Try It Tuesday: fun treadmill workout

Hi guys! Happy Tuesday!  I hope your week is off to a great start!!!

I want to cover two little pieces of housekeeping before I get into the try it part of this post:

1) I am not a doctor or a coach/trainer/etc.  I work retail and I have a degree in Politics.  I am not qualified in any way shape or form to give you real workout advice.  I am telling you what I did and if you want to try it too, that's on you.

2) I'm turning Try It Tuesday into a blog link up starting on September 1st! More information will be coming soon, but I hope you will join me and share stories about new things you try!

Now to the good part!

This week I tried a couple new things in one go. The first new thing was the fitness center at our apartment complex.  It's small but there are two treadmills and I had it all to myself last night when I tried it out.

 Plus you can't beat the view of the parking lot.  Very great people watching!  I also like being able to see my reflection a little bit in the glass. I tend to pull my shoulders up while I run and it is a nice visual reminder to relax my arms.

For the second new thing I'm sharing a fun workout that I made up and actually made the treadmill not suck.  When I say fun I am not even being sarcastic. And I am not a treadmill lover.

I am, however, a lazy runner. I don't tend to push myself and when I get tired I take a walk break.  So the purpose of this was to make me run a little faster than my "comfortable" ploddy pace and to keep it interesting enough that I didn't just give up and go home!

I started out walking .1 mile to warm up a bit (at about 3.5 mph).  I also set the treadmill for a 1% incline to spice things up a bit.
After the walking warm up, I set the treadmill to 5.2 mph which, for me, is an easy jog pace.  If you are using this plan, set it to a happy easy warm-up jog pace whatever that might be for you.

From there, I upped the pace by .1 mph every .1 miles and kept going until I couldn't. Then, because I know myself and know that I quit before I really can't anymore, I went one more. 

I discovered that I am slow and out of shape yall! I made it to 6.5 mph and went back to .1 miles of walking.

For the second set I started back at a 5.3 and upped the pace .1 mph every .05 miles. I really liked this part because the walk break had allowed my heart rate to regulate and these quicker increases made it pick up faster.  My goal for the second set was to go .1 mph further than I had the time before.  I was worn out by the time I got to that part, so naturally I kicked it up to 7 mph and did a final .1 mile to finish out.

Then I walked until my heart wasn't trying to pop out of my throat.

To be completely honest, I ate like crap yesterday and drank almost no water.  I am planning to make this type of workout something I do every Monday because I think it will be nice to be able to see if I am making progress!

If you have a fun treadmill workout suggestion, share it with me! I love variety!
Did you try anything new this week? I would love to hear about it!

Hope you have a great Tuesday!
Jessica

Try it Tuesday: Running for Brews

Confession: I actually tried this two weeks ago but held off writing this because I wanted to take pictures. My phone battery had died the first week, then when I went back last week it was raining. So apparently pictures just aren’t meant to happen! That said, I am really excited about this one!

On National Running Day I was going to go run by myself because I don’t have a local running buddy yet. Luckily I took to Twitter, Facebook, and google and managed to find an awesome group to go run with. Running for Brews started in the Tampa area and the Orlando chapter is actually celebrating their birthday this week! Every Wednesday night they meet up at Graffiti Junction (a bar), go for a 5k run that includes a partial loop around Lake Ella (aka one of my most favorite places) then meet back up for drinks, raffles, and general good fun.

I was a little nervous to try it because I am not usually a fan of being the new person in an established group. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were a lot of fellow new people, and the people that had been coming for a whole were awesome and super welcoming! Speed wasn’t really an issue and there are all sorts of paces to run with which is also great. Plus any group of runners that will sit and chat with you over beer for hours on end is a major bonus.

There are several running groups in Orlando that I am hoping to try out, but this will be my Wednesday night go to.

If you are in the Orlando area hopefully I will see you there…. it’s really pretty great J

Try It Tuesday: Tijuana Flats

It seems that anyone in Central Florida will tell you that they love Tijuana Flats.  I had my first experience there last week and took Charlie back there today.

Unfortunately, due to phone problems of epic proportions, I have zero pictures.  Even if my phone was functioning properly I am not sure I would have remembered to take pictures before I had eaten it all. It was that good. Both times.

There are several perks to Tijuana Flats and the way it fits in my life.  The original happens to be in the same parking lot as my work.  Hello fate :)  I am a big fan of local business and appreciate being able to support such a great one in my own little way.  They also have great deals a couple times a week where you can pay about what you would pay for a meal at Taco Bell and get way better food that is also better for you.  Next time I go in I will be reading the menu more closely because what I really want is a big bowl of their refried beans which they make (not from a can).  They also have their own line of salsas and the purchase of many f those salsas gives some money back to charity. Also awesome!  If I read right, all of their meat is hormone free and all that good stuff. And wheat tortillas which are my all time favorite!

They are not too flashy from the outside and a little crazy inside, but if you happen across one I very highly recommend checking one out!

That's it for me today...hopefully I can report back with another fun adventure next week!
 Have a great Tuesday!

P.S. if you have Orlando area recommendations let me know! I have a growing list of things to try :)

Try It Tuesday: Pure Barre

Since I moved to a new area with tons of things to do, I am going to challenge myself to try at least one new thing every week and post about it on Tuesdays!  I tend to get in the habit of going for the same run, eating the same thing at Panera, and taking the same yoga class with the same teacher.  While routine can be comforting, it isn’t all that exciting.  This is my plan to break out of my slump J

This week I finally got the opportunity to try Pure Barre!  Because you couldn’t guess that from the title right? I have been wanting to take a barre class for a very long time but they are not exactly easy to find in super rural North Carolina.  Yesterday I found myself with some free time and a way too busy mind and needed to do some sort of workout.  Florida mid-day is not exactly ideal for a run, so I hopped in to one of the two (TWO!) Pure Barre studios in town for a class.  The manager at the Dr. Phillips location was fantastic and made sure I was all situated and at least had a little bit of an idea of what I was doing.  She also let me do the class for the drop in price then I had the option to sign up for a month unlimited with the class price deducted if I signed up after class was over. (Spoiler alert: I signed up for the month)

The manager made sure the instructor knew I was new to barre classes so she took the time to make sure I understood some of the key lingo and gave me a few demonstrations.  She made it look so easy…I had no idea what I was in for.  I had read that is was a challenging workout and the “embrace the shake” term was not foreign to me.  But I honestly did not know my legs could shake that badly!  In yoga I can usually make it to at least the middle of the class before I start to feel a burn.  I think I made it 3 whole minutes in Pure Barre before I started to wonder if I had lost my mind completely. They use double tubes (which are apparently new?) that you put around your thighs and immediately cause your legs to work about three times harder than you thought possible to do something that is usually a piece of cake. Planking while tapping your toes should not be exhausting, but with the band it is insane.

Throughout the class the instructor would come over and make gentle corrections to form or check in to make sure I was feeling the move.  The whole idea is little tiny movements so it can be hard to know if you are getting it right until you do it once and it “clicks.”  I was told that it usually takes about 10 classes to feel like you really get it. 

After the class I felt completely destroyed but also fantastic! I could not wait to go do it all again J I might only be one class in, but I have my eye on the 100 club already!

Do you do Pure Barre? Did you try something new his week? Do you live near Orlando and have a recommendation for what I should try next? Let me know!