Why I love cross-training days, as told in pics and some words.

I like running, but I love me some cross-training, too.  Why?  Let us count the ways, gentle (or not so gentle) readers:

1) I get to ride to nowhere on my precious spin bike, which I love more by the day and perhaps even the hour.  I have found that my legs are fresher (i.e., not tight, sore, and begging for mercy for 3 miles) and more ready for the abusive runs that I must do on the training plan in the My Run Plan app.  

2) I get to secretly (not so secretly now, I guess) wear knee-high compression socks all day at work so my legs feel one step closer to fabulous by the end of the day.  

But these Ragnar socks are fabulous all by
themselves.

3)  Because cross-training, or getting up off my ass and working out as I used to call it before all the running lingo entered my life, is what helped me not look like this anymore.

WANTED: More cross-training.  And good eating habits.

4) Back selfies after repeatedly lifting heavy things.  And lots of them.

5) This picture has nothing to do with cross-training.  Just wanted to show everyone I do exist in normal human clothing for most of the day even if this human isn't all that normal.

Even the cat can sense my abnormality.

Post is over.  Read the learnings and clean up after yourself before you leave:

• The bike is fast becoming a fave piece of equipment I wish I had invested money in purchasing sooner.
• Don't tell my treadmill I just said that; it has jealous tendencies.
• When you can't sit down properly and it's been 3 days since that long run that destroyed you, compression socks underneath your work pants it is.
• Do people really lift weights for other reasons besides back selfies?  Really?  Huh.
• While I do wear real clothes, the world would be a better place if I could wear running clothes to work.  Truly it would.

Tomorrow's workout: Another "REALLY, TRAINING PLAN?!?" 13 mile threshold workout.  Buh.

So I'm Running (and walking and biking and maybe crawling) the Year. Again.

In my last post I talked about all of my goals for 2019..well I recently added another one to the list:  I'm doing that crazy Run The Year thing.

I've done every Run the Year since it started, but I haven't always been consistently conscious about it.  In fact, last year they sent me the medal at the start of the whole thing and my brain went into shut-down mode about it and never thought about it again until I just moved that medal (it's pretty) to my new house.  Good thing I did end up with the right mileage at the end of 2018 or....nothing would have happened, really, except my sister who runs mocking me relentlessly.

Notice that's for all activities, not just running.  That's how I do a "Run" the Year; I tend to count all active miles because I know I'll injure myself if I run every day. By counting all my active miles I can challenge myself to be more active in the activities that I already do.  For example, in 2017 I only biked 470 total miles; in 2018 that number jumped to 810-ish. Now I know some people are really literal about the whole running part of the Run the Year challenge, but if live pigeon shooting was at one time considered an Olympic sport, I can consider counting my miles any way I want, thankyouverymuch.

Speaking of counting, there are definitely some things I did since last we met that could be considered workouts:

1) I did two spin + weight workouts, because of that whole spin addiction thing I've mentioned before plus why not give me more to do every day.  Please note that the hubbs got me a weight rack for Xmas and that the man gets me, he really really gets me.

2) I did a 6 mile "long run" that was in the MyRunPlan app thingie with large dog on a 40 degree (!) January morning where I did not have to wear gloves.  Plus, wearing tights plus a running jacket made me extremely overdressed.

The bigger the tongue, the better the run.

A peak between two vicious little hills

Not too shabby.

I'm really determined not to slack off on the workouts...and I am also determined to think of them this way (props to the I run to drink account on Insta for this).  Let's face it: most of life and what you do in it is all about the proper mental framing.

Now let's frame some learnings:

• Still having a hard time with sticking to that whole "bedtime" thing.  One thing at a time, I guess.
• If those Run the Year peeps send me a medal it's going to be hard for me to remember that it's not over already again.
• The only thing that wasn't awesome about running with large dog in 40 degree weather in January was him dragging me downhill on all the downhills at warp speed.  Again.
• My quads also think that wasn't awesome of large dog right now as well.
• It's time to end this post now, because I have to get up early and celebrate what I can do on the treadmill.

Upcoming workouts: Fartleks (lolol) tomorrow morning, of course more spin and weights, and more running.