Happy Monday everyone, I hope you all had a good weekend! Mine was pretty… low key. Haha. Most everyone was out of town or busy so I spent a lot of time relaxing, aka listening to Harry Potter Audiobooks and reading this month’s book club choice, Orange Is the New Black.
I also had a fun experience at GoldPlaited (more on that tomorrow), got my apartment pretty much put together, and tried out my sister-in-law’s church in Lincoln Park.
Those of you who’ve been reading for a while might remember back when I posted weekly workouts, including my running schedule. Well, if you’ve noticed I haven’t been following any kind of exercise or running plan for probably the past 6 months. With all the stress of studying and passing the bar I didn’t need one more schedule to deal with, but now that all of that is behind me, I’m really ready to start a new plan. I’ve learned that to see results you really need to stick to some sort of program for 2-3 months.
Although I’ve loved Tina’s Best Body Bootcamp in the past, I wanted to try something new. After starting to read the Purely Twins blog, enjoying their recipes and general attitude about life and exercise, I decided to join in on their Purely Fit program. Each session runs for 3 months, and there are 4 during the year so it’s always happening. To learn more about Purely Fit, check out their explanation post and video.
Every week they send out the workout schedule, which includes 1 rest day, 1 day of yoga or stretching, 1 day of cardio springs and 4 days of strength and circuit type workouts. One thing I love about their workouts is they are SHORT. The longest one I’ve done took me 26:56 and that’s because we were supposed to do it as quickly as we could and it just took me forever… haha. Yesterday’s was 12 minutes!
This works very well for me because I’m also getting back into running and about to start a half marathon training plan. This way I can do their workout and a short run all within an hour and be done for the day!
So now about that half marathon training plan…
After weeks of slowly building up my mileage (I’m at about 10 miles per week right now) I’ve decided it’s time to sign up for a race again. I miss having my running schedule, having a goal in mind, and a reward for all my running work (yes, I consider a race a reward – you get a medal!). However, this race is an even bigger deal than normal.
Remember those awesome roommates I had at the Healthy Living Summit this year? Well they invited me to visit them in Phoenix and I took them up on it! I’ll be running the Rock N Roll Half Marathon in Phoenix, AZ on January 19th and I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!
I’m planning to follow Hal Higdon’s Novice 2 Half Marathon training plan, and I officially start the last weekend in October, so I have a couple weeks to get up to 13 miles per week, which is where the plan begins.
Are you signed up for any races?
Do you follow any kind of workout plan?
Are you visiting friends this year?
Im an intuitive exerciser which is probably reason number 9792 why I dont race or compete 🙂
well then a racing plan would NOT be for you!
I’ve done 5 triathlons, 1 half marathon and a handful of shorter 5-10km races. They’re SO FUN! Tris in particular are very addicting. I did my last one this past June, and decided to take a break for a while. The training is hard to keep up with when you get super busy!
I’m not a no-cardio program I came up with myself right now, and I’ve been itching to run lately but I’m trying to resist. I’m sure it will be the first thing I do once I’m through my program!
P.S. You look GORGEOUS in that picture!
I would totally miss running too, it’s such a mental relief for me!
I love your goals. I’m doing my LAST 1/2 marathon on October 20….then i’m throwing in the long-distance shoes:)
Well good luck on your last one, enjoy it!
Awesome race! Sounds so fun. PS – LOVE your hair!
Aww thanks!
That sounds like a great plan! I like Hal Higdon’s plan. It’s what I was following when I got hurt (and I was almost through it too!). I think I went a little overboard with the “extras” and simply overtrained myself into the injury, so it’s nothing to say about his plans. I liked his plans.
That’s great you’ll get to try a race somewhere different and see your friends! The only races I have coming up are the 3 local holiday races (Monster Dash, Turkey Trot and Jingle Bell Run).
Yep, I’ve used his plans before and I like that the novice ones only have 3-4 running days a week.
That sounds like an awesome race!! AZ in Jan sounds perfect! And travelling for a race is just super duper fun. 🙂
I’ve never been there in the winter so I’m excited!
Which church did you try in LP? I got to St. Jame’s Lutheran in LP and love it! The average age of the congregation is 30 years old, so nice and young.
Best of luck in your next training adventure. I’m already planning “what’s next” after this weekend’s marathon.
I don’t want to say on here for privacy reasons, but feel free to e-mail me if you’re curious! It’s also a very young church, which I liked a lot. And good luck this weekend!
I love the sound of any short workouts, what a great idea! Your next race sounds fab, hope you enjoy training for it!
I agree – short workouts for the win!
That race sounds like so much fun! It’s beautiful weather in January in Phoenix too, so that’ll be perfect. 🙂
I’ve only been in May so I’m excited to visit in the winter!
I live in Arizona and I’ve been read yours (and Nicole’s) blogs for a while and I’m excited to see that you are running the rock ‘n roll half here! It’s a really popular race, and although I haven’t ran it, a lot of my friends have and they love it. Plus the weather in January is perfect, 70s and sunny everyday! You will have so much fun
Oh exciting! I’m glad to hear your friends enjoyed the race!
YAYAYAYAY!!! I seriously can’t wait for you to be here!! Now I have to get my butt into shape so I can keep up with you! 🙂
WOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have fun with your race preparations! It’ll be so fun to run with friends at a destination race, and I’ve heard good things about the Rock ‘n’ Roll marathons.
I ran a rock in roll half here in Chicago and enjoyed it, so I hope this one is the same!
I’m running a marathon in Kobe, Japan, next month (I already live in Japan so it’s not as glamorous as it sounds! haha!) and my training has been, um, patchy, to say the least. I always admire people who can stick at training plans properly. Probably explains why I toddle along while others zoom through! I’d love to do a Rock n Roll marathon, it sounds so much fun!
Um STILL VERY COOL!!!! I’ve most definitely never been to Japan, or Asia, or off this continent…
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I did that race last year and absolutely loved it!!! Such a beautiful place to run and the weather around that time of year is amazing!
Oh good, I love hearing that people enjoyed the race! I’m excited!
🙂 so happy you are enjoying the workouts!!
that race sounds fun!
Of course! They’re not what I’d normally do so it pushes me out of my comfort zone!
Contests on getting back in the groove! I love that the program has such short workouts- then you have NO excuse 😉
I running a full marathon at the end of the month and looking forward to focusing on my shorter distances after that. I’m a little burnt out on long runs!
Exactly – NO excuse when it only takes 20 minutes! Good luck on your marathon!!!
I can’t imagine a better way to spend your day than with Harry Potter! Congratulations on embarking on another half marathon–the Fall always makes running feel more way more exciting!
Haha you sound like my kind of friend – Harry Potter all the way!
yay for signing up for another half marathon! Running with friends will be fun too!
Depending on how my leg feels I am hoping to do a half back in FL in January -so fingers crossed!
Oh that will will be fun, good luck!