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.

Thursday is  a mental challenge now that the plan calls for tempo runs, I made the decision to keep tempo runs on the treadmill for now just because I can control the speed better to see how I am really doing and also because it is just not fun going round and round in the neighborhood although I am okay with it for easy and speed workouts.

Today the plan called for 4 miles at 10k pace after a 1mile warmup at recovery pace, I did some hip stretch to open things up, actually did a modified Drop two Sizes RAMP workout, body felt good only trouble spot is bottom of left foot but been there a while.

Warmup went fine, reset the treadmill and started the tempo run I gave myself permission to move the pace around to get the 4 miles in, instead of running at 10k pace then stopping to regroup. Varying the pace worked out pretty good, went between 6.4 - 7.0 with a 2% grade, finish of with an average pace of 9:10 which was faster than the 3 miles I did last week at 9:15 and I felt much better doing this today.

For the 1 mile cool down, I varied the speed between 4.8 -5.5mph and the incline 2-6%, this was a nice way to finish off the run.

Back to the Tabata for my finisher and today was 4 rounds - jump rope, battle rope, Kettlebell and ugi ball, switch jump rope today to a lighter one my shoulders were killing me. Am really enjoying this.

While running watched the documentary about the Life of Marco Pantani, what an incredible talent and what a waste of a life but sometimes I wonder if the sport is to blame, last week I watched Champs which show cased the life of Holyfield, Tyson and Hopkins , their current situation after being one of the greatest. The sport of running which use to be somewhat clean now seem to be turning up quite a bit of doping elites also. Both are available on Netflix.

Have a terrible cold not even sure if it allergies, mold from all the rain or just summer cold, stuffed up and can't stop sneezing.

Nothing says Spring Day in Ohio, like 21 degrees and snow, oh well.

Beautiful start to my day, despite Mother Nature little weather tantrum, I started off with Cathe Ripped with Hiit Chest Shoulder and Triceps, this is a great heavy weight workout with very minimal rest, I love the flow of it.

Afterwards was 10k easy miles, probably need to spend more time on the pavement but I am just not into the cold, hard to believe that the Paris Marathon is now 15 days away, still some final plans to make but the excitement id building and quite a bit of Facebook friends going.

Doing the Egbert route again tomorrow but starting early, since I plan to have Easter dinner tomorrow because my son will not be coming home and we will be on a plane to London but then somehow I have to work 7pm -7am to cover one of my operators shift since I am down 3 out of 4, doing to be a very long 48 hours.

The cold tundra of Ohio continues, woke up to -6 this morning after spending the night being chase by a bear, so slept in a bit to recover from all the running in my sleep.

Eventually got out of bed, which was later than expected but I did complete the running workout, just no time Lift Leg workout.

4x1.5miles with 800m recovery- the treadmill is really on it's last leg the changes I made last year to get it back running maybe running it's course since the incline goes up(2%) and down(1%) and the speed requires a bit of a banging to get up. I guess need to start looking for another since I cannot imagine not having one, even when the weather warms up, just easier to get up at 5am to get a run done instead of waiting till daylight.

Brrrr it is cold, the wind is brutal

Woke up with so much energy today, no aches or pain and on time, although that didn't mean I got to work on time just that I got in all my workout, I really enjoy working out, it's not something I need to do, it's something I have to do just to feel complete for the day.

1st workout was Cathe Ripped with Hiit Upper Body Circuit, every time I do this workout I wonder why it is called upper body circuit because the legs are worked just as much to keep the metabolism rep but then when I do the lower body I understand why, really love this program, great compliment to my running.

Work out #2, I really wanted to do the 1 hour yin yoga that Travis posted on youtube so the intention even thou the schedule called for 6 miles easy I was only going to do 4 to be able to get the yoga but once I started it felt so effortless and I couldn't imagine cutting it short.

Was running short on time so plan to get as much yoga as possible in, was able to do 30 mins of Travis Eliot Yin yoga, this felt so good after the other 2 workout.

Not sure what to do tomorrow, it is going to be very cold again, some light snow with temps at about 19 degrees but feel like 2 with wind gusting at 21mph by 10am it's going to feel like -2, just does not seem worth it since it will be hard for me to breathe so it looks like the 16 miles for tomorrow is going to be on the treadmill.

This does not help with the decision of which shoe to wear for the Little Rock Marathon coming up

Normal Friday activity at Solon Giant Eagle Market District 6 for $6, great way to taste different wines and not bad for the price

1-Mirth Chardonnay 2013 paired with Vermont Cheddar popcorn/Mango drizzle
2-50 Shades of Grey White Silk 2012 paired with Mixed green with crispy bacon & grapefruit vinaigrette
3-Fantini Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2013 paired with Stuffed Shells
4-The Seducer Red Rendevous 2012 (my favorite) paired with Blueberry marinated roast beef
5-Le Mazet Cabernet-Syrah 2010 paired with poached pear wrapped in prosciutto
6-Vietti Muscato d'Asti 2014 (this was good) paired with strawberry and cream cup

I can't imagine being an after work/evening runner, I went to bed thinking about my 10 mile tempo run today and upon waiting that was one of the first few things that came to mind, which means I will obsess about it all day and today's weather just makes an outdoor run impossible at least for me any way, 11 degrees with a feel like temperature of -24 degrees due to the brutal wind.

This morning was the 1st of the 10 miles tempo run, I worry so much about hitting the pace but not sure why nothing is edge in stone. Had to make myself get out of bed on time, it was really hard especially when James rolled over with a warm body, all I wanted to do was snuggle up and go back to sleep, but got up I did. I felt good, no aches or pain, well except for the shoulder.

Mixed up a bottle of Accelerate Hydro before heading to the basement, did a 1 mile warmup walking, then 7 miles @ 6mph/2% cleared the treadmill since it stops when the time gets to 99.99, this was a really brief stop, no lingering then for the last 3 miles started at 6.1 and finish at 6.5mph/2% then to finish watching the movie I was watching on Netflix, a Chinese movie called Masquerade which there is an American version with Kevin Kline called Dave, very good and interesting to see how each plot were similar, King/ President both ruthless and uncaring for the people.

This was after the run, even thou I don't look very sweaty, am actually quite soak.

Shelby and I cancelled the after work run, just to cold and not worth the risk of a frost bite. Really hoping, I can get in the 16 miler for Saturday outdoor and the weather cooperate, Sunday is very cold but hoping Saturday the wind dies down.

No update on the shoe saga