Baby it's cold outside, woke up this morning to 9 degree with a gusting wind making it feel like -16 but thankfully the predicted heavy snowfall didn't happen. Happy MLK day, I did have to go to work but limited traffic since most places were close.

On schedule today was Cathe XtrainTabatacise, this is none stop heart pumping plyo from start to finish, I still believe the first 2 rounds are the hardest, by the time you get to 3- 5 that are somewhat easier you are spent and feel miserable, oh yes bring on the recovery, what step blast, funny they did help push the misery out of the legs.



I have been lacking in my easy run and mileage is no where near where they should be, so even thou I wasn't feeling I decided to just go ahead and walk for time on my feet. Mile 2 I changed to 1/2 mile walking and half mile running, increasing both paces, before I know it 6 miles done and I felt great. 6 weeks to New Orleans and this is the least prepared I have ever been.

Contemplating running the Buzzard 50k, did the 25k last year, it was cold, icy and a complete mud fest but oh so much fun when I thaw out anyway.

This is a recovery at least by my standard, all that was on the schedule today was Xtrain Hard Strikes, trust me there is nor easy about this workout and this is also the workout that works my ankle the most due to all the none stop bouncing and jumping jacks. The conditioning then kills my shoulder, the whole clocks in about 46mins a great effective workout.



Temps got up to almost 50 today and currently raining, I think am going to skip hill repeat tomorrow and get some decent long run in or I may change my mind, did go long last week, really suppose to do hills, I wonder how muddy the trail will be.

Today was a spring out of bed, love days like this, today I experimented with making dinner while working out instead of after work or in the crock pot,  so before heading to the basement put a couple of pork chops with cream of chicken and onion soup mix in the oven, it was actually done but the time I finished working out.

Today's workout was Cathe's Xtrain Supercut, this is one of those energizer bunny workout, barely a rest period and mostly compound moves, I do love it thou since you workout every pesky little muscle, I think one of my favorite move is the using the gliding disc to do burpee to jack pushups. I did a time saver workout which clocks in at 26mins.



For Cardio I did a newer Studio Sweat Spinning off of Youtube, love the music and energy of this workout.



Today I wasn't feeling any yin yoga workout started out with 2 but ended up just doing my own thing for 30mins, mainly because I knew what was tight and what I wanted to work on.

Still working on cleaning up the diet, I know this is going to be a challenge for some reason this year, not eating junk just can't stop eating.

Great workout combo today with Cathe Xtrain Cardio Leg Blast and Coach Troy Runerval 7.0 Workout B, the speed and tempo for this week will be a repeat of last week to gauge improvement.

I did the first 5 rounds of Cardio Legs Blast + core #2, I feel the shortened workout are more than adequate for me, I do prefer all the workout to be around 30 mins, minimal chatter, straight and to the point, this with the core workout clocks in at 46mins perfect. I can definitely feel some residual hot spot on my legs from the long run but once thoroughly warmed it felt much better.

Last week when I did Runerval 7.0 workout B which is a 5x90secs ON with 2.5mins of recovery, I felt even though I was able to hold the 5k pace with good form I was having to walk a long time to recover so not sure how effective that was, today tried a different approach, HM pace 6.4mph@2% grade for the first 60mins then 5k for the last 30 secs walk the first couple of mins for recovery and be back up to base pace 5.5mph right away. For the last round I did 30secs @HM pace then last 60secs @5k pace.

Last week, did this 30mins workout and ran 2.67 miles (11:13 avg pace) this week 2.74 mile (10:58 avg pace) the goal fro me is to be able to run the HM to 5K and still recover at base pace instaed of walking pace and get closer to 10 min/mile.

Great night sleep last night and I woke up only 30 mins before my alarm had to go off, but then my body/brain had this reasoning of missing 30  mins of sleep so getting out of bed didn't happen as should have been but making progress.

My spin bike came in yesterday and I just had to put it together so as to be able to use it today, it ended up being a great deal, it did get lots of great review on Amazon and the price was very good considering, I have had the original Johnny G Bike for over 10 years now and since I have been unable to find the right replacement parts to be able to adjust the tension it was time to move on. This ended up being a great buy, with tax and everything it came to $287, sold my old bike for $50, my company will pay half ($143.5) as part of our fitness program and I got $14 back from ebates so my total our of pocket will be $79.50. I was drooling over the Peloton but that is no where in the budget.

The bike was super easy to put together probably took longer to get all the wrapping and taping off, attach legs, pedals, handle bar and seat that's it, making in one big piece.

Workout this morning was Cathe's Xtrain Chest Back and Shoulder which I did a time saver for 36mins instead of 51mins then I hopped on the bike and did 30mins with Global Cycling Network, it felt great to be able to adjust the tension and get in a most better spin.

First work day of 2016 and of cause Mother Nature with her sense of humor thought this was a good day for some snow and very cold temps, grateful to be alive so no complains.

Haven't been out of work for more than 2 weeks, going to bed when I want and getting up when the mood strike today was interesting. Alarm was set for 4:30am, and I did go to bed early but didn't really fall asleep until about 1130pm, which means a 4:30am alarm was a very rude awakening, it took a couple of seconds to figure out what the sound was which I did turn off and promptly fell back asleep, only to wake up at 5:30am, after morning bible study and prayers, made it to the basement with only about 50mins to workout sine my goal this year is to start getting to work about 8am with an eventual goal of 7:30am.

Am hoping with getting off work by 4pm, I will have some time to work on my side hustle before having to head home or work on jewelry making when I get home, most of this does mean limiting social media time unless it has something to do with side hustle
, too many big goals this year and no point waiting time online.

With the limited workout time, I did Xtrain Bis and Tris Time saver for 26mins and then jump on the treadmill for 2 miles easy run, it's going to take a while to figure out how to fit everything in but as long as I am getting the quality runs (speed - Tuesday, Tempo-Thursday and Long/Hill Repeats - Saturday) in I will be happy, I figure out all the extra runs, yoga, strength and cross training should make me well rounded.

Recovery rest day today, at least that was what I thought it was suppose to be but on the schedule I had Xtrain Legs and 30 mins HIIT Spin with a rest day from running, woohoo better than nothing I guess.

Xtrain Legs what can I say, this probably wasn't the best of ideas since tomorrow is a hard run, every muscle in my booty hurts, even while spinning I could feel them and had to keep getting off the saddle. 52 mins of pure torture, standing, then ball/chair to end up finishing with floor work by the time I got down to the floor every part of my legs hurt and I cut my coat according to my size by sticking to a 5# weight for the last round of floor work, even with that it took even ounce of determination not to drop the weight and just use body weight, felt good to be done, the stretch was very thorough and earned. 



For the spin hiit I use another Global Cycling Network workout, this is a newer one just done in November, I think I like the music in the other one better but this was still a great workout, also cyclist are on trainers instead of spin bike, I think I will prefer Coach for trainer torture.



With Ingrid Romero having a 45% sale on Edge Booty 1 & 2, I decided to give it a go with hope of achieving a well rounded bum by the end of the year, will keep you updated, with a $10 credit about to expire at The Clymb picked up Hoka Challenger ATR which was on clearance at least the credit covers the shipping.

Only thing left to buy is a spin bike tomorrow, since my job will pay for half of it and I have my old one on Craig's list for a ridiculous pricejust to giveaway instead of putting it in the dumpster since it is still usable for most people

 Back from vacationing in Florida and after just about a week off from working out except for a day of elliptical/Strength (nice 2 hour combo) and a day of Yin Yoga did nothing but sleep and eat. With Rock and Roll New Orleans now around the corner time to get back at it, am off the whole week so that should help.

 Since I am still on vacation, I did sleep in and after a nice cup of coffee got the workout done.

Today I started Cathe's  Ripped With HIIT/Xtrain Rotation, which of cause started off with Xtrain Hard Strikes I could feel every roll jingle during those jumping jacks then those dreaded situp/pushup combo just about killed me I was one whole set behind Cathe but got it done.




Then 25 mins of HIIT Spinning using Global Cycling Network program, love the music and structure of program, hard and short.



Finish it all of with a morning yoga from The Cexercise Trinity which I assume was going to be gentle but it wasn't, it was nice thou and I made it through the whole 15 mins, love the flow and sequencing.






At 5:45pm putting my big girl panties on since it was 37 degrees, windy and raining I met up with the BGR Motivation Monday group and did 5+ miles.

Tomorrow is another day, make it a great one.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone , hope it was a great one spent with family and friends. had a great time with my Sister and her Family, it was wonderful spending the day with them since the last time was 2011, normally out of town with my Husband's family.

The day went pretty good and the eating wasn't too bad and we got a decent amount of workout in, the weather was beautiful which made it easy to get out and get a run in. Woke up got the turkey going in the oven and the mean greens going on the stove and went out for a 5 mile run, I felt really good on this run and decided on a progressive run, I dressed way too warm and was burning up by the end of the first mile but the blowing wind kept the chill on in some areas.

The plan was to do 5 miles by mile 4 I was running straight into the wind and the deal was if I can make it back to under 10 min/mile once I make the turn away from the wind I can run home and not worry about getting to 5 miles, did mile 4 @ 10:09 and mile 5 @ 9:34 so call it done at 4.8 miles, although I probably did 5 miles since I started my GPS later in my run due to no signal.

Got back home peeled and put potato on stove and sweet potato in the oven and went over to the basement to get in Xtrain Cardio Legs due to time and I was also getting tired, decided on the Timesaver Workout 7-12 routine, this is pretty hard since it is mainly step but was able to hang in there till the end.

My Sister, her son and I, 2011/2015

Friday, I was off from work so was able to meet Shelby for a run and was happily surprise to Sheila join us for a trail run since I know this is not her favorite thing to do. We picked our favorite spot Egbert, not sure Sheila understands why we love it since she is a city girl but she did great and we even went further that expected, weather again was just perfect.



Skipped the extra cardio on the schedule today since I was feeling run down, DH has been coughing and sneezing keeping away from him as much as possible.

Only made it to Michael's and JoAnn Fabrics to pickup some stuff with their 50% coupon, no other Black Friday shopping can't think of a single thing that will require a early morning stampede.

Woke up today feeling like crab, feeling everyone of those hill repeats that I did, my Quads, Shins and Calves has some serious DOMS, felt every single muscle when I stretch in bed, oh my, I contemplated not working out today but wasn't injured just some serious DOMS and I know I will feel better once I start moving around, so up we go and I did modify the schedule to fit current level of pain.

On the Schedule for Strength was Cathe Xtrain Supercut, modified this and only did Timesaver #1 what was around 30mins and instead of a 5 miler did 5k, legs actually felt good once my body got moving although it was already quite loose and warm from all the jumping around nonstop workout from Supercut.

After work, went grocery shopping since it occurred to me that the boys arrive tomorrow and there is really nothing in the house for them to eat and I also had no fixing for Thanksgiving, all taking care of now just to pick up some minor things tomorrow and we will be all set and I get to enjoy my family, also hoping my niece comes over from Columbus.

Miss the storm that dump snow in Chicago area, so thankful for that because I am not looking forwards to this

Beautiful day for a run, the rain stopped after 2 days of non stop raining and it never snowed as previously forecast. Met up with Shelby at Egbert for 6 miles, it's been almost 2 weeks since we ran together which really feels strange. We had a great run and I think our return trip may be one of our fastest, my leg felt pretty good which am happy about after all the sluggishness of the week day runs. Got back home and got in Cathe's Xtrain Supercut Timesaver + Core #1, this is a great workout, none stop complex moves.

Into week 2 of the Hansons Marathon training plan as we get ready for Rock and Roll New Orleans at the end of February, it is always amazing how painful everything is when all I am doing is easy pace and only at 3 miles, sometimes I wonder if I ready did run a marathon.

Before the run did Cathe Xtrain Cardio Leg Blast routine 7 -12 only including warmup and cool down, I only have 2 more weeks to got to complete the 90 days rotation and I have to start thinking what I am going to do next, may be Charlene or Barry's Bootcamp to get a break from Cathe but I do have to say are programs are so well done that most other programs pale in comparison.

Getting cold, actually today was very windy and grey, I think this is the first time in a while that I do not have a race in November or December and February seem so far away but I am learning to honor my body, I also need to build my speed backup wisely, as much as I like to race I have lost so much speed even thou I have the endurance.

With wedding and Birthdays next year, I ready do not have any other race for 2016, and I no idea what I want to focus on either, really hope there will be a tempting offer for something, I did put in for the Berlin Marathon, already rejected for Tokyo and London, not sure am going to put in for New York again, didn't mind paying when there was a guarantee entry after the 3rd trial since they are charging $20+ but I can be playing this game for a long time at this rate with no entry.

A throwback picture, May 2008, 1st Marathon, Cleveland Marathon

Life continues to be a struggle with so much on my plate, am loving it none the less since I am doing things that I love.


I have to say recovery/taper is going great I feel strong and healthy, not sure what Detroit is going to bring but I am more than ready to face it, although looking at the course elevation I am amaze at how flat it is, the only true elevation change and that is an exaggeration is at the tunnel and bridge it is going to be fast but can  my ITB handle 26.2 miles of flatness, doing the best I can to prepare for it especially the right one, it just hate flat course since the first one in Cleveland.

Lifting heavy with Cathe's Xtrain is working very good with this phase of my life with just the minimal amount of plyo thrown in to challenge the joints.

On today's workout, Burn Back I was quite surprise on how heavy I had to lift to get the 10 reps in with some muscle soreness, for the 1 arm row I had to use the 40 pounder and I was still able to do 13 reps in the last set to reach muscle failure, for the double arm row I started out with 25s and switch to 30s for the 2nd and burn set, the only 1 I probably will never increase is the delt fly stayed at 8#, the angle is awkward and I know to do it safe and be efficient I need to keep the weight under 10 pounds. The core workout was a challenge but it was so more doable than the other one, oh I forgot to mention about tabaticise that is just a party in a box in a twisted kind of way, there is so much plyo and other challenging moves that 20secs seem like for ever and the 10 secs rest moves with lightening speed, sweaty mess when done.

For running, I continue to do this my way based on how my body is feeling, nothing I do will make me faster but something I do, can stop me from getting to the starting line, so I do fun stuff and today was no exception pulling out itread with Grace, I was thoroughly warm from all the other workouts so starting out fast wasn't an issue, it was a great mix of speed and tempo workout, couple of 6 mins intervals at Marathon pace and 5k speed for 60secs intervals.

Couple of races coming up this weekend so the running community here is buzzing, of course the biggest is Chicago, the  our local Towpath and I have a group of BGR sisters doing the Queen Bee HM in Cincinnati and Detroit is next weekend.

Do you notice that other events seem to only happen on the day you have a race, really people nothing the weekend before or after but everything stack up for race weekend and I always feel like am being selfish but I booked this race since last year, I've trained 24 weeks for it, inviting me to a function a week before the event means you do not think I have a life, too bad I do and I pick me.

So since am in the funky recovery/taper phase, what to do, I always go back to the old stand by of heavy lifting, spinning and yoga, this combo gives my legs the needed break but keeps things moving. Also I had a twist to the heavy lifting this time around and think I really like it, although it is making me very hungry so have to watch that, the twist with the heavy lifting is doing one body part a day and since that is all am doing which is basically 3 types of exercises + a burn set, I am able to go very heavy, for chest yesterday I was swinging the 30 pounder for chest press and today used the 40 pounder for rows YEAH ME

Busy day today my Athena Ladies Luncheon, End of Month Inventory and and ISO audit, oh so ready to crash in bed.

So with the challenge of not missing by a running sister, got out of bed ignore the legs did some great upper body workout, although I have to say I did feel pretty good, there is an hot spot on the left middle toe which is quite tender and the calves are tight apart from that can't really tell I ran a marathon. Ok back to today, this is week 4 of the Cathe's Xtrain rotation am doing but I switch the upper body for lower body, I will have to decide tomorrow if I want to do legs on not based on how I think the legs feel.

So, Cathe Xtrain Burn Set Bi's and Tri, even thou I don't care that much for parts workout, I am really enjoying the parts workout in this series, I love that I am able to go very heavy and now for a change actually seeing definition in my arms.



then to continue working out the kinks did 10  mins of vinyasa yoga followed by 15 mins of yin yoga, body wasn't really up for all those sun salutations so reason why I cut the vinyasa short and switch to wonderful yin.

It really may not have been cold enough but I wore my Akron Marathon jacket to work, yep that is how I roll, it was earned not given.

Life is Good, when the smallest thing brings smiles to your face and No a 5k is not a marathon

 This morning was some nice stress reliever with Cathe doing Hard Strike and then to Travis Yin Yoga for pure bliss. This was actually a very good combo, stress reliever and bliss before 7am what a way to start the day.





How am I feeling today, in my James Brown Voice "Whoa-oa-oa! I feel good, I knew that I would.." now that you all have this stuck in your head, make it a wonderful rest of the week.



 In celebration of Dragon Con that just ended in ATL below are pictures from when I crashed Comic Con in Denver, I think my kids thought I was pretty awesome, oh did I have a blast hanging with this people.

 Life is good, hanging with people that love what they do and could careless what anyone thinks-Priceless

What a difference a good sleep and perfect frame of mind makes, I woke up this morning feeling like a million $, who else to spend the day with but Cathe Xtrain doing Cardio Leg Blast , in order to maintain my million $ feeling I did a premix Routine 1-6 instead of the whole 13 + core then off for some Sufferfest, Brain Training For Runners called for mixed intervals but am at the I got to have fun to continue training phase which translate to spending time in Sufferlandria, did Steamroller which is 13 intervals at various time, pace and recovery time, longest was 4 mins and shortest 10secs with recovery time going from 1:45 to 30secs, pacing going from agony (10mph) to HM pace 6.9mph. For some recovery was so short my treadmill didn't even get to the recovery pace before I had to go back up. It felt good and I love watching Mo Farah run, so graceful.







After work was 6 miles with Shelby at the Meadow loop, nothing spectacular we were slower than normal but we got it done and one more in the books.



Life is good, waking up feeling like a million $-priceless