March Madness -- Days 23 & 24: It Only Hurts for a Minute (or 10)

Saturday - March 23 

After my three days of hard workouts, I woke up Saturday morning barely able to move. The thing was that I'd already signed up and paid for a hot yoga bootcamp with the Amazing Adrienne, so I had no choice but to go. I spent most of my drive there trying to figure out how I would be able able to remotely do a push up or anything when I couldn't even lift my arms over my head. 

I had told my dad Friday night that I couldn't feel my arms, and he said, "If you couldn't feel them you wouldn't be complaining, I'm guessing you feel them and they hurt." Accurate. Then Saturday the World's Cutest Personal Trainer wanted to know why I was groaning even taking the trash out, and I said that my arms hurt a lot. Her response: "At least you have arms, you should be grateful you have them." Aw, sweet and surprisingly profound from my 7-year-old. Well, until she added: "And its a good thing, because if you didn't, you wouldn't be able to get me my fruit snacks or drive me places." Less sweet, but I get her point.

So I headed into Hot Yoga Bootcamp (a deadly combo of bootcamp exercises, power yoga and 90+ degree heat), with a bit of gratitude for my life... and a strong wish that I'd thought to take a healthy dose of Advil before going to class. So I went through the yoga poses at the beginning of class totally sore and stiff, but a funny thing happened, about 10 minutes in, right about the time we had to start doing insane balances on a bosu ball (seriously, those things weren't meant to be upside down!) and happy feet (which are totally misleadingly named) and Navy Seal push ups (I can't even)... I started to feel better. The heat from working out had loosened up my stiff, achy muscles enough and made it so I could survive this very demanding workout. Driving home from class in the cold when my muscles stopped working... well, that's another story. It is a very good thing that all I had to do the rest of the day was shop with my friend.

Sunday -- March 24 

Waking up on Sunday morning at 6 AM... also didn't feel so great. But I knew I had to get some running in. I have a new pair of cute Asics (that I'm pretty sure you can see from outer space since they are so obnoxiously bright) that I needed to break in for my half-marathon training. Since this was my first run with my new kicks, I didn't set a major goal, but had about an hour set aside to run. I run about 12/13 minutes a mile when I'm not killing myself, and just decided that with the new sneakers, I was going to see how it went. I ran about a mile on the track, and my arches weren't at all happy and my mile time was well over 13. So I headed off on the paved trail around the park, hoping that even if I wasn't going to get much done with speed, at least I could get some hill training in. So up one hill and down the other side and still kind of felt like my feet were lead. I even had to walk a few paces to shake my legs out a bit, which is something that I haven't had to do in a while. So I turned to go back up the hill and was mentally trying to figure out the shortest route back to the track where my car was parked, even though I'd only gone about two miles. 

Then that strange thing happened, my muscles were tight and my feet were adapting to the new shoes, but halfway up the hill a fun song came on my iPod, I leaned a little into the hill and I just felt suddenly good. I ran up the rest of the hill down the other side, and breezed around some more of the trails, and arrived back at my car 55 minutes after I'd left having clocked just over four and a half miles. Not too shabby for me! Especially considering that the first two miles were extra slow. Obviously, I'm loving my new supersonic neon shoes. My only complaint was that I stupidly forgot to put on my running playlist and just had my ipod on shuffle, so it went from Ratt to One Direction to Arcade Fire. But that's an easier fix than trying to find new running shoes.

I probably should have called the day a success, but I wanted to squeeze in a yoga class (not of the bootcamp variety) to work out some of my sore muscles. So I went to the gym for the Amazing Adrienne's Sunday morning class. It was packed, but Adrienne always gives a great class, and makes me feel special, and a bunch of my pals were there. My ability to hold a chaturanga was low and we must have done about 30 of them, but I survived the rest of the class and got the good stretch I needed. 

Best of all, when I went to see my Weight Loss Miracle Worker, I'd lost the weight I put on during my crazy binge eating phase. So physically it turned out to be an awesome weekend. Now if I could just find someone to do my laundry for me... because carrying those baskets and loading the washing machine might actually be what breaks me.

March Madness - Day 9 & 10: Hot Yoga Bootcamp, Running & Some Massage Therapy

 The continued challenges of my "March Madness" quest to exercise every single day in the month. 

This weekend was packed full, but that doesn't mean that I skimped on my workouts. Saturday morning I got up super early, did my laundry and packed up Girl Scout cookies that needed to be mailed out to friends and family. Then I dropped off Isabel with her father and headed off to Hot Yoga Bootcamp. And my beloved Fitness Guru Adrienne kicked my ass for an hour. I know that I lament that her longer weeks (an hour and a half) are the alternate weeks that I can't go because I have Isabel, but honestly, between the heat and the workout an extra 15 minutes might actually kill me. 

And for those who hear yoga and thing "easy", let me just tell you, the very fit guy behind me who came with his wife was sitting on the ground halfway through the class dying. This class is not for the faint of heart. It's a heated yoga class for the start and then it kicks into high gear and becomes a full-on bootcamp class complete with kettlebells, bosu balls, so many push-up variations, and any other crazy things that comes into Adrienne's head. I sound like I'm complaining, but I pay extra for this because I love it.

Afterwards I took my disgustingly sweaty self (seriously gross) to the post office with six giant boxes of cookies to send off. Let me just tell you, some people are real jerks. Some woman saw me struggling to open the door and practically ran the other way instead of holding it open for me. 

Then I headed off to celebrate my friend's birthday, play with her baby and then stayed at her apartment in the city overnight. Got up pretty early in the morning and went for a lovely run in Central Park. My friend Jennie had considered coming with me, but when I told her my hill interval plan, she decided to opt out. Probably wisely. 

From her place on the Upper West Side, I headed north in the Central Park loop up to the top of the park where the nice giant hills are located. I ran up and down the big hills in one direction then turned around and ran them the other way. Got to get that training in for the Pocono marathon some how. I slogged my way up the hills and sprinted my way down. As is my norm. Good thing that my half of the Pocono marathon is almost entirely a decline. On my way back south, I happened to notice that alongside the main running loop there was a dirt path, so I hopped on that for a while and my legs were in heaven. It didn't hurt that the sun was shining and it was close to 50 degrees outside. I couldn't have asked for better weather conditions.



I was feeling so good that when I got over to the Reservoir and saw that it was a dirt path and nice and muddy from the recent snowy rain, I started smiling. I'd already clocked 5 miles per my GPS and had at least a mile back to Jennie's apartment, but I couldn't resist a loop around (my GPS says its just over a mile and a half). I was practically bounding and was grinning at everyone who ran past. I even told my dad that I had fun running. Yes, I know how insane those words sound. I usually just tolerate running, but maybe this is the elusive runner's high? Or perhaps I'm only really enjoying running when there's a chance there will be mud on my shoes. But I do know that when I'm running on dirt and trail, I pay far more attention to where I'm stepping so I don't kill myself or twist and ankle, that I forget about breathing and how much my legs hurt. 

I think that my mile and half reservoir loop was actually my fastest mile or so of the day, even though it was close to the end of my run. Too bad that most of my races are on pavement, and that most of the places near to my house are all concrete and tar. Then again, maybe if I were running on dirt all the time, it would lose its charm. 

Unfortunately, after I got off the dirt path and back on the pavement to head to home base, I was still in my bouncy mode and killed my poor hamstring. I had to walk/run the last mile back, even though I've been run/running for a while. 

Afterwards I had to get ready so that Jennie and I could go for our spa day. Her husband had gotten us a lovely package with a mani/pedi, massage and facial as a Christmas gift and we finally worked it out schedule wise. But for me relaxing is harder than doing a bootcamp workout, especially when strangers are touching me. On the plus side, I told the massage therapist about my sore little hamstring and she fixed that right up. I could get used to that. Normally I'm way to fidgety, but I told this nice woman that I'd been trying hard to meditate lately and she told me she was a Zen Buddhist Monk and then helped me relax with some guided meditation. I wasn't quite as comfortable during the facial and the rest of the pampering, but it was still fun and then Jennie and I got to have a nice girl dinner together, I snuggled her baby a little more and  headed home. 

So it was a little chaotic, but a lot of fun. Aside from the clocks jumping ahead for Daylight Savings Time and stealing an hour sleep, I'm not sure I would have changed a thing.

Day 8
Day 7
Day 6
Day 5
Day4

Day 3

Day 2

Day 1

Time To Get My Butt Back In Gear

I hadn't run in over a week. I ran a few times since the marathon, once for Thanksgiving Day and once the day after with my dad, but frankly, I decided to give my knees a rest. So after 5 days of doing NO exercise at all and making a lot of unhealthy food choices, I went back to the gym for a training session. At which, I learned that I lost some muscle strength in spending so much time working on running and doing interval speed drills and the like. So yay for overall fitness, but not so good when it comes to being able to lift any weight or do endless sets of push-ups like I used to.

Then on Friday I went to the gym to the same trainer for an hourlong bootcamp session, and struggled through what is usually tiring but fun. I mean, my muscles were super sore just a few hours later, and normally I've got pretty good recovery time. So many squats and planks and pushups. I know it is all about getting my muscles to remember what they used to be able to do, but these first few sessions were killer. If it wasn't for all the chaturangas at yoga class, I'd be in even bigger trouble. 

And then this morning I got out and went for a run. Just a 5k, but a pretty hill course at a park near my house that has a pretty lengthy uphill that I managed twice. While my legs were questioning my sanity (as I was wearing shorts and it was cold), particularly since they were still sore from all of the squats and mountain climbers, it felt good just to be able to do two loops around the park without worrying about time or meeting any specific distance goal. I was considering a third goal, but my inappropriate clothing made me opt to go home before my legs actually froze off. 

Then, I spent the rest of the day on the couch... 

Now, this isn't the worst thing, but I've got a to do list of chores a mile long (some that I put off because training for a marathon and then road tripping to Maine took up so much time). It was the first time in goodness knows how long that I didn't have plans, and it was rather... relaxing. Even though my kitchen is disgusting and there are still bags unpacked from Maine and laundry that is piled higher than me. 

I decided that it can all wait a day, and tomorrow I'll be focused. Well, if I survive my first Hot Yoga Bootcamp with my awesome teacher Adrienne. I've heard legends told about her new class, and well... it sounds like torture, but I think I need it. 

Especially since I'm sure I've put on 5 pounds because of junk eating and a nearly a week of slothhood, and because my brother just called me to told me that he was going to sign us both up for a Tough Mudder as my Christmas gift. Given how much I really want to do it, I'm super excited. And now I've got a reason to focus on getting my diet back in gear, and to keep going to the gym and running... no matter how much my muscles hate the idea.

So tomorrow is for chores, hot yoga bootcamp and a nice trip to Trader Joe's to stock my fridge with foods that don't start with the word Reese's.