Thursday, July 11, 2013

Summer is flying by

It's been a crazy, busy summer.  The kids are swimming at least 3 days a week and have music lessons as well.  I can't seem to keep up.  But the work-outs are going as planned.

I finished BeSlam 3 weeks ago.  I took 1 week off from kettlebells and then restarted the program.  This time around I am always combining the Strength and Conditioning (not doing them on separate days), adding push-ups between sets, and adding an extra day of high-volume swings.  Also, I have a goal of getting my running back up to speed, so to speak.  I had dropped down to around 8 miles a week while adding all of the strength work.  Now I am trying to run at least 12 miles a week, and I want to get it to 15.  The goal this BeSlam cycle is to increase running while doing the kettlebells.  The last 4 weeks will be hard, I'm unsure how I'll do it.  Maybe I try running just 1 mile on kettlebell days.  But for now I'm trying to run at least 3 days a week, do kettlebell and yoga.  I bought a membership on Yogaglo and I'm trying to do a little yoga everyday, even if it's just 15 minutes of meditation.

Part of me is frustrated with the running.  I'm a lot slower than I was before I started kettlebell.  I know that's because I dropped down my miles so much, but still I enjoy running and I don't want it to become too hard or even impossible because of kettlebell.  I still want to do kettlebell, but I am aware that it's hard to pursue strength and cardio goals.

I figure that if I keep my strength goals modest, like say squating 53lbs, pressing 35lbs, then I'll be able to keep running.  It's not like I'm trying to break records with my running.  I would like to be able to run at least 1 half marathon a year and get my time under 2:30 (not too ambitious).

I told myself that I would take 3 cycles of the BeSlam program and see how it went.  I am happy with my strength gains.  It's hard when you want it all.

I want to try and get back to blogging more often.  I've just been so busy, but I'm hoping writing it out will get out some of my frustration as well as help me find a focus.

On the personal front I'm thinking of painting and redoing our "playroom".  My youngest is 8 and we don't really use it for that anymore.  There is still a ton of Playmobile in the room that I don't know what to do with.  But still, I would like to paint it and rip up the ugly mint green carpet.  There is hardwood under there.  I have no idea what condition it's in, but I would like to find out.   I want to eventually move my treadmill in there and get a tv for the room.  We have an old futon.  I would love to get rid of it, but I'm unsure what would be good for there.  I will be looking at options.

2 comments:

  1. HI Kim -
    Thanks for visiting my blog (krisdoeskettlebells).

    Question for you......how would you compare the Be Slam to the Kettlebell for Women program? I've nearly gotten through the Kettlebell for Women program twice now (surgery has interrupted me). I'm about 2 weeks from re-starting kettlebell work and trying to figure out what to do next. Thanks for any feedback you have!

    Kris

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  2. Hi Kris,

    I like the Be Slam program a little better. I think it's easier to follow. The workouts in the book felt complicated. Once I saw the new program I dropped doing the book program. It is still good, but the Be Slam is exactly the type of program I was looking for. It's streamlined, and for some reason I feel like I'm getting more of a workout. I hope that helps. It's hard to know a program until you see it and do it, but I do think the Be Slam is worth it.

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