Shaking it up!

With my latest half marathon behind me, and my next one (ahem) 5 months away, I am ready to shake up my workout routine a bit - okay, a lot - and see what kinds of results I can get.  I've learned that the best way to move past a plateau or see a change in myself is to change what I do.  So, I plan to do a little experimenting and hopefully have lots of fun, sweat and laughs (not necessarily at my expense) along the way.

Right now, my weekly routine looks something like this:
Monday - yoga / run
Tuesday - Zumba
Wednesday - strength / run
Thursday - Zumba
Friday - strength
Saturday - long run
Sunday - rest (usually involves a walk; sometimes I do my long run on Sunday & rest/walk on Saturday.)

My strength workouts consist of Cybex machines, free weights, squats, lunges (sometimes), and a core routine that varies but usually includes some combination of planks, crunches, situps and the medicine ball.

I don't want to give up yoga and I don't want to give up Zumba.  I can give up some of the miles in my running, but I don't want to lose too much momentum and have to start at square one for half marathon training.  I'm thinking about perhaps incorporating an interval type workout into one of my weekly runs, where at various "stations" I'd stop to do pushups, mountain climbers, burpees, planks, etc.  That fun routine always incites lots of comments and looks of sheer horror from joggers and walkers along the route.  I could also turn one of my weekly runs into a trail run; in fact, one of my fitness goals for the year is to spend more time in the woods, and honestly, trail running uses some different muscles (not to mention mental agility!) that road running doesn't, so I'd likely see some results from it.

What I REALLY want to explore is HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training), like the Tabata method, CrossFit, Blast 900, etc.  I keep hearing and reading that interval training involving fast, powerful bursts of energy with very brief recovery periods is the golden ticket to burning fat.  I am also dying to try TRX at the Y and Barre Sculpt at Dance Stop to see if I can gain more definition in my muscles. Oh, and Piloxing...I almost forgot how much I loved the trial class I did late last year!  A pilates/kickboxing combo?  Does it get any better than that??

If time and money were no object, I'd join all the local studios and take classes every day.  Fortunately, there are free trial classes available for most everything, and even more fortunately, I have the Hot Mama's Definitive Guide to High Powered, Fat Burning, Muscle Sculpting Workouts from my friend Stacey.  (The title is my brainchild - you can thank me later, Stace.) Time to print those pages out, maybe invest in a Gymboss & hit the gym! 

Seriously, though, it's high time for me to get creative and put together a new weekly routine that will have me ready for pool season in approximately 2 months.  Any suggestions or advice you may have, bring it - I love to learn from the best.  Happy HIIT-ing!