Learning to Run (Again)

Saturday I had my second practice with TNT. My first question (as always) was 'how far are we going to run today?' But our coach had a different theory. Apparently a lot of people were asking him this exact same question (at least I didn't ask out loud) because he told us to STOP worrying about mileage and just enjoy our run. We are not supposed to be focusing on mileage at this point. In fact, we had a 40-60 mile run scheduled that day. He told us that we could worry about that when we really started training hard in the next few weeks.

This annoyed me because I am constantly trying to work on making my pace faster. I was also annoyed because I was told to take it easy until June since I just ran a marathon. I have been itching to really start my training again. BUT I really really like our coach AND I figured he knew what he was talking about, so I decided to suck it up and not worry about how far we were running. I didn't even try to calculate it in my head like I usually do.

It turned out that I had a really really enjoyable run! I realized how much I really do enjoy running (again). The weather was great and we had a beautiful run along the Hudson River.

After each practice we have a group stretching session. I usually HATE stretching. It is one of those things that I know that I should do after every run, but honestly (this is so bad, I know) I only do it after my really long runs (like my 18+ milers). I hate it that much. But I realize now that I was actually doing a lot of my stretches the wrong way. AND when you do it as a group it's actually not so bad. So now I actually look forward to stretching because it feels really great after my runs (sort of like it does after a really tough Pilates class).

So I feel like I am actually learning a lot about running again...which makes the whole thing even more fun.

Namaste

So, I've ALWAYS had an issue with flexibility and tightness. I was reminded of this again when Bill and I decided to do Yoga tonight. It snowed and then icy rained and then rained which kind of derailed our running plans. Besides, I know I should be stretching...and since my hamstrings have been pretty tight since my Sunday run, I figured that yoga certainly wouldn't hurt.

But every time I do yoga I am embarrassed by my inflexibility. Sitting straight up with my legs in front of me I can only reach right below my knees. :(

And I AM one of the only people that I know that can't relax my muscles. (Seriously, my physical therapist had me lie on my side as he held my leg up and told me to relax...5 times. My response? "I AM relaxing!"

So maybe it was a good thing that my run got snowed out. It woke me up to the fact that I do indeed need to include stretching and flexibility exercises as part of my training regimen. And it did relax me quite a bit, even if it was only that I was laughing at the girl on the DVD or at my dog licking my face as I was trying out downward facing dog. :)