I hope everyone is enjoying their labor day weekend as much as I am!  I even got to try two new workouts; Hot Vinyasa Flow Yoga and Cardio Power.

THURSDAY

On Thursday, Sam and I woke up at 4:45 to get our run in before work.  I was very tired and a little worried about running in the dark.  We considered just making laps in our neighborhood, but that would have been so boring.  Sam brought along a flashlight and we wore our reflective vests so we decided to run out of the neighborhood.  We decided to head down Chancellors Run towards Sheetz, where there would be more light.  Then, we headed south on 235 for a bit until we reached our turnaround point (2 miles).  Even with the flashlight, it was still pretty dark in some spots.  Sam and I weren’t very chatty.  It was just too early to talk.  She knows by now that I am not a morning person.  Steven and I always say that nobody should be allowed to speak until at least 9 a.m 😉  After completing our first mile, we were able to kick it up a notch and ran the next 3 miles at a pretty good pace.  Even though I always complain about an early morning workout, once again I was excited to have it done for the day.  I went home, made a protein shake, and got ready for work.

FRIDAY

Friday was my rest day.  After work, we decided to have Chinese food for dinner and then visited our nephew (not technically, but close enough) Max for his birthday.  Mmm…we even had Anita’s cupcakes for the occasion.  Needless to say, my healthy eating plan hasn’t been going well, but its a holiday weekend so I have an excuse.  I’ll try to work on that again starting Tuesday 🙂

SATURDAY

On Saturday morning, I decided to head to the gym to take Cardio Power.  Usually, the 9:30 class is Body Combat, but I had seen a sign at the gym earlier in the week noting the change.  I figured I might as well give it a try.  After eating bad on Friday and knowing I had another party to go to today, I wanted a class that would burn some serious calories.  Plus, I had some running around to do later in the afternoon, so I knew I wanted to get my workout done as early as possible and didn’t want to wait until 10:30 to take Body Pump.  So off to the gym I went.  Unfortunately Sam couldn’t join me today because she was busy setting up Lilee’s birthday party.  The class definitely delivered when it came to calorie burning.  It was an hour full of intense cardio that included burpees, running, high knee running, jump squats, jump lunges, etc.  According to the instructor, they will be offering the class the first Saturday of the month from now on.  I definitely see myself going back!

Later that evening, we went to Lilee’s birthday party.  We had fun and there was a lot of good food!!!  And of course the cake was excellent as well.  Num Num!  Happy Birthday Lilee!!

SUNDAY

Time for Sunday Runday!  Sam and I had decided to meet at 8:00 to head out for our long run.  We were both running a little late this morning, but we were headed out by 8:15.  Not too bad!  We decided to change things up a bit today.  Running the same route on base has become a little dull.  We decided to head to Wildewood instead.  We parked at Evergreen Elementary and ran from there.  We had forgotten how many hills are in Wildewood.  There aren’t any major hills, but a lot of rolling hills.  But even with the hills, I felt really good for the most part today (mentally).  I think the change of scenery was just what I needed.  Around mile 7.5, I started having some hip flexor pain.  I’m not sure what that is about; its a new pain for me.  It wasn’t excruciating by any means and I was able to finish, but it has been tender since then.  The last mile was the hardest for me today.  That mile seemed to stretch on FOREVER and we were ready to be done.  Still, today was MUCH easier for me than last Sunday.  Funny how that works sometimes.  We have 4 weeks left until our first half marathon of the season!!  I can’t wait!

Sam and I had been talking about trying hot yoga and today was the perfect opportunity:

1. We don’t have to work tomorrow
2. Might feel great after a long run
3. Neither of us had plans

Perfect!  We both had our doubts, but we decided at the last minute to go.  Sam and I have both done yoga at Maximum before, but this was a little intimidating.  Not to take anything away from Enid’s class, because we love her BodyFlow class, but this just seemed to be taking it to the next level.  We went to Evolve Yoga, which is an actual yoga studio.  Yikes!  So it was a little scary!  After registering, we found our way to the yoga room and found our spots at the front of the room.  Most of the people who were already there were already in yoga poses and it was very quiet.  I felt like Sam and I were going to get in trouble for talking while we waited for the class to start.  I definitely felt out of place; a yoga imposter!  But the good news is that once the class started, all of those feelings quickly faded and I realized it was silly for me to think that way.  After a few poses, I was sweating profusely!  We were sweating more now than we were on our 9 mile run this morning.  None of the poses were new to us so I think that once I realized that I was familiar with all the poses, I was a lot more comfortable.  The class lasted 75 minutes.  Sam and I both really enjoyed the class.  I would love to go regularly after Sunday long runs, but I will have to consider the cost a bit more before I make a commitment, especially considering I already pay for a gym membership (albeit, a very discounted membership).  Below are some of the benefits of hot yoga:

• Detoxification
• Warm muscles allow you to go a little more deeply and safely into postures
• Elevated heart rate makes the body work harder
• Working in heat can help relax the body, improve breathing, and focus the mind

I hope you are all enjoying your labor day weekend as much as I am enjoying mine!

QOTD: What did you do this labor day weekend?