The past week has gone by fast and I had the pleasure of visiting Seattle for a few days with fellow Brooks athletes and coaches. Weather in Seattle was much warmer than I expected but about 15-18 degrees cooler than here so I tried to enjoy it. We had a great time going to meetings at the Brooks Headquarters, meeting Brooks employees, getting a preview of future Brooks products and giving feedback on shoes, apparel and also going running together. The highlight of the footwear meeting was seeing a new cross country flat that will likely be coming out in the fall of 2011 that has leopard print all over it!!(*&&^%$!!! AHHH I am so excited…for those of you who know me well, you completely understand why this couldn’t fit me any more perfectly ☺
I enjoyed walking around downtown Seattle, going to the farmers market at Pike Place Market, seeing the original Starbucks store (even though I’m not a huge fan of the company), and there was a line down the street to go in the place!, meeting with my friend who lives in Seattle, seeing my cousin and last but not least going for a great, peaceful run along the beautiful water early in the morning on the day I left. We also had a ton of fun at the Yankees/Mariners game on Friday night in our own huge suite with food and drinks. I’m grateful I had the opportunity to go to Seattle and meet some nice people and learn more about one of the companies I represent.
Running and training has been a little rocky lately but overall I’m still doing well. My body seems to get achy in weird areas and I have no clue why. It may just be my body working out the kinks and everything from the many weeks off and now that I’m running a decent amount again, little things are bothering me. I’m taking care of things that pop up and hopefully with help from Endurance Rehab and being diligent in what I do at home, I can stay healthy.
I modified my core routine I have been doing for the past few months because I was getting really burned out on it. I also felt I was doing a lot more than necessary, so I condensed it into one main routine that takes about an hour. I think it will be a good change even if it’s brief. It’s always good to keep evolving and learning about new things to benefit your training and fitness.
10 more days until the vacation I’ve been waiting for…for many many months ☺…CABO SAN LUCAS, MEXICO with my girls from college!!! ☺
Quote for today: ”To achieve happiness, we should make certain that we are never without an important goal”- Earl Nightingale
Would you mind sharing what your core routine is made up of?
ReplyDeleteHey Christina,
ReplyDeleteyes sure I don't mind sharing...beware, this might be kinda lengthy...I do a variety of things but most are Pilates based, not lifting heavy weights and everything. I do the plank position in different ways: with both arms under my shoulders on both feet for two minutes and then on my side on my bent arm and then in the T position on my hand (both of those are 30 seconds each on each side). I also do V-ups, bicycle crunches (slowly), side to side leg movement with a med ball between my knees while laying on my back and knees bent holding the ball. I do hip leg lifts with ankle weights strapped around each ankle: I do this standing on one leg while leaving the other in a 90 degree bend and bring it up so my leg is parallel with the ground, about 20 each leg. I do wrap around ankle touches while balancing on one leg, one legged squats with no extra weight. Pikes on an exercise ball, one legged hamstring curls on an exercise ball, reverse crunches, hip hikes on a stair or curb, one legged drive throughs to get up on the ball of your foot and practice that final push phase of running. Clams with an elastic band above your knee area (focuses on gluteus medius muscles). Overhead med ball lifts to toes with legs outstretched in front of you. Roll ups to the sky (like a reverse crunch but start with laying on your back, legs straight and not touching the ground-gotta make sure you pull your spine to the floor and not let your lower back arch- and then bend and pull your legs toward your chest and in a controlled manner thrust your legs straight into the sky and roll back down and do again without your feet touching the ground) If you don't understand this one you might want to look for it online..it's a great workout! Butterfly crunches- feet in a butterfly position and look at ceiling while crunching up slowly. Side crunch on an exercise ball with feet bracing yourself against a wall/baseboard, etc.
I hope this helps Christina..I am probably going to try and make a short video with my camera showing each exercise that I do really briefly, and post it to my blog. You will probably see it up within the next week, two at the most..thanks for your support and reading my blog :)
Sally
Thanks for all the detail. I will pick a couple and work on incorporating them into what I do (although not consistently.) I'll look forward to seeing your video's.
ReplyDeleteI see you ran a 17:09 and won today. Nice job. I forgot you'd be there otherwise I would have looked for you at the start. You'd be my celebrity sighting. I was hot (poor excuse), my Garmin was broken (poorer excuse)and I went out too fast (typical for me).