The granite girls have a special guest today, Mrs. Ellen Vail.  A dear family friend! Enjoy

It was an incredibly beautiful day here in Naples.  I decided to try something new for me…and joined in a Water Aerobics class. I had expected a mild workout, but was quite surprised and delighted as it was about 60 minutes and a pretty intense workout. There were about 20 women in the pool, heated to 82 degrees.  Looking up at the blue skies, palm trees, and puffy white clouds while cross country skiing under water was pretty awesome!  I believe my heart rate hovered around 135 to 140 for a good 30 minutes or so. It felt great! Many of the women wore weighted gloves to increase the resistance on their arms..I will try to get a pair before the next time. I am so fortunate to be here for the winter. I count my blessings. Working out with the military families in mind increases my awareness of my good fortune.

And also, today was the first day the Granite Girls worked out together! Despite DK not feeling 100% we still went out and were able to enjoy the 80 degree weather while walking around our neighborhood and catching up!. We walked 2 miles. 

xoxo

Granite Girls

 My workout today involved a combination of several things.  I warmed up on the treadmill for 10 min at a brisk walk with a steep incline and then moved into a much more invigorating workout.  Although the Karwoski Men are very well versed at this next exercise, I still have some work to do!

Rowing!! In my opinion, one of the most challenging exercies there is.  You work so hard for a relatively short period (2:00min) and after still feel as though you are going to die!!   I did a combination of rowing for 500 meters, then 20 kettle ball swings with a 20lb weight and finishing off the series with 10 box jumps on the smallest box. I did four rounds of this, my second round being the best.  My fastest 500m erg time was 1 minute and 58 seconds.  If I was part of the Cornell rowing team, I wouldn’t stand a chance but for me, it was a great sweat and I will be sore tomorrow!! I finished it off with some ab exercises! 

 Xoxo

Granite Girls

  The Granite Girls have been recruiting people for our Tuesday Blog! This week our special guest is none other than Bear Karwoski…the man, the myth, the legend!

I was excited about the chance to get back on the desert mountain trails in and around Scottsdale, AZ this past week.  I hadn’t been on real mountain bike trails in a few years and the desert beauty at sunrise and sunset is stunning.  The problem of course is that it was about 5 miles to the trailhead and, yes, 5 miles back to the conference center for our 8:00 meeting start.  The sun doesn’t rise until 6:40 am, so you do the math-not a lot of time for trail biking!  It was dark enough when I started at 6:00 am for the 15 minute ride to the trailhead- riding on city streets in the dark is one thing.  Riding between cactus, jack rabbits, coyote and prickly pears in the dark is quite another.  Oh, I forgot to mention- no headlamp or lights.

I entered the trail head just as the sun was coming up and had a good 3 miles of flat/slight grade single track.  Then the fun began!  Uphill quick climbs, downhill loops and switchbacks in between rocks- just large enough to nail your pedal if you were in the wrong position as you threaded your way between two 12 inch rocks, followed by a quick turn then what seemed to be an almost vertical climb.  I’m just not technicalyl good enough to pedal fast, hang my butt off the back of the bike and still keep weight on the back wheel so it doesn’t spin and leave me pulling the handlebars backwards as I begin to lose it on the climb.  The good news is no one was out there to see me slide backwards and bail-out, looking like a rookie.  The only thing that could have been worse was if I had a pink bike and a “my little pony” matching helmet!  I made it half way up the mountain then came to the realization that I had to repeat the trip only downhill.  The picture I took was at my point of no return. 

It was as much as a mental workout as a physical one.  The last thing I needed was to crash and burn and limp home!  As I became more daring and realized I had run out of time, my downhill run had spinouts and tight curves sliding into the edge of needle trees and prickly pears.  I looked like I had been attack by an angry mob of cats.

On my way back from a different trail head, I decided to take a shortcut back to the hotel and wound up lost in a gated community underdevelopment.  With each dead end, I finally went off road, down an embankment through a drain pipe, emerged on the other side of the fences and pedaled as hard as I could to get back. The adventure over, in one piece with minor scratches.

That’s what new adventures and workouts are about- totally forgetting yourself, concentrating on the moment, out of your comfort zone, fighting for survival and enjoying every minute of the journey!  What good is it to work out and push yourself in the gym if you can’t scare yourself to death doing things no sane person would ever  attempt.  – I can’t wait to do it again!

xoxo granite girls and Bear

It’s almost March which means we are getting into our “get serious” mode for the 2 sprint triathlons we compete in every spring & summer since 2006.  Sharing a Team Leader position with my daughter Lauren was an easy “yes, of course I will do that” because I knew we both play well with other & am sure we can put a diverse & focused group of people together. 

Twice a week @ 6am my friend Jay & I meet with Scott Prunier for our intense half hour session of strength training.  We call it “Body by Scotty”.  It’s a perfect way to start the day.  Today we did a mix of core exercises with the ball; an arm band hold till fatigue & my favorite~squats to name just a few.  After an extended class, I jumped on the simulated bike ride & did a 35 min “coastal run” which guarantees a good sweat with its ups & downs & a pacer to boot.  It’s fun to watch a screen with bike scenery. My goal is to burn at least 300 calories.  Today I burned close to 350.  I felt good leaving the Y this am.

Reflecting on our troops & their families that don’t have the choices I have every morning makes me appreciate & thankful for my daily routine.  Thanks Nick!

xoxo Granite Girls

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!