Man!

I say that because I'm sore. My back and arms haven't been this sore since high school football summer weightlifting and conditioning. Sore where it hurts to open the car door. The reason: I did a CrossFit workout with some friends on Monday. We rowed, held a sand bag, did step ups, military press, tire flip, squats - all like a circuit with high rep or static, and with little or no rest between. I have been lifting lightly on Mon and Thurs so I figured I'd try it out. Well, having my entire body be sore is too much right now. I'm not training to be a linebacker or running back anymore. I won't be working that hard again any time soon. However, if you want a full body workout that is builds both strength and cardiovascular health, look into CrossFit - it will get the job done. And if you are in Huntsville, the leader at CrossFit Huntsville will surely push you.

Speaking of said leader, he is an aspiring trail runner. In fact, he is preparing for the Mt. Mist in January and also planning on running the Dizzy Fifty here as training. We had a good discussion concerning training strategy including the benefit of high intensity training, such as CrossFit in addition to intervals and other speed work, the role of long miles and more. As I have been reading and learning a lot about training theories and methods since I started training in May, the discussion was very intriguing. The more info, the better! Maybe he and I will get a chance to run on Monte Sano together, if not now then in January.

This morning I was more tired than usual, probably a result of the CrossFit workout, so I postponed my run until later. After playing chauffeur for some kids, working some, and practicing my throw downs on a 9-9.5 ft hoop, I finally ran. It was 4pm and the sun was beating down. I wanted to run a tempo run today, so I set out on a brisk pace on my 3mi route. I noticed that my cadence was faster and stride shorter than usual. I tend to be a heel pounder, but today I was very midfoot and almost forefoot- maybe a natural progression with speed. It felt smooth and quick, regardless. Once again I got confused on my route and ran longer than planned. I was tired by the end. The pace for the ~3.4mi loop was 7:47, which is pretty fast for me. The fastest and only 5k I ever ran (summer '06 when I was very fit from high intensity sports like football and basketball) was about 20:00, so I am still considerably slower, but the 7:47 is faster than the 8:00 pace I ran earlier this summer on a training run, so I am pleased.

I have a 6 miler tomorrow. I have not decided whether to run in morning or evening, on the road or at Monte Sano. I plan on running marathon pace or a little faster, which means, less than or equal to 9:00/mi. Whatever, it will be good either way. :)

This weekend is a 13 miler. I will probably run one of the local half-marathon courses for simplicity. Stay tuned.