18 Hours

That is apparently how long it takes for my muscles to get sore after a cross-training run. But it's funny...my legs aren't sore, its more my arms, my chest, my back and my abs. In a sick way I am kind of glad, because I know that this means that I got a good workout last night.

Here is what my workout consisted of:

We all met at the park at the Bethesda Fountain. From there we ran to the Hunter Statue (it looks like that might be a little over a quarter mile). From there, the group was split into two. The first group stayed with Ramon while we went on a 12 minute run.

This run seemed FAST to me. But it could be because we were all running with a pack (usually I am in the middle to back of the advanced group, but last night I was up with the coach). It could also just be because it was in the mid 90s.

At that point, we were back where we started and did a bunch of exercises. The worst were the squats. We did about a million of them and my quads were shaking. According to Ramon that is because my quads are WEAK and if I want to be a good marathon runner I'd better be doing a lot more of them. We also did that karate kid thing, where you balance on one leg and then switch really fast to the other one. More squats. Some other exercises which I can't remember and then MORE squats. I actually was happy when the other group came back so that we could run. By now I was roasting. I looked around to see if any of the other girls were showing their midriffs (they weren't) but then I decided it was too hot anyway and left my shirt with the cross-training group so that I could run in my sports bra. This is another reason that I need to do these cross-training workouts...to tone my midriff so I can run like this without being embarassed :)

Another 12 minute run. This one seemed a lot better. Maybe it just took me awhile to get used to being out in the heat. My ponytail was able to be wrung out by then though (that is my gauge of how much I am sweating).

Back to cross training for YUCK pilates moves. Planks. I HATE these. When I took Pilates I loved everything except for the planks. Well we did forward, right side and left side..Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Then we did push-ups. I found out that I pretty much have been doing push-ups wrong for all the years of my life. The right way to do them is MUCH harder and engages your chest as well as your arms. I could barely do my 3 sets of 15. My arms were so achy.

Another 12 minute run.

This time we did a bunch of technique exercises. They mostly involved kicking our butt. But the catch was that we did this on one leg over and over and over. It was like running with one leg, which was HARD. Then we switched legs and THEN we did both legs very very fast. More squats. Lunges.

Another 12 minute run.

Then, one big stretch fest. For some reason, my group ended up doing one run more than the other group. We tried to tell ourselves that this was okay because we would be stronger than them, but really we were just wishing we were in group one.

Today on my schedule is a cross-training day, which I thought was kind of weird, seeing that we just did a cross-training run. But I trust Coach Ramon. I have been much more able to run in the heat than I was last year, I have been running faster in the heat than I did last year AND I can tell I am getting stronger and my technique is improving. So I guess I will stick with his plan :)

I am glad that cross-training tonight also = air-conditioning.