My Running Journal, 021010

OOOOOH. I need a massage, a soak in a hot tub, a nice long sit in a steam room, and then another massage.

I ache. All over. But is a good ache – the kind that you get when you have worked out, and your body is letting you know it. There are few, if any sharp pains or intense burning sensations – actually, there are none. Just a whole body ache – every muscle feels like it has worked, and is now fatigued and tired.

Today I ran 3.04 miles in 34.25. This averages out to an average pace of 11:15 per mile. Which isn’t terrible, but it isn’t fast. And it isn’t remarkably faster than last week’s 2.95 miles in 33:39 – which averages to 11:24 per mile. Nine seconds per mile is the pace difference between not stopping on a 3.04 miler, and stopping and walking a half a mile during. But this isn’t a terrible performance, and I am not dissatisfied – I didn’t stop to walk today, I went farther than I was scheduled for (Even if it is only 200 feet more), and I finished faster than I started – my splits for each mile show that I kicked off mile one in 11:23 minutes, mile two I finished in 11:15 mins, mile three went down in 10:58 mins, and I finished that last .04 miles at a pace of 9:38 min/mile. So today I won.

I started thinking about the negatively nannering monkey around mile 1.5. I thought about it, and told it to shut up. And then I made fun of it while I kept running. Tomorrow I think I am going to vary the 1.5 miler that is on the calendar into a speed workout – jog a few blocks, sprint a block, jog a block, sprint a block, etc.

Last night I started my Crossfit Onramp program – a 3 weeks series of training classes, 3 days a week, to bring you up to speed on the majority of the basic exercises performed in a Crossfit workout, as well as getting you up to speed so that you can join established classes. The Onramp program, at least where I am practicing Crossfit, is done in a cohort. Which is a lot of fun, and means that you can egg each other on. They have you do a “baseline” workout to establish, well, a baseline to work from – you do a baseline at the beginning of the training cycle and at the end, and compare the times to see your improvement. The trainers also keep track of your form during the exercises – and that becomes another opportunity to improve. My baseline time last night sucked – close to 7:55 minutes to complete a 500m row, 40 squats, 30 situps, 20 pushups, and 10 pullups. My baseline in the intro class was 7:09 (running instead of rowing). And time and resisting fatigue is the only thing that I am going to show improvement in – because I was a gymnast and Marine, and all of the positional training that I have already received – my pushup and situp form is excellent (thank you boot camp), my squat form is pretty good (thank you Martial Arts and bodywork classes), and since I was gymnast, I already know how to kip, and kipping pullups are allowed in the Baseline workout. Which meant that I had not excuse to use a foam roller under my legs during the pushups, or to jump from a box during the pullups. If I had scaled and jumped during the pullups, I probably could have finished in under 6 minutes. But no, form comes first. Performing the exercise correctly and possibly slowly is more important than ripping through it with bad form.

As you improve your form, and keep that form throughout the workout, you increase your speed as your endurance increases. Same thing with running.

This morning I was awake right around the time the alarm went off. The Crossfit class was last night at 1930, and ended at about 2130. I got home, ate a small dinner, took a hot bath, and then went to bed. Which means that when I started running out the door this morning at 0620, I had had all of 8 hours of recovery. This sounds like a lot, but it isn’t for a beginner. Running against the cold, running against the aching fatigue. Running for me. Toes relaxed, head up, take it easy.