Monday night, B worked late and I hadn’t gotten in a morning workout so decided to pair doggy duty with exercise. We hadn’t yet taught Sady how to run with us but I’ve been told she’s old enough now (4.5 months) so I laced up my sneaks, grabbed her stuff and off we went. I took her over to the Hudson River running path which she is somewhat familiar with. I was pleased at how she ran next to me and only a gentle “stay with me” would remind her if she got off track. I had been told there was a dog park in the world financial center so I took the rugrat over there, thinking it could be her break. About halfway there she wanted to stop but I encouraged her. She seemed like she was having fun. I let her play for a while in the park while I caught my breath. When we left, she must have realized we were heading home and bolted back. She definitely wasn’t staying with me but rather dragging me back. I found out later she and B run back from the dog park so she was used to this. Since I had only gotten about a mile and a half, I went to the gym and did another 15 minutes of intervals on the treadmill. It was a lot of fun running with Miss Sady and I can’t wait to take her out more!

My knee has been killing me lately so I’ve been limiting my running and sticking to the bike or elliptical. On the latter I always worry that I’m not getting a good enough workout so I’ve been doing lots of great intervals. My favorite this week has been alternating between a crossramp of 4 and resistance of 3 at 190 strides per minute (almost a sprint) and a crossramp of 16 and resistance of 5 at 160 strides per minute (still an uphill battle!). I end the workout sweaty and with every part of my legs tired. Though it can’t replace running, I’m glad I can still get in some similar movements and keep my legs in shape. 

Last night I left a photo shoot fairly late but was able to get onto a treadmill by halftime of game two of the Celtics v Knicks playoff series. I started doing intervals of two minutes on 6.5 followed by one minute of 8.5. The game was really exciting, but for some reason all the treadmills wouldn’t let me keep the TV volume at a reasonable level. Every three seconds it would boost up really high. I’m an old lady and have an aversion to too loud tv. After finding this was the the problem with several treadmills, I stopped after 1.5 miles. I hopped onto one of the arc trainers and did another 25 minutes of intervals on that, with a normal level of basketball in my ear. Once I had gotten in 40 minutes I was famished. I wanted to keep working out through the end of the game, but was too hungry to stick around. I power walked home and was able to see the last few minutes, including KG’s sick shot that brought the Celtics in for the win. Great workout and great game. 

Last night I had to workout at the Equinox on Fifth and 43 because I left my stuff there Friday night and with the gym closed over the weekend I was worried they’d toss my stuff on Monday. Fortunately it was there! I decided to hop on the treadmill and do some crazy intervals. I started and ended with 5 minutes of running at an easy pace on incline 3. After that I switched between sprinting 8mph on a 5 incline for one minute followed by two minutes of speed walking 3.5mph on a 10 incline. My body was constantly thinking of what it was doing and then what it had to do next. I was a big old sweaty mess after 3.5 miles but it felt awesome! 

This weekend while at Trader Joe’s I stumbled upon (literally, it’s a miracle I’ve never sprained anything) a display of roasted seaweed. I remember my coworker J (check out her awesome movie blog) mentioned eating them in Korean dishes so I decided to give them a whirl. I’m HOOKED! The package contained only two servings which I polished off Sunday and Monday. The texture and saltiness is like that of a really thin potato chip but with more nutrition. It served as an awesome afternoon snack when I was craving something salty. I’ve got to go back to TJ’s and stock up on this stat!

Braving this morning’s storm gave me some serious street cred in the exercising world. However, the up-to-my-knees-snow (and maybe the pausing to take photos of it) made me miss my spin class. Bummer. However, it allowed me to get in the run that I missed last night. Inspired by the mountains of snow I traipsed through on my way to the gym, I created my own hill workout and did three miles on the treadmill. Simple details of the hill workout are below - 

Warmup
1 min 2.5 incline
1 min 5 incline
1 min 7 incline
1 min 5 incline
1 min 2.5 incline
Repeat until desired distance is reached 

Don’t the above photos look like an indication of a great Christmas and New Years? Love it.

Well we’re a week into the new year and I think I’m finally ready to write out my goals for the next year. The last thing I wanted to do before writing them out was meet with a trainer at Equinox and get her feedback. I met with Danielle who is a former WNBA player and has run several marathons. She was so cool and very smart. Danielle took my height, weight, BMI, we talked about my diet and she used FMS (Functional Movement System) to evaluate if I had any injuries or if my muscles were off balance. We talked about goals I would like and she gave me some tips to reach them. After meeting with her for an hour, I did 3 miles of intervals on the treadmill followed by 3 miles of intervals on the bike. Here are my goals for 2011. I’ll probably continue to add to them, but I think this is a good start.

Run 1102 miles (2011 backwards)
Try a new workout/class every month
Get my body in shape to run the Boston Marathon (maybe in 2012?)
Beat my Falmouth PR
Cook a nice dinner and lunches at least once a week
Go to church more often
Get more involved with charities