Good morning and happy Friday, my friends! I’m really excited because Matt and I are headed down to Chapel Hill, NC this weekend for the wedding of one of my grad school BFFs! I can’t wait to see everyone and play in our UNC stomping grounds. We already have all sorts of fun things lined up – dinners and brunches and runs and yoga and, of course, the wedding itself!
Since I have quite a bit to get done this morning before we hit the road after lunch, I was up bright and early doing something I’ve never done before: a 6 a.m. CrossFit class!
I know, 6 a.m. CrossFit is aggressive, right? I meet friends for runs all the time at 6 a.m. but for some reason making it to a CrossFit class that early seemed like more of a mental challenge. Maybe because no one was waiting for me to meet them? Either way, I was glad I made it and might have to make this more of a normal thing, especially as my evenings get more and more booked up with AnneTheRD client meetings!
This morning’s skill work was handstand push ups! I can’t do them on my own, so the instructor had me try them with a band. Cool – I’d never thought to do this! You basically loop one band (the thicker the band, the more help you’ll get) around a pull up bar, then thread another through it. Then, facing the wall with the band behind you, put the lower band on like a little backpack. Next, kick up into a handstand, wrapping your legs around the upper one band.
I nerdily asked the instructor to take a little video of me doing it since the class was really small this morning (only 4 of us). She was nice about it – and also said that she’s a fan of videos because they are a great way for you to check out and critique your own form! The key with handstand pushups is to make sure you aren’t arching your back – keep that core tight. Here’s the video over on YouTube if you wanna see it! I’m still having issues inserting videos directly into my posts… not sure what the deal is with that, but anyway, enjoy: Handstand pushups with band. 🙂
Our WOD (workout of the day) after practicing the handstand push ups was 5 rounds of the following: 20 jump squats, 15 pull ups (I used a band for these, too), and 10 handstand push ups. It was TOUGH – that’s a lot of rounds! I left feeling sweaty and accomplished.
Another workout highlight from this week was a morning run with my friend Lauren on Wednesday!
Lauren and I hang out a fair amount but hadn’t run together in ages so it was great to get out there again with her!
We ran one of my standard loops. Down over Key Bridge to check out the rising sun:
Through Georgetown then down to the water (blurry pic of our canal crossing):
Enjoyed the views as we ran along the Potomac River (that’s the Kennedy Center in the middle of the photo in the distance):
Stopped for a quick breather just before Memorial Bridge:
Crossed the bridge and headed up into Iwo Jima/Rosslyn – lovely views of the monuments:
Nice to see some green, too!
Up some more hills and then done! When we hit 5 miles we walked the last bit. 😉
Thanks for the miles, Lauren! 🙂
Here are the rest of this week’s workouts. I forgot to recap last week’s workouts, but there weren’t a whole lot of them to report on anyway! I was feeling super run down and exhausted last week so I dialed things way back on the exercise (I think I took 4 rest days?) and I’ve been feeling much more like myself this week. Great week of workouts! I’ve been LOVING doing more boot camps/strength stuff again now that marathon training is over.
- Monday: Late evening kickboxing/boot camp class (50 minutes)
- Tuesday: Early evening Crossfit class (WOD: 100 Russian kettlebell swings + 100 kettlebell snatches for time)
- Wednesday: a.m. 5 mile run
- Thursday: Evening Yoga 1 class with my friend Hilary @ Tranquil Space. I hadn’t taken a true Yoga 1 class in awhile (the Yoga 1 classes that are offered at Edge Yoga where I usually go are still pretty intense/fast), so it felt nice to work on form, hold poses longer, and enjoy a more restorative/calming class.
- Friday: a.m. Crossfit class
How were your workouts this week? Any great runs/awesome workouts to report? Also – anyone running the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler this weekend? I’m so sad I’m missing it – love that race – even though the cherry blossoms rarely seem to actually be out for it. 🙂 Last year they had already come and gone – this year, they aren’t here at all yet!
Anyway – time to finish cleaning the apartment and catching up on emails and client work before we head out the door for the drive down to NC! Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!
