Monday, March 31, 2014

Opening Day

Let there Be Baseball

56 days = Pool Opens, bathing suit season
94 days = 4th of July, Peachtree Road Race

There are a few ladies in boot camp that are really going to piss off there friends this summer. These hard working girls are getting hard bodies.

Of course, boot camp is for fun, fellowship and fitness. "Hard bodies" is a product of hard work. We don't mind the consequences.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Fast vs Far


Moar = More with a Roar. In America, if a little is good, then MOAR is better.

In the second running boom, the half marathon continues to gain popularity, particularly among women. This is a double edge sword. More women are running which is great but, they are running too many miles.

A typical new runner will run 3 times a week: 4 miles, 4 miles then an 8 mile long run. The feeling of accomplishment of traversing the earth on foot 8 miles is a huge hook to these new runners. The problem is, they never ran 8 miles in their lives. They never even ran 5, 4 or 3. All the sudden, they have convinced themselves that they can run 8 miles. Well, they can! Is it good for them? NO. Most of them wind up hurt.

How about our boot camp girls this week? They ran 3.25 miles + 600 reps Core, 3.25 miles + 600 reps Legs, 3.25 miles + 600 reps Core, 4 miles + 800 reps Upper Body, 3 miles + 600 reps Core.

5 day total = 17 miles, 3,200 reps.

During exercise, our heart rate stays the same as during running so, from a cardio perspective, our heart and lungs get the same work week as someone running 30 miles, but without 30 miles of pounding. This allows our girls to run FASTER without injury.

The Atlanta Womens 5K is tomorrow. Most our our girls have been trained to break 26 minutes. 3 of them tomorrow will break 24 and the other 3 will break 20 minutes.

Amy Glamour 5
Clair Bear 5
Dave B 5
Jill 5
Wendy  5
Alan 4
Arnaud 4
Chris S. 4
Harriott  4
Irene 4
Kathleen 555 4
Lisa  4
Barb  3
Caroline  3
Cindy 3
Jenny 3
Jill Princess 3
Jimmy F  3
Lacie 3
Love 3
Mary B 3
Mary Blythe  3
MiMi 3
Molly  3
Reba 3
Susie Mac 3
Kwithee 2
Wendy Conrad 2
Mary D. 1
Roxanna 1
Thomas Worthy 1

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Peachtree Road Race


The Peachtree Road Race is becoming a true U.S. National Championship. This is important for a few reasons.

First, lets explain how this works. The Atlanta Track Club is the host and director of the worlds largest 10K. They invite runners to join and then put up serious cash for the top runners. The money attracts some of the worlds fastest people. The ATC is now ONLY going to pay American citizens. If you were not born or naturalized in the U.S.A, you could win and will not get paid an American red cent.

The Peachtree Road Race is on the 4th of July. This is now the ultimate race for the home town heroes on our day. We can celebrate America's birthday in a race that rewards American accomplishment.

Of greater importance to our sport, it elevates the American runner. Now is the perfect time for this. American runners are having more success recently than in any time in the last 20 years. Not only are Africans seeking the American dream, becoming American citizens and running for the USA, but home grown talent is back on the podium. Galen Rupp is the first Olympic Medalist in the 10,000 meters since the unbelievable upset Billy Mills pulled off in Tokyo in 1964.

When a child sees his or her neighbor run down Peachtree Road on the 4th of July and WIN, that child can identify with that runner and dream of his or her own glory. This is a beautiful way for us to keep it in the family.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

6 weeks

Before


After

Show up and work
Alan 2
Amy Glamour 2
Arnaud 2
Caroline  2
Chris S. 2
Dave B 2
Irene 2
Jenny 2
Jill 2
Jimmy F  2
Kathleen 555 2
MiMi 2
Reba 2
Susie Mac 2
Wendy  2
Barb  1
Cindy 1
Harriott  1
Kwithee 1
Lacie 1
Lisa  1
Mary B 1
Mary Blythe  1
Mary D. 1
Molly  1
Roxanna 1
Thomas Worthy 1
Wendy Conrad 1

Monday, March 24, 2014

consistancy

Folks talk big about workouts. We did "blah, blah, blah." We used to do that. Every blue moon we still do it.

The biggest, baddest workout we ever did was August 8th, 2008. We ran 8 miles and performed 888 repetitions of various basic training exercises in 88 minutes. Got that? 8 miles, 888 reps in 88 minutes on 8/8/08.

Big Deal. It was a celebration of the opening day of the Olympics. We probably burned 1,600 calories in that workout and were sore for 3 days.

The formula is 100 calories per mile and 100 calories per 200 repetitions. Our average every day is 3 miles, 600 reps. We burn on average, 600 calories per workout. For those of us that run a little harder and pay special attention to form during exercise, the number goes up to 700-750.

Many workouts around town target 900 - 1,000 calories per workout. Folks with elite level fitness can handle that every day. Everyone else can handle 2 or 3 days a week working that hard with the other days rest and recovery. 3 days a week times 900 calories = 2,700 calories a week. On the rest days, the number is zero. The body goes cold & dormant on rest days. No Burn.

We work out 5 days a week burning 600 calories a workout. 5 X 600 = 3,000. Since we have no rest days, there is no dormant time were the body goes cold & into rest mode. For those of us that work out every day, our metabolism goes up with our energy level. As we get in shape, our average calorie burn outside of the workout goes up too. We do more during the day. A body in motion stays in motion. A body at rest stays at rest.

We get criticized for working out every day. Many folks feel rest is important. Trust me, after decades of competing at an elite level and instructing Boot Camp, no one is going to burn out training in Boot Camp every day. These workouts are not that hard. The key is consistency. Rather than doing a couple of killer workout a week, we do a moderate amount every day. The daily burn tempers our bodies and slow cooks us into elite level fitness.



Thursday, March 13, 2014

Hard Corps

This Winter is only surpassed by 1979 & 1899 in coldness. It was cold.

This group of folks trained through.

Kathleen 555 23
Laurie 21
Molly  21
Wendy  20
Lacie 18
Reba 18
Barb  17
Mary D. 17
Harriott  16
Lisa  16
Caroline  15
Cindy 15
Jimmy F  15
Amy Glamour 14
Dave D 14
Jenny 14
Kwithee 14
Chris S. 13
Irene 13
Mary B 13
Roxanna 13
Susie Mac 13
JenJen 12
Kathleen 12
John S 10
Jill Princess 9
Paige 9
Jill 8
MiMi 8
Wendy Conrad 7
John G. 6
Mary Blythe  6
Sally  6
Kaffee  5
Toni 3


 It takes an incredible amount of discipline to run three miles and perform 600 basic training exercises every day. For the ladies at the top of this list, it was the coldest winter of their young lives. They got the full experience and then some.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014