The Return to Wilke and More Core Gore!

Got made fun of again at work. This time? I ate a black bean veggie burger for breakfast with a piece of soy cheese wrapped in a w.w. tortilla. Is that weird?? OK, I admit, to most people I suppose it’s a little strange to heat up a veggie burger at 9:30 in the morning (at least I didn’t bring in the George Foreman). To me, it was just what my body was craving after the last 24 hours! I can definitely tell that I’m ramping up my training. My appetite has also started to ascend.

The Return to Wilke Monday, July 10th 5:45am

I haven’t done the Wilke Hill Repeats since March. I always envision that hill being a giant middle finger because it appears to shout, “F-ck You” every time I begin to climb it. Believe me, I shout back even louder. We had to do 7 forward repeats and 2 backwards repeats. I was thankful because we usually do 10 forward, 3 backward and 3 sprints from the half-way point. Perhaps it’s early in the season or perhaps Coach had a moment of mercy. Either way, I was happy to stop after 7 of those bad boys The heat and humidity were brutal even in the dawn of the day. I average between 1:33-1:37 for the climb. I’d love to get consistently under 1:30. The road is very deceiving as it starts of on a manageable slope. You feel like you’re doing well and then all of the sudden, the road takes a vertical turn and you become parallel to the road. (at least that’s how I envision myself). The goal of this workout—besides not puking or dying—is to work on form. Stand tall, tighten the abs and lift knees from the hips. Way easier said than done…

With the warmup and cooldown run, this workout is about 8.1 miles. I stole that from Frank’s blog!

The Return to Jack and Adam’s Core Class Monday, July 10th 5:45pm

I was going to Core Class with my girlfriends for a long time, but a change in time has made it more difficult for me to get there. Therefore, I’ve been somewhat diligent about doing that same core workout in the comforts of my a/c living room, as opposed to the non-a/c warehouse at Runtex. I read my Gazelle buddy Richard’s blog last week and he mentioned that he started going to the Jack and Adam’s Core Class. I used to go to this a couple of years back when they first opened their store. Apparently, it has evolved into a more “boot camp” style of workout for an hour. Adam coaches it and shows little mercy to beginners or elites. Everyone is equal. Did I mention that it’s outside in the sun with little to no shade? Richard gives a better description of the entire hour in his entry, but suffice to say that my arms and quads hurt today. You know when you pound chicken with a hammer to make it thin? That’s how my body feels today! Just when I think I’m in shape, the fitness gods spit on you and laugh! We warmed up with a ½ mile jog, 10 pull-ups (it helps when he is throwing me over the bar) and an hour of other core torture including plank poses for 3 min straight, “superman” poses for a few minutes straight, tricep dips and pushups, leg lifts, step-ups on not so low bleachers. We did 100 on each leg. Like most people, I lost his cadence count, but didn’t stop to take a break, mountain climbers on the curb, etc. We ended the workout with 10 chin-ups (all of mine were assisted) and another ½ mile cool-down. As brutal as it was and as many moments that I questioned, 'What the hell am I doing here?' I'm so glad I went.

All this and I still haven’t been on that gorgeous bike that I’m “test riding.” That’s Wednesday evening’s workout. I swam this morning and will write about that later tonight after my bike ride! I also officially put my house on the market...How weird to see a "For Sale" Sign and a Lock box on my door.