Running Chick

Here’s me in my cold weather gear about to head out for a run in 6 degree weather.

Add sunglasses to that outfit and I’m completely incognito! A good thing, because most people who saw me out running probably thought I was completely nuts.

Anyhoo, it might have been pretty frigid outside, but I ended up being a little too warm in all my layers. Thermal capris, thermal tights, thermal running pants, thermal turtleneck, thermal long sleeve shirt, wind jacket, and thermal ski gloves turned out to be too many thermals.  One mile into my run, I was trying to figure out what layers I could shed but I didn’t dare stop to take anything off so I suffered in my sweaty gear.  The worst part was that my mask got soaked from all my heavy breathing and wearing a wet mask is just so gross. Oh, and the inside layer of my hat was soaked, but the outside layer was covered in ice. That was pretty neat.

I debated all morning whether to go or not, and I was glad I finally decided to head out. Despite being cold (have I mentioned that it was cold?), it was also really sunny with gorgeous blue skies and no wind. I don’t remember the last time I’ve seen the sun, so I was able to get a nice dose of vitamin D and I felt really good when I got home.

I’m closing in on a month back to running now, and I’m feeling pretty good.  My shins are doing okay. I don’t have any pain, but I do have a very low grade discomfort in my posterior tendon area which seems to be well managed by Ibuprofen, stretching, rolling and massage.  I’ve been also doing exercises to strengthen my arches and my tibialis posterior muscles since I’m thinking I may have some muscle imbalances going on.  Well, that’s what the results of my eternal quest for self-diagnosis tells me today.

I have until the end of this month to noodle around with my running and then I pick up an official training plan for a half marathon in May. If I make it through the end of February without anything flaring up, meaning I can make it through the first month of training, I think I’ll be okay. Fingers crossed.

Man, I have the worst time coming up with witty, creative titles for my posts. “Running and Yoga”. How lame. I should just write a little program that randomly creates a title and I’ll use that. Probably would be better than what I could come up with.

Anyhooters, I’m running again.  I’m taking things very slowly right now because I don’t want to overdo it and annoy my legs. So, I’m trying to go between one & two miles a few times each week. Last week, I think I ended up with just under five miles. This week, I’ll go a bit farther, and a bit farther than that the following week. You get the picture.

There are good and bad points to this approach. I do like that my runs are short so I’m not outside for long when it’s cold. I like that I can be out & back in less than 30 minutes, heck maybe even less than 20 minutes, and my clothes don’t get all stanky from sweat because I’m barely breaking one.

But I don’t like that my legs barely feel like they’ve loosened up before my run is over and unless I haul-ass, I hardly feel like I’m doing anything for my cardiovascular system. Also, it’s annoying to pile on all my running gear for only 15 minutes of use. Hopefully by the end of the month I’ll have worked myself up to three miles, which somehow my brain has defined as an real run, and I’ll be happier.

I’ve been reading a lot about running injuries and how lots of them come about from having a weak core, so I started some core training last week:

I hemmed and hawed over whether I should get this dvd because, while Jillian’s workouts are pretty intense, I can’t stand her harping about how I should be gurgling my heart or how my heart should be ready to shoot out of my throat. Girl, please. No I shouldn’t.

Anyway, I signed up for Amazon on Demand on the Roku and got a $5 credit which made this video around $4, so I went for it.  Her program is designed to be done five days/week, but I tend to get bored & lose interest when I do the same thing over & over again so I’m going to shoot for three times/week. I figure it’s better than nothing. And yes, it is intense. And it’s not just my abs that are getting worked, it’s arms & shoulders from all the planks and legs from all sorts of squats & lunges. I feel like I got a good all-over workout when I’m finished.

I also started doing yoga pretty regularly. Here’s one of my regular sessions, Candlelight Yoga with Sara Ivanhoe:

I get this one off of Netflix and it’s a really good for relaxation and light stretching. At the end of this session, I just want to go & take a nap.

Finally, and this is turning out to be my go-to yoga/stretching video, I do Yoga for Runners with Erica Schnike. I got mine from Sport Skool Yoga on the Roku and I couldn’t find any pictures or details about it. But, this is probably the best all-around dvd that I have for stretching. I don’t know the names of all the different poses that she goes through, but they really seem to target all the areas in my legs & hips that are tight. Of course there are a couple of nutty poses that leave me wondering what they’re supposed to be doing, but they’re few and far between.  I do this session right after I get back from a run so I’m nice & warmed up and it feels really good. If I’m feeling ambitious one day, maybe I’ll document all the poses here.

Namaste, people.