Royal Arch Hike

Yesterday I met some friends in Boulder to hike up to Royal Arch.  It was the perfect weather for a hike - sunny and cool.  The Royal Arch Trail is a butt kicker.  It's tough and steep spots.  It's 3.2 miles but the elevation is 1, 205 feet.  Since it goes up and down, the elevation gain round trip is 1,417 feet.

The view from the top is definitely worth the work you put in to getting there.

The Royal Arch was formed by wind, water, and mechanical erosion.  It is a fragment of the Fountain Formation.  The mineral rich sand eroded from the ancestral Rocky Mountains uplift 300 million years ago.  From the ebb and flow of inland oceans, the sediments were compressed into a layer of sandstone then thrusted upward by the same tectonic force that created the present day Rocky Mountains.

If you're in the Boulder area, it's a great moderately strenuous hike. Go for it!

Parking Garage Intervals

Thursday I did a high intensity intervals workout with Cristina.  But this time we headed out to the parking garage instead of inside at Pura Vida Club.  Since I'm still dealing with a pulled hamstring, Cristina said no sprints until it's better.  That does not mean the intervals are any less intense.  Using a giant rubber band and the ViPR, Cristina managed to once again kick my butt.  But in this workout I not only had my own resistance to use, Cristina pulled on the band in opposite direction as I tried to run and shuffle the other way.  Each interval was done for 30 seconds with 30 second rest.  Each pair of intervals was done for 3 rounds.

First up was what I call band hops.  I did fast small hops side to side inside of the band with Cristina pull band the other way.  We did three rounds of those on each side.

Next was what I call the sled pull and ViPR slams.  I put the band around my waist and ran forward pulling Christina, who was pulling in the opposite direction.

For the ViPR slams, I slammed the ViPR down as hard as I could in a lunge position then quickly shifted over to other side.

The next pair of intervals was band shuffle runs and ViPR put downs.

Next up band shuffle runs.  I put band around waist and shuffled with left lead for 30 seconds then back with right lead for 30 seconds while Cristina pulled band in opposition direction.

In the ViPR put downs the goal is to get the end of the ViPR as close as you can to the ground and you quickly move forward and backward.  I did the left arm for 30 seconds then right arm for 30 seconds.  On these I need to work on getting closer to ground.

Here's video of band hops, ViPR slams and ViPR put downs.  The ViPR is a weighted tube.

Lunges & Squats In The Sunshine

It was such a gorgeous day in Denver with highs around 68.  I was so excited when my trainer Erin at Pura Vida Club text me this morning asking if I wanted to take my Kinesis session outside. Absolutely yes!

We used the top level of a parking garage.  Starting with running up and down stairs, this was an old school workout.  Erin put me through a series of lunges, squats, medicine ball tosses, push ups, tricep dips, and other exercises.

The lunges with twist we've done before but add an incline and it's a different ball game.  With a weighted medicine ball, step forward into a lunge, twist across that front leg, then repeat on other side.  Lunge with right leg forward, twist to the right and lunge left leg forward, twist to the left.  Once I got to the top of the ramp, I went back down and started over again but this time twisting in the opposite direction.  Lunge right leg forward, twist left, then lunge left leg forward, twist right.

I really like the weighted medicine ball squat, press, throw.  Erin threw me the medicine ball.  I went into a squat, then as I stood up, threw ball up and over back to her with a goal of getting the ball to go high.  You can do this exercise by yourself but you loose the toss.  It's fun to do this with a workout partner!

Here's Erin explaining the medicine ball squat, press, throw.

After 30 minutes of go-go-go outside we headed inside for an hour of Pilates.  My hamstrings are super tight so she had me do some pretty intense hamstring stretches for the last 10 minutes of the session.

Great way to kick of the work week!