Fitness Friday- StairMaster

Welcome to another week of Fitness Friday inspired by Jill at Life as I See It [Fitness, Health and Happiness]. Hop on over to Jill's blog to join in on the blog hop.

Lately I have been hating cardio at the gym. I am running a lot more since my training has started for my fall marathon, so when I'm at the gym the thought of more cardio isn't too appealing. Just recently though my gym purchased two StairMaster machines. Although this is cardio I feel like I get such a great leg workout as well that I just love it! Plus I get super sweaty so I feel like I'm getting a great workout.

I typically do 20 minutes which consists of intervals of 90 and 75 steps/min alternating between skipping steps, side steps and regular steps. 20 minutes is more than enough for me on this machine, I'm usually pretty sweaty and tired after.

Question: have you ever tried the StairMaster, if so what is your favorite workout on it?

Marathon Training

Welcome to another Fitness Friday inspired by Jill at Life...As I See It. This week my focus is going to be on running and my training plan for my fall marathon.

There are just 85 days left until my Marathon on October 2 in Portland Maine. Below is my training plan for the month of July. This is my fourth marathon so I am trying to improve my previous marathon times by working on speed and hill sessions.
 

July 2011
Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
27	28	29	30	1	2	3
4-5 miles EZ or Cross Train	5 - 6 Miles EZ	Hill Workout Session #1	7 - 9 Miles	Rest	1.     14 - 16 Miles 2.     Post Run Strides and Stretching	2 Mile Recovery
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
4-5 miles EZ or Cross Train	5 - 6 Miles EZ	Hill Workout Session #2	7 - 9 Miles	Rest	1.     16 Miles 2.     Post Run Strides and Stretching	2 Mile Recovery
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
4-5 miles EZ or Cross Train	5 - 6 Miles EZ	Hill Workout Session #3	7 - 9 Miles	Rest	1.     12 - 14 Miles 2.     Post Run Strides and Stretching	2 Mile Recovery
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
4-5 miles EZ or Cross Train	5 - 6 Miles EZ	Hill Workout Session #4	7 - 9 Miles	Rest	1.     14 – 16  Miles 2.     Post Run Strides and Stretching	2 Mile Recovery
25	26	27	28	29	30	31
4-5 miles EZ or Cross Train	5 - 6 Miles EZ	Hill Workout Session #5	7 - 9 Miles EZ	Rest	1.     17 – 18 – 20 Miles 2.     Post Run Strides and Stretching	2 Mile Recovery

Question: How many marathons have you run?

Don't forget to pop on over to Jill at Life...As I See It and join in on the fun!

Marathon on my Mind

Since I decided not to run Boston this year I have been in a little bit of a slump since the marathon and am eagerly looking for a fall marathon.  Since I did not get in to the ING New York City Marathon I am on the hunt for another marathon. I was thinking of the Portland Maine Marathon, I ran the half last year and loved it (but if anyone has run the full let me know).

Place   Ag   Sex /Tot  Div/Tot  Div     Pace  Nettime

998      25   466/1267   145/338   F2029  9:21  1:59:44

This morning was spent with my BOMF team. We ran to the YMCA outdoor track and got in a great workout, we even had two new resident members at Father Bill's show up. After I left my BOMF team I headed to Marylou's for an iced toasted coconut coffee with soy milk. I had been craving another one since the other day.

After I grabbed my coffee I headed to the gym for a pilates workout on the reformer. As you know I am in the process of getting my full certification for pilates but I still love to have a trainer. A picture of the reformer is below in case some of you are not sure what it looks like. If you haven't tried pilates before I would strongly encourage you to.

Pilates Reformer

After my busy morning I was starving and made myself a quick smoothie before heading to work with vanilla unsweetened almond milk, frozen berries, frozen banana, wheat germ, ground flax seed and protein powder, it hit the spot!

My mid morning snack was an asian pear with some of these new nuts I found by Emerald. They are slightly sweet so they can satisfy my sweet cravings when I get them (which is usually not that often.)

Sweet & Salty Cinnamon Sugar Nuts

Question: What is your favorite fall marathon?