Race Recap: Boot Camp & BBQ at Life Time

- Mel 1 Comment

No packets to pick up. No swag. No Expo. No time clock. But there was some mud.

Get ready to sweat and experience the most rewarding workout you’ll do all summer. Our Boot Camp class combines cardio, body weight and resistance training to deliver an unrivaled workout. We won’t go easy on you, but we promise you won’t regret it.

Yeah. It’s a Boot Camp & BBQ.

Titan mob course iowa lifetime bootcamp
Of course I wore my MEAT socks to a BBQ!

Registration and Cost: FREE! Hosted by Life Time (I’m a member), this nationwide club event was promoting their Boot Camp class — locally, at the Des Moines gym, they worked alongside Iowa obstacle race creator Titan Mob. This event was open to non-members as well (so long as they were attending with a LT member). Registration was online, and there was a check-in tent in front of the gym about an hour before start time.

Start line: There were several heats, which were staggered by the numbers on our wristbands. Since I was doing this alone (encouraged by my coworker who takes the Boot Camp classes and helped out with the course obstacles), I found a few women at the start line to chat and commiserate with.

Weather: Similar to my emotions when running Dam to Dam, the heat was awful (especially as this event started at 10am OMFG) and everything was horrible (drama queen).

Course: The course was on the grounds of Life Time (all outdoors) and was approximately 2 miles in length (I didn’t wear my watch). There were… I-don’t-know-how-many obstacles, which included: a sandbag carry, cement block pull WITH A CHAIN (the hardest), an uphill tube climb (I have no idea what to call this obstacle lol), tire run, about 20 hill repeats (some with weights), mud pit jump (UGH!), weight pull (from the top of the hill; you then had to walk your plate back down to the bottom, and repeat), walls, monkey bars, army crawls, another wall (a very tall one that I needed some assistance on), hay bale hurdles, wall balls, water bucket carries (while being sprayed with water, which was actually pretty nice), tire flips (I couldn’t do this one on my own, BOO!) and some overhead press/weighted squats before taking off on a sprint to the finish.

For any obstacles that you skipped (or, if you fell off the monkey bars, in my case), you did 15 burpees.

I was impressed that there were several water stations with ice and cold towels at various points on the course.

Experience: It’s been YEARS since I did a Tough Mudder, and this course thankfully didn’t have a lot of mud. The obstacles were placed well, varied in difficulty, and overall felt like it kicked my ass.

Finish Line: There was a hose to rinse off the dirt, which was nice!

After Party: BBQ! Beer from Firetrucker Brewery! Obviously, I’m not a beer drinker, but they had some alcoholic ginger beer that is gluten-free (and they gave me a free drink coupon to use when I visit their brewery in Ankeny). I was super interested in having some watermelon after finishing (as promised on the event info menu), but there wasn’t any. To be honest, I wasn’t really hungry, but I made sure to buy a protein milk in the LifeCafe so that I didn’t feel miserable later (haaaaaa!).

Famous last words, they say: I ended up breaking out in a rash all over the front, exposed part of my skin a few hours after the race because I am nothing if not totally allergic to the outdoors. I also had a bunch of these tiny scratches all over my knees and elbows, likely from the army crawls through the dry grass. FUN!

Obstacle course run lifetime bootcamp
YAY! I finished! (And I’m kinda muddy!)

No Official Results, but it was officially a great time. My experience overall at Life Time has been mostly lukewarm, but they do a great job of hosting fun social events (I’ve already got my eye on a Bikes & Brunch next month), and I love that a lot of the coaching staff and instructors were out on the obstacle course chatting with members about classes and such.

Watch the local news clip about the event!

Weekly Therapy: A week full of Mondays

- Mel

the week:
Well, it’s the last week of July — I started training for my Fall half marathon this week, and I just saw my first back-to-school commercial. Which means we can almost put this awful humidity-heavy weather past us in a few more weeks. AND we’re SO CLOSE to Iowa State Fair time! The week felt like it was running repeats of Monday-ish moments, and WHEW am I glad it’s the weekend.

weekend:
We are invited to a dinner party Saturday night and got a last-minute invitation to see Jim Gaffigan on Sunday night. And after having some happy hour fun last night after work, I’m going to feel pretty Monday come Monday.

seven things, seven days:
1. Watching the DNC speeches, feeling pretty pumped up about being a woman right now. *fist bump*
2. OMG I love my new running watch!!!
3. The growth mindset in children and how it affects academic achievement {via Pacific Standard}
4. Stumbled across this article when looking at OTHER articles about paying down my student loan debt (I KNOW, RIGHT?): 4 keys to ambition.
5. You can’t keep competing with your younger self. *SIGH* Kind of depressing. {via Science of Us}
6. How exhaustion became a status symbol {via New Republic}
7. A psychologist worked with Spotify to create a playlist of the best songs to wake up to.

Weekly Therapy: Brevity is the soul of wit.

- Mel

the week:
I had one of the most inspiring and empowering experiences at work this week — invited by a coworker to a women’s networking event, which was lead by an incredible speaker (a senior executive at my workplace). The event encouraged these feelings of female camaraderie that I’ve never had at ANY of my jobs, and also helped me make the decision to post to an open position. I really, really like my job, and well… I’m feeling pretty pumped this week.

weekend:
This morning is Bootcamp & BBQ at Life Time. One of my coworkers had a part in putting together the obstacle course, and a few others from work will be out for the fun. I’m pretty excited about this event (and also for some much-needed pool time) for something new to do and getting outside for a dirty, sweaty workout.

seven things, seven days:
1. I hired a running coach for my half marathon training! More on that in a later post.
2. Many thanks to several other runners online who helped with recommendations on their favorite running watch. You know that I’ve NEVER, in over two years, connected my current Garmin to the Connect software because wires? I upgraded to the 230, which OMG BLUETOOTH SYNC! is exactly what I needed.
3. I got two separate kudos at our team meeting this week. WHOOP!
4. The power randomly cut off at work on Wednesday, so they sent everyone in our building home an hour or so early.
5. Our weather got up to 115 degrees this week, and it was as awful as you think.
6. I LOVED Hootie & The Blowfish, so I LOVED THIS ARTICLE: My Life in the Bush of Hootie about signing the band to their first record deal. {via Observer}
7. If it doesn’t suck, it’s not worth doing — the science of the anticipation of an event and pushing past your capabilities {via Medium}

Accountability Week: 7/11 – 7/17

- Mel

What does self care look like to you? Bubble baths and face masks and lots of relaxation? More rest days and social time and focus on loved ones? Decompressing with a book or writing? Well, I did all of the above this week. And that was my goal for the week.

I’m proud of the consistency that I’ve added to my workout routines, and I wanted to think of this period as something like a cut-back week in regular training. To be honest, I work hard to combat the negative self-talk when I start thinking about how to plan out my training again. I’ve not really had success in sticking to a plan. So, I’m exploring options — like social running groups and coaching — to help me see my goals through. I think having accountability is SMART to combat those times when you don’t feel like following through. And since I know my tendencies better than anyone, I want to be set up for the greatest success without being my own worst enemy. This week, I found my first accountability buddy, and those kind of things really add value to my life. I’ve certainly missed having a Running Tribe like I had in Pittsburgh, and I really hope to find my “people” this running season.

But I still find it weird that there are NO organized group runs here on Sundays! Every other day of the week, though, there’s a group somewhere, and several run on Saturdays. WEIRD.

MONDAY Rest

TUESDAY Mostly a Rest Day, though I did a couple sets of my hips and glutes exercises and some air squats in the evening.

WEDNESDAY Ran on the trails, approx. 3.4 miles. My foot felt pretty uncomfortable after this run (maybe because of first time running outside in a while?), but still no noticeable swelling or bruising. I iced it for a bit anyways when I got home.

running iowa trails blogger

THURSDAY Rest Day, aka: Wine Day – after-work wine tasting

FRIDAY Rest – with wine waiting for me when I got home (had to work late to cover time missed by my dentist appointment). I certainly tapped out on rest days this week. My legs felt like they needed a lot of stretching (yeah, I don’t think I did anything after my run on Wednesday… #dumb), so I focused on that a bit before I went to bed.

SATURDAY Run. I went outside again… and had an AWFUL TIME. UGH. This was legit a struggle to get through 3 miles, and my mind just kept quitting on me.

Needless to say, I couldn’t shake off my mental struggle enough to run on Sunday, and just gave up for the week, shrugging off my Sunday run.

So, yes. It’s time to work with a coach.

Sunday Lately for this 30-Something:: Week 81

- Mel

Blogger Tribe_Sunday Lately I really look forward to these posts every Sunday. Not only do I have a weekly ritual on Sunday of setting up my week for success, but blogging regularly helps me decompress from the previous week.

Sunday Lately is a weekly linkup hosted by the Blogger Tribe (lead by Angelica, Meghan, Nicole, and Katy) where everyone is welcome to pop a tent and share some S’mores. Catch up and read all of my Sunday Lately posts and camp out with the Tribe on Facebook

The prompts for July 17 (Week 81) :: Planning, Loving, Reading, Wishing, Feeling.

Planning:: My half marathon training! I’ve been working on adding all my runs to my calendar, and searching for races nearby that fit into that training schedule. I’m SO EXCITED to start this training next week!

Also, I’m thinking about what other races I can add into my post-half calendar, since I strongly prefer racing and training in the Fall. I want to enjoy as much of the season as possible (yes, even into the winter months). Have any recommendations for not-to-miss fall/winter races in the Midwest(ish) area?

Loving:: this wildflower bouquet that the boyfriend brought home! It was cut from a local farm (sold at Hy-Vee), and most of these flowers and greens I’ve never seen. It’s really lovely. And yes, you can see my weekend “workspace” at the end of the kitchen island back there. 😉

sunflowers wildflowers iowa blogger
Sunflowers are my favorite!

Reading:: three books at once again. I’m a couple chapters into Liz Pryor’s book: Look at You Now, and The Three Laws of Performance. I started (finally) reading my Blogging for Books request from MONTHS ago: “He Wanted the Moon,” which… is not the book I expected (nor want to really read when I’m trying to relax), so I’m having trouble picking it up consistently.

Next up, I’ve got Peak (the science of expertise!), Fearless Golf (for golf and beyond!), and the Science of Running (which, awesomely, Amazon sent me a digital copy to download once I purchased the actual book!) — as I’m apparently in my performance psychology space again. When this group of prompts comes around again, I hope to have them finished. 🙂

Wishing:: for another weather day like Friday. There was no humidity at lunch, so our department’s informal Lunch Club ate outside. It was only 73 degrees when I left that day, which felt SO COMFORTABLE! We opened all the windows in the house again, and it was just the perfect evening. It only lasted one day because I went outside for a run yesterday and it was MISERABLY HUMID once again.

Feeling:: As I mentioned above, I’m feeling really pumped about my upcoming running season, since I didn’t get much of anything done in the spring (and totally flaked out on marathon training). I’m reading all the articles about time goals and speed work — and even reached out for possibility of working with a coach this year. I feel like I have a constant runner’s high!

Weekly Therapy: “There’s a huge difference between losing and being a loser”

- Mel

the week:
It’s time to make the introductory rounds of new doctors in Iowa – I had my dentist appointment this week, and I get to meet my new PCP on Monday (morning. At 7am. WTF was I thinking?!). From that appointment, I need to get referrals for a new gyno, a new dermatologist for my annual skin cancer screening, and a trip to the Ortho (hopefully continuing my luck of having hot sports medicine doctors).

I also apparently got poison ivy while I was on an urban vacation… SERIOUSLY. So I had to cancel my pedicure this week. And there’s a possibility that I might have some kind of stress reaction in my foot. At least there was good news with no new cavities!

tl;dr – I’m falling apart. Bring wine.

weekend:
I got an amazing care package from ToGoSpa this week (their Ice Water EYES product is wonderful!); so in my earlier promise of self care, I will be relaxing with some face masks and bubble baths. I’ll also probably go outside a LOT because it’s 73 degrees and BEAUTIFUL right now.

seven things, seven days:
1. There are 33.814 fl oz in a 1000ml water bottle. #tmyk
2. After a pretty shit week at work, I was SUPER excited to receive an invitation to National Root Beer Float Day (yes, free root beer floats for employees in my department). BEST DAY EVER!
3. We went to an AMAZING Penfolds wine tasting at the country club. And brought home more than a few bottles.
4. Started AND finished “Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything?” this week. Probably one of my favorite books of the year. I really loved Timothy Caulfield’s writing style and humor, and his compiling of research really had an impact in how I think about the health and beauty industries (especially the myth of “anti-aging”). 30-something approved!
5. “There is no such thing as perfect”: Female athletes fight expectations for perfection online {via Reebok}
6. Since I’m a creature of habit — and now mostly settled here in Iowa — I’ve been really looking at some of my routines, and if they’re really “working” for me. Here are some signs that your routine might be getting in your way. {via The Muse}
7. James Clear with another wonderful essay: Motivation is Overvalued

Accountability Monday: Vacation Week 7/04-7/10

- Mel 1 Comment

Fun times. I wanted to finish up this post last night, but our internet was out (and was still out when I went to bed). ANYWAYS, here’s how last week’s vacation accountability and goal-setting worked out…

My goals refresher from last week: do ONE new thing (does working out in a hotel basement count?), TWO workouts while traveling (got ONE in, but shortened the vacation by a day), run THREE times (CHECK!), FOUR workouts total (nope, only the three runs; can I count all the vacation walking?), and a FIVE-mile run (CHECK!). One thing I definitely learned this week: Vacation and insomnia combined completely drain me.

I hate to give myself a pass, because VACATION, but considering I couldn’t move my arms for most of the trip, AND had to go to a running store and buy a pair of shoes, I’m taking a hard pass. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

MONDAY: Many CrossFit boxes do hero WODs on holidays, so in the patriotic spirit, I completed an adapted Half Murph workout (usually completed on Memorial Day)… which resulted in me having some serious DOMS in my arms for the better part of the week. OOOF.

The full Murph consists of one mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 air squats, and another mile run to end the madness (which… no way for me). My treadmill had a featured run in Arlington Cemetery on the 4th, so I did my mile to start there (9:06 minutes), followed by 50 “pull-ups” (adapted: front rows with my TRX), 100 push-ups (probably only 20 strict, followed by sets of 5-10 from my knees, and a bunch of crying and flailing around for the last 60 — it was awful, awful form), 150 air squats, and another mile in Arlington to finish (12:26 mile). All told, it took me 41 minutes and 23 seconds, and WHOOPED my butt.

30something CrossFit Murph WOD blogger
How do people do this WHOLE THING?!

TUESDAY: REST DAY and drive to Kansas City. We did LOTS of walking in Kansas City and it was HOT… with a stop to a local running store in the Westport neighborhood (between drinks) because I forgot to pack my running shoes.

It was actually a good opportunity to try out something new, considering I’m still so stuck on my Ride 7s (he even checked their back room to see if he still had any remaining in stock in my size). The new Ride 9 running shoes were one the dozen or so that I tried on, and I really liked them; ultimately, I purchased a pair of Brooks Ghost 9, which fit pretty similar but felt a little bit lighter in the heel. There’s something about them that almost forces me to run on my forefoot (I have an unfortunate heel-striking habit), and I’m interested to see how they work for me on longer runs.

WEDNESDAY: More walking in Kansas City; more heat and humidity, OMG and a hangover.

THURSDAY: A 20-minute(ish) treadmill run (2 miles with walking warm-up and cool down) in the morning in the hotel’s basement-level fitness center before driving to Omaha. This room was so small and crammed with equipment, I couldn’t even do a burpee in there.

30something hotel workout running blog
Dungeon workout, selfies from the treadmill (and an entire wall of mirrors!), and my new Brooks!

FRIDAY: We woke up early to walk around downtown Omaha a bit (along with some gluten-free cinnamon rolls that I found at a local bakery!!!), followed by a three-hour (lots-more-walking) adventure to the Omaha Zoo.

SATURDAY: We came home from vacation one day early, so I skipped one of my workouts while traveling. I still hadn’t recovered much from our trip, and spent most of the day doing nothing but reading books. A much-needed day of catching up on sleep and relaxing. Didn’t I just get back from vacation?

SUNDAY: Another treadmill run at home — it’s obvious that it’s no longer the dreadmill, right? Five miles (this time in Budapest!). I mindlessly set the treadmill to run and kinda zoned out… and didn’t realize how slow I was running. Ah, well, work is done!

Goals for the week:

I’m practicing some self-care this week. I haven’t been able to regulate my sleep schedule for weeks. I’m also becoming very aware that the “minor nagging discomfort” in my left foot for the last couple months might be the beginning of an injury (I have a doctor’s appointment on Monday). Half marathon training starts in two weeks, so now is the time to prepare my mind and body (and schedule) for the upcoming challenge. For now though, I’m going to relax a little bit (and think a little bit about my goals).

Sunday Lately for this 30-Something:: Week 80

- Mel 3 Comments

Blogger Tribe_Sunday Lately Happy Sunday! Sunday Lately is a weekly linkup hosted by the Blogger Tribe (lead by Angelica, Meghan, Nicole, and Katy) where everyone is welcome to pop a tent and share some S’mores. Catch up and read all of my Sunday Lately posts and camp out with the Tribe on Facebook!

The prompts for July 10 (Week 80) :: Completing, Visiting, Repeating, Writing, Scheduling

kansas city giant shuttlecock art museum blogger
My favorite part of road trips: Finding random giant objects!

COMPLETING:: my last day of vacation. Bummer, man. Nine days off seemed like so many when I started…

VISITING:: Taking a road trip to a few of our nearby cities was a really fun way to see different parts of our state (and cross another state off the map). We’ll definitely be making future visits to Kansas City and Omaha — and I’d like to go back and check out Council Bluffs, since we skipped that part of our adventure on the way home.

REPEATING:: Going through the motions of another Sunday, preparing for my work-week with meal planning and scheduling my workouts and putting together outfits for the week. I have a little variety planned, so it won’t feel like I’m being too repetitive and inflexible with my habits (and just returning to work as I left it). That’s probably the worst thing for returning from vacation — to just drop back into your old routine without giving a little pause to reflect on what’s working, what’s not, and how to manage your time even better.

WRITING:: So, I’m writing out a plan of action for my work week to include what days I need to pack items/bring things with me to work — and actually SETTING THOSE ITEMS ASIDE and/or putting bags in my car. I really have a tendency to make big plans and get progressively overwhelmed by the novelty or preparation as the week builds, so taking some time to plan in advance to help prevent the potential burnout from making too many decisions during the week. Sunday is really a great day for me to GYST (aka: Get Your Shit Together).

SCHEDULING:: Sleep! I’m nowhere near “fixed” on my sleeping schedule that started falling apart before vacation. If last night’s awful cycle is any indication, this is going to be a ROUGH week. Not to mention that I also have an appointment with a new dentist. :-/

Weekly Therapy: A week off to recharge!

- Mel

the week:
WOO-HOO, VACATION! We’ve been hopping (driving) around to a couple cities in the Midwest on a little road trip this week. And I can cross off visiting the state of Nebraska! We drove over the border from Kansas City, MO, so the boyfriend could cross off Kansas, too.

I wish that I could’ve signed up for a race somewhere while traveling, but not much of that happening during the week. There are quite a bit of “new” cities that are only a couple hours drive away from us — so in the next year, I’m going to start looking at races in some of those other cities.

weekend:
Enjoying the last couple days off work. It felt good to finally get caught up on sleep last night IN MY OWN BED. (Surely, the cat still woke me up in the middle of the night, just as though we never left.)

seven things, seven days:
1. The cats seemed to do well with the new sitter; though Big White Cat hasn’t left my side for 15 hours. I also had all three cats in the bed with me when I woke up. <3 2. Speaking of cats and vacation: on one of my job alert emails this week, a position for "two spoiled cats that need extra attention while we are out of town” MADE ME LAUGH SO HARD.
3. There is still a gluten-free Godiva cheesecake in my fridge that we forgot to serve from our 4th of July party. #breakfast
4. On nightshades and inflammation — something that I’ve struggled with for years (including a two-year abstinence diet from); my cravings for tomatoes and spicy foods has never gone away. SIGH.
5. I considered joining the Kansas City November Project workout this week while I was there. And I’m really bummed after reading this article that I didn’t (though I dislike the “cult” reference in the title). I discovered the amazingness of November Project too late after the “pop-up workout” in Pittsburgh last year, and I really wish that there was a tribe in Des Moines! This type of fitness community chatter, though, makes me miss my CrossFit family a lot.
6. Being a go-getter is no fun {via The Atlantic}
7. Appropriately, Easing the pain of returning back to work after vacation {via HBR}

Accountability Monday: IT’S JULY! — and June wrap-up

- Mel 1 Comment

Wrapping up June first, I finally got back into a routine with my workouts — planning most sessions out from start-to-finish, being open to doing “quickie” ones instead of nothing at all, and maintaining the consistency that I lost months ago. I still have a few weeks left in the “off-season” before my half marathon training starts up again, and I’m feeling really excited with this momentum.

By the way, this image that I downloaded from my Gasparilla race photos (thanks to that 50% discount code) is EVERYTHING:

love running gasparilla race photos

Quick wrap-up for June: Set up my Achievement Wall in my home gym, started setting weekly goals (even if not a 100% success), had my first race in Iowa (a pretty terrible half for me, but happy to get that out of the way!), and didn’t have to worry at all about tracking my mileage for the month. 😉

This week’s goals were mostly a flop again, but I feel good about the work that was done.

MONDAY: REST DAY

TUESDAY: I was in an INSANE mood after work, and hearing the song “Roxanne” on my drive home got me pumped to do some more burpees. At my former CrossFit gym in Pittsburgh, we were introduced to this burpee routine – dropping down every time you hear the name “Roxanne.” It’s a great addition to warm up, and dang if it doesn’t actually make me smile when I finish.

That was only *part* of my workout:
I warmed up with 3×5 reps of inch worms, mountain climbers and alternating single leg bounds (thanks again to Runner’s World for a great idea to add to my routine).
Jump rope for 2 minutes
Ran 2 miles at a 9:30 pace (followed by a cool down walk for 2 minutes)
Roxanne burpees (one day I’ll count them!)
Ladder plank holds to Drowning Pool’s “Bodies” (ha, the RAGE!)
Workout 1 from the Strong & Fast movements from Runner’s World to “cool down”
And then some long stretches with my TheraBand

WEDNESDAY: My third golf lesson! Still working on corrections to my swing, but I’m definitely making more contact than I did when I first started.

THURSDAY: REST

FRIDAY: REST (dinner and drinks and fun at the golf club overruled my evening workout)

SATURDAY: BOO, RAIN! I was all set up to join the social run club at LifeTime in the morning before my massage, then it started raining at 6:30am, and… well, I’m not officially training for anything, so NO THANKS. This, unfortunately, blew up my goal this week to both run outside AND go out with a running group. Also, can you believe that there were NO afternoon classes to take after my massage? A 10:45 yoga class was it, and my 90-minute massage ended at 11:30. :-/ Alas, I went for my massage, and then sat around for most of the afternoon reading books, reading blogs, and planning out my vacation workouts.

In the evening, I did a 15-minute run on the treadmill with a 5-minute walk to warm up and a 3-minute walk to bring my heart rate back down – I’m loving the Parks courses that were recently added to iFit maps. Shout out to my girl (Pittsburgh City Girl, that is) Chelsea, I ran in Central Park!

Also, randomly, this was the first time that I tripped the breaker while on the treadmill. I, err, hope that doesn’t happen again because this is a new house. WTF?! While the boyfriend was resetting the breaker, I cranked out 20 burpees.

SUNDAY:
I have fallen trap to this “all or nothing” fallacy, where if, say, I have a mimosa in the morning, then I can’t do anything for the rest of the day (like, do my workout). It’s been a REALLY hard habit to break, to remind myself that I really only need 30 minutes and that having a drink at brunch does not negate the entire day. So sometimes that means doing your run at 9pm because you feel good and you’re awake — and dang it, you’re just sitting there watching the stupidest game shows on TV (now, sober). DO YOUR DANG THING.

Again, because I was in some kind of mood, I decided to do a speed test of my 5k PR pace (which is standing strong at 28:08 from last year). And I KILLED those three miles at a 8:56 pace. No joke, it was hard — but I need to be committed to do some of my runs at a harder pace or I will NEVER get faster. Like my cross country coach used to say about rewards: if you puke, you get a hamburger! Which I realize is really terrible advice for a 12-year-old.

Goals for this week:

  • Do ONE new thing
  • TWO workouts while traveling
  • Run THREE times
  • FOUR workouts total
  • One FIVE-mile run