Landing.

This will be my first 5k race and my first Valentine's Day Dash. I am shooting for just under a nine minute mile pace.

Last year at Seahawks I my time was 1:13:19. That is a time I am really proud of. I think it worked out to be about a 9:33 pace per mile. I am hoping I can repeat that, but it is pretty far off.

I am starting to pick up mileage a little bit again. I am mostly just lengthening my week day runs to have the shortest be 4 miles instead of 3 miles. I am still doing a maximum of nine miles on the weekend.

Planned training for the rest of the week:

Saturday - Long Run (8 miles) or 4 miles and cross train (depending on weather)
Sunday - What ever I didn't do Saturday
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - 4 to 5 miles
Wednesday - Gravity with my favorite trainer and elliptical to warm-up
Thursday - 4 mile treadmill intervals (1 mile warm up, .5 mile at 8:30 pace, .25 at half marathon pace, repeat, .5 mile cool down)
Friday - Rest