One of the best weeks in a LONG time

Hey everyone sorry it's been a while since my last post. I pretty much left you all hanging after my goals post. But I am still here and training has been going pretty good especially this last week.

In fact it's been one of the best weeks I've had in a really long time.

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I've been focusing in trying to increase my mileage before I start marathon training in a few weeks. This past weeks wasn't very high and not where I want it to be yet. But coming off the last few weeks where I've barely even ran, I think this was a perfect increase and way to get back into a regular running schedule.

A break down of this past weeks workouts.

Monday - 5 mile run & yoga* 

Tuesday  - 3 mile run

Wednesday - Spinning & strength training

Thursday - 1.2 mile run, strength train, then a 6 mile run later that day for a total of 7.2 miles

Friday - rest day

Saturday - 5 mile run & core work

Sunday - rest day

*Monday was a 24 minute yoga workout . We bought a new game for our Xbox 360 Kinect called Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012. It's pretty cool cause it scans your body so you actually see yourself on the screen and not an avatar. It keeps track of how many calories you burn and you can set goals for yourself. There's lots of other workouts on it I haven't had a chance to try out yet but I am really looking forward to it on a day when I can't make it to the gym or just as a supplement to my workout that day.

I added 2 days of strength training and one day of core work this past week. I asked a friend of mine if she had any recommendations on strength training workouts and she recommended Jamie Eason's LiveFit Trainer. I have been obsessed with her website and love that they show videos for each workout in case your a newbie in the weights area like me and don't exactly know how to do each workout. She has some really great recipes video's on her site that I am wanting to try out soon. With just 2 days of weights my arms were so sore. I found out I am a weakling haha. But can't wait to see improvement.

I also added one day of cross training. This past week is was the spin bike. I only had time for 18 minutes which was about 5 miles.

I'm also happy to say that Monday, Tuesday and Thursday's workouts were all before work, starting around 6:30am! I'm pretty proud of that. I can feel my body getting used to working out early in the morning. It still isn't easy to wake up but I'm so glad I do. I have so much more energy throughout the day and it feels good to know once I get home I can spend that time with my family and I don't have a workout hanging over my head. Gene has been my motivation. He is more of an early riser than I am. Once the alarm goes off he is up. I'll lay around for a few minutes and finally get up and then we head to the gym together. I also prefer going to the gym at 6:30 am versus 6:30 pm. Wednesday we went in the evening and there was way too many people there and hardly any cardio machines open and lots more people using the weights so we had to wait around for a little bit. This isn't the case in the mornings.

This coming week I'm hoping to have my mileage around 25-30 miles and also add a few more days of strength training.

It's already been a great start to a week with an 8 mile run today and then I spent time with my niece who decided she wanted to paint my nails :)

My birthday is also in 2 days so this week can only get better right? 

Maybe it will include a shopping day, I've had my eye on a new running jacket and tights :)

Have any of you tried Jamie Eason's LiveFit trainer? Liked? Disliked? Saw results?

I've seen a few bloggers out there using her program and have had some good results but they also follow the diet plan. I am loosely following it. It's primary focus is protein and I will definetly need more carbs once I start marathon training. But I am focusing on eating healthier carbs. Mostly I am looking foward to building my strength but seeing some nice muscle tone won't hurt :)

Hope you all have a great week!