Workout Wednesday

A few of my favourite fun and challenging workouts!

Fitness is a huge aspect of my well-being. Here is what I did yesterday. Just know that everybody is different- what works for me might not work for you. I personally enjoy high intensity exercise where I work up a good sweat and get my heart rate pumping, but I know that others feel their best when they do just yoga and walking. This is how I stay healthy and feeling at my optimal, but it isn’t by any means what you have to do. As long as you are getting at least 60 minutes of moderate to high intensity exercise every day, your mind and body are going to benefit! 🙂

The desire to train hard is an ebb and flow. Learning how to move intuitively through these spells has been game changing for me. There is a season for everything. Sometimes, that’s going to be setting the goal of running a marathon in a fast time. Other times, that’s going to be moving in a way that feels really restorative and relaxing.

Right now, I’m somewhere in between the two ends of the spectrum. I’m not training for any races right now. I didn’t really make the conscious decision not to. I suppose I just got busy doing other things this summer, and because I work 30 km away from home, I realized that biking to and from work most days of the week (don’t worry, thankfully I have a very lovely river pathway route that avoids roads) was going to be my main cardio exercise. Then I started feeling the pull back towards lifting weights– something I had neglected in the past year of training for long distance running. I qualified for the Boston Marathon last year, and I’m going to put in my application next month to race in the 2020 edition. Whether or not I make the cut is a long shot: my time of 3:25:54 is under my age group qualifying time of 3:30, but from what I’ve heard, the number of qualified applicants exceeds the number of spaces again and again. I’d be lying if I told you that I’m mad at myself for not pushing just a little harder at the finish to get in under 3:25. I’m not going to beat myself up if I don’t get in for 2020. There will be many more opportunities to qualify.

All that is to say that I’ve been luxuriating in this break from long distance running. I LOVE running, but after my marathon attempt in May (my first DNF), my running routine felt a bit stale, and I’m glad that the break I needed happened in an organic way. I have been enjoying 10 kilometre runs a few times a week, but anything farther has just felt wrong! I look forward to a time in the near future when I start to crave longer distances again, but I’m not forcing anything.

So without further ado, these are the workouts that I did yesterday!

-Bender Fitness 20 Minute Boot Camp: I discovered this YouTube channel a couple of years ago and have been a big fan ever since. Melissa’s workouts are challenging and diverse. They always keep you guessing. I love this 20 minute boot camp- it’s a mix of weighted exercises and cardio.

Bender Fitness 15 Minute Plyo HIIT: An awesome cardio plyometric blast. Sometimes I repeat it a couple of times for more of a burn.

After these two workouts, I still felt like I had more in the tank, so I plugged in Cardio Power and Resistance, a workout from the Insanity program. I’ve completed the full Insanity program a couple of times before, but I prefer to simply incorporate it as part of my workout routine now. I’ll do one or two of the workouts per week on a cardio day when I feel like getting a good resistance workout in at the same time.

Additional exercise: Two walks, each 5 kilometres.

WHAT I ATE TO FUEL MY DAY OF ACTIVITY:

–Breakfast was a small grapefruit, a bowl of sheep yogurt topped with blueberries, hemp, flaxseed oil, and a sprinkling of Nature’s Path Organic cereal, plus a slice of organic sourdough bread from our local organic bakery with cashew butter and raw honey. And coffee, of course.

–Post-workout lunch was a Hilary’s Hemp and Greens burger topped with tempeh bacon, caramelized onion, sauerkraut, mustard, and a super simple Russian dressing made with some mayo, organic ketchup, apple cider vinegar, and Dijon–plus some kale salad on the side and an apple.

–Dinner was barbecue tofu on my homemade sweet potato tortillas with avocado and cashew cheese, and some local radishes and cucumbers on the side. Plus a Beau’s organic beer!

–Dessert was a couple scoops of Coconut Bliss Cookie Dough ice cream.

Then we settled in to watch Bachelor in Paradise. Our guilty pleasure. 😉

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What are your favourite workouts? Let me know if you try any of the Bender Fitness or Insanity workouts!