Birthday Boot Camp!
I entered a new age group last week; as I was thinking about how I wanted to celebrate my birthday, I remembered how fun the run my neighborhood pal, Laurel, organized for her 40th was. I wanted to replicate it, but since—gasp—not all my friends are runners, I tweaked it a bit. (Plus, I’ll be honest: I wanted good pics for an entry here, but I didn’t want to carry my camera on a run.) Enter birthday boot camp.
The plan: meet at a local park at 5:30 a.m. We’d do a strength/cardio combo: run small lap over two wooden bridges–it took between 2-3 minutes to run–and use various playground equipment to build our muscles. In my email, I promised a good workout, but guaranteed there would be no burpees.
I hate burpees.
Amazingly, 20 women said they were up for it, and thankfully, Sarah Johnson, a Stroller Strides instructor extraordinaire who happens to around 32 weeks pregnant, said she’d help run it and be photographer. I asked her because she owns all the requisite tools: a whistle, a stop watch, enthusiasm that is so contagious you can’t help but try hard, and the organizational skills to keep 20 women sweating and laughing. If you can’t tell, I think she’s amazing.
The routine went like this: run a lap, come back and pick one of four stations:
—Lunging and side shuffles
—Push-ups and jump ups (or squats or squat jumps…your quads do the picking)
—Pull-ups and planks
—Tricep dips and step-ups on a picnic table bench
At each station, you’d do one exercise for 60 seconds, rest 15 seconds, do the other one for 60 seconds, then run a lap, ending at a station you weren’t at last time.
We did the full routine once, and that took about 35 minutes, so we abbreviated the second round. Two stations (four exercises), one lap, two stations, one lap.
The workout took about 50 minutes total, and then we headed for the good stuff: coffee, homemade granola, and a few other treats.
As I stare down the other side of 40, things that collect dust and promote clutter become less appealing. Instead, the things I can’t seem to get enough of–time with friends, laughter, me-time–are my celebratory priorities. And trust me: all my priorities were in order on that amazing morning.
Thank you to all who came to sweat. And for anybody else celebrating a birthday this year (I know you’re out there!), I highly suggest this way of ringing in a new year over happy hour. Or maybe in addition to happy hour.
The Importance of Rest
Sarah and Dimity talk about nothing—doing nothing, that is. Rest is a crucial part of an exercise program, whether it’s a rest day during a training plan; recovering properly after a race; not overdoing it on “easy” days; or getting enough sleep. The gals cover all these forms of rest as they crack each other up. This podcast also reveals such personal details about Dimity as her family dinner routine, her bedtime, and her astrological sign.
[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/podcasts.pagatim.fm/shows/amr_050312_101611621.mp3]*If you’re digging our podcasts, we’d be super-grateful if you’d take a minute (because we *know* you have so many to spare!) to write a review on iTunes. Many thanks.
**Also, the quickest way to get our podcasts is to subscribe to the show via iTunes. Clicking this link will automatically download the shows to your iTunes account. It doesn’t get any simpler than that!
***Or visit our great friends at Stitcher and subscribe to our podcasts there. Stitcher has been nominated as one of the best Apps ever.
Quiz: How Hard Should You Exercise Today?
On Wednesday, we recorded a podcast about rest, and as we were talking about peanut M&M’s, beer, and everything else that doesn’t really relate to rest, I was reminded of this great quiz I stumbled across while researching a story about overtraining for a major women’s magazine. The story never ran–you can read the whole thing here–but I love this quiz because it takes into account everything–stress, nutrition, sleep–that influences our performance and injury risk. Might be worth bookmarking, especially when you’re in the thick of a training plan and feeling wasted.
Total Quality Recovery
This quiz, designed by Goran Kentta, Ph.D., a sports psychologist at the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences, determines how primed your body is for a workout. Answer the questions based on the previous 24 hours and add up the corresponding points. Then use the chart, which indicates how well you have recovered, to know how hard you can push during your next workout.
Nutrition
Over the previous 24 hours, I ate…
Breakfast: 1 point
Lunch: 2 points
Dinner: 2 points
Snacks between meals: 1 point
Carbs and protein after exercise: 2 points
I replaced my fluids…
Throughout the day: 1 point
During and after my workout: 1 point
Sleep
I got in…
7-8 hours: 3 points
A 20-60 minute nap: 1 point
I felt…
Totally relaxed, both psychologically and physically, after my workout: 2 points
Relaxed during the entire day: 1 point
I made sure to…
Do a proper cool-down after my workout: 2 points
Stretched the muscles I worked: 1 point
Score yourself:
If your score is… | Your recovery is… | And your next exercise effort can be…. |
6 | No recovery | No exertion |
7-8 | Extremely poor | Extremely light |
9-10 | Very poor | Very light |
11-12 | Poor | Light |
13-14 | Reasonable | Slightly hard |
15-16 | Good | Hard |
17-18 | Very good | Very hard |
19-20 | Extremely good | Maximum |