Tabata tabata tabata

Did someone say Tabata? 

I love to hate Tabata! 

Tabata is more of a rep scheme than an actual exercise. It means choosing a specific movement, think push-ups, sit ups, squats, etc. and seeing how many reps you can do in 8 rounds of 20 seconds on 10 seconds off. It turns into 4 minutes of pure torture fun! Last night when I dropped into CrossFit Jaguar the entire WOD was a series of Tabata. We did 5 movements for 20 minutes of straight Tabata. 

I was convinced I was going to die! Or at least fail at one of the movements. We did: 

Sit-ups 

Flutter Kicks 

Russian Twist 

Medicine Ball Plank 

Ball Slams 

Both the twists and the slams were done with a 14lb medicine ball. Sheesh. My abs are killing me today in the best way. It was a hard 20 minutes, but totally doable. After a week of practically nothing I was glad to be able to push myself and found the work out to be a manageable challenge. 

People score their tabatas differently. We just added as we went and added all the totals for each four minute section. Some people record their score for each 20 second segment over the course of the 4 minutes, then their score is their lowest number of reps. The idea is to see what your max is when your body is at its max fatigue for a given movement. In Portland I had only ever done Tabata push-ups. At the beginning I could always bang out 15 or 16, but by the 6th round I would be lucky if I could get 4! Your body just moves so slowly when the muscles are that taxed. 

All in all I really liked CrossFit Jaguar and am looking forward to dropping in a few more times during my free week. I am optimistic that this is going to be the place for me! 

I was hungers after CrossFit so I swung by Whole Foods to make a salad with the intention of eating outside and reading my book. One look at the sky and I knew I better get my booty back to the hostel. Thank goodness I did because the second I got back the skies opened and it poured. 

I enjoyed eating my salad on the deck in what was finally a comfortable outside temperature! Probably it was just a combination of the water and sweat but I actually got chilly at one point. In this heat it was a luxurious feeling. 

Haha perhaps faces like this one are why I'm still oh, so single! 

I swear I meant to get up early this morning and go to CrossFit. But last night the guys in the hostel stayed up late chatting and watching tv in the living room, which shares a wall with my room. The girl I am sharing the room with and I couldn't stop laughing at all the "dumb guy talk" going on. It was well after midnight by the time I finally stopped giggling and fell asleep. I was not so happy at 6:30 when my alarm went off. 

So I stayed in bed. 

And then I went to the beach. 

I made the trek out to Clearwater. It was a much more enjoyable drive than the last time I was in Clearwater... maybe because I didn't have to run 13.1 miles this time... yeah, it could be that. 

My feet are much happier in the sand than laced up!
Soak it up now, cause I'm putting you two to work real soon.

Instead I got to read my book and eat some salad. 

It was delicious until I turned my back for a second and the gulls got to it. Darned flying rats stealing my food! 

The city had a cool art exhibit going on. It reminded me of our Pigs on Parade at home, but now we have Dolphins on Parade!! 

This tri-athlete Dolphin got me inspired. I can't believe I haven't done a tri yet - I already run,  own a road bike and I grew up in the water/on swim teams.

I have run Clearwater -- back in April I came down to visit USF and make sure it was the school for me. At 10pm while I was waiting for my red eye from Portland to Tampa I discovered and registered for an IronGirl Half Marathon. It was my second ever and honestly was just an opportunity to get in my 11 mile training run (due to my training for the Portland RocknRoll Half Marathon), and to fill some time on a Sunday. Well now I want to keep my eye out for a Tri event out at the beach! 

Here were a few of my favorites: 

Mad Men anyone?

The Original Hooters is from Clearwater! 

Tonight I am off to Yard of Ale to meet up with some Running for Brews peeps. Can't wait to run 5k and hopefully meet some fun people. The bar looks right up my alley, since they offer games (read: Giant Jenga, darts and Giant Connect Four!) for ADD kids like me! 

I'll keep you posted on the run and the group alike! 

xoxo Sweat&Sparkle