Starting From Scratch

Now that I've got that first half under my belt, I can stop being so worried about running. I know I can do it, I know it's possible so now I just want to focus on how I can improve. For the Marine Half, I tried a few times to get involved in various types of cross training - stationary bike, elliptical, occasional strength training - but nothing ever lasted beyond a session or two here and there because all I could think about was running when I was doing those other things. And lets face it, with two kids, free time is hard to come by. Whenever I had time, I thought running was the most important thing to do. For Baltimore, I'm going to try something different. I'm going to try devoting more time to activities that will (hopefully) get me stronger in the hopes that I wont have that empty gas tank/dead legs feeling I had at mile 10 last Sunday.

I have had people suggest either Yoga or Pilates to me in the past. My immediate reaction is always, "I'm way to hyper for that, gotta move!" but, I'm rethinking that because I have zero flexibility and I think one of those would help. My hamstrings are always tight and don't get me started on my hip flexors. I can get pretty embarrassed pretty easily so I decided that jumping into a class in a public setting was probably not the way to go so I picked up a Yoga DVD in Target last week, The Firm: Power Yoga. Ive done it twice so far. Um, are we really supposed to be able to bend like that? All I could think of was, "Left foot blue! Right hand red!" from my Twister days. My flexibility is way worse than I originally thought. I actually enjoyed the dvd though. I have no idea how good it is in the Yoga dvd world, but once I got over the laughing fits, I found it fun and challenging. It's only 35 minutes so I can easily fit it in when the kids are around.

I also want to get back into doing core specific workouts, something I did regularly before I started really getting into the half marathon training. I have a dvd with Cathe Frederich (Core Max) that uses both a stability ball and a medicine ball which is awesome. And last week, I recorded an hour long core workout with this Petra Kolber chick off of FitTV. She sounds and looks all sweet but then she has you waving around a medicine ball like it's nothing. I've done that one twice since last week and can really feel it the next day.

So anyway, that's the plan. I hope it sticks because I think I'll notice a big difference in October if I can get stronger. Oh, and I finally ran again. It didn't happen until Friday and it was on the treadmill, but I ran a fast 3.1 miles and after the first wobbly steps, it felt great. For some reason, I was expecting pain and protest from my legs. And I'm going to put it here in writing so I have to do it: Next week, I'm heading to the running store to buy new shoes. I'm putting the fear behind me people! Maybe I'll wear my medal...