ashleyd /

Weekly Workout Recap

Happy Monday! After a few weeks of steady workouts I feel like I’m finally finding my rhythm again. (Side note, I can NEVER spell that rhythm correctly on the first attempt.) Since I know that postpartum women are still prone to relaxin-induced injuries even 12-18 months after they give birth, I am being very careful not to overdo it with my training. Right now, I am focusing on rebuilding my strength and endurance while hopefully losing a few more pounds.  During my crazier than normal weeks when I find it hard to balance everything, I do my best to pause and remember that even getting on our Flywheel bike for a 20-minute ride is better for my mind and body than doing nothing.  I laugh when Timehope reminds me of the days of doing two workouts or enjoying boutique fitness classes throughout the city before most of Manhattan was awake. I remember my phone alarm pinging at 11:59 am reminding me to log on Classpass and book the next week’s classes. Oh, how time’s have changed. These days my cell phone goes off at 5:40, reminding me to log off and head out to get Katie in case I’ve lost track of time due to work.

These days, working out is still something I do for my emotional, mental and physical well-being instead of a means to achieving a time goal. While I am looking forward to getting back to that point in the next few months, I’m in a casual base-building stage right now. My workouts can’t be a source of stress at this point in my life. Instead, they need to be enjoyable, efficient and productive. So, as promised, here is a more casual post, recapping last week’s workouts and training including the highs and lows.

  • Monday – I knew it was going to be an especially busy week so I woke up bright and early and got the week kick-started with a 45-minute Flywheel FlyAnywhere theme ride. It was so much fun to jam to 80’s music before starting a crazy week and the playlist helped me forget about the fact that it was 5:15 AM!
  • Tuesday – Pouring rain caused me to hop on the bike again instead of heading out for my planned run. While I am typically someone who enjoys running in the rain, it was only 40 degrees and the wind was howling when my alarm went off at 5:15. I was beyond proud of myself for resisting the urge to push the snooze button and instead walking over to the bike and quickly changing clothes and clipping in for a 30-minute ride. I swear that keeping spin clothes and a filled water bottle near the bike makes it SO much easier, especially early in the morning.
  • Wednesday – Rest Day
  • Thursday – I was so excited to finish the 4-mile run with the local moms feeling stronger than normal.  Waking up at 5:15 doesn’t get easier but I always remember how amazing I feel when it’s only 6:30 and I’ve finished my workout and am already sipping coffee after a warm shower. Our pace continues to get a bit faster each week and one of the local moms just qualified for Boston so it was fun to hear about her marathon experience and the training that helped her chip away at the qualifying time.
  • Friday – Rest Day
  • Saturday – I rarely sleep past 7 AM but after a busy work week, Bo offered to let me sleep in while he managed Katie’s morning routine. I happily took him up on the offer and swapped my morning run for a 45-minute FlyAnywhere Flywheel Power ride which was focused on a long climbs and fast, powerful sprints. I think I waddled from the bike to the shower when I finished the tough ride. I’m thankful that I spent 10 minutes stretching and foam rolling after class as my body was very thankful for the stretch and recovery time.
  • Sunday – Most week’s, Laura and I do our best to squeeze in one of the strength workouts offered at the YMCA but unfortunately this week none of them worked with our schedules. Instead of abandoning our goal of doing more strength, we did a sweaty, 30-minute Pop Sugar TABATA workout on our back porch. It was a great reminder that our porch is the perfect place to break a sweat thanks to a yoga mat, plenty of space, an assortment of weights and a television.
  • Monday – I squeezed in 38 minutes of Dionna Littleton’s Method 45 FlyAnywhere Flywheel class before I had to hop in the shower and get ready for the day.

As I look back on the past week, the high was the consistent workouts and the low was only making it out on two runs and an absence of yoga. Luckily, the weather this week looks PERFECT for lots of runs and maybe even a porch yoga session while we’re out in the Hamptons this weekend!

Photo credit Alexis Damen Photography.

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ashleyd /

Saturday Morning Favorites

Good morning and happy Saturday!

I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend thus far. Last night we continued our happy hour routine and joined a few neighborhood friends for happy hour at Black Forest, a new German restaurant in Cobble Hill. The space is VERY kid-friendly and Katie loved watching all the people come and go.  After an hour of hanging out and catching up, we headed home in time for bath-time and books. Once Katie went down we spent the rest of the evening catching up on this season of Homeland.

This morning I started the day with a few of my favorite things – a run, sunshine and coffee. I headed out bright and early for another Saturday morning run with the Brooklyn Moms running group.  I’m so happy to be back in the routine of running each Saturday as it’s my favorite way to kick off the weekend.  I’m still focusing on building my base so I don’t focus on the pace during the run, instead just keeping up with the other women.  We spent this morning’s four miles chatting and enjoying the sunshine while also cursing the mile of uphill that kicks off our running route as we head towards Prospect Park.  Once we reached Prospect Park we decided to head into the park for a mile or so to catch glimpses of the flowers and trees that are finally blooming.

Okay, if you can get beyond the crow’s feet and eye wrinkles in this picture, you’ll notice how happy I am to be running in my favorite Brooks vest instead of a coat. I also have to give a shout-out to Sparkly Soul headbands as they never disappoint, even after years of sweat and use.

We ended the run, 4.25 miles later, at a new coffee shop in the neighborhood where I treated myself to a latte before walking home.

Hope you all have a wonderful rest of your weekend. My goal is to be back tomorrow with either Katie’s 10 month update or our grocery staples that we’ve been ordering via Instacart.

 

 

 

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Weekly Workout Recap

I don’t know if it is the sunshine or finally being nine months postpartum but guys, I finally feel like myself again.  I slept soundly each night, my workouts felt strong and physically and emotionally I felt very healthy.  My clothes are also fitting better and it seems like I’ve started to move past the plateau I’d hit the past few weeks. This is the first time I’ve felt comfortable enough in the above tank top to wear it for a workout which makes me SO happy since I have four of these Brooks Pickup Tanks folded in my drawers!  Since I was able to enjoy a number of workouts both here in Brooklyn and in Arkansas while traveling, I wanted to share them with you.

Hopefully the warmer spring weather is helping each of you get outside more and stay active.

  • Saturday – I squeezed in a 20 minute FlyAnywhere spin class and a 1 mile run before we headed to New Jersey for the day.
  • Sunday –  I started the day with a 1-hour Full Body Conditioning class at the YMCA with Laura. The format of this class changes weekly so we never know what to expect accept that we will definitely be dripping sweat by the end and it will be a good mix of cardio and strength.
  • Monday – Rest Day
  • Tuesday – The hotel in Arkansas only has two treadmills so if I don’t wake up early enough it’s almost guaranteed that I won’t get one. I was in the gym by 5:15 and able to snag a treadmill for a 5k run which included a quarter mile of incline each mile.
  • Wednesday – Instead of doing our 1:1 connect in a huddle room, my co-worker asked if I wanted to join her for a 4 mile run instead. We knew that the fresh air and sunshine would make our join-up even more enjoyable and since the purpose of our meeting was to get to know each other better and talk a few topics, we didn’t need access to a computer. While the 75 degree temperatures felt wonderful, by the third mile I could definitely tell that I wasn’t well hydrated nor accustomed to running in the heat. We also had a bit too much fun the first two miles, going out entirely too fast for my current fitness level. We finished the 4 miles in less than 37 minutes, including a few walking breaks during the final mile.
  • Thursday – Our office in Arkansas has THREE gym spaces. Instead of working out at the Courtyard Hotel gym I headed over to the office early and took advantage of the gym access. I felt like a kid in a candy store! There were so many choices based on the array of strength and cardio equipment available as well as lots of fun items like TRX, Jacob’s ladder and more. I decided to do a HIIT workout which was 1/2 mile warm-up, BBG STRONG Full Body workout and a 1 mile run to end.  Just for fun, since I had access to the tools I also did a few box jumps and some TRX arm work in between the BBG routine and the run.

Image result for bbg full body optional week 14 sunday

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