I love running but I more in love with exercising. Knowing that I have options is lovely, especially when my body needs a break from the pavement. Sunday, which is my rest day, I rode Zeke's bike and ended up here:
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| I love this view. |
Saturday is long run day with the running buddies. I forgot to start my Garmin again so I missed up on half a mile or so but thank goodness everyone carries their own watches. I bet this weekend we'll kick it up and run extra long, which is lovely.
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| keep that Garmin going girl. |
Summer running starts before the summer in these parts. I had a 'slow and sweaty' run the other day but the good thing was that I finally saw my friend Maria who always encourages me. She ran Boston and finished it at 3:50. She finished Houston at 3:37! She trains solo but always finds kind words to give us. Her pace during season is 8 minutes per mile, something I hope to do in the future. She told me she began much like me and assures me that if I train hard I can improve my time. I so love runners who help runners!
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| It's hot in here, can you tell? |
My latest challenge has been to get back to swimming. I must have planned my big come back for months and it finally happened today. I kept thinking about how nice it would be to exchange one cross training day for swimming. It turns out I still have what it takes. I'm gonna stick with this plan for a while and see if it makes a difference in training. Swimming (and biking) help me with endurance and that's what I need to tackle 26.2 successfully.
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| Hello pool! |
I believe that each day of training is considered epic. Running a marathon is easy considering what you go through to get to the start line. The medal is a sweet memory of that day but I believe that an athlete is made in the mundane act of pushing the body to perform. I thank God for the health and ability to exercise. It's a blessing I don't take for granted!
Question: How do you cross train? Do you see a difference in your main training?
I need to do more swimming (I wish I had easier access to a pool!) Right now, I do a lot of elliptical and some weights. I mostly stick to running (which is part of my problem.) :)
This training cycle, I did swimming for my cross training. In fact, I took out some of the scheduled runs to do swimming instead for back reasons. I absolutely loved it. I would sit in the Jacuzzi for 20-30 min and then swim. I finally learned how many laps it took for 100m and I got up to 800m before I left for the marathon. I am about to go back to biking, too, but I love swimming.
And are you going to do a triathlon now? I'm doing my first one in October (Oktoberfest). Come join me.
Hey KW! Swimming rocks and you totally inspired me to go ahead and give it a try. I'm not sold on a tri just yet. I am giving all I have to marathons and I haven't even ran a half :/ so triathlons are not in the horizon but I am enjoying the benefits of training tough :)))
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