Rest, Renew & Recharge!

Is is Sunday! Love my weekends. Saturday mornings I get up early for a run. This Saturday was a 6 mile long run. I had irritated my patella tendon last Wednesday in Zumba class. So, I had been icing my knee and skipped Zumba on Friday night to be sure that I could run on Saturday morning. I still wanted to be cautious during my six mile run. I selected a route that would allow me to get off the road and do some running in grassy areas and did two one mile loops of the soccer and practice fields on campus. Wow! What a workout!!! Running on soft surfaces is easier on your knees, but quite the workout for the hips! Oh, momma! After my run I eat the second half of my breakfast and get to work on my upper body workout. I decided to skip the gym and did push up, pull ups, lat pulls, seated row, bicep curls and tricep pull backs using my Total Gym for most of the workout. I like the assisted pull up on the Total Gym more than any other thing I do on it. I guess I just love the heavy weights, bars and plates at the gym.

Sunday is my time to sit and review the previous week and schedule my coming week. No workout planned for Sundays. I attend church in the morning. Then I wash any laundry that didn't get washed on Saturday. I dirty up a lot of gym clothes, running gear and sports bras in the week, so I need to make sure they are all clean and ready to go for the coming week. Sunday afternoon we usually cook up about 10 chicken breast on the grill. I boil a dozen eggs. Make some quinoa or brown rice in the rice cooker. Check over my menus for the week to make sure I have everything I need to pack my lunches. Then, I slip on my bikini and head to my lawn chair for an afternoon nap! mmmmmmm! Love my sunshine nap! I really don't sleep long, but it is a great down time for my body and it recharges me. I consider the weekend my spa time. I eat the freshest cleanest foods I can. I exercise, I rest, I read, I walk, I review and plan.

So, here is what my upcoming week looks like:

Monday:
Food: Low Carb Day
Run: 3 miles
Exercise: Zumba afterwork
Crossfit Challenge: 10 Rounds of 6 Burpees & 6 Turkish Get Ups

Tuesday:
Food: High Carb Day
Exercise: Lower Body Strength Training and weight circuit with Trainer. Heavy/Tough workout
Crossfit Challenge: 3 Bars of Death!!! Doesn't that sound fun! I will be modifying the weights for my current fitness and strength level. But as it is written: Deadlist 1 1/2 BW, Bench BW, Clean 3/4 BW !!!! WHAT! There are 10 rounds of this for time! First set is 10 reps and each round declines in reps. 10/9/8/7/6/5/4/3/2/1 reps. I am predicting that I will be pretty trashed after this workout.

Wednesday:
Food: Low Carb Day
Run: 4 miles
Exercise: Zumba
Crossfit: 5 rounds for time: Run 400 meters/30box jumps/30 wall ball shots w/20lb ball

Thursday:
Food: Medium Carb Day
Run: 3 miles
Exercise: Upper Body Circuit with Trainer
No Crossfit

Friday:
Food: Medium Carb Day
No Run
No Exercise (unless I just cannot resist Zumba)
Crossfit: For time: 1000 meter row, thruster 45lbs (50 reps), pull ups (30 reps)

Saturday:
Food: Low Carb Day
Run: 7 miles
Crossfit: 3 rotations for time:
1. 60 jumping jacks
2. 15-20 Spiderman pushups
3. 20 Walding Lunges
4. 20 (10 per side) Spiderman Climb
5. 60 second Wall Squat
6. 60 second Pland
7. 20 Burpees
8. 50 High Knees

Every other week I really crank it up. This is my crank week! It does make me tired. It is a workout!!! It is very important that I pay attention to how my body is feeling each day and make sure that I am getting the sleep I need and the nutrition my body requires to perform. Usually about Wednesday evening I will start feeling some soreness in my throat and fatigue around my eyes and I know I need to back off just a little to let my body recover and repair.

Following my crank week, I'll take a little longer nap in my lawn chair on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Then the following week I drop the Crossfit challenges for a week which feels like vacation to my body! Gotta work for what I want and what I want is to be stronger and more fit. This is how I do it! Play hard, lift heavy, eat clean and rest to recharge!


That's how I do it!  How about you?