Addicted to Exercise

This morning I went to the gym to run on the treadmill and do weights. I planned to run for an hour, but I felt something funny in my leg after three miles and called it quits there. So, to make up for that, I really did a good weight workout. I hit all the muscle groups and threw in a bunch of balance exercises. I left feeling pretty good.

I had not been to the gym in two weeks, so I made up for it today with a pretty monstrous workout. I got in all the muscle groups and left feeling pretty good. I needed that.

This morning, I made a trip to the gym. I ran a couple miles on the treadmill and then did weights for my legs and upper body. That went pretty well.

This morning I made a trip to the gym. I warmed up with some time on the stationary bike and then did a pretty solid core and upper body workout. I finished with some light stretching and then went to work.

This evening, I felt a little restless and went for a walk. I went about a mile, and at the end I broke out into a little jog. I’m ready to go running again, but I can tell it will have to be short. A bunch of the others are doing the seven mile loop tomorrow morning. I’ll meet them, but I’m going to cut it short.

Today I was feeling restless, so I did some core exercises. My legs are still pretty tired. Some of the soreness has gone away, but there are a couple spots left bugging me that have me kind of worried. My hip flexors both hurt a bit, and so does the bottom of my left foot. I’m doing lots of stretching and using ice, and I hope they’re fixed in another couple days.

My foot has been bugging me off and on for the past two or three weeks, and I had hoped that it would be all fixed after the long weekend, but when I woke up this morning, I could still feel it was not quite right. It obviously hasn’t been bad enough to prevent me from running well, but it’s annoying that it bothers me especially later in the days after I work out.

So, this morning I decided to give it some more rest and head to the gym instead of the trail. Plus, it was really cold outside, and I never care much for being outside in that. So, I did an hour on the elliptical machine followed by most of the core, leg, and upper body exercises. It was a pretty good workout.

I haven’t been practicing much on the elliptical trainer, so it was hard to keep my legs moving fast for that whole time. I only averaged about 170 strides/minute, and I used to be able to get a lot higher than that.

As for my foot, I don’t know. It’s still not 100%, but it’s gotten better each of the last few days. I guess the good news is I feel absolutely nothing at all left over from the long run this weekend. Somehow I went out and had a great long run and didn’t add any stress to my body. I’ve got to do that some more.

A couple of my friends are temporarily unable to run, so I decided to try the aqua-jogging thing with them. I’ve been wanting to try that ever since I saw how fast all those “torpedo run” folks got this summer. I figure with the lack of impact, maybe I can sneak in a little bit more training now and then. There is certainly a learning curve to it. I was in the water for about an hour, “running” the whole time. I know I had it right some of the time and wrong some of the time. The way it was explained to me was to approximate something like the “higher-open” drills we do outside. The reality is that I tend to either lean forward too far or kick my legs out in front of me. I also sometimes drift sideways, and I think that mirrors some imbalance when I run outside, too. It was fun, though, and I could tell that I at least got the muscles in my legs all firing.

Afterwards, I went to the gym and did the whole routine. I was inspired to do some higher-open drills in front of the mirror, too. When I did that, I could see the “crossing-over” that my legs to do that Gilbert’s always complaining about. When I really concentrated on it, I could do it right, but now I know that when we do those outside I am probably having the same problem.

That all felt pretty good. Tomorrow it’s a return to the track, I think.

Today I continued my adjustment to the cold. I still didn’t feel quite like braving a run outside, so I ran on the treadmill at the gym instead. It was cold enough just getting from the car to the building. I did about 40 minutes and then went through just about the complete weight routine. I finished with a little bit of stretching, and that was that.

I resolve that tomorrow I will run outside!