Combo Win

Last night, my combo team had an overall win!  This is only our second win of the season.  However, my partner, Michele, and I did not win.  We lost 4-6, 6-3, 0-1.  In the first set, we made a lot of mistakes, hitting the ball out.  We calmed down a bit, and won the second set reasonably easily.  However, we went back to making a lot of mistakes in the match tie-breaker and threw it away pretty quickly.  That was frustrating, but at least the other two courts won!

This morning, I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Total Body Hammer.  This is a heck of a workout.  I increased my weights on the squats.  I can feel this one all over already - I'm going to be sore from it.  I burned about 130 calories.

Mile Repeats

Yesterday morning, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was mile repeats.  I did 6 x 1 mi at 6.7 mph (8:58 min/mi), alternating with 6 x 0.5 mi at 5.0 mph (12:00 min/mi).  I did this run on the treadmill.  It took 90 minutes, and the distance came to 9.0 mi.  I knew this was going to be a hard run, and it was.  I took a lot of breaks on the rails.  Somehow I don't like to run as hard on a treadmill as I might when I'm outside or on a race.  Maybe because the pace is absolute? 

In the afternoon - actually, less than 2 hours after the run - I had a practice with my tennis team.  In the first round, my partner, Randy, and I won 4-3.  In the second round, my partner, Whitney, and I lost 5-7, 2-3.  In the last round, my partner, Libby, and I won 6-0, 3-0.  I didn't always do the best pairings to get competitive matches, but I have to work with the players present.

The run and practice right afterward really wore me out!  I sent to bed extra early, and slept over 9 hours!  This morning, I did my usual boxing class.  I was still feeling a bit worn out, but it was a good class. 

My back has been getting really stiff again, especially in the mornings.  I need to keep doing the stretches I was doing for awhile, I guess.  There's only so much time in the day sometimes!  I've been really valuing my sleep, but I guess I need to work the stretches back in where I can.

Tennis Loss

Last night I had a tennis match with my 3.5 team.  Unfortunately we lost 3 of the 5 courts, so we lost the match overall.  My partner, Whitney, and I lost 0-6, 4-6.  We played so badly in the first set - it seemed like we just couldn't hit anything and keep it in play.  Fortunately we pulled ourselves together in the second set.  I started playing a lot more at the net to cut off rallies and keep our opponents from having as much time to get into position for put-away shots.  We were neck-and-neck with them in the second set until 4-4, and then they managed to win the last two games.  We did feel better about being competitive, at least, in the second set.

Today is my rest day.  This morning before work, I did some stretching and foam rolling.  My lower back has been feeling a little worse lately - not the horrible "don't want to bend over" pain I had last fall, but worse.  I need to bring back the stretching I was doing for it, I guess.

Flood!

Yesterday after work, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 100-min easy run.  I ran at 5.6 mph on the treadmill, and it wasn't as hard as I was expecting.  The distance came to 9.2 mi.  I don't usually do such long runs after work, because it means a late dinner, but this wasn't too bad.

This morning I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Chisel Balance.  Some of these moves are so hard!  Particularly the exercises where you do a 1-legged sit down and up on the bench, and the 1-legged row-pistol squats.  I am getting better on them, however,  I burned about 170 calories.

Today after work, I did a run on the treadmill.  I ran for 50 min at 5.6 mph, so the distance came to 4.61 mi.  This was OK. 

While I was running, we had a pretty severe thunderstorm come through.  The surprise came when I turned off the treadmill and could hear "normally" again.  I could hear running water!  There shouldn't be any water running in our basement, so I knew something was wrong.  Rain from the thunderstorm had flooded the backyard and filled up the window well outside one of our basement window, and the water was cascading in through the window.  (Yes, the window was closed!)  So I had to figure out any way to at least contain the incoming water.  This had me in a bit of a panic for awhile.  Fortunately, the storm moved through very quickly, so things did not flood as much as they could have, or as much as they have in the past.

No Tennis!

Yesterday morning, I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Hammer Power and 10-Min Hammer Abs.  I think I "got" the moves a bit better in Hammer Power, although I didn't increase the weights much.  The shoulder press part of most of the moves is a limiting move for me in terms of weight.  I kind of wish I knew how much weight the woman in the video was using.  Overall I burned about 180 calories.

Yesterday after work, I was hoping to sub in for our Monday night tennis doubles at TCCP, but apparently they didn't need me!  I went home and did an easy run instead.  I ran at 5.6 mph on the treadmill for 50 min, so the distance came to 4.75 mi.  This run felt OK.

This morning, I did my next workout, which was Iso Speed Hammer.  This is a short workout, but I definitely feel it.  I didn't increase any weights this time.  I did take advantage of the short workout to do some foam rolling.  I burned about 90 calories.

Long Run

Today I went to my usual Sunday boxing class.  It hasn't been so usual lately, as I've been changing my schedule around a bit to accommodate my long runs.  Anyway, it was good to go. 

This afternoon, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was an 80-min easy run.  As I mentioned yesterday, I have decided to cut back to a speed of 5.6 mph on the treadmill for my easy runs.  I definitely think that was a good idea.  In 80 min at 5.6 mph, the distance came to 7.45 mi.  It felt better.  Hopefully I'll be able to work back up to 5.7 mph and eventually even faster.

Outside Run

Today was forecasted to be unseasonably warm, so I thought I'd do a run outside before lunch.  Well, it wasn't all that warm yet, but it wasn't bad.  I did my run on the Rock Creek Park Trail, since I haven't been there in quite awhile.  I ran 5.08 mi in 55:58, so the average speed was 5.45 mph.  A little slow, but I had a number of road crossings to stop and wait for, and I think Runkeeper tends to keep going a bit for those, which adds time but not distance. 

My heart rate was supposedly really high for a lot of this run, even though I certainly wasn't panting for breath.  I don't know if that was real, or something my Basis Peak was dreaming up.  Anyway, since my so-called easy runs have seemed to hard lately, I think I'm going to pull back to a treadmill speed of 5.6 mph for awhile for the "easy" runs and see how it goes.

This afternoon, I had a practice with my tennis team.  In the first round, my partner, Jill, and I lost 4-5, but we had been much farther behind, so it was good that we were catching up.  In the second round, my partner, Whitney and I scored 7-6, 2-2, which was essentially a tie.  In the last round, my partner, Joan, and I tied our opponents 5-5.  It was a fun and competitive practice!

Catching Up

Wednesday after work, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 60-min easy run.  I ran on the treadmill at 5.7 mph, so the distance came to about 5.65 mi.  This run did feel easier than some I've done lately.  I think my legs were a little less tired from the weight training.

Yesterday morning, I did the next workout from The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Total Body Chisel plus 10-Min Ab Chisel.  I upped my weights on a number of the moves, and I think the workout went pretty well.  I burned about 165 calories.

Last night, I had a tennis match with my 3.5 team.  This match went much better than the one on Tuesday - we won four of the five courts!  My partner, Whitney, and I won 6-3, 6-2.  Our opponents gave us some trouble at first, because they lobbed us a lot, and we sort of went along with it by backing up and lobbing back.  We ended up making a lot of errors and feeding them put-away balls.  We changed things around so that I played more at the net and took a lot of the lobs out of the air, and that pretty much finished them off.  Whitney would hit deep baseline shots, which would get them off-balance, and then they'd give me a floater to put away.  Or, we'd take a lob out of the air, which would throw them off, and we'd get the point.  It was a fun match, and kind of nice to see that we are actually better players than some other players for once.  Sometimes after a colossal loss like we had on Tuesday, you start to think you're a horrible player - not really, it's just that those players were REALLY good.

Today is my rest day.  This morning, I did some foam rolling and stretching.

Tennis Loss

Yesterday morning, I did the next workout from The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Chisel Agility.  Most of this workout is not too hard - I feel like a lot of it is too slow to really be an agility workout, but what do I know?  I burned about 165 calories.

Last night, I had a tennis match with my 3.5 team.  Unfortunately we were playing one of the top teams in the league, which always has really good players.  We lost all five courts - we didn't even win a set!  My partner, Whitney, and I lost 1-6, 1-6.  I don't think the score quite reflects our level of play, because we did have a number of deuce games.  Our opponents were just very good: they could hit with power, they moved pretty well, and played well at the net.  That's hard to beat!  At least they were nice players, and we had fun.

This morning, I did the next workout from The Master's Hammer and Chisel.  This was Iso Speed Hammer, which is a very short workout.  I had arranged that intentionally, since I knew I was going to be up late with my match last night - I got an extra 30 min of sleep!  Part of the reason this workout is so short is because Sagi moves between the moves very quickly - I don't even have time to write down what I did!  I upped my weights on a number of moves, since I had my notes from the last time.  I burned about 90 calories.

Snow Day

Today we had a snow and ice storm, so the university was closed.  I was home all day, which always leads to me not doing much incidental activity.

This morning, I did a workout from The Master's Hammer and Chisel.  I did Hammer Power, followed by 10-min Hammer Abs.  Hammer Power is an interesting workout, because it gradually builds up the steps of some power lifting moves, albeit with dumbbells instead of barbells.  I don't think I used heavy enough weights for the 5-rep moves.  I burned about 145 calories for the whole thing.

I was supposed to have a tennis match this evening, but it was canceled because of the weather.  Instead, I did a 50-min easy run on the treadmill.  I ran at 5.7 mph, so the distance came to 4.7 mi.  This run finally felt a little better than some of the recent ones I've done, which was a bit surprising, since I ran over 12 miles yesterday!  I did get a lot of sleep this past weekend, which probably helped.

Race Pace Intervals

Today I did the next run on my training schedule, which was race pace intervals.  First, I did 2 x 2 mi at 6.3 mph (9:30 min/mi), alternating with 2 x 5 min at 5.0 mph (12:00 min/mi).  Then I did 6 x 1 mi at 6.3 mph, alternating with 6 x 3 min at 5.0 mph.  This took 2:03:00, and the distance came to 12.3 mi.  This was a hard run.  It was not hard for cardio so much as hard on my legs.  Blah.  Next week is a cut-back week and the longest run on the schedule is 80 minutes, so hopefully I will rest up a bit and start feeling better with the legs.

Boxing + Tennis

Yesterday was my rest day, so I did some stretching and foam rolling before work, and that was it for my activity.  I did get in a reasonable number of steps at work.

This morning I went to a boxing class.  This is not my usual class, but it's a pretty decent one.  I did burn almost 400 calories during the hour, which is pretty high for that - the instructor does keep us moving pretty much the whole time.  I just don't care for his style quite as much as I do with the Sunday instructor.

This afternoon, I had a practice with my tennis team.  In the first round, my partner, Viqui, and I won 5-4 - it was a very good round.  In the second round, my partner, Whitney, and I won the first set 7-5, but lost the second set 1-3; one of our opponents is an extremely hard hitter, and when she's on, she's really, really good.  In the third round, my partner, Joan, and I lost 3-5; we had a lot of good points, but made some mistakes, and our opponents did not as much.  It was a good practice!

Why is running so hard?

Yesterday evening, I had originally intended to go to a boxing class.  However, it was really cold out, so by the time I got home, I didn't feel like rushing to get ready and then hurrying back out into the cold and traffic.  So I decided to stay home and do a run, and then do cardio tennis the next day.

I ran on the treadmill at 5.7 mph for 50 minutes, so the distance came to 4.7 mi.  This run just felt hard again.  I had been doing so well with my easy runs, but now my heart rate is up quite a bit for them and they just aren't easy.  Maybe my legs are sore and tired from The Master's Hammer and Chisel.  I'm wondering if I'm starting to get anemic again - I'm paranoid about that, so I'm going to up my iron supplements for awhile.  I also have a sneaking suspicion that my old treadmill was falling apart so much that I was actually running on a decline because the supports were failing - I think I would've felt that in my quads, though.  So I don't know what's going on, but it's depressing.

This morning, I did the next Hammer and Chisel workout, which was Chisel Cardio.  This is an OK workout - not my favorite, but it's not too bad.  I upped my reps on a few moves.  I also burned many more calories than when I did it the first time - about 190 calories compared to just over 100 or so previously.  I'm not sure why that was.

Easy Run

Yesterday after work, I did an easy run on the treadmill.  I ran for 70 minutes at 5.7 mph, so the distance came to 6.64 mi.  This is an approximation, because the treadmill spontaneously re-set several times.  I don't think it's grounded properly, and static electricity from me kept causing it re-set.

This morning, I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Max Hammer Strength.  This is the only workout in the program that I've done three times already.  It's definitely a good one, although not necessarily fun.  I increased my weights on the lunges and squats.  I burned about 145 calories.

Combo Win!

Yesterday morning, I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Iso Strength Chisel.  The iso moves are hard!  This one really makes my glutes sore.  I burned about 135 calories.

Last night I had a tennis match with my 6.5 combo team.  My partner, Joan, and I managed a pretty straightforward win: 7-5, 6-0.  After she and I had had two losses lately, it was good to get a win.  Unfortunately, we lost the other two courts in the match in match tie-breakers.

This morning, I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Chisel Balance.  The first one-leg sit-squat moves are so hard!  I did better than last time, though.  I burned about 150 calories.

Long Run

Last night, I had a match with my 3.5 tennis team.  My partner, Whitney, and I won 6-4, 6-4.  It was a really fun match, because there were a lot of good points, but we were glad that we got a clear win.  No tie-breakers!

Our team won three more courts and lost one, so we won the match overall.  Two of the other individual matches timed out, so it was really quite close.

Today I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 130-min easy run.  I've really felt like my runs so far on my new treadmill have felt pretty hard - honestly, like I was running uphill.  So I put a level on the treadmill, and sure enough, I was running uphill, even though the incline was at zero.  I re-ran the calibration sequence, and that seems to have fixed it.  The run definitely felt better - it was just long.  In 2:10:00, I ran 12.23 mi on the treadmill.

Two Runs

Yesterday was supposed to be my rest day.  In the morning, I did some stretching and foam rolling.

However, my run on Thursday night was shorter than what I was supposed to do on my training schedule - partly because I was low on time, and partly because my legs really weren't feeling it.  So, after work on Friday, I did a 70-min run - on my new treadmill!

My new treadmill was delivered yesterday afternoon.  It is a Spirit Fitness XT485.  I have to admit that I also wanted to run on it as soon as possible.  It thumps so much less when I run on it!  And it doesn't creak like it's about to collapse!  And it doesn't slip!

I ran for 1:10:00 at 5.7 mph, so the distance came to 6.64 mi.  This run still felt hard - my legs just aren't very happy lately.  Too much Hammer and Chisel, I think.

This afternoon, I was supposed to have a practice with my tennis team, but plans changed and I didn't get to do that.  So I did another run on the treadmill instead.  I ran for an hour at 5.7 mph.  Because the treadmill is kind of slow getting up to speed, the distance only came to 5.65 mi.  I suppose that's more accurate than the previous treadmill, because it certainly did that, too, but it's a bit annoying to record it that way.  This run felt a little bit better than yesterday's, but I still took a lot of breaks.

Almost a Win in Tennis

Last night, I had a match with my 3.5 tennis team.  We were playing one of the top teams in the league, so I wasn't expecting an overall win.  Nevertheless, I am an optimist and always hope that somehow we might get one.  We came very close!

We won two of the five courts.  My partner, Whitney, and I were the last court to finish - we timed out.  We had lost the first set 6-2, so I thought we weren't going to have a chance, but we managed to win the second set 7-6.  The problem was that we took a long time to win the set tie-breaker (it went to 11-9), so we didn't really have enough time to play out the match tie-breaker.  We were pretty much neck-and-neck in the match tie-breaker.  We had our chance to win it 6-4, but instead we lost the last point, and it timed out 5-5.  That meant that the match tie-breaker didn't count, so our opponents won because they had won more games.

Little did we know as we were playing that if we won our match, our team would have won overall!  It was that close!  A disappointment, but also kind of thrilling to at least have come that close.  It was a fun match, too.

This morning, I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Hammer Plyometrics.  This is a short and sweet workout - only about 25 minutes, including warm-up and cool-down.  At the end, it appeared that I had burned about 160 calories, which would've been about 60 calories more than the last time.  I think I misremembered my starting calorie number.

Today after work, I had planned to do the next run on my training schedule, which was a 100-min easy run.  However, I had to stay longer at work than I had planned, and I just didn't want to be running so late into the evening.  Instead, I only ran for 50 minutes.  This turned out to be a good idea, because my hamstrings felt quite sore.  I ran at 5.7 mph on the treadmill, so the distance came to 4.75 mi. 

I hope to do a longer run tomorrow, on my new treadmill!  It is being delivered in the afternoon.

Cardio Tennis

Yesterday after work, I finally got to do cardio tennis!  It was reasonably fun, but pretty easy.  We had a lot of newbies, and so the instructor had to explain a lot.

This morning, I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Total Body Chisel and 10-min Chisel Abs.  Total Body Chisel was a solid workout, with three sets of three supersets.  I need to go heavier on my weights for my legs.  10-min Chisel Abs was meh.  Most of the forearm plank moves on the bench were relatively easy.  Some of the other moves were harder.  This was a very short workout, with maybe seven moves in the whole thing.  I burned about 150 calories total.

Monday Night Doubles

Yesterday morning, I did the next workout on my schedule for The Master's Hammer and Chisel.  This was Max Hammer Strength (again - I did it Thursday) and 10-Min Ab Hammer.  I had gotten new 30-lb dumbbells over the weekend, so I used them in several of the moves, which was good.  I burned about 140 calories overall.

Yesterday evening I had my normal Monday night tennis doubles at TCCP.  I haven't been there for awhile, with traveling and then the snow storm.  It was fun!  In the first round, my partner, Renee, and I lost 6-2, but we had fun.  In the second round, my partner, Lindsay and I lost 6-5; however, we didn't expect to do nearly so well, since both of our opponents were very strong, so we were quite happy with this result.  In the last round, my partner, Julie, and I lost 4-3.  A good night!

This morning, I did the next The Master's Hammer and Chisel workout, which was Chisel Agility.  This workout was a bit of a mixed bag for me.  The workout couldn't decide if it wanted to be cardio or agility.  Some moves were really easy (the plank tap things), some were hard (the jumping diagonal lunges), and some were meh because they weren't fast enough (the skater's triangle thing). I didn't really like doing two rounds of the same thing.  Anyway, I burned about 170 calories.