Race Envy

First and foremost, I want to send a huge "congratulations" to my twin sister, Becca. She totally killed the Rock N' Roll DC Marathon on Saturday! PRed by over half and hour!!

Now to the bitching portion of this post.

I have serious race envy. Everybody around me is running races! Marathons, 1/2 marathons, 10 milers. You name it. I know somebody running it.

The weather is just beginning to get warm yet we're months away from the summer heat waves. It's the perfect time of year to lace up my Brooks and de-stress with a run. But I'm not. I'm not even allowed to walk for long distances.

So as much as I love talking about running with my peers and cheering my friends (and family) during their races, I want to be out there with them. I want to feel the adrenaline rush as I pass people and conquer courses, I want to feel the pride that comes from saying that I completed something that I have a passion for. I want to run.

I have an appointment with my podiatrist on Thursday. Even if the xrays come back ok, I know that my foot isn't. I know that even walking for an extended period of time makes it ache and that I shouldn't rush back into running, or I'm going to end up in the same predicament that I am now.

I know that I can still say in decent shape without running in my life. I've had great workouts and I'm taking this time to get stronger and focus on different areas of my fitness and when the time is right, running will be there. It's not an end all.

But right now, I just want to bitch.

Stability Workouts and The Bosu Ball

Who has tried the Bosu ball?? Stability ball? I'm sure the majority of people reading this post have, as I had to before last week. However, this week I cranked up the intensity!

Inspiration for my stability packed workouts? My NASM knowledge being put to work! (and I'm only on the third chapter!) The idea behind NASM's personal trainer certification is whats called an Optimized Performace Training Model, or OPT Model. I'm not going to go in depth too much but one of the key concepts is that people must first teach their bodies to use their stabilizing muscles and to strengthen them before they can reach their fitness goals.

How many people actually start working out like this? We all know that our "core" is important but to what extent really? It's not just about flat abs (that's just an added bonus). It's about adequately preparing our bodies. If we skip this step, injuries are bound to occur. I know many have for me!

When I first started working out I dove head first into cardio. I walked and I ran and I ellipticized my little heart out. I could literally run for hours but you ask me to do a plank? HA. Something is wrong here....

Since I have a stress fracture and can't run right now I am taking advantage of this new little nugget of information and focusing on my stability muscles.

Workouts this week have looked a lot like this:
 

10 minute elliptical warm-up
20 1-Legged Squats
Back Extension - 15, Jump Squats - 15, push-up on bosu ball - 10 (3x)
20 1-Legged Squats
Squat to press on bosu ball - 15, Pull down (80lbs) - 10, Ro... read more

10 minute elliptical warm-up
Circuit 1: Back Extension - 15, Jump Squats - 15, push-up on bosu ball - 10
Circuit 2: Squat to press on bosu ball - 15, Pull down (80lbs) - 10, Row on stability ball - 15
Circuit 3: Lateral lunges on bosu ball - 20, Step ups w/knee on bosu ball - 20, Crunches on stability ball - 30

I did each circuit three times. I also added 10 one-legged squats on each side between them, just for fun:-)

and just because I love food and I love sharing my food with others. Tonight's dinner....

 

Brown rice with black beans, chickpeas and chicken. Topped with cucumber, garlic & supremely spicy hummus, Siracha and avocado.

 

Food baby.