Date With Matt Fitzgerald

Today was one of those days that I did not feel like working out.  After a girl night with my mom last night, eating half a pizza, having a beer, a PMS like never before, and staying up too late, I was left feeling like a pile of poo and I really just wanted to sit on my bum and do nothing.  But I pushed myself to the gym anyway and I am so glad I did!  Do we ever regret working out?  Especially running.  I am always glad I did.  


My Workout Today
Dynamic Stretching with Matt Fitzgerald (I'll get to that in a minute)
4 miles at base pace with 4 x 1min intervals @ 1 mile pace sprinkled in

4 miles in 30:42 (don't get confused at the 29:18 showing...it is the time remaining...I started with 60 min)  at a 1% incline so about a 7:40 average pace.  This is with the first .25 at a 9ish pace and then rest of the first mile at about a 8:13 pace.  
1st three intervals were at a 6:00 pace (10.0 on the TM)
4th interval was at a 5:56 pace (10.1)


I feel great!  I have that red faced, sopping wet sweaty feeling that makes me feel tired and happy!  I feel myself returning!  


Date with Matt Fitzgerald
This morning I was away from my kids and the Internet and I had time at my mom's house to just have my coffee and catch up on some reading.  As many of you know, I am reading Brain Training for Runners by Matt Fitzgerald and using his 24 week plan to train for the Newport Marathon in June.  I am a little behind with my reading so I've been doing what I can.  Today I caught up with his chapter : Cross Training as Brain Training.  Matt says :  "...I don't believe any runner can achieve his or her full potential without cross training."  He talks about three basic categories of cross-training:  resistance training, flexibility training, and nonimpact cardiovascular training.  He says : "Each improves the stride by modifying brain-muscle communications." I practiced some of the resistance training exercises this morning and now I'll be using them 2 times a week as part of my weekly workouts. 
Fitzgerald recommends doing dynamic flexibility stretches as a warm-up before a high-intensity workout so today I took my Brain Training book and went through these recommended dynamic stretches.  They are much like I remember doing in college during indoor and outdoor track seasons.  Dynamic stretching exercises allow you to increase your flexibility through movements or exercises that mimic the way your muscles and connective tissues actually stretch during running.  All the dynamic stretching exercises take about 5 minutes so it isn't very time consuming to do before a workout.  A couple of these exercises include forward leg swing, lunge walks, lateral lunges, lateral leg swing, heel bounce, etc.  

Here I am trying to learn the Tilt Walk.  Thanks for the pictures Matt!  

I have to say that I did feel good and ready for my workout today after these dynamic stretches!  I'm so happy to be making my way through the book.  Amazing how a day mostly away from the computer allows we to get so much accomplished!  Matty and I greatly enjoyed our date! 

Oh, and did I say that I love my new Saucony Kinvaras?!  

Next Posts
I've got so much running through my head that I want to write about.  Next posts I'd like to mention:
*  Answering some questions by some of my readers about ways to get protein in their diet without meat.  I consulted my mom (she is so smart with this stuff) and a friend who also knows a ton about nutrition, fitness, etc.  
*  Sharing my new favorite way to eat Quinoa
*  Listening to an interview on NPR this morning with the author of the book Alone Together, Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other. I'd LOVE to read this book or at least talk about the thoughts I had when hearing about it. I'd also love to hear your thoughts regarding the topic. In the meantime, check out this article on Newsweek:  One Hundred Tweets of Solitude and let me know your thoughts if it strikes a chord with you.  
*  To Soy Milk controversy... What is up with people being so scared of soy now?  


Thankful for:
*  Reminders to be in the moment and pay attention to what is important in life...giving my full attention to my kids at certain times during the day
*  My awesome workout
*  Beach house this weekend!  Yay!  
*  Girl night with my mom last night
*  My blog
*  Thinking about building on and remodeling our home!


Oh, and thank you for all your funny comments on my post Hot Sexy Bitch.  I told my mom last night that I was kind of worried about my title since who knows who might find my blog searching for words like Hot Sexy Bitch.  I also told her that I bet more men might click on my blog with a title like that.  Funny thing is...I woke up with 4 new readers/followers and 3 of them were men!  Ha, do you think it was the title? 

For those of you that missed it, this was a post about me wearing my pants on backwards to the gym.  I included a picture for those of you that wanted to see one.  This doesn't look too bad from the picture.  I took a picture of what the back might have looked like with my undies hanging out but my husband says he'd rather me not include it.  

Amanda