In speaking with different people who know way more than I do about running, I have been told over and over that when training for a half marathon best results are achieved when cross training as well. This all makes sense to me however, there is one small problem.... I am not medically cleared to do any of the typical cross training exercises. I can't bike, or swim and it will be awhile before I can even consider those options. M (I don't have permission to use her name yet!) and I have dedicated ourselves to working out 6 days a week and are trying to come up with alternative cross training options.
Yesterday M came over and we decided to try to workout to some videos. We weren't really sure what would be the best to do, so we decided to try my accelerated Pilate's video. (Insert sinister laugh here!) So, maybe we should have started with a beginner video, but hey, we gave it our best! I was not as bad as I thought I would be, but I defiantly have lots of room for improvement! This was a 20 min. video and we decided we wanted to do a little more of something different. We pulled out my Cindy Crawford post natal video and did workout A and B. We worked out for a total of 40 minutes and felt satisfied with what we were able to accomplish. Unfortunately both workout videos worked out our already sore legs even more! This morning both of us were walking a little funny! We are still trying to figure out the best cross training exercises to do for now. Any advice would be great!
We decided to head out earlier this morning and started our walking/jogging at 8:30. It was COLD and there was fine layer of snow on the ground that was slippery. We decided to take a different route and use the bike lane so that our terrain was more clear. We ended up on a sidewalk because the bike lane ended. I have a new appreciation for people who shovel their walks. It makes a HUGE difference when running on clean sidewalk vs. uneven and slippery snow. M has been keeping track of the time and admitted later that she had accidentally shortened the times we walked, so we ended up jogging a couple times more. It actually seemed like time passed more quickly this way.
I have been thinking a lot about my self doubts. I don't feel like I made as much progress training last year as I would have liked to. I really feel like I want to test myself a little this time around. I know that next week we will already be increasing the length of our jogging. I remember this terrified me last time. So, I have decided that I am going to push myself this week to jog more quickly than I want to. I have been really happy with how good this feels on my body. Unfortunately the air has been so cold that I have to tie a scarf around my mouth and nose while jogging or else the air burns my lungs way to much. We both realized that it seemed a lot colder today, so I decided to check the temperature on my phone. It was 9 degrees! Yeah, that explains the cold! I have to tell myself that this is going to make me stronger somehow. That if I can do this in super cold weather, pushing myself to go just a little faster, that when the real race comes, I will somehow be tougher!
Today we moved a little more quickly because of the shortened walks and more jogs. We finished up in about 32 min. and when we went out and tracked it we found that once again we covered 2 miles!!! This really excites me! I am very happy that I am able to do this! I know it is little by little, but I feel this is a great start! I am very thankful that M is dedicated to making this goal happen as well, that we have an end date, and the support from lots of friends and family! I know that there will be ups and downs and that is okay. I am just excited to be doing something!
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