Hey everybody, my name’s Derek and I’ll be your new Monday Team Leader.  Happy Presidents’ Day!  Today seems like a particularly good day to take a moment and think about everything the women and men of the United States military have done for this country throughout history.  I’d like to thank Nick and everyone else with WAO365 for getting me involved in such a great cause.  I’m excited to get started!

Unlike the other team leaders, I’m pretty lazy when left up to my own devices.  I’m no professional athlete, nor am I much of a workout enthusiast- just a guy who has to keep active to avoid getting a tire around the waist.  Over the past couple months I found myself getting more and more lazy and less and less in shape, so I decided it time to do something about it.

About three weeks ago I signed up for a marathon and have begun some aggressive training.  I’ve done races before, but a few months of stagnation has left me very outta shape.  But, I’m getting back into it.  This morning I logged a five-mile run, fifty pull-ups, fifty sit ups, and fifty push ups. The race is the first week in June, so I’ve got my work cut out for me.  Follow me on Monday’s as I represent WAO365 and try and get back into shape.

Today was Team Baltimore’s first day hosting the 365 day challenge. Team Baltimore had a beautiful early morning run with some of the first new Baltimore members. There was a well rounded variety of activities including rollerblading, biking, and running. We rollerbladed, biked, and ran a loop that encompassed the world famous and historic Federal Hill. There is a lot of enthusiasm here in Baltimore about building awareness of WAO365, and we all look forward to our future Sunday workouts.

Sorry its a late post but today was a travel day. I flew up to Portland to visit with a friend from college (who runs for a track club in Washington and is in the Army). Also helping a family friend move back to the greatest state ever (New Hampshire for those of you who weren’t quite sure). So while he was doing his workout on the track, I somehow managed to convince the front desk manager of the student gym at the University of Puget Sound that I was a student and  forgot my ID. Really needed to workout. So I got an hour of strength training drills for my torn abdominal tendon as well as 50 minutes of spinning and elliptical. And a little bit of leg lifting circuit before they found out that I wasn’t actually a student. Solid 2 hours. Have a bunch of pictures in my new dri fit shirt with my 2nd Lieutenant friend but don’t have the cord to connect the camera….so next Saturday will be a field day with pictures. Hope you all had a simple saturday workout.

AR. NF. NR.

Nick

I’d like to start out by thanking those military soldiers and families that this organization is designed to honor. I am proud to be part of WE ARE ONE 365 and humbled to share some comments on behalf of the entire organization.

I am a former college soccer player and have continued my training after leaving college.  I have to admit that my training regiment is not quite as strong as before, but I am still finding ways to challenge myself and stay active.

Today’s workout consisted of a 3 mile run and upper body workout.  Although I am not training for an event, I am trying to stay healthy and fit.

Normally I am playing soccer on Thursday mornings with the soccer team that I help coach.  Looking ahead, you can expect to see more posts regarding small sided indoor and outdoor soccer.

-Tim

While I know Nick has been keeping all of you entertained for the last 90+ days, I hope my addition to the 365 Day Challenge Blog will spice things up. My name is Alex Karwoski, I am (for better/for worse) Nick’s younger brother and I am a senior at Cornell University on the Men’s Heavyweight Rowing Team. As my first post, I thought I should give you all a small introduction.

The rowing season is officially in the spring. We race in eight-person boats with a coxswain (8+) down a 2000 meter course. Since the spring season is so short, the majority of our time is spent training throughout the fall and winter months. Currently, we are still indoors rowing on the erg and in the tanks.

This is where we erg in the boathouse:

And this is the tank (basically a stationary boat where we can practice our technique):

Our most recent workout was our annual “Valentine’s Day Massacre” biathlon which consisted of a 10km race on the erg followed by 5-mile run around Ithaca. I finished the 10km erg in a time of 33:28 (1:40.4/500m) and the run in just around 31 minutes.

The team is getting ready for the spring to finally start and I am excited to keep you posted of our workouts and results.

I can’t thank the WAO 365 team enough for letting me be a part of this and next week I will have more workouts to post and more pictures/videos of the team.

ar.nf.nr.

Alex

Happy Valentine’s Day and welcome to the Granite Girl’s We Are One 365 blog!! We are so excited to be part of this organization! This Tuesday blog will be a combination of Donna Karwoski and Lauren Weddleton’s workouts.  This “mother, daughter” duo will be a fun one to read as well as provide some fabulous workout ideas!

Today was a lighter workout due to getting in late last night after a fabulous girls weekend in Naples, FL (picking up my sister’s wedding dress) I travel quite a bit for work so lots of my workouts are done in hotel gyms, some are better than others.  Today, however, I was able to go to my gym in Portsmouth NH. I did a 5 minute warm up on the tread mill and then did a 25 min interval workout on the elliptical followed by some abdominal exercises.  I had a 10lb ball that I held in my hands over my head.  Laying on my back with my legs extended, I raised one leg up to meet the 10lb ball that I was simultaneously raising with my arms. Its one of my new favorites and was introduced to me by my Mom!  20 reps per leg.

Although it is not much compared to what our military men and women endure every day, it was a good sweat!

xoxo Granite Girls

ps: the first picture is an annual 4th of July 5 mile road race…my mom and I are on the ends.  The second picture is of me and my new husband Tim!

Derek Eby, the Team Leader for Mondays is getting over a 24-hour flu. Didn’t want his debut WAO365 blog to be less than stellar so I told him I would cover for him today. I did 30 minutes of leg exercises with bands and balls with a few ab drills. 40 minutes of spinning followed by a stretch session in the sauna with a few laps of swimming afterwards. Then went on a 20 mile bike ride in the afternoon where, once again, I got a flat tire and had to walk home (at least I was on my way back this time). I’m 0-2 now. I want to think that its a sign but I can’t think of any positives.

Another bike ride. Another flat tire. Another longer than planned for workout. Still a good one though.

AR. NF. NR.

Nick

Get ready for the Granite Girls tomorrow!

Leg lifting workout at the gym with spinning and erging for cardio. Got some weird looks for  carrying around a 10 lb weight to keep upper body engaged during leg workout but whatever…got my swell on.

Speaking of looking swell, Sundays will be led by Mike Kirby (pictured left) and Drew Vogt straight out of  Baltimore. Very well rounded guys that will be adding some fun group activities to the blog.

I went to the Westwood Recreation center and did a 35 min slow aqua jogging session with a teammate from the SMTC. Some dynamic stretching and groin strength exercises as well.

Team Saturdays will be lead by yours truly. We want to spread the WAO365 Challenge team as much as possible so if anyone has an interest in taking Saturday, I would be more than willing to set that up. For now, I will be blogging about my workouts on saturday.