Run off the Stress

Yesterday I hit my Spinning class to fulfill my cross-training for Day 10 of the Furman FIRST program.  Unfortunately, I had a very long mommy/wife list to complete, so I had to cut my workout short with no strength training.  Days like this get me so stressed when I feel cramped on time.... and when I'm stressed, I eat.  So count four cupcakes and numerous chocolates down the hatch.  Argh!

This morning (Day 11), the last thing I wanted to do was go to the gym.  Despite a funky mood, out-of-town company, and numerous errands to run... I eventually got there.  Even as I laced up the sneakers, I was reaching for an excuse not to run.  Never the less, I made it on the track for a one mile warmup, and then hit the treadmill for my 5 mile TEMPO run.  As I started, I was pleasantly surprised how comfortable the 9:30 pace felt.  By mile 3, I'll admit I was wishing it over... and yet by mile 4, I was feeling good and cranked the pace up to a 9:18.  After a strong finish and cooldown, I realized a good hard run was just what I needed melt away the stress that had me in a funk.
TOTAL:  6.5 miles

Endless Rope

I've been eying the Endless Rope machine in my gym for quite awhile now.  Today the gym was fairly slow, so I jumped on and gave it a good 10 minutes.  Wow, that thing is hard!  Since I missed yesterday, I burned through the FIRST strength exercises:  Standing wall slide, Single leg squat, Walking lunge, Calf raise, Stability ball pushups, Single arm row and an additional 50 stomach crunches for my muffin top!


Up Next (Friday): Rest/Yoga   (Saturday): Long Run - scheduled for 8 miles, but going for 10 miles at a 9:52 pace.