November 23, 2010

Yo, Yoga

To get back on the strong & happy runner bandwagon, I've been doing some yoga.  I think that cross training on rest days will help my body and keep me excited about training.

This afternoon, I did a nice yoga routine that involved some great stretches for my hips.  As a result, my body feels tired in a good--and different--way.....I'm really tempted to try a bikram yoga class because I think the heat could help me get into poses ;)

November 20, 2010

The Hubby

He fully understands my addiction to getting out there for a run and accumulating running shoes and clothes and gear galore. He refills my water bottle and deals with my stinky running clothes. He encourages me to run faster and participates in carbo loading with me :P

Happy birthday, Jeff!  Thank you for being an amazing husband to a crazed runner :)

November 14, 2010

Roughing It

This morning, I headed out to Redwood Regional Park, which includes the hills above Oakland.  I did 60 minutes of trail running and had a BLAST!

I tried to maintain an even effort- relatively easy on the uphills plus moderate pace on downhill/level ground. I flew down some of the downhills but had to take a couple downhills really slow since I didn't want to fall/hurt my knees! I will continue working on gaining confidence on those downhills.  This picture shows some of the steepness in the park:


It was a lovely day for running---felt cool in the shade but nice and sunny with warmth on the ridge :) There were a few other trail runners out, as well as hikers, bikers, and even a woman on horseback! And this picture shows the glorious view of the SF Bay:

This run was so much fun, and I really didn't want to turn around after 30 minutes!! I noticed that I was using my core and arms more for balance than regular running, and I expect to be a tad sore tomorrow.

November 11, 2010

Take Two

When my coach, Mary, ordered that I take a week off of running, I thought I would lose it.  But, somehow, the week did me a lot of good.  It gave me a few more minutes for taking care of overall life stuff, and I didn't go completely berzerk! I did a ton of walking and a yoga workout (which fried my abs!). Now I'm back to running, and, ahhh, I've had a nice couple of runs. Today's zone 2 run went really well.

I've set two goals for this training cycle: 1) get stronger AND 2) tackle the zone 2 run.  To get stronger, I'm raising my commitment to doing arm weights and crunches and even crosstraining :O  I'm also going to work on learning what zone 2 (moderate effort) feels like and train my body to deal with working a tad harder on my everyday runs.  I think it'll make a difference!!