Fit to be tried: At home workouts

With the new year - and its resolutions - rapidly approaching, I'm highlighting some of my favorite fit things of 2012. 

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I woke up at 5 a.m., just two minutes shy of my alarm. I was surprisingly alert and ready for the day as I rolled out of bed, leggings and tank already on, and headed downstairs. I made myself half a mini bagel with homemade nut butter and gulped a glass or two of water before grabbing my laptop and heading to the basement for class.

Class being Turbo Fire in my quite scenic unfinished basement.

But as I inserted the DVD for the day's workout, I was disappointed - mad, even - to discover that the DVD drive on my laptop was on the fritz. I tried a different workout and still no dice. Ready to give up on exercising for the day, I turned around and discovered I had an old pair of running shoes next to the treadmill. I begrudgingly laced up for a 6-mile sweatfest.

While running will always be my first love, I've come to enjoy adding DVDs to mix things up, improve cardio conditioning and build strength. They are also great options when the weather turns frigid or the skies open up or wee ones are sick.

Turbo Fire. When I came off the marathon and headed into late fall, I made it a goal to focus on cross training to improve my cardio fitness in the vain hope that it would translate to faster runs. I had considered investing in Insanity (and it really is an investment) and trying my hand at what I could find at the library. However, as fate would have it, a Facebook acquaintance posted a deal for TurboFire. For $53, one would get more than 10 DVDs, a resistance band, meal plan and workout schedule - a program that regularly retails for $119.

It was definitely an impulse purchase but one that I don't regret. Not one bit.The workouts are fun yet challenging, and I've been surprised by just how not annoyed I am with Chalene Johnson. I like her delivery, instruction style and the class atmosphere of the DVDs. From the workouts, I've noticed more definition in my back from the punching, and I truly believe the HIIT workouts helped me bring home a PR in the 10K

There are two strength workouts that use a resistance band - sculpt and tone - but I don't find them to be challenging enough, and I find some of the moves to be awkward.

Bob Harper's Total Body Transformation. This workout is tough. Super tough. The workout is a total body one, utilizing compound movements and weights to build strength and cardio endurance. It's an hour of lunges, arms and abs.  And, if you can get past a few things, it's definitely worth giving it a go.

Those things? Slow order processing and delivery, Bob's cargo shorts and some bad form on the part of the other people in the video.

Jillian Michaels' "Get Ripped in 30." Everyone seemed to love Jillian Michaels' "30-Day Shred," and this workout builds on that model. There are four workouts, meant to daily for one week before moving onto the next, and are about 25, 30 minutes in length. She leads the workouts in a circuit style - 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio and 1 minute of abs.

And even though I feel like they shouldn't be hard, they are. I like to do a Jillian workout when I need a bit of resistance training but don't have the time to rehearse BODYPUMP. It also allows me the chance to lift a bit heavier than I would to improve overall performance.

Of course I have tried others - a ballet inspired promo and yoga workouts - but these were the ones that stuck. And, if they stick, they are a good investment. Or so says Mark.

The Power-HUFF girl

Despite some sliver of promise in my early academic career (read: second grade), I am not very good at math. It's probably why the 3-mile run I planned at lunch on Friday became a 4.1-mile journey through the crunchy snow of downtown Fort Wayne.

However, I feel safe making the following declaration: I've thanked hundreds of people along the various race courses I have ran. The people directing traffic, the kind souls passing me water, the neighborhood crews cheering on the crazy or brave. I've been so grateful for the people who have made not just my experiences positive ones but made them possible.

And Saturday, I got my chance to give back. Just a little bit. To be the one whom people thanked.

I volunteered to man the Three Rivers Running Company aid station (aka Cramp Central Station) at this year's HUFF 50K trail race. If you have an amazing memory, you'll remember that I ran this race last year as part of a 3-person relay. It was the most challenging race, mentally and course-wise, that I have ever done. A marathon was hard but trudging through cold, knee-deep water is soul (and sole) shaking. It's an experience like child birth - so traumatic that you forget the pain and want to do it again. I nearly considered keeping up my mileage after the marathon and doing the race until deciding my interests would best be served by volunteering.

My shift was from 2 to 6 p.m. and being the eager beaver (or nervous Nelly) that I am, I showed up about 1:30 p.m. The station was set up about a mile from the finish, and the 50Kers were about 5 hours into the event. There was a pretty crowd going, and I did my best to hand out the what they needed to finish the last bit of the race.

There was water, Gatorade and Coke. Later it became water, Gatorade and root beer. Even later, it was water, Gatorade, root beer and smiles. I'm a charmer, what can I say. (Inside the tent, they had bananas, oranges, Jolly Ranchers and salted potatoes.)

I also did my best to keep spirits high, doing a dance here and there. OK, it was mostly to keep my body temperature warm as it was cold with a capital frigid. My poor toes felt like ice cubes and I had my digits shoved into three fingers of my gloves. As for the runners, they were more enthused to hear there was less than a mile left than seeing my jig. Sad, I know.

Editor's note: For all of you who worry about my mental sanity, there was music going. I was not dancing to the beat in my head.

Not sad: The spirit of these runners. They were so friendly and thankful after running more than 32 miles in the snow, ice and sub-freezing temps. I'm pretty sure I would have been a complete ... um, not nice person. Some were chatty, others not. Some broken down, some strong. For some, it was their first 50K and others were veterans. I saw many a folk wearing Marathon Maniac shirts - one guy estimated he had ran 110 marathons.

Color me astounded. I can barely decide to do a second marathon much less 110. (I did have some encouragement as I got to chat with the race director for the Veterans Marathon - the only 26.2 race that I could do without traveling. Anyone up for it?)

A light snow began to fall as the last of the runners trickled through the aid station. Soft, white flakes danced in the air, catching on my eyelashes and dusting the aid station. I filled a few more cups of Gatorade to feel like I was doing something. Something small for runners who were offering me so much - inspiration, motivation, thanks.

And, maybe, a bit of crazy.

Crazy because I'm already thinking of doing the one-loop fun run next year. And then volunteering.