The POWER of Orange

No, not the juice!

Not the color!

The power of Orangetheory Fitness (OTF).

My sister and I are vacationing in Hilton Head Island with our families (that’s 11 of us, by the way!). My sister has been going to her OTF in Haymarket (Virginia) and I’ve been intrigued ever since. Why? Because my sister loves HATES to exercise…so if she found something she enjoys…it’s a MUST that I go and experience the workout!! 😂. I didn’t even have to twist her arm to go workout!!!

The alarm went off…EARLY…and off we went to make the 6:15 am class. I actually prefer to workout in the morning because it’s done and one less thing to do for the day!

Since I was new to the gym, we arrived early to allow me to sign paperwork and obtain information on how the class ran during the 60 minute session. I was also fitted for the OTF heart rate monitor to utilize during the class.

These LOVELY ladies welcomed me with open arms!

If you’ve never been in an Orangetheory class, you could be overwhelmed with all of the equipment. This ain’t your regular gym …..

Rows and ROWS of Water Rowers!!!!!

But trust me when I say, the instructor not only explains all about the equipment but leads the class with friendly prompts and reminders of what’s to coming next in the work out.

Thanks AJ!!!!

I saw my name on the TV screen (AngieA.08) with everyone in the class but really didn’t understand until AJ explained it all.

Let’s chat about these heart rate monitors that you receive prior to the workout. The basis of OTF is to get you to work within the 5 Heart Rate Zones:

(Source : Orangetheory)

Zone 1 (Grey): Consistent with light activity

Zone 2 (Blue): Basically the Warm Up or Cool Down periods

Zone 3 (Green): They refer to this as “Base Pace” which a pace that you can maintain for 20-30 minutes

Zone 4 (Orange): This is the MONEY shot for OTF. This is where you burning the most and achieve the “Afterburn”/Orange Effect. Why is this important? If you maintain 12 minutes or more (in a 60 min class) to achieve the maximum caloric burn 36 hours AFTER the workout is completed.

Zone 5 (Red): usually seem in “All Out” effort ( 92% or greater of Max HR)

Obviousl the goal is to be in the Orange zone for the duration of the workout. Today was an Endurance workout which consisted of 3 blocks of treadmill work (including Base pace, Push pace and All out) and 3 blocks of floor work with the rower. The floor workout was 12/16/20 of :

• Jump overs
• Jumping squats
• Plank punch outs
• Sit ups
• TRX core

600 meter row after the round. After each round, decrease rowing by 100 meters.

Man…THAT was a workout!!!

Oh..but wait…there’s more! You get to earn Splat points! What’s that, you ask?? They are the amount of time that you spend in the Orange or Red zone. It is ideal to earn 12 Splat points per class. Until this was explained to me…I totally thought I was sucking at the OTF game!! 😂

Sorry, ErinW…but I earned 46 Splat points today! 😂. My sister was right under me at 44. #goGIRL

What’s that other stuff mean?

🔥 I burned 643 calories during this workout….that’s freaking incredible!

❤️My average heart rate was 167

❤️/❤️ Average maximum heart rate percentage

I survived!!! I mean…I didn’t think I was going to die, but I thought I was going to die!😂. I really enjoyed a different type of workout than what I’m used to…DREADmill and strength training.

#BasePace #PushPace #AllOut

MERCH!!!!!!

What did I think about it all?

Honestly, I figured since I come from a strong workout base that I was going to do fine; that maybe it wouldn’t be too overly challenging. It was a straight up CHALLENGE to get through the workout. This ain’t your Mama’s Jazzercise class! You will come here to WORK and work you shall do! Don’t ever underestimate the #powerofORANGE!

I can’t WAIT to get home and go to my local Orangetheory!!!! Thank you, HHI for welcoming this gal into the OTF family.

Have you tried Orangetheory before?

Your thoughts??

PS…this was me later on in the day at the pool….

Thus far….

This week has been good, thus far, at least on the exercise front.  😉

Monday – Leslie and I, fresh off our 5k from Saturday, got a run in.  Thankfully… torrential Florida rain (ie “there was a TS brewing”) gave us afternoon showers, which lead us to “not so HOT Hades” weather for our run!  This was a good run for me, just like Saturday.  Maybe this whole “running with my Polar but not obsessively looking at it for my pace” thing is working.  I just ran…. 

 …and it was NICE!  

My shins are a little sore, mostly on the right, from those DAMN jump ropes at CF last week!! Remember I suffered the WRATH from the multitude of double unders last year?? This is NO way the same, but it is a touch sore but a different side than before. #treadLIGHTLYangie

Tuesday- we AGAIN got the run in!  Another HOT day (whoa..what a SURPRISE!!) for a run!  It was 100 degrees that registered in the car when I left work.  I forgot my Polar at home on the charger, so I ran without today. Like I said before, it was nice…liberating, almost.  A struggle though…as I am used to trying to get back to MY pace.  Apparently the secret is to NOT look at it…. 

 A nice little jaunt before pick of up the kiddos.  The shin did well, but I did put my compression hose on.  I DON’T want a reoccurrence of last year! #hellNO

Tomorrow- going to try and either go to CF or do a CF-inspired WOD.  Wish me luck! 😉👍

Oh…

Happy Mommy Moment!!!  Aidan came to me and said that he wanted to have the FASTEST TIME in the mile in his grade (3rd, that is) this year (like his brother, mind you).  He asked me if I could show him how to use the DREADmill.  It was so cute!! If I wasn’t so CHEAP, I’d pay WP for the ability to upload videos, and then you could see him! If you follow me on IG, you can see the Master at work!  

Blurry DREADmill shot!!😂

   After the WORK is done! 0.25 mile, but hey…it’s a start!!  Hope he keeps it up! 

National Running Day (or the day AFTER!)

How was your… 

 I had full intentions of having a date with the DREADmil but a surprise basketball session came up for Julian.  So..Mom’s stuff took the back burner and my steady was STOOD UP!!😢. 

But it’s ok, he forgave me this morning!  

 He was good to me! 😉. (I should have done MORE, btw!!!). 

Now that the kiddos are out of school, I am going to attempt (yet AGAIN) to put myself back on a morning routine.  I always try to do this so I can have this routine when school starts.  I LOVE having a run before work….

• It’s DONE and one last thing to “do”!  Even though it LOVE to exercise, I like the freedom of not having something to do before I get home! You know…..😉
• I REALLY feel good! I’m not as tired, I have more energy, I feel more focused for the day.

When school is out, I can go to Starbucks and treat myself…. 

I LOVE the Hearty Blueberry Oatmeal! I know that you’ve seen me post this like a GAZILLION times! But I can’t get enough! And let’s be honest….I’m LAZY!!  It’s not like I can’t make this at home, but why not treat yourself and let someone ELSE do it, right??? 😉#theSIMPLEthings 

Today is my Dad’s birthday, so I hope to take him out to dinner, if he LETS me.  One of my favorite pictures of my dad…WHY?????

 Because it’s CLASSIC…he is doing what he does best…being the BEST Father in the WORLD!!!! ❤️ 

Question…..

Do you prefer morning workouts or evening??

She’s BAAAAA-CK!!!

Oh yeah….she’s back!!! I don’t me me and being on track….The DREADmill!!!   

 Hubs FINALLY got the thing out of box and put together!! I decided instead of a run before picking the kiddos, I was going to take this baby for a spin (or run, I guess).   

 This console is overwhelming to me because my old DREADmill didn’t have this many options.  It has:

• Incline adjustments 
• Speed adjustments
• 18 pre planned runs
• Calorie buster option
• Fan
• iPod compatible (plug it in…and turn UP those JAMS!!)

Let’s do this…. 

 I had NO idea which option to pick, so I pressed some buttons and off I went!  I found out quickly that my selection included some inclines. No problem!! Well, it IS a problem when you go up as high as 10% incline at 4.5 speed! #HELLO #help. It was an interval training run with speed and inclin (I’m gonna pay for THAT tomorrow!!!).  It was a 30 min session, which only got me 1.98 miles. DAMN…why couldn’t it have been 2?? It seems like you did more with at least 2 miles, right??😉

All in all, as much as I loathe the DREADmill, I am please to have her back!  It makes me accountable again….”oh,I didn’t get to run today”…DREADmill!! “Oh, I’ll just do it tomorrow”…DREADmill!!   “Oh, I don’t want to!”…DREADmill!!!!  

 Just like Nike says “Just Do It”…

Glad to see you, DREADmill.  I’ve honestly missed you, and even though we weren’t the best of friends……Welcome back to my world! 

  

How YOU doin’????

Well, HELLOOOOOOO Gorgeous! You should know, I usually reserve a greeting of this nature for THIS…..

ABSOLUT-ly my FAVORITE!!!

….but I also greet FRIDAY with same enthusiasm! Had my running stuff in the car, but Mother Nature decided to “Release the KRACKEN” in the form of rain! My GOD was it storming at work! My kids are in school about 15-20 minutes from work. I left work with torrential down pour and was greeted with the same at school pick up. Why does it matter, you ask? That’s the exact location (or town) that I run in before I pick them up. #howboutTHEMapples. Sadly, no run for me today, but that makes Saturday a good day to run. 😃

Hubby and I decided to get a stationery bike and a new DREADmill for our home gym or GARAGE, as we formally call it.  It was delivered last week… 

STILL in the box…..

Yeah…this TOO!!

Fingers crossed, it will be put together this weeeknd! As much as I HATE the DREADmill, it is an option to nothing. Like TODAY would have been a great day to use it!! 

I don’t have basketball this weekend, so Operation “Put Races on the Schedule” will be in full swing this weekend! One of the races I am considering… 

 I’ve had this on my radar since I did my first on in 2010. I think this year is MY year. Of course, I have to check the basketball calendar before I commit!! Ahhh….the life of a basketball mom!!❤️🏀. Hope I can make it work!!! 

Questions:

What races do you have on the schedule?

Do you LOVE or HATE the DREADmill?

It was a GOOD day…..

Today felt pretty good. My morning runs (I’m on week 2 of them) continue to make me feel GREAT!! I’m still amazed that I haven’t given up and sleep the extra 30 minutes instead of the running on the DREADmill! I continue to be inspired by YOUR blogs and I wanted to say “Thank You”!!!

The WOD today has made me realize a few things….

1. No matter how I may HATE/DESPISE/LOATHE some WODs, some movements (BURPEES!!), some haters…I will ALWAYS love CrossFit!

2. I dead lifted 155#…for 5 rounds of 10. What?? I’m 42!!! Who am I impressing??😉

3. I really need to get a HR monitor to see how many calories I burn during WODs. This one sounds odd, but I’m tracking it all – food, intake, burned calories…. And after almost 5 years of doing CF, I literally have NO idea what I’ve burned!!

Hope everyone’s day was a good one!
What made it good for you?

My First World Problems….

As I am recovering from my triathlon this week, I’m not killing myself to get back “at it”. I did go to CF yesterday with Julian!

Tuesdays are my rest days normally but I decided to incorporate a short run…about 1.5 miles or so….just to DO something. I wanted to go outside but typically Florida weather didn’t allow that to happen. #RAIN. Which means, what???? Yep….DREADmill!! UGH….
It’s VERY hard to stay motivated when you “just” have a DREADmill! #firstworldPROBLEMS. That’s sounds horrible to verbalize it!! I should be BLESSED that I have such problems!

I bought a FitBit prior to my triathlon. I was very excited to have one because of all of the features it had. Well….it’s a little overwhelming to me! I thought it was going to just calculate the calories I’ve burned….not really! I’ll do a review in a little bit, but I did use it this evening for my run. Boy was it WAY OFF!! This think had me running a pace 46 minutes or something like that! I closed the app and went back to my trusty and faithful Nike+ app. Stick with what you know and like!
Review to come….

What did you do today??

Rainy Days….

Yesterday, I was back at the box after my break in Virginia. And I was greeted like the queen I am….

They must think I am the Queen “Pain in the Ass”…😉
The weather was rainy and windy just like I left behind in VA! WTH???

As I sit here and type, my butt is sore!!! But it is ALWAYS good to get back to routine after vacation. Especially since I was only able to get one run in the entire time I was there!!

I had a brainstorm…an idea…a WONDERFUL idea last night (after doing my ump-teenth load of laundry). During the school year, out if necessity, I have to rise early. I “sleep in” during the summer which is so deserved. But I thought….why not get up early like during the school year and get on the DREADmill! So, I set my alarm on my phone to get up this morning……

…and I roll right back over and fall back asleep! #epicFAIL
I am one of those people-if I promise myself that I am going to do something…I stick to it! So….I decide to run at home, after work, while kids where busy. Perfect, right?

Except this weather welcomed me home. DREADmill it is…

…..while watching Season 2 of “Orange is the New Black”!! #obsessed #teamPIPER
(If you haven’t heard of this show….you are missing OUT! Get on Netflix NOW and watch it!!)
It made the miles go ALOT faster than I expected!! Thank you, Netflix!!!

I’m about a month out from my triathlon. I have YET to get in the pool! YIKES
Nor have I been back on my bike!!!double YIKES

I’m going to make it happen…not worried!

How was your day!???