Jumping my way to recovery

This pain in my right hip is becoming a pain in the you-know-where. It’s not going away fast enough, but then again I think I should be able to ice it and have it healed overnight.  Well, I am icing it, but I am also trying to correct any muscle weaknesses that caused this mess in the first place—and that’s why I’m trying to jump my way to recovery with some HiiT workouts because, you know, you use your glutes and hips and stuff during those workouts.

One workout that I rediscovered in my Cathe library is CrossFire. 

This workout has a couple of sections to it and has been reviewed as nauseum since it’s release, so I’ll spare you the details. What I won’t spare you from are the reasons I forgot how much I liked this workout:

• You don’t need a ton of equipment. Some 3, 5, 10, and 15 pound weights, a fire walker band (theraband), and some sliding discs are all you need. I like not having to get in another workout cleaning up after a workout. 
• So much getting that heart rate up goodness. While I can definitely tell I have much better aerobic fitness than I did when I first did this workout a few years ago, all the high impact exercises in the first two sections of the workout still give your heart rate a run for its money. Why is that? Well, it because of all the...
• JUMPING JUMPING EVERYWHERE. Jumping is fun, kids!

• You get to test your jumping and not falling skills by jumping and trying not to fall with that band looped around your ankles. Good times. 

Let’s hope all this jumping pays off, especially since I have a 14 mile run on deck for tomorrow. Even workout supervisor is hoping I get better soon so I can do my runs outside without pain. 

But that’s only because then she has a couple of hours when I’m out of the house and not bugging her. 

Tomorrow’s workout: Like I said, there’s a 14 miler on the plan for tomorrow. Hopefully the hip will keep quiet. 

There is bacon in this blog post.

Today I went on a 10 mile run.  It was really windy (16 mph winds), but the warmth and sun made up for that.  I was wearing one of my favorite race t-shirts and my screaming neon yellow running capris, and I was stoked that I didn't have to wear gloves.  But it wasn't a typical 10-mile run for me.

I was feeling pretty darn spectacular the entire time.  I felt really strong in mile 8, which is odd for me.  Even though I had to slow down when I was running head-on into that crazy wind (my stupid fault for not looking at the wind direction when planning my route), I felt good the whole time.

I felt strong.

I remember my first 10 mile run.  I felt like my knees were going to secede from my body, and it about destroyed me physically (But not mentally!  I was pretty pumped!).  I remember struggling to do 12 minute miles.  I remember how hard it was to finish that 10th mile, trudging down the street with my quads like cinder blocks, throwing my legs out in front of me and hoping like hell my legs wouldn't decide to stop before I did.

Today's run felt easy.  It's amazing what four months of marathon training will do.

My next round of marathon training starts on June 16th, this time for Twin Cities.  Let's see how much stronger I can get.

But I know you all are just dying to know what my weigh-in was like this morning, so I'll shut-up and just show you the picture:

So, in a week, this means I have lost 2 pounds--just by cooking at home.  My husband and I did go out yesterday before we went bike shopping (more on that in a later post), but I had oatmeal, fruit, and a strip of bacon that will make all other bacon hang its head in shame:

Oink.

The only reason I had a strip was because I realized that my meal had no protein in it whatsoever.  Since I am technically still recovering from my marathon, I have been very protein-conscious this past week.

Thus, I feel my week has begun in a pretty groovy way, on both the exercise and eating fronts.  Let's see if I can sustain the strength throughout this week, as I come to the slow realization that I have only 2 short weeks left at my current place of employment.