Training Like Crazy

It has been a few days since my last post. I have been running and really focusing on getting myself ready for my first half marathon. Last night was my first night of training at Velocity Sports. There I am with Kacie, my trainer for the evening. She is in her young twenties and is just this little thing, but let me tell you, she is all muscle! I introduced myself to her and explained why I was there....to train my upper body and core for all of the half marathons that I have coming up in the future. I told her not to go easy on me and that I could handle it:) She just smiled and said, "Alright, but let me know if you need a break.......okay." I looked at her smiling and said, "I will not need a break, I am pretty sure that I can do this."

So myself and seven other adults lined up for our session of core, strength and endurance training. Yes, I was the newbie and the rest of the trainees were curious. I introduced myself and they were all so nice! Kacie explained what the hour session would consist of......1) You will be sprinting and running at least half of the session. 2) We will be using a eight pound exercise ball to do various drills.

So, here is the good news.....I kicked butt at the running! We ran so many 50 meter sprint repeats and I was finishing before the men:) I was very happy about this since I pretty much sucked at some of the other drills. I sucked it up, I never complained, and I put 100% effort into everything! Unfortunately, I did terrible at the push ups. I was able to do five push ups that were perfect. After push up number five my arms just couldn't handle my body weight (123 pounds)! Yes, I know this is pathetic, but I will get better! My favorite drill was the Russian twists using the eight pound ball! God, I actually enjoyed doing those:) We worked the entire time....sprinting and strength drills, and sprinting and strength drills! I was getting tired towards the end but I didn't show it. Fianlly, after our last v-frame freeze Kacie said that we were done! What did I do other than secretly thanking God for the end? I collapsed on the turf! I rested about a minute and stood up. Kacie said, "Good job Julie, you didn't do to bad for a first session:)

I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed tying to get myself pepped up for my 10 miler. I had every intension to run ten miles on the track of my health club. Below is the before picture.....I am looking happy and ready to rumba:)

I did a few walk warm up laps and then continued to run. At first I liked it and I thought about how great it was not to have all the extra layers of clothing that I usually wear for my outside runs. Then after a few miles I was getting hot and the air was dry. There were also so many people just walking around the track and I found it difficult to run at a consistant pace. I wasn't feeling so hot....maybe I was just tired after last nights workout. I really didn't feel any soreness until mile six. I sucked it up for two more miles and I was done. I had every intention of running a few more on the mill tonight.....no way, I am done for the day:) As I am typing, I am feeling a little sore and tenderness ummm...everywhere!

Here I am after my last lap looking a little tired and worn, but still smiling:) Tomorrow I will try to either get into another Velocity class or run a five miler.

This has been my sixth week of blogging!!!! I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed it! I love reading everyone's blogs and it has been a pleasure getting to know other runners and their unique stories. In my next blog I would like to share with you a few of those blogs that I absolutely love. Everyone of these future feature blogs are different and they all posess that something special or that x-factor that I personally favor. Until then, keep smiling:)