This past weekend I found myself back in my old stomping grounds of Brooklyn, NY, the town I called home for almost a year after college.  I love Los Angeles and being able to call myself an Angelino, but from the moment I landed at La Guardia I was filled with pains of nostalgia for my days as a New Yorker.

I moved to Brooklyn as a poor unpaid intern, living on the small savings I’d amassed from college jobs.  Not being able to afford a gym membership (though I did make sure to always have enough money for New York- style pizza and Brooklyn Lager), those first few months proved to be quite hazardous to my waistline.  When I finally became too disgusted with my lack of exercise, it dawned on me that I didn’t need to pay to workout; I could transform the city into my gym.  I turned scaffolding into pull-up bars, used park benches for dips and picnic tables for push-ups.  Anything Central Park had to offer, it was mine for the using.

Though I’ve been more ardent with my workouts, and have invested in dumbbells, a yoga ball, and iron gym since moving to Los Angeles, I still try to incorporate the skills I learned on the East Coast to my West Coast workouts.  I rode my bike over to the Santa Monica trail this morning and utilized every park bench I saw on the path.  I still don’t belong to a gym, but I am a tax paying California resident so I’m gonna get my money’s worth.  After a nice bike ride, I ran the three and a half miles along Santa Monica Blvd and got in some good cross training in the process.

See you all next Monday!  Spring has sprung, so let’s all make the most of it.

-Derek

Team Baltimore would like to wish everyone who celebrates, a Happy Easter.  The Baltimore team put in a lot of family time this weekend, but that didn’t stop Stacy Vogt from getting a cardio workout in on Easter Sunday.

We would also like to thank everyone who came out to the kick-off event last weekend as well as our sponsors. We hope to have a full update on the results of the event shortly.

Enjoy the week.

-Team Baltimore

I have strung together 6 days of consecutive runs which is the most since December 24th (the last time I raced/ran). Injuries are healing up and feeling much stronger. Not sure what this means in terms of racing this season but its nice to be able to go out on a run with no pain.

I’m down in Naples, Florida for the holiday weekend with my grandparents. Great to be able to spend some quality time with them before they head back to Wisconsin for the Summer.

Today was one of the longer runs I have done in a while. I don’t really have a plan when I go out for runs right now because I do it all based on feel and level of pain in the groin/ab area. Most of the runs have been between 6:30 and 7:15 per mile. I logged a total of 35 miles this week which is a great way to get back into the running routine. I went out towards the beach/resort area today. Took my WAO365 dry fit off as I stepped outside because it was in the mid 80’s. Started my watch but didn’t look at it for what I thought was about 30 minutes. When I finally looked down at it, I was almost at 6 miles. I had about a mile and a half to go before I got back to the house. So a little over 7 miles total in about 48 minutes with one of the miles at sub 6:20. Felt really good to get back to some actual mileage. Still have some kinks to work out with my form but the fitness is not terrible which is a positive.

Been lifting a lot of legs, single leg squats for balance and core, ab workouts and stretching to strengthen the lower body muscles.

Hope all you 365-ers are having an awesome Easter/Passover weekend.

AR. NF. NR.

Nick

So this week was busy busy!  I started a new job on Wednesday and have, consequently, been very busy….making it very hard to squeeze in a workout.  For today, I had to forego my run and instead did a quick 15 minute circuit at home.  I did squats, lunges, pushups and abs until muscle exhaustion.  Although it doesn’t beat getting out there for a run or an hour long yoga sesh….it definitely makes my day better to get my heart pumping and feel a little better too!

Have a great holiday weekend everyone!!!

With the start of the Masters, I was inspired to take my workout to the golf range. It was not the same as running three miles but it was a fun outdoor activity. It was quickly clear that my golf game is far from perfect. In fact, if you were to picture golfing ability on a scale of one to 10, 10 being the best and 1 being the worst, I am probably around a 2. I had some quite embarrassing shots ending up 20 feet in front of me. But those 4 good shots that I hit, out of a bucket of 75 balls, felt amazing!

Ability aside, it was great

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This past weekend, we headed out to San Diego to race in the San Diego Crew Classic.

Not a whole lot to say about the racing other than it was great to see some of our main competition early in the season.

We were interviewed by ESPN U…

Got to row on the West Coast…

And even WAO’s very own Nick Karwoski showed up to help out…

Great to see Nick for the weekend and can’t wait for more races this spring.

ar.nf.nr.

-Alex

Another Tuesday alarm going off @ 5:30am.  How can it be morning already…..I swear I just closed my eyes 5 minutes ago! Time to shake my brain & get motivated! The twice a week session has been dubbed “Body by Scotty” by my workout buddy Jay Zimmerman. We meet @ the Merrimack YMCA & spend a half hour session with Scott Prunier. He is incredibly well-educated with the workings of every muscle & knows just how to make us “good hurt” until the pain starts to fade Wednesday evening….just in time for another round on Thursday. We love our time with Scott cuz he makes it fun!

Tonight my arms & my core are talking to me from various exercises with the machines & the stability ball. The one-legged curls on our backs with the stability ball will be good for some sore glutes but he spared us the pleasure of any squats!  I have a love hate relationship with squats! I hate doing them but love how i slip those just washed jeans on without too much effort! We topped off our workout with 20 minutes on the elliptical….always a good sweat and fun to chat about anything that keeps us laughing!  It’s particularly amusing to workout at the Y over the past 6 years because people think Jay & I are an item……the Zimmeroskis! Steve Vail’s creation!

Thanks to all those men & women in all branches of the military who wake up early & never complain about the hurt their bodies go through….. And it’s more than twice a week…..and I’m sure there isn’t anyone preparing a routine to keep them smiling! I am very thankful for the freedoms they give me! I won’t complain come Thursday!

Dk signing off for the granite girls xoxo

Congrats to the Baltimore 365-ers for their success in what sounded like a great weekend.  When Nick first got me involved in WAO365 he mentioned trying to get a Los Angeles event going at some point, so I’m excited to make that dream a reality somewhere down the line.

I went on a wicked fun camping trip to Death Valley this past weekend, which included lots of hiking and some awesome climbing.  Death Valley has some really amazing walks and some of the most inspiring scenery I’ve ever seen.  Blustery sand dunes, gorgeous vistas of red rocks, epic salt flats, volcanic craters, and the lowest elevation in North America- Death Valley’s got it all.  While some of the people in my group had trouble with the heat (it reached 97 degrees mid-day Saturday) and the extensive mileage we logged, I felt in top form.  I was a little worried that I’d be sore or tired out on my morning run today, but there wasn’t an ounce of lethargy in my legs.  I’m definitely in fighting shape for this marathon coming up in less than two months.

I’m going back to my old stomping grounds of Brooklyn next weekend so I imagine I’ll be getting lots of walking in next weekend as well.  Hope everyone has a great week!

-Derek

P.S. Yup, still no pictures.  My bad.

It was an eventful and successful weekend for Team Bmore. We had a great kickoff event on Saturday with a group run of 27 people in the morning followed by a social event at Mothers Bar and Grille at night. The combination of the two events raised nearly $2,500 to be donated to a local military family. More details on the event are to come later.

On Sunday a couple members of Team Baltimore took the field again for the Sunday soccer league. Today was the last game of the season, and WAO365 gear was being rocked harder then ever (everyone wanted to sport their new Under Armour gear they got at the Bmore Kickoff event yesterday!) No need to discuss the final score, the only details necessary are that everyone had a great time and everyone got in a good sweat.

Have a great week!

-Team Bmore