Nicole Achieving Fitness

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[female-fitnessinspiration]

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[fitnessnicole]

November 1  - 7

I'm going to try to go back to recording my workouts. It's the off season and I'm going to be doing a lot of work by myself in the next couple of months so I'm going to need all the motivation I can get. Seeing my workouts by day really helps me to realize where my strengths and weaknesses are, and also makes me notice when I start slacking off.

I have two and a half months until lacrosse season starts, which sounds like a long time, but with the holidays and the end of semester, it will be here before I know it. This is my last season, which means it's my last timed mile. My previous best was 6:50 (or possibly 6:52 because coach had something different from what I had thought my time was last season written down) and I want to aim for sub 6:30. It's more to prove to myself what I can do than it is to prove anything to anyone else.

Monday, Nov 2 4.01mi run @ 8:46 pace 8:34/9:03/8:42/8:46 A couple of really nice hills what you go up you get to go down. I really enjoyed this run. I got to explore a part of the town that I've never explored before.

30 minutes wall ball.

Tuesday, Nov 3 2.26mi @ 8:47 pace 8:07/8:54/2:36 A fast campus loop. 1.5mi in 12:20 (8:13 pace) ending just before going down the Ham hill. Then jogged .75mi.

Lift Squat: 45lbs x 10, 65lbs x 10; (stopped b/c knee pain) Lat Pull Down: 3x(22.5lbs x 10) Tri Pull Down: 3x(17.5lbs x 10) Bench Press: 10x15lbs, 17.5lbs, 20lbs Pull Ups: 4 unassited, 2 unassisted, 8 (with jumping assist) Front/Side Planks: 3 x 15 seconds each side Push Ups: 10, 7, 7 Bench Dips: 3 x 10 YTWs: 3x(5lbs x 8) Wrist Wraps: 3 x 30 seconds Plate Flips: 3x(10lbs x 10) Lyons Abs sans plank

Thursday, Nov 5 Track Workout: Distance Gauntlet

1600m: 7:12 800m: 3:31.4 400m: 1:36.2 200m: 0:41.0 100m: 0:19.8 75m: 0:13.0 75m: ~0:13.0 (Forgot to press pause after lapping the first sprint.) Lake Run Mile: 8:42.2

My fastest times for this workout yet but I know I can still do better. It felt really good to get through this.

Friday, Nov 6 Lift

Squats: 10 x 45lbs, 10 x 95lbs, 10 x 105lbs Dead Lift: 45lbs x 10, 95lbs x 10, 95lbs x 10 Bar Press: 10 x 45lbs, 10 x 35lbs, 10 x 35lbs Walking Lunge: 2 x 10 each side Push Ups with Bar assist: 3 x 10 YTW: 3x(5lbs x 7) Bench Press: 10 x 17.5 Lyons Abs

[fitnessnicole]

If it’s not in writing, it’s only a dream, not a goal.

This summer was hard for running. It was hot, I was at camp where my time off each day was questionable. I was tired from working. And, quite frankly, I stopped identifying myself as an athlete at some point, which led to a downfall. I went almost three weeks without running at one point. When I did run, it was rarely long enough. Frequently, I would run for less than three miles at a time and would only run once or twice a week. I made too many excuses and I stopped caring.

Before camp started, I was doing so well with my running. I was consistent. I was racking up the miles. I was proud of myself. Once camp started, that stopped. And when camp ended, I was sick.

The worst part about this isn’t that it was my least active period in three years. The worst part is how much it affected me. How slow my times became after that period of inactivity/less activity. How it became harder to run three miles straight - something I haven’t struggled with in so long. And how much I started to doubt my abilities.

I need to get a sub 7:00 mile come September or I’ll disappoint myself, my coach, and my team. I need to get back at it, because it took me so long to get to sub 7 in the first place and now I can’t imagine myself getting sub 7:30.

May: 39 miles (includes end of lacrosse rest period) June: 44 miles (includes first 10 of camp) July: 11 miles (all camp) August (so far): 24 (camp for first half of the month)

Goals for the rest of August (all 3 remaining days...)

10.5 miles (for 35 miles total in August) 1 long run (4.5mi) 2 workouts (a gauntlet and another) (min 3mi each) stickwork every day agility/footwork once

Potential workouts for second workout: fartlek/interval run, tempo run (@8:30-8:15 pace?), 6-8x400m (3-5min rest)

[female-fitnessinspiration]

Visit for more Female Fitness Inspiration

[for3versucceeding]

YOU AREN’T GOING TO SEE ANY PROGRESS UNTIL YOU GET YOUR NUTRITION IN LINE. IT’S NOT MAGIC. YOU CAN’T JUST HOPE FOR IT. YOU HAVE TO WORK FOR IT.

[theroadtoawesomeness]

Things I need to remember out running this Summer...

∞ Feeling like I’m dying means I’m getting stronger

∞ Finishing a run in the heat without walking is tough and I can do it

∞ Running at the hottest point or in the most humid part of the day will make me even more prepared for running in nice weather in the fall

∞ Being soaked in sweat with my face burning is the best feeling ever

∞ Pushing up the hills that I’m afraid of will make them seem a lot less scary in the future

∞ All hills are followed by downhills

[fitnessnicole]

I did not think the timing of my run out well at all. I thought with the sunshine, not with my stomach. An hour and a half until dining halls open and now I'm hungry. No real regrets besides not bringing a snack or Gatorade with me to the gym. The weather though! It's warm (40) and sunny and only a little windy. It was a very muddy, slightly icy run but the weather was so perfect. I even sweat a little! I finally found where the boathouse lives, too. My legs were not appreciative of the run however. I stopped to walk a few times. It's possible that I was just going too past. I finished at a 8:22 pace for the running portions. But I think the real problem is that I haven't been doing this kind of running. My legs really ache now and it was only three miles. Lacrosse is more sprints than distance. At least I can work on distance outside of practice, like today.

[soundmindsoundbodyforlifee]

Lauren Fleshman speaking truth

[queer-feminist-quotes]

My coach said I run like a girl, and I said, if he ran a little faster he could too.

Mia Hamm, soccer player (via

queer-feminist-quotes

[hplyrikz]

Clear your mind here

[angel-likes-running]

work harder. do better. go faster. stop complaining. stop whining. there is no way around it. you have to go through it. you just have to do it. it’s going to suck. you’re going to want to quit. but you’re going to do it. 

[fitnessnicole]

This weekend’s practice fitness testing:

Pushups: 13 Illinois Agility: 18.2, 18.6 Mile: 6:52 (new PR!) Stick work

Right Quickstick: 32 Left Quickstick: 29 Right Cradle: 20 Left Cradle: 17

Plan for this week: running/cardio

4:30 lacrosse-ing with team every day

2 swims/biking

1 fartlek/interval run

1 2-3 mi at 7:30 or faster pace

1 3 mi slow

Plans for this week: strength/skill

pushups tuesday, thursday (minimum 50, get up to 15 at least twice)

wall ball two or three times

squats, lunges, pullups, power in weight room

[run-well]

As powerful as our legs are, as magnificent as our lungs and arms and muscles are, nothing matters more than the mind.

Scott Jurek, Eat & Run (via run-well)

[fitnessnicole]

December 28 + 29

December 28

Realizing that it's four weeks until the start of the season and I'm trying to convince my coach to let me try midfield/other positions so I need to really get my butt in gear.

Run

2.01mi | 17:07 | 8:32 pace run 8:38 + 8:27

Strength

Pushup Ladder(ish): 10/9/8/3/8/6/5/4/5/3/2/1 30x3 twists 30x2 crunches 30x1 90 degree butt raises

December 29

Gauntlet: 3mi total (fastest overall gauntlet yet by a bit but the mile is disappointing)

.25mi warmup (1:55)1600m | 7:20 400m | 1:45 | 1:37 | 1:39 200m | 0:42 100m | 0:20.2 50m | 0:06.9 | 0:073 (not really 50m) .75mi cool down

[tothemarathonandback]

[studentsoup]

Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks, months and years they spend preparing for it. The victorious performance itself is merely the demonstration of their championship character.

T. Alan Armstrong (via studentsoup)

[fitnessnicole]

I feel really motivated for working out and running and all that lately, so much more than I do for lacrosse. I don't know how to feel about that, because lacrosse has been my life for so long, but it makes me really want to talk to the cross country coach in the spring. Just thinking about it makes me want to run and go fast.

It's also entirely possible that this is craziness brought on by my current foot problems but who really knows.

I've also been extremely unsatisfied with my mile time lately. My fastest mile is 6:56, which is probably not fast enough to be on the team. I think you need 6:30 to be on the team. And I KNOW I am capable of it but I can't get myself to do it at that pace. I need someone faster to pace it out for me. I ran 6:57 yesterday on the indoor track with no one else around. I can definitely run sub 6:45, if not faster. I've been training really hard so it's really unsatisfactory to know that the results aren't showing when they should be. But they definitely are in faster, more distance runs, which is why the probability of cross country makes it even more exciting.

Usually I would chicken out after saying something like this, but it would be my last season so what is there really to lose by talking to a couple of coaches about this idea if I still want to in a couple of months?