Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Last Saturday, I made a dumb decision (not my first). After the Gasparilla Challenge, I should've taken it easy and run (at most) 6 easy miles. Instead, I opted to do the 12 mile loop with the City Stadium runners. I will say that I had a lot of fun meeting a new group of runners! However, about half way through the run (at the 6 mile point....should've stopped!!), I felt a sudden tightness in my left hip. This was a new tightness and came on quite suddenly. Logically, I ran 6 more uncomfortable miles. DUMB. After the run, I could barely hobble around. I realized my hip flexor and glute were very angry with me, so I have become best buddies with ice and the foam roller. I've actually taken my foam rolling to a whole new level of pain with the introduction of the small, hard rubber ball. This can really get at the tight muscles more aggressively than the roller - and has helped them loosen noticeably loosen up. I've also gone to Barre class every day this week. The exercises in Barre are exactly what I need. They target all the areas of my body that running doesn't (particularly the hips, glutes and core). While the classes are super hard, I kinda love them. They are really challenging me, but I know I need it. I'm also going to get a deep tissue massage tomorrow. Hopefully, all of these things together will get me back to running quickly.

March 3, 2017

It has been so long (as in years) since I've blogged. I'm going to keep this simple and use it as way to track workouts and races. Currently, I'm really into running (of course), spinning and barre classes. I know that I should swim, but I'm just not feeling it right now. Anyway, my latest running adventure involved the Gasparilla Ultra Distance Challenge in Tampa Bay, Florida. It's quite a big running festival with something like 30,000 runners total taking part in one of the four races. We decided to go for it and do all four races. We ran the 15K and 5K on Saturday and the half marathon and the 8K on Sunday. The courses all finish on Bayshore Drive - which is gorgeous!

Next adventure: the Shamrock Dolphin Challenge in 2 weeks.