A little trip to the gym.......

After Will's preschool graduation (more on that another day) my mom, brother along with the kids and I headed to Pittsburgh for our annual trip. So much fun, when I get the pictures off of my camera I will share some very fun moments. While we were there I hoped to run, but where my grandmother lives you run 100% hills, and that is not little rolling hills. So- my brother wanted to go to the gym. I would rather have run, especially since the mornings were in the high 30's to low 40's, but the gym won. And this gym was no Lifetime Fitness either. It was a small gym in a run down strip mall with some old equipment. BUT.....after an amazing workout on the elliptical, some weight work, and doing the Jacobs Ladder, I have been completely rejuvenated. I am back into strength training. Luckily for me, Rich is on a similar kick and built us an amazing home gym. Since Meredith was born I have just not dedicated time on a weekly basis to strength training. Just could not get into it. I love to run, and that is just easier for me. Pick up the sitter, meet a friend- run, chat, have fun. I don't have any big races for a few months, so the timing is perfect to do more weights and other strength training. After three kids, abs are a must. I am not overdoing my legs, mainly concentrating on arms and core, along with other exercises I find in my running magazines. I am trying to work through all of my exercises to try to develop a routine so I do not duplicate and so that I hit everything I need to. Something I have been doing is causing my knee to be sore, so figuring that out is a priority right now.

Now for the Jacob's Ladder. I LOVED this thing! It is an awesome workout. It really got my heart rate up, and kept it up. No impact on your knees- an awesome cross training activity. I was surprised that this small gym had this- and I have not found any gym around here that has it. It is huge, so not something you throw into your basement- and it is around 4k, so another reason I don't have one at home!

It is not something you plug in- the faster you step the faster you go. It really is a workout- I am on a mission to find one of these around here but am not having much luck.

Running has been going well- running an evening 5k tomorrow night, mainly for the family aspect of the race (in a fun small town with free beer after). I am planning to run a 20K in August and then the Army 10 miler in September, the Breast Cancer 60 mile walk in October, Richmond Marathon in November, Goofy Challenge in January, and knowing me there will be more races thrown in there! I am looking forward right now to the Army 10 Miler, hoping to finish that with a 7:30 pace. So much to look forward too! And- if you have been paying attention you'd notice I did not mention Iron Girl. So, I was planning on getting my bike on a Monday. The Monday after Charlottesville. As I ran that race I realized I would much rather work towards an amazing finish at the Army 10 Miler and possibly a trip to Boston, so I am putting that on hold. I would definetly love to do Iron Girl in the next few years, but I feel that if I did it now my heart would not be in it. I don't want to end up disliking triathalons since I have enjoyed them so much!