New Cross Training

I was originally looking at buying an elliptical for the house since the wonderful Florida summer is coming pretty quickly.  Soon it will be 80 degrees before the sun even rises.  However, in my search I also started to think about indoor bikes.  Of course those only go up in price so before I really invested time or money into a new machine I started to go to some of the indoor bicycling classes at my gym.

The first class was challenging, fun, and it was a lot of different sets so pretty interesting.  My quads definitely felt the burn.  The second and third classes were with a different instructor who really liked hills.  We did climbing intervals for pretty much the whole class.  However, his enthusiasm and encouragement was off the chart and I really enjoyed the class.  My legs burned even more, especially cause I was still able to increase my resistance on the bikes.

I was feeling all the classes for the whole day.  It was one of those, I'm definitely in pain, but it's a good pain type of feelings.  The most interesting thing is that I haven't been sore the next days.  My legs have been tired, but not sore.  I tried to run after the first class, and it was pretty rough because of how exhausted my legs were.  I am hoping to run tomorrow, but we will see how that goes...

I haven't decided if I'm going to buy my own bike and just sign up for online spinning classes or keep going to the classes at my gym.  Probably the biggest issue will be my schedule and how often I can get to a class.  This week I've had extra days to experiment, and now next week I work a lot.  We'll just have to see I guess...

Outside Factors

When we think about our runs, a lot of the time we think about how we feel, how our legs feel, how sore we'll be, how hungry/thirsty we are, etc... but have you ever thought about the outside factors that might be affecting your run or how you feel?  I took time on my run to think about what I was doing that might be affecting my run.

On my last two runs I've noticed my lower back and butt were really sore and originally I thought it was the circuits I was doing.  I still think those played some part to the soreness, but then I realized today that wasn't the only factor.  The bed I've been sleeping on recently apparently hasn't been the best and I've been waking up with a sore back.  Yoga really helped loosen my back yesterday so today wasn't too bad, but the soreness was still there.  I felt it on my run today and it did continue to hurt more and more with each mile.  I'll definitely be working on yoga before my long run this weekend so hopefully my back won't be bugging me.

Then there are generic factors that will change from day to day and route to route.  Things like the temperature or weather and even the roads or trails we're running on.  Some people might run better in the cold than the hot (that would be me) or you might run better in warmer weather than in cold weather.  There's rain, snow, humidity and pretty much every other type of weather mother nature could throw at us that can affect our runs.

Hard roads, crumbling asphalt, muddy, or dry trails can also change our runs.  I've noticed that trail running tends to my ankles sore, but then again I have weak ankles and running with all those hidden holes and what not tends to be hard for me.  Plus it just seems like it takes more energy to run on trails or bad streets where you're constantly aware of pot holes or cracked asphalt.

So maybe next time you go out for a run, think about everything else that's going into you're run.  There really is a lot that affects our runs, whether we want to admit it or not.

A 9 Mile Day...

This morning I was able to get out and run 9 miles!  It really did feel good.  Getting that one calf to finally loosen up helped a lot.

But as I'm sure you all know, you never really feel the soreness and pain from a run directly after the run. Unless there's an injury or a tight muscle, I normally feel pretty good after my runs.  On runs like today, I actually have to stop myself from running more, which is a pretty amazing feeling to have.

And then usually the soreness hits.  Yet today, it wasn't nearly as bad.  I give credit to the fact I had to work and thus I was standing up and constantly moving.  I was able to work all that lactic acid out of my legs and while they did get tight for a bit, they also loosened up.

I honestly don't think I've felt this great after a long run in a long time... if ever.  So now I guess it's a good thing to work after I have long runs?

Feeling Sore, But No Regret

I know I've posted about being sore before, but it is just a constant when you're getting in shape, staying in shape, and working hard.  I've always believed that being sore is actually a good pain and that it means you've done something!  You might be having issues moving around because you're sore, but you don't have that feeling of regret gnawing away at you...

Yesterday hurt walking around work because my calves were screaming at me every time I went up or down the stairs and arms were sore whenever I tried to use them.  Today isn't as bad, but one calf is still tight and is still being a bit of a pain, but that will get rolled out in the next day or two.

And my plan... do some exercises after work for the next few days, but then hit it hard the days after that when the timing is better!  I'm planning on being sore for these next few weeks up to the princess... and then of course after the princess probably!

Run Hard Party Harder

I'm done.  It took me 2 hours and 36 minutes, but I'm done... Now, I'm sitting here in comfy jeans and my new "I Did It!" t-shirt.  My legs are sore, my back is sore, I'm just sore in general.  Overall... Disneyland was another fun and successful race.

Initial thoughts-

• My ankles hurt the most, my calves and knee would switch, but were tolerable.  Both spots were expected to be painful so that's not surprising.
• My quads weren't nearly as tight as I was expecting.  Actually, they aren't tight period (In my opinion at least).  I guess I should thank Jillian Michaels for those quad workouts... I'm stronger than expected.
• Weren't as many cheerleaders and bands, but still the course was fun.  
• My medals are heavy, but AWESOME!  Yes, I did bring my Princess 1/2 Marathon medal and so I will be wearing three around with me today.  It's my neck's workout for the day because anyone who's done a runDisney race will know how heavy and well done the medals are.
• Volunteers were amazing.  They deserve a round of applause as well.

Alright, well now it's time to refuel, aka go get breakfast.  Eggs, breakfast potatoes, and fruit, or cinnamon bun french toast?  Decisions decisions...

Tonight I'm getting together with friends from high school and college and tomorrow I'm heading back to Florida.  A more detailed race report will come tomorrow or the next day (along with pictures), and product reviews will come after that...

2011 Disneyland Half Marathon Done.  Next stop... 2012 Princess Half Marathon!