Color Me Rad 5K Race

Somewhere among the pink dust is our very own Ashley!  She ran the Color Me Rad 5K Saturday morning at Downsview (after our High Park hill run!). It's a fun run that is in 75 cities this summer. www.colormerad.com
Great job Ashley! I'm so doing this with you next year!

2 Hip Flexor Stretches: We'll practice these at workout so you can do them at home

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   Do frog pullovers. In addition to stretching your hip flexors, this exercise will lengthen and strengthen your arm and shoulder muscles. You will also feel a nice stretch down the sides of your torso as you raise and lower your arms above your head. To increase the stretch in your hips, start in the beginning position for the frog pullover. Then, sit up and slowly lower your chest down over your feet to stretch the groin.

   

   Do the garland pose in yoga. The garland pose opens up the hips and improves balance. This pose will also increase flexibility in your thighs and ankles while toning your core. If the squatting maneuver is too difficult, then you can sit on a chair and lean your torso forward between your thighs. Make sure that your feet are on the ground and that your thighs form a 90-degree angle with your calves if you are using the chair for support.
   

Sunset Stretch

 After a 5k run we stretched in the park across from the church. Sandra, Michelle, Shannon and Lara are not doing any Canadian Fitness Professionally approved stretch.

 However, Michelle's cleavage from the above photo inspired me to take one of my own massive jugs.

 OK, they are laughing because I asked them to squat and press open their knees with their elbows and Sandra said it was the poo in the grass stretch. It was a super mature group out on Thursday.

 Carolyn in the warrior pose. She's a warrior for sure. She only had to stop 3 times during that 5k. Such an improvement! Sweaty pits are earned baby!

The Mimico Presbyterian Church at sunset 9:02 Thursday June 20th.

Dinners under 300 calories: Easy Chicken Cacciatore recipe

Easy Chicken Cacciatore recipe - Canadian Living

For 19 more recipes under 30 minutes and under 300 calories go to:

http://www.canadianliving.com/food/quick_and_easy/20_meals_under_300_calories__ready_in_30_minutes.php

Thursday June 13 Circuit

 Here's Arwen in a ball plank. Her feet and shins are resting on the resistance ball and her abs are tucked in tight as she pulls her knees up to her chest ad then pushes them back out straight. The balancing is a result of all the little muscles in her core. Arwen has suffered from lots of back pain and exercises like this will keep her low back healthy.

 Tara R is on the stepper. She is planting her left foot and hurdling her right foot back and forth over the step. She switched legs after 30 seconds. By the end of the interval the planted leg starts to burn. She's using her glutes and quads here. These are big muscles that burn tons of calories.

 Here's Christina doing a medicine ball crunch. Notice that she is pushing her low back into the mat and  lifting her shoulder blades off the mat. This is perfect form because her pelvis is tilted up and she's using  all of her abs rather than her neck.

 Oh yeah! Carrie is double leg jumping on the trampoline. I love the trampoline because it mimics jumping in sand. The momentum is absorbed down into the springs forcing Carrie jump squat more deeply than if she were jumping on the ground. Look at that leg definition!

Becki is slamming the rope. These are called rope whips. This is a great compound movement that combines cardio with back and shoulder muscle conditioning. Becki is engaging her tummy muscles and pulling her lats to slap the floor with the heavy rope.

Saturday June 8th at High Park

 Laura stretching her hamstrings and calves after the hill repeats.

 Lara, Ashley, Laura and Sandra reaching down for that toe. Happy Birthday Sandra! What a trooper coming with us to run hills on her bday! They're stretching out their heels. Never do this until you've warmed up. I made the mistake of hanging my heel off the side of a step and tore the ligament in my heel.

 Laura wanted me to take a photo of her sweaty face. She looks pretty freakin' amazing considering she just raced up a steep hill 6 times!

 Lara's shoes. New Balance are great for running distance. I prefer my Asics Gel Cumulus for running and my Nike slippers for interval training.

 Stretching our hamstrings and lower back out.

 Lara told me that her husband told her she looked hot as she left the house last week in her form fitting dress. Great job Lara! She's worked so hard for the past year to lose the weight.

 Someone didn't run hard enough...too happy.

Me and Lara. Great way to start the weekend. I love taking you ladies out for the hill runs. Except when there are road closures and it takes up 40 minutes to get home from High Park.

Light Post Run

Laura, Steph, Becki and Sandra ran from my house towards Humber Bridge and back two Thursdays ago. We ran surges. Using the lamp posts as markers, we increased our speed to 80% effort between one light post and then easy between the next post. We did about 10 east and then 6 on the way home. Coming back we would run hard for 2 lamp posts and 1 lamp post easy. These ladies are strong runners and pushed themselves to the point of discomfort. Laura said she would never think of it on her own, but enjoyed the intensity. The girls all agreed it was very challenging, red faces and suppressed barfing occurred. The intensity meant that we could spend less time doing cardio and more time stretching.