Yoga, foam rolling, Surf City and Lance Armstrong

So this is what we all get when Jen doesn't blog for more than a week.

A whole bunch of stuff crammed into one blog posting.

This post will be much like the rest of my day, an A.D.D. cocktail of different thoughts on different subjects...

Anyway.

Where to start?

I took the plunge on Jan. 10th and signed up for the Surf City half marathon - which happens on Feb. 3.  Trained? Eh. Not as much as I would like to be. With less than a month to go at sign-up time, I started to cram/train immediately. My first week was a  3 - 2 - 8 mile week of miles. (um.) and last week I did 4 - 2- 4 - 10.  A twenty mile week. And it felt pretty good. I made sure to take my 10 miles slowly, hydrate tremendously and even stopped to stretch around five miles in. It all paid off. I managed to do it with no cramping. I will not be PR'ing this half but I am looking forward to enjoying it.

I'm coming back! 

This past week's ten mile long run was important and significant for me. The last time I attempted 10 miles it wasn't a good experience at all - as you might remember from this Ragnar Race report. Conquering those miles felt really good. I will do another 8 - 10 miles this weekend and then use the rest of the week to taper with smaller 2 or 3 milers.

It sucks that I'm traveling the day before the race - 8 hours of travel with my layover. I'm going to really have to super hydrate somehow and try to remember to wear compression socks on the plane.

BTW did you catch this? I was voted some sort of "Top Health and Fitness blogger!" -->

In other news -- I've been taking a very serious approach to trying to fix my leg issues. I suffer from tight hamstrings and frequent cramping on runs over 6 miles and it's starting to bum me out. So I've been playing with hydration/potassium/magnesium and other nutrition approaches.

I've also invested (freaking $40 bucks!) in a foam roller (they say it's a great way to work those muscles) and am attempting yoga and strength training. Anything to become a better runner. I swear - who is this person I've become?

Kinda liking this thing

As a person who's pretty impatient, sort of has trouble with balance and is the most unflexible person on the planet, yoga is (haha) kind of a stretch for me. I mean it's uncomfortable for me to even sit cross legged and when bending, my hands go just below the knees when trying to touch my toes. It's really bad. It's probably also why I really need yoga.

Yoga was kind of annoying. I didn't care for the instructor who just kept telling the newbies to "look at others if you don't know what you're doing." and I didn't get a nice zen vibe there. I didn't love it but I'm going to give it a few shots before I give up. I didn't like coffee, beer or running at first either and now I am a fan of all three of those things. So there you go. Maybe it's an acquired taste! I'm trying a different studio this Friday.

And then there's Lance.

Oh Lance.

I think doing Oprah was a mistake. I felt zero sincerity from him and I felt so much like the only reason why he was doing it was because his big ego made him believe that it was all he would need to do to win back some affection from fans and possibly pave the way to be eligible to compete. Uh. I don't think so. I think I liked him even less after the interview. The whole thing just seemed pathetic to me.

So... Any races coming up? Do you do yoga? Do you foam roll? Do you have thoughts about Lance?

Inquiring minds!!

XO
Jen