I spend a lot of time on here talking about my life post-college, post-grad, as a grad student, and after leaving the NCAA when I graduated. If you know me at all, then you know that working out and running is still in fact a big part of my life. Although I’m not as rigid with running in terms of hitting a high mileage week or cranking out tempos and speed work, I am still trying to maintain as high a level of fitness as possible. I loved the way I felt internally when I was capable of doing long runs and picking up any workout and being able to keep up with a certain pace. I may not be running 60 mile weeks now, but I am trying to hover anywhere between 35 and 40 miles a week and enjoy other workouts and other aspects of life as well.
So, what does “exercise freedom” look like? As I mentioned, I’m not solely running and hitting 60 miles a week, so it means that if I feel like doing a bike ride or trying a HIIT class, I can do it and I know it won’t mess up my training. In fact, it might actually help it because I’m working different muscles and preventing injury by strengthening my body as a whole! Every week looks different, especially now since I have to get creative with gyms and boutiques closed, but I thought a fun feature to add on here would be a week of workouts every few weeks or so.
Disclaimer, I am NOT a trained coach by any means. Please do not attempt anything drastic without consulting a professional or doctor beforehand.
Also this is not a sponsored blog post, however the featured image was one I posted to Instagram as a CELSIUS Brand Ambassador. If you need a little kick before a workout I highly recommend getting CELSIUS! The ingredients are clean and I don’t feel jittery or sick! Not sponsored at all, just thought I’d throw in something fun about a product I genuinely enjoy.
I usually count my weeks from Monday to Sunday, but for the sake of keeping things interesting and maximizing my content, I’m looking at Thursday to Wednesday on here.
Washington Monument in the background of the World War II Memorial 
Posting up in front of the Lincoln Memorial
Thursday, May 21
The workout:
Run – 7.1 miles from my house through the Georgetown Waterfront Park to the National Mall and back (took it kind of slow and took a lot of breaks to enjoy the views, running through here is going to be what I miss the most!)
Walk – 1.3 mile walk to get breakfast and bring it back home, I walked pretty quickly and definitely felt my heart rate rising
Friday, May 22
Run – 6.3 miles
Cool down – 20 minute stationary bike cool down with some foam rolling
Walk – 2.8 mile walk because its just such a nice day I had to get outside again!
Saturday, May 23
The workout:
Bike ride – 15 minute stationary bike warmup in the morning followed by…
Julie Ferrer’s Bootcamp/Tabata class – I love this Zoom class! She’s a SoulCycle instructor in Connecticut and has been doing these workouts ever since quarantine started. Saturday’s are usually my favorite because they’re an hour long. Definitely a hard workout, definitely gets my heart rate up and I’m definitely sore after each one. A good challenge to add to the week!
Cool down – 2 mile shakeout run to cool down my body and get some extra cardio for the day
Sunday, May 24
The workout:
Long run – Honestly my favorite day of the week. This week’s long run was pretty short since I’m trying to ensure I don’t overdo it, so a nice breezy 10 miles capped off my 41 mile week of running
Core work at night , with some foam rolling too
Monday, May 25
The workout:
Julie Ferrer’s Tabata class – Great way to start off the week, get me out of bed, and honestly force me to workout after long run, ha! Fifty-ish minutes of pushups, squats, jumps and such
Run – 4 miles pretty easy with Ryan
Tuesday, May 26
The workout:
Walk – 2 miles while listening to The Skinny Confidential Podcast
Foam rolling
2 mile warm-up run
Run/Strength Intervals –
Round one:
Run – 4 laps (sprint straightaways, jog curves)
Strength – Wall sit with bicep curls x 1 minute
Wide pushups x 10
Narrow pushups x 10
Reverse flys x 15
Squat with overhead press x 20
Plank x 1 minute
Round two:
Run – 4 laps (sprint 400, jog 400, etc.)
Strength – Wall sit with bicep curls x 1 minute
Burpees x 15
Side planks x 45 seconds each side
Lunge pulse x 45 seconds each side
Tricep kickbacks x 15 each side
Frog squats x 25
Round three:
Run – 4 laps (sprint straightaways, jog curves)
Strength – Wall sit with front raises x 1 minute
Lunge with bicep curl x 20 each side
Mountain climbers x 45 seconds
Russian twists x 30
Lower ab scissors x 25
Round four:
Run – 4 laps (sprint 400, jog 400, etc.)
Strength – Wall sit with front raises x 1 minute
Side lunge with overhead press x 10 each side
Sit up, stand up, jump squat x 15
Dumbbell rows x 20 each side
Crunches x 50
Superman x 1 minute
1 mile cool-down run
Wednesday, May 27
The workout:
10 minute warm-up on the stationary bike
Julie Ferrer’s Full Body Bootcamp class – I actually thought I was not going to make it through this class, after yesterday’s workout and how kick-butt this was today, I am sore!
Walk – 2 miles with Mom, enjoying the sunshine
Run – 4 miles of hills (I picked a hilly route to run so it was rolling and lots of uphill the whole time!)
Extra – Lots of foam rolling and cupping tonight!
Today’s plan is a 7 mile easy run and a bike interval workout to keep up that cardio base! My favorite bike interval workout to do is a 10 minute warmup, 10×1 minute pushes, and a 10 minute cool down. It’s just enough to spike the heart rate but not tire me out too much for the days to come!
What fun workouts do you like to add to your week? Let me know in the comments! And let me know what other types of posts you’d like to see in the future!
xx,
meg
One thought on “a week of workouts, post-ncaa”